The rest of the way was brief. The further into the heavy shrubs the tank went, the gang reached an impasse. Beyond a small ravine ahead were the partially volcanic ranges of Everdawn Basin. At the top of the hills were multiple gargantuan turrets on standby. Seeing this, Haley said over the radio, "Ok Corbin. You can stop now. I don't wanna get blasted."

"Whaddya see," the Warmblood asked on the other side.

Fidget answered, "Corbin, if I had a diamond for every description of what I'm looking at, I'd be one rich plushie.

"I'll say," said Fale, removing his hat. "I thought there were one or two guns- not eight of 'em!"

Suddenly, the radio stuttered as Trio chimed in, announcing to the group, "Oh yeah! Did I forget to say...? While y'all were takin' yo sweet time gettin' here, I kept rewindin' back to the Big G's days an' borrowed more guns from him."

In abject disbelief, Ahrah and Haley yelled, "SERIOUSLY?!"

Ori sighed and lowered their head with a first muttered, "Oh my god..."

Ginger moaned, "There's no way we can stop them in time!"

"We could always split up, but I don't think we'd be fast enough for that either," Dust pondered. "This isn't exactly something we can afford to mess up."

While everyone thought aloud, Haley tapped her foot and stroked her chin when she suddenly asked, "Wait…do the guns swivel?"

"Yeah, from what I remember," her husband said.

"And they're manned right," Haley asked again.

"They can be. Why...?" That moment, Dust quickly froze and raised his ears, widening his eyes with, "Ooooooh!"

Fidget hovered beside his ear and asked, "Are we on the same brain cell?"

"The better question is, who isn't?"

Smiling widely, everyone slowly faced Avgustin, coming down from the gunner's seat, asking the group, "Hey, why's everyone lookin' at me like that? …Are you coming onto me?"

Deep in the caverns underneath the occupied camps of zombified Gaius soldiers, the Knights began to trek their way close to the large guns at the end of the tunnel, with Blinx slowing down time long enough for Ori to snipe the two guards simultaneously with a single light arrow. While stepping over the monsters, Dust took note of the familiar faces from Cassius' time, having been transfigured into a somewhat cybernetic version of their former selves, melded with their armor along with natural rock and wood—the result of Trio's meddling with nature.

Along with the chaotic beings they've encountered, the cave contained objects from earlier points in Falana's history, including old turrets, a downed police mech, and metallic walls with ancestral writing painted over them.

"Oh wow… More ancient junk," Fidget mocked.

"I wouldn't call it junk," said Blinx. "I can tell most of it was worth big bucks back in the day."

Ginger closely studied one of the downed robots and remnants of a minor, cat-themed carrier. She felt its rusted hull, careful to wipe the grime off the police star on the side of it.

The Warmblood commented, "I know we're on a mission, but some of this is giving me serious déjà vu…like I've seen it before."

"Maybe ya had an ancestor who piloted one of the mechs," said Fale.

"It wouldn't be far off on my end either," Haley noted. "My Dad said that our family closely descended from canines instead of rabbits like us. And their ancestors could've been riders too."

When she felt the closest barrier, a click pushed the false wall open, exposing the service ladder to the main gun.

"Oh! And here's the spot!"

Dust spoke, "Ok Gus. We'll keep 'em busy while you and Fale get inside. Figure out the controls and start blowing things up."

Avgustin fist-pumped saying, "NOW you're talkin' my language!"

Before going up the tube, Fale turned back after his partner and said, "Don't let anyone come find us."

As he left, Dust looked toward the way they came, overhearing the clanging footsteps from the walkways above and tightening his grip on Ahrah.

He worriedly said, "And still no word back from Matti and the others..."

"Don't worry," Haley spoke. "My brother lives for times like this. It's everyone else I'm not sure about."

Blinx tipped his head and snickered. "Time Sweepers're tough kitties, Haley. They'll make it."

Soon, the footsteps got heavier, and a sword cut through the ceiling, carving a hole for the minions to climb down from. Ori assumes the rear close to the gunner entrance, sniping with their crossbow while Fidget flies next to Haley, combining their powers to launch an electric fireball. One of the mecha in the room quickly reactivated and began spraying its payload at the Knights, forcing them behind cover before Blinx set time to freeze, running up to the machine and saber-slicing the lock on its machine gun. Once time resumed, he pointed the weapon at the soldiers crawling in, grinding them up and leaving room for Dust and Ginger to fuse their powers to blast the remaining men with a flaming whirlwind.

Meanwhile, Avgustin and Fale climbed to the main deck of the cannon, surrounded by shell tubes and a tight catwalk to the manned gunner's seat. Fale opted to step in first, carefully tiptoeing to the lone troop. But just as he raised his sword, Trio called in from the viewport, shouting, "BEHINDJA!"

With a loud WHACK, the gunner backhanded Fale hard enough to knock him against the catwalk bar by the forehead! The trooper sprinted for Avgustin, who leaned back from one punch and struck back with a hook. He was kneed in the stomach and pushed against the wall, repeatedly punched in the face before he kicked the man off him. Fale recovered and swiftly decapitated the trooper along with a spray of water. What he accidentally did, however, was spray the control panel and cause a short circuit.

"OOOOH NO," the two Knights screamed!

Underneath the cannon, the situation worsened as more creatures descended to the lower levels. With the downed mecha as cover, the group launched as many attacks as possible, but more troops would continue to crawl in one after the other. Eventually, Haley switched to her hammer and said, "Screw it! I'm tired of going in ranged!"

She turned and brought the mallet down on one of the support beams, causing a small cave-in blocking the service entrance.

"Let's tear these cyber zombie things into scrap metal!"

Dust hip-bumped along with her and let out an enthusiastic, "Sounds good to me!"

The rabbit jumped first, slamming the surface and letting out a shockwave that knocked the soldiers back. Then Dust unleashed a wind gust, halving the men from the torso. Ori and Fidget met more with the Nimbat amplifying the arrows, creating small explosions, and setting the remaining zombies ablaze. Blinx fast-forwarded Ginger, who instantly cut them down with the flames of her sword, providing a beading red aura. Blinx smirked at the sight and overheard the massive gun up top finally rotating.

Fale had jammed his blade into the control module, allowing Avgustin to aim the cannons at the opposite weapons. With the gun's fire button still intact, Fale launched the shells, instantly nuking the turrets.

Fale cheered, "YEAH!"

"Take that, Trio," Avgustin yelled, raising his fist.

But as they turned their barrels to the other side, they found that the neighboring cannon was already aimed at their viewport.

"Oh…"

BANG

The enemy guns instantly exploded the weapon, scattering debris across the site and into the battlefield! Fortunately, among the wreckage, the two Warmbloods crash-landed beside their team under a protective aquatic bubble. Seeing the twin barrels pointing at them, Ori concentrated on shooting an arrow at a precise angle, amplified by Fidget's fireball, causing the interior of the gunport to burst into flames. The heat created a chain reaction, setting off each of the shells wholly and destroying the last turret in a flaming inferno!

Amazed at the accuracy, Ori palmed both sides of their head, their jaw agape, and Fidget twirling around the gang celebrating.

Suddenly, Ahrah shouted, "YEAH! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO," along with the lot freezing and staring at him. The blade quickly cleared his non-existent throat and said, "U-um… Impressive work, everyone."

In the meantime, Ori immediately healed Avgustin's injured eye, and the remaining monsters were dealt with.

Gus pat the Spirit's back. "Thanks buddy! I sure took a beating there!"

"And you handled it like always," said Fale.

Through the chaos of the fight, all the walkways had collapsed. The ravine blocking the tank had expanded, leaving a huge distance from the team to the vehicle.

"Great. Now we just gotta get back to the tank and turn it back into a space shuttle," said Ginger.

"How're we supposed to get through now," Fale wondered.

Fidget joked, "Don't look at me. I'm not carrying you all like I do with Ori."

Stepping up, Dust announced, "Allow me!" He looked at the nearest abandoned watchtower and let loose an intense whirl, pushing the structure. However, it barely touches the other end of the chasm, smashing at the bottom of it.

After a moment of silence, Fidget asked, "So...mind telling us what you tried to accomplish?"

Embarrassed, the Mithrarin explained, "I figured...if I just pushed the building towards the ship…we could use it as a bridge to get across the gap."

"That thing was way too short for that to work," said Haley.

"Yeah… I might need to start wearing glasses."