All my apologies for this chapter are at the end. Let's get started.
Disclaimer: I don't own World Trigger and each Oc belongs respective authors.
Chapter 34: Kotowari Squad: Part 4
"So it's them then? Hm... This might be tricky, especially since Nasu Squad has the right to choose the area this time... Not to mention our spawning locations are chosen at random..." Tapping his head a few times, Takeshi thought about their plan of action. He knew he could think of something for one squad, but he also had to take the other squad into consideration as well.
"I won't be able to take out Akane-chan with my usual way. Maybe not at all."
"Hm?"
"I'm only have the sniping Triggers and support Triggers on me."
"I see..." Taping his head again, Takeshi came up with something. "Alright... Even if Toby's Side Effect he's won't be able to beat Nasu-senpai, so I'll take her on, as well as Wakamura. Toby, you try and get Kumagai-senpai, Miura and Katori-senpai. If either you or Hoshi happen to find Hiura then take her out. Hoshi, since this will be your first rank war match, you'll help in backing the two of us."
"... Got it."
"Hm? Something wrong?"
"A-ah! No! Sorry! Something was just on my mind!" Giving a smile, Hoshi grabbed her arm and said, "Just leave support to me!"
"Alright then." Standing up, Takeshi headed for the door with a sigh. "Sorry, but I have something to do, but I'll come up with an actual plan later."
"Alright then! I'll be going as well," Suzume said as she jumped to her feet. "I have an idiot to go kill!"
"Can I go! I wanna go big Ai for a bit!" Toby quickly followed after the female Sniper.
"Sigh..."
"Is something the matter?"
"A-ah... No... It's just that..." Fidgeting a little in her seat, Hoshi looked at the ground. "I was hoping that I could...actually fight against Katori-senpai..."
"I'm Takeshi already knew that," Mei said calmly. "He's thinking about the points and keeping you all on the map until the very end. He's being a leader, that's all."
"I know... I get it, but..." Letting out a sigh, Hoshi slapped her cheeks and got a determined look. "Alright! I'll put my personal thoughts aside to help score points!"
Mei could help but to let out a small laugh at this. She knew that when the younger girl got like this she souod focus on what needed to be done. That being said...
"There is a loophole in this."
"A loophole?"
"If Toby just to happens to be fighting Katori..."
"Then I can go...and support him!" Getting a sparkle in her eyes, Hoshi grabbed Mei's hand in her own. "Would you really do that?"
"Well you all do need to take out the opponents, right? And under one condition. "
"Thank you!"
"So we're going against them, hm? It shouldn't be too hard."
"They're some of the ones you really can't underestimate."
"Can you tell us anything about Taiyōko-chan, Rokkun?"
Katori Squad as currently sitting in their own Operation Room as they discussed their match for Round 4. After an argument or two they had gotten on track and were talking about their strategy.
"Why do you go stright to me?" the glasses boy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I just figured you would know more about her than us since you've been hanging around her for a while now," his male teammate said.
"How does that-"
"So do you know anything or not?" Katori asked, not really seeming to care. "Wait... Is she that annoying little girl who was complaining?"
"She isn't an 'annoying little girl,' but yes, we're talking about her," Wakamura said with slight irritation in his voice. "And I don't know how she fights. She's supposedly a Gunner who's learning to be an All-Rounder. She also enjoys making things and has helped to make three prototype Triggers."
"Wow~ Do you think she would use these new Triggers in our match?" Miura asked with a whistle.
"I doubt it. While Kotowari has seemed to be more open, I doubt he would want to try using new Triggers that aren't even perfected yet," their Operator, Somei said. "And since she herself is still learning, it's safe to assume she is just using Gunner-type Triggers in this match."
"I'm just gonna take her out the first chance I get," Katori said as she looked at her phone.
"Don't forget she's a member of the Taiyōko family," Somei said, looking at the captain. "I'm sure she-"
"She's not like her siblings." Wakamura said this with such seriousness that even Katori looked up at him. "She is more normal than them and joined Border because she wanted to help others. She tries really hard, but has no actual fighting talent. Don't underestimate her."
"..."
"..."
"Are you two secretly going out?"
SLAM!
"What!? Those two squads!? Are you serious!?" Kumagai let out an irritated sigh as she sat with her squad. "We just lost to Suzunari and Tamakoma, now we have to deal with these top tier B-Rank teams!?"
"This is rare. You're actually complaining about this kind of stuff, Senpai?" Akane asked, looking at the Attacker.
"It's not that! It's just that they're all odd fighters!"
"Isn't that only Kotowari Squad?" Shiki said calmly. "Katori Squad doesn't do that much odd things when fighting."
"At least it'll be easier to figure out a strategy against Kotowari Squad," Akane said happily. "Misaki-senpai will head to me, Kumagai-senpai can take on Awdry and Nasu-senpai can take on Kotowari."
"That's only if we're disregarding Katori Squad," Nasu said as she remembered the ending of Kotowari Squad's fight with Shor Squad and Tsukiko Squad. "And even then, I'm not sure if I should start with Kotowari-kun. Not only can he fire in real time, but he has his relentless attacks."
"Not to mention they all have Teleport, so they won't be easy to catch." Kumagai looked at the screen to see the recent matches. "By the way, who is this girl? I haven't seen her before."
"Oh. She's the newest member of their squad. She's Taiyōko Hoshi, a Gunner, apparently," Shiki said as she pulled up as much information as she could. "I didn't think they would let her of all people join."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"You and Hanzaki-kun go eat ice cream with her brother all the time and yet you don't even know they're related?"
"What are you... What!? Tsukiko-senpai and this Taiyōko-chan are related!"
"... Going back to the planning... Like Rei said, those match ups can only really work if we completely disregard Katori Squad, and that's obviously a bad decision."
"Hm..."
"What is it?"
"It might not be so bad if I can take out at least two members of Katori Squad." Nasu got a thoughtful expression as she thought this all out. "But I don't think I'll be able to do much against Awdry-kun, what with his Side Effect and all. Maybe when Misaki-chan fires I can get her as well."
"So Akane would have to focus on anyone other than Awdry while I take him out and you go for the other members... And this Taiyōko has to be new, so she probably won't be a problem. We're leaving her to you then, Akane."
"Okay! I'll make sure to get the shot this time!"
"I'm kinda excited for this," Yuki said as he walked down the hall. "This is the first time I'm helping with commentary, and it's for my old squad no less."
"Is that so? Can't wait to hear what you have to say." Minoru walked up next to his fellow A-Rank. "Remember to have no bias during this. Even Mr. Elite was taking it seriously duorng Round 3."
"Hm? You heading over to watch it too? What, are you their new fan, or something?" Yuki said with a causal tone. "Didn't even know they had any."
"Well last time I went to see Fuzzy Head, but this time it's to see Hime."
"Hm? Hoshi?"
"Yup. She said she'd help me out with my Trion body, so I thought I should see her fight. She also asked for my help in a certain something the other day as well, so I want to see how well she does."
"Ah~ So she observed you. Wonder what she learned."
"Hm?"
"I'll tell you later," the smaller one said as he walked off. "Ah... There is something I should tell you though."
"What?"
"Don't just stoop watching them after this match, or any of them..." Taking a glance behind, Yuki gave a grin that seemed to just fit on his face. "They'll easily go up and take that spot of the airhead you love so much." With that, he really made his way it the commentator's box.
"Hm. I guess I should give Taka a warning then."
"I am so sorry!" Hoshi gave a deep bow as she spoke. "I wasn't able complete them on time!"
"It's fine." Takeshi looked at his arms and legs to see straps fastened around them. Hoshi seemed to have the same straps on with five on each limb. "I'm just wondering why we need these straps while those two don't."
"Oh... These are for Zanzō. They are the best way to test it out."
"I see..."
"Man! I'm just itching to try out this new Trigger! Can we start already!?"
"Calm down already. Save your energy when you go up against our opponents."
"Right!"
"By the way, Yuki's gonna give the commentary this time," Mei said, waiting for the reactions. She was presently surprised when all she saw were grins and smirks.
"Let's give him a good show to speak about then."
[Welcome, everyone, to the fourth round of the B-Rank wars! Kunichika Yuu from Tachikawa Squad here with the rep of the Yagura Branch, Tsukiko Yuki and member of Bakuto Squad, Yamamoto Yorushi!]
[How they got you to do this will be on my mind for a while.]
[Thank you for having me here.]
[So anything special to say before we get started with the match?]
[This is an important match for both Katori Squad and Kotowari Squad as it will decide which one can move up back into the Top Tier and who will continue to be in Mid Tier, while Nasu Squad is still making their way up.]
[This'll also be generally interesting as both Take- Ah... Kotowari and Nasu are powerful Shooters and Katori Squad firearms as well, meaning they'll all have to choose their opponents wisely.]
[Thanks for that! Looks like they're starting! Everyone's been transported in and the area that Nasu Squad has picked in an urban area with multiple overpasses!]
'Alright... I can't hold any if them back!'
Hoshi looked at her surroundings to see that she was somewhere between the top and bottom of the multi-layer overpass. She wasn't too sure where to actually go, so she went to the wide of the road and saw the tops of houses all around. She also saw some particular people.
She was just about to get her gun out when...
ZOOM!
Getting out of the way just in time by jumping down onto the lower layer, Hoshi looked up to see Nasu jump down as well. She got ready to run and put up a Shield, since she knew she couldn't win this fight, but that was stopped when she had to duck her head from a slash.
She kicked her foot up just as another hand was coming down and managed to redirect the other slash before looking passed the person and Teleport away. She quickly turned around to see that the person who had attacked was Katori herself.
She got ready to hold off both of them in order to allow her teammates time to reach her when...
BOOM!
"Hope ya don't mind if I join, ladies!" Toby said as he kneeled between Nasu and Katori.
"Toby-kun!"
"Don't I got nice timing? Now that I'm here... Hoshi! Mind backing me up until Take gets here?"
"R-right!"
"Good... You can take on Yōko then!"
"Right!"
With no more words being said, the four fighters quickly got to work.
Katori pulled out her gun and started firing, but each shot had missed. Deciding close combat mixed with shots would be the best solution, Katori brought out a Scorpion and ran forward. She was expecting Hoshi to grab her Kōgetsu, but was shocked when she didn't.
Hoshi got up close just as Katori made another slash and pushed the hand away. She saw the older one get her gun ready to shoot and reacted by using the same hand to swat the gun away. She lifted her leg and landed a solid kick to Katori's chin before spinning and spamming her foot into Katori's stomach, sending her back.
Not relenting on the offense, Hoshi used Teleport to get to the unbalanced Katori and pulled her Kōgetsu out, but saw something from the side and somehow moved so that the shots fired at her went passed her.
She saw someone on the road above her and used Teleport to get on the higher layer. She saw that it was Wakamura, but didn't hesitate and went for a slash. The attack was blocked by a Shield and a counter was already in progress. This simply made Hoshi jump back and get her distance.
"Wow~ Looks like she's having fun." Toby glanced up at Hoshi as he dodged more shots from Nasu. "So would you mind telling me where Yūko is? I'll tell you where Take is."
"This isn't really the time to talk, now is it?"
Firing more shots, Nasu could see Katori running up behind Toby with two Scorpions in hand and thought it would be better to help the girl in this scenario. She made ths shots more close to each other, making Toby move to the side instead of making small moves.
Katori took this change to try and cut the brunet, but he was gone before she could get him.
Toby used Teleport to appear next to Nasu and deliver a kick to her side, sending her passes the end of the road and falling to the ground below. He saw three beams come up from where he had kicked her and grinned.
[Talk about fast paced. They're switching opponents left and right with no one bailing out and no major hits taken.]
[Yes, but that's because they're arranging who they're going to be fighting right now. The Kotowari vs Nasu battle is now starting while Taiyōko is apparently taking on Wakamura and Awdry is taking on Katori.]
[Wrong~]
[Hm? And how am I wrong?]
[Sorry. You're not wrong about them choosing their opponents. It's just that you're wrong about who is fighting who.]
[And what do you mean by that?]
[Just watch.]
Just as Toby was going to turn to Katori, he had to moved back before he would get cut by her blade. He smirked as he brought out his own blade and ran forward.
The two clashed with both moving around each other's attacks. Neither one had actually managed to land a hit on the other, so this was a simple back-and-forth. That is...until someone else was added to the mix.
Miura and Akane were laying in wait with the male on the layer under the two fighting with sword while the female was on the roof of one of the buildings. They boh fired with the intent of getting Toby.
Thanks to his Side Effect, Toby was able to dodge all the shots by jumping back. He was ready to find Akane when a wide, but clustered amount of shots were fired at him. He clicked his tongue and brought up a Shield.
That's when something amazing happened.
Trion limit exceeded. Bail Out.
[...]
[...]
[...]
[... What?]
[Miura-tai just Bailed Out because of Awdry-tai, but how!? Can we get some help from our commentators!?]
[... I'm honestly questioning how that happened as well...]
[Sorry. No clue what happened. Too bright.]
Toby and Katori just started at where Miura had been and wondered what had happened.
Allow me to explain.
Just as the shots connected with the Shield, it sparkled so brightly that no one could actually tell what happened. That being said, what actually happened was that the shots were quickly sent back at Miura so quickly that he couldn't react, and as a result, was forced to Bail Out.
"That...was...awesome!" Toby started with stars in his eyes. "This thing is-"
Trion limit exceeded. Bail Out.
"Huh?"
In a flash of light, Toby was gone, leaving a very confused Katori.
[WHAT!?]
"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT!?"
QOTC: Favorite supportive Trigger?
Okay! Sorry is was short! Sorry it seemed all over the place! Sorry it was rushed! Sorry for any ooc-ness! Sorry for Wakamura! Sorry for continuing to right! Sorry for probably the worst start to a fight I've written! I didn't know how to start this one! I wanted to get to the fights already! I am so damn sorry!
Bye! *quickly hides under covers*