Chapter 9

"AAAAAAAUGH!" The now giant Vinepier groaned, stretching his back. "That hits the spot! Merci, Lady Weava!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot Sentai often have mecha battles." Azu commented.

"...you…forgot!?" Slavi asked incredulously.

"Hey there are lots of Henshin Heroes in the world, and I've only been focused on the Riders, plus, dunno if you knew this beforehand, but I was kinda dead for a bit!"

Slavi gasped. "You were DEAD!? We're dealing with a ZOMBIE!?"

"I'm not a zombie, you idiot."

"A ghost?"

"I'M NOT A GHOST!"

"She's a Humagear. Bodily destruction, while unpleasant, isn't the same for us." Andah explains.

"Y'all ready for the big-leagues?" Shizu asked over comms.

"We'll have to be." Azu answered. "I assume this means the giant mecha are ready, because we could REALLY use em!"

"What do you take me for, an amateur? Put your side-arms together and go "Signaling Zea!" and see what happens!" Shizu responded chipperly.

"Zea?" Azu repeated before shaking her head. "Right. You heard the lady!" Everyone brought out their side arms in their blade modes, putting them together like a roundtable of knights.

"SIGNALING ZEA!" Everyone called out, their blades glowing.

…

In teal tinted forest area, gorgeous blue rivers that seemed to go on forever, buildings and structures white and resembling the architecture of those owned by HIDEN Intelligence, with many energy constructs of animals crawling, hopping, and flying about, an energy construct of a white and blue moth perched on a white structure, almost like it was its throne.

Its eyes flashed and she let out a chirping noise, sending out a signal. A call.

…

Inside a giant tree in a red tinted area of red flowers, there rested a…creature.

It had a black, serpentine body with legs and a long tail, red highlights all over it. Its underbelly was red. Its head was a mix of a butterfly and a dragon's, an elongated jaw like a dragon's with butterfly eyes and antennae, said parts being red. To complete it, it had black butterfly wings with red dragonic patterns.

It heard the chirping of the moth…and it answered in kind with a noise that was a mix between a sort of chirping sound and a roar, opening its wings and taking off.

…

Near a dark blue pool with blue and black reeds sticking out of it, another creature heard the call of the moth.

It had a black, dragon-fly like body with wolf-like legs, neon-blue lines traveling all over the black body. Its head was a mix of a dragon's and a dragonfly's, with bright blue eyes and antenna. The wings that flapped to life on its back were the reverse of its body, bright blue with black patterns.

With a small leap into the air the wings became blue blurs as it zipped towards the meeting place.

…

In a dark chamber, each wall covered in many names like memorial walls, a creature sat in a pool of water, resting.

It had a black, kind of serpentine body, with four dragonic legs, the final two front arms being blades like a mantis. Its head was a mix between a mantis' and a dragon's in terms of shape, with yellow mantis eyes and side fangs, its body also having yellow highlights, wings the reverse colors of its body, yellow with black highlights.

It opened its eyes upon hearing the call, standing up, slicing its bladed arms together before jumping out.

…

In a green tinted room, surrounded by black walls with totally necessary green large techno patterns on it, sat a creature.

It had a black, big, bulky thick body, an elongated neck, grasshopper-like legs, & a head that was, shape-wise, a fusion between a grasshopper's and a dragon's, with green eyes and antenna. Along its black body were green highlights, its grasshopper wings a reversal of the main body colors, green with black highlights.

The call reached the room, and it opened its eyes, responding to it with a chirp-roar before hopping out of there.

…

In a dark black room, lit only by some pink neon lights, sat a creature.

It had a black, long, thick body, with a head that, shape wise, was a fusion between a dragon's and a firefly's, short legs, firefly wings, pink glowing spots alongside the back on both sides, the tail, and the legs, its eyes and antenna pink.

The call reached the room, and she responded with a chirp-roar, flying out.

…

A gold bordered and multicolored portal opened up behind Vinepier.

"Hm?" He turned around. "Ah, fu-"

Five roars echoed as the five beasts knocked him aside.

"WHOO!" Slavi cheered.

"Amazing." Nazu commented.

"Incredible…" Ziga grinned.

The other two rangers…were silent.

Azu was staring in amazement, particularly at the butterfly Draginsect.

This…was a Draginsect?

It was…it was almost like staring at Zea herself. Almost.

And Andah…

She had unconsciously brought her hand to her chest as she stared at the grasshopper Draginsect.

A warm feeling went through her body…and she couldn't place why that was.

What…was this feeling, even?

Meanwhile, the Draginsects were not letting up on their attacks.

The red Draginsect spread her wings, floating in the air, said wings glowing a bright red before she started flapping them at high speeds, sending wave after wave of red light blasts at Vinepier, who tried to block them, bringing up massive tendrils of tree roots, only for the dragonfly Draginsect to shoot by and slice them.

The grasshopper Draginsect slid along the ground, turning its back to him, compressing its legs before shooting them out, sending him flying into the air, the blue Draginsect following it up by flying right at him and slamming into him.

The yellow one latched onto his back, digging her blades and fangs into him, causing him to howl in pain.

The pink one curled inward, pointing her glowing spots at her foe before firing pink energy beams at him. He writhed and shouted in pain as the other Draginsects also opened fire on him.

"Ngh…a fine fight you've given me!" Vinepier grunted. "However, I am not done yet!" He yelled, extending his arms into tendrils and spinning around, the Draginsects jumping to avoid it.

"...uh…w-wow…" Azu blinked. "This…this is amazing!"

"Us Sentai can be cool too, y'know!" Slavi giggled.

"...Green?" Azu looked to the green ranger, who was still staring at her Draginsect. "...green?"

"Huh?" Andah snapped out of her trance. "Oh…sorry, guess I…uh..was a bit into the action." She spoke, rubbing her helmet.

Azu narrowed her eyes but decided not to press this.

"Alright guys, guess what time it is?" Shizu called over comms, and everyone could just hear the grin in her voice.

"OH! OH! Megazord?" Andah suddenly said excitedly.

"...a mega what?" Azu asked, blinking.

"...OH! Like that American thing!" Slavi realized.

"...Can someone explain?" Azu asked, deadpanning.

"It's an American thing, people took Sentai's adventures and made their own stories out of them." Slavi explained. "They called the mecha combos megazords."

"..." Azu blinked. "...so…are these like…reenactments of Sentai adventures, or…"

"Well-"

"Enough." Ziga groaned, though they could just hear the barely restrained laugh from the yellow ranger. "Let's just do it."

"Just say 'Ryumushi-gattai,' and you'll start the combination. Then just leap up and you'll be transported into the cockpit." Shizu explained.

"Alright. Everyone ready?" Azu asked.

Everyone nodded, bringing together their swords. "RYUMUSHI-GATTAI!"

Vinepier groaned, looking up and seeing an energy barrier form in front of the five Draginsects. "Oh….oooohhh is this it!?" He asked excitedly.

The red Draginsect's wings detached, her neck going onto the back, head sliding onto where the neck was, her face opening up to show a red robotic face with no mouth, but glowing red, insectoid-dragonic eyes.

The blue Draginsect's wings detached, the head opening up to reveal a shoulder-like joint, the tail detaching and a humanoid hand coming out of the main body, now grabbing the sword-like tail, attaching to the main torso to become the right arm.

The pink Draginsect's wings detached, the head opening to reveal a shoulder-like joint, the tail detaching and a humanoid hand coming out of the body, attaching to the main torso to become the right arm.

The yellow Draginsect's wings detached, the head folding to become a foot, its mantis-like arms retracting into said foot as its lower body folded into a leg-like shape, attaching into the main torso to become the right leg.

The green Draginsect's wings detached, arms folding into the body, legs detaching. Its neck moved onto the shin, its head moved to the bottom and folded up to become a foot, the legs attaching to either side, the draginsect now forming the left leg.

All five Draginsect's wings then moved to the sword, attaching to it and forming a rainbow wing set.

"Yeah!" The Ryumushingers cheered.

"Alright, let's do this!" Azu called, everyone leaping into the air, being pulled into a white light before appearing inside the cockpit.

…

The cockpit was a big room, colored in strikes of each of the rangers' colors. Red in the middle, blue to its right, yellow to the red's left, pink to the yellow's left, and green to the blue's right.

Each streak had slightly different scale patterns, with the addition of a big orb larger than each ranger's torso, what seemed to be techno patterns inscribed onto each of them, each being the color of the streak they were on.

The rangers appeared in front of the orbs, taking a moment to marvel at the inside of the cockpit.

"So this…this is a Sentai cockpit…" Azu marveled.

"Pretty sweet, right?" Slavi grinned, elbowing her.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Let's finish this fight, team!" Andah grins.

"Wait, something about this whole thing is familiar…" Slavi commented.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Shizuka said over comms.

"No, no, I'm pretty sure I recognize this. Large room, orbs for consoles, didn't the Abarangers have something like this-"

"THESE ARE IN NO WAY BASED OFF OF THE ABARANGERS AND ANY SIMILARITIES ARE COMPLETELY COINCIDENTAL."

"Forget that," Azu cut in, "Why's the monster just standing there?"

They looked and, indeed, Vinepier was just…standing there politely. He perked up when he noticed their attention was on him now.

"Oh, hi there!" He greeted.

"...you've just been…standing there…the whole time?"

"You were just standing for a bit so I thought you were busy."

"...and you didn't think to attack us? Even after we formed the mecha?"

"Megazord." Andah cut in.

"Whatever." Azu said.

"Not all monsters of the week have to be ruffians!" Vinepier protested.

"...didn't we already go through this?" Nazu muttered, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, don't be a fucking speciest, Red." Slavi chided.

"Literally EVERY SINGLE MONSTER that has invaded Earth has been like that, how is that-"

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" Andah chanted.

"You shut your Zea damned mouth before I do it for you!" Azu snapped.

"...with your tongue, or-"

Azu made incoherent noises of anger before tackling Andah.

Vinepier blinked, standing around. "So, uh…do we fight, or…?"

"Give us a second." Slavi told him. "RED, STOP TRYING TO MURDER GREEN!"

…

A few moments later, some unauthorized snek-gynoid snuggling later (much to Azu's protest) to calm Red down, and everyone was back at their consoles.

"...So…." Vinepier said.

"We're good now." Slavi told him.

"Great, you may have the first shot, then!" Vinepier grinned, spreading his arms.

Everyone nodded, about to move-

"WAIT!"

Everyone turned to Slavi. "Does this combo have a name yet?"

Everyone looked around in thought.

"Boss?" Azu asked over comms.

…

Shizuka -as well as Amy, who had finally come back after her blushing fit- blinked.

"...uh…" Shizuka blinked.

"We uh…never…named it…" Amy admitted.

…

…

…

Everyone facefaulted.

"YOU DIDN'T NAME-" Slavi started.

"I KNEW WE WERE FORGETTING SOMETHING!" Amy shouted in anguish.

Azu deadpanned before face slamming onto her console.

"What do we name it, what do we name it, what do we-" Slavi rambled before being cut off.

"Ryumushi-Ohi." Azu answered.

"...Ryumushi-Ohi?" Everyone repeated.

"Looking it up now, a lot of Sentai mechs have part of the Sentai name, plus some word for king or ruler attached to it, and this one seems…I dunno, kinda female?"

Everyone thought about it before nodding.

"I like it!" Slavi grinned.

"COMPLETE! RYUMUSHI-OHI!" Everyone chorused.

…

"...Ok, I KNOW I did not mean to do that-"

"Save questions for later, let's go!" Andah grinned.

With a groan, Azu nodded. "Fine." She moved with the others and on the outside the now complete mecha winds back and slashes the plant-like monster.

"GYAH!" Vinepier groaned, sliding back, holding his chest. Removing his hand, he noticed a gash glowing in the five colors of his adversaries. "Heh…I'll be…that actually hurt. But that was your first shot. From now on, no more freebies."

The two giants lunged at each other, Vinepier forming blades and clashing against Ryumushi-Ohi's blade. Once more Slavi and Nazu worked together to hold back his slashing attacks.

The two giants knocked each other away, Vinepier extending his rapier arms and shooting them at Ryumushi-Ohi at high speeds, the mecha deflecting the blades and jumping back, narrowly dodging each strike Vinepier sent at it before it used its grasshopper leg to jump back and strike twice as hard.

Vinepier aimed his attacks for the legs and Ziga lifted hers up to defend, the mantis arms coming out as razor blades, knocking Vinepier's swords away.

Ryumushi-Ohi leapt up with its green leg, sending a flying kick at Vinepier, the grasshopper legs on the sides compressing and sending him flying.

"Amazing…" Azu muttered. "It's like…"

"Like each Draginsect's attacks are…our instincts." Ziga finished.

"Hey, if we can do those…" Andah grinned.

Slavi and Azu nodded.

"Blue, Pink!"

"Right!" Both said, throwing the blade into the air before aiming both arms at Vinepier, charging blue and pink energy into their respective fists. The energy punches bent his blades backwards, breaking past them and slamming into his chest.

Vinepier grunted as he was sent back.

Ryumushi-Ohi's antenna glowed a bright red, red energy outlines of butterfly wings forming behind the large mecha as she then sent them towards her foe like energy disks, Vinepier groaning as he was struck over and over.

The team then caught the sword and it began to glow in their hands.

"The finisher!" Azu called.

"Right!" Everyone responded.

Ryumushi-Ohi raised its blade up high.

"Heh….HAHAHAHAHA!" Vinepier laughed.

"...that doesn't sound good…" Azu muttered.

"Magnifique! You five are truly magnifique!" The plant monster yelled. "I knew to expect a challenge, but this is not something I would've imagined I'd ever face! Not to mention I think it's giving my queen quite the show, to boot!"

"Uh….thanks." Azu said. "...why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?"

Andah opened her mouth, Azu glaring at her, and the green clad gynoid could've sworn her fellow Humagear was surrounded by hellfire, closing her mouth. Slavi giggled.

"BUT!" Vinepier called. "I am not done yet. I still have one last trick." Vinepier's eyes glow as he grabs both of his arms and the team hears ripping sounds.

"OH SWEET ZEA!" Azu cried out.

"Oh mother-" Nazu covered his mouthplate.

"Draginsects…" Ziga muttered.

"I…are any of us old enough to have witnessed that…?" Andah asked.

"I…I don't know…" Slavi said, dumbfounded.

Vinepier groans louder as his arms regrew, picking up his ripped off arms. "...was that a bit disturbing?"

"..." Azu blinked, she, Slavi, Ziga, and Andah hearing retching noises, Nazu having hurried off. "...a bit, yeah."

"Ah, my apologies. I'll try to make it quicker." Vinepier said, bowing in apology. "Do you…need a minute-"

"I'M BACK!" Nazu announced, having put his helmet back on and gone back to his console.

"...You ok?" Azu asked.

"...If I think happy thoughts, then yes." Nazu responded.

"We're good!" Azu announced.

"Ah, good!" Vinepier responded. "Now, engarde!" He threw his arms at them like disks. They spun rapidly till they became green blurs launching at the mecha.

"WHOA!" Ryumushi-Ohi flipped over them, trying its best to dodge them, only narrowly succeeding.

"He can turn his arms into disks!?" Andah cried out, the giant mech flipping and somersaulting over the disks.

"As long as it's just two, we should be fine!" Ziga said. Azu and Slavi would've groaned, had it not been for the fact they were all busy trying to dodge the disks.

"You never say it's easy, ever!" Slavi chided.

"Why?" Ziga asked.

She quickly got her answers when Vinepier tore off his new arms, throwing them and turning them into disks.

"THAT!" Azu cried out, the mecha doing its best to either dodge or block the disks, getting scraped and barely nicked which would have been fine except Vinepier started tearing off his next set.

"For the love of-" Azu cursed, Ryumushi-Ohi catching one of the disks, sparks flying before the mecha threw it into the ground, slashing away at the other disks to try to block or deflect them.

This kept going on, the team doing their best to block, deflect, or dodge the disks, Vinepier throwing more and more at them.

It was…overwhelming.

"Fruit Jesus…" Nazu groaned. "We can't even get a hit on the guy!"

"..." Azu narrowed her eyes.

"How….are we supposed…to fight this guy anymore!?" Slavi cried out.

"...Guys." Azu called out, everyone focusing on her. "I think I have an idea."

"We're listening!" Slavi responded.

"Shizu?"

"...Oh I think I see what you're getting at. You might want to fly to better accomplish this. The wings on the sword can also go onto Ryumushi-Ohi's back for flight."

"Alright, you heard her!" Azu told everyone.

The wings on the sword detached, flying around to deflect the disks before converging on the mecha's back, the giant flying up.

"Gonna clue us in on the rest of the plan?" Nazu asked.

"Notice how his eyes glow whenever he's about to send more disks out?" Azu pointed out.

"Yeah."

"There's a bit of a delay between the glowing and the attack."

The others looked, noticing…she was right.

And they also finally noticed what she was getting at.

The delay…was getting bigger.

"He's getting exhausted." Nazu commented.

"We tire him out, and then go for a finishing blow." Azu said.

"So the plan for now is to keep running from the disks and wait for a big enough delay?"

"Got it in one." Azu confirmed. "Everybody good with that?"

Everyone nods and they work together to dodge the disks as he kept launching them, obviously struggling the more he did so.

They flew higher into the air, batting away disks with their blade and their many attacks.

The longer they kept this up, the more and more tired Vinepier got.

"You are...worthy…adversaries…" Vinepier panted.

He then noticed, after a bit…they had disappeared into the clouds. He looked around, worried they had retreated without a clear winner to the battle.

He then started hearing a noise of sorts.

Those…those were his disks, weren't they?

He narrowed his eyes. Ryumushi-Ohi was…flying straight at him, his own disks in tow.

Panicking, he raced to pull out more disks, only to find himself struggling to find the strength, Ryumushi-Ohi shooting past him at the last moment.

"Oh fu-"

He yelled out in pain as the disks embedded themselves into him. Groaning, he looked and saw the giant flying back at him. Reaching up, despite the pain, he attempted to catch it.

When the smoke cleared, it appeared he did indeed catch it…

But he was now in even more pain, as Ryumushi-Ohi had kicked with its mantis leg, its claws digging into his hands.

"GAHH!" He shouts. Unable to turn his arms to disks he returns them to blades once more, charging at Ryumushi-Ohi like he charged Nazu earlier, blades winding back for one last lunge attack.

Ryumushi-Ohi's wings detached from its back before reattaching to the sword, energy gathering in it, winding back.

The two dashed at each other, ending up on opposite sides, unleashing powerful strikes. Vinepier cries out as the damage becomes too much, sparking and stumbling.

"Ngh…" He grunted, holding his stomach.

"This battle is already over." Azu said, Ryumushi-Ohi standing up straight.

"Heh…it appears so…" Vinepier grinned. "This is the greatest battle…I could've ever had….to that….to you, Ryumushingers! I say…." He spread his hands out. "GOOD JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB-"

He exploded in a spectacular fashion.

…

Back at HQ, a cube appeared on a desk, Amy and Shizuka seeing it and smiling.

…

In the cockpit, everyone stood silent.

"...So…" Azu started. "...that's it…right?" Azu asked.

"Yep!" Slavi confirmed.

"...so….we did it?"

Slavi grinned. "Yep!"

Everyone broke into grins and cheers, shaking each other's hands, high fiving each other, and congratulating each other…

And Slavi had pulled Azu's helmeted face into her chest in a bearhug. "YOU DID SO GOOD THERE, RED!"

"U-UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT! I DO NOT LIKE THIS!" Azu insisted.

Nobody believed her, the group hugging and laughing as they excited the giant mecha.

What they did not expect to find when they got out was a crowd.

"...oh yeah, giant beings fighting attracts attention." Azu muttered.

"Well they seem to be more Super Sentai fans." Slavi commented, gesturing to the merch of the aforementioned heroes, from T-shirts, to caps, etc.

"I guess people at large are just more jaded to this sort of thing." Andah chuckled.

"..." Slavi noticed Azu had gone silent, staring at the crowd. She smiled, elbowing her. "Hey."

Azu turned to her.

"They're cheering for all five of us. Including you."

"..." Azu didn't answer, Slavi wrapping their pinkies together, the gynoid's cheeks turning pink under her helmet.

Back in the viewing room, Spydey was giving a standing ovation.

…An action which raised an eyebrow from Owlio. "What…are you doing?"

"I'm clapping for them!"

"...they're our enemies."

Spydey pouted. "Doesn't mean we can't congratulate them on a good job. You need to lighten up, Owlio!" She beamed.

Owlio, albeit fondly, rolled his eyes, the other people in the room soon joining in Spydey's clapping, Scorpia joining in with one look from Spydey, Weava following close behind. Everyone then looked at Owlio who, after a moment, joined in himself.

END