DES BATTTLESHIP GUSION
Sayaka was checking the virtual map, counting off the rooms and corridors.
"Okay, that one's the canteen… living quarters… storage…"
"Sayaka-san!" Umi pointed to a group of approaching DES soldiers. One of them raised his gun.
"You four! Halt!" he commanded, but these four weren't going to listen to any commands.
In a flash, Sayaka produced a microphone, which turned into a beam saber, and dashed towards the men, slashing at the lead man, stunning him-like 00's other weapons, these swords were not meant to paralyze. The other two soldiers tried to react but were stopped by Mayuyu, who, to Nico and Umi's amazement, transformed her arm into some kind of gun. She disarmed the other two soldiers, allowing Sayaka to attack.
"Close one," Mayuyu said.
"Yeah," Sayaka agreed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Come on, they should be right this way."
As they ran towards their destination, Umi couldn't help but think of Honoka, and hoped that her friend would be alright.
SKIES ABOVE AKIBA
All the meanwhile, Honoka was firing the Barbatos' smoothbore gun at her opponent. The computer onboard the Barbatos recognized the opponent as the Gusion, another Gundam Frame.
The Gusion, however, was doing a fine job of swatting the shells with its hammer.
"She's good," Honoka, who was now sweating heavily, muttered. "Fine, if that's how you want it!"
The Barbatos was also armed with a mace, held in its left hand, and a katana, stored in the back since it's not in use. The smoothbore gun folded up and was stored in the Barbatos' back as well, allowing Honoka to hold the mace two-handedly. She lunged at her opponent, who blocked with the hammer before using its heavier weight in an attempt to push Honoka back.
Honoka returned the favor by using her leg to push back her opponent with a well-placed kick. In a fast motion, Honoka unfolded the smoothbore gun again and damaging the Gusion's shoulder amor. She fired again and hit one of the Gusion's sideskirts, damaging it.
"Damn, who is this girl?" Ryuko said through clenched teeth. She could not deny Honoka's skills as anoperator of the Barbatos.
She's way better than me!
"But… I can't lose to her, not here! Time for a little song!"
Ryuko activated her little power source…
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Let me do!
"It's Shocking Party again," Honoka muttered. She figured that the Gusion's main power source was none other than Tsubasa's voice… "Tsubasa-san… don't worry. I will save you!"
Honoka attacked with the mace again, holding it in a two handed grip. The Gusion raised its hammer in defense, and this time it was able to push back the Barbatos.
"It's stronger now!" Honoka exclaimed, to her surprise. "What happened to it?"
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Ryuko shouted, now feeling as confident as possible. She could feel the despair in the poor idol's voice as she was forced to sing for her. After pushing the Barbatos back, she followed with firing the Gusion's torso cannons. The Barbatos' shoulder armor was hit, destroying both of the shoulder armor.
Party shocking party, are you ready to get started?
(Come here, right over here)
Party shocking party, the world is turning
(Come here, right over here)
It's for nobody else (Me and my freedom)
Because it's all up to you (Go, go! We are freedom)
It's 'cause of nobody else (My soul is free)
You're the protagonist you know? You understand?
DES BATTLESHIP GUSION
Erena Toudou and Anju Yuuki, the other two members of A-Rise, were sitting at their cell, silent, worried for their friend.
Suddenly they heard shouts and recognized the voices of their guards crying out in surprise.
What surprised them was seeing Umi Sonoda and Nico Yazawa of Muse, along with two other girls, both holding what appear to be microphone beam sabers.
The two Muse members were the first to approach the cells to meet up with Erena and Anju
"Erena-san, Anju-san!" Nico called out. "We'll get you out of here."
Umi looked around in wonder. "Where's Tsubasa-san?" Indeed, Tsubasa was nowhere within the cell rooms.
Anju shook her head.
Erena spoke. "Some people took her. They were performing some kind of experiment on her. They took her to some kind of mechanical laboratory..."
Erena saw one of the girls consulting some kind of virtual holo-map.
"Sayaka-san, where is it?" Umi asked while turning around to meet the girl she called for.
"It's just in the corridor to the left," Sayaka said. "I'm accompany you. Mayuyu, Yazawa-san. Take Erena-san and Anju-san, then get back to the ship. Wait for us."
Mayuyu nodded and immediately brought out a flamethrower. "Stand back." Erena and Anju followed, and Mayuyu shot at the bars. Of course, as the bars were made of metal, they melted in a matter of seconds.
"Let's go," Nico said, reaching out to both A-RISE members. "We'll save Tsubasa, promise," she told Erena and Anju.
"That's right," Umi confirmed and nodded in accordance to it. "Honoka is out there right now fighting for us. We can't fail her."
"Honoka-san… fighting?" Anju asked, totally clueless about the situation at hand.
"It's a long story, which we'll tell you later," Nico said. "For now, let's go!"
The group separated into two. Mayuyu and Nico took a reversed course while carrying Erena and Anju towards the ship, while Umi and Sayaka rushed to the experiment room where two guards were standing.
Sayaka wasted no time, using her sword to stun the two guards. Umi opened the door and gaped.
Tsubasa was sitting down in some kind of chair with wires connected to it. A helmet of some sort was connected to her.
A scientist who was monitoring her shouted. Sayaka recognized him as Dr. Shimada, a scientist known for his inhuman experiments before being adopted by DES.
"Who the hell are you? Guards!" Shimada shouted in warning, then called for his assistants.
"Your guards are over there," Sayaka said, pointing to the collapsed figures by the doorway.
Shimada tried to attack her, but he was suddenly hit by a DES soldier helmet, knocking him out.
Sayaka turned around and saw Umi had thrown it.
"Nice throw," Sayaka complimented, her voice full of amazement, as she did not expect Umi to shoot something at supersonic speed.
"You should see me with a pillow," Umi informed Sayaka, making the poor girl worried as to what would happen if she would have gotten herself in a pillow fight with the bluenette.
The two quickly started to work on freeing Tsubasa.
SKIES ABOVE AKIBA
Honoka swung the mace at the Gusion, but her opponent blocked it. Honoka tried again but her opponent dodged her attack this time before turning around in a full circle, retaliating with her hammer, attacking the chest area.
"Aaah!" Honoka shouted in pain as she felt the vibrations done by the hit. The chest was where the cockpit was, after all.
Honoka raised her mace but her opponent gripped her hand and ripped it off the Barbatos' arm.
I want to know more, of this excessive life
Let's delve into the dreams
I want to know more, of this excessive life
So let's have a shocking party
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing
Dancing, dancing! Let me do!
"This is too easy. Too easy!" Ryuko said, laughing evilly. Her opponent was losing already, after all. Thanks to her superior piloting and the song system employed by DES, she was gaining the upper hand. Although a part of her still regretted the fact that it wasn't her powering the system on her own…
Suddenly alarms showed on her screen.
"What the hell!?" Ryuko exclaimed.
The Gusion, which was holding the Barbatos in a tight grip, was now losing its strength.
"What is happening?" Honoka wondered as she looked at the hand of Barbatos. It was damaged enough, but surprisingly, the grip was getting weaker.
Honoka didn't understand why her opponent suddenly started being weaker, but now was her chance. Using her remaining arm, she drew her katana and in one strike, sliced at the Gusion's hammer arm. Now both LAS are one arm short, but Honoka had the advantage of a weapon. The Gusion could do nothing else but try to escape while firing its cannons.
"Damn, damn, damn!" Ryuko screeched, as if throwing a tantrum. "System error again?" She tried to contact the ship. "Report, what is happening?!" she shouted. As Honoka was taking advantage of the Gusion's weakness, Ryuko suddenly saw her other arm being sliced out bit by bit by many slashes received from Barbatos' katana. Panicking from getting her legs cut out as well, she repeated her statement.
A soldier answered through the radio. "Enemies on board… have taken the prisoners…"
"What!?"
Ryuko gritted her teeth. Fine, if it's come to this…
She opened her voice and sang.
AH~!
AH~!
AH~!
Why does it become night
So fast in Shibuya?
We met for a little bit
The two of us on the usual way home from school
Surprisingly before we say it
It gets close to my curfew at the game center
But it's the start of love
Because there're various things happening
Takamina paused when she heard that. Kanata did, too.
"Takamina-san…"
"I'm not mistaken. That voice…."
"Ryuko! What the hell are you doing?" Captain Nakajima's angry voice echoed in the cockpit.
"But Nakajima-sama—" Ryuko protested, but was immediately cut off. Ryuko getting off guard resulted in another opportunity taken by Honoka, and the latter finally got to cut the entire arm of the enemy Gusion.
"Get back here! Retreat!" Nakajima commanded, which left Ryuko no other choice but to follow.
"Ye-yes, Nakajima-sama…" Ryuko muttered.
Ryuko threw one last evil gaze at the Barbatos before teleporting away.
Honoka was tired. Sweat dripped from her body.
"That… was a very close fight…"
"Tsubasa-san!" Sayaka called. "We have successfully retrieved the three members! Returning to base." After the report, she and the others were already visible through an incoming ship.
"Excellent," Katagiri confirmed. "Bring them here."
When the ship got inside Katyusha, Honoka remembered. She contacted the bluenette through the comlink.
"Umi-chan! How's A-RISE? Tsubasa?!"
Honoka heard her friend's voice, in a worried tone.
"Anju-san and Erena-san are o-okay, but… Ho-Honoka…" Umi started her statement through stutters, probably from fear. "Tsubasa-san, her condition is critical. We're rushing her to the clinic now."
AKB0048 BATTLESHIP KATYUSHA
"Damn, damn, damn! Dammit all!" Honoka shouted in frustration as she ran alongside the hospital bed Tsubasa Kira was lying in. "Tsubasa-san, hang in there! Please!"
"… Honoka…" Tsubasa mouthed, as she too weak to even let a groan out.
"Faster!" Sayaka commanded, and the entire team rushed into the clinic to get the school idol treated.
"Here!" Yuki signaled and pointed to the ER, and they all moved the bed to that area. They advised a majority to keep out of the room until they came up with results.
"Tsu-Tsubasa-san…" Umi called out with her face full of terror as she looked at the doors. She'd seen everything, after all. "Sh-Shi—" she covered her mouth as her legs failed her. She sobbed until tears finally came out.
The other members stared silently at the doors as they hoped for good news.
KATYUSHA'S EMERGENCY ROOM
"What happened?" Yuki quickly questioned as she attached various machines into Tsubasa.
"While we were entering the ship, alarms broke out and we took that as a signal to cast the escape faster. As we were carrying Tsubasa Kira, her right arm was suddenly ruptured. Eventually, she's started bleeding right from her inner arm. Next thing we knew; her entire arm has been cut off from her body. Same with the other."
Yes, they've been looking at a horrible image this whole time. Kira Tsubasa had both her arms cut off, and has been bleeding out badly ever since the rescue.
"She's losing too much blood. And… please remove her clothes. They were tattered way too much," Yuki commanded, and of course the others followed.
Wounds that seemed like they've been slashed were present within Tsubasa's torso and joints. They also seemed to have been really deep, and it might have hit veins, thus the quickening loss of blood.
As the members were working on Tsubasa, Honoka stared at Tsubasa's body, her eyes devoid of any light.
I remember those wounds.
Yes, she figured it out. Those were the paths her katana took to wear out the Gusion II. That must also explain the amputated limbs. She could not even deny it.
Honoka fell on her knees. Despite not knowing the situation at all, she knew one thing.
She was Tsubasa Kira's killer.