As the quartet of Scarves makes their way to the next location, reports of what happened work their way up the invaders' command chain, and back down to the rest of the troops. While all involved try to remain accurate, inevitably, the stories get embellished. By the time the quartet of Scarves arrive at their third location, enemy morale is already dropping. And it's only going to get lower.
As before, the quartet of Scarves halt in cover to observe the enemy before attacking.
"This one's gonna be tricky," Danny reports, counting no less than six vehicles carving a spearhead through the Yamakasai line. "Two transports and four assault tanks."
"If we took the Headbands off, we could smash them into itty bitty pieces in seconds," Maria thinks aloud.
"We're not taking them off," Xander reminds.
"It's gonna need all four of us," Sally realises.
"But you don't have a Crystal," Danny reminds.
"Then I stick with Xander," Sally decides.
"And I know I can't talk you out of it," Danny agrees. "You two deal with the transports: Maria and I will handle the tanks."
"And I know I can't talk you out of it," Sally agrees.
"OK," Danny acknowledges. "Let's do it to it!"
"Don't ever say that again," Sally sighs; Maria can't help but giggle.
The quartet charges out of cover and towards the approaching vehicles, Danny and Maria heading for the tanks, Xander and Sally for the nearest of the two transports.
Danny is the first to engage. Dodging the fire from two pintle‑mounted machine guns, the odd bullet ricocheting off his stone armour, he quickly gets close enough to the tank to mean it can't bring its cannon to bear on him. Electing not to repeat his earlier heroics, partly out of fear of angering Sally but mostly because of the tank's armoured underside, Danny focusses on disabling the cannon. Leaping onto the front of the tank, the Earth‑Crystal‑generated shielding denting the thick armour plating, Danny scrambles up to the roof.
Once on top, Danny wastes no time taking out the turret operator before jamming the turret's aiming mechanism. However, as he pauses to figure out how to take out the engine, the turret fires. Danny watches in horror as the shell takes out an entire Yamakasai squad in a single explosion. Knowing there is no other choice, Danny climbs on top of the turret, then leaps to the end of the barrel. Using the Earth Crystal to vastly increase his weight, he slams down on the end of the barrel, bending it so far, it's almost sealed shut.
The turret tries to fire. However, with the barrel bent so severely, the shell jams and detonates inside the tank. The force of the explosion washes back into the tank itself, setting off the ammo stored within.
The tank detonates violently, propelling Danny at high speed for half a mile, straight into the fourth storey of an office building and out the other side.
The force of the detonation sends the following two tanks sliding wildly, almost causing Maria to fall off the one she's attacking. Luckily, quick reflexes allow her to grab a rail and remain on the roof. By the Ancients, that was close! As she recovers however, the turret swings around violently, the barrel slamming into her from the side, winding her badly. The impact throws her off the tank and into the path of the fourth.
Overcome with fear, Maria drops to the ground and curls into a ball, the Wood Crystal forming a thick protective dome over her. The tank hits the dome, almost crushing it, but it holds well enough to protect the fortunate lynx. Grounding badly, the tank grinds to a halt on top of the wooden dome, trapping Maria. The petrified lynx can only whimper helplessly at the sound of the tank trying to free itself just six inches from her head.
With Danny out of action over half a mile away and Maria trapped, it's up Xander and Sally to deal with the remaining tanks. However, they're too focussed on the transports, and are unaware of the fate of their friends.
As they approach the first of the two transports, Sally fires a full magazine from her pistol, taking out three of the four rugged tyres. The transport attempts to maintain speed, but with three ruined tyres, the driver quickly loses control and spins into a lamppost, almost bringing it down directly onto Xander and Sally. Sally falters, but Xander continues his charge, slamming hard into the side of the transport at full speed. With Water‑Crystal‑enhanced strength, Xander flips the transport onto its side, then onto its roof with another charge.
By this point, Sally has caught up. Xander gives her a boost onto the upturned chassis, then after a quick reload, the hedgehog fires upon the other transport. The greater range makes her shots less accurate and less potent, but she still manages to take out a tyre. Leaping off the upturned transport, she follows Xander as he charges the second transport, quickly reloading and unleashing a volley of shots at the troops spilling from it.
As they get closer to the second transport, a stray shot hits Sally in the left thigh, causing her to stumble and fall. Rolling into a suitable position, Sally continues firing on the troops as Xander attacks the vehicle itself. Fearing the worst, Sally is greatly relieved that, just a few seconds later, Xander takes out the entire squad, and destroys the vehicle.
Sally rolls onto her back, the pain in her leg finally taking over. "Medic!"
Xander leaves the Yamakasai soldiers to finish off the squads from the transports, and dashes to Sally's side. "What happened?"
"Gunshot wound, left thigh," Sally grimaces. "The bullet's still in there."
"Hold on." Xander unclips the Water Crystal from his belt buckle, and removes his Headband. He then places the Headband on Sally's head, and the Crystal in her hands.
"What are you doing?" Sally demands. "I need a medic!"
"Just give it a moment," Xander instructs, ensuring Sally keeps hold of the Crystal.
Sally is about to argue, but stops herself when she realises the pain in her leg is almost completely gone. "What…?"
"The Crystal is healing you," Xander explains.
"Eight months studying those things, and I never realised," Sally sighs, the pain in her leg completely gone.
"They're surprising, that's for sure," Xander agrees, helping Sally to her feet. "It even extracted the bullet," he adds, picking it up from by Sally's feet and handing it to the surprised hedgehog.
"That's…" Sally begins, taking the bullet and allowing Xander to take back the Crystal and Headband.
"Come on, let's go help the others," Xander decides.
Sally pockets the still‑warm bullet and follows Xander to where the tank is still grounded on top of Maria.
"Hold on, little one!" Xander calls to the trapped lynx as he charges up to the tank. Hesitating slightly to get the correct timing, Xander slams into the tank with enough force to tip it onto its side.
Sally slides to a halt and drops to all‑fours beside the wooden dome. "Maria, are you OK in there?"
"Get me out of here!" the petrified lynx wails.
"Stay calm, we'll have you free soon," Sally assures. "Xander?"
Xander drops to his knees beside the dome. "I'll have you out of there in a moment," he assures. he digs his hands under the dome as best he can, but even with his immense strength, he can't lift it. "Maria, I need you to relax," he instructs. "Don't worry, you're safe."
Suddenly, the dome gives way, crumbling in Xander's hands. Taken by surprise, the wolf rolls onto his back.
"It's OK Maria, you'll be fine," Sally comforts, gently stroking Maria's hair.
"Sally?" Maria asks, her voice weak and trembling.
"That's 'Miss Spiky' to you," Sally soothes.
Without warning, Maria uncurls and throws herself at Sally, hugging her tightly. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she babbles, tears of relief streaming down her cheeks.
"You should be thanking Xander," Sally corrects gently, holding Maria comfortingly, continuing to stroke her hair.
"It was so scary," Maria continues, strength slowly returning to her voice. "I've never been so scared in my life."
"The Wood Crystal did its job," Sally assures.
"I can hear my heart pounding like crazy."
"I can feel it."
Maria giggles briefly. "Danny's really lucky to have you."
"I hate to interrupt, but there's two more tanks to stop," Xander reminds.
"I don't think Maria's up to it right now," Sally informs. I wonder… "Xander, can you right this tank? I have an idea."
"I'll try," Xander agrees.
Xander helps Sally to her feet, then returns to the tank as Sally carries Maria to a safe distance. With a great heave, Xander rights the tank, then climbs up to the turret. "It's functional," he calls to Sally.
"Do you want to fire a really big gun?" Sally asks Maria.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Maria agrees.
Sally takes Maria to the righted tank, then helps her climb up to the turret. "It's pretty simple," she instructs Maria once the lynx is in position. "Just put the crosshair on what you want to hit, and press the red button."
Maria takes hold of the control stick and, arms still trembling as the adrenaline filters out of her system, takes aim at the tank she was thrown from. "Fire in the hole!"
Maria presses the button.
The turret recoils violently as it hurls a shell directly to its target. The shell detonates on impact, leaving the tank a smoking hulk.
"By the Ancients, that was amazing!" Maria chimes, her fear forgotten. "I wanna do it again!"
"Luckily, there's one more target," Sally chuckles, pointing to the other tank.
Maria takes aim and fires, reducing the final tank to a smouldering ruin. "That was fun!" she sings.
"Feel better?" Sally asks.
"Yes!" Maria grins, climbing out of the turret.
"Good," Sally smiles. "Now to find Dan."
Xander reduces the tank to a pulverised ruin, then the trio retreats, but Danny isn't where they expect him to be.
"Where is he?" Sally asks, panic slowly rising within her.
"Who are you looking for?" a nearby Yamakasai soldier asks.
"Danny Brock," Sally explains. "He's a blond badger, slightly taller than me. He attacked one of the tanks."
"The first one that exploded?" the soldier asks.
"Ye‑ Yes…" Sally confirms, panic spiking at the realisation Danny could have been caught in the detonation.
"Oh…" The soldier hesitates. "No‑one's seen him since the tank blew. He may not have made it."
Sally drops to her knees. "No… It can't be…"
"I'm really sorry," the soldier apologises. "He must have meant a lot to you."
"Did… Did you see anything at all?" Sally asks, her voice shaky.
"My squad did see something roughly man‑sized flying away from the tank when it blew," the soldier informs. "It went in that direction," he adds, pointing in the appropriate direction. "I don't think it was Danny Brock though."
"Thanks anyway," Sally replies, hanging her head and weeping gently.
"I'll leave you with your friends," the soldier decides. "Thank you for your assistance: you may have just help us win this war."
Maria hugs Sally in comfort as the soldier departs. "My Crystal protected me when I got run over," she reminds.
"The Crystal!" Sally stands abruptly, knocking Maria onto her tail, then sprints off to find her bike.
"That was rude," Maria grumbles, picking herself up.
"Come on," Xander instructs.
Maria and Xander set off in pursuit of Sally.