Part XXIII: The Core
Bass, Rock, Proto, and Fliptop had seen the battle between the Hunters and Bit. All four of them were scared out of their minds at the sight of the O Inary transformation, as well as at the fierce power the Maverick contained. None of them had ever seen anything like that before. And from the looks of it, this situation was only going to get worse.
"Let's turn back, Bass," Rock pleaded, looking to Proto for support. The black robot folded his arms and walked away.
"Turn back if you like, I'm following them," he replied, referring to X, Blitz, and the newly-conscious Zero.
Sighing, Rock and Proto continued along with him, not realizing that the entire time they were being watched by a mysterious force that none of them could identify and had absolutely no desire to know about.
Several more hours into the jungle, Rock began to feel a chill.
That's funny, he thought, testing the air. The temperature's dropping.
Proto and Bass had noticed the same thing, and according to the scans they were almost to the cliff face that they had detected some time before. In a few more minutes, they exited the forest, coming into yet another clearing, and standing at the foot of a huge, cavernous expanse that gushed the chilling wind Rock had felt just moments prior.
Bass took off at a run.
"Bass, come back!" Proto yelled, knowing it was useless. That rebel wasn't going to listen to him. He turned to Rock. "C'mon, Rock, let's follow him."
Taking another deep breath and shaking his head, Rock ran after the two, right into the mouth of the cave.
Emerging from the jungle, X, Zero, and Blitz looked up at the massive cave entrance, cold air chilling their circuitry.
"Well, guys, let's go," Zero said, heading off for the cave. Night had fallen, and the forest wasn't all that safe-looking. Hesitantly, X and Blitz followed him.
The darkness of the place was alleviated by an adaption Blitz had made to his blaster to allow him to fire off light beams like his sister. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear the sound of metal chinking several hundred yards away, a marvel for the distance that was between them. He tried to keep a cool head, not to rush headlong into the shadows, but he felt the need to find out what it was. Zero, on the other hand, was more than ready to be attacked than simply discover the origin of the noises.
"Prepare yourselves, guys," he kept reminding the others. "We may have to fight any minute now."
"Uh, Zero, what's that?" X asked, pointing at a nearby rock face.
"It's a wall."
"No, not that. There seems to be an energy signal coming from behind it."
Zero switched on his scanning equipment, and sure enough, there was a large signal coming from behind the cave wall. He stood next to it and attempted to push it out of the way. Instead, he fell right through.
X and Blitz looked at each other in surprise. Naturally, X had seen invisible walls before, but they didn't expect that Zero would fall through one. Sticking their heads into the open space where a wall should have been, X and Blitz looked down at Zero.
"Watch that first step! It's a doozie!" he yelled up to them, massaging the back of his head.
Jumping down to join their partner, X and Blitz looked around.
"So what's back here?" X asked, scratching his neck.
Blitz used his light ray to trace the outline of a machine. "There's something over there. It's about ten feet tall."
X and Zero walked over to what they now recognized as one of Dr. Light's transport capsules. Zero rolled his eyes.
"These things are everywhere. What's next? Is one gonna magically appear in the HQ bathroom closet?"
"Actually," X said. "I don't think Dr. Light would put one there."
"It was a joke," the red Hunter replied in an annoyed monotone. "Just go ahead and find out what it's got in it."
Walking up to the capsule, X prepared himself for another of his creators' equipment upgrade briefings. Just as he suspected, the blue glow coming from the border of the device disappeared and a hologram of Light materialized.
"X," he said, scratching his head. "It's been awhile."
To tell the truth, the blue robot wasn't used to Light's recent attempts to be funny, but he went along with it.
"It sure has."
"Alright. This capsule is for another armor. In fact, since the rest of the Hunters aren't here, I can't upgrade them yet. But I can take care of you also," he replied, noticing Zero.
"This capsule contains the upgrade necessary to activate the Neuro Armor. This armor will help you with your new mission. Unfortunately, I believe that extended use of it may alter your systems somewhat, so I'd advise not equipping it for more than an hour's time. The boots are designed to allow your systems to instantly teleport several feet from your current position and work in conjunction with the chest armor, which traps your enemies in a storm of energy. The arm cannon can now fire a triple shot, and your helmet will be able to temporarily modify your body to perform an attack which I don't quite have a name for yet but I'm working on it."
"That's a first," Zero muttered, imperceptible to the good doctor.
"Okay. Anything else I need to know?" X asked.
Light thought for a moment. "No, not at the moment. I have one thing to ask of you all, but that will have to wait until after you both receive the upgrade.
Stepping inside the cylinder, X was caught up in an upward stream of armor-modifying energy that turned his blue skin white and created red and yellow crests from the center of his chest to his shoulders which ended in flares, a pair of large helmet sweep antennae that were also red and yellow, as well as leg and arm ornamentation that bore those colors. The spaces between the facets of the armor had changed to black. As the light faded, he could feel the immediate strength differences.
Zero was next. As with the Hyper Armor, most of the enhancements were only slightly changed to accomodate the red robot. Notably, the fact his hair turned white, his chest nodes were replaced with a single centered crystal, and his boots had spikes running back from the blue and green seams that occupied the same places as the red and yellow on X's armor. His helmet was spiked as well, the entire base of it lined with the antenna-like protrusions.
After both of them had stepped back from the transportation system, Light's hologram reappeared.
"Zero, your Saber was integrated into your body for this upgrade. If you so choose, you can fire gyrating replicas of your saber that you can climb on if they hit a wall and stick. The ability to use the saber itself is entirely dependent on your energy generator, since it is wholly constructed of it now. It can take on several elemental properties automatically.
"Now, X. My question to you."
"What is it?"
"Open the base of the capsule. You will find a small microchip."
Doing as he was told, X unhatched the platform and looked at the circuitry. He pointed to a piece of machinery.
"This one?"
Light nodded. "Yes, X. That is the correct chip. Take it out of the board. It will come out easily, since it only snaps in. Then place it in your forehead install circuit."
Removing the chip from the capsule made the hologram vanish. X was confused, looking at the tiny piece of metal.
"What happened?"
"Just put it in, X," Zero said.
"Alright."
Opening his helmet, X placed the circuit in his processor and adjusted the headpiece back into place. Immediately, Dr. Light showed up again.
"What did I just do, Dr. Light?" X asked.
"You removed my hologram chip from the transport system. All I ask you to do is to put that chip that you just placed in yourself into the main computer at Maverick Hunter Headquarters. I can do the rest from there."
"But where are you coming from now?"
Zero interrupted, pointing upward. "X, glance up without moving your head."
Lifting his eyes, the blue robot could see Light's hologram was being projected from the crystal on his helmet.
"Oh," he answered himself, laughing.
The group exited the invisible room, re-entering the cave on their way to the Maverick base.
Bass, Rock, Proto, and Fliptop had seen the battle between the Hunters and Bit. All four of them were scared out of their minds at the sight of the O Inary transformation, as well as at the fierce power the Maverick contained. None of them had ever seen anything like that before. And from the looks of it, this situation was only going to get worse.
"Let's turn back, Bass," Rock pleaded, looking to Proto for support. The black robot folded his arms and walked away.
"Turn back if you like, I'm following them," he replied, referring to X, Blitz, and the newly-conscious Zero.
Sighing, Rock and Proto continued along with him, not realizing that the entire time they were being watched by a mysterious force that none of them could identify and had absolutely no desire to know about.
Several more hours into the jungle, Rock began to feel a chill.
That's funny, he thought, testing the air. The temperature's dropping.
Proto and Bass had noticed the same thing, and according to the scans they were almost to the cliff face that they had detected some time before. In a few more minutes, they exited the forest, coming into yet another clearing, and standing at the foot of a huge, cavernous expanse that gushed the chilling wind Rock had felt just moments prior.
Bass took off at a run.
"Bass, come back!" Proto yelled, knowing it was useless. That rebel wasn't going to listen to him. He turned to Rock. "C'mon, Rock, let's follow him."
Taking another deep breath and shaking his head, Rock ran after the two, right into the mouth of the cave.
Emerging from the jungle, X, Zero, and Blitz looked up at the massive cave entrance, cold air chilling their circuitry.
"Well, guys, let's go," Zero said, heading off for the cave. Night had fallen, and the forest wasn't all that safe-looking. Hesitantly, X and Blitz followed him.
The darkness of the place was alleviated by an adaption Blitz had made to his blaster to allow him to fire off light beams like his sister. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear the sound of metal chinking several hundred yards away, a marvel for the distance that was between them. He tried to keep a cool head, not to rush headlong into the shadows, but he felt the need to find out what it was. Zero, on the other hand, was more than ready to be attacked than simply discover the origin of the noises.
"Prepare yourselves, guys," he kept reminding the others. "We may have to fight any minute now."
"Uh, Zero, what's that?" X asked, pointing at a nearby rock face.
"It's a wall."
"No, not that. There seems to be an energy signal coming from behind it."
Zero switched on his scanning equipment, and sure enough, there was a large signal coming from behind the cave wall. He stood next to it and attempted to push it out of the way. Instead, he fell right through.
X and Blitz looked at each other in surprise. Naturally, X had seen invisible walls before, but they didn't expect that Zero would fall through one. Sticking their heads into the open space where a wall should have been, X and Blitz looked down at Zero.
"Watch that first step! It's a doozie!" he yelled up to them, massaging the back of his head.
Jumping down to join their partner, X and Blitz looked around.
"So what's back here?" X asked, scratching his neck.
Blitz used his light ray to trace the outline of a machine. "There's something over there. It's about ten feet tall."
X and Zero walked over to what they now recognized as one of Dr. Light's transport capsules. Zero rolled his eyes.
"These things are everywhere. What's next? Is one gonna magically appear in the HQ bathroom closet?"
"Actually," X said. "I don't think Dr. Light would put one there."
"It was a joke," the red Hunter replied in an annoyed monotone. "Just go ahead and find out what it's got in it."
Walking up to the capsule, X prepared himself for another of his creators' equipment upgrade briefings. Just as he suspected, the blue glow coming from the border of the device disappeared and a hologram of Light materialized.
"X," he said, scratching his head. "It's been awhile."
To tell the truth, the blue robot wasn't used to Light's recent attempts to be funny, but he went along with it.
"It sure has."
"Alright. This capsule is for another armor. In fact, since the rest of the Hunters aren't here, I can't upgrade them yet. But I can take care of you also," he replied, noticing Zero.
"This capsule contains the upgrade necessary to activate the Neuro Armor. This armor will help you with your new mission. Unfortunately, I believe that extended use of it may alter your systems somewhat, so I'd advise not equipping it for more than an hour's time. The boots are designed to allow your systems to instantly teleport several feet from your current position and work in conjunction with the chest armor, which traps your enemies in a storm of energy. The arm cannon can now fire a triple shot, and your helmet will be able to temporarily modify your body to perform an attack which I don't quite have a name for yet but I'm working on it."
"That's a first," Zero muttered, imperceptible to the good doctor.
"Okay. Anything else I need to know?" X asked.
Light thought for a moment. "No, not at the moment. I have one thing to ask of you all, but that will have to wait until after you both receive the upgrade.
Stepping inside the cylinder, X was caught up in an upward stream of armor-modifying energy that turned his blue skin white and created red and yellow crests from the center of his chest to his shoulders which ended in flares, a pair of large helmet sweep antennae that were also red and yellow, as well as leg and arm ornamentation that bore those colors. The spaces between the facets of the armor had changed to black. As the light faded, he could feel the immediate strength differences.
Zero was next. As with the Hyper Armor, most of the enhancements were only slightly changed to accomodate the red robot. Notably, the fact his hair turned white, his chest nodes were replaced with a single centered crystal, and his boots had spikes running back from the blue and green seams that occupied the same places as the red and yellow on X's armor. His helmet was spiked as well, the entire base of it lined with the antenna-like protrusions.
After both of them had stepped back from the transportation system, Light's hologram reappeared.
"Zero, your Saber was integrated into your body for this upgrade. If you so choose, you can fire gyrating replicas of your saber that you can climb on if they hit a wall and stick. The ability to use the saber itself is entirely dependent on your energy generator, since it is wholly constructed of it now. It can take on several elemental properties automatically.
"Now, X. My question to you."
"What is it?"
"Open the base of the capsule. You will find a small microchip."
Doing as he was told, X unhatched the platform and looked at the circuitry. He pointed to a piece of machinery.
"This one?"
Light nodded. "Yes, X. That is the correct chip. Take it out of the board. It will come out easily, since it only snaps in. Then place it in your forehead install circuit."
Removing the chip from the capsule made the hologram vanish. X was confused, looking at the tiny piece of metal.
"What happened?"
"Just put it in, X," Zero said.
"Alright."
Opening his helmet, X placed the circuit in his processor and adjusted the headpiece back into place. Immediately, Dr. Light showed up again.
"What did I just do, Dr. Light?" X asked.
"You removed my hologram chip from the transport system. All I ask you to do is to put that chip that you just placed in yourself into the main computer at Maverick Hunter Headquarters. I can do the rest from there."
"But where are you coming from now?"
Zero interrupted, pointing upward. "X, glance up without moving your head."
Lifting his eyes, the blue robot could see Light's hologram was being projected from the crystal on his helmet.
"Oh," he answered himself, laughing.
The group exited the invisible room, re-entering the cave on their way to the Maverick base.