"So you call them gunmen," said Katniss, working it over in her head. "The other guy called his a Gundam. So, what's the big difference, here?"

"Well obviously, this one's not dumb!" giggled Ruby. "Get it? Because, Gundam? Get it?"

The only response this received was a few distressed groans.

"I found your wordplay clever," complimented Adam. "Though I am unsure you have used the word 'dumb' correctly. I do not believe I have heard their machine speak."

"No, silly," chuckled the huntress. "'Dumb' means stupid. Everybody knows that."

The group was close to their destination now. They had been on Second Street for about an hour, so it was only a matter of time before they ran into the Ballrooms- and they were certainly ready to obliterate the VIW in record time.

"Well, I don't know anything about other machines," replied Simon. "But Gurren Lagann is one special gunmen. It's fast and strong, and with Spiral Energy it can do pretty much anything."

"It can't carry a gun," noted the girl.

"Real men don't need guns to win battles. They win through fiery spirit and manly determination!" defended Kamina.

"Manly determination can't put a bullet through a tango at eight hundred meters," said Katniss, rolling her eyes and closing her case.

Holly turned back to the fairly-sizeable team following her. "All right, ladies and gentlemen. We're closing in on our target. We can discuss the tactical advantages of firearms and the etymology of dumb once we blast through three of these things. But for now, we're going to focus on maximum damage. With a giant robot, we can rip the roof off of this place an scatter everyone. After that, it's just a matter of making sure nobody's left standing. Are we ready?"

Affirmatives of varying levels of enthusiasm called back in response.

"Okay, then. I think that's the ballrooms up there-" she shouted, pointing out a building in the distance. "-so let's go give them he-"

"The Second Street Ballrooms VIW has been defeated," declared Deep Thought. "Two remain."

"Wait, what?" asked Ryuko. "Somebody beat us there? When we were this close?"

"Yeah," said Holly, her mouth hanging open slightly. "I… I guess they did."

"But how?" protested the girl in the Kamui.

"Well, there's no denying we got a little sidetracked, regardless of whose fault it was," observed Katniss.

"Yeah," mumbled Ryuko. "But I wonder exactly what sort of team had it together enough to pull it off."

"That would be us," said Alucard, appearing suddenly behind Holly, who leapt almost high enough to convince her team members that her mechanical wings were not critically damaged as she had claimed. When several weapons were instantly trained on him, he merely patted the girl slung over his shoulder.

"What are you doing with Mikasa?" growled Katniss, holding an incendiary arrow at the ready. "Using her as a hostage?"

"No," replied Twilight, teleporting alongside her allies. "She is in no condition to walk."

"YOU BROKE HER LEGS?!" cried Ruby with horror.

"No, no, no," laughed Twilight, waving the comment off with her hoof. "She hurt herself defeating the VIW."

"So it really was you guys," acknowledged Holly. Twilight nodded.

"That's right. And if you want to settle things with me, now is the time."

"As a matter of fact, we do," said the elf, popping her knuckles. "Change of plans, ladies and gentlemen," she continued, turning to her team. "We're going to make a unicorn cry."

Twilight turned to her companion. "Alucard, I want you to take Mikasa as far away as you can. Keep her safe. And no matter how good you decide she looks in her uniform, do not turn her."

"Yes, Miss Sparkle," said the revenant, slipping back through the ground.

"That's real honorable," chuckled Ryuko. "Sending away the immortal guy so we can all gang up on you."

"Gang up on me?" smiled Twilight smugly. "Not quite."

A shower of blue sparks tore the air above them in two. A thin, young girl emerged from them and began to float gently to the ground. She wore a blue, loose-fitting, sleeveless martial arts robe with a white sash around her abdomen. A thin, tapered stick had been slipped under the sash, perpendicular to the edge with exact detail. Around her neck, she wore a wide collar-shoulder-pad combination which supported a flowing cape. The exaggerated shoulder pads extended far past her comparatively small shoulders, creating the effect of a much larger presence. A black headband held back a head of wavy brown hair, and a boxy white device sat over her left ear and extended a red eyepiece over her left eye. Over her right arm was a silvery band with a sunken-in portion that could have been a screen. Simple cloth shoes lighted on the ground without a flourish.

The sparks and the armband were immediately familiar to Katniss.

Just like that Artemis guy.

"Hello, there, Twilight," she smiled. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has, Hermione," replied the unicorn, sounding surprised. "You're... looking… different."

"Later," hissed Hermione. "I'll talk about it later."

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" snarled Ryuko, pointing her Scissor Blade straight at the newcomer's face.

"My name is Hermione Granger. That is all I can tell you for now."

"Just the same as Twilight- 'That's all I can tell you'," grumbled Holly. "Well, we're going to get answers out of you, too."

Hermione ignored her comment and turned to Twilight. "Shall I?"

"Be my guest."

The girl nodded and floated skyward again, surrounded by a barely-visible shimmering, like a mirage, which caused her cape to dance as if it had caught a breeze.

"Initiating analysis procedures," she declared, touching a button on her bulky earpiece. "Scanning. Seven targets identified. Commencing individual analysis."

"What is she doing?" asked Ruby, staring up.

"I don't know," replied Holly. "But it can't be good."

"Subject one," continued Hermione. "Holly Short. Elf, subtype gamma. Magical reserve system with limited applications. Excellent small-arms marksmanship. Superior piloting abilities. Advanced martial arts training. Below-average damage tolerance. Regeneration. Power level fluctuating below three hundred. Threat level above average."

"Above Average?" snorted Holly. "Huh. Makes sense. She definitely got the piloting bit right."

"Subject two. Katniss Everdeen. Human. Superior marksmanship with most weapon systems. Excellent close-quarters combat abilities. Ansatsuken martial arts training. Advanced survival training. Currently equipped with advanced combat armor. Heightened adrenal gland function. Combat adaptability- requires further study. Power level fluctuating between eight hundred and one thousand. Threat level undetermined. More data required. Estimates low."

"You sure are weird, Katniss," said Ruby.

Katniss nodded. "Apparently."

"Subject three. Adam Frankenstein."

Adam shuddered a little bit at his full name.

"Composite artificial human, biological. Large physical mass. Above average physical strength. Superior durability. Mild regeneration. Superior mental faculties and concept-practice learning speed. Power level stable, nine hundred thirty-four. Threat level average."

"Me next! Me next!" shouted Ruby, hopping up and down. Hermione looked down with a stern glare until she stopped jumping, then continued.

"Subject four. Ruby Rose. Human. Possesses natural passive magic ability for temporary enhancement of speed. Trained in advanced unorthodox combat techniques. Superior knowledge of unorthodox weapon types. Power level stable, nine hundred seventy. Threat level above average."

"Now there's some words I never thought I'd hear. 'Ruby' and 'Superior knowledge'." Ryuko snipped.

"Yeah, me neither," said Ruby.

"Subject five. Ryuko Matoi. Life-Fiber enhanced human. Superior physical strength and speed. Superior damage tolerance. Symbiotic relationship with Life Fiber organism Kamui Senketsu. Activation of Kamui Senketsu further enhances speed and strength, enables flight. Variable nature of Life Fibers allows for multiple configurations of garment and wearer. Superior close-combat abilities. Power level fluctuating in excess of… oh… that's a ten- twenty, no it's a fifty, now- no, it's…"

"Watch this," whispered Ryuko to her teammates. She flexed her muscles and grunted angrily.

"Now it's climbing faster- it's at three, no, four-" gasped Hermione. "Power level unreadable. Threat level extreme."

"Ha-ha!" said the girl, throwing a victorious fist into the air. "How about them apples?"

"She's not done yet," warned Twilight.

"Subjects six and seven. Simon the Digger and Kamina of Jeeha Village. Human. Skilled Gunmen pilots. Superior Spiral Energy conduits. Conducted Spiral Energy can enhance the performance of any piloted Gunmen. Subject six power level fluctuating between ten and twelve thousand. Subject seven power level fluctuating between eight and nine thousand. Threat level while piloting the Gunmen Gurren Lagann extreme."

"How does she know all of this about us? We only just met these chicks," asked Kamina.

"I don't know," whispered Simon. "But it's got me worried."

"Hah!" shouted Ryuko back up to them. "I still win!"

"Analysis complete," Hermione announced. "I'll take the three highest."

"Wait, what?" queried Holly.

"We're splitting this up," said Twilight. "Hermione's going to go fight some of you and I'll fight the rest."

"That's right," confirmed Hermione, dialing coordinates into her AEGIS. She disappeared the way she had come, but this time, Ryuko and the Gurren Lagann disappeared as well.

"That's not fair at all," growled Holly. "They were my strongest fighters. They were going to make kicking the answers out of you really easy."

"Your remaining warriors should be sufficient."

Holly scratched her head. "You say that like you think you're going to lose."

Twilight simply smiled, waving the remaining four on.

Katniss turned to Holly, shrugged, and knocked the incendiary arrow she had been planning to use for Alucard.

"Your little game ends here," warned the elf, changing the setting on her Neutrino.

"Yes," whispered Twilight. "It does."

***

Ryuko tumbled out of the air, falling directly onto her face.

"The hell was that?" she groaned, picking herself up. She was on her feet in time to jump out of the way of Gurren Lagann, which fell in roughly the same manner and location. They were clearly in the same city arena, though far away from where they were before. They had landed in a wide, green park, a five or six blocks across in either direction, and surrounded by skyscrapers- a "natural" enclosure.

"That was my AEGIS device," answered Hermione, hovering above, surrounded by her mirage. "I'll cut you a deal. Beat me, and I'll tell you how it works."

"Why do I think it won't be that simple?" grumbled Ryuko.

"Because you are quite perceptive."

"Don't get all high-and-mighty with us, half-pint," snarled Simon, bringing Gurren Lagann to its feet. "We were along to win clues and stuff. Nobody said anything about smashing toddlers."

"For your information, this body is approximately twelve years old. I was previously a grown woman."

"Well, ain't you special?" Ryuko roared, sliding the bolt across her glove, drawing enough blood to activate Senketsu. She fired the boosters that formed from the Kamui's collar and rose to Hermione's height, swinging her Scissor Blade as she flew. Hermione disapparated as the blade passed through, reappearing behind the stunned Ryuko.

"Yes, I am," replied the witch, who kicked the girl in the square of the back hard enough to knock her into a tailspin. Ryuko managed to right herself before hitting the ground, returning to strike again. Hermione flicked out her wand from under her sash and drew a little spiral in the air, which glowed briefly, and suddenly Ryuko was sent flying in the opposite direction, the air forced from her lungs.

"Flippendo," announced Hermione.

"Why you little-" fumed Ryuko, firing up her booster again.

"Excuse us, ladies," called the voice of Kamina from the central cockpit of Gurren Lagann. "But if you're fighting each other, what are we supposed to do?"

"Oh," said Hermione. "I almost forgot."

***

"So- and just be honest with me here- is it true?" Rainbow Dash floated eagerly next to Char's workstation, where he paged through inventory checklists.

"Is what true?" he responded, not paying attention to the Pegasus.

"The rumor," snapped RD, annoyed. "That all of your protégés die horrible deaths?"

Char pushed himself back in his seat, folding his hands in his lap.

"You know, people say a lot of things that just aren't true."

"But… is that true?"

Char looked up at something invisible floating just above his eyebrows, silent for a bit.

"They used to say that the moon was made of cheese," he continued. "Of course, when the Feddies started mining lunar titanium, we joked and said they were mining for cheese."

"That doesn't answer the question," said Rainbow Dash, her concern for her life growing.

"Do you like cheese?" asked Char. "How about your parents? I'd like to be able to send them something when-" an alarm klaxon sounded, echoing off the rows and rows of giant robots. "Oh, that's the signal. Someone's calling up for Mobile Support."

RD sighed and tapped the command on a nearby console. The storage rack containing her squadmates' machines rotated down into place, and the circular AEGIS gate unfolded from the end. Ten pilot-suited Reis scrambled down the walkway, climbing the steps to each of their machines. Dash tapped another button, and her personal mech descended into the same row.

"That's quite the machine you've got there," said Char. "And it's even got red bits. It'll be a real shame when it-"

Rainbow Dash glared back at him.

"needs to be… recalibrated," he continued.

The Pegasus flew into her Mobile Suit's cockpit, locking her helmet into place and closing the hatch. One by one, the other machines on the rack disengaged, powered up their thrusters, and began to float through the AEGIS gate.

***

Ryuko was getting tired of being knocked back every time she attempted to attack. She was planning a way around this when the first of the machines began to fall from the sky. It was a huge, mostly-gray, boxy-looking chap loaded down in thrusters and plate armor. It carried a bulky shield in one hand and a bulky rifle in the other. As soon as it touched down, another appeared in the sky with another cascade of sparks, and then another. Soon, ten identical machines had formed a line surrounding Gurren Lagann. A final mech descended from its own glittering blue doorway, different from the rest. It was still bulky and blocky, but significantly slimmer, with a brighter color scheme of white, red, and several blue accents. A narrow V-shaped crest adorned its head, and across its back was slung the sheath for an appropriately-up scaled katana.

"Rainbow Dash, are your troops ready?" asked Hermione.

"As ready as we'll ever be," replied the Pegasus over her machine's loudspeaker. "I've been waiting to test out my Astray Red Frame since I customized it. This should be a good trial run!"

"Then I will leave the rest to you," said the witch, turning back to Ryuko- only to find that she had disappeared. Something struck her hard in the gut, and she flew backward, her body putting a crater in the wall of an office building. Ryuko floated up to observe the damage of her attack.

"So that thing you do where you disappear and reappear? I can do that, too," she gloated.

"Apparition? Nonsense," grunted Hermione, picking herself out of the concrete. "No, I know you can't use magic."

"I don't need magic when I'm this fast."

Hermione grabbed a handful of her cape and tossed it across herself.

"You may be fast, but you can't hit what you can't see!"

Suddenly, the witch vanished, and Ryuko was sent spiraling upward by a hard strike to the chin. She heard something fly up faster than her, and clearly felt the impact of a foot on her back before being flung three hundred feet to the ground. Ryuko peeled herself off the pavement in time to take another kick to the gut, which sent her rolling down the street.

Be careful, Ryuko, warned Senketsu. Getting overwhelmed like this is dangerous.

"I know," she groaned.

"This, Miss Matoi, is a mass-production invisibility cloak, one of the finest pieces of optical camouflage ever designed," explained the voice of Hermione from somewhere nearby.

Wait a second, thought Ryuko. I've fought optical camouflage before. It wasn't too hard.

You're right, Ryuko, said Senketsu. Let's try the same technique we used then.

Ryuko hopped to her feet and spun in the direction of Hermione's voice. Senketsu then inflated his eye-crest to a truly gargantuan size, becoming a floppy canvas in the progress. The huge sheet fell forward, settling over the street ahead of them.

"Gotcha!" shouted Ryuko triumphantly.

"No, you don't," replied Hermione, sweeping Ryuko's legs out from under her. With a swish of her wand, she transfigured some loose pebbles on the street into vines to restrain the girl. "Did you forget what I just told you about Apparition? You can't trap me like that."

Ryuko lay quietly on the ground, thinking over her situation.

She's right. If she can just teleport away like that, it's useless to try a slow-moving attack.

Ryuko, let's evaluate our other options. She said it was an invisibility cloak, right? So it's clothing…

I like the way you think, Senketsu.

"No," said Ryuko aloud. "I can't trap you. But I can strip you naked!"

Ryuko ripped out from under the vines and swung her Scissor Blade upward in a single explosive movement, and Hermione suddenly appeared in the place from which her voice had come. Her expression turned from shock to fear as she realized that her invisibility cloak had stopped working.

"How-?!"

"SEN-I-SOSHITSU!" roared Ryuko as the girl's cape burst into loose strands of thread, falling away slowly in the breeze generated by the attack.

"No way," growled a defiant Hermione. "You just sliced the binding stiches out. That's not a real Sen-i-soshitsu technique. A real one only works when the target has Life Fibers!"

"It's as real as it gets!" yelled Ryuko, pointing at Hermione. A small, glowing pink strand floated up from the tatters of the witch's cape and disappeared into Senketsu, resulting in a faint pulse of light.

Since when is Outfitting weaving invisibility cloaks with Life Fibers? Wondered Hermione. That's bloody dangerous business. What is Artemis up to?

"Well, I stand corrected, if only by coincidence," huffed the witch. "But I'm nowhere near beaten. I haven't even scratched the surface of my physical power, and I've barely had to use my spells at all!"

"You might just have to," grinned Ryuko with gritted teeth. She launched back toward Hermione as the two clashed yet again.

***

I'm not sure that I've ever seen Twilight do much fighting before, thought Holly. In the previous rounds, she always kept out of battle as much as she could. She fought that alien thing, right? I wonder how that went.

"What do we do?" asked Katniss. "Now that we're here, it just seems kind of odd."

"I would like to tell you that you have as long as you like to fight me, but that's not the case. You should probably hurry," said the unicorn.

"Secrets upon secrets," frowned Holly.

"Well, I'll take the first shot," announced Ruby with unusual seriousness. She lowered Crescent Rose's barrel and fired on their former friend, sliding backward from the recoil. Twilight stood still, and the bullet halted in her magical grasp. She set it down, and rolled it back towards Ruby with a tap from her hoof.

"Try harder."

Holly spun her Neutrino on her right index finger. "This is an energy weapon," she said. "It doesn't have bullets for you to stop."

"Does it not, now?"

Holly frowned and squeezed off two shots, which fizzled out against a magical barrier raised by the unicorn.

"Allow me," said Adam, stepping forward. Taking one hand in the other, he brought a double axe-handle down on top of Twilight's barrier, which began to glow a little less intensely.

"That did something!" shouted the elf. "Do it again!"

Adam raised his arms again, crashing them through the barrier and into the street. Twilight reappeared above the artificial man, and drove her hind legs into the back of his head. He plunged downward, reeling after the sudden and unexpected attack. The unicorn somersaulted forward, landing behind him.

"All of you," she demanded. "At once!"

***

Kamina wrestled the controls back in time to dodge another energy beam. The machines that were facing them now were quite different from the ones they had fought before- they operated with a more efficient mindset.

"They're pretty dangerous," he called up to Simon.

"Yeah. Not like any gunmen I've ever seen before," replied the pilot who sat in Gurren Lagann's head. The red robot pirouetted to dodge yet another shot from one of the grey machines before spinning into an attack with their wrist-mounted drills. One of their old foes would have simply been impaled, but these uniform, visor-wearing machines expressed a significant desire to live longer. The unit they had planned on destroying with their attack raised a solid shield, deflecting the attack's kinetic energy before swinging forward with a beam saber, hacking the Gurren Lagann's drills in half.

"And these are the goons," whispered Simon.

"I wouldn't call 'em goons," reported the pilot of the machine that was no goon. The sleeker, red-blue-and-white mech delivered a flying kick that sent Gurren Lagann tumbling forward. A comms window opened in Simon's displays, and a small equine face smiled back at him. "They're as good of pilots as anybody. They're a little offended by that. Call 'em by name. Rei Ayanami."

"Rei Ayanami?" repeated Simon. One of the grey machines walked up to the fallen Gurren Lagann.

"Yes," said a nearly- robotic voice from its loudspeakers. "I am Rei Ayanami."

"As am I," said another.

"As am I," repeated a third. This continued until all of the pilots had announced that they were in fact Rei Ayanami.

"And what about you?" asked Kamina to the horse peeking through the display. "Who are you? Some kind of little pony?"

"My name's Rainbow Dash," she replied, as her machine unsheathed the oversized katana from its back. "And this is my custom Gundam."

"Oh, a Gundam," echoed Simon. "That's what they mentioned before."

The Gundam lowered the sword's tip toward the gunmen. "Now prove to me these upgrades were worth it!"

Kamina and Simon twisted their controls simultaneously, causing Gurren Lagann to leap off the ground and extend a single long drill to lock swords with Rainbow Dash's mobile suit.

"We'll do more than that," yelled Simon.

"Yeah," affirmed Kamina. "We're not just some training dummy for you! Just who the hell do you think we are?!"

***

Hermione tumbled backwards through the air, but stabilizing herself was a simple matter of calming down and focusing her ki. It was second nature to her now, and so she recovered from Ryuko's attack with enough time to check on her reinforcements. Rainbow Dash had decided to engage the pilots of Gurren Lagann one-on-one, which meant that she must feel pretty confident against them.

As for me, Ryuko is proving… interesting.

Hermione heard the telltale sound of Ryuko's boosters approaching, and flicked her wrist to carve the sigil for Incendio in the air. The end of her wand became engulfed in an ever-expanding ball of flame, which had inflated to past the size of a yoga ball by the time her opponent had arrived. Ryuko came to a halt in front of the witch, raised her Scissor Blade above her head, and was instantly engulfed in the inferno. Hermione wound up and punched through the blaze, sending the girl flying back again.

"You are very persistent," she remarked to her foe.

Ryuko used her free hand to extinguish the flames as she halted in the air. "I wouldn't be as strong as I am if I wasn't a little persistent."

"I thought you would say something like that," smiled the witch. She pointed her wand at the ground, levitating thousands of loose pieces of pavement from their battle to her altitude. The rubble began to swirl around her, forming a curtain of dangerous debris. By stretching her wand forward, the bits of pavement turned into a stream that launched itself at Ryuko with a great deal of speed. The girl brandished her Scissor Blade in time to perform a hurricane of rapid slices that turned the chunks of street into harmless gravel.

"Looks like we're about even," grunted Ryuko.

Hermione saw an opportunity. "Then I'll have to up the ante."

The witch slipped her wand back under her sash and began to focus, taking careful, slow breaths. Ryuko noticed that the mirage surrounding the girl began to fluctuate more intensely, its shimmering growing ever faster. A faint humming could be heard, and what looked like arcs of electricity began to crackle around her.

"What are you doing?" asked Ryuko, knowing that anything suddenly developing free-flowing electricity was a bad sign.

"I'm focusing my Time Vortex energy into a stable environment to enhance my ki channeling," explained Hermione.

I can sense something, Ryuko, whispered Senketsu. She's getting stronger. Watch out.

The mirage began to become more visible, taking on a distinctly yellow hue. The hum transformed into the sound of rushing wind, which may have been physically present- the girl's hair began to dance upward as if lifted by a strong breeze.

"When I was infused with Time Vortex energy," explained the witch, "I gained the ability to channel my ki thanks to the latent pathways created by the interactions between time and one's life-force. Eventually, I devised a plan to force more of my Time Vortex energy to the surface, creating more and more pathways, further enhancing my abilities. The result…" she said, now with great effort, "WAS THIS!"

Hermione exploded with golden light, forcing Ryuko to shield her eyes. The light shot upwards as well as outwards, creating a pillar of energy visible from across the arena. Enough air was displaced to uproot several trees in the park below, and pebbles on the ground began to levitate on their own accord. The hum returned, now a shrill pulse alongside the sound of hurricane-force wind. As the light died down, Ryuko found a slightly different opponent then what she had been facing before.

The witch was now surrounded in a fluctuating golden field of energy, which seemed to be actively tossing her hair and clothes, adding further credence to the theory that the sound of the wind may have been actual wind after all. Her hair seemed a bit longer, but was most notable for having changed shades entirely from brown to blonde. Her eyes were bright beacons of even more gold energy. Her body seemed to have undergone a few changes as well- she was noticeably taller, and no longer looked like a twelve-year-old, having the proportions of a fairly-old teenager.

"For a lack of a better term," she continued, her voice no longer so squeaky, "You may call this a super form."

"We've got one of those, too," replied Ryuko, defiant. "SENKETSU! KISARAGI!"

An awkward pause followed.

"I said, SENKETSU! KISARAGI!"

Ryuko, I cannot achieve that form without absorbing a large amount of Life Fibers. I am sorry.

"Dammit. I really didn't want to be one-upped."

"Now, Miss Matoi," declared Hermione, "PREPARE YOURSELF!"

She extended an index finger and drew the Incendio sigil in the air again, the magic needing no wand to be directed. The ball of flames that appeared at the end of her finger grew larger than most cars before she fired it, but Ryuko was prepared, as Hermione had instructed. With a slash from her Scissor Blade fast enough to be imperceptible, she created a thin stream of air that sliced apart the fireball with ease, leaving her and her outfit burn-free.

"Lemme test just how super that is," she grunted, rushing ahead toward her target. The two began to exchange a flurry of punches, kicks, and slashes that hopped around the sky like an agitated bluebottle.

***

"What the hell are they up to?" wondered Simon, taking a brief glance up from his target to observe the duel taking place above.

"They're coming back," reported Kamina on the Gatsby they were fighting. Simon looked back down and carefully noted the speed at which the machine approached with its shield raised. Once they got close enough, Gurren Lagann delivered a kick that sent the grey robot stumbling back. They followed up by detaching the dramatic sunglasses from the face on their machine's chest and flung them like a boomerang, knocking a few more of the mass-produced Mobile Suits back before they turned with an extended drill to block another swipe from Rainbow Dash's Astray Red Frame Custom.

"They're all so good at defending," Simon remarked, extending one of Gurren Lagann's arms to catch the returning sunglasses. "Even if they can't keep us down, we can't scratch them."

"If only there was some way we could get a little more powerful…" said Kamina.

"There's nothing to combine with," sighed Simon. "We're just gonna have to tough it out." He shifted a control stick forward to parry a forward slash before using a shoulder barge to send another Gatsby tumbling back. "Let's make some room!"

"Right!" Kamina agreed. "GIGA! DRILL!"

"MAXIMUM!"

Gurren Lagann glowed with vibrant green Spiral Energy before unleashing a drill from every nook and cranny on its armor. Shockingly, the surrounding Mobile Suits managed to twist around the death spires and deflect any direct hits with their shields, but they were still repelled at least one hundred meters in each direction.

"Let's keep the pressure on the commander," Simon commanded. "If we can knock them out, the grunts will have to change their tactics."

Kamina nodded. "Good thinking, bro! It's good to have your level head around!"

***

Twilight ducked under another swipe from Adam and leapt over a slice from Ruby. She sidestepped an explosive arrow and teleported out of its blast radius, only to dodge a handful of Neutrino blasts.

"Better," she gasped, clearly growing tired.

"Twilight, if you keep this up we'll end up killing you," said Holly, firing another few shots past the unicorn.

"Maybe she'll tell us after she dies," suggested Katniss, stringing an anti-armor arrow.

"I have no plans of dying today," corrected the unicorn. "Now, keep shooting at me!"

***

After another few seconds of furious punches and kicks, Ryuko managed to land an attack, powering a fist up through Hermione's chin. The uppercut caused the witch to soar upward, and as she fell, Ryuko followed up with a roundhouse to propel her target into the street below.

"Even though you're all super and stuff, I'm still stronger. How many more times am I gonna have to knock you down before you take us back to our friends?" Ryuko used the lapse in the fight to wipe a trail of blood off of her cheek.

"That's not- ack- how this works," coughed Hermione, picking herself up. "I'm going to keep fighting you until I say we're done. And we're not done yet."

"I think we are," spat Ryuko, wagging a finger. "If your super form can't keep up, why are you the one calling the shots?"

"Because this isn't my final form," replied the witch. She once again slowed her breathing, as more and more rubble, twigs, leaves and lose dirt began to levitate around her. Her aura began to shine more brightly, as if the air around it had become darker. The pulsing shriek grew even louder, and the windows of the skyscrapers nearby began to bow outward as the air pressure shifted, Hermione's transformation drawing in nearly everything nearby. An even more dramatic explosion than before ripped through the park, knocking all of the mobile suits brawling a few blocks away off of their feet. Ryuko flew to the ground, tapping her foot impatiently.

All show and no go. You'd think she would come up with a way to make it take less time, too.

The dust settled, the changes not as drastic as they had been last time. Hermione's hair still was blonde instead of brown, and it had certainly grown longer again. Her aura shimmered with intense heat, and moved more like a blowtorch's flame than a mirage. She had aged once again, now resembling a woman in her late twenties, except with far more well-defined muscle than any ordinary twenty-something.

"I have now ascended beyond super," stated Hermione with a subtle echo in her voice. "The energy of time's passage from the beginning of eternity is powering me. I have unlocked more power than any sorcerer ever possessed."

Unbelievable, she thought while making her speech. This kind of power could destroy worlds. I need to focus- all I need to do is keep them busy, not kill them. I'll hold back as much as I can.

"Yadda yadda yadda," mocked Ryuko. "Make a big deal about it and it's sure to be a letdown."

Hermione frowned and held up an open hand. A barrage of fireballs exploded forth from her palm, bearing down on the girl and her Kamui with supersonic speed. Ryuko managed to slice through the first few, but could not keep up. Overwhelmed, she collapsed backward in pain. Hermione disapparated from where she stood, reappeared next to the stunned Ryuko, and kicked her skyward. Hermione appeared at the top of Ryuko's body's arc, snagged her by Senketsu's straps, and threw her back to earth, where she plunged directly through the side of Gurren Lagann. The impact sent the Gunmen flying into the low buildings along the edges of the enclosure, were it promptly buried itself head-first in a furniture store.

"STAND BACK!" ordered Hermione to her reinforcements, aiming her extended arms toward the crash site. An orb of whitish-blue energy began to form in her cupped palms, rapidly growing in size.

"EXPECTO!"

This attack should knock them out, which will make my job that much easier. A supercharged version of the ultimate defensive charm.

"PATRONUM!"

A ghostly blue otter appeared on her shoulder, and, upon finding it very odd indeed to be so high in the air, hopped into the orb, which caused it to triple its circumference.

"CANNON!"

The ki-charged spell ripped open into a spectacularly wide beam, which upon hitting the ground created an explosion titanic enough to be seen on the other side of the arena. The blast scalded the paint off of the Gatsby squadron and tossed them away with ease, forcing the pilots to correct their flight attitude while blind from the light given off. This resulted in most of them crashing in quite spectacular manners, though thanks to their durable construction, all remained functional. The park at the center of the area was instantly burned to a crisp, the shockwave removing the ashes and leaving nothing behind but burnt soil. The windows of every building in a five-mile radius shattered, but within a 2-mile radius never hit the ground before they were vaporized.

Hermione blinked until she could see again, disappointed with the results.

"Oh," she whispered. "It wasn't supposed to do that."

***

"What was that?" asked Ruby, looking at the dome of light that had just erupted in the distance.

"Doesn't matter," grunted Holly. "It's now or never!"

The fighters' plan had finally come together. Slowly, throughout the fight, they had changed their locations in order to completely surround Twilight Sparkle. They had staggered their attacks in order to provide the illusion of a chaotic skirmish, but now Holly's plan was coming together. Or so she wanted to believe. With a raised hand-into-closed fist command, the warriors with ranged weapons fired simultaneously.

Twilight analyzed her situation. It was simple- just teleport away. She could merely place herself on a vector that one of the projectiles would not hit. She charged her magic and did just that, only to find that she within range of one of Katniss' explosive arrows, lodged in the ground. She quickly teleported again, only to find herself in range of another. Another teleport resulted in another arrow.

When did all of these get here? She wondered.

A final teleport finally put her outside of the reach of arrow-borne high explosives- and in the reach of one of Adam's huge hands. The artificial man tossed her back to the ground, directly in the center of a ring of explosive arrows.

"Clever," she remarked.

"Detonate," replied Katniss.

The high explosive arrows did not create much shrapnel, but they did knock back the fighters a few feet and created a smoky scorch on the pavement.

"Guess she'll have to tell us later," sighed Holly.

"Unless she's still alive in there," Katniss countered.

"I am," replied Twilight's voice from inside the smoke.

"Do we shoot her again?" asked Ruby.

"No," said Twilight, stepping out of the smoke and unfurling a pair of small, feathery wings. "I am about to explain everything. And I mean everything."

Holly reluctantly holstered her Neutrino. "Those are new," she noted.

"Actually, they're old," corrected the alicorn. "But thanks to the stress of fighting you, I was able to access the Residual Magical Genesis field in order to get them back, if only for a little while. Now, where are your other friends? Hermione should have been done with them by now."