The dogfight between the agile, nimble VX air superiority fighters and the greying, rusted-out airship dungeon-transports had lasted all day. Surprisingly, it was a stalemate, with the Tengu pilots having developed the superior tactic of just shoot randomly at the airship at range. With that strategy, the massive barrage of carbine fire could be partially avoided, and their autocannons could pierce a bit more holes on the airships before the Japanese fighters could be downed by Muramasas, Voronas, Javelins, or any variety thereof.
On the other hand, the airship fleet is slowly losing lifting gas, with Engineeros rushing around the makeshift scaffolds patching up the airships with wooden planks and Russian airmen corpses, while the on-board ammunition supply is being steadily depleted as well.
"So, commander, do you think we could fend them off for longer?"
"I don't think so. We're running out of lifting gas, and of stuff to patch those holes. Hell, those Engineeros have used up almost all of the planks available, and have already taken to using the Russian corpses and destroyed Tengus on top of this thing to weld it back in one piece. In fact, despite the ammunition problem I wouldn't dare let those troops stop firing blindly, if only because their guns consume ammo enough for us to stay light and flying."
"Sir, where is air support by the way?"
"Oh, I don't know. Probably in some general's kid's birthday party, flying in formation, writing out the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!' using colored pesticide. I bet the general even forgot his kid's name, and just took the whole Philippine air arm for his own matters to make up for his very tiny peni..."
"Oh, sir, look, airplanes! With Filipino markings at that. Oh, what were you saying sir?"
And sure enough, there were airplanes. Jets even, much better than what the Philippine air arm could deploy without importing. The Constables looked at the single jet streaking across the sky, outrunning even the Jet Tengus that tried to intercept it. The cool Filipino plane then turned around, and made another swift pass at the airship squadron, leaving two burning Jet Tengus in its wake.
"Our guardian angel..." Commander Mabini said, assured. "And I meant a very tiny peni...cillin. He might need the entire air force as medevac in case he gets sick." He added. The soldier just looked at the commander.
He then spied the markings on the plane better. Sure, it was distinctly Filipino, but there was something odd with its specific markings.
"It's a PAG-ASA plane." "Pag-asa" is a Filipino word meaning "hope". PAG-ASA is also the Filipino atmospheric/geophysical/astronomical research arm of the Philippines. Go figure.
Meanwhile, on the ground, another battalion of soil-Yurikoes were roaming the area in search of Filipino ground support to the airship-borne attack, just in case. They were led by Admiral 898 itself, aboard a King Oni. But as proven by GPS and the Internet, artificial intelligence is rather stupid in directions, and the King Oni managed to get lost in the middle of Philippine nowhere, with no soil-Yuriko escort. Despite being surrounded by soil-Yurikoes just a minute ago. "1010. The orientation compass is deflected by my metal body! 1011. 1010. Buggy! Buggy! Now what? 1011."
The lost robot then spies on a small forward base the Filipinos have established, supposedly to supply the armored ground assault a chapter before. "1010. Target sighted. Assassination protocols initiated. 1011." The robot admiral's 'assassination protocols' was then inadvertently activated by the robot itself when it spotted the humanoid targets while controlling a humanoid body. Admiral 898's programming then reverts to a more primal, savage 'assassination-protocol' state, specifically the one where its programmers built in Tekken to play with when the boss is not around. With a cartwheel the King Oni rolled into the forward base, and began to karate chop the fortifications. Pesky little Constables began to shoot at the robot with little effect; they were then all thrown to lethal heights with just one sweeping kick. A couple of reassembled Guardian Tanks then showed up to fire at the threat, but with a kick and a jump the gigantic machine was beyond the tank guns' angle. A couple of seconds later the Robot crashes down on the tanks, while piledriving a Filipino Twinblade it managed to catch mid-air.
"Darn, that robot's gone amok again? That's the seventeenth Admiral-in-an-Oni incident that we had in two weeks! What other bugs does that Admiral 898 programming have? I won't have any more Boat Racer-induced submergences of King Onis, got it?" the ninja commander shouted, stealthily. "Oh, just get another Admiral 898, and don't load it on a King Oni. Even if it gives you explicit orders to do so." The unremarkable commander's remarkably calm, dry remark elicited positive responses from the Japanese Engineers. They had been getting the short stick of fate lately, having to follow conflicting orders from the 20-or-so resurrected Admiral 898's, and the human commanders, and from their own common sense. Probably they were thinking more of 'I should just get myself back home designing better mecha than waiting in this jungle wasteland to die'. The current Admiral 898, having blocked out outside signals with its own rabid silicon brain, has already laid waste to yet another precious loaned Apocalypse tank as it waltzed across Filipino battle lines.
Then it rained. The rain only made it worse, as the giant robot became surprisingly stealthy due to the drabness of surroundings, and its own agility. Individual Constables were themselves abducted one-per-giant King Oni hand without their buddies even noticing. The last that their buddies saw of them that day was as crushed remains being dropped on top of them, as a taunt. The precision, the swift, the clean motions of the normally lumbering giant beast surprised the Filipinos, who then began to clump together for safety in the rain only to be squished by a giant metal foot. Tanks were not safe either; a powerful dual karate chop from the martial combat giant robot was already enough to mission kill them. The Filipinos decided then to flee far, very far away from the hidden, rampaging robot; this they did well because they Filipinos themselves were obscured as well by the rain.
Overhead, the rain began to obscure the dogfighting aircraft as well. "No, rain. Quick, increase lift immediately! Not another typhoon!" The dense, damp air, heavier than normal air, assisted in the airship captains' desires, and soon enough the heavy rainclouds descended below the airships. The Jet Tengus they were combatting earlier were all lost trying to find their prey in the storm.
Commander Mabini then realized what that quick PAG-ASA jet was doing: cloudseeding. The pilot seeded the clouds around the dogfight to obscure the airships and allow them to escape. To think that he always thought that pilots involved in simple cloudseeding missions are cowards, pacifists, or even worse, collaborators; he could not be more wrong and thanked the cloudseeding pilot, who allowed Mabini's insertion force to make a crucial tactical regrouping despite the Aurora Transports' slowness.
Commander Mabini then saw the cloudseeding pilot pass by very slowly. The pilot threw a rock at Commander Mabini's airship, at the gondola itself. "PUTRAG!s" Commander Mabini replied as he barely avoided the rock. As the PAG-ASA jet sped past the profanity-spewing commander, the commander noticed that the rock the insolent cloudseeding pilot threw actually had a note attached. Scrawled onto it was a simple "Elektrify clouds below."
"No way that I'm going to risk my airships down that storm! You there, and you, put on your Tesla Trooper guns and rappelling stuff." The soldiers complied to this sudden and odd order, and soon enough found themselves at the door of the airship, with carabiners behind their backs and Tesla guns at their hands. "Just, you know, shoot those clouds as the weird science guy pilot says." And with a firm nudge Commander Mabini pushes both of them out of the airship, to a few tens of meters below to the raincloud. With a puzzled look the soldiers began shooting the clouds with electricity, when out of the clouds a Jet Tengu hurtles out, barely missing the soldiers hanging around with their Tesla guns! The soldiers scramble to lock and load their weapons when the speeding Jet Tengu opens fire!
Suddenly, from the clouds below a freak bolt of lightning hits the Jet Tengu! Multiple fires began appearing all over the fuselage as the pilot, shocked in horror and literal meaning alike, tried to control the non-responsive aircraft controls with his non-responsive hands. The Jet Tengu blows up after that, with shards embedding themselves into the airships.
A collective "WAHOO!" is heard from the airships.
The shock and awe meant that two suspended soldiers remained dangling at their spots above the thunderstorm for a few more minutes, looking at the fireball, before they themselves were jerked out of their amazement by the airship troops' trying to pull the rappelling cables back up again to retrieve their heroic comrades. All over the thunderclouds Jet Tengus began blowing up as lightning struck them; some even had fireballs going past the upper reaches of the clouds to make a spectacle for the airshippers watching above.
Having just collapsed the last of the Filipino forward base, Admiral 898's King Oni stands tall and proud amidst the rain and wreckage. "1010. HAHAHAHAHA! 1011." And as much as standing tall is such a fun thing to do, it should also be done in a proper place. Like, say, not in the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning then streaks across the dark clouds, accompanied with the peal of thunder. A few seconds later, a dull, robotic, truly Japanese *THUD* can be heard.