A/N: I don't own World Trigger
Mimics
Chapter 28: Mentors and Students
Yugo stared at his friend sitting on the edge of his desk with a disappointed look. Even with his window closed, he could still hear Kido going off on Shinoda for destroying his car. "Was there really a need to egg Masafumi-kun on while outside? You guys couldn't have sparred in the actual training rooms?"
"It's not my fault he doesn't have any self-control. If he had some, he would have noticed Kido's car there and stopped himself from cutting it in half." Mogami replied cheerfully. "In fact, I taught him a valuable lesson today, to be aware of your surroundings and to not let your enemy's taunt get to you in battle. It will just blind your judgement."
"You could have done that in a training room where there was no fear of destroying property." Yugo pointed out.
"Nope," Mogami said, eyes shining with mischief. "He won't learn to control himself if he doesn't know the consequences of actually breaking something."
Yugo leaned back in his chair, eyeing his friend suspiciously. "Uh-huh, and it had nothing to do with wanting to get back at Kido for breaking the coffee machine."
"Of course not. I understand that was an accident. Besides, I didn't even cut his car in half."
Yugo watched the black smoke that surrounded Mogami, closing his eyes with a sigh. "You make up the stupidest lies." He opened his eyes and shot his friend a frown as he stood up. "And such a mean person. Manipulating Masafumi-kun into your schemes to get back at Kido." He walked around the desk, clapping his friend on the shoulder as he walked pass him. "Hasn't Kido suffered enough? He is more coffee obsessed than you so the broken coffee machine is harder on him than you."
"It's that obsession of his that broke the coffee machine." Mogami shouted at Yugo's back as he left the office.
Yugo caught sight of their newest member leaning out the door to look outside to watch Kido laying into Shinoda. "Don't you have training to do, Takumi-kun?" He scolded, waving Rindo off to have him head downstairs to the training rooms. Honestly, it was like herding children. He might accept it with Rindo and Shinoda since they were just teenagers, but why were Mogami and Kido like this too? They had almost ten years on these kids.
"Hasn't he had enough, Kido?" Yugo shouted from where he was leaning against the door to the base, drawing the attention of the other two. "You've been at it for thirty minutes now. Surely your voice is tired."
"I just bought that car!" Kido growled. "I haven't even had it for a week!"
Shinoda winced, shying back from the angry Kido.
"Accidents happen." Yugo replied. "And at least no one was hurt. You have insurance so it shouldn't be a problem."
"Insurance?!" Kido waved a hand over his car. "How do you explain a car cut clean in half to the insurance company?"
Yugo eyed the car with comprehension. "Ah, I see." He nodded and pushed off the door frame. "We just have to crush it a bit more to make it look more like a crash and then file a police report. We can use my car and wreck both of them."
Kido stared at Yugo in complete disbelief. Why was his solution more destruction?
On the other hand, Shinoda was looking excited at the prospect of getting to wreck the cars.
Seeing his excited look, Kido pointed a finger in his face. "Not you. You will not be rewarded for this behavior."
Yugo stood to the side and waved a hand forward in the direction to the open door. "Go and join Takumi-kun for training, Masafumi-kun. Do try to not break anything down there."
"So, how about a deal?" Yugo asked. "I'll end this attack if you give me my son."
Rindo stared in disbelief at his old friend in front of him. Perhaps Yugo would want to take his son back like this if his son was in enemy hands. The thing was, this wasn't the real Yugo, no matter how much he looked and sounded like him, and Yuma wasn't in enemy hands. Border was one of the safest places for him.
"Before we could even consider that, what is it you want from Yuma-kun?" Shinoda asked, though the offer was so ridiculous, he had no intention of taking it. His agents could handle the Trion Soldiers, Mimics, and Mogami. They wouldn't let them escape the Restricted Zone. He would trust in his agents while not turning his back on Yuma. He was not about to betray a friend to an enemy.
It hurt to even think of it. The Kuga Yugo in front of him was an enemy. This wasn't his friend that he missed for years. This was someone with the intention of hurting Border, threatening the city, and after his own son. Shinoda would love to have his friend back and get to talk to him again. He would even love to spar against him again for old time's sake.
Unfortunately, that was something that could never happen.
"I would have thought it was obvious." Yugo replied. "I want his ring."
"So, it's not even your son you want to see." Rindo said disgusted. How much could this Mimic say to prove he was nothing like the real thing? In the face of a powerful weapon and his son, Yugo would always choose his son. He always cared more about people then he did about having powerful weapons.
Yugo looked confused for a moment at his student. Why would it be important to see his son? What Yugo was desperately after was the Black Trigger. As long as he got the Black Trigger, everything would be alright. He will have fulfilled his job. Getting the mission done was the most important thing.
Shinoda scoffed. "Yuma-kun said Mimics were exact replicas of who they were when they were alive. Seeing you now, I can't see how he made that comparison. I know the real Yugo-san loved his son more than anything." Maybe he never saw Yuma with his father, but he didn't need to. He knew Yugo and the type of person he was, then there was the story Yuma gave him about his father giving his life for him. That solidified the fact that Yugo hadn't changed in the years he had been gone. "I can buy Yugo-san attacking Border if he believed we were hurting his son and he wanted him back. But this? All of this for the Black Trigger? Not for a single second would I believe he would ever do this."
"So, that's your choice." Yugo's eyes darkened in threat. It wasn't a surprising result. This was exactly like the Border he had built. When he created Border, it was about forming connections with the Neighborhood and gaining allies. The organization looked a lot different than from what it was when he formed it, but the foundation of protecting their allies had remained. "If I have to kill you two to take him, so be it then."
*Mimics*
Without ranged weapons, fighting Mimics was hard. Just the slightest touch against the Mimics would be a failure so it meant they had to dodge or block perfectly every single time. With Utagawa being the only one with ranged weapons, he would have an easier time, but he couldn't take on all the Mimics alone. Not to mention, the Mimics' Shields would make it hard for him to kill them.
Kazama jumped back, his Scorpion slicing through a lamppost to knock it down so it would fall onto the limbs of the Mimics that were chasing him.
Kikuchihara fell from the sky, Scorpion slicing through the limbs that got trapped under the lamppost. They could cut off the extended limbs as much as they wanted, but if they didn't cut the limb off from the source of the body, it wouldn't make a difference. With their ability to detect Trion bodies, they couldn't even use Chameleon to approach them.
If it was just two or even three Mimics, Kazama would take the chance to approach them. He was certain he could get through that many without getting touched and kill them. However, it wasn't three Mimics they were up against. It was a hoard of Mimics in their path. It would be hard to dodge them all when they were in a cluster like this.
"We should have made Tachikawa squad deal with these things." Kikuchihara complained.
Utagawa backed up from the Mimics, using his Scorpion to deflect the limbs. "It's not like we were making any progress against Mogami-san either."
"You could try something besides Asteroid." Kikuchihara suggested. "These things don't have any armor like Rabit. Just get pass the Shield and killing them is easy."
"True," Utagawa jumped back to get more distance so he had the time needed to form a Trion cube under his free hand and began to split it up into smaller cubes, but didn't get around to firing it because he was surprised to see some of the Mimics began to turn away from Kazama squad. That was weird. Mimics went after Trion bodies and they were currently close to six of them, so why were they trying to break off now? "Meteor!"
Utagawa's bullets launched themselves forward, slamming into the surrounding buildings, road, and Mimics. The destructive force of the Meteor knocked the buildings over to fall on the Mimics. The mix of rubble and dust would be a nice distraction to the Mimics that didn't get hit by the bullets. The attack should hopefully be enough to bring the Mimics' attention back to the Kazama squad so they would stop trying to leave.
Kazama moved first, propelling himself over the rubble of the falling buildings. His Scorpion pierced through the first Mimic's eye he came across that had gotten buried in the rubble. He could hear Kikuchihara and Utagawa running through the destruction to kill the Mimics before they could gain their bearings and get out of the rubble.
Kazama twisted downward to avoid a Mimic's limb coming for him before extending a Scorpion from his elbow that pierced the limb. The sliced off part dropped to the ground behind him as Kazama jumped and rolled in the air to get through the next set of limbs, slicing at them nonstop, leaving limbs to rain down on the ground around him. Even buried under rumble, they were quite persistent.
His foot barely touched the ground when he felt something hit his ankle. Looking down, he just barely saw a black, claw like hand wrapped around his ankle before his vision faded out.
"Shin-niisan!"
The little five year held his hands up this brother to get his help to get the snack on the counter. Grinning Shin wrapped his arms around his brother's torso to lift him up so he could steal the snacks from the counter. Before their mother could get back to the kitchen and seeing the brothers ruining their dinner, Shin and Soya snuck out of the kitchen with their winnings.
"I win!" Soya cheered, throwing his hands up into the air in celebration.
Shin smiled, dropping the cards that would have won him the game into the pile of cards between the brothers. He pushed all the cards together to get them back into a neat pile. "You did, didn't you? I guess you win the pot."
He motioned to the pile of snacks that he had won from Soya throughout their day of playing games that he didn't really want, but losing all day and then getting that one win at the end to get all his snacks back would make his little brother happy so it was a win for both of them.
Soya looked at his pile of snacks, going through them until he found his brother's favorite treat. "This is for you."
"You won, Soya. It's all yours." Shin replied as he slid the cards back into their box.
"You won more than me out of the games we played. Losing once doesn't mean you shouldn't get something." Soya shoved the dorayaki into his brother's chest so he couldn't refuse.
"You got a job?" Soya asked bewildered.
Shin hummed thoughtfully. "I guess it could be a job. I don't think I'm getting paid so maybe it's more like a club?"
Soya stared at his brother in disbelief. "Do you even know what you are getting involved in?"
"I know enough to know that it sounds interesting and I want to check it out." Shin replied with a wide grin.
"You always did have a bad habit of leaping into something without thinking." Soya muttered.
Shin wrapped an arm around his brother's neck, pulling him into a headlock. "And you tend to overthink too much, Soya. Stop thinking too much and just try to do something because it sounds fun."
"Shin-niisan."
Shin looked over at his younger brother standing in the doorway of his way. A smile pulled at his face at the sight of him. "Soya! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."
"That's because you're never here." Soya replied, entering his brother's room now that he got the acknowledgement. "Always at that secret club of yours."
An apologetic smile crossed Shin's face. "Sorry, my mentor insists I go by every day. I have a lot to learn."
"Are you having fun there?" Soya asked as he sat on his brother's bed.
"Yeah, Rindo-san and the others are very interesting people." Shin replied, looking at his brother with a curious look. "I think you would like it. Maybe you could join one day."
"You never even told me what you do at this club."
Shin leaned back in his chair, looking towards the ceiling as he scratched his cheek. That was right. When he was recruited by Rindo for Border, he hadn't been able to tell his little brother anything since it was a secret organization. "It's an organization that works as liaisons for other people from other countries."
Soya looked at his brother in confusion. That really didn't sound like something that would interest him, but his brother knew him better than anyone. If he said Soya would like it, there had to be more to it that he wasn't telling him.
Soya stopped walking when his brother stopped at a knocking they heard. He looked around in confusion before seeing his brother standing in front of a restaurant window and waving at the person inside. There was an older man sitting there, enjoying a cigarette as he waved back.
"Come on, Soya. I want to introduce." Shin said, grabbing his brother's wrist and pulling him inside before Soya could protest.
They walked pass the hostess with a quick greeting and made their way to the table.
"Rindo-san," Shin greeted politely with a small bow.
"Shin," Rindo greeted cheerfully. "How strange to be running into each other like this."
Shin raised a brow. "Yes, a coincidence."
Rindo snorted. "Yes, a coincidence. They do exist." He looked at the younger boy next to Shin. "And you must be Kazama-kun. Your brother speaks very fondly of you."
Soya stared back, blankly.
Shin laughed, dropping a hand to Soya's head. "He can be quite reserved. This is my mentor in the organization I joined, Rindo-san. He's been teaching me a lot."
Soya bowed his head. "Thank you for taking care of my brother. He tends to not think before walking into things so please continue to keep an eye on him."
"Oi," Shin said, knocking his brother head to the side. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Tell that to the five phones you've broken in the past year because you lack hand eye coordination and just throw your phone around like it's rubber." Soya retorted.
Rindo laughed lightly. "Reminds me of when he picked his phone up the one day and somehow picking it up was sign for throwing it through the closed window and into the river below."
Shin blushed fiercely while his brother gave him a deadpanned look at his stupidity.
"You're leaving?" Soya asked confused. "What about school?"
Shin shrugged. "I got a leave of absence from school. The organization I've been working for has to go to another country."
"But why do you have to go?" Soya asked. "They have other people in this organization, right? Surely your club isn't as important as school."
Shin paused in packing his things to stare at his brother. There was a look in his eyes that Soya didn't usually associate with his brother who went with the flow for most things in life. He had never once looked this serious in anything he did. "They need all the help they can get. When people are suffering, I find it more important to help than to worry about school. I can always catch up."
Kazama came back to his senses to find himself lying in the rubble of a building, dust settling down around him. Pushing himself up to a crouch, he looked through the hole in the wall of the building to see a familiar figure standing there with a Kogetsu in his hand.
*Mimics*
Jin broke away from Mogami as he saw the future shift in front of his eyes. Kazama squad should have been able to deal with the Mimics, so why was the future over there changing?
"I see you never got rid of that distraction."
Jin just barely dodged Mogami's Kogetsu that was going for his neck. He saved himself from getting his head cut off, but still ended up with a cut spilling Trion on his neck. Brushing the spilling Trion away, Jin jumped back a few steps to get some distance from Mogami.
"Can't handle your mentor without your precious Fujin?" Tachikawa asked when Jin landed by him.
"Heh," Jin smirked. "I may have been a bit distracted by a future." He looked behind Mogami at the destroyed road and buildings that Kazama squad was moving through. "Something shifted over there."
"That's not our concern. Kazama squad will be able to handle whatever they have gotten themselves into." Tachikawa replied, pointing his sword towards Mogami. "We need to focus on him. We can't afford any distractions."
Jin shifted his eyes back towards Mogami, locking eyes on his amused mentor. There was nothing amusing about this situation, but Mogami held the confidence in this fight so he could easily show the amusement about it. Jin wasn't sure what he was amused about, whether it was the struggle of Border to stop him or because his student was in front of him making the same mistakes that he made when Mogami first trained him. To him, maybe it felt like nothing has truly changed.
Creating two Scorpions in his hands, Jin stepped forward in front of Tachikawa. He asked Tachikawa and Izumi to help him with this fight, but it was because he knew it would be hard to defeat Mogami alone. However, this was still a fight that Jin wasn't going to back off from.
This was his mentor.
Correction, a fake version of his mentor and this fake was destroying his mentor's memento. This was a personal matter.
"Mogami-san." Jin said, taking another step forward. "You may not realize this, but it has been years since you're been to Japan." He forced a smile to his face in the face of this fake that he didn't feel anything for. "Border has changed a lot in that time. It has gotten so big. The dream of yours and Kuga-san has become a reality. We have so many new, fun allies on our side."
"I can tell." Mogami said, staring pass Jin at the agent behind him. Not only a lot of new allies, but a lot of strong allies. Kogetsu was a heavy sword to use so it was impressive to have someone not only be able to use two, but to also be able to use senku with both at the same time. It seemed Border going public actually turned to be out a good thing for the organization. "New agents, new triggers, a new base. You guys really did well for yourselves."
"Border is still your ally. You don't have to fight us." Jin said. Border was the home of both Kuga Yugo and Mogami Soichi. That was the point of what Jin wanted to get at. If this fake really had all the memories of his mentor, then he should remember the love he had for Border. It was his home, his family, for the longest time. He couldn't really want to fight his old friends.
"You're right." Mogami said, surprising the Border agents. "I don't want to fight you. It's not my reason for being here."
Jin would really appreciate having Yuma's side effect right now. Normally he would have no reason to distrust Mogami's words. He always believed everything Mogami said since his mentor had always been completely honest with him. The person in front of him was a Trion Soldier though. He had the memories, but did he have the same honesty in him as the real Mogami?
"Give me Fujin and I'll leave Border alone." Mogami said.
"You can't be serious." Tachikawa scoffed. There was no way the Border officials would ever agree to give up one of their Black Triggers. It didn't matter that Mogami was a Border founder or the creator of Fujin, the one in front of them was a Trion Soldier, and besides, there was no guarantee that Mogami was telling the truth and would stop attacking if he got what he wanted.
Once again, Jin was really wishing for Yuma's lie detector right now. He would never agree to give his mentor's memento away, but he would like to know if Mogami was telling the truth. Was Mogami's goal really just to get the Black Trigger? Was attacking Border really something he was only doing because they were standing in his way?
If Mimic Mogami wanted the Black Trigger he created, was that also Mimic Yugo's goal? To take back his Black Trigger? Yugo had so many chances to take it from Yuma. They had spent enough time alone together that Yugo could have easily taken it from Yuma. His son wasn't able to fight back against him after all. Instead, Yugo chose to wait and attack HQ when Yuma wasn't even conscious?
Why would they take so long to go after their goals? Fujin wasn't even out in the field currently.
"And that is why I'm not asking." Mogami said. "Because I know Kido and I know he would never agree to that trade. So," Mogami swung his sword, unleashing four wind blades into the ground. Tachikawa and Jin both moved to try to avoid the slashes, despite not knowing when or where Mogami was going to release them. "I'll kill you and go take it myself."
Mogami unleashed the four slashes he sent into the ground, all four of them going for Jin. Having seen them coming, Jin managed to block two of them with his Scorpions while twisting his body to dodge the other two. Being trapped in four wind blades though made it difficult to avoid injury so one of the slices managed to cut him along the side.
"Why not try to appeal to his better nature?" Tachikawa said amused.
Jin's brow twitched. "He clearly doesn't care about Border."
"Then how about his student?" Tachikawa retorted. "Or did you forget you wouldn't be where you are right now if not for that man?"
Jin gritted his teeth, staring over at his mentor. What did Tachikawa want him to do? Distract his mentor with sob stories of what they went through together while he was alive? It wouldn't be real. This wasn't the person he went through all those moments with. He loved his mentor and went through so much grief and suffering when Mogami died. He understood why Yuma longed to have his father back because for the longest time when he was fourteen, Jin held the same longing.
He still missed his mentor very much, but Jin was able to grow from the grief. He would never heal fully from what happened, but enough time had passed and the grief didn't hurt as much as it did back then.
Until now.
Seeing him.
Speaking to him.
It was bringing back the pain of his mentor being gone forever. Jin didn't long for this fake. He longed for his real mentor and this fake was bringing up the pain that he had healed from already. Jin wouldn't be happy until this fake was gone.
He didn't want to bring up their past.
He wasn't even sure it would be enough to distract Mogami. Would he even feel anything like Jin did with those moments?
Jin stepped back, deactivating his Scorpion and held his hand out towards Tachikawa. "Give me your Kogetsu." There was no way to know if it would work if he didn't try.
"What?" Tachikawa asked surprised, but Jin didn't wait for him to figure out. He just snatched one of Tachikawa's swords out of his hand, forming the Trion connection with the sword. "I am trying to kill him with Senku here."
A confident smirk crossed Jin's face as he twisted the blade in his hand, holding the sword out to the side.
Jin looked down in confusion at the black holder that Mogami had set in his hand before going back to sit on the bench.
"Well?" Mogami asked amused. "You accosted me in the street for this. Go ahead and say 'Trigger on.'"
"What will that do?" Jin asked confused as he turned the Trigger over in hand. He had a vision of being trained with a sword. This was not a sword. How disappointing.
Mogami laughed at the annoyed look Jin was giving the Trigger in his hand. "Just say it and I promise you, you'll get that sword you're so desperate for."
Looking up, Jin narrowed his eyes at Mogami, trying to get a read on him, but the amused expression Mogami had was telling him nothing. Well, he was right that Jin jumped him to come here. He would do whatever Mogami told him to do so he could get his sword. Stretching his arm out in front of him, Jin nodded. "Trigger on."
Saying those words caused the Trigger in his hand to suddenly start glowing, shocking Jin. Before he could even think of dropping it in his surprise, Jin was blinking in surprise at seeing the Trigger was gone and in the place was his hands covered in black gloves with red vambraces on his forearms. Jin turned his arms over in surprise, taking in the black jacket that was now covering his torso.
Mogami laughed loudly, grabbing Jin's attention. "For someone who was so invested in getting his sword at last, you are more interested in your new clothes."
For a moment, Jin just blinked in confusion until the new weight at his waist registered in his mind and he looked down to see the sword sitting at his waist. The confusion turned to absolute joy as he grabbed the handle and pulled the sword free, revealing a glowing yellow blade.
"This is the only sword that Border has. It is called the Kogetsu." Mogami said, amused at the excitement on Jin's face as he twisted his sword around to take look at it from every angle. "That Trigger is powered by your Trion. Without Trion, you can't activate it."
Mogami stared at Jin, taking in the young man in front of him, holding the Kogetsu that Mogami once handed to his young student so many years ago. The excited air of a new student ready to learn to fight was replaced by a wiser, confident agent. He had grown so much in just a blink of an eye from the crying student begging his mentor to not die to standing tall with a commanding air around, unflinching in the face of his mentor trying to kill him.
The growth that Mogami missed...
"You have a second sword. You'll be fine." Jin replied.
"And you have Scorpion." Tachikawa retorted, gaining a chuckling from Jin before the amusement was wiped away and he was locking eyes with Mogami. Not another word was said as Jin suddenly launched himself at Mogami, swinging his sword at his mentor.
As he jumped to his feet, Jin's Kogetsu came swinging at Mogami, but-
Mogami blocked the sword, pushing their locked swords above them.
-was blocked and pushed above his head.
With Mogami locking their swords above them, it gave Mogami the space to lean forward into Jin's face with a teasing smile.
Jin leaned forward, getting into Mogami's face, a teasing smile on his face.
"Even your surprise attacks are slow. Am-
"-I perhaps failing as your mentor?" Jin recited those words he heard so many times in the past from Mogami when his mentor was trying to push him. "Far from it!"
Jin twisted their swords around, pulling their swords downwards to point them at the ground as he turned his body and slammed his elbow towards Mogami. As his elbow approached Mogami's face, a Scorpion extended from his elbow. Mogami tilted his head back to avoid getting impaled as he kicked out at Jin to push him away from Mogami to give him more distance from the blade. As skilled as he was, Mogami still felt the blade slice into his cheek, releasing his Trion into the air.
A smirk formed on Mogami's face. "That certainly is an interesting blade you have there." It was a unique type of sword that Mogami had never seen before. Most swords he saw didn't come out of people's bodies. It was really different from the Kogetsu that was Border's only sword years ago. He didn't expect to ever see Jin change from the Kogetsu sword that he had been so excited to get when he joined Border.
"Why did you even take my sword?" Tachikawa complained as Jin jumped into the air just in time to miss getting cut in half by Tachikawa's senku blade. Faster than what Tachikawa expected from him, Mogami's senku was flying through the air and slashing into his.
The clashing of the slashes caused wind to whip at their faces. Jin raised his arm to block the stinging air from hitting his eyes. "That really isn't going to work." He told Tachikawa.
"Maybe if I still had both of my swords, I could have gotten him then." Tachikawa snapped. It likely wouldn't have worked as Mogami was fast enough to retaliate against multiple Senkus, but anything that forced Mogami to use up his Trion and distract him would help. "Give it back."
"No."
Jin charged back forward to get in as close to Mogami as possible. He only had three wind blades left on his sword, but fighting close to him would make it hard for Mogami to use them.
"Being on a roof like this at night time, it reminds me of the nights we would celebrate on Border's roof and watch the stars." Jin said softly, staring into Mogami's face as he pushed hard on their locked blades. He needed to see if anything would pass through Mogami's eyes at the reminder. "Like on my thirteenth birthday. Remember that day? You tried to make the cake for my birthday and ended up splattering icing all over the kitchen since you are a failure at using kitchen appliances."
There.
A flash of embarrassment at the reminder of his failures in the kitchen. That was one of the last time he had been allowed to attempt anything in the kitchen before Mato had banned him from the kitchen forever. She said something about being sick of cleaning up his messes.
"Don't recall."
Jin smirked. "You tell the stupidest lies, Mogami-san!"
Mogami eye widened in surprise.
"I met a child who loves to sprout that line. Imagine my surprise when I first heard it from him. You once said it was something a friend of yours would say. I finally figured out who that person was and now you and he are both in the city together." Jin said. "The two friends reunited in their home city after so long, but there is nothing good about this reunion. Where is my mentor that would calm me down before a battle? The Border founder who longed for his organization to grow and get stronger to protect the city? The member who longed to avoid fights whenever possible? Who would choose an option that led to a peaceful resolution?"
Mogami's eyes flashed with what looked like regret to Jin, but it was there for barely a second before a cold look was passing back through his eyes. "I gave you an option to end this, Jin. You didn't take it." He broke their swords apart and in the same motion swung his Kogetsu, sending the last three wind blades flying straight at Jin. Jin forced his momentum to stop to instead force himself backwards as he threw up a shield to defend from the blades.
"It's an unrealistic option!" Jin retorted. "Why are the Black Triggers your goal?"
Mogami tightened his grip on his sword, not replying to Jin's question. It was a question he himself had been asking himself since he realized his burning desire–need–for Fujin to be in his grasp.
He could remember.
Fujin was a sword he left behind. When Jin appeared over him in his last moments, he knew he could create it in that moment with the assurance that it would be in Border's hands. The Trigger's purpose was supposed to give strength to Border, to protect the organization, that he held so dearly in his heart.
"No answer?" Jin asked softly. "If you don't even know the reasons for your actions, why do them?"
"I don't have to tell you anything." Mogami said coldly, bringing his Kogetsu back up to show the fifteen new wind blades he had brought out.
*Mimics*
Konami twisted around the Rabit's fist, a smirk on her face as she twisted her axe in her hand and slammed it into the Rabit. It wasn't enough to break through the armor and kill it so she stepped onto the Rabit's leg to use it as leverage as she threw herself into the air. Propelling herself into the air helped her rip her axe free of the Rabit. Turning herself in midair so she was looking down at the Rabit, she activated her Meteor and split it into two directions. Half of her bullets went to the Rabit below her while the other half shot towards the building near her to destroy it, taking out the support that the Marmod was gripping to so it fell to the ground. Her bullets shattered through the Rabit's Shield so as she fell back down, there was nothing to get in the way of her axe as she pummeled through the armor to kill it.
Even before it fell to the ground dead, Konami was already launching herself at the Marmod, cutting through the blades with ease. Between Rabits and Marmods, the armor on Marmods was nothing in comparison to Rabits. Normal ones at least.
Konami killed the Marmod before pulling to a stop when she noticed the Gate opening in the sky above her. "Another one?"
It was one thing for the Gates to open and drop an invasion into their laps, but it was another thing entirely when the Gates kept opening and dropping more and more Trion Soldiers into the area for all the ones they killed.
Konami jumped backwards to avoid the black Marmods that dropped from the Gate. The clear Tamakoma Branch symbol on its back told her this was another one of Kuga Yugo's doing, but how? He was at HQ trying to get to her cute student. Looking up, she watched the Gate close. Even in the darkness though, she still caught sight of something moving across the walls of the building. What was that?
"Did you see that, Torimaru?" Konami asked.
Karasuma sliced through the Marmod that was in his way before looking towards his teammate. "See what?"
Konami looked back towards the building, but could no longer see what had moved. She knew it wasn't her imagination. Seeing as it wasn't the thing trying to kill her though, Konami quickly got distracted by the black Marmods. She swung her axe forward to slash their blades off, but was surprised when her axe couldn't even cut through the first blade. Instead, it had gotten stuck inside the Marmod's armor on the blade.
Stepping back, Konami yanked her axe free, eyes narrowed at these new Marmods. They had the same type of thick armor that the Rabits had.
Konami felt the pressure on her back as Karasuma appeared there, leaning there as he took in the Trion Soldiers that were surrounding them. "The only one capable of opening Gates right now that can summon Trion Soldiers with the Tamakoma symbol is Kuga Yugo."
"But he is currently inside HQ so he shouldn't be able to open Gates out here to assault us with his army." Konami said as she blocked the Marmod's blade with the handle of her axe. Her back pressed more firmly into Karasuma's as the Marmod's blade tried to break through her weapon.
Escudos suddenly flew up from the ground surrounding every side of Karasuma and Konami. The Escudo that popped up in front of Konami set the Marmod bearing down her flying high up into the air, freeing her axe from its attack. With the two defended, Hound came raining down from the sky to slam into the Trion Soldiers in the street.
Konami stepped a foot on Karasuma's bent knee and propelled herself over his Escudos as Reiji's Hound began to die down, axe slicing through the damaged Tamakoma Marmod that was falling back down to the ground. Using her axe that was slamming through the Marmod, she pulled herself higher into the air to get above the Marmod that continued to the ground, dead.
Twisting in the air as she began to fall back to the ground, Konami activated her Meteor to rain down on the Trion Soldiers that had gotten their armor pierced through by Reiji's Hound previously, making it easier for her Meteor to get through the cracks and kill them. She landed lightly in the middle of her corpses before she was charging at the next set of Trion Soldiers in her way.
With her taking this front, Karsuma leaned to the side to get near the cracks between his Escudos with his assault rifle appearing in his hand as unleashed Asteroid on the hoard of Trion Soldiers in the street. With him on this side and Reiji at the other end of the road using his minigun with his Asteroid, they had the Trion Soldiers trapped between them with nowhere to go.
Using her momentum, Konami twisted through the sharp blades of the Marmods before taking aggressive swings at them as she smashed their armor to pieces. Before she could advance pass the dead Marmods, Konami was jumping backwards, throwing her Shield up in front of her to block the bullets from the Rabit that had stepped into her path.
It was truly an impressive feat just what kind of things Yuma's Black Trigger was able to accomplish. She would be even more impressed at the type of Trion Soldiers he could summon if they weren't all currently getting in her way. She would much rather be at HQ bashing Kuga Yugo's head in right now for daring to hurt her cute student.
Since she couldn't be there though, she was going to take all the pleasure at crushing whatever Yugo's plan out here was. She would trust her boss and Shinoda to protect her cute student in her stead.
*Mimics*
Kogetsu was a much more durable blade than Scorpion was. It was a heavy sword that slowed him down, which was why he invented Scorpion, something lightweight that allowed him to focus on speed. Jin wasn't like Mogami or Tachikawa who had the strength and skill to be an expert at using a blade that would slow them down. Jin valued speed on top of his sword skill.
Back when he first joined Border though, there was only one type of sword and it was a blade that Jin mastered, or thought that he had mastered it. He could never beat Mogami with it, and then Tachikawa proved how much of a prodigy he was with Kogetsu so Jin developed a new style with a new sword to overcome the weakness he had with Kogetsu.
If he was to pull at the memories and feelings of his mentor, Jin needed the Kogetsu blade in his hand. This was the sword his mentor saw him use. This was the sword he was trained with. It was through this sword he would make Mogami remember.
Remember the sharpness of Border's fangs.
Remember how Border never gave up the fight.
Remember...what Jin meant to Mogami.
Jin slammed Tachikawa's stolen Kogetsu into Mogami's sword, pressing down hard as he locked eyes with his former mentor. There was recognition in those eyes as he stared at Jin, but there was none of the love he used to hold for his student. It was just a lack of interest.
Jin wasn't the one who Mogami cared about right now. It was obvious what was on the Mimic's mind.
Fujin.
The Black Triggers seemed to be all that the Mimics seemed to care about.
Tightening his grip on the Kogetsu, Jin pulled back before swinging it forward again, only to get blocked, but he didn't let it deter him. Swing after swing, slash after slash, Jin attacked Mogami relentlessly, even as his old mentor block and parried each of his attacks. "Why?"
Mogami continued to step back with each of Jin's attacks to lessen the weight of each blow as they landed on his sword.
"Why do we have to fight like this?" Jin asked. "Border was your home, your family, when you were alive. You hate conflict like this. If you could, you would negotiate to a peaceful end. You would actually try to find a solution that would benefit both sides and not just say what it is you want."
"Ow, ow, ow, ow."
Mogami dragged Jin and Konami by their ears inside the base, frowning more in disappointment than anger.
"Look at that. Mogami-san has to be the mature one now." Hibiki said with a teasing grin as he saw the group come upstairs with Mogami dragging the two even farther upstairs to his office.
"And we all know how Mogami-san hates being mature." Kengo added loudly, just so Mogami could hear him. By the twitch of his shoulders, he knew Mogami heard him, but the man refused to turn to acknowledge them.
Who did acknowledge them was Mato when she smacked her book into the back of each of their heads for their comments. "Don't make him mad. He'll take it out on Konami-chan and Jin-kun. They're the ones who are holding his ire right now."
Hibiki rolled his eyes. "He's not going to hurt them. Now, if it was Shinoda-san or Rindo-san..." A smirked crossed his features at the thought of the mischief they could get up.
Konami and Jin found themselves kneeling in Mogami's office, scowling at the ground as Mogami stood over his two little troublemakers.
"I thought your side effect would warn us before anyone showed up." Konami grumbled to Jin.
"How exactly do you think my side effect works?" Jin muttered back.
"I'm sorry," Mogami said, towering over the children. "Did someone say you could talk?"
The kids' mouth clinked shut.
"What were you thinking?" Mogami hissed through gritted teeth. "Triggers are not toys so tell me right now, what possessed you to try to use them in the river outside, unsupervised? What would happen if the public saw you? They would call the police on us and then what? How would we explain giving kids swords?"
"We weren't using our swords." Konami grumbled.
Mogami raised a brow, unimpressed with the lie coming from Konami. He didn't even need a lie detector side effect to read her lies. "Using Triggers unsupervised and now lying to me?" He crossed his arms, glaring down at them. "So, who wants to tell me what you were trying to accomplish?"
When neither child seemed eager to open up, Mogami shook his head and went around his desk where he sat down to relax as he stared at the kneeling children in his office. Seeing those two goofing off with their Triggers from his office window had nearly given him a heart attack. He understood the appeal of being stronger with no real danger that came with a Trion body, but that wasn't room for them to be reckless. Triggers were not meant to be used as a play thing.
"Alright," Mogami said, taking in the bowed heads of the young Border members in front of him. "So, you can remain silent and spend the next four weeks without your Triggers or you can be honest with me and tell me what you were doing and you spend the next two weeks studying under Kido with lessons about responsibility along with handing your Triggers over for a week?"
Somewhere in the building, Kido felt a new wave of irritation at Mogami.
"I don't think Kido-san would appreciate being used as a punishment." Jin muttered.
"Oh~?" Mogami said, amusement ringing in his eyes. "So, you choose Kido."
"No!" Konami shouted.
Mogami raised a brow. "So, you want to give up your Triggers for four weeks?"
"No!" Jin shouted.
Mogami leaned back in his seat, picking up a random book from his desk as he mindlessly flipped through it. "Well, until you choose one of the punishments, none of us are leaving this office. Take as long as you like. I have all day."
He did not, in fact, have all day.
He lacked the patience for that.
But he could not let these kids know that. They would somehow use it against him.
"Violence is not how you chose to solve problems!" Jin cried, slamming his Kogetsu into Mogami's forcing him back the final step that put him on the very edge of the roof.
Mogami took Jin pressing his sword down hard on his, but didn't let himself get pushed back anymore. He stood his ground, locking eyes with his once student. "You can end this any time you want, Jin. Just give me Fujin."
"Even if I wanted to agree to that," Jin hissed, which he would never agree to that demand. Fujin was his mentor's memento. He would never hand it over to anyone. Border may have gotten it from him to protect Yuma, but it was still within the organization. It was safe here and doing what Mogami would have wanted, giving Border the power to stand strong. "I don't have Fujin on me."
"I know." Mogami said.
Jin's eyes widened before he was pulling away from his mentor and flipping backwards through the air, soaring through the three wind blades that tried to slash through him from behind. He landed in a crouch from the flip, his Kogetsu stretched out behind him.
"It's disappointing." Mogami walked forward, taking his place back on the center of the roof. "You are right that I would prefer not to use violence, but if you can't hand Fujin to me, there is no peaceful solution to this. Don't think ill of me, Jin. I have nothing against you or Border. I'm just doing what I have to."
Jin gritted his teeth in frustration. "Right, because you're not real. You're just a slave to your programming." He pushed himself to his feet, frustration pooling at every inch of his body. "But, if you the Mogami-san from my memories, why aren't you trying harder?! You were always so strong! There was never anyone in Border who could beat you in a fight! How could you just let this Mimic programming overpower you and force you to fight the organization you created? The Mogami-san I knew would never be so weak."
If Jin was hoping to get an answer to any of his questions, he was going to be sorely disappointed. Those were not questions that Mogami needed to answer. Perhaps his student was seeing his mentor as a disappointment by not being able to go against this burning desire to get Fujin and the desire to kill all the agents that stepped in his way.
It wasn't what Mogami wanted, but unfortunately, it wasn't as easy to go against something that was programmed into his very being.
Seeing his student like this, so much older and more mature with the strength to stand without faltering, Mogami missed the fact that he didn't get to see him grow. His dear student would be able to face up to any adversary, even if that enemy was Mogami. He knew it would hurt Jin to fight him, but Jin was the one who stepped into this path. He didn't have to come, but he did so this was a fight he would give Jin.
If Jin managed to beat him, good for him. He could stop Mogami from doing what he didn't want to. It would hurt Jin to do it, but it would save Border.
Too bad for Jin that Mogami wasn't going to let himself be killed. Dying was not an option he was allowed to take according to his programming. His mission was to survive and get the Black Trigger that was his. The sight of his student was a fond one, but it was being overshadowed by the burning in his blood that was telling him to kill the agents in his path that were trying to stop him.
All of them.
*Mimics*
The smirk never left Yugo's face as he blocked and parried each of Shinoda's and Rindo's swing of their swords. With one strong swing of one his swords, he forced the two directors back so they could avoid getting killed by his sword.
For someone who said he would kill them to get to his son, Yugo didn't seem that intent on forcing his way forward. He never moved from his side of the hallway. He seemed content on staying where he was and just keep pushing Rindo and Shinoda back when they tried to attack him.
It was just like...
Yugo twisted the sword out of Rindo's hand before grabbing his wrist and using the momentum to twist on the spot to throw the young agent into Shinoda who was coming at him from behind. With Rindo slamming into him, Shinoda went flying back into the wall of the training room.
"Numbers can be a valuable asset in battle. Even weaker enemies can beat you if they have more numbers than you because they have the ability to overwhelm you." Yugo said, setting a foot on Rindo's sword that fell to the ground. "That said, you also can't look down on an opponent's strength just because you have more allies on your side."
Shinoda shoved Rindo off of him. "You're heavy." He complained.
Rindo shoved Shinoda back as the two climbed back to their feet.
"You're lucky I didn't impale you on my sword when you flew into me." Shinoda grumbled.
"It's not like I would ever purposefully throw myself at you." Rindo snapped.
Yugo watched on in amusement as the two bickered. When they really got into it, they could fight like brothers and forget everything about where they were at or what they were doing. "Any day now, children." He said to get them back on track.
"It is his fault." Rindo said, glaring at their mentor and the fact that said mentor was pinning his sword to the ground with his foot. "Let's kill him."
Shinoda didn't even say a word to say he agreed with that sentiment. He just adjusted his sword in his hand before he went to charge at Yugo. Yugo blocked each of his strikes, never once moving his foot off of Rindo's sword. Only his right foot shifted around as he adjusted his position to block each of Shinoda's strikes.
Without his sword, Rindo couldn't approach as he would get killed easily, especially since it seemed Yugo was intent on keeping his sword pinned to the ground. That left Rindo with only his bullets then. A cube of Trion formed under his hand, but he didn't let it go yet as it was hard to fire it when Shinoda was trying to break through Yugo's guard. Since Yugo refused to move from his spot, it was hard for Shinoda to get anywhere. He just had to make one attack that would force Yugo to move and then Rindo could attack.
Falling back a step to get some space to reevaluate, Shinoda took stock of the ever-confident Yugo who was standing in the exact same spot as when they started this spar. Even if he couldn't land an attack him, he was going to make him move from that spot if it was the last thing he did!
Running forward again, Shinoda went to swing again, but instead of connecting his sword with Yugo's, he let go of his sword, surprising Yugo. Shinoda twisted around Yugo, grabbing his sword with his other hand, swinging upwards without stopping. Yugo leaned back to avoid the blade, bringing his sword up to block the tip of the sword from hitting his neck.
With those two distracted as Yugo was forced to pivot to follow Shinoda, Rindo unleashed his Asteroid at Yugo. In the couple of seconds it took him to act, Yugo took a step back and used Shinoda's momentum to twist them around so the young agent was in front of him, getting pelted in the back by Rindo's Asteroid.
"Oh," Rindo said weakly as Shinoda's Trion body blew apart. In the ensuring smoke from the destruction, Yugo came flying through the room to slam his sword through Rindo's heart.
"Now, that's not very good teamwork." Yugo said amused before he was yanking his sword out of Rindo, leaving his young student's Trion body to its destruction.
Before Rindo could even recover and get back to his feet, Shinoda was grabbing Rindo by his shirt and pulling him up, shaking him roughly. "What the hell, Rindo?"
"It's not like I expected him to throw you there." Rindo retorted, grabbing Shinoda's shirt in retaliation, glaring at his partner.
"I should have stabbed you when I had the chance." Shinoda snarled.
Yugo grabbed Shinoda and Rindo by the back of their jackets and yanked them apart. "Partners who fight each other will never be able to work together properly."
His cute little students had grown up so much. They were no longer the rookies he could tease for their mistakes. Both of them were such skilled, experienced warriors now. He wouldn't be able to make their attacks hit each other easily now.
Yugo gripped his second sword tightly that he had yet to pull from its sheath.
Shinoda stepped back to line up with Rindo, covering their side of the hallway. There was no way for Yugo to get to Yuma without getting through them. Perhaps this had been Jin's reasoning for asking them here. Perhaps he didn't know this was coming. In any case, he had formed Rindo and Shinoda as the final defense to guard Yuma.
They weren't going to fail in the face of their old mentor.
Both of them had already made the decision.
It didn't matter how much they missed their mentor or wanted him back. The fact of the matter was that nothing would bring their Kuga Yugo back. He was long dead, the Black Trigger on Yuma's finger was proof of that, and the way they could honor the life and death of their mentor was by protecting his most precious treasure.
Yugo smiled, a soft look in his eyes as he took in his students. The way they stood side by side, ready to take on the enemy that was him. Seeing them finally able to properly work together would have brought some fondness to Yugo had it not been for the fact that they were standing in his path to what he wanted most of all.
Yu–no...his Black Trigger.
A dark look overtook Yugo's eyes, erasing any softness that he would have had at the sight of his cute students all grown up and ready to take on the world. The fondness for his students could not outmatch this burning desire to retrieve his Black Trigger from his son. That was the only thing that mattered right now.
A blue seal appeared on the back of his hand that was still gripping his second sword. The seal grew a bit as it raised in the air above him, surprising Rindo and Shinoda as their eyes followed it. "Gate." Yugo said, opening a small black Gate above the group.
Rindo and Shinoda tensed up, preparing to see what Yugo was going to summon to get in their way. It wasn't a big Gate so it couldn't be a big Trion Soldier coming through.
A small black figure came out of the Gate.
"Replica." Rindo said faintly.
When Rindo thought all the surprises were over, he just kept getting thrown for a loop. It didn't matter if it was the father Kuga or the son Kuga, both of them were quite good at throwing Rindo in a flutter. This time though, it wasn't a good type of flutter that Rindo was experiencing. There was no excitement in seeing the Replica that came out of Yugo's Gate. Just another fake, like everything else.
"You know what to do." Yugo told Replica.
"Roger." Replica replied as he activated a boost and was speeding pass Rindo and Shinoda over their heads.
"Shit," Shinoda hissed, twisting around to watch Replica speeding down the hall. "Yuma-kun!"
Rindo turned, catching Shinoda's eyes. Without words, Shinoda nodded in understanding, tightening his grip on his sword as he stepped forward, covering Rindo's back as he faced Yugo. All of this would be for nothing if anyone got to Yuma.
Rindo barely made it three steps down the hall after Replica when he was forced to jump backwards as the windows next to him shattered from a black claw slamming into it and would have hit Rindo had he not moved back. Instead, the claw like hand hit the wall opposite of the now broken window.
"Did you really think," Yugo said, drawing his second sword from its sheath. "You could activate your Triggers with your Trion reserves and not expect Mimics to show up?"
Stepping back another step to meet Shinoda's back, Rindo watched as the Mimics crawled into the base from the broken window, blocking his path to Yuma. Shinoda pressed back against Rindo's back to show his support to his partner.
"Keep them off me." Shinoda said simply before he was charging forward to Yugo.
