Begin Part B: The End of the Combo Rangers
Before the Campinas Campaign, one of the Combo Rangers' operations was to capture Prince Wagan, brother to Isandra, the Penguin Queen and therefore uncle to Isa, the Penguin Princess. Isa was one of the Shark King's 25 Young Achiever Generals and together with her boyfriend, Narwhal Prince Nico, they led the Nokizaru special task force consisting of the Salacian Army's top ninjas and warriors. The task force frequently worked together with an army division under the command of Swordfish King Marcos, much to his chagrin.
As part of their operation, the Combo Rangers used themselves as bait and allowed themselves to be captured by the Salacians at their compound in order to get close to Prince Wagan. Sara was originally against their plan for fear of their safety, but Fox was determined to complete his mission and so were his friends, which eventually convinced Sara to come with them and play her role in their plan as their lookout and sniper.
After the Combo Rangers were captured, they were tied up and hung from pillars in a dungeon. They bided their time until the soldiers outside began to fall asleep, then once Tati gave the signal to the others, Lisa began to struggle out of her ropes. By the time Tati heard the sound of the guards coming back to the dungeon, Lisa had managed to free herself and got to work freeing Fox and Tati. As soon as the guards came in, Lisa, Fox and Tati defeated the guards and soldiers. Fox and Lisa went off to continue with their plan as Tati freed Kiko and Ken.
Isa was in the command room putting Salacian flags on a model map outlining their strategic points when Nico, who had sensed something off, came in to report it to her. "Isa, there seems to be a disturbance at the dungeon."
Stepping towards the door, Isa told Nico to ensure the safety of her uncle, but just as he was about to leave, someone burst into the door. "Look out!" Nico warned Isa before he was suddenly sent flying to the wall with a double palm strike from Fox, knocking him out.
Isa immediately engaged Fox in combat while Nico struggled to get up, only to lose consciousness straight away. Isa managed to hit Fox in his shoulder, but Fox was easily able to knock her back with it. Fox then turned to the model map and took off the Salacian flags on it, telling Isa, "This land belongs to us humans. It doesn't belong to you," before throwing them away. He continued, "Why do you have that stupid Santa hat on anyway? It's not even Christmas."
"Fox Fonseca… that Santa hat is a reminder of my courage to live in the water. It's also a reminder of my courage to kill Drylanders like you!" Isa said menacingly before she took out her sword and lunged at him. Even while unarmed, Fox was a formidable opponent for Isa with his Tai Chi skills.
Seeing a chance, Isa ran for the exit but Fox kicked a stool at it, nearly hitting her as it hit the door and closed it. Fox then suddenly moved to the door and said, "Princess Isa. Your uncle, Prince Wagan, is being looked after." Fox and Isa continued fighting while the rest of the Combo Rangers stormed into Prince Wagan's quarters, killing the soldiers guarding it as they knocked him out and captured him.
Fox continued evading Isa's slashes before getting to the other side of the model map and kicking it over, but Isa managed to slash it in half. Isa charged at Fox, who took out a long scarf he had wrapped around his body and wrapped it around Isa's sword, taking it from her hands. Fox then knocked the sword back at Isa, which missed her as it knocked the crown (and the Santa hat with it) off her head and landed in a portrait of the Shark King, where his heart would be.
"Hmm… You're not bad with a sword," Fox said, almost satirically. The incensed Isa began kicking at Fox, narrowly missing him with her high kicks as her foot destroyed a stool he was standing in front of. Turning around, Isa leaped into the air, broke a light with her foot and used the distraction to hit Fox right in the chest. Undeterred, Fox continued dodging Isa's kicks before grabbing her right leg and punching the back of it. Isa tried kicking Fox with her left leg, but Fox grabbed it and punched her through her shoe, knocking her back.
Fox got into a stance and charged at Isa, blocking her punch, twirling her around and elbowing her in the back, sending her flying through a screen door. Hearing the signal from his friends, Fox said, "I think that's enough for now, Princess Isa. Fight me again when you've trained some more," and left.
"You!" Isa got up and charged at Fox to attack him from behind, but Fox caught her fist and knocked Isa back to the wall, landing next to where Nico was during their battle. "Fox… Fonseca…" Isa got up, but she couldn't stay up for long before she fell back down and lost consciousness.
The Combo Rangers eventually managed to escape the compound with Prince Wagan thanks to the help of Sara and their comrades from the Yabusaki clan covering them. The Combo Rangers had many encounters with the Salacians before this one and would no doubt encounter them again in the future, but to tell you about every encounter would take up more words and time that had been wasted already. Prince Wagan was handed over to the custody of the Kongming Army and that was the end of their current encounter for now.
On Dryland, King Marcos' division and the Nokizaru task force raided and burnt down a string of houses in the district of Jardim Nova Republica. This was the residence of Ryūtaro Saitan aka the Mighty Combo, who was the Combo Rangers' benefactor. He and his friends from the Association of Superheroes (ASH) taught their skills and transferred their powers to the Combo Rangers in the hope that they would become their successors. As such, they were listed by the Salacians as targets for harbouring them and enabling their resistance. The Mighty Combo's friends had been dealt with and he was the only one who remained.
As the Salacian soldiers were searching for survivors in the area, Nico questioned Isa, "Wasn't this mission just to capture the Mighty Combo? Why did we have to kill all these Drylanders?"
Isa replied, "None of these Drylanders are innocent. A single spark can start a massive fire. They would want our lives just as much as the Combo Rangers would."
"It doesn't look like the Combo Rangers came back here."
"We must nip all rebellions at the root. Let's go."
King Marcos found and arrested the Mighty Combo at his house. As two of Marcos' soldiers held him, Marcos began accosting him as to the whereabouts of the Combo Rangers. "I swear to you, if I knew where they went, I would tell you, Your Highness."
"We know the Combo Rangers lived with you, so tell me where they are. My patience is wearing thin by the minute. If you can provide us with that information, I can guarantee your life and safety."
"Your Highness, the Combo Rangers have lived with me, that much is true, but I really don't know where they went."
Hearing this, Marcos decided to let the Mighty Combo go. However, as Marcos and his men started to leave, the Mighty Combo remained defiant. "Goddamn sea monsters! My friends' blood is on your hands and now you want to go after my Combo Rangers? I won't give them up without a fight!"
The Mighty Combo picked up a stick and charged at Marcos, who took out his sword and turned around to stab him, causing him to fall where he stood. As Marcos wiped the blood off his sword before resheathing it and leaving, Nico questioned, "Your Highness, did you forget that we were conducting an operation? Don't you think you're causing us enough trouble?"
Marcos just moved him away as he left. "Princess Isa, that general is under your command. You have a duty to control him. His opinions are irrelevant." Marcos was a stern commander just like the Shark King. He was one of few kings who was okay with being (or rather, preferred to be) addressed by name instead of "the Swordfish King". However, in his devotion to the Salacian war effort, he did have a tendency to overlook the needs of his wife, Pietra, and daughter, Marli, leading to them seeking personal satisfaction through external means.
Nico said to Isa, "His actions are only serving to rile up the Drylanders' anger and resistance."
Isa coldly responded, "No matter what we do, it won't change the hatred the Drylanders have for us."
By the time the Combo Rangers returned and discovered what had happened, the Salacians were long gone. Although they were horrified to discover that the Mighty Combo had been killed, nothing could toughen their hatred for the Salacians more than what it already was.
The next stage of the Salacian stratagem was to recall all divisions to Santos and surround the Unified Resistance Army in an effort to eliminate them. The Shark King would lead an attack from the left wing while Whale King Giddeon and Sea Serpent King Shai would serve as the vanguard. Giddeon and Shai's armies were on the way back and would resupply themselves in Cubatão before beginning their attack, making them a key element in their stratagem.
King Marcos' division had been ordered to defend the fuel store in Cubatão at any and all costs. Upon hearing that the Nokizaru task force would be commanding the defence of the fuel store with him, Marcos expressed his concern; given how the task force was severely undermanned and her recent failures against the Drylanders, Marcos feared that a girl like Isa would not be suitable for leading such a crucial operation despite her strategical prowess. The Shark King brushed those concerns off, saying to the generals around him that they could not hope to match Isa's intellect even if they worked together.
The Shark King chose Isa to command the defence because given the recent rebellion, he needed someone he could trust and there were very few choices. He admired Isa's intellect and courage, never wavering or admitting defeat to the very end, something that was unique to the soldiers of the goddess Salacia. Isa was told that if she failed to defend the fuel store, she and Nico had to come back alive, not just because of her unique qualities, but because she was essential in the Shark King's ultimate plan.
After being given her orders, Isa left the War Rooms while the Salacian Army continued their preparations. Most of the kingdoms in Salacia were brimming with military activity, but there were some places where it was limited or restricted by order of the kings and queens. One of those places was the area outside of the Narwhal Palace, which was where Isa went to ponder in peace.
Isa's home, the Penguin Kingdom, was far away from Salacia in the South Pole. The Penguin Palace was out of the water and because Isa grew up out of the water as well, she was afraid to get into the water. It took a Santa hat for Isa to get over her fear of the water and because of that, she continues to wear one on her crown to this day. But what made her so radicalised against Drylanders?
In the second term of the princes' and princesses' first year at the Sea School, an oil tanker had leaked above Salacia, causing thousands of litres of oil to spill out. The princes and princesses saw their friends and loyal subjects in trouble and went to help them. Isa's penguin friend, Pingo, was one of those badly affected by the spill; with the resources of the hospitals and palaces being stretched to the brink, the Salacians had no other choice but to entrust their sick animals to the Drylanders. Isa remembered how she was reluctant to do so despite knowing that the penguins needed to go out of the water to breathe: "I won't let you take the penguins back! Look at them! This is all Dryland's fault! Who knows if they're going to hurt them?" Isa came around to the other Salacians' way of thinking and sure enough, the penguins managed to return safe and sound.
However, in the years that followed, Isa learnt about many other Drylander incursions on Salacia and about the way certain Drylanders treat the ocean and the life in it. When war broke out between Salacia and Dryland, she and other princes and princesses joined the war effort to do their duty for the goddess Salacia. It was also there that Isa met the royals of the Narwhal Kingdom, namely Prince Nico and his twin sister, Princess Nicole. Isa rose through the ranks and became one of the Shark King's 25 Young Achiever Generals, going on to her current position of leading the Nokizaru task force.
When the Combo Rangers' activities of disruption and assassination began to be known to the Salacians, Isa ordered ten of the Salacian Army's best ninjas from the Shark King for her task force. To test the ninjas' skills, Isa sent her soldiers at them and the ninjas easily killed them. Isa then selected three of the ninjas and made them the leaders of separate units in what was then a 30-warrior task force.
Following this, Nico went to confront Isa in private over her actions. "You let so many of your soldiers die to test those ninjas' skills. How could you become this cold-blooded, Isa?"
"This is war, Nico, not a competition," Isa replied.
"Then they should be dying at the blades and bullets of the enemy, not ours!"
"That will only add to the humiliation we've suffered."
"Does our glory come from slaughtering those who aren't as skilled as us?"
"Only those who are strong survive. Glory belongs to the victorious, not the vanquished."
"That doesn't mean we can go around killing innocents."
Isa paused for a second. "Prince Nico, I need strong warriors to defeat our enemies. Mercy and justice don't win wars."
"Cruelty and heartlessness don't win wars either."
Isa paused again. "The outcome of a war isn't something you or I can decide. Our mission is to eliminate the Combo Rangers. As far as I'm concerned, there can only be success, not failure. That's why I need your help. Please don't disappoint me, Nico."
Nico turned to Isa. "I know you've got a lot on your shoulders. That's why I'll support you with all I have. I won't regret anything I've done for you, I just don't want to see you become like King Marcos."
"The blood of penguins may be warm while mine becomes colder by the day, but each and every Drylander would be glad to see us die. That's why we must make ourselves into daggers as cold as ice. We are the warriors of the goddess Salacia and always will be."
Isa remembered her parents seeing her off as she set off for the frontlines. She remembered her conflicts with the Drylanders and her confrontations with the Combo Rangers. She remembered the hard work it took to get her to where she was today.
Nico, having come out of the Narwhal Palace, saw Isa and went to her. "Coin for your thoughts, Isa?"
"I don't know why, but I suddenly miss my mother and father."
"Who doesn't?" The two of them stood there for a moment.
"Nico, if Fox Fonseca and the Combo Rangers come to attack the fuel store, will we be able to defend it?"
"Of course we will."
"I know you're thinking the same thing I am, that we won't."
"Why do you think that?"
Isa responded, sombrely, "Fox Fonseca and the Combo Rangers are too good. Our last few failures have shown that we are no match for them."
"That doesn't sound like something you would say, Isa. You never admit defeat to the very end."
"I didn't say it before because I refused to accept it, but after all those defeats, I can't help but accept it."
Nico lightly scoffed. "Don't say that. This time we'll be fully prepared, plus the Shark King is sending all of our friends, comrades and soldiers to help us. We've also cleared off a large area around the fuel store. If the Drylanders try anything, we'll be able to detect it in time. They won't be able to enter the fuel store."
"That's right, it's not like we don't have any hope of succeeding. I'll put my life on the line to defend the fuel store, for my sake and the sake of the goddess Salacia."
"As long as I live and breathe, you and the fuel store will be safe."
Isa was relieved to hear that. It was then that Nicole arrived to give them a message. "Nico, Isa, King Marcos is ordering us to advance."
"Tell him that I'm heading up with Nico and the task force now. You guys advance when you're ready," Isa replied.