Darling in the Franxx: Cold Blood

Chapter Four: Running Interference

"Warrior?"

Slowly the voices die down, allowing the quiet footsteps approaching you to become audible. Looking up, you see a man wearing similar armor to yours. He has two horns sticking out of his forehead, with one of them was snapped near its base, and a sinister smile is across his face, The Fallen. "You know what to do." Looking down, you realize you are no longer in control of your body.

"Warrior, wake up."

Grasping the energy sword by the hilt, you are helpless as you raise the blade to your chest. You struggle as hard as you can to fight the involuntary movement. But ultimately, you lose the strength to do so. The hilt connects with your body. The only thing you can do is close your eyes and hope to leave this nightmare. You hear the Fallen speak again. "Do it."

"Wake up!"

You jolt awake just as the blade cuts through your chest. Feeling someone grab your shoulder, you jump back to see Naomi and Naosu with worried expressions. "Is everything alright, you guys?" you say between labored breaths.

"I feel like we should be asking you that," Naosu says from behind Naomi. "You were tossing and turning while mumbling about something being your fault." "It was just a bad dream, nothing to worry about." You say, wiping a small amount of sweat off your brow before rising to your feet.

Naosu gives you a look of skepticism before showing you a repaired tracker. "Anyway, I finished fixing the tracker not too long ago. When I did, we saw that something was heading towards the Plantation," Naomi then interrupts Naosu. "Then, when I was up on the hill. I saw my friends preparing to head out in their Franxx. I think they're going to go towards where the tracker said that thing is," Naomi says with concern in her voice.

Picking up your helmet and slipping it on you, look at the two. You were confused. Apparently, a Klaxosaur was in the area, but Franxx Group was preparing to deal with it. "So what's the problem," You question, still a bit groggy. Naosu huffs and shakes his head. "Naomi just wants to make sure that her friends will be alright,"

"Please," Naomi begs.

Not wanting to argue, you let out a sigh and look at the two. "Fine," You say begrudgingly. "But we'll only going to watch," Naomi jumps forwards in excitement, thanking you. You, however, move towards your unit and climb into its cockpit. Turning on the old Klaxosaur, the orange gel fills the airtight cockpit. Closing your eyes as the cold gel covers your neck. The gel continues to fill up the tight space until your body floats in the liquid.

Opening your eyes, you look down at Naosu and Naomi standing next to you. "How long was I out," You ask the mechanic. "I'd say a few seconds, a half a minute max," Lowering your open hand to the pair, Naosu hops on before helping Naomi up with her healthy arm. Standing to your full height, you start to loosen your unit's joints but stretching them.

"They were preparing to head west, but the signal was detected up north," Naosu yells, holding onto one of your fingers. "You can beat them both in the middle if we take a straight path northwest." Nodding your head, you place your other hand over the two and start to run northwest, hoping to get there in time.

After about five minutes, the three of you arrive at a hill overlooking a large open area not far from basecamp. Exiting your Klaxosaur, you walk up the hill and lay down next to your companions as they watch a monstrous cloud of dust move towards the Plantation. Taking out your binoculars and moving to your face. You try to get a good look at the Klaxosaur. Seeing this, Naosu looks at you and snickers. "What we looking at Warrior,"

"Hard to say. The smokescreen's blocking a lot of it," You say back.

Then you see something break through the clouds. It had a flat face, with three circular devices used for boring through the earth. It was something you had dealt with before, but the first time seeing one in a long time. Throwing the binoculars to Naosu, you tell them what you discovered. "It's a Gen Three, Tunneler worm. They should be able to deal with it as long as they spot its tail in time."