Author: Laserkid
(Collaboration of Magus and Laserkid)
Rock slept uneasily that night, having to fight in an arena wasn't going to be that hard, but he loathed the idea of harming others. It was necessary when fighting mavericks. The indication of the Maverick Virus that Hunter base had detected was discomforting as well. But night soon he vanished into sleep. A very disturbing dream of the past began to appear before him.
"Good work Rock! With this we'll be able to keep the town alive another year!"
"All in the line of duty!"
"Rock what's that thingy….I'm scared…..AHHHHHHHH!!"
"You monster! You…you killed her!"
"Death is the only truth. Prepare to embrace yours."
"No! MAVERICK! I'm going to stop you!"
Rock suddenly awoke to the sight of Blade in his face.
"Come on Rock, wake up. They've changed the schedule! You've got an early match." Blade said as Rock got up slowly.
"I see…who am I up against?" Rock asked.
"Some guy named Dither. He's an electric based Reploid, and a fan favorite. You should be okay, but don't let your guard down." Blade answered prudently.
"Okay. So looks like I get to get this earlier than expected. I don't know how I can control it, but I'll do my best to give you ample time for reconnaissance. Good luck Blade." Rock said smiling.
Blade only nodded this time, as he escorted Rock to the fighting arena.
The Arena was the name of the holographic room where battles took place.
Rock entered the arena and Blade soon vanished behind him, confident in Blade's abilities to search Rock turned his attention to Dither and the arena.
What he saw was a strange battlefield look.
"Welcome fighters to the Arena! In the back corner, he's electricity to the next level, so don't damper his fun, Dither!" A strange announcer spoke.
He couldn't see the fans, but the reverse speaker made sure he could hear the fan favorite being cheered on.
"And in the front corner the newcomer of pure fist power, its ROOOOCKKK!" The announcer continued.
Rock nearly fell over from the cheesy introduction he got, and nearly vomited at the boos he received.
"Contestants ready?! FIGHT!" The announcer concluded.
"Welcome Rock to the arena, I at least want to give you a fair greeting for your first battle here." Dither said politely.
"I thank you. It's a bit backward but I think I'll manage." Rock said, returning the courtesy, and then the two charged at each other.
Meanwhile Blade was looking around for anything suspicious, moving quickly so as not to stay in one place for too long.
Finally making his way into a back room Blade saw a computer terminal he hadn't before and decided to take a look at it.
But before he could do this, another contestant bumped into him.
"Hey! Watch where you're going." The contestant grumbled.
Blade just ignored it but the figure began to laugh.
"Glad I found you." The contestant said, still laughing.
"What?" Blade said turning around.
"Good to see you again." The contestant said grinning, and then began to fade away.
Or it looked like it was fading away. In its place Steele stood smiling evilly.
"Steele?! I don't have time for this…" Blade said unsheathing his blades.
"You had better make time." Steele laughed unsheathing his sword.
"I see you don't know the gravity of the situation Steele. This isn't just some tournament." Blade said calmly.
"Oh I understand quite well your methods Hunter. I know why you're here. I also know they are here. Pathetic Mavericks think they can take down anything. They've chewed into something they will regret. As have you Hunters. This is territory I avoid for a reason." Steele laughed as his sword clashed against Blade's blades.
"What?!" Blade replied parrying the attack, and getting one hit into Steele.
Steele laughed as he took the hit, and sliced at Blade's leg, causing his sword to light up, Blade felt immense pain, but held out.
Back at the arena, Rock was dodging several electrical attacks by Dither.
'Must…buy more time…' Rock thought to himself.
Taking a gamble Rock opened his reflector shields.
'I don't know if these things can repel electricity like they do plasma shots, but its worth an attempt.' Rock thought to himself.
Dither's electricity however went right through the shields and electrified Rock's body, causing some pain, which Rock screamed from.
"Giving up already? My my, what a disappointment." Dither laughed as Rock charged at him.
Meanwhile Blade and Steele were still fighting…
Dodging a thrust from Blade, Steele laughed.
"Do I have to spell everything out for you Hunter? Pfft. Really, I had such hope in your intellect. I suppose it was unfounded. Well I suppose its time for you to die!" Steele replied striking back, however Blade dodged the attack.
"Wait…are you referring to the RAC?" Blade asked in confusion.
"Congratulations he can be taught." Steele laughed, as he was making a mock salute.
"Why are you helping me?" Blade asked.
"Because the RAC is the one power I fear. They are not as foolish as the Mavericks, or you Hunters. Take them down and no one can control me. I can do as I please as long as they are not here. But you obviously aren't intelligent enough to know this on your own. Now that you know this, I'll kill you." Steele replied taking aim for Blade's chest, but Blade secured him as he charged.
"…Seems I underestimated you Blade…hehe...hahaha…then you can kill them. For now good luck. I shall leave this disc with you; it should give you what you seek. But don't take me incorrectly, you still have a date with death, it's just been delayed." Steele said, laughing hysterically afterwards, and then beaming out.
Back at the stadium Rock was not faring so well against Dither. He'd taken several jolts of electricity, and his fists didn't seem to hurt Dither.
"Is that all you got kid? You should pull out now while you're intact." Dither said to Rock as he began to charge another electrical shot.
Rock managed to dodge this blast when it hit, but he didn't know how much longer he'd last.
'I've got…. to give Blade more time….just a bit more time…' Rock thought to himself as he moved around.
Suddenly Rock spotted Blade in the crowd giving him a thumbs up. He knew what that meant. He could fight back.
"Overdrive thrust!" Rock yelled as his chest plate began to emit a light, and his hand began to grow to an unusual size, and he then managed to swat Dither down rather hard, making Dither scream in great agony, after a few more hits, Dither was unable to stand back up, and Rock was declared the winner. He then turned his overdrive thruster off.
That night after securing a safe place of discussion again Blade and Rock discussed things that had happened.
"Steele appeared?!" Rock said in surprise between his breaths. The overdrive thrust took a lot out of him.
"Yeah but he seems not to like the RAC much himself and leaked some info to me, and dropped this when he beamed out." Blade said handing Rock a small data CD.
"So? What is it?" Rock asked in a tired voice.
"It's a damn good documentation of the RAC, I looked at it and well…see for yourself." Blade said handing Rock a photograph.
"Oh my…" was all Rock could say.
The photo had the RAC logo on a strange cage where one Reploid was killed next to another.
"Seems our investigation has already been done by Steele. I am not sure why he decided to help us but its clear he doesn't like them much. I think we should get going back to Hunter Base soon, if we go too far we may end up inside there ourselves." Blade said.
Suddenly the ground began to shake, and several sirens began to go off.
"An attack?" Rock said confused.
"Mavericks…" Blade said angrily and tapped his comm. Button twice.
"X, Hunter HQ, anyone. This is Blade. Rock and I are encountering a Maverick attack, should we intercept?" Blade asked.
Normally Blade and Rock would just run into action instinctively, and almost did. But the undercover mission dictated another thought be taken into consideration.
"Blade…fzzt…go for…careful not to…bzzt…You have the authorization to do what's necessary to save lives. That's the priority." X's voice came through.
"I didn't get all that, say otherwise if you don't want Rock and I to go and act." Blade replied, and received no response.
"All right, we are going." Blade said, tapping his comm. Once, Turing it off.
"Mavericks…here…" Rock shuddered and followed Blade.
In the shadows Steele laughed.
"It is as I suspected. The Mavericks think they are chewing into something, but they are being…used. But I need something to kill anyway. Mavericks are easy prey. It's only a pity I cannot kill those Hunters yet. I can use them still. But if I don't kill something soon, my skills will go to waste, and we cannot have that can we?" Steele said to himself, laughing still.
Unknown to him however, he was being watched.
"It seems the damage to his systems are more extensive than we believed. The other one is intact however." The mysterious watcher said smiling.
"We can fix them both if needed." A second voice replied.
"True, Kayn's soul would rest easier if we saved them both. This one will be more difficult. His structure has been severely altered. His words bespeak madness though true to design, he is not a Maverick." The first voice replied.
Steele however did not stay in his hiding spot for long, spotting a few of the Maverick troops he drew his sword, and killed all but one of them very quickly with his sword. This one Steele managed to pin to the wall and began to torture him by stabbing him in spots where he would not die, but would cause great pain.
"P-p-please…" The Maverick pleaded, but Steele only replied in laughter.
"You Mavericks are pathetic prey." Steele said, finishing the Maverick off.
Behind him Steele heard the sound of clapping.
"One as skilled as you is a worthy adversary. Come Hunter face your death!" A strange voice came from the shadows.
Steele laughed psychotically at the challenge.
"You think...I'm a Maverick Hunter?! Pathetic." Steele laughed.
At about this time Rock and Blade arrived on the scene.
"These are your pathetically feared 'Hunters' right on schedule." Steele laughed.
"Steele!" Rock said angrily facing the nightmare of his dreams.
"Looks like we got here late." Blade said calmly.
"Oh I wouldn't say that at all Hunters." The strange voice began top laugh as more Mavericks closed in.
"Looks like you have your work cut out for you, Hunters." Steele laughed.
"Why do you keep helping us? If you want my forgiveness…you will never receive it." Rock asked.
"Hah! Forgiveness. Such a worthless notion. No boy, I did this to kill, these foolish Mavericks happened to be the closest easy kill I could obtain. While I would much rather kill worthy opponents none have shown themselves at this point, besides your partner. Of course I need him to take care of the RAC for me." Steele said, enjoying his words.
"What?! You're going to have to swallow those words. I'm not going to let you kill anymore!" Rock said turning to Steele.
"You me to kill you instead of your enemies? Fine with me." Steele laughed and drew his sword on Rock.
"Rock we don't have time for personal vendetta's." Blade commented.
"Even if your little protégé backed out of this one now, I'm still chosen him as my target now." Steele laughed.
"Oh good God…" Blade said to himself as he drew out his blades from their resting place in his hands.
"H…hey! You can't keep ignoring us! Attack men! Kill all three of the Hunters!" The Maverick 'commander' yelled angrily, followed by a rally attack against the three of them.
"I told you I'm not a Hunter!" Steele yelled angrily as he killed one of the Mavericks with his sword.
"Lets go kid. I won't let these twerps interrupt us. Your partner can handle this by himself." Steele said as he advanced onwards to Rock.
Rock dodged Steele's attack and smacked him in the face with his fist.
"Clever dodge boy. But you have left yourself open!" Steele laughed as his sword cut into Rock's chest plate, causing sparks to fly off.
"Do you feel the pain? The pain of enlightenment that death brings. Of course this sword has its own pain to give you." Steele laughed as he removed the blade, and it began to glow a sinister purple light.
"I see. You have a plasma source in there." Rock said, recognizing technological advancements when he saw them.
"You're more clever than I give you credit. But intelligence alone cannot win battles." Steele laughed as he sliced at Rock's chest.
Rock dodged but was caught off guard by a stray maverick.
"No interference. MAVERICK." Steele said enjoying his words, and attacking the Maverick.
"This battle is you and me alone." Steele concluded as his sword was once again facing Rock.
"How dare you shrug off the Maverick 111th squadron with such utter disregard! You will pay for…" One Maverick said as he charged at Steele, but was cut of by Steele's blaster shot.
"This is annoying. We'll finish this another time." Steele said as he disappeared back into the shadows.
Rock turned his attention onto the oncoming Mavericks.
Rock began smashing his fists into the Mavericks, and knocked several down, after Blade and he had knocked several down, the two turned to the 'commander'.
"You were saying? Now why are Mavericks attacking here?" Blade asked.
"I'll never tell you!" The 'commander' said trying to turn tail but he backed into a sword.
"Pity. I was going to enjoy torturing him." Steele's dark voice came from the blackness behind.
Rock looked in disgust.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of our 'duel' later." Steele said, and that was his last comment they would hear that day.
Several troops came running in at that point.
"Contestants? You two should get back to your quarters. We have a Maverick alert." One of them said.
Rock and Blade just looked into eahcothers eyes and knew that their only way out was to play the part.
"They're crazy…they're trying to kill each other and everyone…" Rock said in a convincing frightened voice.
"We'll take care of it, just get back to your quarters." The troop replied.
The two nodded, but they had no intention of doing that. Just to look like they were.
Once the troopers from the arena were out of site Rock and Blade turned to look for any other Mavericks.
However Blade felt the tingle caused by the comm. Device and tapped it twice.
"…X…we have a problem…read me?" X's voice came through.
"We read you X but you are breaking up." Blade said.
"Listen…then…The Arena is being locked down….maverick disturbance….Return to your rooms…let this boil down." X's voice came over.
"Roger commander. We'll let it boil over." Blade said, tapping the device, turning it off. "Looks like we have to lay low for now Rock. Next match forfeit, so we can clear ourselves out of here." Blade said.
Rock nodded.
But unknown to them they were already being watched and were about to be attacked.