Disclaimer:
Captain N was produced by Nintendo and DIC Entertainment. This story uses reference material from them.
New Captain N: Warp Zone
By: RB3
World Compression 6: Robotics Robbery
After their adventure in Cosmo Land, the Power Bloc had gained a pair of new allies. They were the nations of Orange Star and Yellow Comet. They had been receiving trouble from the Black Hole army, who allied with Ouma. Ouma had acquired cloning technology from Black Hole, but it was unknown for what purpose. For now, the Explorers went their separate ways to spend some needed time for rest and relaxation.
At Sonia and Kevin's quarters, the air smelled sweetly of warm sugary treats. The middle-aged mother opened her oven and brought out a delicious chocolate cake. She cut the cake into numerous slices, enough for her guests. They included her son Kevin, Bowser, and Kirby. "Enjoy!"
"Thanks mom, you always make the best chocolate cake," said Kevin. He then cut a portion with his fork and ate it.
Bowser and Kirby finished off their cake and even helped themselves to seconds. After finishing, Kirby snatch the piece of cake from Bowser's plate and ate it. "Hey! I saw that!" said Bowser. He grabbed Kirby and started to squeeze the little pink alien. "Oh, want to be a thief, you little puffball?"
"Ahh!" gasped Kirby.
"Bowser, go easy on him!" said Sonia.
As the day went on, other members of the Explorers went down to the training facilities to practice. In one chamber, Link and Shulk stood across from each other. The training room formed wooden swords in both warriors' hands. "Fight!" cried Zelda.
The two charged at each other. Shulk opened with a chop to the head. Link easily parried. Shulk aimed at the shoulder, but was also parried. The two locked weapons and attempted to push each other. Link started to push his foe back. He then kicked Shulk away. Link hurled sword beams, which Shulk deflected. Link darted in and threw a sideways slash. Shulk parried and pushed away the sword. He then thrust for Link's heart, but Link quickly brought his weapon back to parry.
"Time!" cried Zelda.
Link and Shulk high fived. "Great battle Shulk," said Link.
"Yeah," replied Shulk, fetching a bottle of water to drink. "Zelda, want to go a few rounds with me?"
"Sure," replied Zelda.
In the nearby room, Lana and Sveta stood across from each other on top of training mats. Both girls were dressed in white martial arts uniforms and barefoot. "Okay, let's go. Begin!" said Sheena from nearby.
Sveta and Lana closed with each other. Lana threw a punch to the chest, which was blocked. Lana immediately darted in for an attempt to take her foe to the ground. However, Sveta dug in and stayed upright. She applied a choke hold to Lana's head, forcing Lana to pry her head loose. She eventually succeeded and tried to move in. Sveta kicked her away. She sidestepped and came in with a punch from an indirect angle. Lana weaved around her arm, snatched Sveta's biceps, and flipped her to the ground.
"Time!" said Sheena. "Great work Lana, you're really improving."
Lana helped Sveta rise to her feet. "Thanks Sheena," said Lana. She and Sveta fetched some water to drink.
As night fell, Abel returned to his quarters in the upper floors of the palace. The moment the door closed behind him, Scarlet appeared and wrapped her arms around him in an embrace. "I want you, tonight," said Scarlet.
"I won't deny you," said Abel.
The two kissed. Touching his cloak, Scarlet had magically disappeared it, leaving him naked in front of her. Scarlet lowered her master onto the bed, where she immediately mounted and kissed him. Scarlet pulled back. "I love you," she whispered, before leaning to kiss him again.
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A week later, Charles announced a meeting of the Explorers. Everyone gathered in the throne room to hear his words. "Hello friends. Lyle just received a message from Pleroma. It's from Vanea of the Machina. Apparently, someone had broken into one of their Mechon factories. We suspect it was Ouma's doing," said Charles. "Please look at this security camera footage."
Charles pressed the button on a remote control. A holographic video feed appeared to the right, between a pair of pillars. The video showed a high-tech factory with several robots patrolling its grounds. The robots were faceless Mechon, mere drones controlled by a rudimentary artificial intelligence. Moments later, a plume of flame burst out of the factory and blew the Mechon patrols to pieces. A series of figures fled the scene, pushing along carts filled with mechanical parts.
Charles stopped the film when one of the figures appeared on the screen. It was a weasel-like creature with scythes for arms. On its back were wavy red markings. "Sickle weasels," said Abel.
"So it is Ouma," said Sheena.
"So, Ouma wants Mechon parts now?" asked Lana. "What are they be up to?"
"Whatever it is, we believe Ouma will strike again," said Charles. "You are going there to stop the robberies. Speak to Vanea over at Colony Six."
"We're on our way," replied Lana.
The Explorers passed through the warp to Pleroma, which exited in the Daksha Shrine within the mountains. This area was paved with stones, but they were starting to crumble from years of exposure to the elements. Crumbling pillars of stone flanked the main road leading up to the shrine. Many scorch and blast marks still remained from the previous battles against the Burning Legion. Now, it was connection between Power Palace and the Pleroman colonies.
Yog flew the Explorers south and east to Colony Six, a small Homs settlement. Yog deposited his passengers in front of the former reconstruction headquarters, which had been converted into the settlement's town hall. Colony Six was the closest settlement to the warp. Thus, if functioned as a major trading hub between Pleroma and the outside worlds. Races from all over Pleroma from the Nopon to the Machina came to the settlement to engage in trade and business.
A Machina woman approached the Explorers. She had pale grey skin and wore a form-hugging, yet organic mechanical suit which exposed her cleavage. Her head was covered by a helmet-like headdress. "Hello, Princess Lana I presume?" asked the woman.
"Yes," replied Lana. "You must be Vanea?"
"Of course," replied the woman. "The robbers had broken into Alpha Factory last night. Let's go there now to investigate."
Yog followed Vanea's directions to the southwest, flying over several kilometres of ocean. He eventually reached an area which corresponded to the right thigh of the former Mechonis. On this land was a compound with several Mechon drones buzzing around the grounds. There were several blast marks on ground. Even the building was covered in scorch marks both outside and in. Inside, the fires had burned much of the offices and warehouse for completed Mechon.
"This looks bad. It was a really powerful explosion," remarked Sheena, looking over the charred remains of a freshly assembled Mechon.
Sveta followed a visualized scent trail to the largest blast mark on the ground. The location corresponded to the middle of a wrecked conveyor belt which delivered Mechon to the storage house. "Here's where they planted the bomb," said Sveta.
In the administrative offices, Shulk pored over the logs of Alpha Factory's computers. He noticed that the computer ran extremely sluggishly. He audited the computer's RAM and found unlisted programs occupying memory. The source was a program called " ." After analyzing the lines of code, Shulk learned that it was malware. suppressed anti-virus software and had accessed blueprint files on Mechon.
Shulk reported this finding to Vanea. "We suspected as such," she replied. "We noted our computers acting very strangely and sluggishly just before the attack."
"I noticed that none of the files here contained any information on Faced Mechon," said Shulk.
"Faced Mechon aren't built here. They're built in Central Factory," said Vanea. "I've asked your friends to head there already, but so far, nothing has happened yet."
"Okay, we're going to meet them," said Shulk.
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At the centre of the Mechonis continent was a massive, cavernous factory complex beneath the ground. The walls and floor were made entirely of metal. In one area, there were scaffoldings surrounding towering, humanoid Mechon. These Mechon were essentially piloted robots and the only Mechon which had discernable faces. A Machina worker rode an elevator up to a Faced Mechon's cockpit. While in the seat, he ran a diagnostic on the robot.
Elsewhere, a series of spare Faced Mechon arms travelled down a conveyor belt. A series of robotic arms welded metal parts onto the Mechon arms. The conveyor belt carried the completed Faced Mechon arms to a bucket. A roof-mounted crane picked up one of the arms and carried it over to a crew of Machina technicians. The Machina attached the arm to a near completed Face Mechon lying on a large table on the ground.
Elsewhere, a motley group visited the assembly lines. They were led by Dunban, a friend and mentor of Shulk. Reyn and Sharla were also with the group, as were Riki and Melia. The group was escorted by the assembly foreman, a fairly bulky Machina worker. "Everything seems okay here," said Dunban.
"So far so good," said Reyn.
Elsewhere in the factory, Machina workers continued to run a Mechon drone assembly area. A Machina worker activated the drone. The golden highlights of the drone became lit. It flew down towards a door to a waiting area. Suddenly, it started to convulse uncontrollably. One of the workers approached to investigate, when suddenly, the drone turned around. It then fired a beam at the worker, burning a hole through his abdomen.
"Run!" cried another worker, just before he was gunned down by the drone.
More drones flooded into the factory by way of the door. They fanned out and started to shoot non-hostile workers. Panic set in and the workers abandoned their posts to run from the rogue drones. An alarm resounded through Central Factory and each room became filled with flashing red light. In the hallway, Dunban's team perked up. "...And here I was, about to fall asleep," said Sharla.
A Mechon drone fired at a worker who had fled around the corner ahead. Several ether beams followed him, missing and passing by the corner ahead. "Look alive everyone!" said Dunban.
The entire team drew weapons and covered the worker's escape. An M30-class Mechon drone rounded the corner. It fired at Dunban, who parried the beam. Reyn pounced on the drone and pummelled it with arm-mounted blades. He put numerous dents in the drone, but did little to permanently stop it. "Stand back!" said Riki.
Reyn quickly moved away from the drone. Riki exhaled a blast of freezing air. The drone became coated in a shell of glistening ice. Despite trying to shake itself free, the drone remained pinned in the ice. Melia summoned a spirit of lightning. She quickly discharged the spirit, which caused a bolt of lightning to rip through the drone. It started to shudder uncontrollably and collapsed in a smouldering wreck.
"We have to get the workers to safety. Hurry!" said Dunban.
Dunban's team ran down the halls in search of Central Factory's workers. They found a Machina running down the hall. A Mechon drone followed the fleeing worker, firing beams in his wake. The drone turned its fire to the team, but Reyn quickly blocked them. Melia summoned a lightning spirit and discharged it at the drone. Lightning flashed over its chassis and it became wracked by convulsions. Sharla toppled it with a single bullet.
"Thanks," said the worker.
"Where are the others?" asked Sharla.
"Some of my buddies have holed up in the north loading docks," said the worker.
"Thanks, we're going that way now," said Dunban.
Dunban's team quickly ran through several halls in the direction described by the worker. They found a steel door being banged upon by an M80 shock trooper Mechon. With it were three drones who were waiting for it to break through. Riki quickly ran up and breathed fire upon them. His breath seared internal wiring and circuitry within the Mechon. Despite the damage, they all fired back at him, but Dunban and Reyn stepped in and blocked the shots.
Reyn advanced and slapped one of the drones with his arm guard. The drone collapsed and Reyn quickly pounced on it. With each blow, Reyn dented the metal and even ripped armour plates off of the Mechon. He reached in and tore out the AI and control module, then tossed them aside. Dunban parried a drone's beam and advanced. Despite another shot, Dunban parried. He quickly smacked the drone into the ground. He then slew it with a single thrust down through the control module.
The other Mechon rushed Riki, Sharla, and Melia. The drone fired at Riki, who darted away to safety. Riki then breathed a toxic violet mist upon it. The mist staggered the drone by corroding its circuitry. Riki quickly pounded it to pieces with his axe-like weapon. As Sharla retreated from the shock trooper, she fired bullets at it. She kept firing, drawing the Mechon towards her. Melia quickly moved to its flanks, where she discharged a lightning spirit.
The Mechon shuddered uncontrollably, left vulnerable. Sharla felled it with one bullet through its head. The team regrouped at the door and knocked on it. "Hey, we're security. Let us in," said Reyn.
The sound of shuffling and objects being moved came from the other side. The door popped open by a Machina worker. "Hurry before they find us!" said the worker.
Once they were through, the worker and his friends quickly locked and barricaded the door again. There were a hundred workers hiding out in the docks. Some of them had guns and were shooting at Mechon from the open doors of the loading bays. The Mechon outside returned fire through those same openings. The opposite wall had several craters melted into it from taking so much fire. Most of the Machina workers were in a side room, safely from the fire.
"Are there any more people other than you?" asked Dunban to one of the workers in the sidelines.
"We came here through the Faced Mechon elevator, but the renegade Mechon collapsed the shaft and trapped the others below," said the worker.
"We'll get you to safety for now," said Dunban. "Then, we're going in for the others."
"Okay," said Reyn.
"Now we just have to find a way past those Mechon outside," said Sharla.
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Outside, the Mechon continued to fire into the open doors of the loading docks. Suddenly, a beam of energy punctured one of the drones hovering by a set of rocks. Another beam punctured a second Mechon, a shock trooper, felling it in one blow. Bowser suddenly descended on the shock trooper and crushed it underfoot. Another shock trooper fired on him, only serving to slow him momentarily. Bowser dashed it and smashed it to pieces in one shot.
Sveta blasted a drone with tendrils of lightning. The drone convulsed for a few brief moments before collapsing. She then formed a whirlwind which scooped up three more in its wake. They were battered and smashed to pieces. Sheena hurled ofuda at a shock trooper. The trooper turned around to fire. The beam pierced her body and it puffed in smoke, leaving behind a perforated log. The ofuda then exploded the Mechon to pieces.
Abel started a corrosive rain upon all of the Mechon attackers. Lights started to spark around the Mechon with each droplet that hit them. Ice started forming around them. Abel then sprayed ice at the nearest one, a trooper. It froze instantly and completely. Mao pounced upon it and sliced it in half. Yog bombarded the Mechon ranks with orbs. Mechon after Mechon were crushed to pieces. Two shock troopers fired at Yog, who took the hits without flinching.
Scarlet suddenly appeared behind one of them and melted it in a searing blaze. The other turned to shoot her, but she darted away. It tried to shoot her again, but she escaped again. She moved closer to Yog and applied healing magic to him. Mao blasted the trooper with lightning. It collapsed, crackling with electricity. A drone fired at Abel, who blocked with a violet barrier. Abel teleported behind the drone and blasted it in the back with ice. It froze solid and landed inert on the ground.
In the loading dock, Dunban spotted the fighting from afar. He then noticed Shulk among the attackers. Shulk had descended upon a Mechon and chopped it in half. A nearby trooper fired at him, but he parried the shots. Shulk dashed by and sliced the Mechon in half. "Shulk's here!" cried Dunban.
Sharla fired, planting a bullet straight into a trooper's head. As it stumbled about, Zelda stuck a flaming arrow into its right shoulder joint. The arrow exploded, blowing off the arm and downing the Mechon. Link ran towards the loading the docks. A shock trooper moved to stop him. It fired and he blocked the beam, which reflected off of his shield. The beam melted off the Mechon's own arm. Despite being maimed, the Mechon charged in and drilled Link. He blocked with the mirror shield.
Link forced away the drill and swung for the abdomen. His sword deflected off the metal chassis. He quickly backed away, leaving a bomb in his wake. It exploded violently and took the Mechon with it. By now, Dunban could see that the rogue Mechon forces had been halved in number. "They're on the ropes!" said Dunban.
Bowser grabbed a shock trooper and swung it into a nearby drone. The drone collapsed to the ground in a crumpled wreck. He then slammed the shock trooper against the ground, crushing its wiring and circuitry. Once the last of the Mechon had fallen, Dunban's team escorted the fugitive workers out to the open outside of Central Factory. The parking lot of Central Factory was covered in scrap metal and circuitry.
The Explorers escorted the workers and Dunban's team out of the area. The sun was shining brightly on the land of the former Mechonis. Even outside, the land itself was a flat plane of metal covered by small patches of earth and dirt. Nothing grew on this land except for the smallest and hardiest of shrubs and flora. Being barren and nearly devoid of plant life, it was a sharp contrast to the Bionis. Once the workers were safely away, Dunban approached Lana and her team.
"Thank you Lana, that's twice you've helped us now," said Dunban.
"You're welcome," said Lana.
"You brought Vanea here too?" asked Dunban.
"Yes, we need to shut down the renegade Mechon. It's likely that someone had inserted a virus into the Central Factory's main computer," said Vanea. "We'll need a second team to go in and resolve the problem."
"I hate to have to impose, but I heard that there were still workers trapped in the factory," said Dunban. "We need to rescue them."
"We'll split into two groups, one for the workers, another to shut down that virus," said Lana.
The Explorers and Dunban's team split into two main groups. Vanea selected a team of herself, Abel and his demons, Sheena, and Shulk to go to Central Factory's main computer and eliminate the virus to restore order. The others were charged with rescuing any remaining workers and escorting them to safety. The only person to remain behind was Sonia, who stayed behind to tend to the rescued workers.
"Good luck, Vanea," said Dunban.
"Thank you. Make sure everyone gets to safety," said Vanea, before going with her team.
Vanea's team entered the factory and passed through the southern door to the central offices. They found several dead Machina sprawled on the ground and on top of the desks. There were splatters of grey liquid near several of the bodies, their equivalent of blood. The furniture had been smashed and several scorch marks dotted them. A wrecked Mechon drone lay on the ground, smashed to pieces and covered with scorch marks.
As they travelled through the hall, they continued to see more and more dead Machina workers and a few wrecked Mechon. "This is horrible," said Vanea.
"Ouma is merciless," said Shulk. "Where is the main computer?"
"It's in the Mechon programming room in the heart of the factory," said Vanea. "The virus spread from there after Ouma infected the main computer."
The group eventually reached a broken door in a central hallway of the factory. The hallway was filled with dead Machina, whose oily blood smeared the walls and floor. A few Mechon shock troopers had joined them in death, laying in pieces on the ground. "Is this the place?" asked Shulk.
"Yes, the main computer is at the far end of the room," said Vanea.
Vanea's team walked into the room and came face to face with a room of several desks. There were computers on each of the desks for programming work. Deeper in the computer room was a larger metal room with target boards. They were charred from recent test firings of Mechon energy guns. At a side area, there were inactive Mechon wired to small computers with diagnostic programs running. At the other end of the room was a sliding, see-through door.
As soon as the group entered the centre of the room, several yokai appeared, surrounding the team. "Company!" said Sheena.
The yokai immediately hurled air blades. Abel quickly raised a barrier. The air blade dissipated on contact. He quickly sprayed ice over the sickle weasel, who created a white barrier of light. Abel filled the area with a corrosive rain. The weasel's barrier sparked with golden light as each droplet touched it. Abel lowered an orb of almighty energy behind the weasel. It exploded with violent force and shredded the creature.
Another scythe weasel whipped air blades at Yog. They exposed a previously hidden barrier and changed direction. The blades sliced their originator to pieces. Yog opened a portal beneath a tengu. Chains wreathed in white fire lashed out and dragged the creature in. Another tengu hurled ball lightning at Mao, who absorbed it into his body. Scarlet suddenly appeared behind that tengu and seared its back with flame. The tengu collapsed and vanished.
Sheena sidestepped a trio of incoming air blades. She hurled ofuda back at the weasel, who raised a barrier. The ofuda stuck to it and exploded, but left the weasel unharmed. Sheena dashed in. The weasel attempted to slash her, but she quickly backed away and slapped it with ofuda. Staggering the creature, Sheena stuck an ofuda to its forehead. She backed away, leaving the tag to explode and destroy her foe.
Vanea extended sharp finger nails and stared down a tengu. The tengu dove in for the a claw swipe. Vanea quickly sidestepped and swung for the face. The tengu back away, then quickly sprang back on the attack. It swiped at her face, but she dodged. It made a lunge with its left, narrowly grazing Vanea's belly. Vanea suddenly lunged ahead and sliced through the tengu's face. The tengu collapsed to the ground and vanished.
With the yokai dead, Scarlet flew over to Vanea and held her hands over the cuts. A white light surrounded the wound. A feeling of soothing coolness washed over the area, spreading to the rest of Vanea's body. "Thank you," said Vanea.
"You're welcome darling," said Scarlet.
Vanea's team found a room with a rack of computer chips, circuit boards, and hard drives. They were attached to a large monitor on a desk with a keyboard for input. The electronic components seemed to hum as electricity flowed through them. Shulk attached a laptop computer to the larger mainframe. He started to type commands to access and comb through the software of the central computer for the virus.
Shulk sensed danger coming from behind. He quickly ducked, which caused a beam to miss him and pass by overhead. He advanced on the Mechon drone who had fired at him. The drone fire another beam, which he parried. It tried again, but was parried as before. Shulk extended the energy blade of the Monado and sawed through the drone. The Mechon's halves separated and tumbled to the ground.
A few moments later, a M80-class shock trooper started to approached the computer room. With it were nearly half a dozen drones and other shock troopers. "Hurry up Shulk, they're coming!" said Sheena.
Shulk started the upload of an anti-virus program into the computer. Bit by bit, the progress bar started to fill. Outside, Abel froze solid a Mechon shock trooper. After a quick swipe by Vanea, the machine shattered to pieces on the floor. Yog smashed another shock trooper into a wall with an orb. Mao slapped down a drone, while Scarlet melted another to his left. Sheena pinned an ofuda onto a shock trooper's back. It exploded violently and left the Mechon a smouldering wreck.
Shulk's upload completed. As more Mechon came in to attack, Shulk's friends closed ranks to guard him. The Mechon suddenly stopped and fell silent. "It looks like you've done it. Thank you, Explorers. We owe you so much," said Vanea.
"Bad news," said Shulk. "It looks like Ouma had accessed plans for your Faced Mechon."
END OF CHAPTER