Kaede leaps at Danny, snarling furiously, tekko‑kagi raised to skewer. But Danny is ready: he blocks the attack effortlessly with his hanbo, the Earth Crystal preventing the energised blades cleaving straight through the wood. The blades instead lock around the hanbo, and with a deft twist, Kaede sends the weapon flying across the tunnel. Danny ducks under the pika's follow‑up attack, countering with a double punch to Kaede's gut, his fists clad in solid rock.
"Surrender," Danny commands as Kaede slams into her car again. "You cannot win."
Growling, Kaede charges again. Maria jumps in to intercept the pika's charge, deflecting the tekko‑kagi high. The lynx attempts a follow‑up slash to Kaede's legs, but the pika leaps the swing effortlessly. Kaede carries her momentum into Danny, knocking the badger to the floor. The pika then attempts to pounce on Danny, but as she dives, he plants his feet in her torso, and propels her overhead.
Kaede lands in a forward roll, ending on her feet just in time to catch Maria's down‑swinging ninjato. The pika tries to disarm the lynx as she disarmed Danny, but Maria taps into the Wood Crystal, locking her limbs in place. Kaede drops backwards, aiming to roll out the way and attack anew, but as she drops, Xander leaps in and pins her to the ground. Kaede tries to swipe her tekko‑kagi across Xander's torso, but the wolf grabs the pika's wrists, twisting them hard.
"Drop them," Xander commands.
"Never!" Kaede growls.
"You brought this on yourself." Xander suddenly and violently twists Kaede's wrists the other way, stopping on the verge of breaking the pika's arms.
"OK, OK, I surrender, I surrender!" Kaede screams, dropping her tekko‑kagi. "Please don't break my arms!"
"Maria? Danny?" Xander asks. "Shall I let go?"
"I dunno," Maria muses, deliberately stalling. "What do you think, Blondie?"
"I haven't decided yet," Danny answers.
"By the kitsune, please, let go!" Kaede begs, tears forming in her eyes.
"I'm enjoying this," Maria smiles.
"Me too," Danny agrees. "Xander, let go, but keep her pinned."
Xander drops Kaede's arms, then yanks the pendant from around the pika's neck and crushes it in his hands.
"Rob, mind giving us a hand?" Danny asks.
Rob doesn't reply: his attention is entirely on the duel between Hanna and Tsubaki, a duel that is only getting fiercer.
Hanna catches the fierce downswing of both of Tsubaki's katana, the Fire Crystal shielding her hands in thick flame. However, the limiting influence of the Fire Headband means that the rest of her is unprotected. Tsubaki senses an opportunity: she kicks Hanna hard in the abdomen, winding the vixen badly.
Hanna falls backwards, struggling to regain her breath.
"Victory is mine," Tsubaki gloats, kicking the Fire Crystal out of Hanna's belt buckle.
The flaming aura protecting the vixen disappears in an instant, leaving Hanna totally unprotected. Spluttering, she tries to roll away, but Tsubaki plants a boot in her abdomen, pinning her in place.
"I made the mistake of leaving you alive in Mizutani," Tsubaki recalls. "I won't make that mistake this time." Tsubaki lowers her katana, blades crossed, one either side of Hanna's neck. "Any last words?"
With the faint smell of her smouldering neck fur filling her nostrils, Hanna looks Tsubaki straight in the eye. "This isn't over," she smirks.
"It is for you," Tsubaki sneers.
Before Tsubaki can kill Hanna, pure unadulterated fury slams into the tanuki with a metallic clang, sending her tumbling several feet.
"Not while I'm here, it's not!" Rob declares defiantly, placing himself between Tsubaki and his winded wife, sai drawn, ready to fight.
Tsubaki recovers to her feet. "Foolish hare!" she snaps. "Have you no honour?"
"You have no right to speak of honour!" Rob snaps. "You have plunged this whole Republic into civil war, and for what? Revenge. Petty, childish revenge, against people who didn't harm you in any way."
"I am the only one fit to lead the Hisui Teikei!" Tsubaki yells, charging Rob, katana blazing.
Rob counter‑charges, intending to give Hanna space and time to recover. Katana and sai clash with loud metallic ring that echoes down the tunnel, Rob holding Tsubaki in stalemate.
"You cannot defeat me," Tsubaki growls.
"Maybe not," Rob agrees. "But we can!"
Tsubaki glances sideways to see Hanna on all‑fours, crawling to the Fire Crystal. With a primal bellow of anger, the tanuki pushes Rob back, and sprints towards Hanna. Rob turns to give chase, but it's too late: both katana swing to slice Hanna in three just as she reaches for the Fire Crystal.
Both Rob and Maria react on instinct, desperately firing shrapnel and vines at Tsubaki in a vain attempt to stop her.
Their efforts prove unnecessary.
Hanna's hand closes on the Fire Crystal just in time. Momentarily unrestrained by the Fire Headband, the Crystal unleashes an incredibly powerful blast, throwing Tsubaki away from Hanna so hard the tanuki smashes into the ceiling, dropping the katana on impact. The heatwave from the fiery blast washes over Rob, the Metal Crystal protecting him from being burnt. The blast then rolls over Maria, Danny, Xander, and Kaede, lightly singeing the fur of the pika, and bursting all four tyres on her car.
Hanna rises to her feet as Tsubaki plummets to the ground, then stalks over to where the tanuki lies stunned on her back. Standing on Tsubaki's abdomen, Hanna reaches down and grabs the pendant, snapping the chain with ease.
"Now it's over," the vixen declares, reducing the pendant to molten slag before discarding it. "Oh, and I'm taking this," she adds, extracting the vial of Shade Virus from the tanuki's cleavage, and hiding it under her halterneck.
"I'm not beaten yet," Tsubaki growls defiantly.
"Yeah you are," Hanna smirks. "And I think that's enough yap from you. Rob? Care to do the honours?"
"Gladly." Rob taps into the Metal Crystal one more time, forming a solid steel gag around Tsubaki's head, silencing her.
"Ah, much better," Hanna sighs in relief.
Ten minutes later, the Five Scarves sit and rest in a circle around Tsubaki and Kaede, who are securely bound back‑to‑back, the tanuki still wearing the solid steel gag Rob created.
"Thanks for the update, Hideyoshi," Rob replies over his radio.
"It is I who should be thanking you," Hideyoshi insists. "Thanks to your efforts, and those of Flynn‑san, this civil war will soon end, and the co‑conspirators have been apprehended. Once the truth is revealed, honour will be restored to both Kasai and Mizu, and we can begin the long process of rebuilding. Shitsurei shimasu, Skarlett‑san."
"Arigatō gozaimasu." Rob terminates the connection.
"Learning the local lingo?" Hanna teases.
"It's only polite," Rob retorts playfully.
"Me and Blondie are going to get arrested and gaoled, aren't we?" Maria asks.
"Not if Sally has anything to do with it," Danny assures.
"I'm sure something will be arranged," Xander adds.
"What will happen to us?" Kaede asks.
"If it was up to me, you'd both be dead by now," Hanna answers.
"But it's not up to Hanna, it's up to the Senate," Rob informs. "Of course, they may decide to execute you anyway. But I get the feeling they'll just lock you up for the rest of your lives instead."
A heavily muted growl emerges from Tsubaki.
"The racoon wants to say something," Hanna observes, unable to resist goading the helpless tanuki. "Rob?"
"You sure?" Rob asks.
"You can always make a new one, right?" Hanna answers.
Rob taps into the Metal Crystal and disassembles Tsubaki's gag.
"You still think you've won," Tsubaki sneers. "How pathetic."
"There's no thinking to do," Hanna smiles confidently. "We've already won. It's a fact."
"No, it isn't," Tsubaki denies.
"Tsubaki, in the name of the kitsune, shut up," Kaede instructs.
"No," Tsubaki refuses. "We agreed a fight to the death. Yet we're both still alive. Ergo, they haven't won yet."
"I'm gagging them both," Rob decides.
"Hold on," Hanna interrupts, extracting the vial of Shade Virus from under her halterneck. "I have a better idea."
"Oh!" Maria exclaims. "Can I command them?"
"I don't see why not," Hanna agrees, opening the vial.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rob asks.
"Yeah," Hanna assures. "They'll be easier to handle when under mind control."
"You have a point there," Rob agrees.
Hanna stands and walks up to Tsubaki, then grabs the tanuki's lower jaw and tips her head back, forcing her mouth open. The vixen pours half the vial's contents down Tsubaki's neck, then gives Kaede the same treatment.
"There," Hanna declares, returning to her place in the circle. "In a few moments, they'll be Maria's to command."
A few moments later, both Tsubaki's and Kaede's irises turn scarlet.
"Bark like a puppy!" Maria commands.
Tsubaki and Kaede don't respond.
"I said, bark like a puppy!" Maria repeats.
Tsubaki and Kaede still don't respond.
"Um… it's not working!" Maria realises, her voice coloured with worry.
"Maybe I‑" Hanna begins, stopping herself when she notices both Tsubaki and Kaede are shaking violently. "What's going on?"
"You know earlier, when you said we may have to remove the Headbands?" Rob reminds, the Five Scarves starting to back away from the two Grand Masters.
"Yes…"
"You were right."
"Fuck."