The remaining members of Morfonica were on their way to find Roselia again. They had the relative area down. No one had succeeded in finding the actual location of their base yet.
The main reason that hadn't happened was because no scout ever returned. It was assumed that Roselia killed them so they couldn't return and expose their location. They seemed to be very cautious. It did them well from the look of it.
But that made it harder for them to find Roselia. They needed to find them and see if they would help.
"Shh... I hear someone walking." Touko said quietly.
Everyone fell silent and listened. They could hear the sound of footsteps nearby. It didn't sound like whoever it was was approaching them, though. That was good.
Though, maybe they did want to talk to them? Was it a member of Roselia? Should they go after them? What if that made they be seen as a threat still? They didn't want that.
"Should we try and see who it is?" Rui asked.
Everyone glanced at each other. No one had an answer. It was risky to do, but I might be necessary. But was the risk worth it? Or would it be too much? Should they just continue searching on their own? Would that be enough?
"I'm going to take a quick peak. I won't get caught, I promise." Touko said.
"Be careful."
Touko nodded and crept toward where she heard the footsteps coming from. She was careful about where she was putting her feet. She didn't want to make any noise that could alert them of her presence. She had to stay hidden.
Touko caught a glimpse of them. It wasn't a member of Roselia. It was a demon from the organization. That wasn't what she wanted.
"Hey, I found their base. What should we do?" He spoke to another demon.
Touko gulped. Were they talking about Roselia? If they were, what did she do? She could still see the others. They saw her too. She motioned them closer and to be very quiet.
"You found Roselia? We need to report it immediately."
Everyone was panicking now. They found Roselia. That was bad. If the organization got their hands on this information then disaster was imminent.
"Let's go."
Nanami walked out of the bushes, "Oh, hello. I didn't realize there were others around. I heard you found Roselia. We are going to attack them. Can we have their location?"
The others stayed hidden as she did the talking. It wasn't long before they had the location of the base.
"Thank you. Now, you must be eager to tell the boss about your find. However, we can't let you do that." Namami attacked the first demon.
The others got the message and came out to help. It was easy to overwhelm the two demons and kill them. The secret of Roselia's location remained. It must stay that way.
"Let's go. Keep your ears out for more demons."
They couldn't guarantee that there weren't more demons around scouting for Roselia too. If they found more, they would have to kill them too. It was up to them to keep this location a secret it seemed.
They didn't get too far into their walk before hearing the sounds of a fight. They ran toward the sound.
"Looks like they found some scouts too."
Yukina and Sayo were fighting some more demons from the organization. They were winning the fight.
"Are there more of you?" Yukina demanded.
"Like I'll talk." The demon spat at her, "You'll kill me before I'll ever open my mouth."
"Same for me. Torture doesn't work on us." The other demon added.
Yukina growled. She held the demon by his neck. Sayo had the other pinned to a tree.
"Guys, more are coming." Tsukushi whispered, "Look."
They saw two more demons approaching. They were sneaking up from behind.
"They have guns. They're gonna shoot them." Rui said in a panic, "We have to stop them."
"Wait. Orders are to keep Minato alive. Surely they know that too." Nanami said.
"Is it a real gun or a stun gun?" Touko questioned.
Rui crept a little closer to look, "One of each. Looks like their plan is to kill the other one and just take Minato back."
"We still have to stop them." Nanami stated, "We can't let them kill anyone."
"Hold on. They're getting closer. I think they're trying to threaten them instead."
The two demon came out of hiding, "Let go or we shoot."
Yukina and Sayo exchanged glances, unsure what to do. That was when the demon Sayo had pinned down struck. He got out of her grip and held her captive instead.
"Sayo!"
Sayo was struggling to break free. He was holding her tightly. One arm was around her neck, slowly suffocating her. She was gasping for air, unable to breathe.
"Yu...kina..." Sayo gasped, reaching out toward her in desperation.
"Release him and we won't kill her." One of the armed demons stated.
Yukina let go of the demon, her eyes focused only on Sayo. He scrambled to his feet and backed away.
"Let her go."
"You really thought we'd do that? How pathetic." The one demon shot at her.
Yukina cried out as the bullet embedded into her shoulder. She fell to the ground.
"Don't worry. It's non-lethal. It'll just make sure you can't resist us." The demon sneered.
"What do I do with this one?" The demon holding Sayo asked.
"Kill her. Boss said only this one needs to be brought back alive."
Yukina was unable to move much. She could only watch helplessly as Sayo was dying. She was already unconscious as it was. She didn't even know what was happening to her right now. Yukina reached out a hand toward her, as if it would help.
"Now!"
The four Morfonica members jumped out and took on the demons. They had spread out so one would fight each demon. The demons were unnerved by the sudden ambush. Even moreso when they saw who was doing it.
"Traitors!" One demon yelled.
"What a surprise." Touko shot back sarcastically.
They managed to kill the demons. Rui and Touko approached Yukina. Touko took a look at her shoulder. It was torn up bad.
"Looks like they developed a new weapon. No stun guns have ever done damage that severe. The normally barely break skin." Rui commented.
"I guess they're stepping up their game to try and win over the revolution." Touko replied.
"Sayo..." Yukina whispered.
The two girls glanced over at where she was. Nanami and Tsukushi were at her side.
"How is she?" Touko asked them.
"She's okay. Still breathing." Nanami replied.
"Good." Touko nodded to them, "Looks like she'll be just fine, Yukina."
"Can we take you back to your base? You need medical attention." Rui asked.
Yukina looked hesitant to give away their location.
"We know where you guys live. These weren't the only scouts out. We killed the two we found after getting the location from them." Touko explained, "You have Mashiro, right? We were hoping you could help us too."
"Fine... you've proven yourselves..." Yukina sighed.
"Then let's go."
Touko took Yukina and Rui took Sayo. The six of them slowly made their way to Roselia's base. This was going to be a bit of an awkward moment. What did they say to them?
"There's the house." Nanami stated.
"One issue. Um... both of them are out cold. This may not look very good to them." Touko said.
Yukina had blacked out at some point during the walk. Not that anyone was surprised. That wound was nasty and it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.
"I don't think the stun gun was the same that I'm familiar with. Something tells me they make bullets that won't explode inside and just take out main nerves to keep someone from moving." Rui said.
"It does seem that way."
"Who's there?!"
They had been heard. Someone was quickly approaching them.
"Morfonica." Nanami stated, "We have your friends here. They've been injured."
Ran and Ako came into view. They eyed the four girls with distrust.
"A-ah! Y-Yukina? Sayo?" Ako yelped.
"What happened to them?" Ran demanded, holding out a knife to them.
"Some scouts found your location. They were killing them when more arrived and overwhelmed them." Rui explained, "We can explain later. At least Yukina needs medical attention. Her shoulder's been torn up bad."
"Fine. Come on then." Ran lowered her weapon and walked toward the house. Ako quickly followed her.
The four girls followed as well. They entered the house. Ako had gone to fetch Lisa and Rinko to help. Ran was watching them closely as they entered. Chisato and Rokka were with her now, also keeping an eye on them.
"Put them on the carpet." Ran instructed.
Touko and Rui did just that. They backed away then and returned to the other two.
"What happened?" Lisa and Rinko entered the room.
Lisa gasped and quickly knelt down beside Yukina, examining her shoulder with worry. Rinko joined her and started cleaning up the wound.
"Explain in detail what you saw." Ran ordered with a glare.
"They were fighting two demons and winning. Then two more with guns came out and threatened them. During the distraction, Sayo got grabbed by the demon she had been fighting and they started choking her. Yukina was shot with a supposed "stun bullet" and that happened. We killed the four demons. They're not a threat anymore."
"I'm going to get Hina. She'll want to know about Sayo." Chisato left the room.
"Is... Mashiro here?" Nanami asked.
"Yes. Rokka, you want to get her for them?" Ran asked.
Rokka nodded, "I will."
"You can sit here." Ran nodded to the couches by where Yukina and Sayo were being treated.
"Okay." The four of them sat down.
"Onee-chan!" Hina and Chisato returned to the room. Hina immediately ran to Sayo's side and looked her over.
"She seems alright." Lisa stated, "Just needs time to recover."
Moments later, Rokka returned with Mashiro in tow. She was holding onto Rokka's arm. Half of her face was bandaged from the attack and as such she couldn't see well.
"Mashiro?"
"H-hey..." Mashiro mumbled.
"What happened to you?" Touko approached her first.
"I... ran into some demons who tried to kill me..." Mashiro whispered.
"I hate to interrupt, but you all have bombs in you, don't you?" Chisato stated.
"Yes. They also have trackers in them..."
"Someone get them to Maya and Chu2. We need to get those disarmed quickly."
"Follow me." Ran said.
They were lead to a different room. Mashiro followed them. She wanted to stay with them if she could. Ran left the room. A few minutes passed and then Maya and Chu2 entered the room. Chu2 looked the four girls over for a while.
"So the rest of you are here now. Let's get those bombs out of you fast." Maya said.
Everyone nodded. And so the work began. At least they were being given refuge here. They had been very worried that wouldn't be the case at all. It seemed that Roselia found them useful. Or maybe it was to repay them for saving Yukina and Sayo.
Whatever the reason, they were just glad to be free from the organization. They were more than willing to help with the revolution.
