Tamakoma Second vs. Ōji Squad vs. Ikoma Squad

"You're thinking that you can win because I can only use one hand against you? It's not that I look down upon you, but you're not as strong as you might think."

- Kazuaki Ōji to Osamu Mikumo

Tamakoma Second vs. Ōji Unit vs. Ikoma Unit is a 1x2 Rank Battle that took place in Round 6, between Tamakoma Second, Ōji Unit and Ikoma Unit.

Summary
Kunichika, Kitazoe, and Toma are the commentators for Round 6 of the Rank Wars, with cityscape A as the map. This map doesn't possess any outstanding features, with no terrain to give an advantage. The teams are all transmitted with agents from Ikoma Squad being closer to each other.

Along with the snipers, Osamu activates his bagworm. Oji guesses that Osamu is the one hiding and continues to target him as planned. His squad begins to methodically comb the areas where Osamu could be found. First, Agent Kashio finds Ikoma squad's sniper, Oki. He chooses not to fight, as his sole target is Osamu.

Captain Oji realizes that he will soon cross paths with Kuga. At first, he believes that Kuga is covering Osamu's location, but he realizes it's a trap for him to get sniped by Chika. Kurauchi catches up with him and they discuss the possible trap. He contacts Kashio and directs him to head to the southeast - Osamu's probable location.

Kuga realizes that Oji Squad didn't fall for his trap. Osamu is setting up his spider traps and figures out that a member from Oji Squad has activated their bagworm and is probably searching for him.

The scene switches to Ikoma Squad, where Ikoma expresses confusion at more people going off-radar. Mizukami explains that they are probably hunting for either Amatori or Osamu and warns Kai that he could end up falling into a trap if he isn't careful. Kai activates his bagworm, which Osamu notices. Soon, both Kashio and Kai find the wires, showing that Osamu is close by. Kashio alerts his squad, and Yuma warns Osamu that his location is compromised. Both Kuga and Chika rush to Osamu's location to help him.

Realizing he's trapped, Osamu fires an asteroid, and both Kashio and Kai see it. They rush to the location of the shots only to find each other instead of Osamu, forcing them to face off.

Watching the match, Kunichika and Toma commend Osamu's decision, while he expresses determination that he'll never allow himself to be taken out without doing anything to help again.

Kashio fires Hound at Kai and they both battle with Kogetsu. Meanwhile, Osamu hides in nearby houses and plans his next move. The other two members of Oji Squad are between him and Kuga if he heads north. If he goes southeast, he'll end up out of bounds. He chooses to go west, which would put Ikoma Squad between himself and Oji.

Oji correctly guesses Osamu's plan. He and Kurauchi continue to chase him while also heading toward Kashio to meet up at the same time. While battling Kai in the middle of Osamu's wires, Kashio slowly loses ground. Kai gains confidence and doesn't pay attention to the rest of Oji Squad closing in. Their operator Mario warns him that he's now in Kurauchi's range. At the same time, Kurauchi fires off a Salamander. In the destruction that follows, Kashio fights back and Kai is taken out, giving the first point to Oji Squad.

Back in the squad room, Mario yells at Kai for not being careful. Ikoma chimes in that their selling point is that they are a four-man crew. Without that, they only have Oki's popularity with the girls.

In the commentators' booth, Kunichika remarks that Oji's squad is tracking Osamu as if they could see him. Kitazoe explains that this is because Osamu and Oji have a similar thought process. Toma says that Tamakoma has realized this already. The scene switches to Kuga catching up with their group and attacking Kashio.

He cuts off Kashio's arm, and while they are distracted, Chika shoots Kurauchi in the leg with a lead bullet. Toma comments that Tamakoma knew that Oji Squad relied on their quick running and going for the leg was a smart choice. Oji squad attempts to retreat, but Kuga uses grasshopper to block them.

Oji squad and Kuga look back in surprise as Ikoma appears and activates his special whirlwind move with Kogetsu. Kuga barely manages to block it and receives a wound, though it's not enough for him to bail out. Ikoma expresses surprise that they're all still standing. Mizukami tells him to try again, and he does.

The audience admires this display of the "Ikoma whirlwind," while Kunichika explains why it's special to Toma and Kitazoe. Most Kogetsu users take one second to activate the whirlwind and can extend the slash for 15 meters. Ikoma, however, can activate it in 0.2 seconds and can extend the slash 40 meters. He is the only one in Border who can perform this move.

In the fight, Oji and Kurauchi decide to attack Kuga while he is pinned between them and Ikoma squad, and they both fire Hound at him. While Kuga blocks, Ikoma and Mizukami go after Oji Squad as payback for defeating Kai. Mizukami yells, "Asteroid," as he fires shots, but when they dodge they realize that he'd used Hound instead. They block the shots, but Ikoma fires another whirlwind as they're in the air. Kashio uses a grasshopper to knock Kurauchi out of the way of the slash. Kurauchi is still in the air when both Oki and Chika snipe him. Oki uses Ibis and renders his arm useless, while Chika's shot narrowly misses. He lands on the ground where Kuga beheads him with a sneak attack using bagworm. This is Tamakoma's first point.

Oji realizes that his squad is now at a disadvantage and decides to retreat with Kashio. Haya, their operator, displays paths they can take without being spotted by snipers.

Kuga is now left to face Ikoma Squad, but Chika is providing cover fire with lead bullets. Mario marks her position and sends it to Oki to track her down. Oki says he doesn't want to take down a little girl because it might affect his popularity. Mizukami tells him not to blow it, and he goes off to find Chika.

As Kuga and Ikoma duel, Oji Squad begins hunting down the two snipers. Kashio finds Chika, and Oji finds Oki. Osamu instructs Kuga to keep moving northward to an area where wires have been set up. Meanwhile, he'll go to pick up Chika.

Kashio is chasing down Chika, upset that he didn't manage to catch Osamu earlier on. He is determined to take them both out. Chika fires off a lead Hound behind her, but Kashio ducks behind a balcony, using the physical barrier to keep from getting caught. He sends a Hound barrage, forcing Chika to use a shield. This leaves her unable to use the lead Hound since it requires two trigger slots to be active at the same time.

With Chika unable to return fire, Kashio gains ground on her. While running, she hops over an invisible obstacle. On high alert, Kashio stops in his tracks. Watching the match, Toma comments that Chika just made an interesting move. Kashio activates a normal whirlwind Kogetsu to clear the area of wire traps. He realizes that he's been fooled and there are no wires.

His hesitance allowed Chika to get some distance away, so he fires Hound. Osamu jumps in and blocks the shot while Chika fires back with lead Hound. Kashio tries to jump out of the way but is caught in the leg. Osamu uses thruster to catch up to him, and Kashio fires at him with Hound. Chika uses a double shield to protect Osamu, and he cuts Kashio in two with Raygust. Kitazoe and Toma discuss how her bluff with the invisible wire manipulated Kashio right into Tamakoma's hands.

The score is now Oji squad: 1, Tamakoma-2:  2, and Ikoma squad: 0.

Back with Kuga, Mizukami yells, "Asteroid," as he fires at Kuga, but his side effect reveals that the shout is a lie. It was actually an explosive Meteor. Ikoma slashes his whirlwind Kogetsu, but Kuga dodges it with a grasshopper. He blocks an incoming Ibis shot from Oki, but the shot still destroyed his left arm. Kuga realizes that if Oki is free to shoot, Oji must be after Osamu and Chika.

Usami warns them to stay alert since Oji has disappeared from radar. At that moment, he appears and attacks Osamu. They try to run away while Oji fires Hound at them. Toma says that Tamakoma's fate will depend on whether Osamu can make a stand against Oji and Chika can get away from the attack. Their strategy heavily depends on Chika being able to snipe from areas protected by wires. Without her, their strategy will fall flat, since opponents can just destroy the wired area with Meteors.

Since Oji is using one hand to fire Hound at Chika and his left hand to wield Kogetsu, Osamu believes he has a chance to beat him. Oji guesses what he's thinking and tells Osamu that he's too strong to beat him. He attacks and cuts off Osamu's right arm. Osamu fights back, using thruster to get in front of him, deploying spider to block him, and firing Asteroid. None of this works and Oji closes in on Osamu, grabs him by the neck, and severs his relay system with Scorpion. Osamu bails out.

Now, Oji focuses his attention on Chika. As he gets closer, Chika turns around. She is still using a shield, but she shows a normal Hound instead of lead Hound. This shocks everyone in the audience, Usami and Osamu from the control room, and Oji. He hesitates and tells himself that it's just a bluff.

Chika releases the Hound at him, and his entire field of vision is filled with the bullets. At the last possible moment, they curve and blast the ground in front of him away. In the destruction, Chika gets away from him and into the wire zone.

Already inside the wire zone, Kuga faces Ikoma and Mizukami. They survey the surrounding area and remark that "four-eyes worked really hard." From a building behind Kuga, Chika fires an Ibis at them, throwing them both in the air. Oki fires an Ibis at Chika, but she easily blocks it with a focused shield. Oki tells them that he'll have to wait until she shoots to fire at her again.

In the commentators' booth, Kunichika, Toma, and Kitazoe discuss what is likely to happen next. Since Ikoma Squad hasn't earned any points yet, they will need to go after Tamakoma. Currently, the points sit at 0-2-2. The final phase of round 6 begins.

Using the wires, Kuga attacks Ikoma, who says that those moves won't work, since he's seen them before in Kuga's fighting logs. He turns out to be wrong, as Kuga moves much faster than what he'd witnessed before. He backs away from Kuga, and with Mizukami, begins destroying the wires. The distance allows them to stay outside of Kuga's range. They don't go all out, though. They are attempting to create a diversion for Chika, allowing Oki to snipe her. Usami warns her to hide after every shot she takes since she is being hunted by both Oji and Oki.

Ikoma tells Mizukami that he doesn't like the slow pace of their fighting and asks if it's something they can continue doing. While they discuss this, Kuga uses grasshopper to shoot a cinderblock at Mizukami and it slams him in the face. Chika then shoots him in the stomach with a lead bullet. He's still figuring out what's going on when Oji swoops in and beheads him, stealing the kill from Kuga.

Ikoma slashes at him with the whirlwind Kogetsu. He dodges, but his foot gets cut off. Chika fires Ibis, destroying the buildings around him, then immediately shoots another lead bullet. It narrowly misses Oji, and gets blocked by Ikoma's Kogetsu. Oki begins firing at Chika with Lightning, keeping her pinned down.

With Chika contained, Oji realizes that Ikoma is now free to begin cutting down buildings, which he immediately does with another whirlwind slash. Both Oji and Kuga are caught in the debris of collapsing buildings and wires as they continue to fight.

Kuga quickly uses grasshopper to launch a piece of debris with a wire in it. This trips Oji up, and as he falls backward Kuga says that they've gained their third point. He then stabs Oji with two Scorpions. As Oji bails out, Kuga receives several shots to his leg from bullets Oji had planted before being tripped by the wire. He loses a lot of trion from the damage, but Ikoma comes to face him.

Following orders from Osamu, Chika stands up directly from her hiding spot on a rooftop to face Oki. He begins to shoot at her, while she fires a lead bullet at him. She hits him in the chest, while his lightning shot takes out her left leg.

Kuga uses grasshopper to escape Ikoma and go after Oki. He slashes Oki with a scorpion. While Oki bails out, Ikoma slashes at Kuga with his whirlwind. Kuga tries to dodge with a grasshopper, but Ikoma fired at where he knew Kuga would be and cuts him in half. He bails out.

Chika bails out voluntarily, leaving Ikoma alone on the stage, staring into the camera. The battle is over with the final score, Tamakoma-2: 4, Ikoma Squad: 3, Oji Squad: 3.