Ashe and Grey, now in their megamerged forms, were huddled up against a wall in one of the Guardian's drop ships, the only sound being the roar of the engine, and the wind and ice pounding against the small craft that was taking them to their next destination. The mission briefing they'd received a few days before was concise and to the point.
Temperatures were dropping and wind speeds were increasing all across the southern continent of Antarctica, the layer of ice surrounding the continent threatening to expand past its own domain and eventually into other areas.
Their mission; To use their Biometal's given versatility to go to the heart of the continent, and see if whether or not there was a facility in the center actually causing the increase in dangerous weather conditions.
The reason monitoring satellites hadn't been used was because of the glare created by both the sun, and from the light coming off the ice and snow. At that point, they would have to take a reinforced drop jet to get to the northwestern shore of the continent, and then take the underwater fissure to an air pocket to the inside of the continent. From there they'd make their way to the heart of the continent, where the weather conditions were estimated to be the calmest.
Before hand, the group had been getting a lot of sleep, since once they arrived at Antarctica, there would be no telling when they'd be able to leave, and in the cold going to sleep was equivalent to suicicde.
"Hey pilot! How long 'til we get there?" Ashe demanded as she banged a fist on the cockpit door. "I've been sitting on my ass for hours waiting for some kind of adventure!"
"ETA to dropping point should be around ten more minutes," the pilot spoke through the intercom.
"Hey um, sis, maybe I should've just stayed at home," Grey said timidly, not liking the way the plane shook when it met turbulence. "After all, you're a veteran at this, and I've hardly had any practice with Model A."
"That's to be expected since you woke up about a week ago," Ashe said as she leaned back against the wall. "Besides, the best thing to fix that nervousness of yours is experience, and jumping out of a jet into the ocean and then making a trek to the center of a frozen wasteland is just the thing you need."
"But wait, we've got this perfectly good plane. Why do we need to jump?" Grey asked.
"I believe I can answer that question," the pilot stated. "After I got the data collected by Guardian HQ, I've been able to determine the safest cruising altitude for this mission. It's high enough that I don't have to worry about downdrafts slamming this vehicle into the floes, but low enough that the temperatures won't immediately ice over the wings."
"I'm guessing the wings icing over is a bad thing," Grey asked.
"If by bad, you mean crashing into the ocean and freezing to death within seconds in a cold watery grave, then yes, that's bad."
"Okay," Grey grumbled. "I get the picture."
"Hey wait, you just said you found the right cruising altitude didn't you?" Ashe asked. "If that's the case, then why not fly us to the bull's eye?"
"Something I should've made clear is the fact that while it's safe to fly at this altitude, it isn't safe to go any further inland than I already am," the pilot said correcting himself. "If I fly any further in, I risk the chance of the plane being thrown out of the sky."
"I see. So we're on our own once we're dropped then?" Grey asked.
"That may be correct, but I've heard great things about you," the pilot replied. "With all of those transformations of yours, navigating your way through here should be a walk in the park. So to speak."
For the next few minutes, the small craft was silent except for the sound of the engines, and the roaring of the wind outside. Throughout the trip, the turbulence had nearly thrown them out of their seats, had they not been using four-point harnesses to keep themselves in place.
Suddenly, the lights in the cargo hold shone red, signifying that the mission had officially begun.
"Alright you two. I'm lowering the cargo hatch," the pilot said as the hydraulics in the sides of the craft hissed, the pistons pushing the doors open as the two Model A MegaMan unlatched themselves from the wall harnesses that kept them in place. "Once we get confirmation that your mission is complete, head to the shore and we'll pick you up by boat."
"Why don't you just pick us up by plane?" Ashe asked.
"There isn't a flat runway long enough that we've been able to find, and it's too dangerous to perform an aerial extraction in the mainland," the pilot responded. "Your best option is to work your way back to the coast and give us a call. We'll pick you up when you show up."
"Man, nothing's ever easy is it?" Grey asked.
"Hey, if adventuring were easy, everyone with a pulse would be doing this," Ashe replied as she fastened her diving goggles over her face, Grey doing the same as he pulled his from the hook on the wall.
The moment the doors fully opened, Ashe and Grey shielded their eyes from the sudden light that poured into the small cargo hold, the outside almost entirely white as the cold nipped at their faces.
"Come on Grey! Let's go!" Ashe said as she ran for the ramp, ready to jump into this adventure quite literally.
"Got it sis-AHHH!" Grey cried before suddenly tripping on one of the loading rollers and sliding off on his back.*
"Grey this is no time to be fooling around!" Ashe said as she dove down after her adoptive brother, the roaring of the plane's engines passing above her head as the jet spun around on both its vertical and lateral axis before using the former-headwinds to get away from the continent's airspace before the entire craft iced over.
Mega Man ZX Soundtrack – Ultramarine Meditation – Blessed Pop -
At that moment, a large group of penguins was swimming through the ocean, catching the indigenous fish in their beaks as their hydrodynamic bodies cut through the water like razors.
What the flightless birds weren't expecting however were for a giant blue-armored horseshoe crab and crocodile to slam down into the water, shattering the thin layer of ice that had gathered on the ocean's surface.
For Ashe and Grey, the leap of faith had been tricky for the first few seconds with the high-speed winds threatening to push them off course and slam them into the icebergs below, but once Ashe and Grey transformed into Chronoforce and Bifrost, their massive weight offset the 70 kph winds and brought them down into the water effortlessly.
Ashe immediately settled into the water, Chronoforce's body naturally designed it. However, Grey began to flail about the moment the water got over his head as he sank into the abyss.
"Ashe! Help! I'm sinking!" Grey cried through Model A's link.
"Transform into Model L. He moves through water just fine," Ashe instructed.
"Oh, right, I forgot," Grey admitted. "A-Trans!"
In a flash of light, Grey had transformed into the Ice Megaman, but soon found himself being buffeted around by the ocean currents, the only thing stopping him from being crushed against the side of an iceberg was Ashe rushing over and catching him on her back.
"The currents are pretty strong around here," Ashe stated as she too began to feel the currents buffeting against her form's hull as well. "You just lay low for a few minutes, I'll let you know when we reach safer waters."
"G-got it," Grey answered as he settled himself into the indention on Chronoforce's shell, a set of handholds and footholds being the only thing to keep him from being pulled into the freezing currents once more.
After coasting through the icy depths of Antarctica for what felt like hours, Ashe fighting against the current with Chronoforce's turbines while Grey used Model L's radar to scope out the route in front of them, they finally came to an air pocket at the end of a long undersea trench that opened up right beneath the mainland into an underwater cave.
"Okay Grey. Let's get this mission started," Ashe said as she spun Chronoforce's turbines, propelling herself out of the water and toward the icy canopy above them.
Grey quickly transformed into Buckfire with A-Trans, leaping off Ashe's back and onto the cavern wall across from him. The next moment, he performed a Canyon Jump, fracturing the wall before A-Transing again, transforming into Urgoyle mid-flight as Ashe transformed into Argoyle and launcher her Rock Bomb, the prior delivering a bicycle kick and redirecting the attack to the ceiling, shattering it.
"Good job Grey," Ashe said as she zipped between the falling debris. "Now transform into Vultron and pull me up," she said as she A-Transed into he Megamerge mode and slid down the walls slowly, compliments of the Frog Chip she received earlier, slowing her descent.
Grey freefell down toward Ashe, A-Transing into Vultron and clinging to the wall with his claws before he scurried down. "Okay sis. Grab on," he said as he outstretched his clawed hand, pulling the girl over his shoulder before climbing out of the ice pit.
After pulling themselves out of the hole in the ground, the snow up to their ankles, the two Mega Men's curiosity got the better of them, and they decided to see just how cold it was by dropping out of their megamerged state.
Ashe and Grey immediately regretted it, and quickly transformed into Argoyle and Urgoyle, their A-Transed forms keeping the cold from freezing them to death. However, after a few minutes, the mufflers on the Shisaroid's shoulders began to freeze over, as did the wheels in their feet, so using their skates wasn't going to work as the blizzard continued to buffet them.
In response to the situation, Ashe transformed into Bifrost, his bulking frame and ice-intended design keeping the wind from pushing him around, and his body from icing over. Grey now transformed into Model P, due to the wind nipping at his face, hopped onto her back as she drudged forward, the trenches of snow at her ankles getting filled with snow from this seemingly eternal blizzard.
For the next hour Ashe continued to walk forward, her actions practically becoming automatic as she rested her eyes for a few seconds, but focused on not letting it turn to a peaceful, eternal, slumber.
Right foot forward. Left foot forward. Right foot forward. Left foot forward. Right foot forward. Left foot forward. Right foot-
"Ashe! Ashe! I've got something on the radar," Grey said putting a hand to the side of his helmet and stretching out his artificially-enhanced senses.
"Well what are they?" Ashe asked.
"I don't know. It looks like a bunch of blips, and I can't see a thing through this blizzard," Grey groaned as he looked up.
Grrrrrrrrrrr.
"I just heard something!" Grey cried in panic as he leapt into the air, firing a volley of kunai into the blizzard at the closest blip on his radar.
The next moment a shrill yelping sound pierced the air**, and the soft sound of a body falling into the snow was heard.
"I hit something!" Grey said as he hopped off Ashe's back and ran into the blizzard to investigate.
"You idiot! Don't go in there alone!" Ashe cried as she trudged into the blizzard after him. When she came through the blizzard, she stood above an unconscious Grey, thankfully still in MegaMerge thanks to the Lock that Model A established after the two nearly froze to death the first time they de-megamerged. Next to him was a white-armored hound-like mechaniloid with a single red eye***.
"Model A. What the hell just happened?" Ashe asked.
"The little stooge ran into an ambush. A whole bunch of these Snow Garm slammed him into the ground when he went to investigate," Model A stated.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
"Can you A-Trans Grey into something else and me into Model P?" Ashe asked. The next moment the hulking figure of Birfrost disappeared, replaced with Model P as Grey was transformed into Vultron.
Ashe's vision quickly turned black, the world arranged in an expanse with an illuminated blue grid pattern, a series of red blips surrounding her, the blinding haze of the blizzard completely neutralized.
"Madala Stars!" she shouted after charging her energy, six energy shuriken flying around her as she drew three kunai and threw them at an approaching mechaniloid, the two energy shuriken finishing it off as its two halves fell behind her.
As she began throwing more energy knives and giant shuriken toward the enemies coming in through the cover of the snow, more would continue to come into her range.
"There's just no end to these guys," Model A groaned as the fortieth mechaniloid was taken down, only for another two to come up on radar.
The next moment, all of the red blips began moving towards her all at once, and it didn't take a genius to know that they were trying to overpower her with numbers alone.
"GIGA CRUSH!" Ashe roared as she lashed her busters out at the thirty snow garm.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
The next moment the broken mechaniloids' parts began falling to the ground in heaps of metal, forming disorganized piles all across the clearing that were quickly gathering snow.
"There. *pant pant pant* That's the last of them," Ashe panted as the last of the mechaniloids fell, her radar sight shutting down as she took a quick breather.
The next moment a whole bunch of red glares of light came into her line of sight through the blizzard, over a hundred enemies completely surrounding her with more coming.
"In the immortal words of Hellboy," Model A stated. "Aw, crap."
"Oooooogh… What happened?" Grey groaned as he got up from the cold ground, a hand going to his head at the headache he got from whatever it was that hit him.
"You got your butt handed to you by a mechaniloid, so I had to rescue you and fight off over a hundred-something mechaniloids by myself," Ashe grumbled across from him.
When he looked up, he realized that he was no longer getting buffeted by the eternal blizzard outside, but that they were in a large impromptu shelter made from… mechaniloid carcasses? Everything down to the floor was made of them, leaving only a small hole in the side that poked to the outside, a little bit of snow having formed over it as a makeshift barrier. All of the bits and pieces were held together with packed snow, a bit of ice creating a tight-fitting shell.
"Not only did you stay down for the entire fight, but I also had to build this shelter all on my own so you wouldn't die in your sleep," she said before A-Transing into Hedgeshock and giving the lantern she'd brought with her a little juice before transforming back to normal, rubbing her arms against her sides.
" . . . I'm sorry," Grey apologized.
"No use griping over it now. What's done is done, so we should focus on not freezing to death before we move on," Ashe said as she juiced up the lantern again, causing it to give off a little more heat only for the filament to shatter in the case. "Never mind. We move out now," she sighed as she got to her feet, A-Transing into Panther and clawing her way out of the shelter around the opening.
"Shouldn't we try and get some more rest?" Grey asked. "Maybe we could both get a little sleep."
"No can do," Ashe replied as she finally tore her way out of the shelter, the cold air fully buffeting against Grey as he thanked being in Model A form. "You sleep out here too long, and you die. Plus, if we stay out here too long, then we're sure to get attacked again. Our only option is to keep moving."
Grey nodded, albeit a bit slowly, as he got to his feet and trudged through the thick snow, transforming into Model H as Ashe transformed into Model P, personally taking point since Grey had done a crappy job of it earlier. Something that Grey was slumping his shoulders over, and, with Model H' face, looked very unnatural.
"Should we stop and rest?" Grey asked as he trudged through the snow at what felt like an eternity later.
"Where? There's absolutely nothing in every direction," Ashe grumbled as she pulled out a digital compass magnetically hooked to her side. "Besides, the Compass that Prarie gave me says we're almost to the eye of the storm. Hopefully once we get there, there'll be something that we'll be able to use to get back to the shoreline."
"Or keep warm. It's freezing out here," Grey muttered. Even though his transformed state was muting out the cold, it wasn't completely overlooking it.
"The first thing I'm doing when I get to that control room or whatever the hell is causing this is punching it full of holes," Ashe muttered as she dredged through the snow. After what felt like forever of trudging through the snow and a few energy bars later, Grey saw fit to speak up.
"Ashe. Are we there yet?" he moaned as he continued to dredge his way through the snow.
Moments later, as if to answer that question, the blizzard cleared in front of them a bit. The two of them craned their necks as a massive black and white structure loomed over their heads, cylindrical in shape. The bottom level was at least three stories tall, another three story tall section above it that was slightly smaller than the one below it, the design feature repeating itself three more times, putting the building at around 150 feet tall. There were a few windows on its perimeter, and a low rumbling and whirring of machinery could be heard from behind the two massive steel doors that greeted them.
"Here's your answer," Ashe said as she dragged her feet through the ankle-high snow. "Come on. Let's get inside before I freeze my ass off out here."
"Way ahead of you," Grey groaned as he pushed his way through the snow, which wasn't as high since they were technically in the "calm zone".
When Ashe and Grey entered the large black and white-colored complex at the world's end, they noticed that while it was considerably warmer inside than it was outside, that it was still very cold. The floors, corners, and the grates had a thin layer of ice across them, and the place was quiet like a grave. The occasional burst of cold air would be "exhaled" through the pipes around them, so it may've been warm air meeting the cool.
"Well… This isn't so bad," Grey said stepping out of his Megamerge form and rubbing his shoulders, finding the temperature inside the base much more preferable to that of the rest of Antarctica.
"I'm going to try the radio. See if I can get any reception," Ashe said tuning the comm. device on her ear, the only thing she received being static for a few seconds before a voice suddenly came through.
"KSSSSSHHHHHHHH- Ashe! Grey! Do you read me?" Prairie asked over the communicator.
"Yeah, we're here," Ashe answered.
"Sorry for the lack of assistance until now, but the storm was causing interference," Prairie said over the high band. "I'm just glad the two could make it to the center of the storm without too many problems. How was the trip?"
"Cold. Very very cold," Grey shivered towards Ashe's mouth piece, his teeth chattering before she pushed him out of her personal space.
"Anyway Prairie, it looks like you were right," Ashe said as she twirled her blaster in her hands. "This storm definitely wasn't natural. Right now we're inside a massive facility at the heart of the continent, and I'd bet my next paycheck that whoever or whatever is running this place is at the center of this facility on the top floor."
WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!
INTRUDERS DETECTED! INTRUDERS DETECTED! ACTIVATING DEFENSE MEASURES!
"Crap, the alarms went off," Ashe grumbled as she looked into the corner of the room they had entered, eyeing a security camera before shooting it down. "Prarie, I'll call you back when things settle down. Gotta go," she said as she shut down the comm. link.
"I'll try not to slow you down this time," Grey said transforming into Model A form.
"You just cover the rear," Ashe said transforming into Model F. "And I'll take the front," she said as her knuckle busters formed, the duo running through the first door and into what would probably be a myriad of traps and formations of mechaniloids.
After a gauntlet of slippery floors, ice based-weaponry, white and blue-armored mechaniloids, natural hazards, and dancing around mines concealed under a layer of snow -which for some reason was inside the base-, the group finally made their way to a doubly-reinforced door at the top floor of the facility on the inside of a large circular hall. Had the Ice Boots chip been completed and given to them before they left for the mission, they wouldn't have had as many close calls as they had.
But, like Ashe said, there wasn't any use in complaining about it after it had happened. All there was left to do was deal with this area's "Boss" and call it a day.
"Here's the last door," Grey said as they came upon the a reinforced steel door at the back of the complex.
"Okay then. Let's blow the roof off this place," Ashe said as she and Grey walked forward.
When the two of them entered after going through a short hallway, which for some reason there was one before the room of every "Boss" character, the two of them suddenly slipped before falling onto their backs. Looking down, they saw that they were standing above a three inch-thick pane of glass-like ice inset into the floor below them, and that there were large pipes running over the ceiling overhead, cool air being constantly pumped into the room at random intervals from different valves keeping the temperature a consistent low.
"So, you are the ones who breached my new empire," a deep voice boomed. "I must say, you are not an impressive sight," it continued as a few lumbering steps drew their attention from the room.
When Ashe and Grey looked up, a very tall polar bear-type pseudoroid loomed above them, elongated neck craned forward. The majority of its body was encased in white armor, a black nose and orange eyes on its face, cold air being vented out of its neck from a blue and orange-armored collar and a blue metal band inset into its midsection. Its shoulders had blue armor over them, and its massive arms bore massive blue gauntlets with four fingers armed with pointed icicles on the tips of its paws. Its stocky legs had blue-armored shins, the feet orange-armored.
"So, you're the head honcho here huh?" Ashe asked as she paced around the pseudoroid's right flank, catching sight of a blue-tinted control room on the opposite end of the room from the door they just entered. "Now tell me, what exactly is this setup?"
"Well… Since you have braved the many dangers of my new empire, I guess I can tell you before I make you sleep," the pseudoroid said with crossed arms. "I am Poler Camrous, ruler of the World's End, and guardian of the Ice-Bringer."
"Ice-Bringer?" Grey asked as he paced around the pseudoroid's left flank, practically reading his sister's mind when he saw the unguarded control room, which he figured was for this Ice-Bringer.
"Yes. After my resurrection, my new master placed me here in the heart of this continent and gave me this wondrous machine," he said gesturing to everything around him. "This entire base, uninterrupted, acts as a weather generator, and will soon create an unending winter, and with it, my new empire to rule."
The next moment, he stomped his left foot onto the floor, sending out a wave of ice that froze Ashe and Grey's feet to the floor up to their ankles. He then stabbed his claws into the floor, a thick barrier of ice over the Ice-Bringer's control room affixing itself over the only entrance.
"Do not think I would not foresee such an obvious tactic," Poler Kamrous stated haughtily as Ashe and Grey tried to yank their feet from the frozen floor. "While it would be simple enough to make this wondrous facility cease function, you fail to realize that this is my world, and I control everything here," he continued as ice vented out of his neck and palms. "Now, sleep for eternity as I build my new empire. I am sure my master will appreciate the frozen offerings that will become your tombs."
"Yap yap yap talkin's all you're good for," Ashe said as she blasted a charge shot at her feet, sending it ricocheting across the floor under the imposing pseudoroid and blasting Grey's feet free as well.
"C'mon Ashe! Let's blast this bot and go home," Grey whined he rubbed his shins. "I can't feel my toes."
Whether he was serious with that statement or not was anyone's guess.
"Ah just put some hot water on it and you'll be fine," Ashe said with a wave of her hand before she brought out her blasters and aimed it at Poler Kamrous.
Cue Mega Man ZXA Soundtrack – Rockin' On
"Very well then. I accept your challenge!" Poler shouted as he drove his paws into the ground before a thick slab of ice rose over him -much like Thetis when he megamerges-, before shattering it from within, his body now covered in a translucent sheet of glass-like ice armor. Despite how it broke around his joints however, it held firm to his frame, at least in inch thick all around. At around the same time, more gas began to leak into the room through the vents.
"Yaaaaah!" Ashe shouted as she started skating to the side across the floor, her busters firing repetitively into his frame only for the rounds to bounce off. "Let's see how you like this," Ashe said as her field of vision turned blue. "Homing Shot!" she called as the eight crosshairs locked onto Poler's body, her charge shot striking the eight points only for them to bounce off harmlessly.
"Ha! Is that the best you got?" Poler asked as he held his paws together, twin vents of freezing gas forming before he chucked a thick ball of ice where Ashe was, narrowly hitting her but pelting her with some shrapnel.
"We're just getting started," Grey said as he continued to pelt Poler's rear flank with buster shots. "A-Trans!" he said as he transformed into Model L, running across the ice with seemingly no resistance before he leapt into the air and brought his halberd down Poler's chest right as he turned towards him, only for his weapon to have no effect.
"Fool. You're attacking me with my own element!" Poler said before his hands clamped down around Grey's form, the reploid kid fighting only in vain as he tried to escape the vice-like grip from the larger pseudoriod. "Freezing Hold!" he bellowed as the same freezing gasses from before were released from the vents. Moments later, Grey was completely covered in a half-inch-thick layer of ice.
"Grey!" Ashe cried before Poler threw him, the Hunter transforming into Model H and air dashing towards him, catching him in mid air before making it so that she hit the wall before her cousin.
"Eyaah! C-Coooold!" Grey shivered as he broke out of the ice a moment later, his features a little blue before regaining their natural color.
"Don't get too close to him unless you're sure you can get away," Ashe said as she and Grey got to their feet. "The last thing we need is for you to get CHEESE IT!" she suddenly cried as she used Grey's face as a springboard and sent them in opposite directions, a flurry of icicles impacting the wall where they once were, the remains of a smashed wall at Poler's feet.
"Hm. Seems you aren't as unattentive as I once thought," Poler mused with a hint of amusement in his voice before he erected another wall, this time kicking it across the floor towards Grey, who narrowly avoided getting crushed by the thick slab of ice.
"Ahhh! Kill it with fire!" Grey cried as he continued to dodge around slabs of ice, flurries of icicles, or balls of ice.
"A-Trans!" Ashe cried as she transformed into Model F, then launched a charge shot from her knuckle busters, sending a ball of fire that impacted Poler's back and left a wall of smoke around the impact site. When it cleared however, there was hardly a scratch on him. "Oh come on!" Ashe cried as the fireball had no effect, and on ice no less.
"A-Trans!" Grey called out as he transformed into Model P before kicking off the wall and using his Hanging Wedge to latch onto the ceiling, launching a flurry of kunai towards Poler's bulking frame with his free hand, only for the energy knives to bounce off before disappearing.
"Fool. Your attacks are futile!" Poler roared as he created another ice ball before chucking it at Grey, who dropped down only for the clumps of ice to fall on him after it broke on the wall and bury him slightly.
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size you eyesore!" Ashe yelled as she ran forward and struck Poler across the face with her Knuckle Buster, only for the pseudoroid to backhand her across the room, not even a scratch formed on his armor from the repetitive attacks.
"Hmph. Fools. At these temperatures, my Ice Armor is as strong as steel," Poler taunted. "It would be easier to simply give up. Especially with every passing second, you draw ever close to eternal sleep," he said pointing to Ashe, her armor slowly being covered in ice crystals from the temperature in the room, their breath almost immediately turning into ice crystals once it passed their lips.
"Heh. You guys just never learn do you?" Ashe said with a smirk as she flicked an ice crystal off her helmet. "A Hunter doesn't know the meaning of the words 'give up'. A-Trans!" she shouted as she ran forward and was enveloped in a flash of light. When it cleared, she had then transformed into Bifrost, and, spinning on her heel, used the Crocoroid's Tail Swipe attack, sending Poler sliding back, despite them being of equal size.
The next moment, Poler felt his back arch as Grey, now transformed into Model F, struck him in the back with one Knuckle Buster to stop his backwards momentum, then another sending him forward again, this time into Ashe's awaiting jaws.
Or at least that would've been the plan had Poler not stopped the jaws with his own brute strength.
"Did you think such a tactic would work against me?" Poler asked as he fought the Crocoroid's maw. "Even if I hadn't stopped your attack, my Ice Armor is more powerful than your Ice Fangs. You have no hope of breaking through my armor."
"Is that what you thought I was doing?" Ashe asked with a smirk, or at least the closest thing to a smirk she could get with Bifrost's maw. "I was just holding you in place. Now Grey! FERRRSH!"she hissed as she released a spray of ice onto Poler's hands and feet, freezing him in place.
The next moment the pseudoroid felt a pair of feet latch onto the armor on his back. Looking out the corner of his eye, he saw a green and blue condor-like pseudoroid with a skull-like helmet wielding a Flying V-esque guitar with energy strings held in its clutches.
"Time for my SOLO!" Grey screeched before his talons began raking across the strings, a loud series of screeching and wailing noises reverberating from the guitar. For a moment he thought it nothing more than some sort of madness, but to his horror the ice armor coating his body began to vibrate around his frame, cracks forming as the sound waves continued to bounce around the room, buffeting him from every side. "ROCK ON! YEAAAAAAAH!" he then screeched before he raised his free hand to the air and brought it down across the strings numerous times, deep bellowing sound waves flying directly into his armor and causing it to shatter chaotically, slabs of ice bouncing around the room as he found himself exposed.
"Nooo! My armor!" Poler cried before he suddenly felt the vice grip he held wrenched backwards, the Crocoroid's jaws held at 180 degrees apart from one another, only for them to suddenly clamp down around his neck and torso, his arms flailing uselessly at the sides.
"Here's a new trick I came up with," Ashe smirked as she raised each foot into the air before smashing it down into the ice, planting her feet before the gyros around Bifrost's neck began whirring loudly. "DEATH ROLL!" she cried as Bifrost's head began spinning on its axis, her fangs digging into Poler's armor before he was thrown to the side a few seconds later with a mighty heave, spinning in the air a few times before slamming into a wall and coming to rest on the ground, several large gashes now raked across his armor.****
"My… My body…" Poler groaned as he looked at himself, around a dozen breaches in his armor that sparked occasionally, a jolt of pain sent through his body as he tried to get up. The next moment however as Ashe lifted her feet out of the floor before returning to normal, a yellow-colored wheel with a row of orange spikes began rolling towards him, then leaping into the air revealing a yellow and orange hedgehog-like pseudoroid.
"Spark Ball!" Grey cried as he launched the five balls of electricity at the downed Poler point-black range, the electricity arcing through his exposed systems and causing a few mini-explosions across his body, Grey leaping away and resuming his Megamerge form as he stopped sliding alongside Ashe, right around the time that Poler was able to get to his feet.
"Looks like he's weakened. Time to finish him," Ashe said as she ran forward. "A-Trans!" she called out as she transformed into Model H. "Sonic Boom!" she called out with a double sword swing, sending an X-shaped wave through the air that cut straight through Poler's frame, freezing white gas leaking out of the breach moments later.
"N-Nooooo…" Poler cried as he fell to his knees. "How… How could I lose… to a pair of… children…?" he cried as the liquid nitrogen finally coated his frame, his body now encased and lined with ice.*****
"It's time to kiss your bot goodbye!" Ashe shouted as she transformed into Model F, Grey transforming into Vultron as they both rushed forward. They both then brought their knuckle buster and guitar down into their enemy's frozen form, his body shattering like glass with hunks of his body flying in every direction.
As Poler's icy remains melted away, the facility's temperature began to slowly rise, a glowing ball of light floating where he once stood. Ashe and Grey returned to normal in a flash of light, Model A by their sides as the light ball was absorbed into the chatty paperweight.
"You captured Poler's DNA," Model A chirped as he incorporated the pseudoroid's new data into his A-Trans library.
"Who are you talking to?" Grey asked.
"You you numb skull!" Model A hissed.
A few seconds later, the wall of ice protecting the control room shattered and fell to the ground in a heap of broken ice, its structural integrity somehow connected to Poler's "lifespan".
"Now then…" Ashe said as she cracked her knuckles in front of the defenseless control room. "How do you want to do this? Shoot, slash, or smash?"
"Smashing. Definitely smashing," Grey said rubbing his hands together like a kid in a candy store.
"Hold it you two!" Prairie ordered over the radio right as they stepped in. "We can't destroy it while the machine is still active. If you do it the wrong way, we may not be able to stop the machine in time."
"In addition, we will need to see if the hard drives have any relevant data we can use to identify who we are dealing with," Gardenia asked.
"No good. I just checked the systems. It looks like whoever the pseudoroid's Master was had voided the systems of any incriminating data the moment his pawn was defeated," Tulip continued.
"Please refrain from touching anything until we're positive that the machine has been disabled," Marguerite stated. "Once that has been done, you'll be free to go. We'll have a pickup arranged for you once you make it back to the coastline."
"If the blizzard is going to die down once the machine is disabled, then why don't you just send a plane here to pick us up?" Ashe asked.
"It'll still be a while before the blizzard subsides enough to even attempt an aerial evac," Prairie answered. "That could take days, if not weeks, so it'll just be faster to get back to the shoreline where the weather conditions are more favorable. Sorry I can't do more guys."
With that, Ashe and Grey shut off the comm. while lines of binary code began to run across the screens across the room, slowly dissecting all programs and permanently disabling all machinery.
"Well this is boring,"Grey moaned as he sat against the wall. "After nearly freezing my ass off, I wanted to smash something," he whispered to his sister, just in case Prairie was listening.
"Don't worry. She didn't say we couldn't smash anything after they disabled the machinery," Ashe whispered with an evil grin.
At that, Grey's smile could only widen, a low chuckle escaping from his lips. "Hehehehehehehe."
Ten minutes of senseless destruction later –after the machinery had been marked as disabled-, Ashe and Grey had come across a service elevator in the control room that led to the ground floor, a satisfied look on their faces as the temperature inside the facility began to increase steadily.
"Man that was satisfying," Ashe sighed as she stretched her back, falling back into her human form and dusting some ice off her clothing and out of her hair.
"Now I understand why you like shooting stuff this much," Grey said as he fell back into his replioid form. "It's so much fun."
"My brother, you have learned well," Ashe replied. "Now, let's get to that cargo hold we passed earlier and see if we can't find some top-quality booty."
"Is booty all you ever think about?" Grey asked.
"No," Ashe argued. "Sometimes I think about booty too. Heheheh."
"You just said the same thing twice," Grey argued.
Ah to be young and naive, Ashe thought to herself as the elevator door opened on the ground floor, making their way around the first hallway before finally coming upon the large steel door they'd passed earlier, which was now unlocked. "Now then. Let's pop this clam open and find our pearl."
The metal doors opened with a whoosh, the cargo hold slowly being lit up down its length by the automatic lights. When Ashe and Grey walked in, they immediately noticed a set of red and purple winter gear hanging on the wall; a set of hooded jackets, snow pants, boots, and gloves.
"Sweet! Free stuff!" Ashe squealed as she pulled the first set off the wall and put it on over what she was wearing. "You see this Grey. Now you don't have to worry about your toes."
"I guess…" Grey said as he pulled his off the nearby wall and held it in front of himself. "But still… this is an awful camouflage pattern."
"It's not for camouflage. It's so we won't blend into the background," Ashe said as she found a set of snow goggles on the wall and slipped them over her forehead before looking around. "Crap! It looks like the last people here took all the good stuff and ran," she muttered as she looked around the room, the majority of it stripped clean. "Crap."
"Hey Ashe! Look at this!" Grey said as he pulled a large tarp over something. "What is it?" he asked as soon as he pulled the tarp aside.
"Ah, so they left a snowmobile unattended," Ashe said as she looked the black and white machine over. "Hmmm. The keys are still in the ignition, but…" she said as she turned it, the engine starting with a slight roar. "Yes! It's got a full charge!"
"Great! Now we don't have to walk back," Grey said as he was about to hop on, only for Ashe to turn the vehicle off. "Hey!"
"Not yet," Ashe said as she twirled the key before dropping it into her pocket. "We may've found a snowmobile with a full charge on it, but we need to see if whoever was here last left any power cells behind, otherwise, this thing could tap out in the middle of nowhere, and we'd still have to walk."
"Ugh. Fine. I'll look," Grey muttered as he began to walk along the walls, opening crates but finding nothing but expired perishables or just empty crates.
Ashe looked around too. After a few minutes, she had a broad smile on her face as she tossed one of the lids aside. "Jackpot!"
"Did you find the power cells?" Grey asked from across the cargo hold.
"No, keep looking," Ashe said as she started pushing the crate out into the hall.
"Where are you going?" Grey asked. "What did you find?"
"Got one last thing to take care of," she replied as she pushed the crate down the hallway. "This stuff's still good, and I'm not one to waste."
Grey just sighed as he continued looking through crates. "Ugh. Girls," he groaned. "Hm? Where'd that come from? Ah whatever," he sighed as he continued to look through the crates around.
A half hour later, a black, white, purple, and red dot slowly made its way from the massive ex-Ice-Bringer. The dot was then revealed to be Ashe and Grey driving away on the black and white snowmobile, the blizzard finally subsiding outside so you could see more than a few meters in front of your face.
As Grey held onto Ashe's sides, she flicked a metal device's cap with her thumb repetitively. After a few more minutes, Ashe flicked the lid up once again and pressed her thumb down on a bright red button.
The next moment, a massive plume of smoke rose up from the top floor, a black smear rising into the sky as the few windows lining the perimeter were blown out.
"What the hell?" Ashe demanded as she brought their vehicle to an abrupt stop. "Only the ones on the top floor went off!"
"You were setting up explosives?" Grey cried in shock.
"Yes! And I thought I'd done a good job of it!" Ashe hissed. "DAMNDAMNDAMNDAMNDAMN!" she cursed as she began to press the button rapidly, nothing happening for several minutes until she just threw the trigger onto the ground. As Ashe continued to rant angrily, Grey hopped off of their vehicle, digging through the snow and pulling out the silver and red bomb trigger.
"Shit! If there weren't enough explosives in there to kill one of us, I'd set them off myself!" Ashe ranted as Grey slowly lifted the cap his thumb slowly descending to the button. "Damn damn damn damn damn!" she growled as the reploid kid's button finally descended onto the button with a soft click.
The next moment the ground shook as the lower levels of the building up to the top blew out consecutively, a thick black smear rising into the sky as the building collapsed into its own footprint.
Ashe just stared into the distance, her jaw slack as the black column dissipated in the wind.
"Well…" Grey said as he dusted the snow off his gloves and pocketed the trigger. "I think we've seen enough here," he said as he pushed Ashe toward the bike, lifting her off her feet and putting her on the back seat. "Come on. I'll drive," he said as he took the vehicle's controls and drove off into the distance, the female Hunter still dumbstruck.
Due to the establishment of "walled cities" across the globe, and the fact that by that time everything about Antarctica had already been catalogued before the Maverick Wars took place, it would make sense that no one would have any business on the "bottom of the world", except for those who had a real reason to.
And by that I mean no one unless they were either A) trying to create a new ice age with an insidious plot, or B) stop said ice age from ever occurring and/or acquiring any "booty" that's left lying around.
As for Ashe's dialogue, I'm trying to find the right mix of both "feminine" and "Hunter" elements to use when writing for her. Writing dialogue for a colorful character like Ashe is a tricky business (since all I have to go on is video game dialogue), but I hope I've managed. If did or not, let me know in a Review please.
Author's Notes:
*This bit here was taken from the first episode of Mega Man Beast, where the same thing happened to Lan. Only difference was that Lan had a jetpack.
**I don't know what onomatopoeia to use for the sound of a dog-like mechaniloid yelping.
***Like the Garm in the previous chapter, but with white armor and adapted to the snow, called Snow Garm.
****Alright, on the night before I actually bought Mega Man ZX Advent, I remember a piece of a dream I had where Bifrost's head was spinning like a drill and was tearing through stuff. I then remembered that members of the Crocodyliae family (commonly referred to as crocodiles) spin around on an axis once they have their jaws clamped shut around something, most often dubbed the "death roll", which is commonly used by both Crocodiles and Alligators when they need to tear their prey apart. There hasn't been anything to confirm that Bifrost's head can't spin on its axis, and the base of its neck behind his head honestly does look like the mouth of a jet engine, with his head mounted on the end of the spinning blades. For that reason I decided to add onto Bifrost's attack repertoire, but mainly because Poler Kamrous is the only pseudoroid close enough in size for something like this work without the target being spun around inside Bifrost's jaws.
*****This last part was actually inspired by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, from that one droid armed with the carbonite gas that Starkiller used to "freeze" it (after defeating it in the "action sequence") before smashing it into pieces. The melting at the end was my own touch, which I thought to be more believable in this instance than the usual "catastrophic detonation".
PROFILE
=Poler Kamrous
-Ice Ball – Half-Charge. Throws freezing snowball in overhead arc at nearest enemy.
-Ice Wall – Full-Charge. Creates a 3-hit-strong wall of ice directly in front. Spikes on top.
-Wall Crash – Use Slash attack on Ice Wall, sending ice shards forward.
-Freezing Hold – Grabs nearest enemy and blasts with freezing blast. 75% freeze status potential.
IN-GAME DETAILS
=Main/Sub - Claws (Melee
-3-Slash attack. Left, right, left.
-Wall Jump - N/A
-Jump – N/A
-Mobility - Same as Bifrost. Is not affected by ice.
-Element: Ice
-Weakness: Fire