UNITY FORCE MISSIONS: GIRLS' LAST TOUR
CHAPTER 8: Eldritch Markers
DISCLAIMER: All characters in the story are not owned by me, save for my OCs. The second and final half of this mission fic begins here!
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[Abandoned Hangar, Earth-8751]
After a final, gruelling battle against Lord Azrethoc and his minions, four hours ago, the rest of the Unity Force group that remained in the Girls' Last Tour universe, which includes Zoro Roronoa, Maya Tendo, Kanta Mizuno, Nagi Sanzenin, Laala Manaka, Shuka Hanazono, Ako Udagawa, Rinko Shirokane, Usopp, Brook, Ichika Takatsuki, Rinon, Aloy, Erend, Sorao Kamikoshi, Toriko Nishina, and Ben Tennyson, later rendezvous with Ash, Renge Miyauchi, and Tony Tony Chopper at an abandoned hangar that the trio ventured earlier, which later turns out to be an ancient air force base.
There, the trio later found a piece of important discovery in the old facility, beside the suspicious map fragment. From there it was a rather mysterious-looking clear orb that none of them seems to know for what it truly is.
Settling in on one of the tables at the abandoned office, Ash later places the map and the clear orb altogether, as Zoro Roronoa begins examining the said item, with the group watching at this rather unusual discovery the trio has just uncovered.
"Why would someone leave an orb here?" Maya questioned.
"I'm still investigating its rather mysterious origin, but it might tell us something we have been overlooking." Zoro added.
"I highly doubt that a useless junk like that crystal ball will help us on finding Chito-san and Yuuri-san." Kanta mocked.
"Do you have any idea about this discovery? And your first response is to act like a disappointed grandmother?" Zoro asked.
"Are you fucking serious?!" Kanta responded unceremoniously.
Suddenly, an argument ensued between Zoro and Kanta.
"Oh, really? We've been following their rather confusing breadcrumb trail for, like what, several days, and still we haven't find a damn clue as to where they have ended up next! And now you're telling us that this fucking junk will help?!" Kanta continued as he bellowed furiously in front of Zoro before grabbing the collar of his coat, as he points at the orb.
"DUDE!" Zoro argued. "We're just investigating it, so who knows it might help us in our search for them! You're not just affected by this. Everyone us are also in this state, as well!" He retorted.
"Oh, fuck off, Zoro!" Kanta cursed. "You shouldn't have come with us with that naive mindset of yours!" He continued his bellowing.
"Guys, guys, guys..." Brook called out.
"WILL YOU TWO CUT IT OUT?!" Usopp suddenly exclaimed rhetorically.
"NO!" Zoro and Kanta yelled altogether in front of Usopp and Brook.
"Guys! Stop it! There is no time for fighting!" Sorao said, before she and Toriko intervened by pulling Zoro and Kanta away from each other, respectively, as they are about to fight in a rather bloody manner, before Maya steps up in front of the two with a disappointed look in her face.
"Listen, the two of you!" Maya looks at Kanta and Zoro angrily. "Arguing about this is getting us nowhere!" She added, as she is about to lose her temper, but she is stopped by Laala, whom the girl comforts her.
"Maya-nee-chan..." Laala said. "I understand what goes on with them..." She added.
"But please, calm down the two of you..." Nagi said.
"It's not the end of the world yet, so we might be able to find a solution to locate Chito-san and Yuuri-san." Maya added.
"We're already digging the wrong holes for days, and you defend his ridiculous decision to use this so-called 'orb'?" Kanta cynically remarked. "It's just a crystal ball, nothing else." He added.
"Not again..." Ben remarked with a sigh.
"Uh, guys?" Brook said, as they look at Renge. "Something's glowing from the orb." He added.
"What is Renge-chan doing?" Shuka inquired.
"I'm shining up the orb." Renge responded.
"You what?!" Kanta exclaimed.
"But I've never seen light shining up that blindly from that thing." Sorao said, as the light suddenly gets even brighter.
"MY EYES!" Usopp dramatically exclaimed.
Before Maya can even respond, a bright light suddenly shines upon the said orb, where they later see Renge shining a beam of light into it using her own recorder, much to the surprise of the rest. The light from Renge's own recorder later splinters into smaller beams of prismatic energy, before it is later shone upon the suspicious map fragment within the table, causing a mysterious white trail that leads from the hangar all the way into a group of unknown structures indicated within the map. Afterwards, the place goes back to normal, except for the map.
"It looks like another breadcrumb trail." Chopper added.
"What does this one mean, this time?" Aloy asked.
"Probably directions, but none of this make any sense." Zoro added.
"But the trail stops right from here." Ichika remarked, as she points at the dot going westward that points at the said group of unknown, towering structures. "We must be going at the right track." She added.
"That means we have to follow it." Zoro said.
"And we'll keep to your word, should it be correct." Kanta said.
Afterwards, the rest of the Unity Force group later examine the mysterious map furthermore as they begin to start their next phase of plan, and that is to follow this said area next, in hopes they can at least locate Chito and Yuuri's last known location or possibly something else completely different.
But they have no time to waste, as they later leave the hangar, before proceeding to use the said map to follow the breadcrumb trail that stops from some unknown place.
Leaving the said facility, the group later head west, twenty-five minute later, as they later arrive into what seems to be a labyrinthine path of giant pipes, where it leads to a complete abyss underneath.
"That's funny." Ash said.
"The map said we should be going here next." Ichika added.
"But where's the path?" Erend asked rather sceptically. "All we see is just pipes everywhere else." He continued.
"I bet there must be an entrance within one of those pipes." Aloy deduced.
"But the pipes looked kind of dangerous..." Rinko added.
"Not to mention, one single mishap should we walk onto them and we fall to our death, where we don't know what goes down below the depths." Brook pointed out.
"Maybe not, look!" Toriko added. "I found a ladder and a pathway that leads to the giant pipe!" She ended, as she points at the said ladder that leads down into a rather narrow pathway, then into a giant entrance in the pipe.
"This must be the only way, but I'm not sure if this even goes into another path." Sorao added.
"I guess we have no choice but to take it." Zoro said.
"But like all else, we should maintain some form of vigilance." Maya added. "The Burning Legion or possibly something else will stop at nothing to attack us, even on places that are considered hidden from plain sight." She continued.
"Maybe these arrows will help us!" Laala exclaimed.
"At least they have some trace of mercy for us, with them not putting us into their bullshit." Kanta remarked.
"But still..." Shuka said.
They later enter through the giant pipe from the path that Toriko has found, where they are later greeted by piles of huge debris that are scattered everywhere inside. It doesn't help the fact that the entire walkway is much bigger than what they initially thought, and such places like this can be rather taxing for anyone who is unprepared. The arrows only help a tinge of a favour for the group, before Kanta begins describing the rather incomparable path and starts comparing it to the so-called "skeleton cities" in his own world.
Following the rather enormous and labyrinthine pathway that leads to a seemingly endless nowhere but it is largely mediated thanks through the help of the arrows, the group later exited through the pipe, before they later enter yet another huge underground facility.
"What is this place?" Aloy asked.
"Probably another underground facility." Zoro remarked.
"Just how many of these places exist in Chito-san and Yuuri-san's world?" Kanta asked. "First, that bizarre temple we just visited earlier with Kozakura-san and Jima-san. Then, this?" He questioned.
"But we are at the right track! Look, a ladder!" Ako exclaimed, as she sees a ladder that descends down.
"As if this place is starting to drive us insane already." Usopp said.
"Probably it's the only way." Zoro added.
Descending into the only ladder that Ako just found, the Unity Force later end up into yet another unknown part of the facility, but this time they head right into what seems to be a food production facility, or at least a part of it. There, they examine the place and soon realised it was a hydroponics farm, except it was virtually devoid of anything but dried-out vines and dirt around the racks.
[PLAY MUSIC: Girls' Last Tour OST - Ano Gareki no Mukou e]
"What is this place?" Rinko asked.
"It's creepy to think about it." Usopp said.
"This must be some kind of hydroponics farm, judging by the vines and the dirt around the racks." Zoro replied.
"Even this place is empty and dead, non~." Renge said, as she touches one of the desiccated vines, where it literally crumbles.
"It's practically been abandoned for a very long time." Nagi added.
"But the outside world was virtually empty of anything natural, and it was completely artificial." Aloy curiously remarked, as she describes the above surface. "Yet how were the Old Ones of this world able to create such a place like this, even if there's no nature to be seen at all?" She added.
"That we don't know yet." Ichika said.
"This place is a mystery to begin with." Chopper added.
"Speaking of which, there's nowhere to go next." Ben remarked.
"I bet this place is a dead end." Ash added. "But we weren't wrong, however!" He added confidently.
"We should search for any signs of a door or at least an elevator here." Zoro ordered.
"Just when you think both Chito-san and Yuuri-san's world would give us a lot more headaches than ever before..." Kanta remarked.
The group later proceed to examine the entire hydroponics farm for any entrance that leads to the next passageway, while they guard the entrance for anything out of the ordinary. However, for the last half an hour to almost an hour of their futile searching, they found absolutely nothing but endless steel walls around them, much to the frustration and annoyance of the rest.
However, just when they are about to lose hope of their search across the hydroponics farm for anything that remotely resembles a passageway, they suddenly hear a loud scream coming from what seems to be a pipe that heads downward into another unknown facility, before the rest later realise that Ash and Pikachu are missing. That prompted the rest to head to the source of the voice, which was from the said pipe.
"What happened to Ash?!" Ben exclaimed.
"Did Ash head straight through that pipe by accident?" Ichika asked, as she points at the said pipe.
"From the looks of it, yes." Erend replied.
"ASH!" Zoro yelled as he puts his head into the pipe. "Are you okay in there?" He continued loudly.
"Yes, I think!" Ash responded from the other side of the pipe. "Not only I found a passageway by accident, but there's also a huge strange room in here!" He added.
"What kind of room? Did you find any exit in there?" Maya asked.
"Best if you guys head down here!" Ash ended.
"Got it!" Zoro said loudly. "Sounds like we have no choice but to use this passageway." He ended, as the rest nodded.
"Ooooh~! A pipe a pipe a pipe a pipe!" Laala cheered. "I'll go with Shuka-chan first!" She added, as she drags Shuka.
"Wait, what?!" Shuka questioned, but Laala interrupts her, before they slide into the pipe for a minute. "Stop it, you idiot!" She exclaimed. "Have you lost your- Kyaaaaa!" She added frightfully, as she screams.
"Woohoo!' Laala added happily, before she lands down gracefully into the ground. Shuka, on the other hand, hits her rump hardly, and the concrete floor didn't do much favour for the PriPara idol.
"Ow... That hurts." Shuka said, before looking around the facility. "Can they at least put an elevator here?!" She complained, before she sits down into a conveyor belt with a pout in her face.
"That was awesome, though!" Ash exclaimed with a thumbs-up gesture.
"Nooooooooon~!" Renge slides into the pipe next, before landing into the same conveyor belt.
"Looks like the others are coming here!" Ash said.
There, they see the rest of the Unity Force including Zoro, Maya, and the rest sliding through the pipes with varying expressions coming from their faces. Some like Zoro, Maya, Kanta, and Toriko calmly slid down the pipe, while others including Sorao, Brook, Usopp, and Rinko are about to lose it, especially with the latter case. Nevertheless, they later land into what seems to be a food production facility, given the appearances of conveyor belts that are connected to huge grinders.
But that's not all, however. As the Unity Force group begin heading deeper into the food production facility, they later encounter giant crate-shaped rooms that seemed to be a storage rooms for flour. Then, they head into another room, where this time they see conveyors that is connected to some kind of machine. Zoro and the rest examine the place furthermore, with Maya later realising that the conveyors in this room are connected into a giant oven, when she turned the machine on by pressing the green button.
[PLAY MUSIC: Girls' Last Tour OST - Yochou to Keikai]
"These giant ovens..." Maya said, as she looks around the place.
"This is some sort of a food production facility..." Zoro remarked.
"A food production facility?" Maya asked Zoro's question.
"But what kind of food were the people of this world making?" Nagi asked.
"I've never heard of a production facility this huge, let alone it being situated underground." Sorao said.
"By Jolly Roger's name..." Usopp said, as he is touching one of the ovens. "This one's been used recently, and I can feel some heat on it!" He exclaimed, as he fanned his hand.
"Maybe this will help out with Usopp's discovery furthermore!" Ash suddenly exclaimed. "Pikachu just found something in here!" He added, as they see Pikachu in there.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu exclaimed.
Lying around the floor are three used trays. One of which is a circle-shaped tray and the other are two square-shaped trays. The former tray has some traces of what appeared to be dough, while the latter trays have traces of sugar on it, as evident by the crystalline appearance.
"And if things can't get any stranger, get a load of this." Kanta is later seen carrying what seems to be two bags that are also recently opened. He then proceeds to taste the contents inside the bags, before later deducing that they are bags of sugar and salt, respectively. "And it's fresh, as well." He ended, before putting the bags down.
"That means Chito-san and Yuuri-san must have left this place, probably two to three hours ago." Zoro deduced.
"Not to mention, the traces of dough from that circle-shaped tray seemed fresh." Nagi examined the tray furthermore.
But before they can head further, they suddenly heard a weird, demonic voice from afar, as well as a purplish light, and it is not even a friendly one to begin with. Not to mention, three shadows are to be seen, as well.
"Quick! Hide!" Aloy ordered, as the rest of the Unity Force begin to hide from any possible hiding spot within the said factory.
As the rest of the Unity Force scatter around and hide the abandoned facility away from plain sight, the mysterious figure is later revealed to be Kil'jaeden, who arrived from a mysterious portal later with two constructs on his side, who are known as Fel reavers. He and his Fel reavers begin their search of Shuka Hanazono all across the food production facility.
"Find the girl here and bring me to her." Kil'jaeden commanded in front of the Fel reavers. "If anyone sees both of you here, eliminate them." He ended, before disappearing from the dark portal he created.
As expected, the Fel reavers start to patrol around the facility, where they will stop at nothing to hunt down Shuka. In one of the conveyors, we see Aloy and Erend watching the constructs roaming around. They later plan to sneak out of the facility and continue the rest of the breadcrumb trail.
"How can we get out of this?" Erend asks Aloy through a whisper.
"I don't know." Aloy said. "But I'm thinking my own Focus can help." She continued, as she turns her device on.
With Zoro, Maya, Kanta, and Nagi...
"We have Kil'jaeden's minions here, but we have to find a way out of here before they might spot us." Zoro said.
"But how?" Maya asked.
"I'll try looking for a doorway with Nagi-san here." Kanta added.
"I still don't understand why they want Shuka-san." Nagi added, as she follows Kanta. "Unless if she is hiding something that she does't want to tell to us." She added.
"Regardless, what should our plan here?" Kanta asked.
"Trying to distract them." Nagi said. "They might be just big and dumb robots, and probably even a small amount of distraction can put them off." She revealed to Kanta.
"That would be a good idea." Kanta said. "The only problem is how to pull it off." He added, before looking at the oven, which is completely open. "I'll try firing a smokescreen from my shotgun inside of the oven as a distraction, then once both of them come here, you press the green button, which will turn the oven on." He continued, with Nagi nodding, as he loads his shotgun with a smoke round, before aiming it towards the pipe, as far as possible. "On the count of three, I want you all to run, as soon as possible." He ended, as the rest of his group nodded, before watching the movement of the Fel reavers.
"Got it." Nagi and the rest said in agreement.
"One..."
"Two..."
"Three...!" Kanta counted, as he fires a smokescreen from his shotgun into the oven, causing smoke to billow inside the oven itself, which prompted the Fel reavers to begin approaching it.
"It looks like the plan is working." Kanta commented, before he looks at Nagi, as well as the Fel reavers who are examining the suspicious smoke that is rapidly billowing. "Hurry up and press the button, Nagi-san!" He added.
"Where is it?" Nagi questioned.
"Right beside Zoro-san!" Kanta continued, as he looks at the switch.
"Will this work?" Nagi asked.
"We don't have time for such nonsensical questions. Just do it!" Kanta exclaimed.
"Here goes...!" Nagi exclaimed in a whisper, before pressing the green button.
Nagi then presses the green button in the giant oven, causing a surge of fire to appear from the burners, as it begins to slowly incinerate the constructs. While it might not kill them at any point in time, this gives the Unity Force enough time to escape the facility without getting caught, with the help of Aloy and Erend who have found the exit, before Kil'jaeden does his job of capturing Shuka.
"Hurry up, before they escape the incinerator!" Aloy commanded, as they quickly head through the exit.
They hurriedly escaped the facility through the stairway that leads to the surface, before Zoro, Brook, and Usopp close the door, as Ichika later takes out her freeze gun and encases the door in ice.
"This will hinder them from escaping the building for at least a few minutes, but I don't think staying here at this spot for long will be a good idea, so we must run now!" Ichika said.
The rest of the Unity Force later escape while using the map, as they run as far as possible from the food production facility. After minutes of endless running, they later arrive into yet another desolate land within this barren world. Looking at the map, they later realise they have arrived at a completely different location within the megacity, and it is rather more haunting than the food production facility they have just visited, a few moments ago.
[Grave Markers, Earth-8751]
Around the Unity Force group are a bunch of tall black slabs with numerous labelled drawers that have been shut so tight that it cannot be opened by any normal means, whatsoever. It doesn't help the fact that the silence in this place is only exacerbating the problem furthermore. But they are later given no choice but to continue.
"What is this place?" Shuka asked.
"Doesn't look like any ordinary place we have seen earlier from this world." Sorao said.
"Nothing in this world is ordinary." Ben added. "But this place is just something else." He continued.
"Not to mention..." Kanta added in confusion. "There's like so many of these towering structures." He added.
"And so many drawers that we cannot open." Chopper added, as he attempts to open one of them, but failed, before he begins reading at some of the tags in there. "Let alone understanding what these words even mean." He added.
They later see Laala climbing at one of the ladders that lead to the only opened drawer, while attempting to maintain her balance, as she is later seen slipping, much to Shuka's dismay. There, she later finds what seems to be a book that is written from another language, presumably this world's language.
"I found something unusual here!" Laala called out, as she heads down carefully. "Albeit I can't read what this means." She added.
"And I also found something else!" Kanta said, as he is also seen climbing from another ladder within the same towering structure, where he was seen taking out an object, which was a coin. "Would you look at this? I found a jackpot!" He added.
"You two took those things?!" Zoro exclaimed, as he looks at Laala and Kanta with the respective items in their hand.
"Maybe these might be important in the long run." Kanta added.
"I don't think a book and a centuries-old coin would help us from the next leg of this adventure." Zoro sceptically argued, before they continue venturing further into the mysterious area.
"But maybe Chito-san and Yuuri-san might help us more about this world." Kanta added with certainty. "After all, we know nothing about this world, so we should leave it to the two, once we find them." He added.
"Fine..." Zoro responded.
With that, Laala and Kanta later give the items to Zoro, as they leave, before heading straight into the pathway that seemingly ends nowhere. Except they later see the same lone statue from afar, like the ones they encountered earlier during their trip to the road at the temple, and within the main temple, as well.
However, within the statue are two familiar faces standing in front of it, a noirnette and a blondette, as well as their vehicle that is parked within it.
Chito and Yuuri, and their own Kettenkrad.
"Are those Chito-san and Yuuri-san?" Maya asked.
"Those two need an explanation for what they just did earlier." Zoro egged rather annoyingly.
"Please, calm down." Maya reaffirmed. "I know you're frustrated, but we're also going through the same thing, as well." She added with a slight smile to her face in front of Zoro.
"Speaking of which, what are they doing here?" Kanta asked.
"I don't know, but they're probably examining the statue." Zoro said. "Whatever the case may be, we should approach them." He ended straightly.
As they continuously walking, snow suddenly started falling, as well as the temperature getting slowly colder.
With Chito and Yuuri...
"Stop talking like he's dead." Chito said.
"But still... It doesn't matter if he's dead or alive." Yuuri said, referring to Kanazawa. "We'll probably never get the chance to run into them again." She added. "Or Ishii either." She ended.
"Yeah. It would all be too difficult." Chito replied, before having a brief vision of an unknown figure, then she is suddenly thrown into a realisation. "Is that what all these drawers are?" She asked.
"Hold the thought for a moment, Chii-chan!" Yuuri exclaimed. "Is that Zoro-san and the rest?!" She added.
"Wait, what?" Chito said in utter confusion, as she uses a sniper scope, before she looks at the group in shock. "How do they know about this world?" She ended.
Zoro and co. later arrive, while having disappointed look in their faces, but not all of them share the same expression of anger and pure fury. Instead, it was all just worry embedded onto them.
"Ah... ah... ah..." Chito stuttered. "I can explain this, Zoro-san!" She added.
"Me, as well!" Yuuri added.
"It's best if you explain it to us what really is going on." Zoro said calmly, albeit frustrated. "Chito and Yuuri." He ended straightly.
To be continued...
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A/N: This story is inspired by the ideas of someoneStupED, XP4Universe, and Tamama900.
On the next chapter of UF Missions: Girls' Last Tour: After Zoro and co. later encounter Chito and Yuuri, things slowly devolve into dissension and disagreement, where the survivors are far more unwilling to reveal the truth behind their disappearance in U.F. Academy and the motives behind their venture in their own world.