Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 5, H.O.T.D 2

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Read the author's note at bottom if you get confused about a Psyche Force's ability to mask an area. I could absolutely be wrong about how it works though.

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During the next hour of driving Shin got caught up on their current situation thanks to Jin and Conner. Jin had pretty much taken care of everything before they met up, but at least he had to get himself informed of what was going on. A leader wasn't someone who just comes up with plans and ideas, but makes the tough decisions. Shin wouldn't let Jin, someone he trusted to come up with plans, but was not allowed to decide the direction of the team or when to risk their lives. Otherwise, he would really just be a figure head rather than the Leader of Team Japan who everyone acknowledged. He still felt pathetic at times, but knowing the team wouldn't mange as well without him made him feel better. 

Shin contacted everyone with Soul Link to learn whether or not any of them were injured. Luckily he learned that they were all unharmed and were on their way to the meet up near a shopping mall that Hikari spotted that was half an hour away from the survival camp with her scans. He asked how they were getting along with the civilians on their bus and the soldiers and he learned that unlike Jin they didn't need to use anyone as a scapegoat. They merely helped the soldiers guarding the operational buses and earned their place with them.

Each member of the team had the power to defeat the zombies, including evolved zombies without showing off too much. Team Japan had reached a level of power where even when they were holding back they could handle the dangers of the mission, or at least the low-level threats without Shin's assistance. The soldiers were harsh when trying to keep order, but they showed great respect for those who fought alongside them to protect the people and back up their comrades in dire times, and when they mentioned meeting up with the other buses before arriving at the survival camp no one opposed this idea. 

Another piece of good news was that Hikari managed to locate the three Newbies after Shin asked her to and she sent out members of the team to fetch them and bring them to the operational buses. Shin asked how Hikari had found the Newbies and she said it was simple. They juat stood out as the most freaked out people among the thousands of civilians in the fleet of buses. They were both scared and were asking dumb questions like was this real or were they brought to a movie set in denial of their surroundings. These were questions no one in the world of H.O.T.D would ask since zombies have long since been proven real. Hikari also noticed in her scans that their clothes were clean and in good condition as opposed to the civilians of the apocalyptic world fighting day to day just to get another meal and no longer cared about appearances (I had tried to ignore it till now, but they really stink. They definitely hadn't taken a proper bath in a long time). After getting them on the working buses the Newbies were then knocked out cold when they began making a scene about what was going on when Hikari gave their Orientation over a Soul Link to them. 

Shin: (They don't sound like a promising bunch, but we can't be certain till we get somewhere safe and can check out their potentials.)

Shin and the others didn't have high hopes for this batch of newbies and had already decided to keep them at arm's length for this mission so that they wouldn't interfere. Talents aside, if there weren't those like Renji who had the will to support the team, Shin would abandon them at the first chance he got. Shin wouldn't kill them unless they got in his team's way or if their deaths benefited the team. Currently, that was not an option, since this was a team battle where each members life counted. If he truly had to he would end them, but unless they gave him a reason he wouldn't kill them out right. If they weren't important to the team or didn't want to become important to the team then it couldn't be helped what fate would befall the Newbies. He wouldn't allow them to live if they couldn't adapt to HIS Team Japan. Putting aside how a twenty man team that wasn't united would bring problems in the future, just their presence would increase the difficulty of future missions by three people. Even back in the BTOOOM mission, Saki once said that they may have to SELECT team members wisely since each member of a team increased the difficulty of the mission automatically. Looking back, Saki was probably worried that if all fifteen members of Team Japan, Veterans and Newbies alike, survived the mission it would mean that the next mission would have a difficulty rating between 15-20 man mission.

Shin: (Excluding the strength of the team, God randomly chose the difficulty rating of the main mission by choosing no less than seven but no more than twenty people on the mission, and the more people present the more difficult the mission will become. Having fifteen members of a team would mean we would never have the chance to have an easy seven man mission ever again and were more likely to have twenty man difficulty missions... Although Team Japan's shit luck with this hasn't been the best (8,15, 20, 18, 20, 12). This is only acceptable if every the team is united and each member has a important talent or skill to contribute to the team. Anything else is just an unnecessary demerit that threatens the well-being of my team and I absolutely won't allow that.)

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Ten minutes of driving later as Shin considered all these options, all three buses finally met up as planned. The two buses carrying Aqua, Hikari, Shuai, Kisara, Drake and Sachi arrived first and were waiting for Shin, Connor and Jin's bus to arrive. They had already set up a perimeter around the abandoned mall with the JSDF and we're dealing with the few zombies attracted by the commotion that they were making and the scent of human flesh and blood. 

Once their bus arrived everyone disembarked. First, the sole soldier who left to report to his comrades and then civilians who wanted to breathe in some fresh air and stretch their legs. Lastly coming out of the bus were Shin, Komaru followed closely by Grim Ash, Connor, and Jin. As soon as they got off the bus they found their comrades, their human creations, and three people knocked out on the ground beside them who Shin could easily guess they were the Newbies for this mission. They were all gathered together waving his group over. This was the first time Team Japan was all together since the mission began and were happy to see each other safe and sound. Especially Shin.

Shin: "So did you miss me? I know Hikari, Aqua and Kisara did, but you guys missed me as well, right?"

Hikari: "Just where does this confidence come from? Stupid otaku leader."

Aqua: "Never missed you, but you can fantasize in your dreams that I do."

Kisara: "I did."

Sachi: "Kiss ass samurai girl should keep quite. We would be better off of he got turned into THEM"

Shuai: "I wouldn't go that far... but purposely pointing out how much your harem misses you... I wouldn't mind not seeing you for a day or two."

Drake: "Harsh guys."

Shin: "Haha... Don't worry Drake I'm used to this. Everyone loves and admires me deep down, so I ignore most of their insults."

Aqua: "Wow, really, just where does such confidence come from?"

Shin ignored Aqua's harsh comment and began to chat with everyone. He had already over Soul Link, but face to face was much better. In also he had Hikari show him scans of the area ahead to their destination. The survival camp they guessed was run by Saya's parents. It was about a half hour drive to reach the perimeter of the compound. To Shin's surprise the survival camp took up more than a few neighborhoods, but the whole of the center of the city, parts of the middle, while the outskirts were left abandoned with some signs of construction being started. It appeared to be that humans were begining to take back Tokonosu City from the zombies, but it was either so damaged, or not enough people to fill it up like it once was, as they used less than half their space. Hikari counted around 100,000 citizens who looked to be barely getting by, but looked a bit more healthy than the people riding along on the bus with them.

Hikari also gave it a shot and tried to look for the main characters of H.O.T.D as it was a priority that we meet up with them, but this search operation failed. There were juat too many people inside the survival camp to sort through them all and when Hikari met them before she had not become a Psyche Force user, and as such wouldn't have had the opportunity or means to memorize their mental waves. Psyche Force Scan uses mental waves to distinguish each individual, but first they must be able to remember those mental waves if you want to locate someone within a large crowd.

Shin told Hikari not to worry about looking for the main characters anymore for now at least, and then asked her about the city's defenses, and she wad able to provide the answers. According to the scans the survival camp was being guarded vigilantly by soldiers who looked far more fierce than the soldiers who were accompanying their group. Most likely high level Evolvers, veteran soldiers from before the apocalypse, or new veteran soldiers forged after the apocalypse. Next, Shin and Aqua asked Hikari about the enemy. Hikari was doing so without her Persona's enhancements, but now she had the confidence to at least know when the enemy was masking the zombies in a general area. With her Persona she could perfectly see just where the border of the enemy's masking was. 

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Shin: "So how is it? Is the enemy coming after us, or..."

Hikari: "Not after us directly. There are zombies nearby keeping a watch on us, but I don't feel any large masked areas around us. Above ground or underground, but I feel masking just outside the perimeter of the survival camp."

Jin: "So it's as I thought then. The enemy will wait to ambush us as we try to enter the survival camp. Maybe like how Hikari can tell someone is using Psyche Force for the zombie's side, the zombies know we have a Psyche Force user as well. In a battle between Psyche Force users the advantage goes to the stronger user with more skills unless the enemy Mental Capacity stat is way higher than their opponents. I do think the enemy's Psyche Force user has the higher stat, but his skills seem to be the same as Hikari's. Psyche Force Scan and Soul Link, but just on a larger scale."

Shuai: "What's your point?"

Aqua: "The point I think Jin is trying to make is that both the enemy and Hikari are close enough in ability that one side can't gain an absolute advantage of over the other. We can't see through their mask and they can't see through our mask, and neither side can hide that they're masking their comrades either. Psyche Force's ability to scan, communicate with others over long distances, and other abilities are only a powerful advantage when your opponent doesn't have one or a similar ability. Long as both sides are vigilant then it's impossible to completely take one side by surprise. You can only hide what your masking, but can't hide the fact that your masking something."

Jin: "That's right. Unless one sides Psyche Force user is much more powerful and skilled, a battle between Psyche Force Users will always be a stalemate. Now then people what do you do in such a situation? You set up a trap! Before your opponent gets the chance, you mask an area you know your enemy must travel through and set an ambush, or an area the enemy had to move through to confront you. That's what the zombies have planned."

Drake: "So what will we do? Go around the masking or..."

Shin: "...No, we'll break through. The enemy has the stronger Psyche Force and an army of zombies to connect to. There's no getting around. Breaking through is our only choice. If we don't break through and get to the survival camp then the enemy can pick us off with his superior numbers. We still don't have a complete grasp on the enemy's numbers and combat potential of the second and third level evolved zombies listed on the Player Watch, so we shouldn't assume that we've seen all there is to the enemy."

Sachi: "And we can't rely on these people here to really back us up. They aren't skilled enough and can't be completely counted on as our forces. If we can't enter the survival camp we'll have to find shelter elsewhere. Hikari can't stay up twenty-four hours a day and the moment the enemy notices this he'll attack us. They'll just keep attacking us with endless armies of undead who don't need to rest. At best we can only last two or three days at most before wiping out. We need the security/meat shields of the survival camp filled with soldiers."

Jin: "And who knows what will happen to the survival camp if we're not there to protect it. God wouldn't make it our mission to protect its leaders along with the main characters if we didn't have to be there and... Well, protect them."

Shin: "Good point. We also need to prepare for the upcoming team battle and we can't do that on the run and tired out, so camping outside is out. There's a time to run and a time to kick ass, and now is the latter. We'll break through whatever ambush the enemy has waiting for us. Team Japan isn't so weak that we'll run away from mere zombies!"

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Team Japan along with the others climbed back on board the buses and set off. They traveled for twenty minutes and had to enter the masked area around the survival camp where the zombies were waiting in ambush. Jin was confident that the zombies wouldn't launch an assault on them till they neared the survival camp, but unable to see far with Hikari's scans was too far dangerous and would have little time to prepare themselves for a sudden attack, so Shin ordered the team to take shifts to keep watch in Unlocked Mode. Just the First Stage would allow the team to sense incoming danger with heightened combat instincts, so at the very least it was possible to prepare for some kind of surprise attack. In the end Jin was right and the three buses carrying the team, soldiers and civilians had almost reached their destination encountering the enemy. 

The civilians and soldiers were happy when they learned that they were minutes away from safety, but out of nowhere all the buses came to a step by the decision of the members of Team Japan. To reach the survival camp within the heart of Tokonosu City they had to cross a large bridge. From a distance where they were hiding they could see a large gathering of humans, soldiers armed with weapons guarding the bridge. There were even gun torrents installed by the sides of the bridge, reinforced walls along the river under the bridge, bunkers and supply shacks filled with weapons telling others how important this bridge was and to what lengths they would go to protect it. 

One of the soldiers came over to tell Shin's group that they were certainly army who had gathered at the survival camp to protect it, yet even then Shin's group had the buses stay where they were. The civilians and soldiers couldn't understand why would they stop for a second time when there was still the threat of zombies coming after them, but through manipulation and generally established trust they listened to Team Japan's decisions for the moment. They had so far managed to avoid the majority of zombies that they should have come across with an unknown method and had quickly raced across the city as if they had a map that included the current state of the streets post apocalypse and knew where the zombies where roaming around.

Shin: "So how is it, Hikari? Is the area still masked?"

Shin asked this as he looked as Hikari to his side. Hikari had her eyes closed with a frustrated look on her face as she then opened her eyes.

Hikari: "Why do you keep asking me that? You can check for yourself with my Soul Link. We're inside the masked area of the enemy. I can't see anything more than 1000 or so meters around us. I've kept ourselves hidden with a mask, but the enemy definitely has an idea where we are. If I summon Adrasteia I should be able to force my scans through, but-"

Shin: "There's no need for that Hikari. Psyche Force isn't as easy as stamina or other kinds of energies to recover. You might be too exhaust mentally if we need you later. Anyways, it really looks like God has made it where we can barely keep a stalemate with Psyche Force... but it isn't like Psyche Force is the only method of surveillance that we can rely on. How is it going Shuai?"

Shin and the other members of his team now turned towards Shuai. Shuai along with his earth elemental Gnome were sitting on the ground in deep concentration. Like during one of the battles with Team Germany he and his elemental were scanning the area through the vibrations of the earth. It was a method Hikari could do nothing to stop as a Psyche Force user, so just what could the enemy do to counter this? It was almost certain even that they were unaware of what the two were doing to undermine their efforts to set up an ambush. Gnome then turned and gave Shuai a look who then appeared to be very happy. He patted Gnome's head with fatherly affection and finally answered Shin's question. 

Shuai: "Like we thought there are THEM hidden underground. They've constructed hundreds of underground tunnels which are filled with THEM! Gnome counts about 100,000 zombies underground between us and the bridge guarded by the JSDF... No, they even go on for miles and miles far out from the survival camp. Gnome unfortunately can't make out anything more precise like how many evolved zombies that there are and of what variety."

Aqua: "That's good enough Shuai, but damn, there sure are a lot of those freaks. I don't know how many of THEM the enemy has to spare, but this seems excessive and more so too quick to set up. Even if they can go unnoticed underground how could they move 100,000 slow zombies in the few hours since we arrived in the world?"

Shuai: "About that I don't think they are there specifically for us. Gnome also told me that there are some unfinished tunnels going under the bridge and the river below, towards the survival camp. I'm not Jin, but I've read enough military fantasy novels to figure out that this is the enemy strategy to attack the base directly without forcing their way through any of their defenses, or waste manpower."

Kisara: "Quite smart. It's certainly an classic strategy that you would find in history books around the world. It's a amazing strategy to defeat the enemy with the least amount of resistance in a unexpected surprise attack, but normally it takes a lot of time, manpower, and especially the right kind of environment, so most of the time this tactic goes unused despite its advantages, but with an undead slave labor force it's more than possible to accomplish."

Hearing this Shin entered the Third Stage to simulate Saki's thoughts. It wore him down mentally, but he felt it was a mistake to not consider what they should be doing. More so than simply entering the survival camp.

Shin: "Kisara's right. This is an amazing strategy, but unfortunately we're on the wrong side of things. Now, there's a chance that the zombies will let us safe passage. I honestly thought that this was where we would be ambushed, but I doubt the value of studying and killing our team is above these tunnels. Long as theses tunnels the zombies have constructed go unnoticed, the enemy can take out the survival camp whenever they want. There are about 100,000 or so humans inside the city who are made up of the flesh and blood that they love so much, so that's too big a meal for them to pass up. There's more than a 70% chance that long as we don't act suspicious or have Hikari continue to scan the area, the zombies will let us go for now. Then when they finally enact the plan to raid the survival camp they'll be able take the base and us whenever they please. They can stop our escape if they enact an above surface attack outside the base to lock us in. Our team can handle about a million zombies one way our another with our weapons and personal combat power, but if they have more than a million and along with the evolved zombies... we'll be wiped out even without the interference from Team Kenya! Damn... Shuai! Can you use Gnome to collapse the tunnels?"

Shuai: "...I normally wouldn't be able to, but yes. To collapse hundreds of underground tunnels would normally be far too much even if I bestowed Gnome all of my Advance Level Shaman Power, but luckily the zombies didn't do too good of a job with the construction. The tunnel were haphazardly dug out and have not been reinforced well. Gnome and I can do it if I give her all my power!"

Jin: "Hahaha! I see! Shin, your amazing to have come up with this plan before me, but... you're too lacking. If we're going to do it we're going to make a statement! Shuai, use all your power to have Gnome take out every tunnel that you can spot without exception! If we take out a few no big deal, but if we destroy all the tunnels along with the hundred thousand THEM, what will the enemy boss think? He would think it would be too dangerous to proceed with any more underground operations, or at least the large scale ones. That's just giving us free points. Shuai make it as flashy as possible and all at once. If the enemy leader is one of intelligence this will give him a shock he won't soon forget!"

Drake: "But what about keeping a low profile? If Shuai collapses all those tunnels it would definitely result in a small earthquake at the very least. No Enhancer that we're play acting like should hold that kind of power, right?"

Jin: "Oh, then let me ask you this. Drake, where is your proof that Shuai caused this earthquake? Shuai has yet to reveal to anyone outside this team what Gnome could do. I think the other passengers that he rode along with just thought that she was Shuai's little sister or an inappropriately aged girlfriend before the apocalypse."

Shuai: "She's my daughter!"

Shin: "Shut up! That's not important. What is important is that long as we hide Gnome or her full power no one would suspect that you and she caused the tunnel collapse."

Hikari: "Now you're not thinking big enough, otaku boyfriend. Isn't this a chance? If were still going along with Jin's influence plan by making a good impression while hiding our true power this is it, isn't it? I'm sure not all THEM will die when Shuai collapses the tunnels and so, where will they go to avoid being buried alive? Above ground! After a big earthquake zombies suddenly appear out of nowhere! The soldiers guarding the bridge will be shocked and before they get their act together we come in driving a bus of civilians and their comrades who survived an ambush of THEM. We disembark the bus and then volunteer to help them repel the zombies. Shuai make sure to at least... lets say ten thousand or so THEM survive the tunnel collapse. That's still 90% of the zombie's forces lost as a slap in the face for the zombie leader and 10% for us to wipe out to show off to the soldiers at the base! Haha! Even if we don't do much to support the army our reputation as heroes who will soar!

Shin considered Hikari's words and found no flaw with them even while in the Third Stage. He even found himself a little excited at such a daring plan. Like famous detectives and murder cases, famous heroes are those with the luck to get involved in big events. Heroes. That wasn't what they were going for and what they were planning to do. They planned to cause chaos to both enemy and ally alike, so they were a disgrace to heroes everywhere, but they weren't the main character. Team Japan were normal men and woman who are being made to take center stage in large conflicts like the protagonist of stories, but without the plot armor. 

Shin: "...Hikari...That's so evil. I'm falling more in love with you! Then it's decided. We'll become heroes of Tokonosu City who selflessly helped out in a time of crisis! Like Kail of "Tsuyokute New Saga" would do, if you're not lucky enough to become a hero through chance and you don't have the time to wait, orchestrate it!"

And like so, Team Japan's vile yet daring plan to gain influence began.

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Authors Note:

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Proofread by Deltoren

Well as I was writing this I got confused on the nature of masking with Psyche Force, so I thought that I would try to define it based on the original source material. A Psyche Force user can mask the area around themselves or remotely at a distance with comrades connected to with a skill like Soul Link. The mask prevents other Psyche Force users from viewing the masked area. Priority goes to the user to mask an area first. If a Psyche Force user enters a masked area of the enemy they can scan the area to some extent, but won't be able to see the individual who are masked through skills like Soul Link. I don't believe it's possible to put up a empty masked area, but I may be wrong, yet it does support the plan towards Team China used in Starship Trooper. A Psyche Force user can break through another masking if they are more powerful, but even if they can't they can locate the the area of the masking unless the enemy Psyche Force user is more powerful/has a good skill. 

The still unknown enemy is the more powerful Psyche Force user, but his skills are only mutations of Psyche Force Scan and Soul Link, and so doesn't have the skills to completely overpower Hikari like the Psyche Force user of Team South America could to another team in the original source. 

Really, this confuses the heck out of me.

Editor's note:

It is sort of like a domain in my opinion. Like if a psyche force user like Hikari is in an area or one of the people she is linked to is in that area then she can throw out some white noise sort of like a phone jammer but if a more powerful user is close enough they can rip the white noise away or see through it. Like in a wuxia novel if a someone with a more powerful domain comes along they can take over or instate their domain over the domain of the weaker person. Hope this helps.