The sight was shocking not only to Freed and his legion but to the watchers of Earth. 5 years ago, they struggled against the one Dragur known as Gerhad. Sure, he was the fourth - now second - strongest dragur and Freed only needed him for the mission, and the dragurs that were sent to the battlefield now were the lowest ranked - but they still posed a challenge, especially in higher numbers.
So. It was shocking to see this outcome. Freed never anticipated the strength of Earth to increase, and find a way for them to combat against the dragur scales. 7. 7 Black dragur were taken down. These were 50-44. No one could have thought the team of 5 would be able to take down even 2 but 7. Freed had to hash out a new plan.
But the issue was now, they were worn down. Dawson didn't have much flame left and despite Jo's healing, her stamina due to ki began wearing her down a lot more than normal, since she never really had a full-blown battle where she attacked. Jo was trained to be a healer much longer than she trained to attack. Nakamura was down for the count, leaving Evermore and Zac, but they also had to keep their daughter and everyone who was down safe.
"Look at you. The human race. Blessed with abilities. Or magic. Call it what you want." Hearing the sounds of scale to rock, Jisa walked out of the battle exhausted and everyone was shocked. Even Freed. His creation failed. Gerhad, the dragur he personally cultivated lost to Jisa, a black dragur who he never focused on as much as the others.
"We can't do it anymore. We have to go." Jo grabbed Nakamura before seeing Ever quickly approach the group. "Go! Get out of here!" Jisa urged, planning to remain behind to at least ensure the people Machi called family's safety. As Jisa yelled the words, someone appeared in front of her, pulling her arm only to grab the group and teleport them out of the battlefield.
'A teleporter? No... that was tech.'
***
Noticing the room they arrived in was the command centre, Jo placed Nakamura on the floor and began healing him while Dawson collapsed and leaned back, tired from the battle. Jisa noticed Plue was holding the other end of an old teleportation device and the one who dragged them out was seated in front of the 15 screens with communications opened.
"Oi, dumbo can you hear me? Where the hell did you go?" Mysco yelled through the communicator in his hand. "You said you had a plan. Well, WHAT?!" He paused for a second and prayed the Dragur tech wouldn't overload the computer, before uploading a file.
"You have a plan?" Jisa asked. "Mind letting everyone know?"
He sighed and looked at her. "Remember how all the ships are linked? Well... Mysco is on aircraft 2, so, she's going to interface me into their system and I'm going to attempt to destroy, corrupt, and hopefully, blow up all 48 ships while praying that the Dragur tech doesn't cause this computer to... also blow up from how advanced it is. It's not like I had time to build a bridging device."
Jisa smiled sarcastically before looking back at everyone in the room who seemed to be full of emotions. But Machi? He was compartmentalising. Keeping an eye on the battle, he watched as the Dragurs began to head back to their ships when Jisa looked concerned. There wasn't much left to do on his part so Machi stood up and sighed.
"And where are you going, young mister?" Jisa asked. Evermore was shocked at how she talked to him when Machi turned around. Truly confirming that it was him even if he aged.
"All the aircraft team needs is a minute. And everyone, including you Jisa, is exhausted. I can handle that many for a minute."
"It's 40! From 43-4!"
But a rift already opened. And Machi stepped through, closing before anyone could follow.
'Is this a good idea? No.' Machi said and Carbine agreed. Grabbing the gauntlets from his pocket, he remembered Halso gifting him that were made of zeolite from scraps of the ship they didn't need anymore.
***
Everyone was silent before someone spoke up. "You knew he was alive. Why didn't you say anything?" Jo asked. Jisa and the others looked away. No one wanted to open the can of worms in the middle of a fight, and Jisa didn't know how they'd react if they learned Machi didn't want to be revealed upon his return.
"Big Brother said if Liberatus even had the passing thought he was alive, he'd be dead for sure," Plue spoke. "He asked we come to help you all while he dealt with all the ships in the blue sky." They saw the drones capture his arrival on the battlefield and the file said one minute to completion.
"Machi Harkness. How in God's name did you survive?" Freed asked. "Gehard didn't kill you. But you're a psycho coming here. Coming to fight an enemy your mother can't defeat."
Zac watched with so much worry when he looked at the other Dragur who seemed to have the same reaction. "Mama, why aren't you helping him? Mama is stronger than anyone there!" Plue begged and she didn't have the heart to tell him she couldn't right now.
"No matter. You haven't changed from last time Machi. This fight will end in your death. 43, deal with him. Everyone else, get on the ships." Freed ordered.
Watching as the said Dragur followed the orders, Freed bit back his words as everyone just watched what happened. Well, watched the following scenes. "What happened? That was too fast for the cameras to keep up." Kai asked. Everyone all over watched the scene unfold before their eyes. Watching the dust clear up...
"Machi one shotted number 43..." Jo almost trembled. "How? What... where..."
"He begged me to train him," Jisa said as she watched the screen, "saying how it didn't matter if he had the knowledge, strength was needed for this war. He almost died in the first month he arrived. But I saw it. A power... a flame, and so I taught him all I could. And discovered new things every day with this power he referred to as ki."
"That... was ki?" Jo asked.
"That was one of his strongest punches. I think he was trying to prove a point..." Jisa chuckled, "that he's changed. He's grown."
At this rate. They didn't know how strong he had gotten. Or maybe, everything on regards to strength... was only on a miniscule scale. Hearing the doors burst open, they all turned to see a familiar powerful red head run in. "Is it him?"
'You have a loving family Machi.' Jisa thought and watched as Plue admired him as he fought. "Mama why isn't he using it?" Plue asked.
"Cause..." Jisa tilted her head... "I don't actually know."
"Kill that boy." Freed ordered, uncaring how many dragurs it took. Machi Harkness had to be eliminated.