Chapter 24: 5 vs. 5,000
"The teams are taking their places, and this battle is going to be epic. B-Class Disk Battle, and as I've come to expect from these kids this one is huge. For those of you lame bitches who don't know a B-Class Parts War or Disk Battle is fought like a game of American football on ATs, the disk holders, are the only ones who can attack freely during the battle, and the defense is only allowed to attack the disk holder, the rest of the team plays defense. This basically means, that if Hashiru Mugen can't keep Raizoa from that disc, there's no hope for them."
"Each one of us has five emblems, these emblems have to be placed on a disk and ran to the touchdown of the respective team, once there, a portion of that emblem with be broadcast over the skies of Tokyo, once the entire emblem is projected that team wins. First to score five points wins…"
"With the rules set the battlefield is laid out, Storm Chasers touchdown line is the Tokyo Sky Tree, Hashiru Mugen the touchdown line for them is Tokyo Tower!"
Hashiru Mugen took its place at the top of the tower and awaited the signal that started the most important battle of their lives…
"Well alright gearheads, lets get this countdown rolling… THREE, TWO, ONE"
They took off into the storm, the rain soaking their clothes and the wind lashing at their bodies, everyone was frozen; no one could act until the disc got launched…
[Click, SWOOSH]
The disc was live and near enough for Tsumai to follow the highlighter green and orange disc through the rains. He bolted after it and grabbed it in his hands, before he could turn there were ten hooded Storm Chasers on top of him before he could blink.
"RAH"
Souza blasted them out of the way…
"GO"
Tsumai soared across the skies landing on a rooftop as he prepared to bolt back up into the sky a sea of Storm Chasers closed in, but then Oushi was there. He circled Tsumai kicking up the asphalt on the roof he shot the pebble pieces at the oncoming attackers and gave Tsumai enough space to take off. He reached cruising altitude halfway to the Sky Tree and he threw the disc to Yatsu soaring above him as he was dragged down by a few Storm Chasers. Yatsu caught the disc opened his wings wide and barreled off towards the mark. He dipped and dodged the enemy but as he got over head of the Sky Tree Raizoa shot a blade out at him and he dropped the disc in the evasion. But then blasting up from between the buildings Rye spread his wings and caught the disc. Spinning around and diving straight he cut through the storm and landed on the observation deck.
"Way to go little baby, you've gotten stronger, and it looks like you've got your hands on some nice ATs."
"Look Raizoa, what's the point of all this? I mean this team and crushing the Storm Riders why?"
"Because, ATs aren't meant for the human race, they're weak… I told you this a long time ago, giving the powers of a God to a creature as insignificant as a human is mistake, one that I plan to rectify."
Raizoa rushed at Rye, jumping he managed to catch enough overhead wind to create a blast to hinder him.
"Looks like it's the captains facing off, but all Rye wants to do is score that point…"
Cartwheeling he rode backwards trying to get to the mark.
"BROADSWORD SLICE"
A sharp sound echoed through the storm and a massive two-edged Blade rushed at Rye…
"FORCE HAMMER"
Rye smashed the Blade with his hammer and got knocked off the tower completely, he was falling fast and as he looked up at the Sky Tree he couldn't help but smile. Over Raizoa's head beaming on the clouds themselves was the bottom portion of his team emblem, the infinity symbol that signaled Hashiru Mugen had scored.
"HOLY SHIT HASHIRU MUGEN BROKE THE TIE, ITS 1-0!"
Raizoa looked up and saw that while he had smashed Rye, his opponent had truly been the victor. And then he came blasting from below… he soared back to his goal mark and awaited the next disc.
The thunder clapped and they took off to the sky again.
"Looks like Raizoa is joining the fight this time…"
It was true waiting for the disc to launch was Raizoa, in the thick of his team.
[Click, SWOOSH]
It was farther away this time but Rye blasted off after it, he and Raizoa were neck and neck with both teams bringing up the rear. He tucked low and somehow Rye managed to get his hands on the disc. And no sooner had he rolled over to land with it…
"Katana Dual Edge"
Two of Raizoa's sharpest blades were about to slice into him, when lightning struck in an X pattern and blocked them. Tsumai covered Rye as he landed and took off again,
"AWAKEN KIRIN"
"MY GOD, HE'S ACTIVATING HIS REGALIA… The higher ankles are merging down into the body of the AT which gives them a normal appearance; the wheels are connecting themselves with micro-thin insulated cables which allowing the electrostatic energy to radiate inside of the run. With the higher ankles lowered the extra circuitry acts as a supercharger increasing the output. The face of Kirin on the toe cap is unhinging its jaw and two fangs are extending.
With his Regalia active Tsumai shot the wires out from his wheels to create a net in between the two buildings were he and Raizoa had lowered to. As the last wire pierced the side of the building lightning struck the entire thing and it radiated with electricity.
"I get it, Tsumai's Regalia sends off a continuous barrage of negative energy and with a storm like this once those wires complete the net they're making, its like a complete circuit that the lightning is attracted to. With the lightning radiating through the wires, it gives Tsumai the ability to use tricks like…
"LIVE WIRE"
Revving the Regalia into life Tsumai shot off a stream of lightning bolts into the sky
"RAPIER STORM"
Each individual bolt was countered with two of Raizoa's Blades and before Tsumai knew it he was being overwhelmed. Retracting the wires he formed a ball around himself and was forced to take the full brunt of the Rapier Storm.
With him out of the way Raizoa went after Rye who had only managed to cross two blocks in the face of the mounting Storm Chaser opposition.
Before he was over the sky line when a massive blast of wind almost sent him back to the ground, over his head was Souza gliding in full stride…
"IGNITION G-FORCE TURBINE"
"HERE WE GO, SOUZA'S ACTIVATING THE REGALIA… The turbine that runs the length of the ATs is starting to spin. The fronts of the ATs are opening showing the turbine and the frontward vents are unhinging blowing out steady streams of air. These streams merge with incoming air; the back of the turbine is coming out underneath the chasse of the AT and blowing out constant air that fights supporting air currents. The back vents unhinge and take in all windswept air. It's a beautiful system.
Taking in air Souza flips over and kicks out a literal wall of solid wind,
"WIND WALL CONSTRUCT"
Souza rides over that wall and kicks down another, soon enough he has Raizoa trapped in
"WIND CAGE"
"Wow, Souza used the wind wall principle to literally build actual walls, then he trapped Raizoa inside, and inside that cage the wind velocity has to be like being inside of a wind tunnel."
As Raizoa was thrown and battered around a high pitched whining, could be heard over the roaring winds and rushing rains.
"Uh Oh, don't count the Edge King out just yet…"
"DAO BLADE DESTROYER"
Two blades came out of Raizoa's ATs and stayed attached; he spiraled and sliced the cage to pieces. Using the blast momentum he crossed the Blades and sliced Souza as he blasted into him. But before he could even raise his head Yatsu had soared from underneath him and carried him up into the atmosphere.
"Well look who it is… tell me King, where are those Fangs of yours?"
"Stuff it Raizoa I'm gonna end this here!"
Yatsu threw Raizoa from his grip and watched as he fell…
"He was falling, his Fangs ripped clean from his face, he was bleeding and the feeling in his legs was fading fast, all he could see was him lording overhead… Raizoa!
He had shown up in Shanghai earlier that week, and he wasted no time knocking off every single member of their team. His eyes were dark and soulless his hair was shoulder length and slicked back, cut rough at the end. He had a scar on his face that looked like he could have just been sliced clean a few days ago. He stood in front of them with all black ATs and one demand…
"Give me, Hatch Venom, and this turf, I'll let you live."
Yatsu faced him, the skulls on his ATs chattering, ready for the fight…
The two of them roared at each other and then…
[Click]
Their Fangs were out, Yatsu's was pushing forward Raizoa's back when suddenly Raizoa's eyes changed, a cross erupted across his eye and another massive fang came out and swallowed Yatsu's whole…"
"DIVINE FALCATA OF CAESAR"
Raizoa's cry broke Yatsu from his revere and with just enough time to launch a counter.
"Raizoa's Divine Falcata of Caesar is named after Julius Caesar and the Falcata that he brought into battle, it curves outward just like the blade… As a matter of fact the reason why Raizoa makes such a formidable Blade King is because of the fact that he can model a blade after any type of real life sword. The possibilities are endless."
"HYPER SPEED MACH 9"
"AND YATSU RESPONDS WITH THE REGALIA… The back wheels are lifting onto the ankles this creates an updraft that rotates counter-clockwise to create lift and clockwise to maintain lift the laser etched grooves allow for air to be taken into the motor thus creating that signature 'wing' effect."
Yatsu crossed his wings in an X pattern…
"WINDBREAKER X"
"The Windbreaker X is a unique trick; it aptly applies the wings into its performance. By crossing them wind sheer is built and by flapping them open the resulting blast mimics that of a Fang, but when wind collides with it instead of reducing the effect, the blast radius is doubled.
The wind blast met up with the Blade…
Yatsu's fang was swallowed whole, and there he stood facing down death…"
The two blasts cancelled each other out, then in the blast radius a tailwind kicked up and Yatsu folded it between his wings.
"TAILWIND BOMBER"
The funneled blast shot at Raizoa just as a secondary Blade that was hidden in the curve of the first one ripped into him, and he fell…
Raizoa was falling fast and as he reentered the lower half of the skyscrapers he grinded the buildings to keep himself from being splattered on the pavement. But as soon as he landed he was swept back into a sea of muddy earth.
"You bitches are tag teaming how sweet…"
"Fuck off Raizoa, this time isn't anything like the last…"
Yatsu's Fang was being overwhelmed, there was now way he'd survive that blast… Oushi tucked low and dived in front of the blast. He felt something sever and then he couldn't feel anything below his waist and he was falling to the ground. Yatsu leaped over him and kicked off a combo fang in the shape of a *…
"NOOOOO"
Yatsu's screams echoed in his ears the darkness was closing in on him…
The darkness was closing in on him, he was sinking farther and farther, soon his face would be covered. The rain splattered on his face…
"It looks like Oushi's found Raizoa's number. Oushi has Richter already active and rearing to go… The wheels spin with the likeness of a rotary table saw, however instead of digging into the earth they send out radial shocks into the spaces between tectonic plates forcing a shift. "That's how his Terra Vibrum worked. Oushi tapped into a shift and then vibrating the asphalt with vibrations he turned it into crushed rock, which in this weather became mud very quickly. The question is how Raizoa gets out of this one, the vibrations are throwing off the medium that he passes his Blades through…"
Then a sickening grinding noise radiated all around and Oushi covered his ears in pain. The muddy pool began to reverberate and Raizoa began to rise out of the pit.
"Sound waves produce vibrations, these vibrations travel across air and resound through earth. A year ago, that trick would have killed me, but after I took on the Ring Road I can actually bend the vibrations that you used to trap me… but enough talk Oushi… LONGSWORD THRUST"
A sharp spear-headed blade shot right at Oushi…
"TECTONIC DEFENSE"
"By spinning the wheels and sending out vibrations Oushi can raise whole plates from under the earth."
Two huge plates came from below and Oushi threw them up as a shield, just barely keeping himself safe.
"Nice move Oushi… ZWEIHANDER"
Raizoa took to the air the blade centered around his AT and then he brought it down like a hammer and took Oushi out with it…
"GAAAH"
"OUSHI IS DOWN AND THAT MAKES EVERY LAST LINE OF DEFENSE RYE HAS OBSOLETE, THIS BATTLE MIGHT JUST BE OVER…"
"It doesn't matter that you stopped us Raizoa, because Rye's still going to succeed."
"Sure he might score and sure that'll mean a 2-0 score, but what you idiots didn't realize is that you four were his backbone, and without you behind him Rye is nothing. YOU don't know my baby brother like I do, when he has someone to fight for his strength is amazing. WH759H, Rye was the only one of us born with the Wings of Hope. Without you, his strength will fall."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because for some reason, Rye lacks the ability to truly hate someone, forgiveness is written into who he is; it's the down fall of those Wings of his… He has the 'hope that the good will arise in anyone…'
Raizoa took off into the sky just as Rye was headed to the marker for his second point; Raizoa was in front of him before he knew what happened.
"KATANA"
Rye was sliced clean down and he dropped the disc after that Raizoa grabbed it an ran it back to the Tokyo Tower…
"ITS 1-1 ANYBODY'S BALL GAME!"
Rye took his starting position alone, his team was incapacitated… he couldn't check on any of them, this battle took precedence over it all…
"Rye we've got to ask you something…"
"Sure Yatsu, what's up?"
"How important to you is winning this fight?"
"Its very important…"
"Fine then you swear on your team, on your emblem and on your soul, that if it comes down too it, and you have to choose between us and the win, you choose the win."
"What, no"
"Yes you idiot, we're replaceable, anyone of the teams that we've beaten would love to take our place, but this chance, this opportunity only happens once. This won't come up again, you take the win and replace us if you have too. Speaking of which, if you would've died in that factory, who would you give the team to?"
"Souza, no doubt"
"What?"
"Yeah Souza, everyone else here has run their own team, they can always rebuild but you're the strongest one out of all of us…"
Rye waited for the disc to blast off before he took flight again. It launched, over the medical district and Rye sped to the target knocking off Storm Chasers as he went…
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
He grabbed the disc and back flipped over three city blocks. The tower was insight when Raizoa caught up with him.
"Rapier Storm"
The blades rained down over him and he couldn't stay up, he was falling…
Bouncing he skidded to a halt outside of a very familiar establishment…
"GET UP!"
Raising his head he could see Migazu standing in the rain in front of Pizza Palace.
"YOU HEARD ME RYE, GET THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW!"
Rye slowly got back up just in time to see Raizoa scoring the second point.
"I don't know what the hell you think your doing, but you better get your head in this… for the last couple of months all I've heard you bitch about is how great ATs are and how these Storm Chasers have no right to take the Sky away from anyone. So how about you get back up there and protect your ideals with your own fists…"
Rye blasted off without a second thought, the rain swirling around him and purpose burning in his heart. He took his mark and watched as the fourth disc went live… Rye grabbed it from over the old Asutarisuku Shinsei hideout. And met Raizoa in mid-air…
"You say that AT is the power of a God and it isn't meant for the human race, well who gave you the authority to make that call?"
"The people who created us… a Gravity Child's soul purpose in the world was to be created to dominate the world of AT. This entire sport was created for us, the Sky is our playground. That's why we shine like Gods here."
"NO, the sky isn't for us it never was, no one man can own the sky…"
"That's were your wrong, there is one man who can rule the sky… Sky King…"
With that he blasted Rye with a bombardment of blades all of which Rye dodged. He spun out the attack and was blasted with supersonic sound… Rye blacked out and fell so very far, he crashed into an abandoned office building. He woke back up quickly but he laid there and didn't want to move.
"What if the reason he's so strong is because he thinks like that, he feels superior to everyone else, so that makes him superior to everyone else… NO I walked away from those beliefs the moment that John confronted me and I chose to take to the sky… the sky belongs to everyone."
Rye clambered back up onto his feet and headed to the opening he made and burst into the sky.
"TWO POINTS ITS 4-1. THIS IS IT, HASHIRU MUGEN YOU ROSE LIKE SLUMDOG MILLIONARE AND FELL LIKE ICARUS THIS IS IT!"
Rye blasted back out into the sky and the disc went out after him, ironically he rose right along side it, he caught it in his hands and faced the swarm of riders that were ready to rip him apart. He blasted into them and the fight ensued he kicked punched and spun his way up towards Raizoa,
"You're wrong Raizoa the sky belongs to each and every individual who can see it, no matter who they are… We all have a claim to stake in the sky above."
"Rye is throwing down the gauntlet and he looks like he means it this time, can he come back from it?"
"You're funny, and where did you get that afterschool special ass answer?"
Rye pointed to the ground below him,
"Them"
Tsumai was rising back up,
"Riding an eternal run not bound by roads or limitations…"
Next came Oushi,
"We all share one goal… one sky…"
Then Yatsu,
"Reaching our hands up…"
And finally Souza,
"We grasp the heavens and Ride forever more…"
"HASHIRU MUGEN"
"RIDE ON!"
The five of them made a beeline for the goal, but the 5,000 or so odd Storm Chasers stood in there way, then before they knew it they were knocked out of the way by a bolt of lightning. Five very familiar faces were standing in front of Rye along with some faces he didn't know.
"Raja, guys what the hell?"
"Well when we heard that it was 5 vs. 5,000 we knew we had to get down here."
"Yeah"
From overhead Tyosho came down and knocked out a few opponents himself, Tsumai looked at him in disbelief…
"What Tsumai, you thought you were the only one with a team?"
And bringing up the rear were faces that Hashiru Mugen had just seen… the Marauders. With all of these storm riders here, there was a circle that separated Hashiru Mugen from Raizoa and his blades. Hogan looked at Rye,
"We'll pick up the slack the five of you catch up those points."
"Hold on now, I'm all for the inspirational moment but Plugman can't violate the parts war."
Vicki spoke up,
"Uh huh, because 5 vs. 5,000 is just listed plain as day in the rules
"Yeah but 5 vs. 5,000 were agreed upon terms, and every single one of the combatants belongs to one team, the Storm Chasers."
"Well if that's the only problem… Plugman, your records show that every team here fell to Hashiru Mugen… right"
"Yea Riku,"
"Well under the official rules of the parts war we have chosen to fall under the leadership of Hashiru Mugen."