Chapter 8 — There Is No Gold In You [NekuNutz]

Boom!

Following the deafening explosion, there was a blinding light as everyone tossed flashbangs inside the compound. The group charged in, with Takebayshi, Nino, and Raiha flanking to the left and Itsuki, Miku, and Ichika flanking to the right. Fuutaro rushed straight for Kintarou, who seemed to be unperturbed by the lights and sounds.

"BROTHERRRR!" exclaimed Kintarou as he took a battle stance, loosening his limbs and spreading his feet wide. He met Fuutaro's opening hail of bullets with complete disregard. Bullets fell to the ground as he too glowed with the blue of a shield.

"I knew it wouldn't be that easy," thought Fuutaro.

He closed the distance between him and his clone, throwing a flurry of punches that Kintarou blocked with ease. Kintarou then went for a roundhouse kick, only for Fuutaro to duck and follow up with a right hook. Unfortunately, Kintarou used the spin of the kick to get his elbow up and block Fuutaro's fist.

"Why must you let your inferiorness guide you? Surely this isn't the life you want? I forgot, you don't have any dreams! And to think you've called me a soulless copy."

"What do you know about dreams?" replied Fuutaro. "They aren't all that they are cracked up to be. Dreams can be really painful but they can also fire you up. I've seen it first hand. I may not have a dream, but I can protect dreams!"

"Then you curse them, for unfulfilled dreams do nothing but fill your life with pain!"

"Pain and happiness are almost identical when you write them in kanji. 'Happiness' is one stroke away. I'll be that stroke and endure the pain. That's how I'll protect dreams!"

As the two fought, helmet wearing Fuutarou clones tried to approach their leader. Nino and Takebayshi wouldn't let them as their shots were frighteningly accurate. That only made it more disturbing that each clone didn't die after taking copious amounts of lead.

Ichika was the first to figure it out, as her group engaged in close quarters combat with a squad of armed clones. "These must be a new, tougher model of clones," Ichika said over her earpiece.

Surprisingly, Kintarou heard her as he whipped out a collapsible baton. "That's exactly right!" he yelled. As if ordered to, all the clones removed their helmets revealing a familiar face but an unfamiliar mop of hair. Upon the tops of their heads was the trademarked (by Isanari) twin tufts of hair except in a bright blue color.

Kintarou continued as he tried to bring the baton down on a pinned Fuutaro,"We asked ourselves if there was much benefit to making soldiers that were exactly like the scrawny original. However, upon my creation we realized that the material had potential. Thus, we focused on improvements, which led to fakes that can no longer pass as the original. Meet the Fuutarou trooper! The foot soldier of the future. My men can auto regenerate shields and possess a high aptitude for combat and strategy. You can not hope to win seeing as you are outnumbered!"

"We'll see about that!" retorted Nino as she brought out an even bigger gun. It could charitably be called a cannon and it was adorned with a grenade launcher. She let loose in all directions, scoring direct shots on all the Fuutarou troopers.

At the same time, Fuutaro activated his light shield, hitting Kintarou in the gut. As it also used instance shield technology, it bypassed Kintarou's shield. His grip on the baton lessened as Fuutaro was able to yank it out of his hands. Fuutaro then kicked him off and unloaded an entire clip onto him.

After receiving such heavy hits, Kintarou's and the Fuutarou trooper's shields had to be taken down. Though in the troopers' case, that would only be temporary. Taking their chance, Nino and Ichika made their way through the troopers. They only got through a dozen each before the shields flickered back to life.

However, by that time Miku had brought out the shield jammer. As she was setting it up, a Fuutarou trooper jumped from the ceiling, only for Itsuki to intercept him and pin him down.

However, her gaze turned murderous as he seemed to mumble something. She slammed his head down, knocking him out and went back to Miku, mumbling about how they were too similar to the original.

Miku was too afraid to say she overheard the clone say heavy and went about setting up the jammer. Normally the weapons drawback of friendly fire meant they would be without shields but that was inconsequential when faced with enemies that had effectively infinite shields.

The Fuutarous sensed they were without shields and those that remained switched targets. However, Kintarou had other plans.

"Fall back!" he roared. "Cover each other and retreat. Call for reinforcements!" He then brought out a handgun and aimed at the jammer. He only got one shot in before Fuutaro used the stolen baton to throw away the firearm, but that was enough for the weapon to flicker for a few moments.

The remaining trooper's shields came to life as they ran away. "After them!" screamed Takebayshi and with a roll of her eyes Nino followed. Ichika did as well, meanwhile Raiha moved to Itsuki and Miku.

She handcuffed the downed clone and proceeded to deploy a drone to look out for incoming reinforcements.

Fuutaro mocked Kintarou, "never took you as one to care for those you deem lesser. When did they grow you a heart?"

Kintarou laughed. "You know nothing. They are too different to be called you. And in the end, the only one who can beat you is me!" With that he grabbed Fuutaro's empty gun by the barrel and proceeded to pistol whip him. However this was just to cover the loading of a bullet through the muzzle. As Fuutaro blocked the gun with his light shield, Kintarou holstered the gun and moved to grapple. This was yet another diversion as when Fuutaro took down his shield, Kintarou flicked his holster upwards on his hip to fire a shot. Miku however was waiting for this moment as she powered down the jammer for Fuutaro's shield to come back to life and deflect the bullet.

Taking his chance, Fuutaro threw a kick at Kintarou's head and when Kintarou went to block it, Fuutarou hooked his legs around his arm, bringing the block down. With his other leg he jumped off the ground and delivered a spinning top kick to Kintarou's head.

"What was that about the only one who could beat me?" Fuutaro taunted.

To which Kintarou could only laugh. "So you don't know anything about Yotsuba after all. Let me enlighten you. Her awakening isn't just super human strength and speed. It's the ability to be able to help those in need. And when it comes to those close to her, distance does not matter. So if you or her sisters were ever in any danger she would be able to tell and then get strong enough to help. However there is a loophole we have exploited. If someone close to her is that danger, she is not able to act. Either out of indecision, or trust in her family to resolve their own issues, she will not interfere. Thus the only one who can capture you is us clones."

"Despicable," said Fuutaro. "To take advantage of Yotsuba's kind heart, is that why you were born?"

"If my existence is a sin, then let me be damned," Kintarou said with a smile. "That's all you're getting for this victory, since you're so far behind."

"You don't get to decide that!" said Raiha.

"I don't, but she does." He said as the ground started to shake. "Looks like reinforcements came after all."

"Impossible," said Miku, "I've been jamming all signals. There is no way for you to call for backup."

"I highly doubt you can jam a knock on a door."

At that moment the wall burst and in came Nino flying. Takebayashi was not far behind. Through the rubble walked in Ichika wearing a domino mask only to be followed by another Ichika shooting at the masked one.

"Did you think this was the best we could do? Clones of a weakling like you? You underestimate us, Fuutaro. All along, what we needed was another one of them. Girls, say hello to your little sister Mutsumi!"