Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth ❯ Island Standoff ( Chapter 25 )

The massive form of the Super Deluxe Transport Mark II hovered across the Pacific, sending spray out in all directions, as dolphins rode along in its wake. Everyone was recuperating from their very eventful, but extremely unsuccessful battle with Houji's forces. Considerable damage had been done to all but two of the hardsuits, Sakura's only problem was a damaged charge cannon. Suiren's suit had miraculously escaped damage, which was earning the blonde kogyaru very little praise from her fellow sisters.
Among their other misfortunes, Houji had been doing more than just fortifying the city. A ways into the fighting, the Seishi armors had mysteriously unsummoned themselves, and the other half were unable to call upon theirs. When they thought it was the least of their worries, Ryo reported that his literal firepower had no effect on Houji's latest machines, dissipating like a bubble popping the instant they made contact. Ryo could have managed to make a comeback, but without his armor, that was not the least bit possible.

These were among the problems Ayame and the liberated Kinjiro were faced with as they looked over the damaged She-Ronin armors. Yuri's main armor looked all right for the most part, her Add-On, on the other hand, looked like it had taken more punishment than it had dished out. The chest portion had been almost torn to shreds by some well placed attack, it was only the thick armor of her Hardsuit itself that had managed to slow the projectile down after it cut through the protection of the Add-On. Her Knuckle Bomber system looked like it had seen better days. Luckily, she would not have to completely rebuild it from scratch, as Sakura's had survived its ordeal. Only the charge cannon component of her gauntlet was damaged, which also provided power for her Knuckle Bomber, rendering the weapon useless, however, the Bomber components themselves were undamaged, saving Ayame some serious rebuild time as she simply moved the working system over to Yuri's powered gauntlet and reattached it, tested it, holding her breath as she did so. Luckily, it worked. Looking through Ayako's books, she had found a technical manual for the machines from G Gundam, where among the details associated with the Gundam Maxter, was a series of small verniers which helped to accelerate its special boxing gloves, increasing their punch so to speak, much like the small rocket engine on Deathsycthe Hell's beam scythe. It would be worthwhile to do the same thing to Yuri's powered gauntlet to make it stronger.

Yuri's suit had been designed as heavy assault, from the thicker armor down to the close assault weaponry. Kinjiro mentioned the weaponry of a Guyver Bio-Armor, referencing its powerful Mega Smasher cannons as well as its anti-gravity system, which was also its Pressure cannon weapon, which upon impact, repelled things away from the projectile as it tore through, not a bad thing to install on Yuri's suit. Although the Mega-Smashers would suit Suiren a little better, Yuri's lack of weapons that could also be accessed if her arms were pinned were essential. Looking at her other unpowered gauntlet, and noticing the knuckle guard, the idea popped up of adding a few railgun ports underneath it, which could be powered by the suit itself rather than need a full powered gauntlet, since Ayame would need all that self-contained power to provide energy to the Knuckle Bomber and the verniers once it was finished. Work would have to begin immediately; Yuri would not enjoy being out of action for very long. Kinjiro began removing the damaged chest armor and taking apart the other gauntlet to install the railgun ports, while Ayame moved to the next armor that needed repairing, which was Ran's. Most of the wires on her gauntlet were damaged, only one launcher was untouched, a problem that difficult to remedy as she began to disassemble the gauntlet to remove the damaged systems. She had been working on a new weapon she called a hydroplasma cannon, which fired superheated water molecules, which would be perfect for Ran. All she needed to do was install it, unfortunately, the weapon was back at her workshop, so all she could do in the meantime was take the powered gauntlet apart.

Her own armor was spared from damage by enemy forces since she was in Himeihoshi at the time, but she planned to add a rail cannon to her backpack to up her long range firepower when she was not actively using it, as well as a few other minor improvements. The cannon too, was back at her workshop, so she would have to wait until she got to it first.

Which brought her to Sakura's suit, which had redundancy systems not in the sense of fail safes, but in the sense that the other girls had identical systems on their own suits. That was half the problem, as the hodgepodge idea was totally useless once she built Kanesada for her. She had long awaited the day when she could completely overhaul her twin's suit, and the time was now. Way before the release of Drakka, Ayame had been developing a pair of advanced charge cannons exclusively for that purpose. More dedicated than the X-Bomber system Sakura's suit now carried, and more powerful than Suiren's own arm cannon, having one in either gauntlet would allow Sakura to gather energy in either or both arms and fire a series of blasts, along with being able to support a variety of modification cards that would allow for the use of other types of beam attacks other than her standard charge system, along with another experimental system, which would allow Sakura to cause pain simply from the touch of the suit. Furthermore, the new cannon system would allow Sakura to have a different beam equipped to either arm, which included the charge cannon itself. Of course, you guessed it, these components were also back at the workshop. Once they got back to the Isle of Mists, she was headed straight for her lab to get the components sent over to the Isle so that Kinjiro could get to work on installing them. Ayame, on the other hand, had some unfinished work to take care of.

Back at Houji's, the mad Gundam and mecha show obsessed Seishi was hard at work as well, but not with overhauling or inventing new weapons, but repairing what robots the Amaterasu Gumi had not trashed completely, as well as rebolstering their metallic ranks. Tenma entered during Houji's work to see how things were going.

"Our ranks are slowly but surely becoming suitable for your operations." Houji explained.
"Excellent. I just returned from talking with Lord Drakka." Tenma said.
"Master is strong enough now?" Houji asked.
"He has enough power to take control of the girl's body as she sleeps, but he is still far from being able to control Karen, Shou, and Naru for extended periods of time, he can barely control the girl's body. He was, however, able to provide some important information from his last invasion."
"Excellent!" Houji shouted. "So, what are we going to do?"
"Lord Drakka spoke of an island far off the coast of Japan, shrouded in eternal mist, to prevent evil ones such as ourselves from finding it. Drakka however, managed to hold the island for some time. It was chock full of weapons of all sorts, and also felt the presence strongly of Amaterasu's influence."
"Oooh! Interesting!" Houji exclaimed.
"Drakka was unable to give me any further info before he lost control of her body, however, Ceiphied has told me that he knows where the island is, and has been there twice. Both times, his forces were driven off by the Amaterasu Gumi. He mentioned there being a shrine to Amaterasu there as well. With Lord Drakka free, they are sure to be headed there to keep our master from taking it over again. I am sure there is something there that only they know about which has been kept from myself, Lord Drakka, and Ceiphied, which is precisely why we must go there to find out what." Tenma finished.
"Yes! Indeed! We should go there immediately!" Houji explained.
"Attempt to contact the Jeitai's Maritime Defense Force, and see if they will cooperate. The Ronins will expect us to arrive via dropships, but if we go by destroyer, we will be less conspicuous."
"As you wish sir!" Houji exclaimed.
"Good." Tenma said with an evil smirk.

Elsewhere, the SDT came crawling up the beach as Hariel came running down to meet them, atop Blackblaze. When the massive center section was far enough up the land, they detached the front APC, as the machine rotated so that it faced outward, switched to base mode, and landed in the sand as the others got out.

"Welcome back. I take it your plans didn't go as well as you thought." Hariel observed.
"Even with this giant monstrosity, we still couldn't take the city." Anubis explained.
"That and Houji's got some sort of new tech that blocks our magic." Rowen added. "Ryo couldn't score a hit on 'em."
"This is bad." Hariel answered.
"How have things been here?" Anubis asked.
"Fine, I guess." Hariel replied. "We've managed to set a few traps around the island, among other things, and hide Dark Inferno, but that's about it."
"I'll go take Kanesada and help Ran around the island. A few dozen of those remote turret things should increase our odds quite a bit." Sakura said as she deployed her bike and took off with Ran.
"Follow me, I'll take you back to our camp around the shrine." Hariel said as he motioned for the others to follow him.

It was a quick walk towards the center of the island, where some time ago a hill had been blasted away to reveal the hidden Shrine of Amaterasu. Saber Strike was standing guard as the group showed up.

"How did your assault go?" Saber Strike asked.
"Horrible, from what they told me. On the way up Anubis and Rowen said they have a bad feeling about Tenma coming here to use the gateway." Hariel explained.
"But I thought Tenma doesn't know about it, let alone the Isle?" Saber Strike asked curiously.
"True, but Ceiphied does, as does Drakka. They know there's all sorts of mystical stuff hidden here, part of why the gateway was established so we could get it off the island, plus, Ceiphied's tried twice to take the island, simply for the reason that it might provide the means to defeat us." Anubis explained.
"I know Tenma pretty well from my dealings with him, and trust me, if he finds out about this place, he'll be interested, if not for the weapons he thinks are still here, then for why we've had to fight off two attempts to capture it from Ceiphied." Kashin added.
"Rowen, Anubis, and Kashin, come with me. We need to discuss our strategy in case Tenma does decide to come take the island. The rest of you, sit tight until we come back." Hariel explained as he and the others headed off.
"I am not one to sit around here and wait for the enemy to come looking for us." Dais said. "Saber Strike, could you show me your defenses?"
"I'd be happy to, but I'm on guard duty today." Saber Strike explained. "Ah, here comes Saranbo. He should be able to help."

Saranbo touched down from a patrol operation at the shrine, where Saber Strike explained the situation to him.

"All right. Follow me." Saranbo motioned, as he and Dais disappeared into the tropical forests that surrounded the island.
"I've got work to do back at the palace. Would you guys give me a hand carrying some stuff down for me?" Ayame asked.

Sai, Sage, and Kento looked at each other. "I guess we could help out."

Turning to Yoko, who clearly had her eyes on the beach, Ayame interrupted her train of thought by suggesting that she come with them, since Amaterasu probably needed help with wards and other things to keep the palace safe.

"Do I have to?" Yoko whined.
"Yes. Come on, you can come back when Mom's done." Ayame said, as a disgruntled Yoko followed behind her.
"Don't worry, I'll come keep you company." Suiren said, following behind them.
"We'll stay here and protect the shrine." Kale and Sekhmet said, taking defensive positions.
"I'm going down to the beach to keep Kinjiro company. Any takers?" Yuri asked.
"I'll go with you. Perhaps Mr. Saber Strike can help me as well." Navcase asked.
"What seems to be the problem?" Saber Strike wondering how a swordsman like Navcase could need any help with his credentials.
"Recently I had a duel with a very powerful warrior, who fought using a daisho, one sword in each hand, which made it difficult to counter. I have been trying to build up my skills at fighting off two swords in hopes that I will triumph next time."
"I see. I'll see what I can do." Saber Strike said as he followed Yuri, Navcase, and Yuriko towards the beach.

The clashing of sword against sword filled the air as Navcase began to spar with Saber Strike, as Yuriko looked on, while Yuri kicked off her shoes and laid down in the soft sand, folding her hands behind her head as she began to doze off. Soon, the sound of Kanesada was heard as Sakura and Ran returned from their mission, reporting that the island was well protected from all sides. Kanesada was stowed, as Sakura too, began helping Saber Strike with Navcase, taking turns when the other one got tired. Ran took a spot next to Yuriko and watched the training program as Yuri snored over in the corner, apparently still exhausted after their ordeal. A short time later, Kento, Sage and Sai came trudging down from the shrine with various components, which they began loading in with Kinjiro before going back up for more. At the end of their exhausting labor, they also joined the others on the beach.

"Where's Ayame? I'm sure she wouldn't give this up." Sakura asked.
"She said she had some work to do back at the Palace." Sage said.
"I don't know what's gotten into her lately." Sakura replied.

Indeed, Ayame was very busy. With the new parts and weapons for the Hardsuits down on the Isle, and her new rail cannon installed, it was now time to finish work on her other big project; the final component for the SDT. She had not had time to unveil it when there was a chance that Tenma might unleash Drakka, so she put it on hold until she could get some time to work on it and her other three unfinished orders of business, well, two, considering one had managed to "run off." soon after she finished it, and had no clue where it ran off too. Still, with the firepower Tenma was packing, along with the Draconai, her sisters would need some more serious firepower, and soon.

Ayame had only begun to tinker away at her other creations when there was a banging on the door to her workshop. She quickly headed over to the door and opened it just a crack to find Suiren.

"How's everything going in there?" Suiren asked.
"Oh, just fine. Still have a long way to go though." Ayame explained.
"Can I see?" Suiren asked.
"Uh, No! Because, it's a mess! Yeah, a mess in here!" Ayame replied, firing off the first excuse she could think up.
"But it's a workshop, it's supposed to be messy." Suiren reminded her.
"Of course. But I have loads to finish up in here, don't worry about me, I'll come out eventually."
"Last time you basically locked yourself in there, the SDT came out. Not even a little peek?" Suiren asked.
"No! It's very top secret! You'll see it when it's done, okay?" Ayame snapped.
"All right." Suiren said. "Maybe later."
"Look, I'm sorry I snapped. If I give you this, will you let me get back to work?" Ayame asked.
"Maybe." Suiren pondered. "What is it?" she asked.
"It's a modification card for your Hardsuit. It'll give you an alternate fire for your charge cannon." Ayame said.
"Uh, thanks." Suiren said, hoping Ayame would give her more than just a little weapon card. "What was all that stuff the boys were lugging down?" Suiren asked.
"Parts for the damaged Hardsuits. New weapons, things like that." Ayame explained.
"Oh."
"SUIREN!!!!! Your mom's done with all her wards and junk! CAN WE GO DOWN TO THE BEACH NOW?!!!!!" Yoko whined and shouted.
"Gotta go. See you later." Suiren said, taking the card and heading off with an overeager Yoko.

Ayame shut the door behind her and locked it to keep out any other interruptions. She had lost precious time already, been held back with Drakka on the loose, and with Houji's mechanized army soon to be breathing down their collective necks, her latest brainstorms would have to be finished soon. Ayame's work would be ten thousand times harder, if it was not for her veritable arsenal of robotic assembly machines, capable of assembling things to Ayame's exact specifications. She needed them for her latest project, as the canvas she was working with this time was somewhat big. So big, that she was forced to send away for one of the nastiest weapons known to mechanized kind; a particle projection cannon, a weapon capable of firing a high energy ion or proton bolt that caused damage through impact and temperature. This weapon was one of the most effective long range ass-kickers out there, and she knew just the person who would want it.

Back at the Isle, things were going pretty well for the good guys. Most of the group was enjoying a well-deserved break from the fighting while others trained, and Kinjiro had already set to work installing this and that on the She-Ronin Hardsuits.

Across the ocean, Houji was desperately attempting to meet Tenma's demands. No amount of persuasion seemed to be getting through to the Maritime Defense Force; The Seishi would have better luck raising the Yamato than trying to negotiate with the MDF to let them "borrow" a few boats to attack the Isle with. Tenma came into the room again as Houji was cut off on the phone for what seemed like the twentieth time.

"We're not getting anywhere negotiating with them!" Houji declared. "They say you're a known criminal and now a terrorist, so they won't help you. We might as well raise the Yamato! It's been done before!" Houji added.
"We really need to teach you the difference between fantasy and reality Houji. Now, let's gather the rest of Drakka's mystical warriors, contact the Draconai, board the dropships, and have all of those Gundam-inspired mobile dolls of yours on standby so we can go out and attack that stronghold of magical armament." Tenma ordered.
"Oh yes sir!" Houji shouted.

A few minutes later, the Seishi aside from Karen, Shou, and Naru were gathered in the conference room to discuss their battle strategy.

"All right everyone. According to our allies the Draconai, somewhere off the coast is a medium-sized island shrouded in a thick mystical fog, which they have supposedly attempted a raid on twice, only to be held off both times by those Ronins and later the Seishi. This has led me to ask myself the following questions: Firstly, are the heroes simply protecting the storehouse of weaponry confirmed to be stored there, or Secondly, are they guarding something more than just mystical treasures for us to pillage and pilfer? I am guessing the latter. Someone please explain this to Teisei."
"Explain what?" Teisei inquired, right on cue.
"Now, I have attempted to acquire some more discreet transportation to the island through the Maritime Defense Force, but they refuse to cooperate with us." Tenma explained.
"Couldn't we just find one of their ships, slag everyone on board and take it over?" Teisei asked.
"No. Therefore, we'll have to resort to the original plan of using Otoantou's dropships to reach the Isle. We'll proceed southward towards Iwo Jima to rendezvous with the Draconai before we head out to sea, following Ceiphied towards the island, since he knows where it is."
"Doing so also will allow Ceiphied's forces to take the brunt of the enemy's counterattacks leaving us mostly unscathed." Kazuhiko observed.
"Of course! Master Tenma's gonna let those draconai bastards get their wings blasted to kingdom come while we come out smelling like plum blossoms!" Teisei added.
"Not the best way to promote an alliance." Kazuhiko added, showing disgust in Tenma's plans to use the Draconai as a shield.
"Ceiphied's a self-absorbed fool with enough anger management issues to fill several small auditoriums and keep therapists employed for years. His eagerness to destroy Amaterasu and take down Drakka, coupled with his rage, will send them flying into the fray like..."
"A pack of angry boar gods!" Houji finished. Tenma sighed before continuing.

"As Ceiphied keeps their forces busy as his...angry boar gods..." Tenma said deliberately, bringing a content smile across Houji's face "charge blindly into combat clouded by their own rage, we will come around from the opposite side of the island, attacking from the east, hopefully unscathed, and undefeated."
"Like Toho Fuhai!" Houji chimed in again.
"Yes, like him..." Tenma added, a tad irritated by Houji's anime-inspired interruptions. "Now, Mr. Yagyu has expressed a lack of faith in our operation, so it will be his job to stay behind and protect our interests here in Toyama, while the rest of us go to stage our attack. Houji, Teisei, go get ready, I will be with you shortly."

Houji and Teisei gleefully headed off to prepare for battle as Kazuhiko confronted Tenma.

"When you said it was going to be my job to protect our interests here in Toyama, did you mean this facility, or perchance, the three young people you are holding against their will?" Kazuhiko asked.
"Of course, I meant the facility and city in general." Tenma explained hesitantly.
"I thought so. I'll leave you to your mission now." Kazuhiko replied, heading off.

This was bad. Kazuhiko could see right through his scheme. Drakka only knew how far he had managed to decipher of his scheme, but knowing about what he possibly had planned for Karen, Naru, and Shou unnerved him. Something had to be done about Kazuhiko, Tenma thought. For all he knew, they could return from their mission and the four of them could be long gone. Houji and Teisei were easy to keep in line, give one resources and the other bodies and they were happy as clams. Allowing Yasuhara and Nagaihidaka to handle the more legitimate end of the operations kept them from turning on him. But Kazuhiko was a dangerous problem. No amount of Drakka-enhanced sweet talking was working on the samurai with a minor in ninjitsu. The only thing keeping Kashin from storming into the facility guns blazing, fingers shining and metal shaking apart was Karen's well being. There had to be a kink in Kazuhiko's armor somewhere. Someone, or something that if it was put in danger, would bring about unquestionable loyalty, perhaps even make him forget about his stupid personal mission of defeating the Sword of Heaven. But the problem at hand was the upcoming assault, so Tenma headed off to see if Houji was done with the final preparations before liftoff.

A short time later, several of Otoantou's dropships lifted off from his main facility, and set a course for Iwo Jima to pick up their scaled escorts. Stored within each ship were hundreds of GINN and Aegis units, set to be unleashed upon the beaches of the Isle of Mists. Inside one were Houji and Teisei, ready to begin their own assault as the lead ship touched down on the Isle to take on Rakurai's Blitz-clad warriors as well as Ceiphied and Kouen's own Praetorian Guard. The rest of the clans spread their wings and soared into the sky, as they eagerly led the way towards the Isle. Atop the lead ship stood Tenma, looking out towards the sea clad in his Armor of Burning Apocalypse, as Ceiphied joined him clad in his own Armor of Ryuujin.

"There." Ceiphied answered, pointing his armored hand out towards a large cloud of fog in the distance. "Behind that fog, lies our target."

"Hariel! Rowen! Anubis!" Ryo shouted as he descended from the sky to interrupt their meeting. "They're here! They're here!" Ryo shouted.
"Tenma?" Hariel asked. "He's here already?"
"Yeah. Mia picked them up some ways out to sea. We've got to keep them from getting here!" Ryo shouted.
"Anubis. You and Rowen get down to the beach immediately and warn the others, and tell Mia to get that cannon of yours ready to fire. I'll go get Dark Inferno." Hariel said, running off.

Anubis took to the air as Rowen transformed his armor and followed alongside, racing along the treetops until they finally reached the beach, where most of the fighters were relaxing.

"We've got to get ready. Tenma and Ceiphied have arrived." Anubis reported.
"I say we fire that thing and send them packing." Kento said, pointing to the SDT's large cannon.
"Worth a try. Mia! Warm that thing up and aim it at them!" Anubis called.

As everyone armored up for the main assault, Mia managed to warm up the main gun and proceeded to target one of the enemy dropships and fired. As the painting round approached, Tenma began to chant something as the sky around them darkened and the Gauss round slammed into a wall of magical energy.

"Now Ceiphied! We don't know how long we have until that thing can fire again!" Tenma shouted.

Ceiphied drew his sword and held it in the air, pointing the tip towards the Isle, as Gekidoku's clan was the first to fly forward towards the island, as one of the warriors was hit by a Gauss projectile, causing the others to scatter away as the actual shot came flying out towards the painted warrior, vaporizing a few dozen clan members that were unable to get out of the way in time. For the next thirty seconds, the dragons raced towards the island, only to have their numbers reduced once again as the next shot vaporized another group of them.

"Fall Back you fools!" Ceiphied bellowed. "Tenma, this is becoming costly. We must try something else."
*"Houji, dispatch some of your GINN units towards the island. They're expendable." Tenma radioed.
*"At once sir!" Houji shouted with glee, as droves of GINN units flew out of the hovering dropships, surging towards the island at high speed. Mia managed to tag one, and the next blast took out a nice group of them as the others dodged. Another group was targeted and vaporized, as the units flew closer to the island.

"Good Mia! Hit them again!" Anubis shouted.
"I can't! The cannon's gone off-line! I can't power it up again for another two minutes!"
"Looks like they're closing fast Anubis." Rowen said.
"We have to hope that the turrets we set up will be able to hold all of them off until the cannon is ready to fire again." Anubis said.

As the GINN units flew closer to the island, the auto-turrets came to life and began retaliating with their energy bolts with incredible efficiency, targeting the droves and shooting many of them down. However, their ammo was depleted quickly and switched over to missile mode until those were depleted as well and then vanished, allowing the machines to fly closer and closer.

"This is bad. They're almost within the minimum effective range of the cannon." Kashin muttered.
"Can you try and rip them apart?" Anubis asked.
"I'll try." Kashin said, as he began to concentrate.

A low metallic hum was heard faintly, which increasingly got louder as Kashin began to focus his powers more and more. A purple aura began to form around him as the kanji on his forehead glowed brightly and energy surged around the GINN units, as many of them began to implode inward on themselves and exploding. A domino effect began as more and more of the robots began to be destroyed by Kashin's magnetic personality. But still more were unaffected, even with Kashin in his armor. He focused out to sea, where he was sure Tenma was smiling gleefully as his archnemesis struggled to destroy all his metal invaders.

"I will not let you win Tenma..." Kashin declared, panting as he struggled to keep up his devastation, as he pictured Tenma laughing at his misfortune, holding Karen against his will. If he failed now, the island would most surely be taken. "I WILL NOT LET YOU WIN!!!!!!!" Kashin roared, as his emotions triggered his transformation into Super Mode. The thrusters on his legs opened up, as the hidden vents under his shoulder guards were revealed as well, and the arm thrusters were revealed as well, as his faceplate opened up and the fins on the sides and back of his helmet opened up, as he brought his arms together and swung them outward, unleashing a ring of energy that flashed outward across the ocean, causing the GINN units to shut down and crash harmlessly into the water, before dissipating near Tenma's assembled group. Exhausted, Kashin's armor closed up again and he fell to the ground in a heap.

"Amazing. An Electromagnetic Pulse." Rowen observed.
"Oh no! The Transport!" Anubis exclaimed, frantically looking over.
"Don't worry guys! Since Kashin caused it, it didn't affect any of us!" Mia shouted.
"However, many of those units are still out at sea." Anubis pointed out. "They weren't affected. We're going to have to take the fight to them now."

Anubis brought out his scythe, as the Ronins assembled put their armors back on and brandished their weapons.

"I'll stay here on the beach and lay down some cover fire." Sai said. "My Missiles have good range."
"All right Sai, but don't think we're saving any for you." Kento laughed. "Let's go guys!" he said, bringing out his double bladed staff and rocketing forward, as Sage followed him with his sword drawn, Anubis without his armor flying alongside them.

"Gekidoku! Gentassai! ATTACK!!!!" Ceiphied roared as the two groups of dragons headed forward towards the advancing Ronins and Seishi, as Houji sent forward a group of GINNs and DINNs to help out.

"Here they come." Kento said, giving himself all the speed he could get as he flew forward, driving his staff into mech after mech, causing them to spark with energy and explode as he punctured their chests and sent them splashing into the sea. Sage was causing the same to others, as he sliced them in two with his sword. Anubis zigzagged from Draconai to Draconai, whacking them with his charged scythe as they glowed with energy before vanishing.

From the beach, the girls watched, knowing full well that they would be unable to fight back until Kinjiro was finished with their repairs. Ran wished she still had hers on, after donning it briefly to lay down the turrets, she had to give it back to Kinjiro so that he could work on it some more. Suddenly, the door to the transport opened, revealing Kinjiro!

"Girls! I'm sure you're eager to get in there and help your boyfriends! I'm all done!" he proclaimed.

The poor engineer was practically bowled over by the group of girls as they stormed the transport like Suiren at the announcement of a big sale at the mall. Minutes later, Yuri and Ran clambered out in their slightly improved hardsuits, wondering what to make of them. Suiren had already gotten hers on and raced out to sea to help Sage.

"What the hell is this thing?" Yuri wondered, inspecting the strange gadget on her right gauntlet.
"It's a railgun system. It runs off the suit's power. I also added small verniers to your Knuckle Bomber to enhance your punching power, as well as a few new weapons on your chest. The small orb near your waist will allow you to fly without needing your built-in flight pack anymore, and also doubles as a weapon, but be careful of the two raised panels on your Add-On, they've got lots of power under them. Finally, the two big vernier thrusters on the back of your Add-On will keep you from flying back if you use the dober gun in the air."
"I like it! Look out you metal bastards, I owe you a few dozen!" Yuri said, attaching her dober gun in between the verniers on her back and rocketing out to sea.

Inspecting her left gauntlet, Ran also noticed a great deal of changes. The first and foremost being the new cannon mounted there.

"That's a hydroplasma cannon. It fires superheated water molecules. It's one of Ayame's newest inventions." Kinjiro explained.
"Cool! I can't wait to try it out!" Ran said, almost ready to charge into battle, but Sai stopped her.
"Someone's got to stay here in case the others can't stop them." Sai explained.
"Right." Ran said, as her excitement faded.
"That's not going to be much of a problem, I think." Sakura's voice said.

Ran and Sai gasped in shock as Sakura came out of the SDT. Gone from her arms were the Knuckle Bomber and the cables; there was now only a charge cannon on either arm. Shoulder guards like Ryo's old Wildfire Armor graced her shoulders, and two small hilts peeked up from behind her right shoulder in a similar fashion.

"Ran, go find the others and tell them to get ready. I'll go out and help the others try and hold things off." Sakura said, engaging her backpack and flying out there as well.

"We can't keep this up for long!" Kento said, as he took out a few more of the enemy mechs.
"Yeah! Their numbers seem to be endless!" Sage added.
"Boys. You all give up too easily." Suiren said as she came onto the scene, slashing through a few enemy mechs with her sword.
"Suiren!" Sage exclaimed. "Am I glad to see you!"
"Sorry, can't talk right now, Sage dear, duck, er, just move!" Suiren exclaimed, pushing the blonde out of the way and sending a few dozen shuriken flying past him, taking out a few more GINN and DINN units.
"Thanks!" Sage shouted gratefully.
"Anything for my man. Now, excuse me, I have to flirt with a few of these nice machines." Suiren said, blowing him a kiss and flying off to slash through a few of them, barely dodging a sword attack from one of them before flying back to Sage's side.
"That's funny, I always succeed when I flirt." Suiren said as a group of them closed in on her and Sage. "Maybe they'd prefer my pink kiss of death!" she shouted as her left gauntlet locked into firing position and her armor began glowing green, then yellow, and finally pink, as she fired off a stream of pink energy fireballs that vaporized their attackers. But more kept coming.
"Oh great. Maybe this thing Ayame gave me to make me leave her alone will make them leave us alone." Suiren thought as she inserted the data card into her gauntlet through a small slot, as it began reading the data from it, but not fast enough to fend off their latest attackers. Fortunately, a series of metal spikes were sent flying through them, destroying them instantly. The two looked over to see Yuri streaking towards them, looking mad as a hornet.
"Hope you bastards liked my Crown of Thorns. Now let's see what you think of my new Knuckle Bomber!" Yuri said as she charged up, which opened up small ports all over the gauntlet which helped Yuri propel it forward into one of them, driving her fist right through its chest, causing it to explode after she pulled it out.

"It's one of Amaterasu's children! GET HER!!!" Gekidoku ordered his clan.
"Oh it's you guys again!" Yuri shouted, as she attached her dober gun to the Knuckle Bomber system and leveling it at the incoming Draconai. "Let's see how you like this!" she shouted, as a loud report was heard, complete with a recoil that would have sent Yuri flying if not for her verniers, that caused several Draconai to have holes through their stomachs as the shell flew through them. She impaled several more with her Crown of Thorns before sending a set of S-Mines flying at others, causing them to explode in a series of tornadoes. She zipped over to where Kento and the others were hovering as she sent a few more shells from her dober gun slamming into the enemy ranks, as Kento fired a few shots from his two cannons, helping to take down a few more enemy units.

"We better fan out and try and pick them off." Anubis said, as the group did just that and flew back into action. Kento did what he could to take down several of the enemy mechs, as Sage dodged their swords and attempted to run them through with his. Yuri stayed back and did her best to pick them off with her dober gun and other long range weapons systems, as Suiren darted like a metallic dragonfly, picking them off with shots from her charge cannon. Every now and then a salvo of missiles courtesy of Sai would come their way and take out a group of them, aiding in his friends' attempts. Before long the dragons had given up for the moment and fell back, but only to have Rakurai's clan and their Blitz Armors advance along with the Aegis units.

"Great. More trouble." Yuri said as the group gathered back together to reassess the situation.

Suddenly, a few loud reports were heard as ion blasts took down a few of the enemy units! The group looked behind them to find the APC from the SDT making its way towards them across the waves. With Sai manning one of the lasers from the ion turret and Ran firing from the other accessible laser, and the turrets on the sides firing continuously, the group finally had more of a chance in the fight as the side doors opened and the exhausted group flew back inside to recuperate as they were greeted by Rowen, Ryo, and Ayako.

"Sorry I'm late guys. The APC gave me a little trouble. Hariel's still working on getting Dark Inferno ready for action, but he's waiting until the Draconai bring out their own trump card. Kale and the other Warlords are back at the Shrine in case they try something really funny. I think it's time to tag off, don't you?" Rowen said to them as Ayako stepped out of the co-pilot's seat and walked to the back. Sage shed his armor and took her place while Kento took a load off inside.

"I think it's time for us to do our thing, eh Anubis?" Ryo asked. "Look what I brought." he continued, bringing out the Swords of Light. "Hariel's letting Saber Strike use his swords while he preps Dark Inferno. So, what do you say?"
"I've been waiting the whole time." Anubis said, as the two looked at each other.

"ARMOR OF WHITE REFLECTION!!!!!!" Ryo shouted, as his own MT ring came down and suited him up, prepping his body for the angelic form of his armor. Anubis called out the name of his armor as it appeared on him, as his scythe powered up into its beam form.
"I'm going too." Ayako said, as her ring began to glow. In a matter of minutes, she had transformed into Temia.
"Let's go." Temia answered.

The side doors opened again as the three fighters flew out as Rowen laid down some cover fire from the personnel carrier as the three went to work. Anubis slashed through the competition, using his wings to shield him against their attacks, as Ryo did the same, letting many of them have it with his machinecannons and the Twin Buster Rifle's beam rifle mode, sending short blasts into the enemy. Temia raced from enemy to enemy, impaling them with her blades, before flying back and attempting her energy wave on the mechs, only for it to fail.

"It won't work on them Temia, they're shielded against magic attacks." Ryo explained.
"Like crustaceans, we will first have to crack the hard shells to get at the tender meat inside!" Anubis said, as he flew forward, slashing away at the Blitz armors, dodging the spikes they sent flying at him as he cut a minor swath through them, but failing to get too deep.

"It's not working!" Anubis exclaimed.

The Aegis units transformed to cannon mode and fired at the three of them, forcing Anubis and Ryo to use their wings to shield Temia. When the onslaught was over, they still had the Blitz units to deal with.

"Take them down, my clan." Rakurai declared.

Four units flew towards the trio, extending their anchors to latch onto them to pull them back towards them, as a blast flew into the chains, destroying them! Before they could react, another shot went off, blasting a hole in the chest armor of one of them. Another two shots were fired, also blasting holes into the chest armor, as Sakura streaked on the scene.

"Okay guys! Aim carefully!" she called.

The three looked at each other and carefully began gathering energy and aiming dead center at the warriors.

"LUMINANCE FROM THE HEAVENS!!!!!"
"DARKNESS FROM THE DEPTHS!!!!"

Temia fired off her own blast as well, and the three attacks slammed right where Sakura had blasted a clear shot, destroying the armors and the Draconai within them.

"I've got dibs on the last one." Sakura said, as she streaked towards the final enemy, reaching over her shoulder to grasp the handles. As she neared, she slashed cleanly with a pair of beam katana, which sliced the warrior in an x shape, as she put the weapons away as the four landed on top of the APC again.

"Great, there's still more of them." Ryo said as he fired back with his machinecannons.
"Don't worry, there's more." Sakura said as she rocketed back into the air.

As she hovered, she began gathering energy in her two charge cannons. In a special HUD, she quickly switched the right one to 'plasma'. Aiming the left cannon at her attackers, she fired off four charged shots that tore through the approaching foes, followed up by a slash from one of her beam katana, but the worst was yet to come. She fired her other charge cannon, but instead of the beams of death flying out, a long plume of plasma flame squirted out as she waved it from right to left, cutting through some of the enemy bit by bit before shutting it down. She then soared above them, cutting off her thrusters and curling into a ball, dropping straight down at them as she spun. Try as they might to shoot her, the shots bounced off and many ricocheted back and hit them, as she slammed down on one, tearing through from above as she spun, uncurling under another and jumping in midair with her jump jets, curling back into a ball and spinning upward, repeating the process until several of her attackers were scrap metal.

"Well, that was fun." She said to herself, as she jerked her head to cut through a few more with her head whips. "But now it's time to get serious. KANESADA!!!!!" she shouted, as the Slave Bay opened up its side ramp and the bike came speeding out, transforming into robot mode and flying the rest of the way as Sakura climbed inside, linking up, as Rowen launched the Type A armor, which also hooked up, helping to keep her aloft better. She wasted no time sending a few salvos of mini-missiles streaking towards the enemy units, as well as shots from her two mortar cannons. The others came out of the APC as well and joined in the fight as more mechs were launched, and destroyed.

*"Tenma! We're running out of mobile dolls! We're doomed!" Houji shouted frantically.
"Now! Gentassai, have your clan transform!" Ceiphied ordered.

"Uh oh." Rowen said.

Tenma opened the wings on the back of his armor.

"This hand of mine glows Burning Red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory!"
"There he goes again." Anubis said.
"The School of the Undefeated of the East!"
"Oh no!" Ayako exclaimed in place of Temia's voice. "Everyone! Get out of the way!"

Rowen took her advice and proceeded to turn the machine as fast as he could to get out of Tenma's firing range, as the others waited patiently for him to fire.

"SEKIHA...TENKYOUKEN!!!!!"

An instant before he launched his attack, Sakura fired a shell from her shoulder mounted Sonic Fletchette cannon, damaging the focusing point and furthermore knocking him over with the sonic attack. The others were forced to dodge as Ceiphied attacked with his emerald lasers.

"We've got to fall back before they finish transforming!" Rowen said as he floored it back towards the island, with the others in hot pursuit.

"They're falling back. Houji, do we still have enough left for a decent assault of the island?" Tenma asked.
"Barely. They've done quite a number on all the mechs I built for the occasion." Houji said as he assessed the damage.
"Mechs shmecs. You've still got me, right?" Teisei said, standing up. "Put me in coach, I'll take them to school, starting with a little TIME OUT!!!!" Teisei shouted, as everything on the Amaterasu side was frozen in place.
"Impressive." Ceiphied said, as the members of Gentassai's clan emerged from their transformations into full Nether Dragons.

"Now everyone! FORWARD!!!!!" Ceiphied commanded, as the forces began to approach the Isle of Mists, as Teisei prepared to undo his time freeze.

Next Episode

AYAME: Hey everyone! Wait, don't gang up on me yet, we've still got a chance to win!

YURIKO: That is because the writer completely forgot that Shinta-chan and I haven't fought yet!

AYAME: Well, that too. There's more surprises in store as the enemy forces almost reach dry land! Can our heroes manage to drive them off completely? It's next time on Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth; Island Assault. Don't miss it!