January 20th.
That was when it happened.
One had not happened since around four year ago, but they expected it.
They prepared for it.
One of them had seen it.
Another one had calculated it.
A third one made sure it happened.
Warning: A Gate is opening. Large-scale outbreak of Gates confirmed. Anyone in the vicinity of the Forbidden Zone, please evacuate at once.
"There are... 38... 39... 40 Gates! And counting!"
"Squads on duty deploy according to their Operators' instructions! Destroy all trion soldiers! Don't let a single one outside the Forbidden Zone! Tell all off-duty agents! Every agent to the front to counter the threat! Battle commence!"
Shinoda: "All B-Rank agents are not to directly fight the Neighbors unless able to group up with their entire squad. Evacuation is a main priority if you are unable to do so."
Kimura Kawaguchi was already in her seat when she heard the alarms going off. She had been let out of school to work on some things for Border, so it was easy for her to be ready for the attack on the city.
Manager: "Everyone is close to each other. You all make sure to get to each other quickly."
Miso Soup: "Why do I feel like you're directing that towards me, Kawa-tan~"
Manager: "Because you of all people will probably ditch everyone just to see how things turn out in the end."
Miso Soup: "Hey~ I dooooo care about this fight though~ I feel quite offended that you would say such a thing to me of all people~"
Resistance: "Both of you need to be quiet! Misó, hurry up and don't lag! Captain, I'm meeting up with you in a minute!"
Hero: "Right. Kawa-chan, we're relying on you to tell us where to go."
With that the line went quiet.
Kimura nodded to herself as she looked at the screen in front of her.
She wished she could be out there and help them out, but she knew this is what she could do to help them now. If it helped in any way then it was fine with her.
Seeing all the dots on her screen gave her a better understanding of how things would turn out for each one of her teammates. Both former and current.
"I should contact Kanzaki at the least. There's someone I would like to have her keep an eye on."
The girl would likely have to fight alongside other B-Rank agents and A-Rank agents, yet Kimura knew that the single girl could rival some of the A-Rank agents and would be fine telling her to do a favor.
The thought of contacting her other former teammates came to mind, but she knew just how they would handle this kind of question. It was even more of a negative when she thought about their current situation and how they would be handling the invasion as a whole.
She knew all her teammates too well.
Takato Mei let out a sigh the moment she stopped from her walk through the park. She saw the Gates open up and Neighbors coming through by the dozens. None of that seemed to matter to her as she simply stood there with her phone to her ear.
The entire day she had been thinking of what could happen, and what the odds of them happening were.
Now that everything came to the forefront, she had a great understanding as to what would occur during the invasion.
With prior knowledge given to her by Jin and his foresight, she readied herself to realign the situation to a point where everything would work out. She would force the turn of events to the path that Jin determined as the "best solution for all" and would take as many risks as needed.
Her status, the status of her team, and the status of everything else would be something that she would throw away in order to cooperate and assist one of the two people who understood her best.
That was why she spoke to the second person who understood her with a calm and collected tone.
"Yeah, I know. It's pretty hard not to hear. Don't ask me such stupid questions next time. It will mess me up and, as a result, I will mess you up."
"That's not very nice. Although, that's understandable when the two of us work off of each other to the point of dependency. Well, either way, I guess Tora-san was right. You're gonna have to make your way to the base this time around. You staying out too long will just drag you back into the name of Rampage Dress."
"I guess so... Oh, well. I might as well get rid of the ones in front of me first. I'm just glad there's no one around right now. Even if it's a moment... I should be able to rid myself of that damned nickname before anything comes of it."
"I just got the orders from HQ, so I'll be fighting for a while. Try not to cause too much collateral, okay? If you do, just say that it was all an accident and that it was because the Neighbors wouldn't move out of your way. Simple."
"Having me lie is really a stupid thing to try. I'm better off forcing my way through and taking responsibility for my actions, instead of getting in trouble for something so childish. Actually... When I think about it... You should be fighting right now."
"What do you think I'm doing?"
"Being an idiot. Now focus on what is in front of you and not what I will do to you when this is all over. Make sure you get things done."
With that, the line went dead.
Mei let out another sigh as she put her phone away and pulled something out of her pocket.
She didn't really want to fight at the moment, but knew she would have to make it passed the horde of trion soldiers before she could make it to Border HQ.
"Well...I might as well get started."
The soldiers started charging at her, but she did not seem to mind and simply lifted her arm.
"Trigger on."
"We shall now see what will happen. How will things turn out? Will Border be victorious or will the Neighbors? This will provide me with a good amount of information. I just need to wait everything out until it's all over."
Misó Epanástasi looked around at all the Gates opening up.
He had been waiting for this moment. The moment where he would see a large-scale invasion that could get things going for him.
He saw a large amount of trion soldiers going straight towards him. He brought out two blades and got ready for the long fight ahead of them all.
"Sensei, we just got orders from HQ, so we need you and the C-Ranks to help evacuate everyone else out of here. There are some headed this way, so we'll take care of them while we go meet up with the rest of our team."
Kotowari Takeshi stood with the other agents at the school. The school had to evacuate due to the current invasion, so the agents that were there got to work.
Takeshi had taken (read: been forced) control of the situation by directing any C-Rank Border agents to help with evacuation while telling the B-Rank agents and single A-Rank agents to go out for the actual fights.
His teacher had been put (read: been forced) into the position of leader for the general civilians who were not affiliated with Border in any way. He was in charge of controlling anyone who thought it was best to run in a random direction.
"Sure thing. Just leave it to us. It's our job, after all."
Takeshi nodded and turned to look for Toby. The moment he did a Gate opened above them. Multiple bodies crashed to the ground in front of them.
They were Marmods and Bado.
"There... There are so many of them!"
"There's no way you guys can take on that many!"
"Just shut up and go."
Under normal circumstances, the amount of trion soldiers would be an annoyance that Takeshi would not want to deal with. Given the current situation, he faced the lot of them as three trion orbs appeared by his head.
A heated noise filled the air as three laser-like beams tore through the air. Each one connected with the trion soldiers and began piercing their armor until reaching the cores.
The attack did not stop there. The laser-like beams moved to the side along with Takeshi's arm. Each one cut through the trion soldiers they were piercing and moved to do the same with the other ones.
"Ah. I suppose this would be a good time to give off the impression of a villain who ranks #4 among the best by saying something along the lines of, 'Inuuuuuuuushiiiiiiiibaaaaaaaaa!' But I will hold back from that due to the masses."
.
Toby Awdry, a B-Rank Attacker, shook his head as he turned to three other people.
"Fubuki, looks like you're stuck with us for the time being. With No not here right now, you can't really meet up with your whole squad."
"Yeah, it looks that way. So do you want to leave this to me while you and Takechu meet up with the Queen?"
The girl in boy's clothing smiled from next to him while she held a Lightning in her hands.
Behind the two of them were two younger Border members. In front of them was the dull faced Takeshi.
"It's more that I want to make sure Yuki is fine, but we can go with that. Besides that... Shun, you and Futaba are cleared to go whenever you want. Sucks, but the order was for us B-Ranks."
"Yeah, that would be fine and all, but..."
"Kotowari is not paying attention and will likely destroy the school building."
"What she said."
The four of them looked over to see Takeshi yawning into his hand while continuing to fire on the trion soldiers.
One of the laser-like beams had stopped firing and the trion orb it was coming from floated near Takeshi's head like a dog. The boy lifted his hand and waved it off, but it moved closer to him.
"We can... Well, he's a lost cause anyway, so we can just leave that be," Toby said. The other three only nodded their heads.
With how far from the center of the city their school was, the number of Neighbors was relatively small. For every one Neighbor there were at least five people standing. The numbers were low, but they moved in multiple directions that caused others to crowd closer together.
Compared to what things were like when in the Forbidden Zone, this felt more like a test than anything, but...
That just means there are that many more deeper in the city. With how many agents we have, it should be fine enough for the evacuation points, but the city itself will be a mess. I can't do much when it comes to "protecting", and Takeshi is just as bad, so we're likely going to be a squad that focuses on taking out Neighbors instead of evacuating.
The heated noise in front of him made it clear that Takeshi did not want to remain here for too long. He only wanted to reach their captain.
He felt the same way.
But this was different.
We still need to focus on the things around us. I should probably stop him before he really does just destroy the buildings.
Letting out a sigh, Toby created a blade of trion in his hand.
"Fine, fine. I'll deal with that guy and then go meet up with our squad. Fubuki, we'll be leaving this place to you and the others. Shun, your squad isn't even ready, so just go find some others to group up with. Futaba, you should probably go meet up with Ms. Kako."
"Hey, hey, who put you in charge here?"
Country Girl: "Just do as he says and go already."
Toby nodded over to Kuroe while ignoring Midorikawa's complaints.
"I'll open up the way for you two, so just make sure to get going. Fubuki, you're up on that too."
"Right, right," she said, lifting Lighting.
.
The first attack was a quick one.
Toby rushed forward with the blade in his hand.
The distance between him and one of the Marmods was covered in a moment.
Toby's body flickered for a moment as a noise followed him. The air filled back in and his body appeared in front of the Neighbor.
With a slash through the core, the Neighbor fell.
Two more came from the right and the left.
Looking to the side, his body disappeared once more. This time he appeared above one of them.
The Marmod responded to the sudden action by lifting it's blades into the air.
Toby used his Scorpion blade to push one of the blades aside before jumping over it.
With his back to the Marmod, the Neighbor moved in for another attack.
But...
"—!"
With his back still turned, Toby ducked down. His body began to turn from the new position as the attack went over his head.
Creating a second blade in his hand, he made a full diagonal arc through the air.
"You guys better not fall behind!"
The blade of the Marmod went through the air as trion leaked from the cut core.
With his head still facing the other side, his arm reached out while releasing one of the Scorpion blades. He grabbed the Marmod's blade with his hand and moved forward.
Using an overhead throw, the blade was sent into the air towards the third Marmod.
It crashed into it.
Toby ran behind the crash and moved underneath the Marmod.
With a powerful push, two blades came from under and pierced through the armor.
Before it could fall on top of him, he teleported away with a grin on his face.
"Right! Next ones!"
"The trion soldiers have split into groups. They're heading into the city from all directions. They appear to be headed...west, northwest, east, south, and southwest away from us!"
Sawamura Kyōko reported everything in a calm tone. Everyone followed the screen while she reported everything. They were able to see where all of the trion soldiers were moving and aligned it with her words.
They had prepared for this invasion and would retaliate in the appropriate manner. They decided to not let themselves be trampled over by their opponents.
"Split the teams into three groups. Send them east, south, and southwest!"
"W-wait a second, Director Shinoda! What about the west and northwest!?"
"Don't worry. We've got that covered. Jin and Amō are headed there."
Shinoda spoke with no worry or doubt. He focused on what needed to be done at the moment and nothing else.
Netsuki seemed to take this well as he calmed down a bit.
They all knew that those two would be enough to take out whatever got in their way.
"The other fronts are the problem. We can't let the rest of the Neighbors enter the city before our teams catch up. Kinuta-san?"
"I know. I worked with Fuyushima to make a plan."
In multiple areas, explosive shots were fired and large blades sprung up from the ground.
The trion soldiers that walked on the ground were pierced and hung in the air from the large blades. Any that were able to move away from them were faced with the turrets that continuously fired on them.
There were a small number that made it past even that much.
That was fine.
The directors watching the areas knew that this was a fine situation.
After all...
Mystery Smoker: "Suwa Squad has arrived! We'll eliminate the Neighbors!"
WorTri: "Hikigane Squad here. Hah. We're taking them out."
Kuru-ma: "Suzunari-1 here! Combat initiated!"
First Sniper: "Azuma Squad has arrived. Commencing attack."
"Kazama, Arashiyama, Hatohara squads... Arafune, Kakizaki, Chano squads... All heading to their targets while eliminating trion soldiers!"
"Good. Have them join up! They'll work together to defend the city."
"Wait... Oh. Takato Mei is heading to the base while taking out large amounts of trion soldiers! Tsukiko Yuki has enclosed himself to a single point and is taking out trion soldiers appearing in the area."
"Those two... Fine. We'll leave those two be for now. Once Yuki meets up with his team, they will also join up with the others."
So this is what we are dealing with...
Minoru looked around at the destroyed Neighbors around him. Some were cut down from his own blades while others had holes in them from him and his teammates. The amount of Neighbors they had taken out by this point had been noteworthy, but none of them cared for that at the moment.
Instead, Minoru looked around with narrowed eyes as information about the others throughout the city came in.
One section in particular had caught his attention.
Deer Prince: "Loki, why are you keeping yourself at such a distance? That's a less guarded area, but there are also less over there than the rest of the city."
White Fox: "There are a few reasons. But the two main ones are because it's less guarded and..."
And...
White Fox: "I was hold that this would be the best place for me to be during all of this."
There was no question as to who would tell him something like that.
Minoru gave a hum at the thought. If it had only been one person to tell Yuki to stay in that location then he would have at least widened his area a bit more. The fact he is keeping to that small of an area means...
Wisteria: "Sorry about that, Minoru, Yuki. Jin and I worked together for this, so everything should more-or-less be fine. But we need Yuki to remain where he is."
"Have you told the directors?" he asked as he looked around again.
Svantje was nearby and likely making her way back over to them. Meanwhile, Maki seemed to be taking everything in.
What a way to start...
Maki had only recently joined Border. Now he needed to take part in this invasion as their defense against Neighbors. Compared to some others, he was capable enough to fight, but that had not been where the issues came from.
Fighting Neighbors is fundamentally easier than fighting other agents, and the fact he can fire a free Viper is nice, but there is still a certain amount of experience you need before being ready for something like this.
Actually, I wouldn't even say most of the people participating are really ready for this kind of thing, but...
But...
There isn't time to really think of that at the moment. So many things are happening at once that trying to focus on things like that would not be good.
And yet there were those who found no problem with this sort of thing.
Wisteria: "I had left it up to Jin to tell them."
2.7 Maime: "Oops. Slipped my mind."
White Fox: "Aaaaaaaand none of us believe that."
These people being some prime examples.
"I guess they would have figured it out by now anyway."
Minoru sighed as Svantje arrived with a wave.
Deer Prince: "I can't say anything if both of them told you to be there."
2.7 Maime: "Oh, right. Hey, Minoru. Can I ask for a favor?"
A favor?
That felt a bit concerning, but he answered back regardless.
Deer Prince: "It depends. What are you asking for?"
And now of all times? he thought. Considering the situation, it must be something important.
2.7 Maime: "Can you send Maki-kun my way?"
Misó was crouched down in front of a fallen Bambster with a dull expression. He moved his hand across the shell of the trion soldier before pulling out a piece of paper and placing it in one of the small cracks he himself had made.
"Hey, Misó. What are you doing!?"
The one who yelled at him was his teammate - Teikō Hitsugi. She and their captain walked up to him as he stood up.
Misó turned to his teammates with a grin in place.
"Ah~ Sorry~ I just wanted to see something. We usually just leave things to HQ when it comes to these things, so I wanted to really check some of these out before we moved on."
"We don't have time for-"
"Hitsu-chan, it's fine. Kirai-kun is just curious, so we can give him a minute or two."
Oshiro gave a kind smile to his team.
Hitsugi huffed and crossed her arms while Misó continued to grin.
He looked around a bit more at different ones while placing the same pieces of paper at the different holes that were made.
He stood straight up and looked over to his team. Oshiro was continuing to smile and Hitsugi just let out another huff. It seemed that the two did not notice what he was doing.
"This really isn't the time for this crap. We need to hurry up and get to the next area. We're in the middle of an invasion. If this takes any longer then I'm going to go by myself to deal with these things!"
Manager: "She's right. And our captain doesn't seem like he can wait any longer. Misó, hurry up and get done with it before he does something dangerous again."
Misó and Hitsugi looked over to see Oshiro looking around with a look of concern on his face.
He had noticed their stares and his face loosened up as he smiled towards them.
"It's nothing. I'm just worried about some people..."
Manager: "Inukai, Tsuji, and Kobayashi, right?"
"Wh-what!? I mean... Yes. But there are more than just those three. Besides, Hisoka-san and Shinnosuke-kun are currently dealing with things together. We had defense duty anyway, so that's why we're out here, but those two were still in school when this started. Right! And I'm sure Haru-san is helping a lot too! Yeah! Since that's the case, I can tell him that he did a great job after this is all over!"
"Don't you want him to tell you that though?"
Manager: "Hitsugi, just leave it alone. That is just a lost cause at this point. It's also something the rest of those guys will use to just make a mess of things."
"I'll make sure to tell them all that~" Misó said with a grin.
Even if he would want to see something dangerous happen to his captain, even Misó understood that it was best to keep things in order or things would get to a point where it would be unkempt chaos.
"Alright. Let's get going then."
On the battlefield with Azuma Squad...
The final trion soldier in the area fell to the ground as Koarai jumped to the ground. They had all done what they needed to. Now they just had to go to the other teams and group up.
"Azuma-san, that was the last one," Koarai said, turning to his captain.
"Okay. We'll go assist the other-..."
"—!"
Hearing an odd noise, Azuma turned around.
The shell of the Bambster near the team started to crack open. A large, white arm could be seen coming out as another followed and grabbed the bottom of the shell.
"...!?"
Once the something came out of the fallen Bambster, the team could see exactly what it was.
"What's that?"
There, standing in front of Azuma Squad, was a trion soldier that had a bulky build, with wide shoulders and long, large arms with three fingers and no thumbs, and also short but thick legs which ended on long two-toed feet. It had a long neck ending in a head roughly resembling a rabbit head. The interior of its mouth was black and it had a green core inside. It also had black stripes running through its shoulders until its hands, with black shield-like shapes in the sides of its shoulders, and the sides of its torso are also black. It also has a lizard-like tail.
The whole squad was quick to put up their guard and prepare for an attack.
"Is it a trion soldier!? I've never seen one like it before."
Loud sounds could be heard coming from the distance.
Azuma took notice of this.
"We can't just stare at each other like this. We're too close..."
"Azuma-san, go find the others! We'll take this-"
"Okudera!"
"!"
Okudera was quick to turn around and jumped back just in time to dodge a punch from this new trion soldier. He could do nothing as the same arm came back and swatted him away like an insect. The attack made him go through multiple buildings, destroying each one, before finally stopping once he did not have enough force to continue.
"Okudera! Respond!"
Okkun: "I... I'm fine... I think..."
Koarai moved with Kōgetsu to strike while the trion soldier was still turned away. The attack against Okudera had left it facing the other direction, giving him a chance to attack it.
"Koarai, don't! It wants us to split up! Wait until Okudera comes back!"
It was too late.
This new trion soldier that swatted Okudera away like a bug had grabbed Koarai before his attack could connect. It smashed him into the nearby wall afterwards.
"Let go, you...!"
Koarai tried to free himself by stabbing into the new trion soldier.
It grabbed his arms.
"—!"
As easily as taking apart a plastic doll, the new trion soldier pulled with little effort and ripped Koarai's arms off.
The new trion soldier's chest opened up with six insect leg-like tentacles folded out and circle around its newly captured prey.
"Koarai!"
Azuma raised Ibis and fired.
It had no effect when the new trion soldier brought up its arm to block.
"AAAAAHHH! AZUMA-SAN!"
Thinking quickly, Azuma lifted his Ibis once again. This time, however, instead of aiming at the new trion soldier, he aimed at his own teammate and fired.
Bail Out.
Koarai turned into light before flying off towards the Border base and landing on the mat in Azuma Squad's room.
Azuma kept his rifle up in order to defend himself. He started to speak while keeping an eye on the new trion soldier.
First Sniper: "Shinoda-san, Azuma here! We've encountered a new type of trion soldier! It's over three meters tall. A bipedal humanoid. Small, but powerful! It's trying to capture out agents. Everyone take caution. Over."
It did not take too long for the agents at a certain school to end it.
Takeshi and Toby had taken out the trion soldiers that had surrounded their school. It had not been too hard for them, but they had to use trion that could have been better spent.
They gathered together with the ones evacuating as orders came in.
"So there's a new model, huh? Sounds interesting." Toby looked around to check on everyone. "With Shun and Futaba off to fight, and Fubuki helping with evac, we just need to make sure everything's fine. Then we can go regroup with the other two."
Takeshi looked around with a careful eye, but found nothing particular around them. Three green orbs floated around his head like guards.
"We shouldn't take the new models lightly. Azuma-san had said to be cautious, and they had even taken out someone from his squad. They are probably dangerous then."
"Ah, don't worry about it, Take! We're different from other squads."
"Yeah, because other squads don't have mutts who do what they want."
"And other squads don't have some gloomy guy that ends up relying on that 'mutt'."
The arguing duo continued to glare and spit words at each other as the ones around them continued to move away from the school. Their own class had been used to this sort of thing as this point, but most others had not seen their usual interactions before.
Even as they moved along with their schoolmates, the two continued their argument. Even the ever charming princess of their class had not been able to get involved, too focused on helping those around her.
"Do those two ever stop?"
"Oh, a new guy, huh? No, they usually argue until someone stops them."
"How are they on the same squad then?"
"Who knows? We focus more on how our princess manages to deal with them."
"Who?"
"Over there. Right, right, that one over there. The one who is working harder than the two arguing idiots over here."
"...I should feel bad for...?"
"All of us," everyone said as the arguing duo turned away from each other.
.
Toby was the first to turn towards the talking group, a relatively carefree look on his face as he examined them all.
His eyes drifted over to where Hoshi and Akasora were guiding people.
"Hey, Awdry-senpai!"
He looked over as he was being called on.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"Are you sure we'll be fine? No offense, but you and Kotowari don't really seem like the best people for protecting others."
"Yeah, that's right. We lean more towards the offensive side instead of the defensive or protecting side of things. We kinda suck at this sort of thing."
"So you admit that kind of thing!?"
"Pff!"
Toby and the boy he was talking to looked over to see Fubuki covering her mouth. Instead of facing them directly, she had turned away to hide her laugh.
"By the way, what's your name?"
The boy looked back to Toby to see that his posture and attitude had not changed in the slightest. His question had been a simple one, and it was obvious why he had asked it. He did not interact much with his upperclassmen, but this one was one he had not spoken to until this very moment.
So he answered.
"I'm Tsukiko Kaede. Second year."
"Hm..."
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Do you have any family? Anyone you want to see by the end of all of this?"
"Of course I do! What kind of stupid question is that?"
"It's only stupid if I already knew the answer to that. ...But I guess that means it was pretty stupid, huh?"
This was different.
Kaede had always been told about how Toby was a wild person who did things at his own pace.
That had been confirmed from everything he had seen up until now, but...
He's being calm right now. I thought we would have gotten riled up by my answer.
But that was not the case.
He had remained casual as he walked, even putting his hands behind his head, and gave nothing away with his words.
What had especially caught Kaede's attention was the way Toby had managed to take their conversation and go with it.
"So you did know I had someone I wanted to get back to?"
"Hm? Oh, it had just been a guess, but I'm glad I was right. You kinda look like her, and your surname is the same. Besides my captain, there's only one person who has that surname, that I know of. You're Maya's brother, aren't you?"
.
Toby had enjoyed the reaction from the boy next to him.
Right, Yuki has no siblings and his parents aren't around, so there's no way this kid can be related to anyone but Maya.
It only made sense. The only thing that was amazing was the fact that he had not known about it sooner than this. With how many times he had gone over to that B-Rank squad for a fight, he had never heard of this younger brother their captain had.
Looking at the boy showed the resemblance between him and his sister, but that was only if he was this close up. Any further and it would have been a bit harder to notice.
I guess that kind of stuff is the case. The others don't know about Step after all, so it's all probably just a matter of if it's brought up or not.
It was a trivial matter, so he let it go rather easily.
"So, just your sister then?"
"I'm worried about my friends too, but they are all pretty much here already, so I would just need to look over to see if they are okay. Oh, but..."
"Hm? What's up?"
"There is a kid I'm worried about. I guess we're friends, but he can be pretty reckless, so I'm not sure if he'll be fine during all of this."
"What's his name? Maybe there's someone already helping where he's at."
"Girikage Kasei."
"What a small world..."
Toby smiled at the confused look Kaede gave him.
Holding out his hand to the boy, he sent a message to someone likely in the know.
"So where's our next stop?"
"We're going to meet up with the nearest squad to us. Even if it was only Koarai who Bailed Out, that means those new models had to go through Azuma Squad's teamwork. Hah. It's all such an irritation, but this is where people like me and Denji need to make a full impact."
The plain looking Daigo listened to his captain and vice-captain speak about their next course of action.
This invasion had been unexpected for him, but it was nothing for him to react to since others had likely planned for this all ahead of time. If everyone around him could remain calm then there would be no reason for him to overreact.
And yet...
Werewolf: "Hey, Daigo! Where does your brother go to school? Or where would he be right now?"
"Oh, what came in, Dai-chan? You don't clench your fists unless it's something reaaaaaally important," his vice-captain said while getting closer.
"It's probably about his brother. Hah. Don't think I'll be letting you get away from us right now. It would be irritating if you went off on your own."
His captain had a point. Leaving by himself now would likely be a suicide run with how many Neighbors were around.
Even so, he could not help the strange feeling coming up with the message.
Simple Boy: "May I ask you why you want to know that, Awdry-san?"
...Oops. I put that in the general chat. That means-
Decoy: "What are you asking him, Awdry?"
Yoshi: "What's going on? There are other things to focus on, so don't be bugging him now, Awdry."
"Looks like you messed up there, Dai-chan."
"Yes. I didn't notice what I was doing there."
He could hear his captain sigh again. What it was for was unknown.
Simple Boy: "It's fine, Hisato, Hanzaki-san. He was only asking about Kasei."
Yoshi: "That's even more of a reason to worry. If that guy is asking about that brat then something has to be up."
Decoy: "I hate to agree with that, but..."
The vice-captain let out a laugh as he fired an attack off in the distance.
The trion cube bullet he had used crashed into an oncoming Marmod, destroying it's entire front side with an explosion.
For how strange he is, Vice-Captain-san is pretty capable when it comes to fights.
But that was not what mattered right now.
That would be...
Werewolf: "I'm here with Maya's brother and he says he's worried about his friend. That means Daigo's brother. I wanted to check and see if anyone was near him to make sure he was okay."
Overprotective Sister: "Kaede's with you? You better be taking care of him, you hear me!?"
Platinum: "He and Takechu will need to be leaving soon to meet up with their squad. I will be sticking around since my captain is not here at the moment. Don't worry, Mayacchi, I'll take care of him. You just focus on what you're doing."
Overprotective Sister: "Thanks for that."
Decoy: "Moving back to Kasei..."
Simple Boy: "His school is northeast from the Forbidden Zone. It is near Shor-san and Tomoe-san's school."
Tomo: "I already met up with my squad, so I'm not over there anymore. Sorry about that."
Platinum: "And like I had said; my captain isn't around."
"Who else goes there?" Daigo asked as worry started to build up inside.
He would normally not feel too much, but the fact he had been getting help from his friends and this involved his brother, he was starting to worry.
His captain and vice-captain must have also noticed this as they viewed the chat as well. Neither one of them had spoken to him yet and instead focused on the Neighbors that were coming around corners.
Tomo: "Hiura-senpai also goes there. But I don't know what Nasu Squad is doing right now."
Mad Hatter: "I'm here, I'm here! Kashu-chan is also here!"
Illusionary Diva: "I wouldn't really rely on us here though. The two of us are kind of trying to manage the surroundings."
Toby furrowed his brows as the messages came in.
His own school was the furthest from anything, so making it there would take too long.
And we still need to get to Yuki and Suzume.
Their options were limited.
Lying to Kaede also felt wrong, but there was not much else he could do.
"My nephew also goes to that school."
Toby and Kaede looked up at the voice that was now in front of them.
Akasora had made his way towards the back, where the two of them were, and continued his walk directly in front of them.
"I still get messages from the chat. I've been watching what you guys are saying."
"So then your nephew can watch out for Daigo's brother?"
"Knowing him, he will do so, but won't really stand out. So it won't be a direct help. If that's fine with you two, I'll let him know."
"Yes! That's fine!" said Kaede.
Toby nodded his head in agreement. Any help to make sure Kaede and Daigo would not worry would be appreciated.
But there was still something bothering Toby.
"Mr. Akasora, who is your nephew?
"I would have figured you met him by now. Especially when we consider he's Yuki's student."
"What!?"
His yell had gotten the attention of those around him. Kaede looked at him with a surprised look, but the ones ahead of them turned back to see what was happening. Noticing what he had done, Toby waved his hand over to Fubuki and moved his head over to Takeshi. The two of them seemed to understand as they continued what they had been doing.
The laugh directly in front of him had put his attention back to his teacher.
"I didn't know Shobu was your nephew."
"Yeah, most people don't. But that's just because there's no reason to really bring it up."
So the same with me and Step, as well as Maya and Kaede.
Familial ties really didn't matter when it was just a trivial conversation topic.
Even so.
"If Daigo's brother has Shobu looking out for him then he should be fine on that end."
"Is he really good or something?"
"He's a B-Rank kid, probably your age. But since he's training under Yuki - my captain - then he should be really good."
"He is, don't worry. My nephew joined before either this guy or Kotowari over there did. I've also helped him a lot. He doesn't have a squad since he's really shy, but he's also kind and can hold his own in a fight. I can't say for sure if he will focus on only your friend, but he will make sure that everyone around him is safe. He's a rather intuitive kid after all."
"It sounds more like you're his dad than his uncle, Mr. Akasora."
"I'm his legal guardian, but that's all I can really say."
The bitter smile on the man's face felt wrong, but Toby knew that it was his fault that it was there at all.
He wished he could have taken that back.
"Anyways. I'll make sure to let him know about your friend. For now, just focus on moving forward. Awdry, you too. You and Kotowari need to be leaving soon, so don't lose track of what is going on."
"Right!" the two said.
Akasora nodded towards them with a smile before moving forward. Likely to get back into his previous position near the front of everyone.
"What was that all about?"
.
Takeshi walked to Toby's vacant side as the other boy there moved forward. He was probably going to his friends in the crowd, so he paid no attention to him. Instead, he focused more on his teammate who seemed rather pleased with himself.
"Why did Akasora-sensei come back here?"
"The kid who was here is Maya's brother and he was worried about his friend. Said friend is Daigo's brother, so that got some more people worried. But Mr. Akasora said his nephew could keen an eye out for Daigo's brother while everything is going on here."
"I see. I guess that's a good thing."
"Yeah. So we can focus on this stuff before we have to go," said Toby.
He watched one of Takeshi's laser-like beams tear through one of the larger Neighbors.
The two of them were maintaining a perimeter so that no one would be out of their range. Fubuki being here had also helped in doing that, but their leaving would mean she would be left alone until they made it to a safe location.
The path of Neighbors they were making would have been disturbing if not for how they had seen things like that already. It had always been on defense duty, but the fact remained that they were use to seeing that sort of thing. If nothing else, it was more worrying that normal citizens had to see something like that.
Neither one of them was subtle in their fighting styles, so the destruction around them made it seem even more like a war zone.
But even with that being the case, both boys only continued to walk behind everyone else.
"So how do things look compared to the first invasion?"
"Why are you asking me?"
Toby shrugged in response.
"I wasn't in Japan when it happened. From what I know, you lived here during that invasion. So it would be good to ask you over someone else. Besides, we still have a bit of time until we need to go."
"Hah. Fine. From our side it is clear that we can actually fight back, unlike last time. We know what to expect and we have a means of fighting back. Things are obviously different from back then. And it better be since it's been four years."
"Yeah. If things didn't change since back then we would have so many issues. But what about their side?"
"They also advanced. Although that can be said lightly since we don't know if these ones are from the same place as the first time. It could be completely different ones that we know nothing about, but I doubt that. Shinoda-san made a quick response and gave us our orders right away, so HQ must know what's going on. At least in the simplest way."
There were clear differences between back then and right now. The only thing that remained the same from both invasions was just that.
The fact they were invasions.
Figuring out that much was not a problem. Speaking about it now was just a way for them to ease into the action they would soon be seeing once they moved to regroup with their teammates.
When taking into consideration their age and way of life, this was still something new for the both of them. Fighting Neighbors was not new, but an invasion was not as simple as a fight against a few Neighbors. Even if there were differences, the fact of them needing to do something about all of this was clear.
"Alright, we're far enough. I'll let Fubuki and Mr. Akasora know that we'll be leaving-"
"—"
Both Tsukiko Squad members turned at the noise behind them. Takeshi's three trion orbs floated in front of him while Toby formed a blade in his hand.
Then they saw it.
.
A bipedal creature with features different from anything they had seen before. It was a trion soldier that had a bulky build, with wide shoulders and long, large arms with three fingers and no thumbs, and also short but thick legs which end on long two-toed feet. It had a long neck ending in a head roughly resembling a rabbit head. The interior of its mouth was black and it had a green core inside. It also had black stripes running through its shoulders until its hands, with black shield-like shapes in the sides of its shoulders, and the sides of its torso are also black. It also has a lizard-like tail.
They could easily tell that it was the new model they were told about and got ready to fight.
Takeshi spent no time thinking and went on the offense.
Forgoing proper aiming, he fired three laser-like beams. The heated noise tore through the air in order to reach the new model. The lines created vibrated the entire space, creating a sharp noise that grew in density.
Toby saw this and moved forward. Each step felt a bit heavy, but he continued forward while maintaining some distance from the laser-like beams.
The two remembered what they had heard about this trion soldier and their minds were thrown into a state of flight or flight. Neither one of them gave proper thought to the enemy before then and instead moved to attack with what they had on them.
But...
"—!"
The new model rushed forward as well, dodging the laser-like beams as it did so.
It reached out its arms in order to grab Toby, who was now within arm's reach for it.
Toby's body began to move by leaning his body backwards before turning in an arc and jumping up. He moved through the air around and above the arm while using his blade to attack it.
The blades did nothing.
The new model reached out it's other arm, but Toby looked beyond the arm and vanished.
Just as he did so, the three laser-like beams came from the sides and closed in on the new model.
The three noise filled beams began to tear into the new model from the right and left, but it only did so much damage.
"It's a ware-and-tear type Trigger, so it won't be doing much damage until later on. ...Mutt, hurry up and attack the weaker parts of it!"
"I know that already! Just stay there and make sure no one is close to this thing!"
As the battle went on, the two boys managed to regain some composure to where they could start using their brains for this fight instead of just attacking.
Toby moved close to the ground as the laser-like beams continued their attack from the two sides of the new model.
With two blades in hand, he moved towards the stomach of the new model.
The two blades created arc in the air as they moved under both the new model's arms and Takeshi's laser-like beams.
But when he got close enough to attack...
"What!?"
The stomach opened up.
His two blades cut nothing as six insect-like cords came out.
"Tele-"
Before he could take his eyes away from the sight of the stomach, one of the arms came down and grabbed his head in a hard grasp.
While not crushed, Toby's head remained in the new model's hold as it held his body towards the laser-like beams. His arms and legs moved to try and get out of the new model's grip, but they did nothing.
"Crap!"
Seeing the situation, Takeshi pulled back his attack as the new model raised Toby's body to it's open stomach. The six insect-like cords began to come to his sides as his body began to bubble up.
.
I was wrong! I should have attacked the mutt instead and made him Bail Out!
He had messed up.
There would be no time for him to attack either the new model or Toby.
My attack also left little space for his reflexes to know what to do! ...Bad. This is bad. Of course this would be bad when someone who is always wrong is here.
There was nothing to do here.
Attacking would take too long, and close range attacks would mean taking both himself and Toby out without any sort of guarantee that the new model would be taken out.
So he would need to think of something else.
What do I-
"—!"
Three sounds rang out.
Takeshi was surprised as three shots went by him to attack the new model.
Thinking quickly, he created a trion orb and made it fly to where the new model would stop.
With a sudden grip of his fist, the orb exploded next to the new model.
Two of the six insect-like cords were destroyed as it let go of Toby's head.
He wanted to check on his teammate, but the immediate threat was still in front of them.
And it was moving.
It's target had been set and it rushed forward.
"Don't-"
Takeshi found the words unable to come out as he fired three more laser-like beams.
It was clear where the new model was moving, but it thought nothing of the attack as it pushed through the attack to pass by Takeshi.
A gust of wind blew by him, making him turn around.
There, standing in the spot behind him, was a single girl. Her hair was straight and black in color, mirroring that of her eyes. She wore a white outfit and a terrified expression on her face as the new model rushed her.
Taiyōko Hoshi.
She was the new model's target.
"Move!"