Comprehensive Plot Summary

[suarhnir]

oyos

so i was thinking, as a refresher and reference, i would read through air gear again and make a general summary of each volume.
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ikki's stormrider debut arc: volume 01

as part of the east side gunz, "baby face" ikki defeats the west side gang in a yearly bout for territory. after some usual antics in his home life with the noyamano sisters, ikki escapes to watch simca passing through her regularly used route on a-ts, admiring the ability to 'fly.' later on, ikki returns to the warehouse where he previously fought and met the stormrider team, skull saders, who were called upon by the west side gang. ikki was thoroughly beaten since he couldn't compete against an a-t user followed by the overwhelming numbers against him.

ringo decides to retaliate against the skull saders for their 'misuse' of a-ts. ikki dreams that night of ringo, mikan, and ume bringing him along for an air trek run (which became a nightmare when he recalled his fight against the skull saders). he wakes up and finds a bag filled with a pair of his own a-ts on his bed, only to rush off to school when realizes how late it is. ikki goes to school hoping to find ringo so he can ask about the a-ts and such. when he arrives, ikki finds that he's being marked by the whole student body due to the skull saders influence. despite the bullying and having the a-ts being thrown into a river by kazu and onigiri, ikki brushes it off and continues to look for ringo. meanwhile, the skull saders are dropping by the school to mark their territory as stormriders. ringo swiftly passes by them, leaving a warning of their impending doom.

after school, ikki goes home and finally reads the note left by the noyamano sisters that was originally on the bag with a-ts in the morning. ikki goes back out to find the a-ts only to have it be returned to him by kazu and onigiri, who then apologize. ikki goes off on his own in order to try out the a-ts, but accelerates to quickly on the first step and is unable to stop himself from flying off the hillside road. as he is soaring out, ringo joins him and welcomes him into 'sky' as a stormrider.

back at school, the skull saders' leader, magaki, finds that his team is being challenged by sleeping forest. magaki puts his team on alert, but its useless as ringo and mikan quickly dispatch all of them. when magaki tries to escape on his own, he is stopped by ikki who is failing at doing some trick as instructed by ume. magaki requests to do a formal a-t battle, betting the team emblems. since ikki is still new, ringo offers the sleeping forest emblem to use in the battle. the impromptu battle is arranged by mikan, with the emblems stuck to the wall near the top of building they are next to which they will try to retrieve in order to win. knowing his lack of experience and skills in a-t, ikki sends only one a-t up knocking magaki in the face and then hitting the emblems off of the wall. the emblems fall and are caught by ikki who is declared the winner. kazu and onigiri are rushing to the scene, hoping to help ikki face the skull saders, however, when they arrive to skull saders' base, they find all the members already defeated and see ikki leaving (with the noyamano sisters, though they don't recognize them) on a-ts.

the next morning, mikan and ringo tell ikki not to mention anything about their team, sleeping forest. at school, everyone asks about what happened with the skull saders and ikki's apparent victory over them with the use of a-ts. unfortunately, ikki is unable to perform any tricks to prove his story. later that day, ikki pulls off a wall climbing trick in order to save a nest with newborn chicks from falling that is witnessed by kazu and onigiri. in the afternoon, ringo is helping ikki learning some basics with a-t but ends it after he trips and pulls down her skirt and shorts. upon arriving home that evening, mikan announces a steak dinner which alerts the other sisters. afterwards, the noyamano sisters leave due to some team related issue but ikki quickly tries to follow them on bike. he loses sight of them and ends up wandering the streets until he comes across the 'glam slum' a-t shop. ikki asks the shopkeeper (big lady) about sleeping forest and when she sees the team emblem on ikki, she has the little old man guide him to the trophaeum tower. after arriving to the trophaeum tower, the big lady drives up in her shop and hands ikki a pair of a-t wheels which have "welcome to nightmare" written on them.

major characters introduced:
-ikki
-ringo
-mikan
-ume
-rika
-simca
-kazu
-onigiri
-magaki, skull saders
-little gramps
-big lady

ikki's stormrider debut arc: volume 02

ikki is going through mikan's room trying to find a-t parts, only to get caught by mikan just as he was in her underwear dresser. after punishing ikki, mikan offers her help in repairing his broken a-ts and they end up going to an a-t sports shop to buy new parts. simca (though not recognized by either mikan or ikki) greets them since she is working at the shop, and compliments ikki's strength as a stormrider. some rez-boa-dog stormriders outside take note of the interaction between simca and ikki. when at home, ikki is still feeling giddy as he is putting the new parts on his a-ts. after some thought, ikki realizes that simca was in fact the one he's been regularly watching and rushes out, but fails to notice a fallen screw. ikki arrives at his usual spot to watch simca, and she passes through like usual except this time there are stormriders from rez-boa-dogs chasing after her. ikki goes in to help her, fairing well against them even after one a-t falls apart due to the missing screw. mikan is heading over since she noticed the screw that was missing from ikki's a-ts and witnesses simca giving a kiss to ikki. as she passes by simca, mikan gets a look at her bag and sees her name. mikan recalls who simca is, while simca comments to herself that she's found an 'interesting little birdy.'

at home, ikki is happy about the kiss from simca. mikan is worried about what simca could be up to. ikki makes a visit to the a-t sports shop that simca works at so he can watch her, but mikan quickly interrupts him with a swift kick to the groin. when the shop closes, simca changes and heads out on her a-ts and ikki tries to follow on bike since he is still worried about the rez-boa-dogs tailing her. mikan is watching ikki from the rooftop and is joined by ringo. mikan teases ringo about simca going to steal away ikki but afterwards expresses concern over simca's objectives. elsewhere, the rez-a-boa dogs are gathered and the 3 members who went after simca last time are punished by the leader, inuyama. after recollecting themselves, inuyama signals for another 'hunt.' on another night, ikki is waiting like usual and simca sneaks up on him after getting off work and thanks him for his vigilance in looking out for her. as a reward, simca gives ikki the rez-boa-dogs team emblem. shortly afterwards, inuyama does his trademark attack on ikki followed by the rest of his team surrounding them. its explained that simca stole their team emblem and they would like it back. simca escapes on her own but tells ikki to hang onto the emblem and if he can manage that by the time she meets him next time, she would give him a real reward. the rez-boa-dogs attack ikki but he retaliates then escapes on his bike.

ringo and mikan are riding through the neighborhood in search of ikki (even though ringo refuses to admit that being the case) and end up running into simca. simca refuses to help the two out in finding ikki, instead stating her interest in ikki since he's like a baby chick learning how to fly. ringo slaps simca for looking down on ikki, then leaves to continue searching for ikki. meanwhile, ikki is still getting away with little trouble from the rez-boa-dogs, even taking down a couple with the aid of a laid off salaryman who was originally trying to hang himself (he is inspired afterwards to work harder in life). inuyama and his remaining forces try to use a team formation to stop ikki, but are still no match as ikki outwits them with his familiarity of the neighborhood. inuyama at first thinks how ikki is beating them despite being a 'hatchling,' but soon realizes that ikki was more formidable (a full grown crow is illustrated to compare to the prior image of the chick). suddenly a speeding truck comes down the street, nearly running over one of the rez-boa-dogs, but inuyama and the other members stops the truck. ikki is amazed and surprised in their camaraderie, and in this moment of distraction, inuyama and his men attack ikki from all directions. ringo saves ikki at the last second, and ikki ends up challenging inuyama in a real a-t battle. mikan finally catches up to the scene but is stopped by simca who grabs both emblems and hands them off to her pet bird. simca is mad about ringo's interference but she arranges the battle setup as a 'dash'/'balloon' variant with the winner being whomever claims the emblems first.

inuyama and his men have a headstart, ikki manages to catch up by riding on top a train. ringo and mikan help out by forcing the swallow to fly into the tunnel where the train that ikki is on will head into. this was all according to mikan's plan and once inside the tunnel, the swallow is unable to maintain its speed. before ikki can catch up to the bird, inuyama catches up and attacks ikki. simca catches up as well and admits to setting up this battle and comes to the conclusion that ikki is defeated, however the noyamano sisters think otherwise since they know that ikki is tougher than that thanks to rika and mikan using ikki as a wrestling dummy over the years. ikki continues to advance despite inuyama's onslaught and just before the tunnel ends, ikki makes a last ditch effort to catch the emblems by touching the electical conduit from the train with his a-ts giving him a huge boost in speed (though also burning out his a-ts in the process). ikki discovers the wing road in this moment, surprising/impressing everyone and then he claims the emblems. ikki falls in front of the train since he was partially electrocuted, but ends up getting saved by inuyama.

inuyama acknowledges ikki's victory and gives up his team emblem to ikki. however, ikki tries to give the emblem back stating that it wasn't really a fair win given that inuyama was weakened just before the start of the battle. while inuyama was hesistating to take back the emblem, simca stole it again and runs off with it (and starting the rez-boa-dogs chase once more). ringo, mikan, and ikki talk about simca's motives and ikki's discovery of the wing road, but then suddenly simca returns and flashes ikki since that was the 'real reward.'

ikki is trying to get some money from the sisters, but is finding little sympathy from them. ikki continues to look for money out and about town where he is found by kazu and onigiri. as the three are talking, a nearby skateboarder lands a trick badly and his board goes flying into the busy street. ikki jumps from the pedestrian overpass, landing on the board and easily manuevering it back to the side walk. back at the house, the noyamano sisters are going through ikki's room, also finding ikki's completely burnt out a-ts. though ringo would have been willing to help by giving some spare parts, mikan retorts that ikki wouldn't have an a-t that's his anymore. meanwhile, ikki lands himself a part-time job delivering for manchinrou ramen. over with kazu and onigiri, they find the website that lists info for the parts war which they intend to share with ikki so he wouldn't have to spend money for new parts. the two end up finding info on buccha who is wagering some wheels, and remember that he is also a fellow student of their school. at the same time, ikki arrives at buccha's very messy apartment to deliver an order of ramen. when buccha notices the emblems that ikki is wearing, he gets more serious and demands the emblems as well.

ikki hangs around for a bit and watches buccha eat, which he compares to a dance live and when buccha asks for kuu, ikki's pet crow, ikki decides to make his escape. the next day, ikki and ringo are riding on a bicycle to school as ringo asks how ikki's new job is coming along. ringo asks why he needs the money, but ikki doesn't admit that it's for a-t parts. in the classroom, kazu and onigiri tell ikki about the parts war as well as buccha since he is a student of their school. ikki, not realizing he's already met buccha, rushes over and tries to demand the wheels, but is promptly stopped by ringo. ringo further explains how parts war works and the rules behind it, until buccha himself finds them and describes his home life and then his discovery of air trek. when ikki, kazu, and onigiri return to the classroom only to find some more graffiti insulting ikki but it doesn't bother him. kazu and onigiri wonder why this is still continuing despite how the skull saders are now gone.

kazu and onigiri are checking out the school at night in hopes of finding some clues to the new group marking ikki. kazu and onigiri hide when they notice someone about to enter the classroom, which happens to be nakayama and emily. they were adding more trash and graffiti to ikki's desk when kazu and onigiri let themselves be known and try to question the girls over their actions. kazu and onigiri find out from the frightened girls that the team yaou (night kings) have taken over, mostly affecting groups and activities present at school in the later part of the day (like the sports clubs). at the manchinrou ramen shop, buccha is helping himself to a meal (greatly appreciated by the owner) and once again tries to claim the emblems from ikki after scamming him. later that night, kazu and onigiri are back at school hoping to investigate the night kings, now equipped with their own a-ts. buccha appears behind the two and makes his attack.

major characters introduced:
-inuyama, rez-boa-dogs
-buccha, night kings
-emily(emiri)
-nakayama

ikki's stormrider debut arc: volume 03

kazu and onigiri are trying to escape from buccha, but soon the rest of the yaoo (night kings) appear and finally cornering the two. emily and nakayama are watching from around the corner as kazu tries to put up a fight but is no match. ikki gets a call from the girls and heads to the hospital. back at buccha's apartment, spitfire drops by and talks about how things are going for buccha and his team. spitfire concludes that buccha is feeling threatened by ikki as someone who could surpass him, even adding in what simca (calling her a 'swallow') thought of ikki. buccha tries to defend his strength, but is shot down by spitfire who then leaves. ikki finally arrives at the hospital and is greeted by nakayama and emily. as ikki goes up to the room, nakayama and emily talk about what they will do now (emily resolves to fight back). after ikki comes back down, the girls give ikki a note from kazu as well as his and onigiri's broken a-ts.

3 days later, nakayama and emily are cleaning the graffiti off of ikki's desk and discuss about ikki's lack of action since they figured he would confront buccha immediately and brawl it out. some other girls come up and try to pick on them for helping ikki, but emily retaliates without hesitation. the girls try to down play ikki by showing nakayama and emily what is currently happening between buccha and him (ikki is being generous and nice to buccha and even giving free meals), but its seen differently in the eyes of nakayama and emily as something similar to opponents gauging eachother before their real battle. ringo happens to be eavesdropping and recalls 3 days prior when she delivered a map of the school with some trick passes marked on it. she further explains the battle class buccha does and then shows concern but ikki is already absorbed in looking at the map (he's actually in the 'eagle eye' mode and visualizing the layout of the course) and finds a course of action he can take that would help him win.

when night falls, buccha is watching for ikki's arrival, only for ikki to sneak up on him from behind. ikki gets right into challenging buccha for an official battle, betting the makeshift a-ts against buccha's team emblem. ikki constructed the a-ts from the parts of kazu's, onigiri's, and ikki's own a-ts. when the battle begins, buccha takes the lead but ikki keeps his determination to win. on the rooftop, ringo is watching and soon joined by spitfire, who states that ikki sucks, a fact that ringo was already aware of. buccha and ikki approach the first hurdle in the course, with buccha easily wall riding up to the roof, but ikki just crashes through the 1st floor window to cut through the building instead. buccha and ikki continue plowing through the building, spitfire realizes that ikki is trying to win through strategy since he lacks the skills. ikki attempts to hinder buccha by closing the fire shutters in the corridor, but buccha breaks through without problem. when the two get outside, ikki uses some flower pots to throw at buccha a la donkey kong, then some kicked stones and wax, and even a fire extinguisher, but all attempts are overcome with little trouble. buccha finally wall rides up to the roof, not wanting to play along with ikki's petty tricks, which reminds of ikki of someone he's met before (sakura makoto, the nfa player).

ikki tries to ride up the wall and intially fails, but he pulls off an upper soul trick along the pole behind him and launches up to the roof. this surprises spitfire and he finally comes to understand simca's interest in him. ikki continues on to the other side, though buccha catches up and they finally make it to the last part of the course. buccha gets ahead of ikki into the corridor so as to prevent him from passing given his size and ikki reveals that he figured buccha would try this and admits to giving him more ramen so as to increase his size to the point where he wouldn't be able to fit into the narrow corridor. buccha laughs at that attempt and shows that he is actually quite fit when he redistributes his body mass. a flashback shows that buccha has always been very strong, beating up those who tried to pick on him as a child. spitfire and ringo watch as it seems to look helpless for ikki to win at this point, ringo decides to leave at this point (spitfire also acknowledges ringo as sf's new leader). suddenly, ikki reveals his real plan which included the girl's track team pushing the unhinged shed so that the corridor became too narrow and rendering him stuck. as buccha tries to push back, the rest of his team comes in but are met with opposition by kazu and onigiri as well as other students who also want to stop the yaoo's rule of the school. with buccha still stuck, ikki takes the opportunity to ride above and over buccha and claims the yaoo emblem. in the aftermath, ikki inspires buccha to actually fly as a stormrider.

as buccha and his team disband and leave, ikki doesn't get the full satisfaction from his win. spitfire makes his entrance with a flame trick, and introducing himself and his title over the flame road. ikki instantly realizes the difference in level that spitfire has over all the other riders ikki has faced, meanwhile the present students freak out over the fire except for kazu who figures out it was merely an illusion. spitfire mentions the 8 roads and kings, then wonders if ikki has what it takes to rise up to that level, and he leaves followed by other stormriders who have also taken an interest in ikki. when ikki gets home, the noyamano sisters each responding in their own way thinking that he had lost, but ikki corrects them and quickly heads to his room instead of bragging. in his room he finds a naked simca in his bed (its revealed much later that she was wearing an sc suit and doing a reading on ikki). ikki and simca talk about the battle with buccha and ikki finally says that he was happier when he pulled off the upper soul trick instead of the overall victory. simca mentions the difficulties of the road a king will follow then takes ikki into her arms to sleep.

sometime later, simca and mikan are playing video games as ringo watches in annoyance. when simca notices ringo watching, she smirks with a knowing look and returns to gaming. ringo instantly starts wondering about ikki, which ume replies is taking a bath which is heard by simca. in the bath, ikki thinks over what spitfire and simca had said earlier about the kings and roads, then ikki start visualizing some tricks with the aid of a bar of soap and he admits to simply enjoying air trek and not caring about the other stuff. suddenly simca comes in all naked and offering to wash ikki's back, but ringo barges in to stop her however only ends up sending simca bottom first into ikki's face which also slams his head into the tile wall and knocking him out. simca then strips most of ringo's clothes for fun as well though she makes the excuse of having to be naked in the bathing area. preventing ringo's escape, simca asks about ringo's attachment to ikki and makes her own claim to have ikki. ringo retorts that simca is trying to gather the 8 kings and roads, but simca counters with ikki's growth as a stormrider and him needing someone to support him properly. simca is making her point since she knows that ringo is the successor to the legendary team sleeping forest that actually had the 8 kings and roads gathered at one point. simca takes her leave when ikki comes to and ringo proceeds to beat the crap out of him. mikan sees simca out and asks if they are enemies, but simca says that for now they are not and she is picked up by 4 kings (spitfire, nue, akira, ine).


major characters introduced:
-spitfire
-sakura makoto
-nue
-akira
-ine

formation of kogarasumaru arc: volume 04

ikki is still unable to fully repair his own a-t and is once again begging for financial ideas/help from the noyamano sisters. the girls deny him anything, and ume even makes fun of him by making a toy a-t. when buccha gets to school, the students are no longer afraid of him and some have begin teasing him as well. buccha finds a raw headless fish on his desk with the word 'kill' written on it, which happens to be from ikki and co. as a pay back for what buccha did to ikki's desk from before. buccha however takes the fish and eats it, then gives the a-t wheels that he normally wagers in the parts war (but accidently gives some mushrooms that were collected by his father). ikki accepts it anyways thinking of using as a bribe for ume to build him new a-ts. at school, buccha had helped repair kazu and onigiri's a-ts, then resolves to fly high as a stormrider. onigiri and kazu are trying out their repaired a-ts (onigiri is wearing one a-t on his head for the first time just so he can see up girl's skirts), and they wonder about the mushrooms buccha gave ikki which confuses him. at the noyamano household, ringo, mikan, kazu, and onigiri find a rather high and delusional ume and ikki working on some strange contraptions. buccha had gone home to his father's temple and realizes that he ended up giving ikki the wrong box.

ikki is getting heated about buccha not giving the a-t parts but a package comes in at that moment from buccha. ikki finally finishes the repairs to his a-ts, then he asks for ringo to join him as he does a test run which she declines at first until he explains himself so she changes her mind. during their run, ringo is impressed at his improvement and even shows off a bit herself which impresses ikki. they go into the city since ikki wanted to find simca at her work place and show off his newly repaired a-ts as well, but is told that she quit. outside, ringo is feeling disappointed that ikki was looking for simca and almost shows how upset she is when ikki comes back out of the store, so she runs off. since she was not focusing on her run, ringo misses a step and ends up crashing down and falling into the river. as she sinks to the bottom, ringo thinks over sleeping forest and ikki and thinks how it would not work out between them, but ikki suddenly dived in and brought ringo back up. ikki confesses how he initially wanted to join simca's team since it would help him improve faster, but since he doesn't care about the kings and roads, ikki decides he'd rather form his own team.

ikki is talking with kazu and onigiri about forming a team and has the approval of kazu but not onigiri since he'd rather be with the inlinebics group, mainly composed of women. an older woman (masaya orihara's sister) approaches and greets onigiri in lovey dovey fashion, and she happens to be part of the inlinebics group as well. kazu and ikki disapprove of onigiri dating and even discuss as to why she would like him. later on, onigiri describes to ikki and kazu of nearly getting to home base but she backed out when the scars on her breasts were revealed and she says that it was an injury inflicted on her by a previous boyfriend who happened to be a stormrider (and thus her fear/dislike of stormriders). on their way home, ikki and kazu witness onigiri's girlfriend being chased by some stormriders, but ikki realizes that they were from buccha's disbanded team. soon, onigiri comes in to 'rescue' his girlfriend and then buccha comes in to play the main bad guy (buccha was paid a month's worth of food from onigiri's family owned restaurant). kazu explains to ikki that this is a ploy by onigiri so that he will help his girlfriend overcome her problem and then have no problem sleeping with him, and so ikki and kazu decide to give onigiri a hand and help him 'fight off' buccha. as onigiri is going to land the final blow, his girlfriend gets all serious and beats the crap out of onigiri. it turns out that she has a fetish for fat guys and had fallen for buccha (she maintains her relationship with buccha well into the current story timeline). in the aftermath, onigiri is now all enthusiasm for a stormrider team with ikki and kazu.

during lunch at school, the guys are trying to come up with a name for their team but not coming up with anything they can agree on. their homeroom teacher, mari "tom-chan" tomita, tells them that orihara wants to see them and quickly runs away since she's over-imagining the lust/pervertedness of the guys. orihara tries to discipline the boys for their pranks, but tom-chan's weak nature spares them. orihara is still unsatisfied and since they are doing poorly with their grades, he imposes a supplementary exam on the 3 or else they will be held back a year. the thought of being held back is not something ikki and the others want so they plan to steal the answer sheet. that night, the guys are about to sneak in but tom-chan finds them and offer to give them the copy of answers that she has in exchange for fixing the clock on the school. tom-chan recalls her time as a student with orihara being her teacher, and he threatened to hold her back a year if she showed up late the next day. of course, tom-chan is easily distracted and fails to get to school until the evening but orihara is there waiting and claims that she was on time since that's what the clock on the school says. she knows that orihara was the one who stopped it and he also inspired her to become a teacher herself. ikki tries to scale the wall and is having difficulty until he copies buccha's wall riding trick and fixes the clock. in the end, when the guys are taking the test, it turns out that orihara provides a different test with elementary level questions.

in a night club, magaki of the skull saders is wallowing in his disgrace, and picks a fight with the bouncers when they try to make him pay his tab. as he is leaving, he passes kaito's hummer and kaito unleashes agito on magaki. at school, ikki has emily lure guys so they can find suitable teammates. ringo disapproves of their method but then informs them of a parts war battle between agito and the kintetsu bulls so ikki can get a better idea when forming his own. everyone packs into tom-chan's car since its pretty far from the school. on their way over, ringo explains how the parts war started (as a parts trading forum) but evolved into battles. ringo also gives a deeply moving talk about how a-t would be better if it was simply for enjoyment/flying. upon arriving in the kintetsu bulls' territory, the members take note of buccha and then of ikki which then spreads among the other members, kaito and akito.

everyone at the site are waiting for the arrival of ikki and when they see him, some spectators mistakenly observe ikki's intense gaze for the 'eagle eye' when he was actually trying to find the bathroom. the kintetsu bulls' leader, gonzou, greets ikki and mentions that he happened to be a goodfriend of inuyama. when ikki and them see the level of dedication gonzou has, they give their support and will cheer for his team. when the battle is about to start, akito looks up to ikki's group before kaito moves the eyepatch over to bring out agito. the battle is 'balloon' with agito against 5 members from the kintetsu bulls. ringo is pointing out some things with this a-class battle and is interrupted by discovering ikki taking a dump (apparently he always takes a dump with all his clothes removed). ikki explains that he had no choice since he doesn't want to miss anything in this battle which calms ringo though she still scoots away. kaito leaves the battle which surprises ringo since she thought he was participating in the battle with agito, and then she notices the different level of skill in agito as he easily wastes the kintetsu bulls. ringo finally realizes that agito is the bloody road's fang king when he deals a heavy blow on gonzou.

tom-chan is trying to sneak away, but overhears kaito talking to his men as they prepare to move in with their forces. kazu and onigiri openly do not approve of agito's carnage but buccha explains how agito's bloody road is acceptable even if its a bit extreme. ikki sneaks up on agito, completely naked again, and offsets agito's balance who then loses his hold on gonzou. ringo, nakayama, and emily are just below and have ikki's clothes to use as a net to catch the falling gonzou. ikki's earlier surprise attack had slightly moved agito's eyepatch and akito struggles to gain control of his body. akito warns ikki and everyone to runaway but kaito appears at that moment and shoots ikki in the head (the bullet is made of rubber) then tom-chan swerves in with her car and tries to help her students get away since she doesn't want them to be arrested. kaito reveals that he's part of the police and leads the counter air trek division. kaito tries to bring everyone into custody, but the kintetsu bulls cause some mayhem so other stormriders can get away. in the chaos, someone hit akito and the eyepatch moves over which once again releases agito. with kaito's group chasing after ikki's group, the kids part ways with tom-chan so that she can take gonzou to the hospital while they try to escape on a-ts.

agito plows through kaito's group since he doesn't want anyone taking his 'prey' and begins his pursuit of ikki. agito attacks ikki, but doesn't retaliate since he's carrying the girls. as agito wonders about ikki's attachment to his friends, he senses the killer aura of another king in the area which happens to be ringo but was unable to identify her properly because ikki finally counters with a bite to the head. ikki tries to talk even though he has agito's head in his mouth so ringo translates. ikki relates agito with the frog at the bottom of a well and soon the whole group has flown over the edge and are now flying through the air with such excitement except agito who sees no skill or merit in this jump, but ikki reiterates the frog in the well story and states how the frog desires the sky and not the greater wide waters. this empowers akito who then takes control and gives a kiss to ikki (grossing out everyone including ikki) since he believes that he is 'bird' they've been waiting for to lead them to the sky.

ikki has a dream turned nightmare and wakes up to find akito in bed with him and gets kissed again by the boy. ikki is moping over being kissed by akito and mikan more or less teases him about it which upsets ringo since she wanted to have ikki's first kiss. mikan then starts teasing ringo since she knows how ringo feels about ikki. ringo talks to mikan about kaito as they are getting ready for school, and mikan mentions what she knows which confirms why ringo didn't know who agito was at first (as the fang king). ringo and ikki head off to school, and akito decides to join them. akito explains his family situation, agito, and then brings up the story of the frog in the well again, mentally relating it to himself. kaito pulls up in his hummer, and then beats up akito so he can take him back. ikki intervenes and helps akito get away from kaito (via breaking the hand brake on the hummer, which kaito chases after as it rolls down the hill). as they are getting away, ikki explains why he helped akito and this allows akito to muster the resolve to stop helping kaito arrest stormriders.


major characters introduced:
-tomita "tom-chan"
-orihara
-kaito wanajima
-agito/akito
-tokudawara gonzou, kintetsu bulls

formation of kogarasumaru arc: volume 05

just before school, kazu is practicing some basic manuevers. buccha is the first that kazu meets up with on the way to school, followed by onigiri chasing nakayama for a view of her panty, but kazu can only think about how insignificant he is compared to others. at school, akito is being transferred into the class and there are mixed reactions from the rest of the class as well as from tom-chan. akito's usual antics become a source of ridicule for ikki among his friends. meanwhile, kazu is falling into further dispair as he feels his existence is continually falling out of notice. ikki takes this opportunity of everyone being together to announce positions among the team. while buccha and agito/akito are given suitable positions, ikki gives crappy ones to onigiri and kazu. as kazu was heading home, another classmate calls out to him and leads him to the east side gunz's previous gang leaders. the older generation of east side gunz have heard about ikki's pursuit of a-t and have decided to give command of the gang to kazu instead so that it will not be the end for the east side gunz. though kazu is at first tempted at such an offer, but upon hearing that it would mean betraying ikki (by beating him and handing him over), kazu promptly refused. maki (the one wearing the bandana mask) tries to hit kazu for his refusal but misses since he 'vanished.' kazu had sped past each of them and grabbed all but one cigarette then proceeded to fight all of them on his own. afterwards, kazu accepts being less important compared to others since you can't notice how great something is without something not so great to compare it with.

kazu and onigiri are looking up some stuff about a-t (legend of the trophaeum tower) during their break from the part-time job to pay for team equipment. over at gonzou's shop, ikki wasted the man in a game of mahjong which would allow them to get free goods. ringo, who is with ikki and buccha, explains the necessities needed for a new team. their group meets up with ume who is introducing them to kei machida (maker of the creepy cute stuff ume loves as well as the go to person for a-t emblem designs) so that koga will have their own unique team emblem (apparently the emblems are also made with silver). even emily and nakayama are helping out by acquiring some used helmets from a disbanded team. everyone is heading over to the meeting place after finishing their respective tasks, and akito finally asks ikki about what kind of team they will be forming since it can focus on a specific thing like sports. however, ikki is unable to properly respond since he forgot what it was he to do with a team (to fly higher and see the wing road again) because he was overwhelmed with how fun it was to create a team with everyone. ringo mentions that its alright that he forgot because he will eventually find it again. for now, ikki decides that they will be a team that just does their own thing ("run their own road") as team kogarasumaru.

at the end of the school year, the 3rd years are graduating, among them are maki and older east side gunz. orihara does a demonstration of martial arts in order to make a point about students coming back to cause trouble. maki plays it cool with orihara and then calls over ikki and promptly punches him for dropping the gang in favor of a-t. maki let's it go though and encourages ikki to make his own 'legend' so long as he maintains some school pride. immediately after, ikki, kazu, and onigiri go around the neighborhood to mark their territory with their new team stickers, but ikki finds another team sticker near the school belonging to sabel tigers. as koga discusses about the current predicament, ikki refuses to hand over the school area to another team. the girls are heading over to the school to support the guys in their first team practice, emily and nakayama teasing ringo about her feelings towards ikki, but when they arrive, they find koga brawling with the sabel tigers in an effort to reclaim their school. ringo is upset with ikki's approach to this and compares him to the skull saders. hearing ringo's words, ikki remembers the proper way to deal with things in the a-t world. the sabel tiger members conclude that koga are newbies due to their lack of proper protocol and the READ data they pulled up with their phones. buccha and akito inform the rest of koga about the READ software. after seeing koga's equipment, the sabel tigers decide they will battle and ikki makes an official challenge by putting koga's sticker over the sabel tigers.

the different classes of battle are explained and a bit is touched upon over ikki's win against buccha not being official since ikki was not registered at the time. since koga are the challengers, the battle will be a f-class dash since that is what the sabel tigers are currently ranked as. using the READ, the sabel tigers gauge koga and discover ikki's 25 second record for air despite being an f-class rider and they quietly discuss amongst eachother if the rumored sky king candidate that simca chose was ikki since it matches up with the area. the matches begin, buccha being first and though he seemed like he would prevail, his weight broke the fence and he fell off the course and was disqualified. next up was onigiri who lost the a-t he was riding on (the one he wears on his head) and was forced to retire, now marking 2 losses for koga so far. akito switches over to agito, who refuses to take part in the battle because its so pathetically below him. ringo feels bad about this turn of events and decides to help koga, but remembers a warning from mikan about revealing her identity as a member of sleeping forest, so she disguises herself as croissant mask. her costume is made fun of by everyone present and she starts her match, getting an incredible lead with her speed that impresses everyone. onigiri actually keeps up with ringo due to his perverted motivations, forcing ringo to take out part of the fence to stop onigiri. agito recalls the time when he felt ringo's presence as a king level rider and connects it to croissant mask. agito then annouces that kazu will go up next and the fate of the team rests upon his victory. kazu gets super nervous and tries to feign injury/weakness and asks agito to take his place. agito agrees to do it but retorts at how much kazu is a coward and how he will stay a coward at this rate, but ikki butts in and forces akito out and tells kazu that even though he's insignificant, ikki admits never winning a sprinting race against him. buccha thinks that agito should go instead but ikki points out that kazu has trained more than all of them just from looking how worn down kazu's a-ts were. kazu easily wins his match, his speed (and shadowless-ness/non-existence) giving birth to the his a-t nickname, 'stealth.'

sabel tigers' leader, iriya natsumi, removes her helmet to express her seriousness in winning and steps up to go against ikki in the final match. iriya uses her feminine charm to put ikki off guard and the match is started immediately. she hopes to use the typical attitude guys have for not attacking women from the front along with her a-t special ability of moonwalking to win, but ikki is unfazed which gradually breaks down iriya's confidence to the point of fright, and just when she thought he was going to strike her, she sees that he jumped over her instead. as ikki is flying over her, he recalls how he used to chase after the rainbow and how he got into fighting, but now he's finally found it for real. ikki's jump caused a huge gust of wind that also blew off iriya's bikini top... as well as the cherry blossoms he hit when passing over, creating an awe-inspiring arc of petals in the moonlight. ikki's victory results in koga's win and the guys perform their victory pose for the first time as a team. emily and nakayama wonder about ikki's trick at the end there and ringo explains how tricks are crucial to victory because it helps the rider overcome certain obstacles and shortcomings. ikki's display of the moonride trick confirms to ringo that he can see the wing road. at that moment, sabel tigers are stripping down since they wagered that the loser would leave everything behind and go home naked, but ringo and emily fend off koga and allow the sabel tigers to at least keep their diginity.

as iriya parts ways with koga, requesting them to try their hardest to reach the top of the trophaeum tower, buccha brings up the 8 roads and kings as well as the eventual appearance of the sky king. this story finally sinks in with ikki, kazu, and onigiri, and iriya promises to cheer them on since she's become a fan of ikki. all of koga decide to aim for the trophaeum tower and even agito expresses some interest in sticking with the group because of that, so ikki finally decides that koga's goal is to make it to the top of trophaeum. when ikki and ringo make it home, they find it in ruins, mikan beaten, and ume cowering in fright. suddenly ikki is attacked, and despite his counter, he is still taken down. ringo realizes that its rika and is quickly taken down as well. rika is pissed because ringo and the others had promised her that they wouldn't let ikki do a-t. rika forcefully puts her foot down on the matter of ikki doing a-t which upsets ikki.

at school, kazu had gotten the READ onto his phone and is looking over his stats. kazu is getting full of himself over his improvement since last night's battle until agito comes in, showing a far greater battle level (buccha=22, kazu=18, agito=88). kazu and onigiri notice how he's agito for once and also note how he's wobbling. when koga are discussing possible ventures, onigiri spots a bath house on the map and suggest they head their for tonight and challenge the team in that area. ikki is relunctant to tell the others that rika confiscated his a-ts, but he sneaks in when rika and ringo have gone out to a bath house and he takes back his a-ts. rika easily figures out that ringo wanted to talk about ikki and ringo tries to argue that ikki has talent to do a-t, which is greater than either of them. rika expresses concern in ikki's talent and how he might get seriously hurt if he 'flies too high.' outside the bath house, koga watches as ikki scales the chimney stack but ikki is thinking too much about proving something to rika that he can't perform the trick properly and ends up falling and crashing through the roof. upon realizing that rika was there, ikki tries to get away but rika uses a bar of soap as a makeshift a-t and catches up to him. instead of beating the crap out of him, rika cries and expresses relief that ikki was lucky this time since a fall like that could have been worse.

rika leaves ringo to get home herself as she pays a visit to sora. rika talks about ikki with sora (something she does often with sora), recalling a time when ikki jumped off majin rock, how scared she was and then comparing ikki to sora. hiding around the corner, ringo and ikki hear rika's story and feel bad about making rika worry so much. rika asks sora to talk some sense into ikki, but sora's dogs decide to attack ikki for being an eavesdropper and he runs off the rooftop in an attempt to escape. unfortunately, ikki is unable to recover and will only fall but is saved by sora on his wheelchair. sora mentions the rumors of ikki being the new candidate for the sky king which surprises rika, then sora starts to talk about the past and even rika's former title as the old sleeping forest's sonia road thorn queen(king).

major characters introduced:
-maki, east side gunz
-iriya, sabel tigers
-sora

formation of kogarasumaru arc: volume 6

rika recalls her past as the lone storm rider and thorn queen, starting at the point where she first meets sora. he had just given her a canned drink to help soothe an injury she had gotten in a recently ended battle. rika tries to pay him back for the drink but sora cooly declines. back to the present, ikki makes some dumb remarks to rika and she 'disciplines' him then starts to leave. sora, ringo as well as mikan and ume (who just arrived) all agree that ikki should be told what had happened back then. rika continues her story and it jumps to rika's second meeting with sora to which she promptly tries to pay him back. as she looks for her money, sora introduces himself properly. it eventually skips up to the point where rika hears rumors of sleeping forest and expresses her interest of beating that team to sora. it is then that sora finally tells her that he is the leader of that team, and introduces the other members/kings. ikki comes to realize the seriousness of all this when he hears of sora being the previous wind king and seeing how sora is unable to walk. rika ended up joining sleeping forest because she liked sora and they start going out. it jumps to the fall of old sf, and rika standing among the aftermath of the battle and finding sora.

rika warns ikki of the dangers of 'flying too high'. when rika visits the hospitalized sora, he gives ownership and emblem of sleeping forest to rika. he angrily admits that he was only using rika for her strength as a 'king' and breaks up with her. rika quits a-t from that day on and tells ikki that something that bad can happen to him. the girls and ikki seem to be more interested in the former intimate relationship sora and rika had after hearing all of that. rika asks ikki to stop a-t, even allowing and supporting him in any other venture like regular sports, but ikki flat out refuses. ikki then challenges rika to a match with his right to continue a-t on the line. sora sides with ikki (along with his 3 dogs) and rika forces the girls onto her side, the match is a disc battle. as the battle starts, sora offers some spare a-ts for rika to use, but she declines. the dogs have the disc first and easily pass mikan and ume, then the disc gets to sora who then has a quick confrontation with ringo to which even she can't stop him. ikki finds it hard to keep up with everyone's pace, and rika easily takes the disc and rushes in. ikki is unable to stop her and the girls get the first point in this match. ikki feels dejected at losing so easily to her, but sora gives him a little credit given that rika is very formidable anyways. sora gives ikki a little lesson on the sonia road; regular movement usually is based on the knees, but a sonia road rider has theirs based at the hips which is also closer to a human's center of gravity.

the girls are overwhelming the guys in this match and ikki starts to get serious. meanwhile, sora wonders if ikki really is good enough to become the sky king. mikan thinks this match is almost over but ringo cuts in and says that it is not as she mentions the 'limit' of the sonia road (due to the pressure backlash). due to this, ikki still has a chance since rika will be unable to continue on for much longer, yet she presses on since she wants to protect ikki. at this point, ikki somewhat awakens (stirring the wind in the area towards himself) and declares that he will not give up no matter what, even if it is dangerous. it starts to rain and the girls remark how it'll be tough for them since their a-ts are not suited from the now slippery surface. with the change in weather, ikki starts to make a comeback. as rika faces ikki, she realizes that he's already 'broken free' and how she herself wasn't really flying back then. continuing to watch ikki, she sees the resemblence between ikki and sora and realizes that anyone can fly if they believe they can (including herself). ikki wins and later in the evening, they are all having dinner (meat barbeque, a rarity in the noyamano household - especially ikki). rika says she will keep her word in not interfering with ikki and a-t, but she gives him a 'gift' of 30kg of weights that he must wear at all times. the next day, sora is at the convenience store and tries to grab some ramen that's out of reach when rika gets it for him. she says how unhealthy it is for sora to eat nothing but instant ramen and offers to make him meals, which sora says to do whatever she wants (marking the beginning of them getting back together).

spring break has started and koga starts it off by carving up the field to spell that out. they then mix up a 'penalty' drink and begin racing eachother (sans agito, who is sleeping). ikki loses quite easily and agito complains about having such a crappy leader who is the potentially the next sky king. ringo defends ikki saying that he is wearing the weights that rika gave him so he isn't doing as bad as agito thinks. koga then invites agito to join them since they are friends/teammates but agito refuses so ikki tries the overly friendly tactic and agito switches with akito to hide. koga is told about some strange activity in their area of teams 'withdrawing' and ringo suspects something with agito. after coming home, ikki strips his way to the bath with akito following suit, despite ikki's protest and the teasing he gets from the girls. later in the evening on the rooftop, akito says how happy he is with this simple life with ikki and his friends and family. much later that night, agito is out and about taking out other teams. ringo, dressed as croissant mask, confronts agito and the two have a quick exchange of blows (both managing to destroy parts of the other's outfit). she leave him with a warning and agito wonders why she bothers with the costume since he can easily recognize her.

koga is training again but find out that their territory has grown tremendously and buccha correctly concludes that it must have been agito's doing. in the evening, koga is hitting up some arcades as ikki maintains his #1 spot in all the punching games (latest record set at 415kg). at the next arcade, the punching game has been destroyed (the gauge hit max 999 but says error, so it's past that supposedly). in koga's territory, team behemoth has issued a challenge (placing of team sticker over another team), which is all according to agito's plan. info about behemoth is explained, including 1000+ members and akira udou who reigns as the best d-class fighter. ikki is frustrated that his record was broken and is in the arcades trying to get a higher score (last attempt at 498kg). outside the arcade they find a decochari (overly decorated bicycle) and soon mitsuru bando arrives. he hits onigiri for touching his bike and ikki connects the dots that the broken arcade game and the punch impression next to behemoth's challenge was done by this person. ikki tries to fight mitsuru in a fist fight, but ringo tries to stop him. unfortunately, mitsuru hits around her at ikki while ikki can't do anything given ringo being in the way. eventually ikki is sent flying, taking kazu and buccha with him. buccha thinks that this must be akira, but mitsuru introduces himself as cyclops hammer, one of the four top riders just below akira in team behemoth.

major characters introduced:
-falco, sleeping forest
-dauntless(dontores), sleeping forest
-black burn, sleeping forest
-kiric, sleeping forest
-mitsuru bando 'cyclops hammer', behemoth

behemoth arc: vol 07

ringo is upset about what's happened and brings it up to agito. however agito explains his plans, saying how he knows the strength of behemoth and had purposely provoked them so that instead of a d-class battle, it would be an f-dash battle where they would have an advantage using kazu, croissant mask(ringo), and himself. ikki overhears all of this and doesn't want to do it, yet agito remains confidant. somewhere in the city, the 'four saint beasts' are riding their bikes through town and discuss the upcoming match against koga. they wonder if ikki is the real deal or not since he was easily beaten by mitsuru, then it goes on to how akira wants a rematch against agito. the four stop in a construction area and talk about the rest of koga, but mitsuru says it doesn't matter since he will crush them all. right at that moment, a wrecking ball swings by and destroys all four bikes and ikki is seen in the driver seat of the truck. agito comes in and reprimands ikki for ruining his plans, but ikki states that he isn't going to force such a strong team to fight in a lower class battle (ikki loves the challenge of facing a strong opponent, especially if its in a more brawl type battle). ikki and the rest of koga issue a challenge of their own against behemoth, making the match a d-class cube battle.

at school, koga is practicing some drills by agito's instructions. a flashback of akira and many of behemoth's members appearing before koga right after their challenge declaration, and sets the match between the two teams in 10 days. stats on each of the four saint beasts are thought about by ringo (mitsuru- battle lvl 78, hecaton- battle lvl 76, gorgon- battle level 72, aeon- battle lvl 82). meanwhile, agito is really trying to drill the importance of the training he is having them go through, but they wonder why agito is putting so much effort into helping them. ikki is doing his own training to take on mitsuru and motivates the rest of koga a bit by his enthusiasm to just beat behemoth. after practice, kazu is tailing agito to find out what he's up to and sees him talking with the older cop on kaito's wind g-men team.

in the morning, ringo, emily and nakayama are making breakfast for koga and each guy wakes up to the smell of food except agito. buccha, kazu and onigiri take advantage of agito's vulnerable state and kidnap him. the girls ask what that's all about, and ikki who stayed to eat says that kazu mentioned agito betraying them. with the rest of koga, they have effectively buried him to his head before he could fully awaken, then after agito is awake, kazu interrogates agito over his late night meeting with the cop. the three threaten agito with poop, but forcibly switch over to akito since he would be more cooperative. kazu asks if the same thing that happened in agito's match against the kintetsu bulls will happen at the behemoth match, but akito says to believe in him and agito. ikki butts in and says its fine if agito did that because it allowed them to fight a strong team sooner than they would have if agito did nothing, then he adds that 'stronger people are more simple minded'. buccha and onigiri accept ikki's answer but kazu still has his doubts.

the night of the match, tom-chan goes around in her car to pick up koga for the match. before kazu is picked up, he looks up the proverb that akito mentioned before and finds that it means that 'those who believe will be saved' but he still worries about this match and evening in general. koga arrives to behemoth's base and are given a display of strength and intimidation by a pile of helmets of defeated opponents. ikki is the first to act when he sees the entrance to the 'battlefield' and the rest follow, though kazu still tells agito that he doesn't trust him in general but during this fight, he will trust agito. as koga makes their way in, agito describes the layout of the fights with each branching path leading to a 'cube' where they will face an opponent. in the spectator stands, ringo is worried and is debating who to replace in koga as croissant mask, but simca switches bags and runs off without ringo noticing. the first three paths are seen and onigiri, kazu and buccha take one each. onigiri had chosen his path to get gorgon shell, kazu ends up with aeon, and buccha gets hecaton. ikki and agito reach the last two paths and ikki asks which path leads to akira, which agito lies and ikki catches him on that. agito is about to retaliate but ikki says he isn't interested in akira and will leave agito to handle him. agito demands the fang regalia from akira and begins the fight. in the crowd, tanaka is commentating on the battles, first pulling up footage on buccha's fight which he finds odd that the two are not in the room yet (buccha was having trouble squeezing through the pipe and fuumei met him there). buccha is found already twisted up from fuumei's earlier attack which is played back by tanaka, however after careful inspection, it turns out that fuumei was the one twisted up. buccha had used his stuck position and his strength to hold fuumei's head in place during his spinning attack. in a flashback, agito had explained that buccha's best chance is against hecaton and in the pipe before the room itself. from the spectator area, simca is with spitfire and nue, watching the koga's progress.

buccha is soaking up the lime light with his win but hecaton recovers and extends his arms by dislocating them to begin his counterattack. hecaton strikes a barrage of hits on buccha and knocks him down. switching over to akira and agito, they talk about how the two of them changed in the past two years and while akira 'grew longer fangs', agito had 'de-evolved'. agito counters that such creatures with long fangs have become extinct, then we see buccha recover, since despite the speed and rain of hits, they weren't really strong hits. buccha presses toward hecaton and has the upper hand. simca comments that agito probably didn't guess that buccha could hold his own so well, but spitfire says he expected that much from buccha since he used to watch him before. spitfire brings attention to another fight, kazu and aeon, where we see kazu still unable to see aeon and taking hits. the flashback of agito explaining what he knows and it turns out that he doesn't really have anything to say about him and that whoever gets him should lose or quit, since aeon's battle level is 82, no one in koga but agito stands a chance against him anyways. kazu argues about it, then akito takes control of agito's hand and write another proverb "the fly has her spleen and the ant her gall". ikki pipes in and says that of course a weak person is at odds against a strong person, but the opposite is also true. back to kazu's battle, he finally takes action and goes at full speed to avoid aeon. spitfire comments how a boring battle it is to watch since no one can see anything.
kazu is trying to figure out aeon's trick but gets caught in another attack by aeon. emily is watching and thinks back to a night she and kazu were looking at the moon and how kazu compared himself to ikki and agito who he knew were much better than him. kazu discovers aeon's trick by creating trails of blood when he was running around earlier to find the point of 'total reflection' aka a mirage. kazu uses this to locate aeon and makes his counter attack.

simca and spitfire talk about aeon and how he was a flame road rider and his current 'time tricks'. aeon gets pissed and finally starts fighting with more ferocity, using the time stop trick on kazu to get in serveral hits and is finally taken down by aeon. the audience is barely able to keep up with watching what's happening and only see the end result. aeon wonders why he allowed himself to go all out against such a weak opponent, then sees a fallen kazu flipping him off. aeon finally acknowledges kazu's ability in being able to keep up with aeon for as long as he did and victory is officially given to aeon. back to buccha's fight, he is caught in a head lock and suspended in the air by hecaton and finally is defeated. hecaton is officially given the victory. ringo finally can't take it anymore and runs off to the restroom to change into croissant mask in order to help out. she puts on the outfit and doesn't realize until after its on her, that the outfit isn't the right one at all (simca had a bondage-esque outfit in the bag she switched with ringo's).

major characters introduced:
-yasuyoshi sano 'aeon clock', behemoth
-ryo mimasaka 'gorgon shell', behemoth
-fuumei goshogawara 'hecatonchires bomb'(hecaton), behemoth
-tanaka (tv head guy)

behemoth arc: vol 08

ringo is freaking out about her 'new costume' while the battles continue for koga. gorgon shell is dancing before onigiri and he remains rather calm in the midst of such a display. onigiri feels that something is off or missing in all of this which is why he doesn't react his normal perverted self but before he can figure it out, gorgon attacks and lands a hit on onigiri's groin. the rest of the audience are 'petrified' by gorgon's dancing and everyone believes this battle is pretty much over until ringo steps out (bondage outfit and a bag over her head) and she tries to use a technicality to invalidate onigiri's match and allow her to substitute. there's a bit of dumbfoundedness from everyone over her sudden and extreme appearance and then simca dressed in the croissant mask outfit appears and says that she's the real masked hero of koga. ringo recognizes simca's voice and realizes that simca switched the bags. ringo fails at trying to convince people that she's the real croissant mask due to the outfit she's wearing.

simca taunts ringo to take back her outfit by force to which ringo decides to go for. spitfire and nue recognize simca being disguised as croissant mask and are wondering what she is up to. ringo starts getting serious and her 'aura' is recognized by spitfire and nue's regalia. nue figures out that it's ringo and also comments to her position as the leader of the current sleeping forest team. before ringo starts to fight, simca has her recall their conversation in the bath and points out that it's the fate of any team or rider to be 'hunted' if they aim for the top of the trophaeum tower. she also asks ringo if koga ever asked for her help and brings everyone's attention back to onigiri's battle. in the room, gorgon is being chased off by onigiri's shadow (avatar) and everyone is in shock over this turn of events. something starts showing up on gorgon's skin as she's running. simca comments to ringo that no matter what kind of person they are, they have fangs of their own and are able to 'sharpen' them in a fight (the basic nature of boys). the tattoos become visible on gorgon's body and it nue explains how there are some tribal patterns and designs that have a hypnotic effect like the 'petrification' that gorgon did on the audience. while cornered, gorgon wonders why it didn't work on onigiri but he realizes that all men are perverts to some degree and would naturally gaze at women, especially beautiful ones like gorgon, and that her plan would have worked except that he was upside down (as per his usual riding style) and he believes it had a reverse effect on him. an analogy is made by the commentator that a tiger snake has enough poison to kill a human but it doesn't effect a pig due to all their fat (too much fat to seep through). onigiri starts his counterattack with his 'leveled up' shadow being revealed.

onigiri starts sweating profusely and the puddles move toward gorgon's direction and the smell starts filling the room. gorgon realizes how trapped she is due to the enclosed space of the room. gorgon is getting embarrassed due to onigiri's staring but then he goes into 'nirvana mode' and preaches self appreciation and to let go of insecurities. gorgon finally breaks and let's it all go... even stripping everything else off (to onigiri's delight). since gorgon has removed even her a-ts, then she is also declaring that she is retiring from the fight which makes onigiri the winner by default. ringo finally accepts what simca was saying about koga but makes one last comeback with how simca didn't even think that onigiri wouldn't win either. ringo then wonders what the point of having this match if it would hinder simca's goal to gather all the kings. simca is curious to see who is more worthy of being the fang king (akira or agito) and if koga has what it takes to take on the trophaeum tower.

the focus of the battles shift to ikki vs cyclops hammer. ikki goads his opponent into another round of rock-paper-scissors to which the winner is allowed to punch the loser. ikki wins that round and gets in a good hit. there's a flashback to the start of the fight, ikki gives the proposal of having a rock-paper-scissor match to give the winner a free punch at the loser and even provokes mitsuru into accepting. they do another round of rock-paper-scissors and mitsuru wins so he aims to punch only to have ikki dodge. mitsuru calls ikki a cheater but ikki replies that there's no rule saying you can't dodge. tanaka commentates that in a normal battle, mitsuru would easily win but due to the way they are currently fighting, it is in favor of ikki. spitfire and nue talk about ikki and how he is using tricks to control the pace of the fight. nue starts to see why simca is interested in him and that due to ikki's battle sense and other talents that it's no surprise that mitsuru can't get an edge over him. spitfire is surprised by nue's compliments of ikki, so nue explains what ikki is doing in the rock-paper-scissors game: since ikki doesn't have as much muscle mass compared to mitsuru, it is easier for ikki to 'switch' his move at the last second so that he would win. spitfire and nue are wondering why ikki would even lose any rounds if he's able to do that and nue thinks that ikki must be planning something to lose a round of rock-paper-scissors every couple of rounds. mitsuru feels like the room they are in is 'getting bigger' and ikki asks him if he's ever really flew before. mitsuru says he hasn't but he's fine with that. ikki pities him a bit and thinks mitsuru is being foolish for staying cooped up voluntarily, so he says that he will show mitsuru the 'sky'.

agito has a vision of him an akito riding carefreely but then akito starts to break apart. tanaka changes over to akira and agito's room and recalls the famous battle 2 years prior in which their roles were reversed from how it is now. agito has yet to make any significant attacks against akira but is set on taking down akira (for akito's sake) even if it means 'goind down the well' again. agito remembers his coming into existence and his sole purpose was to protect akito. akira and agito are fighting pretty evenly and amazing the audience with their king level battle. agito feels pain shoot through his leg and akira takes the opening to get a good two hit combo on agito. as he is getting beaten, agito wonders about how his body is beginning to fail (harder to move as he wills) and how his existence is eating away at akito. agito resolves to 'disappear' since he's not necessary anymore for akito. despite the earlier hits, agito is still standing but he's crying as he makes a pathetic kick at akira. agito is in despair that he's now failing akito when suddenly the floor crumbles beneath them. ikki then calls out to agito and wonders why he's acting like he's stuck at the bottom of the well again. ikki decides he's gonna help agito remember what it's like to fly again. nue was surprised that this was ikki's intention from the start. agito wonders what the hell ikki is doing with this and hits ikki for butting in and looking down on him, but comes to realize on his own that it was akito that asked ikki to help him.

a flashback is shown of akito and ikki's earlier conversation on the rooftop where akito asked ikki to stop agito from whatever he's planning. akito also explains his past a bit with doing a-t and how he enjoyed it and was better than others at it, also that he (akito) was the fang king before. then akito came to realize that kaito was just using him to become a weapon and soon afterwards agito came into existence to cope with this harsher reality. ikki drop kicks agito back to reality and denies that he did all that to help agito... saying instead how boring it was to fight mitsuru that he wanted to fight a bit differently as a pair. agito says that its supposed to be a cube fight and one-to-one. ikki wonders why its even a team battle if they are all fighting individually. spitfire comes to realize that ikki constantly breaking the 'rules of the parts war' and doing things his way is nothing more than what a storm rider should be but most have forgotten (free from restraints). agito agrees to fighting together with ikki. over at the police headquarters, kaito is informed of the match getting closer to finishing and moves out with his wind g-men.

mitsuru is pissed off and starts to lash out when akira stops his punch and reminds him to keep his cool. ikki is curious and examines akira up close since he was able to easily stop mitsuru's punch. the two introduce themselves to the other with a hand shake but akira tightens his grip. the two start a grip contest but akira just lifts ikki up by the hand and throws him against a nearby broken concrete slab. akira continues thrashing him around at an incredible speed. everyone watches on at the difference in level between the two. kaito is watching from his helicopter and comments how akira is the same as agito, another 'fang' created by a genius. buccha, kazu and onigiri are laughing their asses off at the spectacle and reveal that ikki was actually hiding. akira looks at what he was swinging around and finds that he's holding some debris. mitsuru takes offense of ikki doing that to akira and punches him, but ikki braces the hit with his head as he uses his whole body to hold up against the hit while his a-ts keep him in place by 'accelerating' (canceling strength power with speed power). this surprises mitsuru and akira while agito stands off to the side calling him an idiot (though it gave him some time to recover his stamina). akira's shadow comes out and simca recalls an old mayan legend of when the fish, birds and beasts lived in the same place. simca recalls her first meeting with akira, he was in a park on his motorcycle with ren, surrounded by birds. simca wonders if he likes birds and akira says that he does like this park and it happens to be the time of the year where the birds shed old feathers for new ones. however, since the wings are still weak and they break and bleed out. it starts to rain blood from all the birds trying to fly with their new wings, and akira accepts simca's offer as told to him by spitfire to 'weed' out the riders who aren't ready to fly higher. he leaves with ren, stating he hates birds since they are annoying and weak. back in the present, simca says that akira really is suited for the d-class battle 'cube' and that he has no chance of losing in this kind of battle, but at the same time, a 'storm' has come.

ikki and agito double team akira and land a hit on him. akira chases after the two but they easily get ahead of him, going higher. tanaka asks why akira is having so much trouble and ren is seen crying somewhere. akira isn't able to deal with the 'sky' and blocks a combo kick from both of them. he thinks of taking out agito first due to the earlier noticed leg problems. mitsuru warns akira from chasing them too far yet akira tries to punch agito, but ikki pulls him up and out of akira's reach. he then counters with flying head-butt to send akira back down, then agito follow up with a kick to his head. mitsuru comes to akira's side and lands a blow on akira. this surprises everyone, however mitsuru reprimands akira on his actions. mitsuru goes in to attack ikki and agito while up above, ren appears and looks down to akira. agito and ikki try to pincer mitsuru but he hits the floor to offset those two, meanwhile agito notices a fang close in. aeon and hecaton are watching off to the side and compliment akira being the fang king. ikki, agito and mitsuru are all hit by the fang and akira is shown with a released form of the fang regalia.

major characters introduced:
-ren

new!! 9-29-11

from volume 20 (during the white wolf match), so any new info that we know about up to the battle ship arc is not listed.
battle matrix flow chart
kogarasumaru vs genesis



team kogarasumaru - opposes genesis
ikki - storm king; team leader; loved by ringo, kururu and akito; tuner is kururu
kazu - next flame king; loved by emily
onigiri
buccha - going out with orihara sensei's sister
agito/akito/??(lind) - fang king; loved by nakayama; siblings with kaito

wind g-men
kaito - brother to agito/akito/??
akira

team sleeping forest - protects sky regalia
ringo - thorn queen; loves ikki; tuner is kanon; grav kid
mikan - grav kid
ume - grav kid
om - water queen; grav kid
gabishi - horn king; grav kid
kiric - gem king; loves rika; opposes sora; twin to simca; grav kid

team genesis - aiming for the sky regalia; opposes kogarasumaru
sora - wind king; going out with rika; tuner is hako; kills spitfire; twin to nike; grav kid
nike - twin to sora; grav kid
simca - twin to kiric; form tool toul to member; grav kid
aeon - (?)
nue - thunder king; tuner is kana; grav kid
yoshitsune - rumble king
benkei

military members
caesar - grav kid
wer (vercin; aka orca) - sibling to lieutenant (pyon); grav kid
first lieutenant (aka pyon girl) - grav kid

team tool toul to - neutral
kururu - pledge queen; tuner to ikki; loves ikki
kanon - tuner to ringo
rune - grav kid
konomi
ine - tuner to spitfire; loves spitfire
hako - tuner to sora
kana - tuner to nue

not affiliated to any team
rika - loved by kiric; going out with sora; sister to ringo, mikan and ume
spitfire - deceased; loved by ine; killed by sora; tuner is ine; mentor to kazu; grav kid

[Atobe the king]

This looks like a good read so far..i think this will be useful to new comers...i think i'll sticky this.

[conn-man]

Hey suarhnir, any chance you'll continue this?

If not I could take over when I get some extra time.

[conn-man]

Awesome pawesome. Hope it goes good, it is a lot of plot after all. very very appriciated though.

[ZERO PHOENIX]

That is an exceptional idea. This will be very helpful to the n00bs and even veterans who might be looking for that particular fight scene or plot development but isn't sure what volume it was in. You're a hardcore Storm Rider.

[conn-man]

Awesome summary for volume 7, that one of my favorites to. The behemoth arc was incredible.

[suarhnir]

oyos

posted the battle matrix from volume 20... still got to get around to doing more summaries.

i find it interesting that in the relationship flow between members, ine is labeled as tuner to spitfire. it was always my belief that the simple tuning session that spitfire did was an excuse to spend time with her and not a real need for tuning... or perhaps because ine mentioned an old injury on spitfire that she pretty much became his tuner to help adjust it due to his injury (basically tuning it in a way to take his injury into consideration of his use on the regalia).

[Carnevil]

oyos

posted the battle matrix from volume 20... still got to get around to doing more summaries.

i find it interesting that in the relationship flow between members, ine is labeled as tuner to spitfire. it was always my belief that the simple tuning session that spitfire did was an excuse to spend time with her and not a real need for tuning... or perhaps because ine mentioned an old injury on spitfire that she pretty much became his tuner to help adjust it due to his injury (basically tuning it in a way to take his injury into consideration of his use on the regalia).

Funny how OG didn't link Simca romantically to Ikki like he did Ringo and Kururu.

[Atobe the king]

Nor nike for simca lol