(June 29, 2024)—-
"RFB!?" I was awoken quite violently by Suomi screaming in horror. Everyone in the room must have thought we were under attack so they grabbed their guns and stumbled around the room in a half-asleep state. I rolled off the mattress I was sleeping on and crawled over to her. She was sitting up with a look of sheer horror on her face.
"Everyone calm down!" Yu ordered after he and I realized we weren't under attack.
"Suomi?" I started in a calm-yet-sleep-deprived voice. "Are you ok?" Suomi was panting with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I… I heard… my friend…" Suomi said while panting in distress. "I… I thought she was dead… but I heard… her… crying for help…" I knelt there stunned. I remember right before I found myself in Lunatea, I heard a voice crying for help.
"She's somewhere Suomi. We'll find her." I reassured Suomi. Suomi's voice calmed down a bit, but then it started breaking.
"She's been gone for such a long time." Suomi cried. "I was hoping she was somewhere in Akechi's region… but she's still out there somewhere. I don't know when we'll find her. What if she… gives up entirely?"
"I remember you telling me she mouthed off to some guards…" I started. "It sounds like she has a lot of fight in her. She won't give up anytime soon." I wish I could have done a better job calming Suomi down, but it was the middle of the night. "The sooner we get through this conflict, the sooner we can continue searching for your friend."
"You're right." Suomi said a little more calmly. Suomi reached over to her coat which was lying on the floor next to her mattress and took a picture out of one of her pockets. "Hang in there, Kel." Suomi said to the picture. "We'll find you. You are not forgotten." I stayed up with Suomi for a little while longer until she calmed down to the point where she could fall back asleep. As I laid on my mattress trying to get back to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking of Suomi's friend and what she may have been going through. That feeling of waiting to be rescued, I know it too well.
—-
The next day we all gathered in the main room and had a meeting. I have to say, it wasn't easy to be up and at 'em after the night I had, but I was glad I could be there for Suomi.
"Yo, very cocoa-puffs-worthy morning everyone!" Pearl started the meeting off wearing thin sunglasses and rapping about some sort of cereal. After trying it shortly after the meeting, I ended up deeming it to be extremely good. Sorry, I'm off topic. Pearl was in a very good mood.
"We have a very important mission to do today, but if we can pull it off, the Minions won't stand a chance." Marina said as she placed some weird-looking gadget on the table. "I started working on the device to open the Minions' underground bases remotely, the only problem is I'm not sure what kind of system they're using on their elevators."
"I have worked closely with the idols to come up with an exact itinerary for today." Specs said as he walked around the table to the side where Pearl and Marina were. "Apart from normal operations to take some of the oil pumps, a small team will need to accompany Marina into one of the underground bunkers by stowing away on a truck, just like Klonoa did yesterday."
"It was by sheer luck that I got near the truck yesterday without being caught." I added. "If we're going to get a small team on a truck we'll need something more than just luck." Just then, Marie came into the room holding four sand-colored blankets.
"I figured that would be the case," Marie started, "So I made these blankets. If you put this over yourself while laying in the sand, you'll look like a small dune, especially from a distance."
"What can I say, Grandma loves to knit!" Callie said in a mocking tone.
"Okay, that's it… no sweets for you, Callie." Marie said.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Callie cried. We all stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.
"Anyway," Specs started again, "Marina wants to go into the bunker to get a look at their circuitry since she knows exactly what to look for. I'll be going with her. Klonoa, I am hoping you and Suomi will come with us." I looked at Suomi and she looked back at me. She gave me a small and determined nod.
"We'll do it." I said as I brandished my suppressed UMP-45.
"Excellent!" Specs interjected. "Now, Headphones and Mr. Narukami, I want you to follow the team closely to make sure nothing goes wrong. Once they've successfully stowed away, go over to a nearby oil pump and help the team at that pump take it."
"Me and Headphones again… just my luck…" Yu said exasperatedly.
"What was that?" Headphones asked angrily. "Looks like you're not getting any sweets either."
"That's fine." Yu said monotonously. "I've been trying to lose weight."
—-
Suomi and I went with Specs and Marina to lay prone and watch an oil pump that the minions were planning on pillaging. We laid there for what felt like hours under the blankets Marie made for us. The good news was they really worked. They kept us hidden so well I was worried I would lose track of my teammates if I lost focus. The bad news was… they were extremely itchy.
"Here comes the truck." Specs whispered to us. "Let's get ready to make our way down there." The four of us started crawling towards the truck very slowly. We would have to stop crawling every now and then if one of the Minions looked in our general direction. It was a pain, but at least we were doing it the careful way. It took a long time, but eventually we got close enough to the truck. We were about to get onto it, but the minions had filled all their barrels and started bringing the barrels full of oil over to the truck. I also saw a heavily armored Minion holding a fart gun. He was wearing something that looked pretty close to what the flamethrower who was about to burn me alive was wearing. I kind of dazed off to what happened back then. The two survivors… dehydration… meeting Chris Chan for the first time… it was a lot to bear.
"Klonoa?" Suomi was whispering and carefully tapping my shoulder. "Everything ok?" I snapped out of it.
"Huh? Oh… yes." I stammered. Suomi happened to catch my glance at the heavy minion.
"We should create a diversion somehow…" Suomi suggested. I started looking for something I could use to create a ruckus. I would've thrown a rock at something, but there were no rocks nearby. I would have taken a shell out of my gun and thrown that at something, but I was worried the sound of ejecting a bullet would have been too noticable. That was when I looked at a stack of empty barrels in between the truck and the pump.
"I know what to do." I whispered. "You three wait here until you can move."
"Want me to come with?" Suomi asked me.
"It's probably better if I go alone…" I said. I wanted to bring her with, but I figured sneaking past them would be easier if it was just me.
"Ok. Let me know if you want me to come out and help you." Suomi whispered. "Give me some kind of hand motion or something." I started crawling towards the barrels slowly. As I was crawling over there, I realized; if I punch a barrel and make a noise, I'd get skewered alive by the minions. I was hoping the truck would have something on it I could throw. I made it under the truck, but it took me a good amount of time because every now and then a minion would look in my general direction. If I moved while a minion was watching, he would have noticed me, and the last thing I needed was attention. I snuck a look in a box that was attached to the bottom of the truck and found a big metal wrench. I brought it underneath the truck, aimed it and hurled it at the stack of barrels. This caused the minions to start dispersing, which created an opening for Marina, Specs and Suomi to get on the truck. They made it in between the truck cabin and the back, just like I had done the previous day. I was about to crawl up and join them, but the minions started getting so freaked out that they ended up quickly packing up all their barrels and getting into the truck. I only had one choice; to hold onto the bottom of the truck. I grabbed a hold, and it started to move. I looked ahead and saw Suomi lean over the side enough to see me. She motioned me to come close so she could pull me up. I started making my way over to her, but it wasn't easy with all the moving parts I had to avoid. Some of the places I put my hand on were extremely hot, even with my gloves on! The ride was relatively smooth, which I was quite thankful for. A good bump would have caused me to lose my grip all together. I was getting closer to Suomi, so she held out her hand. I grabbed it and she started pulling me up. "Keep your legs bent." She whispered. She pulled me up while I tried my hardest to not let my legs hit the ground. It wasn't easy getting from the bottom of the truck to the space between the bed and the cabin, but I made it… with Suomi's help. I don't know what I would do without her.
—-
The truck finally came to a stop and the ground started moving us downwards. Perfect, we made it! We stayed in our very cramped spot waiting for the elevator to bring us all the way down and the truck to move into the underground garage. The minions hit a switch to make the elevator go back up. Eventually they got all the oil off the truck and then went to do their own things in the base. The four of us were about to get out of our very cramped spots, but then Marina stopped us suddenly.
"There's a camera on the wall!" Marina whispered.
"Can you hack it or something?" I whispered.
"I might be able to… it will take some time…" Marina said as she looked at her weird futuristic-looking do-hickey hacking device.
"I'm personally not too keen on staying here, we might get caught if we wait here long enough." Specs reasoned.
"I think I know what to do…" Suomi whispered. "I'll buy you some time. Use that time to do what we came here to do." Suomi got out of the truck, grabbed a hammer and ran over to the camera and smashed it. Her sense of duty is insane, I thought it was going to get her killed. Sure enough, a bunch of Minions ran into the garage and held Suomi at gunpoint. She slowly put her hands up and dropped the hammer.
"Tenga tu kor aka! Sif pem sama fart to da gig " One of the minions yelled. I have no idea what he said, all I could make out was 'fart.'
"Ummm… I'm alone." Suomi said calmly. One of the minions ran behind her and shot the back of her leg with one of their laser guns. Suomi yelped in pain as she fell onto her knees. Another minion ran over and took her gun. She was then handcuffed and escorted somewhere in the base. As they were taking her away, she managed to look me in the eyes and smile.
"Wow, you have a very dedicated friend, Klonoa." Specs said proudly.
"I have to find her before we leave." I said. "We are not leaving without Suomi."
"I can find the device and get the specifications I need alone." Marina said kind of nervously. "Specs, you can go with Klonoa to find his friend."
"It's ok, I'll go alone." I said. "Specs, stay with Marina and keep her safe from the minions. I'll try and not take too long." Specs gave me a nod as I cautiously got out of the truck and peered into the large room. Once again, there were Minions everywhere, as well as plenty of barrels to hide behind. Specs and Marina quickly found the control box for the elevators, so Marina started using a screwdriver to get the box open. Specs gave me a thumbs up. I gave him a nod as I started exploring the base. I went in the direction where I found 8 in the previous bunker I had been in, but I soon found out the bunker had a very different layout. Phooey. As I was looking around the bunker, I saw some other creature in there. She kind of looked like 7, but she was green and blue. I figured Specs would know more about her, but rescuing Suomi was my first priority. As I turned a corner, I saw a minion building a statue of Neptune. I couldn't help but notice the chest on the statue was somewhat enlarged. I was about to keep moving until one of the green girls came over to reprimand the minion making the statue.
"DAVE!" She yelled. "GET BACK TO WORK!" He begrudgingly threw his tools on the ground, which made a lot of noise. He started walking right towards me, so I grabbed my knife and got ready. When he came close, I grabbed him and quickly jammed the knife into the top of his head. He instantly died and I quickly threw him into one of the barrels full of oil. My heart was pounding because I thought someone had seen me kill the minion. As I knelt there making sure I was still undetected, I heard a loud zapping sound, followed by Suomi's scream. My heart started pounding even more and I headed in the direction the scream came from. I followed the sound to a hallway, but three minions happened to be coming down the hallway, so I quickly took out my suppressed UMP and gunned them all down. Unfortunately one of the minions fired his laser gun at me as he was falling to the ground, which alerted everyone in the base. The minions would be coming for me, but I had to get Suomi out of here before they killed her! I ran down the hallway as fast as I could and glanced through each of the doors searching for Suomi. I came to one door and saw Suomi tied to metal bars on the wall which were all hooked up to car batteries. There was a minion standing on a stool touching the ends of the jumper cables to the leads on the car battery. I quickly busted the door down and killed the minion on the stool before he could zap Suomi again. I then ran over and cut the ropes on Suomi's wrists and ankles and she stumbled away from the wall. She collapsed as she was trying to get to the table where the minions put her gun. I ran over to her and helped her stand back up,
"W…what happened?" Suomi asked weakly.
"The minions know I'm here!" I yelled. "I may have blown the whole operation!"
"The least… we can do… is make it out of… here… alive…" Suomi said as she was shaking a little bit. The minions must have electrocuted her pretty severely. Poor girl. We had to defend the room we were in before we got overrun by the endless minions rushing us. I grabbed Suomi by her hand and ran into a room across the hallway because it had a door that was still on its hinges. I closed the door and barricaded it so we could have a little bit of time to get situated. Suomi stumbled over to a crate on the floor and found these red sticks that had wires on them.
"Klonoa… look… dynamite." Suomi said in the most energy she could muster. "Light them… throw them at the minions… they'll blow up." I stuffed my pockets full of dynamite, anticipating a long explosive fight. I knew I'd have to be careful of the barrels of oil in the main room. I shot the glass on the door, lit a stick of dynamite and threw it out the window. The minions broke the door down, but it didn't matter because the dynamite blew them all up right before they could fire at us. I grabbed Suomi's arm and brought her over to the doorframe. "Keep the hallway as clear as you can!" I yelled. Suomi gave me an acknowledging nod as I leaned her against the doorframe and ran to the next room down to hold the line. I gunned down a bunch of minions that turned the corner then ducked back into the room to reload and that was when I realized some of the fur on my arm had gotten burned off, and after I realized I had been burned, it started to hurt. I had to ignore it and stay on my toes. I quickly reloaded and got back into the fight. I pushed the minions back as much as I could. Once it was clear enough, I threw some dynamite down the hallway to buy me a few seconds to grab Suomi and bring her up further. That brought us up to the bend of the hallway. Just a few feet across from us was the giant room full of oil. Dynamite wouldn't be an option because I wanted to keep the place free of flames as long as we were in there. We also had to be careful of shooting any of the barrels because that could have started a chain reaction. I put my gun in semi-auto to help me be more precise. The minions who were standing in the middle of the hallway were taken out pretty quickly, but there were a few around the corners that gave us trouble. They were suddenly taken out from the side. Specs came around the corner with his shotgun.
"Nice job Klonoa! Your distraction gave Marina all the time she needed to get the elevator system figured out! Let's get out of here now!" Specs yelled as more minions came pouring out of the rooms connected to the main room. I put Suomi on my back and followed Specs closely as he made a run for the garage. "They're converging on us!" Specs warned. We ran through the main room with lasers flying right by us repeatedly. Unfortunately, one of the minions had hit one of the barrels of oil just right, which caused the entire base to go ablaze!
"EVERYONE GET ON THE PLATFORM NOW!" Marina yelled. Specs and I collapsed on the ground as Marina used her hacking do-hickey to make the elevator bring us back up to the surface. If she hadn't gotten it working we would have been incinerated in the base! I laid Suomi on the floor gently.
"Suomi, are you ok? Did you get burned?" I asked.
"I got kind of… burned… but I'm ok." Suomi said, sounding a little stronger than before.
"What happened to her?" Specs asked.
"She got electrocuted by the minions." I answered. "Don't worry about her though, Suomi is as tough as they come." We rode the elevator up, and when we got to the top, we saw minions running up a massive hill in the distance. It wasn't very steep, but they were clearly trying to get a height advantage.
"Let's get them before they get to the top!" Specs yelled, but not too loud. I made sure Suomi was secure on my back, then I took off running, picking minions off one by one. The minions slowly started realizing we were behind them and turning around and firing at us. We dove into a ditch.
"We need to move up!" Marina said, "Their guns can cover more range than ours can! We only have shotguns! Klonoa, Suomi, you two have guns that are effective at longer ranges, can the two of you cover us?"
"We'll do our best…" I started, "We won't be able to fire at minions if you're close to them. It's too risky. Try and stay as far away from them as you can, but also try and hold some sort of line up there."
"We will take heed of your warnings." Specs said. "You're both good shots, we trust you both." Specs and Marina started charging towards the hill as I got Suomi set up at the edge of the ditch.
"Can you shoot Suomi?" I asked.
"I'll do my best…" Suomi answered. "We've been through… worse situations… before. Just make sure… you compensate for… bullet drop… at this range… aim slightly above… your target." Suomi advised me. I gave her a quick thumbs up and zeroed in on the Minions that were standing there firing at Specs and Marina. The UMP has a holographic sight on it, so that makes aiming a lot easier. I put the red dot in the middle of the crosshair on top of one of the minions and fired a single bullet. I think I ended up hitting him in the stomach. I kept going from target to target, carefully lining up a shot and taking it. Some went well, others not so much. There were a few times when I shot right in between their legs and scared them, which caused them to run for the hills, but luckily not the hill we were trying to take. Specs and Marina were getting closer and closer to the top, but the further away they got, the more difficult it became to hit minions. I eventually picked up Suomi and ran her over to the base of the rock. I put her down, we went prone and we kept firing. I kept doing this until Specs and Marina took the top of the rock.
"WHAT THE… HECK IS… THAT?" Suomi suddenly yelled. I looked behind me and saw some really weird-looking contraptions headed towards us. It looked more like a suit of armor on wheels. I also saw some giant mechanical beast with glowing orange eyes! Not to mention the entire mess of Minions charging us alongside the metal monsters! It would take me forever to describe how freaked out I was, but in that moment all I cared about was getting Suomi out of there!
"GRAB MY HAND, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled as I held my hand out. Suomi grabbed my hand, I got her on my back and I started running up the hill.
"KLONOA! SUOMI! WE NEED TO HOLD THIS HILL! IT'S THE ONLY ADVANTAGEOUS SPOT!" Specs yelled. I eventually made it to the top and put Suomi up against a dead tree. Those metal freakazoids were getting to the base of the hill, holding up the rear of a platoon of minions running up the hill.
"WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" I yelled.
"It looks like sanitized octolings are sharing top-secret technology with minions!" Marina snarled. "A race back in the reality we're from uses those exact kinds of machines to guard their eggs! A scrapper is coming up the hill now! Shoot the front of it enough to stop it from moving, then you can get behind it and kill the minion driving it! Be careful though, it could ram into you if you don't stop it first!" I knew we had to destroy the scrapper before it came all the way to the top of the rock, so I had to quickly devise a plan!
"Suomi, I need you to keep the minions suppressed!" I yelled. "I'll shoot the scrapper until it stops, Specs, once that happens, I need you to go behind it and kill the minion operating it! Come right back up here after it's done!"
"Yes Shiki- I mean… Klonoa." Suomi said. Her calling me Shikikan reminds me of the ol' days back at the hospital in the beginning. Anyway, I quickly mag dumped the scrapper, and it came apart and started making this weird alarm sound.
"It's stopped!" Specs yelled. "I'm going at it!" Specs ran down the hill dodging Minion lasers as he did so. He quickly went behind the scrapper and shot the minion driving it right in the behind. He then took control of the scrapper and started ramming the minion troops. He was certainly playing a huge part in keeping the minions at bay. Suddenly I realized the metal enemy with orange glowing eyes was starting to get close to our position!
"Marina, how do I stop that thing?" I asked in a frenzy.
"There's a minion operating it from the back end. Go behind it and kill the operator!" Marina yelled. I jumped the smaller rocks we were using as cover and ran towards the mechanical beast and shot the minion driving it. It came apart in sections starting at the back. It was kind of a spectacle, not going to lie. I ran back up to the hill and couldn't help but notice Marina was sitting there tinkering with her hacking device.
"What are you doing Marina?" I asked kind of angrily. "We need everyone to play their parts!"
"I can use this to send a distress signal!" Marina retorted. "Help should be coming soon! Once… I can… get the right… frequency…" I didn't have time for the techno-talk, we were all in constant danger of being overrun!
"Klonoa! Specs… is in… DANGER!" Suomi yelled as she was firing at charging Minions. I looked over and the minions had disabled the scrapper Specs was using!
"Suomi, give me covering fire!" I yelled as I ran back down the rock. I kept the minions away from Spec's backside and pulled him out of the disabled scrapper.
"Thanks Klonoa, I owe you one." Specs said gratefully.
"K…Klonoa… get back… here NOW!" Suomi warned us. I heeded her warning and ran back to the top with Specs. Right before we got to the top, I saw some sort of flying saucer headed right towards us! It started dropping Minions out from underneath it!
"It's a slammin' lid!" Specs warned me. "Try and get right underneath it and get out in time before it comes down! Then you need to get on top of it and kill the operator, as he's operating it from the top!" I ran underneath it but it wouldn't try and slam me. I then realized… it was headed for Marina and… Suomi!
"HEY! YOU FLYING GAYBIAN! COME AND GET ME!" I yelled, trying to get its attention. It kept flying towards the top of the rock! "Dangit! We have to get up there… NOW!" I then heard an extremely high-pitched whirring sound.
"I got the distress signal working!" Marina yelled. "Help is on the way!" Specs and I ran to the top of the rock to stop the slammin' lid, but then I saw it slam the ground at the top of the hill. I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Suomi… n… no…!" I stood there in shock feeling my feral instincts getting ready to kill. I watched as the slammin' lid ascended off the ground slowly, but I couldn't help but notice something hanging off of it. I looked closer and saw it was Suomi hanging off the edge and pulling herself up! I then realized… when Suomi kills the operator, she would end up falling to the ground! I had the feral instinct in me from when I thought she had gotten crushed and I had to use it on something. I put the UMP on my back, got on all fours and ran up the rock like a cat on steroids… because that's basically what I was at the time! As I was running to the top, Suomi destroyed the slammin' lid and started falling towards the ground. I made it up there and caught her just in time!
"Great job, Suomi." I told her. "Are you alright?" Suomi stared into my eyes for a few seconds, not saying a word.
"More bosses are coming!" Specs suddenly yelled. I felt like I had just snapped out of a trance. I saw the amount of minions and bosses rushing us, and I wished I could go back into the trance. Suddenly, the minions started getting pegged by TONS of bullets that came seemingly out of nowhere. I looked behind me and saw a helicopter flying over.
"YES!" Marina yelled. "PEARLIE IS HERE!"
"Yo, not-so-fresh Minions," I heard from the helicopter's loudspeakers. "You ain't gonna put my best buds down!" The helicopter flew over us and turned sideways, and I saw Yu and Headphones in the back. They started sniping the bosses' backsides and taking them out very quickly! Once it was clear enough, the helicopter landed near us. Yu jumped out of the helicopter to support us as we made our way to the helicopter.
"Good to see you, Brother! Let's get you all out of here!" Yu said gleefully as he helped keep enemies away from us. Marina and Specs got into the helicopter and I walked Suomi over to the helicopter. I helped Yu get back in the helicopter and he kept firing on the minions as we flew away.
—-
It was a very short flight back to the base, which was good because Suomi needed to get some medical attention since she was still mostly unable to walk. When we got back to base, Yu and I helped Suomi over to the makeshift infirmary.
"What happened to her?" Yu asked.
"She let herself get captured to keep Marina Specs and I from getting detected." I said, feeling extremely grateful towards Suomi. "She was electrocuted by the Minions a few times." I walked over to her and laid my hand on her forehead. "Poor thing…" I mumbled. Suomi was asleep at the time. The inklings (that's what the creatures we're fighting with are called) put lots of blankets on Suomi to keep her from being chilled, so all she needed at that point was some rest.
"Suomi will do anything she can to keep you alive." Yu said. "Everytime you go on a mission with her, I know you'll come back." What he said made me remember what happened a long time ago, when I was thrown off a bridge and into a river with a giant metal shard impaled through my stomach. Suomi is the reason why I'm still here. I leaned over and kissed her forehead softly. After I did that, I couldn't help but notice a faint smile come across Suomi's face. I also remembered the role Yu played in my still being here; he gave me so much of his blood he ended up almost killing himself. I turned to Yu and gave him a bro-hug.
"You also had a part to play in saving my life that day." I reminded Yu.
"I remember that day well." Yu reminisced. "The girls came back from the bridge in a frenzy because you were so near death. I told them to take as much of my blood as they needed to keep you alive. After a while, you weren't waking up and Negev didn't want to take any more blood from me, but I told her to keep going." I didn't know that part of the story. All I remember from that time was passing out on the shore with Suomi by my side.
"You pushed yourself to the brink…" I said with appreciation. "I remember how pale and sickly you looked when I woke up."
"That was just the beginning…" Yu said. "You held on for the night, but the next morning, Suomi started shouting because you started flatlining. Even though I hadn't recovered from the transfusion, I told them to take more blood from me. Your heart started up again slowly, but I wanted to stay in the room with you until you woke up. It wasn't easy to stay away from the light, but I had to. I wouldn't let death touch me, especially not when I still had my brother's back to cover."
"I…" I was almost speechless. "I have the best friends in the world… Thank you so much, Yu" Yu then gave me a giant bear hug, the kind I was used to getting from Suomi.
"We'll see this through." Yu said confidently. "All of us."