"Its time for the next mission," X announced, "You'll all be working as a team for this one."As he pointed to the mission computer, X continued, "In this mission, you'll be headed to South Africa, where you'll help rescue the locals from a maverick base in the area. Get equipped, you leave tomorrow. And beware the heat there will overload most reploids in a matter of a few hours so keep covered."

The next day a dropship came to pick up the hunters. X was there to see them off. "Ok hunters its time to go, you'll be dropped off about a quarter mile from the encampment. It is heavily populated with maverick forces. They are equipped with new weapons and armor, be careful it is currently unknown as to what these weapons are truly capable of."

Hours later the hunters were dropped off in Africa. Reaver looks up the sky. "It just had to be a extreme heat mission," he grumbled... He looked around, no sign of mavericks yet...

"sigh Back to the field..." Giga said trailing off. "Sure is hot though. Plenty of sunlight for the vine weapons right?"
"Well that's one way to look at it I guess," replies Jet. "And we're all togather so we'll do better if there's another ambush. I don't see why they couldn't drop us closer to the base though, I hate walking and especially in this heat. Gotta suck it up though, there are humans counting on us, who knows what the mavericks have done to them."

The desert was hot and the sand dunes were high. There was little wind was though so it made for easy walking, despite the heat. Several of the reploids had made arrangements to bring ice weapon chips and water to help cool off. As they continued toward the encampment, there were no signs of maverick activity at all.
Several of the higher ranking hunters seemed nervous, while the rookies of the group just kept quiet. They snuck up to the encampment and gathered near the back doors. They planted some charges which blew down the doors and rushed into the building. Sitting in the middle of the floor was an automated holographic message.

"Greetings hunters, my name is Terra Groundhog."
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Name: Terra Groundhog
Model number: ghr-351 (head mine digger )
Height: 5'
Weight: 300 lbs
Future Armor description: dark brown over most of body, light brown on stomache and face, has small holes in his back for drills and large openings on his arms and legs for drills, also can change his hands and feet into drills
Weapon specialty: strike drill (fires a drill propelled by a rocket straight in the direction launched, when charged smashes into the ground launches large rocks 10 feet into the air)
Unit: maverick 8th general
Short bio: While working as a miner he dug up a piece of Sigma, merely by touching the fragment he turned maverick, this short maverick has a terrible temper and hates to be made fun of because of his small stature. Provoking him causes him to become more vicious and attack relentlessly, though it tires him out extremely quickly.
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"And I am in control of this facility, though you will not live to see any more than this room." and with those words the ground rumbled and a monsterous machine burst out of the sand dunes.

(Express UG)
"Great," mutters Jet, "We gotta flush the little rat out of his hole before we can kill him." He automatically reached down for the lance that was no longer there. The shock surprised him for a minute but he shrugged it off and pulled out his duel sabers. He flew ahead of the other hunters up next to the machine and started hacking at its treads but it wouldn't stop. Getting an idea, Jet flew above the machine and poured Inundation down on the ground making the sand muddy. The machine was rendered immobal due to the muddy ground.

All at once the turrets can online and fired wildly at the hunters. Ace was too slow and he took a particularly nasty hit. One of the elite hunters ran over and touched him. He was immediatly teleported back to the hunter base. A split second later a cannonshot blew the hunter into a million pieces. Jet blew around the slow clumsy machine, hacking off gun turrets and other weapons. Soon it was near defenseless. Jet flew to the hatch in on top and plunged his sabers into it.

The tanklike machine began to slow down, large billows of smoke poured out and an explosion rocked the side of it. There was another explosion and the ship stopped completely. Terra Groundhog apperared through a hole in the side. He shouted insults that were lost in the noise of the machine. He dove back in and reappeared in another hole in the ship and began firing drills at the hunters.

Reaver observed the hog coming up and down and he found dodging the drills increasingly irritating. He looked up the sky again, being greatly weakened by the burning sun didn't really made him happy either... "Fck this!" Reaver yelled angrily and jumped into the hole the hog popped up last.

As the maverick began poking his head out of the holes and firing drills, Jet stopped trying to hack his way into the hatch on top. He flew in front of the machine, charged the elemental cannon and waited for the mole to show his ugly head... "I always did like the Wack-A-Mole game..."

"COME OUT HERE SO I CAN RING YOU SHORT NECK!" Giga exclaimed with rage. "If you don't get your munchkin' a$$ out here, I'M COMIN' IN!" he said leaping into the hole Reaver disappeared into.

The portly maverick leaped in front of Reaver and Giga and turned a crimson red.
"MUNCHKIN, I'll show you!" he yelled angrily and began launching his drills as fast as he could in every direction.

Jet hovered, waiting for the maverick to show its head. Then he noticed his fellow hunters were no longer on the ground. Jet could hear the sounds of battle from within the machine. He flew into one of the holes hoping to sneak attack the maverick while it was fighting his friends.

"Haha!" the maverick shouted as he shot another drill, hitting Reaver in the shoulder with it. Clearly in pain, he dropped his daggers to the ground and grabbed the scythe from his back with his other arm, activating it as he slashed lightning fast in an upward motion, ripping through the mavericks chest. Small shards of ice flew through the air from the wound, as it was frozen from the slash. The maverick flew backward and landed on his back.

Jet followed the noise of the battle until he found the maverick on its back and Reaver standing a few feet away with his scythe. The maverick started to rise and shoot more drills at Reaver. Jet dashed forward and drove both sabers into the general's back.

Reaver tried to get the drill out of his shoulder with great difficulty. He finally managed it. He paused to breathe a sigh of relief and looked up when he heard two sabers slashing something, followed by a loud scream of pain. He saw the drills coming towards him at amazing speed, all too late to dodge them. The drills hit him in the chest. Reaver flys backward, the force slamming him onto the ground where he lies motionless.

Giga screamed and ran over to Reaver. Seeing the maverick's attacks cause Reaver to crumple to the floor drove Jet into a frenzy. He stood for a minute in awe at what had just happened, then as it dawned on him he went crazy. He sliced the maverick's back again and again, without even noticing that he had stopped moving. Eventually he stopped assaulting the maverick's back. What remained of it crumpled to the floor. Jet stood panting for a second and then hurried over to Reaver's side.
As Reaver lay on the ground, struggling to breathe, he looking around the room with his eyes wide. He couldn't believe that it would end like this, because of a moment of carelesness... Eventually, his breathing starts to slow down, his eyes slowely close, as Reaver loses conscience...
Jet screamed into the com to the maverick hunter base, "Transfer him back now! He hasn't got much time left, he needs medical attention." In a flash of white, Reaver's body disappeared. "Don't worry," Jet said softly, "I'll free those humans."

Jet strode back into the base. Smaller mavericks tried to stop him but they were no match for him. He marched around until he found the holding cells for the humans and drove his sword into the lock. "Don't worry," Jet told them, "You're free now."

With the destruction of Terra Groundhog all the doors were unlocked. Upon invstigation for further mavericks, they noticed more of the blue blood, several plans for machines, and long complex codes written on scraps of paper. The codes seemed to be highly advanced chemical cocktails. Gathering them all up and placing them into a bag, the hunters eliminated all remaining mavericks.
One of the hunters turned to the ruins of Terra Groundhog and noticed the sparking core still intact. Grabbing hold of it fed the data for his weapon to all the active hunters.
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Weapon specialty: Strike Drill (fires a drill propelled by a rocket straight in the direction launched, when charged smashes into the ground launches large rocks 10 feet into the air)

secondary- This weapon can be attached to an arm to be used as a small sword, it also can break large rocks or walls if fired at them. Punches small holes through metal.
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Once back at base Signas began over the intercom:
"Good job hunters, today we struck a definitive blow to the maverick forces by crippling their lab. I would ask all hunters at this time who have not done so to please procede to the weapon ship and pick up their new upgraded armors. Furthermore would X and Zero please report to my office."

END OF CHAPTER 6