A/N: Alright, it's time to tally up the points of my poll:
Minato Arisato: 3
Makoto Yuuki: 0
I guess I'll be using the name Minato Arisato. With that out of the way, notice how this and the previous chapter started off with a passage of the storyline if you ignore this Author's Note? Well, these little passages foreshadow future chapters in Mercenaries of Fortune and I hope that these help to excite those who wonder what's going to happen later on. That said, Enjoy!
The Shadow tried to retreat into its golden cage, but before that could happen, Izanagi fired off a Zionga and finished it off.
"NO!" the Shadow said as the cage fell to the ground, taking the chunk of ceiling that the cage was attached to with it and crushing the cage and its contents.
Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 5
Ghost Force 969 Field Base, Command Center, Thursday, April 14, 19:15 local time.
"What the hell is that thing?" a soldier asked Enforcer.
"It's some scanner that was just recently set-up. Apparently the televisions in town act as portals into the true home of the Shadows: monster born from human emotion. They go ballistic if their nests are disturbed and we just found out that this 'TV World' that the local televisions are connected to is the original Shadow nest from which they have been spreading from for all this time. Mayumi Yamano was killed by these things as technically, when she was thrown into the TV World, she had intruded on the original nest." Enforcer replied.
"Intruded?! But why would they consider someone who was tossed into without a choice as an intruder?!"
"Does it look like any of us can understand the Shadows? No. Besides, with this scanner, we'll be able to detect if someone has been thrown in."
Suddenly an alarm rang as Mercenaries started scrambling. Enforcer then took off into a meeting room where Dmitri, Tunazu, Aiko, and a superior officer were standing around. Dmitri was a Russian and used a minigun primarily.
"Alright, boys, we just found out from the scanner that Saki Konishi was recently thrown into the TV World. Any action plans that we can take?" the superior officer said.
"Sir?" Enforcer asked.
"Yes, Enforcer."
"We head in, secure Konishi, and then extract out. The only problem would be visibility and getting out. Heading in is the easy part."
"Alright, we'll use your plan. Echo Squad, move out!"
As Aiko, Tunazu, Dmitri, and Enforcer left, they were joined by the soldier from earlier and another Mercenary. Their names were Louis and Zhang respectively.
Forty minutes later, inside the TV World. . .
Saki awoke and wondered what had happened earlier today, but her mind was too clouded for her to figure anything out. She also noticed that the area was covered in a thick fog that made it hard as hell to see anything in front of her. Before she can move, she hears a sound coming from somewhere and decides to stay where she is to make it easier for anyone to find her.
Meanwhile, Echo Squad had just came in and found out that they were in some sort of television studio-like area.
"Any idea where Saki is in this place, Enforcer?" Tunazu asked Enforcer.
"No, and we can't see shit in front of us because of this fog. We'll have to activate the flashlights on our weapons." Enforcer replied.
The Mercenaries activated the flashlights on their weapons and the light provided by them managed to let them see through the fog for about ten feet. Before long, they saw a figure with the subtle shape of what was probably a mascot come into their view.
The mascot said to them, "Who are you?! Are you guys in league with the one who has been throwing people in here?!"
Enforcer answered with, "No. We're here to extract a human who got thrown in here earlier. Please prepare an exit for us. Tunazu will watch you while the rest of us search for the human."
Mascot?: "Sure can do. The exit is going to be a bit odd, but it's a TV."
"Makes sense considering that we entered one just to get in here. Oh, and I didn't catch your name."
"The name's Teddie. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, Teddie. Heading out now."
All members of Echo Squad except for Tunazu left Teddie behind at the studio-like area as they began the search for Saki. After about ten minutes of searching, Enforcer realized that the TV world had a LOT of Shadows hiding around in the fog. Just before he was about to begin intensifying efforts to find Konishi, he heard a scream come in from the left.
"Wellington, can you recognize that scream?" Enforcer asked.
Wellington answered with, "Yeah. It's Saki."
Dmitri then said, "We need to barrel in the direction of that scream. Maybe the Shadows have found her."
The Mercenaries quickly moved in the direction that Enforcer heard the scream from and found themselves in a twisted version of the Central Shopping District of Inaba. In front of the Konishi Liquor store, Wellington said, "You head in, Enforcer. Aiko and I will come in with you. Dmitri, you need to guard this entryway so no Shadows jump us. Same goes for Louis and Zhang."
Enforcer yelled, "Let's do this!"
The three of them charged into the Liquor Store while Dmitri and the remaining soldiers took defensive positions at the entrance. Inside, a Shadow that had the body of a scorpion leapt away from an unconscious Saki Konishi.
Enforcer swore and then said, "Damn, she's unconscious. We'll need to carry her out now. I'll do it if anyone else doesn't want to."
Wellington's response was, "I'm alright, you go ahead."
Aiko then spoke up, "I'll do it."
Aiko turned her weapon's flashlight off before putting it away and walked up to Saki and then picked the girl up. Hearing gunfire, Enforcer and Wellington rushed back to the entrance. Three Basalt-Type Shadows had attacked and Dmitri had taken down two of them by himself while Zhang and Louis did their best to keep it pinned down. Moving quickly, Enforcer manages to flush the Basalt into Dmitri's firing zone and before it could do anything, Mini-gun rounds fired by the Mercenary pounded into it and killed the Shadow.
Enforcer then shouted, "We need to get moving back to the entrance and fast!"
Wellington then shouted, "Let's move, on the double!"
The Mercenaries all said a fast, "Hoo-Rah!" as they headed back to the TV studio-like area. Once there, the TV exits were ready and Tunazu stood guard as Teddie greeted them.
"The girl is unconscious. A scorpion-like Shadow got to her, but she's not dead." Enforcer said.
"Well then, since we found her, we can head back into Inaba. This world is definitely a Shadow nest." Wellington also exclaimed.
Teddie then said, "So you guys now know what this 'TV World' actually is."
Dmitri answered, "Pretty much. I suspect that this world is the original Shadow nest from which they have been migrating to our world from."
"Unfortunately so. Many of the stronger Shadows have already disappeared ever since an incident about twelve years ago."
Enforcer then said to Teddie, "I hate to break it, but those Shadows had probably been lured out of this place. The Kirijo Group, I believe, is the perpetrator, but as of now, most of who were involved in the experiments done by them are dead."
Wellington then shouted, "We can't spend much more time here!"
"We'll have to cut this short. We need to be on the other side of the TV because there's another Shadow nest over there now."
With that, everyone went into the TV exits and left the TV World.
Black Train, Car No. ?, Unknown Train Station, 23:55 local time.
"This is Epsilon Five-Four, everything is alright and we will reach Yasoinaba Station in only a few days if all goes well." a Mercenary on-board the train transmitted on the radio.
"Understood, Epsilon Five-Four, be advised, there are high odds that an attack will come in your direction while the train is en route to Inaba. You and the rest of Delta Squad need to protect the H.V.I. (High-Value-Individual) on-board until the train reaches Yasoinaba Station. From there, Ghost Force troops already in Inaba will take control of guarding the H.V.I. and transport him to Inaba Memorial Hospital." Ghost Force HQ transmitted back.
Epsilon Five-Four then asked, "Understood, but is it really necessary for the train to be escorted by EIGHT Black Hawk Helicopters?"
Ghost Force HQ's only response was, "Yes, Epsilon Five-Four. HQ out."
With that, the transmission ended as the train started moving again. According to intelligence, it would only take about eighty-four hours to reach Inaba by train judging by how fast the train had been going for the past two days. Just before the Dark Hour came, HQ called and reminded the Mercenaries on-board that the train can still move during the phenomenon. About five minutes later, another mercenary transmitted to Epsilon Five-Four that enemies have boarded the train.
Epsilon Five-Four asked a nearby mercenary, "Any idea on what they are?"
The Mercenary replied, "Shadows! No matter what, make sure that they do not reach Minato Arisato!"
Epsilon Five-Four then shouted to him, "Understood."
A Shadow that looked humanoid landed in front of Epsilon Five-Four, who didn't hesitate as he unloaded a clip of bullets into the Shadow, killing it. "Well, that Shadow is dead." he said as he started searching the train car for more Shadows. Three more were found and they were killed upon being discovered.
Meanwhile, the Black Hawk helicopters were firing their mini-guns at several groups of Shadows that were trying to board the train. After five groups of Shadows were neutralized, one of the soldiers on one of the Black Hawks transmitted, "This is Foxtrot Two-One, these Shadows are starting to be a pain in the ass!" as the helicopter had to start using evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit by RPG fire coming from the Shadows.
Ghost Force HQ transmitted back, "Ground support will be unavailable until you guys get near Yasoinaba Station. You're on your own."
Foxtrot Two-One then said before cutting communications, "Roger."
The Black Hawks then started firing their own rockets at the Shadow clusters, easily killing many of them and reducing the volume of RPGs coming at them as the helicopters and the train moved towards their target.
The Amagi Inn, Reception Area, the Dark Hour local time.
"The situation is starting to spiral out of control. A Shadow had gotten to Saki Konishi before we recovered her, she's currently unconscious for unknown reasons, and now we have a new problem to handle." Enforcer said as the meeting began.
Tunazu added, "One of our trains that is heading to Inaba is under attack. From what we have found out, the attackers are all Shadows."
Yu thought for a few moments and then responded with, "That means that whoever killed Mayumi Yamano isn't behind the ongoing train attack, among other things. Reaper-Sensei, you getting any of this?"
The Reaper replied, "Yeah, and it's not good. I'll need to attend to Saki in the meantime."
The Reaper then left. When he did, Dmitri and Aiko came in with Yosuke Hanamura. "We found him near his home. He's scared out of his wits, but he obviously has the Potential." Aiko explained.
Yosuke then said, "Hello everyone. I hope I can get along with all of you."
As Yosuke took a seat, the Reaper came back in and said, "Well, I have some good news and some bad news."
Yukiko asked, "So what's the good news?"
The Reaper answered with, "The good news is that Saki is still alive."
"And the bad news?" Yu Narukami asked.
"The bad news is that her mind got eaten by a Shadow before she was recovered by Enforcer and his buddies. The Shadow responsible was a scorpion-like one that is still at large right now." The Reaper said before he explained what Shadows and the Dark Hour were to Yosuke. When the Reaper was done explaining, Yosuke decided that he would help Yu and Yukiko explore the TV world after a training session that would happen on Friday.
Enforcer: "Yeah, as for that training session, we have five holographic simulation rooms back at our field base. The facility where our holo-simulators is underground and it is right underneath Vehicle Hanger 3. It's only accessed by an elevator, so the facility and the access elevator run on a separate generator if the base experiences a power failure."
As everyone left the reception area, Yu remembered that there was another Shadow nest in Inaba. He said nothing about it as he went home, though.
A/N: I decided to release this chapter early, so the poll's closed. In any case, Read and Review.