CHAPTER 2
" You must be the new hunter. " Zathura finds himself surrounded by a virtual plethora of technology. He had never before seen so many computers, monitors, and equipment crammed into one room. " I understand you performed some odd jobs for our own Dr. Montague some time ago, correct? " " Umm...yes, I did accompany him on several missions. " " Well, as you can see, we reward those who perform well. A recommendation from one as esteemed as Dr. Montague doesn't hurt either." the woman said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. It was obvious to Zathura that she wasn't particularly fond of him, but clearly could not refuse a direct request from Dr. Montague. " This will be your mission director, Elly Person. She will give you vital information regarding the terrain and enemies around you, as well as the location of your mission objectives. " Zathura gave a quick nod in Elly's direction, she did the same. To be quite frank, Zathura recognized Elly from a previous quest. Apparently, she recognized him as well. The lab's director didn't seem to mind,...too much. She shot them both quick glances however that snapped their attention back to her. " Since you are such highly thought of by Dr. Montague, I think it best to forego the usual training we give to new recruits. However, since I want to test your skills in some way before you actually go to the planets surface, I think this will be a perfect opportunity for us to train one of our,...(green) hunters. " Zathura winced slightly at the term, green. He knew exactly what that meant. He would be stuck training a novice. A green hunter with little to no combat training. Zathura started wondering what he had done that would merit sticking him with training a noob. Suddenly the Chief spoke and snapped Zathura back to reality. " We have set up a meeting place so you can meet your new partner. " The Chief hands him a slip of paper with the address. What she had said just then hit him. " Wait, did you say partner? I thought I would be able to do these missions solo. " " As I said, it's the perfect opportunity for our new recruit to get some combat experience and learn how to fight alongside such an established hunter as yourself. "
As Zathura made his way towards the address given to him, all he could think about was if this was going to interfere with his original mission. He needed to find out if this new hunter would pose a threat. As he walked into the cafe, he quickly checked the data disk that was given to him, which included a picture and brief description of his partner to be. A RAcaseal, interesting. He hadn't worked alongside a RAcaseal since his missions with Eleanor and Dr. Montague. As soon as Zathura walked in he quickly spotted his appointed pupil. She apparently didn't even notice him. " Wow." he thought. " She really is green. I could probably walk up behind her with a gun pointed at her head and she'd never know it. " He walked over to her table and sat down. She looked slightly surprised, and then realized who this must be. " Oh, forgive me,....you must be Zathura, my new partner. My name is Iria, it's nice to meet you. " Zathura shook her hand and introduced himself as the aforementioned. He proceded to ask her if she had any combat experience outside of the VR simulator. After this conversation he was even more convinced that she was a liability. It turned out she had only been in service for a few months, and had just recently acquired her hunter's license. They talked for a bit, and were having a nice conversation, when the Chief beeped Zathura and told him that their simulation would begin first thing in the morning, and that the Lab would send a hover car for them. They wound down their conversation and departed for their homes. The next morning at the lab the Chief gave them their mission details. It would take place in the VR simulator, to prevent accidental death. " Your goal today is to reach the boss of the VR temple area, with both team members alive and well. "
At the beginning of the temple, Zathura first summoned his faithful mag Rati. Iria was somewhat surprised, she knew he was strong, but to have a mag in it's ultimate form? He then unhooked his double-cannon from his waist, activated it, and swung it around a bit to get the feel for it. While Iria Readied her Guilty Light. Zathura thought that perhaps it was a good thing she was an android, since the gun was bigger than her, and probably weighed about the same. " Well, perhaps the extra firepower will make up for her lack of experience. " he thought to himself. " You ready?" he asked Iria. Iria simply nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the door before them. Zathura activated the mechanism and the door slid open. As soon as they stepped through the fighting began. Four dimenians materialized, along with two poison lily's and two grass assassins. Zathura led the assault with his double cannon, eviscerating one of the dimenians, while the other circled around for a backstab. Zathura was about to turn and take it down, when he saw a blue flash of light and heard the sizzling of boiling air. He turned to see the dimenian had a hole the size of a basketball in its chest, and saw Iria by the door shaking,....the barrel of her guilty light still smoking. Zathura smiled to himself, then his face became stern again as he realized that the battle was only beginning. He charged the third dimenian which was conveniantly standing right in front of a poison lily. This served two purposes, the dimenian's body blocked any clear shot the lily would have at Zathura, and they were close enough together he could take them both in a single combo. He stepped up to the dimenian which was already swinging down his blade arm for a head-shot. Zathura blocked with one end of his double cannon, and with the other he brought the dimenian down with an upward slash, spilling purple blood and what passed for dimenian innards. As soon as the dimenian fell, with his blade still high in the air, he took a step forward and brought the high end down in a diagonal strike at the lily. At first it seemed as though he had missed, but a moment later blood gushed from a seemingly invisible wound in the lily's stalk, and the lily fell into a puddle of it own green blood.
Iria had already taken care of the fourth dimenian and the lily it guarded. Now she was working on the grass assassin. " She's doing quite well actually. Maybe she's not as useless as I had first thought. " As this thought ran through Zathura's mind, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. The grass assassin on his side of the arena had begun to charge him, the grass assassin's most powerful attack. Fortunately there was quite a bit of distance between them, which gave Zathura enough time to react. He waited till' the giant insect was almost on top of him, then kicked off the ground in a powerful frontflip, letting the grass assassin run underneath him. Zathura landed on the insect's back and jammed his double cannon into it's skull. Blood dribbled from the assassin's mouth, and it made a sickening gurgle as it collapsed on the ground. Zathura looked up in time to see Iria get back-handed by her grass assasssin. Just as it was about to deal the finishing blow to Iria, Zathura summoned a foie spell and hurled it at the grass assassin. Direct hit! The assassin's head exploded in a mix of bone and burning flesh. As the debri fell to the ground, Zathura made his way to where Iria was still sitting on the ground. He helped her up off the ground, he could tell she was obviously shaken. " Well, the first room is cleared,...we can wait for a bit if you need to recover, but remember, you're the one that signed up for this. You knew the dangers involved with being a Hunter. If you get hurt, it's no one's fault but your own. " Iria simply nodded at this remark. Zathura then felt maybe he had been a bit harsh, but decided against taking it back, after all, he was only telling the truth. Right? He decided not to dwell on it, and they moved on through the simulation in simialiar fashion. Zathura taking out the more dangerous enemies while Iria stood back and vaporized enemies with her guilty light. Zathura noticed that she was getting a little better handling combat. As far as he could see, the simulation was exactly like real life, except that you couldn't die. That however, was a mute point since the threat of mutilation and loss of limbs kept it as real as he cared to see.
Zathura and Iria finally exited the last room, covered in blood and panting for breath. Well, Zathura was anyway, it was clear that if Iria had lungs she would be pumping them pretty hard right then. As it was however, the only sign of her fatigue was the louder than usual whine of her servo motors as she moved. Then Iria perked up a little, pointed and said, " Hey Zath, isn't that the boss teleporter? " Zathura looked up with a quizzical look on his face. " Zath? Is that what you just called me? " " Oh, yeah...sorry, should I not call you that? " " Actually, I don't mind at all. It's just been awhile since anyone called me anything other than Zathura. Well, come on....let's finish this. " Iria smiled and trotted off to the transporter. Zathura was close behind. They entered the teleporter and activated the mechanism that triggered the transmission. Suddenly, their vision reddened, and slowly came back into focus which left them on a raft moving swiftly along a small river. Rati, sensing danger, cast Shifta and Deband on the two party members. They both felt strong surges of power course through their bodies. They would need it, especially after the exhausting gauntlet that the temple had proved to be. Suddenly, the hunter's radars picked up a huge object moving under the water. " Get Ready, Here it comes!" Zathura yelled. Iria tensed up and tightened her grip on her guilty light, ready for whatever awaited them. After an uncomfortable silence, a huge beast thrust itself through the water and onto the raft, Immediately trying to crush our hero's with it's bone-like tentacles. Fortunately for Iria, it was more focused on Zathura as he was already hacking his way through the beast's tough exoskeleton. Iria resorted to blasting it with her gun. After a minute or so, the exoskeleton over it's true face cracked, giving the hunters the advantage they needed. Zathura motioned for Iria to shoot it directly between the eyes, where the cracks were the most severe. The bone shattered and fell off, exposing the soft tissue that barely protected the creatures sensitive nervous system. Iria took this to her advantage and shot the creature twice, stunning it. While at the same time Zathura lifted his double cannon high above his head, and brought it down, impaling the creatures brain. The giant beast screamed and thrashed for a bit, and then was silent and unmoving. Zathura gave his cannon a quick twist to make sure the creature wasn't faking, then withdrew it completely, softly sighing to himself.
It was then that the beast's body vanished and the computer announced that the simulation was complete. Iria ran to Zathura and hugged him, she felt lucky to be alive, and knew that she wouldn't be if it weren't for him. Then her face became solemn, and she asked, " Are all the creatures on Ragol this vicious? " " I'm afraid so,....but don't worry, we're partners...and as long as I have a breath in me I'll protect you." was the response. Zathura could hardly believe he had said that. Just less than two hours ago he detested working with the android, but now he actually looked forward to their next mission. Why? How had his feelings changed so quickly, and more importantly,...without him noticing. He decided he'd think about it later, after all,...they had an important mission tomorrow. He had to get ready. With this in mind, they stepped through the teleporter back to the Lab.
" You must be the new hunter. " Zathura finds himself surrounded by a virtual plethora of technology. He had never before seen so many computers, monitors, and equipment crammed into one room. " I understand you performed some odd jobs for our own Dr. Montague some time ago, correct? " " Umm...yes, I did accompany him on several missions. " " Well, as you can see, we reward those who perform well. A recommendation from one as esteemed as Dr. Montague doesn't hurt either." the woman said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. It was obvious to Zathura that she wasn't particularly fond of him, but clearly could not refuse a direct request from Dr. Montague. " This will be your mission director, Elly Person. She will give you vital information regarding the terrain and enemies around you, as well as the location of your mission objectives. " Zathura gave a quick nod in Elly's direction, she did the same. To be quite frank, Zathura recognized Elly from a previous quest. Apparently, she recognized him as well. The lab's director didn't seem to mind,...too much. She shot them both quick glances however that snapped their attention back to her. " Since you are such highly thought of by Dr. Montague, I think it best to forego the usual training we give to new recruits. However, since I want to test your skills in some way before you actually go to the planets surface, I think this will be a perfect opportunity for us to train one of our,...(green) hunters. " Zathura winced slightly at the term, green. He knew exactly what that meant. He would be stuck training a novice. A green hunter with little to no combat training. Zathura started wondering what he had done that would merit sticking him with training a noob. Suddenly the Chief spoke and snapped Zathura back to reality. " We have set up a meeting place so you can meet your new partner. " The Chief hands him a slip of paper with the address. What she had said just then hit him. " Wait, did you say partner? I thought I would be able to do these missions solo. " " As I said, it's the perfect opportunity for our new recruit to get some combat experience and learn how to fight alongside such an established hunter as yourself. "
As Zathura made his way towards the address given to him, all he could think about was if this was going to interfere with his original mission. He needed to find out if this new hunter would pose a threat. As he walked into the cafe, he quickly checked the data disk that was given to him, which included a picture and brief description of his partner to be. A RAcaseal, interesting. He hadn't worked alongside a RAcaseal since his missions with Eleanor and Dr. Montague. As soon as Zathura walked in he quickly spotted his appointed pupil. She apparently didn't even notice him. " Wow." he thought. " She really is green. I could probably walk up behind her with a gun pointed at her head and she'd never know it. " He walked over to her table and sat down. She looked slightly surprised, and then realized who this must be. " Oh, forgive me,....you must be Zathura, my new partner. My name is Iria, it's nice to meet you. " Zathura shook her hand and introduced himself as the aforementioned. He proceded to ask her if she had any combat experience outside of the VR simulator. After this conversation he was even more convinced that she was a liability. It turned out she had only been in service for a few months, and had just recently acquired her hunter's license. They talked for a bit, and were having a nice conversation, when the Chief beeped Zathura and told him that their simulation would begin first thing in the morning, and that the Lab would send a hover car for them. They wound down their conversation and departed for their homes. The next morning at the lab the Chief gave them their mission details. It would take place in the VR simulator, to prevent accidental death. " Your goal today is to reach the boss of the VR temple area, with both team members alive and well. "
At the beginning of the temple, Zathura first summoned his faithful mag Rati. Iria was somewhat surprised, she knew he was strong, but to have a mag in it's ultimate form? He then unhooked his double-cannon from his waist, activated it, and swung it around a bit to get the feel for it. While Iria Readied her Guilty Light. Zathura thought that perhaps it was a good thing she was an android, since the gun was bigger than her, and probably weighed about the same. " Well, perhaps the extra firepower will make up for her lack of experience. " he thought to himself. " You ready?" he asked Iria. Iria simply nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the door before them. Zathura activated the mechanism and the door slid open. As soon as they stepped through the fighting began. Four dimenians materialized, along with two poison lily's and two grass assassins. Zathura led the assault with his double cannon, eviscerating one of the dimenians, while the other circled around for a backstab. Zathura was about to turn and take it down, when he saw a blue flash of light and heard the sizzling of boiling air. He turned to see the dimenian had a hole the size of a basketball in its chest, and saw Iria by the door shaking,....the barrel of her guilty light still smoking. Zathura smiled to himself, then his face became stern again as he realized that the battle was only beginning. He charged the third dimenian which was conveniantly standing right in front of a poison lily. This served two purposes, the dimenian's body blocked any clear shot the lily would have at Zathura, and they were close enough together he could take them both in a single combo. He stepped up to the dimenian which was already swinging down his blade arm for a head-shot. Zathura blocked with one end of his double cannon, and with the other he brought the dimenian down with an upward slash, spilling purple blood and what passed for dimenian innards. As soon as the dimenian fell, with his blade still high in the air, he took a step forward and brought the high end down in a diagonal strike at the lily. At first it seemed as though he had missed, but a moment later blood gushed from a seemingly invisible wound in the lily's stalk, and the lily fell into a puddle of it own green blood.
Iria had already taken care of the fourth dimenian and the lily it guarded. Now she was working on the grass assassin. " She's doing quite well actually. Maybe she's not as useless as I had first thought. " As this thought ran through Zathura's mind, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. The grass assassin on his side of the arena had begun to charge him, the grass assassin's most powerful attack. Fortunately there was quite a bit of distance between them, which gave Zathura enough time to react. He waited till' the giant insect was almost on top of him, then kicked off the ground in a powerful frontflip, letting the grass assassin run underneath him. Zathura landed on the insect's back and jammed his double cannon into it's skull. Blood dribbled from the assassin's mouth, and it made a sickening gurgle as it collapsed on the ground. Zathura looked up in time to see Iria get back-handed by her grass assasssin. Just as it was about to deal the finishing blow to Iria, Zathura summoned a foie spell and hurled it at the grass assassin. Direct hit! The assassin's head exploded in a mix of bone and burning flesh. As the debri fell to the ground, Zathura made his way to where Iria was still sitting on the ground. He helped her up off the ground, he could tell she was obviously shaken. " Well, the first room is cleared,...we can wait for a bit if you need to recover, but remember, you're the one that signed up for this. You knew the dangers involved with being a Hunter. If you get hurt, it's no one's fault but your own. " Iria simply nodded at this remark. Zathura then felt maybe he had been a bit harsh, but decided against taking it back, after all, he was only telling the truth. Right? He decided not to dwell on it, and they moved on through the simulation in simialiar fashion. Zathura taking out the more dangerous enemies while Iria stood back and vaporized enemies with her guilty light. Zathura noticed that she was getting a little better handling combat. As far as he could see, the simulation was exactly like real life, except that you couldn't die. That however, was a mute point since the threat of mutilation and loss of limbs kept it as real as he cared to see.
Zathura and Iria finally exited the last room, covered in blood and panting for breath. Well, Zathura was anyway, it was clear that if Iria had lungs she would be pumping them pretty hard right then. As it was however, the only sign of her fatigue was the louder than usual whine of her servo motors as she moved. Then Iria perked up a little, pointed and said, " Hey Zath, isn't that the boss teleporter? " Zathura looked up with a quizzical look on his face. " Zath? Is that what you just called me? " " Oh, yeah...sorry, should I not call you that? " " Actually, I don't mind at all. It's just been awhile since anyone called me anything other than Zathura. Well, come on....let's finish this. " Iria smiled and trotted off to the transporter. Zathura was close behind. They entered the teleporter and activated the mechanism that triggered the transmission. Suddenly, their vision reddened, and slowly came back into focus which left them on a raft moving swiftly along a small river. Rati, sensing danger, cast Shifta and Deband on the two party members. They both felt strong surges of power course through their bodies. They would need it, especially after the exhausting gauntlet that the temple had proved to be. Suddenly, the hunter's radars picked up a huge object moving under the water. " Get Ready, Here it comes!" Zathura yelled. Iria tensed up and tightened her grip on her guilty light, ready for whatever awaited them. After an uncomfortable silence, a huge beast thrust itself through the water and onto the raft, Immediately trying to crush our hero's with it's bone-like tentacles. Fortunately for Iria, it was more focused on Zathura as he was already hacking his way through the beast's tough exoskeleton. Iria resorted to blasting it with her gun. After a minute or so, the exoskeleton over it's true face cracked, giving the hunters the advantage they needed. Zathura motioned for Iria to shoot it directly between the eyes, where the cracks were the most severe. The bone shattered and fell off, exposing the soft tissue that barely protected the creatures sensitive nervous system. Iria took this to her advantage and shot the creature twice, stunning it. While at the same time Zathura lifted his double cannon high above his head, and brought it down, impaling the creatures brain. The giant beast screamed and thrashed for a bit, and then was silent and unmoving. Zathura gave his cannon a quick twist to make sure the creature wasn't faking, then withdrew it completely, softly sighing to himself.
It was then that the beast's body vanished and the computer announced that the simulation was complete. Iria ran to Zathura and hugged him, she felt lucky to be alive, and knew that she wouldn't be if it weren't for him. Then her face became solemn, and she asked, " Are all the creatures on Ragol this vicious? " " I'm afraid so,....but don't worry, we're partners...and as long as I have a breath in me I'll protect you." was the response. Zathura could hardly believe he had said that. Just less than two hours ago he detested working with the android, but now he actually looked forward to their next mission. Why? How had his feelings changed so quickly, and more importantly,...without him noticing. He decided he'd think about it later, after all,...they had an important mission tomorrow. He had to get ready. With this in mind, they stepped through the teleporter back to the Lab.