"I want to fight too," Sally volunteers.
"I'd prefer if you didn't," Danny opines.
"It's not your choice to make," Sally asserts. "I'm not flying all the way out here to just sit on the side‑lines. I came here to do the right thing, and that means I'm here to help end this war."
"But‑" Danny begins.
"Danny, I think it's best if you shut up now," Rob interrupts. "You aren't going to win this, no matter how hard you try."
"But‑" Danny begins.
"Seriously Danny, stop talking," Hanna interrupts.
Danny sighs in resignation. "OK," he relents.
"If you're going to fight on our side, I need assurances that you won't turn against us," Hideyoshi informs Sally.
"My apologies," Sally replies, "we haven't been properly introduced. Sally Nicole Flynn, Military Re‑ former Military Researcher First Class, now a member of the Red Scarves via emergency field appointment. I'm the reason Danny and Maria succeeded in bringing the Elemental Crystals and the Inhibitor Headbands here."
"Trainee member," Danny corrects, earning himself a disapproving glare from both Hanna and Rob.
"Like I said, member," Sally restates.
"Hideyoshi Takenaka, Grand Master of Kasai‑dojo," Hideyoshi replies.
"Chika Ueno, Grand Master of Mizu‑dojo," Chika adds. "Well… I used to be," she continues, her voice coloured with sorrow.
"How do you know the Elemental Protectors?" Hideyoshi asks.
"They saved me from your goons when you all worked for Aquila," Sally explains with a cheeky smirk. "And now I'm the girlfriend of the idiot who doesn't want me to do the right thing."
Danny makes to interrupt, but is silenced by Hanna wrapping her tail around his head, an act the vixen takes great satisfaction from.
"Ah," Hideyoshi acknowledges sheepishly, blushing in embarrassment. "I uh… I did not realise it was you we were after. You have my most sincere apologies," he offers, bowing low.
"And mine," Chika adds, bowing equally low.
"Thank you, but your apologies are unnecessary," Sally informs. "Danny told me the whole story."
"Required or not, we apologise," Hideyoshi affirms.
"What's going on here?" Ryoichi interrupts, emerging from the interrogation room he was napping in.
"And this is Ryoichi Nakano, Grand Master of Mokuzai‑dojo," Hideyoshi explains to Sally. "Ryoichi, this is Sally Flynn, who met the Elemental Protectors when they saved her from… well, from our 'goons', as she put it."
"Ah, I see," Ryoichi replies. "Sorry about that, by the way."
"He's not being mean, he's just apathetic," Hideyoshi explains to Sally quietly.
"Why is he here?" Hanna demands.
"He's on our side," Hideyoshi answers. "He knows the truth of who attacked his dojo."
"No hard feelings, OK?" Ryoichi apologises, extending a hand.
Hanna, Rob, Maria, Danny, Xander, and Sally all fix him with unamused stares.
"I'll uh… I'll leave you guys to it," Ryoichi decides, returning to the interrogation room.
"Insufferable twat," Hanna growls.
"You… have a point there," Hideyoshi admits.
"If I'm gonna fight, I need weapons," Sally informs, steering the conversation back on track.
"Of course," Hideyoshi agrees. "What do you have experience with?"
"I'm trained to use pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and combat knives," Sally answers.
"I'm afraid most of our firearms are in active use," Hideyoshi explains. "Luckily, we do have some weapons in this bunker."
Hideyoshi leads Sally to a piece of wall that looks totally blank. The bat places a hand in a precise location and pushes gently, causing a section of the wall to slide to one side, exposing a safe. Hideyoshi then enters the combination and opens the safe. "Take what you need."
"I want one of those at home," Hanna opines quietly to Rob.
"The chest not good enough for you?" Rob asks.
"Not anymore," Hanna answers.
Sally casts her eyes over the selection of pistols and kaiken contained in the safe, selecting a compact 9mm pistol and a mid‑length straight‑edged kaiken. Making sure the safety is on and no magazine is loaded, Sally holds the pistol in her right hand and the kaiken in her left, the blade edge out pointing down. Sally then raises the pistol and kaiken into a firing position, bracing the butt of the pistol against her knife hand, and looks down the sights. "Some minor realignment needed." Sally checks the slide action on the pistol. "Feels a bit stiff."
"Maybe another pistol will be better?" Hideyoshi suggests.
"This is closest to the pistol I was issued with," Sally informs, making her way to a nearby table. "Once I've adjusted the sights and lubed the slide, it'll be fine," she adds, setting to work.
"Meanwhile, you can brief us on the current situation," Rob decides.
"Very well," Hideyoshi agrees. "Hanna, are you going to let Danny go?"
"No," Sally decides.
"My hands are tied," Hanna informs.
And I'm about to entrust the fate of the Gotoshi to them… "The Yamakasai army is holding the invaders at bay in the inner suburbs, but it's only a matter of time before the invaders break through," Hideyoshi briefs. "You already know that Kaede Himura is in the dojo: what you don't know is Tsubaki Moto is also in the dojo. Kaede is looking for her notebook, and Tsubaki is looking for me and Chika."
"Then our plan is clear," Rob concludes. "Maria, Danny, Sally, and Xander: you head for the front and help repel the invaders. Drive them right out of Yamakasai if you can. Meanwhile, me and Hanna will hunt down Tsubaki and Kaede."
"And kill them both," Hanna adds.
"And capture them so they can face justice," Rob corrects. "Failing that, we drive them out of the dojo."
"Death is all they deserve," Hanna informs.
"That's not for us to decide," Rob corrects.
Hanna sighs in resignation. "OK, fine, I won't tear them into shreds with my bare claws," she relents.
"I'm ready to go now," Sally informs the group, her borrowed pistol and kaiken holstered on her hips. "You can let go of Danny now too."
Hanna removes her tail from around Danny's head and wraps it around Rob's waist instead.
"That was unpleasant," Danny comments. "Especially since you're moulting," he adds, picking strands of orange fur from his mouth.
"Serves you right for being stupid," Sally smirks.
Half an hour later, Maria, Danny, Sally, and Xander leave the dojo and start their journey to the front, Sally on a borrowed Kasai‑dojo motorbike, the others on their own trikes.
"I'm scared," Maria admits.
"We all are, little one," Xander assures. "The trick is to use that fear to keep you alive."
"Also, we have the Crystals protecting us," Danny adds.
"That doesn't really help me," Sally informs. "At least I have body armour."
"What's the plan then, Blondie?" Maria asks.
"Sal, where's the best place to break the invader's line?" Danny delegates.
"Follow me." Sally pulls ahead of the group, the others falling in behind in formation.
Meanwhile, in the bunker, Hanna and Rob prepare to begin their hunt for Tsubaki and Kaede.
"We should split up," Hanna suggests. "We'll cover the dojo quicker that way."
"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Rob asserts.
"You never let me have any fun," Hanna sighs.
"No comment," Rob replies cheekily.
Hanna thinks a moment. "Since you won't let me kill them, how about we scare the shit out of them instead? And if they happen to die of a heart attack, then so be it."
Rob sighs in bemusement. "What do you have in mind?"
Hanna doesn't respond: she simply grins malevolently.