Dynastiotron Stratagem

"Goodness! My puff-wuffle tail!" Enshiron hugged his purple tail on a hotel bed. "I missed you so much!"

"At least this isn't the real world," Elysia massaged Enshiron's tail.

"Wait, would your Vulpi tails grow back in the real world?" Naivern tightened her guitar strings.

"No. Our tails are like limbs."

"I say, I cannot imagine the horror of living without my precious tail!" Enshiron rubbed his face into his tail.

"Good thing the game teleported us back into Tetrachrome," Shien said. "I wonder where Mivange is."

"Maybe she woke up earlier than us," Ritom shrugged.

"Let's check downstairs!"

***

"What do you mean you don't have a map of the Dynastiotron domain?" Ampyria slammed her hand on the desk.

"Um..." Mivangeline mumbled. "Ch... Chloridium is the one who provides the maps..."

"Oh my gosh. You're a commander, right? Shouldn't you know this basic information?"

"Ampyria," Phoenicia tapped her on the shoulder. "I do not believe scolding her will assist in determining a constructive countermeasure against the Dynastiotron Dynasty."

"Hiya!" Shien bounced from the last stair into the lobby floor with his friends. "What's going on?"

"Greetings to everyone!" Phoenicia waved. "I am pleased to see you all well. We are aiding Commander Shuruuko in locating Skcimita Diluvian."

"How's Mivange doing?"

"Well..."

Mivangeline plopped her dizzy head into her arms.

"Commander Shuruuko still needs Chloridium to hold her hand," Ampyria facepalmed. "Seriously, she can't do things by herself!"

"But she helped us beat Dosigma, right?" Naivern said. "Thanks to her, we're the first people to ever beat a boss in the Syanic Earth."

"Mivangeline is a great strategist," Shien nodded. "She just needs some oomph."

He walked up to Mivangeline.

"Heyo, Mivange!" Shien nudged her.

"Um... h... hi?" Mivangeline lifted her head.

"You need help in finding the Dynastiotron?"

"Chloridium usually provides the schematics for us, but... he's not here. There's no way to find the next boss without his map..."

"But there are other ways, right?" Shien sat on her desk. "Hmm. Why don't we think of different methods to find the Dynastiotron?"

"How?"

"Okay. Well, the machine samurai need to go home somewhere," Shien swung his legs. "They don't magically appear out of nowhere."

"Hey, perhaps we could follow the machine samurai to their hideout, like sneaky ninjas!" Enshiron snapped his finger.

"Following the Dynastiotron forces..." Mivangeline sat up, placing her hand on her chin. "I guess that's possible, but I doubt the warriors would make it easy for us to track them to their domain."

"We play by ear then!" Shien gave a thumbs up. "And thanks for filling our item stock while we were resting!"

"Oh, yeah. Of course..."

"By that way, where did Ruddigus and Esarin go?" Naivern asked.

"They're utilizing their free time to purchase YuGiOh cards," Phoenicia said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ritom rolled his eyes.

"Commander Shuruuko!" A police droid barged through the front doors. "The Dynastiotron are attacking Tetrachrome and kidnapping droids!"

"The samurai kidnap droids? Why?" Ritom asked.

"They capture us androids as batteries for their Empress," Ampyria grimaced.

"We'll rescue them," Mivangeline flipped her daggers onto her hands. "Maybe we'll find some clues about the samurai too."

***

Across the blazing streets of Tetrachrome, the Syanic Police droids fended off the Dynastiotron samurai and ronin sharpshooters.

The gray Dynastiotron samurai wore glowing red goggles, dark purple yukatas, and metal jingasas. They wielded long red plasma katanas and spiky purple shields they threw as boomerangs. Nearby players turned to black dust as the spinning shields sliced them down.

Dynastiotron Samurai

Level 60

HP: [60,000/60,000]

The ronin sharpshooters hid in the tattered skyscrapers, armed with compound gunbows tipped with red silencers. They stunned the Syanic Police robots with their colorful bismuth bullets as the samurai snatched them into mine carts.

Dynastiotron Ronin Sharpshooter

Level 47

HP: [47,747/47,747]

Mivangeline leaped in front of the police droids, activating Paladin's Aegis. She taunted all Dynastiotron forces to attack her, leaving their carts unguarded.

"Ampyria and Phoenicia, take the mine carts to the Saberdome Arena for droid repairs!" Mivangeline swiveled her daggers against the samurai swords. "Shien, Ritom, and Elysia with me. Naivern and Enshiron, stay back to provide cover fire and stat boosts."

Phoenicia and Ampyria along with the police droids captured the carts while the rest of the group distracted the Dynastiotron. Naivern flew up, playing a tune on her guitar to boost the team's stats from afar. As Enshiron fired wind arrows at the sharpshooters, Ritom and Elysia drew their blades to push the incoming samurai warriors away from Mivangeline.

"Let's go!" Shien swiped his tab for his clarinet. "Oh no, I forgot-"

A ronin sharpshooter shot a hard crystalline particle that breezed by Mivangeline's face, hitting Shien's chest. It was powerful enough to push him to the ground. Enshiron spotted the sniper, firing a wind arrow at it through a small window. The sniper fell, disintegrating into blue particles.

"Shien!" Mivangeline stepped in front of him, swinging her daggers against the speedy bullets. "Where's your clarinet staff?"

"Dosigma crushed it!"

"Can you use your Kung-Fu?"

"Guess so," Shien sighed, jumping beside Ritom and Elysia.

"Ugh!" Mivangeline felt bullets braze her shoulder and leg. "Naivern, Enshiron. You two need to get rid of those snipers!"

"My girl, Enshiron's got your back!" Enshiron aimed his bow at the windows.

The warriors rolled away from Shien's barrage of palm strikes and spinning kicks. They faced their heads down to let a new squadron of samurai jump on top of their hats, throwing spinning shields at Mivangeline. Shien caught one of their shields, launching it back to kill one warrior. Elysia and Ritom slashed the others back to the Dynastiotron samurai. The warriors caught their shields, continuing their assault on Mivangeline.

"We will deal with the warriors!" Ritom forced the samurai back with a pyro slash.

"Good. I'll help Naivern and Enshiron keep the snipers occupied!" Mivangeline blocked the crystal bullets with her knives. "We need to keep the Dynastiotron distracted from the droids!"

While Phoenicia and Ampyria helped the police droids roll the carts away, Enshiron fired arrows through the skyscraper windows. He located the devious ronin sharpshooters based on where the bullets shot from.

"Loud girl! Aim for those windows!" Enshiron pointed at the tiny circular windows of an item shop, infested with sharpshooters.

"Ey! Let's go!" Naivern played a rock tune on her guitar, commanding her wings to fire flaming missiles at the hiding sharpshooters.

"I say, let the best sniper be determined in this legendary battle!" Enshiron fired a blood-red Vampiric Zephyr arrow at a sharpshooter, simultaneously healing the team with Nebula's Communal.

Ritom's pyrotechnic blade transformed into its flamethrower form, blasting surges of fire at the Dynastiotron. The warriors flipped across streets to dodge Ritom's attack.

"Dang it!" Ritom groaned. "Not only are these guys tougher than the Cubic, but they have more evasion!"

Elysia clashed her machete with the warriors' katanas with one hand as she fired a machine pistol with the other. Shien dashed at the squadron, running low and striking their palms to disarm them.

Mivangeline's Paladin's Aegis effect worn off. The Dynastiotron warriors stopped advancing to Mivangeline, fighting the three, hand to hand. A samurai twisted Ritom's arm, making him drop his blade. The warrior kicked Ritom through the glass window of a restaurant.

Another grabbed Elysia's hair, shoving his knee onto her face before pummeling her to the ground with rolling punches. Shien rushed at the warrior, kicking him away with Flamingo's Talon. The surrounding samurai cracked their knuckles. Shien glared, positioning his elbows diagonally in Bong Sao.

Two Dynastiotron samurai charged at Shien with palm strikes. Shien locked their arms down with his elbows. With one elbow strike at the head, Shien knocked a warrior out. He stood on his hands, spinning his legs around the other's neck in Osprey's Hook. Shien landed on the ground with his hands, using his legs to launch the samurai in the air.

A warrior locked Shien's arms up his elbows from behind, then stomping his feet on Shien's legs. Shien whined as he knelt. Another samurai ran up to Shien, grabbing his black hair and punching his head. Elysia leaped back up, killing the two Dynastiotron samurai with her machine pistols. A samurai launched a shield at Shien. Shien flipped it up with a palm strike from underneath, then kicking it back at the warrior. The shield sliced the samurai in half.

Ritom jumped up from the restaurant, blasting his flamethrower at the Dynastiotron. They flipped about with their acrobatics. One of them leaped at Elysia with a flying kick. Shien rolled in front of Elysia, standing on his hands and swiping his legs to kick the warrior away with Cardinal's Talon.

The Dynastiotron paused, turning their heads to the police squad. As Phoenicia helped the droids roll the large final wagon of kidnapped android guides, the snipers shot the police droids with paralyzing shots.

"No!" Mivangeline jumped on a samurai, stabbing her knives through his goggles. "We can't let them take the cart!"

A warrior clashed his katana with Phoenicia's gauntlets. With Phoenicia distracted, the samurai squad rolled the cart across the street.

"No, you don't!" Ampyria flew up, tossing her dice.

She launched them at the warriors but they blocked the dice with their spiky shields. A sniper shot her in the head.

"Ampyria!" Ritom caught her as Enshiron shot the sniper down.

After Phoenicia sent the warrior flying with a jet-powered knuckle, she propelled herself toward the wagon with her gauntlets. Shien, Mivangeline, and Elysia jumped beside Phoenicia to fight the Dynastiotron.

"Ouch!" Elysia felt a crystal bullet pierce her Vulpi ear. "Those snipers are annoying!"

"Naivern," Mivangeline blocked a bullet from hitting Shien's head. "You need to use your shields!"

"I can't make shields and help Enshiron attack at the same time," Naivern slashed a synth wave at a sharpshooter.

"Ritom's flamethrower could help him though," Mivangeline ducked under a katana strike.

"As long as I fire short chains at a time, I can help without my blade overheating," Ritom rested Ampyria in the restaurant.

"Good. Naivern, activate the shields!"

Naivern jammed onto her guitar with a different tune, summoning red hexagonal shields that protected the group from the sniper bullets. Ritom jumped beside Enshiron, blasting chains of fire at the ronin sharpshooters.

Five samurai warriors surrounded Shien, Elysia, Phoenicia, and Mivangeline. As the gang brawled with their fists and blades, the sniper bullets ricocheted off Naivern's shields. Elysia jumped on top of the cart, firing her machine pistols at the Dynastiotron. They blocked her fire with their shields.

"Phoenicia!" Shien swiped his leg under the five. "Hit them now!"

As the five samurai tripped over Shien's leg, Phoenicia boosted across the street. One by one, she slammed crackling punches and kicks that dropped their remaining HP to zero.

"It is imperative that we move this cart to the Saberdome Arena before any additional Dynastiotron forces arrive," Phoenicia struggled to pull the cart by the handle.

Elysia helped her pull the large cart from the front while Shien and Mivangeline pushed it from behind. They slowly rolled the wagon as Naivern's shields deflected the sniper shots.

"Thank God, Naivern can make shields," Elysia twitched her Vulpi ears.

"What's that?" Shien pointed.

The group saw an enormous red tab emerge in front of them. An exclamation point blinked in their faces as a bar of red arrows appeared through the street, pointing towards Naivern, Enshiron, and Ritom.

⚠️

🕱""""""🕱

"Oh, crap," Mivangeline knew what it meant. "Get out of the way!"

She jumped on the three, moving them off the trajectory. Something huge rampaged through the red arrows. It crushed the droids, players, and buildings in front with its massive drill and shredding buzzsaw equipped on the train's head. The breeze emitted from the hovering train's repulsorlift energy was so powerful that it blew the group away. The monstrous vehicle carried rectangular cabin cars, flatcars filled with bird-shaped walkers, and hopper cars full of spiraling square crystals.

Dynastiotron Bismuth Wartram

Level 555

HP: [555,555/555,555]

The train blew a loud steam whistle as it made an abrupt stop. The ronin sharpshooters jumped from the buildings to land on the train.

"Unable to... compute..." Phoenicia squirmed. "System... dysfunctional..."

Sparks of electricity jolted off her body. Her eyes changed different colors.

"Phoenicia?" Shien sat next to her. "What's happening?"

"Cr.... crystals..." She shook her finger at the spiraling crystals. "Cognitive skills... failing..."

"Bismuth crystals," Mivangeline saw the train's hopper carts filled with mesmerizing square crystals. "They disrupt android brains. We need to get her out of here!"

"Ouch!" Shien was shocked by an electrical surge from touching Phoenicia. "But how? I can't touch her!"

"What's the train doing?" Naivern asked.

A steel-barreled car opened rows of sliding doors with magnets protruding out. Police droids were being sucked into the magnets from all directions. The android guides in the wagon were dragged in with magnetic power. Ampyria and Phoenicia's paralyzed bodies hovered towards the magnets.

"Phoenicia!" Shien jumped for her until he was shot.

Ronin sharpshooters opened the windows of the cabin cars, shooting at the group. Mivangeline jumped in front of Shien to protect him. Naivern activated her fiery shields to defend the gang. Enshiron and Elysia hid behind the barriers, firing at the train windows.

"Gotcha!" Ritom grabbed Ampyria with his technician gloves, protecting him from being electrified. "Shien! I got one more pair!"

As he struggled to pull Ampyria away from the magnetic force, Ritom swiped a tab. He threw a pair of gloves to Shien. Shien caught them, leaping onto Phoenicia.

"I got you, Phoenicia!" Shien held her against the magnetism. "Hang on!"

A train car opened, letting its sides collapse. An armored gray double rotor helicopter flew up. It had a golden cockpit under its curved gray metal trunk with golden gears exposed on the back. With its two enormous gunpowder cannons on the sides, the aircraft blasted Shien and Ritom with blue explosive orbs.

Dynastiotron Aerial Elephantier

Level 125

HP: [500/500]

Trait 1: Zero Armor

Trait 2: Ironclad Plating

Shien and Ritom were sent flying. They lost grip of their android friends, whose bodies flew up to the magnet carts full of captured police droids. Phoenicia and Ampyria landed on the magnets, which made loud clicks as the doors slid shut.

"No! Phoenicia!" Shien jumped onto the magnet car. "Give her back!"

The train blew another loud whistle as it hovered away.

"Shien!" Mivangeline chased him on the train. "You can't!"

"You're not taking Ampyria!" Ritom charged at the train. "Let's go, people!"

The rest of the group ran after the train until the aerial elephantier flew in front, separating them from Shien and Mivangeline. It fired spheres of blue gunpowder at the group, knocking them back.

As the train sped through the city, the whirling velocity blew Shien and Mivangeline off the magnet cart. With the purple cabin cars blurring through the wind past the two, Shien grabbed the railing end of the caboose. He caught Mivangeline with his other hand, tossing her into the train's rear.

"We're going to save Phoenicia!" Shien jumped beside Mivangeline.

"No, we need to escape," She said. "Chloridium told me about the wartram. We got to figure-"

The door of the caboose opened. A Dynastiotron warrior slashed his sword at the two. Shien and Mivangeline jumped back on the railings, flipping up on top of the caboose.

"Let's go!" Shien ran across the rooftops of the cabin cars.

"Did you hear me?"

Shien didn't listen. Dynastiotron samurai and sharpshooters jumped from the windows, charging at Shien. He stormed through the warriors with his Avian Form Kung-Fu.

I have to get Shien off the train, Mivangeline thought as she chased Shien, slicing her daggers against the samurai katanas. If I don't, he will die.