“They can’t do that!” James protested. “They need her to fight!”

  Harue rolled her eyes. “Obviously, it's just temporary while they sabotage her Frame,” she said. “Even Matsuri picked up on that one.”

  James flushed. Oh. Right.

  He’d forgotten about Matsuri because he’d been too busy worrying about Suki. In fact… what were they doing still standing here? He had to get down there!

  “Let’s go,” he said firmly.

  Harue led them again through the service corridors, straight to a locked door with Matsuri in front, fuming.

  “They threw me out! Of my own mech bay!” she exclaimed as soon as she saw the group.

  “Toldja,” Harue said, shrugging.

  “Shouldn’t Shion be here?” James asked.

  “She’s securing our escape route,” Harue told him. “Right now though, we need to get in there.”

  Kana frowned. “Allow me,” she said. She took hold of the handle and turned. There was a screech of breaking metal, but the door stood firm. With a sniff, Kana kicked it.

  The door went flying into the room beyond. Kana stepped through.

  “It seems this door is broken,” she announced.

  Coming in behind her, James got a look at the people she’d spoken to. Three young toughs lingered in the mechanical bay, looking startled at their sudden entry. One of them was wiping grease from his hands with slow satisfaction. One leaned against a tool chest, holding a wrench between his fingers, and the third gave the Junko’s Frame an affectionate pat.

  “We’re all done here, himehina-chan,” he said. Somehow, even his voice was greasy. “Everything’s tip top.”

  “Like I’d trust you three with fixing a lawnmower,” Matsuri scoffed. “Get out of my bay!”

  The thugs laughed.

  “You got awful brave, just cause you got a couple of pretty ladies behind you,” the one with greasy hands said.

  “Jamesu-kun isn’t a lady! He’s a gaijin guy!”

  “Like there's a difference,” the one with the wrench said.

  The third one sniggered and strolled forward casually. “Yeah, what are they going to do, f—ugrk!”

  Kana had walked calmly up and grabbed him by the throat.

  “I am going to choke you into unconsciousness,” she stated. “Slowly. That will provide ample time for you to struggle helplessly and contemplate the mistakes that you have made that led to your demise.”

  “Kana!” James yelled. He stepped forward but was brought short by the two other thugs surging towards him. They all stopped, wary of what the others were going to do.

  Meanwhile, Kana’s victim had pulled out a wicked-looking knife and had plunged it into her arm.

  “Pathetic,” Kana sneered. “Do you feel you have accomplished something? I will have healed this before the light has faded from your eyes.”

  She slapped his hand away from his dagger and pulled it out of her. There was nowhere near as much blood as James would have expected and her wound was visibly closing as he watched. The yakuza frantically redoubled his futile efforts to get out of her grip. This seemed to enrage the other thugs.

  “Let go of him, you freak!” one of them yelled as they rushed in. One of them had a chain weapon, the other had pulled out a baton to complement his wrench.

  It made no difference to Kana. Disdaining the knife held in her hand, she simply punched the thug that came in on that side. The other got clobbered by her still-struggling captive, wielded with no concern for his well-being.

  Both attackers went down in a boneless heap. Kana tossed her now unconscious captive on top of them. After taking a moment to inspect the knife, she tossed it aside with a sniff.

  “How was that?” she asked Harue.

  “Mmn, pretty good, I’d say!” Harue said brightly. “You left them alive, which is the main thing. You were a bit more imperious than I would have been, but that’s kind of your brand, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Imperious.” Kana nodded in satisfaction. “The rest of you may proceed.”

  Matsuri ran forward to examine her Frame. “What have they done to you!” she wailed. Kana went with her, leaving James and Harue with the pile of Yakuza.

  James hung back, looking—but not approaching too closely—the hopefully still-living bodies on the floor.

  “Are they alive?” he asked Harue who was inspecting the fallen thugs.

  “They’re fine,” she assured him. She went through the pile, taking the pulse of each one.

  James blinked. He was sure that they had been wearing watches before. Gold watches. Harue winked at him and started going through their pockets.

  “You’re robbing them?” James asked.

  “These are criminals, James,” Harue said severely. “This—” she held up a wad of 5000 yen notes— “is the proceeds of crime!”

  She grinned at James, the outrage falling off her face like water. “And my allowance is nowhere near what it should be.”

  “Don’t you just steal whatever you need?” James countered. Harue gave him a puzzled look.

  “Well, sure, but I’m not sure what your point is? I—”

  The room shook, as if the building had been struck by a massive blow. Harue bounced to her feet.

  “Time to go, people! Matsuri, get in that Frame!”

  “But I haven’t found the sabotage yet!” Matsuri protested. With Kana’s help, she’d gotten the cowling open on one of the Frame’s legs, but that was it.

  “Tournament’s cancelled!” Harue declared. “That noise was ten heavy KHI Frames airdropping on the arena. They’re looking for Suki, but they can’t afford witnesses, so we need to get off the island! Take the Frame or not, but we need to go!”

  Matsuri stared at Harue for a second. “I’m not leaving Princess Flower behind!” she declared and quickly closed the cowling.

  “We need to meet up with Suki, and she’s in the arena,” James reminded Harue. “How do we get in there?”

  “I think the gates are all handled remotely from the main announcer’s booth,” Harue said thoughtfully. “I’ll get in there and open them for you.”

  She winked at him and disappeared. James stared at the space where she’d been for a moment and then hurried over to help Matsuri get in her frame.

  By the time Matsuri had powered up the Lovely Princess, the Arena doors were standing wide open, revealing a scene of chaos. Across from them, the wall of the arena had collapsed from the impact of the Frame that was now covered in rubble. Three more Frames of the same type were in the arena, engaged in combat with the Frames that had been fighting there originally.

  The new frames were squat, ugly and grey. No consideration had been given to aesthetics; they had been designed purely with military function in mind. They were painted in dappled grey camouflage, covered in slanted armour plates and armed with efficient-looking guns.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  It looked like the arena fighters had joined forces to repel the invaders. In close quarters like these, their hand-to-hand weapons weren’t as great a disadvantage as they might normally be. The Azure Tyrant had damaged its opponent while losing a wing in return. The Steel Serpent had wrapped its arm around the limb of its adversary, crushing the underslung gun barrel. The Obsidian Wasp—Suki—was…

  She had danced under the short axe held by the third KHI Heavy and plunged her long blade in… only for it to shatter against its heavy armour. The axe came down and she dodged again, but that only brought her into line with the mech’s anti-Frame shotgun.

  The weapon boomed, and the Obsidian Wasp went spinning to the ground.

  “Suki!” James yelled. Everything went green. Before he knew what was happening, he was dashing across the arena, a green streak of light with his sword held high. He barely had the presence of mind to swipe at the offending Frame as he dashed past it, heading straight for Suki.

  There was a crash behind him as he reached her Frame. It wasn’t… heavily damaged, James thought. The light armour had shattered in a hundred places under the shotgun blast, but nothing was leaking from the interior. He didn’t care. He dashed to the cockpit and pulled the canopy open, unheeding of the unlocking mechanism.

  Suki was there, looking up at him.

  “Oh, hello James. Is it time for school already?”

  She looked a little dazed.

  “Uh, no,” James said. “But we’ve got to get out of here.”

  “Okay!” Suki said happily. Then she frowned. “But I can’t seem to move.”

  James detached his girlfriend from the seat restraints and pulled her out of the cockpit.

  “Can you stand?” he asked. He looked around to see what was going on. The Frame that Suki had been fighting was on the ground, its leg severed halfway through its thigh. It was crawling towards them slowly, its manipulator hand stretched out toward them.

  “I’m a little unsteady,” Suki admitted. “Maybe you could carry me?”

  “That’s a good idea,” James agreed. He swept her up in a princess carry. With the strength that flowed through him from the green armour, she was as light as a feather. Somehow, he could feel her softness and warmth transmitted through the armour.

  Wait, didn’t I have a sword?

  Even as he looked around, he realised that it had attached to his back… somehow.

  “Hey, kids!” Harue’s voice rang out on the announcer's PA system. “Head back into the mech bay! Matsuri will lead you out by the loading dock!”

  James wondered if that was the best idea when there was a hole in the wall right there. Then, with a shifting and grinding of rubble, the Frame that had created the hole started to stand up. Two more KHI Heavies loomed into view behind it.

  Right. Mech bay.

  James started running for the Frame-sized door where his friends were. He couldn’t seem to find the burst of speed that he’d used before, but he outdistanced the Frames chasing him.

  And they were chasing after him. Or Suki. The two in the arena were tied up with their own fights, but the three newcomers were headed for him as fast as they could pick their way through the rubble.

  “This way!” Matsuri announced through her Frame’s speakers.

  “I will stay here to prevent them from following,” Kana announced.

  “What!” Matsuri exclaimed.

  “Are you sure?” James asked.

  “Hi, Kana!” Suki said gaily. “Do you think your brother will join us at school? You can make him a packed lunch!”

  Kana looked at Suki with concern.

  “She’s a little dazed,” James said apologetically.

  “Indeed,” Kana said. “This is a defensible chokepoint. They will not get past me, and I will catch up with you later.”

  “How?” Matsuri exclaimed. “Those are Frames, you can’t just—urk!”

  There was a shimmer of shadows, and then Kana was gone, replaced by ten metres of coiling scales and dragon muscle.

  “Go,” the dragon ordered, and Matsuri obeyed. James followed her, still carrying Suki.

  “This is nice,” Suki said. “You’re much greener than I remember, though. Are we going to the Emerald City?”

  “No… I’m wearing my armour,” James said.

  “Oooh… I thought it would be harder.”

  “Yeah, me too,” James said, bemused.

  They followed the thudding footsteps of the Lovely Princess until they got to a large, multi-purpose loading bay. Matsuri hit the Frame-sized button to open the main roller door and cautiously looked outside.

  “The road curves around some cliffs,” she explained, “But it’s a straight shot to the docks. Shion was supposed to be guarding the boat.”

  There were sounds of combat behind them, but for the moment, there were no Heavy Frames in view.

  “Let’s go then,” James said. Matsuri didn’t move. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Dad talks about dragons sometimes as if they’re real,” Matsuri said. “But I’ve never seen one, right in my face like that.”

  “Yeah, well.” James thought about what to say. “She’s still the same Kana that you know. And when you think about it, it explains a lot.”

  Matsuri laughed. It sounded strange coming through the speakers; the higher notes were clipped by the low-fidelity speakers. “Yeah,” she agreed. “It does.”

  She stepped out and headed down the road, moving faster when it turned out that James could keep up with her.

  “That’s bullshit,” she said. “My legs are twice as long as yours! How are you—”

  She stopped as they came around the bend. There was a Frame blocking the way. Not one of the KHI Heavies.

  It was the Red Raptor, and it had drawn two of its eight swords. It had jammed the tips into the surface of the road and was resting its hands against the pommels of the weapons as if they were walking sticks.

  “What do you want?” Matsuri said over the speakers.

  “How rude.” A woman’s voice came out of the speakers of the other Frame. “I know we were introduced this afternoon at the pilot’s get-together. Matsuri-chan.”

  “Why would I remember the name of some grandmother who thinks she can pilot a Frame?” Matsuri asked.

  “Tsch! You’ve got a mouth on you, don’t you? Well, the Family will beat that out of you soon enough.”

  “Hnah? What’s your family got to do with me? You mistake me for your boyfriend or something? You sleeping with a twelve-year-old that calls you mommy?”

  James was starting to think that Matsuri was spending far too much time with Shion.

  “Tama de!” The woman said in Chinese. “What do they teach kids in this country? My Family matters to you, brat, because we spent a lot of money to get you and your Frame. You’re coming with me.”

  “Are you senile, Grandma? I’m not going with anyone. Try and stop me, and I’ll cut that hunk of junk in two.”

  “Heh, you can talk trash, but you’re dreaming if you think you can beat me. Your Frame will be worth less in two pieces, but we can always get you to build us a new one.”

  The red Frame pulled its swords out of the road. Matsuri responded by drawing her dai-dai-katana.

  The fight started, two swords against one, and James could only watch, spellbound. This wasn’t like anything he’d seen in the dojo. Frames didn’t move like people, not quite. Servo motors weren’t muscles; the proportions of each limb segment were different, and the geometry of mechanical joints was subtly different from what nature had provided.

  It made the moves look subtly wrong. Off-true and ungainly. It made it hard to see the grace. You had to throw away what you knew.

  It helped that he didn’t know much. James had no doubt that Midoriko-sensei would spit blood before admitting this fight had elegance. But James couldn’t deny the beauty in front of his eyes. It was raw, made brutal by the physics of Frame combat. When the Red Raptor was pushed back a step, its foot tore up the road surface. When Matsuri swung her sword, the air howled around it. It was a trainwreck in motion, combined with a ballet.

  But every dance came to an end. Matsuri’s sword swung in a brilliant arc, and one of Red Raptor’s arms went flying.

  “Not as good as you thought you were,” Matsuri taunted.

  “Tsch! I suppose not. Still, this fight isn’t over.”

  “What are you talking about, old woman? You couldn’t beat me with two swords, and now you have one.”

  The Red Raptor raised its one remaining sword. “I think you miscounted,” its pilot said.

  “Oh? Are you going to show me how the swords on your back aren’t decoration?” Matsuri asked mockingly.

  “Oh, there’s no need for that. By my count, I have one sword, while you have nothing at all. Still… How shameful, that I should have to rely on this.”

  “What are you—”

  There was a muffled explosion from inside the Lovely Princess. Its right arm suddenly drooped to the ground. Its sword clattered on the road.

  “You see?” the Red Raptor taunted. “Now I just take off the other arm and drag you back to your new owners.”

  Oh no, I have to do something, James thought. He quickly lowered Suki to the ground and reached for his sword. It was… stuck or something? Is there a trick to release it?

  Before he could figure it out, the Red Raptor had raised her sword and was bringing it down with a brutal cutting motion. James wasn’t going to make it in time, Matsuri was going to—

  There was a screech of metal, and sparks flew in every direction as the Red Raptor’s sword was cut in half. James stared, his sword forgotten.

  “Oh, there you are, Harue!” Suki said. “I was wondering where you’d gotten to!”

  Harue was floating in mid-air between the two Frames. Her tails and ears were out, and for some reason, she was back in her school uniform. Long, wicked-looking claws were extending out of her fingers, claws which had just sheared through Red Raptor’s blade.

  Harue giggled. “Here I come to save the daaay!” she sang.

  “Wo cao!” The Raptor cursed in Chinese. “What the hell are you?” she asked, switching back to Japanese.

  “I’m the one who’s going to kick your ass,” Harue said, floating in the air as if it were nothing. “You can call me shisho.”

  “Like hell, I will,” the Raptor snarled. “Fine, I’ll give the brat her wish.”

  Matsuri spat an insult that really wasn’t appropriate. Harue just grinned and rose further into the air, just enough that her feet were on the level of the Red Raptor's head.

  With a faint clunk, the six blades attached to the back of the Red Raptor detached. Instead of falling to the ground, they floated up to the level of the Raptor’s shoulders. Moving as one, they all pointed at Harue.

  “I’ll kill you, whatever you are, and then I’ll take the girl,” the pilot said.

  Harue just smiled and made a beckoning gesture with her palm up.

  “So be it,” the Raptor pilot growled. “Flesh falls to steel.”

  The Red Raptor didn’t move, but the swords all flashed forward. Six swords, eight feet long and razor sharp, darted toward the fox-girl. Who didn’t move. All six swords hit the target, plunging in from different directions. They clashed together with a scream, metal meeting metal in the girl's torso.

  Who floated there grinning, completely unharmed.

  “I can’t believe you fell for that,” she said. Then she disappeared.

  She was moving, James could see that, with the help of the green armour. She had been too fast to see. Now, she was still too fast for him, but he could see her, at least. She was a blue and gold blur as she dashed behind the Frame and plunged her claws into its back. James thought he made out three distinct blows before she zipped back to face the pilot.

  The six swords fell out of the air. A disturbing grating sound started coming from the interior of the frame. The Red Raptor dropped to its knees.

  Harue floated down, stopping when her eyes were level with those of the pilot.

  “Toldja.”

  was in the game. She ambushed us after we escaped and were running down the mountain. In the game, the others were all there and active, but they let Harue fight alone because there's no point in ganging up in Tenra rules. In the story version, it didn't seem right to have them all stand around, so I found ways to keep them out of the fight.