(August 11, 2024)-(KelTec RFB)-
This is pretty unusual for me to do, but I got up super early this morning, and I started making some revenge bullets to use on the training grounds we'd be hitting later today. Pretty simple, take some of the primer out of normal bullets and pack it down inside a hollow point. If there's one thing I'm happy about from my time as a captive, it's that now I know how to make perfect revenge bullets, and fast. I made about 60 of them, enough to fill 3 mags. I ran back to the room to pretend I was sleeping. I don't want Sue to think this will be a normal thing. 'Ohhh Kel! Looks like you'll be getting up at the crack of dawn everyday just like me!' But when I got back to the room, Sue was already up. She looked like she didn't get any sleep at all. I didn't even notice her on my way out of the room.
"Kel?" Sue asked me. "What are you doing up?" I feigned sleepwalking to try and make it look like I wasn't actually awake. Sue just walked over and slapped me. She's gotten way more abusive since the new Shikikan was captured. Normally, Sue is pretty good about not letting her emotions dictate her actions, but now it looks like she's lost control. Her emotions are now under hostile control. "We need to go take that bullet factory, so look alive!" Sue demanded. That filled me with excitement. It's about to be game over for Corbin "Jupiter" Pannell. Narukami and Ren were standing there, ready to go. Looks like everyone wanted to get up early today. Sue had better let me sleep in tomorrow, or else I will save a revenge bullet just for her. Anyway, we headed down to the first floor to head to the bullet factory.
"Hey!" Someone yelled from behind the desk in the lobby. The kid was pretty short and fat and he was wearing a red shirt with a yellow star on it. "Want to hear a song on the ukulele?" The kid already had his mind made up, and he got off the chair and started prancing around, strumming the ukulele. Sue looked like she was ready to strangle him with one of the strings on his ukulele.
"Listen good, kid." Sue said through clenched teeth. "My best friend is out there somewhere-" Sue's voiceline was cut off by God mashing the A button. Hehehe. Narukami was actually the one to cut her off.
"Suomi, calm down." Narukami said sternly. "Look kid, we're in a rush here. We'll hear your songs when we come back."
"Excuse me, my name is Steven Universe, and my pronouns are he/him." The kid whined. My annoyance stat went up.
"Steven…" Sue said with a plastered-on friendly face. "We need to go find our friend, and in order to do that, we need to finish a task Graves gave us, so please… kindly… sit back down and play your little guitar for the next unfortunate soul who walks into this room."
"That was harsh…" Ren commented. I grabbed Sue's arm, and lightly pushed Narukami and Ren out the door.
"Yeah, cool… we gotta go now." I said slyly. That dungeon was completed, and now we need to drive to the next dungeon. We all piled into the jeep and headed to the spot Graves marked for us on the map.
"Suomi, you need to start getting your crap together." Narukami said as we headed to the Jupiter Junction.
"I'm sorry… I just want to find Klonoa and fast." Sue said. "We don't know what they're doing to him, but whatever it is, it isn't good." After that, there was dead silence in the car for a few moments. As we got closer to the training camp, memory files started being loaded… bad memory files. Jupiter was able to trap me in a mental state where I dreaded living to see another day… all the while, he forced me to make bullets from 4 in the am until 11 pm… on the good days. On the bad days, it was being his personal butler while wearing demeaning clothing. One night, he brought me to this room… and closed the door… It was just me and him. I don't want to remember what happened next. All I knew was, I had never screamed for help that loudly in my life. The thing I remember about that night… it was super early in the morning… sometime in late June. That doesn't matter. Jupiter forced me to make bullets, and now bullets that were made by me will be his downfall.
"RFB?" Ren asked as he lightly snapped his fingers in front of my face. I was snapped out of my trance. I felt cold sweat running down my neck. I had been out of it longer than I thought. We were driving through run down warehouses, grain mills and factories. I had the creeps. "You doing ok?" I had to respond. I contorted myself into being able to give two thumbs up, and giving a cool and undaunted smile.
"Yeah I'm game on… I mean, I'm READY to game on…" I said.
"Kel, come off it… we need to find Klonoa." Sue said angrily.
"Suomi's right, we need to stay calm, keep a level head and find anything we can that will give us a lead on where Klonoa is." Narukami said, cool and collected as usual. Everyone was treating this like it was no big deal… no one knows my pain. Anyway, we got to the training ground, parked the car in a discreet corner, and headed to the main building. I felt like I was about to get cattle-prodded at any moment… but I don't need to be scared of this place anymore… this place needs to be scared of ME.
"Alright, do you think there's any place where documents are stored here?" Ren asked. Suddenly, I remembered the layout of the building down to a T. I led everyone underneath one of the windows that I knew led to the second floor offices.
"Check the offices up there." I instructed the others. "Check file cabinets, desk drawers, the whole shabang."
"We'll need to keep a low profile." Narukami said. "We don't know what the security here is like." Suddenly, a light bulb formed over my head.
"I know what to do." I said. I was going to put my impending revenge to good use. "I'll boost you all up, then I'll go and start RFB's Game of Revenge." Narukami and Ren stared at each other, confuzzled. "Just trust me." I said as I put my hands together and got on my knees. I boosted Ren and Narukami up. As Sue put her shoe in my hands, she looked me in the eye.
"Kel, I can come with you…" Sue said. I was surprised and touched. I knew Sue was hellbent on finding Klonoa, but she seemed to care about my wellbeing again. I appreciated her offer and all, but what I'm about to do is something I need to do alone.
"Thank you, Sue, but you can help those guys search the offices." I said as I boosted her up. Narukami and Ren grabbed Sue's hands once I got her up high enough, and they pulled her up. "Good luck." I said accompanied by a calming breath. It felt like too much… going back into a place I thought I would never get out of for a time, but now… the power is in my hands. I walked to the front of the building, put the explosive .308 Winchesters into my RFB, and I kicked down the door. I slowly walked down the lobby. There was no one there, but there was about to be. "HEY JUPITER!" I yelled. I aimed the RFB up and shot an explosive round into the ceiling. Fire alarms started going off, the sprinklers started spraying everywhere and the loudspeakers were going insane. Lieutenants were ordering guards to 'suppress the threat.' I walked slowly through the doors, and a guard was there standing his ground. I let one explosive round into him. The bullet hit him square in the chest. It ignited like I thought it would, and it blew his torso clean off. I kept walking slowly, looking at these walls I thought I'd have no choice but to look at for the rest of my life. I shot the walls a few times, but I then realized I only had 56 more rounds! I couldn't waste them… and I had to make sure I had one for Jupiter himself. More guards came rushing around the corner, and gunfire erupted. I shot the floor where the guards were taking cover, and I heard some blood curdling screams. Blood puddled on the floor. 55 more bullets. I kept walking, and then I noticed a security camera, it was tracking my movements. I stared straight at the camera. "JUPITER! COME AND GET ME!" I yelled. I ran into the next room and I saw guards trying to fortify positions in front of the cell hall. I shot the ceiling this time, causing dust to fall on the guards and pipes to burst. Wires came down from the ceiling and suddenly all the guards who got wet were electrocuted. I shot the rock wall a few times, which put a hole in the wall far enough away from the electrified water.
"What's the meaning of this?" Some random prisoner asked.
"You're free! Run away now!" I yelled. I ran towards the cell with the hole in it and the prisoner ran past me towards freedom! I got into the cell and shot the cell door, which blew it off the wall! I freed all the prisoners quickly before more guards came! Once all of the prisoners were freed, I kept walking through. Guards turned the corner, a few of them I recognized from when I was a prisoner here. Memories of torture and a diminishing will to live were cut short by explosive bullets ripping apart the guards who had their fun abusing me. I ran into the next hall, and I saw Jupiter running down the end of the hall! I had a clear shot, but I was so irked by seeing him that I couldn't aim! Guards came running around the corner to cover Jupiter's escape. I got my bearings back, and blasted through all the guards that threw themselves at me! Unfortunately, I wasn't keeping track of how many explosive bullets I had, so I ended up running low. I had one explosive bullet left, but that one was for Jupiter. I had to switch back to normal boring rounds for the time being. I kept wiping guards out, with my main focus at that point being to create a distraction. As I walked down the hall, I saw the room where my it happened.
"So sweetheart, you've been a bad girl, haven't you?" Jupiter asked me. I couldn't say or do anything. "You want to get out of here, don't you? How about this… cry for help." I looked at Jupiter, confused. "Let's see if anyone comes to save you?"
"Help…" I muttered, knowing it was hopeless.
"Do you think anyone will be able to hear that?" Jupiter asked. "Try again, and this time, make it louder."
"HELP!" I yelled, trying to alert a prisoner who might have been trying to escape. No one came.
"No sweetheart, try it again." Jupiter taunted me. I took as deep of a breath as I could. Maybe someone outside of the building would be able to hear me. Maybe Sue would be able to hear me, then come to my rescue?
"HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" I yelled. "SUE! PLEASE HELP ME! HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!" Someone came behind me and put their hand on my shoulder. I turned around and shoved the person who was behind me with all my might. They flew off of me and hit the doorframe of the room I was in. I pinned them down and raised my fist.
"KEL!" Sue yelled. "IT'S ME!" My vision cleared up. Being in that room and seeing the wooden stockade sent me back to the place I never wanted to go again. I slowly unclenched my fist as I looked into my best friend's eyes. I let her stand up. "Kel, are you ok?" I slowly nodded, trying to shake off the trauma.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Ren said. The four of us walked out of the building, and I got to see all the damage I had caused on my way in. We left the building, but were surprised by a helicopter hovering just outside of the building.
"So, back for revenge, are we, sweetheart?" Jupiter taunted me from his helicopter. The four of us jumped into cover.
"Perkele! It's that same helicopter we saw when we were rescuing you from the Rahmanian mall!" Sue shouted. Jupiter's gunfire was chipping away at the cover we were behind, so we had to wait until he stopped shooting to let his guns cool down before we could move. We split up, since Jupiter couldn't shoot at four of us at a time that way. Jupiter was mainly focused on me.
"Don't worry sweetheart, I don't want every bit of you dead." Jupiter said with pervy inflections. I loaded my last explosive bullet and waited for Jupiter's guns to overheat. I wanted to splatter Jupiter's perverted brains all over Neptunia, but using the last bullet to take down his pride and joy helicopter would work for me as well. The cover I was behind was rapidly degrading, so I had no choice but to run! I got up and ran as fast as I could, while Narukami, Ren and Sue all fired at the helicopter to try and deter it. Finally, Jupiter's red hot guns had to stop spinning for a few moments. I got out from behind the cover I was behind at that moment, but all of the sudden, a bunch of gunfire erupted from outside of the compound. Jupiter's helicopter started smoking, so he turned tail and left the game! I stood there aiming at the rotor of his helicopter, keeping my rifle as steady as I could. I stood there, waiting for the perfect moment, but then I realized, there would be an even more perfect moment down the road. I released the trigger and untensed my muscles.
"RFB." Ren said calmly. I turned towards him. "It's time to go." I walked over to him, and we all headed out of the Jupiter junction, towards where all of the gunfire came from. There they were, Captain Blazkowicz, Sergeant Woods, and all those other guys.
"Thank God you're all alive." Blazkowicz said with a crazy amount of relief in his voice. "I couldn't have you four go missing on top of Klonoa."
"Yeh, Bluey, what were you thinkin'?" The penguin man asked. "Y'all go out and fight a helicopter without the king o' Dreamland? Well you only thought you could hide from me." The dark masked circle walked up to the penguin man.
"Your majesty, this is a good moment. Don't sully it with your… childish attitude." The circle said. I saw Sue slightly smirk out of the corner of my eye.
"So… any intel on private feline yet?" The big-chinned red man asked us. Narukami proudly held up a backpack full of papers.
"We were roped into helping another group that's fighting Neptune." Narukami informed the guys. "Ride back with us and meet them and we'll share all the intel."
—-
We all rode back to the hotel where Graves and the rest of the "second shadow" guys were. Narukami, Sue and most of the second shadows were in Grave's hotel room doing lots of planning, I'd imagine. I sat in our suite, trying to process everything that had happened. I know I probably dealt a huge blow to Jupiter by destroying his giant playground, but I still feel him lingering over me. I won't be free until he is completely 100% game-ended.
"Hey, can I sit?" Someone asked me from behind. It was Ren. He has some special talent of being able to sneak up on people. I nodded while in deep thought. He sat down on the other side of the couch holding a beer.
"Are you even old enough to drink, dude?" I asked.
"Huh? Nah…" Ren started. He took a sip and cringed a little bit. "It takes the edge off."
"'Edge,' huh?" I asked. "You doing ok?" Ren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"This is a confusing world, RFB." Ren admitted. "I still can't see very straight."
"Maybe you need new glasses." I suggested. Ren took his glasses off and carefully put them on me. They didn't change the way I saw anything.
"They're fake." Ren said. "I can see just fine without them." I wanted to ask why he wore fake glasses, but I didn't want to distract from what he said before.
"So… what do you mean 'you can't see straight?'" I asked.
"Narukami…" Ren started. "He was like a different person at the beginning of all of this. Then after my short stint fighting with him, I was captured and my views of this world were corrupted." Ren leaned back and sighed deeply. "Honestly, I'm mainly sticking with this group because I'm following your lead, RFB."
"...Me?" I asked with befuddlement. "Why my lead?"
"I trust you the most now." Ren admitted. "We went through the hell of Neptune's re-training together. You're the only one I have a true connection with now." I sat there completely stunned.
"Ren, I… I don't know what I'm doing here either." I said nervously. I was expecting Ren to get all nervous and unconfident, but he cracked a smile.
"Well, you seem to have done good so far." Ren said. "Suomi seems like a decent person as well… and Narukami has changed, but I'm still not sure if that's just a mask."
"I guess we can agree on one thing; Chris-Chan's got to get a game over screen." I said. "And in order to do that, we need to get Klonoa back. He's gotten this far, and he's gotten all of us together." Ren stood up.
"Let's go to Grave's room and see what we can do to help." Ren confidently. I stood up and he and I headed to Grave's room. Graves, Narukami, Sue, Woods and Blazkowicz were all in the room gathered around the table. We walked in, but no one looked up from the table that was full of maps and documents I pulled from Jupiter's little torture hell-hole. I stood there awkwardly, Ren on the other hand stood there like he belonged there. "Anything we can do here?" Ren asked.
"How much do you two know about Neptune's command building?" Graves asked.
"If we go in there, we'll lose more people." Narukami said stringently. "And we may lose more trying to save whoever we lose."
"We've attacked that building in the past, but it went very poorly." Blazkowicz said. "We were all able to not only escape, but we could still bear arms after the kerfuffle."
"Klonoa, Yu and I went back there recently," Sue started. "It ended with my capture… but Klonoa and Yu found me and brought me back." Sue looked down with sorrow in her eyes.
"Neptune's command building…" Ren started. "Isn't that the one with the lasers all around the perimeter?"
"The very one, brother." Graves said. "Now, if we could find a way to make sure we aren't seen by any of the sentries or…" Graves trailed off then eyed Ren. "Lasers? What do you mean by 'lasers,' brother?"
"They're all around the perimeter of the place." Ren said matter-of-factly.
"I never saw any lasers there, kid." Woods said. "But then again, I haven't been over there for a few months."
"Last time we went there with Klonoa, I never saw any lasers." Sue said with a confused look on her face. I then saw Sue's face scrunch up. The mere mention of Klonoa seems to make her want to start bawling. She stood there as cold-hearted as she could possibly look, but I saw her fighting back tears.
"I know they're there." Ren said. "They're not easy to see, but they're there."
"Hold it, you don't think those are motion sensors, do you?" Narukami asked everyone in the room.
"Looks like we're beginning to crack this…" Graves said as he bent over the table and started jotting down notes. "If these lasers were disabled… sentries on the building kept at bay…"
"We have a tank." Blazkowicz said nonchalantly. Grave's eyes widened.
"Now we're cooking, brother!" Graves said excitedly. "We need a way to get those lasers disabled. Who here knows about electronics?" We all looked around the room, hoping someone would raise their hand. No one did.
"I know someone who can help." Sue said. "Do you guys have a radio I can use? I can also get some reinforcements here." Narukami seemed to catch onto what was going on. He smiled and nodded confidently.
"Alright then everyone, let me cook up this mission in the oven of my mind." Graves said while overflowing with confidence. "You're all dismissed, and yes Suomi, I have a radio you can use. Ask Eugene where it is and bring it up to your suite if you want."
—-
We went back to the suite in silence. I sat on the couch and listened to Sue radio the T-dolls, who were apparently in Akechi's old region. No one ever told me that, but I guess things have been pretty chaotic. After the conversation, it went completely silent, except for the sound of Ren and Narukami cleaning their guns in preparation for the mission tomorrow. I made my way into the bedroom where the radio was after not hearing anything for a while. Sue was sitting at the desk with her head down.
"Sue?" I asked softly. Sue looked at me with a brave face on, but I could see right through it.
"Kel. How can I help?" Sue asked me while trying to sound unfazed. I sat on the bed.
"Sue… talk to me." I requested. "You know you can tell me anything." The brave face came right off.
"What if Klonoa isn't there?" Sue asked me. "What if we take the command building and nothing comes of it, not even a clue? What do we do then?" I was kind of shaken by this. I'm not used to being the one who has to talk Sue down, usually it's the other way around.
"Then we keep looking." I said. "You found me and Ren by chance… and Klonoa clearly means enough to you that you won't give up." Sue exhaled deeply.
"I'm sorry Kel, I'm just tired…" Sue started. "I'm tired of having someone I care about gone. I've known only loss since I came to this dimension. It's been really rough. I thought after we found you, things would be good again and we'd all fight together and make the world a better place, and now Klonoa's gone."
"We'll find him Sue." I said. "If we can't find documents or data files in the building, we can find someone who we can beat the answer out of. I'm 100% sure this will work."
"You're right…" Sue said while looking slightly relieved. "I'm tired, but I will never stop fighting for Klonoa… I owe him my life."
"We'll get him back, Sue." I said with confidence. "We'll all be one big happy family again."