Chapter Sixteen: Sixth Ranger Rival Battle

“Castellan should have told us about these mecha!” Haruto said as they flew above their hometown at near-supersonic speeds.

The helmets kept their heads from freezing at least. Ren’s heavily damaged suit was partially exposed to the cold, producing a less-than-pleasant sensation. He grinned and bared it; the people of Tenshigurobu were counting on him. He had to ganbatte himself to continue onward!

“What the castellan should have done is given us these mechs a few weeks ago!” Ren glanced back at the already-invisible sealed portal. He groaned. “Oh! We should have jumped on our own mecha.”

A five-versus-one mecha battle would surely end in their favor. It would also be impossible to hide, but it was far too late to hide this. A robotic six-legged horse was galloping through the skies. Anyone who looked up on the streets of Tenshigurobu, anyone who looked out a window at school, or in the town’s modest business district could see this building-sized behemoth’s sky-ride.

“C’mon,” Miyu said. “We have to get up the pilot’s seat and put a stop to this!”

Yuto nodded. If he was beaten up over the prospect of doing battle with Becca the hot exchange student, he wasn’t showing it. They’d all have to ganbatte themselves forward in their own way.

Onward, the team walked along the ‘spine’ of the horse. The three pairs of limbs flailing about in thin air left the mecha’s back contorting this way and that like a serpent.

“She said this thing adapted itself to ancestral mythology?” Sakura asked as the group climbed forward on all fours.

One misstep would send the mahourangers plummeting a half-kilometer to the ground. Everyone made certain they had at least three steady foot or handholds on the beast before moving.

“Yeah. Odin’s steed. I think I get it.” Ren recalled the mythological beast from an RPG.

It was a far cry from the mythological beasts they’d encountered thus far, that was for sure. Also, it was robotic. That was new. What powers did Odin have? His spear was an endgame-tier item in that RPG, though it didn’t inherit most of its mythological counterpart’s abilities. They were flying blind. Literally.

+++

Malachite Ranger Becca was waiting up ahead, back turned as she piloted the robotic steed.

“Castellan, give us the rundown on this rogue ranger,” Ren yelled over the howling wind. It was hardly necessary, as the helmets blocked all noise.

“The Kagehime has successfully assimilated several worlds in the past,” the castellan responded. “The ruler of many worldlines, this fiendish demon has defeated scores of rangers in the past. She probably got the token from a previous battlefield and assigned it to a new owner.”

“Shadow Princess, huh?” Ren asked.

One battle at a time. They had to confront Becca first.

The Malachite Ranger, seemingly inattentive.

“You have made it, mahourangers!”

“Becca, what is this?” Yuto asked. “Why did you attack Haruto and Ren?”

“Oh?” Only now did the green-tinted ranger turn. “I can’t see your identities under those helmets. I noticed Haruto while he was out of the suit, but I have to guess for the rest of you. Hi, guys!”

“Ohayo!” Sakura said, then regained her squad discipline. “Uh… I mean, stop right there, evildoer!”

“Who is this Kagehime?” Yuto asked.

Miyu gasped. “You’re… you’re not her, are you!?”

The Malachite Ranger tilted her head quizzically as if she didn’t understand the question.

“Nah. I did meet a weird lady outside my host family’s house, though. She traded me this fancy coin for exactly twenty-five American cents.”

Becca produced a Power Coin, rustier and older than their yen-like coins. This one didn’t have a hole in it. Indeed, it looked like something out of the Meiji era. It also didn’t come encased in its own pendant; that feature must have been something specific to the Lifestream Regulators.

“Becca. This ‘strange lady’ wants to unravel the entire world.”

“Oh, I’ve seen that happen. This city was a thriving metropolis when I first moved here.”

“You’ve had a coin this whole time!?” Ren asked.

“Why—” Yuto pointed at the rogue ranger harshly. “—would you team up with the forces of evil to ruin our town?”

Becca ground her foot into the robot sheepishly. “Well, shucks. It’s the only town you all know at this point. Even if it were to turn back to how it was when I first got this coin, it’s nothing you all would recognize.”

She was giving a non-answer. They were going to have to fight it out, it seemed. Ren prepped his bat and prepared to approach.

“Hey, what do you think of this helmet?” Becca pointed to her own, vaguely lion-affected helmet, then motioned to the mahouranger’s own more beak-like helms. “I guess they came from two different themed groups? Who knew?”

As the flying horse leveled out on a straightaway, Ren held his bat up and charged. The Malachite Ranger held her twin knives aloft, not to throw or strike out, but…

Ranger Smalt leapt to the front and held his shield out. Plumes of smoke erupted from the knives, corresponding to tiny pinprick ‘ping’ sounds upon the shield.

“Guns. Gun knives. Of course,” Haruto said as the squad assembled single-file behind Yuto.

“She is American,” Miyu said. “I dunno, maybe it’s her special cultural mahou-trait?”

The Topaz Ranger turned to Mauve. “Can you target her with your bow?”

But Sakura could not, for even peeking out from behind the shield produced a flurry of bullets.

“Surely she’ll run out of ammo eventually,” said Ranger Smalt.

A good minute passed. Becca did not, in fact, run out of bullets.

“New plan. Advance slowly,” Ren said.

Step by step, the rangers braced Yuto as he advanced with the shield up.

“Clever,” the Malachite Ranger said. “We shall fight it out.”

Five rangers versus one on incredibly uneven ground, where even a misstep would send them plummeting to their doom. It would only take one good hit to best the Malachite ranger.

Ren jumped over the Smalt Ranger’s shield and delivered a vertical swing, hitting nothing but air. Becca had run underneath him and began to tussle with the other rangers! She kicked the Smalt Ranger through the group, which split them up well enough for the Malachite Ranger to divide and conquer.

“H-hey!” Ren stammered. “There’s only one of you. Why are you kicking our butts!?”

“Maybe there’s a limited amount of mahou-energy on each side?” Becca parried a pair of tonfa with an acrobatic kick. “Is that what you call it? Back home, we’d just say ‘magical energy.’ No matter.”

Ranger Smalt charged, shield up and spear bared. The Malachite Ranger jumped clear over him, then kicked him in the back of the head. Yuto nearly fell off the flying robot, saved only by Ren steadying him for balance.

“Anyways, with all else being equivalent, all the Umbral Court’s mahou-energy flows into me, while it’s distributed for all of you. So we’re evenly matched.”

Ren noticed he was gritting his teeth. To defeat this rogue ranger, they’d need perfect teamwork. And here they couldn’t even assemble in a proper formation here on this narrow ridge.

“The Lifestream Regulators never told you what happened to your real families,” Becca said with a strangely deep baritone and gravitas.

“W-what?!” With a battle cry, Ren surged forward. His bat locked with the Malachite Ranger’s long knives in a stalemate. “What do you mean by that?”

The lion-like adornment on the Malachite Ranger’s helmet fittingly made the ranger look like they were smiling.

“Ask that concierge when you next have some free time,” Becca said.

Their blades and bat continued to jockey for dominance.

“We’ll wear you down eventually,” Ren said.

“Hmmm.” Becca appeared as if she hadn’t considered this. The lull in combat was enough for the other mahourangers to get back onto their feet. “Well, then, uh, let’s try this!”

“What? Wait—” Ren began.

The Malachite Ranger called out to her giant steed. “Barrel roll!”

The ‘ground’ beneath their feet began to tilt precariously. Becca’s feet remained firmly planeted—perhaps magic, perhaps magnetic boots. For the rest of the rangers, however, they were dumped unceremoniously out into the skies above Tenshigurobu.