The Six Guns

"You want to say it one last time?" Alex asks, "for old time's sake?".

"Say what?" Siran asks.

"You know" Alex says, "that stupid cheer you came up with. You haven't said it in a long time, and it's likely going to be our last battle. Go ahead and give it one more cheer".

"Oh, you mean..." Siran says.

"Come on" Zia says, "one last time".

Siran looks up and smiles. As he raises his fist in the air, he cheers "GUNS! GO!" and everyone drove off to Omnium Guild.

As they ride through the country, they noticed a mixed atmosphere throughout the entire land. Some civilians were hiding, some were out and willing to fight. Some soldiers ran into battle, some could not bear the thought of it. Some civilians that fought against The Ly'Lum were former Ly'Lum soldiers themselves. As the crew continues on their way to Omnium Guild, Siran asks over the headset "Hey Blake, I've been meaning to asks. Aren't you a little young to be leading a group of Hunters?".

"That's rich, coming from a guy who's nearly 200 years old, but looks 20" Blake says.

"How old are you exactly?" Vivi asks.

"I'm 32" Blake says.

"My question is, when did Blake get a headset? We didn't buy him one" Rose asks.

"I've had one" Blake says, "I've been in the business for this kind of stuff for a while now".

"I gave him our frequency we use to chat" Vivi says.

"Who else is going to jump in on us over the headset?" Rose asks.

"I'm here too" Ying says.

"Wait, when did you-" Rose begins to asks, "oh wait. That's right, you're a cop. You've had equipment like this for years too".

"... Our last battle, huh?" Rose asks.

"Don't worry" Finn says, "this just means the fighting is stopping! We don't have to stop hanging out together!".

"As much of an idiot Finn is" Vivi says, "he's right. We don't HAVE to go our separate ways after this".

"After all, The Six Guns don't take orders from anybody" Ying says.

"Can you stop saying that?" Alex asks. "It's begun to lose its novelty".

"I'm going to miss chats like this" Zia says.

"We can still talk after the war, you know?" Satomi says.

"Yeah, but" Zia says, "nothing really takes the edge off of life quite like these talks before a fight, you know?".

"You've got me there" Finn says. "Being homeless was... interesting, but they way our crew connected was something else entirely. I'm gonna miss this".

"Hey" Alex says, "for now, we're brothers in arms and nothing more. But when we finish this, we'll be like a real family".

"You guys would be the worst family that I can imagine" Tanya says as she laughs, "but I wouldn't have it any other way".

"I don't know about you guys" Blake says, "but I'm definitely looking forward to a normal life when this is done. However, I do feel honored to fight alongside the hero from The Naris Catastrophe".

"I'm no hero" Siran says, "I'm just a guy that doesn't know when to quit. You don't have to be powerful to be strong, and that's what I'm trying to prove to the world. You're all good examples of that".

"Some of us aren't that strong" Finn says, "some of us were just trapped in a corner in life. Then there's Alex, he's just a hardass that acts tough". Finn begins laughing really hard over the mic.

"I'll make you eat those words when this is all done" Alex says.

"I'll see you in the aftermath then, hardass!" Finn laughs.

"I know this isn't the best time" Rose says softly, "but with this being the last battle together, I have a lot on my mind. Like, if we'll all make it through okay, and if we can have normal lives when this is over".

"There's no garuntee" Finn says, "but we can always try our best. That's all we can do, really... just like Siran taught us".

"Hey, Finn" Rose asks, "remember when we first met Mikoto and Satomi, and you said you'd take me out on a date?".

"Oh yeah, I remember that" Mikoto says. "You rejected him, didn't you?".

"Yeah?" Finn replies.

"Well, if I'm going to give my best shot at living a normal life after this..." Rose begins to says, "ah- well... what I mean is, if we make it through this alive, I'll take you up on that offer for a date".

"This really is not the best time for this" Alex says.

"Really?" Finn asks. "Then you've got a deal!".

"Aw, that's adorable" Tanya says.

"That's not very romantic, if you ask me" Vivi says.

"Is that jealousy that I hear?" Alex asks.

"Oh, what? Don't tell me" Vivi replies as she laughs, "you want a shot with me, don't you?".

"What?" Alex asks, "no... not really".

Vivi continues laughing and says "Good, because I'd probably shoot you on the first date".

"Don't worry, Alex" Mikoto says, "I'm sure you'll find someone".

"Ugh, no thanks" Alex says, "I'll pass".

"Come on, Alex" Ruby teases, "love is in the air".

"Oh stop, you're going to make me vomit" Alex says. "I am most definitely not feeling it coming in the air tonight".

"You guys are so noisy" Holly says.

"What about you guys, Zia and Siran?" Finn asks.

"What do you mean?" Zia asks.

"Ah, nevermind" Finn says, "you're not going to admit it anyways".

"Speaking of family and dates" Holly says, "Rose is still like my little sister. That means if you hurt her, Finn, you're dead".

"Ah, geez" Finn says, "way to put on the pressure and ruin a good moment".

"You guys are weird" Demetri says, "but it's definitely been much more interesting sticking around you people".

"Also, there's a kid here" Robin says, "try to keep your adult stuff to a minimum".

"You're a teenager" Alex says, "I doubt you've gone this far without trying to get a date yourself".

"By the way" Siran says, "when this is over, where will you go, Robin?".

"I don't know" Robin says.

"We'll be taking down your father, finally" Siran says, "but what about your mother?".

"She left dad a long time ago" Robin says, "and she left me behind too. She didn't want me. Guess I reminded her too much of dad".

"That's so sad" Tanya says.

"We'll have to find you a place to stay then" Siran says.

"Let's worry about that after we probably die" Robin says.

"And you told us to watch our tongue" Alex says.

As the crew drew near the capital, they were stopped by a blockade of troops. The Ly'Lum has set up defensive points to prevent The Six Guns from getting to Omnium Guild easily. As the entire crew came to a stop, Blake and his men were the first to approach the enemy.

"Ah, finally!" Blake says as he seems to bow to the enemy. Sitting on his knees, with his hands to the rocky ground beneath them. "A chance to show you what I've got". Blake's men raise their guns at The Ly'Lum soldiers and start shooting at them. Blake digs his fingers into the ground and uses a mixture of elemental magic and armament magic as he pulls his hands out of the ground. A handle made of rock from the ground formed in his hands, and as he pulled on the rock handles, swords formed from the ground. While the handle was made of rock, the blades were made of ice. Blake took the moisture from the ground and compressed it into a blade shaped with ice. With one sword in each hand, both shaped like a katana, he says "This is the reason I became the leader of the Yin Hunters". Like a flash, Blake charges forward past two soldiers. The soldiers paused, then fell in half. Blake looked up with a smile, and The Ly'Lum soldiers focused fire on him. With both precision and speed, Blake deflected beams and spells with his swords alone. He then threw one of his ice katanas into a soldier, and pinned him to the ground. The ice spread throughout his body and froze him to the ground. Blake stabs the frozen soldier with his other sword, and the ice from the first sword was absorbed into his other sword. As he pulls back his sword, it grew into the size of a masamune. Slash after slash, Blake either left soldiers without an arm, or started coating soldiers in thin sheets of ice.

"You have to keep going!" Blake yells to the crew. "Move on, don't let them stop you here! You've got a job here to do, don't ya? I'll catch up when I'm done here".

The crew hesitantly moved on, but not much further down the road more soldiers were coming their way in armored vehicles. Before the crew had the chance to stop, shots of magic beams struck down from the sky at the armored vehicles. As they looked up, helicopters with the Chinese flag flew above them.

"They came!" Ying cheers.

"So they agreed to help afterall" Vivi says.

"You're The Six Guns, right?" A man shouts, sitting on the inside of the helicopter, his legs dangling off the edge, "we heard there was a party and that we were invited".

"Not a minute too late, either!" Siran yells back.

"We'll take care of the flank" the soldier in the helicopter says, "you guys make sure we won't regret helping you".

Siran smiles and the crew moves on. As they reach Omnium Guild, they found something that they never expected. The city was already war torn. Smoke rose from houses and homes, dead civilians were everywhere, but the worst part was, there were no soldiers anywhere. No Ly'Lum, no JSDF, no SAT, no Wolf Pack. None of their forces have attacked the capital yet, and The Ly'Lum already seemed to have been defeated here. Who could've done this was a question that would soon be answered. As the silhouettes of several people slowly emerge from smoke in the middle of the street, the monsters revealed themselves. Paul Teeter, Skylar Demetri, Agatha Besse, John Steichen, Jack Tobin, Kyle Ross, Tory Peterson, Autumn Tyrel, Garreth Hood and James Markwood. All ten of The Mages emerge in the street, their eyes nearly turned black like Siran's. A bloodlust in their eyes and lack of remorse answered the crew's question before any of them had to ask. "We've been waiting for you, Jack" Markwood says as they look directly at Siran.

"Again with that name" Alex says, "I guess Siran's name really used to be Jack like you thought".

"I don't think this is the time for that" Zia says, "look at their eyes".

"What have you done, Markwood?" Ruby asks.

"Markwood?" Markwood asks, "you must be confused. We are a collective hive mind, a legion if you must. You may call us... Naris".

"They've lost it" Siran says, "they must be dying from all the endo they absorbed and got desperate. They took in too much, and now they're losing their minds".

"You like reunions, don't you, Jack?" Markwood asks.

"Oh that's right" Garreth says.

"You go by Siran now" Agatha says.

"Don't you?" Tory asks.

"That was... creepy" Finn says.

"Well, I hope you remember this" John says.

From seemingly nowhere, Predator jumps up from the sky and lands in front of the crew. Twitching and eager, it leans upright and cocks it's head at Siran. "... Jack" Predator says.