Disclaimer: Here we go everyone. The battle in the climax of the first arc of The Ginga Legend: Orion's Story. I'm looking to make this a three chapter event with one final chapter closing the arc off. So this arc should be about thirteen chapters. Let's hope the start to that is as badass as I hope.

Also, I don't own any Ginga characters, outside of any OCs I may add in.

The Ginga Legend: Orion's Story

Puppy Army arc Episode ten: The Puppy Army Village Battle Begins

Hanajiro was in his room just before Orion and his team started their attempt to take down the Puppy Army Village. He'd just gotten up and was brushing his teeth in his mirror, ready for another day of training the Puppy Army. After he finished doing so and left the bathroom, he looked down at a picture on his bedside table. When he picked it up and smiled at it, it was revealed to be a picture of a Tosa. He didn't seem to be paying attention. However, the smile on Hanajiro's face made it clear that he was fond of this Canine. "Just how you taught me, master."

Hanajiro set the picture down as he continued what he said to it. "Every day. As much as I can." This master of Hanajiro's clearly taught him a lot. However, in that moment, Hanajiro heard the crash from inside the base in the spot where Izou made the hole. "What the hell!?" Hanajiro hid his Spirit energy and got over to the window, ducking as he sensed several familiar Spirit energies charging up. One was Orion, which enraged him to no end. "Shit. I should've known that little punk was deceiving me."

Hanajiro took out a warning device to get the rest of his army on board, knowing they shouldn't go into a battle without knowing their opponent. This was loud enough for all of them to hear, and Orion's group heard it as well. "Everyone in the Puppy Army! Turns out, Orion and Volt are traitorous brats, and are trying to take down the village! If you care about proving your worth as this army's best, then kill them, and Orion's friends!" Hanajiro finished the announcement, looking at the picture before heading off to join the fight. "I won't let you down, master."

Orion and the others had just united with Orion giving them a brief introduction on Volt when they started getting their Canine Spirit ready. "This is Volt! She's a recent member who hasn't been turned into a mindlessly stoic bitch yet, and she agreed to help us take Hanajiro down!"

Andy walked over to Orion and Volt, giving a paw shake to the latter. "Nice to meet you, Volt! I know it's bad timing, but any friend of Orion's is a friend of mine!"

Orion and Volt flinched at the mention of them being friends, which Volt was quick to shut down bluntly. "Friend is pretty stretchy, buddy. We just met yesterday."

"Traitors!" Orion and the others heard several voices shout in their direction. When they looked ahead, four dozen soldiers were there, ready to take them on in the name of Hanajiro.

Sirius stepped forward, wanting to try something since Hanajiro hadn't arrived yet. "No, we don't have to fight!" Orion instantly showed confusion towards this, as did Volt, and the others were wondering what Sirius was trying to do. "You don't have to do awful things for him anymore. If you want, we can give you a chance to do good in the world." Sirius' smile showed that he was being genuine, despite most of the soldiers being disinterested. "We can even give you a chance to be real puppies again."

As soon as Sirius was done however, Hanajiro rushed in and dashed at Izou, who grabbed his arm as he pushed him back. "Don't listen to them! They're all lying traitors! Think about how Orion and Volt turned their backs on you! They might do the same!"

The soldiers stayed true to Hanajiro, and at least forty of them did so without hesitation. Jen pointed this out to Sirius as she praised his kindness, but not his timing. "A noble offer, Sirius, but I think it's safe to assume their loyalty to Hanajiro knows no bounds."

"It was worth a shot." Sirius responded, remaining optimistic that at least some heard his offer. "Even if only one of them changes their mind, it'll be worth it."

Orion interrupted that thought by dashing in head first without a plan, leaving Martha to do so as well when the battle began. "Oh, we're starting now!? I wasn't sure with all the talking!"

"Yeah, your friend does that a lot!" Volt pointed out, going all out with her Spirit energy with Sirius, Andy, Jen, and Senshi doing the same. She showed amazement to Sirius' power in particular, giving him a cold warning in response to it when they all started fighting. "You'd better not fuck up with a power like that!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Sirius assured Volt, seeing a more reserved version of Orion in her, and one with less fire and more ice. He kicked one soldier back while spinning around after grabbing two others, throwing them to the side and dashing at another.

Hanajiro was still pushing Izou back, and Izou as charging up his Spirit energy, getting ready to defeat him just like he did last time. Izou vanished after getting a few more feet away, launching a Spirit beam at Hanajiro to avoid wasting any time. Hanajiro turned around and blocked it, jumping up as Izou aimed a dashing low sweep at him. Hanajiro turned around and launched a Spirit beam at Izou, who blocked it before Hanajiro landed and dashed at him. Izou and Hanajiro traded several punches and kicks, leaving Izou to notice that Hanajiro had gotten better.

Hanajiro was faster now, and stronger too. His Spirit energy also felt more powerful. In just three days, Hanajiro seemed to have gone through training intense enough to surpass Izou, even if by just a bit. Izou trained as well, but Hanajiro's training was clearly more vicious. This was further shown as Hanajiro kicked Izou to the side and charged up his Spirit energy. Izou did the same, and once he was done, he turned some of the grass surrounding them into small Spirit powered sword.

Hanajiro used his Conjuring Spirit to whip up something new he developed as soon as Hanajiro shot the grass swords at him. Upon snapping his fingers, he spawned what looked like some kind of reflection stone, similar to that of a mirror. He spawned another one as soon as the grass swords went in, and it spawned behind Izou, causing the grass swords to come for him! He managed to block some of them with his arm, but it happened so fast that most of them were direct hits. Good thing they weren't real swords, or he might've been bleeding intensely from it.

Izou was forced to cut the grass swords due to them slowing him down after getting stuck in him. As he did, Hanajiro laughed while explaining what his new technique did. "It's quite the new power, isn't it! After our last battle I started working on a little something I developed in private. It's something I like to call, Reflection Attack." Izou started charging up his next Spirit beam as Hanajiro continued. "Whenever you launch an attack that hits one of my mirrors, it comes out from another one."

Izou blasted the mirror behind him with another Spirit beam, causing Hanajiro to dodge it as soon as he saw what he was doing. Izou smiled once he saw the one obvious flaw in Hanajiro's ability. He knew that if used correctly, that flaw could be used to defeat Hanajiro. "If the wrong Canine figures out that loophole, you'll be in big trouble."

"You're not wrong. But there's something else you should consider." Hanajiro snapped his fingers, spawning several mirrors around Izou, who was stunned by how many of them spawned before him. He attempted to break one with a strong punch, only to end up almost hitting himself through another mirror. When he realized what just happened, Izou laughed a bit as he explained more to Izou about what this ability did. "I've been working on this ability for months now! And it's not just Spirit blasts and beans it can warp. As you can see, it works on physical attacks too."

Izou started thinking of a way to counter this ability with Hanajiro explaining something else. "I might as well tell you how to break it now, since I know you'll die looking at what a failure you are." Izou's reflection was shown in the mirror to emphasize Hanajiro's words as Izou then looked at the ground, where no mirror resided. "As skilled as this ability is, I can't use it on someone who's stronger than I am, or they'll break every mirror I use. So Canines Weed and Jerome could break it in no time flat."

Izou started charging up a Spirit punch as he pointed out another flaw in the way Hanajiro set this move up. "I can think of something else worth reflecting on." Hanajiro looked confused at first, up until Izou punched the ground and created a small hole for him to land into. He then punched through the ground and made a path outside of the mirrors, leaving Hanajiro to spawn another mirror right underneath him. Izou saw this coming however, and spawned behind Hanajiro instead, and he blocked his kick just in time. "Thinking you've won before I've fallen."

Back in the Puppy Army Village, Orion was fending off against the soldiers who were charging at him. He was able to handle them well enough, but the way they were charging at him made it harder for him not to think about how he'd behaved for so long. They didn't share excitement for battle like he did. Instead, they were only focused on protecting the Puppy Army Village and helping Hanajiro. And judging by what Orion saw yesterday, it wasn't out of genuine love. As much as Orion hated their situation, something else dawned upon him then.

As soon as Orion got a hold of the Black Labrador, he tried to knock some sense into him, using Sirius' methods, but from a more personal light. "Listen dude. I used to act similarly to how you guys are now."

"Huh?" The Black Labrador was confused at first, not having the ability to see into others' eyes like Orion did. "What are you talking about?"

"This. The way you all behave in this village." Orion continued to explain, kicking another soldier back as he continued to explain. "I spent five years of my life being deadset on surpassing my brother and becoming the leader of my village's army. I almost never made time for anything else. And I only just started to see how valuable other things can be." The Black Labrador didn't know what Orion was trying to do, even after what he said next. "I think I'd be where you guys are now... if I didn't have my family, or Andy, giving me love and kindness."

The Black Labrador didn't pick up, charging up his Canine Spirit as he made it clear he didn't see the parallel. "Look, I don't know what that's all about, but I have a village to protect."

Orion sighed after blocking the Spirit punch, doing his best to get back into battle when he did. "Fair enough." Orion kicked the Black Labrador back, and set off to continue fighting. That was when he saw Martha, who was also free in battle, looking at him. He realized she heard what he said and addressed it. "Oh. I'm guessing you, heard that."

"It was pretty hard not to after I moved to your spot." Martha admitted, sending another wind punch to a puppy who dove down at her before getting back into the fight. "It was a good try, Orion." Orion looked at Martha as she finished her praise. "Even if it didn't work, I'm sure Weed would be proud."

Orion gave a sigh before deciding to get back into the battle. "You're probably right. But since it didn't, we should get back to focusing on the battle. That one time was risky enough as it was." Martha nodded in response with herself and Orion dashing off to fight off against the soldiers together.

Back with Izou and Hanajiro, the latter was holding down Izou with his familiar chain attack from before. Izou was still able to send the grass swords at him, and even got some of them past his mirrors. But at the same time, he was barely able to avoid the grass blades that came for him. And even with the attacks he was able to parry from Hanajiro, he still managed to keep him chained down by getting more hits on Izou, than Izou did on him. Hanajiro's last attack was a strong and swift kick from behind, which did heavy damage on Izou upon contact.

Izou was knocked to the ground, but attempted to get back up, even with Hanajiro putting his hind paw on his head. "I know better than to destroy anything nature related around your tree hugging ass." Hanajiro started charging up a powerful double paw Spirit beam, being as ready as he could be to take Izou out with it. " So I'll be sure to keep all of my Spirit energy off of your precious grass when I use this final strike to wipe you out, and then kill your friends to help them join you!"

Hanajiro focused all of his sights on Izou, but failed to notice the instant grass swords being made from the ground behind him. Izou had them instantly rise up after forming them, sending one to Hanjiro's other hind foot to throw him off. Hanajiro was so focused on Izou, that he failed to notice the grass swords coming up at all. And as a result, when he DID notice the others, it was too late, as the others struck him in the back as soon as he turned around. Izou charged up a Spirit blast as Hanajiro complained. "Fuck! Why is it always my spine!?"

Izou launched a Spirit blast at Hanajiro, causing him to fly into one of his mirrors, crashing into it and causing it to break. Izou launched several other Spirit blats at Hanajiro, who launched some Spirit blasts of his own to deflect them. Both of them were firing blasts at the same speed, so it was all a matter of who's Spirit blasts were stronger. Seeing how confident Hanajiro was about being stronger than Izou, Izou feared that he would be overwhelmed soon enough.

And he was right. Hanajiro's Spirit blasts ended up overpowering Izou, who had to stop firing and block the Spirit strikes. And thanks to his chain, he couldn't move even if he wanted to. Hanajiro then vanished behind Izou and kneed him in the back before appearing in front of him to headbutt him. He then kicked him in the gut and pinned him to the ground, taunting him before stomping on his gut. "Awwww. So close. Now you're twelve hits behind!" Hanajiro started charging up his Spirit blast again, wanting this to be as powerful as possible for Izou.

Izou started molding the grass around him in that moment, similarly to how sometime during Hougen's reign, Rocket covered himself, GB, and Jerome in snow. But this was more than a simple camouflage. Instead, Izou used the grass to grab Hanajiro by his wrists, surprising him well enough to make him lose control of his Spirit energy. "What!?"

Izou then used the grass to pull him down and head butt Hanajiro right in the face. After landing this strike, he got back up and started landing brutal punches on Hanajiro, landing a swift and powerful twelve punch combo. He ended it with three brutal strikes; a punch to the face, a kick to the side, and a back-paw punch to the side. This removed his chain just before he reminded Hanajiro of his abilities. "Pinning a Nature Specialist of MY power down on grass? Big mistake." Izou then dashed at Hanajiro and started colliding punches and kicks with him.

Back in the Puppy Army Village, Andy was fending off against the soldiers of the village to the best of his abilities. He was able to compose himself well enough to fight, but he was still struggling when it came to fighting in paw to paw combat. It was clear that these soldiers Hanajiro trained were skilled. And after he kicked one back, two others jumped to his aid, leaving Andy surrounded. This caused him to almost lose his composure, as his fear began to rise. His opponents realized how close he was to breaking and decided to take advantage of it.

Andy clenched his fists as he tried to convince himself not to run, only for one of the soldiers to knee him right in the gut. Andy was sent back, rolling on the ground and being kicked back by another soldier. When the third one attempted to dive kick him, he froze up, starting to get overwhelmed due to being outnumbered, and outmatched. In that moment, Volt dashed in and landed a strong lightning punch on the soldier attempting to dive kick Andy, sending him flying back.

Andy was amazed by Volt's speed, and she offered Andy a paw. "Can you still fight?"

Andy accepted Volt's paw, unsure of how to answer that. After he froze like that, he wasn't sure if he could. "I..."

"Not a lot of time to think here!" Andy and Volt were about to be struck from behind, and in that instance, Andy's hidden courage kicked in again. He moved past Volt at the same time as her, leading to both of them deflecting the soldiers' punches. Volt shocked her soldier, whereas Andy drained a bit of his enemy's health with a Spirit palm strike. Volt slammed her solider into Andy's and that was when she sensed what he did to the other one. "Health draining, huh?" She then coldly reminded him to keep it together. "You'd better keep yourself from losing your shit again. Freeze again, and you just might end up dead.

"Yeah. I know." Andy responded, and then he clenched his fist, and Volt could feel himself struggling to get back in the game. After a deep breath, Andy made his decision. He knew he wasn't going to master battlefield composure this early on. It just didn't make sense for someone like him. And when he started thinking about Orion during his deep breath, how he was always training relentlessly, and how he refused to back down against Hanajiro despite being outmatched... that motivated him to stay in the battle. "To answer your question... I can still fight."

Andy then noticed that Volt was gone, noticing a lightning trail on the ground. He couldn't blame her though, since she was in a hurry. "I guess the bigger shock is that the enemy let me breathe." Andy patted his chest, attempting to keep his composure before rushing back into battle.

Izou and Hanajiro were still deep in their battle away from the village with Izou refusing to give into Hanajiro's power. After colliding a punch, Izou used the wind to start pushing Hanajiro back after moving backwards. This gave him time to charge his Spirit energy, at least until Hanajiro teleported out of the way of the gust of wind. Hanajiro dashed at Izou after that, spawning two mirrors as he did; one in front of him, and one behind Izou. Izou jumped back as Hanajiro landed a punch at him, aiming a Spirit beam at his front mirror once he did.

Once the beam started to come out of the mirror behind Izou, the Malamute dodged it with Rhythm Spirit and directed it towards Hanajiro. It went right for Hanajiro's side, and he deflected it before making his mirrors disappear. He knew he had to land some kind of desperation attack on Izou if he wanted to win. But what could he do. Once Izou vanished and appeared in front of him, he got to blocking his strikes, starting with the first punch he aimed at him.

Izou tapped into his Speed Spirit and aimed several quick blows at Hanajiro, who blocked them all by tapping into Speed Spirit energy of his own. Hanajiro then started thinking about a way to blindside Izou with one particular event that happend in some big battles. That gave Hanajiro an idea, and he grinned sadistically, which alerted Izou in that very moment. Hanajiro blinded Izou with a shot right in between his eyes. He then appeared behind Izou and went all out with his Speed Spirit. Two dozen blows were landed on Izou as Hanajiro planned his strike.

Izou started charging his own Spirit energy with Hanajiro doing the same, and Izou could see what Hanajiro was going for. Since he was chained down, he couldn't dash at Hanajiro. But he was still fond of how he allegedly wanted to end this. "So you want to finish this with a beam struggle? Well, in this predicament, I supposed I'm obligated to oblige."

"And that's exactly what I was looking for." Hanajiro admitted, getting ready to finish this as he and Izou readied their blasts. "I hope you can muster up all of your power without fire and bark!"

Izou started using the grass and wind around him after Hanajiro said that, showing that he could make his beam out of anything related to nature. "There are dozens of combinations I can make with my Ultimate Attack!" Hanajiro further anticipated the outcome upon that confirmation, and he and Izou put their paws in front of each other with Izou calling out his attack. "Nature's Protection! Gusting Grass!"

Immediately after his call out, Izou and Hanajiro launched their beams at each other. Hanajiro didn't have a name for his own beam, but he DID have a lot of power go into it. Once the beams were fired, the two seemed to be about equal. Neither side was holding back, and both of them were able to hold their own without fail. Izou knew he was still at a disadvantage thanks to the chain, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. However, what Hanajiro revealed next shocked him. Hanajiro spawned a mirror behind him and jumped up, letting go of the clash.

Another mirror immediately appeared behind Izou, who noticed it just a split second too late. Once it struck, Izou was overwhelmed by an intense power from his own attack, and the power Hanajiro put into his own beam. Hanajiro looked down in delight upon seeing this. Hanajiro had overpowered him three days ago, and now, he was having the exact same thing happen to him. The explosion the beam flew through the area with Hanajiro destroying the mirror that was behind him.

Orion and Andy ended up meeting on the battlefield after a soldier flew into one that Andy was fighting, leading to Andy looking and seeing him nearby. Orion dashed in to kick another one back, leading to acknowledgement from Andy as he fended off another soldier. "Thanks, Orion!"

"Don't mention it!" Orion responded, landing a back-paw strike on a soldier who tried to hit him from the side. The soldiers seemed to be almost finished off, at least in terms of the battling department. Volt wasn't hesitating to kill the ones she fought on her own accord, and while Orion wasn't killing as many, he still made sure to take out the truly vicious ones. Orion could feel Andy's inner concerns, as could Andy for Orion's. Orion was the first to speak up, wanting to make sure Andy was still in the game. And that he was okay. "You okay, Andy?"

Andy flinched, thankfully without any soldiers being in front of him at that time. He ducked under the kick a soldier tried to land on him and started fending him off while confessing something to Orion. "I could be better. I almost caved before Volt saved me." Orion nodded in understanding, knowing Andy was still working on discovering his true courage. He and Orion knocked out the last two of their own opponents as Andy addressed his concerns. "What about you?"

Orion sighed, knowing he couldn't hide anything from Andy. He simply knew him too well. "Well... this village, kind of got me thinking." Orion looked over at Sirius, who was taking on two soldiers at once without much issue. "I've spent the past five years trying to surpass Sirius and prove I can lead our village. In that time, you're the only one I acknowledged frequently enough to say I appreciate you." Orion looked back at Andy, admitting to what he learned about himself. "Seeing how similar I am to these soldiers made me realize something else."

What Orion said next definitely stunned Andy for a brief moment, despite how well he knew Orion. "I'm not pure of heart."

Andy's stun was brief, but noticeable. He explained it after three more soldiers came at him and Orion; Andy taking on one of them, and Orion taking on two. "I guess that's not too shocking. I mean, you killed that Shikoku so easily as if you were used to it."

"I thought that's how you were supposed to do it." Orion admitted, having been oblivious to what it said about him. "I didn't think it said anything about you."

"It definitely doesn't make you bad. But I think a pure hearted person or dog would've handled things differently." Andy said, knowing that Weed or Sirius would've gone with more diplomatic or peaceful methods. "Not to make this about me, but I kind of wish I had that trait about you. For some reason, I'm always at my best when I'm with you. But on the battlefield without you... I start to tremble." Orion was all too familiar with that by now, and Andy wanted to know how he avoided it. "How do you do it? Compose yourself on the battlefield I mean."

Orion kicked both of his soldiers back as he struggled to answer that question. After learning he wasn't pure of heart and couldn't become a Super Canine, he was unable to stop questioning himself. "I... don't know. I guess I just do." Andy continued fighting his soldier as he realized how deeply this was affecting Orion. "Death has never really scared me. Even when I was in front of death's door, I was never afraid of dying." Orion started to tense up as he combined this information with his lack of a pure heart. "What does-"

Orion then remembered where he was when he looked at Andy, dashing over to him and punching his soldier in the back of the head. Andy could see his conflicted expression as he addressed his lackluster timing in the conversation. "Sorry, I guess the battlefield isn't the best time for a heart to heart."

"It might not be, but we were able to focus on the battle well enough while having it." Andy pointed out, walking up to Orion as Volt, who was nearby, stabbed her last soldier with a lightning powered up paw as she overheard the conversation. "Just because your heart's not pure," Volt looked at Orion and Andy, the latter of whom gave his friend some encouragement. "doesn't mean you can't be a Canine who does good." Volt saw how much Andy cared about Orion there. What he said helped her see more about them both. "And there's still time to show everyone you care."

Orion sighed, still not giving up, but being unsure if he'd be able to pull it off. "I guess there is if I'm not dead yet. I just can't tell if I'll-" Orion then sensed an intense Spirit energy closing in, just like the others once he called it out. "Do you feel that too?" Andy started to sense it too, and once he did, the beam collision from Izou and Hanajiro broke through the wall of the village! "ANDY!" Orion cried out, since the beam was headed towards them, and he tackled Andy out of the way.

Once the beam flew past Orion and Andy while stunning everyone else, Orion and Andy started to recover. And once they did, Orion realized that he was on top of Andy, looking down at him once Andy noticed as well. Orion's paws were right on Andy's shoulders, and the two of them felt the softness of each others' fur. Orion quickly stood up, trying to shake his head as he got out of that trance. 'Come on, Orion! Now's a shitty time to get flustered!"

Andy stood up as well, rubbing his arm as he thanked Orion for the save. "Thanks, Orion. I would've been dead without you."

Orion smiled while blushing, glad that he was able to save Andy in time. He may be impure, but he still had the protectiveness of a Speed Specialist. "Yeah. No problem."

Sirius, Martha, and Volt rushed over after that with Martha smiling at how cute Orion and Andy looked but staying focused on the mission. "I'd love to join in on the gush-o-meter, guys, but let's get all gushy AFTER we win."

Orion and Andy agreed with that, and Sirius pointed out where that beam came from. "That beam came from the direction Izou and Hanajiro were fighting in! And it didn't look like it was from just one of them."

"It looked big enough to have come from a beam clash." Volt added, making a call when she ran up front and pointed towards the hole. "We should get over there as fast as we can! You'd better be ready to cover your own asses!"

"Not like I'd want YOU to touch it it." Orion jabbed at Volt, showing that despite his dilemma, he could still pull off a good burn. And with that, Orion and the others dashed off to find Izou and Hanajiro. Sirius looked down at the soldiers Orion and Volt killed during the battle. It disgusted him to know that some of them had to die. He could only hope that the next conflict could be resolved more peacefully. He shook his head to focus on Izou and Hanajiro, not wanting his dislike of violence and death to get in the way.

Back with Izou and Hanajiro, the latter was descending to Izou with a confident smile on his face. Izou opened his eyes and saw Hanajiro standing over him, giving a crazy grin as he got ready to finish Izou off. But not before he gave his victory boast. "You're one tough cookie, Izou. Not even both of our blasts combined can take you down." Izou attempted to get back up, only for Hanajiro to stand on his head. Despite him pressing both paws on the ground, he just couldn't get up. "You're still trying? Ha! You're as dumb as you are powerful!"

"Then I'm still much smarter than you." Izou growled as Hanajiro started to laugh, declaring his refusal to let Hanajiro win. Despite his condition, he wasn't about to risk Hanajiro hurting Orion and the others. Or taking the lives of any other puppies for that matter. "You won't get away with this forever, Hanajiro. Even if I can't win, I'll still do what I can to stop you! Your army won't last with the Ohu Army on your trail!" Hanajiro yawned during Izou's finish. "Especially if Weed comes after you!"

"That reminds me. Why didn't that silver-blue furred douchebag come down here to fight me himself?" Hanajiro asked, bringing up a point about Izou's plan that could've been corrected. "Weed must know I gave his kid the location of our village. That's the only way the rest of you could've found us."

Izou chuckled a bit, having a feeling Weed didn't know it'd get this far out of hand. "That's a good point. But a leader like him has more responsibilities than the rest of us."

"Responsibilities, eh? At least we agree everyone needs them." Hanajiro admitted, kicking Izou in the face and making him fall onto his back. He then walked up to him and stomped on his chest, rubbing his paw on it as he explained his motives to Izou. "You don't get it, Izou. I'm doing these puppies a favor! The world is a cruel place. You have to be ruthless if you want to survive. So yeah. I took these puppies in. I'm rough with them. I hit them when they fuck up. It's all in the name of being a soldier. The world shouldn't be allowed to shit on kids!"

Izou grabbed Hanajiro's paw and started charging up the last of his Spirit energy. While he saw Hanajiro's point, his methods were too harsh for him to accept. "I agree with that last part. But never the rest." Izou aimed his Spirit energy at Hanajiro, explaining where he went wrong as he started getting ready to fire. "Puppies who want to join the army, or the police force, or whatever, need to be tough. You're right. But they should have the right to appreciate what else life has to offer!"

Hanajiro gave Izou's perspective a bit of thought, but smirked as he brought up something else. "Nah. He would've told me himself if that were the case." In that moment, Izou shot Hanajiro with the last of his Spirit energy. It was a small blast, but it was still strong enough to make Hanajiro's had move back. He looked up at the sky after the Spirit blast jolted his head upward. It was a clear, beautiful blue sky. His look seemed to imply he never took the time to process it before. Izou noticed this, and started to see a different side to Hanajiro.

Before Izou could see this further, Hanajiro shook it off and looked back down at him to finish the battle. "Fact is... my master raised me this way for a reason." Hanajiro started charging up his Spirit energy and aimed it at Izou. Izou tried to get up despite lacking the energy. As he did, Hanajiro admitted to something else. "It's too bad, Izou. I recruit adults too. You could've been a good general." As Hanajiro was about to fire, he was suddenly cut off by something else...

POW!

Orion dashed in as fast as he could and landed a powerful punch on Hanajiro, one powerful enough to send him flying back. After Hanajiro regained his balance, Orion landed on his hind paws with the others coming in. Martha checked in on him out of concern and worry when she saw him. "Izou! Are you okay!?"

Izou laughed a bit before he responded with playful sarcasm. "Yeah, I only got my ass kicked and used up all my Spirit energy. It's not that serious."

Andy got started on healing Izou, leaving Orion's Spirit energy to start rising as he became enraged at the state Izou was in. The others noticed this with Izou starting to feel an interesting power in him once Andy's healing began. Even though it was only by one percent, Izou started to feel a new layer to Orion's Spirit energy. One different from before. This one seemed to be tied into Orion's rage somehow. But how could that be possible? Spirit energy was developed through hard work and perseverance. The only part that feeds off of emotion is Super Canine.

But this energy was different from Super Canine. And Izou could see that it wasn't fully formed yet. Hanajiro recognized this as the boost in power Orion got during their first battle. Before, it seemed to perfectly scale itself with Orion's determination, reaching a certain percentage of it to boost his power. This time however, it seemed to do so with rage. And Hanajiro knew he shouldn't hold back against this power. He was certain he could win, but only if he went all out.

Andy stopped healing for just a moment and put a paw on Orion's shoulder, snapping him out of it once he heard his voice. "Orion." Orion's power went back to normal once his anger stopped growing. He looked at Andy, who showed concern for him. "Are you okay?"

Orion knew Andy was referring to how he felt about Izou's situation. He was still pissed about it, but he felt much better thanks to Andy calming him down. "I am now. Thanks, Andy."

Andy smiled and nodded, getting back to healing Izou after wishing Orion the best in the battle. "You can do this."

Once Andy got to healing Orion, Volt jumped over all of them and threw three lightning bolts at Hanajiro. Hanajiro dodged all of them and dashed at Volt, only for Volt, only for Martha to aim a wind paw punch at him from afar. The blast almost hit Volt, which made her have to duck and block Hanajiro's kick. Volt started shocking Hanajiro's paw as Martha charged up another Spirit punch. "Sorry, Volt! I was aiming for Hanajiro!"

"I could tell!" Volt shot back, colliding several lightning charged punches with Hanajiro as Martha flew over him and launched some Spirit blasts at him. These were much easier for Martha to control, but this time, while her aim was on point, Hanajiro swatted them away with ease. Volt took a chance to punch him in the gut, which he grabbed before Orion came in and attempted to kick his head. Izou ducked under this and kicked Volt back with all of his might. Volt stumbled for a bit, but regained her balance and looked back up to plan her next move.

Orion was sent back by a strong punch, which he rebounded from as quickly as Sirius found an opening and charged into the battle. Sirius had Hanajiro block his punch, only to launch a Spirit blast at his face, causing him to dodge it before Sirius landed a kick on his chin, using his own force to swing well enough to do so. After this kick was landed, Orion dashed back in and almost tripped Hanajiro with his Ground Battouga. But he jumped up at just the right moment.

Hanajiro then threw Sirius at Orion, who moved out of the way with Sirius regaining his balance and jumped off of the ground. Sirius started forming into a ball just like Weed and Orion could, performing his Homing Battouga attack on Hanajiro by dashing towards him with it. Hanajiro caught it, but Orion appeared behind him and aimed a ground pound on him. The attack was grabbed with one of Hanajiro's paws after he moved it from the Homing Battouga. Sirius then removed himself from Hanajiro's grasp and aimed another Battouga's after jumping back.

Hanajiro vanished out of the way, leading to Orion dodging the Battouga just in time. Once Sirius landed, Orion appeared right next to him, leaving Hanajiro to snap his paw fingers as Orion aimed a Spirit beam at him. At that moment Orion and Sirius started getting surrounded by mirrors. The one at the top appeared first, and the others appeared in a downward formation quickly. They formed a dome out of mirrors, making Orion's Spirit beam go through it and out of the opposite one.

The beam went towards Sirius once they both noticed this, prompting Orion to angrily question it. "What the fuck!?"

Hanajiro's laughter was heard from outside of the mirrors, and then his reflection was shown from the one next to Orion, surprising him. Orion growled before Hanajiro started talking about how his Signature Ability would have Orion and Sirius stumped. "I hope you two like your own reflections." Once he started appearing in all of them, Orion and Sirius started to become even more worried. It was clear that Hanajiro had been working on his Spirit ability for much longer than his last battle with Izou. "Because it's the last thing you'll ever see."

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. "So this fucker surrounded us with a bunch of Spirit teleporting mirrors! Tough shit! We'll just break them; I'm not superstitious! What!? They can block physical attacks too!? Damn it! I should've expected that! Or maybe it's normal that I didn't! Damn it, I don't know! God, I have to stop losing my shit so I can win this battle!"

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. "Hanajiro's Reflection Barrage!" Orion and Sirius were shown trying to take advantage of one of Hanajiro's attempts to come out from a mirror and attack them on the inside. "Damn it! Sirius can focus; why am I struggling!?"