Power Rangers Super Samurai vs Ronin Warriors

by Destonus

Keep in mind that the "vs" in the title doesn't necessarily mean they'll fight each other. It's meant more in the vein of sentai teamups where the team before the versus is the "home" team and the one after it is the "visiting" team. Five years after the defeat of Xandred, a mysterious letter shows up on Jayden's doorstep, the Samurai are thrust into someone else's conflict!

31. Battle in the Sky

Power Rangers Super Samurai vs. Ronin Warriors

Chapter 31: Battle in the Sky.

All was going well for Octoroo's plans so far. Kinji's actions in Panorama City had inadvertently raised the level of the Sanzu River to where he needed it for the ritual to revive Zandred to work, and Tenma was drinking the special sake, seemingly unaware of what it was doing to him. Also, it had been days since Tenma had threatened to turn him into any myriad number of squid delicacies, so life was…

"OCTOROO!"

…well, it was good.

"What can I do for you, Tenma?" Octoroo asked nervously.

"You can start by explaining yourself!" Tenma demanded.

"Ooohahhoo! About what exactly?"

"How this sake made from Sanzu water that you insisted that I drink is slowly turning me into a Nighlok, for starters?!"

There were several nervous "Oohahhoohs" on Octoroo's part before Tenma continued.

"What? Did you think I wouldn't find out? I can READ, squid. The ritual simply requires that you sacrifice a human, and the caster be at least half-Nighlok. But you thought you'd kill two birds with one stone by making me, the caster, be the sacrifice, hmm?"

When the squid simply replied with more nervous "Ooohahhoohs," Tenma continued to explain.

"After going through your scrolls, I also discovered that my temper tantrums and spawning more foot soldiers whenever I have them are the product of me not only turning into a Nighlok but one the same type as your boss. Is that correct as well?"

"Y-yes…"

"So, you DID taint the sake I'm drinking, as I surmised?"

The squid nodded.

"I applaud your plan, as I would have done the same thing. Unfortunately, my shorter fuse thanks to you has made me less than appreciative, and because I have your bosses' cells in me, that makes you my subordinate I think, so this is what you're going to do…"

Back at Shiba House as the sun began to creep over the horizon, Lauren, Mia, and Sakura were heading into the kitchen to fill their water bottles when they spotted Ayame asleep in front of her laptop on the island, snoring away.

"I thought I saw a weird glow from the kitchen last night when we were dragging your sister outside," Mia whispered.

"Ayame must have gotten an idea, and where she seems to work better at night, she must have pulled an all-nighter and fell asleep. Let's leave her for now and enjoy our jog." Sakura replied.

After about an hour, the girls returned to the house to delicious smells.

"Mmm! Something smells good!" Mia exclaimed.

"Ran must be up. Let's go see what she's making for breakfast before Oneechan eats it all."

As the three came into the kitchen to find Ran cooking away, Ayame began to stir herself.

"Coffee…" Ayame groaned.

"Thank you for not waiting; here's your coffee miss." Ran replied, not missing a beat and doing her best waitress impression.

"Mind if I give you a hand?" Mia asked.

"Go right ahead! You probably have a better idea of what your team likes than I do so I could use that input." Ran replied.

"So, what are you working on now?" Lauren asked, glancing at Ayame's screen.

"Well I called your counterparts before they got on their plane, and they said that the minimum number of giant robots per team nowadays is four rather than three. Since all the Sentai teams have gone home, we can't count on them for help anymore, so I was thinking my sisters, and I might be able to back you up. I have a way to get our own Slaves down here that doesn't involve dropping them from orbit, because Ran's is afraid of heights because he's a boat, and Yuri's is too damn heavy to drop from orbit, and he chewed me a new butthole last time I did, but that's not the problem." Ayame explained.

"So, you have machines like Sakura's bike as well?" Lauren inquired. Ayame nodded.

"They're bigger than hers, but unfortunately, they're not as big as your Folding Zords, so I'm not sure how they could be of help to you guys."

"Well, ours are pretty tiny normally, but we use our Symbol Power to make them gigantic. We could probably do the same thing to yours to make them big enough to help us." Lauren explained.

"What my twin forgot to mention is that they can combine like yours can," Sakura explained.

"So, Ran's is a boat, so why is Yuri's too heavy to drop?"

"Because he's a tank. An extremely grouchy tank that thinks he's a Marine Corps Drill Sergeant and only likes Oneechan and occasionally Sakura-neesan." Ran explained from the stove.

"What about you and Suiren?" Mia asked.

"Mine is a fighter jet, and Suiren's is a tiger," Ayame answered.

"What did Tora-chan do now…" Suiren asked as she came in.

on the 'Don't Drop Me From Orbit' list because SOMEONE told him about some crazy plan by the US Navy to drop feline-guided munitions on enemy ships during World War II…" Ayame explained.

(Author's Note: What Ayame's talking about is actually true. Someone had this idea to put cats into bombs because it was believed that cats were afraid of water and thus would guide themselves towards ships so they wouldn't get wet. The idea wasn't scrapped from its absurdity; it was scrapped more because the G-forces from the drop would incapacitate the "guidance system" (i.e., the cat). Go look it up if you don't believe me)

"Let's see, that's three out of the four that don't want you dropping them from orbit. So how exactly are you going to get them down here?" Lauren asked.

"I solved that problem last night. I had the Kusanagi construct a gateway in the hangar where the Slaves are right now, and I'll use my special Nanite Missiles to construct one on our end."

The other Samurai filed into the kitchen as Ran and Mia finished up, and then it was on to practice. Mike for once, was able to pick up some spear pointers from Yuri and Ran, but Kevin's attempt to find common ground with a fellow archer in Ayame belly-flopped. Jayden and Kevin thought about sparring with Yuri but soon decided against it when Emily asked her to kanji up some boulders for her to smash.

"So, what do you do for fun Ran?" Emily asked after samurai practice.

"Hmm, let's see…swimming, drawing, painting, guitar, anything with a board involved?"

"So, does that mean you'd be up for going for a skate with us?" Mike asked.

"Yeah sure, but I left my skateboard back home." Ran said sadly.

"Not a problem, you can borrow one of mine." Mike offered.

"Awesome!" Ran exclaimed.

"Well, I'm off to swim practice guys. See you later." Kevin replied.

"Same here, off to cooking class! Catch up with you girls at the beach later!" Mia said as she also departed.

"I'll catch up with you after I go skating." Ran replied.

"Girls, please keep your phones on this time so I can call you if a monster shows up?" Mentor Ji insisted.

"Don't worry; we will Mentor Ji…" Lauren replied.

Lauren, Yuri, Sakura, and Suiren easily found a place to park at Panorama City Beach, and after some searching found a spot big enough to lay out their beach mat, towels, and beach chairs. Lauren went down on her stomach with the tome from Daisuke's and started to look through it, fighting off sleepiness as her morning jog, and samurai practice began to catch up with her.

"Lauren, you having any luck figuring out that ritual?" Ayame asked. "Lauren?"

Ayame glanced to her right to find Lauren face down in the book, snoring away. She looked up at Sakura, who had an open book on her lap, but was also asleep with her head slumped over to one side and her mouth open.

"Okay Ayame, let's see if you can figure out what's up with this ritual because your sister and Lauren can't seem to stay awake long enough to read it…" she said to herself.

She gently pried the tome out from under Lauren's head, the other girl obliviously just turning her arms into a pillow and drifting back to sleep. Ayame put her headphones back over her ears and turned on the noise cancellation to drown out Lauren's snoring then pushed her laptop to one side, diving into the tome while making occasional notes on her computer.

"Looks like Ayame's having better luck with that book than I did," Yuri said to Suiren.

"What's that?" as the blonde sat up for a moment and took out her wireless earbuds so she could hear better.

"That book Lauren brought with her. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, that thing read like the owner's manual for I.J. that Ayame gave me."

"Yeah, Lauren and Sakura-nee take turns looking at it every time we come here, and they haven't gotten anywhere with it."

"Well if she manages to, Sakura-nee and Lauren are going to kick themselves if Ayame manages to do what they couldn't."

"Definitely," Yuri replied.

"Count on it," Suiren said as she put her wireless earbuds back in and settled down. "Man, I love the beach…" she sighed.

A short time later, Yuri spotted a girl resembling Mia headed in their direction, so she waved her over.

"Hey, Yuri!" Mia called as she made her way over. "Lauren and Sakura asleep?" she asked.

"Out like a pair of lights," Yuri answered. "How are you still going strong?"

"Ran makes amazing coffee." She explained.

"That she does. It's why I'm still here and not catching Zs like those two. Should have gotten some before we left…" Yuri explained.

Mia sat down in her chaise next to Suiren's and put her earbuds in, then fished a textbook out of her bag.

"Yeah, wish I could relax a little more but got a big test, next class. Still, rather study here than the library!" she explained.

"I hear you. Happy studying."

Mia had barely made it through a page before her Samiuraizer rang.

"Hi, this is Mia! Oh, hi Mentor Ji. Okay, we'll be right there."

Yuri gave Sakura a nudge to wake her up, and she did the same to snap Suiren out of her doze.

"Monster attack?" Ayame asked as she took off her headphones.

"Yeah," Sakura replied. "Lauren!" she shouted, shaking her shoulder as she awoke with a start.

"What time is it…" Lauren replied groggily, checking her Samuraizer. "I FELL ASLEEP FOR ALMOST AN HOUR?!" she exclaimed.

"Yep, and you were snoring to beat the band," Ayame replied.

"I wasn't bothering you, was I?" Lauren asked.

"Nah, I just turned on the noise cancellation, don't worry about it. Had to pry the book out from under your head though." Ayame. "Should have grabbed some of Ran's coffee to go. Oh, and there's a monster on the loose."

"You coming with us Ayame?" Mia asked.

"Have to take a rain check. I'm really close to figuring something out about the ritual, and I'll lose my train of thought if I stop. You guys go, I'll stay here and watch our stuff. That all right?"

"Fine by me," Lauren replied as she got dressed. "What do you think Sakura?"

"Well, neither of us got anywhere with the ritual. If anyone can make heads or tails of it, it's Ayame. If she says she's close to cracking it, we've got to let her try."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Sakura," Ayame replied.

"Ayame's right on both counts. I couldn't figure that book out either; it's definitely not a good idea to leave our stuff lying on the beach unattended when we don't know how long it will be until we get back." Yuri added.

"Guys, aren't we forgetting someone?" Mia asked, pointing at Suiren, whose mouth was wide open and slumped to one side.

"I've got this. SUIREN!" Yuri shouted, startling the blonde into wakefulness.

"What'd you do that for Oneechan?" Suiren moaned. "I just fell asleep too…"

"Mentor Ji called, there's a monster loose in the city."

"Why's it look like Aya-nee's not going?" Surien asked with a yawn.

"Because she offered to stay behind and watch our stuff, and she thinks she's close to figuring out that ritual. Unless you'd rather stay here and work on your tan while the rest of us save the city?"

"All right, all right, I'm coming. That monster's going to pay for cutting into my beach time…" Suiren vowed.

The girls arrived on the scene to find Kevin with his bow out scanning the sky and no sign of a monster anywhere.

"Okay Shiba, you've got a lot of nerve pulling us away from our beach day for a false alarm," Sakura snarled.

"We came out here for nothing? I'm going back to the beach…" Suiren said.

"Where's Ran? Wasn't she with you two?" Yuri asked Mike and Emily.

"Well, she was, but she was already headed for the beach when Mentor Ji called us," Mike explained.

"Plus, we don't have her number so it wasn't like we could call her," Emily added.

"Well no point now, wouldn't make sense to call her when she's at the beach and have her come here. The monster will probably return; she can come with us next time." Yuri concluded.

"But it doesn't answer the immediate question, Oneechan. WHERE IS IT!?" Sakura exclaimed.

High above the Samurai and She-Ronin, something was watching them argue. It locked on with good tone on all of them and let fly.

Down on the ground, Yuri looked up to see little specks get larger and larger as they were revealed to be missiles headed straight for them!

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" she shouted suddenly, getting everyone's attention as they all scrambled to get out of their path. Kevin and Sakura aimed along with Suiren, and managed to shoot down most of tHem, as the others struck, knocking them off their feet.

"Okay, what just hit us?!" Sakura shouted at no one in particular.

"THE MONSTER! That's what I've been trying to tell you! I only got a brief look at it, but it looked like a cross between a fighter jet and a hawk."

"So, shoot it down, duh!" Sakura explained matter of factly with a dash of finger-pointing.

"I've been trying to, but he flies too fast!" Kevin explained.

"Why don't we just use our Symbol Power to give us wings so we could fly?" Emily asked.

"Because that's exactly what he wants us to do," Jayden explained. "We'll be fighting him on his turf, where he has all the advantages."

"So then how are we supposed to fight him then?" Antonio wondered.

"Don't know yet. We'll think of something though." Jayden assured him.

"Um, guys? I think we've got incoming again!" Antonio shouted, pointing to the sky.

Kevin, Sakura, and Suiren aimed skyward, picked their targets, and blew them away.

"Leave the missiles to us, Kevin." Sakura offered. "Our HUDs can track them a bit better than your mark one eyeball."

"I hear you on that. That monster's fast, but he's big too. If I get a bead on him, I'll take him out."

"Remember, don't shoot where he is, shoot where he's going to be." Sakura reminded him.

"Are we sure he's still out there?" Mike wondered.

"If he is, our HUDs will find him…aw crap, he's coming in hot!" Sakura exclaimed.

A gunmetal blur whizzed by, causing a sonic boom that knocked them off their feet and shattered nearby windows as well, sending broken glass raining down on them, before climbing back into the sky and disappearing.

"Looks like he's gone for now," Jayden replied.

"We'll see you later, and we're heading back to the beach. Maybe Ayame has some ideas." Lauren replied.

"Okay, catch you later sis," Jayden replied.

The girls returned to the beach to find their spot precisely as they had left it, except Ayame was unconscious, and Ran had shown up and was busy drawing something on her tablet PC.

"Hey, Ran," Mia called out.

"Oh, hey!" Ran replied. "Where were you guys?"

"Monster. Nasty one too." Lauren explained.

"A monster? Why didn't you call me?" Ran asked.

"We figured you were almost at the beach," Yuri explained. "Besides, Mike and Emily said they got called about the monster long after they'd parted ways with you for the day.

"Okay. But I'm coming next time." Ran insisted.

"You got it! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some studying to do." Mia replied as she climbed into her chaise, put in her earbuds and opened her textbook. Sakura took her towel off her chair and went down on her stomach next to Ayame and went back to her book.

"Should we wake up your sister and find if she cracked the ritual?" Lauren asked Sakura.

"Ayame's not very fond of being woken up unless it's an absolute emergency. She'll wake up eventually." Sakura explained.

"Okay, suit yourself," Lauren replied, settling into her chair. "Ran, want to join me?"

"Yeah, sure." Ran replied, getting up from her mat and taking Sakura's seat next to Lauren.

"You guys are elementally aligned like us, right? Sakura's fire, your Oneechan is earth, I'm not sure what Surien is…"

"Light." Ran answered for her. "So that makes her our version of Antonio?"

"In a weird way, yes. So, what about you and Ayame?"

"Aya-neesan is air like Mia, and I'm water."

"Kevin's our water. Did you hit it off with him?"

"Not really. To tell you the truth, he's kind of boring."

Lauren had to giggle at that.

"Jayden told me way back when they fought a monster that told him the same thing."

"What did it say to the others?" Ran asked.

Before Lauren could answer, the silence was broken by a loud yawn from Mia, who apologized and rubbed her eyes before going back to her studying.

"It told Mia she was a lousy cook, but that as you know has changed. For Mike, it was something about training wheels and told my brother that he was keeping a secret."

"What about Antonio and Emily?"

"Well, Antonio hadn't joined the team yet and surprisingly, Emily was the only one he couldn't affect."

"Why not?"

"Something about being bullied as a kid and her sister telling her to ignore it. She was surprisingly the one who saved the day in the end, although it took it out of her. Did you hit it off with her and Mike?"

"Sorta. Mike was really nice, but he kept getting the evil eye from Emily every time he said something to me."

"Well, I would say she's harmless, but she DID pour a bucket of water over Mike's head when she caught him looking at Sakura, so I think she's got a few insecurities to work on. So, what else do you like to do?"

"Well, I love drawing and painting, and anything having to do with water. I wish I brought my surfboard because I see people out there and I'm a little jealous."

"Well, you could always ask someone if you could borrow their board, couldn't you?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same, you know?"

"I think I get it. Oh, dear…poor Mia…" Lauren replied dotingly.

Ran looked over to find Mia sound asleep with her textbook and mouth open, snoring away.

"She must be exhausted."

"I'd say so, up with Sakura and I at 7, samurai practice at 9, class at 11, joining us about an hour later, then a monster attack, I'm surprised she made it this far, she's usually out cold by twelve thirty give or take."

"Should have had some of Ran's coffee…just sayin'." Sakura chided.

"Says the girl who was catching Zs of her own by eleven fifteen." Yuri reminded her.

"I wasn't sleeping; I was resting my eyes!" Sakura protested.

"I dunno, you looked pretty asleep to me." Yuri countered.

"Where'd Suiren go?" Lauren asked.

"Probably boy hunting," Ayame replied with a yawn. "That was refreshing. Back to work, I guess." She replied, flipping onto her stomach and firing up her laptop.

"So, did you find anything out before your nap?" Sakura asked.

"In a word, yes. The ritual requires that a half-Nighlok cast the spell, but there seems to be something about a human sacrifice…" she started to explain before Lauren's Samuraizer went off.

"Hello? It's back? Okay, we're on our way Mentor." Lauren said before hanging up.

"Well I guess Mia's not coming with us, can we call Suiren?" Ayame asked.

"Nope, she forgot her phone again." Sakura clarified, pulling it out of Suiren's bag.

"I don't think we have time to wait for her either. That thing kicked our butts last time out, and the more time we spend here, the more time it has to whittle down Jayden and the others." Lauren surmised.

"So, what exactly is this monster that's giving you guys such a hard time?" Ayame asked as the group got dressed.

"We haven't gotten a good look at it. It's too fast, and it won't come down to the ground to fight us. I think Emily might be right and we'll have to take the fight to it." Lauren said.

The group made its way to the point Mentor Ji had identified, only to once again not find the monster and scanning the sky in hopes of locating it.

"Ayame, do you think your drones will help us locate him?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe, then again he could shoot them all down," Ayame said.

"Even a few minutes of situational awareness is better than being sitting ducks for him like last time," Jayden added.

"Okay, Microdrone missile away!" Ayame said, firing it off. The casing opened to deploy thousands of little drones, which spread out over a twenty-mile radius and mapped the entire area, sending the information to the She-Ronins' HUDs.

"And…here we go. He's just to the north of us, at about…10 angels. We'll go skyward and try to bring him to you." Ayame explained.

The five She-Ronin rocketed into the sky, as the Samurai used Symbol Power to give themselves wings.

"Ayame, you don't suppose this guy has any way to track us as well, do you?" Yuri asked.

"It's a strong possibility. Could work in our favor in leading him to the Samurai. And there it is!"

"You've got a visual?" "

"Not yet, but he's tracking me on radar. Let's see if I can get him to follow me…"

Ayame banked over to the left and turned around, and as expected, Steelwing followed.

"Okay, he's following me! I'll lead him to the Samurai, get on his six and light him up if he tries anything funny."

The Samurai, their magical wings flapping in the air, saw several specks in the distance. They turned into the She-Ronins as they got closer, who then went into a hover.

"Ayame's bringing him to you. Ready?" Sakura asked.

"As we're going to be," Jayden replied.

"Try and aim for his wings. He can't fly without those. We'll do what we can to help."

That being said, Sakura charged her cannons and let fly with a six-stroke attack with her cannons and her beam swords, hoping at least one would connect with his wings and ground him, but he managed to avoid nearly all of them as one grazed his wingtip. His response was to fire missiles back at the She-Ronin.

"AYAME!" Sakura shouted.

"Countermeasure missiles away!"

Missiles flew off and then released chaff, which confused most of Steelwing's weapons and caused them to explode harmlessly while Sakura shot the rest down. This left him completely vulnerable to Yuri, who dove with the sun behind her with her Knuckle Bomber fully charged, as she slammed it into the top of one of his wings, punching clean through to the other side, before kicking off him and engaging hover. Steelwing began to plummet towards the ground as the others followed but disappeared into a gear-shaped portal and vanished.

"DAMN! He got away!" Sakura swore.

"He'll probably be back. Hopefully not repaired." Jayden assured her.

Once again, the girls returned to the beach, to find Mia flat out on her chaise with her textbook over her face and Suiren flat out on her stomach with her straps undone. Everyone plopped into their chairs with a sigh as Ran went down on her mat again.

"How are we supposed to beat this guy?!" Sakura shouted in frustration.

"If we can damage him Sakura, then we can beat him. But I'm guessing it's going to take all of us to do it, and everything we have to do so." Yuri surmised.

"Well, the Slaves are ready if we need them, but hopefully it won't come to that," Ayame said.

"If we can get him on the ground, we should be able to beat him," Lauren said. "The big problem is getting him on the ground."

"Maybe if we got him lower to the ground before we take out his wings, he won't be able to escape as easily?" Ran wondered.

"I mean, it's worth a shot?" Ayame gathered. "But if we're going to do that, we could also try and get him to crash into the ground as well. But someone would have to lure him into a dive, and that person would have to pull out of it at the last possible second to ensure he crashes."

"I'd say we'd be better off trying to disable him at a lower altitude before we try getting him to crash," Lauren suggested.

"Well, whatever we do, we need a plan first." Yuri reminded them.

"True, but how are we going to pull it off if the guys don't know what we're planning?" Lauren reminded her.

"Well, why don't we work it out here, and then call your brother and run it by him and see what he thinks?" Ayame suggested.

"Good point," Lauren replied.

Sometime later, the call came from Mentor Ji once again that Steelwing was back. Lauren went over to Mia and nudged her on the shoulder, waking her up.

"How's the studying going?" Lauren quipped.

"Ha, Ha, hilarious, Lauren," Mia replied before yawning. "I should have snoozed on the bus ride over here…"

"Suiren…" Sakura cooed.

"Knock it off sis; I'm coming, I'm coming. Stupid monster is cutting into my beach time…"

"Seriously sis, just how much time did the monster take out of your day?" Sakura asked exasperatedly.

The girls arrived at the latest breach and met up with the boys.

"I hope you came up with something because the four of us couldn't come up with anything."

"Well, plan A involves luring him down to maybe, 100 feet off the ground and then clipping his wings," Lauren explained.

"What about plan B?" Jayden asked.

"Someone dives for the ground, gets him to follow and pulls up just before they crash," Lauren explained.

"Let's go with plan A for now," Jayden replied.

"Let's suit up then," Jayden replied.

"Samuraizer! Go Go Samurai!"

Kanji were drawn, and the Samurai donned their suits.

"Super Samurai Mode!" Jayden called, as everyone else went into Mega Mode.

"Symbol Power, Wings!" the team all called out, drawing 'tsubasa' on each other's backs as magical Ranger colored wings appeared and they lifted into the sky.

The She-Ronin concentrated and summoned their armor as they were enveloped in their elements and broke free, before calling down the Add-Ons and linking up with them as well.

"Heads up everyone, it looks like he called in some friends, I'm detecting multiple bogeys around his position!" Ayame reported. "I can probably get a few BVR kills before we're in range."

"BVR?" Jayden asked.

"She means beyond visual range," Sakura explained. "They won't know what or who hit them."

"Gotcha."

"Roger that, lighting 'em up! I've got tone…and missiles away!"

Ports all over Ayame's Add-On opened, and missiles streaked out and intercepted a target apiece.

"Well, I thinned them, but I didn't get all of them."

"Don't worry; we'll take care of the rest somehow. Where's our buddy right now?" Jayden asked.

"Searching…he's directly above us! Crap! He's got a lock! Firing CM Missiles now!"

The She-Ronin and Samurai took evasive action to get out of the way of the incoming missiles, but a few of them had hawk heads and weren't fooled, so Ayame lined them up with her Gauss cannon and took them out that way.

"Looks like his friends are Flying Moogers and Grinders with jetpacks?" Kevin reported.

"We'll handle the Flying Moogers; we'll leave the Grinders to Sakura and her sisters. There's one for each of us, so let's get to it!" Jayden ordered.

Jayden dove for one of the Moogers and caused it to explode in flames with a Blazing Strike.

"Dragon Splash!" Kevin called out as he struck down his Mooger after a little maneuvering into position.

"Forest Vortex!" Mike called out as he too struck down the Mooger he was aiming for.

"Seismic Swing!" Emily called as she took out her Mooger as well.

"Airway!" Mia declared as she struck with her Spin Sword.

"Um, guys? A little help here? Iai doesn't exactly translate well in aerial combat!"

Lauren gave herself a second Spin Sword with the Double Disc and used a Blazing Storm, cutting her Mooger down with fire and Antonio's with lightning.

"Looks like there's a bunch more for us than for them," Ayame commented.

"Good, more for the scrap heap!" Yuri chimed in enthusiastically.

She held her hands one above the other, as a bolt of void formed between them, which she hurled at one of the Grinders, punching a hole clear through its chest before it exploded.

"And…missiles away!" Ayame called out, sending another flurry from all her launchers to impact many Grinders and destroying them.

Suiren fired off charged shots of varying strength, most of them missing.

"STAY STILL!" Suiren called out.

"You really think they're going to listen to you?" Sakura asked her.

"It was worth a try?" Suiren replied. "Fine, I'll do it your way. DIE YOU CHROME-PLATED BASTARDS!" Suiren shouted, bringing out her sword and charging in, cutting them down one at a time.

"I think that was more Oneesan's way of doing things?" Ran wondered.

Ran fired light blue bolts of energy from her gauntlet, which caused Grinders to freeze on contact, which promptly fell from the sky. Others she cut down with a beam blade that extended from it as well. Sakura fired off missiles from her shoulder guards, took down others with charged blasts from her cannon on either arm, and others were cut down by her beam blades.

"Okay Ayame, where's Steelwing?" Sakura asked.

"Um, you're not going to like this sis…" Ayame replied.

"Out with it!" Sakura demanded.

"He's coming right for you! Get him down to 100 feet, then disable him!"

"Yeah, easier said than done!" Sakura replied as she dove for the deck with Steelwing in hot pursuit and her sisters in hotter pursuit after him.

"Come on…follow me you bastard…" Sakura muttered to herself as she focused on her rapid descent and had little time to focus on whether Steelwing was following her or not.

"Don't worry sis, he might be on your six, but we're on his," Ayame called over the radio. "Just watch that altimeter."

"Yeah yeah, don't crash," Sakura replied.

"That would be the idea." Ayame quipped back.

Sakura continued her descent, occasionally jinking to break off any chance of Steelwing locking on and firing his missiles.

"Ayame, you ready to light him up if he tries anything funny?" Yuri asked.

"Of course, Oneesan, unless you'd like to give him a taste of your cannon first?"

"Love to, but he has to stay still for that to happen. Everyone be ready to give him everything you have the second Sakura breaks off."

Four mike clicks sounded off in reply, confirming the order.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sakura had reached the desired altitude, and it took all her might to break right and pull out of her dive.

"Okay, she's off! Let him have it!" Yuri called.

Attacks fired off from all four She-Ronin, two each hitting his wings, disabling them as he departed from flight and spiraled into the ground. The She-Ronin pulled out of their dives and alighted, as the Samurai showed off their easy landings.

"How dare you force me to tread upon the ground! You shall pay for this!"

"Somehow I doubt that. Fire Smasher, Cannon Mode!"

Jayden transformed his Spin Sword into the Fire Smasher and then used the Beetle Disc to change it into its cannon. The other Discs were loaded, as Suiren gathered power in her barrel all the way to pink, as both attacks went off, taking down Steelwing, for now. Steelwing revived as a giant, right on schedule, and out came the Folding Zords.

"Ayame, if you want to try your plan, now's the time," Lauren replied.

"On it. Nanite Missiles, away!"

She fired a few missiles that released a cloud of nanomachines that formed themselves into a hexagonal gateway.

"Okay girls, we're on," Ayame called out. "Himeihoshi, you ready?"

"Himeihoshi awaiting launch orders…launch orders received…I have full ammo, health, and shields at 100%, Himeihoshi, away!"

A Metal Siren Valkyrie rocketed out of the hangar on the Kusanagi and headed straight for Earth.

No sooner were the Megazords up and running, Spitfangs and Giant Moogers also appeared.

"I.J., you ready to roll out?" Ayame asked.

"AB-SO-LUTELY! I.J ARCLITE LOCKED AND LOADED!"

A main battle tank was the first to roll out through the gateway, which Yuri climbed up on and boarded. Next out of the gateway was a large mecha tiger, which Suiren hopped aboard, which was strangely dragging a boat behind it, which Ran leaped aboard. A speck was seen in the distance, which became larger and larger until Himeihoshi was in full view, as his cockpit opened and Ayame climbed in.

"Okay Lauren, let's see if this works," Ayame replied.

Lauren drew the same kanji they used to enlarge the Folding Zords at the Slaves, and they too became Zord sized.

"We'll handle Steelwing. See if you can keep the Spitfangs and Flying Moogers off us." Jayden instructed.

"Can do. Let's go, Himeihoshi." Ayame called.

"Oh, you poor kaiju…You can't fly as fast as I can! I'd prefer to keep this an unfair fight, but you leave me no choice. TRANSFORM!"

Himeihoshi went from his jet mode to his robot mode and rocketed up to the Moogers with his plasma spear at the ready. He rocketed past them, cutting them down as he did, and then used his gun pods to mow down others.

"That's the best you can do? Seriously, I expected more from that charismatic bastard and that Gundam-obsessed lunatic."

"Well, we're not out of the woods yet. I'm sure there'll be plenty of targets for you to knock out of the sky."

The Spitfangs opened fire at Yuri, as their shots barely scratched the paint. Unfortunately, that sealed their fates.

"Jesus H. Christ! How dare you damage my beautiful paint job! Prepare to face hot particle death, maggots!"

His main gun thundered several times, punching holes in the monsters as they fell in pyrotechnics.

"Nice shooting I.J."

"Of course it was! My aim is impeccable!"

"Okay Bakurai, what's bothering you…" Ran asked carefully.

"I know our objective is to field more mecha in this battle, but only my robot mode can be of use in the current situation. I wonder if your sister plans to reinforce my hull so we can attack the Nighlok directly?"

"Let's just cut down a bunch of Giant Moogers and think about it later, okay?"

'That can easily be arranged." He declared as he brought out his trident and went to work.

"Well, it certainly looks like those girls can handle themselves in a mech fight," Jayden observed.

"Jayden, would you mind terribly forming the Battlewing Megazord and going after that guy? I'll try to lead him to you." Lauren informed him.

"Sorry, Sis."

Kanji were drawn, and the Battlewing was formed and combined with the Megazord, which rose into the air with its sword at the ready. Using her Gatling, Lauren led Steelwing into the Megazord's path, which bisected him in midair.

"Samurai Rangers, victory is ours!"

"Well, I'm glad that guy's destroyed," Mike said as the group walked back to Shiba House.

"I'm just upset we couldn't be of more help after we finally got the Slaves into a fight." Ayame pouted.

"Sis, I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to use them in the future," Sakura assured her.

Suddenly, Octoroo appeared with a bunch of Moogers!

"Ooohahhoo! I've been looking for you!"

The Moogers quickly grabbed Jayden before anyone could morph and sank into the ground as soon as they had arrived.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked. "Ayame? You going to tell us what you found out?"

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it…"

This Brings this Chapter to a Close…