A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 26: Dummy Beacons
"We're going to begin in the northeast sector." Yuri said, glancing over at Kyoko. If felt weird being in HQ's war room. Director Shinoda typically took charge of big missions from here with Kyoko relaying his orders to all squads in the field. That wasn't the case this time. It was a Tamakoma Branch mission with Border HQ agents as backup. Commander Kido and the other directors were present, but Jin sent Shinoda and Rindo to watch over Yuma for the duration of the mission. She hoped that didn't mean anything bad.
On her other side, Shiori was sitting next to her to take care of Tamakoma-2. When it was decided that Yuri would use the war room to keep track of all the squads in the Restricted Zone, it was deigned necessary to have Shiori here as well to help keep track of Tamakoma-2 and their movement with the dummy beacons.
"All squads should get into position in the northeast sector. Don't be too close to each other and keep an eye out for movement from Mogami-san or Kuga-san when Chika-chan and Hyuse-kun release the dummy beacons." Yuri said, glancing towards Shiori, nodding her head at her.
Shiori nodded in reply. "Chika-chan, Hyuse-kun?"
*Mimics*
Chika crouched on the ledge of the highest roof she could find in the area her team had chosen as their starting point. A lower roof below her was where Osamu and Hyuse were waiting, but Chika wasn't focusing her attention on them. Instead, she was looking out towards the dark city. With no electricity in the Restricted Zone, it was only thanks to Shiori's support that they were able to see as well as they did in the city.
A slight breeze blew pass her, blowing her hair across her eyes. She brushed her hair back, holding it off to the side. There was a calmness to the air that didn't match the situation at all. If Osamu and Hyuse were anything like her, there was a tenseness to their hearts. None of them had been in Border long so they hadn't faced many missions, but somehow this mission felt different from the rest.
It wasn't hard for her to realize why. In all the Neighbor attacks they've been involved in, Yuma was always right there by their side. He would be fighting there with them, taking care of the strong enemies, usually being forced to fight alone. This time though, there was no Yuma to fight alongside them. There was no Yuma to save them when they got into trouble. Instead, this time, they were the ones who had to save Yuma.
There was nothing calming about this mission. There was so much riding on it. It hurt that they were out here while Yuma was lying unconscious in Border HQ. Chika's hand that was resting on her knee curled into a fist. When Aftokrator invaded, she was barely able to do anything as she was such a new trainee at the time and got turned into a cube.
She was not going to be useless this time.
All of her effort would go into this and they would save Yuma. She wasn't going to cry like she did when she saw Osamu had gotten hurt.
She was going to fight for the future she wanted with her squad.
"Why are you really helping us with this?" Osamu asked Hyuse, though he was scanning the surrounding area. With it being night now, Gates could open to allow Mimics through at any point. It would add a complication to their mission tonight, but one they would have to deal with. They couldn't prevent the Mimics from interfering in their hunt, only deal with them as they showed up. "Are you really doing this to help Kuga?"
"I made a promise to get the squad on the away mission. The Mimics are getting in the way of that happening." Hyuse replied.
Osamu glanced at Hyuse out of the corner of his eyes. "Tamakoma-2 has already been selected for the mission. You fulfilled your promise. There is no reason for you to want to go out of your way to help Border defeat the Mimics and save Kuga."
"The longer this goes on, the longer it will take to get on the away mission." Hyuse replied, resting his hand on his sword handle, glaring at Osamu. "There is nothing more to it than that. Besides, things will only be harder for us if Yuma dies here. His strength will be helpful in getting us to Aftokrator." He looked up towards where Chika was watching the city above them. "Neither one of you understands how dangerous it will be to get to Aftokrator. We need all the strength we have access to."
Osamu stared at Hyuse for a moment, giving up on trying to get Hyuse to admitting that he saw Yuma as a friend that he wanted to help. Hyuse was a very stubborn person who would never admit to anything. He kept everything close to his heart. Neighbors being stubborn seemed to be a theme for all the Neighbors he met.
"Perhaps I don't understand the dangers of the Neighborhood, but hearing about the Black Trigger assassin from Kuga's story is a good starting point to learn of those dangers. I'm not taking the away mission lightly for that reason." Osamu replied.
Stepping away from Osamu, Hyuse stepped up onto the ledge, staring towards the stars in the sky. He was wasting too much time in this world. All he wanted was to get back home and make sure his master was safe. That was his reason for joining and the reason he pushed Chika to realize why she couldn't shoot. She needed to get over that fear. If she couldn't do that, their team would always be held back. Everything he did was to better the team so they could make it onto the away mission.
He did not want to get attached to anyone here.
It was never in the plan.
So, why was it that lately all his plans seemed to be awry?
It started with Hyrein's trick that left him abandoned in this world and from there, it grew. Joining Border had been a stepping stone to returning home and it turned into enjoying the battles. His competitive nature urged him to improve and get stronger, not only to advance in the ranks, but because he wanted to win and had fun cutting down his opponents.
Winning those Rank Wars and fist bumping his team afterwards. It wasn't something he had thought he cared about when he joined, but there was something enjoyable about planning strategy with the team and fighting for that win alongside allies turned out to be more fun than what he thought. Of course, he would admit that to no one.
Could he fully trust Border?
No, he was still fully aware that he was a prisoner captured by Jin. The higher ups of Border could not be trusted, but Chika and Osamu didn't know how to not be honest. Osamu was tricky and manipulative to get what he wanted, but when actually facing Hyuse, he wasn't playing tricks. They trusted too easily.
Yuma was the opposite. He didn't trust easily and when he did, it was because he used his side effect to his advantage to determine what course of action to take. Being that he was a Neighbor and grew up in a harsh environment, it wasn't surprising. He understood the harshness of life better than the rest of their team.
He understood just how truly unfair life was.
That was something that Hyuse could relate to with him. Life was cruel and unforgiving. It wasn't easy to fight the cruelty of life alone. Everyone needed allies by their side to survive it. Hyuse needed his team to get him back to Aftokrator, and his team needed him to get to the Neighborhood. They all needed each other for the same reason. There was a promise to get them to the Neighborhood and that promise was made to all of them.
Yuma wasn't allowed to die until his promise had been completed. Osamu thought it might be completed because the team got picked for the mission, but until they were on the away ship and in that world, Hyuse didn't consider his promise finished.
"Chika-chan, Hyuse-kun." Shiori's voice came over the comms. "Are you ready?"
"I'm all set, Shiori-san." Chika replied.
"Ready here as well." Hyuse said.
Osamu nodded. "Right, Chika, take the right side of the northeast sector. Hyuse, take the left. Produce enough that if the radars pick it up, they'll move, but not too many clustered in one area that will make them suspicious."
"Just like we practiced, Chika." Hyuse called up to the sniper.
"Right."
As Chika and Hyuse separated from him, Osamu found himself glancing back in the direction of HQ. Their plan wasn't a bad one, but that didn't mean it would work. Their time in Shizuka City proved that not everything would go their way. The enemy would always move to counter them. It was in those moments that Osamu relied heavily on Yuma for help.
Relying on Yuma wasn't an option this time though. Osamu had to work his friend out of his plans, hopefully only for the next few days. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to his partner forever.
Osamu shook his head. This wasn't the time for depressing thoughts. He had to move, staying in-between the two paths that Chika and Hyuse had taken while maintaining a bit of distance so he could keep an eye on them with Shiori's help.
"I'm starting." Chika's voice crackled in Osamu's ears.
*Mimics*
"Wow!" Satori said as all the Trion signatures began to pop up on his radar. Unless he expanded his radar, he could only see the beacons in the area Arashiyama squad was keeping an eye on. Just the amount of beacons being released by Chika and Hyuse that he could see was amazing. It was definitely more than he thought they would use. Considering all the agents were wearing bagworms to not be spotted by the Mimics, the amount of beacons shouldn't be an issue though.
"I'm not seeing any movement." Kitora said.
"It would be too much to hope we would catch them in the first location we checked." Arashiyama replied even as he kept his eyes roaming over the area he was in. He could just barely make out the beacons floating in the sky above him if he tried to find them. The night air was so calm that it was adding tension to the air somehow.
Every agent came out here tonight expecting a fight, so the calmness, when compared to the last few nights, was unnerving. There weren't even any Gates opening currently to drop untransformed Mimics into the area. When they came out here, they were expecting Mimics to get in their way which would draw attention to the agents. They want the transformed Mimics to see them before any attention was drawn to them by them getting involved in other battles. That would defeat the purpose of an ambush after all.
"None of the other squads have spotted anything either." Haruka said. "Yuri-san said to scope the area for any movement that might be the Mimics on the move and if we don't get anything, we're moving to the east sector in a few minutes."
"If we have to scope out the whole Restricted Zone, this could take all night." Tokieda replied. They had chosen the northeast sector to begin with because of the buildings it had that had a good view of the stars. Unfortunately, it wasn't feasible to move randomly throughout the Restricted Zone to get to the areas that have a good spot to view the stars from. They would have to make their way around the Restricted Zone.
"True," Arashiyama said. "That's why the lower tier B-Ranks will be taking defense duty in the morning. It will be safer for them anyway. With how little we know about the Mimics, they shouldn't be dealing with them."
"Still doesn't seem like a good idea to have all our top squads out tonight dealing with this." Kitora said. "If we can't find them tonight, they could attack in the morning."
"You're assuming all of the agents out here tonight have any intention of resting when we finish this." Tokieda pointed out. "There are quite a few agents who don't know how to take it easy."
Arashiyama glanced towards Border HQ before looking towards the building where Kitora was crouched to scope out the area. "Tamakoma definitely won't be relaxing until Yuma has woken up."
Kitora closed her eyes, imagining the last time she had seen Yuma. His body had been all cracked at the time and then healed right before their eyes. If she took the time to think about it, she could come up with the answer, or at least a good theory, as to why and how that happened. However, she hadn't wanted to pry into his life. She saw it from how he skirted around answering their questions at the time so she chose to respect his boundaries and didn't think too much on it.
Opening her eyes, she looked towards her Captain. She knew he was good friends with Jin and had been talking to him quite a bit the past few days. "You know more about Kuga-kun's situation than you're letting on."
Arashiyama smiled slightly. His young ace was always so perceptive. "It's not good." He said, getting serious. "His life is in serious danger. That's why Tamakoma is desperate to find the Mimics tonight and end this."
"I see." Kitora looked at the abandoned buildings again. "It was always personal to Kuga-kun, but now the attack has become personal to all of Tamakoma."
To Tamakoma, it probably felt like a personal attack on them so of course they would want to handle this. At the same time though, they came to the other agents for help. With a friend's life on the line, they weren't willing to risk anything by trying to do this alone.
*Mimics*
"Why do I have to be out here?"
"It's an all-hands-on deck situation and you skipped defense duty the other morning." Izumi snapped at Yuiga. "If you want to be an agent, you have to put the work in." His life would be a whole lot easier if he left Yuiga to continuing to abandon his duties as an agent. At least then, he would have less headaches to deal with.
"Exactly. Cannon fodder for the Mimics would be quite useful." Tachikawa said.
And there was Izumi's second headache. His overeager Captain who was begging for his squad to find Kuga. He would have thought his Captain would be content finding Mogami or Kuga. It would be a Mimic with a Black Trigger either way, but no. Tachikawa wanted Kuga to get revenge for his ambush the other day.
"Who's cannon fodder?" Yuiga retorted. "Surely not me! I'm an elite among elites."
"Maybe among babies." Tachikawa replied.
"That's an insult to babies." Izumi said dryly.
"Kunichika-senpai! I don't want to work with these two!" Yuiga bawled.
"Oh?" Yu piped up over their coms. "You could go off looking for the Mimics on your own, but you're likely to get killed by Kuga-san if you do that."
"Oi! What's that?" Tachikawa said angrily, ignoring the weeping of Yuiga behind them. He twisted on the spot, but Izumi had no idea of what he was looking at since Yu was in their squad's operation room in HQ. "We don't add respect to Kuga's name! He is not deserving of any of it!"
"I think it's pretty impressive he managed to successfully ambush and kill you two so easily." Yu replied cheekily, making Izumi amused as he watched the annoyed twitch in Tachikawa's brow. "That deserves respect."
"He only managed that because we didn't know what to expect from him! He just came out of nowhere!"
"Yes, that's a successful ambush." Yu said, amusement touching every inch of her voice.
If Tachikawa didn't get to fight Kuga Yugo and get his revenge, Izumi just knew he was going to have to hear about this for months. He would have to deal with headaches every day from the combination of Tachikawa and the annoyance of Yuiga. Who did he hurt to have to be punished like this?
"Yuri-san says we're heading east." Yu said.
'Come on, Kuga. Show your face.' Tachikawa thought as he propelled himself across the rooftops.
Izumi followed after his captain, glaring at his back. He knew exactly what his overeager captain was thinking about. Honestly, please, Kuga Yugo walk into their path. He didn't even care if Yugo managed to kill them again, just let Tachikawa get a fair fight against him so he will stop complaining. If he gets a fair fight and still gets killed, Tachikawa can't say anything else. Please, for him, end this misery he has found himself in.
*Mimics*
"Do you see anything, Jin-kun?" Yuri asked. "Will we find anything tonight?"
Jin stared out into the distance. If he focused, he could hear the quiet talking of the squad that was near him. "I can see a battle tonight. I don't know who against, but let's hope it's Kuga-san."
Yuri's expression softened. "Let's end this this before Yuma-kun wakes up. He shouldn't have to see his father die a second time." She said, deciding not to point out to Jin that they were also looking for Mogami as well. There was no need to as she was sure Jin understood that. It's just that defeating Mogami wouldn't be what would save Yuma. It was Kuga Yugo that was killing his son.
The life of his friend was more important than his personal issues with the Mimic of Mogami Soichi right now.
"Sawamura-san, can you please keep an eye on the areas around the base?" Jin requested.
"I'm keeping an eye on all of the Restricted Zone, Jin." Kyoko replied.
"And you do an excellent job at it, but please, give special attention to the areas around the base. Usami and Yuri-san can focus on the rest of the Restricted Zone." Jin replied. He didn't need all three of them keeping an eye on everything taking place in the mission. Kyoko was there to give help to them, but she was also the one who was connected to Shinoda to keep him informed of the situation. That was what he needed. He needed Shinoda to always be aware what was happening while keeping an eye on Yuma.
Shiori glanced up, sharing a look with Yuri before she was leaning forward to see Kyoko pass her, who looked surprised at the request.
Shinoda had asked her to keep an eye on the mission and the agents for him since Jin had asked him to be somewhere else. It would be hard to keep Shinoda appraised of everything that was going on if Jin wanted her to keep her attention elsewhere. Yuri and Shiori could be trusted to handle the mission well though.
"Would you like to tell me what I am watching for?" Kyoko asked curiously. If Jin was requesting this of her, it had to be important. It was rare for him to ask anything of her or the directors since they were never in the field anymore.
"With all the agents we have out in the field tonight, if Mimics do appear, we will be drawing them towards us. However, Yuma is still in the base and being that he is in a Trion body, he could draw the attention of the Mimics to the base." Jin explained. "Not to mention all the operators who are in there."
"Would the Mimics target operators? They haven't seemed that interested in attacking the base when there are no agents present inside." Kyoko asked, not reacting to the news of Yuma's situation at all. Even though she wasn't at the meeting last night, Shinoda had kept her informed of what had happened and why he would be spending the time during the mission with Yuma in the lab.
"Kuga's Trion body was created from a Black Trigger so the power pouring from it is really strong while most of the Operators have low Trion. It's likely the stronger the Trion, the bigger a beacon it will be to the Mimics." Kinuta explained, drawing the eyes of the Operators to him. "For example, Agent Amatori would draw them easily to her because of the vastness of her Trion. Kuga and Jin both became targets of the Mimics because of the Black Triggers they had in their possession during the times when they were attacked. Taking that into consideration, the Operators shouldn't draw any attention from the Mimics."
"Would Yuma-kun still be drawing the attention of the Mimics then? He is severely low on Trion right now." Shiori asked, concern easing into her voice which she normally tried to keep out of her voice when she was working.
"I hope it's nothing, but to ease my concerns, I put Rindo-san and Shinoda-san with Yuma and would like Sawamura-san to just keep an eye on things around the base." Jin replied. "With how low Yuma is on Trion and the amount of active agents, nothing in the base should attract attention from the Mimics. Perhaps I am being too cautious, but I'm not willing to take the risk right now."
"I understand, Jin. I'll keep an eye out for enemies." Kyoko promised.
With Kyoko's promise ringing in his ears, Jin started to move through the northeast sector to get to the east sector. As he moved, he kept his eyes locked on his surroundings in case Mogami or Kuga happened to appear. He was moving on his own through the Restricted Zone, but he knew Kazama squad was the closest squad to him. If he came across the Mimics, they would be able to get to him quickly to help him.
*Mimics*
Dummy beacons didn't require a lot of Trion to use, but when using a lot and constantly activating and deactivating them as they moved through the areas to try to trick their enemy into coming out of hiding, it could end up be taxing even for him by the time they did this to the whole Restricted Zone. There was a reason why he said that Chika and himself would do this together. They both had enough Trion to release dummy beacons all over the Restricted Zone on their own, but he didn't want to waste Trion that they would need to use to fight when it came down to it.
Hyuse was certain that it would come down to a fight before the night was over. The Mimics could very well not be in the Restricted Zone and this was all a waste of time, but Hyuse was willing to bet they were in the area somewhere. Before they transformed, they were Trion Soldiers that were attracted to Trion bodies. They may be transformed, but they were still Trion Soldiers so their programming can't have changed that much and the Restricted Zone was a place that always had Trion bodies active somewhere in it.
According to Yuma, Mimics used a form of echolocation to locate Trion bodies since they didn't have the ability to see. Being that Mogami and Yugo were transformed Mimics, they had more abilities at their disposal, which meant they weren't going to focus on echolocation to find agents. They would be using their radars which was why the dummy beacons would fool them into coming out.
"How are things looking, Usami-senpai?" Osamu asked.
"Still nothing from the other squads." Shiori replied.
Disappointing, but they were only in the third area of the Restricted Zone. Hyuse hadn't expected this to be easy or fast. It would be time consuming and boring just running around the Restricted Zone and releasing dummy beacons, but at least it it felt like it was accomplishing more than just searching the Restricted Zone with no real course of action.
"It's the south area next. Chika-chan has already started moving. You two should go catch up with her." Shiori replied.
Osamu's brows rose. When she first joined Border, Osamu didn't think Chika would do that well as an agent, despite her large volume of Trion, since she was the type of person that didn't take action without prompting. These few months in Border had really helped her grow into a stronger person who was proving Osamu wrong at every time. She wasn't hesitating any more. She was ready to stand and fight without needing any prompting from him or Shiori.
It brought a smile to Osamu. He was happy to see Chika growing and little by little coming out of her shy shell. The agents in Border have really helped her in more ways than he ever expected from them.
Hyuse launched himself across the rooftops without any more prompting. He hoped Chika would at least wait until he was in the area before unleashing her next wave of dummy beacons.
Hyuse's foot had barely hit the next roof when an alarm was blaring through the air.
"Gate activity warning! Gate activity warning!"
A few rooftops behind him, Osamu came to a halt, staring up at the Gate forming above them. They knew this was likely going to happen in the middle of their missions, but couldn't it have waited a while longer? They weren't even halfway through the Restricted Zone yet.
Seeing the Mimics drop down from the Gate had Hyuse and Osamu both taking a close look at them. Neither of them had seen an untransformed Mimic yet. A shadowy figure with long limbs with a large yellow eye taking up the face of it. It looked like a thing of nightmares to Osamu. He couldn't imagine ever going to something like this with the hope of getting to see a loved one for a moment before being forced to move on forever.
Hyuse opened his hand at his side, getting ready to activate his Viper when a shot came shooting through the sky to slam into the closest Mimic to him.
"We'll take care of the Mimics." Arafune's voice sounded in their coms. "You guys don't have time to waste on them right now. Go find Mogami and Kuga."
Two more shots come from different directions to kill two more Mimics which told Osamu that Arafune's teammates were also around. He hadn't realized they were the squad nearest to them, but perhaps Jin saw this coming and set them up for this reason.
"Right, thank you." Osamu replied. He looked at Hyuse, nodding at him.
Hyuse dropped his hand and instead changed course to get around the Mimics, though he kept looking over his shoulders to watch for their position in case they chased after him and Osamu. With Shields being ineffective against them, all they could do was pay attention and dodge any attacks that came from them as they retreated.
Osamu twisted around as he jumped to the next building to get a look at the Mimics. Despite Arafune squad shooting at them, they couldn't stop all the Mimics that had come through the Gate, especially since some of the Mimics were turning away from Osamu and Hyuse to head straight towards where the snipers were which was forcing them to focus on those ones.
That left Hyuse and Osamu with the group that was following-
A slash ripped through the air, cutting half of the Mimics in half.
Well, never mind then.
"At that distance with Senku," Hyuse said, looking in the direction that the slash came from.
"Ikoma-san." Osamu finished, looking in the direction as well to see Ikoma standing on a roof quite far from them. That would explain why his attack only managed to get half of the Mimics.
"These are our target, Four-eyes. Get out of here." Ikoma said.
Osamu rested a hand on his ear where his coms were. Did Jin lay out both of these squads here or was it Yuri ordering the squads to move in so Tamakoma could focus on locating Mogami and Kuga? He supposed the answer didn't really matter. Either way, he and Hyuse were going to be leaving the other squads here to deal with this.
"Chika, Hyuse and I got a bit delayed. Wait a few minutes before releasing the dummy beacons." Osamu replied as he and Hyuse got on the move again, leaving the sounds of battle behind them.
"Is everything alright?" Chika asked.
"Some Mimics appeared, but Arafune squad and Ikoma squad are taking care of them. We need to focus on our mission." Hyuse replied.
"Okay. I'm in position. Tell me when you're ready, Hyuse-kun."
*Mimics*
"Woah, these things look so creepy." Kai said.
"Kai, don't you dare think about charging in." Maori ordered. "It's dangerous to fight Mimics close range."
Kai folded his arms behind his head, pouting. "Then what am I even doing here?"
Oki looked through his scope at the hoard of Mimics that were redirecting their attention to the squad that was attacking them, leaving Tamakoma-2 free to move to the next area. "Kai has no memory of deceased loved ones for the Mimics to steal. He should be fine even if one does manage to touch him."
"So, I can fight!" Kai cheered.
"No, you'll only get in the way of our attacks." Mizukami replied as he unleashed his Hound on the Mimics. Even though his bullets curved as they locked onto their targets, he still found himself tsking when the Mimics deployed shield to block his bullets from hitting them. "Why are Trion Soldiers with Shields becoming a common theme lately?"
"Just blow the shields away." Ikoma said. He got a good amount of Mimics with his surprise attack, but if they started to throw up shields, it would be harder to slash them in half. Still, they were only Trion Soldiers. They couldn't be that smart.
Mizukami started to form his Asteroid, breaking it into pieces. "Or you could just cut them in half again. Their shields aren't that strong."
"What about if I use my Senku?" Kai asked. "I can slice them in half."
"Your Senku doesn't have the range that Iko-san has. You would have to get closer to them and that would just get you in the way of Iko-san's Senku." Maori replied.
Mizukami unleashed his Asteroid at the Mimics on the next building over. His bullets were strong enough to penetrate the shields of a few Mimics, but he couldn't send the bullets wide enough to get all the Mimics approaching them. It was enough though as Ikoma unleashed his Senku once more to cut them in half.
He got two.
The other Mimics extended their arms behind them to latch onto the ledge of the building and used the force of retracting their arms to fling themselves backwards while using their Shield to defend from the range of the Senku if they couldn't get far enough in time.
"Ah, they dodged." Oki said.
"Why is this a thing?" Ikoma demanded, pointing his sword at the Mimics in the distance. "I can accept being dodged in Rank Wars, but from Trion Soldiers?"
"It seems they are adapting to us." Mizukami replied, already having his Hound formed at his side. "Doing the same thing over and over again isn't going to work here. Show it to them once and they'll be ready to fight against it."
"Oki, shoot them down!" Ikoma shouted angrily.
"Did you miss the part where Arafune squad is getting targeted at close range after only taking a few shots against the Mimics?" Oki asked. "I might get two, maybe three, if I'm lucky."
"Kai will back you up then. Anything to lessen the numbers out here." Mizukami replied.
"Huh? I get to do something?" Kai asked excitedly. "Yes! I'll cut down any Mimics that try to approach Oki-senpai!"
"With caution." Maori stressed.
Oki swapped out his Egret for his Lightning. It would be best to get his shots off as fast as possible before the Mimics could close in on him. Doing it this way would divide the Mimics up into groups that would focus on him and Kai while the others went towards Ikoma and Mizukami. It would at least make things easier if they each had less targets to focus on.
"Try not to die, Kai. I'll be dead pretty fast the moment you bail out." Oki said.
"Don't you worry! I'll protect you!" Kai assured.
Oki did not feel very assured, but he didn't have another option except to put his trust in Kai. Unlike Arafune, he didn't have ability to switch to close range when the Mimics closed in on him so that was when Kai could interfere with his Senku, and hopefully not cut Oki down along with the Mimics.
*Mimics*
"Gates have begun to open."
Rindo leaned back in his chair, glancing over at Shinoda. "Gates have been opening all week. The agents can handle some Mimics."
Shinoda lowered his hand from his ear as Kyoko finished talking so he could focus on his friend. "For all of our sakes, I hope that is true. We don't need any more Mimics transforming. Mogami-san and Kuga-san will be more than enough hassle for the week."
"Hn," Rindo smirked, though it lacked amusement, as he stared at Yuma's still form. "Ever since Yuma came to us back in December, everything has been so hectic. Even after that first large-scale invasion and Border growing into what it is now, practically overnight..."
"It certainly got lively in Border, but nothing like the past few months." Shinoda finished, expression softening as he looked at his old friend's young son. "Yuma-kun brings a certain thrill to things like his father did before him, although I would say Yuma-kun is a lot more of a trouble magnet than Yugo-san ever was."
Rindo laughed lightly. "I would say he just has bad luck."
"Then here's hoping we break his streak of bad luck tonight." Shinoda replied.
"All of our bad luck. We haven't been doing that well this week."
"We're surviving though. Just managing to survive is a win, but it won't be enough if we can't beat Yugo-san and Mogami-san." Shinoda stared sadly at Yuma. They could manage to push back the attacks as much as they wanted, but it didn't mean anything if they didn't kill Mogami and Yugo.
There wasn't much time left.
When the nation that was sending the Mimics here moved out of range, would Mogami and Yugo leave to go back to that nation or would they stay here to continue causing havoc?
Neither option was favorable.
If they survived, not only would two Black Triggers be destroyed from it, but they would lose Yuma. He had once told Yuma that if he ever needed anything, then to come to him. There wasn't anything Shinoda wouldn't do to help his late mentor's son. He owed that much to Yugo, but despite that, Yuma still kept his problems to himself.
It didn't surprise Shinoda at all.
Yugo was quite a private person when it came to important things, and it seemed, Yuma was the same way. Though Yugo did manage to ask for help when he really needed it. It seemed to be something Yuma still struggled with.
*Mimics*
"I wish something would appear already." Yoneya said, twirling his spear around in boredom. In the darkness, he could barely make the dummy beacons that were floating in the sky above them. It certainly was an interesting tactic to use beacons to fool Kuga and Mogami into thinking they were surrounded so they would want to act. He just hoped that it would work to draw them out. He was excited for a good fight.
"Would you take this more seriously?" Miwa scolded. "This isn't a game."
Yoneya rested his spear on his shoulder as he turned to glance at his Captain. He was looking for a fight, that was true, but he wasn't taking any of this easily. While his team held grudges against the Neighbors, Yoneya had nothing against them himself and found himself as someone who could probably enjoy their company easily. He certainly liked Yuma, which was why he was eager to bash some heads in.
Even if the rest of his team didn't care, Yoneya did. He had never been hurt by Neighbors before and he didn't feel like starting now by losing a friend.
"I'm being completely serious." Yoneya replied, looking at his Captain with a smirk. "Don't you want a rematch against Kuga's Black Trigger?"
"No, and besides, it's not being wielded by the same person." Miwa replied.
"Even better, someone stronger is using it." Yoneya replied.
Kodera lowered his Egret when he saw no movement around him. "That is not something to be celebrated, Yoneya-senpai. Kuga-san and Mogami-san will be difficult to deal with."
"No one is unbeatable. Even those two have to have a weakness." Narasaka said, rising up from his crouched position, turning off his Egret since there was nothing in sight.
Miwa rested his hand in his pocket, curling his hand around the mini Replica copy he had there. He really didn't know why he kept hold of this thing for so many months now. There was no reason for him to still have it. It didn't work anymore so it's not like the Neighbor needed it.
That Neighbor who sliced his sister down in front of him just a few days ago. He said that the Mimic of his sister was about to kill his team. That's what he said, but his sister seemed like her normal self and wanted to see him. If he looked at Mimics from their design as Trion Soldiers and with what Yuma said, the obvious solution was that it was a manipulation tactic to get close to them to strike them down.
That was how Yuma told them to look at the Mimics, but there was another side to them. When they transformed into someone, they got all the memories and feelings of that person.
"Mimics, at least the ones I saw as a kid, didn't have the capability of staying transformed for long. Because they were used to say a last goodbye to your loved one that wasn't a bloody corpse you found on the battlefield, and that's the reason fond memories are used. You want to avoid having memories of an enemy being chosen and appearing in front of you."
"So, it's a tool used to deal with grief?" Kazama asked.
"That was the original purpose, yes, but it seems it has been weaponized." Yuma replied.
The idea of transformed Mimics being used to manipulate emotions and kill their target made sense, but at the same time didn't make sense. If they had all the memories and feelings as when they were alive, then they obviously wouldn't want to fight their friends and family. Attacking allies and friends went against who the transformed Mimics were when they were alive.
It was a contradiction.
Like Mizukami said.
They needed to use those memories the Mimics possessed to their advantage. It could make them hesitate as their memories and their programming fought against each other.
By that logic, that would make anyone connected to Mogami and Yugo their weakness. He would bet Jin and Yuma would be the best people to get to Mogami and Yugo.
That was if Yuma ever decided to wake up from his nap.
*Mimics*
While the other squads were trying to see if they could locate any movement from the Mimics if they were trying to avoid the dummy beacon trap, Kikuchihara was relying on his hearing. His teammates could look for any movement in the area from where they were hiding, but he was keeping his ears open for any movement near them. Oji squad was the nearest squad to them so he focused on blocking out the noise they were making so he could focus on trying to locate any sounds that might be the Mimics.
His side effect enhanced his hearing, but it didn't give him the ability to hear miles away. It was only a few times better than average hearing so he could only hear in the area he was in. If Mogami or Kuga made their way through the shadows of the buildings around here, he would hear them moving.
Utagawa glanced towards his teammate, but didn't say anything as he knew it would distract him from differentiating between the sounds that he was filtering through. He knew Kikuchihara found it annoying to have to use his side effect like this for long periods of time, and they've already been in the Restricted Zone for a few hours trying to draw out the Mimics. It would have been easier to just release the dummy beacons all over the Restricted Zone in one go, which Chika and Hyuse had the Trion to be able to do, but they didn't have enough agents to cover every inch of the Restricted Zone to keep an eye out for them moving.
Even now, they had only made it a third of a way through the Restricted Zone. If they did manage to find the Mimics, it wouldn't be over then. It would just lead to a fight, and speaking of fights, they already lost Arafune squad, Ikoma Squad, Kakizaki squad, and Katagiri squad when they all got sidetracked by Mimics appearing from Gates. It meant they had a smaller area that Chika and Hyuse could release the dummy beacons in since those four squads couldn't cover their areas in the sections the squads were moving to.
There was a ruffling of cloth that had Kikuchihara lifting his head. His eyes scanned the area, but he couldn't see anything, so instead of using his eyes, Kikuchihara closed his eyes. When one sense was gone, the others got heightened. His sense of hearing was already much better than everyone else's with his side effect but the focus he got from not being distracted by his sight added another level to his hearing. If anything approached him while he was doing this, he would hear it or his team would notice.
It was impressive.
There was barely any sound to the steps that were being taken. The ruffling of the cloth had to be because of the bagworm. Despite the skills of the person trying to be silent, Kikuchihara's side effect was still better.
"Movement to the west of us." Kikuchihara informed, opening his eyes to look at his captain. "Only one person though."
"I thought Jin-san said Mogami-san and Kuga-san would be together though." Utagawa said. "Are you sure it's them?"
"That was just an assumption made since they disappeared together last night." Kazama replied. "Mikami, alert HQ that we may have located one of the Mimics."
"On it." Mikami replied.
Kazama glanced at his team. "We're moving. Stick to the shadows."
Following their Captain's lead, Utagawa and Kikuchihara dropped down from the building they had been on and fell into the building's shadow. Kazama took a stepped back and motioned for Kikuchihara to lead the way to where he heard the movement.
*Mimics*
Jin came to a halt, staring at the vastness of the buildings ahead of him. "They've found something?" He repeated.
"Yeah, they're investigating it now." Shiori replied.
Jin looked in the direction that Kazama squad would be in, eyes narrowed. Kikuchihara's hearing told them it was only one person moving through the area they were in. Was it Yuma's father they happened upon? Kuga Yugo was the one that Jin cared about tonight. His grievances with Mogami's mimic were being put on hold in face of the danger to Yuma's life. Making sure Yuma didn't die was first priority. Killing Mogami would come second to that.
So, the question was, who was near Kazama squad? Mogami or Kuga? If he used his side effect to look into the future, it gave no clear answer. He could see a battle waging, but he couldn't see who it was against. There were two options here. Wait for Kazama squad to report back on who it was or move towards them now.
If he moved now and it wasn't Kuga Yugo, it would be a waste of time if he had to move again if Kuga appeared in a different area. If he waited and it was Kuga, it would take time to get to Kazama squad to help them against him.
Even if it was Mogami, it wouldn't be an easy fight for Kazama squad. Jin could go to Kazama squad and help them anyway. Both of the transformed Mimics needed to be dealt with after all.
It was an option, but Jin knew without a single doubt, that if he faced off with Mogami right now, he would be nothing but distracted. Of all the agents out here tonight, Jin was the one in the best position to bring forth Mogami's feelings from when he was alive since he shared so many moments with his mentor.
By that logic, he should be moving to Kazama squad quickly.
It was the logical option.
Jin wasn't looking for logical right now though.
Killing Mogami right now wouldn't save Yuma.
But leaving Mogami alone would only keep him around longer and he would get in their way later on.
"Not completely. I'm still here to help Border in any way I can." Jin said.
"And we appreciate it, but don't try to take on everything alone, okay? We're all here to help you. This isn't a fight you have to go into alone." Arashiyama replied.
Jin closed his eye, breathing out slowly. That was right. This wasn't his battle alone. He had plenty of allies out here tonight. Instead of focusing on his own determination to save Yuma's life as he promised the young Neighbor, he had to focus on the whole picture. Both Mimics were the target tonight. It didn't matter which one Kazama squad found, he had to assist them. He could trust the other teams to take on the other Mimic.
"Jin-san."
"Yes, Captain Four-Eyes?" Jin asked, opening his eyes back up, a new determination shining in them as he began to move towards Kazama squad.
"Should we continue to move on with the mission? If only one Mimic is there, the other could still be in this section or he could be moving to a different section." Osamu asked.
"It could be possible the other one is near Kazama squad but hasn't drawn any attention to him." Shiori pointed out.
There were too many maybes mixed into all of this. It was making it difficult to determine what the best course of action to take was. Part of the reason they were doing the mission this way, with this amount of agents, was because they needed all their strength to kill Kuga and Mogami. Their skills and experience coupled with the ability of Black Triggers on their side made them formidable opponents. Kuga Yugo had proven that with his decimation of the squads in the past couple of days.
"Stay in the area for now." Jin decided. "We need to see what we're up against."
"Who we're up against." Osamu corrected, dropping down to the building that Chika was crouched on. She glanced at Osamu, but the captain was looking through the darkness, still looking for any movement from the second transformed Mimic that should be in the Restricted Zone somewhere. The mission they spoke of to all the agents was about going off to find both of Mogami and Kuga, but honestly, Osamu was more focused on trying to find Yuma's father. He was the cause of Yuma's pain, so Osamu wanted to focus on helping Yuma to deal with this.
The plan of the dummy beacons wasn't concrete, but it was better than nothing, and it seemed to that it was paying off. One of them was making an appearance. Where was the second?
*Mimics*
Yuri's fingers froze over her keyboard. Her attention got pulled to the screen that was flashing in warning to showcase the Gates that were beginning to open.
"Gate numbers...Eight...twelve...fifteen...nineteen...twenty-two." Kyoko counted.
"Just how many Mimics are coming through?" Shiori asked shocked.
"It's not Mimics." Konami's voice came through the coms. "We have Marmods here."
"I've got an Ilgar over here." Azuma's voice echoed in the war room.
"Is it another invasion?" Yuri said shocked as the reports began to ring through of what the agents were encountering.
"Jin." Kido said, staring with narrowed eyes at the monitor as the alerts flashed with each Gate was opening. There had been a risk of Mimics appearing tonight while the mission was ongoing, but there had been no mention of an attack on this scale happening tonight. The only thing that was talked about was Mogami and Yugo needing to be found.
"It could be the nation that sent the Mimics here or it could be Kuga Yugo's doing. We know he is capable of opening Gates." Jin replied.
"He is capable of opening the Gates based on his Trion levels. Based on that, he shouldn't be able to open this many Gates or call this many Trion Soldiers to fight by his side." Kinuta pointed out.
"Mimics have come through some of the other Gates." Kyoko said. "It has to be the nation that sent them here that is opening all of these Gates."
That was something that Jin wasn't so sure about. He called his Scorpion to his side, eyeing the Bander that had stepped into his path to stop him from getting to Kazama squad. In the past few days, the only Trion Soldiers that got sent here from the nation that was attacking them were Mimics. If they faced anything besides Mimics, it was when Kuga Yugo was opening the Gates.
Kinuta wasn't wrong though. Kuga Yugo didn't have the ability to open this many Gates, as far as Jin was aware, and he certainly never called any Mimics to his side.
"Jin-san." Shun's voice came through his com.
Jin raised a brow in surprise that Kusakabe would agree to connect them in the middle of all of this. "What is it, Shun? A bit busy." He replied as he dodged the laser from the Bander before jumping into the air and slicing it down.
"HQ is wrong, or half right, I don't know." Shun explained.
Jin landed on the ledge of a roof, putting a hand to his ear. "You need to be a bit clearer than that, Shun."
"There's Rabits here with Tamakoma's symbol on them. It can't be the Neighbor nation that sent these Trion Soldiers."
Jin's eyes widened for a moment before his expression was smoothing out, Scorpion disappearing from his hand. The dummy beacons were their plan to draw the Mimics out and ambush them, but this sudden appearance of so many Gates...Were they the ones who walked into a trap?
There was no way for the Mimics to have been aware of their plan to lure them out with dummy beacons, but the timing of this attack was too convenient. All of the Gates were opening in the sector of the Restricted Zone that all of the agents were in...the Trion Soldiers they were used to and the Mimics in the same sector. The Mimics made sense. They would appear where all the agents were located.
However, the same could not be said for the Trion Soldiers that bore the symbol of Tamakoma. They would only appear here if Kuga Yugo was here.
There was no way for him to know about Border's plan to lure him and Mogami out, so were the Gates dropping his Trion Soldiers in the area just his form of retaliation to the amount of agents he thought were in the area? Was he cornered and using the Trion Soldiers to open the path for him?
Jin had no way of knowing what the Mimics were after with attacking this world. He couldn't figure out the plan the nation that was doing this had, but the transformed Mimics? At least with Kuga Yugo, his focus seemed to be solely on Yuma. He wouldn't want to get trapped by all the agents in the Restricted Zone when he hadn't gotten what he wanted from Yuma.
Did that mean Kazama squad was closing in on Kuga Yugo?
"I'm not trying to get in between you and your father. Your history with Kuga-san is your own, but the fact that you will die in a few days is my business. It's my job to protect my kouhai." Jin said softly.
Yuma twisted away from Jin, walking across the roof. "No, it isn't. It never has been. You just made that your job. Your real job is to protect the city from Neighbors. That is what is important here. You can't risk the safety of the civilians for one person." He looked up at the sky. "I know you want to save my life, Jin-san, but like I told you before, I won't begrudge you if you fail. The safety of the city and the citizens is top priority. As an agent of Border, my life is second to their protection. That is what it means to be a soldier. Taking care of my father's Mimic is top priority. If I die in the process, then I die, but I will kill him before the citizens or my friends are put in danger because of him."
Jin closed his eyes briefly. It wasn't a promise that Jin had been able to say, and it still wasn't something that Jin could bring himself to say. There would never be a reason for Jin to ever promise that he would turn his back on a friend. It was even what he told Yuma after his friend was going off on him. He would not abandon his friend, but even though that was true, Yuma was right that the safety of the city was important. If the Trion Soldiers weren't dealt with, they would get into the city and go after civilians.
"Osamu, have your squad go assist Azuma squad with the Ilgar. Chika-chan will be helpful there." Jin decided. "Taking care of these Trion Soldiers is going to take priority right now. We can't let them run rampant."
Osamu gritted his teeth, but murmured his consent to the order. This wasn't the end of their mission. It was just a side mission that needed taken care of before they could save Yuma. He had to believe in the strength of Yuma to hold on while they made sure the Trion Soldiers didn't escape.
*Mimics*
Kazama fell into a crouch on the ledge of a building, overlooking the road below them that Kikuchihara had led them to. In the street, he could see a figure walking slowly, a hood from his bagworm pulled over his face. The darkness and the hood pulled over his face made it impossible to tell who they had found. Whether it was Kuga or Mogami, it didn't matter. Their job was to kill both of them.
His preferred method of attack would be to use Chameleon to sneak up on the Mimic down there and strike him down, but if he turned his bagworm off now, he would pop up on the radar. It wouldn't be a problem if the Mimic wasn't checking his radar, but Kazama couldn't see what he was doing with his back to them.
Still, with their bagworms, there was no way for the Mimic down there to know they were there. They could sneak up on him and attack before he realized, but Kazama was hesitating in making a move. The dummy beacons were still in play and now a Mimic was out and about, but he should be moving more cautiously. He didn't know the dummy beacons weren't agents closing in on him.
Did he see the Trion signatures on the radar and decide to come out into the open, begging the agents to attack him? Was he that confident he could take them all on?
Kuga Yugo?
He certainly held that confident if the attacks from the past couple of days were anything to go by. He had the skill and experience to fight multiple squads at once. That confidence Kuga Yugo held was nothing to scoff at as he was able to back it up with his strength.
Confident or not, they couldn't let him continue to wander around.
A Scorpion appeared in his hand in a reverse grip as he launched from the building. Utagawa and Kikuchihara followed his lead, but jumped in the other direction from him.
Kazama landed lightly behind the Mimic, bringing his sword up in an upwards slash. Before his Scorpion could make contact, a sword was meeting his without the Mimic even turning around to face him. There was no reaction to this as Kazama simply jumped backwards and let his teammates strike instead.
The Mimic simply ducked and slid under their falling figures. Without Grasshoppers, it wasn't possible for his team to change angle easily while falling in the air to follow the enemy. The Mimic twisted around when he was behind the two so he could swing his blade at them, but Utagawa and Kikuchihara both managed to activate their Shields behind them to protect their backs. The attack was strong enough to break their Shields, but by then they were already hitting the ground and propelling themselves sideways to get distance from him.
A single Kogetsu blade.
From the brief moment he saw Kuga Yugo on Tamakoma's bridge, he had two swords on him and neither were a Kogetsu blade.
Kazama called a second blade to his side. "Mogami Soichi."
If Mogami was here, begging the agents to attack him, where was Kuga Yugo?
*Mimics*
"Huh?" Kyoko's hands hovered over her keyboard, brows furrowed in confusion. She was doing as Jin had asked of her. She left Yuri and Shiori in charge of the agents in the field and would watch over Border HQ for Jin just to ease his worries. When he asked that of her, she had assumed he saw an attack coming and expected Trion Soldiers to reach the base again.
Seeing a message saying that the main doors to Border HQ had been accessed had not been what she was expecting.
Kyoko got to work accessing the security footage from the main doors. There was no reason for anyone to be returning to HQ right now. No one but agents were supposed to be in the Restricted Zone tonight and none of them would be coming here.
Seeing that Kyoko was bringing up the security footage on one of the big monitors, Yuri looked up at the screen, surprised to see the figure of Kuga Yugo unlocking the doors to enter the base. He wasn't even trying to hide his presence as he strolled in like he owned the place.
"Kuga Yugo," Kido said, brushing a finger over his scar. Seeing that man walking into the base standing tall and full of confidence, it truly felt like he was back among his friends.
How could he be here?
All the Gates opening in the Restricted Zone, weren't some of them from him?
The report of the Trion Soldiers having the Tamakoma emblem was enough proof that he had a hand in the amount of enemies appearing.
He needed to be in the area to open them, so how did he get here so fast?
"Where is he going?" Kido asked.
"Yuma-kun has been his target the past couple of days, but he can't know that he is here?" Yuri said confused as Kyoko continued to access the cameras in HQ to switch to them to keep an eye on Yugo as he moved through the base. "Or where he is located at."
"Shinoda-san," Kyoko called urgently. "We have an intruder in the base. It's not guaranteed, but it looks like he is heading in your direction."
*Mimics*
Shinoda rose to his feet, turning to look at the door to lab with narrowed eyes. "So, this is what Jin saw."
Rindo rolled his unlit cigarette between his fingers. He really could use a smoke right now. Pushing himself to his feet, Rindo gave his unconscious agent one more look before he was joining Shinoda in staring at the door. "If Jin saw Kuga-san coming here, he would have left more agents here. Hell, Jin would have stayed here to deal with him. It's more likely he thought Mimics would attack the base."
"True," Shinoda looked at Rindo from the corner of his eyes, pulling his Trigger out. "Like old times."
Rindo smirked, lighting his cigarette and taking a drag on his cigarette. "Just like old times." He reached his hand into his pocket, wrapping it around the Trigger he hadn't used in so long.
"Trigger on!"
