The ships of the Sky Battalion shudder as they open fire upon the Sigwada's support fleet, the initial salvo taking out several of the hundred or so helicopters charging the Battalion. The enemy fleet responds, unleashing a barrage of rockets at the Battalion ships. Many strike their targets, but the Battalion ships don't go down easily; all weather the hits and unleash a second salvo.
As the Battalion engages, the fleets of Shang Mu and Shang Tu move in from the flanks, attempting to contain the enemy helicopters and cut them down quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately for the allied fleets, half of the helicopters escape the pincer movement, and after just a few minutes, the fleets are merged into a single mass of ships and helicopters, all trading fire in a battle of attrition.
The pace of that battle however is glacial compared to the frantic scene in the robot swarm, which has split into eight large groups, each chasing down a single target.
Evading a sudden burst of plasma fire, Lilac banks the Holodragon hard to the left and executes a rolling dive before swooping up and unleashing a Dragon Beam at the large group tailing Milla, instantly vaporising twenty robots and crippling a further forty or fifty. But despite the damage inflicted, the mass of robots appears unchanged. However, before she can fire off another attack, the Holodragon is hit from behind, causing it to shimmer slightly as it absorbs the impact.
As Lilac pulls the Holodragon into a steep evasive climb, Carol banks around to fire upon the group chasing her draconic friend. Two powerful blasts of pure energy cut through the swarm, felling at least a hundred robots, but the remaining group appears to be the same size as before. Stifling a curse, Carol attempts to line up another shot, but a near‑miss from behind changes her mind.
As Carol pitches the Crab Flyer into a steep dive, Milla banks around and accelerates hard, Kujacker's wings folding back into a delta as the speed increases. The hound hunkers down as low as she can as Kujacker strikes the swarm following Carol, smashing a few dozen robots as she charges through, her wake smashing a couple dozen more into others. Emerging from the other side, she attempts to bank hard while maintaining speed, but finding she cannot turn, she's forced to slow down and spread the wings. This allows the robots following her to catch up again and hit Kujacker with a series of plasma blasts that shake the robotic peacock.
"There's too many of them!" Milla cries as she pitches Kujacker into a steep evasive dive.
"Stay focussed!" Carol commands. "Keep going! We'll get them all eventually!"
"We should draw them back to the fleet!" Lilac suggests.
"The fleet is too slow!" Carol argues. "Plus, the further we retreat, the more chances we give‑ Yeow! ‑Corazon to find the Bakunawa!"
"But we can't‑ Woah! ‑protect the Scarves like this!" Lilac protests.
"They'll manage!" Carol barks. At least, I hope they will. Spade, Maria, and Danny will, but Tai and Sally… Carol shakes her head to clear her doubts and redoubles her attack.
Elsewhere in the mêlée, the five Red Scarves are handling themselves with various degrees of success. Carol's confidence in Spade isn't misplaced, the cavy's pinpoint accurate shots with both pistol and explosive card mean his progress can be measured by the rain of robot carcasses that drop into the ocean. The wildcat's confidence in Maria and Danny is also well‑placed, with the lynx slicing a trail of destruction and the badger splintering robot chassis with vicious sweeps of his hanbo. In addition, Carol's concerns about Tai prove unfounded; while the leopard isn't quite as proficient and effective as her girlfriend, she holds her own without trouble, raining almost as many cleaved robots as Maria.
But Carol's concerns about Sally prove to be alarmingly accurate: the hedgehog fights on the verge of panic, with many of her pistol shots flying wide. Luckily, the density of robots means she's hitting something with most shots, but all too often, Sally is forced to evade a robot that gets too close.
Eventually, the inevitable happens: a robot collides with Sally and knocks her off her platform.
Maria picks up Sally's scream first. Reacting almost immediately, she pitches her platform into a steep dive, slicing any robot that gets in her way. As she dives, Danny notices. Following the lynx's path, he then sees Sally falling, and immediately dives in pursuit.
Maria's headstart means she reaches Sally first. Swooping under, she tries to catch the falling hedgehog, but she underestimates the speed difference. Sally slams into Maria hard enough to force the platform lower, the lynx struggling to keep the platform from tipping them both off.
Luckily, Danny reaches them quickly enough to get underneath and support them both. Just as they stabilise, the combined swarms that were assaulting all three descend upon them. Left with no other choice, the trio takes off, diving almost to sea level to try and shake the robots.
A few thousand feet higher, Tai notices Maria isn't around. Fighting off a spike of adrenaline, she looks around frantically to find her girlfriend is only a few feet above the waves. Worry taking over, she dives hard and fast, the robots attacking her following in pursuit.
Seconds later, the leopard levels out alongside her girlfriend, and immediately jumps in to help Sally get a firm footing on Danny's platform.
"Thanks," Danny nods, holding Sally as she clings tightly to him.
"Thank me later," Tai replies, returning to her platform and turning to meet the arriving robots head‑on.
Maria joins her girlfriend in battle, aiming to give Danny and Sally as much time as they can to gather themselves and rejoin the fight.
"You OK?" Danny asks.
"Never been… so scared," Sally pants.
"Stay with me," Danny instructs. "It's gonna get worse before it gets better."
"Not helping," Sally replies.
"Sorry. Just stay low and shoot anything that comes near us, OK?"
Sally takes a deep breath. "OK."
As Sally moves into position, Danny readies his hanbo. "Ready?"
"No."
"Tough."
Danny charges into the robot swarm Maria and Tai are fighting hard against. Together, the quartet break through and climb rapidly to rejoin the main battle.
"Hey, they're back!" Carol remarks, her relief plainly audible.
"Told you they can handle themselves," Spade retorts over the radio.
"Yeah, yeah," Carol dismisses. "Just focus on‑ Yeow! ‑smashin' bots."
"Do you think we're thinning them out?" Lilac asks.
"Slowly but surely," Carol confirms. "We must have taken out about two‑thirds of them by now."
"Half," Spade corrects.
"No‑one's asking you," Carol snaps.
"You're welcome," Spade growls back before shutting off his radio.
"You shouldn't antagonise him like that," Milla advises.
"He lied to me about who killed my sister," Carol reminds. "He's lucky my claws aren't at his throat."
Milla decides not to reply.
With Sally covering Danny's rear, the Scarves re‑engage, once more leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Combined with the astonishing firepower of Kujacker, the Crab Flyer, and the Holodragon, it's not long before the robot swarm is reduced below a thousand units.
"We're finally making progress!" Lilac remarks happily.
"Don't relax just yet," Carol advises. "The thinner the swarm, the more evasive they're gonna get."
Carol's prediction proves accurate soon after: once the swarm is reduced below five hundred units, the remaining robots scatter in all directions, severely limiting the effectiveness of the heavy‑hitting Kujacker, Crab Flyer, and Holodragon. Within moments, none of Team Avalice can tell which is robot and which is Red Scarf.
"Hold your fire!" Carol commands.
Both Holodragon and Kujacker cease their assault and regroup in the centre of the battle area with the Crab Flyer.
"What now?" Lilac asks.
"We charge the Sigwada," Carol decides without hesitation.
"And leave the Scarves behind‽" Lilac protests.
"Don't worry, I have a plan," Carol assures.
Without waiting for a reply, Carol opens the throttle and sets off at top speed in pursuit of the Sigwada.
"This is dumb," Lilac remarks.
"But it'll work," Milla argues, switching Kujacker into high‑speed mode, the wings folding back into the delta shape as she attempts to catch up with the Crab Flyer.
I hope you're right. Lilac pushes the Holodragon to full speed and chases after her friends.
As the trio burst through the swarm of robots and head for the Sigwada, the robots turn and pursue.
"Perfect!" Carol smiles. "Lilac, you want to do the honours?"
Lilac looks over her shoulder. "I don't know‑ Oh!"
"And don't be afraid to showboat a bit," Carol smirks, knowing Lilac will do that regardless.
"Aye‑aye!" Lilac triggers a short boost before pitching the Holodragon into a tight roll‑and‑about‑face. Once lined up, she triggers a Dragon Blast, carving through the chasing robots and sending fully half of them into the ocean below.
With its energy temporarily exhausted, Lilac pitches the Holodragon into a shallow dive, allowing Carol and Milla a clean shot at the remaining robots. Carol fires first, the twin beams cutting the enemy numbers below a hundred, then Milla follows with the Kujacker at maximum speed, smashing fully half the remaining robots.
With numbers now below fifty, the enemy robots appear to lose the will to fight and are quickly mopped up by the Scarves.
On the bridge of the Sigwada, Corazon isn't pleased. Those brats are more resourceful than I thought… This may be harder to win than I anticipated. Still, I will achieve victory. All I need is thirty minutes.