Check this, homeslice! Big changes are coming, and you'll love them, but if you don't, I'm fine with that.
Also, I added a whole confrontation scene between Ahim and Cain to Chapter 13.
~Part 3:Fight Or Flight~
After the encounter with Babatcheed, the miniature Engines were fuming. "On-on! That Pollution President bum! I'll smash his stupid Border Control!" said Bus-on. He, Speedor and Bear RV jumped upward and smashed themselves on the barrier between worlds, but they only got knocked out. They tried again, and again, and again only to fail over and over and over.
"Speedor! You OK?" cried Sosuke as he, Laila and Ahim rushed over to check on the Engines.
"Are you alright?" Ahim asked Bear RV.
"V-V..." Bear RV groaned.
"It's too much for you three to handle right now." said Sosuke, holding Speedor.
"I didn't suspect that the whole Gunman World invasion thing was just one big elaborate trap..." muttered Gai.
"But even if we stayed in Human World, we would have lost Gunman World to them." said Laila. "They set it up so they'd win whatever we did. What a cheap plan."
"If we never got depowered in the first place, smashing down a few measly barriers would be barely an inconvenience, V-V!" Bear RV grumbled.
"Wait, hold on...if he's sealed off Human World, that means we can still travel to other worlds, right?" Doc asked.
"Yup! If you have us with you, you can go anywhere." said Speedor.
"If so, then let's go to Machine World and get the Engine Machalcon's help!" said Doc.
"He didn't get involved in the fight with Chirakashizky, which means he's got a full tank and can fight at his full potential!" said Sosuke.
"With his help, we can break the Border Control..." Luka muttered.
"But will he really help us?" BOMPER asked.
"We won't find out by standing around. Let's go to Machine World." said Marvelous.
Back in Human World, the Gaiark invasion was once again in full swing. "Go! Rampage everywhere, darken the skies and poison the seas to make a paradise for us!" ordered Babatcheed, and heeding the order, Ugatz rampaged everywhere.
"What is the meaning of this?!" yelled Warz Gill as he watched from the Gigant Horse.
"We had no idea that somebody would invade Earth under our very noses..." muttered Damaras.
"Who are they?" Insarn wondered. "And where did they come from?"
"And where the hell are those pesky pirates? Whenever I had a plan, they always showed up to thwart it! It's not fair!" Warz fumed.
"My condolences, sir." said Barizorg, causing Warz to blush. Now he looked more blue in the face than silver, but he shoved the feeling into the back of his mind.
He stuttered out "I-I won't just stand by and watch as somebody else conquers Earth before I can! Let's go, Barizorg, Insarn!" He then stomped out of the conference room, with Barizorg and Insarn in tow.
Meanwhile, Babatcheed was still delighting in the destruction caused by his army of Ugatz when another army intercepted him. This army was unlike anything he had seen before, a green woman and a metallic being not unlike the Gaiark race leading a buncha grey footsoldiers. "Who the heck are you, de aru?" he asked.
The army parted in two groups, making way for a silver-skinned, stunningly beautiful young man dressed in all white with accents of gold and blue occasionally seen here and there, and an extravagant headdress as the cherry on top. "Be gone! This planet belongs to me, and no one else!" he said.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?!" Babatcheed yelled.
"Mind your tongue." said the metallic being.
"Tremble and bow as you hear my name! For I am the Supreme Commander of the Space Empire Zangyack's army, Crown Prince Warz Gill!" said the silver-skinned man.
"Oh, dear! I was too pre-occupied with the pirates, that I totally forgot those clowns existed, de aru!" said Babatcheed.
That ticked Warz off. "You what?! You forgot about the Zangyack? About me?!" he yelled.
"Calm yourself, my liege." said the green woman.
But Warz paid her words no mind, and continued on. "Your insolence clearly reflects how quick and sloppy your invasion is!"
"I am Babatcheed, the second Pollution President of the Gaiark, de aru! And I'll have you know that the Gaiark have been trying to conquer this world since before you'd even heard of it, de aru! You're the sloppy ones around here, de aru!" the Pollution President retaliated.
Babatcheed's statement reminded Warz of his war with Buldont II and the Neo Baranoia Empire. "Just a few months ago, I had to deal with another snotty machine man that was saying the exact same thing as you. So I'd like you to know that invasions aren't handled on a first-come, first-serve basis, you imbecile!" he fumed. "It's a matter of strength! Barizorg, Insarn, do your stuff!"
"Well, the Gaiark's got some of that too, de aru! Ugatz! Get them!" ordered Babatcheed.
And so the metallic being, Barizorg, and the green woman, Insarn, rushed in with the grey soldiers, the Gormin, in tow. Soon, the Gormin and the Ugatz began fighting, while Barizorg and Insarn mowed down a lot of the Gaiark soldiers.
Seeing this, Babatcheed was astonished. "That's...that's incredible!" he said. "How can they have not conquered Earth already when they're this powerful? I do not know, de aru!"
"None of your beeswax! In fact, we did it once, but had to relinquish control for a while because of that other snotty machine man I mentioned earlier!" Warz yelled.
"Alright, then, looks like we'll have to settle this the old-fashioned way, de aru." said Babatcheed. "Your men shall compete against my men in the Gaiark's Demolition Derby Speedway, and whoever wins gets to conquer Earth, de aru!"
LATER...
"We're counting on you!" said Warz, as he prepared the car for one of his best Action Commanders. The car resembled a giant bull, with two horn-like weapons on the sides.
"Worry not, Your Highness! I'm the best racer-warrior in the whole entire universe, so you can depend on me!" said Oonten, the Action Commander. A long time ago, Warz had heard of the racer that had wiped out a lot of Zangyack attack vehicles, and had went to meet the man. Upon meeting a young Oonten, the prince was awed, and after a long while of pursuit, he managed to talk him into joining the empire's military, and it all came to this day.
Watching it all from a corner, a certain privateer waved his hand at the Action Commander. "Ahoy, Oonten-san!"
Why did I ever let him into my pit crew? Oonten thought. Yes, he had been paired with Basco a day before the Gaiark invasion occurred, and although the privateer made quite the asset for the empire, his behavior annoyed the heck out of the Action Commander. So he replied with "As much as I'd love to talk to you, I'm afraid it's time for me to enter the race. So...later?".
"Aye, later." Basco replied, and blew a kiss at Oonten before exiting the pit. The Action Commander hmph'ed, then entered his car, which was then led into the arena where the demolition derby was happening.
"Alright, 43 cars enter, only one survives." said a female announcer. "Ready, get set...go!"
As the cue was given, the cars all drove off and one of them readied to crash into Oonten, only to be crashed into itself. "Tomahawk Spiral!" said Oonten as he launched his car's horns, and they took down one of the 42 Gaiark vehicles. Oonten then smashed another Gaiark vehicle into the arena's wall, making a large hole in it. As the Action Commander whistled triumphantly, he noticed another car driving towards him. "Oh, dear. I think I'm in that fellow's way." he said, then turned on the turn signals as his opponent approached, adjusted his mirrors, and finally, got a grip on the steering wheel again. "Hands at ten and two, and finally floor it." He laughed and the back wheels on his car began to spin fast, causing dirt to fly at the Ugatz driving the enemy vehicle, blinding it.
The car from earlier that got smashed into the wall crawled back into the arena through the hole it had made, only to notice the car with the blinded driver swerving around and the two eventually crashed into each other.
"Yes!" cheered Warz as he watched the carnage in awe, stars in his eyes. "You just got Oonten'd, suckas!"
Insarn only did some modest clapping from her spot, while Barizorg remained indifferent and Basco gave off loud whistles.
"Mr. Pollution President, it looks like we're gonna lose! Permission to enter the race, please." said the announcer as Oonten mowed down more vehicles, and Babatcheed, who was watching from his VVIP seat, nodded.
Meanwhile, Oonten was laughing maniacally. "You're all scrap metal!" he declared.
Suddenly, a heavily armed purple vehicle entered the arena, driven by a female Gaiark officer, the same announcer who gave the cue. "Not so fast! There's one more challenger! I'm...Daring Dale!" she said.
"Ha! You won't beat me! Tomahawk Spiral!" said Oonten as he launched his car horns once again, aimed at Dale.
"If I gain enough distance, that attack ain't got nuthin' on me!" said Dale, speeding up. The horns' boosters also fired up, but they ended up barely scratching the tail of Dale's car.
Angered, Oonten pushed some buttons and a large flamethrower came out of his car's front. "Titan Flame!" he bellowed, slamming his fist on the biggest red button, and the flamethrower spewed out many bursts of fire at Dale's car but she dodged them all with ease.
"I've got speed! I'mma hit and run!" Dale exclaimed, and activated the boosters on her car. She dodged, darted, whizzed and bolted, and fired lasers or missiles at Oonten's car whenever she had the chance. As she kept dodging the flames, Dale noticed the pipes on the enemy car's backside. That's it! While he cools down his flamethrower when it overheats, all the hot air comes out of those pipes! she realized, and fired missiles at the pipes. With the pipes all dented and bent, there was no way for Oonten to use his fire now.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Oonten roared, and sped up his car, charging at Dale like a raging bull.
"Oh, no!" said Dale, but decided to face it with a grin. She pressed the button on the center of her steering wheel, and a gigantic plasma cannon came out of the back of her car. "Plasma Strike!" she exclaimed, and a plasma death-ray was fired from the cannon. The mighty force sent Oonten reeling backwards, and his car exploded, rendered inoperable.
The Zangyack personnel watching this all had their jaws hanging open, still processing the situation as Dale stepped out of her car, receiving cheers from the spectators.
"Wowzers! Machine World is awesome!" exclaimed Gai as the Galleon arrived in Machine World.
"What a beautiful night..." Ahim mused as she looked outside the window.
"This place is leagues above Gunman World!" said Navi.
Suddenly, BOMPER perked up. "Oh, there he is! That's Machalcon!" he said, spotting a deep red Engine recklessly racing the highways of Machine World, and everyone turned to take a look.
"Yahoo! Bari-bari!" Machalcon yelled gleefully as he continued his reckless driving.
"What a showoff..." Marvelous said.
"So that's how big Engines are supposed to be!" Luka exclaimed.
"That's right, bom-bom!" BOMPER said.
Meanwhile, from the crow's nest, Laila, Sosuke, Speedor, Bear RV and Gai were preparing to persuade Machalcon. "Alright, Mother, Father, do your stuff!" said Gai as he held a megaphone to Speedor and Bear RV.
"Hey, Machalcon!" said Speedor.
"Machalcon-chan!" said Bear RV.
At his parents' voices, Machalcon stopped and turned around. "Pa?! Ma?!" he asked.
"Human World is in reeeally big trouble right now! The Gaiark's back!" said Speedor.
"He's right!" Sosuke added.
"Their Pollution President, Babatcheed, set up a Border Control and right now, we're too weak to break through so we can't go to help like before!" said Bear RV.
"What she said, young mister." Sosuke nodded.
"Please help us!" Gai begged. "We need you to break down that barrier for us!"
"Nevah! Not my problem!" refused the deep red Engine.
"So, he's rebelling already?" asked Gai.
"We were always away from home due to us being Harbingers Of Justice, giving help everywhere it was needed...maybe he's mad at us?" said Bear RV.
"Let me take over." said Laila, and snatched the megaphone from Gai. "Machalcon, it's me, Blackstar! Do you remember me?"
"Blackstar?" asked Machalcon, upon hearing his soul-sister's voice.
"Yes, we used to race those very roads together, right? If you remember..." Laila said.
"I...I do. But why? If you're going to rope me into helping out, then..." Machalcon said.
"Your parents got depowered at the Gunman World skirmish. Are you really going to ignore what's going on?" pleaded the half-Engine.
"Look at what you've done! Your mother is crying because of you!" added Sosuke as he picked up the miniature Bear RV.
"Huh?!" asked Bear RV. "Should I cry?"
"When you hatched, you were such a cute little thing, with sparkles in your eyes!" Sosuke exclaimed.
"Huh? I believe you've just met him right now..." said Gai.
"Yoroi, you shut up!" snapped the former Go-On Red.
"Um, it's Gai, sir..." murmured the silver pirate.
"Whutever!" said Sosuke. "Remember when the three of you had your wheels under the warm kotatsu like a family! What happened to those good times?"
"Um, uncle, Engines don't use kotatsus..." Laila said. "And besides, you weren't even there."
"Why did you have to turn out this way? I don't remember teaching you like this!" Sosuke kept on yelling.
"You're not even his teacher..." said Laila.
Sosuke looked like he was going to jump out of the crow's nest any minute. "You're born of two righteous souls, just like your soul-sister right here!" he said, pointing at Laila. "You were born to be a Harbinger Of Justice!"
"Shut up!" said Machalcon as he continued on his way. "I've had enough of everyone running their motor-mouths about being a Harbinger Of Justice!" He then launched several missiles at once from the pipes on his tail, all of them aimed at the Gokai Galleon. Gai, Sosuke and Laila came tumbling down the stairs, from the impact.
"What are we gonna do now?" asked Gai. "It only ticked him off."
"Catch me if you can! Bari-bari!" Machalcon said as he zoomed off.
That ticked Marvelous off in turn. "If you think you could pick a fight with pirates and get off scot-free, you're sorely mistaken!" said the Shezaran, and signaled his crew to get into action. Soon, all the other Gokai Vehicles were unfolded out of the Galleon, and they all began a wild chase through the streets of Machine World. Cannonballs and lasers rained down onto Machalcon's pathway, from the Galleon.
"Oh, no! Machalcon!" said Speedor, seeing that the attacks were hurting his son.
"Hey, watch it! What the hell are you doing to my baby boy?!" yelled Bear RV.
"Shut up and watch!" Marvelous ordered. "We won't hurt him that bad, we're just teaching him a lesson he'll never forget!"
"Stop right there!" Luka ordered from her Gokai Trailer.
"Like hell I will!" said Machalcon, then fired red lasers from his sides, knocking out the Gokai Trailer and Ahim's Gokai Marine.
"Luka! Ahim!" cried Joe.
"You brat!" Doc yelled, and his Gokai Racer crashed into the crimson Engine's side. Not missing the chance, Joe's Gokai Jet shot lasers at Machalcon.
But then, something unbelievable happened. "So long, suckas! Bari-bari!" said Machalcon as he soared up into the air.
Joe was stunned. "He can fly?!"
"Of course he can!" said Laila over the comms. "I practically grew up with that punk, you thought I wouldn't recognize that particular quirk of his?"
"It's not bad at all!" said Marvelous, and began firing the Galleon's cannons at the airborne Engine. "But you're not getting away!"
"What's your problem?!" yelled Machalcon.
"We're pirates. If we want something bad enough, we take it, no matter what. But you don't really care about your reckless joyrides. You're just running away." said Marvelous.
"Whaaaat?!" yelled Machalcon.
"You're just driving around like a maniac to get away from your family." the captain remarked.
"Shut up!" cried the Engine, but then the Galleon rammed into his side, knocking him off course. Not wasting his chance, Marvelous called in Joe and Doc, and they combined to form what was available of GokaiOh, which then landed on Machalcon, combining with him by force, and tying him up with chains. The three pirates struggled to control the rogue Engine for a while, but they eventually skidded to a halt.
"One who can do nothing but run is no match for us." said Marvelous as the reckless driving finally stopped.
After some minutes, things finally calmed down and the Gokaigers, Laila, Sosuke, BOMPER, Speedor, Bear RV and Bus-on confronted Machalcon, who sighed and said "I guess I was just jealous of Pa and Ma. They could keep on driving and always fighting for what they believed in..."
"Machalcon..." muttered Laila.
"I never had anything to fight for." said the crimson Engine.
"Well, then, find one. It's a big universe out there, you'll find something worth caring about. So, whaddaya say?" said Marvelous.
Just then, Machalcon saw the Gokaiger flag and spoke as if he made up his mind. "Marvelous! Please...take me as your partner(aibou)! I wanna be a pirate! I figured...if I joined your crew, I might find what I'm looking for."
"Alright, partner!" said the captain, and at that statement, the Engine brightened up.
"Congratulations!" said Sosuke. "You finally have yourself an Engine partner, Marvey-kun!"
"Can you please not call me that?" Marvelous growled. Marvey-kun sounded an awful lot like Marvey-chan, and the captain didn't want to be reminded of him during a joyous occasion like this. Swallowing down the urge to punch Sosuke, he continued on. "Alright, I'll give you your first mission."
"Nuff said!" Machalcon declared, and flew upwards to smash Babatcheed's Border Control and open up a door to Human World. "Stay and watch, Marvelous! I'll show you all what I'm made of! Bari-bari!" With all his strength, he crashed against the barrier and finally shattered it. As he descended back down to the ground, he asked "Not bad, huh?"
"Nicely done." said Laila.
"Leave our son to us, and hurry to Human World!" said Bear RV as she, Speedor, Bus-on and BOMPER disembarked.
Laila nodded. "Alright, aunt, take care! We'll come back for you when it's all over, I promise!" She waved as she and the Gokaigers disappeared into the Gokai Galleon, which entered the hole ripped between dimensions as soon as everybody was inside.
As the Gokaigers returned to Human World, they were met with a shocking sight. Above a large arena, three people were tied to metal poles. One of them was the Zangyack Action Commander Oonten, and the other two were...
"Ayame! Kikuo!" Laila screamed, seeing her soul-sisters all tied up.
"Laila..." Ayame groaned. "Don't worry about us, save yourself!"
"So, the pirates have returned..." muttered a voice. "Welcome to the Gaiark's Demolition Derby Speedway, de aru! We battled the Zangyack here and won, and you won't stand a chance, de aru!"
Everyone turned their heads, and they saw Babatcheed with a smug grin on his face.