Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth ❯ Here Comes the Sun Goddess ( Chapter 28 )

"Kinjiro! I have a message for you and others."

"What are you doing on the wall? Wouldn't the radio be easier?" Kinjiro asked.
"Houji will probably jam us at his first opportunity, so this was the best we could do on short notice. Listen, we're going to call on Amaterasu."
"But HOW? With Houji basically controlling the whole entire city? As soon as he gets wind of it you're all screwed!"
"We've got no other choice. Get that giant floating behemoth here as fast as you can. We've got to hurry." Anubis replied as the wall returned to normal.
"All right Ayame, we're set. Let's get this thing over with before Houji tries anything."

Ayame put the ship into gear, and flew towards the outskirts of town, towards each of the seven pillars which the Amaterasu, like the Drakka Seishi, would have to stand atop for the ritual to work. One by one, the group disembarked from the ship, stepped on the pillar, and descended into it.

"This is really weird. There's nothing stopping us so far." Ayame said as Yoko stepped out to her pillar.
"Maybe Houji's taking a page from the Gundam SEED Book of Security." Ayako suggested.
"Maybe so, but it won't be long before Drakka begins to notice." Ayame said as she reached the next pillar and Yuriko climbed out.

The flying continued as the group reached the next pillar as Ayako got off with little trouble. Finally, Kashin was put into place, as Ayako turned around and headed back to the whole setup, as she set down the ship ad let Makoto out.

He carefully began reciting the incantation, as the sky began to clear up dramatically. His body began to glow with the kanji of all seven Seishi.

"The Four Palaces of the Heavens. The Four Corners of the Earth. In the name of Sacred Law, Faith, and virtue, I summon thee, Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun." Makoto began.

"TENMA!!!!" Drakka roared, still speaking through Midori.
"Yes, your eminence."
"I can feel the energies of good gathering in the city."
"The Amaterasu Seishi must be here! Call off the second strike and withdraw! We must stop them or all we have worked to undo will be lost!" Tenma ordered as mech after mech turned around and headed back for Toyama.

"Your Eminence, the enemy forces seem to be withdrawing." a soldier reported.
"Anubis must be trying to divert their attention and relocate us. We must hope they succeed in finishing the ritual before they can be attacked."

"I beseech you to appear on Earth, from your Palace of the Heavens. For the sake of those here who adore you, and who await your presence."

"Okay, it might break down a wall or two, but isn't this the same incantation that calls upon the Shi Jin?" Ayako asked.
"Yes. The author can't write decent summoning spells so he transcribed the one off his boxed set cover." Anubis explained.

"Come to us! And with your mighty power, destroy all that is evil which threatens us. Save us and grant us our wishes." Makoto continued, as the energies continued to grow.

"Descend to us from the Heavens above!" Makoto finished, as a great beam of light shot down from the sun as the other Seishi were gathered around him. The beam slowly began to materialize, until it took the form of an ornately adorned woman, carrying a sheathed sword, wearing the Jewel of Life, and carrying a Mirror.

"Are you the Priest that summoned Me?" Amaterasu asked the boy.
"OH yes! I am the one!" Makoto explained.

Amaterasu removed the Jewel of Life and placed it around his neck, before charging it with her energy, and then vanished.

"This will give you the ability to call on my supreme powers up to three times." Amaterasu's voice whispered in his head, before the next sound he heard was that of cannon fire.

"Looks like Tenma decided to crash our party." Kashin observed.

A group of Aegis types had been dispatched to the scene and were firing their beam rifles at the group, as they dodged for cover.

"Everyone, get in!" Ayame shouted, as the group scrambled to their seats as the turrets began to return fire on their adversaries long enough for everyone to get strapped in and take off.

"We've only got one chance to loose them, and that's going up!" Ayame declared as she pointed the ship skyward and soared upward as the mechs switched to mobile armor mode and raced up after her, as the group shot back the best they could.

"These blasted things better have a maximum altitude, or we're all gonna die!" Kashin shouted.
"You're the Lord of Magnetism, aren't you? WELL DO SOMETHING MAGNETIC!!!!!" Ryo shouted at Kashin.

Opening the cargo hatch, Kashin, firmly fastening himself in with a portion of his powers, unleashed the rest of his magnetic personality on their pursuers, as he loosened bolts on their thrusters or made them crash into each other and explode or simply fall out of the sky. Some tried to use their main guns, but he simply bent their claws over the cannon and plugged them up. The remaining either backed off or Ayame shot them down.

"There." Kashin said as he came back inside.
"Ohhh..." Naru moaned.
"I think she's finally coming to." Ayako said. "Naru, it's me, Ayako." she replied.
"Ayako...what are you doing here?" Naru asked as she started to open her eyes. "The last thing I remember was being at Houji's and falling asleep out of boredom..."
"You were in Otoantou? Tell me the layout!" Kashin asked.
"Kashin, please, the girl just woke up. And I'm sure she doesn't know what you want to know."
"Where am I?" Naru asked.
"You're on board the Sun Empress, our personal ship. I'm Ayame. These are the Amaterasu Seishi: Ryo, the redhaired guy is Anubis, that's Navcase, Yoko, Navcase's fiancée, Yuriko, and the grump guy is Kashin."
"I think I've seen you before, you rescued me from that mechanized lunatic. But Ayako, you weren't there, you'd just left."
"I was the spiky thing. It's the being that lives in this ring. Family heirloom." Ayako explained. "Er...I know you're one of the Drakka Seishi, I sorta figured it out, well Temia helped."
"Who's Temia?" Naru asked.
"The spiky thing."
"Okay, but how did I get here? I had this weird dream about fighting Sun Shang Xiang in Virtual ON and then next thing I know, I'm here."
"Well, Drakka's not the nicest being in the universe. Turns out, he's one of the worst. He took over your mind and sent you after all of us. Temia was able to break you free by summoning Yuuji to help her."
"Yeah, he was there too."
"Did I do anything really bad while I was under his control?" Naru asked.
"Not really, he handles most of his evil stuff on his own mostly, that and Houji."
"Oh yeah, the Gundam guy. He's weird. Him and Karen's dad." Naru said.
"Karen? Did you say Karen?" Kashin asked. "WHERE IS SHE?" he demanded.
"Kashin, please, stop harassing her. She's not going to have most of the answers you seek." Anubis reminded him.
"Why is he so upset?" Naru asked.
"He's her real father. Tenma sort of kidnapped her and tricked her into thinking otherwise. He's a very persuasive man, if you didn't already get that from him."
"Does she know?" Naru asked, shocked at the information.
"No, unfortunately. It's going to be quite a shocker when she does." Anubis stated.
"We should really get out of here." Ayame said. "Houji's probably on his way back from the other attack because they know we're here."
"Can I come too?" Naru asked.
"It would probably be a good idea, but we've got to find a way out of the city without Houji blasting us into oblivion first." Ayame explained.
"Wait! We've got to go get my stuff first. I've had enough of this stupid city." Naru said.
"It's probably too dangerous. We fly over to Otoantou we get our asses blasted into oblivion." Kashin explained.
"Actually, there might be another way." Makoto said. "A portal spell. We open it into her room, extract everything, and then close it when we're done."
"Yeah, but once Drakka or Tenma notice they'll try and close it."
"Still, it is our best option for fulfilling Miss Naru's wishes." Navcase explained.
"Okay, let's do it." Ayame said.

Following Makoto's instructions, a gateway was soon opened, as Naru and the others stepped into her cell of a room inside Otoantou.

"Okay, we don't have much time to loose." Naru said. "Ayame said it won't take long for the portal to get noticed."

The group of seven wasted no time getting to work on their massive moving mission, as all sorts of gaming software was quickly relocated into through the portal and back into the waiting ship. The systems stayed, as Naru explained they were in the room when she got there, and then promptly disappeared for a while as Houji began to conquer a variety of mech games for the XBox. Next on the list was grabbing Naru's clothing and other necessity of tweendom, which Ayako, Yoko, and Yuriko handled while the guys grabbed everything else they could and tossed it into the ship.

"TENMA!!!!" came Drakka's voice again.
"Yes, I feel it too master. Somehow they have managed to elude my defenses and have entered the base. No matter. They'll never get out after I do this!"

Back in Naru's room, the group began to notice that the portal was slowly closing up.

"Good, we just got the last of it on the ship." Ryo said.
"Let's go!" Anubis said, as Yoko, Makoto, Yuriko, and everyone else rushed through the portal and back to the ship, where Ayame was waiting for them. Navcase, Naru, and Anubis were the only ones left behind.

"Damn. We missed our ticket out." Anubis cursed.
"There has to be another way out." Navcase reasoned.
"Yeah, the front entrance, which will be guarded by Drakka only knows how many troops, armor and mecha there to blast us to kingdom come." Anubis reminded him.
"We'll get out, don't worry!" Naru said, trying to reassure him. I can access the elevator!"
"You can?" Anubis asked.
"Of course I can, how do you think I get down here?" Naru said, smiling a little.
"Okay, let's hurry." Anubis said.

Naru opened the door, as Anubis peeked around the corner to see if anyone was coming. He motioned to the others, as they followed him out the door and down the hall, only to have one of the doors open at the most inopportune times, as Kazuhiko stepped out. Navcase went for his sword just as Kazuhiko did, as the two groups stared each other down.

"Sword of Heaven! What are you doing here? And what are you doing with Miss Naru?" he demanded to know.
"Getting her out of here. Now, if you'll stand aside." Anubis said.
"Our duel will have to wait. For the time being, Sword of Heaven, I will help you get Miss Naru out of this God awful place." Kazuhiko said.

He headed off for a stairwell, which confused Naru, as she had her keycard and yet Kazuhiko wanted to use the stairs.

"The easiest path is often the most dangerous. Tenma will be expecting us if we take the elevator. Follow me."

Kazu pushed the button for the elevator, and reached around to send it to the floor they were aiming for, as they hurried up the stairwell, as they discovered, sure enough, guards posted at the elevator door. Tossing a shuriken to distract them, he and the others quickly took the guards out and dragged them into a nearby closet as their radios went off.

"Group W, come in please."

Kazuhiko picked up the walkie-talkie.

"This is Kazuhiko. I found these guards knocked out by the intruders. They're probably going to escape through the back doors."
"Good thinking! We'll do what we can."
"That will buy us some time and they'll put all the security on the wrong entrance. This way." Kazuhiko said, as they headed off again.

The group encountered more guards on their way to the main entrance, which were subdued quite effectively by the group, trying to avoid casualties.

Navcase was surprised at how effectively Kazuhiko was at the art of sneaking around. He would quickly distract his adversaries, long enough to sneak up on them and knock them out with a well placed attack. It seemed his abilities as a samurai were not the limit of his abilities. His techniques now seemed more like the ways of a ninja, sneaking around, taking out guards silently, as they headed upwards.

"There's got to be another way out!" Naru shouted.
"That other way involves blasting everything in our path out of it and working our way out of here in a not so quiet manner." Anubis explained.
"We could steal some of Houji's mechs and use those!" Naru insisted..
"And I'm sure you know how to pilot them." Anubis replied.
"I could figure out pretty quick!" Naru protested.
"Our best bet right now is to sneak around." Kazuhiko answered. "If Miss Naru IS interested in borrowing another way out however, it can be arranged. Follow me." Kazuhiko answered.

Kazuhiko led them even deeper into the enemy base, stopping at a particular door. The group hid around the corner as a pair of pilots came out, who quickly were knocked out by Kazuhiko as they grabbed one of their uniforms and slipped it onto Naru.

"This thing is a little big..." Naru replied.
"It should buy us enough time for you to steal a mech and get us out of here." Anubis said.

Using the pilot's keycard, Naru managed to gain access to the hangar, and carefully made her way over to the corner where the Goliaths were being kept. Naru walked in carefully, trying not to get any attention from the various maintenance crews, as the young girl would stand out perfectly in a badly fitted flight suit. She tiptoed over to the back of one of the ready units and climbed in, closing the hatch behind her as she looked around thoroughly for the startup. Like any person unfamiliar with the system, she did what they would have done; she pushed all the buttons until she managed to get it to power on, and went through its prelaunch sequence, which got the attention of everyone else, unfortunately.

"Hey! You're not cleared to take off!" one of the maintenance guys shouted.

Another ran for the wall and hit a panic button, sounding the alarm.

"Great. Just great." Anubis said as he brought out his scythe and slashed the door down, running into the next room, as Navcase and Kazuhiko sprung into action, knocking out guards left and right. Naru in the meantime had figured out how to walk with the blasted thing, and headed forward, as troops poured into the room, firing at Naru and the others, as Naru managed to send them running for cover with a spray from her cannons. Navcase and Kazuhiko dodged carefully and hit them with their sheathed swords, as Naru looked around for a way out as more pilots came into the hangar and headed for their own Goliaths.

"There!" Kazuhiko pointed.

Spotting the hangar door, Naru opened fire as Kazu used his slash blasts to further dent the door, enough for them to slip out into the inner areas of the base, which was still crawling with mecha. Titans, Goliaths, Wolverines, everything Houji could possibly throw at them. Kazuhiko let fly with one of his slash bolts, taking out the legs of a Titan, as they pressed forward to a way out. More troops came running as the group was forced through a gauntlet of deployed Siege Tanks, which the group had to hurry by in order to avoid their powerful cannons.

"Stop! Stop!" the tank commander shouted. "You'll hit each other!"

Forced to cease fire, the group took cover behind a building, where they pondered their next move.

"All right, now what?" Anubis shouted over cannon fire from Naru's Goliath.
"We must get to the front exit!" Navcase declared.
"Easier said than done." Kazuhiko replied.
"Let's go!" Kazuhiko shouted as Naru jumped down from the cumbersome machine and the group made a mad dash for the front entrance, as Naru tossed kunai after kunai at their pursuers to keep them just one step behind. The gates grew closer and closer, as the group moved faster and faster, only to have a man in a trenchcoat block their path.

"Toshihiko!" Navcase exclaimed.
"Long time no see Navcase. GET DOWN!!!" he shouted, as the group quickly obeyed his request as he whipped his sword out and sent a lightning bolt slamming into the enemies behind them, shocking them and forcing them back.

"Why are you helping us?" Navcase asked.
"Let's just say things have really gotten out of hand and I decided to part ways with my prior employer." Toshihiko said as he fired another lightning blast.
"But still, how are we going to get through that?" Anubis asked.
"With my little touch." Naru said, grabbing a fistful of kunai and chucking them at the door, causing a large blast, but no destruction.

"You really think I didn't cover the possibility of my own Seishi turning against me?" came a familiar voice.

"Tenma." Anubis replied as the hated one set down in his Armor of Burning Apocalypse.
"Face it. You will never get out of here alive." Tenma answered.
"Take him together?" Navcase asked.
"Good idea." Kazuhiko replied as he joined Navcase in drawing his sword.
"Bring it." Tenma replied, motioning for them to charge.

Navcase flew forward with his Kuzu Ryu Sen as Kazuhiko held his swords over each other and charged forward, crashing into Tenma and then uppercutting upwards, just as Navcase slammed into him with Kuzu Ryu Sen, knocking him backwards.

"Good work you two!" Anubis shouted.

Tenma recovered quickly from his knockback and deployed his wings.

"SEKIHA...TENKOUKEN!!!" he shouted, sending the energy bolt screaming at them. Leaping into the air or out of the way, the blast left a large dent in the outer door.

"CURSE YOU!" Tenma fired back at them.
The report of a powerful cannon was heard, which made yet another dent in the outer gates, from the other side. A few more shots, and the gate came crashing down, with I.J. on the other side.
"Not him..." Anubis groaned.
"You'll thank your savior and like it maggot! Now, we've got to get moving quickly so that we can make the rendezvous point, so move move move!"

Anubis, Naru, and Navcase leaped onto the mechanized monstrosity as Toshihiko joined them as well.

"Take me with you!" Toshihiko pleaded.
"Can we trust this guy?" Anubis asked.
"I guess we'll just have to." Navcase replied.
"I will go this way, and try to lure them away from you." Kazuhiko said. "Good luck to you, and I await the day that I can once again face you in honorable combat, Sword of Heaven." Kazuhiko said, as he headed down the street with Arataka and Saitou.

"Enough of this mushy shit! We're rolling out!" I.J. said as he threw himself in reverse and back into the street, as he sent some of his mini missiles flying at the bad guys as he headed off.

"GET THEM!!! GET THEM!!!" Tenma ordered over the noise of dozens of mechs plodding out for the kill, chasing after I.J. The Black Jackals and the remaining Enforcers rounded the other corner in pursuit of Kazuhiko.

"Can't you go any faster?" Naru asked.
"I'm a tank dammit! Speed was not a major factor in my creation!" He wheeled his turret around the other way towards one of the chasing Titans and let the mech have it. "However, FIREPOWER was!"

*"Ayame! It's Yuri! I.J. and I found the others. Where should we meet you?"
*"How should I know? I've got my own problems!" Ayame replied as she was intercepted by some of Houji's flying units. "We're not going to last too long unless we get the hell out of here!"
"Has the SDT arrived yet?" Anubis asked.
"No! I got here on the Phantom Express. Rowen's still making his way here with the others. He's going to have lots to blast through with Houji and his little fleet up there." Yuri explained.
"Then you'll have to get us out of the city on the ground." Anubis said. "My power isn't strong enough to get I.J. too."
"Jesus H. Christ! Carrot Top can't do a thing to get us out of this shithole!" I.J. swore.
"Well, you're going to have to try." Anubis said.

Some of Houji's transforming tank units rolled into position, however I.J. was happy to give them a little taste of his firepower to trash them. He mowed down what was left and sent infantry running for cover as Anubis and Toshihiko manned the Brownings and tore into the enemy ranks.

Back at Houji's, Tenma was still angry beyond belief, which was rare for the collected Yakuza boss.

"Send that Mammoth and the Devastator to cut off that blasted tank's escape route! Houji, do not let them get away." Tenma ordered his henchmoron.

"Okay, saying we do get out of here, where are we supposed to head?" Toshihiko asked.
"We're going to have to head for Mia's. We can wait for the SDT there and then charge Toyama and this time we will take it back." Anubis said.

Elsewhere in the city, Saitou, Kazuhiko, and Arataka were on the run from the Black Jackals and Tenma's remaining enforcers. They raced around corners, skillfully leapt over fences, the eliminators hot on their heels.

"Faster! We must capture or destroy that miserable warrior!" Tohru shouted.

Rounding yet another corner, Kazuhiko concluded that the time for running was over. The time for fighting was now, as he stood his ground with his two animal allies as Tenma's emissaries charged in to do battle. Tohru removed his coat as his tattoo glowed with power and he brandished his nunchucku. Tomoko drew her sword, Houka whipped out her pistols, Masahiko went for his giant sword, and Jiro crossed his arms over his chest at the shoulders and called on V-Cypher. Kazuhiko simply stood there, waiting for them to make their move.

He had heard reports that Masahiko had some demon blood in him, and that alone made him a serious threat. Houka's numerous guns made his years of swordsmanship look like nothing. He felt great power erupting from Tohru as well. He had no choice in the matter.

"I was hoping to save the use of this ability for my duel with the Sword of Heaven..." Kazuhiko began as he ran his pointer and middle fingers along the sides of his katana, before sticking it in the pavement, and then doing the same to his wakizashi, "but you leave me no choice."

He began reciting the power syllables of rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai and zen, as he grabbed his swords again and slashed them in front of him, as the slash arcs floated backwards onto him, as he began to erupt with energy, jacking his power level way up, much to the surprise of his adversaries, as his swords glowed with an aura around them, as did he. He pointed his swords at Saitou and Arataka, as energy bolts flew from the swords, as they began to be powered up as well. Saitou became larger, as a sort of mane began forming around his neck and long signpost like spikes began forming out of his fur, while Arataka just got bigger and bigger until he was the size of a small human.

"Now what, Masahiko?" Tohru asked.
"We ATTACK!!!!!" he shouted.

Tohru rushed in, twirling his nunchucku, and nailing Kazuhiko with it, only to have the blow blocked by the wakizashi before he was knocked away by the katana, reeling back into a wall. Tomoko tried next, slashing at his body but not making a single mark, before also being knocked backwards.

"Saitou! Charge!" Kazuhiko called out, as his faithful wolf companion charged at Masahiko like a bat out of hell, hitting him with a powerful tackle attack that sent him flying in the opposite direction.

"Damn you!" Masahiko shouted, charging in again, only to have his powerful strike flicked off as if it was nothing by Kazuhiko. Arataka swooped in and lifted the fool off the ground, carried him high into the sky and dropped him like a ton of bricks, leaving a dent in the pavement. Masahiko used his huge sword to get him to his feet, as he charged forward again in an attempt to take the powered up Kazuhiko, but he failed once again.

The sound of gunfire filled the scene as Houka began opening fire over and over again, tossing aside her pistols as none of her bullets were even hurting Kazuhiko. She brought out her magnums in hopes that they would hurt better, managing to do a little more damage, but still no where from taking the powered up samurai S.O.B. down. Next up were her RPB pistols, which she fired, the kickback phasing her slightly but the shots causing Kazuhiko to moan in pain. She fired again, achieving the same result, but was forced to duck for it before she could fire off a third time, as he sent a pair of more powerful slash blasts flying at her, which destroyed nearby windows as it raced past her. He sent another pair racing at Masahiko, who was sent clear off his feet and fell backwards.

Jiro watched the whole ugly thing, wondering if even V-Cypher was enough to hold off this terror. He let some of his seven way missiles flying at Kazuhiko, they were destroyed with a crossed slash blast. With incredible speed Kazuhiko raced at the warrior with his swords out in front of him, before driving him into the sky with a sword uppercut before crashing back down again.

"You're strong, Sword of Hell. But even you cannot stand up against my demon self!" Masahiko declared as he began gathering energy in his sword as the various kanji on the blade began glowing, as he began to mutate into his extremely ugly self once again. Horned, purple, with demonic wings coming out of his back, and a long purple tail, and extremely rough skin. He squared off against his enemy, and they prepared to go at it once again.

Meanwhile, Anubis and the gang were still on their way out of the city, fending off all sorts of mechanized trouble as I.J.'s cannon fired again and again, forming large dents and holes into whatever Houji sent at them. The Brownings did double duty shooting down DINNs that had been launched against them.

"Yuri! How far until we hit the city limits?" Anubis called down.
"We're getting close, just a little further and we'll be there!" Yuri called back.

"Oh no." Toshihiko said, pointing up at the sky, where Houji's massive supercarrier, the Char Anzable floated above. Hatches opened, and a score of fighters flew out and headed for the ground. To everyone's surprise, the fighters transformed into humanoid forms and set down on the ground in front of them, detaching their left wings and deploying them into swords.

"Oh, this is wonderful." Anubis concluded.
"Wonderful my metallic ass! There are not enough explictives in any language to describe how wonderful our situation is, MAGGOT!"
"Silence, you Full Metal Reject." Anubis shot back. "Now what are we supposed to do about this?"

As if sort of in answer, the Sun Empress flew onto the scene and opened fire with a few blasts from its lasers, breaking up their deployment Anubis and Toshihiko some time to open fire with the Brownings again as I.J. fired his 150mms and also let loose with his mini missile racks, giving the fighters something to complain about.

"We could really use Himeihoshi right about now." Yuri complained.
"We could have him, if Houji wasn't jamming us. Wait a sec, I've got Nene's ECM Suite o' doom. There's nothing it can't hack!"

Ayame summoned her armor and proceeded with her unjamming of Houji's signal. After a couple tries, she managed to patch through to the aerial terror.

*"I am reading my waiting launch orders, verifying my invincibility, I am cast in the name of good, only bad guys are guilty, their asses are as good as fragged, I have full fuel, I have full ammo, I have full armor..."
"JUST LAUNCH!!!!" Mia shouted.

Himeihoshi's launch bay opened up, and his catapult sent the Metal Moron soaring into the sky as he kicked in every ounce of his afterburners and raced to the scene.

Back with I.J. and the others, firing the Brownings and other weapons did not seem to do the trick. I.J. however, had another strategy up his mechanical sleeve.

"Get off me and let me handle this!" he shouted, as Naru and the others climbed off the tank as he transformed to robot mode, getting on one knee and firing a series of shots from his main gun, which was now located on his waist. Aiming for the legs of the monstrosities, he managed to cripple a few, but they fired missiles back at him, which he blew away with his cannon. He sent it in back as he reached for his leg compartment, bringing out his shotgun, reading it for fire and then slamming a shot straight into the enemy mechs, badly damaging one and then hitting another, as they tried to retaliate with their shoulder cannons. Ayame did her best to help in the fight by using the Sun Empress' own guns, while Toshihiko used his lightning bolts to score a few dozen hits.

*"Houji to Tenma, I've got them right where we want them! My mechs will make short work of them!"

Unfortunately, Houji spoke too soon as the roar of jet engines came in, followed by the discharging of several small missiles, which slammed into the enemy forces as the fighters took cover. Himeihoshi dove down, and switched into soldier configuration as he parried their swords with his own plasma spear, cutting into them a few times before driving the sharp object into others, and firing off a plasma shot, taking them down. Others fell victim to ranged shots, and soon after I.J. was sick of laying down cover fire and broke out his glove treads, and began throwing punch after punch on the enemy mechs as Himeihoshi drove his spear through mech after mech. The remainder transformed and headed back to the Char.

"Ooragh! We've got them on the run maggot!"

However, their victory was short lived as more of Houji's tank mechs as well as GINNs, Aegis, and other units came in to keep them busy.

"Okay, now what?" Anubis asked.
"Kai Jin!" Makoto replied, beginning the wish sequence. "Send I.J. and all that came with him, the Sun Empress and all she contains, and Himeihoshi to Mia's house immediately!"

In a flash all disappeared from site, as Houji nearly pulled his hair out again.

An instant later, the whole group was safe and sound at Mia's house, on the outskirts of the city. Ayame set down the Sun Empress, and everyone exited as Ayame attempted to get an idea of how long it would be for the SDT to reach their location.

"They're still working their way here." Ayame explained.
"This is great. We get to sit here and wait for that monstrosity to get here and rescue us, or for Houji to come over here and vaporize us." Kashin complained.

Meanwhile...

Masahiko and the powered up Kazuhiko were still going at it. The increased strength provided by the swords were giving him a slight edge, but Masahiko was still a demon and had the strength of one. He swung his powerful clawed fist at Kazuhiko, forcing him to dodge out of the way as some building was dented. Bringing his swords together, he swung downward, hitting Masahiko with a stronger sword bolt than before, which burned the skin of the demon, who then swung at Kazuhiko, connecting with a punch that sent the warrior reeling backwards, but he landed on his feet and charged forward with his swords outstretched in front of him, almost doing his own version of Kuzu Ryu Sen, which struck head on to the demon, sending him stepping backwards, as Kazu landed on his feet and charged forward Jubei style and into him, pushing back again with the blades, before driving him skyward with his sword, flipping over in the air and then using his Karami-Jutsu to dive at Masahiko, slamming him into the ground with tremendous force by pushing down with his swords again. The lummox lunged at Kazuhiko, who backflipped out of the way of the lunge, reaching back with his sword and thrusting forward, sending another energy bolt flying into the large creature. Masahiko reached back with another punch, but only a log appeared in Kazuhiko's place, as he dove down with tremendous speed, his swords laid horizontally side by side, slamming into Masahiko, and then distracting the larger fighter with his four-figure teleport, a technique similar to the waterflow done by Aoshi Shinomori. He grabbed Masahiko, and kicked off from the ground, flipping him over in midair and then pile driving him into the ground with a loud thud as Kazuhiko bounced off to safety.

This fight was going to go on forever if every scratch he made on Masahiko kept healing itself almost instantaneously. He would need to distract him long enough to do a Chi Death Blow, a powerful maneuver that would not only hurt like a bitch, it would also stunt Masahiko's regeneration abilities for a few hours at the most.

"ARATAKA!" he shouted, leaping up and grabbing onto the bird's legs, as his now-stronger wings lifted his master off the ground and above Masahiko. Flipping his sword over in his hand, he kicked off and instantly began to blur through his descent, confusing Masahiko, as he reached back with his fist and slammed it into Masahiko, causing energy to erupt outward and engulf Masahiko, as he went flying backwards. Kazuhiko next placed his blades together, and held them up in the air as he did a forward flip, driving the blades into the pavement and tearing up the ground with an energy bolt that flew forward, cutting a gash in Masahiko's chest and then another one in his back as it passed harmlessly through his body.

"Damn you..." Masahiko replied. He began to reach his head back, as energy began gathering in his mouth. Seconds later, he unleashed a powerful white hot blast of energy flying towards Kazuhiko, who leapt and grabbed onto Arataka, carrying him above the trouble. As the blast dissipated, Kazuhiko hit with a power dive, as Arataka flapped his wings together and sent a pair of sonic bolts flying at Masahiko, knocking him backwards as Saitou flew forward with a takedown attack. Kazuhiko landed as he sheathed his wakizashi, gathering additional power in his still glowing katana, as he ran his open hand along the side of the blade, which enlarged the energy to the width of his hand. He then sheathed his sword and went to a Battou-Jutsu stance, except with the blade on his right side, and hopped on Saitou, who then charged forward towards Masahiko, who prepared his mouth blast again. He fired, and Saitou sidestepped, as he ran faster and faster, he drew his sword just as he crossed by, whacking Masahiko with the increased swath of the blade, who fell backwards as Saitou turned sideways to stop a few inches out, Kazuhiko with his sword still extended outward to the side. Masahiko powered down into his normal human self, as Kazuhiko leapt off of Saitou's back, as the blade stopped glowing and returned to normal size, before he sheathed it, causing the glow around him to fade out, and Saitou and Arataka to shrink back to their normal sizes, before turning around walking off with Saitou by his side and Arataka above him, into the shadows, leaving Masahiko to lick his wounds.

Next Episode:

::Naru lies in the grass on a blanket in a two piece swimsuit, listening to her music, as her cell phone rings. She plucks out her earbuds and picks it up.::

NARU: Hello?

VOICE ON OTHER END: Coronation of Darkness.

NARU: What's that supposed to mean?

VOICE ON THE OTHER END: How should I know, they just pay me to give the episode titles for Big O. If you want details, ask the narrator.

NARU: Didn't they fire him?

VOICE ON THE OTHER END: Precisely. You'll just have to wait until next time to find out what happens, or ask the author. I must go now, they're tracing my call.

::hangs up::

NARU: Hello? Anyone still there? Oh well.

::puts her earbuds back in and goes back to relaxing, only to have it shattered by Allison's band playing "Ride on Shooting Star" by the pillows::