XD it's here! The chapter everyone has been waiting for! Okay guys, go read and stop glaring at me…
Gingka/others who have been glaring at me for about six weeks now: -goes to read-
Me: Finally! They were really getting on my nerves. Ryo?
Ryo: I, The Immortal Phoenix, will- oh wait, wrong cue card.
Me: -sweat drops-
Ryo: GalaxyPegasus14 does not own MFB, only her OCs.
One month later, Ryo and the others had marked off the entire river on Ryo's map of Japan. The older Hagane was mildly frustrated by the fact that he had still not found his son or the Warriors, or any trace of them, with the exception of a few destroyed robots here and there, which became more numerous the closer the group got to Koma Village.
Early one morning, Ryo decided to do some scouting ahead while the others were asleep. Quietly, he snuck out of his tent, checking in on Arashi and Takeshi, who were sharing a tent, and ruffling the sleeping Eiichi's hair as the young Kurogane slept. Then, Ryo cautiously crept away from the camp and headed for Koma Village.
As Ryo got closer to his former home, he was surprised to hear rhythmic clanking noises, the sound of metal being cut and welded, a few crackling noises.
"Have they been here all along?" He wondered, creeping closer to get a better look. What he saw shocked him. The DNA was occupying Koma!
"Is everything ready for the assault?" Ian asked, walking right by Ryo's hiding place with another DNA official.
"Yes sir, they don't stand a chance."
"You are sure that is where the Warriors are?"
"Well, no, but their activity has been picking up, and it started with our patrols in that area. That village doesn't stand a chance."
"The village? Oh no! I have to warn everyone!" Ryo thought, quickly and quietly backing out of the place he was in and bolting for the camp once he was out of sight and hearing range.
Ryo paused, about to wake up the younger bladers, but decided to leave them there and go on his own.
"It's better if they sleep now, they may have a fight ahead later." He said, scribbling a note and leaving it on Arashi's pillow for the teen to find when he woke up. Then, Ryo tucked his map into Anashi's backpack and ran off for the village, intent on warning them before the DNA got there.
Madoka woke up early that morning and sighed. It sure had been quiet around lately with the kids gone, but she knew they were having fun. Ryo would do his best to protect them, so she didn't have to worry, right? That's when the commotion outside started. The first thing Madoka heard was Ryo yelling, followed by a frantic knocking on her front door.
Madoka forced herself to remain calm, pulled on a bathrobe, and opened the door to see Zero standing there.
"Mr. Hagane said that he heard the DNA planning to attack here!" Zero exclaimed. "We may have less than an hour to clear out completely."
"Okay, what is his plan?" Madoka asked.
Zero shrugged. "I don't know, he just said for everyone to meet him with their stuff in the center of town within about fifteen or thirty minutes, he wasn't sure how soon the DNA could be here."
"Okay, I'll be there!" Madoka closed the door and wet back inside, packing her things and a few valuables that she didn't want the DNA to get, then ran out the door.
Thanks to Ryo's warning, the whole village was evacuated in just less than an hour, and as the villagers left under his lead, they heard the DNA's robots approaching.
"Anashi!"
"Mmm?"
"Anashi, wake up! Grandpa Ryo is gone!"
The redhaired girl sat bolt upright at her brother's words.
"What?"
"Grandpa left! He left this on my pillow to say not to go back to the village because it is probably under DNA attack!" Arashi held up a piece of paper.
Anashi took it and read aloud to everyone, Eiichi and Takeshi having now joined them.
Sorry to have left you guys alone, but I was scouting ahead this morning and overheard Ian Garcia plotting to attack our village. I have gone to warn them, and the village will likely be occupied by the time you read this. Whatever you do, don't go back there. My map is in Anashi's bag, follow it to the mountain, but be careful. Do not go to Koma Village either, it is fully occupied. Go to the east gate of the mountain, you will have to combine your strength and use your beys to open the gate. I believe in you guys, good luck.
With love, Ryo Hagane.
"So, we're headed for the mountain ourselves?" Takeshi sounded nervous.
"We can do it! The Warriors are there! We can get them to help!" Arashi exclaimed.
"What? Are you sure?" The others exclaimed.
"Yeah! When Warlord carried me back, he pointed out their headquarters to me! We can do it guys! Our parents are the strongest bladers in the world, and we are going to follow in their footsteps, we can't lose!"
"Yeah! Let's go guys! We'll follow your lead, Arashi!" Anashi exclaimed.
"Well, we should start by packing up camp." Arashi said.
"Let's get going then! If the DNA is out in the forest, we really need to keep moving." Takeshi said, starting to take down the tents.
Thirty minutes later, the group was headed for Snowy Mountain.
"The East Gate, according to this map it's on the Koma Village side." Takeshi said.
"So we have to get around Koma without being spotted?" Anashi looked over her friend's shoulder at the map.
"Yeah, that will be difficult."
"We can do it guys!" Eiichi exclaimed.
"Yeah, but only if we're a bit quieter. The DNA forces are everywhere, start sneaking through the bushes, i just saw a flash in those trees over there." Arashi said in a whisper, pulling Eiichi down. In seconds, none of the group could be seen.
"I really wish we had Grandpa here right now!" Anashi whispered, frightened.
"Yeah, me too, but we don't. We can reach the gate, and we can get through it. It cant be that big, right?" Arashi replied, crawling through the brush.
"I hope not, we don't even really have close to the amount of power that your grandpa and my dad have." Eiichi spoke up.
"Lets not talk, so that we can avoid attracting attention." Arashi whispered, continuing leading the group through the bushes.
They continued on in silence for the next few minutes, until Arashi suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise as he was lifted out of the bushes.
"Well, what do we have here?" a DNA agent smirked, Arashi struggling in his grasp.
Takeshi quickly stuffed the map into Anashi's bag, jumped up, and launched Storm Leone at the hands of the DNA blader, catching him by surprise. He dropped Arashi, and the brown-haired teen rolled out of the way and launched his own bey.
"Run for it!" Arashi yelled, spotting more DNA bladers and a few robots coming from Koma Village, which was within sight.
Anashi and Eiichi jumped up, launched their beys, and took off towards the mountain.
"They're still on our tail!" Anashi wailed a few minutes later, glancing back.
"Don't look back, keep going!" Arashi called. The group caught their beys out of the air and kept retreating.
After about thirty more minutes, they stopped running and turned around.
"East Gate! It's huge! How are we supposed to get through this?" Anashi wailed.
"Go get them, Lightning Pegasus!" Arashi relaunched his bey and began attacking several of the others at once.
"Storm Leone!"
"Guardian Ifraid!"
"Flame Pegasus!"
The four beys flew from their bladers, attacking the DNA bladers. Anashi and Arashi teamed up, but still had little success with driving the DNA off.
Half an hour later, they were still fighting. All four of the younger bladers were tiring, and the DNA bladers had nearly doubled in number.
"We cant... Drive them off!" Anashi exclaimed in frustration.
"Don't give up guys! We just have to get the gate open! Anashi, help me with this!" Arashi called, grabbing Lightning Pegasus out of the air and turning around to relaunch it at the gate behind them.
"Arashi!" Anashi was panicking as she tried to fend off several DNA bladers at once.
"Let it Rip!" Anashi came to the aid of his sister.
"Come on! Just leave us alone already!" Takeshi yelled, attacking furiously with his Leone.
"And what do you guys think you are doing here?" A voice asked from behind Arashi and the others.
All of the DNA forces instantly took a step back.
Arashi froze, too scared to turn around. He knew that voice, it had haunted his dreams for nearly the entire last month. But this was different, in his dreams, there was always an undertone of evil. Now, he realized that the evil had not been in the voice before when he had met its owner.
"Well Arashi? I told you we would meet again." The voice said.
Arashi turned around slowly. Standing behind him, on top of the wall, was the exact Warrior he had met that fateful night. However, unlike in his dreams, this figure was not red. Arashi stared at him in shock for a few minutes before the others turned around.
"Who is that?" Takeshi asked.
"I told you about the mission i did for the DNA, it was him that i met." Arashi replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Back down now, DNA! I told you, we would be back. Tell Argo that we are ready for him!" The Warrior yelled.
Instantly, all of the DNA forces fled.
After staring in silence for several seconds, Anashi gasped.
"Y-you are..." She trailed off.
Silently, the Warrior raised his launcher. "You are correct." He said simply. "Let it Rip!" His bey flew past them, then turned and flew for the gate, shoving it open easily.
"Quickly! The DNA will be back with reinforcements soon!" He said as the group ran through the gate under him.
Once they were through, Arashi turned back to look as the Warrior closed the gate and leapt down to land next to them.
"Follow me, the base isn't far." He said, turning and starting to walk up the mountain.
"Wait!" Anashi spoke up.
The warrior paused. "Yes, Anashi?" He half-turned to look at her.
"I know that it's you, dad." Anashi said simply.
"Huh?" Arashi and the others were surprised.
"Simple, in all of our dreams, dad was wearing that exact coat!" Anashi pointed.
The helmet of the warrior suddenly retracted, revealing the flaming red hair and golden-brown eyes of Gingka himself.
The redhead smiled. "Well, nice to know that at least one of you was paying attention."
"It- it was you that i-" Arashi was stunned.
Gingka closed his eyes. "Yes, it was. But, as you can see, i managed to survive, although this is the first time since i have been out of the headquarters."
"I'm sorry dad." Arashi said quietly.
Gingka placed a gloved hand on Arashi's shoulder. "Arashi, look at me." He said.
The teen slowly raised his eyes to meet his father's.
"I have already told you multiple times that you can stop worrying about it. Sure, it caused a minor setback, but our system is set up to run so smoothly that the moment i was knocked out of the fight, Kyoya took charge. Now, let's get to headquarters before the DNA figures out where we went." He turned and began leading the way towards the top of the mountain.
Takeshi and Eiichi followed behind, watching as Anashi and Arashi chatted away, Gingka listening to them as he led the way.
After walking for nearly an hour, Gingka suddenly stopped.
"We're here."
"Where?" Arashi looked around. "I don't see anything."
"Exactly. Tamashii! Open bay doors, passcode Stormflight."
"Passcode verified. Welcome back, Agent." A female voice said out of nowhere.
"See something now?" Gingka smirked as the snow bank in front of them slid apart to reveal a doorway leading into a pitch black cavern.
"Whoa! Cool!" The group exclaimed as they followed the Warrior inside.
"Tamashii, lights!"
One by one, the lights hung across the ceiling lit up as the doors closed behind the group.
Arashi and the others gazed around. To their left was a large bare area of floor, marked off with bright yellow lines. In the center of this space were several spots marked with more yellow lines, partially blackened at each. To the right were two helicopters with what was obviously the Warriors' logo painted on their doors.
"What is that?" Eiichi asked, pointing to the blackened areas.
"The launch pad. The blackened portions are the places where we take off from in specific formations." Gingka replied. "Now, let's go down to the lounge area and hang out, shall we?" He keyed in a passcode at a control panel mounted on the wall and a door slid smoothly open, revealing an elevator.
Minutes later, the group was seated on a couch in the lounge, chatting away.
"So, where is everyone else?" Takeshi asked.
Gingka smiled. "Kyoya is in Tokyo at the moment, since i am sure you are wondering about him specifically."
"When will he be back?"
"Depends on what he planned. I am going to check and see what his current plans are. Tamashii!"
"Yes sir?"
"Bring up the computer screen, most recent Warrior movements."
"Of course."
A screen appeared out of the table in front of them, showing a map of Japan and several icons.
"See Takeshi, your father is here, in Tokyo." Gingka pointed to a tornado icon on the screen, then zoomed in. Specifically, the south side of it, headed south out of Tokyo, which likely means he's coming back here. Hold on a second, i'll call him and find out. Computer, activate Stormflight helmet."
Meanwhile, Kyoya was indeed headed back to the base, unable to contain his worry about Gingka any longer. No contact had come, and he and the others had been away for nearly a month.
"Hey Wildwind, you there? I need to know where you're headed, although my best guess is here."
Kyoya smiled with relief, hearing his comrade's voice at last.
"Well, look who finally woke up. Yes, i was headed back to hq, we were getting a bit worried after a month with no word of how you were doing."
"Well, keep coming anyway. Your son is here, as well as my kids and apparently Zero's son as well."
"Zero has a son now?"
"Yeah, makes you feel old, doesn't it?"
"Sort of. Anyway, i'll be there in about a half hour."
"Alright, see you then!"
"Yeah. And Stormflight?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't you dare do anything like that again." Kyoya growled.
Gingka chuckled as the communications cut off.
"He's on his way." The redhead confirmed as soon as his helmet had retracted. "Tamashii, open up all communication links."
"Open."
"Stormflight to Warriors, everyone return to base, repeat-" Gingka was cut off by Ryuga.
"Yeah, yeah. You only need to say it once, Hagane. Good to have you back."
Laughter sounded from several other voices.
"Yup, typical Ryuga." Kenta laughed.
"Welcome back, Gingka!" Yuki exclaimed.
"Who?" Gingka smirked.
"Stormflight, i meant Stormflight."
"Well, look who is awake. Taking command back as usual i see." Came Chris's voice.
"Well, what else would i do?"
"I don't know, maybe give me a second chance at defeating the DNA first?"
"You had your chance, Kyoya. And-"
"It failed epically!" Titi cut in. "Yo-yo failed epically!"
"Stop calling me that! Seriously!"
Gingka laughed. "Don't you two dare start arguing, there is a certain group of youngsters here that are also listening."
"Huh?" Came from several voices at once.
"Ending communications." Gingka reached forwards and pressed a button.
"And three, two, one..."
Right on cue, several alerts flashed up onscreen. Gingka laughed. "Nope, you guys have to get back here first. Tamashii, ignore them."
"Was that the others?" Eiichi asked.
"Yup, and they are all on their way and will be here within the next hour or so, according to their current positions and speed. Meanwhile, I'm going to take a nap. Tamashii, tell me when they arrive." Gingka leaned back, pulled Anashi and Arashi close, and fell asleep.
The twins snuggled closer to their father, glad to have him back. Takeshi watched the two, glad that they had finally been able to find their father, brightening at the thought that his own father was only a few minutes away.
Twenty minutes later, Tamashii's screen began showing alert messages.
"Wildwind has returned to base, Warriorbelt is less than five minutes away."
Gingka woke up at the alerts. "Open landing bay doors." He yawned. "Come on guys, let's go."
The group reached the landing bay just as a green-clad figure touched down in the center of the launch pad. Gingka somehow managed to get Takeshi in the front of the group as Kyoya stepped off the landing pad and strode towards them.
Takeshi stood straight and tall as his father approached, but was noticeably trembling from nervousness.
Kyoya's helmet instantly began letting off steam the moment he landed, and by the time he reached the waiting group, his helmet had retracted.
"D-dad?" Takeshi was trembling.
"Hello, Takeshi." Kyoya said quietly.
Moments later, Kyoya had enveloped Takeshi in a close hug. Both Tategami bladers were crying, each having missed the other despite having almost never met.
Gingka smiled and pulled his own kids closer to him. Arashi and Anashi wrapped their arms around him, enjoying the close contact, the string arms wrapped protectively around their shoulders.
Five minutes later, Chris and Kenta landed, and Gingka stepped away from his kids to greet his comrades as their helmets retracted.
Anashi and Arashi laughed as their father was quite literally tackled by the other Warriors, minus Ryuga and Kyoya.
An hour later, the entire group was seated in the lounge, laughing and chatting. Several threats were thrown back and forth when Kyoya and Gingka began telling stories about each other, and Titi and Yuki soon had the rivals pinned to the couches to avoid a hotheaded battle.
"Oh, by the way Yuki, your antidote works for more than one injection of the Gene by the way." Gingka said.
"How do you know that?" Yuki seemed surprised.
Gingka grinned and placed a hand on Arashi's shoulder.
"Proof, he told me earlier that he has had two injections, one original, and one after i gave him the antidote."
"Huh? He had it in the first place?" Seven of the other nine Warriors were shocked.
Gingka sighed. "Guess i should explain. Most of you apparently only know the part of the story that involves me almost dying. Apparently, by your reactions, Ryuga and King already know the rest. None of you were with me when it happened, as you all know, but this is exactly what happened. I was down in the southern side of Tokyo, just casually cruising at about the level of a typical fifth floor in a building. I got to an open place and began hovering, that's when the DNA robot patrol found me. Naturally, they began firing and their headquarters were alerted. I took out one squad, but another arrived right as i finished. I took out that squad, then saw an actual DNA agent approaching with a rifle, obviously with the intent of taking me out. Before he could get situated, i had flown out of sight, but decided to get a closer look rather than just flying off like i normally would have. I am really glad that i did take a better look. Anyway, i landed on top of a truck just behind the agent, who was trying to find me in the open space below where i had just finished off the robots. I got his attention by simply asking him what he was doing, at the same time reaching into my pocket for the antidote. Naturally, he swung his rifle around and pointed it at me. I dove at him, the gun went off right as i injected the antidote. The last thing i remember is hearing my suit give the alert, i must have fallen unconscious before it actually took off."
"That agent should be found and punished!" Kyoya slammed a fist down on the table.
Gingka shook his head. "No, he has already gone through enough as a result of this. He apologized to me many times, and has been having nightmares because of it. It was the Gene and the DNA, not him."
"Are you insane? We need to show the DNA what happens when they take out one of our agents!" Chris yelled.
"No! The DNA, sure, but not Arashi." Gingka placed a protective hand on his son's shoulder. "Nothing is to be done to him, he has had enough, and anyone who even tries..." The redhead left the threat unfinished. "Is that clear?"
The twins, Takeshi, and Eiichi were all surprised at the sudden change in Gingka. From the moment they had met him up to just a few moments ago, he had been a slightly crazy, loving prankster and father; but now, they saw his other side: the fearless leader of the Steel Warriors whose orders were not to be questioned.
"Yeah, we get it." Ryuga muttered, although he was shooting glares at Arashi, glares that did not go entirely unnoticed by Gingka.
"Ryuga, that goes for you especially." The redhead growled at the Dragon Emperor, who sighed in defeat and nodded.
Gingka: I KNEW IT! I knew it was me! Kyoya, you owe me twenty bucks!
Kyoya: Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Me: Don't worry guys, it's all uphill from here!
Gingka: Huh?
Me: Nothing else bad happens to you guys… Maybe I should have said, no, that wouldn't have worked… never mind… Anyway, until next time, Let it Rip! Oh, and I have a poll on my profile now that is related to Legend Blader Prank War, so go check it out and vote!