Chapter 7: Jungle (1) – Into the Tropics

On side note, I will not be covering all eight stages as Zero, as I think it will get too repetitive in some way. We have X with us right? As well as the other units. So in some way or another, some of the missions should be carried out simultaneously, if we think of it logically. I will pick four of the stages to write on, starting with Web Spider.

I had also given names to some of Zero's allies in his unit, naming them after jewels. Hope you like them!

"There are two locations where the secret weapons were spotted. One at the Snow Base, at point 2091. We were unable to determine the weapon they were trying to develop inside the base, however, cargos carrying weapon parts were spotted going back and forth to the Snow Base. It was reported to be guarded by Frost Walrus, one of the high officers of Repliforce."

X and Zero listened attentively to the navigator's briefing. "What about the other location?" Zero asked.

"The other is located at point 9775, the Jungle. It used to be a tropical rainforest reserve, until being occupied by Repliforce recently and a large cannon was spotted in the middle of the Jungle. It was reported to be guarded by Web Spider."

"Web Spider…" Zero gritted his teeth, "No wonder I didn't see him anywhere lately."

"The seventeenth unit, the Elite Unit, will make advances onto the Snow Base." X quickly voiced out. Zero turned to look at his blue partner, who returned him a thumbs up.

X knew who Web Spider was. He was part of Zero's unit before his mysterious disappearance some weeks ago. It made perfect sense that Zero would want to confront him directly.

"I thank you," Zero whispered softly to X. "The special zeroth unit, the Shinobi Unit, will occupy the Jungle." He told the navigator.

"Very well, your respective units will be dispatched and you will lead them and perform the operation."

"Understood."

"You will navigate us through the Jungle, Iris."

"A… are you sure about this?" Iris stammered, Zero had asked her to navigate his unit and oppose the Repliforce, her allegiance, the forces her brother led.

"I trust you, everyone in the zeroth unit do," Zero replied, his members all behind him, smiling while giving a thumbs up to the female Reploid.

Iris was an exceptional navigator, as she proved herself during the Erasure Incident. Not to mention, she was very familiar with the way Zero led his unit, and Zero too, understood very well the way Iris navigated. Together, they would prove to be a powerful duo.

It was a difficult decision for Iris, however, she had made it all the way here. If she couldn't stop the war from within, perhaps this would.

It didn't matter who she sided, as long as the war could end, as long as her dear brother, and Zero, survives, it didn't matter…

"I will do it." Iris stated herself with confidence. Her eyes gleamed with determination anew.

"Thank you, Iris." To Zero, having Iris by his side boosted his morale considerably. By having her at the H.Q., she would most likely be safe, not caught up in a warzone.

"So!" He turned to his members, "We have to be prepared, for Web Spider would be preparing an elaborate trap for us. Sad to say but this operation would be performed with only five members, myself included. This allowed us to have the best mobility as well as the least possibility of being detected by the enemy. With five, Iris could also monitor us all closely at the same time."

He paused for a moment, "Our objective is to sneak past the enemy ranks, getting past them with minimal casualties on our side, and confront Web Spider directly in the middle of the Jungle. Hopefully we can convince him to return to us, should he resists, then we have no choice but to terminate him. Am I clear up until this point?"

"Yes sir! Clear as a crystal!" One of the female soldiers replied.

"Then, I will now select four members, the first one is you, Ruby!"

The same enthusiastic Reploid jumped with joy with her arms in the air, she was mostly dressed in dark red, mirroring her given name.

"Take me along, commander. My brother is a loyal follower of Web Spider, he should be there and I have to face him." Lapis, the blue Reploid voiced out his determination firmly with eyes ablaze. Zero noticed this as well, and nodded.

Several members of the zeroth unit followed Spider when he left the group without notice, he was one of Zero's right hand man, capable of performing incredible feats and provide ample leadership should it be needed from him.

"Very well, I will bring along Lapis, Dia and Quartz." The other two Reploids, colored white and green respectively, stood out of their position and gave a strong salute, acknowledging their orders.

These four were among the swiftest in the unit, and had been working with Zero in many occasions. They were also heavily involved in the Erasure Incident, so Iris was quite familiar with them as well.

"The rest will standby here and monitor us alongside Iris."

"Roger!"

Zero and his Shinobi Unit landed at the far perimeter of the Jungle, on top of a hill, where an upstream was situated. It was chosen as the starting position as it was far away from any of the enemy patrols.

The jungle was once a wildlife reserve, housing several species of endangered animals, ranging from sabertooth tigers to wild elephants. It was one of the very few natural sanctuaries during the heavily developed era.

However, behind the beautiful sceneries of greenery and the faint sound of flowing river, there was no signs of life anywhere. The Repliforce had taken over and made numerous modifications around, most notably the trees, where it was obvious that they were no longer fully organic, hints of machines hidden inside them.

"Looks like there's no point hiding anymore." Dia, the most cool-headed and analytical of the team was the first to detect the anomalies lurking in the forest.

"Agreed. We were expected." Quartz said, pulling out a miniature jamming machine and planted it next to his foot, blocking the surrounding hidden cameras from seeing them.

"Iris, how far away from the base?" Zero spoke while holding his earpiece located in his left ear.

"Not far, just short of 50 unimeters. Descend all the way along the waterfalls, and you will quickly encounter the base." Came the reply.

"Swiftness is key, guide us along the way, Iris."

"Understood. Beware of the river right in front of you, I am detecting numerous signals of King Fishers lurking underneath it." Iris mentioned, several red points popping out on her monitor.

Zero and co. looked ahead to the flowing river, and spotted several moving objects underneath, which shaped like fish and swimming in a fixed pattern, as if patrolling the river for anyone suspicious entering it.

"Alright, no touching the river unless absolutely necessary. Ruby, prepare an electronizer." Zero gave his orders, which as usual, contained a Plan B just in case. An electronizer could be used to zap the water and everything robotic inside it will be reduced to crisp immediately. It also produces a loud sound which attracts attention, something the Shinobi Unit did not want.

Along the river there were several tree stumps and stones which the zeroth unit utilized fully to skip around and cross them without touching the waters. They zipped through the forest with utmost speed and succeeded in getting past some of the Blast Rasters strategically placed at several trees, getting past them when their eyes were looking away. They were forced into action when encountering King Poseidons, one of the top graded Maverick bots which were packed with decent artificial intelligence, wielding their trident with exceptional skill and firing projectiles using their fins. Among the most commonly used tactic employed by the Shinobi Unit involves Dia parrying the trident while Lapis making quick work of it by slicing it into half using his energy blade. Otherwise, Quartz would have to deflect the projectiles while Ruby hopped onto its head and blasted it off its body with a blast gun. If anything else, Zero alone can dash right through the Poseidon's trident thrust and hacked it down with his Z-Saber.

They descended waterfall after waterfall, eventually encountering some familiar foes – kyunbyuuns, this time they were continuously multiplied by Mega Nests, large Mavericks taking the form of mechanical bee hives, and spawned innumerable amounts of the bee Mavericks. Zero and his party tried to knock them down, but the numbers were too great to their disadvantage. Eventually, they found themselves overpowered by the vast amounts of kyunbyuuns which replaced their fallen comrades faster than the zeroth unit could take them down.

"Quartz, smoke bomb!"

"I am on it!"

Zero ordered for a smoke, and Quartz quickly delivered. He pulled out a small grey capsule from his inventory, pressed the tip and slammed it onto the ground, smothering the surrounding with a dense smoke, causing the kyunbyuuns to lose track of the Shinobi Unit. As the smoke cleared out, Zero and his party were nowhere to be seen.

"As expected from Commander Zero… always carrying a backup plan." Iris teased, giggling on the microphone to every one of the team to hear.

"Sometimes, running away is the best way." Zero chuckled, proud of himself for his tactical brilliance. "How much further?" Zero asked his navigator.

"Just unifeet away, several King Poseidons are guarding the entrance… around twenty of them. The gate is heavily fortified with Adamantium, which may require some effort to take down."

"Roger, you all heard what our navigator said." Zero glanced to his comrades while dashing through the jungle together.

"Of course! Take down the ones blocking the way, and ignore the rest right?" Ruby answered enthusiastically.

"It's not that simple, the gate is difficult to crack, so some will have to provide ample defense while some breaking the gate," answered the level-headed Dia.

"I know that!" Ruby retaliated.

The rest of the team exchanged chuckles as they made further progress through the jungle. Stopping at the sight of the gate, where a horde of King Poseidon beckoned.