(May 6 2024)—-
It's been three weeks since we took the bridge and wiped out Akechi's punishment parade. I'm now wheelchair bound because of what happened at the bridge. It's not much, but at least I can sit up without worrying about my intestines bursting out. I never thought I'd say this, but Soppo has actually been warming up to me more than I ever thought she would. She usually sits in my lap when I'm wheeling myself around and she loves it when I go down ramps. Sometimes she'll grab onto one of my ears and swing around on it. What am I, a playground? Soppo usually sleeps with M4, but there have been a lot of mornings where I wake up to see Soppo snuggled into me. I'm happy she doesn't want to bite my fingers off anymore.
Akechi and his men have been almost dormant since we took down the punishment parade at the bridge, so we've been using this time to take ground. When Akechi finally decides to get his head out of the sand and start attacking us again, we'll be ready. I've been commanding the girls remotely using radio communications and a drone to keep an eye on them. It's a nice set up and all, but I wish I was out there fighting with them. Narukami and Suomi have been helping the girls take outposts, so we've been busy. Of course, we still have girls here to help hold the hospital should Akechi get past our outposts. It's unlikely, but it is possible. Narukami will sometimes come back to the hospital, but Suomi comes back a lot, mostly to take care of me.
"Yo, drifty joy-con," HK radioed me from one of the outposts. "We're gonna head over to another outpost because the outpost we're at now is all out of ramen and sake."
"What are you doing?" I heard UMP-45 say in the background. "Give that to me!" I could hear 45 and HK fighting over the radio.
"I'm tired." I heard G11 in the background too. From what I could gather from what I heard on the radio, 45 won the fight with HK.
"Shikikan? Are you there?" 45 started.
"Yeah, I'm here." I answered. "What's going on?"
"There's an outpost further up Akechi's territory. Is it ok with you if we move up and take it?" 45 asked.
"That's fine," I started "As long as you wait for a backup team to cover the outpost you're at now and set up defenses immediately after you take the other place."
"Hi, Shikikan!" 9 yelled in the background.
"45, will you say 'hi' to 9 for me?" I asked 45.
"The Shikikan says 'hi,' 9." 45 told 9. "Now about the other outpost… roger that. Talk to you soon, Shikikan."
"Bye, Shikikan!" 9 yelled in the background once again. I radioed Suomi, who was out helping with outposts, and had her and her team move to where 404 was and relieve them.
—-
I was getting kind of anxious. It had been four hours since Anti-rain relieved 404, since then I didn't hear anything from them. I tried radioing them, but I got no response. I was sitting here debating whether or not I should send Anti-rain to the other outpost to make sure 404 was ok. I started to hear some music in my head, and it sounded like Chris-Chan's voice. I figured it was just a random earworm, probably from worrying so much about 404. At least having Soppo on my lap made me feel a little better. Suddenly, I heard lots of footsteps in the hallway, almost like a stampede. I saw all the girls who were in the hospital running down the hallway.
"What's going on?" Narukami asked from across the hall.
"It's another sodding punishment parade!" Bren yelled. "We have to be ready to defend the hospital! Don't let those wankers in here!" I wheeled myself out to the hallway.
"Defensive positions everyone! Hurry!" I heard M4 yell. Soppo then started waking up.
"Catman? What's happening?" Soppo slurred her words.
"Klonoa!" Narukami yelled as he ran towards me. "We have to get you to safety!" Suddenly the music stopped.
"Good evening, you little cockroaches!" Akechi said over a loudspeaker. "It's quite a nice evening, we even have a beautiful sunset! You know who I really think would enjoy this? Klonoa, you should really get down here right now and feel the breeze in your ugly fur!" Narukami loaded his M14 and looked ready for a gunfight. "Oh, and by the way, I have a few friends with me who are also enjoying this lovely evening. Klonoa, don't let them enjoy this without their 'Skishishan.'"
"The word is 'Shikikan,' you stolen doughnut!" I heard faintly over the loudspeaker. That was HK! Akechi had captured 404!
"Klonoa, get down here right now, or your team dies, all because of you!" Akechi demanded. "Also, if there is even a whiff of you trying to mobilize the troops you have, I will shoot your friends, and more will die from this! I just want you, Klonoa!" I knew what I had to do. I started wheeling myself out. Narukami stopped me.
"Bro, what are you doing?" Narukami asked.
"Saving lives." I answered flatly. "This is the best thing I can do at this point... I know what's going to happen to me. You're in charge now, Narukami."
"Klonoa, this is crazy!" Narukami said. "There has to be another way."
"We don't have time to think of any other way. I've made up my mind." I told Narukami. I gave him a serious look.
"If he doesn't kill you…" Narukami started, but he got choked up. "...We'll come for you. Don't give up, brother." Narukami gave me a bro hug.
"Don't go, Catman!" Soppo said as she looked at me with tears rolling down her eyes. She climbed up my torso and gave me a hug. "I don't want the bad man to hurt you... I love you!"
"I'm sorry, Soppo." I said as I gave her as much of a hug as I could. She's so small. "I have to do this... it's the best thing for everyone else. I took Soppo off my chest and handed her to Narukami.
"If this is really what you want… I... I won't stop you... from..." Narukami couldn't finish. Soppo was crying very hard and desperately trying to get out of Narukami's hands.
"This isn't what I want to do, it's what I have to do..." I said as I started wheeling myself out of the planning room. "I love you both... Tell Suomi I love her too." I wheeled myself down the hall, into the elevator, through the lobby, and outside, towards Akechi's trucks. A sinking feeling in my stomach that intensified everytime I wheeled myself closer to death. I saw two CWC honor guards coming towards me when I got outside. They each grabbed a handle of the wheelchair and brought me behind the trucks. They then dumped me onto the sand, which hurt my slightly healed belly. The guards then got me on my knees and put their guns to the back of my head. The entire 404 team was also on their knees. Akechi walked over to me and got in my face with a grin that I wanted to slap off his face. After being in my face for about ten seconds, Akechi backed off slightly, and held a crowbar up to my chin.
"This…" Akechi said slowly. "...is my most prized possession. This crowbar is custom-made, so you can't find any other crowbar like this one." Akechi then ran his fingers along the length of it. "The star shape along the length… means a hit on the head with this… will cut into one's skull and will eat its way… to the victim's brain." He then flipped the crowbar around and ran his finger along the width of the straight end. "The end of this crowbar… is as sharp as a knife. In the event one of my victims… can somehow survive the blows to the head… then that's when I skewer them alive." Akechi then swung it around a few times. He didn't hit anyone with it… yet. "It is also hollow… in the middle. Meaning it's easier to swing… but make no mistake… it can still do more than enough damage… to not only kill… in a VERY brutal fashion… but will also scare anyone who watches…" Akechi turned to 45, 9, HK and G11. They looked up at him. G11 and 9 looked very nervous and HK had a look of anger on her face. 45 had this sparkle in her eyes, which was something I'd usually see when she was planning something in her head. Maybe an escape for all of us? Akechi turned his gaze back at me and continued. "... into utter and complete… submission."
"You've made your point, Akechi." I said nervously. I then took a deep breath, getting ready for the beating I was about to receive. "Get this over with, then let the girls go." Akechi stared at me for a few moments then laughed. The other simpering guards joined in. Akechi took the sharp end of the crowbar and ran it down my right arm, which made a cut that wasn't too big, but stung worse than a wasp. It was literally the width of a paper cut, that's how sharp his crowbar's end was.
"Wow!" Akechi exclaimed. "You think you are the biggest hero alive, don't you? You're completely ready to die for your troops? Well aren't you a great leader?" Akechi then looked at the four girls and spun his crowbar in an attempt to show off. "Except you're not a great leader." Akechi turned back to me and lowered himself. "Because a leader has to make sacrifices." I felt my stomach tighten. I knew something was about to happen. Something I was dreading even more than my own death. "The leader then has to live with said sacrifices." Akechi stood up slowly, then wildly swung his crowbar and hit one of the girls, but Akechi was standing in the way, so I couldn't see. I started hyperventilating, knowing one of the girls was being beaten to death. I couldn't bear to lose one of the girls, especially like that. Akechi stepped aside as he was laughing, and I saw the one Akechi chose to die; 45. Akechi hit 45 across the head with his crowbar. 45 was struggling to breathe and writhing in pain. She lifted her head out of the sand, shaking immensely.
"45! SIS!" 9 screamed in between tears.
"YOU ROTTEN TOENAIL FUNGUS!" HK yelled at the top of her lungs. G11 watched in complete horror and shock. Her face went white. Akechi hit 45's head again… and again… and again. All I could see was red. 45's blood was spilling out of her forehead and staining the ground. In between hits, she tried sticking her hand up to block another hit, but she became too weak. Her breathing became more labored and desperate, almost seeming to try and mask the pain of each and every hit she had taken. Her head was being mis-shaped more and more from each and every extremely hard hit to her poor head. 45 wanted revenge for what Akechi had done to her old commander, but she wouldn't be able to see it come to be. I don't know what I'll have to go through, but I'll go through anything to get the revenge 45 wanted. I will kill Akechi for 45. I will finish it all in her stead. She will be at peace soon. Before I knew it, Akechi beat 45 fully to death, picked up her body and threw it on the ground in front of me. Akechi then grabbed her body by the hood and lifted her up to my face. Her eyes were lifeless and bloodshot. One of her eyelids was closed, but the other one was open only halfway. Her face was soaked with her own blood.
"Thank you Shikikan, for being such a great Shikikan." Akechi said, imitating 45 and moving her body at every syllable to mime talking. I could feel every part of me boiling. "Oh Shikikan... since you're so great... maybe you can fix my face before the big dance tonight."
"YOU LET GO OF HER RIGHT NOW!" I yelled so loud I strained my throat. I could feel the tears in my eyes fly out as I yelled. Akechi looked shocked for a split second but then went straight to laughing forcefully. He was either laughing to make us feel worse about what just happened, or he actually is a complete psychopath.
"OOOHHH, look at that!" Akechi said in a very over-hyped tone. "Mr. Shikikan thinks he can take charge! Well there's only one person in charge right now, AND THAT IS ME! AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT MY TRUE AUTHORITY!" Akechi yelled angrily. "I RULE ALL OF YOU! GET THEM IN THE TRUCK!" The guards grabbed us and threw us in the back of one of the trucks. As we drove off, I watched the hospital get smaller and smaller as we got further away.
"Narukami… Suomi… my family…" I muttered. I couldn't think straight.
—-
I knew that eventually I'd lose some girls, but no living thing should ever have to die like 45 did. The sounds of pain 45 made as she was dying will stay with me forever. They aren't haunting me, well maybe a little, but they're mostly pushing me to survive. I will make it as far as I can, hopefully far enough to rid this dimension of Goro Akechi, the merciless killer. I knew I was in for a very rough time. Me and the three girls Akechi didn't kill were handcuffed and put into the back of a truck with no windows. We couldn't see where we were going. G11 even got carsick a few times. I even think the driver was turning and braking super hard on purpose to make the ride even more unpleasant. 9 was sobbing most of the ride, who could blame her? We eventually got to the prison and a guard came to the back, grabbed us by the handcuffs one at a time and threw us out of the truck. That made my belly hurt even worse. We were all lying on the ground, and I saw Akechi get out of a limo that pulled up. He slowly walked over to us then very abrasively grabbed us and turned us onto our sides, facing the prison.
"I understand the feeling of homesickness," Akechi said in a half-convincing tone. "So I want you all to get used to your new home. There are a few rules here, first rule is no talking to any of the guards, since you are leagues below them. Rule two is do exactly as you're told without any hesitation, and rule three is no yelling to each other from your cells. Now let's get you all inside." HK and G11 were escorted in at gunpoint and I was picked up and dragged by two guards since I couldn't really walk yet. I looked back at 9, and she was still lying with her face buried in the sand, still sobbing. Akechi and the guards were trying to get her up, but she kept resisting. I saw Akechi raise his crowbar, but the guards and I turned a corner before I could see anything else. I didn't want to lose anyone else to that stupid fancy-shmancy crowbar. The guards dragged me to a cell in the middle of a giant square room, dumped me in there, then they slammed the cell door. The cell wasn't too small but all it had in it was a rusty old water fountain that probably didn't even work. I sat in a corner wondering what happened to 9. I wasn't sure if she was alive, so I yelled, '9? Are you in here?' Then I heard a loud PA system turn on.
"I believe I heard a rule get broken just now." Akechi taunted over the PA system. "Someone just broke rule three, and I will forgive you this time, but if anyone else breaks any more rules, there will be severe consequences, maybe even worse than what that chick with the broken skull went through. Now get some rest… if you can. There will be activities tomorrow." I figured we'd probably all be woken up very early tomorrow morning, so I figured I'd try and sleep, but that's not easy to do here at all. The floor isn't flat like you'd think, it's rocks and cement so it's very bumpy. Whichever side I lay on gets sore in about a minute, not even lying. I roll over to whichever side, the same thing happens. I wasn't even that tired, so I figured I could stay awake all night then tomorrow night it would be easier to sleep. After a while of staying up, my thoughts were starting to hurt as well as whichever side I laid on. I couldn't stop thinking about 45. I was ready to die back then, I was getting myself mentally prepared to be killed as I was wheeling myself over to Akechi. He probably knew that, though. Akechi is like a bloodhound. A bloodhound that can sniff out pain. The memory of 45's untimely and brutal demise was eating away at me. I laid there in horror. I was also worried about 9. The last I saw of her was Akechi raiding his crowbar over her head... then I started thinking about 9 dying in the same way, which very well could have been the case. I cried myself to sleep that night.
(May 7 2024)_—-
I woke up with the sunlight gleaming through the window of my room back at the hospital, cascading on a potted flower on the table next to the window. Suomi was watering it. She turned to me and smiled.
"You're awake, Klonoa. How's your stomach doing?" I couldn't answer her. I was still thinking about what happened to 45. Suomi came to my bedside and sat down. "You can't blame yourself for what happened out there."
"Why not?" I asked her in between sobs. "I should have found another way. I should have been the one who got killed."
"No you shouldn't have." Suomi retorted. "T-dolls are meant to fight and die for their Shikikan, and that's what 45 did. She died so you didn't have to, every other T-doll here would have wanted it that way."
"I see every one of you as Humans. Maybe none of you were born naturally, but you all still have thoughts and personalities. You can make decisions, you can feel happy and sad. That makes you all humans in my eyes." I reached over and put my hand on hers.
"You're my duty, Klonoa." Suomi told me as she started getting her face close to me. "Narukami and I are going to find you and 404, and we will free you all." That confused me quite a bit.
"Free us from-?" I was cut off. Suomi opened her mouth as wide as she possibly could, and made the sound of an airhorn right in my face. I was ripped from that blissful and faint dream I had and woke up back in the dark and lonely cell. My right side hurt so badly because I was laying on it all night. A guard was standing in front of the cell door with an airhorn.
"You are finally awake. It is now time for a morning activity, per Akechi's orders." He opened the cell door and grabbed my left arm. He then started dragging me down the hallway by it, which really hurt my already sore right side. Not only that, but all the pressure on my left arm was making the ol' wound hurt even more. I was taken to a room that had a bunch of folding chairs, all facing a stack of pallets on the far side of the room. I was dragged over to the pallets and tossed on top of them.
"Is the waste of Namco's creativity ready for a little game?" Another guard in the room cooed at me. I stood up and lightly nodded. "Excellent. This game is called, 'shred your arms or we break her arms.'" The guard then motioned at two other guards in the room, who both promptly left the room. One came back with a long bar, the other one came back with… UMP-9! She was alive, but she was very hurt. Both of her eyes were black, and her face was bloodied and bruised. She was forcibly put onto one of the folding chairs and had all of her limbs handcuffed to the chair. One of the guards then grabbed a shotgun and cocked it.
"DON'T HURT HER!" I yelled. I couldn't bear to see another T-doll die. I remembered what Suomi told me in the dream, but that didn't really make me feel better. The guard just smiled at me.
"If you do well in the game, then we won't hurt her. Here's how the game will work; You need to hold that bar over your head for four minutes. For each minute you're able to hold the bar up without dropping it, you save one of your friend's limbs. Hold the bar for four minutes, you save all four of her limbs. Understand?" I didn't answer. I just stood up even though it hurt my belly a lot. I picked up the bar and held it over my head and kept it there. The guard then pulled out a stopwatch and pressed a button on it. The bar wasn't too heavy, so it started off pretty easy. I started counting down from two-hundred-forty in my head. After about fifteen seconds, it started getting a bit more difficult, more so than I expected. But I couldn't fail. It only took forty seconds for my belly to start hurting a ton. I couldn't give up. I kept my bar above my head. I looked at 9, she was mouthing to me, 'It's ok. Let me die.' I wouldn't do that. I wanted the four of us to hold out until we got freed. I finally got to one-hundred-eighty in my head, that was one minute. There were these burning sensations in my shoulders and they were creeping down the sides of my body. Fifteen seconds later, the guard with the stopwatch said, 'that's one minute.' I was shaken by that. I thought I was more ahead than I really was. I had been counting down too fast. My eyelids were feeling heavy, I was getting exhausted. I couldn't do this, but I had to. I HAD TO! I started breathing through my clenched teeth. Very hard! I had to find a way to get my focus off what was happening. I was trying to imagine anything else. I could remember Kar98k's Oktoberfest party, but I couldn't remember it correctly. All the angry orchards I had were backbreakingly heavy. My arms hurt too much and it felt like someone was twisting a knife in my intestines.
"You've saved half of this girl's limbs." The guard said. I was only halfway done. A feeling of dread fell over me. No. I'm looking at this the wrong way. I'm closer to the end than I am to the beginning. Pretty soon, there will only be one minute left, then only ten seconds left. My entire body was shaking and my belly hurt so unbelievably much. I started hunching over to ease the pain slightly.
"No slouching!" The guard yelled as he stretched his arms out. He's taunting me. "Correct this now, or it's game over!" I straightened my back and screamed in pain. My belly felt like it was trying to free itself from my body. I had to go away in my mind somehow. I had to escape the doom and gloom surrounding the pain. The prickly heat that was running up my arms and this annoying itch on my nose. I figured I could focus on trying to scratch the itch. I folded my bottom lip over my top lip and tried blowing at the spot that itched. I soothed it a little bit, but it only made more room for all the pain I was going through. Like a thousand of those metal shards in my arms, but each and every one of them were white-hot! My vision was starting to go black.
"One more minute." The guard said unenthusiastically. One more minute… one more minute… I can't do this. Suddenly, I went away in my mind successfully. I was holding Akechi's crowbar, and Akechi was on his knees right in front of me. I took the crowbar and stabbed Akechi in the lower left side of his back with the straight sharp end. The crowbar went straight through. I then slowly pushed the crowbar downwards, doing even more damage. That thought didn't take the pain away, but it made me think, 'the pain will be worth it… once you are finally able to do this.' I will survive this, and I WILL save all of UMP-9's limbs. Suddenly everything went red. The blood in my head was pounding. I snapped back to reality, and I could only see red and black. I couldn't let myself pass out, though. If I did, I would have dropped the bar. I had to keep it up.
"Fifteen seconds." I heard very far off in the distance. I started counting down in my head. Very slowly this time. I only got to four seconds left when I heard, 'You can let go of the bar now.' I held it up till the end of the countdown in my head, just to be safe. As soon as I got to zero, my arms went limp. I dropped the bar on my feet, but it didn't hurt nearly as badly as my arms or my belly did. I collapsed to the pallets in sheer agony. Akechi was trying to break all of us. What was he trying to accomplish by doing this? Did he think he could get me to join Chris Chan's CWC honor guard? I'd rather put a bullet in my own head. I couldn't open my eyes at all, but I was aware of what was going on.
"Take both of them back to their cells." The guard ordered. I felt myself getting dragged out of the room, down the hallway and back onto the cell. I heard the doors close.
—-
I was sitting in my cell all day long after I woke up. I couldn't tell what time it is or how long I was out. When I fully came to, I had a splitting headache, my ears are ringing, and I could barely move my arms. I could hear the guards walking down the hallway at certain parts of the day, taking the other girls out of their cells, probably to make them do things like what I did this morning. Those dang 'activities.' I could tell the sun was starting to set after a while, because there was only a little bit of natural lighting in the hallway, and it started getting really orange. It was kinda pretty, not going to lie. After the entire day, my arms were still sore, but my headache was getting slightly better. I kept my head on the floor all day long, all boring and longest day long. Then a guard came up to the cell door. It was the same guy who had the stopwatch this morning.
"Might I say," He started, "You did amazing this morning. What a show, your face got all red, and you were obviously in so much pain. I think because of the good show, you deserve a little reward. You'll have a roommate tonight." I perked up a bit. I'd been alone most day and I wanted to see and talk to a friendly face. The guard went around the corner and grabbed a bag. He put it on the floor of my cell, unzipped the bag, then rolled… UMP-45's body out of it. "You two have a lot of catching up to do." The guard said as he closed the cell door, and pranced away, leaving me alone with 45's dead body. I sat there and stared at her body. Was this what she really wanted? Would she have wanted to die on her knees, whether it was to save my life or not? Her eyes were still kind of open, and her mouth was hanging open. Her head was literally split open, but her innards were different from a normal human's. She didn't exactly have a human brain, but there was still something there. It wasn't in tact whatsoever. The blood that soaked her face was dry and crusty. I crawled over to her body and put my hands on her shoulders.
"I'm going to kill him." I whispered into her ear. "I'm going to kill him in a painful way, so he can experience what he likes to inflict on others. I don't want to stoop to his level… but in this case… I have to." I looked around the room, trying to think of other things to say. "When I get through this, I'm going to make sure you get a respectful burial. It's the most I can do for you now. I will finish this in your stead. I will you the revenge you wanted." A tear started rolling down my cheek as I lightly put my fingers on her eyelids and closed them all the way. I then laid next to her body and sobbed bitterly but quietly. Akechi thinks that by killing 45 that he can break me. That was his mistake. I'll keep myself together as long as it takes.
Akechi… your days are numbered.