(July 11, 2024)
"Alright gentlemen… and lady… we have a very serious problem." Woods started our morning planning session straight to the point. "The problem's name is 'Neptune's planes.' If we try and gain ground, Neptune will flatten the land we take, which will basically send us back to square one." After one day of rest, we were finally ready to do something about the problem we were facing.
"If we were to hijack a plane, we could potentially take a good amount of planes down. Can any of you fly a plane?" Yu asked everyone. I knew I certainly couldn't fly a plane. Everyone looked around the room at each other, expecting someone to say they could fly a plane.
"Would my gadget copter be of any help?" Inspector Gadget asked excitedly.
"Your… what?" Suomi asked confusedly. "Gadget copter?"
"Of course you wouldn't know what that is, Bluey!" Dedede teased Suomi. Suomi slammed her hand on the table.
"Don't start with me, Tomppeli." Suomi warned Dedede.
"MAH NAME IS KING DEDEDE! I WOULD THANK YOU TO-" Dedede was cut off.
"Would you shut the frick up for five gosh darn seconds so we can plan our important crap?" Jason yelled. Jason has a very dirty mouth. "Back to what actually matters, this guy can actually grow a helicopter blade and fly around."
"Only problem with that is Neptune's anti-air guns." Meta Knight chimed in.
"Wait, why would Neptune have anti-air guns when she already has complete air dominance?" Narukami asked.
"A little extra insurance never helps." Meta Knight answered. "If we get a plane in the air, it will be destroyed in a matter of seconds."
"Wait, could we maybe capture a gun and use it against Neptune?" I pondered outloud.
"WE DON'T KNOW WHERE ANY OF THEM ARE, PRIVATE FELINE!" Soldier yelled as loudly as he could, even though he really didn't need to.
"You don't need to yell." BJ informed Soldier in his shredded yet soft voice. Soldier slowly broke line of sight with BJ, I even remember him shielding his peripheral vision with his hand. BJ apparently scared him that much. "Anyway, if those anti air guns are the only way we can fight the forces that are preventing us from taking land, I'd say the best thing we can do now is try and take control of those guns."
"We'll need to take a bunch of them in order to face a squadron of bombers." Woods pointed out. "We can split into small teams and take the guns from right under their butts." Woods didn't actually say 'butts.'
"Then it's settled," Dani started concluding the meeting. "Let's get out there and start taking these guns… it seems to be our only choice at the moment."
"Alright, let's split up and cover more ground, like Woods said." Meta Knight said.
—-
Yu, Suomi and I set out in that massively luxurious SUV to find one of Neptune's anti-air guns. I must say, having a small road trip in that car without Link was extremely fun, despite the fact that we couldn't fully relax, since we had a task. In the beginning the landscape was just like it was back in the girls' region; flat, boring and very sandy, but after a while, I started seeing some green grass and trees. I also started seeing very beautiful buildings. They started off being pretty scattered around, but there were a few nice neighborhoods and some nice-looking office buildings here and there. I even saw a burger place! I will say this about Neptune's region; it is beautiful. There was this hidden vibe I got from the area that just made me feel a little downtrodden. It gave me the feeling of a super heavy burden. We kept driving a little while longer, and then I saw the reason why I got that downtrodden feeling; guards were forcing a group of locals to work at gunpoint. All the green grass and nice buildings came about because of forced labor.
"Should we free the laborers?" Suomi asked me. I was wondering about that myself, and as much as I'd have liked to save these people from Neptune's grasp, we had a bigger monster to slay.
"We can't." I said reluctantly. "If we rescue them, Neptune could send bombers to kill all the laborers. We need to be able to prevent bombing raids." Suomi gave me a determined nod and continued looking out the window. Eventually we pulled up to an area with tall grass that was surrounded by a fence and it had a big sign on it. 'No trespassing- Violators will be imprisoned or shot.'
"Bingo." Yu said confidently. He pulled the car into a nearby forest in order to hide it. The forest wasn't thick enough to hide the car that well, but it would be ok as long as we didn't get found out. We walked through some tall grass and found a tall fence with barbed wire on top. Climbing it would be a no-go. "Would anyone happen to have any wire-cutters?" Yu asked us. Suomi and I both looked at each other, then back at You and we both shook our heads 'no.'
"Looks like we'll have to sneak over to an opening." I whispered. We walked along the fence and kept our heads down. It was a very long walk before we eventually found a security gate with two guards standing there. Yu and I got close to take them out.
"Wait!" Suomi suddenly whispered. Yu and I stopped dead in our tracks. "There's a camera, but the cord is exposed. I'll cut it." Suomi took her knife out and crawled over to the opening in the gate. Yu and I both took aim at the two guards, ready to take them out if they saw Suomi. I held my breath and tensed my muscles in anticipation, and suddenly both guards saw Suomi cutting the wire. They ran over to her with their rifles pointed at her, but Yu and I shot them in perfect sync. Suomi grabbed a body and dragged it into the ditch across the walkway and Yu and I went over there and hid the other body. The camera was dead, the guards were dead and we hadn't been spotted, so we kept moving through the tall grass. It felt like an eternity of crawling through the grass because we had a long way to go and we weren't moving very fast. A few times guards would walk on the path right next to us, so everytime that happened we had to stop. At one point, guards ran up the dirt path from behind us, which wasn't a good sign. I heard them talking about an unauthorized vehicle parked in the woods across the road. They had found the luxurious SUV we used. A few guards then ran back down the dirt path. Shortly after, we heard an explosion from the woods we parked the SUV in. I didn't think the King would be happy that we sent his Boi home with a bullet in his stomach and also destroyed one of his cars, but we had to stay on mission. We finally made it up the never ending path to the Anti-air gun. I stared at it in awe. The giant AA gun was on the back of a giant truck, along with a machine gun mounted on the roof of the truck. A few guards were sitting on the guntruck, but they were being very inattentive.
"We need to make them split up." I whispered to my two best friends. "I'll throw a rock to get the enemies moving around, they'll be easier to take out without anyone noticing."
"You've got this, Klonoa." Yu whispered to me. I threw a rock and it ended up hitting one of the barrels of the large gun, and that got everyone off their phones and looking around very paranoid. But then things got bad because someone sounded an alarm right away. They must have assumed they were being targeted.
"Oh no!" I interjected. "We have to clear the area and escape with the AA gun!" Suomi, Yu and I jumped out of the grass guns blazing. We had the element of surprise, so we were able to clear most of them out in a matter of thirty seconds. A few of them took cover and started firing at us, but Suomi and I were able to flank them easily using the tall grass to our advantage. Whenever someone tried getting on the MG, Yu would make quick work of them. We cleared the area around the gun truck, but we started hearing the sound of engines again. Neptune sent bombers again! Yu slammed his fist on the truck.
"DANGIT!" Narukami said, but he didn't say 'dangit.' "I'll drive. I can at least make us a moving target."
"Suomi, use the MG, I'll get on the AA gun and shoot these planes down!" I ordered.
"Good luck, Klonoa." Suomi said, accompanied by a quick hug. Yu got in the driver's seat, Suomi got on the MG, and I climbed onto the AA gun in the back. Yu drove down the dirt path and onto the road. It took me a while to figure out how to use the gun, but at the time I knew I had to get it figured out, or else all my friends and I would die to those dang bombers. The bombers came over the horizon, and they started changing their course. They were going after us! Suomi turned the MG around and fired at the bombers, which were getting uncomfortably close. She shot one of the engines a bunch of times, which caused the engine to burst into flames and made the giant plane start flying off course. That bought me enough precious time to realize; the little handle-on-the-wheel-thingy that was lying flat on the board in front of me made the gun turn side to side, and the wheel on the gun itself made the actual gun go up and down. Right when I figured that out, a few trucks full of honor guards pulled up to the side of us.
"Suomi, shoot the guys in the trucks!" I yelled. "I think I can handle the bombers!" I wasn't entirely confident, but it was the only choice we had. It was all up to me. I looked through the scope, aligned the dot over the plane, and I started firing. The gun was extremely loud, and it had a pretty slow rate of fire, but it only took about three good hits to take one of the bombers down. Those bullets seriously ripped right through the planes! There were several planes that came in to back up the bomber squad that was already attacking us. Even though it felt hopeless, I couldn't give up. Honestly, the thing that motivated me to fight was the fact that my two best friends would die immediately if I gave up. "They just keep coming!" I complained.
"Lots of turns coming up!" Yu yelled. The bombers had already started compensating for the turns in the road, since they turned very slowly. I kept firing at the planes even though the truck being unsteady made me miss most of the shots. I kept trying, nonetheless. I shot down the bomber that was diving towards us and it started falling right towards us! Yu swerved off road to avoid the crash, which ended up getting us out of the bombers' paths. That was our advantage; sharp turns! I think Yu picked up on that, because wherever I failed to take a bomber down, Yu would make a perfectly timed turn and we would just narrowly miss the bombs. We were also able to shake off the trucks with honor guards on them, so Suomi was able to help me take bombers down using the MG. We took the bombers down together before they could reach us. I thought we were in the clear for a few minutes, and then smaller faster planes came over and started using their machine guns on the truck. I tried my best to shoot them down, but they were so quick and nimble so it was hard to keep them in the gun's sights. They were flying all over, seeming to attack us from multiple directions at a time. I was getting overwhelmed, all the while bullets were flying right at the truck. Suomi and I were able to shoot a few down, and Yu's expert weaving kept our truck from being shot up; however we couldn't continue at that for long. I then noticed a stretch of thick woods that could possibly hide us from the planes in the sky.
"Yu!" I yelled. "Go into the woods so we can lose the planes!"
"Good thinking, Brother!" Yu yelled. He took a sharp turn into the woods and drove deep into the forest, then shut the truck off. The three of us sat there nervously as we heard the planes flying around the forest trying to find us. There were a few times when the planes shot their machine guns into the woods, but they didn't come close to guessing where we were. After a few minutes, they gave up and I heard the menacing sound of their engines get quieter as they flew back to their respective bases. I leaned back in the metal seat attached to the gun with no lumbar support in complete relief. My heart was racing and my ears were ringing.
"We lost them…" I muttered to myself. Yu got out of the driver's seat and walked around the truck to make sure there were no flames shooting out of any crevices.
"Everyone ok?" Yu asked. Suomi gave him a brief 'ok' hand sign as she laid her head on the roof of the truck. I nodded once I regained my bearings.
"Mission accomplished." I congratulated Yu and Suomi. "Next time, let's try and not get in a bombastic chase."
"Heh… you got it, Brother." Yu said as he gave me a fist bump on his way back into the driver's seat. We then started back to the town. I kept my eyes on the sky and let me tell you; I've never been happier to stare at a clear blue sky. That's the way it stayed the entire drive back to town.
—-
By the time we got back to the town, it was only barely past mid-day. I was wrestling with the fact that we'd probably have to go back out there and do what we just did again. There were two anti-air gun trucks parked in discreet corners of the town, so Yu parked the truck next to the other two parked trucks, and we piled out.
"What now, Klonoa?" Suomi asked. I bit my metaphorical lip. As much as I wanted to just relax the rest of the day, we couldn't. There was still much to do. I pulled the charging handle on my AK slightly to make sure there was a bullet in the barrel.
"Now… we go out and see what else we can accomplish today." I felt pretty done-in, so I said that kind of monotonously.
"But our SUV was destroyed, we don't have a vehicle." Yu pointed out. I suddenly felt very overwhelmed.
"Hey! You three are back!" We heard someone yell from behind us. "Are any of you hungry? I made pasta!" I turned to see Dew waving us over to her shop. After thinking about it, I was pretty hungry, which was probably why I wasn't in the best mood. I saw Suomi's face light up.
"Well, I suppose we can unwind a bit first." I told my friends. I then yelled back to Dew. "Sure! We have a bit of time!" Suomi and I started walking towards Dew's shop, but I noticed Yu wasn't walking with us. "Yu, come with us." I politely ordered.
"I don't think she wants me there." Yu said defeatedly. "You know about our history."
"It's in the past, I'm sure she'll forgive you." I reassured Yu. "Come eat with us." Yu looked to the ground and dragged his foot back and forth.
"Dew might forgive me… but I can't." Yu said just slightly above a whisper. He then turned and walked away slowly. He turned his head to give me a side glance. "I'll be out here, come meet me when you're done." I stood there, not really knowing what to say… or what to do. Luckily, Dew knew what to do. She suddenly ran past me, caught up to Yu and hugged him from behind.
"I forgive you, Yu." I heard Dew say. This was followed by a long silence.
"Amamiya… he's dead because of me." Yu said in a voice overflowing with regret. "You were there… you saw what happened. Why are you forgiving me?"
"Because I can see how much you regret it." Dew said mid-hug. "There are lots of monsters in this world… but Yu Narukami isn't one of them." This again was followed by silence.
"Ok…" Yu said after a while. He then turned around and walked to the shop, all the while Dew was still hugging him from the back. The four of us went into Dew's shop and she dished us up fettuccine alfredo. I was so hungry I started shoving it in my mouth, even though it burned my mouth.
"Are you in a hurry or something?" Dew asked me.
"No, I'm just really hungry." I answered, trying my best to keep my mouth closed. I know it's rude to talk with food in my mouth. The more I ate it the more I realized the noodles were not exactly cooked all the way through. The alfredo sauce tasted amazing, but the texture of the underdone noodles kinda ruined it. I didn't care then, since I was so hungry.
"So how was stealing the giant gun truck?" Dew asked us.
"Difficult and stressful, but we made it out." Suomi answered. "I must say though, it was refreshing to see tall green grass in the desert."
"Yeah, Neptune cares about keeping the region beautiful, but she doesn't exactly have any drive to do it herself." Dew said while glaring out the window. "She forces locals to do it while at gunpoint. It happened to me when I first came to this neck of the dunes."
"You were forced to work?" Yu asked.
"Three months of one small meal a day, three hours of sleep at best and about ten whippings per day." Dew reminisced. "They made sure to hit the same spots more than once, so now I have pretty bad scars on my back, as well as other places. They still hurt to this day."
"How did you escape?" I asked.
"After we finished building a big fancy building, the guards forced us into a bunch of trucks to take us to another job site." Dew recalled. "I remember I was so weak from the forced labor that I could barely climb into the truck. Anyway, we were on the road, but then the convoy of trucks got attacked. There were five trucks in the convoy and the three in front got away. Luckily, the truck I was in was one of the two that got liberated. Anyway, lo and behold, the group that attacked the convoy was the group of guys who you three are working with now."
"Really?" I asked astonishedly. "So they brought you to this town?"
"They did." Dew said. "They were using this very shop as a base, but then a week later the guards started running this town on a tighter ship. It was my idea to turn this place into a flower shop and keep the guys in the basement. It was the least I could do for the group of guys who absolutely saved my bacon."
"Do you know what the building you built is being used for now?" Yu asked.
"I remember the guys telling me they tried taking that very building because the Lieutenants turned it into their command building or something," Dew started. "The raid didn't work out because the building had all these crazy security measures… and Dedede wasn't being careful at all and ended up shooting every guard he saw, which made the already failing raid turn lethal. Luckily everyone got out somewhat safely." Suomi threw her head back in disappointment.
"Ugh! That tomppeli Dedede, always trying to-" Suomi suddenly cut herself off. "I'm sorry, 'command building' did you say?"
"Yeah, I did say that." Dew answered. Yu, Suomi and I all looked at each other and nodded in unison. We all non-verbally agreed; we had to take that building. Suddenly, I was hit with a realization.
"Oh wait, we don't have a car anymore." I said sadly. Dew reached into her pocket and tossed a car key to me.
"Use my car!" Dew said excitedly. "Also please feel free to crash it! I don't really go anywhere!"
"We'll make sure to bring it back." Yu, the designated driver, said proudly as I slid him the keys. "Thank you for the meal by the way, you should let me cook for you sometime."
"I will say his cooking is great, but hearing about it makes me about ready to enter a food coma again." Suomi said, sounding kind of dazed. Dew motioned us to follow her, so we followed her out the back door and down an alley. There it was… a small rusty old-looking car.
"So… what do you think?" Dew asked kind of excitedly.
"It's not the prettiest car, but it will do." I answered.
"Please be careful over there." Dew said in a very worried tone. "That building is packed full of lieutenants and soldiers, not to mention all these crazy security systems."
"Don't worry about us," I proudly started. "We can work through anything as long as we work together." I know that sounds cheesy, but every little bit of it is true. Anyway, after Dew told us where the building was, we headed over.
—-
"Everyone got their suppressors on?" I asked. Yu and Suomi both nodded 'yes,' so Yu parked the car in a thicker forest this time. On the other side of that forest was the command building, which for all I knew could have maps showing where all the anti aircraft guns are. We made our way slowly and cautiously through the trees, over a retaining wall, then right to the giant fancy command building.
"Sentries posted at the front, on the roof, even on some of the balconies." Yu informed us as he scanned the area with his scope. "They certainly don't want us getting in there."
"Well, now I want to get in even more." Suomi whispered.
"We need to be aware of our surroundings at all times." I warned my best friends. "We need to move slowly and watch each others' backs at all times, we don't know fully what we're up against."
"We should move one at a time." Suomi suggested. "Narukami, tell me when I'm clear, then I'll run to that hedge at the edge of the parking lot."
"Be careful Suomi." I said. "Good luck."
"Alright… hold on just a moment…" Yu was watching the sentries intently through his scope. "There are so many sentries. I may need to take a few out."
"Use your best judgment." I whispered.
"Not my first time sniping." Yu whispered back, sounding very focused on the task at hand. He let off a few very spread out shots then waited a few seconds. "Suomi, move now!" Suomi took off and dolphin dived behind the hedge.
"When should I move?" I asked Yu.
"Right… now!" Yu said. I took off and met Suomi behind the hedge. Yu soon followed. As soon as he made it over, he scoped in once again. "Alright, Suomi, get ready to move over to the loading dock ramp."
"I'm ready, tell me when it's clear." Suomi said determinedly. Yu scanned the area once again.
"Now!" Yu said. Suomi took off and hopped the railing near the loading dock and got behind the ramp. "Alright Klonoa, are you ready to move?"
"Let me know when." I whispered.
"Alright… move… now!" Yu ordered. I ran towards the ramp, but then I heard alarms start to blare. Lights on the building started lighting up red and going crazy! Guards came out of the building, stood on the loading dock ramp and started mag dumping me and Yu! Suomi stood up and started mowing down the guards standing on the ramp! I hoped she wouldn't do that, because the guards would know where she was! She wasn't in a good spot at all!
"KLONOA! RUN!" Suomi yelled. She wanted me to get somewhere safe, but I started running towards the ramp to back Suomi up and help her get away.
"I'M COMING SUOMI!" I yelled as I ran over. As I got close, I saw one of the guards Suomi had previously shot pull his pistol out! She had only wounded him! He shot Suomi in what I think was her right collar! She fell to the ground in pain. A bullet whizzed by me. Yu put the guard down so he wouldn't try taking any shots at me.
"GET OUT OF THERE BROTHER!" Narukami yelled. I couldn't leave Suomi! The garage doors opened, and a FREAKING TANK rolled out!
"KLONOA, LEAVE ME PLEASE!" Suomi yelled in pain. "I WILL FALL HERE, BUT I WON'T LET YOU FALL WITH ME!" The tank pointed its gun right at me! I ran to the side, but the tank fired and the explosion sent me flying! When I landed, everything got dark. I didn't black out, but I was pretty close. I couldn't move. I crawled over to the UMP-45 I dropped, and everytime I moved myself, the pain in my head got more unbearable. As soon as I grabbed it, I started getting dragged away by Yu, back towards the treeline. A few guards came out in front of the tank and started firing at me and Yu. Another few of them grabbed Suomi and dragged her into the building! Yu was able to get me out of there, bullets were still flying everywhere, and all I could hear was ringing and a very faint alarm. Yu got me into the car and started driving away.
"No… we… we have to go back… for her…" I said weakly. I was super out of it, but I still knew I couldn't leave one of my best friends in enemy hands.
"We will go back for her but we can't get her now." Yu said as he floored it back towards the town. "If we go back there, we won't get away… Suomi won't want that!" He was right, but I still felt terrible about leaving her. Suomi… we're gonna find you. Please stay strong until we can find you.
—-
We got back to the town in the early evening, luckily without being followed. My head hurts, but leaving Suomi behind hurts way more… it doesn't even compare. Yu pulled the car into the alleyway, the same place where it was before, then he came around to my side.
"Come on, let's get you inside, Brother." Yu said as he took my arm and put it around himself. He helped me back into the shop, where Dew came out to greet us with a smile. That smile slowly faded away when she noticed Suomi wasn't with us. "We're going to get her back, Dew." Yu said confidently. "Suomi will be ok." Yu walked past her and took me into the basement and helped me onto my mattress. Dani, BJ and Dedede were hanging out in the basement when we got down there.
"Well, I can see you finally made the right choice and left Bluey to fend for herself, eh?" Dedede said with glee. My face started burning. I was getting ready to lunge at Dedede. It wouldn't have done much, but I was that angry. BJ took one of his hatchets out of his pocket and made a small cut in Dedede's forearm with it. "OWWWW! WHAT YOU BE DOIN' SOMETHING LIKE THAT FOR?"
"If I tell you that, you won't learn anything." BJ said to Dedede. "Everything's going to be ok, you two. We'll help you find Suomi."
"Si, mi compay." Dani agreed. "We'll get her back in no time."
"Hmmph." Dedede grumbled as he gripped his cut. "Fine, I guess I'll help y'all find that there Bluey!"
"Klonoa, rest up for now." Yu said. "Once you've recovered, we'll find Suomi, and we'll get her back. In the meantime, we'll go out and try to find as many leads as we can." I was left alone to relax, but how could I relax? Suomi's being held by an enemy that has no concern over anyone's life. I just hope and pray that she'll be ok…