Chapter 9: Misunderstandings

"Have I failed him?" thought Oniria as she looked at a security footage, "I'm nothing but a failure…"

"So, is everyone ready?" asked Goro.

"Yeah," said Hiro, "they are just bringing in their luggage!"

"Will these clothes be enough?" asked Ichigo, with two hand bags in both of her hands.

"More than enough!" replied Goro.

"Dad," said Nozomu as she held Goro's hand, "When will we reach there?" she asked.

"Soon…" replied Goro with a smile.

"Alright we are ready!" said Kokoro as everyone came with her.

"I hope you all aren't forgetting anything." Said Orion as he and Elise walked out of Mistilteinn headquarters.

"No," replied Hatake, "That should be all of it… I have checked everything!"

"Alright then," said Zero Two as they reached the exit of Mistilteinn, "we should be leaving then?"

"Sounds cruel doesn't it?" asked Hiro, "leaving just a few days as we got here…"

"Of course, it does…" said Zero Two with an expression of wry, "But things have to keep going I guess…"

"Don't worry!" said Miku, "it's just a few days after all… Time will fly!"

"I wish it does…" said Hiro with a smile.

"Alright, get your luggage in your hands!" said Orion as the Klaxo mothership which had come along with Orion and Elise landed right outside Mistilteinn.

"Everybody inside!" said Elise as the docking bay of the Klaxo mothership opened.

"What are you thinking?" asked Mitsuru looking at Ikuno. Her wheelchair had stopped right where the dock plate rested on the ground.

"Am I doing the right thing?" she asked looking in front, "Will I be of any use?" she asked.

"What use will you be of if you stayed here?" asked Ichigo, "It is better you come too."

"No need to be so mean!" said Ikuno with an angry expression.

"Ikuno," said Naomi as she extended her hand to touch her shoulder, "Calm down-"

"Don't touch me!" Ikuno shouted as she went inside.

"What's the matter with her?!" said Ichigo angrily.

"Okay," said Hatake looking at squad 13 and children who had taken their seats inside, "We are ready to go then, even though I hate to sit and do absolutely nothing but what can we do, it's a 2-day journey…"

"Well," said Orion as he went through the equipment check, "We have all the tools, so you can focus on repairing the Franxxs maybe-"

"Orion!" said Hatake interrupting as he held his shoulders, "You saved me from boredom! Thank you!" he said with tears in his eyes.

"Y-Yeah." Said Orion shocked.

"Hatake," said Hiro, "If we are going in this mothership and all of our Franxxs are here too, what are we going to do with the mothership that came with us when we came back to earth?"

Well," said Hatake, "that mothership has been fuelled up by Orion and is ready for battle, I wanted to take it with us but Orion suggested that we keep it here to provide extra defense to Mistilteinn. I agreed to it but only at a certain condition."

"Condition?" asked Zero Two confused.

"Yeah," said Orion, "he said that if there would ever be an attack over Mistilteinn, he will abandon whatever mission he is on and will go back to Mistilteinn to defend it…"

"Yeah," said Hatake with a laugh, "there are a lot of things that I have to protect here…" "General Orion," said the leader of the 15 Klaxosaurs over the mic, "we are ready to take off, I suggest you take your seats."

"Okay then everyone to their seats!" said Orion as he connected his seatbelt. The mothership rose to about a thousand feet in height and then went in full speed towards its destination.

"Altitude and height both stable now," said the mic, "Seatbelts can now be detached."

"Yes!" said Hatake everyone got up, "Now, time to work!"

"Where are you going?" asked Seraphime.

"It was my mistake to charge absent-minded in front of the VIRM mothership…" said Hatake with sadness, "So I will try to fix Meteorix and Phoenix and Strelizia."

"You love to work so much, don't you?" asked Seraphime.

"Well," said Hatake, "I just don't like it, the memories of my past that haunts me when I'm just sitting in a place doing nothing…"

"So, what do we do?" asked Mitsuru.

"I don't know," said Hatake, "enjoy maybe?"

"Despite the size of this mothership, is there anything to enjoy?"

"Nothing much to do here for you all," said Orion, "How about a bath?" he asked.

"Wait," said Hatake, "a bath as in a 'hot spring bath?!'".

"Yeah," said Orion, "we need to look at our comfort too!" he said.

"You are insane!" said Hatake.

"What can I do?" asked Orion, "It was just an extra warehouse to store weapons in case of an emergency which we did not need and since the room was right above one of the engines, we thought why not utilize its heat to do something amazing!"

"As far as I know," said Hatake, "Only the main engine generates that amount of heat!"

"Yeah." Said Orion absent-mindedly.

"Huh…" said Hatake exhausted, "You are seriously insane. Anyways, I'm going to fix the Franxxs, I hope your crew can help me with that?"

"Sure," said Orion, "that is the reason why we brought the crew with us and that is also what Elise's Franxx is used for."

"I see…" said Hatake, "Alright then you all get a bath, I will be at the Franxx containment section."

"Why do I want to protect Mistilteinn?" thought Hatake as he got down and took out the gearbox as 6 of the Klaxo sapiens came with him to fix the Franxxs, "Even I don't know that…"

"Mr. Frank," said one of the Klaxo sapien, "We are going to take a break for today, are you still going to be here?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Hatake with a smile, "you all go ahead!"

"Ah…" said Zero Two as she got inside the spring, "It feels so good to be in here… I wonder how many days it has been."

"Since you took a bath?" said Ichigo shocked.

"No," said Zero Two, "since that day we all went to the ocean together…"

"Oh, damn it!" said Hatake as he woke up. He checked the time, it was 2:00 AM, "It's this late?"

"Hatake!" said a voice from behind.

"Hachi!" said Hatake with a smile that suddenly turned into a frown as he saw Nana beside him.

"It's time to tell her…" said Hachi looking down, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to force you but-"

"It's okay…" said Hatake interrupting, "I had to tell her one day anyways…"

"What is going on?" asked Nana confused, "Why are we all here at this time?"

"Sit down…" said Hatake as Nana and Hachi sat on the chairs beside him.

"Nana…" said Hatake, "Since when do you know Hachi?" he asked.

"Since we were together at the garden, why?" asked Nana confused.

"What about the person you often see in your dreams?" asked Hatake, "Do you know how he looks like?"

"I don't recall much," said Nana with sadness upon her face, "All I know is that whoever I see in my dreams, he is just very sad…"

"And Nana," said Hatake as tears dropped down his eyes, "do you remember the name… Koroshi…"

"no…" replied Nana trying to remember.

"Perhaps…" said Hatake, "Crocodile face…"

"I…" she said as she held her head with both of her hands, "What is this?!" she shouted in pain as she fell on the floor screaming.

"Nana!" said Hachi as he tried to pick her back up.

"Don't!" said Hatake as he stopped Hachi's hand, "You will interrupt the process." He said as Nana went silent and lied on the floor fainted.

"What happened?!" asked Goro as he came inside. Every one of squad 13 except for their children were there.

"Well," said Hatake wiping his tears off, "looks like I got another story to tell… Sit down." He said as all of them sat on the workbenches.

"This all happened when I was in squad 15, we were all happy in the squad…"

Plantation 6

10th February Friday

A.D. 2056

15:27

"Oi Koroshi!" said Hatake as he walked with Hilia, "Where are we going? Where are Seria, Hachi and Nana?"

"They must be somewhere around." Replied Koroshi.

"Koroshi!" said a voice from behind.

"Nana!" said Koroshi looking at Nana who came running towards him.

"How do I look?" she asked with a smile.

"Beautiful as always…" he replied.

"Come on we are supposed to get on our transport ship by now!" said a girl who walked towards them with Hachi. She was wearing glasses and the usual parasite uniform, with black-colored hair cut to half-length up to her shoulders.

"Seria," said Hatake, "there you are!"

"Come on!" said Koroshi as he helped Nana to get on their transport ship.

"What is this meeting about anyway?" asked Hatake as they got down inside the plantation and went towards the meeting hall. Inside the hall was no one but only 4 adults who explained about the various problems that the plantations have been facing all these days.

"Was that all that we were here for?" said Koroshi as all of them walked out of the meeting hall.

"Code: Minus 5," said an adult guard from beside.

"Yes?" asked Hatake.

"We have a special order to take you with us, the rest of the squad shall go back to their quarters."

"Oh great…" said Hatake, "I will see you all later then!" he said as he walked away from his squad.

"Minus 5," said Papa over a video call.

"Sir!" he said.

"We have a task for you this time, will you be able to complete it?" asked Papa.

"Anything that I will be able to do, sir." Replied Hatake with a smile.

"Then," said Papa, "Kill… Code: 007 and Code: 036."

"W-What?" asked Hatake shocked, "Why?"

"The relationship between them has proven to be dangerous to humanity" replied Papa, "they must be eliminated at any cost!"

"But why only Nana and Koroshi?" said Hatake "And why me to kill them-"

"Enough with the question!" said Papa interrupting.

"What if I deny doing this task, Papa?" said Hatake with an angry ascent.

"Well in that case…" said Papa as he showed Dr. Franxx on the screen, "He dies…"

"No…" said Hatake shocked.

"Either you do it or you father dies!" said Papa, "It now totally depends on your decision, Minus 5."

"I-I," said Hatake as his eyeballs showed abnormal movement in tension, "Why do you want it to be done by me?"

"Because you have feelings, and we don't want you to make a mistake like this. A bomb has already been planted inside their Franxx, you just have to pull the trigger during the right time and remember you will pull the trigger but it must look like an accident instead of an attack done purposely." He said as the call disconnected and Hatake was sent back to his squad.

Plantation 6

11th February Saturday

A.D. 2056

09:27 AM

"Hey," said Hilia looking at Hatake who had not even touched his food kept on the table, "you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," said Hatake as he got up.

"Squad 15 is requested to report to their Franxxs immediately." Said the mic.

"Damn these Klaxosaurs!" said Koroshi riding his usual model franxx with Nana, "Can't they at least let us eat?"

"Hatake?" said Hilia as she and Hatake sat inside their

Franxx, "what's the matter, you don't look usual."

"I'm fine…" replied Hatake looking at the bomb trigger in his hands.

"Ah, there it is!" said Koroshi looking at an A-Class Klaxosaur that was coming towards them, "I will handle this one!"

"Don't be that excited!" said Nana.

"Yeah, but still let's do this!" said Koroshi as the Franxx moved towards the Klaxosaur at full speed. The Klaxosaur fired missiles towards their Franxx, "well this will be dodged easily!" said Koroshi as the Franxx moved from the path of the missiles. A big explosion took place right at the neck of the Franxx, beheading it from its body.

"No!" shouted Hachi as both his and Hatake's Franxx jumped at the Klaxosaur, killing it instantly.

"Nana!" shouted Hachi as he opened the emergency hatch of the Franxx. Nana was safe at her seat knocked out with Koroshi lying dead in the cockpit.

"Nana…" said Hatake as Nana came out of her room after being dispatched to the waiting room of the care facility where she was admitted injured.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I have something to tell you…" said Hatake as he sat beside her.

"How could you?!" she said holding her collars with tears of sadness and hatred in her eyes as Hatake explained to her what happened, "How could you do something like this?! How?!" she said as the guards forcefully took her with them. Seeing the tears in her eyes, Hatake hurried towards Dr. Franxx's lab.

"H-Hatake?" said Werner looking at him as he opened the door.

"Please…" said Hatake as he fell on his knees in front of his father, "I'm begging you, save her… Don't let her die… Please don't!" he said crying out loud.

"I never asked my dad for much, so he tried as much as he could to save Nana…" said Hatake coming out of the flashback, "At last everyone's memories were altered with me as an exception, I somehow managed to make Hachi remember his memories, soon after that Hilia died too which led to the dissolve of squad 15. Nana and Hachi were then trained to become caretakers, Seria was sent as a replacement of a pistil in another squad."

"That is why I always felt sadness whenever you were near to Nana…" said Seraphime.

"How could you…." Said Nana as she woke up with tears in her eyes.

"Nana," said Hatake, "I-"

"Stop it!" shouted Nana, "Stop making me understand…. I don't even want to see your face!" she said as she and everyone else went away, leaving Hatake all alone.

"Why…" Said Hatake as he sat inside Meteorix looking at a picture of his dad, "Why can't everything be normal, dad? Why?" he said crying.

"Things are again starting to be as bad as they were before the war, huh?" asked Zero Two as she walked with Hiro through the corridors of the mothership towards their room.

"It is…" said Hiro, "All thanks to Papa, we never are able to have peace, even if we get it, it ends soon."

"Ah," said Hatake as he woke up to a buzzing sound, "I fell asleep… A call?" he said looking at the screen of Meteorix.

"Hilia!" said Hatake with a smile with soon changed into a frown as he saw tears in her eyes, "What happened?" he asked calmly.

"I failed you…" replied Oniria sobbing, "I'm just a failure…"

"Hey," said Hatake with a smile, "We all make mistakes… Just tell me what has happened, I will try my best to fix it!"

"I tried to find out how VIRM units were being transported to Earth without even encountering us… It looks like the blueprints for the Hyper Speed Teleporter was stolen."

"I see…" said Hatake, "How did they get inside Prismertine anyways?" he asked.

"Shape Shifters…" said Oniria, "They came with a disguise so perfect that even their DNA matched…"

"Damn these Double-Ss… Alright I have to-" said Hatake as he got interrupted by a large bang that made the mothership tremble.

"What the?" said Hatake as the call got disconnected.

"Hatake!" said a voice from the front entrance of Meteorix that was open, it was Seraphime.

"Sera," said Hatake, "What is happening?" he asked.

"VIRM units" she replied, "they suddenly entered the atmosphere above us!"

"Oh, damn it!" said Hatake as he and Sera hurried to the control room, inside the room was squad 13 standing and looking outside the mothership. Outside were VIRM ship of varying sizes and VIRM units who came and dashed towards the mothership.

"We need to do something!" said Orion looking at the screen that showed the damage caused, "if we move any further, we will keep taking damage" he said.

"Roger that!" said the leader of the Klaxo sapiens who was sitting on the flight controls. The ship stopped in the air.

"We need a plan what do we do?!" said Orion worried.

"Open the entrance of the ship!" said Hatake as he entered.

"What are you saying?" said Orion, "You want the enemy to come in directly?"

"Just do it!" said Hatake.

"Alright…" said Orion, "Do it!" he said as the back door opened.

"Let's get to our Franxxs right now! We need to prepare for combat." Said Hatake looking outside, "This is worse than it looks…"

"What are you planning to do?" asked Seraphime, "There are no Klaxosaurs to summon here."

"That is what makes it hard for us to win." Said Hatake, "but we have to fight, there is no other choice! Anyways, I need you to stay here, launch the attacks as I tell you to." he said as he left the room.

"Alright then, time for action!" said Orion as he and Elise walked with Hatake.

"Let's go, Darling!" said Zero Two.

"Hey wait up!" said Naomi as she went with them.

"So, what's the plan Hatake?" asked Hiro as he and Zero Two got inside Strelizia.

"It's simple…" said Hatake as he sat on his seat inside Meteorix, "There are no klaxosaurs that can be summoned here, therefore there are no bogies for us to take the damage. So, we will deal them with area damage so that we attack less but at the same time more of their units get destroyed."

"And how are we to do that?" asked Hiro.

"Just follow my commands, that will be enough to win." He said as Phoenix, Meteorix, and Strelizia went outside the mothership and dashed towards the VIRM units that were there.

"Alright then," said Orion, "We obviously can't watch them and do nothing, come on Elise let's go!"

"Sure!" she said as he went for her Franxx.

"And Nana," said Orion as he was about to step outside the room, "I know what Hatake did to you, but remember if he had said no, then VIRM would have killed his father and you two too… I know it's a lot of pressure for you to bare at the moment, but there is an extra Franxx in the warehouse with my Franxx… In case you change your mind…"

Nana said nothing but kept looking at the ground with sadness.

"Go, go, go!" shouted Hatake as the mothership fired projectiles towards the defense line of VIRM units. About 50 H-Class units that were ranged stood behind the A-Classes ready with blades on their arms and in front of them stood a gigantic S-Class unit defending all the units.

As soon as the projectiles hit, the A-Classes rushed towards all the Franxxs that stood in front of their mothership.

"Hey wait for us!" shouted Orion as Huitzilopochtli and Guan Yin landed right beside them, "I got some good news!" said Elise, "We were successful in sending a distress signal, the estimated time for the backup to arrive would be in the next 2 hours."

"Can we hold them for that long?" asked Hiro.

"We don't have any other choice… If we do, we survive… If we don't…" he said as Meteorix positioned his sword ready to fight, "Alright then, Elise stays behind everyone and covers us with ranged attacks while we slash through the H-Class units, they are good at damage but are very weak in defense. But we will only be able to kill them if we manage to cross the A-Class who rank average at both attack and defense. However, that S-class is going to defend its allies…"

"What do we do then?" asked Zero Two.

"Strelizia and Phoenix will go after A-classes, I will be able to dodge the H-Class unit's ranged attacks easily. But about the S-Class-"

"I will deal with it!" said Hatake interrupting, "Let's go now!" he said as Strelizia, Phoenix and Huitzilopochtli dashed towards the waves of enemy.

"Good luck providing support!" said Hatake as Meteorix flew off with his sword.

"Just keep them away from me." Said Elise calmly as she made her crossbow ready.

"We might just be able to do this!" said Orion as Huitzilopochtli slashed through about 10 of A-Class units as Strelizia and Phoenix killed the H-Class units providing support. The S-Class raised his hand to attack back.

"No, you don't!" shouted Orion as Huitzilopochtli rushed towards the hand and stopped it with his sword, "Naomi!"

"Got it!" she shouted as Phoenix smashed upon the wrist of the hand making it locked in between Huitzilopochtli's sword and Phoenix's body.

"Hiro! Zero Two!" shouted Orion, "Pierce it from below!"

"Let's go, darling!" said Zero Two.

"Alright!" shouted Hiro as Strelizia came from below and pierced the hand with her spear making it bend in the opposite side.

"Slice it! Now!" shouted Orion.

"With pleasure!" said Hatake as he made a clean cut on the wrist detaching the right hand.

"Hatake! Watch out!" said Orion as Meteorix got smashed on the ground by a powerful beam that came out from the head of the S-Class unit.

"It's ranged?" thought Hatake as Meteorix got back on its feet, Hatake was bleeding from his head, "everyone…" he said with a serious face, "retreat!"

"What?!" said Hiro, "Why?" he said as the A-Class units fired lasers that shot the air support engine of the ship making it crash on the ground.

"What the?" said Orion.

"Our flight engines have been destroyed," said the leader of the 15 Klaxosapiens on the intercom, "no harm to anyone inside but looks like we won't be able to fly anymore."

"The strategy planned will fail for sure… Elise can you do something to blind the target?" said Hatake as he tried to turn his boosters on which had stopped functioning.

"Sure!" said Elise as she bombarded the head of the S-Class unit with flares.

"Orion get together with Elise, Strelizia will stay about 200 meters behind me!" said Hatake as all the Franxxs got in position.

"And what about you?" asked Orion.

"I'm going to make you all… Win!" shouted Hatake as his sword turned into a bow.

"Wait!" shouted Seraphime over the mic, "Don't push yourself!"

"I don't care," said Hatake as he continuously shot the S-Class unit with his devastating damage arrows. The S-Class unit in his defense swung his left hand at full speed throwing him away. The S-class unit moved towards the place where Meteorix had fallen.

"Hiro use Strelizia's ultimate!" shouted Hatake.

"But" replied Zero Two, "that will-"

"I fixed that problem already!" said Hatake interrupting, "Just do it!"

"Alright!" said Hiro as Strelizia fired her ultimate making a white-colored beam pass right through the smaller units they were fighting earlier, wiping almost all of them out. The S-Class unit looking at the devastation bombarded laser beam from his head towards where all the other Franxxs were.

"What is this?!" said Orion as the barren land below the feet of the Franxxs turned liquid making them slow sink.

"Damn you!" shouted Hatake as Meteorix that was lying that in front of the S-Class unit fired another devastating shot from his bow, "I will kill you-" he said as blood spilled out of his mouth.

"Stop!" said Seraphime crying, "please no more! Stop it!"

"Damn it!" said Nana as she got up, "What the hell am I doing?!"

"Nana…" said Hachi.

"Come on!" said Nana.

"Wait!" said Seraphime looking at Hatake running short on breath, "I can't watch him die like this! Take me to him… Please!"

"Okay then…" said Nana as Seraphime and Hachi followed her.

"I don't care if I die…" said Hatake as he struggled to get back on Meteorix's seat, "I lost everything, people I love… No matter what I do, they are always gone, either from my life or they are already dead!" he said as Meteorix raised his hand again but before he could do anything, the S-Class unit threw Meteorix at the Mothership. Meteorix crashed and fell on the ground.

"I…" said Hatake as he fell from his seat, on the cockpit, looking at the Franxxs that were being sunk into the land as his eyes felt heavy, "don't have the energy, but isn't there any way I can save them?"

"Why do you keep pushing yourself?" asked a voice as the main entrance on the side of Meteorix opened.

"Sera…" he said with a smile as she entered with a serious expression.

"I'm fighting with you and I don't want a word against it!" she said as she pulled out the pistil seat in front of Hatake's seat.

"Why," said Hatake, "why do you even care-"

"Because I love you! You idiot!" she said as she kissed him.

"Of course…" thought Hatake, "Was I this foolish not to realize it? Why would I take such pain and risk just to revive her…? It's obvious, the reason I'm living is… Because of her!"

"What do we do?" said Zero Two as Strelizia struggled to get out of the liquified land.

"Don't move!" said Elise, "you will get sucked in even faster."

"Oh man," said Orion looking at the left-over units who came back into formation with the S-Class unit, "We are dead!"

The S-class unit fired another beam that came rushing right towards them. It landed with a large bang that made dry soil fly into the air making the Franxxs out of sight for a while.

"Hear me nicely Hatake…" said Nana over the intercom as a black colored Franxx had stopped the beam by a plasma shield it had on the left hand, "If you ever go on dying while I'm already in pain, I will be the one who kills you!"

"Let's finish it!" shouted Seraphime sitting on the pistil seat of Meteorix as the Franxx's sword glowed blue in color.

"Get out of my sight!" shouted Hatake as Meteorix swung his sword in the air making a gigantic wave that slashed through the S-Class units standing in front of them.

"This power…" thought Hatake looking at Seraphime who watched the S-Class falling in front of them with a smile, "I have never thought I would be this powerful with her…"

"So, what do we do about the other units?" asked Orion looking at the leftover units who were retreating.

"Don't worry general," said a voice over Huitzilopochtli's intercom, "we will handle them!"