Natsuru glanced at his phone for what felt like the hundredth time that day, the wind blowing gently through his hair as he sat on the roof of the school eating his lunch in private. A few days had passed since he and Chris stole the Warrior's weapons back from Kaede, and that was the last time he had spoken with the Warrior. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised, he and the rest of the Purple Rebels had been trying to figure out how to take Kaede and the Moderators down for far longer, and they made little to no progress. Chris had only just gotten back to work, meanwhile.
Still, though, Natsuru felt isolated. Distancing himself from the other Kampfers left him with very few people to talk to. Chris was the only person Natsuru felt he could trust.
Natsuru set his phone down before taking another bite of his sandwich, trying to distract himself from those thoughts. He could wait it out, he could understand. While he was chewing on his food, his phone buzzed beside him, and he quickly reached down to pick it up, thinking Chris was finally giving him an update. Instead, the screen displayed a message from Kaede, and he felt his blood run cold as he read over the message.
Did you steal the Warrior's weapons from me?
He swallowed his food nervously as he realized how poorly the mission had actually gone, and quickly began thinking up his lie before he began typing. 'Just play dumb.' Natsuru thought.
You had his weapons?
He didn't remember when, or if, he was ever told Kaede took the weapons before Chris came back. Kaede might have told Shizuku, but whether or not the information reached Natsuru was a different matter. Shizuku wasn't exactly the best with keeping Natsuru informed, she's left out information and flat out lied to him before. It wouldn't surprise him if she neglected this.
After a few moments of waiting, another message from Kaede appeared on his screen.
The Messengers say you took them.
Natsuru's eyes widened as he read the message. He had completely forgotten that most of the Entrail Animals in Kaede's room were also the Moderator's Messengers. Natsuru briefly thought of accusing them of lying, before realizing how unreasonable that sounded. Natsuru continued to rack his mind for a solution to the problem. He might have been able to pin it on Shizuku, but that could present its own problems later.
After thinking over his conundrum for a few moments, he flipped his phone closed before grabbing his lunch box. "Maybe Chris can help." Natsuru muttered to himself, heading out to the courtyard.
"Chris, we have a problem!" Natsuru called out, entering into Chris's work station as the Warrior fiddled with another design.
"I'm rather busy, Natsuru." Chris said, staring at the holographic screen before glancing at the Blue Kampfer. "Can't this wait until-"
"Kaede's onto us!"
"What?" Chris asked, spinning around to face the boy. "How?"
"The Messengers in her room saw me taking your weapons." Natsuru said, showing Chris the messages between him and Kaede. "If we don't do something, she might figure out why I took them." As Natsuru spoke, Chris took the phone out of Natsuru's hand, rubbing his chin as he thought over the situation with wide eyes darting about in their sockets. "What do we do?"
"… Did she say anything about me in the past few days?" Chris asked. "Directly or not?"
"No, I don't think so." Natsuru said.
"That's good." Chris said. "We at least have time before she figures us out completely…" Chris passed the phone back to the Blue Kampfer, continuing to rub his chin before snapping his fingers. "I have an idea:" Chris began. "We'll fake an attack against you. If Kaede thinks I was trying to kill you, she might suspect you were framed or manipulated. That will clear your name at least."
"But… I thought we were trying to keep you a secret." Natsuru said.
"This is more important." Chris said, causing Natsuru to smile a bit before the Warrior glanced to the side, scowling slightly as he muttered. "Yes, GLaDOS, it is."
"So… When do we do it?" Natsuru asked. "And… Where?"
"Preferably, somewhere the rest of the rebels won't notice." Chris said. "You know how Shizuku can get. Last thing we need is her trying to finish the job." Thinking over the plan, Chris turned to face the blue-haired boy. "In the meantime, text her back that you have no idea what she's talking about." With a nod, Natsuru began typing out the message before Chris turned to the side. "GLaDOS, once we leave, seal all entrances and establish security parameters. No one gets in without my say so. I don't want the Moderators getting in here again."
With the plan set, the two Kampfers walked down the hall towards the base's exit, Chris's hands tucked behind his back as he continued to think. "I'll text you more exact details once I've finalized this." Chris said as the two entered the gateway out. "In the meantime, continue to plead innocent. And stay on the boys' side of school, that should help limit the window of times she can attack without being noticed."
"Right." Natsuru nodded as he walked through the gate, stepping back out into the courtyard before the door closed behind him.
Once he was alone, Chris pulled out his sonic device and aimed it at a terminal, changing the gateway's settings before it opened again, revealing a different part of town as he stepped towards it. "This is a tactical blunder." GLaDOS said to him. "We shouldn't reveal ourselves so soon."
"Natsuru's an asset." Chris argued. "It's in our best interest to keep him alive."
"You're taking this to far." GLaDOS responded. "The idea was to use him, wasn't it?"
As the gate closed behind him, Chris's eyes widened before pulling up his wrist, scowling down at the device secured around it. "Yes, and we can use him much better if he's alive. Besides, this can further prove to him that I should be trusted."
"We already have him around our finger." GLaDOS responded. "You're getting too close to this. You seem more concerned with his well being than your own."
Chris snarled as he pushed down on the device's faceplate, causing the core to pop out before he pulled GLaDOS's chip from the Matrix. "Clearly, I don't need you hampering my judgment for this one." Chris said, more to himself than the AI as he slipped her chip into his pocket. "Now then," Chris said to himself, looking around the alleyway before turning towards the street. "I already have an idea on how to do this."
"Look, let's not jump to conclusions." Kaede said to her group of White Kampfers as they gathered at her home, looking across the group to see Hitomi and Rika scowling, the latter already readying her weapon. "This might be more complicated than it looks. For all we know, Natsuru was-"
"Tricking you." Hitomi interrupted. "Why do you think she was here a few days ago. Obviously, he stole those weapons from under your nose."
"W-well, maybe, but-" Kaede stuttered as Hitomi stood up.
"But nothing." Hitomi said, approaching the Moderator. "She had the means for it, we caught him at the window, and all your Messengers agreed they saw her take them. We have all the reason we need to go after him."
"But-but we don't know why." Kaede interjected. "For all we know, the Rebels could be planning to… To… Do something with them."
"All the more reason to act now." Hitomi said, turning towards the rest of the White Kampfers. "Wouldn't you all agree?"
"Yeah, let's get her!" Rika called out.
"I… We…" Ryoka stuttered quietly, before glancing up at the group in front of her. "We should… Probably solve this before it becomes a problem… Sorry, Kaede."
"I agree." Sayaka nodded. "I'm sorry, Kaede, but if Natsuru truly took those weapons, we need to handle this situation sooner rather than later."
"B-but guys…" Kaede stuttered, trying desperately to regain control of her followers. "We-She's more powerful than you give her credit for. She could-"
"It's a four-on-one." Hitomi interrupted.
"And she's beaten you before!" Kaede called out.
"Then care to make it five?" Hitomi said, opening her hand to the Moderator. "What's it gonna be? Are you in or out?"
Kaede glared at the White Kampfer in front of her, seeing the others rally behind Hitomi in her plan to hunt the Blue Kampfer. With a sigh, Kaede shook her head, realizing what she needed to do to reestablish control. "I didn't want to do this." Kaede muttered, before looking up at the group as she prepared to activate her mental abilities.
Before she could do anything, the door swung open, and the group looked at the new guest to see Natsuru stumble in, panting heavily with soot covering her clothes, bright red scrapes covering her cheeks and hands. Seeing the Blue Kampfer, Hitomi and Rika readied themselves to attack her, before Natsuru slammed the door closed behind her.
"You-you guys…" Natsuru began, looking between the White Kampfers as they began approaching. "I-I need your help. H-he's coming…"
"Who's coming." Hitomi asked, preparing to launch an electric strike at the blue-haired girl.
"Chris." Natsuru said, causing the group's eyes to widen. "Chris is coming. He's trying to kill me-"
"Yeah, right." Hitomi said. "In case you haven't noticed, Chris is dead. Gonna need to try a little harder than that to-"
Before Hitomi could finish her sentence, a red beam burned through the door, barely missing Hitomi's cheek before it shot out the window. The group looked on as the beam flew out, dispersing themselves a bit before looking back at the door. Before another beam could come through, Hitomi slid out of the way, allowing the attack to fire out the window again before Natsuru got off the door. As more lasers began to shoot through the wood, Hitomi pressed herself against the wall and leaned her head out a bit, trying to look through the holes before seeing the red jacket approaching, holding an alien rifle.
"N-no way." Hitomi said, getting back into cover as she began generating energy balls. "We drowned that prick!"
"We don't have the weapons to deal with him." Kaede noted as another beam shot through the door, pulling out her gun regardless. "And he could handle nine of us. What are we gonna do?"
Natsuru glanced over the room with a worried expression as more beams came through the door. As the Warrior drew closer, Hitomi looked out the window before turning back to the group. "We need to get street level." Hitomi said, pointing towards the window. "We don't have enough room to move here."
"Can we survive that fall?" Natsuru asked as Rika and Sayaka moved up to open the glass panes.
"Rika, give us a rope." Kaede ordered as the two White Kampfers opened the window, before the younger girl hooked her weapon into the wall and jumped out. The remaining members of the group quickly headed over as Sayaka began climbing down as well, looking out to see the chain stretching down to the streets. As another beam shot out over their heads, Hitomi pushed Kaede towards the chain.
As Kaede climbed out the window, the door was kicked open, and the three remaining Kampfers turned to see the Warrior standing in its frame, his weapon glowing as it shifted from one form to another. "Knock knock." Chris said, aiming the new rifle at the group as Ryoka summoned her weapon.
Before Chris could get a shot off, Hitomi charged forward, energy streaking from her hand as she grabbed the end of the weapon and pointed it towards the ceiling. As a burst of red energy left the gun, Hitomi brought her hand into Chris's stomach, sending an arch of electricity through him before yanking the weapon out of his hands, pushing him back. As the weapon began to shift back into its default form, Hitomi spun around, intent on whacking the Warrior with it before a streak of orange energy struck his chest, throwing him back with a cloud of smoke.
"Come on, move!" Natsuru said as Ryoka turned to climb down the chain. Glaring at the blue-haired girl, Hitomi fell back to do the same, dropping the weapon out of the window before quickly sliding down as the smoke began to clear. As the White Kampfers left the room, Natsuru looked back to see the smoke cloud fading, revealing Chris aiming his pistol at the Blue-Kampfer.
"Duck." Chris whispered to the girl, before pulling the trigger and releasing a barrage of laser fire. Natsuru immediately did as ordered, allowing the bolts of energy to fly over her head before firing another shot as the Warrior, throwing him back again before Natsuru jumped out the window. Grabbing onto the chain, Natsuru's shoulder slammed into the wall beside her, before she cracked her eye open to see the others quickly sliding down the chain. Taking in a quick breath, Natsuru loosened her grip on the chain, allowing herself to slide down it with them.
Getting down a few floors, Natsuru looked up to see Chris peering out the window, pulling out his saber before lighting the energy blade and holding it over the chain. "Sorry about this." Chris muttered before slicing the metal links, causing the group to begin falling. As they descended towards the ground, Rika re-summoned her weapon before throwing the sickle back at the building, breaking through a window before her hook dug into the wooden floor. Restoring tension to her line, Rika jumped off the building to catch Sayaka before the blonde grabbed the chain and threw it to Kaede. As Kaede jumped out to catch Ryoka, Chris grabbed onto the windowsill and jumped out, extending his arm's cable to chase after the group. Seeing the Warrior giving chase, Hitomi fired an energy ball at him, only for Chris to quickly slice it in half, allowing the energy to fly past him before the chain wrapped around Hitomi's waist.
Arching to the wall, Hitomi braced for impact before jumping off of it up towards Natsuru, who instinctively reached out to grab the White Kampfer's hand. As she came up, however, Hitomi pulled her hand back, giving Natsuru a malicious smirk as the girl passed her. As she fell, Natsuru turned around and saw a tree branch approaching. Reacting fast, Natsuru quickly grabbed onto it, spinning around it as it almost broke off.
Chris, meanwhile, closed in on Rika's hook, preparing to slash at it again before his descent stopped. Looking up, Chris realized his reel had run out of slack before he attempted to slash at the chain. His saber couldn't reach the links, and with a growl, he stuffed the sword back in his pocket before pulling out his hook, shifting it into a pistol before firing at the chain. As the White Kampfers lowered themselves to the ground, the chain lost all slack again, and the group found themselves striking the ground. As they picked themselves up, Natsuru dropped herself out of the tree, looking at her hands to see red marks and harsh splinters.
Looking up at the Warrior, the group saw him begin to drop down again as he released the windowsill before he began firing his pistol at the group. The White Kampfers, Natsuru, and Kaede all quickly jumped back before Chris grabbed into another window, breaking through the glass before dropping himself to the ground and on top of his cane. As the Kampfers prepared to attack, Chris grabbed onto his cane as he reeled his hand back in. Looking up at the Kampfers to see two blue energy balls flying his way, Chris quickly jumped out of the way, shifting his weapon into a grenade launcher form before firing at the group.
The Kampfers all jumped out of the way before the smoke cloud erupted. As it began to clear, Chris's hand clanked back into place, before he flicked his wrist to pull out his sonic screwdriver. Seeing the group through the smoke, Chris saw Hitomi throw another set of energy balls at him, and jumped out of the way again, allowing them to hit the concrete wall behind him before he flicked his device open.
As the Kampfers closed in, Chris activated his sonic, causing it to emit a shrill screech around him. The Kampfers were quickly disoriented, and as they reached for their pounding heads, Hitomi tried to power through in vain. Seizing the opportunity, Chris bolted past them, elbowing Natsuru as he went by for good measure, before activating one of his gateways, allowing him to disappear under the sidewalk.
Once the slab moved back into place, the noise died, and the group began recollecting themselves. "Well… That was close…" Natsuru said, rubbing her aching cheek as the other White Kampfers looked at her.
"Not really." Hitomi pointed out. "We hardly got a hit on him, and he just runs off?"
"Yeah, that doesn't add up." Rika added.
"W-well, maybe he was just planning to pick us off one by one?" Natsuru suggested. "I mean, we did beat him last time, so-"
"No, that doesn't make sense." Hitomi said, walking up to Natsuru with a scowl as she eyed the Blue Kampfer up. "If that was the case, why strike now? Why not at night?"
"U-um…" Natsuru stuttered, backing away from the White Kampfer. "I-I don't know, I'm not exactly a tactician."
Hitomi continued to glare at Natsuru, giving the girl the sense that she and Chris hadn't planned their ruse far enough through before Kaede stepped between them, pushing Hitomi away from Natsuru. "Look, that doesn't matter." Kaede said. "He's back and he's on the attack, plain and simple. We need to prepare for him attacking again." Kaede looked back at the Blue Kampfer behind her, smiling at Natsuru as she continued. "Plus, this also proves that Natsuru didn't steal those weapons."
Looking behind Kaede, Natsuru saw Hitomi's eyes widen as if she had just realized something based on that comment. The Blue Kampfer quickly figured out what Hitomi did, and probably would have begun panicking before she saw Kaede bowing to her. "I'm sorry for accusing you, Natsuru." Kaede said. "I should have known better."
"I-it's okay." Natsuru said, before looking back at the White Kampfers to see them beginning to gather around.
Standing back up, Kaede proceeded to spin around to face her Kampfers. "Okay, now you guys." Kaede ordered, giving the group a hardened look. The Kampfers looked between each other before realizing what Kaede was talking about, and Ryoka, Rika, and Sayaka proceeded to bow.
"We're sorry for suspecting you." The three White Kampfers stated, and all eyes fell on Hitomi as she began to say something, beginning to point towards Natsuru before Kaede began scowling at her.
"… Fine, fine, I'm sorry." Hitomi growled, before turning to leave with a huff.
"… Good enough, I guess." Kaede shrugged, turning back to Natsuru. "Now then, if Chris is back and gunning for you, it would probably be safest for you to stay with me until we-"
"I'm sure that's unnecessary." Natsuru stated, waving the idea off. "Mikoto lives next to me, remember."
"Yeah, but-"
"Trust me, I'll be fine." Natsuru said, trying to end the conversation as soon as she could.
"… If you say so." Kaede shrugged. "Just let me know if you change your mind."
"Right." Natsuru said as she turned to leave. "I'll tell Shizuku what happened here so we can begin planning." Natsuru lied, attempting to cover all her based as she walked off.
When Natsuru came back into Chris's lair later that day, he expected the Warrior to be back to working on his project. Instead, he found Chris sitting at a table, sipping a drink before he looked to the door to see Natsuru coming in. Chris let a slight smirk cross his lips as he set his glass down, turning in his chair to face the boy. "I take it our charade went well?" Chris asked.
"I guess kind of." Natsuru said. "But I think Hitomi might suspect something's up."
"Hm." Chris hummed as he turned back to his drink, swallowing another mouthful before popping his lips. "Well, there's no reason to be concerned yet. According to the Moderator's files, the Whites don't act without Kaede's order. So long as Kaede doesn't-"
"But she did." Natsuru said, and Chris cocked an eyebrow as he turned to face the blue-haired boy again. "When she attacked me at the mall a few days ago, she did so without Kaede's orders."
"Well…" Chris said, swirling his drink around as he mulled over the information. "That's… Concerning."
"What do we do now?" Natsuru asked, and Chris tapped his finger on his glass as he thought.
"We'll… Need to play it safe." Chris began thinking aloud. "Cover our tracks, make sure you don't give them any reason to suspect anything further… But if she tries to attack…" Setting his glass down, Chris once again turned to face Natsuru. "It might be safest for you to stay here with me."
"With you?" Natsuru repeated.
"That way she can't attack you at night." Chris explained. "Either that or I can play guardian angel and watch over you. Whichever one you'd prefer."
"And how long would we need to do this?" Natsuru asked.
"I… Should be ready to take Kaede and the Whites down in a few weeks." Chris said. "A month at most. So, what's our game plan?"
"I…" Natsuru muttered, bringing his hand up to his chin as he thought over the ideas. "I think Mikoto might notice if I'm sneaking out at night or if I'm not at home."
"Guardian angel it is." Chris said, turning back to his drink. "You can head home then." Chris said, before quickly finishing his glass before hopping out of his chair. "I should really get back to work."
"… Do you ever do anything besides work?" Natsuru asked as Chris began walking off, causing the Warrior to pause.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked.
"I mean… What do you do when you're not working?" Natsuru asked. "What do you do to relax or have fun?"
Chris was silent for a moment as he thought over the boy's question, before giving Natsuru a shrug. "I… Don't, I guess." Chris said, causing Natsuru to raise his eyebrows. "My job is a bit too important for that."
"Don't you think that's a problem?" Natsuru asked. "I mean, you're gonna work yourself out if you don't get any breaks."
Chris gave the boy a light chuckle as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Natsuru, I've seen and heard about your country's work culture. I don't think you're in any position to talk."
"Yeah, but still." Natsuru said. "Don't you think you could use a break?"
"When I'm making this much progress?" Chris asked. "The place is almost fully operational again, and I still need to figure out how to take down the Moderators. I can take a break when the job's done."
"… Chris, I haven't heard from you in days." Natsuru said. "It feels like we only really talk about… This stuff." Natsuru brought up his bracelet, giving it a tap to drive the point home. "Don't you ever get lonely down here?"
"I don't really…" Chris began before stopping himself, thinking over what he was being asked. "I… I guess sometimes. But like I said, I have an important-"
"Come on, Chris," Natsuru said. "One day off isn't going to hurt anyone. Let's just go into town and hang out."
"In town?" Chris repeated. "Where people might recognize me?"
"Don't tell me you don't have disguises." Natsuru responded. "Plus, you can always go in Kampfer form."
"I-I'd prefer not to." Chris sputtered out.
"… Well, if you say so…" Natsuru said, turning to leave. "Just figured… You'd want to be normal for a bit… I know I do."
Silence hung over the two as Natsuru went to leave, and Chris thought over Natsuru's words, slowly realizing what Natsuru was getting at. Chris was in a moment of crisis, thinking over what Natsuru was suggesting vs the effects it could have on his plans.
"Where… Where were you planning on going?" Chris asked, causing Natsuru to stop and look back at him. "If we… Were to hang out? Where would we…"
"… Nowhere special, I guess…" Natsuru said, turning to face the Warrior. "You know, just have some lunch and talk."
"… I might be able to work with that." Chris said, looking down at his jacket. "I'll need to figure out the outfit, but…" Silently thinking over his disguise, Chris looked back up at Natsuru. "When do you have school off?"
So the original point of this chapter wasn't going to involve the White Kampfers all that much. In fact, the White Kampfers originally weren't supposed to appear at all. It was supposed to be about Natsuru convincing Chris to come out of his lair to just sort of hang out to help further their relationship. But then covering a track from the last chapter kinda took over, and the chapter already got up to four-thousand words. I probably could have gotten more, but writing this chapter was much harder for some reason. Ideas are there, I just don't know how to get there. For a bit, I'd have to settle for only getting down one-to-two hundred words instead of five hundred. Honestly, I'm not too proud of how this chapter turned out, or the direction it could take the story.
On an unrelated note, I finally got some proof that someone was reading this story… Though, unfortunately, they didn't like it. I found a lot of their criticism justified, but at this point, I have no idea how to fix the problems they pointed out. I'd certainly want to if I could, but they'd get in the way of the story I'm trying to tell. Hopefully, anyone still reading this will be able to enjoy this story in spite of those problems. Before those reviews, I was sort of convinced I was only writing this story for myself.