Crunch Time
"Are you sure?" Tsmugi asked. "These are the capture rates?"
"Just saying, that's a pretty small graph for all the abductions that have ever happened." Kokichi said.
"I'm not saying it's all of the abduction rates. I'm saying it's some of the abduction rates." Korekiyo said. He was beginning to sound irritated.
"Can we translate it?" Kaito asked. "Can we gain anything from this?"
"Oh of course, let me just learn the entire language in twenty seconds." Kiyo's tone of voice hadn't changed, but Kaito was almost certain that he was being sarcastic. He could hear Kokichi snickering, so Kaito assumed he wasn't the only one that had reached this conclusion.
"Guys, come on." Kaede said. "We're all really stressed. I think we should try and get this data to the ship and worry about translating it later."
"Yeah, good idea." Kaito said. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet, he would have run his hand through his hair. "For the record, I'm sorry. I'm a shit leader apparently, and things should be running more smoothly."
"Hm? How silly! It is not your fault!" Angie seemed to be the only one not impacted by stress. "Atua says it is the fault of those who brought us here. The two of us here can't handle everything by ourselves."
"Hey what am I? Space shit?" Kokichi asked. "But yeah, I do have to question the choice to leave me and robo-boy here. Wouldn't a robot be like, super helpful?"
"My orders were to stay here." Kaito could hear Kiibo's voice faintly.
"Riiight, sorry, totally forgot we have the most useless robot ever made."
"Enough." Kaito said. "I agree with all of you...well, not with Kiibo being useless, but everything else! Complaining isn't going to do anything for us. We gotta keep going. What does team two think?"
"Oh, we lost contact with them ten minutes ago." Angie said. "You keep reacting badly when we tell you, so we just didn't."
"WHAT?!" Kaito yelled.
"Ok! Time to keep going!" Angie cheered. "Unless there's any physical evidence to document, the flashdrive you planted should allow the small annoying one to get what we need."
"You're literally about my height." Kokichi grumbled.
"C'mon." Ryoma said. "I do think we have a deadline.
At that moment a burst of noise crackled over the comm lines. "STUPID MOTHERFUCKING WHORE-ASS ABORTION SCUM! I'LL-"
"Was that...Miu?" Maki asked.
"Definitely." Kaito said. "Miu, can you hear us?"
"WHAT? OH! HEY! LINES ARE BACK UP!" She shrieked. "EVERYONE STOP MOVING!"
"Hey Kaito." Rantaro said. He was still remarkably calm.
"Jesus! What's happening!"
"We, um, seem to have entered some kind of on board menagerie."
"ONE OF THEM ATE HIMIKO!" Tenko yelled. "GONTA HELP ME TEAR IT OPEN!"
"What the hell is going on?!" Kaito yelled.
"I...honestly don't know how to explain." Rantaro said. There was a inhuman screech and a spattering noise.
"Gonta has torn head off of alien." Gonta said. "That was not gentlemanly of Gonta."
"It was so dark..." Himiko said weakly.
"We seem to have stumbled across some kind of carnivorous livestock." Kirumi said. "We tripped some sort of alarm releasing them into a sealed bay with us."
"Guess we did get the quiet half." Ryoma said. "As far as I know, eyeballs have never eaten anyone."
"Tenko, Gonta and myself are keeping them at bay while Miu and Rantaro gather intel." Kirumi reported. "Himiko is trying to stay alive."
"Nyeh...it's not going well..."
"You have weapons right?" Kokichi asked. "I know you guys took those space blaster gun thingies with you. I think it was so I couldn't have them. So mean!"
"They're called stun guns! They send concentrated beams of light into the enemy!"
"So you can't kill anything? Aw man."
"No, there's a kill setting-Why am I telling you this!"
"Rantaro and I have successfully used the weapons." Kirumi said. "Tenko and Gonta have taken the creatures in hand to hand combat."
"Gonta's hands too big for little gun." Gonta said.
"I'm covered in gross alien slime!" Tenko wailed. "This is the most disgusting mission ever!"
"We're doing alright-Miu detonate that pocket grenade-We're doing alright." Rantaro said.
"Pocket grenade?? Why don't I have any!?" Kokichi protested.
"That's one fuckin' word for it." Miu sighed heavily. "Ok, get everyone to the back of the hall. I'm gonna blow this thing like a desperate hooker looking for a fix!"
"Gross." Himiko said. There was the sound of footsteps as everyone moved to the back of the hall, and then a loud explosion.
"You guys ok?!" Kaito demanded.
"No." Himiko said. "I'm covered in alien guts."
"Yeah, we are." Rantaro said. "I think we got em. Miu? How's it looking?"
"Uh...you want the good news or the bad news?" Miu said in a small voice.
"Good news." Himiko and Tenko said together.
"Well, good news is that the explosion drove them all away from us."
"Yeah, that's good." Kaito said, relaxing.
"Uh..bad news is that they're heading to you guys. Plus I think yours is the side with all the good info. So you're gonna have to get that while trying to stay alive."
"WHAT?!" Kaito yelled. Already he could hear the skittering of multiple legs. "Shit, shit everyone move."
"So I don't have cameras, but I do have heat wave sensors." Kokichi said. "Weird, but it works. I can tell you that you have three little red dots heading your way and...oh. About a hundred of their friends."
"RUN!" Kaito demanded. His crew of six sprinted out the back door of the lab, further into the ship.
"Um, why aren't we running away?" Tsmugi asked. "Shouldn't we get back to the shuttle?"
"No, we still gotta finish the sweep." Kaito said. "Angie, how many more levels are there, and where do we need to go?"
"We-ell, I'm seriously re-evaluating my knowledge, because I thought I sent team two into a museum of live specimens, but it was a murder zoo instead..."
"ANGIE!" Kaito yelled. The skittering was getting louder.
"There are three more levels you need to check. One of which is the transport deck." Angie said. "On the bright side, team two can get to the comms room! Atua is so divine!"
"I can see something!" Maki yelled. Kaito glanced over his shoulder to see something moving. They were gaining.
"Ok, what are the other two?" He asked, fighting to keep his voice calm. He could hear Tsmugi whimpering.
"One of them is a fuel generator." Angie said. "The other is a mystery!
Before Kaito could press her for details, he heard Kaede scream. A massive six legged thing crested the corner and lunged at her, barely missing.
They looked like giant, deadly beetles. They were bug-like with heavy shells and spiked limbs. They were agile with sharp horns and pincers lining the front, and a scorpion like tail lining the back. Kaito thought he could see gossamer like wings under parts of the shell. If he had to pick a species, he'd say the thing before him was an ungodly combo of a beetle, scorpion, spider, and a knife.
He grabbed Kaede by the shoulder, shoving her in front of him. "We need to go faster!"
The bug-thing wasn't very agile. After missing Kaede, it had skidded into the corner they just rounded with a screech.
"You're coming up on the generator." Angie said. Next three rights."
"Hey if you make it to the generator, I have a really bad idea." Kokichi said. "But it's less bad then you all getting devoured by hungry bug monsters. So I think we should go for it."
"I'm willing to take anything at this point." Kaito wheezed.
"Ok, you gotta make it to the fuel room though."
"Easier said then done." To Kaito's surprise, Ryoma was at the front of the group. Short legs or not, he was fast.
"Hey, I think you mean, oh thank you Kokichi, great and powerful leader of us all. You and only you could come up with a plan to save our miserable, unworthy asses-"
"Save it for when we make it out of here alive." Kaito said.
"Two more rights." Angie's voice broke in. "Faster, go faster!"
There was another inhuman screech and another creature lunged, razor sharp pincers lancing inches from Kaito's side. He heard someone scream his name. He couldn't tell who. He had been forced to lunge to the side, slamming himself into the cold, unforgiving metal wall. The impact had hurt far more than he had thought it would, and his ears were ringing.
Suddenly a strong arm yanked him forward. Kaito stumbled twice, twisting his ankle before gaining his footing. Maki glared back at him. "You're not allowed to die."
"One more right!" Angie said. "You can do this!"
"I can't breathe!" Tsmugi wheezed.
Kaito risked a glance behind his shoulder. Dozens and dozens of the creatures were piling into the hallway, climbing on top of each other, battling to reach the human prey first.
"Turn! Turn now!" Angie yelled. Kaito saw Ryoma turn sharply into a barely visible doorway. Kaito counted three other forms dart inside, before his arm was nearly yanked from its socket as Maki pulled him through the doorway. The doors slid shut behind them.
"Alright, don't freak. That was me. But don't get comfy either. I don't think that's gonna hold them. This door is waaaay flimsier than the others." Kokichi said.
"Great." Kaito sighed. "Now what?"
"Look around Space boy."
They were certainly in some kind of generator. The room was sweltering. Three massive glowing machines radiated heat. Kaito could hear them pumping. Glowing liquid traveled up clear tubes that lined the metal sides of the generators, being dispersed throughout the ship.
"Ok, it's really hot." Shuichi said weakly.
"And it's gonna get a hell of a lot hotter!" Kokichi cheered. "You all see the back door? Get over to it and get ready to run. Not you Space boy. You're the most important part. Got any of those little grenades?"
"Yes. I'm not giving you one." Kaito said, watching as the rest of his team lined up near the back door. A slamming noise reverberated from the front entrance and Kaito winced.
"Are they sticky? Like if I stuck one on a wall, would it stay?"
"Yeah! But I'm not giving you one!"
"What? I don't want one! I mean I do but-"
The metal front doors shuddered. Kaito could hear the screeches. "Kokichi!"
"Stick them on the generators!"
Kaito sprinted around the room, slapping an explosive on each generator. And then it fully hit him. What was he doing?
"Wait, hold on. Kokichi no."
"Kaito yes!"
"Oh hell no!"
"Oh hell yes!"
"Um, can someone explain what's going on?" Tsmugi asked meekly, cutting into the argument.
"If we detonate those, we're gonna blow up a big part of what's keeping this ship going. I'm willing to bet that the stuff in there is flammable. We're basically going to blow up the ship!"
Ryoma chuckled. "Cool."
"No! Not cool! We're not supposed to engage!"
"Hate to break it to you, but it's blow up the ship or get eaten." Kokichi said. "So! Is everyone there gonna die because you're too scared to blow up a ship or are we gonna do this thing!"
"What about team two?" Maki asked. Her voice was remarkably calm.
"Oh, did you think that the entire ship was gonna blow at once? Nahhh, we still have time to check out the mystery floor. Here's how it's gonna work. I'm gonna open the back door and the front doors, you're gonna run and I'm gonna get as many space buggies in there as I can. After that you're gonna pull the trigger. Keep going up to the next level. Check that out, and then go to the transport deck."
"And we're not going to get fried to crisps how?" Kaede asked.
"Hopefully the explosion will be contained to the fuel room for a bit. Eventually it'll bust out and begin damaging the rest of the ship. Space pressure and whatevs."
"You just made that up, didn't you?" Shuichi said."
"Maybe, maybe not. Just have some faith! I'd give you my list of reasons why I'm the coolest person to ever live, buuuut we kinda have to do this now or never."
"Ok." Kaito said, jogging into place with his team. "But let it be known that this may actually be the stupidest thing I have ever done."
"Which one? Blowing up a ship or trusting me?" Kokichi asked innocently. "I guess it doesn't matter. I did say this was a bad idea didn't I? Oh well! Get ready."
Kaito glanced at the faces of his teammates. "We're ready."
"Then run."
Kokichi was able to trap a majority of the "space buggies" in the fuel room, something that calmed Kaito's nerves a tiny bit. However, there was still a threat of a massive explosion coming, so he wasn't exactly a picture of calm.
"Keep going up." Angie said. "You should see another hatch. Climb!"
"You heard her." Kaito said. "Everyone start climbing." He looked over his shoulder to check for the creatures, but none were seen. Kokichi said he'd set off the grenades when the bugs got close to breaking out. Thankfully, there had been no explosions. Yet.
"Kaito! Come on!" Kaede called. Kaito hauled himself up the ladder, wincing at a sudden pain in his chest. No, not now. There could not be a worse time for an episode than space vandalism.
Kaede pulled him up as best she could. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
"I...have no idea." Kaito said slowly. The team was now in a massive chamber with an even larger screen. "Alien movie theater?"
"Oh, definitely." Ryoma said. "Hey, I thought the comms room was on the other side of the ship. What's this stuff doing here?"
Kaito turned his attention to the small, yet perfectly operation comms system. "I dunno. Backups?"
"No." Shuichi said. "They wouldn't be on if they were backups. The whole point of having a backup is incase the main system carrying the main comm line goes down. Why would a backup be on and connected to the same line?"
"Ok. So what is it?" Kaede asked.
"Check who they were talking to." Korekiyo's voice made all six team members jump.
"What?" Tsmugi asked.
"There should be a record of the last place contacted." Kiyo said. "Try that screen there. It should show who they last spoke to."
Kaito carefully turned on the screen. Sure enough, a series of numbers and weird swirls came up. "Is this a comms address?"
"I believe so." Korekiyo said. "That's strange. Why would there be earthen numbers..."
"I'd love to figure it out, but I think we gotta keep going." Ryoma said. "Is there anything else to get in here? Sorry, but I kind of want to get the hell off this ship."
"I suppose not." Kiyo sighed. "It doesn't seem to have any other purpose than a comms room. It does make me feel uneasy though. Mm, that's two things to think about. An uncharted room and a lack of personnel."
"Yeah, that's right. We haven't seen any alien crew members." Kaede spoke up. "Where are they?"
"Well, judging from the scans I'm getting, I'm pretty sure they're gone." Kokichi said. "It's like they just jumped ship. Literally I guess. Only other life forms on the ship is team two and the space buggies."
"So they just abandoned it?" Tsmugi asked, looking around at the empty room.
"Most likely not." Kiyo said. "If anything, the ship is left unattended on a normal basis. There must not be a large crew. If anything, they're either performing the current abduction, or transporting older captives. They appear to have been using this as a permeant base for some kind of project, but perhaps they finished it."
"Well that can't be good." Ryoma said. "All the more reason to wrap up here."
"Okie dokie! So you will climb to the final level. There are most likely spare shuttles. The only things you can do are pilot one of the shuttles back, or die!"
"I vote shuttle." Maki said, leading the way out of the room.
It didn't take the team long to find the final hatch. After everyone had climbed it, Kaito closed the metal covering and locked it. Just in case.
"There are the shuttles." Shuichi said. "Do you think you can fly them?"
"Guess we're gonna find out." Kaito said, cracking his knuckles. "Everyone in-"
He never got to finish his sentence. A massive explosion rocked the ship. The floor lurched and everyone was sent flying. Kaito slammed face first into a wall. He could taste blood. Whether that was from the impact or the quickly approaching episode, he was unsure.
"Is everyone ok?" He heard Kaede ask.
"I think so." Ryoma said.
"I'm alright." Maki said.
"Me too." Shuichi said weakly.
"Ditto." Kaito said. "Tsmugi, you good?"
"I...I think my ankle's broken." her voice was tight with pain. "I-it looks twisted...ow..."
"What the hell was that?" Kaito asked as he made his way over to Tsmugi.
"Sorry, I couldn't wait any longer." Kokichi's voice was slightly staticky. "Nuts, I think the explosion messed with our comms. The signal's weak..."
Kaito carefully examined Tsmugi's ankle. It was clearly broken, and while painful, thankfully wasn't life threatening.
"Can you stand?" Kaito asked. Tsmugi shook her head, eyes closed in pain. Her face was pale.
"Kaito, we gotta go." Shuichi called. No sooner than a few seconds after he had spoken, the ship lurched with a second explosion, and then a third. Kaito clutched Tsmugi to his chest, trying to shield her from further injury. Thankfully these two blasts were smaller.
"Kaito! Get your ass up and into the shuttle!" Kokichi yelled. "The ship's going down! The explosions are a kind of chain reaction! They're only gonna get bigger and closer!"
A fourth explosion shook the ship, tossing Kaito and Tsmugi like rag dolls. He heard Kaede scream their names.
"L-leave me." Tsmugi said in a small voice.
"No way in hell am I doing that." Kaito growled. He struggled to his feet, carefully picking Tsmugi up. "I think the explosion knocked out comms. We might be on our own."
He had only taken a few steps forward when another explosion detonated, throwing him farther away from the ship. Tsmugi screamed either in terror or in pain.
"Kaito!" Suddenly the weight of Tsmugi was taken from him. Something clipped onto his belt. He looked up into Maki's eyes as she clipped the rope to Tsmugi's belt.
"Maki?"
"We found a tow line in the shuttle. I attached myself to it-"
The fifth and sixth explosions tossed the three across the bay, but thanks to the rope, they didn't go far.
"Reel us in!" Maki yelled. There was a soft whirring and Kaito felt a gentle tug at his belt. The rope was slowly being reeled back into the shuttle. They only moved a few feet before all three were flung again.
"Dammit!" Kaito swore. "Is there anything we can do about that?"
Maki shook her head. "I don't think so. I think we just have to hang on."
Kaito nodded. "Ok, I guess that's fair. Better bruised then dead."
Maki nodded, the two barely bracing themselves before being thrown by another three explosions. Tsmugi was curled up into a ball against Maki, eyes still shut tight.
"They're getting bigger and there's less time between explosions." Maki said, gritting her teeth. "We probably don't have much more time."
Kaito glanced at the shuttle. They were over half the distance, getting closer with every passing second. There was nothing left to do but hope. They could try getting to their feet, but they would just be knocked down again by the next explosion.
"Wait." Kaito said, feeling his insides go cold. "What about team two? We have to go back!" He fumbled with his belt but Maki slapped his hand away from it.
"There's nothing we can do for them now. Hopefully they were warned about the explosion and had time to get out. Even if they are here, we can't do anything. It's not worth getting ourselves blown up over. They wouldn't want us risking our lives."
Kaito clenched his fists. "Dammit. You're right..."
Maki faced him, staring into his eyes. "You need to believe. Believe that they're ok."
Their eye contact was broken by the next explosion, the biggest yet. Thankfully this one threw them closer to the shuttle.
"Go!" Kaito yelled, scrambling to his feet. With Maki's help he sprinted the last few feet and lifted Tsmugi into the shuttle. Maki was climbing in when the next explosion rocked them. Kaito felt himself falling away from the shuttle-
Something caught his leg, and he looked up to se Shuichi clinging to him for dear life. Kaito grinned. He could see Kaede holding onto Maki by the waist, and Ryoma steadying Tsmugi. Once the explosion settled he was able to pull himself into the shuttle before the next explosion.
"They're getting really close." Kaede said. "We need to go now. Can you fly this?"
"Let's hope so." Kaito said, moving the thruster. Thankfully, the engine roared to life and the ship hovered a few inches off the ground. The shuttle sealed shut around them.
The biggest explosion yet shook the ship like a toy around them, but as the shuttle was no longer connected to the floor, the effects on the team were minimal.
"How do we get out?" Ryoma said. "We're locked in."
Kaito's momentary elation vanished. The tennis pro was right. "Crap. Anyone see a space garage door opener or something?"
"Here." Tsmugi said faintly, handing him what appeared to be a garage door opener. Kaito stared at it.
"Be confused later, I know I will." Ryoma said. "But we gotta go!"
Kaito pointed the remote at the blank wall before him, and to his great relief, it began to slide open, revealing the expanse of space once more.
But this elation faded too, as the next explosion halted the doors.
"What happened?!" Kaede yelled.
"The doors probably shorted out." Kaito said, smacking his fist on the dashboard. They were so close...
He could see Shuichi's terrified expression. The detective was seated in the co-pilot's chair next to him. No, he wasn't giving up. He owed it to his teammates to get them out alive. "Ok, I'm gonna go for it. Just like threading a needle. Hold on!"
"Threading a needle..." Tsmugi said softly, before Kaito hit the thruster and the team was shoved back in their seats.
"Kaito, I don't think we're going to make it." Kaede said. "The opening's too small."
"We're gonna make it." Kaito said, speeding up.
"I think she's right. It's too small." Maki said, digging her nails into her seat.
"We're gonna make it." Kaito said again, pushing the shuttle to it's limits.
"Kaito" Shuichi said nervously.
"Trust me sidekick." Kaito said, shooting him a quick smile. "We're gonna get outta here. You just gotta believe!!"
Kaito twisted the controls at the last moment, flipping the ship sideways, and slipping through the opening, his team screaming.
"It's ok!" he laughed. "We're ok!"
"We are?" Kaede asked. "Woah, we made it!"
"I keep telling you." Kaito said. "You gotta believe!"
And then the ship exploded.
The once mighty space mushroom went up in a silent cloud of flame that vanished as soon as it entered the oxygenless expanse of space. The tiny shuttle was flung as the force of the explosion rippled outward.
"HOLD ON!" Kaito yelled, yanking the controls, trying desperately to get the shuttle under control. It felt like hours when he finally forced the shuttle out of its frenzied spin, despite it only being a few seconds.
Kaito looked back at the mass of rubble that used to be the Imperial ship. "Everyone ok?"
"I think I'm gonna throw up." Shuichi mumbled. The rest of the team spoke their agreement.
"We did it." Kaede said. "We actually made it out of there alive."
"Kokichi was right." Maki sighed. "That was a terrible idea."
"We'll beat him up together when we get back." Kaito said. He felt incredible. He was sure it was just the adrenaline, but at that moment he felt like he was capable of doing anything.
"Deal." Ryoma said, taking a deep breath. "Wow. We're somehow not dead."
"Look!" Kaede said, pointing at the outline of their ship. "There's the others!"
"You don't think they'll shoot us down will you?" Shuichi asked nervously. "We're in an alien ship after all."
"Nah. I think we're ok...oh shit." Kaito said, as their ship revealed an artillery of weapons pointed at them.
"Ten seconds until launch." a robotic voice said. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six"
Kaito looked frantically at his team. They looked frantically back.
"Five, four, three, two-"
"Just kidding!" Kokichi's voice replaced the countdown. "I tooootally fooled you didn't I! Oh my god you should have seen your faces!! In unrelated news, I found how to work the weapons system. Pretty scary huh?"
"Kokichi. I am going to kill you." Kaito said weakly.
"Yeah yeah, sure you are. We're opening the bay door now. Maybe do some vocal exercises because when you get in here you're gonna be singing my praises for hours!"
"Or you'll be singing soprano when I kick you where it hurts." Maki said, a deadly glint in her eye.
It was a weird time to do so, but Kaito laughed.