Harry: Gettin' a late start today ain't we?
WB: Its the first day of Spring Break, if I want to sleep in for the first time in nine months, I'm allowed!
Harry: -gulps- Uh, I don't have ta wear dat apron do I?
WB: Unfortunately no. I had planned to sprite it, but I just didn't have the time, so you're off the hook. But Smiggins, and '...' have a cookie.
WB: Tengu Man, I have no idea where Slash Tiger came from, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Man, that comment about Dachu was prophetic, but it won't happen yet, I need him alive.
Harry: Rioni Ruiishu, dat seems ta be DaWebbuilder's biggest problem, gettin his chapters long enough when he updates. I'll clobba him for it!
Begin Chapter!
"What's- That's code yellow!" Ceil took off running towards the control center, with Zero and Merge right on her heels. "Something's happened out there!"
All over the Resistance Base, Reploids reported to their stations and prepared for anything. Nobody knew exactly what was going on, but each one was going to do his job, regardless of the outcome.
It took the trio only seconds to reach the control room, and upon entering, they were barraged with questions and reports.
"Emergency signal coming from sector 9!"
"What do we do? Neo Arcadia is broadcasting a swift-response signal-"
"I'm picking up massive readings from the downtown district!"
"We're running out of time!"
"Stay calm!" Ceil gave a futile shout into the roar of information, "Please, one at a time!"
But it was no use, the torrent of voices and misinformation continued nonstop.
Merge just floated behind his new owner, his hands pressed up against his ears in an effort to drown out the noise. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and so he put his fingers to his mouth and gave an ear splitting whistle.
Amazingly, all of the Reploids fell silent, and stared at the small sprite.
"Uh oh," Merge made a dive for cover, and hid himself behind the blond scientist.
"Did Merge mess up again?" The elf peeked out from behind Ceil's shoulder, trembling slightly as he remembered what had happened earlier.
"No, you're fine." The blonde replied.
"Now then," Zero folded his arms, "What's going on?"
"We've just picked up several massive energy readings from the Southern tip of Neo Arcadia." An Operator spoke up, "And we've intercepted a communications signal from the Neo Arcadian government, they are under attack."
"Someone is attacking Neo Arcadia?" Ceil gasped in shock, "That's suicide!"
"The southern side…" The Hunter's voice was low as a realization hit him. "Ready the Trans Server!"
"What are you going to do?" The Trans Server Operator turned to the swordsman. "We don't know what's going on… it might be best not to get involved."
"You know as well as I do that the South side is were the humans live," Zero set his jaw, "I won't sit still while they're being attacked."
"Excellent…" A fairly small robot stood on a nearby building, grinning as it watched its creation reek havoc on the defenseless city. He was even shorter than Lion VI, with his white legs and arms, blue body and white 'hair'; he looked more like a crazed scientist than a robot. "They should have known that they could not have withstood the technological might of Segres."
Segres watched as his latest creation, Armored Armadillo, flattened another house, sending the humans running for safety.
"You might as well come on out." Segres shouted out into the air, "You know who you are, and I know that you're here. If you don't show yourself, I shall destroy everything here."
"Are you referring to me?"
Segres turned around, to see a white and blue Reploid hovering behind him. He recognized her at once.
"Leviathan." The renegade gave a mock bow. "To what do I owe this honor?"
"By order of the government of Neo Arcadia," Leviathan ignored the insult as she leveled her staff at the scientist Reploid. "You are hereby under arrest for treason, and attempted destruction of human life. Call off your robot."
"My, my, just that? Sounds pitiful. Haven't you overlooked disobeying curfew and playing in the streets?" Segres chuckled at the charges, "I'll tell you what, since I haven't found what I came for, I'll let you stop Armored Armadillo. You see; I gave him a very basic mind, he will continue to destroy your city bit by bit, until either he is destroyed, or he finds what he is looking for. I myself have no control over his actions at this point."
"Nevertheless, you aren't leaving, as I said before, you are under arrest."
"But can you really afford to chase me?" Segres stepped off of the building and onto a hovering platform behind him. "If you come after me, then you leave the city defenseless as I am quite sure that the other guardians are… busy at the moment."
The water Guardian growled as the renegade Robot started piloting the shuttle away; she knew that she couldn't give chase and fulfil her duties as a Guardian.
"Fine then." Leviathan turned to seek out her prey, and it took only a split second for her to see the robot digging through a demolished building.
Armored Armadillo was fairly tall, about four times taller than Leviathan was. His hunched back was covered in thick, gray, spiked armor, and his powerful legs were orange. His arms had two larger spikes coming over his hands, which he could evidently use for weapons. And his head was distinctly animaloid.
Without wasting any time on words, the water guardian readied her staff, and leapt down towards the robot.
"Rrr…" Armored Armadillo glanced over its shoulder as it sensed the Reploid plunging down towards itself, then it turned back to its destructive task.
Leviathan dropped down behind the robot, her staff connecting with the brute.
"GRRAAAWWW!" Apparently, the animaloid didn't like that, because it turned away from its search, and made a spectacle of preparing to battle.
"Don't hold back now." Leviathan muttered to the brute, as she pointed her rod at the robot. "Because I won't!"
Several ice crystals flew out of the staff's peak, and rocket through the air towards Armored Armadillo.
The animaloid merely curled itself up, so that its armored hide covered every exposed inch of its body. Because of his armor, when the crystal connected with the robot, they bounced off harmlessly.
Leviathan transformed her staff into its spear form, and then rushed forward to strike.
She hadn't counted on Armored Armadillo attacking.
The huge robot began rotating as it rolled forward, at first it moved at a pathetic speed, but after a few seconds its drive mechanism kicked into gear, and it spun forward, racing across the ground…
Directly toward Leviathan.
The water guardian threw herself to one side, and just barely managed to squeak past the robot-turned-wheel. As soon as she had regained her footing, the animaloid had uncurled itself and twisted around to face its opponent, once it had a clear shot, Armored Armadillo pointed its arm at the guardian. To Leviathan's surprise, a torrent of spine-shaped projectiles exploded off of the robot's arm, and assaulted her from every direction.
Even before that attack had stopped, Armored Armadillo had rolled itself up again, and was barreling down the Neo Arcadian street towards its adversary.
Leviathan escaped from the last spike, and glanced up to see the huge robot bearing down on her. The water guardian didn't have time to react, and was caught in Armored Armadillo's attack. The robot shot past, throwing the Reploid through the air and into a far wall.
Leviathan sank to the ground, as her systems desperately tried to run diagnostics and repair the colossal damage that had been inflicted upon her.
The water guardian had barely gotten to her feet, before another assault of rocket spines attacked her. Once the attack passed, the Reploid sank to the ground, and lay still.
"Grrrr." Armored Armadillo surveyed his handiwork, and then raised his arm to finish the annoying Reploid off.
Leviathan managed to raise her head, and received a glimpse of the coming doom before she dropped off into darkness.
Then, it struck.
A red burst of light erupted from a nearby alleyway, and shot through the air before connecting solidly with Armored Armadillo. Amazingly, the huge robot was sent tumbling backward, as the red light faded away to reveal the familiar form of Zero.
"Looks like the party started without me." The Hunter muttered under his breath as he drew his Buster. His first priority was to get the wounded Leviathan out of harm's way, and then he'd come back and finish this oversized carnival ride off.
Keeping the animaloid at bay with an intense burst of rapid-fire, the swordsman backup up until he was next to the damaged guardian. Then he slid his Buster into his holster, and picked up the water guardian, cradling the damaged Reploid in his arms.
Enraged by the minor pounding he had received, Armored Armadillo coiled himself up, and raced down the street towards his opponent.
Zero watched the giant tin can rumble towards him, and yet the Hunter still didn't move as his doom approached.
At the last second, Zero bounded over the robot, and pushed off of a nearby building before vaulting up onto a flat roof of a sturdy looking building. Now that he was at a relatively safe spot, the swordsman gently lowered his charge to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Leviathan." The Hunter placed his open hand over the crystal set in the guardian's helmet, and was rewarded with a surge of power that raced up his arm into his system.
Zero copied Leviathan's abilities off onto a new Ice chip, and equipped his new powers, even though he knew that it would rob Leviathan of her capabilities.
"I'll return them as soon as I can." The Hunter apologized as he drew his Saber and leapt back into the fight.
Armored Armadillo was not in a good mood, as if one wasn't enough, now another Reploid was interfering with his mission. Quickly it raised its arms, and unleashed a hailstorm of spikes on its opponent.
The Hunter didn't even break a sweat, but swiftly sidestepped back and forth, avoiding the deadly projectiles and closing in on his opponent.
The animaloid roared in fury, and prepared to perform its tuck-and-roll maneuver again.
"Don't think so," Zero snatched up his Buster and began charging up a super-shot, he had to time this perfectly for it to work…
As the Armadillo began to bend over, the swordsman unleashed his shot, sending a powerful blast of elemental ice directly into the robot's chest. Upon contact, the shot froze over, encasing the robot in a layer of ice, and preventing it from finishing its transformation.
Zero raced past the animaloid, and activated his Recoil Rod; then he took a running leap, and shot up against the side of a building. Once there he punched his Recoil Rod into the horizontal surface, propelling himself back the way he had come with incredible speed.
Armored Armadillo turned around, to see the Reploid flying at him, his Saber drawn and Ice Chip deactivated.
"You're through!"
The swordsman shot past the animaloid, his Saber extended, putting all of his speed and momentum into the slash.
The Armadillo gave one last pitiful squeak, before dropping to the ground, deactivated.
"Leviathan." Zero turned away from the ruined robot and bounded back up to the roof. Once topside, he dashed over to the guardian and bent over her, checking to see if there was anything he could do to speed up the recovery process.
"Believe it or not, you're lucky." The Hunter sighed as he gave up; there was nothing he could do. "It could have been a lot worse…"
The swordsman shook his head, and began trying to puzzle out how to contact Harpuia or Fefnir.
He didn't expect them to find him.
As Zero took a few steps backward, a powerful bolt of electricity jabbed him from behind and held him in its intense grip. Before he could recover, a blast of elemental fire exploded against him, and he was thrown to the ground underneath the force of the impact.
"What did you do to her?"
A groan escaped the Hunter as he rolled over onto his back. Glancing up, he saw Harpuia with daggers drawn standing a short distance away, next to him stood the mighty Fefnir with his massive Buster at the ready.
It took Zero a moment to put the pieces of the puzzle together, Harpuia must have jumped to the conclusion that Armored Armadillo had been one of the Resistance's supposed war machines. And since the guardian had found the swordsman standing over a battered Leviathan, he must have assumed that Zero had been the one to inflict the damage.
"Nothing," The swordsman muttered as he rolled into a crouched position. "I just saved her life."
"Liar!" Harpuia shouted, causing Fefnir to look at him in disbelief. "I know all about your Resistance's plan. Now you've gone too far, attacking Neo Arcadian citizens, for that, we shall crush you once and for all."
"Feeling a little out of character are we?" Zero edged his hand towards his Saber, he didn't want to fight his way out, but he might not have much of a choice.
"Fefnir." The thunder Guardian instructed his comrade as he kept his daggers poised for action. "Shoot to kill."
Although the fire guardian's face registered surprise, he slowly pointed his huge blaster at Zero.
"I don't know what you're up to, Harpuia." A plan exploded into the Hunter's mind as he exchanged weapons, and began charging up his Buster. "But now that I've saved your city, I'm planning on leaving."
"Over my dead body." Harpuia snapped as he crossed his blades in front of his chest.
"Suits me."
The thunder guardian leapt into action; sweeping his blades across the air in front of him, Harpuia unleashed a crescent of energy that swept across the ground towards Zero.
The swordsman put his plan into action as he dove out of the attack's way. When he came out of his lunge, the swordsman equipped his Ice Chip, took aim at Fefnir and fired.
The blast of ice shot through the air, and collided with the slower Reploid, encasing the lower half of his body in a sheet of ice, and preventing him from moving.
Ignoring the trapped Reploid, Zero dashed away and brushed past Harpuia, activating his com-link in the process.
"Mission Abort, NOW!"
"Come back here!" Harpuia shouted after the Reploid.
The swordsman didn't reply, but instead he took a running jump, and sailed out into the open air.
And then he was gone.
End Chapter!
Harry: And yes, Segres was Serges backwards. Duh!
