Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Ronin Warriors: Hell Back on Earth ❯ Coronation of Darkness ( Chapter 29 )

Hours earlier, the mammoth SDT had made its way back towards the completed and rebuilt home of Mia, the Ronin's ally and landlord.  Where before it was limited to just nine armored samurai, she now had to contend with eight Seishi (eight counting Naru), one gun-toting wild man (Toshihiko), a small group of mechanized vehicles, and Kinjiro, as well as deal with the large mess of machinery taking up space in her backyard.

The first order of business was to find room for all of the miscellaneous people who had temporarily moved in.  That was not too much of a problem, as Yoko insisted on sleeping with Motoko, much to the Priest's surprise and to a lesser degree, delight.  Yuri and Kento would bunk together, as would Ryo and Sakura.  Rowen, not wanting to draw any attention to his newly discovered attraction to Ayako, decided to play it safe and stay with Ayame.  Ran and Sai agreed to share space.  Ayako and Naru took up residence downstairs on the couch, each eager to teach the other more about their chosen obsessions.  Yuriko insisted on sleeping with Navcase, while Kinjiro was stuck with Toshihiko, not wanting the warrior to run off with the SDT in the middle of the night.

Once everything was taken care of, the house shook with the combined snoring efforts of Yuri and Kento, forcing people to don earplugs or headphones, anything to drown out the noise.  Naru and Ayako were downstairs, watching anime when Navcase descended the steps.

"Navcase, what are you doing up?"  Ayako asked, turning down the volume.
"The sound of Miss Yuri's snoring is preventing me from getting any rest.  Somehow Yuriko managed to block it out."
"Oh, you get used to it after a while, kinda."  Ayako explained.
"The other reason I am up and about is because I am worried about fighting Kazuhiko.  Our last battle came to a draw, and I fear that any subsequent battles may be disastrous for me, for I do not think he has shown me the true extent of his fighting skills.  I have nearly exhausted Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu in my last duel with him, so I am lacking significant means of fighting back."
"So you were wondering if I know of any powerful anime techniques that might help you win?"  Ayako asked.
"Yes."

Ayako thought for a moment, racking her brain for any moves that could be of use to Navcase.  Sure, there were other styles in Kenshin, but she had a strong feeling that Kazuhiko would most likely catch onto it.  So she had to stay away from most anime featuring specific techniques of Kenjutsu.  At last, she had it.  A move that not even Kazuhiko could possibly know about, but was possible for Navcase to imitate to a degree.  The Wind Scar.

"That's it!  The Wind Scar!"  Ayako exclaimed.
"Come again?"  Navcase asked, as if a question mark had appeared over his head.
"It's a very powerful move.  From Inuyasha."  she explained.
"I still don't follow."
"I'll just have to show you."  Ayako explained, breaking out a DVD.

"The Wind Scar works by you extending your aura outward, towards the enemy aura, and slashing into the resulting scar that forms."

"Kinda like Additions in Legend of Dragoon."  Naru added.
"I don't think he understands."
"The last reference confused me, but I have the idea for the most part.  So I push up my aura, and hope that he does the same?"
"Right, and the spot where they meet is the Wind Scar.  It's there that you want to swing your sword and when you do, it'll create a powerful wave of energy that will knock Kazuhiko for a loop.  He'll never know what hit him."
"Why does Mr. Yagyu want to fight him so much?" Naru asked.
"He's the Sword of Hell, I'm the Sword of Heaven.  I would avoid the conflict if I could, but he leaves me with no other choice."  Navcase explained.

"Oh.  Well, we should get to bed.  Tomorrow Mr. Osaki says we're taking the city back.  Good night Navcase."  Naru said, taking off her glasses and closing her eyes.  Ayako did the same, leaving Navcase to study the Wind Scar's execution.

The next morning came and all gathered for the briefing.  When Yuriko discovered that Navcase was not next to her, as she had assumed, and was instead downstairs with Naru and Ayako, it took a few minutes to convince her that nothing had happened.  Satisfied with the explanation, the gang clambered into the SDT, with the girls taking position in their respective launch bays, except Ayame, who would be flying Naru along in the Sun Empress.  The journey from Mia's to firing range outside Toyama was mostly uneventful, other than almost everyone had a bad feeling about the situation, and Kashin having a much worse feeling about the situation.

His feelings were not without some truth to them, as high above, a large aircraft was surveying the situation and transmitting info back to Houji and his Char.

"Targets are in sight.  What would you have me do?"  it said in a Ghost voice.
"Keep track of them and let me know when they're close to the city."  Houji informed him.

The alarm was sounded and Houji's forces began jumping into action quite quickly, as Titans stomped into position.  The new GuAIZ units were rolled out, Siege Tanks took their positions, the remaining DINNs and GINNS were sent out, as Houji's massive force deployed for the killing.

The SDT rolled to a stop outside the city, still well away from any forces that could harm it.  But Kinjiro would take no such risk.  The FireStorm wall system was initiated and deployed the sections of the wall, as Ran placed her turrets around the center component, as the weapons were safely tested to make sure they were still working.  The front section, with Sakura's transformation bay, disconnected, as the other vehicle in the back also disconnected, allowing the two bays on either side to lock into position before setting down.  They opened everything up, as the various Slave vehicles rolled out.

"Okay Kinjiro, we've made it this far, so now what?"  Ryo asked.
"This will be a difficult fight, so I asked for a little help."  Kinjiro explained.
"What kind of help?"  Kento asked.
"Most of Amaterasu's troops are holding the island, which have been trained in the use of some of my own technology.  I've tried for a while now since Tenma released Drakka to get help from the Jeitai, but all I could get from them was a few dozen Amphibious Transports, mostly because since I developed them for their use, they decided that it would be safe if I used them temporarily.  I made one last effort last night to plead for their support, and they finally said they'd send us some units."

As if in answer, several dozen huge APC's rolled into position around the SDT.  Roof hatches opened, as dozens of ugly looking mechs began exiting from them.  Most were carrying some sort of rifle, others had guns built in.  Still others were carrying guns designed for long range sniping.  A silver colored mech took position as a hatch opened in back as a soldier, wearing a demonic looking helmet descended and headed over to the SDT, where Kinjiro was waiting.  The soldier lifted his helmet off his head, revealing some tied up braids and a flash of greenish hair, revealing that he, was in fact, a she.  Most of the females gathered were disappointed, hoping to meet some hot mecha pilot, but she quickly saluted and identified herself.

"Lieutenant Miharu Enzeru, of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Forces 2809th Special Mecha Division.  We came as you asked, Mr. Osaki.  What's the situation?"
"Bad.  There are hundreds of enemy mechs controlled by Mr. Houji Otoantou, a known Yakuza member operating out of Toyama, covering his actions by passing himself off as a profitable mechanized weapon developer."
"We're familiar with Mr. Otoantou's reputation, we've been wanting to take him down for some time now but our orders have prevented it up to now."
"Such as?"  Kinjiro asked.
"One of our developers would not formally hand over the mechs to us, and there were some development issues and a few personal requests from the company, such as appointing a member of their family as an officer.  On top of that, this whole unit is somewhat of an experiment and somewhat expendable, so our latest mission has been to train for the event that the planet gets invaded by angry insectoid things that are in fact animals that have been exposed to a specific type of hostile cell.  I finally insisted to my superiors that we honor your request, and that my unit would be able to help the most, so here we are."

"Permission to speak ma'am!"  I.J. called out.
"Granted."  Lt. Enzeru answered.
"Can we stop sitting around here and go kick some ass?  I'm set to drop the hammer, and dispense some Indiscriminate Justice!  OOORAGH!"
"Your tank commander seems quite eager to get underway."
"That was the tank."  Kinjiro replied, surprising Lt. Enzeru.
"My name is I.J. Arclite, and I am ready to roll out ma'am!"
"All right!  Let's move out!"  Lt. Enzeru shouted, climbing back inside her mech.

The front APC, the large Mech Hauler, I.J., the Sun Empress, Bakurai, Himeihoshi, and Kanesada all proceeded to head towards the city, as Mia began to lock on target.

Back on the Char...

"Sir, Teisatsuki has information for you."
"Patch him through."
"Hello boss.  Kinjiro and the others have met up with some other mechs."
"Get me a visual!"
"With pleasure."

A shot of the mechs below showed up on Houji's screen.

"TA's from Gasaraki and Armored Shrikes from Blue Gender!  It must be the 2805th!  It's about time the Jeitai decided to oppose me!"  Houji exclaimed, confusing his fellow soldiers, who wondered why their boss was so eager to get his ass kicked by the Japanese armed forces.
"Keep an eye on them, Teisatsuki, and keep me informed of their position.  Scramble the fighters!  Put the mech units on alert!  They failed to stop us before, they're not going to get us this time!"  Houji shouted.

All was set for their battle plan to be unfurled.  Kinjiro and the Lieutenant  were pretty positive that Houji could, and would throw every last mechanized contraption he had at them.  Even with all the help they brought, it would still be no walk in the park.

But that was only one of their problems.  Navcase hoped that he could convince Kazuhiko to put an end to his mission to have the two of them clash without having to actually fight him.  Although he had only fought the warrior once, he was sure under extended circumstances where he was able to show his full fighting ability, it would not be pretty.  Navcase hoped he would be able to mimic the Wind Scar accurately, and that it would be effective in giving Kazuhiko grief.

Kashin was all set to give Tenma the beating of his life.  There would be pain, there would be suffering, and as long as no one interfered, tweezers would be necessary to pick up what was left of Tenma.

Up in the air, Houji's spy plane was watching them as they moved ever closer to the city.  The order was given to launch the fighters.

*"Guys!  Radar's picked up multiple bogeys headed your way."  Mia radioed.
"We're too far away to deploy still.  We have to get closer."  Lt. Enzeru answered.
"Don't worry Lieutenant, we'll handle it.  Kinjiro answered.  Himeihoshi, I.J.!  Think you can stop them?"
"You're kidding right?"  I.J. asked.  "Cyclops, Six-Arms, man those Brownings!  We can't let stupid shoot down more than us!"  I.J. ordered.

The Brownings roared to life as Sekhmet and Dais proceeded to open fire on the incoming enemy planes. Several fell like flies, while still more were shot down by Himeihoshi, as his ammo count began to deplete.  He kept from launching his missiles, saving them for the threats within the city proper.  I.J. also brought his railguns to bear on the planes, which took them down even faster.  At last, the remaining fighters turned tail and retreated.

"Hoorah!  That'll show 'em!"  I.J. cheered.
"Don't get too happy.  Houji's got plenty more where those came from.  But we'll be in position to unload soon, so we can take the fight to Houji before he and the others can call on Drakka one more time."  Kinjiro explained.

"Bad news boss man, they got through the first wave." Teisatsuki reported.
"DAMN!  But no matter.  We still have more where that came from.  They'll never get through all the lines!"

Several battle lines later...

"How's everyone doing?"  Kinjiro asked.
"I'm doing just fine maggots!  You don't need to tell me to conserve my ammo!"  I.J. reported.
"I'm not completely out of ammo!"  Himeihoshi shot back.  "I know how to aim!"
"Okay, cut the chatter.  Team, let's lock and load!"  Lt. Enzeru ordered.  The transports that the good guys had been keeping safe the whole time now opened up and deployed various mecha for attack.  Armored Shrikes, Tactical Armors, Ulti-max, and more came filing out as they prepared to take the city by force.

"Ma'am, several deployed Siege Tanks are standing in our way."  SFC Ikkimura reported.  "Permission to set up a firing line."
"Go for it.  They can't stop you."  Lt. Enzeru reported.

The Sniper AS came out and opened fire in a loud report, as Siege Tanks were blasted to smithereens.  Grapplers were sent in to move the remains out of the way as the group began to move in, covering all sides as the assault began.  No sooner did they arrive did Titans and Wolverines come marching around the corner.

"Shasei!  Aim for the Titans, Ryoushi, take out those Wolverines!" Enzeru commanded.

SFC Ikkimura and her forces fired with perfect aim, disabling the large guns on the Titans, as the Grapplers moved in to take them down and completely disable them.  More Wolverines showed up, but Okita was ready with his Ikusa, slicing them up cleanly with breakneck speed.  GUAiZ and DINN and GINN units showed up, but they never got close before they were cut down by I.J.'s big gun.

*"Ayame, any luck figuring out where we need to go?" Sakura asked.
*"Naru and I are working on it.  In the meantime, we're going to try and take down that big warship.  We'll let you know if we figure out anything.  Hold down the fort in the meantime."
"Easier said than done!"  Anubis replied as more devastation was unleashed on the armored units.  Hardly any infantry was present, unless that was Houji's plan.

Up in the Sun Empress, Ayame and Naru, along with Himeihoshi were approaching the Char, ready to unload all they had on the mechanized monstrosity.  Himeihoshi let loose with his missiles, which hit their mark and managed to do some damage to the battleship, while Ayame and Naru fired their own weapons, but to not much avail.

"Damn!  This armor's tougher than Kashin's attitude!"  Ayame reported.
"We've got to break through if we want to take this junk heap down."  Naru reminded her.  "I just hope everyone else is having more luck than we are."

As the others fought to destroy all the mechs in the city, Navcase had headed off in an attempt to locate Kazuhiko.  His energy signal led him far away from the mechanized units and towards smaller skirmishes elsewhere, as he used his armor to blast his way through the mechs that got in his way.  His armor's energy scanners revealed that the warrior had to be nearby, and he knew quite well what Kazuhiko's signature felt like.

Not far from the Sword of Heaven, infantry had stupidly been dispatched to try and take out Kazu.  They managed to spot the mino-clad warrior, and ordered him to surrender.  But all he did was draw his katana.

"Undisciplined."  He replied, before running two fingers along the blade while chanting "Mumyo Jinpuu Ryu, Satsujin-Ken."

The troops standing there were unsure what some archaic chant was going to do to them, but next Kazuhiko shouted, "Mizuchi!" and then sheathed his sword once again.

The soldiers were still unimpressed.  They charged forward, but were stopped as they felt a feeling worse than indigestion.

"I'm sure you're thinking, 'what did he just do?'  I'll explain.  Mizoguchi boils the water inside your body, causing you to explode from the pressure.  I would give you a message to relay to your boss,  to send worthy opponents to take me on, but that is not going to happen, for you have heard it:  The true divine wind."

As Kazuhiko finished his sentence, the warriors exploded in a spray of blood.
"Fools.  Is their no one within this city that can actually show me a challenge?"  Kazuhiko asked himself.  Arataka, and Saitou, who had been waiting in the corner outside Mizuchi range, looked at him, as if to say that they were unsure.

"Excuse me."  a voice said, causing Saitou's ears to perk up and turn towards whoever spoke, as Navcase stepped out from around a corner."

"Will I do?"  Navcase answered.
"Ten no Mi...I have been waiting for you."  Kazuhiko replied, looking happy to see him.
"Me, I've been searching for you."  Navcase replied.  "You're a difficult person to find.  Can we just call it even, us two opposites?"
"No.  It is our destiny to fight each other at 100% of our power, with all our skills and training at the ready."

Navcase slowly placed his hand on his hilt, as he summoned his Seishi wardrobe.  Kazuhiko removed his mino and drew his swords.

"Are you prepared, Sword of Heaven?"
"As prepared as I can be."
"Good.  Hajime!"  Kazuhiko shouted, disappearing in a flash and heading forward, as Navcase did the same, as Heaven and Hell began their clash.

Elsewhere, the combined forces of the 2805th, Ronin Warriors, and Amaterasu Seishi stood over the largest pile of used robot parts ever it seemed.

"There better not be..." Kale began to say before Anubis whacked him upside the head (which did hurt due to his armored hand), so that he would not be able to jinx the heroes.

"We should probably split up Anubis."  Rowen suggested.
"Good Idea."  Anubis said.  "Now, how should we organize..."
"You losers can plan your attack all you friggin' want to.  My only plan is to find Tenma, kick his ass, and get my daughter back.  I wish you luck, since you'll need it."  Kashin said, before grabbing a few rifles and heading off.
"The NERVE of that magnetic mother..."
"Anubis!  The story is PG-13!"  Dais replied.
"So, you can say up to two obscenities without affecting your rating!"  Anubis argued.
"Leave him."  Rowen answered.  "We've got to figure out where the other Seishi are so we can deal with them, and get an idea where the Priestess is." Rowen replied.

"Jesus H. Christ!  Can we please stop dawdling and get to some killing, thank you very much?"  I.J. shouted.
"Having a strategy is our best bet against all the machines Houji has to offer."  Lt. Enzeru replied.

Up in the sky, Ayame and Himeihoshi were still trying to take down the Char and all its evil, as fighters poured out and were shot down.  Missiles were being expended at an extraordinary rate, and too few were hitting their gigantic target.  The defenses kept the sky full of laser blast, AA gun fire, and CIWS.  Himeihoshi and Ayame spent so much time dodging, they barely had time to aim their shots before they were locked onto again and had to make evasive maneuvers.  Not even deploying MarxFax's were doing anything.

"That does it.  I'm going to have to use the heavy artillery."  Himeihoshi answered.
"Negative.  Hit them with the special tracer missile."  Ayame replied.
"You never let me have any fun."  Himeihoshi answered as he fired a missile which instead of exploding, simply attached itself to the hull.

"What fun is a missile that doesn't explode?"  Himeihoshi replied.
"Oh shut up and wait."  Ayame replied.

The main gun back at the SDT opened fired and sent a searing death blast into the Char so quickly, they barely had time to put up the shields.

"Dammit!  It's going to be a few more minutes before that thing fires again!" Himeihoshi shouted.
"We've got to keep on them until the shields give or we get lucky, which ever comes first!  No one said this was going to be easy!"  Ayame shouted.

The only easy thing for the heroes at the moment was that Anubis, Enzeru, and Rowen had figured out what to do about splitting up.  The Sniper team would stay behind to help them get out later, while the Grapplers would stay and help out.  The Ulti-max and TA's, along with the Heavy Duty AS, would go and see if they could locate any other attack squads.

Everyone else would head for the center of town, since it was there that Yoko's recent pointing spell had indicated, attempting to surround it with Seishi, mecha, and Ronin.

"Take care of yourself Ayako."  Rowen replied.
"Relax.  Temia's got my back."  she answered as she and the Seishi, minus Navcase and Kashin, went off to seek out combat.

Atop a skyscraper in the center of town, Tenma waited patiently for his adversaries to arrive.  He was most interested in Kashin, and as such, had set up a magnet which would attract him like a moth to a flame.  They could not get Kazuhiko, and he did not care; he was better off dead.  Houji had to be consoled every few minutes after more of his mechanical monstrosities went down, and the Priestess smoked.  Teisei and Shou were eager to fight, and Karen would keep Kashin from hurting him.  No amount of infantry would hold them off, so their best bet was to take them out immediately.

"Shou.  Teisei.  Go deal with the Seishi and the Ronins.  Which team you take is up to you."

"Finally!  Some action!"  Teisei said as he and his armor headed out to destroy the rapidly approaching Seishi. Shou was all ready to run circles around the Ronins."

"Orya!  Dere's gonna be some serious ass-kickin' today!  Hey, if I'm takin' out da Ronins, and he's takin' out da Seishi, what about the restofem?"  Shou asked.
"Don't worry.  I have some surprises for them."  Houji replied.

"Don't worry.  I have some surprises for them."  Houji replied.

The now segmented strike teams headed towards the center of town, hoping to find Tenma and the others before they could make their third and final wish, which would give Drakka his body back and allow all hell to basically break loose.  Time was of the essence.

Rowen and the remaining Ronin worked their way down the street, covering all corners, looking for trouble, which in some cases, they found, but quickly dispatched it.  What remained of Houji's numerous mechanical minions was giving them minor grief  At last, there was a break in the patheticness as Rowen began to pick up a signal.

"Significant energy output, possibly a Seishi.  Let's go!"  Rowen said and his team made tracks.  They chased the signal down several streets, until it eventually led them to a strange looking metallic thing that looked like a power armor of some sort.  Whomever was inside it began to laugh with an Osaka accent.

"Oh great.  It's that guy."  Kento said.
"Mr. Furukiayu doesn want you ta get to da Priestess, so he sent me ta have some fun wit ya!  Dere's no way in Hell you can eva catch me!"

Shou took off like a bullet, just as the team unloaded with a few well placed shots which failed to cause any harm.  A loud whooshing sound was heard as something hit Sai like a freight train, knocking him off his feet and fling back a good distance as well.

"Ow..."  Sai groaned.
"Like dat?  Dere's plenty more where dat came from!"  Shou shouted as he this time headed straight for Kale, gathering speed as his armor began to glow, as he leapt into him, then revolving around him, hitting him with punch after punch, before spinning up skyward, taking Kale up with him in a Screw Attack, before power diving him back down to the ground.

"He's taken out Kale already.  We need to slow him down."  Dais replied, breaking out his Chi Lin Tou.

"Web of Deception!"  he shouted, sending out the spider legs to all corners around him.  They caused webs to fire out from them as they hit in various spots, covering the area in chains and webs.

"Let's see him get through that!"  Dais shouted, quite proud of himself.

"Hey!  Lemmigo!  Lemmigo!"  Shou said as he struggled to get free of the clever trap Dais had set for him.

"Too easy."  Dais replied.
"Tell us where Tenma and the others are."  Rowen asked.
"Bullshit!  I ain't talkin'!  It'll take more den dat to get any answers outta me!"
"Rowen, would you mind letting me handle this?"  Sekhmet asked.
"Be my guest."  Rowen replied.

Walking up to the still entangled Shou, Sekhmet reached for his blades.

"If you don't tell us where Tenma and the others are right now, I'm going to perform some impromptu surgery on your lower extremities."  Sekhmet explained.
"I'll talk I'll talk!"  Shou shouted, praying that Sekhmet would not deprive him of the ability to practice the second thing beds were good for.

Elsewhere, the Seishi, minus Navcase and Kashin, were also looking for Tenma's area, but were not as lucky as the others being able to find a easily convincible individual.  This would probably be much harder.

The group slowly made their way down the streets, keeping their eyes peeled for any sort of threat.  Anubis, Ryo, Ayako and Yuriko anyhow;  Yoko had no such interest.  The group pressed onward, until a weird feeling came over them.

"Feel that Ryo?"  Anubis asked.
"Yeah."
"What are you two mumbling about?"  Yoko asked.  "I didn't feel anything."
"I did.  We appear to have stepped into someone's psychic territory."  Yuriko explained.
"Is that like, bad?"  Yoko asked.
"Let me put this in terms you'll understand.  'Like, FER SURE!!!'"  Ayako replied, imitating her cousin.

Anubis and Yuriko pulled out their weapons while Ryo readied his flame swords.  The group looked around for whomever had lured them in, but found no one.  Suddenly, Ryo was struck, then Anubis, and then Yoko, who somehow managed to block with her staff.  Ayako quickly began the transformation into Temia as Yuriko's staff automatically parried.

"Why can't I hit you?" Teisei shouted in anger as he fell back with his sword.
"My Whirlwind Naginata can parry anything that comes my way if I make no action."  Yuriko replied.
"Where is Tenma?"  Anubis demanded.
"Like I'd tell you!"  Teisei shouted back.  "The boss man's given me the task of kicking your asses!"
"Then let's start kicking yours."  Anubis said.

Anubis charged and swung his scythe at Teisei, but he simply faded away as the blade passed right through him.

"How did he..."  Anubis wondered as he was struck by Teisei's blade again.
"We've got to be careful."  Ryo reminded the others.  "Teisei's able to manipulate time!"

Just then, he was struck as well.

"Anubis, how are we going to stop Teisei?"  Ryo asked.
"I don't know.  We would have to negate his territory somehow."  Anubis said.

The two looked immediately at Yoko.

"Why are you like, looking at me?"
"We may not be able to catch him with his temporal manipulation, but we can however, attempt to destroy his territory, thus slowing him down and giving us the upper hand."  Anubis stated.
"So why do you need me?"  Yoko asked.
"You're the only one who can cast the spell.  Please tell me Amaterasu taught you some sort of negation spell for our circumstances."
"I think so, but it's not like I like, used it."
"Don't worry, I will help you no da."  she heard a voice say.
"I'll be fine.  Just like, keep him busy or some junk."  Yoko replied.

"Seishi to Arms!"  Anubis shouted.  All except Yoko snapped their fingers and began their Mobile Trace into their armors.  With their battle gear set to go, the group proceeded to try and stop Teisei, but first, they had to find him.  Being able to move milliseconds ahead of everyone else was a bad thing.
Ryo broke out his rapid fireball technique, hoping that it would narrow down the spots where Teisei was not in. Most of the blasts failed to hit their mark, but one managed to hit Teisei before he could temporally dodge, knocking him out of time phase and giving the good guys a chance to counterattack.  Anubis charged in with his scythe, but he managed to phase again before the blade could do any kind of real damage.  Temia was standing by, keeping Yoko safe as she worked her way into the negation spell.

"Hurry up Yoko!  We cannot hold him off for long!"  Anubis declared, as he and Ryo continued to fire off vulcan blasts and machinecannon fire in an attempt to hit him and knock him out of phase long enough to get another jump on him.

The Seishi looked like statues to Teisei as he ran around, whacking them with his sword without them realizing it, dodging the slow moving attacks directed at him.  Their armor would take time to break through, but it would be well worth it, because then he would to be able to do much worse things to them.

Yoko meanwhile, jammed her staff into the ground, sending out a wave of energy that caused the temporal terror to appear, right about to hit Yuriko.  She managed to block him without any effort and sent him flying backwards.

"How...how did you find me!"  he demanded to know.
"Yoko's not as bad of a magic user as we thought."  Anubis explained.
"You neutralized my territory?  You'll pay for that!"  Teisei said, charging blindly at Anubis, who cleanly sliced through his blade, before knocking him away with his own.

"Not a problem, I'll just switch armor sets!"  Teisei said.  The orb on his backpack deployed and hovered above him.

"Yuriko!  Go for it now!"
"RISING ARROW!!!"  she declared, sending the energy bolt screaming into the orb, blasting it to smithereens.

"Curse you!  DIE!!!"  he shouted, only to find he was trapped in place.
"Like, see what it feels like to be helpless!"  Yoko shot back.

Ryo, Anubis, Yuriko, and Temia wasted no time taking advantage of this as they let loose with their most powerful attacks, causing a huge explosion.

"Did we get him?"  Ryo asked.
"Don't know.  Let's regroup with the others and worry about that later."

Yoko used her pointing spell to direct them towards the bad guys once again, and they headed off in that direction.

The Lieutenant and her mechanized escort, which included the She-Ronin and their personal battle machines, pressed onward into the city, as they were forced to expend more precious ammo as Houji had dispatched several more units of GINN and GuAIZ to give them grief.  Bakurai was somewhat instrumental in getting them through this, as the majority of his weapons were laser based, and therefore, did not suck hard ammunition like those of his companions, and he was the only one really besides Okita and Enzeru that possessed melee weapons.  Suiren was doing the best she could despite her lack of a Slave, as I.J. wailed on them Marine style.  They finally came to a clearing, hoping that it was all over at last.
"I have somewhat of a bad feeling about this."  Bakurai replied.
"I would agree.  Houji's strategy seems to be to wear down our armored units so that they can be much less effective later."
"Yeah, when they make that final wish, the Priestess most definitely gets absorbed, and all hell finally breaks loose."  Sakura answered.  "I hardly think we should be collecting ammo clips, but I'm not about to throw the idea out the window."
*"Ma'am!  Come in Lieutenant!"  A voice called over the intercom.
*"This is Enzeru, go ahead Sergeant."
*"Ma'am, we appear to have encountered some sort of dragon creatures.  We're holding them off the best we can, but it's taking lots of pepper to take them down!"
"Draconai..."  Sakura thought to herself.
*"What should we do Ma'am?"
*"Hang on, we're on our way."  Enzeru answered.

As the group turned to speed off to the rescue, the situation turned worse.  From behind one building, Houji's large fifty foot robot, the Devastator, stepped in and cut off half their escape route.  The group started to make a break for the other side, but that was a shot attempt as the Mammoth Mk II came into position as well, blocking off the rest of their route.

"Jesus H. Christ!  Not these things again!"  I.J. shouted in anger.
"Lieutenant, I'll go help the others and catch up.  Think you can handle this on your own?"  Sakura asked.
"We should be fine.  Good luck."  Enzeru answered.
"You too."  Sakura answered.  "Kanesada, let's put the pedal to the metal and burn rubber!"  she answered.
"Let's roll out!"  Kanesada answered as he entered vehicle mode and sped between the legs of the Mammoth and used her HUD to lock on to their allies' location.
"Hoorah!  Let's get this party started!"  I.J. said, breaking out his mech-sized Service Assault Weapon and headed to work.

"Try to disable its weapon systems!  Its bite is harmless if we pull its teeth!" she replied, aiming her large rifle at its antipersonnel turret, which had Suiren dodging left and right.

"Ran and I will see about its missiles."  Bakurai replied as he leaped into the air and tried to destroy one of the missile fins with his trident, as the fight went on.

The Seishi team and the Ronin teams had more than managed to get through and get on their way to stopping the third wish, but Navcase was still busy with his fight with Kazuhiko.  The armor team probably had it easier than he did.

Navcase's training with Sakura had given him more of an advantage with dealing with a person with two swords, but Sakura was still far from being Kazuhiko.  The Sword of Hell was relentless as his paired weapons skills kept Navcase from unleashing any of his techniques.  It was sort of useless anyhow;  Kazuhiko had seen almost all of them the last time they fought.  To make matters worse, Navcase had barely gotten a glimpse of the techniques Kazuhiko could use.  As far as he knew, Kazuhiko could only send energy bolts flying along the ground and air at him from his swords.  It was far too early to bring out his trump card, at least he hoped it would be;  the Wind Scar.  That could quite possibly be the only thing that could stand against him.

Their blades had been clashing the whole time since the others had separated.  Only through what seemed like pure luck had Navcase  managed to survive the non stop buffet of sword attacks that Kazuhiko was dishing out. He parried every which way he could, but his Seishi wardrobe was getting torn more and more by the minute.

Kazuhiko stopped his relentless assault on Navcase, who was breathing heavily after all this punishment, his outfit stained with blood from the lucky hits that Kazuhiko had managed to get in.

"You're tough Sword of Heaven.  Not many could have lasted as long as you have.  You leave me no choice but to show you the other side of my abilities."

Navcase returned to Shinken no Kamae stance as Kazuhiko removed his samurai armor, revealing a ninja nightsuit.

"My ancestor, Jubei Yagyu, is said to have trained secretly with the Iga ninja clan.  It is the total truth.  Now, let us see how you fare against it."

Kazuhiko suddenly vanished from sight as Navcase attempted to find his opponent.  He could not have gone far; his sword told him that much.  He stuck upwards with Sho Ryu Sen as Kazuhiko came crashing down from above.  He attempted to strike back but the now lighter warrior backflipped out of the way and dodged ever other way from Navcase.

"This may have not worked before, but perhaps the second time will be the charm.  KUZU RYU SEN!!!"  he shouted, pushing off with almost Shukutchi speed towards his opponent, however, his sword passed through Kazu's body, as Kazu appeared to lift off the ground and leave after images as he landed behind him, grabbing Navcase and kicking off with incredible force with a combination of his Teng-Jutsu and Inton-Jutsu skills, twirling in the air and slamming the poor warrior with a piledriver that left a crater in the ground as Kazu landed safely.  He tried to strike again, but he only hit an after image as Kazu moved to another spot.  He tried flying in with Gatousu, First Stance, but that also hit nothing but an after image.  This happened a few more times, before Navcase realized the after images had surrounded him, and now became solid.

"Bunshin...the art of multiplication." Navcase thought to himself.
"Precisely."  Kazu replied as all of his copies ganged up on the poor hero, beating him to the ground once again.  However, Navcase somehow got out of it with a tricky Ryu Tsui Sen, rising above the copies as he dove down with Second Stance, taking out one and then dispatching the others soon after.  He barely had time to react as a series of shuriken came flying at him next, which in true ninja fashion were merely another diversion as Kazu again managed to sneak up on Navcase, going for a stealth kill, but Navcase drove his katana in between Kazu's swords, pushing them away, and somehow managing to pull off a Ryu Kan Sen and whack Kazu in the back of the neck, taking him down with his first lucky break of the duel.  Navcase stepped back, ready to go in again if this was the case, but Kazuhiko got to his feet.

"You should have finished me."
"I don't want to kill you."  Navcase replied.
"Do you not understand that this duel is to the death?"  Kazuhiko shouted as he let loose with a slash bolt, which Navcase was forced to dodge.  Fancy footwork was the only thing keeping Navcase alive right now as slash blast after slash blast was unleashed at him. He thought might be a good time to unleash the Wind Scar, but it would take time to get Kazu to flex his aura more than it already was.  He had to get close, it was the only way to stop him. He charged forward, flying into Godspeed, flying left and right, as blasts screamed by him.  He was about to attempt the impossible, as he charged forward with his sword sheathed.  He leapt over the last blast and shot downward with Bukujutsu into Kuzu Ryu Sen, striking him bluntly nine times, before swinging with all his might and drawing his sword, hitting him twice and sent him flying backwards with Amakakeru Ryu No Hirameki.  He hoped that this was it.  But no, Kazuhiko rose to his feet once again.

"It is surprising that you managed to take me down with all techniques that you have already used before on me, but I suppose that is why you are the Sword of Heaven.  Now, learn why I am called the Sword of Hell."

Kazuhiko drew his swords and began to recite the Kuji.

"Rin, Hei.  Tou.  Sha.  Kai.  Jin.  Retsu.  Zai.  Zen." he said, going through a series of hand motions.

Navcase had heard of this chant, which was said to give the Ninja focus in battle.  But this recitation was far more than that.  Kazuhiko held his swords skyward as energy surged down, causing him to begin glowing green, sending his Kenki and Seishi power through the roof, as he pointed the weapons at his allies, causing Arataka and Saitou to also be imbued with energy and grow to monstrous size.   Navcase had no idea how he was going to get through this.

Meanwhile, Kashin was armed to the teeth and following a magnet.  Minions all over the place were trying to take him down as he got closer and closer to Tenma's whereabouts, which he either shot back at or redirected bullets.  Yakuza goons attempted to make use of cover, but that was nothing with Kashin being able to turn their bullets into tiny guided missiles.  The pull grew stronger as he neared a factory, with guards posted all over the place.  Kashin wasted almost no time taking them out one by one, guns blazing as he fought his way through the front door, causing a hail of bullets to rip, both his own and those he repelled thanks to his magnetic personality.  To conserve some of his ammo he let loose with a series of judo punches, kicks, and throws to take out the rest of his adversaries.

"TENMA!!!!"  Kashin shouted.  "Stop sending all of these weaklings after me, or I'll just hurt you more when I FIND YOU!!!!"

"Good.  He's arrived at last.  Karen, get ready."
"<As you wish, father.>"  Karen replied, still under the influence of Drakka's power.

Still more minions were turned into Lorraine Swiss cheese as Kashin worked his way up the stairs, leaping up and clinging to the top of the staircase while hanging upside down and opening fire before dropping down and firing more shots and dropping a few more looser minions.

"TENMA, did you not hear me?"  Kashin shouted again over the reports from his pistols as more guards went down.  I'll have your ass when I get there!"

A few zillion gunshots and bodies later, Kashin had finally arrived on the scene.

"Took you long enough."  Tenma replied.
"How quickly do you want to die, you miserable..."

Kashin was suddenly unable to move as he was pulled to the ground by an incredible force.

"Like that?  It appears you neglected to deal with my companion."  Tenma answered, as Karen stepped out in her armor.
"Try all you like to resist, Zoutou.  She'll keep pulling until she snaps your spine.  You're all mine now."
"DAMN YOU..."  Kashin shouted as he attempted to extend his magnetism to pull in the opposite direction.
"I told you, it's futile."  Tenma said.

Kashin was in trouble.  Karen's power to affect gravity would snap his spine as his body was pulled further and further towards the floor.  His use of magnetism to try and resist the pull was not working too well.  His best hope of getting free was to try and get through Tenma's brainwashing and convince her of the truth.

"KAREN!  He called, his voice strained has he fought to resist the pull.  "TENMA TRICKED YOU!!!!  I'm your real father!"
"Don't believe him!  Crush him!"
"You're holding back because you know it's true!  Remember back, way back, how I used to hold you in my arms and wish nothing but the best for you!  Tenma must have kidnapped you, remember that!  YOu're making a big mistake, Tenma's lied to you and manipulated you!  KAREN!!!!"

Much was going though Karen's mind.  Kashin's pleas.  Tenma's demands.  she could not focus her power because she torn in two.  Whenever she thought of her father, she thought of Tenma.  He after all, had raised her.  But then he brought her back to Japan.

"The tattoos Karen!  You wouldn't know this, but they're the marks of Japanese organized crime!"

The tattoos on Tenma's back flashed into her mind.  She had never seen anyone else with tattoos like that, or at least that covered that much of a person's body.  Naru had joked once about how she would have an easy time of getting a tattoo when she was older because her dad had them all over himself.  The extent of which he had them was nothing to one or two small ones.  Shou had mentioned that the pain of testing the armor was nothing like the pain he'd have to endure a few years later when he joined the family business.  When she asked him what that was, he dodged the question.

Tattoos.  Japanese organized crime.  Kashin's voice.  And then it suddenly hit her.

She had been at home, watching TV when men in fancy suits had broken the door down and tore up the place.  One of them had grabbed her, pulled off pieces of her clothing and took hair samples.  The next person she remembered seeing was Tenma, explaining the circumstances.  That he was her father and rescued her from that man.  That they were going to start a new life in America...

"Karen, Please!"  Kashin shouted.  "PLEASE!!!!"  he said as he was pulled further to he ground.  He lost his resistance and was flat on the ground now.  It would not be much longer.

"D...daddy?"  Karen said, as her faceplate opened, and her armor was dismissed.  The gravitational pressure was off.

"Karen!"  Kashin exclaimed as he got to his feet, and took a long stare at Tenma.

"YOU'RE MINE..."  Kashin declared as he proceeded to unload with the remainder of his shots, which Tenma dove to the side to dodge as the bullets ripped past him.  The distinctive hum filled the room as metal was torn off the wall and flew at Tenma, who somehow managed to dodge.

"Can't we discuss this like gentlemen?"  Tenma asked.
"You're no gentleman.  You kidnapped my daughter and made it look like you murdered her.  You tricked her into thinking you were her real father and turned her against me.  Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."
Kashin's aura flared as his kanji glowed brightly as he made more metal fly at the miserable bastard.  Out of ammo, he focused his power on the plates in Tenma's bulletproof vest, sending him flying clear across the room and magnetized to the wall.  He lifted a heavy metal beam and began to drive it towards Tenma, stopping it only inches from him as Karen screamed for him to stop.

"Daddy!  Don't kill him!  He may be evil, and despicable, and all sorts of other things I don't know about, but he took care of me!  He never hurt me, ever!  He was a model father!  It was probably fake, but he did take care of me!  Please, don't!  If you do, you're just as bad as he is!"  Karen pleaded, in tears.

Tenma had shut his eyes tightly to hide the final moments, however, Kashin took the metal beam and bent it around Tenma's body and pinned him to the wall.

"Let's get out of here."  Kashin replied as he and Karen left.

No sooner were they gone, did Tenma begin talking to himself.  Actually, it was to a communication device.

"We lost her.  Prepare for the final wish.  Those foolish dragons should be here any minute."

*"Understood sir."  came Touru's voice.

Lt. Enzeru and her strike crew were still dealing with the issue of the Mammoth and the Devastator, while Sakura had sped off to take care of the Draconai problem.  Draconai in any state were bad.  Shots were fired again and again as the group tried to blast their way through the thick armor of the two enemy mechs.  Everyone was firing at the weapons systems in order to try and keep them from getting shot at, as they dodged attacks themselves.

"Cover me!  I'm going to try and disable them!" Enzeru declared as she deployed her blades and charged the enemy mech at warp speed, cleanly slicing at the ankles and leg joints on both machines.

"That should slow them down some."
"Yeah, but their armor's still pretty tough.  All the depleted uranium in the world couldn't put a dent in this thing, and I'm unloading most of it!"  I.J. shouted.

"There is more to Tenma's plan than we let on.  This is clearly a means to delay us so that..."  Bakurai explained.
"So they can make the last wish and let Drakka out!"  Suiren answered as she charged the enemy machine, kicking in her jump jets as she blasted a hole with her main gun, which somehow worked.  Tengu took a bomb and tossed it inside the Mammoth, and the group cleared out as it began to explode from within.

"But now what?  How are we gonna get through the other guy?"  Yuri asked.

"We CHARGE!!!!"  I.J. shouted, running like a bat out of hell and slamming into the other mech, causing it to topple like a tree due to the messed up leg joints.  The others clambered over it and raced for the center of town as fast as their mechs could carry them.

They arrived just as Rowen and Ryo's team did, ready to stop all hell from breaking completely loose.

"Where's Sakura?"  Ryo asked.
"Went off to help the rest of Enzeru's guys.  Draconai trouble."  Yuri explained.
"Great.  Now what?"  Kento asked.
"Welcome all!  I trust you didn't have too much trouble getting here."  Houji replied.

"You wish..."  Anubis replied.
"I'm sure you want to kick all of our collective asses one by one, but I can't let you do that.  It's time for my greatest weapon of all!"

"This can't be good, considering who's involved."  Rowen said.
"BIG S!  It's SHOWTIME!!!!!"  Houji exclaimed.
"Big S?  Shouldn't it be Big O?"  Ayako contemplated.  "He couldn't have..."  she thought to herself.

Just then, the ground began to rumble, as manhole covers flew off, water main's broke, and all sorts of other bad things.

"One thing we've learned, is not to underestimate Houji's insanity."  Anubis replied.
"We better get out of the way!"  Ryo shouted as the group ran for cover, as the pavement cracked and burst as a giant red machine burst up through the street, towering over them at least a hundred feet.

"Oh dear...  Big S stands for Sazabi!"
"I take it this is a bad thing?"  Rowen asked.
"Sazabi is from Char's Counterattack.  Char Anzanable's personal mecha!  It's dangerous as all hell!"  Ayako exclaimed.

Before anyone could fully react, the gun pods detached and began firing at the heroes, who dodged the best they could.

"We need a diversion!"  Yuri shouted.
"But what?"  Ran wondered.
"The thing Ayame told us about!"  Yuri shot back.
"Not the..."  Ran asked.
"We've got no other choice!  Initiate Gestalt Mode!"
"Jesus H. Christ, I'm not gonna like this..."  I.J. complained.

As Himeihoshi flew around, he got word of the initiation, peeled off and raced towards the scene.  Far off in the distance, a cockpit began having a light blink, as something also charged towards the city.

"We'll keep it busy!  You guys get upstairs and stop the wish!"  Enzeru shouted.

Ryo and the others rushed off as weapons began to blaze left and right, as Himeihoshi flew in and altered his structure into some sort of legs.  I.J. leapt on top of him and assumed some sort of body stance.

"Now what?"  I.J. asked.
*"We still need Torasume!"  Himeihoshi explained.
"DAMMIT!!!!  Where is that stupid feral kitty anyway?"  I.J. shouted.

The half assembled gestalt just stood there, providing nothing more than good cover to unload on Sazabi with everything they had.

Ryo and the others raced up the stairs, half running, half flying, until the reached the rooftop, and Touru.

"Stop right there!"  Ryo shouted.
"Kai Jin!"  Midori said, as the kanji for all the Seishi began to glow.  This also cause a reaction within the others, as Naru and Shou felt it too. Ayame raced towards the scene, guided by Naru.  Kazuhiko was too powered up to notice in his duel with Navcase.

"Strip Ceiphied of his power and seal the Draconai's ability to transform!"  she shouted.

Then all hell began to break loose.  Energy crackled around her.  Her energy shot way up.  Then the weirdest thing happened.  Her body began to slowly change from a female's into a male's, as her hair became long and evil looking, evil looking armor began to appear out of nowhere, and her voice deepened.

"Hello Seishi.  You know very well who I am.  And I'm pleased to announce that you've come all this way to die."

NEXT EPISODE:

AMATERASU: Despair.  Hope.  Defeat, Victory.  Our journey comes to a head, as the two sides settle their differences, and a battle unlike no other is fought to determine the fate of all.  Next Time, on Ronin Warriors, Hell Back on Earth;  Darkness Dethroned.  Hope to see you then.
 
 

 
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