(March 23 2024)—-
I found myself very hungry, so I asked Yu Narukami to make me a PB&J sandwich. Narukami obliged, and I watched intently as he made creamy goodness on soft white bread. He whipped it up very quickly, and I could feel myself salivating. I took a bite and realized something; he used grape jelly, not strawberry! I was very disappointed, I thought Narukami knew me better than that! I demanded a new sandwich, and he told me to get a jolly rancher out of my pocket. I love those things so I'm always packing. I pulled out a rare strawberry jolly rancher, they say only four of them were made. I've been saving it for a special occasion, and if this isn't a special occasion, then by golly give me tiddies and call me an anime girl! Narukami told me to pinch the jolly rancher between my fingers, so I did. It suddenly turned into powder. The jolly rancher powder got picked up by some wind flew into Narukami's eyes and made his face liquify off.
"I need a new face." Narukami declared. He then pulled off my face and attached it to his head. Unfortunately, he put it on upside down. I was trying to pull my face off his head so I could put it on the right way, but he kept resisting. "Klonoa!" He yelled. I insisted on helping him but he kept refusing. "KLONOA!" Quit moving Narukami! I have to… I'm so hungry… and thirsty…"KLONOA!"
I was jerked awake by Narukami. I had apparently been dreaming.
"You've slept long enough, we have another prison to raid, c'mon!" He used his legs to sweep my legs off the mattress I was lying on top of. I sat up, but then I felt my ears ringing all of the sudden. My vision went black and it felt like the world was spinning. My mouth was exceptionally dry, so I started licking the inside of my mouth to try and get it back to normal, but the effort was futile. I then felt something land on my lap.
"You're dehydrated. Now drink that water slowly, can't have you passing out on me." Narukami said in the coldest tone. I kind of lost control and chugged the water as fast as I could. I grabbed my gun and followed Narukami to the jeep we had stolen the previous day when he broke me out of prison. We only had to drive about three minutes before it got super uncomfortable and awkward.
"So how long of a drive do we have?" I asked, trying to make conversation, since I figured the jeep ride would end anytime soon.
"This prison is about twenty minutes away, so you have lots of time to check your gun and make sure it won't jam." Narukami said while showing no emotion or fear. "Security won't be light, so this will be tough."
"So what's the plan?" I asked. I'll admit, I was pretty nervous about doing this. I didn't want to get re-captured, but I really wanted to help Narukami get his Sister back.
"We need to get there and assess the prison first. Then we come up with a plan, but the plan we come up with might go awry. That's why you need to be able to think on your feet." Narukami said, while not looking at me even once.
"How many prisons have you broken into?" I asked.
"This will be my eighth." After that it was a long awkward pause. I was hoping he'd elaborate on things.
"Did you save anyone before me?"
"No. Nanako wasn't at the first prison so I didn't bother. Break ins weren't going well so I figured I could use some help. That's why you're lucky, Klonoa." Hearing him say that really ticked me off. He wasn't saving anyone.
"What is wrong with you?" I asked.
"Excuse me?" He said, as he eyed me. "I broke you out and you agreed to help me." His tone got pretty angry and this made me feel even more nervous about getting on his bad side, but I had to fight through my fear.
"You only saved my life because you figured you could use it? You don't want to know what I saw while I was in prison. Like ten innocent people were just gunned down by Chris Chan's men while he made two people watch! I'll be darned if I'll let that happen ever again!" After I said that, Narukami pulled over and stopped.
"If you're not going to help me then get out, I can probably do this alone." I had to sit there and think. If I left, we could have both ended up getting captured and killed. If we worked as a team, we might have been able to free others and maybe convince them to join us. Working together was the only chance we had.
"I'll help you," I started, "But I'll only help you if you agree to free any prisoners we see. Like it or not, we're stuck with each other. If we part ways now we'll both probably end up failing. Remember why you saved me to begin with? You can't do this on your own, and neither can I. So what's it gonna be?" Narukami sat there and eyed me with a stern expression. After a few seconds, his face became less stern. He knew I was right.
"Fine…" He caved, as he started driving again. We didn't say another word for the rest of the ride.
—-
We finally pulled up to a very thin line of shrubs on top of a bluff. They were thick enough to conceal us. Narukami got his rifle ready and started through the shrubs, so I grabbed my gun and followed him. He motioned to me to stop moving as we got in view of the prison. It was a short but wide building surrounded by a somewhat short brick barrier.
"Ok Klonoa, we've got a small prison, only one story high." Narukami whispered to me.
"How do you think we should approach this?" I asked.
"For now, I'll have you scout it out. I'll watch from up here because my gun allows me to take out targets from a distance, but it's only semi auto so if I'm up close during a firefight I won't be as effective as you. Just make your way to the courtyard and look inside the building and tell me what you see. Try and not fire your gun because if they hear a gunshot, they'll know something's up. We can communicate using these." He handed me a cell phone with headphones plugged into it. I put the headphones on, put the phone in my pocket, gave Narukami a nod then slid down the ridge. I ran behind the brick barrier and peered over. I saw a few armed guys in front of a truck, while two guys were standing around talking. I got in for a closer look and saw that one of the guys was Akechi. He was talking to a tall man with a blue suit and gray spiky hair, then after a little bit he gestured the guards to the back of the truck they were standing next to. Two of the guys went into the back of the truck and one of them came out dragging a blonde girl in chains. The other guy came out of the truck holding some funny-looking gun. I ducked behind cover.
"Narukami, do you see the girl they just pulled out of the truck?"
"Yeah, I see her. She's not Nanako. You also might wanna get down, the truck's about to head out." Narukami instructed. I pressed myself against the wall and held my breath. I listened as the truck's engine revved to life then I watched the truck disappear into the distance.
"I'll keep checking the prison," I started, "But whether or not Nanako is in this prison, we are saving that girl, as well as anyone else in this prison." I said as I headed towards the building. I saw a guy and I immediately went back behind the barrier.
"Crap, I think that guy saw you!" Narukami exclaimed, quietly. "He has his gun raised and he's headed your way! Quick, grab a rock or a brick!" I grabbed a brown brick and waited for the guard to get close. When he got close enough, I grabbed him by the collar and hit him in the side of the head with the brick, knocking him off balance. I then pulled him over the barrier and hit his forehead four times consecutively. I stared at the man I just brutally took down for a few seconds... I couldn't believe what I had just done.
"See, you can think on your feet Klonoa, now keep moving." Narukami instructed. I think him saying I could think on my feet was the first compliment he's given me. I ran towards the building and peered in through the window. I couldn't see much going on, until I saw two guys coming out of a room, one guy was holding the gun I saw earlier but there was no sign of the girl. I hope she's ok. They opened a big metal door and put the gun in the room then went into a different room, leaving my sight.
"Narukami," I radioed. "I'm going into the building."
"Got it." Narukami replied. "Just give me a moment so I can get into a better position." Narukami slid down the ridge, then set up behind the wall I had hid behind that was closer to the building. He then gave me a thumbs up. I very carefully opened the glass doors. It was a pretty nice lobby area with a few couches, a desk and some potted plants. It looked pretty fancy, even though the potted plants were dead. I went behind the desk, then Narukami radioed me.
"Is there anything important looking behind the desk?"
"I don't know what I'm looking for." I answered.
"Just grab all the manilla folders you can carry." Narukami radioed me.
"The what?" I asked. "What the heck is a manilla folder?"
"The folders that are the same color as my skin, grab them." Narukami snapped. "Oh crap! Get down!" He whispered. It may be important to note that Narukami didn't say 'crap.' He said a worse word, but for the sake of me not writing any bad words, I'll leave it at that. I crouched down and fidgeted my way under the desk. The same two men who I saw before came back out of the room they had gone into before. They were walking outside towards Narukami. "They're headed your way." I warned him.
"I know. Watch this, I'm gonna teach you a little something." Narukami said, confidently. I shuffled myself out from beneath the desk just enough to see what was going on. The two guys then stood guard outside the main door, then I heard a sound from outside, but it was from the right side of the barrier, and I knew Narukami was at the front. The sound got the guards' attention. They raised their guns and walked very slowly and cautiously towards where the sound came from. Narukami slipped out of cover with a knife. He shoved one of them down and used his foot to keep the first guard's face in the sand. He stabbed the other guy in the neck then very quickly stabbed the other guy. Not going to lie, I was impressed. He took a knife off one of the guys then came over to me and handed me the knife.
"This is for you. You can take them out silently this way. It's not always smart to go loud, as tempting as it may be." Narukami whispered with a slightly satisfied look on his face.
"Right…" I said. "Anyway, here are the folders." Narukami looked around for a second then grabbed a backpack hanging on a hook. He took a bomb out of it, put the folders in it, then put it on his back. "Where did that sound come from? The one that distracted the guards."
"I threw a rock at the wall." Narukami said, gruffly. "Anyway, let's keep going. If Nanako isn't here then this has just been a big waste of time."
"Hold on," I protested, "If anyone else is being held here against their will we're freeing them, That was our deal. I don't care whether or not they'll help us fight, we're freeing them."
"Whatever." Narukami said. "Now keep up or you're doing the rest of this alone." I kind of winced at what he said. I hope he isn't like this all the time. I am giving him some leeway because he lost his sister, but if he's still like this after we find her, I'm leaving. Helping him find Nanako is the least I can do, I suppose. We headed through a hallway, checking rooms as we went along. We then came across two doors that looked very different from the others. They almost looked like vault doors.
"This might be it." I muttered to myself.
"Cover me while I open the door." Narukami ordered. I waited as Narukami unlocked the door, and I raised my gun, ready to take out whoever was in the hallway. The door opened fully and there was no one in the hallway. It was lined with cell doors, most of them were empty, but there was one that was occupied.
"Yo homies! Care to free a fresh squid?" The only prisoner in the hallway said, at least the only one we knew of at the time. She wasn't the blonde girl I saw before. She was a short girl with a white dress, pink leggings and white hair that faded to pink. Except I don't think it's hair, it almost looks like small tentacles. "Y'all are fresh guys and not them low down dirty troopers, right? Then come and give freedom back to a homie!"
"That's not a soldier, that's a prisoner. I think we're good, Narukami." I whispered to a stern-looking chad.
"Alright then, go free her quickly." Narukami said. I went over to the cell and tried opening the door, but it was locked. I don't really know what I was expecting.
"Keep searching this hallway Narukami, I'm going to find the keys." I said as I dashed out the door. I snuck back into one of the rooms I hadn't been in yet. It was an office room, and it had a big keychain on one of the desks. I grabbed the keychain and was ready to head back to the big hallway, but then three guys came into the room mid-chat. I hid, but I realized I had a problem; if I moved the guards would hear the keychain. I had no choice but to stay put. I hoped they would just leave, but they sat at their desks and continued chatting. I squeezed the keychain and started moving slowly, hoping their conversation would drown out any noise I made. I was almost out the door, but then one of my ears knocked over a pencil can. This got their attention, so I dove underneath a desk. I heard their footsteps coming towards me. They walked right in front of me, and they started arguing about putting the pencil holder too close to the edge. I was trying not to laugh at their stupidity, but I accidentally snorted a bit. At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I stabbed one guy's shins, which took him down. I came out from under the desk and stabbed the other guy in the neck. I was about to kill the guy who I stabbed first, but Narukami ran in the room and pinned the guy down. Narukami then put his knife to the guy's throat very slowly.
"If you scream, you're dead. Tell me, what is the large door at the end of the hallway where the cells are?" Narukami whispered through clenched teeth.
"That's where Goddess Chris-Chan's 'chosen one' is!" The guy said in a panic. If you want the key, I'll tell you where it is! It's in the big desk, in the bottom right corner! Now please let me go! I won't speak a word of this to anyone! I'm just the record keeper..." Right as he said this, Narukami slit his throat, then just knelt there and watched him die.
"Was that really needed?" I asked.
"Doesn't matter!" Narukami snapped. "One less person to kidnap people's little sisters! Now let's move! Don't forget the darn key!" He didn't actually say 'darn.' I ran to the desk, grabbed the key then we ran down the hallway to the pink girl's cell. I unlocked the cell doors, and she absolutely BUSTED out.
"Yoooooo, freedom for MCPrincess is back, y'all!" She yelled happily.
"SHUT IT!" Narukami snapped. "There are probably a hundred more guards in this place, and I'd like to get out of here alive, if you don't mind!"
"Dang Son, what's up your butt?" MC said to Narukami. She then turned to me. "Anyway, thank you for saving me. I'm now making you my main homie, next to 'Rina, that is. My name's Pearl, what might be the label placed upon your butt?" She asked me. That is the weirdest way to ask for someone's name I've ever heard, but it was very entertaining.
"My name's Klonoa. That guy over there is Yu Narukami. You'll have to excuse him, he's just a little too serious." I said as I watched Narukami walk slowly over to the giant armored cell at the end of the hallway.
"Yo, fresh to meet you, squid-cat." Pearl said as she extended her hand out to me for a handshake. I grabbed on, but she then squeezed SUPER tight, I felt my eyes turn inwards. The pain went away after Pearl let go of my hand, and I noticed Narukami motioned me towards the far end of the hallway, where he was standing.
"One more room, Klonoa. It's the big one." Narukami snarled. I gripped my gun, ready for whatever was in there. He put the key on the hole then turned it.
"Not sure what's behind here, be ready." Narukami warned me. I held my gun up as he kicked the door open. There was no one in the room, except for that blonde girl I saw earlier. She was on her knees in the middle of the room. Her legs were shackled to the floor and her arms were chained behind her back. She also had a blindfold on and had some sort of ball in her mouth. She started turning her head and breathing very nervously because she probably heard the door open and thought it was a guard or something.
"Oh gosh…" Narukami whispered. "This is what 'chosen one' means. Chris-chan is one sick FRICK!" Except he didn't say 'frick.' I went over and slowly and carefully took the blindfold off the girl. She had lots of fear in her eyes when she looked at me at first, but then she calmed down a little bit, maybe realizing I wasn't a guard.
"It's alright," I said to her in a reassuring manner. "We're here to get you out." I then took the ball out of her mouth and undid the chains and shackles. She instantly got up and hugged me as soon as she was free.
"Thank you so much! You saved me… I was so worried!" She said shakily into my shoulder.
"Glad we freed them all but Nanako isn't here. You two can find a truck or something and get out of here. Klonoa and I are going to a different Prison."
"Yo, I know where the garage is." Pearl said. "She can come with me and I shall be dropping her off anywhere but here."
"Wait, please, take me with you!" She pleaded. "I promise I will help in any way I can!"
"Can you use a gun?" Narukami asked.
"I can." The blonde girl answered. "I had a gun, but it got confiscated. I think the guys took it to the armory." Narukami's eyes widened.
"Armory?" He repeated, sounding happier than I've ever heard him.
"Yeah, I overheard something about running my gun to the armory from the guards who put me in that room. I'm sure we'll be able to find it."
"Wait, do you thing the armory is that other giant metal door in the hallway?" I asked Narukami.
"Most likely, let's hope one of your keys will open that room." Narukami said in a slightly chipper manner. The four of us headed back down the hallway, back in the lobby and to the other big door we saw earlier. I got one of the big keys on the chain and opened the door, and inside the room there were TONS of guns. Narukami was at a loss for words.
"YO! This room is fresh, yo! Look, they even got cool metal dualies!" Pearl yelled as she grabbed two pistols and brandished them. The blonde girl walked straight to a table in the middle of the room and picked up the same odd-looking gun I saw one of the guards get from the truck before.
"You know how to use that?" I asked the blonde girl.
"Yes I do, I know it very very well. It's what I was made to use." She answered.
"'Made?'" I asked, wondering why she didn't say 'born.'
"Technically, I'm not a human," The girl answered. "I'm a Tactical doll, or T-doll for short. I was made to use this gun called a KP-31 Suomi, so I'm named after it... but you can call me 'Suomi' for short if you want." She said, blushing a little bit. I noticed Narukami looking around, and he looked like he went to heaven. He was pulling boxes off shelves and putting them in his backpack, as much as he could fit. He also pulled a scope off one of the other guns in the room and put it on his.
"Everyone load as many mags as you can," He instructed. "We finally have a good arsenal, and gosh dangit, we're gonna use it!" Except he didn't say 'gosh dangit.' I wasn't sure how to load mags, but I think Suomi noticed how puzzled I was. She went to the wall and took a bunch of curved things out of the bottom of the same gun I had.
"He means put bullets into these, they're called 'magazines,'" Suomi kindly taught me. "Make sure you're using the right bullet size or they won't work. Use 7.62x39 for your AK-47."
"Oh, thank you so much. What kind of bullet do you use?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"I use 9mm, but this is the only mag I have. It's a very unique one." She said as she slid bullets into her giant circular mag. By the time Narukami started nudging us out the door, I had sixteen mags, but I only filled up about seven mags. We all started towards the garage with Pearl leading the way. Once we got to the door leading to the garage, Pearl was about to open it.
"Open it just a crack and let me take a look." Narukami whispered. He opened the door slightly and poked his head in for a few seconds, then closed the door softly. "Alright, there's a catwalk that goes all the way across the garage, a staircase to the right of the door that goes down to ground level and a button to open the garage doors. I count seven baddies in there, all on the ground floor, but there may be more of them. There's one truck in there, so here's how we'll get it; Pearl, you're going for the switch, but don't press it until I give you a signal. Klonoa, Blondie, you two are going to get as close to the baddies as you can, but stay hidden and wait until you hear the garage doors opening, that will be everyone's signal to start picking baddies off. I'll go along the catwalk to keep an eye on our enemies and give you support once the bullets start flying."
"Right!" I exclaimed, but more quietly so as to not incur the wrath of Narukami. We went into the garage slowly, down the staircase. We went from cover to cover, making sure no one saw us. Suomi and I crawled underneath the truck, and Pearl went behind the pillar where the garage door controls were. She nodded towards me, then gave Narukami a thumbs up. Narukami waited a few moments then mouthed 'now' at Pearl, so she opened the garage doors. They were super loud, causing all the guards to start wandering around in befuddlement. Narukami opened fire, dropping only two before they figured out where Narukami was. Suomi and I started firing, but being under a truck was a very bad place to be in a gunfight, as I figured out the hard way.
"Suomi, get to better cover, I'll keep firing!" I yelled. Suomi crawled backwards and got out from underneath the truck. She got out and ended up clearing the entire garage pretty quickly, but then reinforcements showed up. There were a lot of them, and they started rushing to the garage. I was pinned underneath the truck. Narukami was still picking them off, but he wasn't keeping their numbers at bay. Suddenly, Pearl rushed outside with her two guns. She would rush up to a guy, take him out, then do this amazing roll to dodge enemy fire. She pushed the enemies back far enough so I could actually get out from underneath the truck.
"Everyone, move up!" I commanded. Suomi and I charged outside guns blazing to support Pearl. "Narukami, get the truck started!" I yelled as I tossed him the keychain. He caught them, then jumped off the catwalk. Suomi ran over to a wall then hopped it. She then mowed down everyone who was hiding behind the wall. Narukami's gun allows him to engage enemies that are further away and take them out with overwhelming accuracy, and Suomi's small but fast-firing gun can take out enemies quickly at close range. I ran close to Pearl and helped her keep the enemies back. Narukami got the truck started and pulled outside.
"GET IN! WE ARE LEAVING!" Narukami yelled. Suomi opened the passenger side door and used it as cover as she kept the way clear for Pearl and I to get into the truck. Pearl and I took out a few more, then started running to the truck, but I got shot in the shoulder. I fell to the ground in extreme pain. My vision went blurry, and I lost my mental fortitude. I laid there, dazed as bullets whizzed by me. I saw Suomi running towards me, firing at the enemies. She alone was bringing their numbers down enough that she was able to help me up. Narukami brought the truck closer and Suomi helped me in. Pearl and Suomi shot out the windows to cover our escape as Narukami gunned it away from the prison. I started getting extremely tired from all the pain I was in, and I passed out.
—-
I woke up laid out in the back of the truck we escaped the prison in. We were in the middle of the desert, far enough away from the prison. We were safe. Suomi was patting my wound with a wet towel. Her face lit up when she saw I was awake. Narukami was standing behind the truck sifting through the maps we got from the prison.
"Are you okay?" She asked me. Suomi is so sweet. She makes me feel a little more at home in this cruel brutal desert.
"I... I think I'm okay." I answered. I then looked around and noticed Pearl was missing. "Where's Pearl?" I asked weakly.
"She left. She's going to go find her friend, 'Rina, but she did give me her 'digits' just in case we need help from a 'fresh squid.'" Suomi answered.
"Glad you're doing better, but we have a problem." Narukami said. At least he's 'glad' I'm better. He's probably starting to see me as at least an acquaintance now. Maybe he will get kinder to me after all.
"What's the problem?" I asked as I sat up. I was a little too weak to sit up myself, so Suomi helped me up.
"The rest of the prisons on the other side of this town, and I know from experience that the entire town is controlled by Akechi, one of Chris-chan's Lieutenants. The only reason we were able to make it this far is because the locations we've hit were sparse. We need to find a way to retake an entire town, that's the problem." Suomi looked at the map for a few seconds. She brought the map closer to her face, and I saw another smile come across her face.
"I know what we can do." She said, confidently. "It's a longshot, but it's our only way forward."