Disclaimer: Orion's first encounter with the arc's big bad is here! How well will he do against Hanajiro? Will he be prepared for the kind of power Hanajiro holds? Let's find out!

Also, I don't own any Ginga characters, aside from any OCs I add in.

The Ginga Legend: Orion's Story

Puppy Army arc Episode five: Orion's Match Is Met

Continuing from where the previous chapter ended off, Izou and Hanajiro were staring each other down while gripping onto the Golden Shepherd. Izou refused to give up the Golden Shepherd, as did Hanajiro. The two of them tossed it into the air before they began paw to paw combat. Hanajiro proved himself to be quite skilled, blocking Izou's blows without much effort. Izou proved the same, blocking his strikes and even countering one of them. After this, Hanajiro jumped up, grabbing the Golden Shepherd after it touched the ceiling of the gallery.

Izou dashed at Hanajiro once he grabbed the Golden Shepherd, grabbing his leg and refusing to let him fly off. Hanajiro aimed a Spirit beam at Izou, who ducked underneath it before dashing at Hanajiro. Hanajiro made sure to keep the Golden Shepherd safe by conjuring up a pillow for it to land on as soon as Izou pinned him against the wall. He couldn't let the value of this thing go to waste after all. Izou punched him in the face before he retaliated with a knee to the gut.

Izou grabbed Hanajiro's ground pound and kicked him towards the floor of the gallery. Once Izou dashed down himself, Hanajiro dashed past him and towards the Golden Shepherd. Izou grabbed it again, aiming a headbutt at Hanajiro to make him let go. However, this proved to be futile, as Hanajiro blocked the headbutt and kicked Izou in the gut. Izou held on however, flying out of the gallery with Hanajiro as he attempted to fly off with the Golden Shepherd. Hanajiro could see that his opponent wasn't going to let him steal this artifact without a fight.

Orion and Sirius were taking care of the soldiers who attacked them, kicking them into each other to knock them out. Orion and Sirius got a good look at the soldiers, finding that they were stronger than the ones from before. "No doubt about it, Orion. These guys are stronger than the Shikoku and his friends."

"Then it's a good thing I always train my ass off." Orion said, and then he sensed a stronger power from nearby. He instantly realized what it was when he heard Izou struggling. "That's Izou's voice! He must be defending the Golden Shepherd from Hanajiro."

When it looked as if Hanajiro was about to escape with the Golden Shepherd, Orion was about to jump into action, but Sirius stopped him. "Wait, Orion! If Izou's struggling against this guy, there's no telling what he'll do to you!"

"I already picked up on that." Orion confirmed, having a plan to keep the Golden Shepherd safe. "Don't think I'm not going into this without a plan."

Orion dashed into action with Sirius calling out to him, but to no avail. "Orion, wait!"

Izou and Hanajiro continued to struggle for the Golden Shepherd, only for Orion to snatch it from both of them. This confused Izou at first, but then Orion filled him in on the plan before running off. "I'll be back after I lose him!"

Orion dashed off with Izou seeing that he was using himself as a diversion. However, Hanajiro wasn't messing around and called out to his soldiers after grabbing Hanajiro's punch. "Take care of this asshole! I'm going after this red furred brat!" Hanajiro kicked Izou back before rushing off, leaving Izou surrounded by his quick acting soldiers.

Izou didn't see any problem taking these guys out. He just hoped he would be fast enough to stop them and help Orion. As soon as one of the soldiers dashed at him, he punched them in the gut and made them flinch. Izou then looked into the soldier's eyes, showing that he wasn't messing around when it came to protecting his comrade. "You'd better prepare yourselves. This is one of the rare times I'm in a rush."

Orion managed to get a decent distance away from Shepherd Prefecture, stopping in the middle of a forest at least a mile from it. If he were going top speed, he probably would've gone even farther. He started sensing for Hanajiro's Spirit, seeing that he either couldn't find it, or Hanajiro was good at hiding it. Knowing that everyone else was defending Shepherd Prefecture, Orion got ready to face Hanajiro one on one. That soon came to be when he heard Hanajiro's voice. "I don't want any trouble, kid."

Orion looked back and saw Hanajiro revealing himself from the shadows. He was pretty fast for a Conjuring Specialist. And while Orion didn't know his Spirit Specialty yet, he was impressed that Hanajiro managed to keep up with him. Orion smirked as he called out Hanajiro's ironic statement. "Trying to steal a village's most prized possession sounds pretty troublesome."

"I have to fund my village somehow!" Hanajiro exclaimed, making Orion shudder as he thought about those puppies again. Hanajiro held out his paw, gesturing Orion to give him the Shepherd. "Just give me the Shepherd, and no one gets hurt."

"Yeah, I'm not really into that whole 'forced marriage' thing." Orion joked, making Hanajiro groan as Orion snickered at the unintentionally sexual undertone of that wording. He kept the Shepherd stuck to his paw with his Spirit webs, only for Hanajiro to dash at him. Orion managed to block Hanajiro's punch, but he ended up getting sent backwards into six trees, crashing through them before hitting a nearby mountain. Orion jumped out of the mountain as soon as he landed, starting to get pumped thanks to that punch. "I was hoping you'd fire me up!"

Hanajiro landed in front of Orion right after he said that, but he didn't lunge at him just yet. He showed a more reasonable side, hoping that punch would convince Orion to give up. "I'll have to put that fire out sadly." Orion looked at the Golden Shepherd, and then back at Hanajiro, refusing to give it to him under any circumstances. "I already know about how you killed one of my soldiers. So don't get cocky thinking you can beat me. Give. Me. The. Golden. Shepherd."

Without thinking, Orion ended up swallowing the Golden Shepherd whole! This shocked Hanajiro, who got a glimpse as to just how strong Orion's digestive system was. He ended up burping in Hanajiro's direction after that, patting his stomach with Hanajiro giving a deadpan expression as Orion spoke up again. "Knowing Sirius' perfect ass, he'll have an ability to bring it back into the open."

Hanajiro then started charging up his Spirit energy, prompting Orion to do the same as Hanajiro spoke up again. "You won't need any of HIS abilities for that." Hanajiro then backed up a bit, readying himself to barrage Orion with several Spirit blasts. The turrets he conjured up around his arm were that similar to a railgun. "Because now we're doing this the hard way!" Orion started to get even more excited, running as fast as he could while evading Hanajiro's bullet speed rapid Spirit blasts. Orion instantly got to thinking of a plan to take Hanajiro down.

Orion ran around the trees, drifting past some of them to continue evading Hanajiro's Spirit bullets. He then launched a Spirit beam at Hanajiro, who dodged it, only for Orion to redirect it and hit his conjured up turrets with it. He glared at Orion, who spanked his butt to taunt Hanajiro. "All in a day's work for the future strongest Canine in the world!" Orion dashed off before Hanajiro chased after him in a rage. He spawned several big Spirit blasts to get ready to hit Orion with.

Orion sensed this and managed to dodge the first few rather easily. However, the seventh one appeared in front of him with great speed, causing him to backflip away from it. Hanajiro planned for this move, catching Orion off guard by dashing behind him and kicking him into the air. After dashing up at an incredibly fast speed, he dove down at Orion, who stopped mid air and was too late to notice Hanajiro's diving kick. Hanajiro landed said kick, sending Orion flying towards the ground. He crashed, leaving a small crater around him in the process.

Hanajiro landed in front of the crater before walking over to Orion slowly. It was at this moment that Orion felt a small burst of power lingering inside of him, almost as if his refusal to give up was linking itself to his anger towards Hanajiro. Orion hadn't noticed that a part of his emotions and a part of his tenacity were colliding in that moment. But he was ready to use this power to defeat Hanajiro. And when he got his power boost, the outcome stunned Hanajiro. "What the hell!?"

Hanajiro then saw Orion tossing a Spirit ball up and down in his paw after the smoke cleared. He sensed the power boost and was caught off guard. And Orion called over to him as he threw his Spirit ball. "Bring it on, bitch!" Hanajiro attempted to swat the Spirit ball away, but it stuck to the back of his paw like glue! Hanajiro then noticed at that moment that the ball was booby trapped with Orion's Spirit webs. It flew back at him and exploded in his face, which allowed Orion to charge at him. He charged at him and pushed him all the way through the mountain.

After sending Hanajiro through the other end of the mountain, Orion harnessed his Spirit energy and dashed at him. He landed a powerful punch on him after reaching him, and then he landed five more brutal blows before kneeing his gut. He then kicked him into the air, dashing upward to get him back for that downward kick. He dashed downward towards him and landed a strong ground pound on him, sending him flying towards the ground at at a rocketing speed.

Back at Shepherd Prefecture, Andy and Martha were looking around in the air for anyone who was in danger during the attack. Andy spotted someone over by the dojo and descended quickly after telling Martha. "Down there!" When Andy and Martha descended, they went over to the Black Labrador, who was trapped under a beam. "Sir! Are you okay?"

"About as okay as I can be in this predicament." The Labrador answered, trying his best to heal his leg to where he couldn't get hurt. "The one day I decide to work out."

"Don't worry. Your next time shouldn't be during an enemy invasion." Martha assured the Labrador, who raised an eyebrow to her before she and Andy started lifting up the beam. It was easy enough, and the Labrador started to escape before Martha called over to him. "Find someplace safe to hide!"

"Thank you!" The Labrador called back, and when Andy and Martha looked at each other, they smiled and shared a fist bump.

Just then, another one of Hanajiro's soldiers landed right behind Andy and Martha. They both turned around with Andy being scared, and Martha being ready to fight. "Yes! My first battle against real evil!"

Andy did his best to stand his ground, but Hanajiro's soldier was incredibly intimidating for him. Especially once he started getting his Spirit energy ready. "An eager one, aren't ya, pipsqueak? Well then, you must be good for your age."

Andy clenched his fist in an attempt to fight, but the power of his opponent was too intimidating. Martha noticed this at first when she noticed him stepping back. "Andy?"

"Ah, a little skittish today, aren't we?" The soldier asked, and then the Rottweiler got to cracking his knuckles while making his first threat. "It should be easy to break those feeble bones of yours." The Rottweiler then punched the ground in front of Andy, which he dodged before flying off in an attempt to escape.

The soldier chased after Andy with Martha going after him in an attempt to help Andy. "Oh no you don't!" Martha aimed an air punch at the soldier, who dodged it before getting in front of Andy.

Andy stopped in place and started shivering right before the soldier grabbed his head. He wanted to fight back and help Martha, but the pressure of the fight being life or death overwhelmed him. The soldier laughed a bit while looking at him. "Should've known one of you would be a little pussy." Andy tried to hold back his tears, even though it was obvious how badly this was affecting him. "Just a little crybaby bitch from a prestigious village full of ass kissing-"

Martha ended up firing a barrage of air punches at the soldier, but accidentally hit Andy with some of them too. They both got sent back, but Andy was able to regain his balance at the same time as the soldier. Martha then kicked the soldier back after vanishing in front of him, and as he regained his balance, Martha checked on Andy out of concern. "Andy! What's wrong?"

Andy wasn't sure what to respond with. At least, outside of exactly what he did. "I don't know. I just... panicked." The soldier appeared behind Martha, stunning Andy as he attempted to stab her with a Spirit knife. Andy pushed Martha out of the way as soon as he dashed, getting them both out of the way. That sudden burst of bravery confused Andy, as he never felt like he could do something that courageous before. "Huh?"

Just then, Jen dove in and kicked the soldier after he turned back around, sending him towards the ground. She caught sight of the battle, and chimed in to help when Andy and Martha seemingly got overwhelmed. She gazed at Andy and Martha, going over to them with a fierce and no nonsense vibe to give off. She didn't seem to have a foul temper like Orion, but Andy was still nervous when responding. "Um... t-t-thank you. J-Jen, was it?"

Jen nodded in response, sighing before acknowledging Andy's last move there. "Well, at least you've got a good heart. Still, you can't expect to get fart by freezing up like that all the time." Jen flew off to continue helping out in the battle, leaving Andy to begin some deep thought for a moment as Martha consoled him. Jen was right. He left himself wide open after he flew off. And even worse, he put Martha in danger. He read so much about this that he thought he'd be prepared. But this moment, along with the battle against Izou, gave him a waking call.

This was not like how it was in the books.

After Hanajiro crashed into the ground, Orion fired several Spirit blasts at Hanajiro, only for him to fly out of their path and swiftly attempt to dash at Orion again. Orion noticed this and blocked Hanajiro's kick, leading to the two of them trading several fast blows upon several fast blows that they either dodged, or blocked. Hanajiro eventually grabbed one of Orion's punches, prompting Orion to charge a Spirit blast as Hanajiro spoke again. "Guess I should've expected you wouldn't need my army to defend yourself!" Hanajiro then landed a powerful punch on Orion's face.

Hanajiro kneed Orion in the gut after that before ground pounding his back and then kicking him flying towards some mountains. He crashed into the first one, and bounced off into the second one, before arriving at the third and punching it, causing a massive crater to stop his fall. Hanajiro dashed at Orion after that, leading to Orion dodging his punch before calling him out. "Oh, you mean the army that forces puppies into servitude? No fucking chance, buddy!"

"Ha! That's a little ironic coming from you!" Hanajiro shot at Orion, confusing him before Hanajiro sent him upward with a powerful punch. Hanajiro then dashed up at Orion, who air rolled out of the way before colliding several blows with Hanajiro, who began to explain his point. "Aren't you the same puppy who's always blowing off everyone for training!?"

Orion was enraged at this comparison, leading to Hanajiro deflecting his punch and landing one on him. "I've been watching your village for a while. All you think about is training, training, training! Always too wrapped up in your own shit to do anything unrelated to Canine Spirit!"

"I'm NOTHING like you!" Orion declared, sending Hanajiro back with a brutal kick before launching two massive Spirit blasts at him. "The puppies in MY village have a choice!" Hanajiro launched two Spirit blasts at Orion's, causing them to explode. Once they did, Orion dashed at Hanajiro while holding a Spirit blast in his paw. Orion punched Hanajiro with the Spirit blasts, landing directly on the face and causing it to explode. This sent both of them back due to the power of the Spirit blast.

Orion then regained his balance and launched his Spirit webs at Hanajiro, spinning him around in a circle several times before throwing him towards the ground. Once Hanajiro crashed into a mountain in the way, Orion started charging up his Spirit energy again. Once he did, he saw Hanajiro start to charge up his own Spirit energy as well. It was a big power boost, showing that Hanajiro was now going all out. He then dashed up and punched Orion as hard as he could with a visibly vicious grin. Orion was stunned by this punch and struggled to counter.

Hanajiro then shot Orion with another comment about how, with the exception of Andy, he always focused solely on his training. "So you don't think you force yourself into servitude?" He punched Orion higher into the air after that, dashing up at him to continue beating him down. He landed a flurry of punches and kicks on him, causing damage to him with each and every one. They were so fast that even Orion couldn't counter them. And Orion's speed wasn't something to underestimate.

After landing a back paw punch on Orion, Hanajiro spawned a Spirit orb in his paw to send him flying with. This sent him flying even further away with Hanajiro vanishing to reach his next spot to reach him. When he was close enough, Hanajiro ground pounded Orion towards the ground before vanishing in front of him again. He then kicked Orion as hard as he could, causing him to crash through three mountains. After that, Hanajiro dive kicked Orion towards the ground and caused him to crash before dashing down and punching him across the area again.

Orion finally managed to gather up the energy to regain his balance, jumping off of the mountain he landed on and dashing underneath Hanajiro's punch. Hanajiro attempted to kick him, only for Orion to slide dash underneath him and kick him upward himself. Orion vanished above him after that and punched Hanajiro in the face after he rebounded. "You think you know anything about me?" Orion and Hanajiro traded several blows in between Orion's words. "You don't know shit about me!"

"I know that you swear a lot." Hanajiro fired while trading blows with Orion, and then he dodged one of Orion's blows before landing three strong punches on him. "Like I said; I observed your village myself!"

Orion blocked the fourth punch before vanishing behind Hanajiro and counterattacked with a kick before Hanajiro blocked his ten flurry strikes. "If that's the case, then you're one hell of a boss when it comes to Spirit suppression!" Hanajiro was about to attack Orion again, only to find that his arms were covered up in Spirit webs! Orion smirked when he saw this and flew around Hanajiro in circles while hitting him with dozens upon dozens of Spirit webs. Before long, Orion had covered Hanajiro in Spirit webs and then launched two more to throw him around with.

Orion threw Hanajiro towards the ground and vanished in front of him, web grabbing him again, throwing him over his shoulder several times and smashing him into the ground. He slammed him again, and again, and again, and Hanajiro could be seen getting affected by the constant slamming inside of the webs. Hanajiro brought himself to pierce his claws through the webs at that moment. When Orion saw this, he dashed over to Hanajiro and hit him with a swift Spirit blast.

Orion closed the webs as quickly as he could after Hanajiro attempted to strike him back with a Spirit blast of his own. Orion held it tight, but the Spirit blast from Hanajiro caused the webs to inflate. Orion instantly picked the webs up by their rope and threw the trap towards the mountain. This caused it to explode upon impact, and Orion was pushed back despite his resistance. This showed just how powerful Hanajiro's Spirit was to send Orion back while in the web. The explosion ended up causing a big crater around the spot they were in.

There were two piles of rubble in the crater. One was on fire, most likely due to the webs burning from the impact, and one wasn't. Orion emerged from the pile of rubble that wasn't burning. He broke one of the rocks on top of him by elbowing it and climbed out of the pile of rubble. He rubbed his head after doing so, and he looked to find that Hanajiro's pile had caught on fire. Orion couldn't sense Hanajiro's Spirit energy, so he took that as a victory. One that made him smile.

For Hanajiro however, he wasn't done yet. He instead thought to himself about just how talented Orion was. 'Ya know, I'm actually proud of the kid. He's capable of protecting himself at such a young age, even from Canines as strong as me.' Hanajiro then clenched his fist while surrounded by the rocks and fire, with his Spirit energy starting to rise again as he showed how he refused to let Orion in. 'It's too bad for the kid that he hasn't seen me at my best!'

Outside of the rock pile, before Hanajiro started powering up, Orion was talking about his plans. With all of the scars on him, and how slowly he was walking as he prepared to fly, it was pretty evident that the fight took a lot out of him. "At least he put up a hell of a fight. Now I just gotta get someone in Shepherd Prefecture to pop this Golden Shepherd out of me, and finding the Puppy Army village is all that's-" Orion instantly sensed the Spirit energy once it started rising. He turned around and saw the rocks Hanajiro was under shaking.

Hanajiro's Spirit energy erupted, destroying the rocks around him with Hanajiro glaring at Orion. It was clear that now, Hanajiro wasn't holding anything back. He was ready to finish Orion off once and for all. He was much more menacing than he was before. And that was saying a hell of a lot. Orion, who was already going all out, smirked and launched his Spirit webs at Hanajiro while calling out their common trait. "Persistent bastard, ain't cha."

Hanajiro caught the Spirit web before it touched him, but Orion failed to pull him in. Because Hanajiro stood his ground, only being moved by a few inches. Orion's power was still impressive, but it wasn't enough to defeat him. Hanajiro pulled Orion in, shocking him as he attempted to land a punch on Hanajiro. However, Hanajiro countered this by uppercutting Orion into the air. He pulled him down and punched him eight more times. Normally, Orion could counter this. But Hanajiro's power was so great that he couldn't muster up the power to do so.

Hanajiro then threw Orion towards the ground, causing him to slam down right on his back. After he howled in pain, Hanajiro started spinning him around while preparing his next slam. "I hope you enjoy web spinning more than I do!" Hanajiro slammed Orion into the ground again, but this time, Orion got stuck in the ground. Orion punched the ground to free himself, only for Hanajiro to dash up as fast as he could. He kicked Orion back as soon as he reached his height.

Hanajiro kicked Orion back eight more times before using the nine kick with full force. After that, he began spinning Orion in a vertical rotating circle before flinging him towards the mountains below. He threw Orion threw four of them with brutal force, and Orion slammed against the fifth one and almost bounced off before Hanajiro dash kicked him back into it. Orion and Hanajiro sensed a small crack in that moment, and they both instantly realized that it was the Golden Shepherd. Hanajiro decided to finish the fight then and there for that reason.

Hanajiro backed up, praising Orion before landing the finishing blows on him. "You've got skill kid. But I can't risk breaking that Shepherd." Hanajiro then landed a brutal combo of punches and kicks on Orion, with the seventh blow being one of the most brutal. Then the eleventh blow did the same amount of damage, and then with the thirteenth, he grabbed Orion and dashed upward with him, dragging him through the mountain and rising into the air before holding Orion over him. "This will end it!"

Hanajiro threw Orion to the ground as hard as he could, sending him downward at rocketing speeds. This slammed Orion into the mountain he was dragged through causing the most brutal collision yet. Hanajiro looked down at Orion, sensing that his Spirit energy was still active. He gave a smile after seeing this, showing that he was secretly happy that Orion wasn't dead.

Back in Shepherd Prefecture, Izou was taking out the last of the forces Hanajiro ordered to attack the village. After Izou kicked him to the ground, the soldier slid close to Andy and Martha, who noticed it as Andy was healing up a Chow Chow. Looking at the soldier reminded Andy of how his fear made him almost flee from the battle. He couldn't stop thinking about it. Martha smiled at that moment, putting a paw on Andy's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey." When Andy looked at Martha, she showed genuine gratitude. "Thanks for the save back there."

Andy knew that was in reference to when he pulled Martha out of the way of that Spirit knife. He was glad she was okay. But he couldn't be as proud of it as he wanted to. He was too disappointed in himself for almost running. "Yeah. No problem."

The Chow Chow thanked Andy and Martha after he started walking off, leaving Martha to encourage Andy to keep going. "So you almost chickened out when that asshole tried to crush you. You stayed in the end. That's worth something."

"Yeah, I guess." Andy replied, wishing he'd done more to help out in the actual battle. He then sighed before he admitted something else to Martha. "This, and our battle with Izou, showed me how ill-prepared I was for this, Martha. This is nothing like the books."

"Well, yeah, we never read about ourselves." Martha joked, laughing a bit as she gave Andy some empathy. "If it helps, I was scared out of my mind too. And who wouldn't be? We went from search and healing duty to fighting an elite soldier just like that!"

Izou, who landed near Andy and Martha as the latter spoke, knelt down to Andy to give him some encouragement. "You're not the first Canine to panic during your first mission, Andy." Andy and Martha looked at Izou, who smiled while encouraging Andy to keep trying. "You just have to work on composing yourself during missions. If you can do that, you can reach your goal."

Andy still wasn't quite sure he could do it. At least not if he was that terrified about fighting a soldier. "I hope you're right. I have no idea how to handle something like that."

"Maybe this mission will teach you how." Izou suggested, and Andy gave it a bit of thought before Izou sensed Orion's depleting Spirit. This was at the same moment finished laying his final blows on him. And Orion's Spirit told how beat up he was. "Damn it! Orion's on his last length. I knew I should've fought at full power." Andy was horrified when he heard about Orion's predicament, and Martha was scared for him too. Izou started using his full Spirit energy with some advice for Andy and Martha. "Andy. Martha. You two stay here until I get back."

Izou ran a few feet away before dashing off to find Orion as fast as he could. Andy and Martha looked at each other with concern. Andy was especially worried about Orion. His best friend was beaten to a pulp. Sure, Orion had lost battles before... but never like this.

After sensing that he was still alive, Hanajiro vanished to the ground and walked over to Orion. The Akita had already risen from the debris and was limping over to Hanajiro, showing that he wasn't ready to stop fighting yet.

When Orion and Hanajiro met each other's distance again, Orion aimed a punch at Hanajiro, only for Hanajiro to catch it. After Orion attempted to kick him, Hanajiro threw Orion past him and looked back. Orion couldn't tell why Hanajiro wasn't killing him. If only he knew. Especially after that battle. It wasn't that he was a bad Canine. Because he was. But he seemed to genuinely care about children. "You're a resilient one, kid. I can tell this won't break you down."

Hanajiro turned around to face Orion as he began to elaborate on what he meant from before. "You wanna know why I said you 'force yourself into servitude' earlier? And his answer pissed Orion off. "Because you have the same mindset as my soldiers. You understand that nothing matters except for paying your dues as a soldier." Orion growled as Hanajiro finished his answer. "Nothing matters to you, except being a soldier." Hanajiro then placed a paw on Orion, stunning and enraging him at the same time. "You're coming with me. I could use your-"

"Like I'd join you for shit!" Orion snapped as he swatted Hanajiro's paw away, refusing to believe any point that a villain would make towards him. "You think that just because you beat me, I'll join your army and let you tell me who I am!? You obviously weren't paying very good attention when you watched over our village!" Hanajiro raised an eyebrow during the last part of Orion's protest. "If you did, you'd know that you can't force me to do something I don't want to do!"

Hanajiro sighed, knowing this was going to be difficult. Hanajiro sensed Izou nearby after that. And he saw that his power was equal to his own as soon as he sensed his Spirit. "I guess your mentor finally took care of those soldiers. He must've been waiting to fight me again if that's his full power." Hanajiro then got ready to vanish, looking at Orion before he did. "I'll bring you into my army, kid. And when I do, you'll see how right I am about you." Hanajiro vanished after that, leaving Orion enraged that he had the nerve to try and analyze him like that.

Izou arrived immediately after, having gone alone while everyone else protects the village. However, Andy appeared next to him, apologizing for what he revealed to be against his orders. "Sorry, Izou. I know you said to stay back in the village, but I-"

"It's alright, Andy." Izou assured Andy, smiling at the German Shepherd in response to his selfless heart. "You have every right to try and help those close to you."

Andy smiled in response to that before checking on Orion, being horrified at the beating he'd taken. Orion fought Hanajiro through all of this, and he looked like he was itching to continue the fight. "Orion, you look horrible! We have to get you healed, and fast!"

Andy started carrying Orion on his shoulder with Izou getting ready to get all three of them back to the village in an instant. He knew Orion still had enough Spirit energy to fly, but he didn't want to waste any time in getting him the healing he needed. And doing it out in the open would be dangerous for all three of them. "Andy. Do you have enough Spirit energy to heal Orion?"

"Yeah, I still have a lot." Andy answered, looking at Orion in the hopes he could heal him up well enough. "I'll do my best, Orion."

"Heh. Your best is always THE best." Orion assured Andy just before Izou vanished with both of them.

Orion was now in a hospital room in Shepherd Prefecture as Andy was healing him. He was using some of his Spirit energy to attempt to bring back life to a flower that was almost ready to bloom. It was a hard process for him, being a Speed Specialist and all. But that wasn't gonna stop him from trying. He'd been working on his Nature Spirit whenever he was in bed or resting. The flower did get closer, but Orion still couldn't get it high enough bloom. Andy gave him some water as he complained. "Damn it. Still barely at stage three flower power."

Orion drank his water as Andy got back to healing his wounds. "Three out of five is still good for a Speed Specialist. And you shouldn't be focusing on training right now. You need to heal up."

"I can multitask." Orion assured Andy when putting his cup down. When he did, he felt Andy's paw press gently against his arm to increase the healing process. He would normally be more careful about this, but he knew Orion wanted to get back out there as fast as possible. Plus, he was tough enough to handle it. Orion started to notice how much he loved the feel of Andy's paw. Andy noticed him turn his head after blushing in a rare state of nervousness. "Your paw. It's... really soft."

Andy was taken aback by the compliment, and he started blushing as well. He turned away so Orion couldn't see, but he still healed him. The joy he felt from the compliment made him smile. "Wow. Um... t-thanks, Orion." And the touch of Andy's paw made Orion smile. This newly discovered feeling confused him, but for some reason, he didn't want it to go away.

Just then, Martha rushed into the hospital room to check on Orion. Since his family hadn't arrived yet, and Sirius' team was looking around for any hiding soldiers she was his first visitor. And she showed concern when running up to him. This distracted Orion and Andy well enough to stop their blushing. "Orion! I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried sick! Did you have to fight Hanajiro on your own!?"

"I had to get the Shepherd away from him somehow." Orion excused, despite knowing what Martha was getting at.

Andy, knowing Orion better than anyone, gave a sly grin as he continued to heal him. "You just wanted to see how strong he was."

Orion shrugged, knowing he couldn't lie to Andy about his desires. "Well, yeah. But I still plan to take his ass down." Orion then remembered that he had to get the Golden Shepherd out of his stomach when Izou came in. "Oh, right! Izou. Do you know any Spirit abilities that can get something out of someone's stomach?"

"Yeah, I know one. Why do you ask?" Izou asked curiously, and that led to Orion pointing to his stomach with a sheepish grin, bringing his impulsive move to Izou's attention. Izou raised an eyebrow with Andy rolling his eyes while smiling, and Martha snickered while trying to hold in her laughter over how random that was. Izou got to work once he stepped over to Orion. "At least you had a light breakfast today."

Izou managed to get the Golden Shepherd out rather quickly, just as Martha joked about Orion's decision to eat the Golden Shepherd. "That's definitely a new way to start your own gold mine."

Orion and Andy snickered a bit at both Martha and Izou's comments before Orion explained why he did it. "I couldn't risk letting that asshole take it during the battle. It was the first thing that came to my mind."

"Fair enough." Andy and Martha said in sync, being as glad as Izou that Orion at least didn't get anything nasty on the Golden Shepherd.

Izou expressed genuine relief that Orion was okay before he headed off with the Golden Shepherd. "I'm glad you're okay, Orion." Orion nodded confidently as Izou then got ready to take the Golden Shepherd back to the museum. "Well, someone has to return this to its rightful spot. It should be easy to fix the crack too. Once you're better, Orion, we can discuss with the others what to do about Hanajiro."

Izou headed off after that with Andy continuing to heal Orion as Martha asked Orion how he was handling the battle. "So, Orion. Are you feeling okay after the battle? You know, considering..."

Orion wasn't shy to express how upset he was over losing. "That bastard had a lot of power backing him up. If only I were stronger, then I would've won."

Andy finished healing the second last injury Orion had, moving onto his rib injuries to finish it off. "As scary as it was, the fact that you fought him alone is incredible, Orion. And it shows that we have a chance to take him down!"

"That's assuming we can find his village." Orion pointed out, being well aware of how hard that would be. "I doubt he's gonna fall for a baiting trap again."

At that moment, Sirius arrived with Jen and Senshi, being glad when he saw that Orion was starting to feel okay so quickly. "I was expecting a speedy recovery from you, Orion. How are you feeling?"

"Like I almost got beaten to death." Orion deadpanned, stating his plans for the moment he got healed when looking at Andy. "We've still got time for training once I'm all healed up, Andy. You ready to keep working on your Combat Spirit?"

Andy's doubts from before started to come back when he thought about his Combat Spirit. He couldn't help fearing he'd almost run away from battle again. "I... I guess so."

Orion and the others noticed Andy's doubtful look, and Martha chimed in to let Orion know what that was about. "Things got pretty intense in the village after you ran off with the Golden Shepherd."

Orion realized what that meant, and Sirius put a paw on Andy's shoulder after he finished healing Orion up to comfort him. "First mission jitters, Andy?"

"You could say that." Andy responded, getting the sense that Sirius must've gotten similar feelings to him during his first mission. "I guess I should've expected it to be as dangerous as it was."

Orion hopped off of his bed and put a paw on Andy's other shoulder, confident he could reach the level he wanted to in due time. "Now you know for next time. That should make it easier to prepare yourself." Andy thought about what Orion just said, and as he did, Orion thought about what Hanajiro told him.

Orion flashed back to the moment Hanajiro shot back at him with that 'forcing puppies into servitude' comment. "So you don't think you force yourself into servitude?"

When the flashback ended, Orion clenched his free fist, which told Andy that Orion was angry about something. Orion thought about what Hanajiro said and refused to believe it. He couldn't imagine a villain like Hanajiro being right about stuff like that. It just didn't make sense to him. The idea that someone so cold hearted would have a valid point about him, or anyone he knew. Still. Orion kept his main focus on taking Hanajiro down. And he was willing to keep working hard to make it happen. 'I'll win next time, Hanajiro. You'd better be ready for me."

To be continued.

Rock music played as Orion talked about what was going to happen in the next part as moments from the next episode were shown. "That asshole really thinks he knows enough about me to compare me to his soldiers!? Yeah fucking right! Can you believe that shit, Andy!? How can someone like him have the nerve to say I 'force myself into servitude'!? Huh? What do you mean it sounds like what Martha said the other day? Next you'll be telling me I sound like Spiral."

The words of the next chapter were shown with Orion on the right charging up his Spirit energy, and Andy trying to get his act together in an intense situation. "Next time, First Mid Mission Recovery!" Sirius was shown approaching Orion during his training session, which was close to Shepherd Prefecture, and involved him working on his Speed Spirit. "Come on, Orion! Show Hanajiro he can't break your Spirit!"