[DISCLAIMER: This story only uses Hololive characters but does not have anything to do with the real people who play these Holive characters.
Okay, so we finally get some Mecha action and tight-fitting Mecha outfits. Lots of action and hopefully some heart in this campy monster story.
The whole gang is going to fight some monsters and we get a lot of OkaKoro love.
Chapter Thirteen
Botan flipped switches and checked all the instruments on the interior of the Botanx-2. She was used to flying helicopters and airplanes, but this was slightly different. It was, however, very intuitive as Pekora had explained.
When she entered in the special suit there were two plugs, one at the side, just under her left breast, and the other at the back of her helmet. It was to connect her mind and heart to the machine.
They all wore similar outfits, watching and listening to Pekora closely as she explained.
"This won't kill me, right Chairman?" she yelled to the creator, as Pekora carried her screen that looked like an iPad. She was constantly pushing buttons and checking every variable recorded as Botan pushed buttons.
The sheriff was the first one to check her vehicle/weapon because of her experience.
"Of course, it won't kill you, unless… well, just be careful - Peko."
"What do you mean, 'unless?' Why does that sound bad?"
"No worries – you're more than capable to use a Mecha."
Botan merely sighed, looking over the instruments. She did like how at ease everything was set before her. She slid her arms into the rings, with handles and more buttons, to move the front part of the machine, and her feet at the controls were for the back and major mechanical direction.
"Okay, Sheriff, with your mind you can make this do anything you want. It's now joined with your thoughts. Try it – Peko."
The Chairman stepped back on the platform, as Botanx-2 moved effortlessly. It raised up on all fours swiped upward, and then the railguns pulled forward.
Inside, Botan could see everything. She could simply direct the sniper rifle with her sight. Even the tail could attack those things at the back and she could control its movement.
She smiled to herself, actually having never been in such an intuitive fighting apparatus.
Over the headpiece, Pekora directed, "Walk to the testing area, please Sheriff."
Botan caused the hulking Mecha to stride to an open area at the back of the cavern. Within she had targets all around, and Botan tested hitting everything with perfect precision. It made Pekora smile at her brilliant choice for the pilot of this creation. She wanted to pat herself on the back.
She turned to Botan's wife. "Lamy, you will be in the back and you'll know when to disperse the chemicals into the air."
"What do you mean, I'll know?"
"It's meant to be used by a healer and you'll know – Peko. Intuitively, you are a healer, and so it will follow your lead."
Lamy glanced over at the others watching closely. Most enamored at how the Botanx-2 was moving. The tail glowed before it would slice through rocks.
Over the intercom, "Sheriff, please stop and come back to the platform. Your wife will be joining you now, and we need to calibrate her mind to the machine."
Once the machine was settled, and Botan came out in her very tight outfit of white, dark grey and black, Lamy walked up also in her suit of light blue, dark blue and white.
"You look really hot," Botan laughed. "Wow," she whistled, "very form-fitting."
"Same."
They giggled and then kissed, which made Pekora sigh.
"Oh please – we don't have time for this – Peko."
"You always get nervous with affection," Miko stated, walking up her arms folded in front. "That's what love looks like."
"I do not get nervous."
"I beg to differ."
"Let's try your Mecha next, Mikochi."
"You afraid I might kiss you?"
Pekora simply laughed in her usual cadence.
"Kind'a what I thought." Miko just shook her head, laughing at how uncomfortable Pekora could get.
And just as with Botan, she helped Miko connect with her Mecha and fed all the right variants from her brain waves and heart monitor.
They all took turns.
And then she turned to Okayu, "You're next."
Everyone was dressed in their tight-fitting suits watching and listening carefully to the instruction.
"Wait, I thought you said I'm not driving one."
"I need you to be connected to my PekoDam just in case."
"I don't like the sound of that. What do you mean just in case? What are you planning?"
"Okayu, don't give your horse a gift in the mouth - Peko."
"That's not how that adage goes, Pekora."
"It isn't?"
"Why would you give a gift to your horse in its mouth?"
"It doesn't have hands – Peko."
Korone watched them all closely, smiling at the banter.
Her senses had been heightened, and she sensed something wasn't right. She tilted her head to the right and then left. It was getting late.
Down in the city of Holios, they were fighting with creatures that were growing in number. They needed to hurry and she felt impatient, but also deep inside it was like she wanted to just let go and burst into fury and destroy those things.
What was going on? She suddenly felt a jolt, like something was calling to her.
She could sense them, like small worms crawling through her insides, worming their way up and into her brain. It was getting more and more difficult to hold back the creature deep inside, and she closed her eyes.
A low growl rumbled through her body, as the others continued checking equipment, and without realizing she was seeing the creatures up above, as if calling to her.
It was getting more and more difficult to hold back.
She tried to keep her thoughts trained on watching Okayu pilot the PekoDam, and she stood there trying hard to keep that in her mind.
Okayu was surprisingly good at using the Mecha.
She didn't like that she would be separated from her, and in the MikoBusterDam, but understood why. They would need to split up for the best outcome.
Miko would lead because of the x-ray vision goggles, and guide to the right place.
She'd then jump out and protect Miko as she cast the seal. She knew that was her job. She would be the last one to calibrate with the MikoBusterDam, and stood back.
Peko and Okayu would be constantly fighting those things, and so would she – protecting Miko as she placed the seal. That was her job.
Under her breath, "My job. My job. My job." She wanted those things out of her head. "Stop it. Stop it."
Her whole body was shaking, as she tried to hold back the creature inside. It wanted to be up above fighting those things. Underneath the steady growl infiltrated.
Pekora was explaining how Botan would be in the city, picking up the others and then Lamy would work on healing all those infected with the crystalline substance that would be blessed by her abilities once released by her, as her mind and heart was connected to that part of the Botanx-2. She'd sit behind Botan in the cockpit.
Korone strode to the back and away from the others, her eyes blazing a more golden color.
Nobody noticed, as they continued chatting and bantering busily over the Mecha's and their use and planning the best way to attack.
A growl roiled deep inside her, and no longer able to hold back. She took off away from the others, rushing to the entrance of the cavern. She leapt up the stairs, and the others finally realized she had taken off.
"Koro-san!" Okayu yelled, from inside her Mecha, and with her mind locked into the Mecha, the PekoDam lifted, it's eyes a bright red.
"Whoa, wait – not here!" Pekora was pushing buttons, and it had joined with Okayu. "Okayu, wait. Don't move yet."
Lights went off in the cavern, blinking bright red, with sirens going off. Suddenly the whole cavern was lighting up with red blinking lights and sirens.
Botan quickly looked to the others, and then yelled to Pekora, "Why is your security system going off?!"
"That's," Pekora looked down at her pad, pushing buttons and typing quickly, and then looked over the cameras. "Korone, she let them in. She must want to fight them and… Peko."
"What do you mean, she let them in?" Botan screeched. "Why'd she let them in?!"
"It's her nature."
"Nature?"
"She needs to fight them, and so, she went to them – Peko. They've breached the entrance – only the first entrance. They'll break through to us soon. There's… a bunch of the demons – the larger Primals coming inside. Koro-chan is fighting them – oh my god – Peko."
"Get into the Mecha's!" Botan instructed. "Miko, jump in yours."
"I don't think I can work it yet."
"It's easy, just let it listen to you and listen to the machine. It's very intuitive."
Miko felt so panicked. She'd never driven a Mecha before except for the practice run. She rarely drove in cars for the last 10 years. She really hated Pekora building a Mecha for her when that's the last thing she wanted.
"This is all going to shit!" Botan yelled. She leapt out of her Mecha and took control.
"Lamy, get inside, Miko, get inside yours. Okayu," she grabbed the headset from Pekora, "Okayu, listen to me."
"Koro-san, where is she?" Okayu was feeling panicked – realizing Korone was alone with the creatures above.
"She's fighting those things – she needs you to give her back up. Forget the Chairman and go grab her into your cockpit and then take off. Your job is to kill as many of those things as you can, and then take Korone and join us.
"Miko will be joined by the Chairman, and I will head out the other side. We have to go now."
"Wait," Pekora grabbed at her headset, "that's not the plan."
"Well, that's the plan now Chairman. Or, we won't have a plan." And Botan figured something else out, "Drive the MikoBusterDam, I know you're connected to all of these."
"But it's…" the lioness was right.
"You need to drive it and take her to place the seal. That's your job now, Chairman."
Pekora's perfectionist nature was making it hard for her to reconstruct the fact she would need to now drive a Mecha that didn't look like her. It wasn't her Mecha. It was built for Miko, but then she knew the Sheriff was correct.
"Just… Just… give me back my headset. Let's go."
Botan handed her the headset. She then clicked her own headset at the side of her helmet. "Chairman, place me as the lead headset, and let's do this right. I'll head to the town and you head to the center. Tell Okayu to join you as back up."
"Yes," she reluctantly knew that Botan was the Captain and the one who had run a brigade in the past and knew military detail better than any other. She chose her for a reason. "Yes, that works – Peko."
"Let's go."
And just as they headed to the large doors for them to leave, it stopped working. The lights in the cavern went out, and everything stopped. They were in pitch black with the doors half open. The two Mecha's stood there, waiting to leave, and the doors weren't opening.
"Oh no – Peko." The creatures or Korone had dismantled the generators. They heard explosions, and it was quite possible the PekoDam had destroyed everything trying to protect the berserker doggo above.
Over the headset, "Chairman, why did you make the Doggo god crazy?"
Pekora placed a hand over her brow. She really didn't want to hear this right now.
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Upstairs, gigantic creatures had entered, as Korone opened the door to fight them. She just wanted to go after the Primals – that was her only thought now.
Korone had grabbed her chainsaw in one hand and was slashing through the creatures, one after another, taking damage, but it didn't faze her because she'd gone into berserker mode. She had one goal running through her mind, "Kill them," repeating like a hypnotic mantra, "Kill them. Kill them. Kill them."
Okayu, in the PekoDam, looked down at her girlfriend, looking like a blur of golden brown, as she went to one after another creature fighting. She was so fast. Okayu couldn't believe what she was looking at.
What had Pekora done to her, to make her this creature that had such bloodlust?
Over the speaker, she reasoned, "Koro-san, Koro-san, you need to back off those things and get in the Mecha."
One after the other creature had come with one goal in their minds, "Bring back a god of this land."
Korone was that god, and she didn't even realize why they were all jumping on her and trying to fight. They were slowly working on breaking her to get her back to their Demon Lord.
She had gone to them. She was following them, fighting through the tunnels and outside the building.
Okayu was shooting at them, not even realizing all the damage she was doing to the cavern, as she was trying to protect Korone from the creatures surrounding her.
Rocks and metal were falling from all sides, as she continued following. The PekoDam plowed through the cavern and tunnels, chasing after Korone, firing and slashing to give her back up.
"Koro-san, stop! Listen to me!"
She wasn't listening.
Okayu kept yelling over the headset. "Koro-san, listen to me, dammit! Koro-san, get in the Mecha! Koro-san!"
The giant Mecha burst out from under the ground and to the top, and when Okayu looked over the landscape she'd never seen that many giant Primals in her life. These weren't the small changed villagers; these were actual creatures from the Demon Realm. She'd never seen one in real life and only through video or photos.
Their faces were a mix of pig and wolf, with large canines, and underbites of equally sharp teeth that pulled up over their lips. They had eyes with red centers and a mix of fur and leathery skin, clawed on both hands and feet.
All stood over 20-feet, and some of the bigger ones neared 30-feet. It was like the size of a three-story building. Her Mecha was standing at over 60-feet and a few more if you counted the height of the ears.
"Oh my god," she breathed. "KORO-SAN!"
She didn't even realize the damage to her person, as blood was everywhere on her body, and Okayu wasn't sure which was blood from her and which was from the creatures as it all meshed together.
Okayu made a decision, and she lowered the PekoDam, opening the cockpit. And then standing there so small she yelled, "Koro-san, I love you!"
Korone suddenly turned, her heightened senses, and looked up at the small cat-girl on the lip of the PekoDam.
The other creatures turned, as well, and were soon about to run to the one standing out there in the open.
Okayu shook, as she looked down at Korone. She was taking a big risk hoping she meant more than those creatures to Korone right now.
"KORO-SAN!" she yelled, "I. LOVE. YOU!"
Korone within an instant gathered her bearings again, realizing she needed to get to Okayu before those creatures did. They were all running toward the small cat-girl.
Within an instant it woke her, and she leapt forward, past the creatures. With one swipe, toward a Primal in front of her, she jumped up onto its shoulder, after slicing off its large head with the chainsaw. She then threw the chainsaw to the right, hitting another, and then leapt off the headless creature's shoulder, onto the lip, and to Okayu.
She wrapped her arms around her neck.
"Sorry."
Okayu was breathing hard, her heart thumping faster than it ever had in the past. "You're something else, you know that?"
Korone smiled, laughing. "Let's get out of here and help the others."
They hopped into the cockpit, closing it just before a creature leapt onto them. Within a second, Okayu pulled the sword down from the arm of the Mecha, slicing at the creature.
Korone, sat down behind her, looking over the instruments, getting her bearings with the interior. She kept blinking, feeling as if she'd woken from a deep sleep.
"Koro-san, we have to head to where the MikoBusterDam is – Pekora is driving it with Mikochi."
"Kay, kay, got it."
Korone looked over herself. She was a mess and covered in guts and blood. "I bet I smell."
"Yep, but we'll have to worry about showering later."
"Ooh, with you?"
"Um… sure." Okayu giggled, "anything you want. Just don't take off on me like that again. Or, at least give me a warning first."
Korone realized she had no control while in berserker. But the pull from Okayu was able to take her out of it. She was thankful for that, and said quietly, "Thank you, Okayu."
"Sure."
"I mean it, thank you."
Okayu shirked her head to the side. She smiled. "Hey Koro-san, after this let's find a small cabin and just spend some time alone – without any drama or monsters, kay?"
"Sounds good."
And with that, Korone grabbed at the gaping wound at her mid-section, not having realized she'd been so badly injured, and she held onto her side. She needed to hold on for all of them and for Holios. She could do this right now.
Now, that she was finally calming down the pain across her whole body was excruciating. She held tightly to her side, not wanting to worry her girlfriend.
One thing, the Inugami and special blood inside her could heal, but right now she closed her eyes, listening to Okayu joke and go on and on. She smiled. She loved listening to Okayu's voice. It was so calm and warm. It was her favorite sound in the world.
"Sounds good," she whispered again, smiling to herself, closing her eyes, as the PekoDam made its way to help Pekora and Miko in their Mecha.
[END NOTE: Thank you for reading. Please let me know how it's going in the reviews. Next up will be Botanx-2 and the others in the town.]