Yep.
= = =
Disclaimer: Once upon a time in SRW everyone was okay and everything was cool, until The Sage of Toads appeared and said-
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Super Robot Wars: Oh Geez
No we don't wanna Go
[Stage Five: The Echidna's Dilemma]
If you were even paying attention last time, you saw what happens when untested child soldiers are forced into combat against trained experts in their fields. With the Divine Crusaders thoroughly embarrassed, their hideout known, two assets of incredible potential now in the hands of a group most likely to exploit that potential, and members of an elite force of Special Snowflakes becoming aware of bullshit afoot, it looks like things are beginning to look up for our heroes.
Looks like it. Need I remind you that this is only the tip of the turdberg.
[Story Phase]
Aidoneus Island, where it all began stupidly and it all ended stupidly. It was here that the Exta-Over Technology Institute began work on the alien technology sent to Earth by aliens from far off places unknown, and where Bian Zoldark decided "Hey, I'll take over the world through a violent uprising so we'll be ready to fight the aliens. There's no way that'll go wrong".
Now, Aidoneus was a largely scorched crater, gradually filling with water. Being of no military value whatsoever, the Federation abandoned the island, but every so often since the conflict the Divine Crusader Remnants would gather round and circle-jerk to their fallen leader, while reinforcing their own battered egos. Now was one of those occasions, and the Shirogane had just happened to come upon them.
"I'm still not quite sure what I saw down there," a haunted Excellen said in the mess hall with the rest of the ATX Team.
"What we did see, cannot be unseen," Kyosuke replied, his own stoic facade appearing slightly cracked by disbelief.
Bullet had his arms folded on the table and was resting his head on them. "I didn't think it'd be like it is. But it do." He then looked at Kyosuke. "Did you still have to piss on his grave like that?"
"It was his fault, he deserved it." Kyosuke would rather never speak of this day again.
On the bright side, the Shirogane had met up with her sister ship, the Hagane, about partway through the beatdown. Luckily for the latter ship, they did not see the ritualistic mutual masturbation session, so the ship's second in command Tetsuya Onodera was kind of out of the loop as he came upon his comrades.
"Do I really want to know?"
"No!" Kyosuke, Excellen, and Bullet loudly snapped at Tetsuya.
Kusuha patted Bullet on the shoulder and smiled to Tetsuya. "How are you doing, Lieutenant Onodera?"
"I couldn't be better! It's good to see you guys again." Tetsuya sat down, and took note of Lamia. "Plus some new faces, I see."
Kusuha gestured to Lamia. "This is Lamia Loveless. Forgive her, she's got a speech impediment."
Lamia stared intently at the handsome brown-haired man in his sharp uniform. "I want to fuck you like an animal."
Tetsuya recoiled. "Eh?"
Kusuha sighed. "She has coprolalia, she doesn't mean what she says."
"I-I see," Tetsuya said a bit nervously. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Loveless."
"The heavens themselves will be rent asunder by the force of our fucking." She said with a perfectly straight face.
Tetsuya slowly looked to Kyosuke, completely lost. "Where did you find this one?"
"Isurugi gave her and her machine to us."
Tetsuya nodded slowly. "I see."
"Stick your penis into my vagina," Lamia demanded.
Excellen could not hold it in anymore, and she fell out of her chair, laughing hysterically. Bullet, his head still down on the table, was likewise lost in a fit of laughter. Kusuha was much more adept at restraining her own laugh, while Lamia's face was growing quite flushed.
Tetsuya looked to Kyosuke again. "Uh, Kyosuke?"
"You have my blessing," Kyosuke replied with his expected perfect deadpan.
"My God, is this all you people do?!" Lee demanded. He was again sitting at a table immediately adjacent to the group and had gone unnoticed until now.
"Pretty much, but they normally save this kind of material for Manzai Monday." The Legendary Captain of the Hagane, Daitetsu Minase, was also seated at this table, enjoying a smoke from his pipe.
Lee turned a shocked look to Daitetsu. "You mean that's actually a thing?"
"Why wouldn't it be? I'm the one who invented it," Daitetsu replied, "War's a stressful thing, sometimes you have to kick back and relax when aliens are threatening to ravage and enslave your entire race."
Lee was humbled. "I... I see..."
"Can we have it back, then?" Kyosuke asked.
"No," Lee replied succinctly.
"At... any rate..." Tetsuya began slowly, "The Remnant forces we wiped out here were completely unrelated to the unit the Shirogane was pursuing. As a matter of fact, they were staging there to meet up with that unit. With its destruction, they've likely slipped away."
"It's fine, they're heading for Izu," Lee said.
Daitetsu and Tetsuya reacted to this with surprise. "Izu?" The former asked.
"Yeah, since the R-Blade is there, and they tried to steal the Falken, it makes sense that they'd head that way to try to make up for their initial failure somehow," Kyosuke explained.
"Plus, as much as he would like to pretend? That Archibald guy isn't very smart," Excellen added.
"With Earth Cradle doling out new technology and Isurugi padding the Remnants with new weapons, he doesn't need to be," Lee said. "So, I say we trail them to Izu and welcome them when they strike, just like when they tried against the Falken."
Daitetsu agreed with this. "We'll transfer the ATX Team and its units to the Hagane. Lee, you'll head off along the Shirogane's original course, and when Archibald attempts to retreat, you greet them at the exit with the Aggressors unit."
Lee nodded. "Sounds like a plan."
"So, we can have Manzai Monday again?" Excellen asked excitedly.
"Yes," Daitetsu replied.
"Manzai Monday!" She, Kusuha, and Bullet cheered together.
"But it's Thursday." Kyosuke and Tetsuya pointed out together.
A great pall of misery fell over the three; Kyosuke reached over and squeezed Excellen's breast in consolation.
"Sorry," Daitetsu said.
Tetsuya shook his head and looked to Lamia. "All things considered, you fit right in."
Lamia stared back stoically. "I know where you'd fit right in."
Tetsuya stared at Lamia. "Look, I'm flattered-"
"My vagina."
Tetsuya stared at Lamia, mouth agape. After a moment, he sighed and stood up. "Okay, let's do this."
Lamia, with uncharacteristic eagerness, jumped up and dragged Tetsuya out of the mess hall.
"Wait, wait!" Tetsuya yelped. "I was bluffing!"
Kusuha was surprised. "Wait, she meant it this time?"
"Well, Tetsuya Onodera is a sexy, sexy man," Excellen pointed out.
Kusuha could only nod in agreement. "Boy, I wonder how Lefina's going to take that."
Millions of miles away, a sleek red starship raced from the asteroid belt towards Earth. On the bridge, a red-haired woman cradled a stuffed lion on her lap as she stared at the distant blue ball in a bloodthirsty trance.
Back on Earth and in Fujisawa Japan, Yukiko Date was making sure her son was ready to leave home. She had packed his clothes, made sure he got up early, and even made him a big breakfast, which he had eaten every scrap of. It wasn't every day that her little man went off to fight terrorists or aliens or psychics or psychic alien terrorists, and she wanted to make sure he had the best start to his day to ensure he ended theirs.
"There, that's everything," she said cheerfully as she finished zipping up his duffelbag.
"I wonder if the other Ryusei's mother dotes on him as much as you do," Cobray Gordon, a white haired young man from another universe who looked suspiciously like a young Ingram Plisken, said to Yukiko. He was lying on her couch in the living room, watching Sailor Moon on the TV.
Yukiko looked over to Cobray. "Well she'd better. Any and every Ryusei deserves nothing but love and affection. It's key to a sane and stable development!"
Cobray wondered if this universe was irony deficient, as the doorbell rang. "I believe that's Ingram."
Yukiko quickly got up to the door, adjusting her hair and smoothing out her clothes before opening the door. "Hello, Major, here for my son?"
Standing on the front porch was a beautiful blue-haired woman, a textbook example of femme fatale. This was Viletta Badam... in another universe. In this universe, she's Ingram Plisken from another universe. At some point after handing over an unreasonably powerful weapon of Godlike power, his soul wound up in this universe's Ingram, just seconds before it was enslaved to the core of the Aerogators' Neviim weapon.
Deciding to fuck that donkey music (not in his own words), Ingram bounced from his clone and into the body of a then still in the tube Bet Barshem, who later became known as Viletta Badam, and then once this universe's Ingram was dead, revealed herself as the true Ingram who was always on the good guy's side from the get go.
Did I lose you? Well I don't get this convoluted shit either so we're all good.
"Hello Yukiko," Ingram said with a warm smile. "Sadly, I have to take your son back to the battlefield."
"Well, as long as you're keeping him alive so he can fight the enemies of man, I've no worries," Yukiko happily replied. Really, if she were physically fit enough she'd be out there breaking faces herself. "Ryusei, come on! The Major's here!"
"Coming, Mom." Down the stairs came Ryusei Date, possibly the most shockingly normal person you could meet in this universe. An avid gamer who takes care of himself, loves his mother, and has psychic powers, he's taken the weirdness that has consumed his life and left it a quivering pile of "what" in surprising stride.
Ryusei hugged Yukiko, who lifted him off his feet when she hugged him in return. He flushed in embarrassment at the ludicrous bear hug. "H-hey!"
"Oh I'm going to miss you!" Yukiko lamented. "But I know you'll have lots of fun. Don't hold back against the enemy unless they might defect, and if it's a cute girl bring her home for me to meet before you knock her up."
"Geez, Mom. I'm already working out something with a girl, I think..." He wasn't exactly sure about Latune's intentions, but that one time she brought him a rabbit stew she killed and cooked herself must've meant something. "Anyway, are you going to be okay?"
"Oh I'll be fine, Cobray's going to be here to tend to my needs," Yukiko happily replied.
Ingram looked past the Dates and to Cobray. Cobray looked back to Ingram, and the two shared a knowing nod with a gleam in their eyes.
Being psychic, Ryusei wished he couldn't detect Cobray's intentions to bang his Mom and Ingram's intentions to frig herself like crazy while watching Cobray bang his Mom across their own psychic link. Moreover, he wished he couldn't detect his Mom's intentions to bang Cobray in every room of the house the second Ryusei walked out of the door.
Still, much as he wished he could unknow this, he had long accepted it since his psychic powers first manifested in the form of hearing his mother's thoughts regarding how large Kusuha's breasts had gotten in their senior year of High School... and what she wanted to do to them.
Picking up his duffel bag, he gave his Mom another hug. "Uh... just um... drink plenty of fluids I guess... water, sports drinks, and whatever, okay?"
"Of course, sweetie, I'll miss you." She kissed Ryusei on the cheek, before looking to Ingram. "You take care as well, Ingram."
"Will do, Yukiko," Ingram replied as she quietly wished to be in Cobray's place. She then gestured to Ryusei. "Let's go, Ryusei."
"Right," Ryusei replied as he followed Ingram out the door. He looked back to see his mother wave as she slowly closed the door, and then sighed when he heard the thumping of her running to the living room and the sound of the couch skidding across the hardwood floor when she pounced on Cobray. "What is it with you Balmarians, Major?"
"I don't know, what is it with your mother? Even the fake wanted to have his wicked way with her back during the institute days," Ingram replied.
"He didn't, did he?" Ryusei asked.
Ingram laughed. "No, I cockblocked him whenever he even thought about it, just like with Aya."
Ryusei patted Ingram on the shoulder. "You're a good woman, Ingram."
Within the hour, they were at the Federation's Far East HQ, Izu base, one of the very few capable of handling vessels the size of the Shirogane and Hagane. At the front gate of the base, waiting for Ingram and Ryusei's arrival, was Aya Kobayashi, the only pilot of the three main R-Machines old enough to drink. The green-haired young woman who wore a skirt far too short for regulation was smoking a cigarette with the gate guards.
"So, when the fake decided it was time for him to go all 'Ha, ha, I betrayed you', I blocked his shot with one of my strike shields and was all 'Psyche' and then we pounded him with R-Formation while doing Variable Formation at the same time. It was the craziest thing in the world... but damn if it wasn't cool," she said to the two guards, one man and one woman, who hung onto her every word.
"Aya, we're here," Ingram called as she and Ryusei pulled up in a car with the latter behind the wheel.
Aya looked over. "Oh, hey guys. What took you so long?"
Ryusei nodded towards Ingram. "She had to switch with me halfway here."
Ingram was blushing, and Aya wasn't sure she wanted to know why. Ryusei raised an eyebrow. "When did you start smoking?"
Aya looked at him. "Oh, you want one? I can't blame you, I make smoking cool as fuck."
"They're not normal cigarettes," Ingram explained. "Radha made them for us. They're a special blend of herbs that clear your mind and help focus your psychic powers better."
"So... it's weed," Ryusei said.
"It's closer to a low dose of LSD, actually."
Ryusei wasn't so sure if hallucinogens and giant robots mixed. "I see... are you sure that's safe?"
"It just makes colors a little bit brighter and helps me relax." Aya tossed him her pack. "Give 'em a puff, you might like 'em."
Ryusei put the pack away. "Later, let's go check out the R-Blade!"
Within minutes, Ryusei, Aya, and Ingram arrived before a machine that looked much like Ryusei's most powerful steed, the R-1. Except of course without the transformation abilities and sporting a pair of kickass tonfa weapons and revolvers. This was the R-Blade, the result of a cheapass Federation that somehow thinks the cost of mass-producing high performance transforming robots outweighs their necessity to fight aliens.
"Whoa, it looks so cool!" Ryusei gasped.
Irmgard Kazahara and a blond, bespectacled man by the name of Robert Ohmiya walked over. "Glad you think so, dude!" The former called.
"Hey Robert, hey mullet-man, wussup!" Ryusei called to the two men.
"Yo wussup-wussup," Irm replied with a nod. He and Ryusei proceeded to get into an overly complicated and fast secret handshake that just got weird after the first thirty seconds when it went from hand interlocking to poses and flips before they punched each other in the face.
Aya, annoyed by their displays of masculinity already, shook her head and looked to Ingram "Were they like this in that other universe?"
"I'd rather not talk about that," she replied.
"Anyway guys," Robert said, "The R-Blade's ready to go when you are, Ryusei. I know it's been a few months since you saddled up, but I want to get you out there putting her through her paces as hard as you can."
"Sounds good to me," Ryusei said before he looked to Ingram. "So, are you going to be overseeing the training?"
"I'm going to work you like a dog, expect no quarter when we're out there," Ingram warned.
Ryusei smiled weakly. "Well, at least things have already picked up where they left."
"Just a heads up though, Brosei, we've got you kitted out with live ammo again," Irm warned.
Ryusei cringed. "This isn't gonna be like that Alteisen thing again, is it? I still have nightmares about that." And how badly Kyosuke beat his ass.
"Nah, we just gotta be on alert for DC Remnants, they tried to steal the WIld Falken over in Hawaii," Irm replied grimly.
Both Aya and Ryu were new to this, with Ryu being especially worried. "Are Rai and Lat okay?"
"Yeah, they're fine. They tried to steal it, but Latune was too much for them and they even managed to capture some of their pilots instead. But the main force got away, and are headed this way, they might be after the Blade."
Ryusei smirked. "I'd like to see them try, I can't embarrass myself by losing to those guys if Rai and Latune had no problem with them."
"That's the spirit," Ingram said before she turned to Aya. "Want to ride along with me to observe, Aya?"
Aya blushed some. "I'd really love to, but I wanted to sit back and observe with my sister over at the command center."
Ingram nodded and looked to Robert. "Well Mr. Ohmiya, it looks like we'll be ready to sortie soon."
Robert clapped his hands together. "Great!" he looked to Irm. "Let's get the Grungust started up!"
At Isurugi Industries HQ, Mitsuko Isurugi was sitting at her desk, holding her fan in one hand, as she stared down at a telephone set on speaker. On the line was Archibald, who she hoped she was going to get an explanation from.
"So that's your report," she said.
"Yep," Archibald replied.
"You sent your units to acquire the Falken, using the School Children."
"Yep."
"They were killed in action."
"Dead."
"And you have nothing to show for it."
"To be fair, it wasn't my fault," Archibald said, "It was their handler, Cuervo Cero. Apparently his idea of training the brats was instilling a sense of individuality and compassion in them. They didn't stand a chance out there."
Mitsuko sighed. "I want you to castrate him and send me his balls on ice. I would like to dine on them."
"Honestly, I think someone beat you to it, he's a total puss."
Tapping her fan against the side of her head, Mitsuko wondered how much longer she had to suffer this stupidity. "Mr. Archibald."
"Yes, 'Rose'?"
"I'm on a tight schedule and I have very important guests to speak to. Without the Wild Falken, those guests are going to be disappointed and they already have no interest in the Huckebein Mark II-M. So what are you going to do?"
"Bring you the R-Blade. Don't you worry about a thing, Rosie, I'll have that and some balls for you to snack on before the end of the day."
Mitsuko smiled. "Bring me the Grungust, and I'll snack on yours, Archie. It's going to be over at Izu after all."
On the bridge of the Killer Whale, Archibald's eyebrows rose. "Ooh, that's is quite the bargain to drive. You have a deal, Rosie. One R-Blade and one Grungust coming up."
"Good, and I'll send you help. Feel free to kill them when you're done with them, they ask for far too much," Mitsuko replied.
Archibald grinned. "You spoil me, Rosie. Now I have to go, some folks from the Cradle are here to see me in all my grandeur."
Mitsuko ended the call, and looked to her guests, a pair of men standing on the other side of her desk. "So, Mr. Mekibos, Mr. Wendolo, what are your thoughts on the Grungust series...?"
Back on the Killer Whale, Archibald bit his lower lip when the newcomer from Earth Cradle arrived. A tall, cold, and huge-breasted woman in even sluttier clothing than that Spritzer girl stood before him, standing rod straight like the erection in his pants. "And you would be...?"
"Echidna Iisakki, I am a special operative for the Earth Cradle. I come bearing new pilots and new machines for those pilots to use."
Suddenly his boner was gone. He could already tell this one was going to be no fun at all. "Oh, that's nice. What kind of machines do you have for us? Something ending in 'Lion', I'm sure."
"Earth Cradle exclusive machines," Echidna replied before she held up a tablet and showed off the machine in question.
And just like that, his boner was back and harder than ever before. "Well, that looks like it could cause a hilariously unwarranted amount of collateral damage!"
"In our line of work, collateral damage is not only warranted, but encouraged, is it not?" Echidna asked.
Archibald stared at her. "M'lady, I want to fuck you. I hope you're into asphyxiation play, because I'm into strangulation play."
Standing off to the side, Yuuki was covering his ears and humming as loudly as he could. Carla had a thousand yard stare, and looked like she was close to snapping. Perhaps the preview guy was wrong last chapter.
"Whatever gets you off, Major," Echida said without flinching in the slightest. "I've brought the School Child designated Aurum-1 to bolster your forces. She insisted on coming, and killed four pilots in order to take their place."
Off to the side again, Cuervo pissed himself where he stood, and despite being in her shellshocked state, Carla stepped away from the growing puddle of urine on the floor at his feet.
"Aurum-1?" Archibald asked before a green-haired woman with a modest sense of attire (for once) walked onto the bridge and looked around eagerly.
"Arado, Seolla! I'm here!" Aurum-1, or Ouka Nagisa as Cuervo named her, said happily. When she didn't see them, she frowned. "Where are they?"
Archibald looked to Cuervo. "So, this was the girl who you were worried about finding out that Arado and Seolla were KIA?"
"What?" Ouka asked.
Cuervo snapped out of his fear-trance. "You fool, she's going to kill us all in her rage!"
Archibald ignored him and looked back to Ouka. "I'm so sorry, but when we sent them out, they were swiftly cut down by the EFA. They didn't stand the slightest chance against their aces."
The evolution of Ouka's expression from happiness, to shock, to disbelief, to horror, and then to rage was magnificent to behold. Even if he were to die in the next three seconds, Archibald felt it was worth it to witness it.
Echidna just stood to the side, as Ouka's eyes began to actually glow red, her muscles became visible, and her face contorted to an expression of bestial rage. "What."
Yuuki, deaf to the world thanks to his humming, was interrupted by the killing intent he felt, and looked to Ouka. Staring at her, he immediately realized why she was angry. "Whoa, wait, wait! They're not dead! They're not!"
Carla looked at him, when he preempted the very thing she was about to do. "Oh thank God."
Ouka slowly turned her gaze to Yuuki. "They... are not?"
"No, they were captured, but I'm certain they're still alive!" he quickly said. "So please do not go into an uncontrollable rage and kill us all, put that energy towards rescuing them!"
Archibald let out an annoyed huff. He wanted to see just how badly she would've snapped, and if she would've splattered Cuervo all over the bridge first before he put a few shotgun shells in her.
Ouka stared at him, narrowed her eyes, and then nodded. "What's your name?"
"Y-Yuuki Jagger..."
Carla spoke up. "Yes, we were both there. We were overwhelmed by their numbers, but he's right. I saw them both alive as we were forced back."
Ouka calmed down from her borderline berserker state, and gave both of them close scrutiny. "You are?" She asked Carla.
"C-Carla Borgnine, please don't kill us," Carla whimpered.
Ouka blinked a few times, and relaxed. "Very well then, I will rescue them. You, Yuuki Jagger, and you, Carla Borgnine, are going to be my wingmen."
Archibald was disappointed, but he wasn't going to argue against the woman who partially bulked out Kenshiro-style right in front of him. He looked to Echidna. "Quite a colorful bunch you Earth Cradle folk, eh?"
"It is of no concern to me, their behavior," she mechanically replied.
"Well, this is good. We have to go to Izu anyway to steal a machine, and you have to rescue some friends. Everybody wins!" Archibald said cheerfully.
"I will also require insertion," Echidna added.
Archibald nodded. "Come sit on my lap baby and let's get this started then."
"I meant that I will require insertion at Izu Base," Echidna clarified.
Archibald smirked. "Kinky girl, doing it in enemy territory. I like that."
"No, I mean I have to infiltrate the base."
"Oh..." Archibald was a bit disappointed. "All right, a three-fer. This mission just gets more and more exciting by the second."
Echidna nodded and sat on his lap. "Very well, you may commence insertion."
Archibald raised an eyebrow. "But we won't be at Izu for a time."
"I am aware of that."
Archibald smirked. "Dirty girl."
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Carla screamed before she stormed for the doors.
"Ah-ah!" Archibald said, before soldiers pointed rifles at her and Yuuki. "I didn't dismiss you. You are ordered to watch."
Yuuki wanted to say something, anything, but the rifle prodding his back and Carla's made him just cover his ears and start humming-
"And none of that pretending this isn't happening," Archibald said. "It is." He adjusted his sunglasses. "Deal with it."
"May I be excused?" Ouka asked.
"Oh, yeah sure, go on ahead." Archibald replied.
Ouka quietly left the bridge, thinking of nothing else but rescuing her dear friends.
[Battle Phase]
Out on the Izu Base proving grounds, the R-Blade stood ready in front of the Super Robot that towered over it. The SRG-01 Grungust Type 1 was a giant robot that followed the Super Robot tradition of being heavily armored, extremely powerful, and having a completely baffling, physically impossible transformation sequence. It was used by Irm with great effect during the DC War, and now it was about to haunt Ryusei's dreams.
"Okay, maybe this is a bit much to start with," Ryusei murmured to himself as the Grungust got ready.
"C'mon Brosei, you're not chickening out on me, are you?" Irm asked.
Ryusei chuckled and grabbed his controls. "Nah, I was just worried about hurting you, Irmbro."
"Well that's why I brought the Gust! Well, that and Kyosuke's too busy to love you gently his stake."
"All right boys, let's get focused and play nice," Ingram called from her preferred ride, the PTX-005 Wildschwein. The dark blue totally-not-a-Gundam before the Huckebein was totally-not-a-Gundam stood atop a tower with its arms folded, overseeing the test. "But don't play too nice, I want you to actually try."
In the base's reinforced command center, Aya watched with Robert and a few other techs from Mao Industries. The latter added, "Yeah, don't hold back at all Ryusei. And Irm, try not to destroy this one like you did the other one?"
"Wait, the other one?" Ryusei asked.
"I know, I know, Ring's still pissed about it," Irm said as he got ready.
"What did Irm do to the other one?" Ryusei demanded.
"Let's just say we're still picking pieces of Katina out of that one's cockpit," Robert added.
Aya grimaced. "Ooh, ouch."
"Luckily I'm not Katina." Ryusei immediately checked his weapons. "G-Revolvers? Haha, no... gonna go straight to the Blade Tonfas!"
The Grungust raised its arm as the R-Blade drew its tonfas. Irm grinned darkly. "Well, let's see what R-Blade can do! BOOST KNUCKLE!"
The Grungust's rocket punch left its arm and soared straight for the R-Blade. At the last second, the R-Blade jumped up onto the flying fist and leaped from towards the Gungrust. Irm watched Ryusei barrel towards him with a smug look on his face as the Boost Knuckle rapidly changed direction and homed right in on the R-Blade's back.
Much to his surprise, however, the R-Blade's engines fired and it performed a backflip over the punch. "Nope!" Ryusei shouted before he followed the fist back to the Grungust. As the Grungust caught the fist back on its arm, the R-Blade struck, performing a spinning slash attack against the Grungust's chest.
The R-Blade then kicked off the Grungust and landed a safe distance back. "See? Not Katina! I understand the concept of evasion!"
Irm laughed. "Damn, you actually got better while you were off-duty?"
"I may have played some Burning PT from time to time to stay sharp," Ryusei admitted.
"Well, knowing that you aren't rusty, I can open up the throttle some." With that, Irm drew the Grungust's sword, the Calamity Blade. "Here we go!"
The Grungust charged the R-Blade and swung, the smaller PT narrowly avoiding the slash. The next blow, a horizontal strike, was blocked by the tonfas but still sent the R-Blade flying back. Managing to recover, Ryusei avoided another strike.
"Come on Irmbro! I can get a little more out of her! Kick it up!" he taunted his friend.
"That's what I like to hear!" Irm called back before he targeted the R-Blade. "OMEGA LASER!"
Beams fired from the Grungust's eyes and carved across the tarmac, but missed the R-Blade as it dodged, leaped over, and ducked under their attempts to connect.
"Wow, he's really improved," Robert admitted.
Aya nodded in agreement, as the doors leading to the control room opened and another person walked in.
"Have I missed anything?" The new person asked.
"No, they just got started," Aya said to the young woman who took a seat next to her and began watching the test intently. Mai Kobayashi, Aya's sister and former threat to mankind, smiled when the Grungust and R-Blade clash with melee weapons once again.
Tossed into the air by a blocked swing of the Calamity Blade, the R-Blade twirled around and landed behind the Grungust, which turned around to face it. The R-Blade twirled its tonfas and struck a pose as the Grungust raised its sword.
"Not bad, boys," Ingram congratulated. "Ryusei, you're still as aggressive as ever, but you've actually learned to measure out that aggression some. Irm, I sense that you're still holding back a bit much; you know the R-Blade's limits, so push them."
Irm nodded. "Yes, Major. Ready, Brosei?"
"As I'll ever be!" Ryusei replied.
The Grungust then threw the Calamity Blade into the sky with all of its might. "Then you're going to be my guinea pig! "Change Gust Lander!"
Jumping into the air, the giant robot swiftly and impossibly transformed, taking the form of a twin-cannon packing tank. Taking aim, the Gust Lander tank mode opened fire with both its main armament and high explosive missiles.
Ryusei gulped as the projectiles converged upon him. "Oh crap."
As the intense explosions shook the base, Robert grimaced. "Oh man, here we go..."
Much to everyone's surprise, the R-Blade leaped back from the smoke largely undamaged. "Whew... that was close..."
"Change Wing Gust!" Through the smoke the Grungust's fighter (bomber?) mode the Gust Wing charged and crashed into the R-Blade, before going into a rapid climb, throwing Ryusei forward in his seat.
"Whoa!" Ryusei yelped as the two machines ascended rapidly. After a ten second climb, the Wing Gust chopped its power and the R-Blade went drifting higher.
Irm smirked. "Change Grungust!" The Wing Gust transformed rapidly back to its Grungust form, and caught the R-Blade before throwing it towards the ground below. "This is it!"
"Oh man, he's dead," Aya said as the R-Blade fell towards the ground at high speed.
"It's Katina all over again..." Robert lamented.
Once again, however, Ryusei defied expectation by managing to recover and land the R-Blade, the ground cratering underneath it as it landed in a kneel. Ryusei, however, had no time to relax as he sensed the big finish coming.
Raising the tonfas, he held them up as the Grungust came down on the R-Blade, swinging down its Calamity Sword. "Calamity Sword... Darkness Slash!"
The resulting impact kicked up a cloud of dirt and pulverized pavement. When it cleared, however, the R-Blade was still intact, the edge of the Calamity sword stopped a mere foot from impacting against its crossed tonfas. Sitting in the cockpit of the PT, Ryusei slumped into his seat and let out a long sigh of relief.
"I saw my life flash before my eyes again," he breathed.
Irm looked to Ingram. "How was that?"
"Perfect," Ingram replied.
Robert applauded the show. "The R-Blade has only been slightly damaged. Excellent defensive piloting, Ryusei."
"Hey, I thought I was gonna die for a second." Ryusei looked to Irm. "What was that?"
"Just a special attack I'm working on. I couldn't use it at full power cuz, you know, you'd die," Irm replied. "How was it?"
"Nine out of ten, would be killed by it again."
Irm pumped a fist. "Hell yeah."
A bad feeling then overcame Ryusei, and he quickly looked around. "Hey, Major, you feel that?"
Ingram could feel it, as she looked around as well. "That must be the visitors the Hagane warned us about. They certainly are punctual."
In the command center, Izu Base's vice commander, an old man by the name of Sakae Takanaka, frowned when he overheard Ryusei and Ingram sensing it when the radar couldn't. "Must be that new jamming system of theirs. Air Defense units, prepare for a strike!"
Sure enough, dozens of missiles erupted from the nearby sea, and arched over to fall on the base. Drawing a Machine Gun, the Wildschwein opened fire on the missiles along with the R-Blade's G-Revolvers and the Grungust's Omega Lasers, joining the the chorus of anti-air guns that wiped out the missile barrage.
When the smoke cleared, a strange unit hovered in the sky. A bulky black and rust-colored machine with large, blade-shaped wings, a three bladed claw weapon on its right arm, and a five-barreled cannon on its left. It was easily the ugliest looking machine any of them had ever seen.
Irm tilted his head. "That is the most ghetto-ass attempt at ripping off Alteisen I've ever seen."
Sakae then radioed in, "We're about to send some Lions out-"
"Belay that, they'd just end up being cannon fodder," Ingram warned.
The ASK-G03C Rapiecage targeted the Wildschwein. Inside the cockpit, Ouka narrowed her eyes. "PTX-05 Wildschwein. Ingram Plisken."
Their commander using such an old and weak machine, it would be the first to go. The tesla drives in its wings sending plasma arcing all over its body, the Rapiecage accelerated straight for the Wildschwein at tremendous speed. "Magnum Break, set!"
The Rapiecage lunged to impale the Wildschwein, and ended up whiffing entirely. Ouka was surprised. "I missed?"
"Your debut in your new machine and you miss. Have you spent all your time shooting down idle drones and hapless regulars, little girl?" Ingram taunted as the Wildschwein landed on the ground behind the Rapiecage, its arms still folded.
Ouka frowned and quickly opened fire with the Rapiecage's autocannon. The Wildschwein merely hopped out of the way of the burst, before drawing a shotgun and firing back at the Rapiecage, which boosted through the fire with negligible damage and closed in on the Wildschwein.
"I commend your prudence to attack the commander first, but you missed a very important step in your attack," Ingram warned before the Grungust walked up and punted the Rapiecage across the tarmac and into the side of a hangar. "Suppress all other units in the vicinity before attacking at close range."
The Rapiecage got up, just in time to see the Grungust's Boost knuckle bear down on it. The rocket punch connected, sending the Rapiecage through it and three more hangars lined up next to the first building. Coming out the other side, the Rapiecage skidded backwards, clutching onto the Boost Knuckle, before it uppercut it away.
As the rocket punch returned, Irm gave the machine a careful look. "Yeah, that's definitely not based on any PT frame we've got."
Ingram noticed something even more concerning. "It's repairing itself as well. Zyfuld?"
"God, I hope not," Ryusei groaned before alarms both in his head and in his machine alerted him of incoming long range fire. "Look out!"
Projectiles, this time shells, rained around the Grungust, R-Blade, and Wildschwein. Kilometers away, on the shore of the bay, Carla let out a despondent sigh as she fired on the Grungust in her new machine, an ugly green mass of walking artillery known as the RGC-030 Randgrith, with its Linear Bazooka weapon.
"Yuu, baby, we gotta get out of here," she said. "Once that Grungust sees us, it's over."
"I know," Yuuki admitted from his own Randgrith. "But we can't leave yet. We have to get to Earth Cradle, and tell Colonel Tran about Archibald. He's the only one who can stop him."
"I don't know, Colonel Tran hired that guy. Maybe he already knows he's a nutjob."
"Carla, the DC's purpose is to protect the Earth. People like Archibald have no place in it, they never have and never will."
"What about those School guys?" Carla argued as a quartet of Barrelions joined in shelling the base and four more regular Lions raced in for the R-Blade.
"They were Federation holed up in the Earth Cradle. At the very best, they're a third party."
Carla sighed and watched the R-Blade and the Wildschwein tag-team the Rapiecage. The Grungust, however, was looking in their direction. "Baby... it's looking at us."
The Grungust then held its arms out, and its chest began to glow. Yuuki paled. "All right, move!"
"FINAL BEAM!" Irm roared, and the Grungust's chest beam attack tore apart everything between it and the distant Randgriths, which managed to get out of the way thanks to the rollers on their feet. The Barrelions, however, were not so lucky. Two were damaged and crashed, while the other two were reduced to stray particles by the attack.
Carla began to cry. "Oh my God..."
Irm heard it over the radio, and recoiled. "A woman crying, the absolute worst sound in the world. Hey, are you guys okay over there?"
Yuuki growled and fired again on the Grungust. "You have the nerve to ask if we're okay after killing our comrades?!"
The long range shells smacked against the Grungust, and didn't do much. Irm ignored it as he contacted the other Randgrith. "You don't sound too hot for the usual DC reject, are you okay?"
"No, I'm not!" Carla yelled. "I'm piloting a slow as shit walking target against a fucking Grungust, and it's actually preferable to going back to my ship and being forced to watch my commander kill people or screw women just so he can get off on my disgusted reaction. I only joined the DC to avenge my little brother who was killed by those alien bitches, and now I'm stuck up to my neck in bullshit because this guy over here is too proud to admit that he was wrong!"
Yuuki looked at Carla, shocked. "Carla, the DC are doing the right thing, Colonel Tran is proof of that!"
Irm scratched his head. "Ooooookay?"
Behind him, the R-Blade narrowly ducked under the Rapiecage's Magnum Break before slashing it several times with the Blade Tonfas. As he kicked it back, the Wildschwein leaped upon it, its armed mounted Circle Zanber lighting up.
"Circle Zanber, Dead-End Slash!" Ingram called as she swung the weapon, leaving a gash of molten metal across the Rapiecage's chest that, to her chagrin, quickly cooled and repaired itself.
"We're not doing enough damage to hurt this thing," Ryusei lamented.
"Astute observation," Ingram replied before the four Lions attacked, two of them coming down on the Wildschwein as the other two attacked the R-Blade. Ingram quickly evaded her attackers, before blasting one in the shoulder with her shotgun.
As the Lion fell back, the Rapiecage was all up in her grill, plunging its Magnum Break for the Wildschwein's chest. Instead, it smashed into the Circle Zanber, ruining it and the Wildschwein's arm.
Ingram raised the shotgun, and blasted the Rapiecage in the chest sending it stumbling back. "I liked that weapon. Now I'm annoyed."
The Rapiecage kicked the Wildschwein away, and then looked at R-Blade, which had just chopped one of the Lions in half and beheaded the other. Twirling the tonfas, Ryusei stared back at the Rapiecage. "You okay, chief?"
"Perfectly fine," Ingram said as she got back up. Railgun bolts from the Lions struck the Personal Trooper, before Ingram boosted back from it. "I may be a bit held up with one arm. Will you be all right?"
Ouka charged Ryusei, violently knocking back the R-Blade before lunging for the cockpit. Ryusei parried the strike with a tonfa, before the R-Blade took a punch to the head from the Rapiecage's other fist. "I'll probably not die."
"You most assuredly will!" Ouka yelled as she suddenly boosted back.
"Hey stay on your own channel!" Ryusei yelled before the sky was suddenly filled with glowing orange bolts. "Okay, what."
"FORCE RAY!" Ouka yelled as the bolts showered the R-Blade.
"Okay, WHAT."
Before the R-Blade could be torn apart by the intense barrage, it was suddenly gone. Jostled around by the sudden acceleration, Ryusei shook the cobwebs out of his head and then looked up at his rescuer. "Oh, cool."
Inside the Vysaga, Lamia looked up at the Rapiecage. That's an Ash Saber, but it's hideous, what have they been doing over at the cradle?
Ouka gave a start when she saw the Vysaga. "That machine, it looks like the Zweizergain, how did the EFA get it?"
She would have to bring that back too. "However they acquired it, I shall reclaim it!"
Lamia looked down at Ryusei's machine. "Is your penis damaged?"
Ryusei stared blankly. "Excuse me?"
"I mean... is your cock broken, can you still fuck?" Lamia punched herself in the head. "YOUR. ROBOT. DOES. IT WORK."
Why was the computer in the robot spewing obscenity at him? Ryusei decided it was probably going to be the least unusual thing to deal with today. "I'm fine. But who are you?"
Lamia took a deep breath. "I. AM. A. T. X."
She drew the Vysaga's sword and blocked the Rapiecage's Magnum Break, before headbutting the smaller machine back.
Ouka let out a growl and looked at her Magnum Break arm. "Why doesn't this stupid thing work?!"
She heard an alarm and turned to block the oncoming attack, but stopping the Alteisen was a laughable prospect. Staking the Rapiecage in the chest, Kyosuke lifted the machine up into the air as he examined Ouka's problem. "Clearly, you have an issue with your execution. Watch very carefully."
The stake fired. "One." It fired again. "Two." It fired again. "Three." Again. "Four." Again. "Five." Again. "And Six."
Tossing the Rapiecage over its head and to the ground, Alteisen ejected the spent shell casing and reloaded. "Maybe if you got a revolver you'd suck less."
Much to his surprise, the Rapiecage slowly got up, and turned around to face the Alteisen, the gaping hole in its chest quickly repairing. "You mean if I wanted to suck, I'd get a rev-"
And then the Rapiecage ate all of the Claymores. All of them.
The Rapiecage fell over, and Kyosuke was concerned. "Normally machines don't get up after eating a delicious stake. What's with this one?" He looked to Lamia. "Okay, what is it?"
Lamia let out a sigh. "It is a customized Ass Slayer."
Kyosuke was silent for a moment. "I know that's not right, but that's so amusing that I'm going to call it that from now on."
"Nanbu, thank you for your usual heroics." Ingram had been backed up and saved by the Weisser Ritter, which landed along with the Huckebein Mk-II.
Kyosuke nodded. "No problem."
Ingram then contacted Irm. "Kazahara, what's your situation?"
"Uh, everything's under control here," Irm said as he sat on the shoulder of his Grungust with Carla, who was wiping her eyes with some tissue. Next to Carla was an annoyed Yuuki. "I just had some couples therapy to work out, or something, it's weird."
"You at least captured their machines?" Ingram asked.
"Perfectly intact, one of them even wants to defect. Says she's sick of this dumb shit in the DC, and just wants to kill Archibald," Irm answered.
"She's okay in my book," Kyosuke immediately said.
Bullet looked over, and gulped. "Uh, Kyosuke?"
"Yeah?" Kyosuke saw the Rapiecage was getting back up, its repairing body either spitting out or absorbing the titanium bearings fired into it. "I wonder how it does that."
"Fuck you, that's how!" Ouka screamed as she unleashed the Force Ray spray, the Vysaga, Alteisen, and Huckebein Mk II tanking the worst of the barrage for the R-Blade, Wildschwein, and Weisser Ritter respectively. "I will not give up until I have saved Arado and Seolla!"
Excellen then raised the Weisser Ritter's hand from behind the Huckebein Mark II. "Ah, you're Ouka Nagisa?"
Ouka stopped. "Yes, I am. Who told you?"
"Lat, she wanted me to send you these pictures," Excellen said before she beamed some image files to the Rapiecage. Inside the Rapiecage, Ouka was suddenly treated to pictures of Latune enjoying her every day life. Such simple things as learning to dance with Giado, helping out Garnet who was well along in her pregnancy, to hanging out with Princess Shine and Major Kitamura's daughter.
Ouka stared at the images in shock. "Latune's alive!? Where is she?! Who are these people she's with?"
"Her family and friends, you silly girl!" Excellen replied happily. "After she left the School she was adopted, and she's been living with her parents ever since. Oh, and there's one more thing I got to send you."
A video file was then sent to the Rapiecage, showing Seolla and Arado with Latune. "Ouka," Seolla said happily. "We found Latune! We don't have to fight anymore, so come with us!"
"Yeah," Arado said. "Besides, that Archibald guy is a sicko who felt up Seolla. I should've let her kill him."
"Yes, you should've you moron," Seolla said as she flicked Arado's ear.
"Ow!"
"So yes," Latune said. "Do not be fool and come home."
Ouka stared blankly at the screen, and then looked at the group of PTs in front of her. "Do you expect me to just believe that you saved Latune, Seolla, and Arado, and want me to come peacefully with you?"
"Yes," Kyosuke said.
Ouka bristled. "Do you honestly think I'm that naive."
"No, but we're offering you a chance to not fight a stupid war and live with the people you love and care for most," Excellen said cheerfully. "Besides, a pretty girl like you should be breaking hearts, not killing people!"
Ouka relented from her angry position, and hummed. "Go be with Latune, Seolla, and Arado where we can live peacefully... or stay with Granny and fight forever..."
Of course, being the big sister she was, it was a no-brainer for Ouka. "Code DTD."
A mechanical voice called out. "Self-Destruct System disabled."
Ouka then set her IFF from Divine Crusader to Earth Federation Army, and then looked back to the ATX and SRX Teams. "I want to see them, now."
"What the actual fuck," Lamia said.
Bullet scratched his head. "Seriously, it was that easy?"
"It should always be this easy, don't complain," Kyosuke said.
Down in the command center, Mai chuckled. "You guys have gotten better at convincing people!"
"Yeah, this time Ryusei didn't have to physically rip someone out of their machine to do it," Aya said, prompting a blush to appear on Mai's cheeks.
Sakae was also quite pleased. "Ah, no more enemies on the screen, excellent!"
Of course, that turned out to be a bold-faced lie as a large swirling beam of blue and white suddenly crashed into the ground and surged towards the ATX Team, Ryusei, and Ingram.
"AW FUCK IT'S A VALSION!" Bullet screamed as everyone scattered to avoid the attack, which tore a massive swath of destruction through the base.
It was indeed a Valsion, the ugliest Valsion they'd ever seen, which was a feat in itself because the Valsion was an ugly, ugly fucker. Painted bright yellow and sporting an entirely different configuration of armor, it was an attempt at making a Super Robot "Real" and came up short as "Real Dumb".
"That's... the Valsion Kai Type CF," Ingram said.
"The what now?" Kyosuke asked.
"An attempt by the Federation to mass produce the Valsion Kai, it was being put to trials by the company that built it, but it suddenly disappeared one day," Ingram replied.
"And that company would be?" Kyosuke asked as the Valsion Kai CF descended, though he already had an idea.
Ingram nodded. "Isurugi Heavy Industries."
Kyosuke lost his composure for a half second, becoming incomprehensibly enraged, and then regained it. "Yeah, that's it. After this, we're ending this stupid shit ASAP."
But it was always dumbest before dawn, for joining the Valsion Kai Type Character Fucker was a very unusual Guarlion Custom, painted in orange, yellow, green, and black, and clearly modeled after a Samurai of some type, given the katana attached to its hip.
"ATX Team, that girl, and that R-Blade, and that Grungust... belongs to us." Lorenzo di Montiago, the pilot of the Valsion Kai Type Child Fiddler, declared.
"No, fuck you, go away," Kyosuke said.
In the cockpit of the Guarlion Custom "Mumyou" its pilot, a heavily scarred and bearded man named Murata snorted. "Then we'll just take it, underling of Sanger Somvold!"
Kyosuke pretended to be surprised. "Oh, oh! You have something personal with Oyabun? Well then, you're not my fight, so you may as well just fuck off before we deny Him the pleasure of tying you up, you loose end."
Murata sneered. "Such bravado! Typical of you Earth Federation swine!" The Guarlion Mumyou drew its Katana and a Knife. "I'll cut your ego down to size!"
He charged the Alteisen, as Excellen targeted and opened fire on the Mumyou. Much to her surprise, her B-Mode rounds bounced off the sloped armor of the machine. "What kind of armor is that?"
The Mumyou's sword slash was blocked by the Alteisen's heat horn, before Kyosuke used the revolver stake to block the knife. Murata responded by firing off the Mumyou's autocannons at close range, but that was about as effective as throwing rocks at a rock quarry. Alteisen kicked the Guarlion backward and lunged to get the stake in, but Murata jumped away.
The Mumyou tried to chop into the Alteisen again, but the Alteisen's ridiculous durability only created a large gouge in its shoulder. Murata received an uppercut from the stake for his troubles, but was only knocked back by the stake glancing off its armor.
Kyosuke snorted in annoyance. "When I can't properly stake something, I get annoyed."
Lorenzo let out a laugh, as the Valsion Kai Type Chlorine Fluoride began to let out an alarmingly bright glow. "You should be frightened!"
Kyosuke recognized that light. "Wait, that's the light Bian's unit emitted."
"So... Isurugi was able to recreate the Graviton Wave, this could be bad," Ingram said.
Murata looked back at Lorenzo and grimaced before he took off fast as he could from the Valsion. Inside his machine, the DC Remnant Commander folded his arms and smirked. "Well then, you have a choice, ATX Team. Either the Divine Crusaders get what they want, or Izu base becomes a massive crater like Aidoneus! What will it be?"
A phone rang in Alteisen's cockpit, and Kyosuke answered it. "Yello?"
"Hey, it's me Shu. I'm in the neighborhood, may I cameo and save you all while looking as smug as humanly possible?"
"Nah, we got this," Kyosuke replied.
"Ah, very well. Do be wary of our guests coming to visit in a while, they're not very friendly." With that the call ended, and the Grungust smashed into the Valsion Kai Type Colin Farrell and punched it with both fists as hard as it could.
"You want Grungust?! I'll give you more Grungust than every woman in your immediate family can take after some serious kegel exercise!" Irm yelled as the Grungust's chest began to glow very brightly. "LIMITER OFF! FINAL BEAM!"
"G-GRAVITON WA-!" Lorenzo yelped, but a second too late. The Final Beam met the exploding Graviton Wave, and the ensuing explosion blew the Valsion Kai Type Completely Fucked into the bay, while the Grungust went flying backward a kilometer before coming down in three or four large pieces.
"Irm!" Bullet and Ryusei yelled together.
"I-I'm okay..." Irm moaned over the radio. "Seatbelts, motherfucker."
Murata looked down at the scene, and sighed. "A waste of my time."
"Yes, welcome to our every day lives," Kyosuke said to him.
Murara radioed Lorenzo. "Are you still alive?"
"Yes, I'm withdrawing, you should as well," an embarrassed Lorenzo muttered.
Murata looked over and saw why, the Hagane was arriving and every gun it had was trained on him. Letting out a growl, he activated the Mumyou's ASRS, scrambling their targeting systems, and flew off fast as he could.
As the ship arrived, Kyosuke folded his arms and looked over at the Rapiecage. "Come on then, let's wrap this up and get you to your family."
Ouka nodded. "Yes, let's."
Excellen smiled. "Yay, a happy ending!"
"And all it cost us was a Grungust," Ingram teased.
"Shut up!" Irm groaned as Ryusei and Bullet rushed to his aid.
As the machines headed towards the landing ship, Kyosuke wondered what Shu meant by guests, and decided that some serious action was going to be necessary to head any of that stupidity off. First he needed an audience with a very important person, and then he needed to get in contact with even more important people.
I just hope you're not too hard to find, Sanger, Kyosuke thought to himself.
Lamia, bringing up the rear of the group, then noticed an incoming message, and grew wide-eyed. "W-16... oh great..."
Aboard the Hagane, with the Rapiecage firmly locked up, Ouka walked down a corridor with the sisters Kobayashi, still wary about how this seemed simply too easy, and ready in case she had been lured into a trap. Aya, smoking one of her psychosticks, smirked to Mai, who patted Ouka on the shoulder.
"The EFA is made up mostly of self-serving idiots, but the Hagane and Hiryu are the diamonds in that rough. You're not the first person they saved from some serious trouble," she assured Ouka.
Ouka frowned. "Oh?"
"Yes, I was brainwashed by the Aerogators to be the core of the White Star, but they were able to save me and reunite me with my family," Mai explained.
Ouka looked from Mai to Aya in surprise, who nodded assent. "Yeah, it's a crazy story. You'll probably end up hearing it pretty soon."
Ryusei, who left the sickbay of the Hagane after checking on Irm, smiled to Mai and Aya. "Ah, you brought her along. The kids are in the mess hall."
Mai flushed a bit. "H-hey Ryusei..."
Ouka raised an eyebrow. "You're the man who piloted the R-Blade."
"Yep! No hard feelings about earlier, right?" Ryusei asked as he extended his hand to shake.
Ouka looked at him, then at his hand, and then gave it a tentative shake. "None, no."
She had been trying to kill him not at all too long ago, and he was able to just smile and brush it off like nothing happened? They were either honest to goodness kind folks, morons, or bastards trying to get her to lower her guard.
Releasing Ryusei's hand, she folded her arms and followed behind him along with Aya and Mai. She looked to the latter. "Is he always this... easy-going?"
"When he's set on something, he's a totally different person. He was the one who actually saved me." Mai cupped her cheeks and swooned. "He physically tore me out of Judecca. He was so strong... and at the same time so gentle..."
Ouka looked back at Aya, who just shrugged her shoulders. Okay, this was just confusing and strange. She tried to focus, steel her mind, prepare to escape at a moments notice if need be, and flee with Arado, Seolla, and... the moment she was in the mess hall, Latune all but tackled her in a hug that could kill three Ryuseis and an Irm.
"Ouka!" Latune cried out.
"L-Latune..." And just like that, any thought of escape, treason, treachery, and violence was cast aside when she saw Latune's smiling face. "... Y-you're really alive... you're smiling?"
"I have gotten better since I left School," Latune said proudly.
Ouka looked from Latune to Seolla and Arado, who were sitting at a table with a spread of food enough to feed eight people, half of which was already eaten by Arado. "Arado, Seolla... you're safe as well."
"I was worried at first too, but these people are actually nice, Ouka!" Seolla said happily. "They really want to help us!"
"The food's pretty good too," Arado admitted.
Ouka looked back down to Latune, and hugged her tightly. She was on the verge of breaking down and crying. "Latune... we're all here, together again..."
"Ouka..." Latune was actually crying as she nuzzled Ouka's chest.
Off to the side, Aya smiled. "It just warms your heart, eh Ryu?"
"Yep!" Ryusei replied with a big smile.
Ouka frowned some. "But, Granny's not going to be happy about this. And poor Cuervo..."
Seolla suddenly became very unhappy. "Yeah, about Granny and Cuervo..."
Thirty seconds later, Ouka learned the truth about what happened to Latune that caused the closure of School.
Thirty seconds after that, a completely livid Ouka was on the bridge of the Hagane, demanding to be enlisted in the Federation so that she could "Murder that shriveled up old cunt and destroy the Divine Crusaders until there was nothing left".
In a part of Izu base not wrecked by the hilariously inept Crusader Remnants, Lamia walked between the shadows of several hangar buildings, looking pensive. As she walked around a corner, a voice called to her.
"W-17."
Lamia turned to face Echidna. "Hello fuckhole, I see you are not STD ridden."
Echidna found this unusual. "What is wrong with your speech pattern?"
"It is fucked hard, like I attempted to deepthroat a revolver stake," Lamia lamented.
Echida nodded. "I will repair it, then."
She pulled Lamia over and kissed her deeply. Her tongue was literally almost down the other gynoid's throat. After a few seconds of lip locking and tongue-jousting, Echidna slowly pulled away until the thin strand of drool connecting their tongues broke. "... Commence speech pattern test."
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," Lamia said. "Ah, it worked."
Now when she swore, it would be whenever she wanted to and felt it appropriate! She was... happy?
"Oh man, if that's how you guys repair each other, could you do a little work on me?" Excellen asked.
Echidna whirled around to find Excellen aiming an anti-material rifle at her. Kyosuke had a heavy caliber pistol trained on her as well.
Their threat they posed outside their personal troopers was minimal, she could destroy both in seconds, her real concern was her fellow gynoid. Echidna glanced towards Lamia. "W-17, what is the meaning of this?"
"Code DTD," Lamia said.
Echidna's eyes grew dull, and she immediately fell over. As her consciousness began to fade, she looked up at Lamia.
"I am sorry, W-16, but fuck this silly shit," Lamia said, before everything went dark for Echidna.
At Isurugi Industries HQ, Mitsuko Isurugi was sitting at her desk, holding her fan in one hand, as she stared down at a telephone set on speaker. On the line was Archibald, who she hoped she was going to get an explanation from.
"So that's your report," she said.
"Yep," Archibald replied.
"You dispatched Ouka and two soldiers who had questionable loyalty to your cause after the R-Blade."
"Yep."
"They all defected."
"Straight out of Hunt for Red October."
"And, again, you have nothing to show for it."
"In my defense, those guys you hired for me? They were even worse failures," Archibald pointed out.
Mitsuko let out a long sigh. "Archibald, why do I always come back to you?"
"Because I did such an amazing job with the whole Elpis Incident?" Archibald asked.
"Yes, I want that Archibald. The brilliant, sadistic man who makes my Xanatos Gambits actual Xanatos Gambits. If you can't deliver that for me, I... I'm afraid we're just going to have to end our contract, and I don't want to do that!"
"Neither do I, Rosie, neither do I. It's just so hard. You, playing the sides against each other, and me playing my own side against itself... we're connecting like we used to."
Mitsuko sighed again. "Archibald, you're going to have to kill Colonel Tran, I would rather deal with you directly, than tiptoe behind his back. Kill him, and I'll forget all about this, okay?"
"Ah, you're a doll, Rosie." Archibald beamed. "Consider him already dead!"
"Oh, you're the best. Get him out of the way, and I'll ship the Giganspada to Earth Cradle. I have some people visiting, so I have to get off the line anyway. Good luck in your travels, Archibald."
"And you in your double-dealing, Rosie." The connection ended, and Archibald looked to Cuervo. "Well, looks like it's just you and me now, buddy."
"Can I just go hang myself?" Cuervo asked.
"No," Archibald said before a sound only transmission came in. "Hm? What could the Earth Cradle want now? Patch that through."
"I have a riddle for you," a voice on the other end called. "What can't destroy the world, but will most certainly destroy you?"
Archibald recognized that voice, and his sunglasses fell askew. "What?"
Powering through the water, wearing a special pack for increased sea capabilities and the ASRS taken off Arado's Lion, Kai's Gespenst Mk II-M closed in rapidly on the submerged Killer Whale, raising its Jet Magnum. "MY FIST!"
A tremendous geyser of water erupted from the ocean, as the Shirogane circled overhead. Coming up to the surface, Kai's Gespenst bobbed like a cork as the ocean foamed around it. "Target sunk."
On the bridge of the Shirogane, Lee sat back in his seat and smirked. "Today was a good day."
Next Up: Einst, Chokijin!
= = =
Lee didn't even have to use his AK.