At the makeshift hangar underneath the overpass, the Time Sweepers and Moonblood engineers completed the finishing touches of exact copies of the Firebat. Most of them had been recolored to distinguish them from the original, and each was converted into their DAHAK mode. A particular function originally meant for mechs now reconfigured for tank traversal.

Dust admired the work on display and asked, "You guys copied the tank in a few hours?! How's that possible?"

"Did you forget we're the masters of time an' space," Jimmy smirked and held out his star-shaped Sweeper.

"The Sweepers, of course!"

As the crews make their way to their stations, one of the Warmbloods passing by, the elderly Oneida, came up to the furthest tank with an odd shape. It was sharper and had covers resembling something from the future or perhaps the past.

She felt the hull at the front and was alerted to Fale asking her, "What's that supposed to be Oneida? An' what's with the outfit swap?"

"Oh, just a little surprise I've been saving for this occasion. You'll see."

Fale grinned, "Well then."

Aegis pulled up a holographic display of the battle plan.

"Your path should be clear. The only danger spotted is a cautionary degree of seismic activity around the first minute you leave the Isle. Fortunately, it should only be a few light tremors."

"For our sake, I hope you're right," said Ahrah.

Outside at the Isle walls, Haley, Dust, Ginger, Fale, and Blinx hopped in the tank-formed Firebat with Avgustin at the gun and Cino at the rear, while Ori, Aniki, Picaro, and Sanjin took the front tank with Pelon and Matti at the turrets.

"It's good to be doing something again," said Cino.

Avgustin smiled, "Sure is! I never thought I'd be part of the team!"

"When ya got a bunch'a little cat people walkin' around, you're bound to do some crazy crap eventually," Blinx said.

Haley faced the gunner's seat and asked her brother, "You gonna be ok back there, Matti?"

He grumbled, "Grrr…"

"That means he's rea-t-go," Picaro grinned.

Fidget hovered in front of the tanks, partnered with NecoJi, using his goggles to zoom in on the path ahead, surveying the road.

The Nimbat said, "I'm sure seeing...nothing. A lotta nothing."

"All clear, sir," NecoJi radioed.

"Alright. Then let's give 'em a show," Aniki replied. "We're comin' for ya, Trio!"

At the gate, Bram yelled, "Calum, lower the drawbridge! Time for the superheroes to get to work!"

As the gates unlocked and the bridge folded into place, the heavy vehicles began to roll out while the civilians and Time Sweepers waved on their way to combat. Among the people, Elder Gray Eyes said a prayer to himself, accompanied by Lena and Catherine saluting NecoJi and Fidget riding along the side of the tanks.

The bridge was raised once they exited the area, and Haley announced, "This is it, everyone! We're going in!"

"Y'got it, Master Lop," Blinx replied with a thumbs up.

"Who's Lop…?"

"Someone cool. It's a Jedi Master. Er, a…a Knight."

"Huh… Neat."

The journey ahead was lengthy and quiet, overwhelmed with fauna of extraterrestrial origin. But strangely, the path was perfectly laid out for the tanks to roll through. NecoJi and Fidget remained outside, observing the vibrant yet hostile plant life. Avgustin, at the turret, couldn't help but notice the skies still hued by a blue and purple haze.

"Man, look at this," Gus commented.

Sanjin agreed, "It's hard to tell we're on the same planet anymore."

"Ori, this kinda looks like one of your worlds," said Cino. "Could Trio be trying to make Falana into something like it?"

Ori casually shrugged while making a cat-like squeak in response.

BOOM!

The first explosion goes off in front of the frontmost tank!

"MOTHA'S BOOGA'," shouted Picaro, who hopped back inside!

A storm of projectiles came pelting the vehicles, forcing Fidget and NecoJi into the cockpits the closer the missiles landed. Not far from where the tanks were rolling, Dahaks, an ancient mecha from Falana's early civilizations, began sprouting from beneath the ground like zombies, clearly decayed yet still functional thanks to their organic matter beating like a heart. The ones armed started adding fuel to the fire as the tanks retaliated by launching a few missiles at them. They instantly burst into bits and parts, but several more came from the skies above for a bombing run. Before they could reach them, Ginger spotted the machines on the radar. Avgustin immediately took to the upper turret to fire a single shot at them. They both fell in a blazing inferno while another wave took their place. Cino and Matti, in their vehicles, used the rear guns to easily dismantle the incoming drones before they could drop the payload. All apart from one which managed to eject a bomb before it was destroyed. Ori popped out of the upper hatch to deliver a small arrow with their bow to the package, which generally wouldn't have done anything but managed to explode the weapon mere seconds in the air before it could land! The blast threw the Spirit back in the tank as Sanjin and Picaro gave them a stroke on the head.

NecoJi at the cockpit fired several lasers at the debris for a clear path, leading straight to a horde of creatures combined with scrap metal. Seeing things worsening, Haley fiddled with the controls and said, "Ok baby. Do your thing."

Just when she began activating the extra defenses, another of the ancient vehicles ahead launched a shell at the tank, not exploding it but causing an electric shock, killing the power to the interior. Dust and Ginger were startled, bringing their swords up to their person as Haley, confused, couldn't get the controls to work.

"RATS," she shouted! "The controls are jammed! Good thing we've got ourselves a nifty backup system…"

The rabbit reached underneath the control panel, opening a cover for a hidden switch she flicked on. Corbin heard a ping on the monitor beside him in the security room back at the Isle. He unfolded his legs and scooted to the desk as the screen pulled up the tank's feed from the front.

Over the radio, Haley said, "Corbin, Trio's taken away my driving privileges! Time for you to take the wheel!"

He rubbed his hands together and grinned, "Finally!"

"An' please don't get us killed," Blinx added.

"Gee, thanks dad!"

The guns quickly went into manual while the vehicle proceeded forward, blasting in nearly every direction for cover. Avgustin added fuel to the fire by launching shells at the furthermost mech close to the first vessel. As the path began to widen, both parties joined side by side only to get swamped by hordes of crawling zombified machines. Aniki and Blinx slowed down time for Picaro and Dust to hack, slash, and shoot their way through while Ori hopped off the ride to reach another one of the Dahaks. This towering, deformed robot was nearly ready to bring its melded tree limb down before the Spirit climbed to sever it by the joints and hopped onto Haley's tank to let Corbin finish it.

"You're doing it, guys," Aniki announced. "Keep it up!"

More shots blazed the forward path as the dark creature only grew stronger in numbers. Once again, they began to surround the rides. And by now, Dust had enough. He stepped outside from the hatch along with Ginger, and the two combined their whirlwind and flames, letting out a swirling burst of fire that cleared the enemies, smoke, and debris. But just as the last ground Dahak fell, Matti and Sanjin focused their shots on the flying ones shelling the surface.

"YEAH," Sanjin cheered as he blew one out of the air. But when he and Matti celebrated, the ship veered to their location! It crashed into a greenish explosion in front of their tank, spawning dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller, parasitic abominations that crawled along the hull and began devouring it.

"Eugh," Picaro cringed while arming his machine gun. "Are you serious?!"

Suddenly, the ground began to crumble, sending the front of the tank into a boiling hot ditch that steadily melted the metal. As it began to tip forward, Cino aimed the main gun at the debris from the downed Mecha to clear a way for the opposite group, who continued ahead. But as they departed, Haley yelled for her brother.

"Matti!"

"Aniki, you're cornered," Blinx cried.

In a shooing motion, Aniki ordered, "Don't worry about us! You keep going! We'll catch up!"

But more monsters arrived in droves when Blinx's crew left the vicinity. The last thing he saw before leaving the haze were NecoJi, Matti, Aniki, and Picaro hopping outside to deliver round after round to Trio's forces while their ride continued to sink.