Me: Arghh!
Gingka: Excuse Galaxy for a moment, she's upset because she didn't update last weekend again.
Me: Okay, I'm good now. Sorry for not updating last week, I was extremely busy and didn't get the chapter written. As another sorry-for-not-updating-on-time bonus, please enjoy something that I was planning on putting in here anyway, a summary of how the original plotline of The Next Generation was going to be, until I came up with the idea that you have been reading for the last few months. Believe it or not, the whole thing with Arashi becoming a DNA agent and shooting Gingka wasn't even close to the original plotline idea! Anyway, that's also to fill in the rest of this chapter, which is a bit shorter than normal because I didn't want them to take Metal Bey City and Tokyo back in the same chapter. Enjoy chapter 12 of Stormflight: The Next Generation!
"Stormflight to Warriors, is everyone in position?""
"Wildwind, in position."
"Cosmicbark, in position."
"Firearrow, in position."
"I think everyone's in position, Hagane. Can we just go now?"
"Yeah, let's do this, as long as our outer perimeter attack group is also in position."
"We're all here and accounted for, ready to strike!" Ryo's voice came through their helmets.
"Then go!" Gingka gave the order.
Almost immediately, an explosion appeared on the southern side of the city, and multiple explosions continued to mark the path the larger group of bladers was taking as they blazed through the city.
"Warriors ready?" Gingka asked, looking around and peering though the clouds at the nine figures hovering around him. The night's cloud cover made it a perfect time for them to strike, as it cast a thick blanket over the entire city, turning the Warriors hovering above practically invisible.
"Yeah, and our heavy artillery is n its way to the edge of the city, I already marked out their positions" Yuki replied.
"Excellent! Then once the majority of the robots have left the DNA HQ, we'll strike!"
The ten fell silent, scanning the city below, watching as several squads of robots took off from the roofs of the buildings below. Adrenaline began flowing as muscles tensed, waiting for the order.
"Just a few more squads, only about half of them left." Gingka said quietly. All of them knew how high the stakes were, and all of them were willing to take the risk.
A few more squads flew off the building, leaving only a small portion to guard the DNA Metal Bey City Headquarters.
"Alright, fly straight in the door, the faster we can get to the control center and shut those robots down the better." Gingka said.
Everyone tensed, leaning forwards slightly.
"Warriors, go!"
"They're attacking! Keep the robots' attention here!" Ryo called, spotting several streaks of flame as the Warriors dove straight down, two flying through an open door at the top of the building, three smashing through windows, and the other five following suit. In mere seconds, the entire group had disappeared inside the building.
"No crashing into metal barriers this time, got it Lizardflight?" Firearrow said as the two gold-clad Warriors flew down a hallway after smashing through a window to get inside.
Titi laughed. "Got it, our flying skills have improved since then."
Kenta grinned under his mask. "Then let's do this! Let it Rip!" he paused in midair for a moment, then landed, launching Sagittario before taking off again. Titi quickly followed suit, and the two flew down the hallways, quickly reaching the stairwell and flying straight down it.
"No fair! How did you guys get in here first?" Gingka called from above them. Kenta looked back, or rather, up, and saw Stormflight and Dragonfang flying down just above them.
"We came in the window on the second to the top story, you went in the door, remember?"
"I didn't see anyone go in the windows…" Gingka muttered.
"You two were the only ones who didn't go in a window." Chris said from below them as he and Dunamis entered the stairwell just ahead of Kenta and Titi. They were soon joined by the remaining four Warriors, and beys and bladers zipped straight down, past flight after flight of stairs in a daredevil stunt of skill. After a few seconds of flying straight down in silence, the group suddenly turned sharp to the left, bursting through a doorway and startling several DNA agents that were walking down the hallway.
"Take it out!" Gingka called as they finally reached the control room. "Pegasus!" the blue and silver bey blazed with fire, streaking across several control panels and destroying them completely.
"L-Drago!" Ryuga grinned under his mask, blowing up nearly everything he could attack with his bey. In mere seconds, the main control room was in shambles.
"Go! Look for anyone they might be holding captive in here!" Gingka called, as the Warriors split up into teams of two.
"They did it!" Zero shouted as the group of robots he and Eiichi had been fighting shut down and fell over, completely out of commission.
"Mr. Garcia, we have a problem." Kira burst into Argo's office.
"What is it, Kira?" Argo whirled to face the pastel-haired blader, fear showing on his face as his muscles tensed, seemingly prepared for the worst. However, he was not at all prepared for the words that came next:
"The Warriors have just taken control of Metal Bey City."
Argo nearly fainted. It had been less than a week since Ian and Koma had been captured, and he had not been expecting their enemies to make such a large strike so soon. Add the fact that their largest blader forces were in Metal Bey City, and it made the facts even worse. Only one thing was running through Argo's mind at that moment, and that was that they must not lose Tokyo. As long as they controlled the capital of Japan, controlled the government through sheer force and show of power, the Warriors couldn't free the rest of the country, right?
"Call all agents and robot squads to here, we must not let them take Tokyo! If they take Tokyo, then it's all over." Argo thundered. "And make sure that none of our prisoners escape, take them all to that forest and leave them there, the Warriors are sure to try to gain their help."
"Yes sir." Kira bowed and left.
In Metal Bey City, it didn't take long, thanks to the efforts of the Warriors' allies, for the city to know that it had been freed. As they had fifteen years ago, children ran through the streets, shouting and playing, without having to be afraid that a DNA patrol would pick them up and recruit them into their army. Bey Park, closed throughout the entire DNA occupation, was reopened, and young bladers were soon testing their skills in more than just a small apartment kitchen, meeting other bladers, and shouting to each other.
"So this is what it feels like to save the world." Zero said, watching the large group in Bey Park from the top of the stands. The black-haired blader smiled and turned to leave.
The minds of people around the city held only one question: "Who freed us?" they knew that it wasn't entirely the triumphant group that had first shouted the news, as they themselves had said, but they had helped. A large crowd gathered outside Legend Bladers' Stadium, pulling the statues, which had been knocked over, back up and into their rightful places.
"Who freed us?" people asked their neighbors, as everyone in the city stepped outside and looked towards the now-smoking, former WBBA, then DNA, headquarters.
"Who freed us?" question was shouted to the small group of bladers with their eyes locked onto the burning building. Smoke poured out of every open space, and DNA personnel were fleeing out of the building, only to be swept away into waiting police cars by the reawakened Metal Bey City police.
"Who freed us?" the question was on millions of tongues, except for the near-thirty that waited. The question on the mind and tongue of Ryo Hagane and the group standing around him was, "Where are they?"
Somehow, the crowd, even if they didn't know who, knew that whoever it was that had freed them was inside that building. Firefighters were already working on the building, but even they knew that it was going to be impossible to put out the blaze before the building collapsed.
"No, they have to make it!" Zero shouted as the top few stories of the building began collapsing.
"Look, there!" someone in the crowd shouted, pointing.
"Yes!" Ryo and the others began cheering as one streak of bright flame after another flew out of the top of the building, quickly arranging into a formation of two parallel lines and heading straight for them.
"Clear a landing spot!" Ryo and the others began pushing back the crowd as the flames approached, flying high.
"Hold formation, go now!" the entire crowd heard the order, as Gingka had amplified his outside helmet speakers for the purpose. The two lines of blazing flame lined up to the two rows of statues, then disappeared, as ten figures dropped out of the sky, each landing perfectly on the head of a specific statue.
The crowd exploded into applause, cheering. Gingka held up a hand to silence them, and they soon quieted. As the masked Warrior opened his mouth to speak, however, someone in the crowd began shouting.
"Who are you guys?" the crowd took up the cry, and Gingka again had to silence them.
"We are the Steel Warriors, we're just a group trying to free Japan from the DNA, since we couldn't stop them from taking over fifteen years ago."
"Why couldn't you do it sooner?" a woman asked from the front of the crowd.
"We couldn't, we didn't have the resources to stop them, and until recently, we didn't have the resources or information to make a successful attack." Gingka replied calmly.
"Who are you, really? Robots?" a man shouted.
"No, we are not robots." Gingka replied.
"You aren't going to take over Japan for yourselves, are you?" someone asked.
"No, we aren't. if we wanted to do that we would have probably beat the DNA to it. Our next strike will be to free Tokyo, and then things will hopefully be just as they were before the DNA took over."
"If you aren't robots, then what and who are you?" one of the people from before asked.
"Our names are written right here." Gingka pointed down to the base of the Pegasus statue he was standing on.
"You are the Legendary Bladers?"
Gingka's response was to begin glowing a familiar bright blue as his helmet retracted. The other Warriors took the cue and quickly followed suit. The ten grinned as the crowd began cheering.
"And of course, they get all the attention-whoa!" Zero yelped as several people in the crowd lifted him and the others onto their shoulders and began a parade around the stadium.
Anashi and Arashi laughed as they were paraded around, waving at Gingka, who smiled and waved back before activating his helmet and jetpacks and taking off in a show of aerial skill, which only caused the crowd to cheer even louder. The Warriors followed suit, flying low and high-fiving nearly everyone in the crowd over the course of an hour.
The celebrations continued late into the night, with fireworks going off once night had fallen.
"Ryuga, pay attention!" Gingka called, shoving the Dragon Emperor out of the way as a firework came barreling towards him.
"Maybe we should land, this is getting a bit too dangerous with all the fireworks." Kenta suggested, his golden eyes glowing through the darkness next to Gingka and Ryuga.
"Yeah, good idea." Gingka said. "Warriors, we need to land, I don't want anyone getting hit by a firework before Tokyo."
"Got it." the reply came from several voices as the group landed on top of various buildings around the city.
"Those annoying Warriors, tomorrow, they will be defeated." Argo growled as he watched the fireworks on the distant horizon. The DNA executive turned to a group behind him, standing in the shadows.
"You all know what to do?"
"Yes sir." Kira replied, standing at the head of a group of the DNA's top bladers, each with a robot right behind them.
"Then go, and do not fail me." Argo thundered as the group grinned evilly and headed for the helicopters on the roof.
Me: Alright, now that that's done, here's the summary of the original plotline for this story. Its rather detailed, but I thought it might be interesting for you guys to see how much this story actually changed before I even wrote it. So, without any further ado, enjoy!
The original plotline for Stormflight: The Next Generation actually involved Madoka dying at the beginning, and didn't include Anashi at all. Arashi was going to be Gingka's only child. Also, for this plotline to work, the DNA would have had to lose at the end of Return of the Warrior, since this wouldn't work otherwise. In the original, after Madoka died, Arashi was going to travel around and end up meeting Tsubasa, who would have still been in control of the WBBA. Tsubasa would have then sent Arashi on a mission to find someone who had been kidnapped by the DNA, and may or may not still have been alive at that point. Naturally, Arashi would have then gone into the DNA and located where this other person was, but would have been kidnapped before he could get back out and report the info to Tsubasa. He would have ended up being put in the same cell as the person he was sent to find, and would find that person seriously injured. The twist? It's Gingka in that cell with him, but Arashi naturally wouldn't know that it was his father. Gingka wasn't going to tell Arashi who he was, although the two would have been together for quite a while, and Gingka would have almost died at the hands of the DNA before the two were finally rescued by the rest of the Warriors and taken back to the WBBA headquarters, where Gingka would have been sent straight to the medical floor, and put on life support. It would have been only then that Arashi found out who Gingka really was, and he would have spent a chapter or so worried about him. In the end, the DNA would have made one final push, and been defeated once and for all. So, there are a few similarities between the final story and the original idea, but I think that this plotline works better.
Gingka: What? The original idea still involved me nearly dying?
Me: Yup, but Madoka would have died as well, so aren't you glad I ended up changing the idea?
Gingka: I guess so, but seriously?
Me: Oh dear, here we go again… Oh, and the next chapter may or may not be the final chapter of this amazing series, it all depends on how many pages of writing it takes for the Warriors to defeat the DNA at Tokyo. Anyway, whether the next chapter is the last one or not, see you next chapter! Oh, and my next story will be announced in that chapter as well.
Gingka: Great, another series, and more torture.
Me: Not for you, mister! Well, not for once… Oh, and i made a cover image for this story! tell me what you think about it!