KR Gaim - Tru Heart: Chapter 30

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第30章：バトルロワイアル / Chapter 30: Battle Royale
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"Attention, all Riders to Helheim. We have a potential security breach. All Riders to Helheim." A voice spoke over the intercom.

Takatora, Yori and Yoshimoto rode the elevator down to the depths of Yggdrasill. Takatora had received word that more and more Riders were appearing in Helheim as they speak. The three had adjusted their Drivers on the way down and were prepared for the biggest breach in their security in years.

The elevator opened and the three entered the room of scientists and the large crack leading into the Forest. They walked to the center of the room with the large ceiling skylight that went all the way to the top of the building. The three each prepared their Lockseeds.

[MELON!] [BLACKBERRY!] [AVOCADO!]

The scientists watched the three step forth knowing their mission. The scientists had hardly seen even two of the three Riders working together... all three was unprecedented. They required the combined strength of all three to ensure secrecy.

[SOIYA - MELON ARMS! BY HEAVEN'S DECREE!]
[C'MON - BLACKBERRY ARMS! TILL THE BITTER END!]
[♪♪♪ - AVOCADO ARMS! SABER, HUT-HUT-HO!]

Zangetsu, Haku and Shinra now prepared to head in.

"Gentlemen," Professor Ryoma spoke up from a monitor. "As you know, we can't afford to lose any of these Sengoku Drivers. Do be careful."

"We're to expel the Armored Riders from that Forest." Zangetsu commanded. He looked to the Haku Unit now approaching him, "You'll act as my support. The Shinra Unit will be split among the other two."

"Sir!" They stood at his command.

The three Riders stepped into the crack to enter the Helheim Forest with the Units following in after them, guns prepared in case they needed defense against Inves. Stepping away from his monitor, Ryoma walked to a window overlooking the city.

"All ten Sengoku Drivers in one Forest... This shall be interesting."

. . .

Most of the Riders wasted no time and began to seemingly go their separate ways. Kurokage, however, looked around curiously... He'd been here before when he joined Gaim and Baron to chase after kidnapping Inves, but never really took in what he was seeing.

The Forest had a sort of blueish glow to its atmosphere. There was a fog that seemed to constantly cover the area and plenty of strange plantlife not seen on Earth. The trees were occasionally draped in red and purple fruits, which they knew now to be the Lockseeds they were made to collect. With the Sengoku Driver on, these fruits would turn into Lockseeds in their hands.

In the Forest, Baron walked over to a tree and grabbed a fruit. He took notice to a quiet rustling behind him and threw the fruit, landing a direct hit on Bravo's forehead. The fruit fell to the ground and became a low Class Lockseed.

"You do realize that the goal is to collect Lockseeds." Baron told him. "Did you happen to forget the rules?"

"Screw that. I'm gonna eliminate the competition while you're all in one place!" Bravo argued.

Bravo ran at Baron with his club ready. Baron blocked the attack with his lance and the two swapped blows, blocking each for the moment. In the distance, Gridon slinked by and started to collect Lockseeds. The plan was to have Bravo use his brawn to distract any Riders they come by, while he reaped the rewards for both of them.

As Bravo took their action away from the area for Gridon's sake, he hummed quietly and plucked multiple fruits, pleasantly surprised to see them change into Lockseeds. He thought of keeping one or two for himself if he found a good one. However, he started to hear the distinct sound of footsteps... Another Rider must've been attempting the sneak attack Bravo tried.

Gridon looked around and noticed something black standing behind a tree. He picked up his halberd from the ground and tip-toed his way to it.

"It's certainly quiet around here... Why pluck fruits when I can just chop this whole tree down?!" Gridon exclaimed.

He swung his halberd at the tree which caused Kurokage to roll out from behind it to dodge the attack. The tree received a shatter at the side, but Gridon held back once Kurokage revealed himself, so the tree remained intact. Kurokage tensely stood up, facing off against Gridon.

"I thought I sensed something of lower class in the area." Gridon taunted.

"Jonouchi..." Kurokage said under his breath.

Kurokage yelled and swung his spear at Gridon. Gridon blocked it with his halberd and threw Kurokage off of him. He swung the back end of it under Kurokage to knock him off his feet and onto the ground, now pointing its blade in Kurokage's face.

"Now, what possible reason would the mysterious Kurokage have to target me specifically?" Gridon playfully asked himself aloud.

"I represent the Beat Riders that teams like yours constantly push down!" Kurokage rolled away from Gridon's blade and got up.

"No, you don't." Gridon argued. "You're just some sore loser that doesn't know when to stay down. And you're not getting the South Stage back."

"How did you-?" Kurokage said in shock.

"You're not good at subtly, dear Hase." Gridon attempted another swing at him.

Kurokage dodged and prepared another Lockseed in his Driver.

[SOIYA - PECAN ARMS! ROUND'N'ROUND, SLASH!]

Kurokage now wore a brown armor with a short sickle on a chain and grip. He swung it around and attempted to get past Gridon's defenses with a few quick strikes. Gridon was caught off guard by this move and had to admire Kurokage's attempts to get in close, but he wasn't about to give in so easily. As they continued to fight, Shinra watched nearby...

Meanwhile, Bravo and Baron continued their fight by a river. Bravo brilliantly dodged some of his stronger attacks, so it was time to do what he'd learned was best during a fight; When Banana Arms wasn't working, switch out.

[C'MON - MANGO ARMS! FIGHT OF HAMMER!]

Baron's yellow  and silver banana armor faded away and made room for the caped red and yellow armor, armed with a large spiked club that dwarfed Bravo's and had quite a bit of weight to it.

"Whoa, bigger than mine..." Bravo commented. "Doesn't matter, I'll take you down anyway!"

Bravo ran toward him, thinking he'd be slower due to this large weapon, but Baron kicked its base to knock it upward and swing it into Bravo's chest. While stunned, he then jabbed at it with the top spike.

In the treetops, Kota watched over the different Riders, unbeknownst to them. Their activity here would surely lure out those suspicious Riders that he and Mitchy want to track down. As he turned his attention to a clearing, he saw Gridon being knocked out of the wooded area by Shinra.

"It's the crimson one...!" Kota said to himself.

Gridon got back up and started to charge at Shinra once more.

"Take thi-!"

Shinra quickly blocked his halberd with that small saber. He brushed the weapon's advances aside like it was nothing. Gridon persisted with another swing, which Shinra now blocked with his arm. He slashed at Gridon's chest and did a swift kick to Gridon's torso, knocking him aside once more.

"I'm not finished yet!!" Gridon yelled at him.

Gridon charged at Shinra with the halberd held out frantically in one hand. Shinra faced him and slashed multiple times with his saber, dealing a great deal of damage. He whimpered in pain and started to lose his balance now. Gridon's suit dematerialized, and Jonouchi fell to the ground unconscious. A few men from the Shinra Unit gathered around Jonouchi's body with guns pointed at it.

"Take this boy to the crack and have HQ deal with him." Shinra commanded.

"Sir!"

"Crack...?" Kota asked himself as he continued to watch. The men in black uniforms were now taking Jonouchi away. With Shinra going in a direction opposite of the Unit, Kota dropped from the tree and decided to follow them...

While this was happening, Baron and Bravo's fight was cut short by a green light that passed by and struck both of them with a saber. Zangetsu appeared between them and dealt multiple blows with his sword, leaving them falling to the ground in pain.

"A... white Armored Rider..." Baron observed. He weakly stood.

"This isn't the place for your little games." Zangetsu told them coldly.

Zangetsu dealt more attacks to Baron, leaving him to fall to the ground once more. Baron's suit dematerialized, leaving just Kaito.

"How... could you... be so strong..." Kaito said weakly. He passed out soon after.

"I am so sick... of you no-name Riders showing up to steal the spotlight..." Bravo told Zangetsu. He tried to stand, and he couldn't even muster the strength to hold his club anymore.

"Silence." Zangetsu said simply.

Zangetsu let out more attacks against Bravo, causing his suit to dematerialize. As Sonomura, he passed out on the ground. His Unit of people now swarmed the area, picking up Kaito and Sonomura at Zangetsu's order.

. . .

"Our overseer knows how to get the job done." A scientist commented.

Kota had managed to put on a disguise and sneak into a camp near the crack that the people here manned. He quietly watched two scientists in one of the tents who were seeing the live footage of the three Yggdrasill Riders fighting off the others.

"Look at those kids." The scientist continued, "You throw them a Lockseed and they scramble for it. They never once realized that this was all part of Yggdrasill's experiments."

"Then the Inves Games are...?" Kota questioned aloud.

"Of course. It's all part of Yggdrasill's plans..." The scientist said matter-of-factly. "And We managed to work in the Sengoku Drivers without them suspecting a thing."

. . .

Kurokage managed to slip by Shinra while he was attacking Gridon. He ran and ran, trying his best to escape Shinra so he could get back to collecting Lockseeds. He'd finally come to a spot where Maiden was collecting a few, but took notice to another Rider stalking here from the trees. Haku silently prepared his move...

"Rei!!" Kurokage called out.

Haku looked over in surprise. His cover was blown and he now had another Rider to fight. Kurokage chased after him and let his sickle extend out to hit Haku from afar. Haku took a blow to his torso and stumbled back, coming into view in the clearing where Maiden was.

"The black Rider..." Maiden said to herself quietly.

Haku prepared his mace as Kurokage ran over to him. Kurokage swung his sickle to try and hit Haku again, but was blocked by the mace. When Haku attempted his own attack, Kurokage managed to wrap the sickle chain around his wrist. With Haku in his grip, he tried to throw him around, but wasn't strong enough. Instead, Haku flailed his arm back and knocked Kurokage into a tree, loosening the grip of the chain and setting him free.

Maiden intervened now, swinging her large sword at Haku. He managed to block it with his heavily protected shoulders and brushed her off, allowing the sword to thud to the ground. Maiden persisted and attempted to swing vertically. At that same time, Kurokage prepared a finisher.

[SOIYA - PECAN SPARKLING!]

Kurokage swung the sickle in the air, allowing it to spin its way toward Haku. He ducked and allowed it to knock Maiden's sword right out of her hands, sending it flying back and landing lodged into the ground. Frustrated, Kurokage charged at Haku intending to fight him barehanded if he had to. Haku turned to him quickly, though, and delivered a few choice blows to his torso and head with the mace. It was enough to knock Kurokage to the ground, his suit dematerializing to reveal Hase.

Haku turned his attention to Maiden now, who was struggling to pull her sword from the ground and fight. Haku quietly approached her and felt tensed up at what he was even about to do. He'd avoided it, but it was inevitable, and he'd rather be the one to do it...

"I'm sorry, Rei." Haku said under his breath.

"Huh--"

Haku gave a sturdy chop to the back of Maiden's neck. He'd made sure to make this one precise hit that drained all energy she may have had. She let out a painful little whimper and her suit dematerialized, along with the sword. Rei fell to her knees, then passed out on the ground. The Unit Haku was in charge of soon came to pick up the bodies.

"Take them to HQ. You know what to do." Haku commanded. "And don't let anything happen to them."

"Sir, look!" One of the men pointed to the sky. A dozen of winged Inves were flying in the direction they were heading in.

Haku spoke into the intercom on his helmet, "Overseer Kureshima, it looks like a swarm is approaching the camp. We need to get there and fast."