Emerging behind the dense clouds at around four P.M. in the evening, was Su's Giant Mecha Tama piggybacking off the Nentou's custom jet ship. Towering at least 20 stories high was Project Tower. It was dark purple with three towers, each with a Spikey roof. Surrounding their buildings were numerous generators, platforms, and hoards of Project Cyber and Project Racer guards. Nentou flipped a few switches to amplify his voice over the speakers.

"Attention all hands, battle stations now", Nentou ordered.

The soldiers lock and loaded their weapons. Acting as the captain, Tokui gave his orders.

"Okay listen up everyone! Here's how we're gonna do this. We're gonna go through the sewer hatch and infiltrate through the bottom of the base. Nentou, stay at a long-range and clear out as much of the outside guards as you can. Skinny, start analyzing the interior of the base. You're our eyes in the dark on this.

"What about us", Naru spoke for all the girls of Hinata Sou.

"Su, your turtle has weapons right", Asked Tokui.

"Yup, you know it!"

"Okay, you, Sarah, and Shinobu stay in the turtle. You're going to support Nentou. Remember, stay close to Nentou! You stay on his tail! Nentou, watch over them!"

"You got it captain", Saluted their pilot.

"For the rest of you", The captain continued. You're staying with us. When we get in there we're gonna split into two groups. Kitsune, Mutsumi, we're gonna escort you to the front doors. Keep that door free of enemies. We're gonna need a fast and clean exit when we get Keitaro. Does everyone understand?"

They all responded with a stern yes.

"Good, get ready to bail!"

The ship landed on the ground, and the turtle climbed off. The doors opened for both the ERT and the girls. Before they all stepped off, Shinobu said, "Good luck everyone. Come back with Keitaro safely." Naru gave her a thumbs up before sprinting with the others to the sewer hatch. With the door closing, Shinobu took a seat in one of the chairs assigned to her, Sarah and Su.

The little girl clasped her hands together as she whispered, "Please bring them back safely, and please bring back Sempai safe and sound".The girl was brought out of her prayer as a loud rumble was heard. Nentou had already begun the bombardment upon the tower. The Racers and Cyber obliterated one after another like a domino effect.

"Hey, don't forget about me", Su said as she put the turtle in gear.

Shinobu clung onto the seat as the turtle took flight. As Su piloted the flying machine turtle, Sarah happily locked onto the enemies and started releasing missiles. Shinobu helped by pointing out where enemies were. At first, it looked like try could have had the advantage, that was until the three spiked towers began to shift.

"What is that", Shinobu asked.

The tips sprouted open like flowers. From each center was either a blue, orange, or green light. The blue light covered the exterior of the towers. The whole tower began to transform. After a great deal of opening and shifting, multiple guns, cannons, and rockets aimed for the ship and turtle.

"Oh boy, that doesn't look good", Nentou commented.

It only got worse. Suddenly, a green aura surrounded the tower in a dome.

"Skinny, what's happening", Shinobu questioned.

"This is bad", Said the Pine Martin as the ship shook from the locked on missiles. "That blue tower is a defense grid, the green tower is an impenetrable energy shield, and the orange tower is a factory. They're trying to keep us out while taking us out with long-range weapons. Not only that, that factory is also making cybers and racers. They're gonna over run the team on the inside!"

"What do we do", Yelled Sarah. "Our weapons can't break the shield, and we can't dodge those weapons forever!"

Despite the bombardment going on outside, the main characters stayed silent as a plan was hatched. Skinny pulled out a few flash drives and some other gadgets from a compartment near the seat.

"Shinobu, do you care for Keitaro?"

The question was rather sudden, and completely off topic.

"Skinny, we don't have time for this", Shouted Nentou.

Skinny ignored him as he asked Shinobu once again, "Do you care for Keitaro?"

"Yes, of course I care for Keitaro", Shinobu answered.

Even though Keitaro didn't look at Shinobu Maehara the way a man looks at a woman, she didn't care. Out of all the people who he could have kept in contact when Keitaro fled, he chose Shinobu. So she knew that Keiraro at least had a special place in his heart for her, and that was enough for Shinobu. Now, at this moment, Shinobu was about to be put through an enormous test for her Sempai.

"Ok, now I need you to listen closely to me little girl. I need you to find the control center for those towers, and implant these viruses into their systems. This will shut down the factory, the shields, and the weapons. Nentou, Su land us!"

Nentou and Su responded to the small mammal's orders. Once on the ground, Skinny and Shinobu exited the aircrafts. Skinny held out the few items for her to take.

"Are you sure you can do this", Skinny asked one more time.

In reality, Shinobu didn't look like she doubted herself, but in her mind there was a battle going on almost as chaotic as the battle filled they were on.

Inside her head, Shinobu was battling herself, "What can I do? I can't survive this! I'm not strong like Sempai! I don't have any weapons or special powers like everyone else! I need to be strong! No, I can be strong! Sempai taught that! Sempai needs me, more than ever!"

"Yes, I can do this", Shinobu said to Skinny.

"Ok, then follow me little girl", Skinny ordered.

As soon as her and Skinny bolted for the sewer hatch, Nentou and Su covered their escape by firing back at the Racers and Cybers.

"Good luck Shinobu", Nentou spoke to himself.

Shinobu followed after Skinny as they continued down the narrow path of the sewers. Every splish, splash, and splosh smelled horrible. However, there were more important orders to attend to than odors.

"This way Shinobu", Called back Skinny.

At last, they found the ladder leading to the base levels. The two took a quick survey of their surrounding to make sure it was safe. There were broken Cybers and Racers all around the room, but it was still safe. Skinny tore off the hatch to a vent.

"Through here Shinobu, we can reach the shield tower this way!"

"Right", Replied the girl.

Going through the vents was easier for her and Skinny, as they were small enough to easily pass through the tight network of vents. Along the way, Shinobu would peer through the small holes of the vents to see what was happening. There were dozens of Racers and Cybers mobilizing out of the base, most likely to battle Nentou and Su. They needed to finish this mission and fast. There came one point where Skinny asked her to halt.

"In there", Skinny told her. "That's where we need to go."

Shinobu peered through the net holes, and her face paled. On the other side was a massive computer. It was filled with a green screen showing a grid, hundreds of buttons, and even more switches. What made Shinobu pale was the fact that it was heavily guarded and monitored by Cybers everywhere.

"How do we get past them", Shinobu asked.

"Look at the gadgets. Remember that device Keitaro made that we put a button on, but had no idea what it did?"

"Yes."

"Find that device", Said Skinny.

With some digging in her pockets, Shinobi pulled out the recognizable device with the button on it that Skinny handed her earlier.

"Press it then throw it", Skinny told her, "But close your eyes when you do."

"Okay...One...Two...Three", Shinobu counted before tossing the device out the vents into the room.

With a clank of metal upon metal, the Cybers didn't have any time to react as the device activated. Shinobu closed her eyes and curled up in a ball holding Skinny, preparing for the worse. A strong current of electricity connected to all the Cybers. This drained all the power from these droids while pulling it into the device.

The only draw back was, when the device filled up with enough power, it exploded. The blast was just as powerful as a hand grenade. Luckily Shinobu and Skinny were safely still in the vents. When the chaos cleared, Skinny gave her the okay that they could enter the room.

Despite the explosion and the blast, the computer was nearly unharmed. Doing as she was instructed, Shinobu planted the flash drive into the computer. The computer immediately began to flicker before going completely black. Once shit down, they heard Sarah on Skinny's commlink.

"You did it, the shield is gone!"

"Great work you two! See if you can take out their weapons, we can get in a little closer to the base this way", Nentou told them.

"You got it Nentou", Skinny responded. "Shinobu, we can take the elevator! This way!"

The girl and mammal took the elevator that would take them back to the bottom floors. Once there, the two could run to the second elevator that lead to the weapon's tower. Shinobu was astonished by what she could see in the glass window to the elevator.

Outside, Nentou's ship blasted one of the large turrets. He was holding his own along with Su's Mecha Tama. However, time was precious with little to spare in this situation.

On a lower level, Shinobu saw Kanako performing back flips. This was necessary, as it was to keep out of reach from Zeus's electricity filled swings. Kanako took a rather large leap as Han passed under her. The muscular soldier met Zeus head on, colliding blow for blow.

The elevator soon passed all of this and now it was time to find the elevator for the defense weapons. The two managed to reach the door. However, the button for the door would not open.

"It's stuck", Shinobu shouted.

"That's the only way to the top", Skinny said. "We've gotta get up there!"

Both Shinobu and Skinny jumped as a loud boom erupted close to them. The two looked around. To their horror, four Cybers stood on a ledge, one equipped with an RPG.

"Run", Skinny yelled as they prepared another rocket.

It was too late to run as the cyber had already locked onto their target. The rocket soared through the air with killer intended speed. Then, a miracle happened. Shinobu got a glimpse as a white figure zoomed past her. The figure was in fact a person, a person capable of deflecting a rocket with his bare hands. By grabbing the rocket, and spinning it around his waist, the rocket returned to the Cybers. This destroyed their enemies and saved them all.

Shinobu was astounded by this person's feats, but even more by who this person was. The martial arts uniform, with some blood on it, the black belt with a pair of black nun-chucks, the light brown hair, it all pointed to one person.

"Taka", Shinobu was both surprised and happy to see the Oni-Zakura Dojo student. "i though you returned to the dojo.

"I couldn't return", Taka said as he readjusted the black belt to his martial arts uniform, "Not without making sure Keitaro made it home safely. He's one of us, and we help out those of the Oni-Zakura."

"We need to get to the top of that tower to shut down the defenses", Said Skinny.

"Very well. Climb on me", Taka said as he motioned for her to climb onto his back. "I'll get you to the top."

Once she was securely on Taka's back, the martial artist pulled out a pair of claws similar to the Wolverine's from X-Men. With a good, strong leap, Taka jammed his claws into the purple metal. As quickly as his body could go, Take began to scale the wall with Shinobu and Skinny on his back. Shinobu did her best to not be afraid of the heights. However, like anyone who feared of being too high up, she looked down. It was actually better that she looked down.

Scaling the walls of the tower were three Racers. Their wheels equipped with a magnetic like device rapidly approached them.

"Taka, below us", Shinobu warned.

The martial artist caught onto their pursuers thanks to Shinobu. When the racers were close enough, Taka slashed at one of them with his claws. It was rather hard to fight off an enemy on a vertical wall, with one arm, while protecting someone on your back. One of the Racers managed to slash a deep wound on Taka's side, but not before he cut its head off. The racer fell, knocking one of the other racers down.

The last one quickly approached them. Taka didn't take the offensive on this one. Instead, Taka climbed higher and faster to reach the too of the tower. The gap between them and the tower window grew smaller, but not as fast as the gap between them and the racer. Just when they were out of the window's reach, the racer grabbed Taka by the ankle.

The racer's sharp claws sliced Taka's ankle open, missing the Achilles tendon by centimeters. As Taka struggled in the razor grip, he realized it was too strong for him. In a last-ditch effort, Taka grabbed Shinobu from his back, and threw her through the window of the tower. As Shinobu sailed through their air in slow motion for her, she could see the shattered glass flying, the distant fires burning, Skinny falling one way, and Taka taking out the Racer with his claws as he too fell.

"Taka, Skinny", Shinobu yelled as the fell. She closed her eyes and moved away from the window, not being able to bare watching them fall any further.

The young Maehara gripped her arms and began to sob. They had just died in order to save her. To make sure she survived and completed the mission. The mission. Yes that's right, she still had a mission to do. Shinobu wiped her eyes clean of tears as she took the flash drive from her pocket. The virus was planted and like before with the shields, the weapons went offline.

Two towers down, and one more to go. With no working elevator, Shinobu needed another way to reach the other tower. The little girl scanned the room for anything that could be helpful, anything at all. Lying across the floor in the weapon control room was a dis-functional racer. As quickly as her small but powerful mind could think, Shinobu had an idea.

She wasn't sure how she ended up in a situation like this. Somehow, Shinobu was racing down the side of a twenty story tower, at over sixty miles per hour, on a dead racer. The magnetized wheels kept her on the building while safely moving down. Still, that didn't stop her from screaming. Faster and faster the racer slid. When Shinobu was a good ten feet above the ground, Shinobu jumped off the racer as it crashed to the floor into little pieces.

With no major injuries, Shinobu ran through the now nearly destroyed base. Smoke from different fires choked at Shinobu's sinuses. The air began to clear as she arrived at a courtyard in front of the last tower. On the opposite side were dozens of Racers, Cybers, and a large blast door.

"Shinobu, over here", Simeone called to her.

A few feet away hiding behind some debris was Motoko, Kanako and most of the ERT. Just when she was about to run to their side, Nentou could be heard on their commlink.

"Sorry guys, I'm not gonna make it to the after party", Nentou said.

Suddenly, Nentou's ship, along with a second unidentified aircraft, landed right at the heart of the courtyard. Some of the ship went into a blaze from the explosions and ship fluids.

"Holy scrap, did you see that", Haitani shouted. "Nentou do you read?! Nentou?! "

There was no response from Nentou's commlink. Just when Shinobu was about to run to see if she could find Nentou, a barrage of bullets hit the ground a few inches from Shinobu's feet. Kanako was able to quickly pull her out of harm's way, and behind some cover.

"No Shinobu, you can't go out there", Kanako warned.

"I have to! I need to implant this virus to shut down the factory!"

Tokui spike out loudly, "Shinobu, the factory controls are behind the blast doors! We can't get through! Masuka trapped herself, Naru, and Keitaro behind the doors! She broke the control pad, now it can only open manually from the other side! There's too many Cybers and Racer's to deal with to open the door!"

"Shinobu go, I'll cut you a mouse-hole", Han told her.

Without hesitation, Han sprinted for the doors.

"Han what are you doing", Kanako yelled to Han.

Despite the ammo being unloaded into Han's body, the brave soldier grabbed the edge of the thick metal door to pry it off. He took to one knee in exhaustion and blood loss. However, as his comrades suppressed the firing of the Cybers, Han summoned more strength to open the door.

Han yelled as he strained his body for work, an his nervous system from pain. None of them had any warning as two Racers zoomed by. Both machines raked their claws against Han's body. This opened deep gashes across his thorax, and side. Kanako yelled, "Haaaaaan", as the soldier fell to the ground. He didn't get back up. Han's efforts would not be in vein, as there was now a hole big enough for Shinobu to slip through.

"Listen up everyone", Tokui spoke again. "Han opened up a hole for Shinobu to punch through and open the blast doors! Give her some cover!"

"Supressing fire now", Shirai yelled as he threw a grenade.

Shinobu Maehara ran with her head low as the soldiers unloaded their mags upon the enemies.

Shinobu slipped through the crack in the door. On the other side was a large, bay like room. There were orange lights everywhere, different mechanical devices for an assembly line, and freshly made Cybers and Racers being flushed through tubes for combat. So far there was no sign of a computer or control center. The search continued as Shinobu eyed the partially damaged room.

Crashing, booming, and clanking noises were all mixed within the factory assembly, and the outside chaos. If it was a little bit quieter, Shinobu could have gotten a better warning about what was to come. Instead, the only warning she received was Keitaro Urashima being tossed into her.

Keitaro tumbled one way, as Shinobu slid into a girder being used as a beam. This did a number on Shinobu as she slowly tried to stand back up. Standing was too hard for her. All she could do for now was crawl to her Sempai.

Just in front of her, Keitaro and Masuka battled in a fury of fist, kicks, and energy enhanced attacks. Keitaro didn't have his Demon powers activated. Now going against Masuka with her purple energy powers, it was going to put Keitaro at a great disadvantage. Keitaro blocked a blow to his head with an X like formation using his arms. However, this left his mid section exposed. An exposure Masuka seized with a strong kick. The soldier was now om his hands and knees from her blow.

"You could have been on our side Keitaro", Masuka said as she filled her hand with her purple power.

"Your side is the wrong path to take Masuka", Keitaro told her. "It's not too late to do what is right and change your path."

"Hmph, your naivety makes you stupid Keitaro", Masuka continued to fill her hand with an even brighter purple energy, "And the stupid will be punished!"

Without thinking, Shinobu jumped between her Sempai and Masuka just as the woman fired her purple energy. The blast hit Shinobu in the chest. It was a strong enough impact to send Keitaro and Shinobu tumbling backwards. Keitaro lifted his face from the ground. He was horrified to see who was laying across from him.

"Shinobu!"

Keitaro crawled to Shinobu. Her back was all he could see. As gentle as he could, Keitaro held her in his arms as he turned her over. The poor little girl had her eyes closed. They were closed with no signs of opening back up.

Now before you start sending me death threats, let me speak. This was a tough chapter to write. The song "Crossing Field", by "LiSA", (better known as the "Sword Art Online" opening) was going through my head while writing this chapter. I haven't written too much about Shinobu since the beginning of the story, so I wanted to add a little more with her. As for her fate, I haven't decided what is gonna happen to her, but YOU can. Let me know in the reviews whether you want to save Shinobu or not. Whichever side gets the most votes, I'll put that into the story. There is also the fate of Han, Nentou, Skinny, and Taka to deal with. I'll do some more thinking about this after finals. Wish me luck everyone.