(July 5, 2024)—-
It had been six days since the events of late. You know, the time when Suomi Specs Marina and I went into the Minions' oil bunker. It was a very tough battle, but it as all worth it, because we can now control all of their elevators. The six days since that day had been spent simply driving over to their bunkers, riding the elevator down and throwing a grenade, dynamite, or, in Bobble Hat's case, firing a 40mm grenade into the main room where they stored all the oil they've acquired. The Minions stopped using the oil pumps because they wanted to focus more on protecting their bases, so they weren't able to collect any more oil. Needless to say, Neptune's oil supply chain was completely cut. I'm not sure if this is her only source of oil, but all that matters is she is going to have less of it. 7 and 8 recovered a few days ago and have been helping us wipe out the Minions. We found a massive warehouse that belongs to the Minions on the opposite end of this small desert region. Hopefully taking this place won't be as difficult as taking Akechi's estate. Suomi recovered enough to go with us to take the Minion's warehouse. We piled into a few trucks and headed over. It was only a thirty minute drive, that's how small the desert region was.
"The minions are going to be game-ended today!" 8 yelled determinedly.
"Yes!" Goggles agreed. "For Gloves!"
"Who's Gloves?" Suomi whispered to me.
"One of the inklings I found in the first Minion bunker I went into." I whispered back. "The Minions drowned the poor guy in oil." Right after I finished saying that, Pearl came up behind me and Suomi and put her arms around us.
"Yo, we about to fight together again!" Pearl exclaimed. "I have no doubt it will be fun as all get out! Only difference is the tall guy isn't as surly as before."
"We found his sister." I happily reported. "She's safe now."
"These two helped me find her." Yu said, referring to Suomi and I. "A family must always watch over each other."
"RPG!" Specs yelled. The rocket just missed us. Yu and headphones both shouldered their rifles and took out the Minion standing on a guard tower with the RPG.
"Got him." Narukami said as he dusted off his right shoulder.
"What are you talking about?" Headphones argued. "I got him."
"Actually I got him." Marie said monotonously over the radio. I looked over to the truck right next to ours and saw Marie waving with a straight look on her face.
"There's the warehouse!" Bobble hat exclaimed. "I'll take down the gate." A few minions ran in front of their gate and started firing lasers at the driver of the truck we were on (Which was Marina, FYI). Bobble hat whipped out her grenade launcher and fired at the gate. The gate blew open and the minions guarding it went flying. Marina drove the truck straight into the open gate and we all jumped off and started pushing up. Minions were running at us while firing their tiny laser guns at us the entire time. I also noticed some armored Minions running at us with fart guns.
"Yu, Headphones and Marie, take out the heavy Minions before they can get close!" I ordered.
"Will do, Brother. Yu acknowledged. Pearl ran past us doing the same cool dodge-rolling-thing she was doing back at the first prison Narukami and I took. 8, Specs and I stayed close to Pearl to support her as she pushed up rapidly. We got to a giant open room that had no cover, so we had to use strategery to make it through. More Minions, including the annoying armored ones, started running at us once again. They were also firing at us from the catwalks that stretched all the way around the room. We all got behind the wall to try and formulate a plan.
"What's the plan?" Specs asked. "We need to start pushing them before they overrun us!"
"Dangit! I need to think about this for a moment!" I yelled. I felt very stressed out. That should be a given since our lives were very much at risk.
"LET'S GO GET THE BASTARDS!" Goggles yelled. All the inklings then charged into the room yelling and shooting. Yu, Suomi and I stood there in shock, not really knowing what to do.
"We gotta go help them!" Suomi exclaimed.
"We watch each other's backs out there! Just like always!" Yu said as he put his hand in front of me and Suomi. Suomi put her hand on top of Narukami's and I put my hand on Suomi's.
"LET'S GO GET THE HECKERS!" I yelled. The three of us ran into the room guns blazing. There was no cover, so we just had to keep moving. The minions weren't able to land many shots, but the few shots that actually hit me just… hurt… like a lot. I could take a few shots but I didn't want to get hit too much. Through all the pandemonium, I didn't realize an armored minion ran over to me and started spraying the fart gun at me. I tried my hardest to stay awake but the smell was slowly overcoming me. My vision was getting dark and my legs gave out completely. Normal minions started running towards me, looking to put me down.
"KLONOA!" Yu yelled as he ran over to me. He took out his automatic pistol and put down all the minions running towards me in a matter of seconds. The armored minion was still gassing me until Suomi freaking PUNTED him.
"Good riddance!" Suomi yelled as she was coughing and fanning her nose. Yu held his breath as he grabbed my shoulders and dragged me away from the cloud of gas. Suomi was keeping Yu covered. Yu pulled me into the fresh air and I started becoming cognizant again.
"Thanks Brother." I said as I was gasping for beautiful fresh air. Yu patted my shoulder as he helped me back onto my feet. We then ran back into the room to keep fighting. We eventually pushed our way through the large room and got to the other side of the warehouse, which was a hallway with dently-nice offices attached to them. We cleared the offices easily then we went through the papers on the desks looking for intel on Neptune.
"Excavation?" Suomi thought out loud as she was looking at papers.
"Not a surprise." Specs said. "Nearly every base we went into was underground which means excavation was part of the building process."
"No, there was an excavation here. There might be more to this warehouse than we think." Suomi said as she showed Specs the map she looked at. Specs brought the map closer to his face, adjusted his glasses a few times then finally took his nose out of the map. His nose wasn't literally in the map, I was using an expression.
"Well this is certainly troubling." Specs said. "It looks like we indeed have more work to do."
"Hold up…" Yu said as he was looking at a computer on a nearby desk. "It looks like Neptune gave the Minions new orders ten days ago… The orders are to go to Akechi's region and destroy the estate." Yu said, not sounding worried at all. "The Minions are all hiding somewhere underneath this warehouse, I say we find a way down there and finish this." Marina started using her hacking tool, but no doors were opening, nor could she find a signal. We walked around the entire warehouse looking for doors that were opening and found nothing. Suddenly the floor in the giant room opened up and a GIANT Minion robot came out of the floor on an elevator!
"Oh heck!" Suomi exclaimed. "The defenses we set up at the estate won't be able to stop that thing!"
"Why does Akechi's old empty estate mean this much to you?" Headphones asked. Right after she asked that, the Minion robot started breaking through the roof causing it to collapse around us!
"Our friends and my little Sister are there!" Yu yelled, answering Headphone's question. "They helped us retake Akechi's region! We have to stop that thing before it crushes all of them!" We all ran over to the trucks, dodging falling roof debris the entire time! "Nanako…" Yu whispered as we neared the trucks. He then turned to us. "We have to stop this thing!" Yu jumped into one of the trucks and Suomi and I got in the back of it. The Inklings got into the other trucks, but the Minion robot's head aimed at us started charging up a giant laser beam! I knew that was going to be at least a hundred steps up from their tiny laser guns!
"It's aiming at us!" Callie yelled. "EVERYONE DITCH THE TRUCKS NOW!" The inklings jumped out of the trucks and scattered, but Yu stayed in the truck getting it started. I was torn between jumping off the truck or staying on it, clinging to the small hope of us narrowly escaping the laser. Yu got the truck moving just as the laser fired, incinerating the two trucks. Luckily the inklings were a safe distance away when it fired. The Minion robot ran past our truck, and was headed towards the estate! Yu drove straight towards it, and Suomi and I mag dumped the robot's face, chest, abdomen, wherever! We didn't end up doing any damage!
"Soppo…" I whispered to myself. "404… Kar… MP5…" Only to name a few. Defeat was not an option here!
"Tu yambrr sama shh! yee to sama tadda be mupa efs!" The Minions piloting the robot taunted us over their loudspeaker. I didn't get mad at that, because I had no idea what they said. Suddenly the robot started running faster! The desert we fought across to get to the last warehouse wasn't that big, so we didn't have a lot of time! The robot's back opened up and four laser cannons came out of it and were firing on us!
"Dangit!" Yu yelled. "Try shooting at the feet! Or the knees! We need to buy ourselves more time!" Yu matched the robot's speed and got behind it, which ended up being a mistake because the robot farted on us! Suomi and I both started getting super lightheaded which caused Suomi to start leaning towards the back of the truck and almost fall of! I had just enough mental fortitude to grab her shoulder and force her away from the back. Yu drove us out of the gaseous cloud the robot had produced. I gripped my AK as tight as I could and took a few shots at the heels, which wasn't easy because the robot's heels were moving targets, even more so when you factor in Yu swerving to dodge lasers and farts. He kept circling the robot, going in between the legs, all that stuff. Yu was doing a great job of keeping us alive! Suomi and I kept firing on the robot's knees.
"The leg's movement is starting to become unstable!" Suomi yelled. "Keep firing at the left knee!" The robot was slowing down significantly, but we had to stop it completely! While we were behind the robot, I noticed a door open up on the robot's right buttcheek and a Minion was standing there throwing grenades at our truck! Suomi sprayed the Minion as he was holding a grenade and ended up hitting the grenade! The explosion killed the minion and it also blew the door clean off.
"Slow the robot down more!" Yu yelled. "I have an idea!" Suomi and I kept firing at the left knee and before long it was limping! It was still going pretty fast, so we started firing on its right knee.
"We might not have time to shoot the right knee out!" Suomi yelled. "Do you still have any dynamite?"
"Are you kidding? I'm always packing!" I yelled, quoting UMP-45. Dang, I miss her. I lit a stick of dynamite and threw it at the knee, but it bounced off and exploded on the ground next to us! Yu swerved and avoided the explosion just in time.
"What's going on back there?!" Yu yelled.
"Klonoa's trying to win me a stuffed animal from the carnival!" Suomi yelled, then laughed a little bit at her own joke. It wasn't a bad joke. It was pretty good actually. "C'mon Klonoa, you can do this!" Suomi said as she laid her hand on my shoulder. I lit another stick, but then I thought; 'What if I let it cook in my hand? Then it could possibly explode right next to my target?' I let it cook for about a second with concern growing on Suomi's face every split second that passed while I held the lit stick of dynamite. I threw it at the right knee, and it blew up on contact! Both of the legs were damaged and the robot slowed down significantly!
"Awesome job you two!" Yu congratulated us. "Now I need the two of you to get out of the truck." He said as he slowed the truck down to a stop.
"Wait… why?" Suomi asked.
"Just trust me." Yu said confidently. Suomi and I obliged, then as soon as we were out of the truck, Yu sped towards a giant rock that looked almost like a giant ramp.
—-—-(Yu Narukami)-—-
My plan was a very risky one, but it was the only plan I could think of. I knew Klonoa and Suomi would be safe. I floored it towards the conveniently-shaped rock and got air. I flew towards the mecha-minion, took my auto-glock and shot out the windshield. I climbed onto the hood then made a jump of faith. I grabbed onto the hole in the backside of the mech and pulled myself up. I was inside the mech, all that was left to do was to decimate every damn Minion in that mech!
I ran towards all the Minions' gunfire. Their tiny guns couldn't hurt me! Not when Nanako's life was on the line! I kept pressing on, climbing all these tiny staircases trying to make it to the head of the beast. I got up to the main level and it was just a spiral ramp all the way to the top. Some Minions were near the top firing at me. I holstered my glock and grabbed my trusty M14. I was able to slow my heart rate which made me 120% more accurate. Yes, I can slow my heart rate down. It's amazing what you can learn when your life is at risk. They started dropping dead one by one. I started running up the ramp with laserfire flying past my head, but they couldn't hit me! Even if they hit me it wouldn't matter! Being honest, a good hit did hurt like hell, but I had no damns to give! The inside of the mech was very spacious, so it was fine for a tall guy like me. I kept running towards the top, popping Minions wherever they showed up. Seriously, they thought they had some sort of chance against me! Not when my little Sister's life was in danger!
"Uncle… I won't fail you again! I'll keep Nanako safe this time!" I yelled. I didn't care that the Minions heard that! It wasn't like they'd be able to tell anyone what I said. What happens in the mecha-minion stays in the mecha-minion. I was getting close to the top, but the ramp was flooded with Minions. I grabbed my knife and held it in my left hand, glock in my right. The minions started charging at me, so I shot the ones that were coming and stabbed the ones trying to climb up me and bite my shins. That was all they could really do. I made it through their last line of defense with a good amount of burns and scratches, but nothing too severe. I got into the giant head, which was the control center. I grabbed the Minion in there by the overalls and pressed him against the main console. "It's over! Blow this thing up now!" I yelled. The Minion wasn't doing anything, so I smacked him against the console and threw him on the floor. I started pulling metal sheets off and cutting wires with my knife hoping one of them would stop the mech, but none of them did the trick. All of them were sparking constantly, so that gave me an idea; electricity plus fire equals giant explosion… hopefully. I was ready to die. I didn't want to… but I had to stop that thing. I turned away from the sparking control center and pulled the pin off of my grenade. I then saw all the Minions I had killed at the top of the spiral ramp then I got an idea. I quickly pushed all of them over the edge and onto the floor at the bottom. I then let the pin on the grenade go flying. I dropped it and jumped on to the pile of Minions. I landed on my back, which knocked all of the wind out of me, but I only had a split second to get out of the mech. I rolled out of the door I came in through and once again fell on my back in the sand.
—-—-(Klonoa)-—-
Suomi and I had to run after the mech on foot. We obviously couldn't keep up with it, but the mech was so big we could see it from miles away. As we were both catching our breaths, I saw the robot explode in the distance! At the time I thought Yu got caught in the explosion. We kept running even though we were both still out of breath. We eventually got close to the burning remains of the robot which had been successfully stopped in its tracks. I just stood there staring at it, thinking I had lost my brother. Suomi stood next to me, also staring at the burning metal. I couldn't say a word.
"Let's look around for Yu, just in case he survived." I said while not feeling much hope. Suomi and I both picked through the wreckage for what felt like forever. Suomi suddenly gasped.
"It's him!" Suomi said happily. "He's moving! He's alive!" We ran over to Yu, who was laying there trying to catch his breath.
"Yu!" I yelled with joy. "You're ok! I can't believe you made the jump back there! That was insane! Great job stopping the mech!" Yu held up his finger as he gasped for more air. I stood there waiting for him to speak.
"Let's…" Yu started. "Let's walk to… the estate. I miss… Nanako." I'm not sure what I was expecting him to say, but I kind of caught off guard by saying such a simple thing after pulling off such a crazy feat. Suomi and I helped Yu onto his feet and he just started walking towards the estate. I couldn't believe how nonchalantly Yu was handling this, but I figured he wouldn't actually stop to process what had just happened until after we were out of the desert. Suomi and I walked with Narukami to the estate, not just because we both wanted to go back for a bit of R&R, but because it was the closest place we could go at that point. Also there was a radio there, so I could contact Pearl and let her know everything had been taken care of.
—-—-
More walking in the desert. You'd think by now I'd be used to it. I mean, I'm kind of getting used to it, I just don't find it very pleasant. We finally made it to the giant lake that was dividing the now-Inklings' region and the now-T-dolls' region. By then the sun had almost gone completely down. I was thanking the Lord we made it before it got completely dark. We stood there shouting, hoping to catch someone's attention because we had to be picked up. Eventually one of the girls came out to the balcony, but at the time I couldn't tell who it was.
"Shikikan! Narukami! KP-31! You're back!" She yelled. "Hold on, we'll come over and pick you up!" In about two minutes, TMP, UMP-9 and Super-shorty came over on jet skis, dodging the mines we layed in the water in case something with malicious intent tried to make it across the lake.
"Hop on, Shikikan!" UMP-9 said as she pulled up and did a sharp turn. I got onto UMP-9's jet ski, Yu got onto Super shorty's and Suomi got onto TMP's and we all headed back to the estate. TMP and Super shorty headed straight back, but UMP-9 was pulling some crazy stunts. I was getting pretty nervous because we were coming only inches away from hitting mines.
"UMP-9, p…please don't kill the Shikikan!" TMP yelled from further ahead.
"Don't worry about a thing, TMP!" UMP-9 yelled. "The Shikikan trusts my jet-ski-driving-skills!" 9 yelled confidently. She then looked back at me. "You do trust me, right?" I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but I also didn't want to blow up.
"I kinda want to go back to the estate, I'm pretty tired. We did have to walk all the way over here." I said. Technically I didn't lie. 9 relented easily and we all headed back to the estate. The jet skis were brought into this cool garage that's attached to the estate. I didn't even know something like that could exist. Anyway, as soon as we went upstairs, we were crowded by all the girls.
"Welcome home, Shikikan!" They all said in unison. They then took a bow in perfect sync.
"BIG BRO!" Nanako yelled. She ran over to Yu and he picked her up and stood there hugging her.
"I told you I'd come back soon…" Yu said with relief. "I missed you so much!"
"CATMAN!" Soppo yelled. "YOU'RE HERE!" Soppo ran over to me but she tripped on this little gray thing hanging off of her little jacket. I ran over to her, picked her up and cradled her in my arms.
"She missed you so much, Shikikan." Bren informed me. "She came up to me everyday asking me when you would be back." Soppo looked up at me and nodded happily. I gave her a big hug, but then I remembered I had to contact Pearl.
"Do you still have a working radio in here?" I asked.
"We do, in fact." M1 Garand said. "I check it everyday to make sure it works."
"She has OCD about it." G11 said. "If she doesn't check it one day, her hair would probably fall out because of the stress."
"Oh well would you look at who finally decided to wake up?" M1 retorted. "I've been awake since five am."
"Weird flex, but ok." Yu mumbled.
"That's not me anymore." G11 said calmly as she looked at me with appreciation in her eyes. M1 then took me to where they were keeping the radio and I contacted Pearl to let her know we were all safe and that the mech was stopped. After that, I spent almost half the night catching up with everyone individually. I made sure to wait until Nanako and Soppo were asleep in another room to tell the girls what the three of us had been through. The Minions, the giant mech, Yu heroically jumping into their mech like a stuntman, and about how the Minions wanted to level the estate. Springfield went over to the counter in the entryway which doubled as Cafe de Springfield and brought me back an angry orchard.
"A thank you from all of us, hon." Springfield said endearingly. I sat there trying to get the angry orchard open, but to no avail. Mosin Nagant then took the angry orchard from me and shot the cap off, but in doing so she kind of broke the top of the bottle. 'Kind of.'
"That is how we open bottles in Russia." Mosin said as she gave it back to me. "I'm… sorry about the top of the bottle…"
"Stupid Russians…" Suomi said loudly, not even trying to hide it.
"What did you just say, you cyka?" Mosin asked angrily.
"We kicked your butts in 1940! Want me to give you another demonstration of Finnish strength?" Suomi shouted as she stood up. I got in between the two of them before a fight could break out and they calmed down… ish. They gave each other death glares the rest of the time we were there. We all kept chatting the night away until about four in the morning, which was when I could barely keep my head up anymore. It was beyond awesome to be back at the estate with all the girls. We can't stay too long because we have to use this window to start carving into Neptune's region. I'll probably give myself a few days here, then it's back to the grind.