Ōsaka, Japan
In the streets of Ōsaka, two brother and sister pairs were seen walking through a market place, one pair consisting of Mako Mankanshoku and her little brother Matarō and the other being Ira Gamagoori and his older sister Jun.
"Wow! I can't believe, can't believe, can't believe we're in Ōsaka of all places! I always wanted to take a trip here one of these days!" Mako happily exclaimed as she marveled all of the sights and sounds surrounding her.
"Yeah. I love being in a new environment, sis." Matarō chimed in as he also looked at the various buildings in the market place.
"You two better not goof around too much now." Ira Gamagoori told them in a rather serious, authoritarian tone. "We're just here to pick up goods to replenish those at Nudist Beach HQ."
"Oh come on, little brother. Don't be so uptight." Jun politely replied, scolding her younger brother. "If Mako and Matarō want to have a little bit of fun, they have every right to do so, especially in times like this."
At first, Ira was rather surprised to hear his older sister encourage the others to have some fun in spite of the high anxiety they've been all suffering since unceremoniously leaving the city that was formerly known as Tokyo. He then shook his head out of embarrassment and replied, "You're right, Jun." He then looked at Mako and Matarō (in which his cheeks briefly turned pink upon looking at Mako) and added "You too go ahead and have a little bit of fun. Just make sure you get the goods you were asked to pick up before you head on back to home base."
"Alrighty, Ira Gamagoori. Me and my will not, will not, will not and I mean...WILL NOT forget to get the goods!" Mako replied right before she and her little brother ran off to mess around for a little bit, though Gamagoori seemed to be a bit flustered by just watching Mako in general.
"You may say otherwise, but I can clearly see you have quite an interest in that Mako Mankanshoku, Ira." Jun coyly told her brother as she noticed his cheeks were pinker than the skin color of a semi-famous round video game character with incredible inhalation powers.
"That's not true, Jun. That's not true at all!" Ira spouted back, flustered back, trying his hardest to worm his way out of this conversation that more or less has went south.
"Well...if that's the case, perhaps it's better for us to get the good we were sent to pick up anyways. However, it's still obvious to me you see something in her, as much as you deny it, but since we have other things to do, little brother, i'll just drop it...for now." Jun responded while smirking as she then made a left turn to make her way to a nearby hardware store. Ira, in spite of still being quite embarrassed, quickly realized his sister was leaving him behind and ended up jogging towards the hardware store to catch up with her.
Elsewhere, in a record shop, Nonon Jakuzure was seen placing a stack of six CDs onto the cashier table in a rather suspicious manner. The cashier himself then picked up the CDs, scanned the bar code of two of them, which happened to be what you would expect an individual like Nonon to buy. Albums of classical music standards played by top ranking musicians. However, as soon the cashier saw the third CD in the stack, he took at look at the pink haired girl, gave her a bewildered glare and spoke up, "Ummm...you better not be trying to screw with my head, ma'am."
"What?" Nonon nonchalantly replied, having no concern over the cashier's problem. "Don't like what i'm about to buy from you?"
"Not necessarily. I'm rather...confused by this grab bag of stuff you chose. I know you were a hell of an orchestra conductor since I did see your debut performance months ago and all of that, but you're not the kind of person i'd expect to buy some punk rock albums? It just...blows my mind." the cashier replied as he explained his confusion.
"Here's the thing, pal. Things have been very stressful as fuck lately and just listening to some Beethoven, Bach and Glass won't cut it, so of course I have to bust out some Garlic Boys, Bachikaburi and Tetsu Arrey to blow some steam. Besides, I just got an old ass Melody Tube amp and a vintage Teisco someone touched up for my liking, so I need some ear shattering stuff to jam to, so please give me some levity and chill the hell out." Nonon scoffed back at the cashier as she stood impatiently in front of him.
"Okay, okay then, Ms. Jakuzure. I did hear about what happened to Tokyo yesterday. Shit's really fucked up indeed. Anyhow, the total price for buying these CDs is about 3600 yen." the cashier told Nonon, which prompted her to take out the requested amount of yen to pay for her purchases and hand them over to the cashier. Once she did so, the cashier took the cash, opened the cash register, took out some yen to give to Nonon to give back the extraneous funds that she handed over to him, then added, "Would you like me to put these babies in a bag for you?"
"Sure, why not." Nonon shrugged as the cashier put his customer's CDs into a paper bag and handed said bag over to her, which finally allowed her to leave the store after engaging in a rather awkward conversation with him.
Minutes later, after she left the record shop, Nonon was seen casually walking towards what seemed to be an empty space covered in cement, albeit with a pole standing by it that had some buttons and a speaker on it. She then pressed one of the buttons and awkwardly spoke into said speaker, "It's...uhhhh...skinny dipping time?"
Right before her eyes, the cement floor split open into two halves and out emerged a steel doorway that opened up as well upon arriving onto the surface, leading towards a staircase that, much like the door, was also made out of steel.
Knowing that the others inside were waiting for her to return, Nonon entered the door and descending onto the staircase, passing by some armed Nudist Beach guards, who acknowledged her by nodding their heads and a few metal corridors. She then reached the bottom and found herself facing another steel door that operated a bit like a door for a refrigerator, opened it up and entered the Nudist Beach base itself, which was a very sprawling building that was more or less a subterranean military base, complete with individual living spaces for those who are temporarily living there.
"Welcome back, Ms. Jakuzure. Did you enjoy shopping at the nearby record shop?" a higher ranked Nudist Beach solider asked her as she passed by him.
"It was alright. I miss the record shops in Tokyo though." Nonon immediately replied while not even making any eye contact. "Gonna go vent my frustrations now, so if you or the others need me, i'll be in the echo chamber. Especially Satsuki, since i'd really appreciate it if she popped in for a little bit."
"Will do, Ms. Jakuzure." the solider replied back as he saw Nonon walk towards an area in the base. He then thought to himself, "I might as well just keep standing here now."
Right as Nonon made her way towards the echo chamber, she passed by the mess haul, which, inside the kitchen, Sukuyo Mankanshoku and Kinue Kinagase were seen standing by each other in front of some food, seemingly trying to figure out how to prepare a meal for an entire base full of people that would satisfy everyone.
"I dunno, Sukuyo. I guess we could just whip up some of your world famous croquettes." Kinue spoke out as both women contemplated on all of the ingredients available for them.
"I'm sure everyone in the base would appreciate that, Kinue, but we could also make some dumplings, some steak noodle bowls and heck...we could top it off with one of your desserts." Sukuyo replied as she started pulling out the required ingredients to make her croquettes.
"I like the sound of that. Makes me feel better that some of the stuff I made in the past few days will finally be eaten and not go to waste." Kinue spoke back as she began the preparations to make some noodle bowls for everyone in the base.
In another part of the base, Soichiro Kiryuin, Aikuro Mikisugi, Tsumuga Kinagase and Mitsuharu Jakuzure were seen standing in front of a dry erase board while Ryuko Kiryuin and, of course, Satsuki Matoi were sitting on a bench across from their superiors.
"I still can't believe you weren't dead after all, dad." Ryuko told Soichiro as she still had a hard time comprehending this particular factoid her mother lied about over all these years. "Why did you cut off all communication from me? Why didn't you try to get me away from mother like you did with...her."
"Ryuko, my youngest daughter, there was absolutely no way for me to get you out of your mother's clutches. The life fiber experiments we subjected you to were a complete success, which made you the most precious thing in the world to your mother. Satsuki, on the other hand, was regarded to be a total failure when we did the same exact experiments to her before you were born...at the time since time has proven us to be utterly wrong."
"I know that, dad, but why in the friggin' world did you have to fake your own death...RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY OWN GODDAMN EYES WHEN I WAS JUST A CHILD! JUST A CHILD WHO'S FATHER MEANT EVERYTHING TO HER!" Satsuki screamed out, showcasing a rare display of outright anger and venom to her father.
"Had I kept living life under my real name and showing my real face for the whole world to see, your mother would've caught on and god knows what she would've done to the both of us, Satsuki. Not only that but if we were caught, then Nui Harime would've had no chance at living a normal life either."
"And look what happened to Nui, dad. Talk about a waste of fuckin' energy and effort." Ryuko bluntly chimed in as she had her arms crossed against her chest.
"What your mother did to Nui in the past few days cannot be blamed on me, Ryuko. Your mother is a very powerful person and had only become even more powerful once she returned from that trip she took, which is something I like you to elaborate me on. Why exactly did your mother go out of the country to do, Ryuko? What was it and what was the ultimate purpose of said trip?"
"She went to Tunisia to check up on some original life fiber that some associates of her recently unearthed as far as I can recall. This was around the same time I...ahem...admittedly went a little overboard with my urges to kill your daughter...who I now know is also my sister, by asking my stepdad to build me an oversized killbot, so things were a little weird at the time but now I look back on that particular time frame, I kinda wished my mind was a little clear enough to beg my mother not to leave and and had I done so, then perhaps she would've not made contact with that life fiber and become the inhumane monster she is now." Ryuko replied while expressing some genuine grief and regret, also quite a rare display emotions on her part as much as Satsuki expressing rage and hatred several seconds earlier.
Upon hearing a scarce sense of compassion coming out of Ryuko's mother, Satsuki calmed down a bit, looked at her and chimed in, "Even though this situation we're in blows major chunks, I am rather pleased to see you acting like a human being."
"I don't know if I want to just call you an ugly manfaced bitch again for old time's sake or just say 'thank you', Satsuki, but I do appreciate that compliment." Ryuko replied, looking as conflicted as she expressed verbally.
"That makes me feel very good...my imouto." Satsuki responded while sporting a warm smile.
Upon hearing what her older sister said, Ryuko's curved her lips into a scowl and replied in a very droll tone, "Don't expect me to suddenly call you 'nee-san' now, Satsuki."
"Very well, then, Ryuko." Satsuki spoke back, accepting the fact that in spite of her and Ryuko both knowing they're family now, there's still quite a bit of animosity between then that isn't set to completely disappear any time soon. "Still...i'm actually more mad at our father than I am at you at this moment."
"I have to agree with that sentiment, Satsuki." Ryuko nodded her head and gave Soichiro a dirty look. "He abandoned my ass with my mother and made you think he was dead and pretended to be someone else just to raise you and give that lost cause of a science experiment that is Nui Harime the false idea of her being able to live a normal life. In other words, he's a jerk."
"I thought you were gonna call him a ungrateful bastard, Ryuko Kiryuin." Senketsu asked his wearer in a rather sarcastic tone. "That's what i've come to expect from you."
"Or perhaps she might've went as far as to call him a cum slurping, assfucking, snot licking cuntface asslord of a father." Junketsu chimed in, making the sarcasm of his brother's comment look very tame in comparison.
"I never said anything that vulgar." Ryuko replied in a rather bemused, weirdly polite tone, taken aback by what her sister's kamui said.
"I hate to break it to you, Ryuko, but you really did get that vulgar on a handful of occasions." Senketsu spoke back, admitting that what his brother said of his wearer was very much true.
"Gosh dammit, you two! We got enough fuckin' stress to deal with, so don't put me on the damn spot. We should instead refocus our attention on me and Satsuki's dad, then eventually figure out how the hell we're gonna take Tokyo back from our mother!" Ryuko shouted, growing increasingly frustrated with how the kamuis are grilling her.
"Yeah, our dad's a bit of a jerk, though with some good intentions, particularly with him giving our other sister an opportunity to live a normal life and yeah, I know you've had a major potty mouth ever since we started feuding, Ryuko, but I honestly have no idea how in the world we'll be able to take our mother down and restore Tokyo back to normal." Satsuki chimed in as she stood up and looked at her sister. "Things are so bad, I feel like it's impossible for just us, our friends and Nudist Beach combined to take Ragyo down alone."
"That's why we all evacuated from Tokyo in the first place and retreated to Ōsaka." Soichiro spoke up to address some lingering questions from his daughters. "We're gonna have to eventually leave Japan altogether and travel abroad to build up an army for our war, Satsuki. We'll need the best, most skilled people we can find across the globe and convince them to join us in order to dethrone Ragyo Kiryuin and restore order to Tokyo. It may take us months to assemble an army but I know that with you and your sister Ryuko by our side, we can do it. We can finally put an end to Ragyo's tyranny and right all of the wrongs the Kiryuin Conglomerate have committed in our world."
"And perhaps we can also find a way and save my partner from herself while we're at it." Tsumuga chimed in, all while Aikuro remained surprisingly silent throughout the course of this discussion.
"That...i'm not too terribly sure if it'll be possible, especially since I know what has become of Nui will refuse to even let us get her back on the medication, but we'll try our best to find a way to bring her back to normal as well." Soichiro replied, trying his hardest to both keep this possibility in doubt but also leave a little bit of lingering hope in it becoming something that can be accomplished.
"Well if that's the game plan in stopping my mother, then i'm all for i...", Ryuko spoke out in an enthusiastic tone, but right before she finished her energy ridden statement, she heard her cellphone ring, which made her look at the others with a rather embarrassed expression and add, "Excuse me, everyone. Someone wants to speak with me, it seems."
"Go ahead and speak to them, Ryuko. Just be sure to check who's calling before you answer it, especially if it turns out to be your mother." Soichiro told his youngest daughter in a very dead serious tone.
"Yeah yeah yeah...dad. I understand." Ryuko quickly grumbled back as she pulled her cellphone out and checked the number on its screen, only to discover that Gi Man was giving her a call.
"Gi Man! It's good to hear from you." Ryuko told her stepfather as she walked away from everyone else in the room. "How are you doing?"
"Not good, Ryuko. Not good at fuckin' all." Gi Man whispered as he, for some reason, was draped in complete darkness. "Your mother has gone completely mad!"
"I know that already. More than just mad, if you ask me, but rather completely batshit insane!" Ryuko replied while holding her left hand towards her mouth in an attempt to prevent others from listening to her conversation with her stepfather.
"That sounds more fitting to your mother, Ryuko, but I do wonder...where the hell are you anyways?"
"I'm in Ōsaka with some other people, Gi Man. What about you?"
"I'm inside a box on the second floor of HQ, Ryuko. I've been trying to escape this blasted place for the past half hour after I finally realized that i'm probably gonna be toast sooner or later, especially with how your mother is acting and that she's hired this Canadian therapist dude to...I dunno...track you and that lady you've been in a feud with for most of the school year. Wasn't her name Satsuki Matoi or something?"
As soon as she heard the news of an uninvited guest making his way to Ōsaka, Ryuko's eyes widened in despair, knowing that she had to inform this new piece of information to the others. She then replied to her stepdad, "Oh shit. I'm glad you told me that because had you not, me and Satsuki would've been completely fucked."
"Yeah...and if keep on talking to you for much longer, i'm gonna be fucked. Perhaps i'll fill you in what happened to me once I get my ass out of...ahem...Honno City and enter Ōsaka to meet up with you and the others." Gi Man responded back to Ryuko as he remained inside the box, watching several armored guards that used to be directly employed by him pass by.
"Okay, Gi Man. Good luck." Ryuko told her stepfather for the last time in their phone conversation, only to then hang up, granting Gi Man a chance to resume his escape and for her to inform the others the info he passed on for her.
"What's the matter, Ryuko?" Satsuki asked her younger sister as she approached her. "Anything interesting to note in your phone conversation?"
"Someone is on their way to confront us...and not for particularly noble or valiant reasons, Satsuki." Ryuko replied with a rather concerned expression.
"Oh come on, Ryuko. We can both take him on. I'm sure he's gonna be a total push over with the help of our kamuis." Satsuki boasted back, sounding far more confident than her sister.
"That's not what bothers me, Satsuki. What bothers me is that my stepfather might get in the way and risk himself of getting killed if he gets here when that uninvited guest makes his grand entrance." Ryuko quickly replied, showing far more emotion than she had when she and Satsuki were actively feuding with each other.
"Wait. That Gi Man guy is coming to Ōsaka? What if this is a trap our mother set up just to get us back?"
"Our mom? Using Gi Man as a part of her scheme? Fuck no! The guy never gave a shit about life fibers. If more than anything, mother probably tried to murder him, which is why he's fleeing from her clutches so he can be back with me in safe hands." Ryuko nervously laughed at what her sister said, albeit the laughter was mostly insinuated by Satsuki assuming Gi Man was working with Ragyo and the nervous nature of it from the possibility of her stepdad getting killed by the mysterious individual he mentioned.
Well if that's the case, maybe we should go help him out. We'll both go out and wait for him...and if that other person shows up, we'll be ready to fight him." Satsuki spoke back as she picked up her scissor blade, one hundred percent ready for a fight. "It's perhaps for the best we wait instead of getting caught off-guard in a sneak attack."
"I agree, Satsuki Matoi." Junketsu chimed in as he looked at his wearer.
"I'm with my brother and Satsuki on this one, Ryuko. I think it would be nice for us to fight on the same side with them for once." Senketsu spoke up, suggesting Ryuko to agree with what her sister said and join with her going outside the base to wait for both Gi Man and the other individual that's supposedly making his way to Ōsaka.
For a few seconds, Ryuko thought to herself on what the potential repercussions could be when she and Satsuki leaves the base to engage in a fight with one person and help the life of another, then looked back at her sister and replied, "Fuck it, Satsuki. You're right. There's no way that asshole our mother sent could be a match for us! Let's get out of this base and kick that son of a bitch's ass!"
"Alright then, Ryuko. Let's get going." Satsuki replied back while smiling, only to then walk out of the room so she could make her way out of the base, with Ryuko close behind.
"Soichiro, should we stop your daughters from leaving?" Aikuro asked his superior, wondering what he and Tsumuga should do.
"No, Aikuro. Let the girls go. They're more than capable enough of handling these kind of things." Soichiro replied as he saw his daughters leave the room. "Besides, we could use some extra hands around here if they manage to safely help Ryuko's stepfather out."
Back at the exterior of the Kiryuin Conglomerate headquarters in the newly renamed "Honno City", the box Gi Man was using to quietly escape the building was seen cautiously waddling away from the main doors and towards a nearby car, all while narrowly avoiding some more armed forces in heavy armor.
He then waited a few seconds to let several more armed forces enter one of their combat vans and drive away, buying him even more time for the sake of his own life.
Once the van was gone, Gi Man then resumed carefully trekking his way down the street, even going as far as to where he finally managed to get a safe distance away from the Kiryuin Conglomerate headquarters. However, he then spotted a taxi that was accompanied by a rather disgruntled looking individual that was cussing up a storm.
"Ah hah! Looks like that could be my meal ticket out of this Orwellian hellhole my wife has made of this lovely city." Gi Man inquired upon seeing the Taxi. Without any question, he then quickly waddled his way towards it, stood up, took the box off his head and asked the driver, "Hello, good sir. Can you please help me out?"
"Fuck you, Mr. Gi Man!" the taxi driver yelled back as he pulled a pistol out and aimed it at his head. "I want fuck all to do with you Kiryuin Conglomerate bastards! You're ruining our city for what? Fun and games? Get the fuck away from me or i'll blow your goddamn beak off, you son of a bitch!"
"Whoa there, buddy." Gi Man replied as he backed away from the angry taxi driver. "I am in no way affiliated with the Kiryuin Conglomerate anymore. My bitch of a wife usurped everything I had and left me with jack shit! I mean, she took Tabuchi ArmsTech, a company I built from the ground up with my own blood, sweat and tears, away from me for fuck's sake!"
"You better not be lying to me, cocksucker." the taxi driver responded, somewhat confused by the information Gi Man told him.
"I swear i'm not lying to you, good sir." Gi Man nervously spoke back while sporting a genuine, albeit slightly cheesy smile. "All I need you to do for me is help drive me to Ōsaka so I can reunite with my stepdaughter. She's the only person who can protect me against Lady Kiryuin."
"Well that's what I was planning to do until you crept up onto me like a total asshole, Mr. Gi Man, but if you insist you have no ties to the Kiryuin Conglomerate anymore, then i'll help take you to Ōsaka and nothing more, okay?" the taxi driver replied, still having some slight reservations towards helping Gi Man, let alone interact with him in the first place.
"Good. I tremendously appreciate your assistance." Gi Man spoke back as he opened the door to the passenger seat closest to him, got into the taxi and slammed the door shut.
"Now please stay quiet for my own sake, Mr. Gi Man. I want this drive to be as silent and annoyance free as possible." the taxi driver told Gi Man as he put his seat belt, who nodded back and reclined himself against the seat as the taxi revved back to life and drove away.
"So what do you think this asshole looks like, Satsuki?" Ryuko asked her sister as they sat on a rooftop, watching the street below.
"I honestly have no clue, Ryuko." Satsuki replied as she playfully tapped the lever on her glove. "All I know is that this person is gonna have a heck of a time trying to take us on."
"Fuck yeah, Satsuki! The bastard is gonna get his ass kicked hard!" Ryuko boasted in a rather cocky tone as she stood up and pumped her right fist in the air while unsheathing Bakuzan.
"Don't get too crazy now, Ryuko. Gotta conserve our energy for when we confront him, not waste it for silliness like this." Senketsu told his wearer while looking up at her face with his eye.
"Oh for fuck's sake, Senketsu. I doubt I was wasting any of my fuckin' energy for getting excited." Ryuko snickered back while clenching her teeth out of sheer annoyance.
"Please stop arguing with your kamui, Ryuko. I think our company has just arrived." Satsuki spoke up as she saw a charcoal gray hearse pull up by a nearby building.
Before either girl could do anything, they saw a strangely dressed individual exit out of the hearse, who turned out to be none other than the Staple Eyed Gentleman, who then looked up at the building Satsuki and Ryuko were standing on and asked them in a bizarrely polite manner, "Excuse me, girls, but are you the younger daughters of Lady Ragyo Kiryuin, Primarch of Honno City?"
"Why the fuck should we tell you shit?" Ryuko shouted back in such a manner it was almost like there was venom dripping out of her lips. "Hell, why the fuck would we spew any kind of information to some second rate slasher film villain looking jackass?!"
"Heh. You're as feisty as your mother told me you, Ryuko Kiryuin." the Staple Eyed Gentleman replied, still sounding as every bit as eerily polite as he did when he first spoke to the girls several seconds ago. "And isn't it a bit rude to be making fun of people you don't know all that well?"
"Oooooooh. Did if offend you? If I did, perhaps I should tell you to man the fuck up, you spineless, limp dick pussy." Ryuko scoffed back in a rather crass way, not taking the masked man seriously at all.
"Hmph. You're also quite the loud mouth, Ryuko Kiryuin. Perhaps I should speak with your sister instead." the Staple Eyed Gentleman responded, which he then pulled out the machete by his right hand, pointed it towards the black and blue haired girl and asked, "Satsuki Matoi, can you and your sister please come down and accompany me back to Honno City? If you two do so in a polite, hassle free manner, I will not be compelled to hurt you."
"How about I ask you a question, mister." Satsuki spoke back as she aimed her scissor blade towards the masked man. "Are you a Canadian therapist?"
"Well, Ms. Matoi, as a matter of fact...I am known by some individuals as Dr. Richard Batty, a well renown therapist in North America, but...at this very moment, i'm not here to analyze you and your sister, but rather...i'm here to take you both home to your mother, regardless if you want to or not." he replied as he cocked his head and tapped his right fingers onto the handle of the machete he was holding onto with said hand.
Knowing that the masked man was ready for a fight, Ryuko turned her head towards her sister and whispered, "Shall we go fuck this bitch ass motherfucker up now, Satsuki?"
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"Sure thing, Ryuko." Satsuki whispered back while smiling. "Let's synchronize with our kamuis while we're at it."
"Fuck yeah!" Ryuko exclaimed as she and her sister activated their respective kamuis in their own specific way (with Ryuko flicking the small red plates of steel on the left upper arm part of her kamui with her index, ring and middle fingers in that specific order and Satsuki twisting and pulling the lever on the glove), with each going through their own elaborate synchronization sequences.
LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE, KAMUI JUNKETSU!
LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE, KAMUI SENKETSU!
"Mmmmmm...things are getting interesting." the Staple Eyed Gentleman inquired as he saw the girls, now synchronized with their kamuis and jumping off the rooftop, lunging their respective swords towards him.
As soon as the girls reached him but right before they landed on the ground feet first, the masked man immediately pulled his other machete out and blocked both Bakuzan and Satsuki's scissor blade, holding them firmly away from him.
"What the fuck?!" Ryuko angrily shouted as she both her and Satsuki's attacks were quickly blocked by the masked man's machetes.
"Calm down, Ryuko." Satsuki politely told her sister as they were both caught in a gridlock against the masked man. "Can't afford to get too hasty now."
"Fuck being cautious! I want to stop this bastard DEAD ON HIS TRACKS!" Ryuko screamed back as she managed to break out of the gridlock (which consequently helped Satsuki get out of hers too) and swing Bakuzan a few more times at the masked man, only for him to quickly deflect them. He did the same with Satsuki, who, in spite of not being at her more focused and conditioned, was still considerably more precises than Ryuko's raw bluntness.
"Girls, you shouldn't bicker with each other. I haven't had this much fun with my prey in YEARS!" the masked man joyfully exclaimed as he kept deflecting their attacks with ease. "Normally, I would be the one singlehandedly delivering all of the gratuitous damage, but for the first time in forever, i'm finally fighting against people who can actually fight back for once!"
"Can't you just shut the fuck up, you annoying ass prick!?" Ryuko shouted as she grew frustrated with how seemingly flawless the masked man deflected and avoided the attacks both her and Satsuki were hurling at him. "JUST LET ME FUCKIN' HURT YOU!"
"For goodness sake, Ryuko, don't let yourself get all worked up like this. He'll eventually get fatigued and exhausted, which should buy us a chance to get the upper hand." Satsuki calmly told her sister in spite of also being in quite the predicament with the masked man's surprising agile finesse in the heat of battle.
"I'm afraid that ain't happening anytime soon, Ms. Matoi." the masked man replied as he then sliced Satsuki's chest with his left machete and cut through Ryuko's right arm with his right machete. "I may be an old fart by your standards, but i'm far more dangerous than you can even comprehend, girls."
"This guy is tough, Satsuki Matoi. Things aren't gonna be as easy as we thought." Junketsu told his wearer as she had her left hand firmly planted over the fresh wound on her chest, in spite of it already healing.
"Do you sense any life fibers in him?" Satsuki asked her kamui out of curiosity and for her own well-being.
"No. There's something different about him. He's got no life fibers, but there's something rather...supernatural to him in some ways." Junketsu replied, informing Satsuki about what he could gather from the Staple Eyed Gentleman's genetic make-up.
"Interesting. We'll have to be extra careful handling this guy now...which is something my SISTER should take into consideration right at this instant." Satsuki replied back, starting off with her normally calm demeanor and then making it slightly harsher when she mentioned Ryuko.
"For fuck's sake, Satsuki! I'm trying my best!" Ryuko yelled at her sister as she was temporarily fighting the masked man by herself.
"You girls bicker with each other quite a bit, I see." the masked man spoke out as he ducked upon seeing an incoming swipe from Bakuzan, stabbed Ryuko in the chest with his left machete and threw the right machete towards Satsuki, which manage to also ram itself into her chest, knocking quite a bit of wind out of her sails.
"That's because we just learned we're sisters the other day, asshole!" Ryuko screamed back as she pulled the machete out of her chest, tossed it aside and made a mad dash towards the masked man, thinking he was going to be much easier now due to him temporarily losing his weapons but much to her shock, he leaped over her and punched her right in the face upon landing on his feet.
"God fucking dammit!" Ryuko angrily yelled after getting slugged in the face, only to then retaliate by swinging Bakuzan towards the masked man a few more times, only to again get whacked by a succession of punches and kicks he delivered in a style that seemed to be fifty percent boxing and fifty percent muay thai, a very lethal and effect combination of fighting disciplines.
"You see, Ryuko Kiryuin...back in the 90s when Mixed Martial Arts...the old style where anything goes, not that pussy ass watered down shit you see scrubs like Cain Velasquez and Jon Jones practicing these days, I actually spent some time in a lot of dojos across North America, learning quite a few martial arts disciplines to get myself into one of those early UFC tournaments but that never quite came to fruition since I was already pushing forty at the time and I doubt moonlighting as a fighter would do well for my already growing reputation as a popular therapist. However, I don't regret learning how to fight, especially since i'd figure I would eventually confront a victim that could fight back." the masked man told Ryuko as he clobbered her back and forth with some more punches and kicks, almost coming across as a surreal display of human pinball.
As she witnessed her sister getting beaten up, Satsuki quickly ripped the machete out of her own chest, held onto it with her left hand and charged at the masked man, nicking his back with her scissor blade and his left calf with the machete, abruptly ending his hand to hand assault on Ryuko.
"I could've handled him on my own, Satsuki!" Ryuko yelled at her sister, frustrated that she helped her out.
"Not from what I saw, Ryuko." Satsuki shrugged back since she saw her sister fail to take out the masked man and had to be the one to help her.
"You girls are just making this way too fun now." the Staple Eyed Gentleman told them as he shook the cobwebs out of his head and picked the machete that was on the floor up to resume fighting. He then ran towards them with his machete raised in the air and both Satsuki and Ryuko put their bickering aside and once again engaged fighting their current enemy combatant in what has already been a far more drawn out battle than they initially anticipated.
"Dad, have you see Satsuki?" Nonon asked her father as she entered the room the top members of Nudist Beach were sitting in. "I was hoping she would come by and visit me as I was messing with my guitar."
"She...and her sister left the base ten minutes ago." Mitsuharu Jakuzure replied to his daughter, knowing that she wouldn't be too happy to hear that particular piece of information. "They had to both help someone that was coming to the base and confront an unwelcome guest that was en-route to retrieve them."
"OH SHIT! I gotta go help them!" Nonon shouted upon learning that her best friend was going to engage in a fight alongside her sister, only to then add, "I'll be right back." and run out of said room, leaving her father to worry for her.
"Shit. Ōsaka isn't quite as safe as we thought." Aikuro muttered out loudly after he and the others saw Nonon run out of the room as quickly as she entered it.
"Not necessarily." Soichiro shrugged back nonchalantly. "It's just a matter of some interlopers trying to make things riskier for us."
Upon entering her family's living quarters in the base, Nonon ran into her bedroom, took all of her clothes off, hastily put the goku uniform Ragyo Kiryuin commissioned the now-late Charlie Tapatío to make her on, picked up her baton, quickly ran out of said living quarters altogether, made her way to the entrance door, activated her goku uniform and flew out of the base, ready to help her best friend out once again.
"Hang in there, Satsuki. I'm on my way." Nonon told herself as she flew past the steel corridors in the lengthy entrance way to the base, trying to leave the area in a timely manner.
"Give yourselves up, girls. Face your defeat so we don't keep your mother waiting for much longer." the Staple Eyed Gentleman told Satsuki and Ryuko as he clashed his machete with Bakuzan and both his other, temporarily stolen machete and Satsuki's scissor blade.
"Fat chance." Satsuki groaned back as she kept the masked man busy by swinging her scissor blade and the machete she "borrowed" from him towards the machete he still had in his possession.
"SATSUKI!" Nonon yelled as she flew out of the Nudist Beach base, hurling towards the masked man at a blindingly fast speed.
"Oh. What do we have he..." the Staple Eyed Gentleman remarked as he saw a glob of colors speeding towards him but before he could finish his comment, Nonon collided with him in a such an intense manner, she managed to not only tackle him, but also grab a hold of him and even toss him towards a nearby wall that she flew past by as soon as she got close to it, shortly after she threw the man that was fighting her long time best friend.
"Nonon! Be careful!" Satsuki shouted in shock as she saw her best friend get involved in this battle.
"Don't worry, Satsuki. I got this asshole by the ass!" Nonon joyfully shouted back in a rather cocky tone as she saw the masked man stand back up and made herself turn around to fly towards and tackle him again.
"Ragyo didn't mention this kid to me." Richard inquired as he saw the third girl quickly flying towards him, but before she got close enough to him, smoke sprayed out of her goku uniform and the threads inside said uniform cracked apart and deteriorated, reducing it to nothing and leaving Nonon complete butt naked as she fell onto the pavement and rolled her way towards him.
"NONON!" Satsuki yelled as she saw her best friend in a far more vulnerable state than usual.
Despite what seemed to be a minor inconvenience to her, Nonon stood back up, clenched her fists and told the masked man, "You stay away from my best friend or i'll kick your..." but she then immediately felt a cold breeze past by her chest and groin, which felt incredibly awkward to the point that she realized that she was, indeed, in the nude.
"I don't care if you're naked, missy. I'll still gut you alive regardless if you have clothes on or not." Richard replied with quite a bit of menace in his voice.
"I...uhhh...am afraid that's not gonna happen." Nonon stammered back, completely embarrassed that her goku uniform was no more and that she wasn't of any use to her friend while having nothing to defend herself with.
"Why not? I can never get tired of killing people for the hell of it." Richard responded as he stood up, lifted his machete and pointed it at Satsuki's freshly nude best friend and although he had intended to run up towards him, he was knocked onto the floor when Ryuko suddenly slashed the front side of his right leg with Bakuzan, making him land mask first.
"You stay the fuck down, asshole!" Ryuko shouted as she lightly leaned the sharp edge of Bakuzan towards the masked man's neck. "If you get up, i'll make you bleed!"
"Not happening, kid." Richard snickered back as he straight up jammed his machete into Ryuko's stomach while standing back up, ripped it right back out and backhanded here out of his way. He then stumbled back to the hearse he rode in, opened the trunk and pulled out the coffin resting in it.
"Who's in there?" Satsuki asked the masked man as she heard some screaming and banging echoing from within said coffin.
"Someone I assume to be a familiar face to you, Satsuki Matoi." Richard replied as he opened the casket and, much to her horror, pulled her ex-boyfriend out of it.
"MASANORI!" Satsuki yelled as she saw the masked man apply a choke hold onto him and shoved him towards a nearby wall.
"You see, Satsuki Matoi...i'm not someone to take likely. If you and your sister don't surrender yourselves to me, i'll slit this helpless bastard's throat." Richard yelled back, raising his voice for the first time and sounding a bit more desperate than before.
"How about I make Bakuzan drink this fucker's blood, Satsuki?!" Ryuko asked her sister, dying to just completely kill the masked man.
"No, Ryuko. I'll...find a way to get my ex out of that man's clutches. Just...trust me." Satsuki told her sister as she nudged her scissor blade towards her. She then started to approach the masked man and added, "Can we negotiate, Mr. Staple Eyed Gentleman? I don't want my ex-boyfriend to be a casualty in any way."
"...i'm listening, Satsuki Matoi." Richard replied as he let go of his grip on Masanori. "Care to elaborate this...negotiation you want to initiate with me?"
"I...want you to just take me back to Tokyo...alone. Leave Ryuko behind and take me to my mother." Satsuki told the masked man, swallowing her pride considerably.
"And you want me to take you but not your sister...for the sake of this guy you claim to be your ex-boyfriend? I doubt your mother would be pleased with getting only one of you back in her nest." Richard replied as he clamped onto Masanori's shirt with his left hand and aimed the sharp end of his machete towards the young man's neck again.
"That's because you won't make us do it anyway!" Satsuki yelled as she suddenly plunged the machete she borrowed from the masked man into his stomach, which caught him off-guard completely.
For the first time in his life, Richard Batty felt the amount of pain he would inflict on his victims in a rather curious case of role reversal as he started to slowly slide down onto the pavement..
Unfortunately, in spite of bleeding his guts out and being mortally wounded, he got the last laugh as Satsuki suddenly saw blood run down Masanori's neck.
When she stabbed the Staple Eyed Gentleman, he reacted by slitting Masanori's neck in a split second, something even Satsuki couldn't quite anticipate.
"MAAAAAAAAAASAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIII!" Satsuki screamed as she saw blood spewing out of her ex-boyfriend's neck like a fountain, all while he firmly clutched onto the fatal wound with both hands. Without zero hesitation, she dropped the machete, quickly darted up to him and wrapped her arms onto him in an attempt to coddle him.
"I'm so sorry, Masanori. Please...don't blame for what happened. Please!" she begged him at his life slowly seeped out of his body.
"I...*cough*...can't, Satsuki. I know it wasn't your fault and...*cough*...you tried your best to stop that psychotic son of a...*cough*...bitch." Masanori calmly replied as he struggled to talk in spite of his throat being exposed by the fresh machete wound. He then pulled his cellphone out of one of his jeans pockets, handed it over to her and added, "...*cough*...please. Call my dear Izanami and tell her i'm at peace now. Don't...*cough*...be afraid to explain everything to her. She'll...*cough*...forgive you."
"I promise, old friend. I promise." Satsuki told him as a stream of tears tumbled down her cheeks, trying her hardest to not cry. "Me and the others will try our hardest to take care of her."
"Good...good. Thank...you." Masanori replied for one last time as he then slowly leaned his head back and left the land of the living for good.
As she realized her ex-boyfriend died in her own arms, Satsuki put her scissor blade aside, closed Masanori's eyes for him, told his body, "Goodbye...old lover. Thank you for all of the good times we spent together." and proceeded to hug his lifeless corpse out of love.
"This isn't over, Satsuki Matoi and Ryuko Kiryuin. This isn't over at all." the Staple Eyed Gentleman weakly told them as he was seen opening the driver's seat door of the hearse he was driving, having retried the machete he temporarily lost, placed both of them back into their respective holsters and was leaning against said hearse as he was bleeding profusely.
"Oh trust me, you motherfucker. Me and Satsuki will destroy your pathetic ass and once you're out of the fuckin' way, we'll tear our mother apart from limb to fucking limb!" Ryuko screamed back as she pointed Bakuzan towards the masked man, all while he struggled to get into the hearse and drive all, largely due to the excruciating amount of pain he was suffering.
Right after Ryuko finished her threat, the masked man drove away, leaving her and Satsuki to deal with Masanori Kakinomoto's corpse and the potential backlash from his untimely demise.
"Are you okay, Satsuki?" Ryuko asked her sister in a strangely tender tone as she approached her.
"Yeah, Ryuko. I just need to give Masanori's girlfriend a call." a teary eyed Satsuki replied as she snorted and looked through the contacts list of her freshly deceased ex-boyfriend's cellphone. As soon as she found the number for Izanami Nishimura's cellphone, she dialed it and waited several seconds before someone finally answered it.
"Hello? Is this Izanami Nishimura?" Satsuki asked the person who answered Izanami's phone, who turned out to not be Izanami at all, but rather someone who she didn't even want to speak with at all.
Her own mother.
"Are you there, Izanami Nishimura? This is Satsuki Matoi and have some very unfortunately news to tell you." Satsuki added as she continued to speak on Masanori's cellphone, assuming that Izanami answered it. "...some masked man killed your boyfriend. I...tried to save him but I was unable to. Please forgive me for this tragedy."
As soon as Ragyo heard what Satsuki unintentionally told her, she hung the cellphone up, turned her head towards a young woman shrouded in darkness and spoke out, "Looks like your boyfriend's old girlfriend cost him his life...Ms. Izanami Nishimura."
"That...that cannot be, Lady Kiryuin! Satsuki would never hurt him!" Izanami replied, completely horrified by the verbal information she just received.
"Once Doctor Batty gets back into town, perhaps we'll get his side of the story, but until then...please report to my grand couturier. She's looking forward to get your measurements for the goku uniform she wants to make for you." Ragyo replied back in a very cold yet oddly charismatic tone.
"Yes, Lady Kiryuin. I'll pay Nui Harime a visit, but please...I need to know what happened to my fiance once the Canadian gets back here." Izanami responded as she stood up and began to leave Ragyo's office.
"I'll let you know when Richard gets back here, Ms. Nishimura. You can trust me." Ragyo told the young woman as she watched her leave the office. Once Izanami was gone, Ragyo then turned her chair around and told herself, "Perhaps if my dear friend Richard Batty was unsuccessful in retrieving my daughters, perhaps i'll help him...put a team together to get them back. A team...of total maniacs that will stop nothing to give me my lovely daughters Ryuko and Satsuki back to my nest. Our reunion...cannot afford any more delays..at all."