~Raws + Summaries~

[mercer_sensei]

the scalations have gone up to chapter 197 so far, so Ill start the raw and summaries with chapter 198

atm credit goes to various people at stoptazmo.com for the links, Ill upload them when I get home

so here ya go
Chapter 198 RAW [RS]

Chapter 198 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

1. with the end of the storm story arc, we're back to kogarasumaru's homebase to witness their training. what will be the after-effect of losing the flame regalia?

2. note that kogarasumaru are doing their normal physical training without their AT. kazu is obviously shown to be EXTREMELY down after having lost the flame regalia which was entrusted to him. in the midst of his daze, he got hit by an iron ball (which of course caused emily to go berserk mode ) and while it seems he's ready to beat up the guy who threw the ball at him, he asked him instead why he hadnt hit his head and asked him to hit him another time with a heavier one... "-_-

3. black flame is next shown to have a flashback in his stun/stoned situation. in his immobile state, it is shown that he is still able to think (that he wonders what everyone is riled up abt and that he's alright and is uninjured). temple head then explains saying something about how a part of his brain probably is in shock (physically) and hence is unable to move. he mentions that last time when he was in afghanistan, he witnessed similar soldiers who were in that state. anyway, he managed to restore black flame.

4. after his un-freeze, he explains that he had his team formed some sort of a warning network but was useless in the storm. black flame was not beside ikki protecting him since he assumed that ikki would be safe if he's together with the others and so he decided to protect the flame regalia in the temple himself. but when iron made his appearance, he couldnt remember what happened soon after. obviously, black flame is rather shocked that iron clock, who should have been dead, is able to defeat him, one with battle level 78, in a single hit and further comments that it was as if time has stopped only for him.

5. kazu asks black flame whether he has been in the temple guarding the flame regalia all along and when black flame said yes, kazu calls him an idiot and blames him for the loss of the flame regalia since black flame's presence, who is the strongest in his team, would be like telling the enemy where the location of the flame regalia was... kazu then rushes out, attempting to catch up to whoever has stolen the regalia but was stopped (who was it who stopped him btw? :S)

6. back to present time, kazu is parting with kogarasumaru for the day, with ikki reminding him to meet them back the next day at 7am (for their training). buccha, who is rather worried at kazu's condition, asked whether it would have been better for ikki to walk him home but ikki thinks it would be better for him to be alone for now and also that ikki has got to go for his part time job so he can get money and rebuild his AT.

7. alone now, kazu thinks back on how spitfire has given it his all to protect and entrusts kazu with the flame regalia only to have it stolen in kazu's possession. he somehow also regrets blaming black flame for the loss of the regalia (even though black flame has been guiding him) and comments on how he feels like dying...

8. we're then introduced to a girl who appears to be lost and attempts to ask for something from the crowd before coming upon kazu. when kazu helped her up after her fall though, she appears to be surprised at kazu's handprints and started giving him a palm reading, asking him whether he has had tough luck recently. as kazu appears shocked at her accuracy, she tries to move away and apologised to kazu for doing that especially now that she has stopped using her "power"... convinced that she is the real deal, kazu stopped her and she started telling kazu how a death-star is approaching him... (for those who is slow, yes!! she is a fraudster!! >_<)

9. men are shown in the alley impressed by her fraud skills, commenting that kazu is her 50th victim... anyway, she invites kazu to a seminar which could turn his bad fortune around which would cost him 10k yen (abt US$100) and after kazu started being put off, she started her brainwashing techniques (page 15, bottom panel) and in the next scene, we're shown some kind of cult gathering with its members doing weird stuff and chanting something... and in the final panel, we're shown kazu holding a devilish statue and chanting the same word!!

10. will salvation dawn upon believers!?! where is kazu heading to?!?!


Comment:
is it just me or is this chapter...really bad!! >_< we havent had a bad chapter in a long time though, so i guess its forgivable... T_T

anyway, nothing much to speculate or what have u in this chapter, straight forward and somewhat...dull -.- i guess we can speculate about what cult it might be? based on the statue and the word kazu said... in japanese, it sounds - "es-sa-i-mu"... anyone has any idea? :S

Chapter 198 has been scanlated

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 199 RAW [SS]

Chapter 199 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

for this chapter, there is loads of unimportant info but to summarise just the important bit:

1. chapter starts with the mentioning of kazu, who is compared with the likes of a white pegasus which has descended on the earthly realm. unknown to him, much news about him have been spreading on the net ever since the behemoth incident.

2. page 2 and 3 (which are meant to be a double page but is split in half T_T) talks about him (symbolised as a pegasus), to be searching for an unknown person who stole the flame regalia. However, due to the chains binding him (symbolised as his physical limit), caused his soul to leave his body and is currently lost in the earthly realm. btw those naked chicks surrounding him is thinking he's cute and asking him out/wanting to "service" him etc

3. a guy in costume then makes his entrance, seemingly the leader of the cult (he's called "roki" btw). after this guy's appearance though, another fat guy was introduced, shown to be the mastermind behind this "show". anyway, "roki" started acting weirdly (squeezing one of the chick's nips), causing the fat guy to question the show's organiser, a masked dude (apparently ikki's senior) who the guy acting as "roki" is and this caused the organiser to start reprimanding the actor (who had a nosebleed after doing the nip-squeeze )

4. anyway, while attempting to continue the show, "roki" noticed that kazu was amongst the crowd and started talking about this being a gathering of confused souls and relates saying how confusion is the proof of being alive. he then moves on to say though, that while this is the case, there seems to be one who is alive but is carrying a soul of the dead and goes to describe who that person is (covered in white robe currently etc etc). realising that he's the one being talked about, kazu obviously is surprised. roki goes another step though, mentioning kazu's full name and also what happened during his childhood etc etc, which amazed kazu at the specifics and this of course also earned the crowds laughter (due to kazu's funny childhood )

5. being serious now, roki mentions how kazu's heart is frozen and cold and proceeds to ask him to have a battle with him, with a condition that if kazu wins, roki will tell him what he wants to know - about the real form of the man who took the flame regalia. again shocked about the extent of knowledge that roki has about him, kazu questions his real identity but was simply told that he's the embodiment of the devil king - bermond (someone confirm this name? i cant seem to find it :S the statue looks like baphomet though "-_-)

6. worried and pissed that everything's going out of plan, the masked dude started reprimanding the actor but only got a reply that the usual scenario was boring and so he wanna spice it up it was revealed here that the actor has been ikki all along!!

7. referring to "roki" as the "damn" cult leader now, kazu asks him whether he's serious in telling him everything kazu wants to know and gets a confirmation from "roki" tat he will do what he can. having said that, ikki is shown to be pumped in anger with narration in the background explaining that because ikki has been friends with kazu for a long time, he knows abt kazu's feelings and hence is angry at the current kazu... kazu on the other hand, declares that if what "roki" said isnt real, it will be too late to ask for forgiveness even after he turns him into cinders

8. ikki's flame of anger finally lits back the fire within kazu's soul!! how will this battle develop!?

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 200 RAW: [MU] [RS] [SS]

Chapter 200 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

chapter starts with the fight declaration between the 2 while kazu gets dressed. the fight condition apparently was chosen as some kinda tag-game with roki capturing the "ghosts"/naked chicks (u can guess why he wanted to be the capturer ) and kazu freeing the captured ones. kazu accepts the match saying that he's played that game many times in the past before but was somehow concerned that the girls should be wearing something. this of course gets the girls affection and they were all over him to ikki's envy.

battle starts and ikki goes to do his "stuff" (much to his senior's agitation) while in the blink of an eye, kazu goes to free them and the crowd were impressed. seeing kazu having somewhat of an advantage(?), roki proceeds to attempt to stop him and kazu comments that roki is similar to someone he knows and proceeds to have a flashback of the tag game he had last time, which kazu refers to as a bad memory.

in the flashback, kazu is shown to be crying because he has been playing the role of the "devil" (the one to chase and find the others) all day long and he's sick of it. ikki, being ikki, does not shown kazu pity, despite ringo telling him to. he instead tells kazu that he's boring and tells him to go home. because of this, kazu was prompted to train his speed so that he could catch them when he's playing the tag game as a devil again. seeing kazu train so hard, ikki stole his trainers and when asked by ringo why he did it, ikki simply replied that if kazu gets any faster, ikki would actually have to be the "devil" the next time they play and he wouldnt want that...

back to present time, kazu is shown to be out-performing roki and he calls roki a slowpoke... the weird-eyed guy then asks ikki's senior what they should do in the situation considering their "roki"-image are being ruined by the challenger... senior dude then tries to justify ikki's situation saying how the costume outfit is heavy and is meant to hide the AT so as not to be seen by others and hence is slowing ikki down... after a moment of hesitation though, he actually comments that while that is so, he thinks that a real serious kazu would actually be stronger than ikki and he knows this because he has fought with them before...

again returning to the flashback, roki tells kazu that till the end, the trainers were never returned, with a picture showing young-ikki dumping them into the river. young-ikki later met young-kazu on the way home and he thought at that time that kazu wanted to get back at him having found out who had stolen the trainers but apparently, kazu was simply focussing on his training despite not having any shoes on. the present ikki/roki then proceeds to tell kazu that while what kazu lost that time was simply a pair of trainers, he silently comments that the replacement kazu got was the litting of a flame within him and that in turn lights up a raging fire within ikki himself!!

despite a challenge started by him, kazu's silent fighting spirit reverses on ikki himself!! how will things develop in the next chapter!?


comment:
lol, i cant believe ikki was that mean with kazu and kazu actually is still sticking to him now "-_- i got to agree that respect level for kazu actually rose quite a bit in this chapter

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 201 RAW [MU] [RS] [SS]

Chapter 201 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

as of last time, we see ikki burning up with his desire to defeat kazu and apparently, he isnt gonna play fair to achieve this because in this chapter, ikki started using the show's many equipments at his disposal for his attacks. The initial attack was made by using a hidden speaker in the demon statue to produce a sound blast to disorientate kazu and give ikki a chance to land his blow. after kazu dodged it though, lasers in the gargoyle-like statues begins firing at him but hits the crowd instead. while suavely saving a naked-maiden in danger, kazu protested at the danger that the crowd is being involved in and ikki simply justified it saying that the voltage has been tuned down to not cause death (probably) and simply produce a little heat... (how is he gonna get kazu anyway if all he's gonna feel is a little heat? "-_-)

as the match progresses, we see that ikki is not only using the equipment to his favour but also the show's many loyal crowd and even the dead souls to defeat kazu (the naked chicks who're meant to be captured on the game). a surprised kazu was then hit with a bat by one of the chicks and was then told by ikki that he never said the dead souls are his ally... kazu of course calls roki for playing dirty but instead got a reply from roki that for the sake of victory, all efforts (battle strategies, intelligence, geographics) should be exhausted and that is what working hard to victory is about...

slowly losing his consciousness from the earlier blow and being drowned in the tauntings of the crowd, kazu started hallunicating and begun having flashbacks of the time when he was battling the sora brothers along with spitfire. it was revealed here that the moments before his death, spitfire was actually teaching kazu about the ways of the flame... he mentions that the flame, like the wind, has no definite form and is free... narration then goes saying how spitfire is relaying his life, along with the "what" of the flame road's infinity atmosphere - infinite inferno to kazu... and this is because, beside ikki, the man who carries the name "spitfire" is probably the only one who knows abt kazu's true worth... moving on to the time when kazu is watching spitfire's msg, spitfire told him that because the flame and the wind has no definite form, once it is misused, it could easily rob others of their lives and hence spitfire emphasised for kazu to not forget it before finally moving on to "Lesson 1"...

returning to present time, spitfire's msg continues, telling kazu abt flame road's chapter of "restrain" - those who handles flames must learn how to control it and that essentially means it is a requirement to learn the techniques to bind the freedom held by flames... with that in his mind, the entire crowd was frozen on their tracks as the we hear kazu starts his trick with his declaration of "oh time"!! as he finally gathers the courage to strike back without caring what the means are, kazu tells roki that he will show him about the ways of the flame road and lands his first battle hit!!

the one who inheritted the soul of the flame, finally burns for the first time!!


comment:
sorry it took some time, i was trying to make it sound good in english as there are lots of sayings/symbolisms in this chapter regarding flame which somewhat sounded weird after translation "-_- i left it out in the end but for those curious, its page 15 where spitfire is listening to spitfire's msg on his laptop, the narration goes something like in actuality the extreme gush of fire (the type used in melding things together in industries? the highly oxidised one) has a lower heat quantity compared to the simply a reddish strong flame... and this whitish-green flame burns brightly and silently in the darkness and melts anything it touches... i have no idea how i can relate this to whatever spitfire is telling kazu so i took it out... sorry "-_-

oh and i got to say, it actually took me until now to feel that its really a waste for spitfire to be dead... although if he aint, the impact would not be there for us to enjoy

speed demon ftw in the chapter huh? do i again hear fangirls fawning over him? for us fanboys though, yes, the girl with the bat sure is a wonder to me eyes ^_^

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 202 RAW [MU] [RS] [MediaFire] [SS]

Chapter 202 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

chapter starts with the explaination of the "time" trick. basically, the rider has to hit the opponent at certain location of the body where the movement is being produced AND also the nerve points like the chin, back of the head etc and hence stunning them them and robbing them of movement completely... normally, the opponent will be on the verge of blackening-out and even if they retain their senses, their body will be still unmovable and will feel this heaty-burning sensation... it is classified as a skill of the flame road because even though the rider isnt using any flame, the opponent do feel some kinda "heat"...

satisfied that he's able to perform the trick, kazu comments here that it is tiring (duh!! he did it on the entire crowd!! is that even possible!?!?) looking back at "roki", kazu then asked him whether his "miracle" is broken/finished already and started thinking abt ikki due the similarity they share and wonders when he will be able to fare up to ikki since up till now, it would appear to kazu that between them, its always only kazu who is always trying hard and even then ikki is able to trash him with his little finger despite not taking it seriously...kazu stops here though as he suddenly realise that he has no reason for winning and said out loud how boring it is...

hearing/thinking that he's being undermined, ikki begins to mumble something as kazu feels a weird gust of wind blowing even though they're underground... as it slowly dawns upon him that "roki" was the cause of the wind, kazu dodged the incoming knee counter-attack (infused with a wind interface) but somehow was still hit by the huge air pressure!! an indoor tornado was then formed, and the rising gust of wind frees everyone from the frozen state and the crowd started escaping, leaving the 2 heroes to battle it out!!

shocked that "roki" is able to perform a trick similar to sora, kazu turns to question his identity only to find the rider in front of him no longer dons his mask. narration reveals that rather than being shocked at roki's real identity, kazu is shocked at what he has never once saw before - a face of someone burning with intensive combat spirit. a flashback is then shown, with narration saying that while kazu has felt this "aura" before during their childhood school competiton, he has never seen ikki's serious face and because kazu has always assumed that ikki is able to take care of him with simply his little finger, he begins wondering when is it that ikki has started being "serious" like him...

having realised that ikki has always gotten serious because of his desire to defeat him, spitfire's recording then begins playing, talking about how even though following someone means that one will never be lost, it would also means that one would forever only be able to stare at the back of that person... and hence, to find one's own "path", one can only do it by moving his own feet ahead. At the same time that kazu begins to voice out his desire to defeat ikki, Lesson 2 is introduced - "Flame/freedom is something which will burn fiercely according to one's desire!!"

The budding ego and desire! its no longer stoppable!!


comment:
o_O sabre, i cant believe u said last chapter is better, as far as i'm concerned this chapter is better than all the naked chicks in the previous chapters!! (well maybe not :P) and i dun think ikki stole kazu's shine in any way... if anything, he complements it *wink*

and yes, its actually "aeon clock" isnt it? its weird though, the japanese katakana writing shouldnt really be written like that as far as i know :S or is it me japanese? i agree more needs working on me language T_T

its crazy how kazu supposedly freezes the entire crowd isnt it? "-_- even if one person take 0.0238 seconds to freeze, the entire crowds would take ages to stun!! >_<

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 203 RAW [MU] [SS]

Chapter 203 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

yo all, there like 80% action in this chapter, no need for me to summarise much then ^_^

1. storm king vs (dethroned) flame king!! wind and flame power on full burst!!

2. kazu is happy. that person who has always been his target. that person who is the closest and yet the furthest away from anyone. that person who gives a feeling that he belongs to another world. that person who he has decided to surpass one day... and that person is now chasing him instead!!!

3. as ikki attempt to land a blow, kazu dodged and disappeared, leaving many flame ball remnants. this move is being referred to as the flame road's "after burner" (more info at Afterburner - Wikipedia) basically, the move gives short bursts of speed to the rider with the same principle as the jet engine of a fighter plane

4. seeing this, ikki creates a solid wall of air to stop kazu's movement and trap him which he then follows up with a wind projectile attack at kazu - pile tornado!!

5. unable to dodge it, kazu stopped the incoming attack with a wall of "time" (how does he do that anyway? "-_-) and again, both voiced their desire to defeat one another before ikki made another follow-up attack with his move - the pile tornado's limited express!! its a move produced by allowing the rider to ride the internal wall of the tornado...

6. black flame comments saying how because of the "wind", the flame starts... and the then newly-risen flame will strengthen the wind, which in turn fuels the flame again... he then adds that the guy who kazu always looked up to and aims for, is indeed strong...

7. as kazu's defeat seemed imminent, tears rolled down his cheeks... seeing this and slightly annoyed, ikki asks his long-time rival what the idiot's weeping about... kazu is happy. (narration "kazu is happy" starts the chapter and ends the chapter :S just added it coz i felt it would better potray kazu's state of mind )

8. the 2 who walks side-by-side now, both the flame and the wind will always soar high no matter where they go!!


comment:
well thats a rather nice conclusion to the battle and lets face it... the chances that a side character will defeat the main character is kinda low in shounen manga "-_- kazu to be where he is now is already not bad :P loving the kazu re-referencing as a fighter plane btw, even one of the ghost girl knows and calls him "stealth" ^_^

sorry the summary might seem weird, but i dun think there is much need to translate anything much in this chapter considering its pretty much understandable wat happens in the chapter already

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 204 RAW [MU]

Chapter 204 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

chapter starts with run and ine's progress with slowing down the clock tower. it would seem that the 2 have done all that they could in delaying the gst tournie. realising this, ine asked for run to take care of things while she announces that she will be going to america to make preparations for the "next stage". apparently, she will be meeting with someone who could be of "strength" for kururu... and here, we're shown kururu to be wrapped up in tonnes of mechanical parts, whily lying down on that place where she remade bagram last time... (bondage kururu ftw!! o_O)

going back to witness the aftermath of the fight between kazu and ikki, it would seem that after kazu was defeated, the 2 ran away, leaving black flame and gang to put up with the wraith of the boss of the organisation (yakuza btw). the boss mentioned that what he is concerned with wasnt the damage that the 2 did to the place, but instead was of the fact that they showed a real "miracle" to the crowd... and since his show is simply to give a fake hope to the "walking dead", this is unacceptable and threatens them to never show up there again.... hearing what the boss said abt the 2, black flame agrees saying that it is because those 2 are the "flameling" and "storm" which will lit up the fire within them all, (they wont allow any harm to go their way.) with that, all members of the flame team makes their appearance. amazed at their sudden appearance and seeing they are somewhat outnumbered and out-powered, the boss agrees to let them off, while also saying that its been 30 years since he has been burning... anyway, black flame then performs his magic trick as a short distraction while the entire team makes their lightning-speed exit, leaving cards each with a candle on top ("-_- talk abt flashy...)

joining up with our heroes, kazu is helping with wood collecting for their camp out (also where ikki have been staying btw). here, ikki reminds kazu that what spitfire left was "that" and that it is already burning within him. because of this, what kazu actually lost was simply a shoe and nothing else... agreeing with him, kazu adds that he's glad that he's able to start AT... narration in the background then says that kazu was next meant to say that he's also glad to have met ikki, but it never came out of his mouth and instead kazu decided to say that he really wanted to win against him... having said that though, kazu regrets it again as tears once more collects in his eyes...

with the 2 sharing the moment of their new-found resolute, the tower bells chimes... narration then tells us that its the 6th of the 9 chimes before the start of the tournament and it was as if its telling of the future path that the world will follow... black flame, however, believes that the chiming of the bell is a gospel for the arrival of hope and in this midst of deep darkness, the flame stands strong and beautifully shines its best...

as the final battle inches closer with every passing moment, small but surely, the flame of hope glitters!!


comment:
lol, cant let go of that kururu image out of my head... what exactly is she doing?!! if she's making a regalia, it sure looks weird...

and lol at kazu crying yet again :P

EDIT:
whats wrong with kururu drinking water? u're talking abt the time when she first met ikki rite? nothing is weird there i think?

PS: I post everything that whatever posts

[animefan8993]

sup so tru so tru gotta go with u on that

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 205 RAW [MU] [RS]

Chapter 205 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

I know this chapter has been out for a bit and has already been scanlated, but Im going to post it anyway

summary time!! ^_^

1. chapter starts with hako tuning sora. apparently, she was doing some other stuff too (something nothing to do with tuning, i wonder what... ) and was told off by sora to not to do that and simply do what she's meant to...

2. aeon clock then makes his sudden appearance, to hako's chagrin, into the tuning room.. while hako attempts to hide her assets, she was told by aeon that she doesnt have to worry since he doesnt have interest in her... hako then comments to herself that she really hates him...

3. we're then shown sora's robotic legs and according to aeon, what was injured last time was simply his tendons and didnt actually reach the extent where his legs had to be amputated... sora then tells him that aeon's an idiot and that kiriku couldnt have possible done that and that it was his own decision to remove them... when aeon asks him why he actually did that, sora simply replies saying it is worth it and he will do whatever it takes to get his hand on the "sky"... aeon then laughs at him saying his dream is like those found in manga written by some mid-school kid...

4. next scene shows sora and the general having dinner talk with sora's dream. general tells him that back in his uni days, he was researching the wars between bugs as it shares similarities to the human world... while the success of the bugs are normally attributed to their numbers, the humans are more evolved and the decisive factor in victory is "technology"...and we're revealed here that world domination is the general's dream... general adds that for the first time in the birth of life, its not "strength" which will bring a man to the top, but "technology" instead and that he's a very lucky man to be able to be there in possibly the biggest "happening" in our 3.6 billion years of existance... sora joked asking to stop if not he's gonna kiss him (coz he's touched? :S) and anyway, the general says he doesnt mind and sounds of general attempting to land his smack and sora trying to avoid it is heard... "-_-

5. the scene then moves to hako trying something on her laptop and then sora, aeon starting to head out somewhere while nike is mercilessly slaughtering crew members... it is then revealed that they are currently on an Aegis battleship and apparently, they are hijacking it... communication system from an aircraft carrier is heard sending a distress signal since they have lost contact with the ship and it tells of someone hacking the ship's main system (probably hako, but...with a laptop?!! o_O) and also that codes have also been entered into the weapon storage warehouse etc...

6. the captain of the ship is then shown to have been "operated" on and is somewhat following orders to say what sora commands him to say, and that is to report back through the communication system saying nothing is wrong and that their communication system simply had a short malfunction... nike is shown still continuing his rampage on the ships crews...

7. as the sora's begin their plan of world domination, the "nine-fall" makes its 7th chime...hako wonder, does that chime signify genesis's funfair? or simply the tune of destruction? all she knows, she chuckles, is that the bell is chiming for someone...

the flowers of ambition begins it bloom....!


comment:
lol, we havent had such a chapter in a long time... at first i was skeptical abt it, but its been sometimes since we get to see the sora's do their stuff and throwing their killing intent and violent nature like that... just like to point out that its a nice constrast to the previous chapter that is full of hope/revial to this one that is full of ambition and/violence... O!G aint one of my fav mangaka for no reason

[mercer_sensei]

Chapter 206 RAW [MU] [RS] [MediaFire]

Chapter 206 Summary: credit goes to whatever131 at stoptazmo.com

more things being explained this chapter!!

1. chapter starts with kiriku doing pressure training and om asking him to stop before he becomes like "tomato ketchup"... kiriku then asks her to continue increasing it simply because if he's unable to withstand that pressure, his body would be like paper in front of the "wind"...

2. ringo makes her appearance and meets up with kanon, who shows her the design of her new thorn regalia which is designed by kiriku. it is said its power output is increased by 25% and there is also improvement on its energy performance... somewhat disturbed by ringo's silence, he asked her if she's still angry for that time and this caused ringo to stare at him (with "of course i bloody am" written in her eyes... ok, i exaggerated what was written there but its the same meaning ) and this got kanon depressed...

3. kanon then explains that, she should trust him, considering he's her most important partner and that originally, because they are the "gravity children", there is no need for "link tuners"... however, this situation is different with this "sleeping forest" considering the regalias they use are degraded copies of the originals (o_O) and hence they need tuners to help them bring out their full battle potential with those regalia-copies... he added then that, if only she had received tuning once before the battle with ikki, then her thorn whips would have torn the "wind" apart (she hasnt been tuned yet? i tot she was all she said she did in the hospital arc?)... ringo then comments that she(herself) is despicable... she only wanted to not return but at the same time, she didnt want to again break the "chains" that ikki destroyed for her the other time...

4. kanon then adds that time is running out and that the battle involving countries separated by seas will begin soon... and they, "sleeping forest", will face off with their "destined enemies" in an official battle for the birth of the 9th road's regalia...

5. in america, ine finally meets with the person she mentioned last chapter which could be "their" strength...apparently, it is with joanna, the runner she helped tuned last time and allowed her to break the track record then... the suprise though, is that its not joanna that could help her, it would be instead be her old friend - john omaha, the next presidential candidate!! (obviously, he's meant to be an image of barack obama )

6. back to the training grounds of sleeping forest, kiriku is just done with his pressure traning and we're shown his back, it apparently has one-half of a tatoo sora has on his back, signifying some connection between the 2 last time during their research days... here kiriku greets ringo as "president/head/boss/etc"... ringo, seeing his worn out body, comments to herself that because of his excessive overtraining, his muscles reached a point where it overtrained and instead became compressed and solid like a "stone"...

7. ringo then asked kiriku what will happen after "sleeping forest" defeats sora and also what kiriku desires or what he will be fighting for after they destroy genesis... this question appears to take kiriku by surprise and he didnt give an answer...

8. as the "nine fall" makes its 8th chime, ringo, similar to the case with ikki/kazu and sora in previous chapters, makes her resolute - there is no need to think of what will happen after this battle, they should only think of the battle in front of them!! she then proceeds to (imaginarily) chain herself back and thinks to herself, everyone is fighting for someone else and she, herself, decides to return to the forest, for she is the sleeping forest's thorn queen... if she is to turn her back to this battle, she will never forgive herself!!

with everything in place, the queen/ringo once again returns to the path of battle/thorns..!


comment:
all 3 sides's resolute finally shown ^_^ i guess everyone would be gathering at the entrance of the tower next chapter for the final chime? considering buccha/onigiri/emily or what have u havent had their development, i suppose those will be done during their individual battle inside the tower itself?

and yeah, i kinda agree... i think O!G seems to have lost his touch with drawing kiriku, om and ringo after some time... the first few drawings of them are somewhat... of lower standard but they improve throughout the chapter :S