Been a bit longer than I would've liked since my last update on this.
I have a very good excuse though. I was... LAZY.
Nah but really, I was given a ton of hours at work and did a What If story for the collaboration "Being Civil" and loved it. (Writing it that is...)
Now I have some free time... some... not a lot... to put forward to resuming my wonderful writing schedule.
To make up for the delay, this chapter is a bit longer than usual.
Anywho, Read, review, fav, follow, enjoy and grab that strange snack. Mine today is a banana cream pie with reese's peanut butter filling mixed in.
Walking through the halls of the house, Judy looked out the window, watching the artificial snowfall of the Tundratown district. Despite its lack of aligning with the natural order of the region, considering it was actually autumn right now, it was a beautiful sight all the same.
Getting in close to the pane of glass, the doe let her breath fog up the window, liking the translucent layer of moisture that formed. She smiled as the bunny pressed a nose to it, enjoying the mild chill to her nose, as it twitched slightly. The fur on her head felt like it was trying to stand on end as a chill coursed through her.
Pulling back to look at the strange print of her nose, Judy noticed another print, larger in scope, left behind on the glass. Considering that Leo had no soft flesh to speak of, the grey doe could only surmise the print was Nick's. She let out a small giggle, opening her maw to fog over the area with Nick's nose print.
Her laughter increased as she noticed that below the nose print, was a tongue print.
"Dumb fox," Judy whispered to herself.
In sudden response, she heard a groaning whine in the distance, her head and ears swiveling to account for the noise's direction and origin. The rabbit turned about, legs twitching with a need to jump into action.
Another elongated groan reached her ears, the sound being more attentively focused upon this time and giving Judy a good sense of the location of origin. Her legs pumped forward in an attempt to outrun something she wasn't sure of.
Finding herself at the doorway to Nick's armor workshop area, Judy pressed an ear to the door.
Rapid pants and the occasional groan bled through the wooden barrier, making the small doe question her intent on intrusion.
"We should probably stop soon, sir," came Leo's even tone. "This is no longer truly serving a viable purpose if you have to strain yourself as much."
"Just a little more," Nick's voice grunted between pants. "I'm not too interested in letting Judy deal with this."
The grey bunny's thoughts bounced between the innocent and not-so-innocent, wondering what the blazes was going on in there. She resigned herself to listen intently for a while longer.
"All you're going to do is make yourself unable to focus during future Gate openings," the robot tried to reason once more. Directly after, the fox could be heard letting out a most disconcerting and misunderstandable whine.
Judy had enough and burst through the door, a blush lining her ears but knowing that whatever was going on was likely evading her current ability to think of anything else besides the strangely implicit things she was hearing.
"Oh, dear Judy," Leo chimed in the most expected lack of surprise, "I see you decided to join us."
She would have addressed the fact the mechanical being already knew about her having been outside the room, but was more perturbed and confused by the sight of Nick at the present moment.
He was focused on her, nervous smile plastered on his muzzle, his body seated almost uncomfortably in a strange device that had him reclined with armament pieces on his arms and chest. Long cables and tubes crisscrossed and led to and from the reclined chair mechanism.
"What the heck is going on?" she barely managed to acquire the mental clarity to ask, gesturing wildly to all the mechanical devices she had never seen before. The android was standing next to a large station, looking much like a science fiction control console of sorts. It had many screens and dials, buttons lighting up in seemingly random patterns. Against the wall, were various containers, no larger than a twenty ounce drink bottle, glowing purple on certain accents. One of the containers appeared to be lacking in the purple glow, having been locked into some device that looked like a futuristic coffee machine. Some of the largest cables went back and forth from that to the recliner.
"I'll leave this one up to Nick to explain," Leo bluntly stated, resuming some form of whatever task the being was engaged in before having been interrupted. The fox slowly craned his head towards the android, an accusing scowl growing more apparent on his face.
"Why?" the tod seethed slowly, Judy feeling a bit left out of the loop for the moment as she thumped her foot in impatience.
"I warned you this could interfere with your focus, and I would like to see if I am correct in doing as such. So, do explain this to her and I will monitor your neural efficiency for abnormalities."
Nick groaned and settled into his reclined position once more.
"This is a siphon unit for extracting my Shard power," the red fox started, giving the grey doe a chance to take in the simplified statement. Her gaze once again raked over the equipment around her and attached to him, examining everything with a new perspective.
"So those are… power storage of some sort?" Judy inquired, to which the tod nodded in mild appreciation of her assumption. "I thought the power was supposedly too unstable to harness… if what I was told was correct."
"Impressive," remarked Nick, giving his bunny a roguish smirk. "Yes, they are basically power cores. And you are also correct in remembering that my power was unstable… before you."
"Me?" the doe mentioned in a double take look at her fox. "I thought you were only stable during our Shifts…"
"Well, actually," the fox began, Leo stepping forward to wave him down. Nick furrowed his brow. "I thought you wanted me to explain."
"Only as a means to gauge your cognitive functions and ascertain your health in terms of brain chemistry," divulged the mechanical being. "I am satisfied with the readings and scans I have here as being within healthy parameters, so, I'll take over from here."
"I was only talking for about ten seconds," the tod grumbled, not at all against having the android explain anything but feeling as if he's being tossed between two conflicting decisions.
"That was all I needed," Leo replied, turning towards Judy to resume Nick's cut off explanation. "To further clarify, Nick's power as an incomplete Shard was raw and unrefined. We tried containing it before with the same apparatus, to ill effect. However, as of late, your continued interactions and Shifts with him have reintroduced the machine as an applicable alternative for protocols of which we had previously left dormant. Even outside of your Shifts, Nick's power has remained rather stable and I can tell that you are more capable of using Shard energy to greater effect now as well."
"You mean our interactions and Shifts are stabilizing factors?" the doe asked hopefully, feeling a bit excited at the opportunities this sounded like it could open up for them, even if she had no clue what was in store. Leo nodded curtly in affirmation. Judy began to bounce happily, wondering what this meant for her. She suddenly stopped, questioning the robot, "Wait… what's the purpose of extracting energy from Nick though?"
"A variety of reasons," the android mentioned, turning to a power core, "but most prevalently, it is for the 'Rally Call' protocols." the grey bunny tilted her head at that. "I'll explain in due time, but I would like to remove Nick from his constraints for now, if you please."
"Alright."
Leo then set to unclasping and helping the fox wiggle and work his way from the restraint system and armament units attached to his body. It took a couple minutes, with various parts being form-fitted to Nick. When all was said and done, the red fox tod leapt out of the recliner, bouncing a bit on the pads of his feet, shivering and shaking off something Judy couldn't see. He was almost primal in his display, making the bunny giggle a bit.
"What?" the tod asked in defence. "I do that when i'm uncomfortable. I feel much better now."
"Oh, I figured that," the rabbit snickered, pointing to his tail, "but it's so cute how you got all fluffy doing that." Nick's muzzle reflected a much more deadpan expression, clearly unamused at being called 'cute' by a species that usually found such a word insulting. Even he knew at least that much about bunnies.
"I thought 'cute' wasn't something bunnies liked hearing or saying," the fox gently said with an inquisitive inflection to it. Wiping a tear, the bunny doe sucked in a breath to give him a proper reply.
"Well," she teased him, leaning in close to press a paw to his chest, the fluff of mussed fur peeking from his v-neck shirt feeling quite plushy beneath her fingers, "it's usually demeaning for other species to call bunnies cute, but…" Judy stood on the tips of her toes, barely able to bring her muzzle to his ear to whisper, "I can make an exception for you, as long as you truly mean it." She slowly lowered herself back to the floor, taking great pleasure in the flustered look of the red fox.
"I'll… I'll… make a note of that…" he muttered, locking his eyes on the rabbit's now blushing cheeks, her lower lip being chewed on in a small display that almost made him want to make immediate use of his newfound privilege.
"Now then," the grey bunny started, thumping the tod lightly in the chest as her voice adjusted back to her normal pitch, "What's this about a 'Rally Call'? Sounds very interesting."
"It's a protocol meant to use these power cores to temporarily provide sufficient energy any suit or suits we choose to aid as support in combat during dire circumstances," Leo supplied. "I would brief you further, but my internal chronometer notes a rather infortuitous countdown towards Essie's visit to the estate."
The fox and rabbit's eyes went slightly wide at the mention of that. Whilst they had made preparations, it was nearly completely forgotten with the events of the previous couple days. Their confession of interest in each other, even if not quite reaching the degree of love, definitely dwarfed the other items on their plate that they gave attention but hadn't really committed to memory. Since said confession, the two have been talkative to one another, with Judy doing most of the talking. She didn't mind, but figured Nick would open up when he was ready of feeling the flow.
In any case, the two were brutally reminded that Essie's visit was very soon. They looked to the android, a single question exuded from their hopeless muzzles.
"Thirty three minutes and seventeen seconds until scheduled arrival at noon," the being mentioned in brisk reply to the unasked question.
Nick and Judy rushed around, cleaning the area up and making last minute prep work for the wild dog's arrival.
"Why didn't you mention this sooner?" The grey doe fired at Leo.
"It was not my prerogative to keep track of that, nor did you or Nick ask me to give you such warning," the robot responded, unmoving and complacent as the two mammals worked in a fervor around it.
"What prompted your warning just now?" the red fox inquired, eyes flickering in slight annoyance.
"I needed a way to deter Judy's interest in the 'Rally Call' protocol for the moment."
Both tod and doe halted their movements, slowly turning to Leo to mutter in unison, "Really?"
"What?" The android mentioned, almost sounding defensive. "I did not want to raise her expectations, should my endeavors and testing phase turn up little, inciting me to explain as minimal as I could while exploring my theories."
"Sometimes I think he's too blunt," Judy voiced to her fox. He nodded with closed eyes, the duo returning to their cleaning efforts.
"A bit late, but welcome to my world."
Leo looked on wordlessly for nearly a minute before saying, "You do remember she won't be seeing this room, with all the Flux items in here? I will be hiding in here, the false wall keeping any curious paws from giving into temptation."
Nick groaned and Judy slapped a paw to her muzzle, noting that the robot was correct. They were still in Nick's armor workshop. A place that would not, by any means, be intelligent to reveal in any way to any other mammal not involved in their machinations.
With their initial fervor lost in the wake of having wasted such spontaneous energy on the wrong things, both mammals trudged out into the 'house' area and began straightening up. The tod began to pull out ingredients and prepare something the bunny was not privy to. She instead made her way to her room and began making it look far more presentable than the doe found acceptable.
Luckily, they had already been upkeeping the cleanliness of the house, with the only frantic factors being their nerves with a visitor. The fox hadn't many of those. None in fact. In all his time at the Tundratown house, Nick had never entertained any visitors. The house was effectively removed from certain registries in terms of utilities and other such civil services. Leo was the one who made sure of it. It was basically to keep their dealings under the radar out of public purview.
He smiled to himself, relishing in the new potential feeling of having a visitor the fox could impress. In this case, especially so considering it was his new girlfriend's best friend. He even found some recipes to use to his benefit. The tod loved to cook, though his preclusion to his Flux duties had mitigated his allowance to do so for himself the past year. Besides, it was a bit lonely and unsatisfying to cook for oneself so often.
Looking up, in mid prep, Nick saw the bunny dart through the room, dressed more appropriately and freshened up, if her recently smoothed down fur was anything to go by. He let out a near silent chuckle, sniffing the air to smell a sweet perfume tickling his nose. A part of him liked it, and another, slightly more prominent part, found it a bit regretful that Judy would cover such a wonderful natural aroma, such as the one she exuded.
Now that he had stopped ignoring the part of his mind that found her rather attractive, the red fox noticed all kinds of things he never cared to take in before, or at least recognize at length. Regardless of who she was, Judy's eyes were never something he could deny were entrancing, with a violet hue that rivaled gems in brilliance. Her fur was another such feature, being predominantly of a stormy grey that reminded the tod of cloudy April showers. Nick couldn't deny the curve and sway of her hips and legs as well, the figure she sported rather sleek and slim for a bunny. At least in comparison to those he has seen and met in years past. Her leaner figure only made those hips of hers pop out more, looking way more…
A knock sounded at the door, jarring the red fox from his reverie as he focused back on cooking. He could hear the front door open and a resulting squeal followed by a very disturbing grunt.
"Woah there, Essie…" came the struggled plea of Judy, from the other room. "I like my bones in my body."
"Oh, you're fine," came a chipper and energetic response. "I gotta say though, you undersold how big and spacious this place is. I thought i was going to walk into a den."
"It's just a place to live," Nick heard the doe argue back half heartedly.
"Just a…" Essie repeated, barking out a laugh. "As somewhat lonely as the decor looks, This home looks like you could let a stampede run around in here with room to spare. I would kill to live in a place like this."
"You can't say that," Judy giggled. "You're a cop."
"Eh… details," the wild dog said in humorous dismissal. The two now rounded a corner from the entry area into the kitchen, with the grey bunny re introducing Essie to Nick.
"You remember him, right?" the doe asked rhetorically. The canine held out a paw, with the tod wiping down his own on a small dish towel and shaking hers.
"Of course I would remember a young, handsome guy like this."
Judy let out a short giggle, to which a look from the fox made her clap a paw over her muzzle and try not to laugh. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the wild dog, knowing full well that she was laughing about the 'young' part of that sentence.
"Reynard Fawkes," he stated simply. Essie's brow furrowed in confusion.
"I thought your name was Nick?" she asked with a look to her smaller friend and separating their paws. The red fox thought fast and lamented that oversight on his part. When he was initially introduced before, Judy had used his real name. He didn't even think much of it at the time, seeing as he held no care to meet her again in that moment. It was obviously different now.
"It's a nickname… no pun intended," voiced the tod. "I didn't know Carrots here at the time, so I didn't want my real name known to her. Please though, call me whatever you like." The brighter smile from before returned again, the canine appearing satisfied.
"Alright then," she said, giving the kitchen a once over and setting her small bag down where the doe gestured. The canine then found a seat to rest on, pulling it up to the island counter. "So, whatcha cookin, good lookin?"
Nick froze slightly, not used to such… blatant mentions in reference to his looks. It was odd, but refreshing in its own way.
"I'm making something I was told you are crazy about," the tod explained, pushing a few glasses around, full of water. "I hope you like my version of it, since I wasn't exactly used to eating or making these…" Nick put a large covered platter on the island, pulling off the lid to make the female wild dog sniff hungrily.
"Tacos…?" she asked slowly, licking her muzzle.
"Yep," the red fox replied proudly. "I used a meat substitute for ours and a veggie combo version for Fluff's here. There's plenty to go around, so dig in." Essie barely waited for the last word, rubbing her paws together in a menacing manner and grabbing a taco.
Biting into it, she had a look of pure bliss. Steam still wisped and curled from the hard shell encased meal. Judy bit into one of her own, wrapped in a soft tortilla, per her request. The doe's eyes fluttered as she let out a muffled 'Mmmm'.
Doing his best not to laugh, Nick grabbed one of his own tacos and began taking his own advice.
"You sure know how to greet people, giving me food as soon as I walk in," the canine complemented, swallowing a latent bite of her food just before. The tod shrugged.
"What can I say? I had a good mother to raise me."
"Well tell her 'Thanks' on my behalf," Essie replied, grabbing another helping of food. The grey doe looked at her fox with a slightly worried expression…
Only to be met with a soft smile. Nick had taken the complement with no angst or scowl in his expression.
"I will," he said softly, biting into his own taco and eating in silent solace, a smile keeping his lips upturned.
"So, what do you do?" the wild dog asked, resting her chin on a paw. "You have to have a very lucrative job to be able to afford this place. It's practically in the historical zone for homes. Lots of money to buy anything here."
Remembering to keep his story straight, the red fox tod had to tread carefully, with the canine being an officer and likely able to sniff out an obvious lie.
"I'm basically an unofficial inventor," he explained, having rehearsed his story with Leo and Judy. "I know my way around certain kinds of equipment and can tinker with it or rebuild it better. Companies pay me for my alteration designs to their stuff and I get paid large sums. I don't like contracts, since they mean a company owns all your ideas if you aren't careful. So, I play the freelance game and it works for me. It also means my so-called 'paychecks' are sporadic, but I get plenty of requests and such that I don't have to worry, provided my expertise remains at a level they like."
"Huh… So," Essie started, taking another bite and swallowing, "why take on a roommate? Lonely?"
The fox let out a false sigh, saying, "I am quite terrible at taking care of myself. Without someone to keep me grounded, so to speak, I lose track of time and my surroundings. Upon meeting her, hearing of her story to a degree, and seeing her deterministic personality, I offered her a live-in job. It's not much and she is free to take on other part time opportunities, should she wish, even in my employ."
"What do you ask of her?" the wild dog questioned with a sip of water.
"I can clean and cook on my own," he began, "but I basically ask her to keep an eye on me, among other general things." A devious smile curled the female canine's muzzle.
"I sure hope you aren't ravishing my pure and gentle best friend," Essie cooed with faux concern, pulling Judy to her side and smushing their cheeks together, looking directly at the unamused fox. "She's a delicate flower." The grey doe rolled her eyes and playfully pushed at her friend, trying to separate from her.
"Essie… remember what I told you," Judy chided her friend cautiously.
"Boo, you're no fun," her canine friend groaned. "I only wanted to tease him." Nick sipped his own drink, a grin slowly growing on his face at the entertaining exchange. "See! He's not opposed to it!"
"Opposed to what? The jokes or ravishing her?" The tod asked in clarification, putting down his drink. Now Essie was at a partial loss for words.
"Both… or… the furst one?" she spoke with wavering confidence. "Wait… I meant…" There was a long sigh, followed by her resigned scowl as the fox began to smile roguishly. "I'm gonna quit while I'm ahead."
"Good idea," the grey doe agreed with the wild dog. "Any more embarrassment and I might go say some… things to your wolf friend in the force."
"You wouldn't!" Essie gasped with a paw to her chest in mock hurt.
"Wolf friend?" Nick decided to interject with a confused expression. Both females turned to him, with the larger one attempting to put a paw over the rabbit's muzzle. She removed it and hopped on the counter.
"She has a 'friend' on the force she is quite… uh… smitten with," voiced the bunny. "He's supposedly very good at his job and a nice guy, but rather useless with talking to the ladies. So, Essie here somehow finds that rather adorable. She's made a few flirtatious moves on him and enjoys making the poor wolf flush with embarrassment."
"Sounds like fun," the red fox supplied to the African wild dog, who giggled in kind.
Their talk continued on much the same for nearly an hour, both canid mammals doing and saying plenty to embarrass the smaller rabbit in their presence.
0000000
Leo watched on in silent curiosity from the refuge of the workshop, using the system of cameras set up around the house and surrounding region to look in on the exchange. While a sense of emotional empathy evaded the android, a logical level was understood from the conversation. It appeared that Nick was getting some much needed social fulfillment from having two mammals to talk to.
The mechanical being's other processes were working on a variety of other things, one of which being new suits for Judy. While the robot couldn't properly do any such construction until after Essie left, it could continue to go over blueprints and modifiable designs.
With the aforementioned stabilization of their powers outside 'Shifts', Leo wanted to advance their capability to use suits and equipment independent of one another. It would do well from a strategic perspective and give each of them some experience, in case one or the other becomes incapable of performing their duties towards an objective.
A ping sounded off a console, alerting the android. It routed the notification to its internal drive, processing the event and making adjustments.
Sensor equipment was reading a flux in the dilation of the wormhole. The Gate was opening soon. It wasn't surprising to Leo, however, the spike in certain energy signatures warranted further analysis. The process was almost too quick, reading as something that was scanned before. Checking the past occurrences, there was only one possible explanation.
The previous Flare model Drones that were infused with Shard power had their scans logged and analyzed for further study. The Blue Shard energy that charged those Drones emitted a specific signature that was easily capable of being catalogued. And now, this signature was being identified as the same as whatever was coming through the Gate. It was far more powerful and causing fluctuations in the Gate.
A Blue Shard.
Shutting down all previous processes, Leo was spurred into action, readying every suit he could and ascertaining the potential combat prowess and capabilities of their unseen enemy.
Flare model Drones were a good place to start. They were usually modified from basic designs by the individuals that charge them, giving insight to their preferred battle tactics. From the size and weaponry of the previous Drones, it could be justly assumed, but not relied upon, that the Shard approaching would rely on heavy weapons and strong arm battle tactics. Brute force and short range devastation.
Considering the risks of sending one of such power through the Gate, the robot surmised this was a potentially expendable Shard. Not to be underestimated, but probably on the lesser side of intelligence and adaptive nature.
Best course of action…
Speed and piercing attacks. Evasion and circumvention.
One suit fit those specifications best right now. Technically two, but Leo needed the duo in a 'Shift' until it could safely ascertain how well they could work separately.
Starting up sequences and readying the armor for immediate use, a name showed on a diagnostics display next to the suit.
Ricochet.
0000000
Having a good laugh and heartily enjoying each other's company, Judy was quite content having been able to bring her friend to her new abode.
They had toured the house somewhat, with Essie taking peeks at her bedroom and making inferences to the two of them shacking up or 'breaking' in the bed. Thankfully for the doe, the scent of Nick had faded since his time 'sneaking' into her bed. Otherwise, she might have a whole new problem to deal with.
The two made their way back through the kitchen, having been a quickly passing few hours since her arrival. Nick was waiting in the kitchen and cleaning up the dishes he left earlier, giving the two time to catch up and converse.
"Well it was great being here and all, but I'll leave you to get all cuddly by yourselves," Essie teased, winking at the fox and bunny. Both mammals shook their head at the canine, with Judy seeing her off.
As soon as the door closed, a strange bolting mechanism sounded and an intercom system clicked on.
"We have a Blue Shard incoming," came Leo's voice across the entire house. "Gear up and get ready to Shift. We have about an hour before Gate dilation allows for it to exit into our atmosphere."
Jarred by the revelation, both Judy and Nick dropped everything, rushing to the armor workshop. Having been unlocked and revealed from behind the false wall, the android was rushing around with smooth grace, methodically taking care of all their needs in respect to launching.
"Ricochet?" Nick asked slowly. "Why?"
"It is my assumption from various factors that it would be wise to use a suit like this," explained Leo. "It has the same signature as the Flares from a few days prior. An adaptive and evasive approach may be needed."
"What about the mammals?" Judy piped up in concern. "Evasion may work for us but won't we need something to protect them?"
"I have a plan to that," replied the mechanical being. "You will meet the Shard in high atmosphere, altering their course by provocation to follow you or using excessive force to alter their landing site. Try to find a flatland or empty area nearby. My suggestion is a small valley to the north. It is capable of housing whatever battle may ensue and keeps their weapons from firing too far in any direction without hitting a mountain or cliffside."
"Got it," both mammals said in almost synchronized harmony. The red fox turned to his grey doe.
"Ready to Shift?" he inquired in short, resulting in a nod from the bunny.
"Ready."
The now most familiar feeling permeated both their bodies as Judy's form turned ethereal and turned into the purple tendrils of energy that siphoned their way into Nick's heart, joining their bodies in a most peculiarly welcome way.
A new resonance seemed to be passing between them, giving the duo an exhilaratingly electric excitement that felt almost… embarrassing.
"I must say," Leo voiced, "I am reading quite the high level of output from you two. I am not quite sure what has spurred this degree of resonance, but do please keep it up."
The tod looked over his shoulder to see the purple energy form of the doe floating next to him, giving him the same partially knowing look he was giving her.
"Let's get suited up then," chirped Nick, lopsided grin firmly in place. He stepped next to the suit, the android keying in a few commands, allowing Ricochet to open up, allowing the fox to step inside from behind it.
Mechanisms locked and servos whirred, sealing the two inside the armor, a tail armament unit wrapping around his rear appendage carefully.
"You think we are ready to beat another Shard?" the small bunny asked in trepidatious fear. Nick gave her a devious smirk that said everything.
"With you around, I know we are."
0000000
"Tracking Gate fluctuations," Leo spoke over the comm. "Breach in thirty seconds. Charge deflection field and discus cores. Standby to engage redirection towards valley area."
"Understood," both mammals responded, though only Nick could be heard.
Flux's Ricochet suit was approaching high atmosphere, ready for intercept. It was a highly energy reliant piece of armor, using speed and circumvention to take down an enemy. It had strong shields and dense armor, with a polarizing power grid adding rigidity to the armor. In concert, it allowed the armor to take a fair amount of punishment. It was necessary though, since the suit used a rebounding technique to bounce effortlessly from surface to surface.
When no such surface was available, discus modules could be used in variable situations to act as offensive weapons or deploy fields to rebound from. They had many other uses as well, depending on their ingenuity.
Leo's plan, however, was to use Ricochet's rebound shields and cause a course change in the falling Shard.
"Ten seconds…" came the continued countdown.
"Five… two… breach."
A cascading burst of light flared into existence, violently painting the sky a slew of warm colors and looking like an ephemeral second sun.
As the light waned, the two could see a round and rotund dark object approaching them.
"Incoming object is thirty-seven meters across," the robot told them. "Intercept in seventeen seconds."
"Thirty-seven meters!?" Judy exclaimed. "Please tell me we aren't fighting something that big?"
"It's likely a shell for travel," the fox replied. "Charging repulsor field." There was a high whine sound as the shield emitters on the suit reached peak power flow and surpassed the 'safe' limits.
The large object quickly grew in their sights, with Nick flipping forward in midair and firing off his thrusters to reverse course and steady his speed to fly alongside as the craft rapidly approached them. Exceptionally large and robust looking, the craft was shaped much like a spinning top, pointed at the tip but with a wide arching rounded cone from the tip. It had drag fins splaying off the rear, keeping the thing stable. A contrail came from the center, denoting an engine of sorts propelling the thing.
The red fox wasted no little time, getting in close and expunging all the energy built up in the suit's rebound field. A vibrative thrum sounded as the shield burst outward, skewing the craft's trajectory ever so slightly.
"Target's path adjusted by 3.7 degrees. Not enough for full transition. Try using the armor's thrusters while magnetized to the tip of the craft."
"Got it," the tod replied, increasing the thruster output and using the magnetic coils on the feet clamp to the falling capsule. "Ready, Fluff?"
"Yep! Let's hurry," the rabbit fired back. "I don't like how fast the ground is trying to meet us." The fox laughed a bit, before putting the thrusters in high gear.
The resulting powerful flare of energy from the various thrusters all over the suit caused the capsule to shudder and groan as it began to sway slowly from its predetermined path towards the valley they wanted it to impact.
"Almost there," Leo confirmed to them. "Another few…"
An explosive force blasted Flux back, armored portions of the craft breaking off and revealing a core unit within the shell. More like multiple units. One was in the center, glowing bright blue with a multitude of accents. Five other such units, looking exactly like the Flare units the two faced before, were placed within a metal frame structure that held all the units in place.
"What in blazes…?" Nick breathed, barely keeping stabilized after the problematic jarring from the disengaged plating. He looked at his HUD and noticed there was no damage to the suit, sighing in relief.
The fox's heart jolted when all the units moved with stunning speed and jettisoned from the leftover frame, using their own version of propulsion units to steady themselves in midair.
The Blue Shard was last to 'wake up', ripping through the frame with aggressive swipes and spinning around to cast the pieces in all directions, making Flux twirl to dodge a piece of the frame and pull back. He cleared the immediate vicinity of the enclosing Flare units, using his superior speed to get outside their perimeter.
"Leo, I'm deploying the discus units," warned Nick. "You ready to calibrate for all angles. This is gonna be a tough fight."
"Acknowledged. And I'm ready anytime you are, sir."
"Good," he vented out, making Judy wonder what was about to occur. She felt like a backseat driver for the moment, but hoped she would get a moment to shine soon. "Deploying."
Spinning in place, various discs with wide middles and thin, razor like edges broke away from the Ricochet armor, flying off in sporadic arcs. Charged with Shard energy, they whizzed and zigzagged, loosely forming a wide net to surround the enemy units. Numbering twelve in total, the discs emitted repulsor fields, ready for use.
"Hey, Carrots?"
The grey doe snapped her eyes on her fox.
"Yes?" she managed to say without stuttering.
"I'm going to be doing some… strange moves," Nick began slowly. "I need you to keep an eye on my systems and check that I'm not stressing the armor too much. I've logged a lot of hours with this suit in the simulator but never in real life."
"Alright. Light em up, Scruffy," Judy sassed. The red fox scoffed a laugh.
"Remind me to talk to you about that name later."
Before the doe could reply, Nick fired off the thrusters heading for the nearest Flare. It hovered there, attempting to take a swipe at him. The rebound fields diverted the strike as Flux dipped just below the mechanical appendage and bounced off the hip joint of the unit, aiming for a discus.
With the field deployed, the armored fox bounced from the barrier, colliding fields repelling each other like same magnetic poles with magnets. The rebound added energy and speed to Flux's trajectory, the arc heading to another discus.
There was another resounding bounce and another increase in speed and energy. The Flares and Blue Shard were beginning to look around, attempting to pinpoint the discs and fire upon them. Leo was controlling the units, keeping out of the line of fire and still making adjustments as Nick bounced around with vastly increasing speed.
Finally, reaching some peak speed and resulting buildup of momentum, Ricochet fired off the deployed field of another discus, the armor's own integrity field hardening the armor as it pierced through the nearest Flare's chest.
"Exceptional results," the android spoke. "Rebound speed was Mach 1.1. Loss of speed from impact is roughly half of that. Adjusting for another pass."
"Negative," the fox rebuked. "I have to get these guys out of the sky. We're fighting over the streets of Zootopia still and I'm not letting these things fall on the city. Speaking of…"
Flux dipped down and chased after the falling Flare model unit. Getting an armored paw under a shoulder plate, he whirled around with thruster assistance and redirected the falling arc towards the unpopulated valley.
The discs followed his suit, keeping a wide defensive net around Flux. Judy turned around to see the other Flare units and the Shard following, firing off energy bolts and a few rockets. Rolling and banking in a sharp turn, the two watched the Flare Drone impact a couple trees and tumble to a stop against a stone bluff. The rockets followed, inaccurately darting forward in an attempt to collide with him.
Weaving in a random pattern between the taller trees, the rockets couldn't keep up and either misfired, exploding in a fiery inferno, or impacted the ground, initiating a similar effect.
One of the Flare Drones attempted to drop from above and land a blow on Flux, with Nick rebounding off a tree and landing. Sliding backwards to a stop, he watched the Drone strike the tree, missing him entirely.
"Aww… what did that tree ever do to him?" Judy snidely sassed.
"Heh, I haven't a clue, but I have a feeling that one isn't the only one who hates trees," the tod said, dodging another Drone and the Shard as the tried to entrap him and the bunny. The Ricochet suit was living up to its speed and evasion factor, making it easy to avoid getting hit, but more difficult to land a solid blow. Now that they were aware of the discs importance, the Shard and supporting units made a note to keep track of them and attempt firing on them.
Leo was doing a spectacular job of making them evade incoming fire, but the fox and rabbit didn't want to rely solely on the mechanical being's savvy in anticipating the enemy.
Readying a powerful energy bolt from a paw emitter, Nick fired off a bolt at full power, missing the seemingly intended target and rebounding off a deployed field. It bounced a couple more times before hitting a completely different Flare in the back of the head, disorienting it.
Nick was doing his best to eliminate the weaker targets, knowing that fighting the Shard on a one to one basis would be the best course of action. Until then, it would be best to eliminate potential factors that could tip the scales against them.
Flux fired off a flurry of powerful shots, each subsequent bolt following a random pattern and impacting various Drones in vital areas. Several minutes and evasive tactics later, the remaining units were approaching a level that could be counted as 'critically damaged'.
The Blue Shard acted defensive at furst, but caught onto the tactic the fox playing at, giving up on defense temporarily and launching a slew of bolts at the armored tod. Judy was easily able to warn him, resulting in a very embarrassing moment for the Shard when Nick dove under the armored Blue Shard and expanded his repulsor field to knock its legs out from under it.
Whatever creature piloted that suit, apparently had little tactical adaptivity, giving into rage and anger instead of trying to assess the situation. It worked out almost too well for Flux, who knew that an angry opponent may be a bit sporadic, but was usually very predictable.
Dodging several powerful swipes and intended strikes, the tod occasionally loosed a bolt that rebounded a few times, eventually impacting another Flare Drone and doing more damage.
One of them attempted to charge its cannon and aim at Nick, to which he fired off a small bolt and allowed the android to deflect it to just the right angle, bouncing off a couple discus fields and striking the charged cannon just as it fired. The altered course put the Blue Shard in the line of fire, with the resulting blast knocking it back with a heavy boom.
Nor Nick or Judy could account for everything, being caught off guard by another Flare and slapped haphazardly aside, flying over a hundred yards and impacting a rock face wall, falling onto a ledge that was a few stories up from the ground.
The grey bunny felt no pain, but knew from some strange sense or connection that her fox was.
"Nick," Leo called out. "I'm reading no notable damage to the suit, with integrity fields holding, but sensors show your humerus bone is broken and skull is fractured."
The armored fox slumped to the ledge, limp as a rag doll.
Judy shouted at him, hoping to snap him out of it, "Nick! Nick! Wake up!"
"Nick," the android called again. A few seconds passed and there was no response. "Judy. If you can hear me, see if you can speed up the regeneration process. We don't have much time."
Hugging her ethereal form around Flux, Judy willed something to happen.
"Come on you stupid fox. Wake up. Heal…"
In the distance, smoky contrails spawned into existence, numbering in the dozens, possibly over a hundred.
"Heal…"
Purple energy exuded from the fox, spilling from any crevices in the suit, giving hope to the doe that he was healing.
"Hurry up, Nick. I need you."
The rockets loomed in the distance, closing in as the world appeared to slow down.
AHHHH!
Oh... woops. got sucked into my own story for a second.
Alrighty then, I would usually give you guys a rather lengthy and odd goodbye, followed by Review responses, but...
I am extremely tired and can't read for any longer, much less write more with fervor. Instead i will offer a general and kind thank you to all my reviewers and make a promise to respond to you in the next day or two by editing this A/N or making an addendum to the next chapter.
Until next time, It's been a hustle, Sweethearts.