"It hasn't been too long since Reiji and Kitora bailed out," Karasuma said through the communicator. "They're more formidable than we thought…"

"The old man definitely had a black Trigger." Replica warned.

"And there're no reinforcements o-on the way, huh?" I cursed myself internally for stuttering. "I think we're really fucked this time."

'I have to calm down, I have to. I'm still shaking— I need to—'

Karasuma tapped the radio once more, taking advantage of the loud argument the Neighbours were having from both sides of us. "…Mikumo, I didn't tell you this before, but…"

I sent him a questioning glance, but his expression remained carefully blank.

"…Jin is coming over here to back us up. He told us not to tell you, but I need you to take the C-ranks to the rendezvous point."

'….Oh.'

'He told us not to tell you.'

'Really now.'

"…Nobody can hold them off long enough for that to happen." I mumbled irritatedly, trying to keep my frustration out of my voice.

I must have succeeded because Shioiri continued, completely unaware of the chaos in my mind. "Not to mention, that guy that just crushed the entrance…! That's the black Trigger that took down Kazama! With the old guy that got Reiji, that's TWO black Triggers! There's no way out of—!"

My eyes flickered suddenly, and I lifted my hand hurriedly to protect Chika.

"Wha—?!"

Some sort of shiny black blur slammed into my arm, the force pushed harshly against my arm, but I held strong.

"—The magnet Trigger…" Mini-Replica floated down by my arm, inspecting the black shard embedded into my arm as Chika shivered in fright behind me.

"It seems we can't afford to ignore the other one…" Karasuma mused. "Good eyes, Mikumo."

I shook off my arm, trying to make the movement look more nonchalant than I felt. "…Thanks."

"Lord Hyuse, please kidnap the baby birds, as planned," The old man spoke up, cane being lifted casually. "I would deal with the combatants myself, but with Enedora so eager… Well, it seems I might be able to afford simply standing by and watching."

The other Neighbour nodded blankly. "Understood."

"You have to move quickly," Karasuma told me, with more urgency this time. "The C-ranks can't defend themselves."

I frowned "I know—!"

Something suddenly flew past in the air, passing right in-between the two neighbours and us. The house that was slammed into exploded from the force, rubble and debris flying through the air for a moment as dust rose in the air.

"What was that?!" I heard one of the C-ranks scream, but my eye only twitched.

The black-haired Neighbour leapt over the crowd casually, cloak flapping behind him in the wind as he landed on the ground right beside the other Neighbours. "…What the hell?"

'Please tell me that wasn't who I thought I saw.'

"Ow… You could have dialled it down a few notches, Replica-sensei…"

'Curses.'

Jin pat his own back consolingly, pouting dramatically as if he could actually feel pain in his Trion body. "Well, I suppose all that matters is that we made it in time…"

"Jin!" Chika exclaimed from behind me, voice laced with shock.

He spared a small, carefree wave to her before turning his back, stepping out of the wreckage to face the Neighbours semi-threateningly. "Nice to meet you, people of Aftokrator. I'm Jin Yuichi, the elite agent. I'm afraid…"

I saw a black figure out of the corner of my eye, hovering over the battlefield from right above and to the side of the three Neighbours.

"…I'll be taking you on now."

Yuma launched himself downwards and slammed into the older Neighbour, shattering concrete and ruing the road with a blank expression.

"Whoops."

Jin grinned slightly, and the black-haired Neighbours eye twitched. "I meant that… we'll be taking you on now."

"Yuma…!" I breathed out in shock, just as he bounced upwards from the impact.

"Boost," He intoned darkly. "Double."

His fist slammed into the road in an instant, all three Neighbours hurriedly jumping back before they could be hit.

-0-

"I'd say, for the worst future possible… Well, that's why we're heading over there. We gotta go now."

"Worst future…? Is Chika going to get kidnapped?!"

"…Third worst future. But as of now, if we don't get over there A-S-A-P… Chika could be kidnapped, and Mori might be killed. We need to hurry."

-0-

"…Oh. Oops."

Yuma lifted up his fist, stones clattering to the ground as he began stepping out of the crater around him.

"I wasn't supposed to fight outside of the emergence area," Yuma muttered dully, red eyes gleaming much more darkly than they should've been. "Was I?"

"It's no problem," Jin reassured, casual grin seeming just slightly out of place on his face although it never wavered. "This is without a doubt, definitely, an emergency."

"…What an abrupt greeting," Viza thought out loud. "Perhaps none of these Meedens have learned manners during their upbringing…"

"Who gives a shit about 'upbringing'?" Enedora growled irritatedly. "Doesn't matter once I crush them."

Hyuse lifted up his gun and aimed at Chika once again, but Yuma only lifted his arm to interfere with the shot's path.

His crimson eyes narrowed. "Shield."

The metal bullet 'clang'ed against the shield uselessly, the marker falling to the ground uselessly as Hyuse grit his teeth.

There was a tense silence as both sides stared each other down, waiting for someone to make a move.

"…Four-eyes, Kyousuke." Jin called out suddenly, surprising nearly everyone in the vicinity.

"Yeah?" Karasuma directed his attention to Jin, who stayed silent for a few more moments.

"…You guys better head to the base soon, I'm counting on you guys." His voice was startlingly soft. "Watch out for Trion soldiers."

"…Understood." Karasuma nodded decisively, but Mori only ignored them, patting Chika's arm softly.

"C'mon, you're one of their targets." She urged quietly, and Chika sent her a slightly worried glance that Mori didn't acknowledge.

-0-

"Go after them, Enedora." Hyuse stated clearly, lifting his gun.

"Hah?!" Enedora sneered. "Fuck that, these small fry are the real prey here. Those other ones are slow and have no skill, the very definition of cannon-fodder! These guys though, I can get the thrill of the hunt…!"

"…Our orders are to retrieve the baby birds," Hyuse's eyes darkened. "Are you going to disobey direct orders…?"

"Now, now. Don't squabble, our opponents are waiting." Viza scolded lightly, lifting his cane. "…I am also growing quite tired of their running around."

His voice grew dangerous at the end as he trailed off, and a shiver went down both Hyuse and Enedora's spines.

There was another moment of hesitance on Enedora's part, just before he scoffed in irritation. "Fine."

He leapt off, and Jin and Yuma surprisingly let him pass.

-0-

Yuma's eyes flickered to Jin. "…So, we have our opponents now?"

Jin nodded with a weary sigh. "…Unless you can finish the old guy off quicker than I can predict, this is… the most we can do. Once you finish, if the invasion hasn't ended yet—"

"I know." Yuma cut him off without hesitation, a seal forming in front of both of his arms. "…I gotta do this as quick as I can. Boost… Quadra."

He lifted an arm towards Viza with darkened eyes. "Chain. Replica, let's get started."

-0-

"Torimaru, I've gotten into contact with HQ!" Shiori's voice echoed out in the communicator once again. "The number of squads that can help us are limited, but they're contacting any free agents right now to help us out!"

Chika jolted, and Mori's eyes flickered from her to Karasuma in a hurry. "I think trouble's on the way, Karasuma-senpai!"

He frowned, gun shifting in his grasp. "I should've expected that, with two of them being black Triggers… Not to mention outnumbering Kuga and Jin, three-to-one. I'll probably have to hang back to hold him off, but that'd leave the C-ranks easy to pick off…"

Mori's head lowered for a moment, but she snapped herself out of it as quickly as it came. 'This is no time for that, he's only speaking the truth. I'll think about it later.'

"What about what remains of Suwa squad?" Karasuma asked Shiori. "They took Suwa to HQ I heard, but what are they doing now?"

Shiori hummed, tapping a few keys from her computer. "I think they were sent out the other way to take care of more Trion soldiers not too long ago… Suwa was released from the cube thanks to the researchers at HQ just before that, so the entire squad was together."

"Anyone else open at the moment?" Mori questioned with a hint of worry. "I'm not really keeping the main-line to HQ open on my communicator, so I don't really know what's happening across the map at the moment."

"Izumi, Yosuke, Midorikawa, and the gathered B-ranks defeated one of the humanoid Neighbours not too long ago!" Shiori reported dutifully, just as Mori's arm brushed against her side, suddenly reminding her of the shards embedded into the Trion body. "Jin just told me that he and Yuma have split up to deal with the other two, with Yuma taking the black Trigger and Jin—"

"Hey, Replica," Mori whispered, letting Karasuma and Shiori strategize over the radio. "Can you analyze this thing?"

"…Why?" The mini-Replica floated downwards, hovering just above the forearm with said shards.

"This is from the magnetic Trigger, right?" She asked rhetorically. "Set it to a seal and send it to Yuma or something, if you can. He needs all of the help he can get… Shiori-chan just said he's fighting a black Trigger. Besides, might as well do something useful."

He hummed, tongue sticking out. "This will be substantially quicker, the Trigger being Neighbour technology. One moment…"

"THERE YOU ARE, SMALL FRY!"

"…Analysis complete." Replica continued, unperturbed, even as Mori swung her head back to glance at the Neighbour worriedly.

"I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL—!"

"Seal has been set to 'Focus'."

"—DAMN CANNON FODDER!"

Replica retracted the small tongue from the shards in Mori's arm, just as Chika grabbed her arm and began dragging her away from the black spikes that nearly impaled both her and multiple C-ranks.

"Alright Mikumo, defend the C-ranks." Karasuma lifted his gun and shot at Enedora a few times to grab his attention. "We don't have much of a choice with the limited number of agents, so you'll be on your own for a bit."

"Roger!" She yelled back, pushing her legs to run so that Chika could stop dragging her. "I'll do my best!"

-0-

"Hah?" Enedora's hand scratched the side of his head boredly as he stared at Karasuma disdainfully. "You think you can take me on all on your own, monkey?!"

"Probably not," Karasuma conceded, lowering his gun only slightly. "…But I can buy enough time for my comrades to get away. I've got my student behind me, you know."

Enedora grit his teeth angrily, tilting his head downwards so that his menacing horns were easier to see. "I don't really get what you're yammering on and on about…" He growled. "…But I'm getting really sick of—!"

He was cut off abruptly as his head was cut off swiftly by a blade, the wielder suddenly becoming visible as they swiftly leapt past the bubbling Trion body.

Karasuma's eyes widened, as the two figures landed on their feet beside him. "You—?"

"Ah, shut it." Kikuchihara slapped the side of his ear with his palm, a scowl twisting at his face. "This guy was our original opponent anyway, so we'll be the ones taking him down."

"We'll help hold him off until the C-ranks can get away," Utagawa nodded, Scorpion shifting in his grip comfortably. "It may be difficult to coordinate a gunner with our Chameleon Triggers, so, Mikami…?"

"Synchronizing audio reception! Relaying all information!" Mikami declared clearly through the communicators.

"Ooh, it's been sooooo long since I've done this!" Shiori grinned from her end, typing something out onto her computer. "It'll be a bit disorienting, Torimaru, but you'll get used to it in no time!"

Kikuchihara began tying up his hair into a ponytail, eyes flickering irritatedly back at Karasuma.

"Don't get in the way." Kikuchihara suddenly directed at Karasuma, and Utagawa shot him a quick scolding glare that he completely ignored.

"I won't," Karasuma responded sincerely. "After all, we need to protect the C-ranks, right?"

-0-

"Stay in one group, keeping running towards HQ!" Mori yelled out to the C-ranks.

Most of them, thankfully for both Chika and Mori, obliged. If albeit panicked, but there wasn't much that could be done about that.

"Kikuchi and Uttei just showed up!" Shiori cheered noisily through the radio, the volume making Mori wince in her already internally panicking state. "Oh yeah, they're gonna crush the black Trigger with Torimaru!"

"That's great, Shiori-chan," Mori watched the C-ranks run towards HQ with spastically flickering eyes. "Any other updates?"

"Hm…" She hummed, momentarily distracted with something else on her screen before responding. "Not much, I'll be helping Mikami-chan with coordinating Kikuchi and Uttei with Torimaru so they can fight properly, but other than that… I need you to hold out a little longer, Yosuke, Izumi, and Midorikawa are on their way to your—"

A large, black shadow cast itself over the back of the crowd trainees.

"—Location…!?"

I glanced up worriedly eyes following the perimeter of the large circle in the air with dawning horror. I barely registered many of the C-ranks ahead of us coming to a halt to look up at the sky in confusion.

"A gate?!" I exclaimed, watching the feet of a Rabbit emerge from the darkness, just before the rest of its body joined it. Another gate opened a bit father than the first, and another opened from there.

"Those aren't just irregular gates!" Chika worriedly reported. "I don't see any Rads around!"

More Rabbits fell down, blocking the road in front of the C-ranks.

'4—6, 7 Rabbits?!'

"Everyone, turn back!" I screamed. "We'll take a detour, avoid the Rabbits as best as you can, and STAY CALM!"

There were more panicked screams, and all of the trainees hastily scrambled to their feet to pass by me, running away from the Rabbits.

"Reinforcements are SO close!" Shiori yelled. "Hold on for a little longer, and don't let them get to the C-ranks!"

"If they catch up, it's all over," I breathed out in horror, beginning to run alongside and behind the trainees, Chika just ahead of me. "I can barely take one out being the support, much less without any backup myself."

The one closest to us, (grey-ish blue, turbines on it's back, high firepower, can't fight not strong enough can't fight—) began to speed up, heading straight towards Chika beside me.

"Oh for fucks sake—!" I dug my feet into the ground and faced the rapidly approaching Rabbit, arms drawn up with a quickly forming meteor already in hand.

"Mori!" Chika called back to me, her run slowing down slightly as I shot the giant Meteora off at the Rabbit with a scowl.

"Keep going, dammit!" I screamed back agitatedly, eyes still scanning the dust cloud frantically. The Rabbit came out not even a second later, arm drawn far to the side to bat me away.

A curse barely slipped itself from my mouth as I saw every second of being thrown across and into a nearby house, but wasn't fast enough to react.

The impact of my back against the wall was painless and disorienting at best in my Trion body, so I managed to bring my legs up and drag myself to my feet rather quickly.

"Miku, are you okay?!" Shiori yelled worriedly.

I rubbed some dust off of my cheek distractedly, watching the grey-blue Rabbit begin to approach me while the other six continued chasing after the C-ranks. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" I coughed, firing another high-Trion Meteora at the Rabbit that thankfully, wasn't as ineffective as I thought it'd be. As it emerged from the dust cloud standing tall, I grit my teeth(Angrily? Hopelessly? Proud that I managed to get a hit in at all?) as my eyes were automatically drawn to the thin singed crack along its arm.

"You can't beat it, Miku!" Shiori yelled at me. "Run and defend the C-ranks!"

"I'm—!" I ran to the side to dodge the arm the Rabbit swung at me, trying to make my way back to the C-ranks. "—Trying to!"

I glanced back, a small crater with the Rabbit looming menacingly over the spot where I had just been. My eyes flickered downwards, catching the slight gleam of a few motionless Meteora cubes set up right underneath the Trion soldier. I sent a few more small(Maximize speed and range, not firepower—)bullets to pierce the bombs and in an instant, the cubes exploded outwards, launching the Rabbit over the set of houses and making the crater a bit deeper.

"—It's not dead yet!" Shiori warned.

"I know, I don't need it to be," I responded, shaking my hand off as I ran back towards the C-ranks, not too far behind the Rabbits that were chasing said trainees. "I just needed it out of the way—!"

My words were caught in my throat as a light glow lit up the sky above the Trion soldiers, and my eyes adjusted quickly as dozens of small bullets peppered the area around the Rabbits, distracting them from their prey.

Three figures dropped down, two of them swinging their weapons out to the nearest Rabbit, scoring thin, shallow cuts into its thick arms.

"Whoa, it's the new models!" Yoneya marvelled, holding his spear out defensively as his feet touched down on the ground.

"That was tough," Midorikawa commented, a second Scorpion forming loosely in his other hand. "What the heck are they made of?"

"Ah, there's still a bunch of them," The last person commented nonchalantly. "I thought they said Kyousuke was escorting the C-ranks…?"

(Wait a second, shit, is that the shooter from the No. 1 squad—)

There was another buzz of static, and to my surprise, I heard another voice speaking through the communicator. "—I think he got held up, Shiori-chan said there's was a black Trigger chasing them…?"

'An unfamiliar voice?' I thought quizzically.

"Right, thanks for the back-up, Kunichika-chan!" Shiori cheered. "Alright, I've connected you guys' communicators to Chika and Miku-chan's, we're good to go!"

"'Miku-chan'….?" Midorikawa repeated dubiously as a Rabbit snuck up behind him.

I fired another large, Trion pumped Meteora right into the Trion soldiers stomach, the explosion relatively controlled as it grazed the edges of Midorikawa's hair without doing any damage to the teen himself.

He sweatdropped slightly, and all three of them slowly turned their heads over to my direction.

I waved slightly, focusing all of my willpower into not letting them see the tremors that shook my hand pathetically. "…Yo."

Midorikawa jolted, staring at me… nervously? "Mikumo-senpai!"

"Wha—?" I choked. "'Senpai'?! What the hell did Yuma tell you during the rank battle?"

Midorikawa fidgeted nervously, before his hand came up to rest at the back of his head. "Uh, I never got around to it, but—"

"Hey, it's four-eyes-chan!"

I forced myself to not show any nervousness just as Yoneya grinned cheerily, calming me slightly before what he said registered in my mind.

"Wait, you're still going to use that damn nickname?" I grumbled lowly with a slightly twitching eye. The communicators, unfortunately, passed along the comment, causing the three of them to snort or chuckle in amusement.

"Four-eyes-chan it is!" Izumi decided with a teasing smirk, causing my eye twitch violently. "Alright, how many new models are there?"

The one that I had launched over the house line suddenly crashed through a nearby building, caving in the wall as it broke through instead of jumping over. Its head swayed side to side in an animalistic manner, before it's eye-like-core finally settled on me. The glow from it was slightly unnerving as it hunched over, almost like an angered animal.

"…7," I commented with false nonchalance in my voice. "Well, I think that one's gonna kill me, so I'm gonna need to split for now."

"You gonna be fine on your own?" Yoneya asked, tone less worried than the question was meant to be itself. Probably just for formalities.

(Every damn time, people either overestimate me, or underestimate me. No wonder I turned out so fucked up.)

"Eh, I'll manage, or I'll die," I started running off the side as the Rabbit leapt towards me. "See you!"

I didn't wait for an answer as I turned a corner, jumping away from the spot not even an instant later.

Not a moment too soon either, as the Rabbit's large arms crushed the concrete walls like paper and peered around the corner menacingly.

"Ah shit, I think I'm fucked," I shook off my hand back and forth in the air again to try and get rid of my shaking. (Futile, once again. Why do I have to be so cowardly—) "Shiori-chan, got any advice?"

"Uh, Chika's near your location," She hummed, tapping away on her keyboard. "Aw, it's so hard to focus on two battles at once…!"

"You can cut me off if you want," I offered, upwardly cursing as my voice audibly shook. "Karasuma-senpai's the one facing a black Trigger after all."

"No, I think you and Chika need the most help right now," She hit another key before I heard a near silent rustle of clothing. "Alright, I'm sending Chika directions over to you."

"Wait, wh—?!" I cut myself off as I dodged a beam of light, the shot blowing up down the street. I landed in a front roll and scrambled to my feet quickly, running away from the Rabbit in a panic. "Why the hell would you do that?! We think she's one of the targets!"

"She's in less danger with you anyway!" Shiori yelled back. "With Izumi holding up two, Yosuke, Midorikawa and you each with one, there's still two chasing after the C-ranks! She needs to group up with you!"

I screamed in frustration, hiding behind a wall to get a moment to breathe. "AGH—! Fine!" I lost my cover not even a moment later as the Rabbit fired the beam at the rubble I was hiding behind, wrecking the battlefield even further.

I rolled off to the side to avoid being hit, firing more low-firepower bullets at the Rabbit to get its attention. "Where's she approaching from, Shiori-ch—screw it, the honorific is too much of a hassle to say mid-battle!"

"On your left."

The familiar voice had me ducking to the right and backwards of the Rabbit, narrowly missing being hit be one of its armoured arms. This, however, put the Rabbit in a great spot to be shot at.

A bright sniper shot cleared the road, the relatively small and controlled shot scoring a large dent on the arm it had raised in defence.

"Mori…" Chika began through the communicator, lifting up her Ibis with a slightly shaky smile, but eyes clear and determined nevertheless. "…I'm ready to fight now."

I shot her a quick thumbs up, shaking not visible to her across the street. "Great!" I turned back to the Rabbit, which was now turning towards both Chika and I, judging which one of us to pounce at first. "Because I can't take this guy out on my own!"

The mini-Replica that was beside Chika split into two, the second one flying over to me relatively quickly, as the Rabbit shook some rubble off of its head. "I can provide small boosts, any large or detailed seals are non-accessible for now."

"That's fine," I breathed, watching his mouth open. "Every bit helps."

"Alright, Tamakoma-2 isn't going down without a fight!" Shiori yelled encouragingly before pausing. "…That's our team name by the way."

"Boost," Replica intoned, an orange seal appearing on both my arms as well as Chika's rifle. "Double."

"Make sure not to blow me up, Chika!" I called back, launching myself at the Rabbit. "Replica, Shiori, watch out for blind spots!"

The Rabbit flexed its legs, preparing to jump towards Chika, but I blew up the road in front of it challengingly. it's head swung towards me angrily, and I shot another few bullets at its face. (Why are the fucking Rabbits so tough to break—?!)

It crouched and launched towards me, lashing out with one arm as soon as it was in range. Although this time, instead of swatting me into a building(Which I am getting more used to than I'd like to admit), it knocked me down and pushed me into the ground, crushing me with its weight as the chest cavity began to peel open.

"Oh, are you kidding me?!" I screamed, before recklessly forming a Meteora cube right above my face. "Fuck off already!"

"Launch the cube into its chest," Replica directed through the radio, and I stopped myself from blowing up the literal bomb over my head prematurely. "Chika will detonate the bomb for you."

"—For fuck's sake—Fine then!" I launched the motionless cube into the Rabbit's opening chest cavity with a headset, before pressing myself into the ground as far as I possibly could, already being squashed into the ground by the Trion soldier.

No, it wasn't because of the small appendages from the chest cavity reaching out towards me.

I have something much worse to worry about.

True to my fears, Chika shot a boosted Ibis shot at the Rabbit's head, the bullet so large and powerful I felt the arms breaking apart and being torn off of the torso, even with my eyes closed. The wind from the blast was so strong it made my hair whip around wildly in the air, from where I was being mushed into the ground. I could hear the sickening crunch as it's body contorted and cracked, pieces of its thick armour flying around in the air behind it.

It was over as soon as it has begun though, and I crawled out from underneath the dead Rabbit's torn apart arms, stepping over what was left of its body to get out of the crater.

Everything calmed down on the street we were on, if only for a moment.

"Whew, you guys did great!"

I grumbled under my breath unintelligibly, lifting my foot up and stepping out of the crater. I hid my shaking hand behind my back subtly, facing Chika with a frown. "…I almost died."

She shook her head, Replica bobbing in the air above her shoulder. "I wouldn't hit you."

"That was a black Trigger-boosted Ibis shot," I argued uselessly, jogging alongside her as we headed towards the other areas of chaos. "I felt it graze my face, seriously."

"Sorry," She apologized lightly before I noticed her reach up with her hand to switch off her communicator. I sent her a questioning glance, but she only looked up to me with a humourless expression.

"Everything's going to be alright, big sister."

I gave her a shocked glance, my head whipping around so quickly I feared for whiplash.

To my surprise and slight horror her eyes were fixed unwaveringly on my shaking hand, which I had done my best to hide behind my back and keep still.

(My best just wasn't good enough, I guess. Figures.)

"We're going to make it through this." She stated, no hesitation in her voice. "I have no doubt."

Replica bobbed in the air beside her, staying silent for the two of us to have our moment. His presence was still comforting though, and my quivering calmed slightly, if only for a moment.

I shakily exhaled, shaking my hand off to the side.

"…Let's go help out everyone else. The battle isn't over yet."

Her expression dropped, nearly unnoticeable to either of us, and she nodded solemnly as she turned her communicator back on.

Her sniper rifle clattered in her grip as we jogged around house corners, ears listening intently for the nearest battle.

-0-

The Rabbits were tough to kill, Izumi reluctantly admitted.

He smirked confidently, arms outstretched to aim more Asteroid bullets at the closest Rabbit, the impact causing it to shrink back defensively. The other Rabbit though, found an opening and leapt towards the blonde shooter.

Izumi dodged to the side, leaving a few Meteora behind to blow up in the Rabbits face. The explosion was controlled and didn't do much damage, but the sight of the stunned, shellshocked Rabbit was enough to make him grin.

Yeah, they were tough to kill, but holding them off was rather easy. Two of them was pushing it in terms of difficulty, but shooters had the advantage of distance in a scenario like this.

"Alright, how tough is that armour?" He wondered out-loud, two large Asteroid cubes forming in both hands.

The two bullets swirled around in the air for a moment, before melding into one large cube in the middle.

Izumi smirked, the cube splitting up instantaneously and spreading out in the air around him. "Gimlet."

The bullets launched themselves at the non-stunned Rabbit, piercing small bullet-holes into its head and spreading cracks around with the impact.

"Alright, one more—" Izumi muttered, readying a few more bullets just before his communicator quietly hissed with static.

The other Trion soldier shook off its confusion from the explosives earlier and swung it's head around to the shooter angrily, it's mouth opening and closing in an animalistic fashion that sent alarms ringing in Izumi's head.

Regardless, Izumi would be Izumi.

"Whoops," He began playfully, mockery clear in his voice. "Are you mad?"

The Rabbit growled in return, legs tensing and preparing to leap at him.

Izumi formed a cube of Viper bullets to counter-attack it, but before it could launch itself down the street—

A focused, bright bullet soared through the air, landing itself solidly into the Rabbit's arm, which it's animalistic instincts had warned it to raise in an attempt to block the shot. However, the shot pierced straight through the thick armour without issue, like a hot knife through butter, and made its final mark into the Rabbit's torso.

Izumi's eyes widened in shock, but the shot only further defied expectations, blowing up in the centre of the Trion soldiers body and tearing its torso messily in half.

"An Ibis shot?!" He exclaimed aiming the Viper he had created at the other Rabbit, not once taking his eyes off of the sight before him. "Who was that?"

"That was Chika-chan!" Shiori proudly boasted over the radio, causing Izumi to jolt in shock.

"The C-rank trainee you mentioned?" He murmured in shock. "Seriously?!"

"Ah, Miku-chan was with her too!" Shiori hummed, listening to something else over the communications line before redirecting her attention. "They're coming down from the house Chika was sniping from to meet you, then you guys can head over to finish off the rest chasing the C-ranks."

"Four-eyes-chan from earlier?" Izumi wondered out loud, shooting another Viper at the last Rabbit, the directed shots twisting around in the air before destroying the core easily. "…Huh." He paused in thought, finger resting on his chin. "You said she's a shooter?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, she is. She's only got the Meteora Trigger right now though, she and Yu—her teammate just transferred from C-rank yesterday."

"Cool," He nodded, stepping over the now-dead Rabbit's corpse, head tilted up in thought. There was a distant voice, and he turned slightly to see two figures making their way down from a roof a few roads over. He returned the wave in a laid-back manner, stepping over in their direction slowly.

-0-

"Izumi-senpai," I greeted with a nod, shoving my nervousness into one of the deep dark corners of my mind.

(HE'S PART OF THE NO. 1 SQUAD. HE'S ONE OF THE MOST SKILLED SHOOTERS IN ALL OF BORDER. SHIT. SHIT. S H I T. Deep breaths. KEEP CALM. WHY DOES THIS NEED TO HAPPEN NOW—)

"Yo," He waved back with a slight grin, before nodding towards Chika beside me who was holding her Ibis in her hands. "Thanks for the backup."

"Huh?" She jolted, before bowing back to him. "It was no problem… Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meetcha." He began jogging alongside us, the three of us now heading in the direction Shiori said the closest battle was in. "That was a lot of Trion back there, huh?"

"I-I guess," Chika blushed slightly in embarrassment. "It wasn't anything spectacular…"

"Don't sell yourself short," I chopped her head lightly, before facing forward to avoid any eye contact with either of them. "You did great."

(I'm freaking out. I'M FREAKING OUT. STOP FREAKING OUT. NO. 1 SQUAD. FUCKIN' HELL—)

"So you're the Tamakoma Trion monster, huh…?" He wondered out loud.

Chika suddenly shivered, feet freezing as she lagged behind us.

I came to a halt, Izumi not too far behind me as I turned around to face her worriedly. "Chika?"

"…Birds…" She paled, hands gripping the rifle tighter. "…Something's coming…!"

I froze, and my hand came up to the side of my head in an instant. "Shiori, how close are we to Midorikawa-senpai and Yoneya-senpai?"

She groaned. "Uuuuhhhh… Not too far, but if Chika-chan's side effect is going off, then I don't think you'll have enough time to help them take out the Rabbits before any other danger arrives!"

"She has a side effect too?!" Izumi repeated, eyes flickering to Chika.

"The Radars are picking something up!" Tachikawa squad's operator warned quickly. "Judging by the Trion reading, I think it's a—!"

My breath caught in my throat as all three pairs of eyes flickered upwards at one of the nearby abandoned apartment complexes, a dark figure on the roof.

Their cloak whipped around in the air threateningly, one hand outstretched as something that appeared to be glowing hovered in their palm.

"—A humanoid Neighbour…!"

Izumi prepared an Asteroid cube in his hand, and Chika lifted up her rifle beside me.

"An attack is coming!" Shiori yelled as another Meteora formed in my hand shakily.

-0-

A black spike jabbed outwards.

There was a flash of light and a scoff.

"Honestly, making me do something so fucking dumb…" Enedora growled. "Do you know how fucking boring it is to kill someone this way…?"

"Sorry!" Utagawa apologized from over Mikami's shoulder in the operator's room. "I got too close to him."

"Damn right you did," Kikuchihara clicked his tongue, Chameleon fading away as he landed beside Karasuma. "Mikami, did you manage to analyze anything useful from that…?"

"Nothing," She confirmed solemnly. "There's next to no openings with this guy, despite his seemingly irritable nature…"

"The liquifying ability is a hassle," Karasuma commented. "And there's no point in me using my Geist until I know how it works."

Kikuchihara's eyes twitched, and his eyes scanned the area warily as Mikami blinked.

"Kikuchihara?" She began curiously, eyes on the screen. "Are you ok?"

"…The air sounds weird," Kikuchihara's eyebrows scrunched. "It's almost as if it's… heavier."

"As in, humidity?" Utagawa asked curiously over the radio. "Do you think, that if he has the ability to liquify…?"

"Could he turn into a gaseous form as well?" Karasuma finished. "Or somehow disperse his body into the air…Maybe that's how he manages to get the blades into our Trion bodies."

"…How annoying," Kikuchihara grumbled. "How are we supposed to kill him if he can turn into a liquid or a gas?"

"No matter what form, every Trion body has a Trion supply system and a relay centre."

Kikuchihara and Karasuma jolted, hands coming up to their ears in surprise.

"Kazama," Karasuma began. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Tried to help Mikami analyze the black Trigger," Was his clipped reply. "But it seems you three came up with something better than we have."

"Seems like it, but how are we supposed to approach him?" Kikuchihara groaned. "By the way, I can hear footsteps approaching us from behind the house over there."

"—That's Konami!" Shiori confirmed, switching communication lines again. "She finished off the Trion soldiers as quick as she could and— Gah, Miku-chan and Chika-chan are in danger—!" The radio hissed once again before she went back to the other group.

Kikuchihara turned his head, eyes catching the form of somebody stepping over one of the nearby houses. "Ah, there she is."

"Torimaru, Kikuchihara!" Konami yelled over the radio. "I heard you three were dealing with a black Trigger!"

-0-

"…What the hell are these Meeden small fry doing…?" Enedora grumbled, black liquid-like spikes swirling around his form menacingly. "There's another one over there…"

"Enedora." Mira's sharp voice came from the small portal beside his ear. "The baby birds and the Golden egg are getting away, finish your opponents off quickly and go after them."

"Hah?!" He raised his voice slightly, one of the spikes lashing out slightly more aggressively. "I'll do whatever I want! Besides, you said Hairein's gotten off his goddamn ass and started chasing after them himself anyway! I'll go kill the rest of the Meeden once these ones have gone off and died."

-0-

"I have Meteora, so I don't need to get too close," Konami offered. "And Sogetsu wouldn't work even if I could get close, since he can just go and liquify."

"What a pain," Kikuchihara grumbled. "He's not even in too much of a hurry to kill us. So it seems to think we have a bit of time to strategize."

"What an overpowered black Trigger, and with such an aggravating guy too…" Konami grumbled, lifting on Sogetsu to rest on her shoulder. "Any ideas?"

"…You've been awfully quiet, Karasuma," Kazama cut in sharply. "Got anything in mind?"

Said male stayed quiet, hands loosely gripping his gun as he tilted his head upwards.

"…Torimaru?" Konami inquired, just before he opened his mouth to start talking.

"Maybe my student's been rubbing off on me more than I expected," He began, eyes scanning the sky serenely.

There was a slightly shocked beat of silence.

"…Eh?" Mikami was about to ask him what he meant, but Karasuma went on.

"Because, a few months ago…" He continued. "…I don't think that blowing everything up would be the first thing that comes to mind."

"What…?" Konami squinted, trying to get a good glance at his expression from across the street and on top of the roof.

"Geist on," Karasuma muttered with a startlingly blank expression, arms lifting as his gun began to shift unnervingly. "Gunner shift…"

"Uh." Kikuchihara glanced at the teen beside him as his eye twitched. "What?"

"…Firepower focus."

Karasuma's gun morphed as the barrel enlarged and began emitting an eerie glow, the bullets inside heating and powering up as Kikuchihara's eyes widened.

Karasuma's glove beeped alarmingly, and a clear voice spoke up clearly through the communicators.

"260 seconds until Bail out. Begin countdown."

Konami shrieked and jumped behind the houses she had been standing on.

Enedora's eyebrow raised as he stared straight at the rapidly heating up gun of Karasuma. "What the—"

Everything exploded into a world of white noise and fire.

-0-

There was an alarmingly loud 'BOOM' in the distance.

"What the heck was that?!" Izumi yelled, all of us raising our arms as a strong wind blew through the area. "That was a huge explosion!"

"Shiori?!" I tapped the communicator impatiently. "Was the one of the Neighbours…? Or just a Border agent?!"

She was silent for a moment before her voice came out semi muffled, like she was holding her hand against her face. "I'll just say… that was mostly your fault."

"What?" I shrieked. "What did I do?!"

"Never mind!" She switched the topic. "One more corner to Midorikawa and Yosuke, the humanoid Neighbour is approaching!"

"Alright, let's get going." Izumi quickened his pace and pulled in front of us, turning the corner first and readying a cube of Asteroid.

"Right behind you," I mumbled.

All three of us stepped onto the road, just in time to watch multiple glowing birds swoop down from the skies, and glide swiftly towards the panicked C-ranks.

Much to our horror, anybody that was touched by the luminescent animals let out one last scream, before promptly shifting into a defenceless cube.

"It's the same ability as the new models!" Shiori thought out-loud, just as Izumi pushed all three of us out of the way of a bird.

"Don't let them touch you!" He wanted, firing Asteroid bullets at a few of the birds that dared to try to get close.

"Bullets shaped like animals!" Midorikawa shifted both Scorpions in his grip from across the street, eyes trained on the approaching birds. "The way they move is pretty complex…"

Yoneya grinned, spear spinning as he swung at any nearby glowing animals. "But not quick enough that they can't be hit!"

My eyes scanned the birds that were hit by any of Izumi's bullets, before widening as they caught the small cubes littering the ground around us. "It won't work!" I yelled, just a second too late.

The two of them glanced down at what was left of their weapons, eyes widening in shock.

"The new models!" Izumi warned, firing a Gimlet at the Rabbit that snuck up behind Yoneya, who had also made an attempt to dodge the Rabbit's swing.

Midorikawa wasn't so lucky however, as the Rabbit he was previously holding off slammed him into the ground.

"Midori— shit!" I pushed Chika away from another flurry of birds, watching in slight horror as The birds gathered and rushed towards the trapped Midorikawa.

"Shield!" He raised his free arm, but numbers eventually won, and broke through the small shield and hit him in the face.

"Uh oh—" He grit his teeth, face quickly shifting and going slack. "BAIL OUT!"

He disappeared from under the Rabbit's arms, and I let out a small breath of relief when I saw no cube in the crater. "The Neighbour's coordinating with the Rabbits!" I yelled, and Chika lifted her Ibis to aim at the Rabbit standing in the crater where Midorikawa had been.

"The tables have turned again—" Izumi fired another set of Asteroid at the Rabbit in front of Yoneya. "—And they're clearly after the C-ranks this time!"

Yoneya's eyes shifted over to Chika and I. "Four-eyes-chan! Take the girl and run!"

Chika aimed at the Rabbit, but I scooped her up and dodged as the Rabbit launched itself towards her.

"I think it's time for us to run!" I screamed, watching her shot miss and land itself in the Trion soldiers shoulder, due to the interference of both of the Rabbit and myself. "You get hit by one of those birds, and you're done for!"

-0-

Izumi paused, the bullets he was firing coming to an abbrupt halt as the Rabbit chased Yoneya around another corner and out of his sight.

He clicked his tongue, stepping forward and preparing to chase after them. "Everyone keeps getting split up over and over again…"

There was a small 'clack' from behind him as Hairein's shoes touched the ground softly.

"Oh, so you came over to fight me yourself." Izumi turned suddenly, facing the humanoid Neighbour with narrowed eyes. Asteroid bullets floated in the air around him as birds formed out of the egg in Hairein's hand.

Hairein gazed boredly at his opponent, eyes half-lidded as he watched the bullets uncaringly. "…This will be quick."

-0-

"Wai—! We can help them!" She called back to me, hastily slung over my shoulder. "Mori, stop!"

I hissed through my teeth and made a sharp turn to dodge the Rabbit's beam aimed at us, watching the light flash past us and blow up a house. "We can't do everything, Chika!"

"We can try!" She denied, Ibis fading from her hands as she tried to pry my hands from around her waist. "There's always something we can do to help! I—"

"Just let me take you to a safe spot!" I cut her off, slightly panicked as the Rabbit continued to chase us. "You're one of the—!"

"I don't care if I'm a target!" She protested. "It doesn't matter, because I have a Trigger! I have the means to go over there and help Border fight off the Neighbours, and I need to get that through your head! Because you're the one who taught me that I need to speak up when I believe something is right!"

I let out a shaky, aggravated sigh that turned into a groan mid-way through. "FINE! But can we—for the love of god—just deal with the Rabbit chasing us for now?!"

Her struggling came to an abrupt halt as she used her arms to instead position herself differently in my grip, lifting her head so she could see our opponent better.

(The opponent I'm running away from. Wonderful role model, Mori.)

"…My Trion."

"Huh?!" I tried to turn my head back to see her expression but paid the price very quickly for getting distracted as a beam came a bit too close to obliterating us. The explosion shook the ground around us, and a small stone hit the back of my heel in warning.

"Use my Trion!" She raised her voice to be heard over the chaos around us. "For your Meteora!"

I yelped in response, nearly tripping over my feet ins surprise as I ducked around a corner, the Rabbit still a decent distance behind that we could have a few minutes to breathe. "What?! We'd completely obliterate the area—!"

"Only if you spread it out too much," She corrected me hurriedly, face still withholding a semblance of calmness despite my panic and the stress of the situation. "If you focus it, we can get it to work just like my Ibis."

"Why don't you just use your Trigger then? You don't need my help!" I asked, slightly ashamed that she was holding up better than I was. She was barely panicking and analyzing the situation calmly.

(Some leader.)

"I don't have enough time to aim, and I can't fire in quick succession!" She raised her voice at the end as another explosion sounded out from just next to our position. "If we use your Meteora, we can keep shooting at it until it's down! It's the quickest way."

I took a deep breath and ran an aggravated hand over my face and through my hair.

"…Shiori? Are you still there?"

There was a slight hiss of static, but no response.

"…Replica?"

The mini-Replica rose from where he'd been hiding in Chika's pocket. "I'm here."

"…This is a horrible, not-that-terrible idea."

"That it is," He agreed, and Chika's smile widened slightly as I stuck out my hand to her. "I suppose you've been rubbing off on her." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Excuse me?" I tried to stifle a weary chuckle. "…I hope you're not blaming me for this."

"No, it's both of our faults." Chika nodded, both hands reaching out as she tightly gripped my glove.

"Temporary Trigger link established."

"I guess." I took another deep breath. "Sorry, you can feel me shaking now, can't you."

She nodded, and I heard the heavy 'thud's of the Rabbit's footsteps as it closed in on our location. "It doesn't matter if you're still shaking, you're also still here. Still fighting. That's all that matters."

I nodded, the movement a little jerky than it should've been. "Replica, go hide in Chika's pocket again."

He complied easily, floating down to the spot specified and hiding inside the folds of the fabric.

I got up, Chika not too far behind me.

And then, we ran around the corner.

"Ready to aim!" I began, not even jolting in surprise as the Rabbit was directly in front of us.

"METEORA!"

I felt Trion pump through my Trigger, so much that it almost felt alive as it flowed into my gloves and released into a bullet.

The cube was enormous and almost blocked my vision of the Rabbit in front of us. Chika jolted in shock at the size, but this was what I had been expecting.

(Chika's so much more amazing than anybody ever expects.)

"FIRE!" I yelled, the cube splitting up and dividing under my hands, before all at once…

The Rabbit exploded.

As a matter of fact, so did the few blocks behind it.

-0-

Replica hovered in the air, idly reabsorbing the mini-Replica that had flown out of Chika's pocket.

"Seems Yuma didn't need to send me after all. You two have grown."

Mori groaned, tugging on her hair distractedly. "I think you were just too damn late. We could've used your help earlier."

Replica's bobbing paused momentarily, before resuming. "…I apologize. I will do my best to be quicker next time."

Chika nodded, smile widening as she glanced at the two of us together.

"Thank you for coming for us, Replica."

-0-

"Hound!"

Izumi shot some bullets at the humanoid Neighbour that just arrived, all of the birds approaching him not even making it close.

"I won't let a single one get through." He stated, eyes scanning the swarm of animals getting shot down one by one.

Hairein nodded. "Good skills… However…"

Izumi jolted as he felt something crawling on his legs, and his eyes flickered down in surprise.

'Lizards?!'

They activated in an instant, not doing enough damage to cubify him in an instant, but causing his legs to go limp as the shooter fell to the ground.

"High firepower," Hairein observed as Izumi dropped to the ground. "Excellent control. Befitting of one that exchanged fire with Ranbanein."

"A feint, huh?" Izumi grit his teeth. "You're full of surprises."

"Perhaps." Hairein nodded, hand reaching out further as the glowing egg in his hand released a few more birds. "…You have great skill. Perhaps I can… capture and add you to my team."

Izumi's head snapped up, voice dropping low as he fought to not show any fear in his voice.

"…What did you just say?"

"Not only that, but the Meeden Trigger in your possession could prove to be interesting to research," Hairein thought out loud. "I suppose the golden egg isn't the only benefit of this mission, Meeden truly has some skilled fighters."

Izumi's eyes widened as he hurriedly spoke into his communicator. "Kunichika, Bail—!"

He was cut off as birds swiftly glided towards him.

There was a small flash of light before a cube clattered to the ground, useless and cut off from the world.

Hairein stepped towards the object, hand reaching down to pick it up.

He flipped the perfect cube over in his hands. "…After all, we do need a replacement for Enedora after this mission."

-0-

"We've lost connection with Izumi Kohei from Tachikawa squad!"

A blade stopped inches from the core of a shaking, terrified Trion soldier.

"He was fighting against the newest humanoid Neighbour, who has the same abilities as the new Models to cubify people!"

The Trion soldier shivered in fear of the person before them, before dragging itself in a deadman's crawl away from them, legs already cut off and forgotten behind them.

(Nonononomonsterthey'reamonsternooneisthispowerfulwithoutablacktriggermustrunrunrunrunrun—!)

The core split instantly.

A black Trion cloud leaked out of the clean cut, the Trion solder sputtering to a halt and collapsing to the ground.

"…Ah."

A mountain of corpses lay underfoot.

Rabbits, Vanders, Marmods, and Bado corpses strewn across the area.

"It seems like I'm needed elsewhere."

There was a quick tap of the communicator, as the figure clutched their sword tightly.

"…Touma, Narasaka, Kodera. Could I trouble you to take over for me?"

The figure disappeared in a flash, without waiting for a refusal.

-0-

Konami coughed, more reflexively than anything.

Kikuchihara scowled from where he had hastily hidden behind a rock, dust clouds slowly settle down as he strained his ears to hear anything other than this damn incessant ringing. "Was that necessary…?"

Karasuma shifted the large gun in his grip, eyes squinted so that he could see through the smoke. "Possibly. Possibly not."

"30 seconds until Bail out."

"I don't have much time left," Karasuma thought out loud. "If there's anything left of his Trion body, we should destroy it before he has a chance to reform."

"Oh, great." Konami leapt over the edge of the destroyed house, eyes widening as she finally got a good look at the enormous crater barely staying within the emergence zone. "…How are we supposed to find anything with this dust in the air?"

Karasuma lifted his hand over his eyes as he peered through the dust cloud. "…Perhaps I didn't think this through."

"I'll say, Miku-chan's rubbed off on you more than we thought!" Shiori teased through the communicators. "…The explosion barely stayed within the emergence area!"

"What the hell." Kikuchihara grumbled, eyes scanning the landscape with a twitching eye as the ringing in his ears died down. "I can't hear anything."

"…How…?" Mikami breathed out, eyes wide and unblinking as she stared at the screen in front of her. Kazama regained his composure fairly quickly, as he leaned on the back of his operator's chair.

"The black Trigger could be anywhere, be on guard," His red eyes scanned the screen as well, trying to help search for the Neighbour. "…Like Kikuchihara and Konami did, he could have easily hidden behind a particularly thick piece of rubble."

"So this was all for nothing," Konami groused, both Sogetsu spinning in her hands. She kicked a stray stone over, the rock clattering against any of its obstacles as it rolled around. "I don't see anything."

Kikuchihara smacked his palm flat against the side of his head, stepping up to check the crater beside Konami. "Can't hear a damn thing either."

"Apologies," Karasuma dryly responded. "It was a… spur of the moment thing." He paused for a moment, before turning to Konami.

"…I don't have much longer here."

Konami scowled, waving her hand dismissively. "I know, I know. Don't worry about it, Mori has Chika and Replica with her. She'll be fine."

Karasuma was still before he nodded. "Thank you."

"Trion over-leakage. Bail out."

With a flash of light, he was gone.

The nearby collapsed house(mostly a pile of rubble) exploded just a moment after, and the liquified, still reforming figure of Enedora hauled itself from the rocks.

"Is that annoying bastard finally dead?!" His half-formed, bubbling mouth growled. "YOU MEEDEN MONKEYS! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

Konami and Kikuchihara's eyes trained on the diamond-like object half-visible within the slowly forming torso.

"There it is," Konami growled. "We don't have any more time to waste with you."

-0-

Yoneya swung his spear at the Rabbit in front of him, expression unusually unhappy.

"Tsukimi, where was that bullet-brain last?"

The operator taped a few keys on her keyboard, pulling up what Kunichika had typed up so far. "…He was hit by the newest humanoid Neighbour's attack. They lost connection with him after that… and I believe the Neighbour is heading your way now."

"Not going after four-eyes and the girl, huh?" Yoneya frowned. "That's good, but I don't think I'll last long without backup."

"Indeed."

Yoneya's head swung upwards, eyes catching sight of a cloaked figure landing on a nearby roof.

"…How much time can I buy?" Yoneya asked, lifting his spear while keeping his eyes on both the Rabbit and Hairein.

Hairein lifted his hand, glowing egg releasing luminescent animals. "What futile attempts."

-0-

"Chika, I know we said we'd help them out, but…" A bead of sweat went down my temple despite being in my Trion body. "…I don't know what we can do."

She peeked over the half-destroyed wall we were hiding behind, eyes trained on the three figures in the middle of the street. "We can take out the Rabbit."

"Yeah, but that'd draw their attention." I groaned, back sliding down the wall as I adjust my glasses as a nervous habit. "Izumi-senpai and Yoneya-senpai already told us to leave… Wait a minute." I paused, joining Chika to look over the wall confusedly. "Where'd Izumi-senpai go anyway? I thought he was fighting the humanoid Neighbour, and I didn't see a Bail out from anywhere near us…"

There was a hiss of static before Shiori's slightly panicked voice came through. "Kunichika-chan and I lost connection with Izumi a few seconds ago! You can't see him anywhere?"

I shook my head distractedly, despite the fact that she couldn't see the motion. "Nope." My eyes squinted as I tried to make out exact details. "I can't see—"

I froze, and Chika glanced up at me worriedly. "What do you see?"

"Shiori, bad news." I choked out, eyes not moving from the faintly glowing object in the Neighbours other hand, mostly hidden by his cloak. "I found Izumi-senpai."

"How's that bad news?!" She yelled, but I couldn't even find it in myself to wince at the volume. "Where is he?! Why isn't his communication system working?!"

"He got cubified," I muttered, and hammered the final nail in the coffin before Chika's eyes could finish widening. "And is currently in the Neighbour's grasp. I can see a cube bigger than the rest of them in the fucker's hand."

Shiori gasped, and Chika lifted her body to peer over the stone hurriedly. She fell back down beside me a moment later, face pale.

"…How can you tell it was bigger?" She mumbled. "It looked the same to me, maybe—?"

"It's a small difference, but I can see that it's definitely bigger." I cut her off, guilt pooling in my stomach as her expression dropped. "…Why didn't he just settle with the agents captured by the Rabbit's though, why specifically grab Izumi-senpai?"

"That's not important," Shiori interrupted me with steel in her tone. "What's important, is that Yosuke can't take that guy on his own while holding off a new model, and if the Neighbour's are going around grabbing A-rank agents…"

There was a small shake in her voice, and I felt slightly guilty for forgetting that she was Yoneya's cousin.

And probably worried sick about all of us.

A robotic whirr snapped me out of my thoughts, and my attention was wrenched from the battlefield as Replica bobbed in the air beside us two.

"I think," He began hesitantly. "That I may have an idea."

There was a long pause. "And it's quite unfortunate that this is all I can come up with, because this is going to get quite chaotic."

I gave him a shaky grin. "What do you have in mind, Replica-sensei?"

-0-

Once again, the spear turned into a few separate cubes as he swung it at the approaching birds.

"Pointless," Hairein's clipped comment came, and Yoneya grit his teeth as he reformed the Kogetsu in his other hand.

"Is it now?" He shot back, jumping back to avoid the arm the Rabbit swung at him. "Because the way I see it, I'm buying quite a lot of time."

Hairein eyes narrowed. "Is that what you think?"

Yoneya ducked to avoid the birds, before jumping forward to avoid being caught in between both of his opponents. "Yup."

The Neighbour huffed, lifting the glowing egg just slightly once again. "Making assumptions is a fatal mistake on the battlefield."

"I would say the same goes for you."

Both males jolted at the new voice, heads swinging around to catch sight of the floating object in the air not too far from them.

"A Trion soldier?" Yoneya thought out loud, just before his communicator buzzed. He paused to listen before a small grin began to form on his face. "…I see."

"…That's not one of ours," Hairein mumbled in thought. "What are you?"

Replica hummed, bobbing in the air in a nonchalant manner. "I wonder. But I suppose it's not exactly the time for pleasantries, is it."

A luminescent orange seal formed on Replica's head, the kanji for 'gate' forming almost mockingly. "Gate."

A black toned Rabbit emerged forth from the black rip in the air.

The rip in the air, the portal that formed right above Hairein's head.

"The invasion is reaching its climax, I suppose it's time to pull out all stops."

The Rabbit swung it's arm downwards, just as Hairein's eyes widened in shock.

The ground shook from the force as the Rabbit slammed its fist into the road.

-0-

"Whew, that was close!" Yoneya chuckled, having ducked behind the half-destroyed wall along with Chika, all according to Shiori's instructions. "But I thought you two were supposed to have run away…?" He trailed off in a silent question.

Chika smiled sheepishly. "We couldn't just stand back and do nothing."

"I suppose not!" He laughed, despite the stress and general awfulness of the situation. "But then, where's four-eyes-chan?" He asked.

Chika's smile remained, although the sheepishness shifted into something more similar to knowingness. "…Well, I suppose she's over there with Replica."

Before Yoneya could even ask her what the hell that meant, she lifted her Ibis and positioned it over the wall carefully, aiming and preparing to fire on the signal.

-0-

Hairein leapt backwards to avoid the Rabbit's fist, although the tremors in the ground nearly caused him to lose his balance. "A Rabbit?!"

Replica pulled back slightly, seal disappearing from his head as he faced Hairein from afar. "…Mori, Chika, on the signal."

The Rabbit shook off the rubble from its fist, before an opening it's mouth to create a seal. A shield formed at the last second, the translucent wall blocking any birds from passing and hitting the Trion soldier. Although the shield fell to the ground, useless, in the form of cubes, it served its purpose.

The Rabbit's mouth stayed open, the 'shield' seal being wiped from the air before being replaced by a 'bolt' seal.

The seal began rapid-firing Trion bullets at Hairein, who quickly summoned a flurry of birds to block every shot before they could make contact.

A few stray shots utterly decimated the last Rabbit in the background, but that was a small feat compared to the rest of this.

"Go." Replica stated, just before a small, less focused bullet pierced through the rest and blasted away most of the birds, cubes falling to the ground uselessly. However, the Rabbit continued to fire bullets, and one of the shots blasted Hairein's arm off before he could conjure more birds.

"What?" He jolted in shock, eyes widening as black Trion gushed from the stump. "Where—?"

The shot that had cleared out most of the birds came from Chika, who had begun running away from her hiding spot with Yoneya right behind her.

The Rabbit's bullets finally came to a halt, and Hairein directed a few of the birds from his shield to fly towards the black Trion soldier, cubifying it in seconds.

However, to finish it off, another bullet came from the opposite side of Chika's shot and blasted off his other arm, the limb and Izumi's cube flying through the air with the force of the explosion.

And Hairein could only watch in shock as Mori slowly became visible to the rest of the world, a seal reading as 'blend' slowly fading from where it was situated on her back.

And before anybody could move, with a shaky, smug grin, she grabbed the cube and ran.

-0-

"Oh, that was so sick!" Yoneya complemented, and I thanked the gods that I was in a Trion body instead of my real body, or else I'd be blushing as red as a fire hydrant right now.

"You were cooler," I shot back, genuinely amazed. "You literally held off a humanoid Neighbour along with a new model, which are literally known for being able to take A-rank agents if they're alone! That was amazing, and you're not even injured!"

"Oh c'mon!" He slapped me in the arm, spear in his other hand for the time being. "You went in there and—holy did you see his face! Also—!"

He turned to Chika, who sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "—When you cleared out all of the birds he was hiding behind?! I wish I had a camera, that was awesome!"

"That was amazing!" Shiori cheered through the radio. "Replica, why'd you say that was a bad plan? You guys totally DUPED him!"

Replica's monotone expression seemed to be more bland than usual. And that was saying something.

"…We literally dropped a Trion soldier on his head."

"Yup!" Shiori agreed, Yoneya nodding along with her voice with a grin.

"…A new version, which they've specifically only brought to this planet this time, and it attacked him directly afterwards."

"That was great!" Yoneya complemented, as Chika stuck a hesitant thumbs up.

Replica's voice remained frighteningly blank. "In which we proceeded to use our stolen technology, previously from our own organization, to swoop in and retrieve our comrade."

"Hey, it's not like I'm HQ," Yoneya shrugged, before pausing in contemplation. "Well, I am, but I don't really care. We knew you and shrimp could steal Trigger abilities anyway, it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise." His expression picked back up as he pointed to the cube in my grip. "Besides! If you guys are right with your guess that bullet-brains went and got hit, then we got him back no-problem! I don't really care too much about what HQ has to say about you two, as long as all of us are safe. You know?"

Chika nodded agreeably. "That's what matters. All of us are safe."

Yoneya opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could say a word, all of our communicators buzzed.

"—HQ here, can we have a report?"

Shiori gasped, pressing a button that made a fairly loud 'click' noise. "Oh I forgot to contact HQ, I'm sorry!"

"What happened?" Shinoda asked, voice tense. "We caught sight of many explosions coming from your direction. The last report we got from your group was from Kunichika from Tachikawa squad, telling us that we lost contact with Izumi Kohei."

"He's believed to have been hit by the humanoid Neighbour's attack," Shiori explained. "We've retrieved the cube that we believe to be him from the Neighbour. We're still unsure why they tried to kidnap him in the first place though…"

"Kidnapping A-rank agents themselves?!" Shinoda exclaimed. "Why wouldn't they just leave that to the new models?"

"…Maybe they ran out," I mumbled quietly, before realizing just how absolutely dumb that sounded out loud.

Yoneya muffled a quiet chuckle, and I slapped a palm to my face.

"As ludicrous as it sounds, that is a possibility," Replica agreed, and my head snapped up in surprise at the sheer ridiculousness of the simple solution. "Like I previously stated, Rabbits cost quite a bit in terms of Trion consumption. If they're so desperate that they poured this much manpower into their attack… then it's possible that their home country is running low on Trion. Which means that the amount of Rabbits they can bring on an invasion is severely limited."

"Well, kidnapping A-rank agents or not, it doesn't really matter," Shiori cut in distractedly, not really aware of how rude that sounded. "There're no A-rank agents protecting the trainees, so we need someone to go over there, and SOON."

"Also, I still need to get Chika to HQ," I commented. "I'm pretty sure they're specifically targeting her, the Rabbit came after us specifically instead of anyone else. Also, the humanoid Neighbour with the magnet Trigger shot at her specifically, twice."

"Should I go after the trainees then?" Yoneya asked. "As long as there are no other humanoid Neighbours lurking around, I'm pretty sure I can handle it…"

"Miwa's also heading over there, since he finished cleaning out the area he was in earlier," Yoneya's operator stated sharply. although I think that was just her natural voice. "You should go over there and meet up with him to re-gather and escort the C-ranks."

"Did they all just scatter in a panic when the Rabbits attacked?" I murmured, and Chika gave me a slightly exasperated nod in response. I sighed heavily, lifting my glasses to pinch my nose. "Alright, I guess we have to split up here then—"

"Duck!"

I grabbed Chika and covered her and the cube in my hands with my body as I pushed her to the ground in response to the yell. I could see Yoneya dropping to the ground in a similar fashion a little further away from us as glowing birds flew from over the roof of a nearby house and just barely missed us. They dissipated once they hit the wall of a nearby house, though the barrage of luminescent animals didn't cease.

One of the birds barely grazed my arm, and I shot a small, hastily created Meteora to blast the limb off as a cube fell to the ground uselessly.

"How'd he find us?!" I asked through the communicator in a panic, the loss of half my arm throwing me off balance for a second.

"I don't know, but he's not in range to aim properly!" Shiori responded quickly. "He's probably making an approximate guess based on what direction you ran away from, but he can't tell if he hits you until he makes his way over there!"

"Alright then, I guess we'll just keep running then," I grumbled, before turning to Yoneya. "Are you still going to meet up with Miwa?"

"Yeah, the rest of the C-ranks need the most protecting right now," He shifted his spear in his grip. "Are you alright over here?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine!" I yelled back, motioning for Chika to follow me in the direction of HQ and away from the birds. I gathered the two cubes on the ground to hold onto, balance slightly thrown off with one arm blown off. "We're bringing back Izumi-senpai too, alright?"

"Yeah, get bullet-brains back to HQ!" He agreed, before running off. "Stay safe, you two!"

Chika sped up, turning to me as she glanced at me worriedly. "Mori, your arm…!"

"It's fine, it's just elbow-down," I brushed off her worries. "Let's just get to HQ before—"

"Left!"

Chika and I moved to the side quickly, the bird swooping down barely missing Chika's head as it crashed into the ground.

"Thank you Shiori," Chika breathed, before the three of us ducked into a half-destroyed building to hide from the newest wave of birds.

"Chika, Shiori, Replica. Did you guys know that I've spent around fifty percent of this damn invasion hiding behind walls and rubble while complaining about the general situation?"

Replica made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sigh, but had nothing to refute that statement with.

"We still don't know where he is," Chika commented, re-forming an Ibis in her hand, and using the scope to peek outside and glance around. "…There're too many birds for me to get a good look."

I paused, spacing out for a second as I lost myself in thought. "…We need to get you to HQ as soon as possible."

"Yeah, but how do we do that…?" Shiori wondered out loud. "We don't know which way the humanoid Neighbour went, if he's chasing after you and Chika-chan or Yosuke, but either way, these birds have no sign of letting up…"

"Let's just think worst-case scenario, and he's coming our way," I mumbled distractedly. "Chika needs to get out of here. We need to get Chika out of here, gotta think of a—"

I froze.

-0-

"I don't see him," Chika murmured.

"Here, Chika," Mori reached out with her hand, deactivating her Trigger. "Pass—"

"Mori, what are you doing?!" Shiori shrieked. "Turn your Trigger back on, you're completely defenceless right now!"

"Chika, switch with me," Mori went on, unperturbed. "Let's see if my side-effect can pick up something you can't."

Chika paused, lowering her Ibis slightly. "Mori, I don't think—"

"Just for a second." Mori stressed, holding out her Trigger. "You borrow mine while I take a look, so you're not defenceless."

Chika hesitated, before slowly switching off her Trigger. "Alright…"

Shiori gasped. "Wait, side-effect? Miku-chan, since when?!"

"A while ago," Mori replied, trading Triggers with Chika and switching it on just as fast. "I'm going to take a look."

"I'll move," Chika shuffled out of the way, allowing Mori access to the medium-sized crack that Chika had been using to look outside.

"Gimme a moment…" Mori muttered, facing the hole as Chika shuffled over to sit beside Replica.

Chika turned on Mori's Trigger, watching quietly as the familiar white uniform covered her. "…Replica, can you think of anything?"

The Trion soldier stayed silent, before whirring quietly. "…I'm sorry. I wish there was another option… But I believe that Mori has the quickest solution."

Chika blinked. "…Huh?"

There was a beat of tense silence before there was a click as the barrel of the Ibis positioned itself at the back of Chika's head.

She had exactly 1 second for her eyes to widen in horror and betrayal, her mouth to open to try and force any words out, to tell her sister not to even dare, but…

A flash of light.

"AMATORI CHIKA HAS BAILED OUT."