One Devastator seems to be holding his ground, raising the claw of it's mecha in a halt position. Puzzling. Flames. The other Devastator attacks. Ryo knows that these mechas are dangerous at close quarter combat, it's best to keep his distance. He aims his main guns and returns fire. The mecha falls. Now the other mecha begins to hover and there is an Iron Drone nearby, but it is unarmed and cannot harm his Grand Titan. The fallen mecha rises, both pounce at the same time and trap Ryo. It's the worst case scenario, a bad tactical error to be caught out like this. Ryo hopes his upgrades can help him now, his servos have more power surging through them than ever but his reserves are low. This needs to end quickly.
He holds onto one Fire Vulture by it's primary weapon, the flame thrower. He squeezes and crushes it, as he swings away he rips the arm off the mecha and slices it back into it's body as he rotates full circle. The other Fire Vulture's pilot is smarter and has his Grand Titan held from behind. One enhancement Ryo has learnt fom the Golden City is that land based mechas need not necessarily be so, this one has had thrusters added to it. A quick boost and he is airborne, taking the Fire Vulture with it. It's grip loosens and Ryo turns and fires his guns, grounding the Fire Vulture. It falls into a motionless pile on the ground, right on top of the Iron Drone.
Ryo lands his Grand Titan. Power reserves are now at minimum, enough to move but not enough to fight in any effective manner or even to finish what he has started. There is a bright light appearing behind, this could be it for him.
Another Grand Titan! Unmodfied, but a sight for sore eyes nevertheless. That is until it falls flat on it's face. There's a Stealth Hunter as well, but it's falling fom the skies. No, not falling. Gliding erratically, it skids along the ground a few hundred metres away leaving in it's wake a huge cloud of orange dust. Is this a rescue party? If it is, Ryo is glad he has dispatched the two Fire Vultures beforehand.
"Ryo!", it's Takeshi. The Grand Titan powers up and lifts itself up from the dirt. It walks up to Ryo's own modified mecha. "I see you've been busy." says Takeshi, "And good job on the robot mechas.". Takeshi looks at the tangled mess of metal smouldering nearby, then he looks at Ryo's modified work of art. "What did you do to my old mecha? It looks... grander!". Takeshi was never very good with his adjectives.
Hikaru climbs out of his mecha, "It's good to see you, Ryo". The feeling was most definitely mutual. "Now we've found you, we have a mission to carry out. I hope you're prepared!". Well, so much for niceties.
The three friends move their mechas to high ground, by the side of a mountain where a large cavern has formed. They talk, it's a time for catchup and food rations.
Since Ryo's disappearance through the Golden Gateway's wormhole, Meca One's forces have been greatly reduced. Those few that didn't disappear through the wormhole with Ryo were quickly defeated by the humans. Since then, Sensei Keiken has ordered bombings of the robot factories now that they offer little resistence from their fewer numbers. Our own mechas have been modified and produced in quantity for new pilots to prepare for a great offensive. The worry though is that those robots that survived the wormhole's EMP may recover technology from the Golden Tower that was also sent through. As was evident, Sensei Keiken's worries were justified as some robots had survived. There are no mechas left in the Golden Tower, any undiscovered technology will be on this side along with the bulk of Meca One's armies.
Ryo realises the gravity of the situation, although victory may finally seem possible back home. It all rests on destroying any Golden City technology here and ensuring that any and all robot machinery remains deactivated or preferably, destroyed.
Hikaru decides to do an aerial ordinance with his Stealth Hunter, it's nighttime and his mecha's scanners will perform much better in the cold darkness of night.
"Takeshi, Happy Birthday.", Ryo says. "It's not my Birthday, that was a couple of weeks ago.", replies Takeshi. Ryo smiles and says to his friend, "This is your old mecha, it's now yours again and it's crammed with Golden City technology as well as our own. I've hand-built it with more care and attention to detail than possible from any production line. I half-expected it to be my only friend in this desolate place but you, my brothers in arms have rescued me".
Takeshi is lost for words, he is extremely happy to have is old Grand Titan (whom he thought was destroyed beyond repair) back, but more than that with all that has been lost in the war Takeshi is happy to find his comrade alive and well. Ryo is just glad they now have a way back home, a scheduled rendezvous with the Golden Gateway. Ryo cannot wait to upgrade his own Uplink package, he prefers smaller more manoeuvrable mechas. The radio crackles.
It's Hikaru as he reports back on the radio. More than 90% of Iron Drones have been accounted for and all have been destroyed by the EMF (save the one encountered with the two Fire Vultures). 80% of all known robot vehicles are accounted for, land mechas are all deactivated and in need of serious repair with pilots either deactivated or shutdown. They will have to be dealt with, one by one. Flying mechas are all in various states of damage with 60% of their pilots destroyed either by the EMP or by the subsequent fall from the sky. EMP and fall damage means that none are currently able to take to the air.
Takeshi interrupts. "Do you hear that?". It's a humming sound, but robot mechas don't hum and this sound is coming from above.
A flash, like lightning. An explosion. Ryo and Takeshi are alright, the Grand Titan took the brunt of the impact. Hikaru homes in on the sound and fires. Smoke and dust, he hits the side of the mountain but doesn't seem to have hit his target.
"We have a rendezvous with the Golden Gateway in 3 minutes!" Hikaru shouts. "Where?" Ryo shouts back. "Here!"' Takeshi replies, "We can't let whatever's attacking us go through!".
Ryo takes charge, "Hikaru, setup some flares and light this place up! Takeshi, use the Grand Titan XS's local area network to link with Hikaru's Stealth Hunter and hone in your sensors. Aim your EMP for a wide burst. Set coordinates for your missiles to fire once the EMP settles."
Both comrades do as they are told. Takeshi thinks to himself, can this mecha actually do all that? Sure enough, his mecha links to the Stealth Hunter and before he can utter a gasp the EMP activates and there is no more humming.
Missiles launching, target locked. Wormhole detected, it's only going to stay open for 20 seconds. "Hurry, run!" Takeshi says to Ryo.
Hikaru lands his mecha towards the wormhole, shutting down systems before entering and preparing himself to glide down on the other side. Ryo jumps into the Grand Titan, it's a little crispy but fully functional. He makes for the wormhole and powers down to a standstill just before the event horizon.
Ryo has really good instincts, he knows what his teammates will do before they do themselves. Thinks Takeshi. He runs towards the wormhole and a second before it closes he makes his mecha jump and activates thrusters taking both Ryo and the other Grand Titan through, just as his own mecha automatically shuts itself down. "Nice." Takeshi thinks, as his missiles strike home and they all disappear within the wormhole.
To be continued...
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