Dealing with grunts, Showdown with Zeno

Ace and the group managed to get Ryu to a safe place as Nina watched over him.

"What was that Lin?" Marta asked.

"That was the dragon's power, one of the three that caused humanity to live underground, I didn't think it was possible he would be chosen." Lin said as she leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

"So dragons are the cause of the destruction done to this world? It's sad that people aren't able to experience the sky like they did back then." Emil said as Marta held his hand.

"True, but at least people are still alive after that horrible event." Zan said as Ryu began to stir. "Everyone, he's waking up."

Ryu quickly sat up and looked around and saw the group have relieved faces.

"Glad to see you're awake, Sleeping Beauty." Lin said as she walked over. "You alright?"

"Yeah I think so, what was that?" Ryu asked as he stood up.

"It felt like the power of a dragon, but we should worry about that later and get moving." Simon said. "Do you know a way to your hometown, Ryu?"

"Yeah, I'll show you the way, come on." Ryu said as the group followed him through the tunnels and dealt with multiple experimental monsters known as "Genics".

A few minutes later

The group finally made it to the town before they caught the scent of a toxic gas.

"Is this...Gas?!" Lin asked as she covered her mouth.

"What kind of sick person would release a toxic gas onto a town?!" Marta demanded.

"I think I know." Emil said as the group turned to see three ranger grunts wearing gas masks as the one in the middle was sitting on a canister as they all focused on Ryu.

"Hey, grunt. You're Ryu, right?" The one in the middle asked.

"Rangers..? So we've become wanted.." Lin said.

"Seems that way, but what the hell do you people want?" Emil asked.

"We heard Bosch tell the boss about you, and we figured.." The middle grunt started as all three of them laughed.

"Bringing you in would give our reputation a nice boost. So we got this ready and waited for you to come through here." The grunt on the left finished as he tapped his foot on the canister.

"You bastards aren't gonna live much longer after we deal with you!" Ace said as he and the others readied their weapons.

(BOF DQ- The Strong Enemy)

Spade quickly dashed toward the mage wielding grunt as he dodged the lightning bolts coming towards him as he cut the grunter down across the chest. Lin then shot the sword wielding grunt a couple of times as Emil and Marta moved in and slashed through him at both sides. Finally, Ace, Simon, and Ryu rushed toward the gunner grunt as they deflected the bullets he fired as Ace launched him into the air with Rending Quake, Simon rushed into the air and knocked him down with impact event and Ryu dealt the finishing blow.

"You move pretty fast for a grunt and you two as well, despite not having D-Ratios." The gunner grunt said as he reached for the valve before he was stabbed through by Zan.

"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen, you and your friends can go rot in hell." Zan said before looking at the others. "So what now?"

"We have to get rid of this gas, but how?" Marta asked.

"Leave it to me. Tempest!" Ace said as a light wind storm rushed through and dispersed all the gas.

"Alright, let's get out of here!" Ace said as he spotted a keycard and quickly grabbed it as they fled the area.

A few hours later

After using the keycard, the group went through a lab called BioCorp and found out Nina was created to prevent air pollution and doesn't have much time left, but they still see her as a human and Ryu decides that they will take her to the sky in order to save her. They then ended up in an arctic like area and pushed on, finally making it to the Industrial Sector.

"If we make it through here, we'll be in the industrial zone." Lin said, pointing forward as the group entered a cargo area and a group of rangers came running in as the group readied their weapons and circled around Nina.

"Hello, partner. You're not dead yet?" A familiar voice asked as Bosch walked in and Ryu shook his head no. "How's your head feel? Hear any strange voices lately?" He asked doing a waving towards his head as Ryu looked up in shock. "You're done for, you know that?" He asked as a woman came through the same door and waved her arm in front of Bosch.

"Who's that Ryu?" Marta asked.

"That's Zeno, my commanding officer." Ryu said as he had a hand near his sword.

"Ryu 1/8192. In the course of your mission at BioCorp, you came into contact with a highly-experimental..test subject. As a result, you are having hallucinations. Now you cooperate with rebels and unknown forces, and show unusual attachment to an experiment.. All due to your unstable state." Zeno said before a gunshot was heard as a bullet zipped past her and she saw it was Ace.

"Enough of this! You may be his commanding officer, you're trying to trick him into coming with you so you can kill him, am I correct?" Ace asked as he readied his sword.

"Very perceptive for a Nephilim, I'm sorry but it has to be done." Zeno said.

"I prefer you didn't underestimate us, we're not to be taken lightly. And anyone who threatens our comrades will be shown no mercy!" Spade said as the rangers charged at them.

"Blazing Tempest!" Ace yelled as he executed the arte and sliced through a couple of rangers.

"Chaos Blade!" Simon yelled as he launched a wave of energy towards another group.

"Infernal Torrent!" Ryu yelled as he did a flaming sword strike in a wide ark on the last of them.

The group then looked at Zeno and Bosch while he had a shocked expression before another door opened as a robot came out of it.

"The dragon's power…" Zeno muttered.

Nina casted Burning Strike, Icicle Rain, and Spark Wave in quick succession on Asimov, dealing heavy damage to it.

"Aqua Bullet!" Lin yelled as she fired two water elemental bullets at it, causing it to spark and eventually explode.

"Freaks!" Bosch yelled with a frightened look.

"Captain...I...we… We're not going with you." Ryu said as Nina casted Nurse, healing everyone's wounds as they still had their weapons ready.

"Ryu..you know that it is not you that wants this.. This experiment has linked with you, and now..it infects your very will!" Zeno said.

"That's not true! The dragon may have chosen him, but he still has his own sense of will, now...let us pass or we will have to use force!" Emil said.

"I'm sorry..but this is as far as you go." Zeno said as she drew a sword, and pulled out a duplicate of it. "That power..it must be stopped!"

(BOF DQ- Maddening Heart)

Zeno charged at the group as they did their best to block her attacks, but she was stronger than she looked. When she slashed at Nina, Ryu went into his dragon form and completely decimated his former captain.

(Music End)

The only thing left was her sword as it slid across the ground and Bosch ran away in fear after what he just witnessed.