Note: So far, I am officially out of College. Other than that, not much is going on in my life. I might get my license soon, though. Anyway, on with the story. It's time for chapter fourteen.

Chapter 14: Anti-Bomb Mission

Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga were walking through the Evergreen Forest, keeping a close eye out for anyone suspicious. While the woods were empty, the three knew that there could be an agent for the Serpent Gang in them. If there was, they would either have to convince said agent that they were flunkies for the organization returning from a special assignment or take him down. If there were no agents in the Evergreen Forest, then they would be in the clear. Nonetheless, Mayumi and Chikaga looked around, keeping their eyes open, while Ryuta looked forward.

"Can you get a clear view of the Serpent Gang's HQ?" Mayumi quietly asked.

"Yes, I can." Ryuta quietly said. "In fact, we're almost there."

"Let's just hope that they aren't heavily guarded!" Chikaga whispered.

After another minute of walking, Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga found themselves near the Serpent Gang HQ. Before they could approach it, they saw the front door open. Seeing that, the three Heroes got behind a bush, hoping that no one would see them. Knowing that they were out of sight, Mayumi made sure to look and see if the coast was clear. Luckily, whoever was leaving the building wasn't approaching where they were hiding. Rather, the person in question, Mr. Hirose, walked forward on his path, whistling to himself.

"Is anyone coming towards us?" Ryuta whispered.

"No, we're in the clear." Mayumi whispered.

"Are you sure?" Chikaga asked.

"No one else is coming out of the building, other than Mr. Hirose." The raccoon said. "Besides, even if they see us, we've got these ninja costumes on to fool them."

"With that in mind, let's get in there!" Ryuta whispered.

Once Mr. Hirose was out of sight, Mayumi led Ryuta and Chikaga to the building. However, before they could get to the front door, she saw something glowing on the wall. Looking up, Mayumi saw a security camera hanging up near the roof. Upon seeing that, she threw a shuriken at the camera, destroying it. Ryuta and Chikaga stopped in their tracks when she did that, being surprised by what happened.

"I don't think that you really needed to do that." Ryuta said. "They would still be fooled by our disguises."

"Better safe than sorry." Mayumi said.

After that, Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga continued onwards, deciding to head in through a back window. Upon seeing a few more security cameras, the three Heroes took them down with whatever projectiles they had at their disposal. Once they reached the back of the building, they formed a totem pole, with Chikaga on the top. The aardvark kept a watchful eye, checking for anyone in the room, or even a security camera. However, the room was pitch black, as if there were nothing in it altogether.

"Anything in there, Chikaga?" Ryuta asked.

"No, nothing." Chikaga said. "Not even a glow from a camera. In fact, the room is encased in darkness."

"Should we be careful when entering it?" The raccoon asked.

"Definitely, watch your step!" The aardvark said as he climbed into the room through the window.

Once he got into the room, Chikaga waited for Ryuta and Mayumi to join him. Mayumi was the first to enter, with Ryuta following. The two raccoons practically jumped into the area, landing on their feet. When that was out of the way, the three looked around for cameras, hoping that none were in the hallway they were about to enter. Upon finding that there were no cameras up, Ryuta led Chikaga and Mayumi into the hallway.

"Alright, we need to look for the lab." Ryuta said. "Question is, where could it be?"

"Perhaps we should take the stairs." Mayumi suggested.

"That's a good idea, but there wouldn't be a map that would give directions to it." The male raccoon said.

"Looks like the elevator is our only option." Chikaga said.

"Hey!"

Upon hearing that voice, Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga put on their masks, hoping that no one would recognize them from their eyes alone. To their luck, the person who the voice belonged to was just a ninja. He approached them, looking suspicious.

"What are you three doing in here?" The ninja spoke. "Mr. Hirose said that the building is closing up for the night."

"You'll have to excuse us, we're new to this building." Chikaga lied. "We just want to check out the building before it closes up."

"But, for now, we want to know where the lab is." Ryuta stated.

"Really? Why?" The ninja asked.

Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga looked at each other for a moment. They didn't want to give away their plan, so the three knew that they had to come up with a quick lie. If they didn't, the mission would end in disaster. Knowing that the ninja was waiting, Mayumi spoke to him.

"We are interested in joining the Serpent Gang as scientists." She lied. "After all, why get used to a building when you haven't seen all the rooms yet."

"In that case," the ninja spoke, "the lab is on the second floor. Just don't take too long in there, I hear that they're planning something."

"We won't." Chikaga lied.

After the ninja walked off, Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga entered an elevator. Seeing that there was a camera in it, Chikaga took it down. Ryuta pressed the button for the second floor, which caused the elevator to activate. As it traveled to the second floor, the three Heroes spoke to each other.

"Ryuta, you need to be more careful!" Mayumi scolded her husband.

"What else was I supposed to say?" Ryuta asked. "How would we fool him if I said we were going to the basement."

"Apart from that, we managed to find out where the lab is located." Chikaga said. "Let's just hope that they haven't sent the bombs out yet."

"Yes," Ryuta said, "otherwise we will have failed the mission."

Once the elevator reached the second floor, the three Heroes didn't immediately step out. Rather, each of them scanned the hallways, keeping an eye out for security cameras. Upon seeing one, Ryuta took it down. Other than a few more security cameras, there weren't any obstacles in their way. When all of the security cameras were down, Chikaga led Ryuta and Mayumi down the hallway upon seeing a sign for the lab. The three didn't hesitate, despite the fact that they would attract suspicion from someone walking by.

Coming up to the lab's entrance, Ryuta was ready to enter the room. However, Mayumi stopped him, signaling that the lab might have been loaded with traps. To make sure, she blew some dust into it, intent on revealing laser-armed alarms. Luckily, there were no laser alarms in the lab. With that in mind, the three Heroes entered, with Chikaga going first. Ryuta and Mayumi carefully walked behind him, looking around for anything that would lead to a trap. Aside from a security camera, it seemed like there were none.

Sitting on a table was the bomb that the Serpent Gang had been working on. The metallic device glistened in the small amount of light that was being let into the lab. Once they saw it, Mayumi and Ryuta looked around for the materials being used to make duplicates. As they did that, Chikaga looked at the bomb, looking for a way to disarm it. Before he could look for much longer, a thought crossed the aardvark's mind.

"I feel like we should have stolen the information and blueprints on the bomb from Mr. Hirose's computer." He spoke.

"We can do that once we get the extra materials out of the way." Ryuta stated.

"But disarm the bomb that's completed, before someone comes by and tries to kill us." Mayumi said.

Chikaga continued to look at the bomb, looking for a way to disarm it. Seeing what looked like the opening for a battery container, the aardvark opened it up, finding several different wires. Taking out a shuriken, he thought about which wire disarmed a bomb when cut. Seeing that there was a red wire in the bomb, the Hero carefully slit it. Once the wire was cut, the bomb made a few odd noises before it went off, therefore disarming it. Relieved that he got the right one, Chikaga breathed a sigh of relief.

After the bomb was disarmed, Ryuta walked out of the lab with a box of materials that would've been used to make more bombs. Mayumi followed him, herself carrying a box full of materials. Chikaga was the last to walk out, his hands empty. Looking around, the aardvark saw no one approaching him. While he was relieved, he also knew that he would have to ask someone the location of Mr. Hirose's office, making sure he would travel to the right one.

"I'm going to check if Mr. Hirose has the bomb plans on his computer." Chikaga stated.

"Be careful, though, and don't draw suspicion to you." Mayumi warned.

Nodding his head, Chikaga gave his answer. After that, he stealthily traveled down the hallway, looking for Mr. Hirose's office. Upon finding the room, which had a tag bearing the name of the Serpent Gang's leader, the aardvark carefully entered. Seeing that there were no security cameras, he was free to do what he was going to. After looking through Mr. Hirose's computer, Chikaga found files concerning the bomb under a folder labeled "Documents". Seeing them, he carefully pulled out a small device.

The small device that Chikaga held in his hands was an auto-hack tool that would pull files off of a computer with ease. The device itself resembled a beetle, with its functional form resembling the insect in flight. Upon plugging it into the computer, Chikaga waited for it to remove every file concerning the bomb. Once it got done, the aardvark removed the device from the computer and put it back in his pocket. With the files stolen, he went out to the back of the Serpent Gang's HQ, meeting up with Ryuta and Mayumi. The two raccoons watched as he held out the auto-hack device.

"I've gotten every file concerning the bomb saved on this device." Chikaga said. "That should prevent the Serpent Gang from carrying out their bomb plans."

"And I found a copy of the blueprints in the lab, so that the scientists would be unable to make more bombs." Ryuta said, holding out several pieces of graph paper.

Putting the auto-hack device back in his pocket, Chikaga handed Ryuta a lighter, which allowed him to burn the copy of the blueprints.

"In the very least, we've got them on the auto-hack device." Ryuta stated.

With their part of the mission completed, Ryuta, Mayumi and Chikaga walked back to the cabin, where Chu-ya, the Pigs and Perry were waiting for them. As they did so, they had a conversation.

"That was easier than we thought." Chikaga said.

"Yeah, but I don't think the others will have an easier time, considering how they'll be fighting Yusuke Shiobana." Ryuta said.

"And let's not forget Bairei." The aardvark said. "He's still in the hospital."

"He's still lucky to be alive, let alone in a single piece, after fighting Kazuma Araki." The raccoon said.

"We can only hope for the best, guys." Mayumi said. "Besides, as far as we know, Bairei is taking it easy until he gets better."

Back at the hospital, Bairei was sitting on his hospital bed, waiting for the nurse to come in and switch off his TV for the night. For the most part, he wasn't tired. In fact, the raccoon had drank an energy drink while he ate dinner. He even had another one when everyone else had gotten finished with their dinner. However, as he would feel bad about disturbing everyone else's sleep, he decided that he would go to sleep when his TV got turned off. All that was left was for someone to come in to do so.

Without warning, there was a scream in the hallway. The loudness of the noise, following by several sounds of colliding metal, frightened Bairei. Knowing that he would become a victim to whatever was attacking the hospital, the raccoon reached under his bed and pulled out a bag. Dumping out its contents on his bed, he took out his katana, which was smuggled in.

"I'll have to thank Junichi for bringing me this!" Bairei said to himself. "Now that there's an attack going on, I have every reason to use my weapon! Sorry guys, I know that I'm not allowed to fight, but I have no choice!"

Note: Well, the stealth mission was a success, but now there's an attack in the hospital. Not only that, but Shizuka, Schaefer and Bentley have to prevent Shiobana from escaping prison. Will they succeed? Will Bairei survive the attack at the hospital? Until next time guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!