(May 16 2024)—-
I remembered Narukami telling me to not lose hope before I was captured ten days prior, but it was really hard to hold onto any hope. Me, UMP-9, HK416 and G11 have been tortured in one way or another multiple times every single day. We were all mentally run down by the constant threat of a harsh beating and death, and to make matters worse, Akechi occasionally had his men fire their guns out of view to make it sound like Narukami and Suomi came back for us, only to come to the cells and gloat to us that no one is coming for us. At a certain point, my mind became numbed to gunshots. It made me start to think we would never be set free. Maybe we would one day, but would it be too late by then? We were at least somewhat hanging in there, except for G11. Two days prior, Chris Chan visited the prison and had G11 dragged into a room with him, ever since then she's seemed traumatized. I'm still confused about that, she didn't look hurt or beat up at all when she was being dragged back to her cell. What could Chris Chan have done that would cause her this much pain? The wound in my belly wasn't getting any better either. Every physical thing I did hurt it even more. I was afraid everything my body was doing to keep my wound closed would rip apart if I didn't get the proper care I needed. I'd bleed internally then die, the knowledge of that kept eating away at me. I had to find a way to remain hopeful though. I knew Akechi wanted to break us mentally, and once he succeeded, then he'd probably find a way to convince us to join Chris-Chan's honor guard or whatever. All I know is I would die in that cell, broken and alone before I join Chris-Chan's side. It was hard to keep looking for a light at the end of the tunnel when there didn't seem to be any light. I was just walking in the darkness, hoping I'd find some light. Anyway, after being brutally woken up that morning, we were all brought out of our cells and back outside, only this time there wasn't a truck out there, but a very long pull-up bar. It was very high off the ground.
"Alright, a pull-up contest." HK quietly said. "I'll crush all of you." We were forced onto our knees in front of the bar. Then I saw one of the guards tying ropes to the bar… that made me think we going to be killed. I also saw some kind of forklift next to the giant wooden bar. One of the guards came up to us.
"Who wants to volunteer to be our guinea pig today?" He asked. We all looked at each other, no one wanting to raise their hand. I was kneeling there thinking I most likely wasn't going to be killed, since Akechi probably didn't actually want to kill us, but while I was thinking this, 9 raised her hand.
"NO!" I shouted. "Let me go first."
"Sorry." The guard said sarcastically. "She volunteered." He grabbed 9's handcuffs and dragged her into the pallet on the forklift, then the forklift started lifting 9 and the guard up to the bar. The guard took 9's handcuffs off then tied both of her wrists to the bar, then the forklift brought the guard down, leaving 9 hanging by her wrists. The guards took some more rope and tied a basket to 9's feet. It looked like 9 was already in a lot of pain, but then the guards started putting rocks and bricks into the basket, with each weight in the basket visibly increasing 9's suffering.
"I'll hang in there, sis." 9 growled under her breath. "I won't disappoint you."
"Awww, well would you look at that?" One of the guards cooed. "She wants to 'hang in there for her sister.'" The other guards started laughing. The first guard then jumped onto 9 and latched onto her legs, this was followed by a really big SNAP! 9's shoulders got dislocated, so she was hanging there screaming in pain. Her face became blue from screaming non-stop, and she was shaking her legs almost as if she was trying to break the ropes herself.
"NO! 9!" I yelled. "Cut her down! PLEASE!"
"Relax, ugly Felix," One of the guards teased. "We'll cut her down, but it's your turn next." The guard got onto the pallet and had the forklift take him up, the only problem was it was really slow. 9 was dangling there by her wrists with dislocated shoulders, still screaming in agony all the while the forklift was taking its own sweet time. The guard finally got up to the bar and slashed the ropes around 9's wrists. She fell into the sand face first, then she rolled onto her side and started coughing up sand. She was breathing so heavily she must have inhaled some sand. Next thing I knew, HK, G11 and I were all dragged onto the pallet and being taken up to the bar. We were each individually hung by our wrists. HK was hung first, then it was me, then it was G11. As the guard was riding the forklift down, the other guards tied baskets to our feet.
"Use some of your strength to take the pressure off your shoulders. It will help for a while." HK whispered to me, loud enough for G11 to hear it as well. I looked over at G11, and she had an almost lifeless look in her eyes.
"G11, you have to stay determined." I whispered. "I know we're going to get out of here soon, but we can't let Akechi break us. That's exactly what he wants!" I struggled to believe my own words… I was slowly starting to break.
"We probably should have mentioned this before…" One of the guards started, "but no talking is permitted during the activity." I had spoken too loudly. The guard took his knife out and slashed at my leg, cutting it. I couldn't help but yelp in pain. I looked down at 9, who was trying to get herself off the ground to help me, but her shoulders were still broken. She was wriggling around so much, it caught the attention of another guard. He took a wooden plank and hit her right shoulder. This caused 9 to let out a scream, but she choked mid-scream. She violently coughed up more sand.
"If you behave from this point on…" The guard gloated, "Then maybe we'll pop your arms back into their sockets."
"Kiss my butt." 9 muttered through pain. "I suppose it'll be a good change of pace for you, since you're constantly kissing Akechi's ugly-" She was cut off by the guard hitting her other shoulder with the wooden plank.
"That's enough." One of the guards said. "We must focus on these three. Put more weight on them. We'll see how long each one of them lasts. The winner gets to sleep with the dead girl." The guards started putting rocks and bricks into the baskets attached to our legs, each one making my shoulders hurt even more. I heard HK mutter to herself, so I looked over to her. She looked at me and winked, despite having a pained look on her face. She waited until the guards were facing away from us, then she twisted the rope around her leg which made the basket hang closer to her. Then when the guards came back to put more into our baskets, HK swung her legs and hit the guard in the face with her heavy basket! I couldn't believe what I just saw. G11 looked almost delightfully surprised, the happiest I've seen her now that I think about it, and 9 was laughing herself silly. The guard fell to the ground and held his hands over his nose. The other guards helped him up as blood streamed from his broken nose.
"I want her executed!" The broken-nosed guard said with tears falling out of his eyes.
"No, Brother." Another guard said. "We must make sure Akechi's ok with it." The guards argued back and forth for a while… at least it seemed like a while. The three of us were still hanging there and my shoulders felt like they were about to give out. Finally, the guards came to an agreement.
"Cut them down and haul them back inside!" A random guard ordered. We were cut down and dragged back into our cells. As I was being cut down from the pole, I thought I saw a glint of light way off in the distance. I slowly turned my head and tried to not look so bluntly, as to not bring it to the guards' attention. It might have been Narukami and Suomi! I was conflicted. I wanted to feel excited because it seemed like they finally came for us, but then again, that's what the guards wanted us to think, only to break our spirits more when they announced it wasn't real. I lost all the hope I got from seeing the glint after that thought went through my head.
—-
We were apparently a long way from the prison, because it seemed to take forever for the guards to drag us back. I felt really bad for 9 because she was dragged by her arms, which were still dislocated. I was so worried about her. I was sitting in my cell, when a guard came into the cell hall with a bandage on his nose. He also had a sword, which gave me a sinking feeling. "I'm about to lose another girl." I thought to myself. Sure enough, I heard one of the cell doors opening, and HK yelling 'get your hands off of me, you broken toothpick!" "That will be the last funny insult I ever hear from HK." I thought to myself with an overwhelming feeling of dread. The guard brought HK in front of my cell and forced her onto her knees.
"Her head will be put on a pike in the middle of this hallway," The guard announced. "To make sure this kind of thing NEVER happens again!" The guard put his sword on HK's neck. HK closed her eyes nervously, but then I heard gunshots coming from outside of the cell hall. I figured that was fake… until I looked at the guard's face. Either he was a really good actor… or this was real! Sure enough, the next thing I saw was Suomi running into the room with her knife! She pushed HK to the floor and absolutely butchered the guard's neck! Guards came running from the other end of the hallway towards Suomi, but more girls came pouring into the cell hall with their guns raised, which pushed the guards back. I heard more gunfire from down the hallway. 9A-91 came running into the room and picked up one of the enemy's guns and tossed it to HK.
"Here's a firearm!" 9A yelled as she tossed HK her gun. HK caught it and looked at it with disgust.
"I can't use this thing. It's not even a Heckler and Koch!" HK complained.
"Awww. Does someone need a 'wah-mbulance?' 9A cooed. "Wah-wah-wah-wah." She imitated an ambulance's siren.
"Frick you!" HK said as she begrudgingly started pushing down the hallway with the other girls. Suomi came back to the cell and shot the lock on my cell door. She ran in and gave me a huge hug.
"Klonoa…" Suomi said quietly. "I was so worried about you." In that moment, I felt a happiness that I never thought I would feel again. I finally got what I was waiting for. They came back for us!
"Suomi… I missed you." I admitted. I felt like I was on cloud nine.
"I missed you too." Suomi said calmly. Suddenly there was an explosion from down the hall. "We have to get out of here!" Suomi then turned away from me. "Negev! We need you, NOW!" Negev came running in with a folded wheelchair on her back.
"Good to see you again, Chavruta!" Negev said as she took the wheelchair off her back and helped me onto it. She handed me my good ol' AK. "Suomi, the front entrance should be clear, just make sure the hallway is clear enough!" Suomi did as she was told and checked the hallway.
"We're clear for now!" Suomi yelled. "Get him to Narukami's van!"
"Wait…" I started. "What about 9 and G11?"
"The others will get them out." Suomi said. "Now we have to move! Let's go, Negev!"
"Watch your kishkes, Shikikan!" Negev yelled. Suomi went out of the cell and gave Negev covering fire as she wheeled me across the hall and into the entrance area. We got outside and one of the vans pulled up close to us. The sliding door on the side was opened from the inside.
"Klonoa!" Narukami explained happily. "It's so good to finally see you again!"
"You too, Brother." I said to Narukami while giving him a bro-hug. Narukami helped Suomi and Negev get me into the van… but this wasn't over.
"Wait." I said. "We have to go in and help the others."
"But Klonoa… Suomi started. "You're hurt. You're our priority... we have to get you out of here."
"I'm going back in either way." I told them. "You can either come with me and help or stay out here and hope I survive. I won't make you come with me." Narukami, Suomi and Negev exchanged looks and eventually all nodded in agreement.
"Negev, you're in charge of Klonoa's wheelchair." Narukami said. "Suomi, you'll scout ahead. I'll stay near Klonoa and pick them off." With this, we all headed back to the prison. I really didn't want to do this but losing UMP-45 was too much. I couldn't lose anyone else. Suomi went up to the entrance and made sure it was clear. After she gave the all clear, we all went in after her. When Suomi entered the cell hall, she was stuck up by a few of the girls for a few seconds until they realized it was us.
"What are you doing in here?" MP40 asked. "You were supposed to get the Shikikan out of here."
"We're helping you all clear out the prison, Shikikan's orders." Suomi answered.
"Bloody heck Shikikan," Bren started. "Do you have a death wish?" Bren didn't say 'heck,' though.
"I have the opposite of a death wish." I started. "I wish for all of you to stay alive. If I have to die in order to make that happen, then so be it."
"Let's get this over with." MP40 said. We started down the hall but I quickly noticed 9 and G11 were still in their cells.
"Why are they still locked up?" I asked. "MP40, Bren and Narukami, get them out of the prison and back to the van." They begrudgingly obliged, and yes, I do understand I sent most of my support away, but 9 and G11 had been through way too much already. Bren helped a still-traumatized G11 out of her cell and MP40 went into 9's cell and popped her shoulders back into place. Suomi, Negev and I pressed on. We took corners very slowly, with Suomi normally picking off anyone who was around the corner. We got to this one corner where the resistance was too thick. Suomi barely made it to the other side of the door frame. I had Negev lean me around the corner and I fired my AK. I was able to make the enemies hunker down a bit which allowed Suomi to get to better cover. She promptly wiped out all the guards in that hallway. We made it through a few more hallways, cleared some rooms, yadda yadda yadda. We eventually made it to the giant indoor torture gym, as Akechi called it, and all the girls were pinned down and a few were wounded, but that number was growing shockingly quickly.
"Shikikan, there's a balcony the enemies are using." Negev informed me.
"Well then we have to take it." I said with determination. "I saw an elevator at the end of the hallway we just took."
"That's fine, Klonoa," Suomi started, "But you need to stay back. I want you to- I mean… WE need you to get out of here alive."
"I'll do what I must." I said. "We have to take the balcony and help the girls." And so, the three of us got into the elevator. Negev wheeled me against the elevator wall for cover, Suomi got herself ready behind the wall adjacent to where I was and Negev put the bipod on her gun down and went prone.
"I'm ready. Take us up, Shikikan." Negev said. I pressed the button to go up to the second floor, the elevator doors closed, and it took us up. When the doors opened, Negev immediately opened fire and took out all the guys hiding behind the balcony wall. Suomi bolted out of the elevator and set up a base of fire at the far end of the corner railing to keep the guards from pushing us back. Negev and I got out of the elevator and started supporting the girls on the ground floor. There were still a lot of guards on the balcony, so I had Negev support the girls on the ground while I took out the guards on the same floor as we were. I've gotten pretty good with the AK, but a red dot sight would have been very nice. I was picking off the guards slowly but surely. The guards all started firing at me, so I leaned back in the wheelchair forcefully to make it go backwards. That was the only way I could avoid their gunfire. Suomi noticed me on the floor, so she rushed over to help me up.
"We have an opening, Brothers!" I heard one of the guards yell. "Kill them all and give their corpses to Lieutenant Akechi!" As Suomi was standing me up, four guards came around the corner, so I quickly aimed my AK at them and squeezed the trigger for dear life. Luckily, I took them all out, but I needed a new mag. As I was reloading, six guards came around the corner, but there was a giant explosion that went off near them, killing all of them. Suomi stood me up and I looked down to the first floor and saw HK giving me the thumbs up. She used her underbarrel grenade launcher. There were still a few guards on the second floor, but the girls on the first floor got unpinned, so a few of them started focusing fire on the balcony. The guards on the balcony knew they wouldn't survive. After a few good shots from the girls on the first floor as well as Negev wiping out half their remaining force, there were only three guards left standing. Suomi rushed at them with her gun aimed at them.
"Surrender now!" She yelled. "Drop your weapons and get on your knees!" Two of the guards did as they were told and threw their guns off the balcony, but one of them opened fire on Suomi. Suomi barely made it into cover, but the guard was getting closer to her. I aimed my AK very carefully at the guard's hands and fired. I had shot off his right hand. With this, we took the balcony. The three of us then helped the girls on the first floor and very quickly took the entire room, and eventually the entire prison. A few of the girls on the first floor came up and helped us with the prisoners we took. Unfortunately, the guard whose hand I shot off bled out. Too bad. It was over. As we were all leaving the prison, it felt like there was something I was forgetting. We met the girls on the first floor, then we all made our way out of the prison. As we were going down the cell hall, I looked in 9's cell and saw 45's body lying in the middle of the floor.
"Hold up, Negev." I ordered. Negev stopped pushing the wheelchair, and I wheeled myself into the cell and got 45's body on my lap. I wheeled myself back out of the cell. Suomi looked shocked.
"Oh my…!" Suomi said with tears in her eyes. "What happened to her?"
"She was hit on the head by Akechi's crowbar… repeatedly." I said, choked up at the bitter memory of that horrible event. "We need to give her a respectful burial."
"We will." Suomi reassured me. "Come on, let's get you out of here." We set out in silence, back to the vans where I'm happy to say 9, HK and G11 made it out ok. We loaded ourselves into the vans then headed back to the hospital, barely saying a word on the way back. No one knew what had happened to 45, except for 404 and I. The trucks must have been blocking the view from the hospital so no one from the hospital could see what was going on. Then they probably just saw the trucks leave after we got captured, and they didn't see anything else. It came as a shock to everyone. 45… one of the most clever and strategic dolls I've ever seen… was put down like an animal with rabies… by an actual animal.
—-
By the time we made it back to the hospital, the sun was setting, but we still needed to have a funeral for 45. I was extremely exhausted, but I wouldn't be able to sleep properly until 45 was properly put to rest. We covered her wound in gauze and a bunch of the girls and Narukami quickly dug a hole in the sand. I also asked MP5 and IDW to take the pillow and bedsheets off the bed she used to sleep in and I had them put the sheet and pillow in the hole. We all stood around.
"Does anyone want to say some words?" I asked.
"I'll say something." Narukami said as he stepped forward. "UMP-45, I wanted to thank you for helping us take the Dungeon of love. Your smoke grenades and expertise in battle saved our lives there... you were one of the reasons we rescued Nanako and made it out alive." Narukami then wiped a tear from his eye. "I thank you, UMP-45... and so does Nanako. I made sure she stayed inside because I didn't want her seeing a dead body, that's why I need to give you her regards." Narukami scoffed very softly, but not in a disrespectful way. Kar98k walked up.
"Universale Machinenpistole 45, you were a very fine piece of weapon engineering..." Kar started. "Perhaps if we had you in the 1940s, we would have won the war." This caught the attention of M1 Garand, who peered at Kar.
"Yeah, like that would have ever happened." M1 retorted. I slapped my hands together forcefully.
"This is not the time!" I scolded. Kar and M1 immediately stepped back and kept quiet. 9 walked up to her sister.
"45 Sis... you were the best big sister a doll could ever ask for." 9 said as she laid her hand softly on 45's forehead. "You always seemed better than me... but the way I saw it, you constantly gave me something to work up to. You made me strong... and for a while I felt like I couldn't go on without you. I think I'll be ok now... because I know you want me to be strong. I will be strong just for you, 45-sis." 9's voice then started breaking a little bit. "I... I'm going to miss you, sis. I'll miss you until my time comes. I look forward to when you and I can be together again, but until then... I will fight." There was a long silence after 9 said her words.
"I'm not sure anyone will be able to beat that..." Suomi muttered. "Klonoa, did you want to say anything?" I wheeled myself close to 45's body.
"I remember what you told me back at the bridge... about your former Shikikan..." I started. "You wanted to get revenge for what Akechi had done. I will get you what you want. I will get revenge for you. We still have a ways to go before we can go that though, so please 45, watch over us from heaven while we fight." I just sat there trying to think of other things to say, but I couldn't. I was super tired.
"It's almost dark Klonoa, should we bury her now?" Narukami asked me. I slowly nodded. HK and M4 picked up 45's body and carefully laid her in her grave. Springfield put the blanket over her, then Narukami, Suomi, AN-94 and P90 started filling the hole. Pretty soon, the hole was filled up. We then all headed back into the hospital. HK took G11 to her room to rest, 9 went with task force defy so they could fix her arm and Suomi and Narukami took me back to my room.
"It's good to have you back, brother." Narukami told me as he helped me into the bed. "You were crazy going out to certain death like that, but in hindsight you may have made the right call. We probably would have lost more girls if you hadn't gone out there." I laid my head on the pillow, and my goodness, I forgot what it was like to lay on something soft… surrounded by my family. I missed them so much.
"It's good to be back, Narukami." I started. "I wasn't sure what the right call was back then… but I'm glad I chose the best option, even though it led to the hardest ten days of my life… by the way, how did you find me?"
"Eighteen hours on, six hours off for all of us." Suomi answered.
"We took most of Akechi's region trying to find you. It was quite the grind, but we just HAD to get you back." Narukami said with a determined look in his eyes. "We weren't even sure if you were alive… but I told you we would get you out of there. I had to keep my promise. That's what a guy does for his Brother."
"By the way, how's your stomach? Are you in a lot of pain right now?" Suomi asked.
"Everything still hurts." I answered. "I think it will get better after I get some actual rest."
"Well, as always, if you need anything, call me or Narukami. Get some rest now." Suomi said as she and Narukami turned towards the door.
"Good night Klonoa." They both said at the same time. Narukami left, but Suomi lagged behind him a little. She turned and looked at me, then she came back over to my bedside.
"You are very brave, you know." Suomi said as she put her hand on my forehead, moving my cap upwards a little bit. She then very quickly gave me a kiss on the forehead. I didn't know what to say, but looking back, there were so many different things I could have said. Of course, I had to say something that makes me cringe now when I think about it.
"Umm… I try." I said like an idiot. Suomi just giggled a little bit.
"Again…" She paused. "... good night Shikikan." As Suomi got up, I heard a little knock on the doorframe. It was Soppo!
"Can I cuddle with Catman?" Soppo asked sweetly. Suomi looked at me to see if I was ok with it.
"Please bring her over, Suomi." I said. "I've missed her so much!" Suomi bent over and picked up Soppo.
"Just remember to be careful. He's still hurt." Suomi told Soppo. She carefully put Soppo on my chest, and Soppo instantly gave me as much of a hug as she could. Suomi turned the lights off as she left the room, keeping her eyes on me and smiling the whole time. After she left the room, I pulled the blanket over Soppo and leaned back and relaxed. I felt a lot better being back at the hospital and surrounded by my family again, but this world will always be a little bit darker in my eyes. For Akechi to club 45 to death, making sure she suffered an unspeakable amount the entire time. This world won't get any lighter until Akechi is taken out. Even after the day is won, something will always be missing… UMP-45.