“Contact! 10 o’clock!” a soldier yelled underneath his balaclava.

The mecha had spotted it before the callout—a bike with a neon purple trail behind a cloud of dirt. The machine got on all fours and powered up the cannon on its back. The plasma building within was audible throughout the valley.

A blue beam blasted from the cannon and pierced a hole through the dirt cloud. The motorcycle weaved to the left. The cannon continued spraying a line of plasma as the robot beast leaned its body from side to side, dragging the laser across the dirt and destroying whatever it touched. The mecha had missed its target. It shouted a metallic roar and galloped on all fours toward the bike, leaving its human comrades in the dust. The mecha was charging up another blast as it ran.

BZZZZT, BOOM! The bike exploded into a thousand fragments. The soldiers running with binoculars relaxed and boasted to each other, Omega! Glorious Omega! We actually saw action! How many years has it been? Let’s go!

The bike was being remotely controlled by Mayumi via joystick. During the distraction Mocha had descended from the sky while holding onto the cloaked Yoshi. She chucked a grenade straight inside of the mecha’s plasma cannon. Yoshi pulled her up and away as fast as possible.

BOOM!

Tatsuki cursed in excitement, then covered his mouth. The kids giggled. The parents weren’t even aware that he had cursed. They were all watching from the mountain at the spectacle. Two women against that abomination? Plus 6 Omega military soldiers?! Days ago they would have scoffed at the idea, but now they had a reckless confidence in their protectors. There was no other option. They had to win.

The machine beast let out a roar as the blue explosion set off on its back. It galloped toward the flying woman and reached for her with a leap to the sky. It was unable to grab anything except air. It stood up and pointed its fist toward her; a cannon upon its wrist charged up. The cannon exploded from within and the machine yelled again. Mayumi had shot it from afar with an explosive round. She loaded another one and lined up her scope.

The robot lost track of Mocha. Its scanner did not pick up any signatures. The ground troops finally caught up and stood on both sides of the giant machine.

During the explosion, Mocha had dropped from the sky and clambered onto the mecha’s wrecked cannon. Mocha waited until the soldiers were in position…

She dropped to the dirt and dashed from the rear of the mechas tree-trunk legs. Lavender flames danced around her blade and the glow in her eyes had returned, along with the sigils across her body. She didn’t have much time or energy to spare. She moved so quickly that she appeared as a blurry apparition.

The balaclava troops shot toward the woman but she disappeared into purple smoke?! Another explosive blast hit the center of the mechas head. The machine clutched its weakened hull to protect the internal computer.

“Sniper! 12 o’clock! HQ, this is Rex Unit 10, requesting—AHH!!!”

Mocha stabbed the troop in his stomach and carved him with an upward swipe, separating him from the waist up. She dashed toward the next soldier, leaving a purple trail behind her and chopped off both legs in a clean sweep, creating a beautiful arc of purple flames with her slash. She jumped in a butterfly twist toward the next soldier and cut him as she landed. All three soldiers on the left side were dead.

The mecha slashed toward Mocha on the left side of it, smearing the floored soldiers into red mist and creating a deep trench with its missed attack. She dove backward underneath its legs. It raised up a foot for a stomp but had no target to squish. She had reverse-somersaulted into a stand and ran to the remaining soldiers.

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Mayumi shot an explosive blast to the mechas left leg, making it kneel. The soldiers to the right were in a desperate panic; they had to eliminate the sniper, but they had this crazy sword woman to take care of. Before they could strategically focus their efforts, all of them were chopped to bits.

The mecha seemed to go feral, rolling onto its back to crush Mocha, but only crushed the dead soldiers. She had evaporated into purple smoke and created distance. She pulled the pin of another grenade and prepared to throw, but the mecha spotted her and lunged forward.

Mocha dodge a swipe from the machine with a backflip and tossed the grenade at the robot’s feet while mid-air. The explosion caused the left leg to shatter and the mecha fell to its chest. It pathetically tried to stand but failed, falling to a crawl.

Mocha never touched the ground after her flip; she had been lifted by Yoshi and now hovered directly above the mecha. She dropped from the sky, aiming her sword wrapped with purple flames into the weakened skull that Mayumi shot earlier. Her blade stabbed straight into the mainframe of the machine. Mocha made a two-finger hand sign and released a burst of purple flame from her blade that spread through the interior of the machine. Her hair pulled backward from the explosion and her bones vibrated painfully from the dispersion of magic. Immediately her spiritual energy relinquished. The marks on her body turned brown and she fell to her knees on top of the dead machine.

“Mocha! Are you alright?! Mocha?!”

From Mayumi’s scope she saw Mocha raise a thumb.

“Oh, thank goodness. Just stay there! P-quad, let’s get her!”

“No, get our friends first,” Mocha instructed. Mayumi obeyed. When the gondola picked up the cheering group, Mayumi mentioned the fact that Mocha called them all ‘friends’. It was a big deal!

Mayumi and Mocha were grateful that this was all that Omega had sent out. Imagine if they sent an actual beast? Perhaps they should have, but for our case, thank God they didn’t.

“Welcome back,” Yuki said as Mayumi helped Mocha into the gondola.

“You’re so cool!” one of the kids shouted.

“I wanna be just like you when I grow up!”

“Thank you so much,” Ichigo said.

Everyone expressed their deep gratitude.

“It’s no problem, it’s what we signed up for,” Mayumi replied. Mocha smiled softly, but her body was trembling. In her mind she promised herself to train 100 times harder when she got back to the village… But that can wait… Finally, they were on their way home.

“May I check her wounds? I’m a nurse,” Yuki asked the co-pilot. He was wearing a helmet that covered the top half of his head. He checked the skies first, asked the pilot, then gave her the go-ahead. Yuki unbuckled her seatbelt. Mocha’s white sailor suit top was completely covered in blood. Yuki unbuttoned her shirt and the interior bandages were soaking again.

“Oh, Mocha…” Yuki said as she went to retrieve her medical kit.

“I’m okay…” Mocha replied unconvincingly.

Yuki shook her head as she unraveled her bandages. She cleaned the reopened chest wound and gave Mocha a stern warning that she cannot let this happen again! Rest was absolutely essential from here on out, or she risked permanent damage. Mocha let her know that she’d try her best, but no promises. The entire gondola laughed, but Yuki gave the closed-eye Mocha a stern look. Mocha grabbed Yuki’s hand and squeezed it. She opened her unbruised eye and exchanged a grateful smile with the nurse.

Tatsuki looked at the markings on Mocha’s face and across her feet. He wanted to ask, but was afraid… Mayumi noticed his gaze. She gave him a touch on the shoulder and pointed with her chin toward Mocha, ‘go ahead’. Tatsuki bit his lip.

“Hey, Mocha… What was that purple stuff around you? It was… beautiful.”

There was that word again. Damn, what the hell is wrong with me?!

Mocha’s eyes stayed shut as she leaned against the gondola wall.

“It’s magical. I’ll tell you another time. Maybe.”

Mayumi chimed in. “Let’s get to Genesis first. Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know one another,” she winked at Tatsuki. He blushed and left it alone.