Chapter 3: Solid Webs, Part 2
The muggy swamp was faintly illuminated by what little sunlight made it through the trees. The suffocating humidity and buzzing insects gave the trio the welcome they pretty much expected. IF was slapping mosquitoes off of her bare arms and legs while Nisa was extra careful not to let any flies enter her mouth again. Lid walked a few paces in front of them, unphased. The insects seemed uninterested in her. Curious, IF spoke up.
"Hey, what gives? Why aren't the bugs going after you?", she commented.
Lid stepped through a puddle and glanced back towards IF. "When you've mastered the art of stealth, even insects can't detect you."
Nisa skipped over some rocks and hopped in front of Lid. "Do you truly mean to say that right now, you're camouflaged?!", she asked.
The eye-patched woman nodded. "That's right. My camouflage level is currently at 98%. I could even hide from the two of you right now if I wanted to." She walked around Nisa and continued to move forward. IF followed Lid and stopped to lock eyes with Nisa, the two of them exchanging shrugs. They continued to walk behind Lid, traversing the muddy, unstable terrain of the swamp. IF sighed at the thought of having to bring what she was wearing to the cleaners after this. They didn't even finish cleaning her jacket yet…
"Hey, IF", Nisa whispered, "do you really think she's as good as she says at sneaking around?"
After thinking about it for a moment, IF replied. "Eh, no clue. Guess we'll just have to take her word for- wait." The brunette came to a halt and looked around. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Nisa walked up and slowly paced around. "Ahaha, very funny, Lid! You sure got us real good! You can come out now!", she called out, trying to keep her voice as low as possible while still somehow sounding like she was shouting.
There was no response. A few moments of a cricket chirping passed, interrupted by a bird chirping, and then the cricket chirping stopping. "I can't believe she ditched us!", IF cried out. Nisa remained calm, trying to look around to see if she could find the elusive box-dweller. "To think we came all this way, just to be played like a damn fiddle!", IF grumbled, slashing at a tree. Almost as soon as she struck the tree, a bullet blasted the trunk and shattered it, causing the tree to fall over.
"Calm down, IF. There is no need to take this out on these fair trees.", Nisa called out.
"T-that wasn't me!", IF shouted back. Another shot rang out, which prompted the duo to dive for cover behind some trees. Some distance away, a sailor suited sniper became disoriented as her targets suddenly scrambled away from her scope. She regained her composure and began scanning the area for anything that was too flat. IF and Nisa kept quiet as to not attract any attention to themselves.
"If we're getting sniped at, then whoever is shooting at us probably isn't close enough to hear us.", IF spoke up, "How do we get out of this?"
Nisa picked up her scarf and held it out in the open, only for it to be promptly ripped up by another sniper shot. "They responded to that quickly. The enemy must be out in the open. IF! Give me some cover fire! I'll run in and dispatch the enemy!" IF was about to argue against that, however a nearby tree being blasted down promptly changed her mind. "This plan's insane... But it's the only one we've got!"
IF carefully pulled her gun out of her belt so that she didn't lose her elbow in the process. She looked towards Nisa who gave her a thumbs up, and nodded at her. After taking a deep breath, IF moved her arm out and began shooting blindly towards the general direction of the shooter. Nisa didn't waste any time and bolted forward, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was shooting at them while crouching forward to stay out of IF's line of fire.
Meanwhile, the sniper rolled away and repositioned herself before returning fire. Her shot blasted the ground somewhere near the tree IF was hiding behind, sending mud and leaves flying everywhere. This gave Nisa some of the information she needed to track the shooter's location. She slid behind a tree for cover, and listened as their attacker took more shots. IF had stopped shooting so she wouldn't wouldn't get caught. Nisa picked up a rock and threw it towards a tree to create some noise and divert their attacker's attention. Unfortunately for her, the shooter was way too experienced to fall for that. Another shot went out. This time, it struck the tree next to IF's hiding spot. Without thinking, Nisa jolting from where she was hiding.
"Avert your eyes no longer! The light of Justice rises from the East! Over here, villain!", Nisa shouted. "That's WEST!", IF barked out.
Nisa strode forward, dashing around from tree to tree, shots following her every move as she kept faking out her attacker. IF found her opening to move in closer, approaching wherever Nisa was running from a different angle. She moved out in the open now that Nisa was drawing away fire. Her gun now reloaded, IF tried to make out where the shooting was coming from. Meanwhile, Nisa continued to elude the blasts, using the swamp itself to her advantage to hide from the shooter's scope. Closer and closer she ran, until she finally began climbing between two trees by kicking off of them until she reached the top. She now had the crimson shooter in her sights, resting on top of a cliff. Nisa visualized her next move, lept off, and shut her down with her swift signature kick. At least, that's what was supposed to happen.
The schoolgirl wasted no time and blasted the branch in half, ruining Nisa's jump and causing her tumble onto the cliff. She regained her footing and sprinted toward the sniper, only to have her advance halted by an explosion. In true comedic fashion, the most harm that came to Nisa was a bunch of soot on her face and clothing. However, this forced her onto her knees. The shooter smirked.
"Not so tough now, huh?", she spoke up. Her voice was low and monotone. She put her sniper away and took out a handgun as she slowly approached Nisa, keeping in mind to stay a certain distance away from her. In her mind, she knew she couldn't win at close range. Nisa slowly raised one of her hands to wipe some soot off of her face. "It's always darkest before the dawn…", she grinned, as the warm embrace of the Light caressed her face. It was almost contagious. The young gunman could even feel the warmth herself. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was.
A wave of fire surged towards the attacker, the Gust of Wind standing with her arm outstretched behind it. The enemy quickly turned around and took a shot, wounding IF and causing her to flinch. Unfortunately for the shooter, there was nothing she could do to stop the flames. The three of them were now on their knees, breathing heavily. They all exhaustedly traded glances, watching for the other person's next move. IF clenched her arm as she panted, sweat pouring off of her forehead. She had to sprint as fast as she could to make it there in time and only just barely made it. Because Nisa had more stamina than her, she was probably the most exhausted one. She held onto her daggers tightly, watching the schoolgirls' every move. She was prepared to respond as soon as she moved a muscle.
The quiet breathing was all that could be heard over the swamp's ambience. The attacker was down on one knee with her head down. Her hair hid her eyes as her chest rose and fell. You could practically see the metal gears turning in her head as she planned her next move. Nisa was calculating how long it would take for her to reach the attacker if she sprinted. They continued to breathe heavily as they all planned their next move. A second too early would leave them open to attack. A second too late would be game over. The wildlife continued to go on about it's business as the three girls were waiting for the moment of truth. The sounds of buzzing insects and frogs ribbiting could be heard in the background. The buzzing rang in all of their ears, causing nothing more than a minor inconvenience. It wasn't until a frog halted the buzzing that time began to move again.
The attacker quickly rose her hands up, gun in each, only to have one of them knocked out of her hand by one of IF's daggers. Another shot rang out before IF could respond, causing IF to snap her attention towards Nisa. All the heroine could do at that distance was raise her arms and brace herself for the shot that never came. The schoolgirl's hands were now empty. She froze in place and slowly moved her hands onto her head. "I should have known you were still here. I honestly thought you had abandoned them so you could escape.", she muttered.
Out of nowhere, Lid emerged with a gun pointing at the attacker. "Kept ya waiting, huh? I'm surprised you found me, K-Sha.", she replied.
A seething glare emanated from the young girl as she grilled Lid so hard that her mechanical eyepatch looked like it was starting to overheat. "That would be my line. I'm surprised you actually came back for these two. Or rather, that you even grouped up with them at all." she muttered, giving the tall woman a smirk.
The two gritty gun girls continued their exchange as IF and Nisa began to make their way towards them. IF pulled out two Nep Bulls from the pouches on her belt, and tossed one over to Nisa. They both opened them and chugged them as if they were trying really hard to be in sync, but failed miserably. With their wounds magically restored with the oh so mysterious power of energy drinks, they were now ready to speak up.
"You know this kid?", IF asked. "You're not exactly too old yourself, IF…", Nisa butted in.
"Did you say something?"
"N-no! I was just exercising my chords of steel!"
"Yes, tell them, Lid. Tell them who I am.", K-Sha taunted. Lid took a deep breath and closed her eyes, a very well sketched out flashback beginning to play in her mind. "We were… sisters in arms. K-Sha and I were trained to be the perfect soldiers. However, she was better at weapon usage, whereas I was better suited for covert missions and close quarters combat. Our missions were sponsored by the Lastation government and usually involved tasks behind enemy lines in PC Continent. We were masters of deception, confusing our enemies from within their own ranks. They would never know we were even there. That is, until there was a leak. With our positions compromised, we were forced to take extreme measures so we could escape. Once word got out that we were trying to meddle in the affairs of PC Continent, Lastation denied all responsibility and cut off all ties to our group. This left us all on our own to take the fall. After this, the leadership of our company began making more and more questionable decisions... That was when I left."
K-Sha looked up and locked eyes with Lid. "You left because you caused it. You're the only one who could have leaked that information! You were a double agent this whole time! And now you're blaming it all on the organization?!", she growled. IF's eyes widened in complete shock. "The Organization?!", she interrupted. Nisa watched obliviously as the atmosphere of the group changed. "What's the Organization?"
IF crossed her arms. "You've never heard of it? Well, I guess it's to be expected… Only a select chosen few would know about them. The Organization is responsible for all of the unspeakable evil that happens in the world.", she began to explain, unironically. Nisa wasn't sure whether IF was messing with her or not, but decided to clarify anyway. "Such evil can not stand. What deeds have these villains wrought?", she responded. IF placed one hand on her hip, and the other over one of her eyes. "Only the most unspeakable crimes. If I told you, then I'd only be putting you in harm's way." Her tone was completely serious and had absolutely no hints of irony. She truly believed this was the case.
"It's nothing like that.", K-Sha responded plainly. She made sure not to move a muscle as to not cause Lid to make a mess. "Perhaps you're thinking of another organization. Our organization mostly did high risk reconnaissance missions. The two of us were sent to PC Continent to try to help with the anti-piracy effort from the inside. Which brings me to ask…", Lid looked directly into K-Sha's eyes, "Why are you following me?"
K-Sha stared back silently for a moment, her green eyes staring back with feverish intensity. Whether she was sweating due to the humidity or the intensity of the staredown was anyone's guess. "We were trained to be weapons of the organization. To be used to carry out duties for our country. I was sent to reclaim one of their weapons. But besides that… I'm here to get my sister back. Lid… please..." Her voice deviated from the usual monotone voice she was using to adopt a more lively, passionate tone.
Lid shifted in place and hummed. "I can not return until I discover the truth of what happened on PC Continent that day.", she responded sternly. To this, K-Sha lowered her head and stared at the ground, her bangs falling over her eyes. Her hands remained on her head, and her shoulders began to tremble. "I'm sorry, K-Sha."
"I guess that's it, then. I wish she didn't have to go and cry like that… now I feel like we're the bad guys.", IF sighed. Nisa shouted in response. "Don't even joke about that! We're heralds of peace, not bullies!" The brunette simply shrugged off Nisa's concern as what sounded like sobbing began to come from the defeated high schooler. "D-don't cry! She said she would come back once she finds out the truth! The truth never remains hidden forever!", Nisa tried to console the girl, but halted when she began to mutter something.
"I understand your decision… But...", K-Sha muttered, "...If I can't have you… nobody can!" K-Sha pulled one of her hands from underneath her hair and looked up, revealing not tears, but laughter. In her hand she held a grenade, ready to blow at any moment. She hurled it forward, causing it to land in the middle of all four of the girls. IF, Nisa and Lid's eyes all looked down onto it in shock and tried to get away from it. While their attention was diverted, bullets descended from the heavens and wrought havoc onto the mud in a straight line, approaching Lid. She somersaulted out of the way, giving K-Sha an opening to grab onto a rope ladder that swung by her. IF looked up and saw what they now had to deal with- a combat helicopter.
"Get under the trees!", Nisa yelled. The trio frantically made a run for it. The helicopter maintained its sights onto Lid exclusively. Once they all got beneath the branches, the helicopter rose up higher into the air to try to search for them. Though all three of them were able to make it into cover, Lid had sustained some heavy damage. She collapsed onto the ground after reaching safety. Her flat companions noticed this and quickly ran to her aid. "IF! Give her one of your Nep Bulls!", Nisa frantically blurted out.
IF quickly searched her pouches. "I-I'm all out!"
"What do you mean you're all out?!"
"We already used them all! These things are expensive, you know!"
Lid groaned and began muttering something. "I have… ra...ra…" Nisa lit up as she realized what the busty soldier meant. She reached into… somewhere and pulled out a cup. "Huh? Ramen? I thought you were trying to say 'rations'!" Nisa said, looking at the container with a dumbfounded expression. "Who cares?! Just hurry up and give it to her!", IF shouted. "This needs to be cooked first! It's not healthy to eat this raw…", Nisa began to speak, only for IF to talk over her. "For pete's sake, just give her the damn ramen!". Nisa unsealed the container and opened Lid's mouth, proceeding to pour the noodles and powdered condiments down the hatch. Lid was able to chew on the hard, uncooked noodles herself. With each bite, she regained more and more energy until she sat up and took the cup from Nisa, devouring all that remained. She smiled and savored the taste. "The food of the future."
IF sighed in relief. "Now that we're all okay, let's figure out how we're going to deal with that helicopter." Nisa nodded in agreement as Lid rose to her feet. Out of… somewhere else, she pulled out a familiar penguin backpack and handed it to Nisa. "I went ahead earlier so I could go get it.", she said. Nisa joyfully took the backpack and shoved her arms through the straps, rocking a pose after putting it on. "That's fine and all, but you could have at least given us a heads up! Anyway, back to our helicopter problem.", IF complained. Lid took out some grenades and held them out.
After a brief moment, IF protested once more. "You've got to be kidding me." Nisa took one of the grenades. "So we're going to use these? How're we supposed to get high enough to even reach it?", she asked. Lid looked up towards the trees. "We're going to climb up and throw them at the helicopter. A few well placed hits to the propellers should be enough to take it down", she explained. "Are we supposed to just climb up and wait, hoping it passes by us? We could be waiting for hours!", IF replied. Nisa nodded in agreement. "We've already exhausted all of our resources. We need to end this now!" Lid reached behind her and pulled out a box of matches. "I'm going to start a fire to bait them in. We'll get into the trees and once the chopper is in range, we'll take it down." IF had some problems with this plan, but they were running out of options here. All she could do was listen to Lid's plan, since in the end, Lid knew what she was doing more than IF was. Without any further complaints, they put their plan into motion…
As IF hid amongst the tree branches near the top of a tree, she continued to doubt whether this plan would even work. It was so… spontaneous. Too… convenient. Wouldn't K-Sha be able to see that this was obviously a trap? Wasn't she trained to deal with this sort of thing? Surely she wouldn't fall for something like this. What the young chuunibyou didn't account for, however, was how over the edge the yandere was at this point. Under her command, the chopper feverishly searched around the swamp for the elusive stealth mistress. She wanted to be with Lid, whether she was alive or not. In her obsession, she impulsively ordered the pilot to go straight towards the bait, the helicopter hovering right in the middle of the triple mousetrap. What a thrill it was, awaiting for the right moment with darkness and silence through the night. While IF's mind was still in a dream, Lid gave the signal.
Two grenades hit home, causing the main propeller to slow down dramatically. K-Sha realized what was going on before it was far too late, and lept out of the chopper before IF could put the final nail in the coffin by hitting the back propeller. The helicopter spun out of control and flew away into some trees, out of sight. K-Sha had a parachute, but it served her little use for her with all the tree branches around. Luckily, she was able to break her fall by hitting branches on her way down. The predators climbed down the trees to assess their prey. Aside from some scratches, bruises and torn clothes, K-Sha was fine. The trio approached her with weapons at the ready this time. "You won't catch us off guard again! Surrender quietly!", Nisa announced.
K-Sha groaned as she slowly stood up. "Lid… come back to me… Lid!", she yelled. She swayed in place, as if in a dizzy trance. "What do we do?", IF asked in a low voice, "Even after all that, she's still standing…" Lid quickly and expertly switched guns, keeping a weapon aimed at K-Sha at almost all times. "I've switched to a tranquilizer. We'll knock her out and get out of here…", Lid answered. "I won't leave her here at the mercy of the spiders. Lets bring her back to the nearby town.", Nisa added. After everyone agreed, Lid set her sights on K-Sha and was now prepared to pull the trigger. "You're MINE, Lid! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MI-", K-Sha went on and on, until Lid took the shot. The tranquilizer shot hit K-Sha right between the eyes. It was over.
At least, it should have been. K-Sha was so far off the deep end that the tranquilizer was as harmful as a fly, which by the way, had just entered IF's mouth. As she coughed and hacked in the background, K-Sha continued to ramble on. Lid took a few more shots, which were just as effective as the first. The ground began to shake, as K-Sha's voice began to get louder. "What's going on? She doesn't have any super powers, does she?!", Nisa shouted. Suddenly, K-Sha lept into the air, and a giant robot landed in her spot. Lid and Nisa watched in shock as K-Sha landed inside the cockpit. "Nobody can keep you from me, Lid! NOT EVEN YOU, SISSSSSSSTERRRR!", K-Sha shrieked. Nisa began to hop in place, pumping herself up for this next fight. "What's the plan now, Lid?"
Lid's eyes remained wide as she observed the bipedal machine before them. "M- M3-TL G3R!", she bit her tongue, caught completely off guard. She regained her composure and lowered her weapon, staring down the enemy before her. After a few moments, she turned her head towards Nisa. "...She's only after me. Take IF and go." Nisa would've replied if it weren't for the absolute resolve on Lid's face. "Don't worry. I'll be able to lose her easily in this swamp."
"What about our deal?", Nisa replied quickly. "Don't worry. I already got what I needed. Nisa looked down for a moment, hesitant to leave Lid behind. She accepted Lid's decision with a nod, and ran to get the struggling IF. After a whack to her back, the fly left her throat. IF panted and stood up straight. "C'mon, she'll take it from here. Let's go!", IF blurted out. They went their separate ways, Lid leading K-Sha and her weapon deeper into the swamp…
It was night time by the time they had returned to Planeptune. They went straight to the guild and turned in the request, finally securing the amount of shares IF needed to sign up for the Grand Prix. After turning in the application, she was officially in. "Phew... and that's that.", IF said with a sigh of relief. "Great job today, IF! Though, you were getting pretty fatigued at the end there.", Nisa said with a smile. IF shrugged, noticing that her shrugs were lighter than usual. Then she realized that her coat was still in the cleaners. She wondered if there was a chance that they finished cleaning it early…
"IF, I need to do some errands tomorrow so I won't be able to train with you." Nisa announced. "Fine by me. I think I can handle myself better now after gaining so much experience today. It's not everyday you take down a helicopter, after all.", IF replied with a smirk. The two said their goodbyes for the day and parted ways. IF decided to see if she could pick up her coat early, so she hopped on her bike and cruised on over to the cleaners. Luckily it wasn't too busy that day due to the protests, so they were able to give IF her coat back completely spotless and with the refreshing odor of clean laundry. She thanked the clerk and put it on right on the spot. IF exited the shop and checked her phone as she returned to her bike. Upon reaching her bike, she noticed there was something off about it.
The brunette walked up and picked up what appeared to be some sort of stuffed animal sitting on the seat. It looked like a white pig, however there was something wrong with it's face. Half of it was black and had a twisted grin on it's face. "Just another stupid prank.", IF sighed. Something suddenly came over IF and she felt incredibly sleepy. Her eyes became heavier and heavier and she could do naught to fight it. She finally slumped over onto her motorcycle and surrendered into the night.
The feeling of cold, hard steel against her body shocked IF awake. She was lying on the ground and appeared to have been asleep for a while. She didn't recognize where she was, but it appeared to be the inside of some sort of factory. The windows were all bolted up with metal panels, so she couldn't see outside. She stood up and looked around, trying to figure out how she got there. There was a monitor on the wall that was powered off, and a camera facing the middle of the room that seemed to follow the girl's every move. She felt like something was completely off. Let's be honest here, of course there was. IF began to think out loud.
"Let's see… I picked up my coat from the cleaners…", she said as she checked her pockets to make sure she had all of her belongs, "And then I found some weird stuffed animal on my bike. And then… I woke up here in some abandoned warehouse or whatever? And, of course, my phone has no signal. Oh come on, this wreaks! This kind of crap only happens in lame, washed up horror movies!", she complained. Her words seemed to have sparked the monitor to life, and a girl with the head of a pig appeared on the screen. However, half of her face was black and had a twisted grin on it, just like the stuffed animal IF found.
"HELL-O, everyone! You're probably wondering where you are, and most importantly, who this gorgeous creature on the TV screen is! I'm DanDan! Welcome, to Ran Ran Ronpa!"
CHAPTER 3… END.
Author's Note: The next chapter will be a parody of Danganronpa. However, because I chose to make this story rated T, it will not be as violent and graphic as in said game.