Summary: As Septokyo prepares for the upcoming Septokyo Fall Harvest Festival, Snake befriends Nikku, one of the new residents of the Ripov Skyscrapers, much to the annoyance of her boyfriend Rude #1

Note: Kouja no Senshi is a crossover series by Julayla-64 on DeviantArt. This story was co-written by me and her. We do not own any of the characters in the story, but Julayla-64 owns the character of Apep.

Fall had finally arrived in Septokyo. The leaves on the trees were changing from green to shades of red, orange, yellow, and brown, and the temperatures became a bit cooler. And with it being fall, it was time for the yearly Fall Harvest Festival, a week-long event to not only welcome the season, but the Autumn crops as well.

The crowd was busy putting up the kiosks and booths of the upcoming festival, each with their own unique products to show. Further away, the residents of the Ripov Skyscrapers looked around in awe.

"AAA, I can't believe it!" Girlfriend squealed. "Our first time celebrating the Septokyo Fall Harvest!"

"Yeah, I heard that it's going to be very cool." Boyfriend smirked.

As they pass by, Snake noticed a "Sold" sign at an apartment door not far from him.

"Huh, guessss we have a new arrival coming." Snake spoke.

"Or they could already be here," Apep said. "Look."

Snake peeked inside the apartment door, which was slightly opened, and saw a tall, lanky humanoid girl with short puffy dark red hair and grayish-white skin wearing a black jacket with pink sleeves, blue shorts and socks, and black and pink sneakers. Next to her was a bald male wearing a grayish-black varsity jacket with red sleeves with a white shirt underneath with black pants and matching black shoes.

"Nikku, where are the containers?" the bald man spoke looking in an empty box, "I need one of them to put my chips in!"

"They're in that box over there, Rude #1," the humanoid girl, Nikku, said.

As she spoke, Snake noticed something strange about her: she didn't seem to have a mouth.

"How odd." He mutters to himself.

"Ah, some people are born without mouths." Apep's voice spoke within his mind

The mouthless girl then turned to where Snake was at, him knocking.

"Uh hi. Can I come insss to meet the new neighborsss?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," Nikku said.

Nikku's voice rang in Snake's mind like a bell. It was soft and somewhat soothing.

He smiled a bit before he shook her hand, speaking, "You can call me Sssnake."

"Nice to meet you, Snake!" Nikku said. "The name's Nikku. Nikku Morioka. Over there is my boyfriend Rude #1."

Rude #1 glanced at the two shaking, him glancing a bit slight jealously for a moment.

"Issss he ok?" Snake asked.

"He's fine," Nikku answered. "He's always like that."

"Anywaysss, me and my friendsssss are gonna go to where the Fall Harvesssst Fessstival isss. And I wassss wondering if you two would like to come."

"The Fall Harvest Festival huh?" Nikku beamed, "Sounds fun. I'm sure we'll be there."

"Alright, ssssee you guyssss sssoon!"

Snake ran off to catch up with the others as Nikku waved goodbye. She heard Rude #1 grumbling angrily.

"What?" she asked.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all!" He stumbled, continuing to unpack.

Nikku stared at him for a moment and sighed in her head.

The festival was grand with the booths displaying all kinds of fall related stuff as the crowd chattered and Nikku with Rude #1 approached.

"Hey, you guyssss made it!" Snake exclaimed, running to the two.

"Of course we would." Nikku smiled as she gave him a shoulder pat, Rude #1 glancing a bit.

"Lookssss like there'ssss a lot of eventsss going on," Snake said, looking at the many booths and kiosks. "What do you think we should do firssst?"

Nikku looked around for a moment before seeing an area where a corn maze was taking place.

"Hey, how about we try this?" Nikku grinned, taking Snake's hand.

"Oh, sure!"

Nikku began to hover above the ground a bit as she dragged Snake to the corn maze. Rude #1 only groaned before he followed them. At the maze, Nikku alongside a few other competitors, readied themselves.

After a few moments, the sound of a blowhorn was heard as the participants went down the different routes of the maze, heading through.

"C'mon, Nikku! You can do it!" Snake cheered.

Many people were cheering as the crowd was watching and waiting, many within going through different dead ends, Nikku going on the other route, looking determined.

Where's the finish line? She asked herself.

After a moment, she found a path leading to the center of the maze, serving as the finish line.

"And we have a winner!"

The crowd cheered as Nikku waved her arm proudly, Rude #1 glancing at her hugging Snake while growling a bit jealously.

"That was awesssome, Nikku!" Snake said. "Wasssn't she amazing, Rude #1?"

"Oh yeah, sure." He spoke dryly, "Wonderful."

Snake looked a bit concerned at him for a moment before Nikku spoke again.

"That was fun! What other things do they have?"

Snake looked around.

"Well, there'ssss a bee farm exhibit over there."

"Bee farm? Sounds interesting." Nikku turned to Rude #1. "You coming, hun?"

He only sighed, following them to the exhibit with a glance. At the bee farm exhibit, everyone in protective gear observed the bee farmers.

"Take a look at the bees and their way of making honey." The caretaker of the bees spoke and pointed.

"Whoa," Nikku said, looking at the bees. "I've never seen anything like this before!"

"Well the beesss here are pretty tame compared to Beedrill and other Bee Pokemon." Snake replied.

"We use two different species of bees to produce the honey," the beekeeper continued as she used a smoker to calm them down. "And we use the honey they make for our products, which you can buy from our booth right there!"

The beekeeper pointed to a nearby booth that said "Septokyo Honey & More." Most of the crowd went to the booth, leaving Nikku, Snake, and Rude #1.

"Well, that was interesting," Nikku said to Snake. "Let's check out the other stuff!"

"Yeah!" Snake agreed.

Snake ran ahead with Nikku grabbing Rude #1's arm as he groaned. At the pumpkin patch, Snake and Nikki, alongside a few others, were looking through the patch to find pumpkins. Snake found a small one while Nikku found a large one. He looked at it in awe as he hugged Nikku, with Rude #1, leaning against the fence holding a smaller pumpkin, growling at him in jealousy. Later, Snake taught Nikku how to play cornhole with Rude #1 looking away angrily. Afterwards, they went on a hayride, with Nikku looking amazed at the sight while Snake glanced at Rude #1, who was looking away.

At sunset, Snake and Nikku went into a larger tent, which was where they were serving different types of fall themed food with apple cider being the main drink.

"Mmm this is awesome." Nikku smiled as she drank some of her cider.

"I'm glad you're having a good time, Nikku!" Snake said.

"Thanks. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun."

Snake smiled for a moment before looking down sadly.

"Yeah…" He spoke solemnly, "Me either…"

"Something wrong?" Nikku asked, tilting her head.

"Oh uh, sssorry." He chuckled a bit nervously, "Jussst…remembering."

"About what?"

"Oh, nothing." Snake turned to Nikku. "I wassss thinking about Rude #1 and…"

"Hey!" The familiar man spoke, rudely sitting down.

"Rude #1, we talked about this." Nikku spoke, rolling her eyes

"What?!" he growled.

"You know what. You know how you get when you see other guys hanging out with me."

"Hey, he looks like he might try to take ya for a ride." He glared.

"That's your excuse for all males I meet."

"Wait, issss that why you've been sssilent around me? Becaussse you think I might take her from you?" Snake asked.

He got up with a frown, "Dude, I already have a girlfriend before I met either of you two."

"Oh? Where is she then?" Rude #1 asked angrily.

"Right here!"

He glanced at the pink haired female nearby with a frown on her face.

"Guysss…meet my girlfriend Cherry." He pointed.

"Hey, Cherry! I'm Nikku, and this is my boyfriend Rude #1!"

Rude #1 looked away in shame as he waved.

"Uh hi." He muttered in shame.

"Listen here, sir!" Cherry said angrily. "Snake is the nicest, kindest person I've met, and ya oughta be ashamed of yourself for accusing him of being a girlfriend stealer! He would never do such a thing! And besides, the least ya could've done was thank him for being so nice to your girl here!"

He looked more uneasy after she spoke that.

"I guess I kinda got a little carried away there for a moment…," he said uneasily.

"A little?" Nikku thought with her sighing.

"Still," Rude #1 prepared to speak with a bit of uneasiness before clearing his throat. "S…sorry…if I was being kind of a jerk to you."

"It'sssss alright," Snake said.

"Yeah, we understand." Cherry smiled, "So maybe to make up for the misunderstanding, we can enjoy the festival together."

"Sounds like a great idea." Rude #1 replied

"Attention, all you fall lovers! The Harvest Square Dance will be starting in 5 minutes!" A voice shouted over the intercom.

"Well, looks like we got a dance to attend to." Cherry grins, lifting Snake up.

She carried him away to the square dance with Nikku and Rude #1 following. On a large dance floor, folk music played as the dancers danced and everyone watching clapped along.

The four came as they also danced as well with their partners.

"Heh, this is going to be fun." Nikku chuckled.

The band began to play a new song as everyone got ready to dance.

"Alright everyone, time for the Harvest Square Dance!" the caller of the dance said into the microphone as everyone cheered. "Bow to your partner!"

The dance partners bowed to each other.

"Now bow to your corner!"

Everyone bowed to their corner as the dance began. With each call, the energy picked up, and everyone watching began to clap alongside the music. The dance continued until the sun completely went down as everyone enjoyed themselves and danced to the music.

That night, as the moon shone bright, everyone was returning to their homes. As the Ripov Skyscrapers gang went into their respective condo buildings, Snake stood outside with Nikku and Rude #1.

"Thank you for the great time, Snake." Rude #1 spoke with sincerity.

"It'sssss no problem!" Snake said. "Besssidesss, there'ssss ssstill sssixx more daysss of fun for the Fall Harvesssst!"

"Looking forward to it!" Nikku said. "Good night, Snake!"

Nikku hovered through the entrance of the second condo building, leaving only Rude #1 and Snake.

"Y'know, for a rude guy, you're not that bad!" Snake said.

"Thanks." he said.

"I think we're gonna like Septokyo." Nikku replied with her face beaming from the entrance.

"Ssso, sssee you tomorrow?" Snake asked.

"Only if you're ready to lose that pie eating contest at the festival!" Rude #1 chuckled in a competitive manner.

Snake and Rude #1 fist bumped and went into the condo building. As Snake was about to enter the first condo building, a voice entered his mind. A female voice that was mature but soft.

"Excuse me, are you Snake?" the voice asked.

"Yeah…," Snake answered as he turned around. "Who'ssss there?"

From the shadows, the source of the voice approached Snake. She appeared to be the same species as Nikku, but different. Her face was pale, but it was more pointed. Her hair, if one could call it that, was completely smooth and devoid of any sort of texture with a floating cowlick, making her whole head resemble an apple. Her left eye was diamond shaped while her right eye was replaced with an 'X'. Even stranger, her head had no neck, and it floated above her torso, which wore a red suit jacket with a white shirt and black tie underneath, and she had no arms, just floating hands with matching red cuffs. She also had no legs, and she had a mouth.

"I'm Matzushii S. Morioka. I'm Nikku's mom."

"Oh uh niccce to meet you. I'm Sssnake." He replied, shaking her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you," Matzushii said as she cleared her throat. "I was at the festival today and I was observing you with Nikku, and I just wanted to say that you're a fine young man and I hope that you treat her with the utmost respect."

"Wow, really?" Snake smiled.

"Heh, looks like you won the mother of that neighbor over too." Apep's voice spoke.

"In fact, tomorrow, I look forward to seeing you and my daughter together at the festival!" Matzushii said cheerfully.

Snake's eyes shrunk as he froze for a moment.

"Wait, what?"

"I'll talk with you tomorrow. Goodnight." She giggled as she left Snake, the spirit appearing nearby him as he looked uneasy.

"Uuuuh…should we tell her?" Apep replied.

"Yeah…," Snake answered, "but I don't think she'sss gonna like it…"