We all stood at the ready, waiting for the IS Crew to break down Tabane's workshop door. However, Tabane was still working away, trying to finish the weapon upgrades as quickly as possible. The IS unit steps were getting louder as they got closer and closer to the workshop door until suddenly, silence fell. Teams RWBY and JNPR stepped in front of me. Misako and Nya rushed to the tubes holding the teams' weapons. "Almost…...there." Tabane typed fast.
A bright ball of orange flame followed by black-as-night smoke engulfed the door. Out of that smoke walked Ichika into his IS unit, and when the smoke cleared, the rest of the girls were revealed. All except for Chifuyu and Ms. Yamada. "Protect Hunter!" Ruby ordered the others; they may not have had their weapons, but they had their semblances. Pyrrha used her semblance and forced Ichika to slam back into the rest of the IS crew.
This did little to slow them down. Ichika pulled out his Byakushiki's sword and took a swing at them. I quickly jumped in front of the teams and blocked it with my sword, the weight of Ichika's blade causing me to slide back a few feet. "I…can take care of myself!" I grunted. I put every ounce of force I had and gave a good push to Ichika's sword, then, with one hand, created an orange energy orb and shot a beam into him, sending him flying past the girls. "Ruby now!"
Ruby flew past me like an arrow in a flash, using her semblance. She began to crash into each girl, trying to knock each one down. When Ruby was about to hit Houki, her IS unit grabbed her. Ruby tried to struggle out of Houki's grip, but without Crescent Rose, Ruby had no chance. Houki tossed her back into me, and I fell back and slid across the floor with her on top of me.
Tabane's chair turned around, and she ran across the room to a large lever on the wall next to the weapons containers. "All ready!" She said, pulling the switch and opening them.
Ruby and I stood up, and I gestured for her and the others to get their weapons while I held them off. I created two orange orbs in both hands and shot beams from them at all the IS girls, trying to keep them back while still not trying to hurt them. The teams grabbed their weapons, and Tabane led them to a container with an orange and bright blue powder. "Now we're talking," Yang grinned, putting on her gauntlets.
I could feel my energy weakening, trying to hold them back. I fell to my knees out of power, and Charlotte walked up and pointed her machine gun at me. Closing my eyes, I waited for the inevitable. "I heard the machine gun go off but didn't feel anything. I slowly opened my eyes to see Jaune and Pyrrha standing before me. They had blocked every bullet with their shield. "You may be able to protect yourself," Pyrrha started.
"But we'll still be there to help our friend out!" Jaune finished. They rushed forward with the others and began attacking the IS units. Misako rushed over and helped lift me to my feet. I watched in awe as these teams fought to defend me.
"You're so worried about being the one to protect others no matter what it does to you," Misako told me. "You must realize at some point that you don't have to be the only one to protect everyone. There are others out there that can help you and make you stronger." I began to ponder Misako's advice, but the workshop alarm started blaring again before I could fully get my thoughts together. Ichika and the girls started to laugh maniacally, for they knew what was coming.
"Chi-chan." I heard Tabane whisper to herself.
A portion of the ceiling caved in, with a large plume of dirt and dust following it. Before the dust cleared, a large sniper barrel appeared in front of my face, and Misako and I dived out of the way. Then, an advanced regular word came out and tried to slash me on the ground, but with a quick reaction, I used my elemental techno blade to block it. The dust cleared to reveal Ms. Yamada holding her sniper up and Chifuyu in a black mechanized, human-sized suit, trying to push her sword into my chest. "Not you guys, too," I whispered despairingly, seeing my two former teachers under the Destroyer's control.
"You two need to back off!" I heard Nya's voice say behind me. She stood proudly, ready to face the two. The red gem on her bracelet blinked, bringing light to the room.
"And what can you do against us!" Chifuyu's mechanical voice questioned.
"Let me show you." She positioned herself in front of the long hallway leading to the workshop and gave Chifuyu and Maya a little smirk. An enormous engine roar could be heard from the hallway, and Nya's Samurai X Mech came crashing into the workshop, knocking Ichika, some of the girls, Chifuyu, and Maya down. The mech flew into Nya, picking her up and putting in her Samurai X suit. Reaching behind her back, she pulled out a sword. "You girls aren't the only ones with big weapons." She charged Maya and began to swing her large sword at Maya, knocking the sniper rifle out of her hands.
This allowed me to stand back up, but while I was paying attention to Samurai X fighting, Chifuyu swung at me again with her sword. I barely backed away in time, with the sword's tip narrowly missing the end of my nose. Chifuyu stood proudly. "It's useless to fight." Chifuyu pointed her sword at me. "Come quietly, and we will not hurt you."
"Never." I readied my weapon.
"So be it." She put herself in an attack position and rushed me. She berated me with sword slash after sword slash, and I could barely keep up. I was fast, but Chifuyu was way faster. I tried my best to attack back, but her reaction time was far more significant with the new tech implants that the Destroyer forced upon her. Using the elemental blade, I used wind to push her back and cut bits and pieces out of her suit. She skidded back and looked at her now-damaged suit. "Lucky." She smirked. "That won't happen again." She charged back at me again, and our blades struck each other, sparks emitting from the collision point from the shear pressure we were putting on the weapons.
"Please, Chifuyu, this isn't you!" I tried to tell her. "You're my friend!"
"There is no Chifuyu! Only the Destroyer!" She pressed her blade even further against mine. I gave Chifuyu a look of disbelief.
I suddenly saw out of the corner of my eye that Tabane was trying to get my attention. I looked at Tabane and saw her gesturing for me to throw Chifuyu at her. "If that's the case, I have no problem doing this. Ninja go!" A bright orange Spinjitzu tornado enveloped me, and I used my Spinjitzu to grab Chifuyu, spin her around several times, and throw her at Tabane. Quite seamlessly, Tabane caught Chifuyu and held Chifuyu's hands behind her back.
"Use your techno blade!" Misako shouted at me. I activated the techno blade end of my weapon and rushed over to Chifuyu, striking her with the weapon. A loud clang was heard on the floor, bringing everyone's attention towards Chifuyu. The metal pieces to her body lay on the ground. She was now free from the Destroyer's grasp.
"Wha-what happened?" Chifuyu asked me, speaking in her regular voice again.
"Don't worry, Ms. Orimura. You're okay now." Tabane let go of her best friend's wrists and hugged her tightly. I smiled, then turned my attention to the others. It was time to hack these guys and set them free. "Nya!" I shouted as I ran towards her.
"I know where you're headed!" She acknowledged. Nya grabbed Maya and shoved her to the ground. I quickly ran my techno blade across her IS unit's back and made my way towards Ichika and the others. The sound of metal hitting the floor again came from behind me. Ms. Yamada was now free as well.
Yang was shooting her gauntlets at Rin. Chifuyu, Tabane, and Misako watched as I jumped above Rin and speared her suit with my techno blade. As it hacked her IS Unit, I landed on her and pulled the blade out of the suit. I then jumped from girl to girl, slashing them once with my techno blade. All the girls' IS units began to deactivate, and the tech pieces attached to them clanged against the metal floor as their bodies touched the ground.
All that was left was Ichika. I landed before him, holding my techno blade, ready to hack his suit. "Give it up, Ichika. Your friends are free. Let me help you, too."
Ichika took a step back. The fear in his mechanically controlled eyes was letting loose. He turned and tried to fly out, but he was stopped mid-air. A grey glow was surrounding his suit, keeping him frozen in place. It was Pyrrha's semblance. "Finish this, Hunter." She smiled at me. I nodded and walked towards Ichika. His eyes were darting around, trying to make sense of what was happening to him.
I raised my techno blade up and just tapped his forehead with it. The mechanical pieces on his body crashed to the ground, and his IS unit dissipated. Without his suit, he began to fall, but I caught him. "Ugh." He groaned, grabbing his forehead. "Thanks a lot, buddy. I owe you one." Ichika painfully smirked
"Anytime." I let Ichika down, and he and I returned to the others. The girls were starting to emerge from the trances the Destroyer put them in and were beginning to stand up.
"What happened?" Cecilia asked no one in particular.
"We are free!" Laura cheered, hugging Charlotte triumphantly.
"But how?" Ms. Yamada asked.
"With help from our hero, the orange ninja." Chifuyu gestured towards me, helping Ichika over to them.
The girls ran over to me and hugged me, except for Chifuyu. "Thank you, Hunter, mon héros!" Charlotte squeezed me.
"You're…...all…. welcome." I mustered, feeling the life be squeezed out of me.
"How did you find us here?" Nya asked them.
"It was the Destroyer," Chifuyu said. We all looked at her in shock. "He's known you were here since you arrived. He's captured Wu, Garmadon, Nathan, Lloyd, Tatenashi, and Cyrus Borg and plans to execute them. That's why he sent us. He wanted Hunter to be captured so that he could watch them all be killed and see Hunter lose any hope he had left.
"My son and husband," Misako said on the verge of tears.
"Misako, I promise I'll get them back," I assured her.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Houki asked. "He's got every square inch of this city locked down with his Nindroids. There's no way you can get to the academy willingly."
"Then he won't go willingly." Tabane sat back down at her damaged computer and began typing again.
"What plan have you cooked up this time, Tabane?" Chifuyu smirked.
"You said you came here to capture Hunter and bring him to the Destroyer. That's precisely what you all are going to do." She spun her chairs around as the screen behind her showed a little animation of all of us. The little animation began to follow Tabane's words. "I'll attach some fake mechanical parts to you all to make you look like you're still under the Destroyer's control. You girls and Ichika will then bring Hunter to the Destroyer as requested, where he will stop the execution, freeing everyone, and then from there, he can unlock his True Potential, becoming the Creator and finishing this fight for good!" The animation ended with a little me standing triumphantly.
"What about us?" Ren asked Tabane.
"I'll let them explain that part of the plan." Tabane pointed to the hallway. We turned to see students from the academy walking in.
"No way," Weiss spoke in awe.
"Tatenashi saved them all!" Nora cheered.
"Ichika! Everyone! You're all right!" Honne Nohotoke cheered from the front of the group.
"Thanks to the orange ninja here, we are." Ichika put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair.
I chuckled. "The fight isn't over yet. I think I know the rest of the plan, Tabane." I looked back at Tabane, seeing her usual cheeky smile. Turning my attention to all the IS Academy students, I knew I'd have to get all these girls' help, and I thought back to what Misako had told me earlier about others helping me become stronger. I got Nya to use her Samurai X mech to help lift me high in its hand so I could speak to them. I looked around at the crowd of tattered girls who had already been through a lot.
"My fellow students of the IS Academy. I know you have just gotten through what I can only imagine to be one of the toughest ordeals in the world to have to go through." I saw a lot of the girls frown, begin to cry, or sadly nod. "I am genuinely sorry that we could not have saved you sooner. But I must ask one more thing of you now. I am headed off to save my friends and face the Destroyer so that this fight can finally end once and for all. However, I can't do this alone. I can't face off against his entire Nindroid army alone; I need your help." Many of the girls recoiled in fear, and I could hear gasps from the crowd. I could tell not a lot of them wanted to fight. Why would they? After what they've been through, I don't blame them. "I know it's scary," I agreed, "but I also know how strong all of you are. Look at how long you all withstood the Destroyer's might by yourselves! The IS Academy has produced some of the strongest women I have ever met, and I know you all can beat these wannabe ninjas!" The girls looked at each other. "This dimension has almost seen ruin before and came out stronger; I know with your help, it can do it again. It takes others to make us stronger, even me! I'm not asking you to fight for me; I'm asking for you to fight for each other so that no other dimension has to suffer under the Destroyer's rule! Let's show him what the students of the Infinite Stratos Academy are made of!" I pumped my fist into the air.
The girls all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. "I will fight with you!" Honne stepped up.
"So will I!" Kaoruko Mayuzumi stood next to Honne.
"Me too!" Kiyoka Aikawa joined in.
"I'll fight!" said another girl.
"I'll help!" Shouted another. Suddenly, the room was in an uproar of girls wanting to fight back against the Destroyer.
"Yeah! This is our home! Let's take it back!" I heard another shout.
I looked back at Misako, who was smiling at me. I nodded at her, smiling, then returned my attention to the girls. I ignited my elemental techno blade and pointed it out ahead of me. "Let's go stop an execution!"