Satoru Umezawa ducked behind a corner, holding his breath until he was certain the compleated Reckoners had continued past his hiding place. Once the only thing he heard around him was his own beating heart, he let out a long sigh. The Phyrexian invasion was taking its toll on the plane, especially in Towashi, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up his hit-and-run tactics. His right ankle was making its displeasure known, so he shifted his weight over to his left leg.
All over the city – no, the plane – people were still fighting the invaders and their compleated friends and family. Greasefang and her Okiba Reckoners had taken point as the main defenders once the Imperials fell, and the Mukotai and Dokuchi Reckoners were teaming up with the Futurists to slip past enemy lines and rescue those that they could. The Hyozan Reckoners... Satoru didn’t know how many of his Reckoners were still in their right minds.
He took a deep breath and darted back through the streets of Towashi, striking Phyrexians as he passed to draw them away from others fighting for the sake of Kamigawa. Keep moving, don’t stop, don’t let them corner you. This was how Satoru had lived this long, so he stuck to that theory until he couldn’t force himself to keep moving any longer.
Satoru pressed his back to the outer wall of one of the few buildings in Towashi not overtaken by metal and raised his sword, trying to catch his breath and count the Phyrexians closing in on him at the same time. A glance upwards revealed more Phyrexians waiting on the nearby rooftops.
One of the compleated Kamigawans, once a Mukotai Reckoner based on what few tattoos remained on what was once skin, stepped forward to fight Satoru. Satoru raised his sword, bracing himself for the worst.
A roar echoed out, and a spirit in the form of a dragon plowed through the Phyrexians surrounding Satoru. An akki in pieced-together samurai armor darted past the Phyrexians. Another dragon spirit burst forth from the akki’s lightning-cloaked sword, latching its maw around the Phyrexian Reckoner’s arm and tearing it and the sword from the monster’s grip.
Satoru lunged, his tattoos flaring to life, and drove his blade into the throat of the former Reckoner. He followed the body down to the ground and tore his blade sideways through the metal and flesh. The akki summoned several more dragon spirits from the lightning of his blade, sending them after more of the Phyrexians, and stopped by Satoru.
“All good?” the akki asked, perhaps a little louder than he needed to.
“I am now. Thank you for the save.” Satoru straightened up and rolled his right shoulder. “I am Satoru Umezawa.”
“Goro-Goro, disciple of Ryusei!” Goro-Goro raised his sword, and the dragon spirits circled around the two as the Phyrexians were sent running.
Ryusei. The previous incarnation of Atsushi, if Satoru was remembering right. Perhaps the akki still called the dragons by the names of their previous incarnations? Whatever the case may be, Satoru knew better than to turn down help, regardless of how strange that help was. “Shall we continue bringing the fight to them?” Satoru offered. Goro-Goro nodded excitedly, raising his sword. The dragon spirits shot off after the retreating Phyrexians.
Satoru felt himself grin as he and Goro-Goro followed them. Maybe, just maybe, Kamigawa stood a chance of surviving this.
