Baka's note: Yeah, this is a loong chapter, call it a double chapter!
I know, we see some DR2 kids, and I'm sorry we don't see them long or if they're not very well written.
I'm not into the DR2 kids much like you might have noticed already XD
Part 2: Jabberwock Havoc
Chapter 5: Abandon Ship
The XJZ-12 renamed Lucy was flying over the vast blue ocean. It's destination: Jabberwock Islands. The pilot of this gem of a stealth plane was more than happy to fly it once more.
"Haha! And to think that I was worried that I wouldn't get to fly this beauty after her first mission. Well look at us now! Flying quite a lot in less than a week!" Woods laughed as he talked to no one in particular, "Anyway! We'll soon be arriving in Jabberwock Island… hey kiddo… You are sure that the… 'ex'-Remnants of Despair are now sane, right?" The old pilot asked one of his passengers, worry rather present in his voice.
"Yes. You don't have to worry, Woods-san!" Naegi nodded in the back of the machine.
"Tch! I hope so, for all we know, you might be lying to us for almost a year since your first judgement." Juzo glared at the young man who was sitting across from him.
"No, that's wrong! I'm telling the truth!" Naegi countered while frowning, offended.
"Hey! If you two start another fight like the one two years ago(1), I swear I'm ejecting you two out of Lucy!" the old pilot exclaimed.
To this threat, the boxer turned his glare towards the old man.
"Oi… you're not threatening a superior aren't you." He growled.
"Yes I am! But do not worry, the seats have parachutes, so when I'll press that button you'll jump out with a parachute and will happily glide down. So you two better shut it before I press it!" Woods yelled back.
"You lit-"
"Do not worry, Woods-san! I'll look after him." The baritone voice of the Great Gozu said as he put a hand on Juzo's shoulder to prevent him from standing up and probably yell again to the pilot.
"Thank you, Gozu, Sir!" Woods smiled as he
looked back forward.
"Tch! Heh, Gozu! Why are you scolding me like a child while there is one right here?" Juzo glared at his comrade as he pointed to the ahoge man.
"His friends are already doing it for me." Gozu laughed.
The green haired man looked forward to see The brunet looking down in shame as the Togami heir was glaring down at him, and also showing him a video that they all remember well: the remix 'song' of that one time he unleashed his rage at Juzo and started to swear like a truck driver during that old mission they did together…
Hagakure was laughing just listening to the 'song' again.
Naegi started to think again of the reason to why they were going to Jabberwock to meet up with Hinata and the rest of the 77th class, or at least everyone who awakened. It was because of that call earlier that day…
A few hours ago…
As soon as Naegi got the call from Hinata, he, Kirigiri and Ethos had a meeting with Munakata and Tengan and went to their office to explain the new situation.
Once everyone was gathered, Juzo and Gozu too, as they were with the two leaders when they received the news, Naegi asked if they could let Alter Ego connect to the computer on the desk so they could directly talk through video feed.
Tengan nodded in authorization.
After a few seconds, Hinata's head appeared on the screen, his left eye red and the right one green, his hair short as he used to have it before becoming Izuru but dyed in a dark brown, he was in his room.
"Can everyone see me?" He asked.
"Yes we c-" Naegi was about to confirm but was cut by the cold voice of Munakata.
"We can, Izuru Kamukura. State the reason for your call." The silver haired man stared down at the screen.
After all this time, he still got his doubts about leaving the 77th Class Remnants of Despair on the Islands… and he knew that Kamukura reverted into Hinata, but Munakata still wanted to remind him of his crimes at any opportunity by calling him under his criminal name as a Remnant.
"... of course, Sir. As I already explained to Naegi, there is a boat that have been wandering around the residential Island… It's one of your boat."
"If it's one of our boat then where is the problem?" Tengan asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, we know that you left a few boats around the archipelago of Jabberwock to monitor us, and bring supply if needed. But the boat has just been floating… Then yesterday Alter Ego received an SOS footage from the ship."
"An SOS?"
"Can I display it?" Hinata asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Alright, Alter Ego, if you'd please?"
The screen changed and showed a man wearing a Future Foundation formal suit, his sunglasses were broken and he was sweating, blood was splattered on his face and clothes.
"If anyone can hear me, please help! Or wait… no… I'm probably the only man alive on this ship… And I certainly won't last long in this closet. So destroy this damned place instead! Th-those creatures killed and ate everyone! We thought we had a chance since they're small, but they multiply so fast!"
Ethos flinched at that familiar description.
"It all happened when that woman from branch 14 came with two big boxes almost a week and a half ago, she said it was for the Remnants of Despair on Jabberwock! But it was a lie, and after two days, when we found out that there was no order for these boxes, and that the mission report she gave us as authorization was fake, she was gone in the last chopper intact as the others got sabotaged! The boxes were opened and empty… or rather, it was stinking of excrement and rotten egg… there was something alive inside. I think it was those monsters the Paranormal Branch are looking for. After that, food started missing and noises were heard in the ventilation… then all of a sudden these little creatures came out of nowhere and started killing and eating the crew. No matter how many we killed, there was still more than enough to beat us. I can hear them outside… just to show you that this is not a joke or anything… I'll show you the creatures. Maybe you'll be able to see what they are and find a way to kill all of them." The agent sighed and slowly walked towards the door.
Ethos had his serious face on, ready to confirm his suspicions.
The door opened and two strange small creature were fighting over a bloody human hand a few feet from the closet, on the ground of a dark hallway.
They had the body of a fluffy white bunny but the green tail of a lizard. But the most disturbing in the creature was it's head. It was dark grey with little dark eyes, a large horn on the short snout and a mouth like a hyena but with two large fangs on the bottom jaw. It had two pairs of ears, two small grey ones and two large white bunny ones. They were roaring at each other, salivating on the ground.
Then one looked back and stared at the camera, it roared and lots or red eyes appeared on the other side of the hallway, the man quickly closed the doors as thousands of bangs and roars echoed behind it.
"Oh man this is the end of me…" the man sighed, "to whoever gets this message, destroy the boat before it accost any land!" Just after he said that the door gave up and one of the creature jumped on the man and bit very hardly his right ear, ripping it. The man screamed and sent the video right before dropping it. The video stopped there.
Hinata's face was back in the screen. After a few seconds of silence Munakata asked what the Remnants of Despair did after they received the message.
"Nothing. It's a Future Foundation ship. We thought that someone else will receive the SOS, but no one answered and Alter Ego told us that no one probably will since the message is actually at least five days old… So I decided to tell you about it. The boat is slowly being drifted pass us, but there's a possibility that it could come to us. And I can't lie that I'm slightly worried about it since we know nothing about these creatures… I'm sure we could find something but better get rid of it now than just wait." Hinata affirmed.
"I see… you made the right choice." Munakata said.
At this Naegi and Kirigiri looked at the vice-leader of Future Foundation with wide eyes. Did he just complimented Hinata?
Sakura, Tengan and Gozu also looked surprised. Ethos was just staring on the ground, his right hand scratching his head, he recognized the creatures. He'll have to explain to them.
"Naegi-kun, are you up for this mission? It is a job for the Paranormal Branch." Tengan asked.
"Of course!"
"Wait, 'Paranormal Branch'?" Hinata asked, actually confused.
"I'll explain when I get there. See you later Hinata-kun." The ahoge man smiled as he waved goodbye to close up the video chat.
With that done, Munakata asked Ethos if he recognized the creature they've just seens. The one armed man nodded and said they were called, or rather he called them: Bunhinos.
"Yes like, a mix of a bunny and a rhino."
"What about the Lizard part?" Juzo asked.
Ethos stood quiet for a few seconds and finally said, "Well I think Bunhino sounds better than Bunhinard."
He had a point.
"So these creatures are rather small, and I'm more than happy to see they are still small… well they're just slightly bigger… but I think it's because of the generation evolution than the Godzilla's genes. First of all: The Bunhino eats a LOT! They reproduce like that. When they eat a certain amount, they lay an egg that will hatch in less than an hour, and the baby grow into an adult in less than 30 minutes. So yeah… if the first one was on a boat… with many people, so I guess the food storage room was pretty full… the invasion could have started very quickly. And when they are at least eight of them, they can easily take out an adult human being. This place is already a hell hole if you ask me. Going there unprepared will be suicide." The Destroyer explained.
"I see… so we can't send too many people because that would just give them more food but sending one alone that person won't stand a chance…" Tengan said in a worried tone.
"Any way to kill these creatures?" Munakata asked.
"Yes, they are very fragile, break their neck, bullet, anything can kill it. Their main weapons is their speed, horns and teeth, they are easy to kill. The only problem is their number. One is easy to kill. Two, not so bad. But starting from six or eight, you'll be in trouble alone."
"I see… what about that woman that claimed to be from Branch 14?"
"That probably was Kamui Focsfang." Kirigiri said.
"Oh, you mean the traitor that the Remnant of Despair Oroya-kun called talked about? The one who saved some Monsters of Despair?" Gozu asked.
"Exactly, Focsfang was a discreet member of my Branch, I frankly hardly remember meeting her before Godzilla and Mothra's fight last month, she disappeared ever since. I was going to start an investigation on her before we got Hinata's call." Kirigiri explained.
"To think that there was a traitor within our ranks… it's a good thing we found out who it was." Gozu sighed.
"It's a war, spies are not rare… I'll go back into my investigation right after this meeting." The detective said.
"So you're not coming with me?" Naegi realized.
"No, but Togami and Hagakure will go."
"And me!" Ethos said
"No. Oroya, you will stay in the 9th Branch to help Izayoi while he makes you a new arm, also will need you to analyse the documents my men will recover from the laboratory of monsters." Munakata said sternly.
The black and red haired man looked down, his boss was right. He nodded, the sooner he got a new arm, the sooner he'll be back in action! He grinned with a determined face as he said that he'll do his best.
"Good. Sakakura, you'll accompany Naegi and his team on the Island, you'll write the report of the mission and the status of the Remnants of Despair."
"Sure. But wait… I have to go on a mission with him ag-?"
"Do not fight." Munakata glared, he does not want another humiliation like last time.
"This goes for you too, Naegi Makoto." Kirigiri glared at her fiancé who shuddered at her cold tone.
Tengan smiled and asked Gozu to also accompany the group to help and protect Naegi and his friends in case of danger. The Wrestler nodded and accepted the mission without an ounce of annoyance, he actually sounded eager to go and see what Naegi managed to accomplish on the Island.
The two leader declared that the team of five men will go to Jabberwock Island to destroy that boat but not without searching for survivors, they'll leave in two hours and will go on the XJZ-12 with Steve Woods as their pilot.
Present time…
"But why would Kirigiri-chi send me on such important mission?" Hagakure asked.
"She told me that it was because even though you got a hard time with your last mission, you shouldn't get lazy over it." Naegi explained.
"Oh… right." Hagakure looked at the floor of the flying machine.
He did regret what happened to team SLOMA that night, it was kinda his fault when he thinks about it…
He will make his friends proud of him this time! It's time for a prediction! Aaaand… he predicted that it was going to go horribly wrong and they were all going to die…
…
Heh...hehe… well! There's a possibility that this won't happen right?! After all his predictions are 70% incorrect! So it will be alright! Of course it will!
After another hour of flight, the passengers in Lucy were able to see the Island. They flew over it and Woods activated the screen-floor so everyone could see the archipelago form of it.
And indeed, there was a boat that seemed to be slowly taken by the sea. Not heading towards any Islands but there. The old pilot tapped some buttons and zoomed on the boat… it was desert, not a soul on the deck.
Well, it was time to land on the 5th Island where Hinata was waiting for them.
Naegi will just check in with every ex-Remnants that were awakened before his team will get on the boat and start the mission.
Hinata was waiting on the military base of the fifth Island with his fellow survivors of the Neo World Program Killing game, looking to the sky waiting to see a chopper, but there was no such thing coming.
"Are you sure they are coming?" Akane asked as she scratched her ear.
"Well, Naegi-kun called us to say that he was coming, but he should be here already." Sonia responded.
"Yeah, Sonia-san is right! Plus, I can hear the motor of their chopper!" Souda concurred.
"I can hear it too… But why can't I see it?" Fuyuhiko said.
"And it's very close."
Hinata closed his eyes for a second and lifted his head, "They are here." He said.
And just on cue, some strange invisible shaped thing was landing slowly in front of them, then it turned black.
Souda and Sonia had both stars in their eyes and mouth wide open in an 'O', excitement very present on their faces. Fuyuhiko had his working eye wide open in surprise, and so was Akane and Hinata, but the latter was for another reason: 'When did Future Foundation got such technology?'
Fuyuhiko just sighed as she complain that their life was turning more and more into a Sci-fi show.
Naegi was about to walk out of the vehicle when he saw Juzo loading his gun and preparing his modified punching glove. He immediately asked for the boxer to be a bit more trusting. They are no more Despairs.
"I saw those kids slaughter dozen of people under my eye, it will take a very long time for me to trust them, Despair or not, cured from Brainwashing or not."
"But-"
"Sakakura is right I am afraid, Naegi-kun. We have witnessed their crimes. I am glad that they won't raise a hand on innocent people anymore but it will take time for us and the world to see them as victims of Junko Enoshima. I have to admit that I am also tense about meeting them." Gozu explained in a soft tone.
"I… I understand…"
The five men walked out of the strangely shaped plane, Woods said that he'll keep the motor running so he can lift them up quickly to the boat when they were ready.
They were greeted by the five ex-Remnants who waved at the group. The fact that they were all wearing their attire of the time when they were world criminals didn't helped to ease the mind of the two elder men.
Even Hinata, which surprised Naegi and Togami as they remember him wearing his white T-shirt and dark jeans when they left the Island almost a year ago. He was now wearing the dark suit Kamukura used to wear, but he kept his green tie. Naegi will have to ask why they were all wearing the same clothes from when they were Despair.
At least there was some modifications for some of the others: Fuyuhiko wasn't wearing his eyepatch nor his dark hat, but he kept his mafia cloak and attire. Akane didn't had her chains rolled up her right wrist, but besides that she was wearing her shorts and open white jacket showing the rest of her body that had just a black T-shirt covering her breasts but leaving her abs in the air. Sonia had her big white royal dressed turned into a long skirt for more comfort while moving as Naegi remembers. Souda was the only one who didn't changed his outfit, still wearing his yellow jumpsuit and tools, his wild rose hair let loose.
As much as Naegi would love to talk a bit with them, Juzo and Togami reminded him that they were in a hurry and they'll have all the time after they were done with the boat. Hinata nodded in understandment and asked his yakuza friend to start running the two trucks they'll drive to the first Island where everyone was keeping an eye on the boat for any suspicious activity.
To which Fuyuhiko told him to do it himself, making a few people laugh as they all walked to the cars.
Fuyuhiko and Hinata will be the drivers. Sonia, Souda, Naegi and Togami sat in Hinata's vehicle while Akane, Juzo, Gozu and Hagakure sat in Fuyuhiko's.
And so they left the fifth Island to go to the first. Much to Souda's pain of his motion sickness.
To break the silence, Naegi asked Hinata about anything new and why they were all still dressed in Despair.
"Well first, five people woke up since you guys left: Ibuki Mioda, Peko Pekoyama, Maro, Komaeda Nagito and Mahiru Koizumi who actually woke up yesterday. She's still a bit confused but we're helping her." Hinata said.
"That's amazing!" Naegi smiled.
"I'm still doing my best to shut off my 'talents' to help around and not get back in a Kamukura state of mind about boredom. So I guess I'm alright. Also, we didn't told Komaeda of your arrival yet, he's on the main Island helping Alter Ego and Nanami for my next work." Hinata explained.
"Oh so you guys did manage to bring back her AI" Naegi smiled.
"Yeah… we found out that Alter Ego saved a version of her before the execution during the killing game, so she has her memories and was very happy to learn everything you have done for us."
"Yeah! I helped a lot too! I even made Komaeda a new robot hand and built up some little MiniNidai to help with chores!" Souda grinned over his pain.
"Oh a metal hand! Like Ethos!"
At hearing the Destroyer's name, Sonia and Souda paled and looked down, shame in their eyes. They have cross paths with Ethos' Despair friends who were keeping him alive to bring him despair over and over again… he looked so miserable. At least he was alive and even had a new arm. But the look he had on his face were another one to add on the pile of the hundreds of victims they remember. The truck fell into silence for a short while...
"Also… who is Maro?" Naegi tried to appease the mood a bit.
"They are the Ultimate Impostor, remember?"
"The one who usurped me." Togami scoffed.
"Haha, yes. That's how he decided to call himself when we convinced him that he can be himself for once and didn't need to work hard to survive because he has us to take care of him." The man who has heterochromia smiled.
"I see… it's nice to hear… but what about the clothes?"
"Oh. This? Well…"
"It's to remind us of our crimes." Sonia continued, "Just because we weren't our normal selves during that time doesn't mean we can be forgiven… and that we didn't do them."
"So until everyone is awake and we get the chance to redeem ourselves, we will carry our sins with us." Souda sighed.
"And how do you plan to redeem yourselves actually?" Togami asked.
"We were hoping we could maybe join forces with Future Foundation and help you get rid of the remaining Remnants of Despair."
Naegi and Togami stood quiet at this, the ex-Luckster would be more than glad to accept them and have them help. But what would the other head think? And the agents? This wasn't something he could have the last word about, but he could certainly help to make that wish come true.
"Now my turn." Hinata grinned, "where did you get that amazing plane that can turn invisible?"
"Oh yeah! It was so awesome! I sooo want to disassemble it and rebuilt it again to see what it's made of!" Souda exclaimed with star in his eyes, almost forgetting his sickness.
"We can't tell you where we got it." Togami said as he fixed his glasses on his nose.
"Is it linked to the new Paranormal Branch? What is it anyway?" Hinata asked again.
"Yes. And I think we can at least tell you that. As you may know by now… monsters are real." Naegi started.
Then he started to explain about Tanaka's Monsters Of Despair ( information that made everyone widen their eyes to learn that their comatoze friends had even dared to do chimeras of his own army of animals), what they are and what was supposed to happen to them during the first mission of the Paranormal Branch. About the fact that six escaped their execution and are now wanted. Then Naegi finally got to the subject of the reason as to why the Paranormal branch was born: Godzilla. Needless to say that no one believed it at first when he said that the monsters of the movies was actually real and kicking. Sonia was very excited and Hinata had to admit… that ever since he became Izuru Kamukura… there was very rare chances for him to be surprised and confused. But this was certainly the biggest thing he ever predicted nor expected to exist. He was very surprised and intrigued. And to think that Naegi even managed to communicate with the monster.
Wow, they certainly missed a lot!
When they arrived at the beach section of the first Island, where everyone else was waiting, they could see the boat more clearly. It certainly looked normal.
The four awakened saw the members of Future Foundation and regrouped around them, much to Juzo and Gozu's discomfort as they prepared their fist for a fight. But the wrestler calmed down rather quickly as seeing that they really didn't have any ill intentions. The boxer on the other hand was on guard all the time.
Ibuki was shaking Naegi's hands way too excitedly telling him how happy she was to finally see him again but this time without being 'crazy in the head'!
Hagakure was presenting himself to everyone he didn't know, offering a free prediction that they all either politely or just plain rudely refused.
The moment Togami saw the impostor in a disguise of the heir, he ordered him to not take this appearance while he's around as all the plebeians might actually confound them. Maro chuckled and said that he was right, he'll change when they'll leave to the boat.
Talking about the boat, Mahiru, who was still a bit dizzy and keeping her distance from the yakuza duo, warned Hinata that she saw with her camera some movements in some rooms through the window, but she didn't know if it's survivors or the creatures.
Naegi's team nodded… as much as the brunet wanted to spend more time with the awakened Remnants, Gozu reminded him that they had a mission to do as he pointed to Juzo who was calling for Steve Woods to come and get them.
After a few minutes, the XJZ landed in front of everyone under the surprised eyes of the ones who hasn't see the plane before. The five agents of Future Foundation went inside. The class 77th awakened students waved good luck to the team as they flew towards the boat.
"Alright guys! Let's prepare the surprise!" Hajime smiled.
When the XJZ landed on the deck of the ship and the five men got out with the pilot staying inside for evac, the first thing they noticed was all the blood spots pretty much everywhere. They were rather faint which is why they couldn't see them when they were inside the plane. But they also noticed that there were some trails that went to the door leading inside the ship, suggesting that whoever that blood belonged to, have gotten dragged inside to be eaten.
"Alright. When we get inside, we must communicate by signs or with very low whispers. Let's not attract any Bunhino." Naegi said.
It was simple and smart, no one had objections. Togami and Naegi prepared their guns, it's certainly not the best weapon for an enclosed environment and certainly not a silent one, but with the silencers on it should do it. Gozu knocked his fists two times, preparing them for a good punching. Juzo imitated him, but with his modified left punching glove. Hagakure only put his hands in his jacket, earning a raised eyebrow from his comrades but they didn't mind. It just better be useful.
They opened the door and walked inside.
And the corridors were exactly as they expected: blood everywhere, bullet impacts and bloody human skeletons. These little creatures really ate everything on the humans.
Something was disturbing though, there was also bloody skeletons of Bunhinos…
The team slowly walked deeper inside the haunted looking ship, they almost got lost as every hallway were similar: blood and skeletons. They opened up a few doors but it was also the same.
"I don't think there is anyone alive on this ship." Togami whispered.
"I agree with him. We shouldn't waste anymore time here and set the bombs." Juzo whispered back.
"But we can't just put the bombs anywhere. We should go to the hull… place the bombs there and leave, it should make a hole and sink the boat." Naegi proposed.
"What if they swim?"
"You don't have time to swim when you're trapped in a sinking boat." The blonde man said, his voice still low.
No one had anything to say to oppose the plan so they headed towards the hull, walking down the bloody stairs.
"We haven't seen a single creature yet… it's really a bad sign if you ask me." Gozu said.
After two minutes that felt like ages of silence and dread, they reached the large room that was at the bottom of the ship. From what a plan showed on their way here: the room was also the engine room and when they'll go through that door, they'll be on a platform above the machines, they'll have to use the stairs to go down and instal the bombs on the floor.
Naegi was reaching for the handle when Gozu stopped him.
"Shh… can you hear?"
Everyone stood quiet… it was coming from behind the door.
"Stay low and quiet." The boxer said.
Naegi slowly opened the door and everyone got on the platform slowly and slightly crouching, the noise was way louder. And when they saw the engine room below. Their eyes widened.
"Holly shit!" They all cursed in a collective whisper.
All the Bunhinos, all of them. Hundreds maybe thousands of them.
TMoD #3: Bunhino
They were all in the room stacked, roaring and grunting.
Some were fighting each other and even eating one another.
It seems that these creatures hid there when there was no more food on board, waiting for a new destination hoping for more food. But to keep their 'specie' alive, it looks like they did duels: the winners got to eat the loser and lay an egg, creating a new generation. Smart and barbaric.
There was absolutely no place for them to put the bombs without getting their attention. They should try another room or put some around randomly…
"Alright. Dead end here, let's go." Juzo said as he turned towards the door.
But Hagakure was a tiny bit too close to the boxer when he turned around. And so the fur of Juzo's coat swiped a tiny bit too close to the clairvoyant' nose when he turned around.
And that tiny bit of a tickle was enough to have Hagakure starting to take a quick breath for an incoming sneeze.
"Aa.. aa… AA-"
Everyone turned to him with wide frightened eyes. Naegi was the first to react as he put his right index finger under his friend's nose to prevent him from sneezing. But it didn't work because they aren't in a cartoon.
"ATCHOO!"
"Ew!"
"Sorry."
Togami shot a glare to his old classmates.
"What did you expect you fool?" He sneered at the shorter one, "this isn't a cartoon!" He gave Naegi a tissue to clean his snorted hand, "And y-"
But Juzo was faster as he grabbed the clairvoyant by the neck of his clothes, "I can't throw the kid but you… give me one reason why I shouldn't throw you in there to give us some time." He gritted his teeth in a fuming rage.
"Dude! Please don't! I'm the one with the bombs!" Hagakure whined for his live.
Of course that was a good arg-
Wait.
Everyone paused…
-Why the heck/hell/fuck does he have the bombs?!- everyone thought at the same time.
"Wait. I can't hear the monsters…" Gozu said.
The five men slowly turned towards the lower floor… to see all the Bunhinos staring at them.
"Oh shi-"
"RUN!"
The humans all ran at full speed down the corridors again while the Bunhinos roared in unison before giving chase.
SSKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Gozu slammed the door behind him but he knew it wouldn't hold long.
"What was your girlfriend thinking giving him the bombs?!" Juzo yelled.
"I don't know!"
"Well Kirigiri-chi told me that it would finally give me an important role in a mission."
"And why didn't you told us you had the bombs?!"
"I thought that you guys knew that!"
"I was thinking that one of the responsible people had them."
"We have NO TIME FOR THIS!" Gozu roared in panic, "We need to go NOW!"
A furious bang on the door followed by hundred more, all as furious as the first snapped all the men from their dispute and made them run. After they put a good twenty meters between them and the door, the latter finally gave up and crashed on the floor, the monster swarmed the hallway, chasing our five agents.
Naegi was in front, leading the troop, his phone out and trying to call Woods. Juzo and Togami right behind him, the blonde man loading his gun and looking back, ready to shoot. Gozu catched up to them, fists ready and finally Hagakure was screaming and started to throw the bombs all around him from his clothes. It was small sticky C4 bombs. They were small but there was quite enough to destroy a good half of the boat, hopefully.
The monsters of Despair were catching up rather quickly, Togami started to shoot. Just like Ethos said, they were fragile, one bullet and they were down. And as soon as one was down, a good dozen of Bunhinos stopped to fight over the new food.
At seeing that, the Heir started to aim mostly at the Bunhinos that were leading the charge. A good thing with all those little chimeras stacked and forming some sort of wave was that even if he missed his wanted target, he'd hit one anyway.
Gozu looked up, there was scratching noises on the ceiling… there are some in the vents too!
"Watch your head!" He exclaimed.
And just on cue, a Bunhino fell from a hatch and bit down Juzo's left shoulder, getting a tight grip as it dug its large fangs on the clothes, trying to reach the flesh.
"AH FUCK OFF!" Juzo yelled as he reached for the monster's horn with his right hand.
Naegi finally managed to dial Steve Woods' number.
"WOODS-SAN! Prepare XJ- LUCY, YES! Prepare her engine! We're coming! And we need to leave as soon as we're on deck!" Naegi shouted on the phone.
The Symbol of Hope put his phone down and took his gun and handed it to Togami behind him who needed it as he was running low on ammunition.
"Watch out! Bone!" Gozu shouted in a warning and pointed forward as a skeleton was laying on the ground on their path that could trip one of them. And if they fell, they won't have time to stand up as they'll be swarmed by hungry monsters.
Everyone jumped over it and the skeleton actually managed to slow down the wave of small rodent creatures for a short time.
But the ones in the vents weren't slowing down. Gozu looked for the ceiling hatches, Naegi noticed that and pointed at them to him, the wrestler nodded and picked up the pace to lead the charge and protect everyone from any ambush from the ceiling as he used his large fist to punch the hatch inward, blocking any way for the Bunhinos to push them down. He swore he heard a crack as he felt blood splatter on his hand at the third hatch he broke. They were getting faster, probably because there wasn't a dozen in the small vents pushing each other to get the first bite unlike the ones chasing them behind, who were just stepping over each other.
When Juzo finally managed to get rid of the Bunhibo that was biting his shoulder, he threw it on the ground and suddenly felt something smack his back, he quickly reached it thinking it was a Bunhino. But the solid structure and slightly slimy made him realize what it was.
"Hey fucker! Don't throw the bombs at me!" He roared at Hagakure who was screaming and wailing his arms around, throwing the sticky bombs around, Juzo grabbed the bomb and what he saw made him sweat both in anger and panic, "YOU HAVEN'T SET THE BOMBS?!"
"They aren't remote controlled?" Hagakure asked between cries.
"Son of a- There! I set it for one minute, we're almost to the deck. Let's keep up!" He shouted before throwing the bomb up sticking to the ceiling, hopefully it will do a chain reaction of explosions with the others.
After 40 seconds of running, punching, shooting and screaming. Hagakure was out of bombs. They finally reached the deck and they were glad to see that the XJZ had it's back door open, already hovering over the ground, ready to take off.
Juzo and Gozu jumped inside first and quickly extended their hands to help the three younger men inside, easily lifting them up and almost throwing them inside the plane. But when they propped Hagakure up, a Bunhino bit his leg and was pulled inside the XJZ. In the panic they let a few Bunhinos jump inside too by accident, Naegi screeched for Woods to take off as they didn't have much time.
Gozu quickly punched and kicked the Bunhinos before they attacked anyone. Juzo and Naegi were trying to catch them. The plane was too high in the air for the ones still on the boat to reach by jumping.
Only ten seconds, there was only five Monsters of Despair inside the XJZ, they threw them out and finally closed the door, making the plane turn invisible again.
The Bunhinos were left confused at the sudden disappearance of the flying machine looking around.
Then the set bomb exploded, then another. The boat blazed into flames, sinking in the water. All the monsters drowning and burning, screaming in pain and terror as the XJZ flew towards the beach.
Meanwhile, a few miles away from Jabberwock Island, underwater, an old submarine was slowly creeping its way towards the archipelago. Inside was a group of at least ten men, of all ages.
In the control room were three of them, one was looking at the radars while an old man armed with a gun was talking to the last one, a young man in a hoodie around his twenties.
"Remember, your mission will be to use that camera to film and take pictures of the Island. Rumors says that Future Foundation are keeping important Remnants of Despair on Jabberwock Island. If we can just prove this, we can show to the world that Future Foundation is a lie led by Despair." The old man said as he handed a powerful camera to the young man.
The old man was the 'captain' of this crew, his days in the army gave him enough knowledge about how to pilot a submarine and controlling this old model was a piece of cake, he only needed a few men and to teach them. It took months but now they can finally go to their objectives.
"But what if they aren't there?"
"Future Foundation is guarding that Island for a reason, son. I am ready to bet my own life on it. We will ruin those bastards."
"Why would we try to destroy a foundation that is saving the world?"
The man put down the camera and let out a long sigh.
"Those assholes don't care about us. They just wanted to destroy the Despairs to make a good show. They don't care about the casualties, everyone of us are just sacrifices."
"But that was before Junko Enoshima died! And these last months they are doing everything they can to have no casualty during their rescue missions. Don't you know they saved the people from the Remnants of Despair who were on Godzilla's path in the United States?" The young man countered.
He wasn't here to ruin Future Foundation, he just wanted revenge over the Remnants who killed his family.
"Bah! Godzilla isn't real! All this news and footage were bullshit! As if giant monsters existed, those videos must have been edited by the Despair or Future Foundation themselves to make new propaganda and make them look like saviors. I wouldn't be surprised if they had an Ultimate Filmmaker or whatever. Plus that dumb idea that they talked to the monster via another monster to calm him. What kind of Sci-fi magic bullshit is this?!" The old man grunted.
Just as he said that, a strange noise echoed from outside the submarine, it sounded like a growl…
SSKKREEELLAAARRRGGG!
"What... the hell… was that?" the young man asked.
"J-Just a whale…" the old man answered as he waved it off… but he was sweating. He was also trying to convince himself of that lie.
"Sir! We have detected something with the radar! It's coming this way!" The other man in the room shouted.
"Damnit! Probably a submarine… we can't fight if it's a Despair one…"
"Negative! It's too big for a submarine!"
"Then it's a whale… I guess?"
"Negative! It's size and speed doesn't match. The unidentified object is coming quickly! Impact imminent!"
"Then what is it?!" The old man yelled, frustrated.
"I DON'T KNOW! BRACE FOR IMP-"
The submarine suddenly shook violently as something collided with it. Screams of terror quickly filled the submarine. The three men in the control room grabbed anything steady not to fall on the floor as they felt the diving vehicle tilt forward in dangerous degrees.
"What the fuck is going on?!" The old man screamed.
Then there was a roar, the same as before but way louder, outside right next to the control room.
"Oh God… It's a kaiju!" the young man paled in realization, "We all are going to die!"
"Shut up! Monsters aren't real!"
Suddenly some sort of giant black claw pierced the ceiling inward, silencing the three panicked man in the control room. As water poured violently through the cracks, the giant claw started to rip apart the submarine's facade.
"HELL NO! I've been working for months for this revenge! YOU WON'T TAKE IT FROM ME!" the old man yelled as he grabbed his gun and started shooting at the claw that kept ripping the submarine, leaving more and more water pour violently.
But the bullets just ricocheted against the hard surface of the black claw. The young man lowered his head for protection, the other man didn't got so lucky as he got shot by a bullet. The young man screamed for his captain to stop. The old man kept screaming in rage even when he was out of ammo.
The claw did a complete turn of the submarine, the giant aquatic vehicle snapped open broken in half.
The young man couldn't see as he was thrown around and rolled under water for a few seconds, but they felt far longer, he opened his eyes when he wasn't moving. As the salty water slightly spiked his eyes; he held his last breath of oxygen inside his lungs as if his life depended on it… And it did. These latter were being crushed like his eardrums by the pressure of the depths, begging for him to release that pack of oxygen and succumb to the darkness of the abyss.
But he could also finally see what was the monster that just torn the submarine in half.
He could only see the silhouette of the monster but he could notice a few things.
First of all, the creature was massive and had tentacles but wasn't an octopus as he could see that it had two massive ones for arms and four more smaller, on it's back. It had a large belly and two thin hind legs similar to a lizard and a large short tail.
The creature's head though… it had some strange giant horn on it's for that went upward instead of forward, it's big red eyes were glaring down on the open submarine as his comrades were now floating out of the wreckage. The creature had a long pointed snout and a sharp fanged mouth. But the most terrifying was the fact that the black claw used to cut the submarine in half was actually the tip of the creature's tongue. It's tongue was some sort of a long flexible mandible or tentacle. It was skewering the people before bringing them inside it's mouth.
After it was done eating everyone including the captain, the creature turned its head towards the young man and leaned forward to eat him too.
The young man was too engrossed by the creature in front of him so he didn't hear nor see another giant monster coming.
The second creature punched the first one with a scaly fist across it's cheek. The impact made a wave that sent the younger man rolling deeper in the ocean. Almost making him release his breath but there was no way out of this kaiju battlefield.
As he could feel that he couldn't hold his last breath longer, he looked up at the scene in front of him.
Godzilla was there, right in front of him. Glaring at the unknown kaiju in front of him. In some way this looked awesome. He gave his last breath.
He had to admit, for a last sight, this was freaking awesome.
The two creature roared at each other and kicked the water to lounge at each other, the impact between the two titans sent another wave in the water, more powerful than before. It sent the young man deeper into the abyss… eliminating all remaining chances of survival.
He closed his eyes forever...
Baka's notes: What will happen on the Islands? Now that another creature and Godzilla are fighting near it.
(1) You haven't read Patience Mission? You should! It's a short story of Naegi and Juzo going on a mission together and both start cursing at each other like barbarians!
