A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 31: Father and Son

Leaving the fight between Yugo against Shinoda and Rindo behind, Replica made his way around the floor, down multiple hallways until he managed to locate the room that he was sure Yuma was inside of. His job was to get to Yuma, though knowing that child as well as he did, it would not be easy to take him back to his father.

To start with, it's likely that Yuma wasn't alone. He already had two guards in the ones who left to stop Yugo from getting near to him. If Yuma wasn't coming out himself, there had to be something that was making him stop. He would drag Yuma out of the room.

A blue Gate seal appeared on top of Replica that rose above him as he opened the black Gate to drop the Trion Soldiers into the hall. With the Marmod destroying the door to the lab, Replica rose up higher in the hallway as he waited for the Marmod to get the door down.

It wasn't too much of a surprise when the door was cut down from the inside and a fighter came out of the lab while destroying the Marmod in the process. He had been expecting some type of resistance, but he thought that it would be Yuma who came, not this man he didn't know. He was the only one to come out of the room though so there must be no one else left in the room besides Yuma. At least, no one else who could fight.

But, why was Yuma choosing to not engage in the fight alongside his allies?

It was very unlike the child who loved to fight.

Watching the agent using his Shield to block the Bolt seal that one of the Rabits released, Replica chose that moment while the agent was distracted to enter the lab to find his charge, and was surprised to find him unconscious.

Hovering over Yuma, Replica was reminded of the days when he would spend the nights watching over Yugo and Yuma as they slept the nights away, being the one to stand on guard since he didn't need to rest. It was his job to make sure nothing came to attack them while they rested. That was the duty assigned to him by Yugo in the past.

It was not the job he was currently on though.

As he hovered over Yuma, he saw those red eyes open and slowly scan the room before landing on Replica with a dazed look.

"Greetings, Yuma." Replica said.

Yuma turned his head on the pillow, blinking in confusion as he stared at his partner. There was a haze in his left eye that was quite annoying. He didn't recall ever seeing anything be so blurry with one of his eyes before. Even with the blur in his left eye, he could still make out that it was Replica with him in the lab. He knew he wasn't in the best state the past couple of days, but he wasn't so out of it to forget that Replica was currently in Aftokrator. He didn't bother with pondering too much on it as the sound of fighting had him turning his head towards the door of the lab, taking in the destroyed nature of said door before he saw Michael flash pass the door before he was gone from Yuma's sight. Strange. He never knew Michael had access to a combat Trigger. He had thought Michael was just an engineer.

It meant, however, if the engineer was fighting in the hall, the situation had to be pretty bad right now.

Pushing himself into a sitting position, Yuma winced at the pressure building in his left arm from the cracks protesting at the weight he put on his arm. He ignored that slight pain as he turned his full attention to Replica, wary of the presence of his partner after months of him being gone. "What are you doing here, Replica?"

"Yugo asked me to pick you up. He would like to talk to you."

Yuma's eyes narrowed. So, not his Replica then. Being a Trion Soldier and one of Yugo's creation, it would be easy for Yugo to create a copy of Replica using the Gates. Yugo knew how much Yuma loved and valued Replica. They were inseparable from the moment Yugo created Replica for Yuma. This was an obvious manipulation that Yugo would try to use to get Yuma to come to him. Unfortunately for his father, Yuma wasn't the same naïve, reckless child he was when Yugo was alive. In the five years he's been without his father, he had seen so much and grown a lot. He already seen a fake version of Replica before and he didn't falter then so he wouldn't now.

"Talk, does he?" Yuma asked. He wanted to talk to his father. He had so much he wanted to talk to him about and figure things out, in a personal matter and a professional matter. There was the father he wanted to speak to again and the Mimic he wanted to talk to so he could figure out what it was that he wanted to achieve.

Sadly, though, he had made a promise to avoid his father from now on. His few experiences with him had turned into a waste of time and were completely dangerous. He didn't accomplish anything, and at this point, he doubted he would get the answers that he wanted. There was no point in trying to figure anything out anymore. Yugo just had to die before anyone could get hurt. They had been lucky no civilians had been injured in his attacks so far.

How long could that last though?

This needed to end soon, and not by giving Yugo what he wanted.

"I have nothing to talk to him about." Yuma said, feeling his side effect flair up with the lie, but neither he nor Replica made a mention of it.

"This is your father, Yuma. You cannot ignore him."

Yuma planted his hand on the wall next to him to help brace himself to stay sitting as he stared at Replica. "'Lesson one: protect yourself by yourself. Don't get close to things you can't take care of. Use your imagination to avoid danger.' I may not have been good at following that lesson lately, but my head is clearing up. If I'm to keep myself alive, I have to stay away from Dad. I don't know what he is after, but me going near him will only make things worse."

Being that Replica was a Trion Soldier created by Yugo, most likely very recently, Yuma found himself wondering just what he knew. From their short conversation, it felt like Replica was similar to how he was before Yugo died. After Yugo's death, Replica was there to help Yuma through life, but never told him what to do. His job was always to give assistance and help where Yuma asked him to. Before Yugo had died, it had felt like Replica was his babysitter and was keeping an eye on him to report back to Yugo what was going on when the two weren't able to be with each other.

"You have nothing to fear from your father, Yuma."

Replica was a Trion Solider, and thus, he was never able to use his side effect to see if Replica was lying or not. The only reason Yuma was able to read Replica as well as he did was because he had been a constant in his life since he was a young child and Yugo created him for Yuma. With that much time spent with Replica at his side, Yuma was able to tell when he was lying or not without the use of a side effect. He just understood his friend that well at this point.

And yet, this statement was not one Yuma could read. It didn't seem like Replica was lying, but at the same time, Yuma had to put what he knew about the Mimic of his father into the equation. The Yugo that Yuma knew as a child would never deem to hurt his son, but the Yugo of now wasn't one that could be trusted, no matter how much it pained Yuma to feel that towards his own father. If Replica knew what his father was really after and doing, his statement just now would be a lie. If he only saw Yugo as the man he was when he was alive, then he would believe his statement that Yugo just wanted his son to return to him and didn't mean him any harm.

He supposed it didn't really matter.

This wasn't his Replica and he would gain nothing from entertaining this farce.

"You always did obey Dad's orders over mine." Yuma said softly. It wasn't until his father died that Replica started to prioritize Yuma's orders and their relationship actually became a proper partnership.

Yuma left it at that. He had nothing more to say to this fake. He didn't even try to be subtle as the Bolt seal appeared above his hand and fired at Replica without hesitation. Yuma barely blinked as the Trion Soldier dropped loudly to the floor and he pushed himself off the bed as he listened to the fighting taking place in the hall.

He may falter at the sight of his father, the pain and guilt of his father's death being a major factor in that, but he was not so weak against a fake of his partner who he knew was still alive and waiting for him in the Neighborhood.

*Mimics*

Yugo's lips twitched lightly, but kept his eyes locked onto his two former students.

"That child you're remembering has persevered through many difficulties since then and has grown up past the recklessness of a kid who wanted nothing more than a fight." Jin argued. In his hand, Fujin came to life once more with eleven new slashes. "But no matter how much stronger he has gotten in the past four years, he doesn't have to deal with this alone."

That was what Mogami's pupil had shouted at him, but Yugo had simply brushed his words off. He had trained his son quite well when he was young, but Yuma had the recklessness of youth who thought he was invincible.

Clearly, though, he had underestimated the change in his son. Yugo remembered finding his dying son and making the decision to create a Black Trigger to save his son, but he never knew how it would change his son. He truly never thought about how it would affect Yuma to wake up and find his father gone. All he could think about in that moment was that his son was dying and he wasn't going to stand there and watch the last of his life leave him.

How Yuma would grow from the experience was never a thought and he never took the time to think about it when he came back to Japan and saw his son again. All that he could focus on was the war raging in him that was burning through his blood to get to his son and his Black Trigger while the other part of him was longing for this feeling of seeing his son as the enemy to go away.

It wasn't something he was able to do though. The programming inside of him wouldn't let him stand back any longer.

Even so, a part of him was happy to be proven wrong. He didn't think Yuma would be able to destroy Replica. Seeing as there has been no sight of Replica in any of his confrontations with Yuma, Yugo made a guess that something had happened to him so he could use Replica against Yuma. The fact that Yuma didn't even hesitate to attack Replica actually gave Yugo a sense of pride. It seemed that his son had grown some in the time since he died.

Still, without Replica being able to bring Yuma to him, it seemed Yugo would have to kill his students and grab his son himself. He would have preferred Replica bringing Yuma here and them just leaving since he could tell that Shinoda and Rindo weren't the easy opponents they were as teenagers, but it seemed doing this the hard way was the way it was going to go.

"Something funny?" Shinoda asked.

"It's been fun, but it seems the time for playing is over." Yugo replied.

To Rindo and Shinoda's surprise, seals unveiled themselves on the windows and walls on either side of them. Recognizing the Bolt seals, Rindo and Shinoda jumped away, throwing up focused Shields in front of them as an extra precaution since both knew just how powerful those bullets were.

What neither had expected, as the Bolt seal had been very straightforward every time Yuma and Yugo had used it, was for the bullets to turn. The bullets followed the two, twisting around their Shields as they tracked the agents, shocking both of them.

As his attack finished, Yugo could say he was quite impressed to see his two students still alive. Full of holes and both kneeling on the ground, but even with the surprise tracking of the bullets, both had managed to redirect their Shields to protect their vital areas.

Shinoda stabbed his Kogetsu into the ground to use it to brace him as he narrowed his eyes at Yugo. "That was..."

"Hound." Rindo finished shocked, hand planted on the ground with his Kogetsu under it to balance himself as he took in the destroyed hallway and their mentor that stood at the other end of it. Where had Hound come from? Yuma never used that attack nor was there ever any mention of him copying it, so how was Yugo able to use it? Yugo didn't have the actual Black Trigger, only access to its seals so he shouldn't have been able to copy any of their Triggers. Were they wrong about that?

"Got any secret tricks up your sleeves?" Shinoda asked.

"I got a few ideas, though if he can heal, I doubt any of it will do much good." There was also the fact that both of them were getting dangerously low with their Trion after that last attack.

The healing was problematic. Even if they managed to hurt him, if he could just heal, then there wasn't much point to this. The healing had to do with Trion somehow, so if they could exhaust Yugo's Trion reserves, they could work from there. Unfortunately, Yugo's last attack really did him and Rindo in. They didn't have the Trion available to make this battle drawn out. It also seemed they only managed this long since Yugo hadn't been in a rush to get pass them. He had been content to enjoy the fight, confident no more agents would arrive as backup.

It was actually strange. Yugo was always a confident fighter, but he didn't play around like this in his battles. Perhaps it was something to do with the Mimic programming mixing with Yugo's personality. They weren't meshing well.

He could work with that contradiction.

"You were always the person I respected the most in Border." Shinoda pushed himself to his feet and gripped his Kogetsu tightly, but he didn't pull it out of the ground yet. "You did so much for me, starting with recruiting me into Border and pulling me out from the darkness I had fallen into after my parents had been murdered by Neighbors. You took me into Border and mentored me, giving me the chance to heal from my depression and anger. I always thought you were a great man, but maybe I'm not a good judge of character because I was sure the mentor I held in such high regard would be a great father. The mentor I remember wouldn't be causing this kind of chaos and destruction to hunt down his injured son."

"Kuga-san would never attack the city he loved like this in the first place." Rindo added, planting a hand on the ground in front of him as he still hasn't stood up. "Is this really what you want, Kuga-san? To hurt your organization and cause the death of your son? Do you know that your presence here is killing him? When I first heard the story of how you sacrificed your life to save Yuma, I thought, that is just like Kuga-san. He would never stand by when anyone he loved needed help. Seeing you reduced to this, a shadow of your real self, it's disappointing that you would let yourself become a slave to the programming of a Trion Soldier. It seems you aren't as strong as we remembered."

They were trying to get under his skin. Yugo was absolutely certain of that. Perhaps they thought they could throw him off with their words. Their words would only work if he didn't already know what was at stake. The Mimic programming in him was screaming at Yugo to steal the Black Trigger from Yuma, but Yugo knew what would happen if he did that. He knew what he gave up for his son to live so he already knew that Yuma's life was in danger if he continued his hunt to take the ring from his son.

It wasn't what Yugo wanted. There was a part of him that was hoping he would be stopped in his tracks before he could get to his son and hurt him even more then he already has. That was the Kuga Yugo part of him, and sadly, it wasn't able to beat out the Mimic programming. It was frustrating how the Mimic programming was able to overpower him and keep him on track for what his mission was. If it wasn't for the programming burning through him and forcing him to continue on with his objective, he would gladly let himself stand here and be killed by his students. He had died a long time ago. His time alive was no more. This world didn't need a Trion Soldier version of him, but Yugo wasn't able to stop himself.

Someone else needed to stop him, but it wasn't going to be the two in front of him.

They needed to die so he could get to his son.

*Mimics*

Michael threw up his Shield to defend from the Rabit's boost attack, tsking in annoyance when the punch had smashed his Shield to pieces. Wanting to avoid another attack Michael jumped back a foot, using his Kogetsu to block the Rabit's arms. The force of the attack sent Michael skidding back a few feet.

Before the Rabit could get near him again, Michael was using a Senku slash. The blade extended towards the Rabit with enough power that it was able to break through the Rabit's Shield and continued onwards to the Rabit. Unfortunately, his Senku only managed to put a crack in the Rabit's armor. At least it was some damage though. It made a weakness in the armor so he just needed to chip it down from there. Though, considering there was more than one Trion Soldier in this hallway, he didn't have the time to take this slow.

Before he could do anything though, Michael caught sight of the orange seal appearing in the Rabit's eye with a smaller blue seal attached to it. He recognized it from the memo. It was Yuma's version of the lead bullet which meant his Shield wasn't going to work here.

And there wasn't any time for Michael to get out of the hall. The nearest door was the lab, but the Rabit was standing right there blocking it so with nowhere to move to, Michael was forced to face the attack head on. He did his best to avoid getting hit by too many by dodging to the side. He managed to avoid a good chunk of the bullets, but wasn't able to dodge completely since the attack had a wide range.

Michael grunted as he hit the ground hard as the lead bullets formed in his leg and arm. Back before he became a full-time engineer, he had the chance to face off against the lead bullets that Border had made so he could say with full confidence that these ones were a lot heavier than Border's. Being incapacitated, Michael pulled his sword up to try to defend against the next attack that he wouldn't be able to dodge while weighed down.

He watched the Rabits getting ready to attack again. The Marmods behind them couldn't get to Michael since they were too big to get pass the Rabits, but it didn't matter if the Rabits killed him here. Though, if he got killed here, that left Yuma defenseless. He couldn't let himself die here without taking them with him. Using the wall as leverage, Michael pulled himself into a standing position, ready to face off against the Trion Soldiers until he was dead.

What he hadn't expected was to see Yuma come flying out of the lab doorway with his leg extended in a kick that slammed into the Rabit that was standing by the lab door. Even though his Trigger wasn't activated as he was still in his normal clothes, he must have been using a boost attack somehow as his kick shattered the armor of the Rabit with so much force it sent the Trion Soldier somersaulting backwards and slamming through the next few walls as Yuma landed in a crouch in front of Michael.

Michael blinked a few times in surprise, having not expecting Yuma to wake up already, especially after he just saw the cracks spreading on his body. "Yuma! You can't use your Trion!" He scolded. They just had this conversation yesterday of how Yuma wouldn't fight. Even after passing out, it seemed that Yuma just couldn't stick to that promise.

Yuma stood up, wiggling his toes on the cold floor as he turned to look at the Trion Soldiers blocking the hall. He hadn't had time to get his socks and shoes since he was eager to get out here before Michael had gotten killed. "We don't have the luxury of sitting out." He glanced over at Michael, taking in the lead bullets that would be slowing him down. "Unless you want the Trion Soldiers to overrun HQ?"

"Your body forced you to sleep so you could recover Trion to sustain your body. Fighting now would be foolish, Yuma. Using your Trion now will weaken you again." Michael protested.

There had been a promise made that Yuma would step out of the field. The reason for that promise was because of Yugo. It was only for Yugo that Yuma had moved away from the fight. It was a promise he didn't make that long ago. He didn't know how long ago since he didn't know how long he slept, which was a strange idea in itself to him, though that was something he would question later. Right now, there were Trion Soldiers invading their base that he had to focus on.

"It is, without a doubt, foolish, but stepping aside now and letting the Trion Soldiers run amok would be even more foolish."

Before Michael could argue with him anymore, Yuma was dodging a Rabit's fist by planting a hand on its arm and flipping over the Rabit. Pushing off the back of the Rabit, he propelled himself towards the opposite wall and from there jumped from wall to wall as he dodged through the Trion Soldiers, twisting around the Marmod blades until he landed in a crouch on the ground behind them. He planted a hand on the ground in front of him to brace himself, feeling his arm groan under him. Yuma hissed softly at the pain traversing through his body and forced a smirk on his face as his Bolt seals he planted on the walls activated. "Bolt." He raised a hand as the seals on the walls glowed. "Quadra!"

Michael shielded his eyes from the light as the bullets violently slammed into the Trion Soldiers, filling them full of holes. Any type of Shields that the Rabits might have had were shattered to pieces as Yuma's attack was much stronger than anything they had used. Even after the Trion Soldiers were dead, the attack didn't stop until every bullet that was in the seal had been used. "There is a thing called overkill, Yuma. Learn it!" Michael shouted down the hall over the bullets.

"Using seals like this doesn't use much Trion, so it won't be a problem." Yuma said, ignoring Michael's complaint about his overkill. Michael wasn't wrong about his Trion needing to be used to sustain his body so he didn't want it to take more than one attack to kill all these Trion Soldiers so he chose a powerful attack. A powerful attack took more Trion, but it was better than doing multiple small attacks until he managed to kill them and use up all his Trion that way.

Yuma looked down at his hand that was still braced on the ground. It was a good thing his back was to Michael so his friend couldn't see the trembling traveling through his arm. He didn't need another lecture on how stupid it was to attack the Trion Soldiers. He knew it was, but he couldn't just stand on the side and let Trion Soldiers run rampart. He wouldn't apologize for wanting to protect HQ.

Hearing steps coming down the hall, Yuma stood up and looked in the direction of the adjacent hall, holding his damaged arm with his uninjured arm to try to get the shaking to stop. Who was coming?

The sound of explosions had Yuma whipping his head around in shock to see Michael full of holes as he bailed out.

Where...?

Yuma's eyes shifted to the holes that were in the wall next to where Michael had been kneeling. They came from inside the lab which meant he hadn't fully killed Replica. Replica must have used a backup system so he would be in good enough shape to shoot a Bolt seal through the wall to kill Michael.

*Mimics*

The ground under Rindo's hand glowed as multiple Escudos popped up along the hall, creating a maze that led to Yugo. With the cover of the Escudos, Shinoda moved from Escudo to Escudo to get down the hall towards Yugo. As he disappeared behind one of the Escudos, Shinoda activated his second Kogetsu at his side and pulled it free of its sheath. Twisting around the last Escudo, Shinoda assaulted Yugo with two Senku slashes that Yugo managed to deflect by taking a few steps back to give himself some more space and time to be able to react.

Shinoda felt his face crack, but ignored it as he followed Yugo and refused to let up on his attacks as he forced Yugo back. With each of Shinoda's attacks, Yugo took a step back as he deflected them.

Leaving Shinoda to attack Yugo directly, Rindo stood behind his maze of Escudos as he formed his Hound and Meteor. It had been years since he had been in actual combat, but he had kept up with his training when he could and he did watch the rank battles occasionally. Some people that were considered experts didn't like learning from those less experienced, but Rindo liked to see the creativity of the newer agents and didn't consider it a bad idea to learn something new when he could.

He didn't spend much time fighting anymore, and especially didn't have the experience with composite bullets like the current agents did, but he wasn't completely out of the loop. He just didn't have the same speed at doing it as Ninomiya or Izumi who spent so much time mastering the composite bullets.

It was why this was something he didn't attempt often and he wouldn't do it if he didn't have an attacker to keep his enemy busy.

Merging the two cubes into one in front of him, Rindo knew he was going to get hell from Kinuta. They were absolutely wrecking the building with this. "Salamander." The powerful blast shot from his hands, arcing high above them, passing the ceiling by barely an inch. He was aiming for Yugo as he wanted the attack to get over Shinoda, though to be fair, the moment this attack hit, the hallway was going to get completely destroyed. It was a very explosive attack.

And being that it was big and very bright, it wasn't an attack that could be hidden from Yugo as it approached him, even if he was busy with Shinoda. Even as he was blocking Shinoda's attacks, it seemed he was laying down traps to either attack Shinoda with or because he was waiting for Rindo to move. Either way, it didn't matter as the seal planted on the ground between Rindo and Shinoda activated and shot bullets out of the ground. They should have just gone straight upwards if it was Bolt, but instead, the bullets were twisting and changing trajectory as they launched out of the seal, all directed at Rindo's Salamander.

The Salamander was too strong to be destroyed by Yugo's attack, but having bullets slam into it was enough to make it detonate before it reached its target. It didn't matter that it wasn't right on top of Yugo though. It was a very explosive type of attack.

A blinding light filled the hallway as the explosion went off, leaving the hall trembling under all their feet.

*Mimics*

Jin's eyes slid shut in defeat, grip tightening on his Scorpion blades. He wasn't expecting them to lose. He never looked down on Mogami or Yugo, but Shinoda and Rindo were both powerful Trigger users. In the years since they were rookies, they have both grown so strong and have gotten so much experience. Even if they dropped from field work when Border grew big, neither of them had truly lost their edge. He had expecting that with both of them and the strength they both had acquired over the years that they could overcome the force that was Kuga Yugo.

Opening his eyes, Jin found Mogami looking in the direction of HQ as was Tachikawa.

"What was that explosion?" Tachikawa asked, looking at the smoke billowing out from HQ.

Jin followed their eyes to watch the smoke filling air. Did they at least manage to take Yugo out with him in that explosion? "Sawamura-san, what happened in HQ? Is Kuga-san dead?"

*Mimics*

"What part of never shoot me in the back again do you not understand?" Shinoda growled, turning his head to look over at the mattress that Rindo had bailed out onto.

Rindo stared up at the ceiling. Salamander was an explosive attack which made it dangerous to use when inside an enclosed space, but when Yugo set it off early, Rindo should have been far enough away that he wouldn't be caught up in it. Yugo and Shinoda had been fighting pretty far from him. He had been blinded by the explosion when Salamander got set off and the floor began to crumble under their feet. No doubt Kinuta would have something to say about the utterly destroyed hallway.

Still, Rindo wasn't close enough to the explosion to get killed. So, what had hit him?

"Firstly, I didn't shoot you. That was an explosion. Secondly, why did you wait so long to bring out your second Kogetsu?" Rindo retorted, pushing himself into a sitting position. "And thirdly, that wasn't a regular Bolt seal or the Hound he attacked us with earlier. It looked like Viper he used to detonate my shot early." He glanced over at Shinoda who was still lying down on his mattress, eyes closed in defeat. "You were right next to Kuga-san so if it got you, it had to have gotten him too."

Rindo said that, but it wasn't a satisfactory win. He knew Shinoda wasn't happy with how the fight ended because Rindo surely wasn't. Killing allies to get the enemy killed was a tactic that anyone could use, but it had been years since they had a proper fight against Yugo. They weren't taking the threat of the Mimics lightly, but there was a certain thrill at having the chance to fight Yugo again. He was so much stronger than either of them remembered.

"I won't relax until I see his body." Shinoda pushed himself up, leaning his weight on his hand that was resting on the mattress behind him. "That is, if your bomb left any part of him intact."

"It doesn't incinerate him, so his limbs should be lying someone." Rindo said, grimacing a bit at the thought of pieces of Yugo just lying around. It was just a Mimic that stole their mentor's form, but it would still be unnerving to see pieces of him lying around. They knew he was a Trion Soldier, but it was still hard to remember that sometimes when he looked and sounded so much like him. His last memory of Yugo was when he left to go the Neighbor's world. It was a sad moment to say goodbye to a friend, but he would rather have that be his last memory of Yugo rather than remember a fake attacking Border. Sadly, the Mimic of Kuga Yugo was overtaking it already and it was something that Rindo would have to constantly remind himself of that it wasn't his real friend.

"And then Replica went after Yuma-kun." Shinoda added. "With Yuga-san killed, what does that mean for all his Trion Soldiers? Are they still functional?" Even if they were, the agents could handle the Trion Soldiers. The problem would be Replica who was going after an unconscious Yuma. Michael was left in the lab to keep an eye on Yuma and he had the capability to fight, though he was quite out of practice. He at least had his Trigger so he could do what he could to keep Yuma safe.

*Mimics*

"I don't know." Kyoko replied came through their coms. "The hallway was destroyed so I no longer have visual as to what is going on. Shinoda-san and Rindo-san have both bailed out though. It was from Rindo-san's Salamander. It got Shinoda-san so it should have gotten Kuga-san who was right next to Shinoda-san when it exploded."

Jin wasn't so sure about that. The future hadn't shifted in a positive light. If Yugo was dead, why was the future not changing? Were they too late to change Yuma's fate? It was possible that defeating Yugo just wouldn't be enough because he had damaged Yuma too much at this point. Or was it because of Yuma's connection to the Black Trigger? Yugo and Mogami were using the Trion from the Black Triggers to heal their injuries. He had wanted to defeat Mogami before Shinoda and Rindo finished their fight to see what had become of the Black Triggers. If Yugo was dead and the damage wasn't fixed to Yuma's ring, would Yuma die? How were they going to stop this then?

"We started fighting Mogami before them and yet they still beat us in getting things done." Tachikawa complained.

There was no time left. Jin needed to get Mogami dealt with and get back to HQ. He couldn't get anything solved or figure out if he was stuck here dealing with this. Yuma could be dead or dying right now. If Yugo was really, finally, dead, then Jin needed to check the status of the Black Triggers. If Yuma's future wasn't changing even with his father's death, then they needed to look into what was wrong with his Black Trigger.

He needed to get that checked on since Yuma's life was at stake, but he couldn't just walk away from Mogami. Mogami couldn't be allowed to just walk away from this so he could live to cause more trouble later on. The Mogami in front of him was a Trion Soldier taking on the form of someone dead while his friend who was currently dying was barely hanging onto life. Jin valued the still living more than his fake mentor. If he could hurry through this fight and leave, he would, but as evidenced by the fight so far, that wasn't going to be possible.

"It's not a race." Jin said, looking back at Mogami, who was still staring in the direction of HQ.

"Do you really think Yugo is dead?" Mogami asked, surprising Jin and Tachikawa.

Jin's eyes narrowed, trying to get a read on Mogami's question. Did he want to know if his partner was dead? Or was he trying to point out that he didn't believe that Yugo had really been killed? On that note, how did he even know what was going on? There was an explosion in the distance, but Mogami shouldn't know what it was in regards to. There were so many battles going on currently in the Restricted Zone so Mogami shouldn't have been able to guess what the issue was. "No one is unbeatable. Shinoda-san and Rindo-san are quite capable fighters."

The familiar names got Mogami to looked at Jin with intrigue. He and Yugo had figured that there would be someone in the base to get in Yugo's way, but neither of them had suggested that it could be those two. Mogami should have truly considered it to be an option. It made sense for Yugo to not think of them as an option since he left so long ago so he didn't know if they stayed with Border, but Mogami never left Border so he knew how Shinoda and Rindo had both stuck around.

Having spent so much time helping Yugo train them and then taking the time to have matches with them just to challenge each other, Mogami knew how strong Rindo and Shinoda had gotten. They both had come a long way since they were the rookies that Yugo dragged into Border. Mogami didn't know what type of new agents that Border had managed to acquire in the few years since his death, but he didn't think any of them could do better than Rindo and Shinoda against Yugo.

"The tag team of Takumi-kun and Masafumi-kun was always a fun." Mogami mused, smiling softly as he remembered their rookie days. Yugo didn't initially train them to be a tag team. He had started them off as agents who fought on their own, but once they had got the basics down, they made the decision to try to work together to bring down Yugo or Mogami in their training sessions. It was always amusing to see what would happen, if they could pull off a new strategy or if they would fumble again and kill each other. It really was a tossup with those two on what would happen. "In that case, they probably killed each other and Yugo is just fine."

"What kind of partners are they?" Tachikawa mumbled. He killed his allies before to win a battle, but the way Mogami said it, he was thinking of those two purposefully killing each other and having it be nothing to do with their enemy.

*Mimics*

Seeing his father walk around the corner should have been more of a surprise than it was, but after days of dealing with this, it really was expected at this point. What wasn't expected though was how disheveled he looked. His clothes were pretty wreck and there were a few wounds on him that were currently healing shut, quite similar to how Yuma's body healed.

"That, however, will be a problem." Yuma murmured to himself. Someone had clearly tried to prevent his progress forward, but they weren't able to succeed. That was a problem for Yuma. Whoever he had fought were gone if Yugo was here and Replica had shot Michael through the wall to get him out of the way as well, leaving Yuma to face his father alone. A Yuma who currently couldn't fight. He tried to activate that Trigger earlier and ended up passing out afterwards so he couldn't attempt that again nor could he activate his Black Trigger with the damage that was done to it and his body. He was willing to use seals in this body, but they were not something he could use in a serious, long fight. Using a few to destroy some Trion Soldiers was nothing compared to a fight with his father.

Catching sight of his son, Yugo smiled, which did unnerve Yuma a bit as it was very much like his father, but at the same time, it didn't fit the Mimic that he was who was attacking Border currently. On that note, where were all the agents? Michael was the one who was fighting the Trion Soldiers in the hall. Yuma knew he was an engineer and no longer a fighter, but he was the one here instead of the agents. And now Yugo was able to move freely through HQ. What has been going on?

"Even injured, I didn't think for a second you would decide to hide in HQ during a battle, Yuma. You were always the type to run towards any fight." Yugo said.

Even with his father never stopping his stride towards Yuma, Yuma stood his ground. He would not back down here. He was already in trouble here. There was no where to go and no one who would come to help him, especially if Yugo was claiming there was a battle going on outside. It was a claim that Yuma was going to believe since there was a distinct lack of agents inside the building.

Yugo came to a stop in front of his son, lifting a hand towards his unflinching son so he could gently run his thumb over the cracks on Yuma's face that had spread up his face and through his eye. The same eye that had been gouged out when he found his son slowly bleeding out. He had created a Trion body for his son along with the Black Trigger. It wasn't meant to be used for combat, but it was possible for Yuma to fight in it. That was the reason it had the ability to heal.

Though, it seemed the healing was no longer working if these cracks weren't going away. Considering his body was tied to his Black Trigger, it wasn't surprising that Yuma was getting damaged. The Black Trigger was created by him so it belonged to him. It would give Yugo strength and heal his injuries before it did anything for Yuma.

Yugo's hand twitched before it was shifting from his son's face to curl around Yuma's hoodie. Taking it in a tight grip, Yugo dragged his son down the hall and around the destroyed Trion Soldiers that were still spilling black Trion. Yuma wasn't expecting to be dragged with his father so he stumbled as he walked backwards as Yugo didn't give him time to adjust to the sudden movement or allow him the chance to keep up with his longer strides.

Before Yuma could get his balance back or even attempt to get himself free of Yugo's grip, he felt his feet leaving the ground completely before he was being flung through the air. His back hit the side of the bed he only just vacated so hard that Yuma gasped in pain, eyes widening when he felt his body seizing as the cracks snapped along his torso. Yuma collapsed to the side, trying to use his right arm to keep himself braced upwards, eyes cracked open to try to keep an eye on Yugo.

Yugo stepped over the broken door of the lab, eyes scanning over the lab, ignoring his struggling son on the ground. His eyes landed on the nearby desk where the familiar sword that Jin was using the other day was sitting. That was quite convenient. He didn't have to hunt for it now.

Yuma fumbled around as he tried to get a grip on the bed frame to pull himself up. He watched his father make his way to the desk and pick up Fujin. That was a problem. He couldn't let Yugo take hold of the Black Triggers. Considering the Black Triggers were already damaged and Yugo and Mogami could already use their abilities without having the physical Trigger on them, there was no reason for Yugo to want to take that. "What is it that you are after?" Yuma demanded.

"I need that Black Trigger, Yuma." Yugo said by way of answer as he turned to his downed son though his eyes were focused on the ring on Yuma's cracked hand. He attached Fujin to the pouch on his side to get it out of the way.

"Why?"

Yugo planted a hand on top of the bed as he crouched down to lean down over his son. "Mimics were designed to give you one last chance to see someone who died so you can make peace with their passing. That was how their design ended up being, but it wasn't the original purpose of them. I know you were pretty young back then, but do you not remember anything Eleni told you about Mimics?"

Yuma tilted his head back to meet Yugo's eyes which were boring into him, waiting for Yuma to think it through. It had been so long since Yuma had been home to Tropoi. It was even harder to remember anything in regards to his mother. His memories from back there were quite hazy. There were definitely no memories of his mother talking to him about Mimics. The only times he could remember them were from the few times he saw them in Tropoi and after that, it was when Yugo told him about them in their travels. Yugo rarely brought them up and Yuma never gave them much thought as the years passed since he only ever saw them in Tropoi.

"Aionia." Yugo said when it became clear Yuma wasn't going to reply. "Also known as, Everlasting life. Eleni originally planned for her creations to be a way to revive those who had died by using the memories from those still alive to recreate them as many times as need be. If they die again, use another Mimic to bring them back."

That couldn't be right. Yuma had never heard anything about that. Whenever Yugo talked to him about Mimics, he spoke of them as a last chance to say goodbye to someone who had died. He never spoke of it being a permanent solution to bring back someone forever. Yuma knew he missed the context of his father's words sometimes, like when he wasn't able to piece together that Yugo was a member of Border without Rindo and Shinoda telling him, but he was absolutely certain of this. Yugo never hinted at Aionia to Yuma. He only called them Mimics and their purpose was to help the grieving process.

Yugo opened and closed his hand a few times, looking at it with a curious light. Even if Shinoda and Rindo had managed to beat him earlier, if another Mimic got a hold of Yuma or one of his friends, he could have easily returned to this world and tried again.

"She abandoned the idea of Aionia and the Mimics became the final creation. There was a design as to how to create the Aionia, but she didn't want to finish it, so someone else did." Yugo replied.

"It wasn't Tropoi though." Yuma guessed. Tropoi wasn't in range to be the ones attacking Border currently so they couldn't be the ones who had changed his mother's finished creation.

"No, it wasn't." Yugo's hand drifted down to his son's hand, but Yuma jerked his hand away. It didn't get very far since he was leaning against the bed so he had nowhere to go, but it got the message to Yugo. The Mimic shouldn't care about Yuma's weak resistance, and yet, Yugo pushed himself to his feet and turned his back on his son.

If there was one thing that Yuma understood, it was never to turn his back on the enemy. It would leave him wide open for an attack. He understood that it wasn't always possible to keep his enemy in front of him, especially when snipers were in play, but Yuma would never so blatantly turn his back on anyone like this.

Yugo was meant to always protect Yuma. He should never think of his father as the enemy who was turning his back to Yuma. Typically when Yuma saw his father's back, it was when Yugo appeared in front of him to protect his son from enemies. It was something that always irritated Yuma as he always thought he didn't need anyone to help him. Yuma wanted to be able to stand on his own all the time and prove he could succeed as a solo fighter.

It took losing his father to teach Yuma what it meant to trust in his allies and why it was a good idea to not fight alone. Having allies to fight with was never something to be taken for granted.

"Meraki."

Meraki. A country that Yuma had only ever been to once. He spent a good six years traveling the Neighborhood with his father, and though he's been to a lot of different countries, he was able to remember the names of the countries he had gone to. At least the names of them. Meraki was one of the first countries he and his father visited, but unlike most of the other places they went to, they didn't spend a long time there. Yugo hadn't seemed thrilled to be there at the time, but it was also very soon after his wife had died so Yuma never thought too much into it.

Yuma didn't get to see much of Meraki since his father insisted he stayed inside with Replica while Yugo took care of some things. In the short time he did get to spend in the country, he never heard anything about Mimics or saw any. Mimics were only supposed to be in Tropoi, so why was his father implying Meraki was the cause of this attack?

It was possible. When they saw that Tropoi wasn't in range to be sending the Mimics here, Kinuta did suggest that someone managed to steal the design. That was the only explanation he could come up with about why the Mimics were so different from what he remembered.

"They stole the design of the Mimics and repurposed them for their own uses."

"As weapons." Yuma said bitterly, glaring at his father's back.

"I suppose that would be one purpose to them." Yugo agreed, glancing down at his waist where he had stored Fujin. He had promised if he found it that he would bring it back to Mogami. He just didn't expect Border to be so foolish to leave it sitting out so openly. "But it's not the main reason for them. It is just something else they could be used for."

Yuma reached his arm above his head to grab the mattress tightly so he could pull himself to his feet. Even being back on his feet, Yuma kept his hand curled into the blanket on the bed as leverage so he wouldn't collapse again. He had felt better earlier, but it seemed that it didn't want to last.

Yugo watched his son out of the corner of his eyes. His son may have thought he had turned his back on him with no thought of the dangers to it since Yuma didn't have the strength to fight right now, but he wouldn't let his guard down just because of that. He knew just how sneaky Yuma could be. When he was younger, he liked the strategy of pretending to be defeated to lure in his enemies so he could kill them. Yuma wasn't going to get Yugo the same way.

"Your ring is the Black Trigger I made." Yugo said.

"The obvious doesn't need said." Yuma snapped.

"A Black Trigger is created by someone pouring all their Trion and life force into its creation." Yugo twisted around so suddenly and grabbed Yuma's wrist, lifting it up between them so they were both staring at the black ring.

"I know." Yuma looked away from his hand to look into his father's eyes, glaring at him. "I did watch you die to create this."

"I poured everything into this ring, everything that I was."

Yuma's eyes narrowed, anger started to race through him. The man who created this Black Trigger was dead. He gave everything to save Yuma's life. This Mimic in front of was not that person.

"And now I can have it back." A dark, eager look crossed Yugo's eyes. A look very unfitting of who Yuma remembered his father to be. "That Black Trigger is what I need to real again."

Be real? Yuma latched onto that word, frowning up at his father, who didn't seem to see Yuma anymore. The only thing in his eyes was the ring on Yuma's finger. Yugo just said his mom's original design was Aionia to revive those who had been killed. This was the first that Yuma was hearing of that, but it sounded like a completely ridiculous idea. He didn't see how something like that would be possible so he would have thought that his mother abandoned it when she couldn't accomplish it.

However, if Meraki stole the design and repurposed them to fit what they needed, did they also finish her design of the Aionia? Mimics didn't have the ability to stay around forever so the fact that Mogami and Yugo were managing to stick around so long was impressive. Yuma had just thought it was part of their new design, but what if there was more to it? Fujin and Yuma's ring were taking damage because of Mogami and Yugo's appearance. Was that a warning of what the new design of the Mimics were trying to do?

If they managed to drain the Black Triggers completely, which would no doubt end up destroying them, would Mogami and Yugo come back to life? That sounded like what Yugo was trying to get across to him. They would be back, but they would still be Trion Soldiers, just with the memories and design of Yugo and Mogami forever.

"I could be alive again."

Yugo could be alive again. If he took the Black Trigger and converted it back into what he needed by destroying it, it could be like he never died back then. Having Yugo be alive again was all Yuma wanted ever since his death.

But that look on his face...

"There was a time when I would have done anything to have you back."

The look on Yugo's face told Yuma everything he needed to know. Even if Yugo could be alive again, stay around forever, he would still have the programming of a Trion Soldier deep within him. It would always be there to control him. He wouldn't be free to make his own choices and would still be an enemy of Border.

Yuma grabbed Yugo's wrist, gripping it tightly. Yugo stared right on back at him, refusing to release Yuma's hand. "Even if it meant I had to die to bring you back. However," An orange seal formed on Yuma's palm that was grabbing Yugo's wrist. With his hand holding Yugo's wrist, his father couldn't see the seal there so he had no time to react when Yuma activated the Bolt seal. The bullets slammed into Yugo's wrist, blowing his hand off which freed Yuma from him.

There wasn't anywhere for Yuma to go as he couldn't escape his father, but it was more about making a point in all of this. "While I'm still suffering with the guilt of what happened, something I may never get over, I have too much to live for right now. My friends need me. I found a new purpose and I will stick around for them."

Yugo raised his arm, staring at the spot where his hand should have been. "That was foolish. Your life is tied to the Black Trigger."

"What's foolish about–" Yuma's question was cut off as he felt a sudden dizzy spell that had him staggering on his feet, almost pulling him back down to the ground. His vision started to fade so Yuma shook his head desperately as he fought to keep himself upright.

Yuma looked on in shock as the hand he just blew off was back on Yugo's arm and he was grabbing his wrist again. Yugo yanked on Yuma hard enough to make him off balanced as he stumbled forward. He had just blown Yugo's hand off. How was he able to just conjure up a new hand out of nowhere?

Yugo's much bigger hand came to cover Yuma's completely, hiding the ring on his finger from Yuma's sight. He had to stop this. Yugo couldn't be allowed to get a hold of both of the Black Triggers, but what was Yuma supposed to fight with? He had nothing that could help him stop Yugo from stealing them.

"What was that smile for?" Yuma asked.

"Because you're his son." Rindo replied, making Yuma glance at him as he listened intently. "There is no reason to overcomplicate this, Yuma. Kuga-san was your father and any father would do anything to keep his child safe. I know he raised you to be able to stand on your own, but a parent's duty is never over. He would want to protect you until the end."

"It wouldn't be you." Yuma said, wincing as Yugo squeezed his wrist tightly causing the cracks on his arm to protest that by snapping more along his arm. If his arm broke any more, he wasn't sure his arm would remain attached to his body much longer. It would probably fall off if Yugo continued to break it. "Even if using the Black Trigger would give you the chance to survive forever, it would kill me. My father died to protect me. You may have the memories, but you lack the emotions. A man who kills me to save his life could never be the real one."

It was an unfortunate situation. Yuma was perhaps the only person who had his life tied to a Black Trigger. A Black Trigger being used in this way was unprecedented. The fact that Yugo tied the last of his life to his son to sustain his life was a testament to the love he had for Yuma.

No matter the love that was there when it happened, it wasn't what Yugo was focused on right now. This conversation was just wasting his time. The only thing that mattered in this moment was the Black Trigger on Yuma's finger. There was no reason to spend time trying to convince Yuma to give it to him. With his body weakened like it was, Yuma couldn't fight back against him.

It was time to get what he came here for and leave before reinforcements showed up. He was certain there was no one that could cause him trouble now that Rindo and Shinoda had been defeated, but he would rather not waste any more time here. He shouldn't have taken days to get it in the first place.

Yuma did try to pull his wrist free, but to his complete frustration, wasn't able to get away from his father's stronger grip. Ever since he got the Black Trigger from Yugo, there had never been a time where Yuma had taken it off, so it felt strange when Yugo slipped it off. The moment he had it, he released Yuma's wrist, shoving his son back into the bed as he stepped away with his prize.

Slamming back into the bed frame had Yuma tensing up as the cracks split on his back. He slid down the side of the bed until he was back on the floor, watching through heavy-lidded eyes as his father turned his back on him, taking the ring and Fujin with him. He never once spared his son a final glance as he walked out of the lab while taking away Yuma's only lifeline.