Heliconia, Delphinium, and Strelizia had been deployed to the front of a defensive line set up to counter a fast-approaching Gutenberg-glass Klaxosaur. As the three of them looked over the target from afar in the desert surrounding Cerasus, Ichigo told her two partners through Delphinium, "Okay, everyone, we're going to attack it together in a coordinated fashi-"
"Screw that," Zero Two replied to her as Strelizia readied its weapon. "I'm going in for the kill! I'll see you slowpokes later!"
"Wait a minute," Kyouko replied to her as Heliconia reached out to her to no avail. Strelizia was already charging forward, ready to strike. It quickly jumped up into the air and made a giant deep slash across the top of the Gutenberg. However, to both Hiro and Zero Two's dismay, the cut was not deep enough to reach the core. "Ugh, those two..."
"It's not deep enough," Hiro informed Zero Two out of worry.
"I know," Zero Two replied back, charging right back into the cut and trying to dig. However, as soon as Strelizia dug into the Gutenberg, its body formed a shell around Strelizia, encapsulating it inside, much to Ichigo, Goro, Kyouko, and Yasuto's horror. "Shit!"
"I got this," Kyouko told Ichigo through Heliconia as it jumped up and fired off half of its missiles at the shell, destroying it. Heliconia then landed on the Gutenberg and dragged Strelizia out. As it did, the shards of the Gutenberg's body fell to the ground, and out of them formed many smaller Conrad-class Klaxosaurs. In shock, Yasuto yelled out, "You gotta be fucking kidding me! This is a composite Klaxosaur!"
Ichigo from the ground immediately recognized what the danger was and radioed back to dispatch through Delphinium, "Command to Cerasus Base."
"Go ahead," a dispatcher replied.
"We got what appears to be a composite Franxx," Ichigo replied to him. "I'm not calling a second alarm yet, but be ready to do so if I need one."
Meanwhile, as Strelizia and Heliconia struggled on the ground, Zero Two yelled to Heliconia, "Let me go! I got this!"
"No, you don't," Kyouko angrily told her. "We need to hold back, Zero Two! Don't you have any self-preservation in that head of your's?!"
"Hold on a minute," Kokoro then came through to everyone from behind the front line. "I got an idea. I could fire a round into it to expose it and help break it apart."
"Go for it," Ichigo quickly replied to her. "We need to everything we can!"
Genista nodded and readied itself to fire as Chlorophytum began firing at several split-off Conrad-class Klaxosaurs that were charging at them. Heliconia slashed and killed one of them that approached Genista as Kokoro yelled out, "Alright, me and Mitsuru got the target locked down! We're ready to fire on your command!" Suddenly, however, Kokoro felt Mitsuru jerk the controls forward, making Genista charge head on at the giant Klaxosaur. "What?! Mitsuru?!" Then, both of them were rocked with pain as the Klaxosaur kicked Genista, sending it back several yards from the impact and leaving a giant streak in the deser floor.
"Kokoro-chan," Futoshi called out to his former partner pilot as the connection between Mitsuru and Kokoro was severed by the shock of the impact. "Kokoro-chan!"
As Mutsuru and Kokoro looked around, their connection severed, they both looked up and saw one of the forelegs of the Klaxosaur high above them, ready to pounce as Delphinium and Strelizia slashed across its body above. As the foot came down, Kokoro uncharacteristically cursed as she grabbed a hold of Mitsuru and tried to shield him, screaming, "Oh SHIT!"
Suddenly, however, the impact that would have hit them was stopped. As they looked up, they saw Chlorophytum and Heliconia doing their best to hold up the foot. Futoshi, who was straining on his controls, radioed to Kokoro and Mitsuru, "Are you guys okay?!"
"Yeah," Kokoro replied in relief. "Thank you, Futoshi!"
Then, as Strelizia, Delphinium, and Argentea watched, the other foreleg of the Franxx began to elongate horizontally, forming structural beams snd supports that reached down to the ground as it tried to make a hand to reach at Cerasus itself. Ichigo shouted to the others as the three of them began to chase the arm, "Chlorophytum and Heliconia, protect Genista! We'll kill this thing!"
"On it," replied Futoshi as he pressed the machine gun triggers on his controls to pump the Klaxosaur's foot full of lead. "Hold on a bit longer, Ikuno!"
"Come on guys," Kyouko shouted to Genista. "Get up!"
"We need to get out of here," Kokoro said to Mitsuru as she got back into her original position, now noticing a cut on her forehead that caused blood to drip down her face, presumably from slamming her face into someing in her position from the impact of the earlier kick. However, Mitsuru instead shut his end of the Franxx off, covering up the cockpit and cutting off all but essential outside communication. "Mitsuru, what's wrong?!"
"I...," he told Kokoro as he caught his breath. "You had to protect me... It's my job to do that... It's a stamen's job to protect their pistil, not the other way around. I feel... I feel incompetent..."
"You're wrong!" Kokoro was adamant in her words as she wiped the blood from her face. "You're far from incompetent, Mitsuru!"
Their conversation was interrupted by Hachi, who used the essential communication feature to call them by phone, telling them, "Genista, you need to reconnect now! That's a-"
Kokoro shut off his transmission and disconnected the essential communication function manually, telling him as he did, "Shut the hell up and give us a moment!" She then turned back to Mitsuru. "I have a feeling this is about Hiro, isn't it?"
"It...," Mitsuru explained as he caught his breath. "Damn it..."
"You were hurt once," Kokoro told him, confirming to herself that it was indeed about Hiro. "And it must have stung real bad. I... I guess I did the same, didn't I? I've even broken a promise. I'm telling you, I'm not always the nice and gentle girl you think I am. If I were betrayed, I wouldn't have the right to be angry. The point I'm trying to get at is is that we aren't perfect, Mitsuru. No matter how much the Adults may say we are or they are, it's only human to be imperfect. It's only human to feel emotions, to laugh, to cry, to be happy, to be sad, to be angry. I'd rather be dead than an emotionless 'perfect' husk, which is why I'm doing this..." Kokoro took a deep breath and got back into her piloting position, flipping a red switch with warning symbols around it: 'STAMPEDE: DO NOT USE UNLESS STAMEN IS O.O.S. PER PROTOCOL 29.'
Mitsuru immediately knew what she was about to do, and feared the worst. "Kokoro, what are you doing?! Stop!"
As Kokoro let out a nearly inhumane roar inside the cockpit, both Ikuno and Futoshi yelled together from outside, "Kokoro-chan, don't!" It was too late, however. Inside the cockpit, the pistil's teeth began to sharpen considerably as rage consumed her, two visible digital horns appearing above her head, projected by the headpiece of her suit. Her eyes turned a bright red as she let out another roar.
As Genista revealed a second mouth on the outside consisting of sharpened metal teeth, Kokoro looked up from where she sat, and with the most homicidal and intimidating voice Mitsuru had ever heard in his young life, she said the following to the Klaxosaur in front of her, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Inside Heliconia, Yasuto and Kyouko pulled up the reestablished cockpit video feed of Genista, and were shocked by what they saw when Yasuto dialed the camera view over to Kokoro's position. As Genista fired a massive cannon round into the leg of th Klaxosaur Chlorophytum was holding, barely missing Chlorophytum itself, Kyouko exclaimed in shock, "That bloodlust in her eyes... This is no longer a teenage girl!"
Genista then let out another roar as it charged into the Klaxosaur itself, the blast having damage it enough to expose the core. Strelitzia took immediate action and followed Genista, ready to catch it if something else went wrong. Hiro radioed to Kokoro and Mitsuru, "Guys, hold on!"
Then, in an instant, the Klaxosaur exploded with a massive amount of force, coating the entire ground in its blue blood. As the blood rained down on the rest of Squad 13, they all feared the worst, Futoshi especially so. However, their fears turned into many sighs of relief as Strelitzia emerged from the blast zone, with Genista following behind it, having returned to normal control, albeit a bit shaky as evidenced by Genista's somewhat glitchy facial expression. Futoshi let out a massive sigh as he said to himself, "Damn it... I thought she was gone for good... Mitsuru..."
Inside the cockpit of Genista, a tired out Mitsuru had managed to regain control, with Kokoro having reverted once the core of the Klaxosaur was destroyed just barely in the nick of time. Kokoro herself was also exhausted, as evidenced by her panting. "I... Mitsuru..."
"It's fine," Mitsuru assured her. "Please, just... Don't try that again... I almost lost you..."
Kokoro remained quiet, not able to respond to him, as Genista walked back to Cerasus. From that day forward, their bond would never be the same.
...
Later that night, Mitsuru sat alone in the living room area of Mistilteinn, trying to get the events of the day out of his head. As he pondered to himself, he told himself, "Why did I let her do that? She very well could have died... Damn it, Code 326, what the fuck were you thinking?"
"It's not your fault," Kokoro then interrupted him from behind, having secretly followed him to see what he was up to. "Stop beating yourself up."
Mitsuru sighed as Kokoro knelt beside him, resting her arms and head on the headrest of the couch. "Futoshi punched me for a reason. I didn't want to admit it back there, but... I never thought I'd say this, but I could see myself doing the same in his shoes."
"Looking back now," Kokoro herself admitted. "I guess I did overreact. Even so, what I said about our humanity was right." She placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, wanting to get closer to him. "That day at the beach really opened my eyes. I can't do much with what I know now, but one day... One day, maybe we can get out of this mess. Kyouko-oneesama and Yasuto-oniisan have wanted to for so long."
"You know we can't," Mitsuru replied to her, reluctant to entertain the idea of just leaving. "We have a mission to do, not to mention all the problems we'd cause."
"I know, I know," Kokoro assured her. "I wouldn't dare leave unless all of us are going. Everyone here is my family. I can't abandon them, and Kyouko-oneesama and Yasuto-oniisan feel the same way. We all go or nobody goes. We do things together. Anyway, Mitsuru, I promise you, I won't do things that rash again." She was sincere in her words, and Mitsuru could easily tell.
...
One week later
Squad 13 had been assigned to go back to the Garden for testing, ostensibly to ensure that the team as a whole was alright after Genista's incident with Stampede Mode. While Kyouko and Yasuto did go, they did not need to be tested, so they instead would assist the technicians at the Garden Laboratory for the three-day trip. AS the entire squad walked together into the main lobby of the Garden Laboratory, Miku made a comment to everyone, noting, "I had always seen the lab from afar, but I was never in it."
"I was here several times," Hiro explained to her. "I was a designated special research subject back then. Kyouko, Yasuto, you two were, too, right?"
"Yeah," Kyouko replied with a nod. "After the age of about ten, we spent much of our time here due to our advanced placement. This place is the reason we graduated a year early."
"Alright," Nana then instructed them all as she and Hachi stood before them, holding a folder in her hands. "You are all here for a series of tests. I'm afraid this won't exactly be a homecoming. With the exception of Kyouko and Yasuto, you cannot enter the Garden at any time unless you receive direct permission from me or APE Garden Command. The two parasites I mentioned will go with Hachi to assist the lab technicians for the three days we shall be here, along with Zero Two. The rest of you will come with me. Code 002, the reason you are going with Hachi, Code 085 and Code 099 is because you will be subject to a rather thorough series of tests. I'm afraid we cannot put this off any longer."
"I'd rather not," Zero Two rather nonchalantly replied, not amused by the order given to her. "But okay." Then, a voice called to her from the opposite side of Squad 13, causing her to look up.
"Well, well," Nine Alpha greeted Squad 13 and Zero Two with. "If it isn't Nine Iota. Facny running into you here. What a coincidence, eh?"
Yasuto sighed, realizing he and his partner would have to put up with the Nines for three whole days. He quietly whispered to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "You gotta be fucking kidding me..."
"Whoever that unit's leader is," Miku slyly noted to Kokoro. "He looks pretty cute." Her words caused Zorome to look on in some jealousy.
"These are the Nines," Nana explained. "Each District of APE has a special unit of parasites under their direct control, and in District 9, we have the Nines."
"Thank you for the introduction," Nine Alpha replied to Nana before turning to Squad 13 in general. "I'm glad to see our former teammate is fitting in well with you all. She really was a beast of a pilot when she was with us. I wonder how you all managed to tame her..."
"Tame?" Hiro both wondered and also felt somewhat offended by Nine Alpha's language. "What do you me-?"
"Zero Two is one of us," Ichigo affirmed to them, also herself somewhat offended. "Are you implying she isn't?" Both Kyouko and Yasuto were growing increasingly annoyed.
"I see she's taken a liking to you," Nine Alpha humorously replied, doubling down on his rhetoric. "I never thought she'd play nice with humans, since she really isn't one."
"You know," Kyouko then rather forcefully told them off. "There's a good reason I preferred working with her over any of you guys, but especially you, Nine Alpha, when me and my partner fought on the front lines. She knew when to keep her mouth shut."
Nine Alpha gave her response a chuckle. "Ah, you two were always the odd ones out. Excellent fighters, but you always had a defiant streak. You guys are like two peas in a pod. I can see why you guys were sent to Squad 13 at the same time Iota was."
...
In one of the procedure rooms, Yasuto wore the all-white uniform of APE's Medical Division while under the watchful eye of an Adult, who unlike him wore a mask to protect himself from any exposures to the Children. He would be monitoring Futoshi, who was sitting up in a chair and had electrodes placed on his bare chest. "Okay, man, looks like your vitals are normal."
"That's a relief," Futoshi replied, somewhat amused to see one of his own teammates performing procedures on him. "So, uh, you know what you're doing, right?"
As Yasuto pulled out a needle with an orange serum inside it, he chuckled and assured his comrade. "I've put IVs and jabbed needles into people tons of times. Hell, I've done it on myself and my partner for practice, and she's done it on me. Alright, this will be an intramuscular injection of Serum 369 into Code 214 of District 9, Plantation 13, Squad 13, Mark III, at 12:37 hours." Futoshi barely reacted as Yasuto gently stuck the needle into his right arm and administered the serum into it. "And with that, it's in. Anyway, Futoshi, I gotta go monitor and inject Miku, so I'll be handing you off to my supervisor over there." He pointed at the Adult, who had remained quiet and stoic the entire time. "You'll be in good hands, don't worry."
"See ya around," Futoshi told him as he walked out of the room. Once the door was closed, he thought to himself, "That was super easy. I wish all visits and checkups by the doctors were like this, but the Adults always seem cold and distant."
...
"Alright," Kyouko explained to the rest of Squad 13 as they followed her into the main area of the Garden. "I'm only doing this as a favor. This is rather dangerous, and if we get caught, we'll be in all sorts of trouble. Do I make myself clear?" Yasuto was still working in the lab, and was unaware of the events occuring with Squad 13.
"Yes," Hiro replied with a nod, leading the pack. "We won't get caught."
"If you say so," Kyouko replied. As they continued down the hallway, she thought to herself, "If they wanna see Naomi, they're gonna be in for a not so pleasant surprise when they don't find her." "Here," she told everyone as she handed all of Squad 13 ID cards. "If you get questioned, present these. These cards will give you access. They won't question it."
The first stop the gang made on the journey into the Garden was one of the rooms where the pilots-to-be were kept in. They were all sitting at a table, eating together and not noticing the older parasites watching them. Kyouko, Hiro, and Zorome all watched the room together. The elder parasite reminisced, "It was right here. I was standing at this exact spot when I noticed you guys."
"Hiro gave you and your partner your names here," Zorome added, also remembering the day clearly.
"I can barely remember it," Hiro remarked to both of them. "But I'm glad I did."
"I was acually raised in this room," Kyouko also pointed out. "I was maybe three years old when I was let in here for the first time and gained my earliest memories of Yasuto-kun. We had been created on the same day, and in the Nursery, the Adults always noted that even as newborns, we interacted quite a bit. Of course, this is the earliest I can remember personally, but there are some pictures of us together in the Nursery. I can't imagine a life without him by my side, in fact, because he's been in it for so long." She mildly blushed at that fact. "That thing you call love, Hiro? That's what me and Yasuto-kun have shared for a long time."
Meanwhile, in an open grass field/tree area of the Garden, which was mostly barren due to the weather, Miku, Kokoro, and Mitsuru all watched over as they recalled memories they shared. Miku pointed out, "Remember when I created that flower crown for you, Kokoro?"
"Oh yeah," Kokoro replied, smiling as she remembered the crown. "When I showed it off to Mitsuru, he lit right up and looked away..."
Mitsuru blushed as Kokoro laughed, recalling his shyness at seeing her wear the crown. "Come on, I wasn't that embarrassed."
"You could barely bring yourself to say she looked cute with it on," Miku pointed out to Mitsuru. "I'd say you were pretty embarrassed." She then let out a sigh. "God, to think, me and Kokoro grew so apart from you after the incident with Hiro... I wish we never had."
"Me neither," Mitsuru and Kokoro both agreed at the same time, causing both of them to look right at each other in confusion and blush. Mitsuru followed with, "My apologies."
"No, it was me," Kokoro replied with a chuckle.
...
A little while later, the whole gang stopped in front of a testing room, which was full of pilots-to-be who were either wearing headsets and completing various educational tests on computers or were lying down on tables and being administered shots. "This room looks all sorts of creepy," Ikuno noted to everyone. "I don't recall this."
"Me and my partner were here quite a bit," Kyouko remarked. "We weren't subject to a whole bunch of shots like these kids are, though. In fact, I can recall only one injection we had before we left. We instead spent most of our time on the computers here. By the age of 11, APE estimated we had the cognitive abilities of brand new parasites who graduated from the Garden. This place is why we graduated a year early."
"I wonder," Kokoro asked her. "Why are they injecting them so early and so often?"
"If I had to hazard a guess," Kyouko inferred. "Klaxosaur activity has picked up quite a bit. Maybe they're trying to ensure the parasites here don't need as much field training once they graduate."
"You're correct," a female Adult wearing a white uniform then suddenly interjected with beside them. "They want them to be more obedient and capable once they leave. By the way, aren't you guts not allowed he-?"
"They're with me," Kyouko interrupted her by flashing her badge. "They're fine."
"I see," the Adult replied, having been corrected. "My apologies for the misunderstanding."
"Um," Hiro then added to the conversation with. "Has a girl named Naomi-... I mean, has Code 703 returned here?"
The Adult shook her head. "The Code 703 you're referring to has not. Once a parasite leaves the Garden, they don't come back here permanently. Their number is recycled. In fact, the current Code 703 is in the Nursery right now."
...
Later on, outside, Squad 13 minus Hiro and Yasuto all gathered outside the Garden Laboratory, all discussing the day's events. "I'm surprised Hiro said we could go on without waiting for him," Goro said to the group. "Where do you think he went off to?"
Ichigo replied, somewhat annoyed by the decision, "Who knows?"
Then, out of nowhere, Kokoro stopped dead in her tracks to ask all of Squad 13 a question that left Kyouko in shock. "Hey, so, where do you think we came from?"
As Zorome let out a confused 'huh', Miku replied to her, "Well, Papa made us, obviously. Seems like an odd question to just throw out there at random."
Kyouko thought to herself as she looked on in worry, "Kokoro, what the actual fuck are you doing?! Of all the places you could ask that question, you choose one of the nost secure!"
Any further discussion was cut off by the angry voice of Nana as she called out to the gang. "Hey! Where the hell were you guys?!"
As Hiro attempted to step forward, ready to take the fall for the violation of orders, Kyouko halted him with her arm and stepped forward herself. "Nana, it was my idea. I made the rest of the squad fake ID cards so we could walk around the Garden. Code 085 does not know about this, and Code 015, as the leader of the squad, only gave her permission and did not participate in any of the planning. If you're going to discipline anyone or bring anyone up on charges in a court-martial, I should be the one most severely affected. It was my responsibility as the older pilot to help steer Squad 13 right and work with its leader to do so, and I failed at that mission." She was calm and collected in her words, and was ready to accept anything.
Nana paused, taking in Kyouko's statement for several seconds as she decided on an action. "I see. I'll talk with all of Squad 13 except for you together, and after that, I'll have a very serious word with you personally, Code 099."
...
As Ichigo and Nine Alpha talked outside of a conference room above the lobby of the Garden Laboratory, the rest of Squad 13 having been dismissed after being talked to, it was now Kyouko's turn to go in and face the wrath of Nana for her actions. As she entered the room, she told Nana, "Don't hold back. Say what you must"
"I didn't have plans to hold back," Nana angrily snapped at her. "Sit the fuck down, right now, and shut your damn mouth for the rest of this meeting." As Kyouko took a seat in a chair opposite from Nana, she took a deep breath and began. "Code 099, you have a responsibility that few oyher parasites have. Multiple, in fact. You have nearly unfettered access to APE facilities and programs, and if that access fell into the wrong hands, it could mean the end of humanity as we know it. You not only violated a direct order from me and APE Garden Command, but you abused your God damn access to the Identification system and made counterfeit cards for your squad! I could have your access to that system and others that you can use revoked permanently, and I could even have you brought to a court-martial!" Nana pointed directly at Kyoyko's face, a clear sign of her anger. "Not only did you violate orders and abuse your access, but you also completely and utterly failed at guiding the parasites under you! You're eighteen and a half years old, and have been piloting for five and a half years, compared to the rest of your squad, who is only 14 and a half and has been piloting for only half of a year! Code 015 may be your leader, but it is still your responsibility to work with and train your newer and younger counterparts!"
Outside, Ichigo and Nine Alpha looked to the conference room, pausing their conversation as they witnessed the verbal beatdown Nana was giving Kyouko. Nine Alpha remarked to her, "I never thought she'd go this far in breaking the rules. She's such a loose cannon, and so is her partner. Again, excellent fighters, but disobedient."
Inside, Nana continued. "If this is how you're going to be, how the fuck am I supposed to trust you in the battlefield?! How the fuck am I going to sleep at night if you pull this shit again, but in an environment where a mistake can get someone killed very fucking easily, huh?!" She slammed her fist on the table in anger, which was barely audible from outside. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if any of you died, and if you're going to be this way outside of the battlefield, who's to say you won't do it in battle?!" She then lowered her voice and got close to an on-edge Kyouko. "If you ever fucking pull a stunt like that again, Code 099, I'll make good on my threats to get you court-martialed and get your access and responsibilities stripped. Don't fucking tempt me, okay? You may be a senior pilot, but I still have the final say here." She then backed off of her. "And that's just how fucking it is, Code 099. I don't like using profanity, but by God, don't try to stop me when serious shit like this happens. I'm not gonna drag your ass to a courtroom or revoke anything even if I should, but don't for a fucking second think you're off the hook. From now until 2 days have passed since we get back to Mistilteinn, I am suspending you from piloting. If you try to pull a stunt like this and pilot anyway despite my orders, so help me God, I will rip your fucking head off and beat you senseless with it. Trust me." She smiled as her anger subsided, really driving the point home by the end. "Now, get the hell out."
Kyouko took a deep breath, holding everything in, and bowed as she sat up before rendering a salute to Nana. "Yes, ma'am." Inside, she was furious at many things, at Nana, at herself, at APE, and so on. "This whole situation's a damn clusterfuck," she thought to herself. "Nana went overboard, but I still fucked up, I get it."
