Saga 1.3 Assault

With their newest teammate Pyre onboard, Ray had begun to push the training regiment even further. Some days he would focus on Ryan's strange powers, forcing his other half to use quick thinking to switch weapons and skills within seconds of each other. When it came to using the WarHammer Ryan had been very creative, such as when he used the garrote to lift himself above a set of turrets then made the switch to beam saber to hack through his targets. Pyre was also getting specialized training, which focused mostly on his natural weakness to water. If Pyre was ever cooled down in his lava form the resulting magma encasement would freeze his movement and make him vulnerable for a few moments. Pyre was adjusting faster than Ray had expected though; when Ray had thrown Pyre into the 12-feet-deep training pool the fiery warrior had produced a crystal shell of lava to keep himself dry, where he would then throw and burn some sand into a glass window for visibility. When Pyre had studied his surroundings enough, he would proceed to excrete lava through the shell as a combination of attack and propulsion. His self-named 'Lava Drill' was as unexpected an ability as Ryan's Eruption Form. Ray was still trying to decode what made Ryan so unique, but there was also the question of whether or not this skill was constantly active. Ryan had tried grappling the turrets to create a similar power-drain effect to what Pyre had experienced, but there was no system fluctuation. Without live opponents Ray had no way of defining Ryan's new power, although he had tried to put off Ryan's theory when he had jokingly said that it could be something as insubstantial as friendship. In the real world these kinds of goofy power acquisitions were practically unheard of, but until Ray could decipher Ryan's unnatural talent he was forced to be open to any possibility he could find.

The three of them had been traveling for about four months together, when the three had their first party. It wasn't much, but since Ryan had just turned nine years old Ray and Pyre had done their best to throw him a decent party. Although it didn't help much that Pyre's culture used a form of chili pizza as the standard birthday food, five gallons of water later Ryan was back to normal and ready to eat the remaining four slices after Pyre had finished with his third. Afterwards Pyre got his first taste of ice cream, and despite the massive cold shock he received the hothead loved the sweet flavors of the standard neopolitan ice cream. After Pyre had worked off the sugar rush he had received from eating three scoops per flavor, the two toasted Ryan's party with a bottle of Pepsi. Ray created the illusion of joining them, drinking a virtual cocktail to wish Ryan good luck. Ryan still hadn't forgotten about making a new body for Ray, and was hard at work over the past seven months working on his project. Locking Ray out of the labratory's system Ryan put a massive amount of effort into researching the Hammer cloning sciences, and had finished two days prior to his party. After receiving a hand-crafted surfboard from Pyre, Ryan turned to Ray and showed his mentor the new project. At first glance it was a steel ball, but as Ryan focused on it he managed to use the same feeling he got when Ray took control and felt his own spirit enter the metal sphere. As Ryan drooped over unconscious the ball rolled out of his hand and began to glow. Within a minute the ball reformed into a human shape, then customized itself to Ryan's features and clothing preferences. Picking himself up, Ryan looked over to his normal body before looking at Ray. "What do you think?" Ryan asked his surprised friends. "I've been studying cloning ever since we left, so I put a little bit of the tech in that ball. It has a limited battery, so it only lasts about an hour before the body breaks down. Still, it's a pretty sweet device if I do say so myself. I've decided to call it the Soul Orb." Moving over to his normal body, the cloned Ryan laid one hand on his own shoulder. The real Ryan awoke and reached over to catch the ball, as his cloned body disintegrated. "Don't worry, I've omitted any consciousness from the Orb so that it's perfectly ethical. C'mon Ray, try it out!"

As Ray exited the system and returned to his new home within Ryan, he attempted to follow Ryan's example. As with Ryan the orb began to pulsate and expand. This time however, it grew the silver hair and white robes Ray had worn in his AI form. Ryan gave Pyre a side glance and cracked an evil smile before returning his gaze to Ray. "Good, now you have no excuse not to train us YOURSELF Ray!" Ray looked at the two as Pyre gave Ryan a high-five in a mix of fear and annoyance. Truth be told, the boys had shown such improvement that Ray was often glad to be out of their attack range. Still, there was nothing better than teaching them first-hand while also putting them in their place for trying to trap him this way. "Fair enough," Ray said as he stared the two down "I expect you two to be a decent challenge!" Without warning Ray flew into a volley of kicks and punches, a powerful fighter despite being deprived of his own personal weapon. Ryan did his best to block or deflect each blow, while Pyre tried to distract Ray by going on the offensive from his left. Ray easily moved out of the way of Pyre's attack, shifting his focus enough to knock Pyre over without giving Ryan an opening for an attack. Ryan's movements were growing more and more fluid though, switching from punch to kick to spinning kick to uppercut in under five seconds. The last one made enough of a connection to put Ray in a daze, which Pyre used to sweep-kick Ray to the ground. As the two gave each other signs of congradulations, Ray knocked both boys to the ground in a single sweep. Leaping up and placing his hands above the two boys, Ray simply said "Dead" before dematerializing and returning to the WYVERN's system. As the two lifted themselves up, Ray mentioned their current need for supplies; with an extra member onboard Ryan's food stash had vanished as rapidly as their toiletries, leaving them in a dire need for replenished gear.

The two boys got up slowly and ran to the bridge, where Ray was already waiting and computing. "There's a nice planetoid nearby called Bankis Strata, which is known for being the galaxy's finest commercial world. The town of Adrite has the best match for what we need, and it's small enough that you two won't get lost." Within ten minutes the WYVERN was in orbit around Bankis Strata, as both boys wanted to see this brand new world. Bankis Strata consisted was made entirely of desert and city, with a single ocean encompassed by land. In all honesty it looked like a giant floating eyeball staring back at the boys as they made their approach. They had gotten about halfway when a series of explosive volleys surrounded the ship. "Unknown inbound craft, please state your intent and approach vector." Ryan and Pyre looked around until part of the metallic screen illuminated itself with the face of an extremely bored man who showed as little interest as possible in the young boys standing on the ship's bridge. "Hey there sir, sorry about that. We're headed for Adrite because we're running low on supplies." "Negative," the man replied "Adrite has been closed off due to a minor civil revolt. You will reroute to Ritesho instead." Ryan looked at Pyre, who merely shrugged. "Understood. Rerouting the systems for Ritesho." "Whatever," the man said as he leaned back in his chair. "Welcome to Bankis Strata...and all hail the Armors."

The feed cut out just before the man's final words could fully hit Ryan and Pyre. They shared a concerned glance, but it would look far more suspicous if they tried to flee after getting clearance. As Ray reset the WYVERN's systems to set down in Ritesho he warned Ryan that the moment any Armors detected the craft an alert would sound. As the three went over the possibilities Ryan thought of an insane and daring plan, which he forced the others to agree to due to the lack of alternatives. As soon as the WYVERN breached the stratosphere the two boys bailed out, as Ryan used the WarHammer's Black Hole Drive to return their ship to the device. Ryan then threw the oxygen tanks and steel plates into the air and shot the tanks, creating a convincing enough explosion with the proper amount of shrapnel. Summoning his WarHammer combat suit, Ryan hit the thrusters at an increasing rate while Pyre used his lava bursts to deccelerate himself and his lava board to create wind friction. Once the two were within a meter of the ground both pulled off their final reentry step: Ryan forced the boosters to full while Pyre summoned a lava spire for him to surf down. Their 'crashed ship' was going to fall fifty meters east of what they had predicted, making it an even harder trek for the local Armor task force. The two used their special talents to flee the wreckage as quickly as possible without attracting attention.

Within an hour or so of flying and surfing, the two boys had arrived in Ritesho. Powering down, the boys grabbed some desert-style clothes and made their way through the town as part of the crowd. They had bought most of the essential supplies and were moving on to food purchases when the attack began. The nearby bank erupted into flames on the south end, as a group of criminals looted the bank at blasterpoint. One of the guards attempted to stop them, and was rewarded with a shot through his shoulder. As the brave man fell Ryan began to rush towards the crime in order to avenge the fallen guard, but Pyre grabbed his sleeve and held him back. "Hold up bro", Pyre said as he pointed to the west where a cloud of smoke was rising. "Looks like we've got competition, Ryan." The smokescreen distracted both the criminals and the crowd watching in fear. The newcomers were a convoy consisting of two single-man bikes and one hovering truck. The convoy pulled up just short of the bank as a group of five fighters jumped out of the back. The five warriors were younger than Ryan though: the eldest of the five was a girl who had probably just turned eight. The two on the bikes were a different story though; both boys looked roughly ten years old and were the obvious leaders of the pack. The one guy looked to be of Japanese descent except for his wild green hair, and wore a set of martial arts robes and a single glove on his right hand. His comrade on the other hand was practically white in his paleness, which contrasted greatly with his purple hair. This guy wore a midnight black cloak over a bloodred shirt and blue jeans, and held a black longsword in his left hand. As the five younger kids used rounds of suppressive stun fire, the two leaders leaped into action against the remaining ten crooks. The green-haired boy attacked first, by punching the strongest-looking criminal in the ribs with his gloved hand. Turning his hand one-quarter counterclockwise the boy shouted out "Sakebu, Kaze no Ha!", as an immense wind slashed through his enemy and sent the crook crashing into the bank wall. He then pulled out a ninja kunai to block a dagger attack from another crook while simultaneously throwing three shuriken at another three attackers, incapacitating them by hanging them up on the wall by their shirts. The purple-haired guy was more relaxed at first, blocking enemy attacks with his sword. In very little time however he grew rapidly more aggressive and literally disarmed two goons before setting his focus on the last three. He then threw his cloak into the air, blocking out the sun and casting all four of them in shadow. He then vanished from sight and reappeared from the shadow-covered wall, wrapping two crooks in shadowy tendrils as he emerged. The last one tried to make a run for it, which put him right in Ryan's path. Growing excited from the fight scene Ryan allowed the disoriented crook to run right into his fist before grabbing him and throwing him back to the shadow-wielder. With another seven crooks severely stunned by the younger kids' attacks, the children tied up the criminal gang and hung them off a lamp post like a pinata.

Before Ryan could get a word with them they all heard a barrage of klaxxons wailing. Looking to the south Ryan and Pyre saw three giant moving fortresses heading their way. The children gave each other glances, then returned to their vehicles. As they revved their engines the green-haired boy shouted out to the crowd. "Remember, the Armors don't want to protect us! The Young Rebellion is gonna knock them off-planet and return Bankis Strata to the good times!" Amidst cheers from the crowd the two leaders launched their bikes forward, heading east. As they passed the green-haired guy gave Ryan a thumbs-up while his companion just gave the two a smirk. The gang of heroes left just as the three behemoths entered Ritesho. Ryan and Pyre shifted back into the crowd to watch as three squads of Armors got out of the truck and retrieved the crooks. "Alright you townsfolk, where are the REAL criminals?" The people looked at each other in confusion, which turned to horror as the Armors cut the crooks loose. "I'm willing to let you people off with a warning, if you point us in the direction of those terrorists!" A young man jumped out from the crowd and began to accost the Armor captain. "Those children aren't terrorists damn you, they're her-" The man fell over in agony as the Armor pulled his blood-soaked gun away. "These children are terrorists, and anyone found aiding or supporting them in any way will be charged with treason. As you all know, the sentence for treason is death. Now then, does anyone ELSE feel this way?" Ryan stepped out and faced the Armor. "Yeah you freak, I do!" The crowd stared in silence as the Armor captain faced Ryan. "Well then child, I don't know if you are foolish or just plain stupid but I don't really care. Have fun in the afterlife kid!" The Armor fired a shot at Ryan, who pulled out his beam saber and evaporated the shell. At this the other Armors raised their weapons and aimed at Ryan, a moment later a wall of fire shielded Ryan from the incoming series of blaster shots. "Dude, you really like to make things interesting don't you?" Pyre asked with a smile as he removed himself from the crowd. "Alright, I'm in."

The Armor captain looked at the two boys in shock, then laughed. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! So you two are the great atrocity of Pyrus Vol?!?" Ryan and Pyre looked at each other and shrugged. "Oh don't play dumb, you two messed up our mining fleet! Thanks to that we had to find a closer supply of Adanium before it took it's toll. Lord Armos wants you out of the way fast: 50,000 Zenith or a promotion to Royal Guard! Boy oh boy, you must've done a lot of damage to piss him off that much. I don't really care why he's so concerned, but I'll gladly take you off his hands!" Ryan and Pyre took up defensive stances: they might've beaten the odds on Pyrus Vol, but that was mainly due to their capturing enemy vehicles and the miracle of Ryan's Eruption Mode. Fighting three squads of Armors (with roughly fifteen per squad) without any means to catch them off guard was as impossible a task as Ryan had ever seen. Just as the two began to feel resigned to their fate a much-needed miracle arrived, as the heroic caravan blasted through the enemy forces and fired a rocket launcher at one of the Armors' fortresses. The floating truck slowed down enough for Ryan and Pyre to jump onboard and join the children in keeping the Armors from following via assault rifles. When they were completely out of range of the Armors' tracking devices Ryan and Pyre relaxed against the sides of the truck while the other kids huddled together and watched them. Ryan gave them a small smile as a sign of friendship, while Pyre just laid back and gave the kids a thumbs-up.

A window panel opened up to the truck's front, and a blaster pistol was pointed at Ryan's head. Pyre moved to turn the weapon to ash, but Ryan halted him via hand signal. Turning his head, Ryan saw that the driver was roughly eighteen give or take a few years. "So...you guys seem to be a pretty big deal huh? Never seen ol' Armod so serious, even when WE'RE fighting his little police force. Name's Zavario, but everybody just calls me Zav or Z. So, who are you and what'd you do that's so important?" Ryan waited for Zav to lower his weapon before responding. "Name's Ryan, and my buddy here is Pyre. I was travelling with this expert fighter Ray when we saw the Armors attacking Pyre's homeworld." Ryan continued to tell his new allies about his and Pyre's fight for Pyrus Vol's freedom, but altered the parts where Ray was involved and said Ray took a lethal blow to protect the two. When Pyre had almost shown surprise Ryan flashed him a quick glare before continuing; no matter who these guys were, Ryan wanted to keep Ray as his trump card just in case. "So anyway, when we came here for a resupply we didn't know the Armors had taken over. By the time we knew it would've been more suspicious to run away when they had cleared us, so Pyre and I blew up our ship close to reentry and freefell the rest of the way. We're gonna need a new ride outta here, but until then what do you know about the Armors stationed here?" The eight-year-old girl Ryan saw earlier stood up from the group and walked up to Ryan. "We know of at least seven different squads planetwide, but rumor has it there's a warship orbiting as well that can scorch the planet if we get out of hand. The land group is led by a Lieutenant Armostian, but Captain Armod does all the recon and harassment. Name's Yggrda by the way, or Y if you like Zav's codenames." The other four kids introduced themselves as well: six-year-old twins Villeta and Wanzu, seven-year-old Xavier and five-year-old Tiffany. Pyre showed off a bit with his pyrokinetic powers, while Ryan shifted to the rear flap to keep watch and think to himself. There was no warship of any kind up there Ray said with a mental frown. Which means they've gotten some bad info, but from where?

After a few hours of driving dusk had finally hit the caravan when Ryan heard a sequence of coded beeps from up front. He heard Zav use vocal clarification, then heard a response on the alien radio. The truck began to rapidly slow down, although only Ryan and Pyre reacted in any way. When they had come to a full stop, Ryan noticed that the vehicle was descending. Looking outside, Ryan jumped out onto a platform that was lowering them well below ground level. "Whoa, just...whoa." As Pyre joined him outside the truck they noticed a series of automated turrets angle to aim at them before deeming them friendlies and moving their gaze upwards towards the entrance. An avian species flying over the crevice suddenly became a hole-ridden meal for scavengers, as the four top-most turrets automatically shred the small flock to bits of flesh and gore. After five feet of descent, the platform stopped within a preset crevice surrounded by ramps that allowed the caravan to move off the platform. Ryan and Pyre walked alongside the truck, hands up as the caravan was followed by a massive crowd of children and young teens all fully armed and ready for an assault. After a while Yggdra laughed at seeing them like this and told the boys to lower their arms. The three vehicles were parked in a fleet of nearly fourty various cars and bikes, all spray-painted with a large Y overlapping an A. When Ryan asked Yggdra what it represented, she told him it was a symbol of their organization overpowering the Armors.

When Yggdra led the two boys to the main theater, they were stunned to find the hall packed with its young warriors and Zav standing on the center podium. He was telling them a story about how long ago, their ancestors used this ancient base to defend themselves from marauders. He then introduced Kwon and Damian, the two boys who had led the charge, as his lieutenants in the Youth Rebellion. "Your ancestors would be ashamed of how the elder people of this world have given up hope!" Kwon shouted into the crowd. "But you remain fighting, keeping your friends free of the Armor scourge. Daemon and I may not be of your world, but we are priveliged to fight alongside you brave children while you reclaim Bankis Strata!!!" The children cheered Kwon on as he sat down, when Damian stood up in his cloak. "Pretty words are all well and good, but what's even more important is that we CAN do it. We have amassed more military might than Bankis Strata has seen in over two centuries, so taking down these Armors should be easy. However, our victory will only be assured if each and every one of you fights with all your might! My world caved in to weakness and greed, but I know even now that their service to the Armors will destroy them all. Kwon and I will never abandon you, nor will we leave this world until every trace of their filth is wiped clean!" One of the older kids stood up, a girl roughly fifteen years old. "What about that warship orbiting overhead? If we try anything, they'll-"

"There is NO warship above this world", Ryan said as he moved through the crowd with Pyre following close behind. The crowd parted to let them pass, staring at the two newcomers with obvious curiousity. "We just arrived here from orbit ourselves, and there were no other ships flying around. Tell me, has there been any successful commerce off-planet?" "Of course not!", a young boy shouted as he stood up. "They're too afraid of us to let anyone leave! They think if we can get off-planet then we'll take over their warshi-" The boy stopped as Ryan leaned against a wall laughing. "I'm sorry, but there's only a few hundred of you here right? From what my mentor Ray taught me an Armor ARCHFIEND can house over three THOUSAND Armors, so if you guys even tried to take a ship you'd be dead in an instant. You really don't get it do you, someone fed you bad intel!" The crowd murmured amongst themselves as Ryan and Pyre came face-to-face with the two lieutenants. Kwon stared Ryan right in the eye, and when Ryan refused to look away Kwon told the crowd that he believed Ryan's tale; according to Kwon, no person could ever lie with such an honorable gaze. The two were put into an initiation rite by Zav, where they were sent to interrupt an Armor supply chain. Despite the fact that there were more Armors there than intel suggested Ryan was able to sneak through while Pyre distracted the guards with his lava surfing. Planting the needed amount of explosives Ryan fired a few decoy rounds at the Armors, signaling Pyre to retreat. Ryan grabbed the bike Zav had loaned him and zoomed off, as Pyre fled in the opposite direction. The confused Armor squad was incinerated in the ensuing explosion as their supply trucks burst into flame, while Ryan and Pyre regrouped about fifty kilometers south of the explosion. They returned to the Youth Rebellion's base unscathed, to a chorus of cheers from their fellow resistance fighters.

Over the next month the small militia was able to deal sufficient damage to the Armors stationed in the Grosso territory, where the oppressive force was strongest. Ryan and Pyre had alternated small side-trips to pick up food for their eventual flight from Bankis Strata after each mission, making sure to use Ryan's WarHammer to store their gain before anybody else could see the food. While their new friends had more than enough food neither boy wanted to take anything more from these orphan children. There had been a few casualties as well: the young boy who had believed their power strong enough to overpower an ARCHFIEND had fallen after an insertion within an Armor barracks, while Tiffany had died destroying a massive weapons cache outside of Adrite. There were others who had died, but these two had stuck out most to Ryan as he mourned alongside his brethren. Pyre had volunteered his unique skills to give the fallen warriors a cremation ceremony, and the children's ashes were then spread throughout the sand the next day as a symbol of their service to their home. Zav had refused to join, and instead mourned the losses in private on his nineteenth birthday. In honor of their sacrifice a major strike was planned for the Armors' fortresses, with Captain Armod being a prime military target. Pyre and Ryan both retrieved their motorbikes, now personalized for the official members, and joined Kwon and Damian in the first wave. With their official sand-and-gunmetal uniform and individual helmets, the four led the first wave of twenty bikes and fifteen trucks.

Two hours later they arrived at the fortresses' outpost, which was nothing more than a large canyon the giant transports could hide in. One of the behemoths still carried the mark of the rocket shell that had struck it when Ryan and Pyre had first arrived. As if expecting an attack the fortresses summoned turrets to rain death upon the resistance. The bikes easily evaded the shots, but two trucks were stopped by the guns and a third erupted into flames. Using nearby tunnels, the remaining trucks found cover from the shots as the bikes maneuvered closer and closer to the giants. Most of the twenty bikers had rocket launchers strapped to their backs, which were now unfurled and fired at the treads of each war machine. The scarred fortress began to tilt into the opposite cliff as it erupted into flames, Armors bailing out wherever they could. Those bikers who weren't equipped with rockets fulfilled their duty, using assault rifles and grenades to eliminate the escaping Armors. With the other two fortresses distracted the children within the trucks found their chance, firing rappel lines up the second craft. As they ascended they shot down any Armors who had tried to use superior elevation against the swarm of children. They climbed in wherever they could, as blaster fire could be seen through every opening on the ship. Finally, the second vehicle's turrets stopped and aimed themselves at the final fortress.

It was finally time for Ryan and the others to make their move. Pyre and Damian drove along one side, attacking the flank with lava and shadows. On the opposite side Ryan saw his chance as the Armors opened a hatch and began to unload a CERBERUS tank. Speeding off the cliff he had perched on, Ryan zoomed over the tank's cannon and sliced through it with the WarHammer's beam saber. Kwon followed his example, soaring overhead on his own bike and dismounting as soon as it hit the platform. The skidding vehicle slammed four Armors against the hull at disgustingly grotesque angles. He then jumped onto the back of Ryan's bike and threw shuriken at the Armors as Ryan mowed them down in the halls. As they neared the center of the complex they nearly ran into Pyre and Damian, who had taken advantage of their insertion to enter in from the other side. Bringing the bike to a halt, Ryan used an Armor's leg to accelerate the bike into a group of thirteen Armors and fired his blaster's spray into the fuselage to exterminate the threat. The four boys moved as one, from sword to fist and fire to darkness, wiping out Armors as they spread through the last convoy. They finally reached the absolute center of the moving building, to find themselves in a large fighting ground surrounded by Armors. Armod walked out from the crowd, flanked by two creatures akin to the captain of the unit Ryan had first experienced true battle in. "Well well, it would seem my informant has helped out an immense deal. Not only has he delivered you four headaches right into my lap, but as we speak Lt. Armostian is finishing off your pathetic base!" Kwon and Pyre shared a look of concern, while Damian was pure rage. Ryan was very calm however, his only reaction being to switch the blaster into beam saber mode. Armod took notice of the change, as his eyes widened behind the mask of steel. "Tha-tha-that's a Battle Hammer, isn't it?" Ryan looked at the soldier in curiousity, then looked down at his weapon. "What, this? I call it the WarHammer, why?" Armod took a step back, then began to chuckle with a devilish undertone. "I see...no wonder Lord Armos wants you dead, if you're some Hammer scum!" At the mention of the word 'Hammer' the Armor forces all refocused their aim on Ryan, as his three friends looked at him in confusion. Ryan shrugged, since he honsetly had no idea what was going on. Without waiting for an order the soldiers began to unload all their ammo into Ryan. Pyre reacted the fastest, summoning a massive wall of flame to nullify the assault. As the firing stopped the four spread out to attack.

Kwon reached the Armors first, and as he pulled out a kunai his glove began to glow bright green as he used the similar twisting motion he had used on the criminal months ago. This time however, he shouted out "Kiru, Kaze no Ketsueki!" while swinging his blade in an uppercut motion. The Armors surrounding him suddenly fell as a crimson wind cut through them. On the opposite side of the room Damian had thrown a dagger into the lighting, casting himself and the attacking Armors in darkness and shadows. The Armors began to fire upon Damian, who fell backwards through the wall and vanished. As the Armors looked about in confusion, Damian emerged from the shadow of the rearmost Armor. Casting his cloak over the Armor Damian grabbed his rifle and unloaded it into two other soldiers before vanishing to let his hostage become hole-ridden from friendly fire. He shifted back to the wall as the Armors went to remove the cloak from their comrade, as the cloth came alive and slashed through an Armor on its return to Damian. He then summoned another shadow longsword, which extended to decapacitate his prey. Damian released his sword as the last Armor fell, and used shadow tendrils to eliminate the second wave of Armors to attack him as Kwon continued to use a combination of martial arts and ninja weaponry to fend off Armors on his end.

Overhead, Pyre was using his lavaboarding abilities to throw flames at the Armors that had gathered around the arena on an elevated donut ring. Using the safety rail to skid, Pyre poured lava into the stands as Armors who were moments from sniping his friends became molten ash. After taking out the snipers, Pyre jumped off his board and reverted it to dual-sword mode. As Armors pulled out both metal and energy sabers Pyre blocked their blows as his body changed into its molten lava form. A surprised Armor pulled out the remainder of his sword before Pyre cut him down and moved on to the charging Armors. Although Pyre was invulnerable to both weapon types, his ability to hold the lava form was finite and required a lot of focus when fighting multiple enemies at once. As another twenty charged him over the bodies of a dozen fallen comrades, Pyre doused them in lava before leaping over the rail and creating a lava slide to pull him back-to-back with Ryan.

Ryan was still trying to understand the exact reason behind the Armors' reaction as he battled them fluidly, alternating attacks without showing any real sign of change until he struck. Ray had told Ryan of both the Armor threat and how Ray had smuggled himself into a major compound to steal the secret series of designs the Armors had spanning a variety of purposes. However, as far as Ray had told him his entire race was equipped with similar weapons for defense. Ryan would give Ray the third-degree later; for now both souls were focused only on the swarm of Armors attacking them. The entire transport's crew seemed to converge on the arena, so that the four boys found themselves surrounded by Armors. With enemies on all sides, the four heroes converged on the arena's center and switched over to ranged attacks. After fighting in his lava form for so long however, Pyre began to waver back into his human state. Having taken notice of Pyre's time limit, Ryan knew that soon they'd be down a man. As Kwon and Damian moved to cover Pyre, Ryan decided to use one of his usual insane plans. Keeping the Armors back under fire from his blaster, Ryan shifted to tell his plan to the team leaders who shrugged and decided it would be a good way to go out.

While Pyre used what little firepower he could, the other three put their plan into action. As the Armors shielded themselves Kwon threw the remainder of his weapons into the lights, casting the arena in shadow. Damian attacked next, killing those he could and immobilizing those who withstood his shadow tendrils. Finally, Kwon threw Ryan straight up, as the tactician initiated Eruption Mode. Surprising even his two allies, Ryan covered the field in a flood of molten lava, burning away all the Armor soldiers until only a trembling Armod remained. Landing on the solidifying magma, Ryan pulled out the fiery dual-sword and activated his afterburners. Before Armod could even fully draw a crimson energy blade, he felt the sting of Ryan's blade pierce his helmet. Unlike the foot soldiers Ryan had faced before however, Armod's helmet and faceplate slid apart to reveal a very human face beneath. His crimson hair was bunched up in spikes, and all over his face were tattoos and battle scars. The eyes were the strangest though, in that they looked slightly hollow. He grinned as Ryan scanned his face, twirling the blade in his hand and igniting it. "Time to die, little Hammer Boy. Glory to Lord Armos!" Reacting without thought, Ryan activated his afterburners at full burn and melted Armod's arm off. Pulling the magma blade from his foe Ryan began to enter a cooldown state as Armod's beam blade fell to the floor only mildly charred.

Picking up his combat souvenir, Ryan turned away from Armod as the Captain's body crumpled and collapsed over the molten remains of his subordinates. Unlike the WarHammer's beam blade, this weapon was much different. The end opposite the beam charge had a retractable dagger, as well as four claw mechanisms on the rim of the hilt. The crimson energy blade was adjustable, ranging from tanto to longsword to massive blugeoning tool. As Ryan looked closer, he noticed a connection module on the hooked end of the weapon that could synch up the WarHammer to the Armor's beam weapon. When he tried it however, the WarHammer refused to connect and only scanned the Armor tech before replicating it into a gold-and-black variant of the original by using Hammer tech. With the Hammer version of his trophy, Ryan was now able to connect the two into a dual-beamsword. Twirling the enhanced weapon in his hands, Ryan removed the new attachment and loaded it into the Black Hole Drive as he disengaged the WarHammer battle armor. "Sorry about that" Ryan said with a shrug as he walked over to Kwon and Damian. The two looked at him in amazement and anger, unaware of the toll it had taken on his body. Under his shirt was a massive burn mark that seemed to grow in size each time he used the ability, and it took almost all he had just to talk and walk upright. He had been improving the form greatly from his first activation, but there was definitely room for improvement. "Well, that was...different" Damian said as he circled Ryan.

"You can explain later" Kwon shouted as he ran in the direction of the control booth. "Right now, we have to clear out the remaining Armors!" After their bout in the arena, the leftover Armors were easy to pick off. Ryan became the team's cover fire, still feeling the after-effects of the Eruption mode. With a fraction of their original forces, the Armors still onboard found themselves overpowered in only a few minutes. After the turrets had been disabled the other soldiers waiting outside began a rapid entry attack while leaving the vehicle mostly undamaged. At the end of the operation the rebellion had lost twenty-six of their one-hundred-eight members, compared to the three-hundred-fifty-one Armors slain. With the two fortresses captured and Captain Armod KIA, the mission was considered a mild success under the death toll. On the return trip Ryan explained his secret ability as best he could, revealing the still-crimson burn mark that had just begun to grow scarring tissue. Both vehicles played a mournful song as the children cried over their lost allies, the dark melody carrying throughout the desert and nearby cities. After about two hours of mourning, Ryan's scorch mark had cleaned up nicely with the advanced medicine located onboard the craft.

The operation had ended at dusk, and by the time the caravan returned they were absorbed in absolute darkness broken only by the lights of their own vessels. Suddenly, the two behemoths stopped as screams could be be heard throughout the valley. Leaping up from the table they had been eating at, the four raced outside to a horrible sight. Scattered around the entrance to their base were torn and bleeding bodies of their allies. Ryan raced to Xavier, who was closest to where the four had jumped off. Xavier had lost a leg, his right arm was broken in a disturbing angle, and his blood was seeping throughout the sand. He was coughing up blood as he struggled to speak. "Armostian...he found us...Yggdra's inside...find Zav...save everyon-" Xavier had slipped out of consciousness, and was getting worse by the second. Summoning Villeta and Wanzu to carry Xavier back to the transport, Ryan led the descent into the pit. As soon as they began to drop the autoturrets activated, but when Kwon used the remote shut-off they continued to fire. Grabbing the rocket launcher a wounded youth had dropped from above, Ryan did as much damage as he could while hastening the descent. As he propelled himself further downward the turrets redirected themselves at him, giving those following the chance to destroy the turrets. As soon as his launcher ran out of ammo Ryan pulled out his War-Blaster and fired, while at the same time unloading an assault rifle he had picked up earlier into the approaching turrets. Following Ryan's lead the children focused on disabling the turrets while descending rapidly, a task most of them were able to accomplish without much harm. Some of the kids weren't as lucky: a dozen children had to be hoisted back up for recovery, and a couple more had to be moved into body bags.

Ryan had the kids split into packs of seven, so that the thirty-five soldiers were capable of fighting any Armor patrols they came across. Ryan then took his three allies and raced down the hall that led towards the turret control booth. After slotting the Armor guards and shutting down the defense system Ryan set down a blue flare which was the all-clear signal for the organization. As they watched more children descend into the pit they called home, the four left the room and melted the door shut. It would take a rocket launcher to open it now, and even if the Armors decided to escape they would be mowed down by the remaining troops waiting above in the darkness. Satisfied with their work, Ryan and his friends continued to move further inward with surprisingly little resistance. As they continued to walk through however the stench of rotting corpses overwhelmed the four, as the bodies of slain allies littered the corridors. With each step they took Ryan became more and more concerned, as the questions piled in his head: why did the Armors attack now, why did they not have a large transport or assault force, and how did Armostian find them to begin with? Things got even worse as they got further inside and found Armor corpses mixed in with the childrens'. One of the most important rules for the children to follow was to send out a series of signals to alert the others, so that help would arrive as soon as possible. The bigger problem arose as the four followed a trail of bodies that split off into the messenger room, where there were only childrens' bodies piled around the smashed radio equipment. As Ryan looked over one of the fallen he noticed one thing that made all the other issues vanish: his cause of death was by an assault rifle used only by the Young Rebellion. After asking the others to look over the bodies with him, it was official: all the children in that room had been killed by the same weapon.

Returning to the original trail of broken bodies Ryan and the others heard the first sounds of life since they had descended, as gunshots and machinegun fire could be heard coming from the dining area. As the four raced to join their allies they picked up whatever weapons they could, so that Kwon was wielding dual-pistols, Damian was firing a submachinegun, and both Ryan and Pyre were firing Armor blasters. They found Yggdra and a few of the other children trapped behind a wall of blast-proof tables, with Armors trying to strafe to the point that they could gun down the rebels. Why they didn't use grenades was a question that entered Ryan's head as he lobbed a few at the Armors who were closest to the survivors. Dashing through the smoke and shrapnel Ryan pulled out his War-Blaster and mounted the cannon-like Armor blaster over his shoulder, firing the heavier rounds at those far from the table while using his own mildly explosive rounds to cover his comrades. When enough Armors had been pushed back Ryan moved in and set up position next to Yggdra's squad. "So, how've you been?" Ryan asked jokingly while he assessed the team's status. Yggdra had five others with her: Rachel, who was fighting despite a bleeding leg; Michael, who had been forced to fall back after a serious shoulder wound; Jake, who was manning the machinegun; Katie, who was tending to Michael; and Chris, who was propping the barrier against
himself to make up for a melted gun and the burnt flesh on his hands that prevented him from wielding another weapon.

With the extra four fighting the odds were panning out much better than before, as Pyre joined Ryan behind the barricade and used the wall to create a makeshift turret with his stolen blaster. Unfortunately the sounds of combat had begun to draw in more Armors, so that before long the eight combatants were up against five squads of Armors. When Racheal took another nonlethal hit Damian took over her section and used both weapons to spray the Armors in a blend of gunmetal-grey and blood-red. Kwon asked Pyre if he could ignite again, and when Pyre responded positively Kwon told him to do so for only a moment. Using the flare of Pyre's transformation Kwon dashed out with both pistols, shooting the Armors point-blank while dodging their hindered counterattacks. Ryan had figured out Kwon's plan just barely in time, and after leaving Yggdra to man the rifle Ryan switched over from blaster to saber, cutting down the Armors in his path. With Kwon's strategy they had cut the number of hostiles down to a measly six, a number which continued to drop as the kids took the offensive. When the last Armor fell the children were able to take a short break, but Ryan was too anxious by his unanswered questions to relax. "What happened here? Why is the base under attack, and why are there so many dead out there?!?"

"That...would be my fault, I'm afraid."

With only a few words, the attention of everyone in the room snapped towards the control room corridor. As they stared up at their new enemy Yggdra began to cry, while both Kwon and Damian showed an unnatural level of hatred. Ryan was just stunned, because no matter how he looked at this it made no sense. This man was no enemy of theirs, after all they had done as allies, all the laughter, all the tears...there was just no way he could be an enemy. But as much as Ryan wanted to believe this man was lying, any doubt of his betrayal left when Armors began to pour in around him with Armostian patting him on the shoulder. As Ryan accepted it, he choked down his anger as best he could. Standing up from the barricade he was leaning against Ryan motioned for the kids behind the barricade to stay low and unnoticed. Pyre, Kwon and Damian also rose as their abilities were activated. Pyre's fire burned enough to both protect the others from the few trigger-happy Armors who had fired without orders, while also feeding Damian's shadow abilities as the flames cast multiple shadows throughout the room. Kwon pulled out his unique kunai, which Ryan was starting to believe had the mystic abilities Kwon had told them it contained. Ryan's transformation followed shortly after, as the WarHammer suit grew around him like a shield. The Armors had become as skittish as Armod had been less than three hours ago, but remained calm under orders from Armostian. As Ryan's helmet finally grew around his head he sighed and asked the question that would make the betrayal concrete.

"So...this is what you really want Zav?"

The former commander looked at Ryan with a sneer, wielding what was most likely the same gun that had mowed down his allies in the broadcast room. "You don't get it, do you? I VOLUNTEERED to help them. Why should you guys even care? It's not like it's your planet!" Zav's words went deep, but the pain was pushed aside by an unusual feeling coarsing through Ryan's body. In that moment he had an instinctual urge to hit Damian, of all people. Looking back, Ryan remembered the same feeling with Pyre but had pushed it aside as rage and confusion. Now however, Ryan whispered for Damian to punch him in the hand,
a request that unsurprisingly confused all three of Ryan's friends. Ryan nagged him again, and this time Damian agreed. Trying to keep Zav's attention of his apparent victory Ryan asked him why he was doing this in the first place. "I mean, these guys are ruining your home!" Zav laughed as he heard Ryan's outburst. "How much of an idiot ARE you? I mean, why would anybody ruin a world they already control? We allow the people to work as they did before, and there's no issue with space traffic aside from how little we get. Bankis Strata used to be a merchant's paradise, but now it's practically deserted. The Armors are the first real clients they've had in ages, and they're only here to buy their Aeromis minerals. Turns out this planet is filthy with them, and Aeromis is the ultimate war material. That's the ONLY reason we put pressure on people leaving, because if your precious Hammers knew about our stockpiles they'd blow up the whole planet just to stop us!" Damian had finally edged over to Ryan and was about to punch his hidden hand, but something about what Zav said was nagging Ryan. "Wait...you keep saying 'We' as if you're with the Armors, but you're not an Armor. I mean, look at you! You CAN'T be an Armor...can you?"

Zav chuckled as Ryan looked at him with confusion, before his skin began to convulse and mutate. Within minutes a shell of crimson armor grew over Zav, as he threw away the YR-issue rifle and pulled out his own Armor blaster. "Ah...you didn't know, did you? Well, here you go. Take a look, I am full Armor. In fact, underneath these shells we're mostly humanoid like yourself. So then, are you ready to di-" Zav was cut off as a dark glow eminated from Ryan, as Damian removed his slightly paler fist from Ryan's palm. Within the suit Ryan could feel a bubbling mass flood the suit up to his neck, cutting off everything below with an oily liquid. Ryan could also feel a sting on the back of his neck, as moments later his vision went into night-scope without changing the suit's HUD. When he focused, Ryan could feel the abscense of light around him, which he could manipulate just like Damian did. His most obvious change was the color change of his suit to a venomous purple, as his fingers grew shadowy claws and his boosters began blasting out darkness rather than light. Over his HUD a message flashed across briefly: CORRUPTION MODE ACTIVE. Ryan couldn't actually understand how his newest powers work, but instead he just knew how they worked. Focusing on the closest group of Armors Ryan was able to pierce them from behind using their own shadows. With Damian feeling the same mild power-drain Pyre had felt upon their first contact, he had to work in tandem with Ryan to eliminate a decent chunk of Armors via shadow attacks. Pyre and Kwon leapt into the battle soon after, and as the four began to push back their attackers Zav and Armostion decided to make a break for it. As the battle turned into a chase more Armors appeared to throw the pursuers off the trail. After six run-ins and an ambush by Armostian the plan was working.

Pushing off yet another set of Armors with a mix of shadows and the War-Sword Ryan had an ingenious idea. Pulling out the Soul Orb, Ryan and Ray first switched places in the method Ryan was beginning to call "Soul Sliding". With Ray in control the shadow powers had unfortunately vanished, but those powers weren't needed to fight off the ambush. Throwing the orb as hard as he possibly could, Ray continued to fight off Armors as if nothing had changed. Meanwhile, the Soul Orb activated unaffected by the ignorant Armors who had thought it a dead grenade. When Ryan's fake body and golden robe had fully grown he took off after the two Armors, unsheathing the WarHammer duplicate as he ran. Going into the standard suit Ryan was more than capable of catching the fleeing Armors, before Armostian turned to face him and let Zav continue fleeing. With renewed stamina Ryan was able to parry the Armor's saber strikes, cutting through the man's shoulder blade and stabing his opposite hand in under two minutes. With Armostian out of the way Ryan continued to chase Zav, eventually shooting the grappling hook portion of the War-Garrote out to cause a cave-in which blocked Zav's path. "Give it up Zav, it's over."

"Would you please stop calling me 'Zav'? I mean, it was a cover name after all. It's not like your name is really Ryan, right Hammer?" Ryan faltered, knowing that nobody out here would've ever met him before the incident. "Actually, it is. That's probably the difference between Armors and Hammers, eh?" Ignoring Zav's hateful glare, Ryan went on. "So then 'Zav', you left your boss back there to die. Not a good way to gain ranks now, is it?" Zav sniggered as Ryan spoke, then looked at Ryan's expression before sniggering even more. "Okay, that's just too much. You really think that stooge Armostian was MY boss? Try the other way around, dear little brat. My name is Aremos, Brigadier-General of the 405th Armor Battalion, and you are WAY over your head!" Ryan was not quick enough to fully dodge Aremos's spray, as he found cover behind a fallen stone while trying to stop the flow of 'blood' from his stomach. Despite the acidic feeling Ryan had over his entire body he had little choice if he wanted to survive, and so as Ryan rolled away from the rock he pulled out the WarHammer and entered Corruption Mode. Without his suit on the change was much more obvious, as nearby shadows began to crawl up and coil around Ryan's body. It also seeped into Ryan's open wound and mixed with his blood, so that the shadow energy coarsed through Ryan much faster than it had earlier. Ryan pulled out his War-Saber, whose light was enveloped by the shadows creating a pitch-black blade of energy nearly invisible to the naked eye. Ryan raced towards Aremos aiming to end the battle quickly, but Aremos was much faster than he had ever been as Zav.


When Ryan continued forward from the velocity of his failed jab he was heading right into a wall, but rather than the feeling of flesh against jagged stone Ryan felt a strangely soft cushion swallow him up. Opening his eyes, Ryan looked around to see the shadows blanket him and hide him from Aremos's view as he strafed along the shadow-covered walls in silence. When he had found the best striking point Ryan jumped out to slash Aremos across his left leg. Instead of the roll Ryan had been planning to use however, Ryan sunk into the ground below. This particular power worked in three dimensions, as Ryan struck again with an uppercut across Aremos's right shoulder before flying into the ceiling. On his third strike however Ryan's vision began to blur, and instead of a lethal blow Ryan only burned Aremos's right arm. Whether this was a signal that Corruption Mode was ending or not wasn't important to Ryan, because he had no intention of going blind from one fight. Letting the shadows guide him Ryan closed his eyes,
blocking Aremos's own miasma saber and plunging his shadow claw straight into Aremos's lung. As his foe fell to his knees coughing up blood Ryan forced the power-boost to end, clearing his vision as he leaned against the stone wall. Placing his hand on his forehead while trying to ignore the burning sensation that was covering his body. "I'd ask why, but there's no point is there?"

After fifteen minutes the others caught up, and both Kwon and Damian were shocked to see Ryan and even more so when Ray removed the helmet. Ryan then deactivated the Soul Orb, sending his spirit back into the pilot's seat of his own body. Feeling the exhaustion of the past two hours catch up with him Ryan fell back to be caught by his three friends. Throughout the compound cheers could be heard as the last Armors were eliminated, as Kwon tied up Aremos's arms while making sure to cause Aremos immense pain from his wounds. As soon as Ryan was rested enough the four moved out into the ampitheater, dragging Aremos along with them. With the remaining rebels gathered around them Ryan threw Aremos into the ground via the Armor's bleeding shoulder, shattering Aremos's already-damaged shoulder bone. As the Armor screamed in agony Ryan kicked him in the gut. "This man, this demon is Aremos, the real leader of the Armors here on Bankis Strata. Not only did he infiltrate our base and slaughter our friends, but he
tortured Zav to find this place!" As those who knew the truth exchanged confused glances the others screamed out in rage and anguish. "Y-you fools" Aremos stuttered between bloody coughs. "You'll never know the truth, but what do I care? My job is done, and Lord Armos will make my name immortal. All hail the Armo-" Aremos slumped as Ryan planted his beam saber through Aremos's skull, sick and tired of the propaganda. The secret of Zav's betrayal would die with the ten who knew, so that the ideals of a false hero would continue with his pawns. With their COs killed the Armors left on the planet took a more defensive position, fighting only to defend their precious Aeromis mines. With the rebellion gaining more members each day as Armor influence weakened Ryan and Pyre had no more reason to be on Bankis Strata when they had important intel to give the Hammers.

On the day the two were preparing to leave they were stopped by Kwon and Damian, who had taken notice of the boys' actions during their reprieve from command. With the adults forming a more cohesive military force there was no longer a need for the former lieutenants to be there either, so Kwon and Damian decided to join Ryan and Pyre on their expedition. The four had finished packing by dawn, and left Bankis Strata without a single goodbye for fear of becoming too attached to leave. Ryan's last surprise wasn't too big of a deal for his new shipmates, as the WYVERN materialized from the WarHammer. Ryan set up his new companions with rooms, then settled down in the cockpit to launch them clear from the atmosphere. After the four finished unpacking and raided the newly restocked fridge they joked around for a bit before the topic of their alliance came up. No matter where they are, children always congregate and create names for their groups. It was Kwon who suggested the name Stratos Squardron, a corny name that nonetheless explained their purpose of defending worlds as best they could. As they had done prior to their arrival on Bankis Strata Ryan and Pyre were training under Ray, now joined by Kwon and Damian. Kwon took the regiment very seriously, causing the others to work hard out of sheer pride. As the WYVERN continued its course towards the Hammer's domain the four began to test their skills against each other, rocketing their training well beyond what Ray had pushed on them. Ryan was even gaining decent control of his Corruption Mode, but for some strange reason he could not link up with Kwon.

It had been a little more than a week since their departure when disaster struck. Out of nowhere a fleet of Armor ships appeared, surrounding the WYVERN and locking onto it. For some bizarre reason they refused to fire directly at the ship however, firing only to keep it in place. Before anybody could come up with a feasible escape plan a face appeared onscreen, displaying a regal-looking man whose eyes shone with arrogance and greed. His dark hair and pitch-black armor proved that at least he was an Armor, but as Ryan took in the face his friends cringed mildly from combined fear and anger. What's going on?!? Ryan asked Ray in his head. That man before you is Lord Armos, the Warlord King of the Armors! Ryan stared at his nemesis with rapt attention now, wanting to fully analyze the source of all the pain Ryan had seen and felt. Armos let out a sigh, then finally dignified the team with a remark. "So, you are the vigilantes I've been informed of. Tell me, which one of you is the Hammer?" Ryan put his hand up to no resistance from Ray and acknowledged himself as a Hammer. "Well then, I'm afraid what I'm about to say will be extremely awkward. You see...I need your help."