Days Of Ruin17…Never Ending
I do not own Advance Wars or any of the series…if I did…I would add the ability to modify CO powers.
After the group had come back from Tabitha's test of power, it was already dark. They pretty much had a quiet trip back, other than the child's mumbling about food. The group decided that it was best to rest. Zene and Tabitha decided to sleep inside of the Arc with Bolt and the girl. Bolt and the girl slept in their pods and Zene and Tabitha brought their sleeping gear into the Arc storage area. Jugger and the automated forces patrolled the area in order to ensure the four had a peaceful sleep.
It was morning, Zene was the first to awake and Bolt followed soon after and the two girls were still sleeping in their pod/sleeping bag. Zene was up on the War Tank looking up at the still-clouded sky when Bolt climbed up to talk to him.
"I'm guessing that this is the strongest land unit on this planet?"
"Probably, though you'd want to talk to Tabitha about that. From what I know she was a CO from something…IDS."
"IDS?" Bolt asked, he sighed mentally at his habits.
"I don't know, probably some small military force, I never heard of them."
The two looked up at the dust clouds that covered up the planet. Zene stared sadly at the sky while Bolt stared in disgust.
"Zene. I'll ask you again…do you want a warless world?"
"Yes. I want to live in a peaceful world and I want certain people to live in that world too."
"Well then, let us make a promise? You take control of the raiders and unite the world. I'll do my best as an advisor and soldier." He made the promise and held out his hand. Zene smiled and grasped Bolt's hand and made his promise.
"Lets wake the girls up, we need to rescue survivors from the ruins." Bolt smiled at his first order.
Tabitha woke up when she felt something poking her head; it was the girl that was with bolt. 'Did she have a name?' She got up and looked at her, she was too energetic for someone in the middle of an apocalypse. The girl's short stature reminded Tabitha of her sister Penny, though not as energetic. Tabitha was the first to speak.
"I saw you with Bolt yesterday, what's your name?" She asked kindly, she showed kindness only to certain people and children were included. The girl tilted her head and began thinking.
"I'm a modified version of my kind, so I guess you can call me 238B"
"You only have a batch number?" Tabitha was a little shocked; the initial shock was lessened since Bolt had said before that she was a creation of his.
"No. The number was there already, I just added the 'B' since I'm different than my brothers and sisters!" She said happily.
"So, where are your siblings?" 238B thought again, tilting her head.
"They're back on Bolt's planet!" She's said happily.
"So they're dead?" She said sadly.
"Nope! We're immortal and won't die unless we get blown to bits!" Her happiness really didn't match what she said.
Tabitha's jaw dropped. 'They got immortal soldiers?' 238B talked again.
"As long as my siblings don't get blown up, they can eat as much as they want! Come, I want to feed you too!" 238B pulled on Tabitha's hand and headed to the hanger door.
Zene and Bolt were walking up the ramp when they saw Tabitha being pulled forward by a small girl.
"H-hey! Slow down!"
"Let's eat!"
The guys looked confused at the sight, it was a weird, but happy scene. The oozium girl was pulling Tabitha and the height difference didn't make walking any easier. 238B noticed the two guys standing on the ramp.
"Hey! Lets eat! I wanna feed you!" Bolt looked confused for a moment before remembering how she 'ate' and 'fed' people." Bolt turned around and headed down.
"Zene and Tabitha! She'll show you something surprising, so head down." Bolt said, back to the three.
The group gathered in front of one of the forest trees.
"We have some rations on our Tank, you don't need to eat trees." Zene said jokingly.
Bolt chuckled. "Save them for later. Girl!" He called out to the oozium girl and she smiled hungrily at the tree.
"Breakfast!" She placed her hand on the tree and it disintegrated, leaving a similar shaped hole the last time she 'ate'.
"Ah!" Zene and Tabitha were shocked at the sudden disappearance of the tree. The girl walked up to three more trees and 'ate' them and then headed back to the group.
"I'll feed you three!" She grabbed the hands of Zene, Tabitha and Bolt. They were engulfed in a faint light and were 'resupplied' in a sense.
"I'll explain what just happened." Bolt said as he held up his hand to prevent a barrage of questions.
"I was surprised the first time she did that to me. So just listen, no questions for now. She was a modified version of a weapon, Oozium 238, instead of consuming and destroying like the original, this girl is modified to consume and resupply. Any questions regarding the girl?"
"Not anymore." Zene said.
"She has a name you know, well a number." Tabitha pulled 238B over and stroked her hair.
"I'm 238B!" She said as Tabitha groomed her.
"How objectifying…it will do for now." Bolt raised an eyebrow then lowered it and continued.
"Before we set off I will need to teach Zene how to use his own ability. But may I ask first, Zene, what are your abilities in battle? I'll have to compensate if you don't have any."
"That question is easy to answer, I give my units a small boost in defense and attack and moving in harsh terrain doesn't affect my units." Bolt raised an eyebrow at the movement bonus. 'Sounds familiar…I'll check Jugger's database later...when I find the time.'
"Ok then, we're off to a great start. I'll tell you the basics of using your power, it may sound pretty simple but it depends heavily on the mentality of the user. For example, strong emotions birth strong abilities, but the stronger the ability, the older you have to be. There are some exceptions such as using experience as a substitute for age and vice versa. You are granted two abilities, the first is usually formed during your childhood and this is usually weak due to the lack of information on how to form it, like my first ability. Short Circuit." Bolt held out his hand and sparks flew out of his palm. He continued on.
"You saw my second ability before. Ex Machina. I had waited until I had aged enough and saw enough battles until I developed it. Once you have the knowledge on how to make an ability, all that is left is to age or gain experience, either in war or in life. Usually if you think of life experiences you end up with supportive abilities, such as healing units or refueling units. And if you think about war experiences when you make your ability, you end up with abilities that can alter damage taken/given or devastating abilities like my Ex Machina." Bolt was teaching the inner workings to Zene because he wants him to be a strong leader, strong enough to end wars.
"I'll now move onto the hands on section on how to form your first ability. Most of the time the first ability is unleashed without the user knowing and if this is the case then it is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because it doesn't require that much effort now since the difficulty lies with the initial creation. Bad, because you don't know what you created, so it's a mystery. It won't ruin your chances at creating an ability if we check if you already created an ability." Bolt called out to Jugger.
"Jugger! I want you here so I can do a diagnostic on this guy's CO power!"
-Understood- The Megatank drove up and loomed over the group. Tabitha and 238B were grooming each other, uninterested at the guy's conversation. Bolt looked around and picked up a small meteorite shard, no smaller than a pebble, meditated for a while and turned to Zene.
"I want you to follow my instructions exactly. First, get on the tank." Zene went up and climbed up onto the triple-barreled turret.
"Second, catch this and hold it." Bolt threw up the meteorite shard to Zene. Zene caught it and held it in his fist.
"Third, meditate and clear your mind of any thoughts." Zene complied; he untied his gas mask and put it on. When he felt the relaxation roll over his body he closed his eyes. 'Ahh…been a while since I put it on.'
"Fourth, try to feel your internal energy, it should feel like an extra internal organ…that's the best I can put it in words." Zene frowned and tried to feel the energy inside him, it felt like strings." The feeling of touching without using your body was strange to him. 'I think this is what he meant.' Zene gave a nod, his eyes still shut.
"Fifth, take hold of the energy and do whatever you want with it. I know its vague, my energy was in the form of a button." Zene felt one string and plucked it, he felt it vibrate and his meditation was soon broken.
-CO power detected- Bolt grinned.
"Seems like you had an ability already! It's a shame that we couldn't make one. Jugger! Commence Diagnostic Test!"
-Initiating CO Diagnostic Test- Jugger's voice announced the start of the procedure. Bolt guided the two girls up the ramp so they could see the test.
-Checking Fuel Levels- … -No Changes-
-Checking Defensive Plates- … -Minimal Increase-
-Checking Predicted Movement- … -Terrain Costs Lowered To That Of Roads- … -Movement Range Unchanged-
-Checking Damage Levels- … -No Changes-
-Checking Hull Integrity- … -No Changes-
-Loading Single Shell For Test Purposes-
"Tabitha, 238B I'm placing my bet that he can score a 120% Damage Rating on the test." Bolt said grinning.
"I think he'll remain unchanged." 238B said, her attention directed at Jugger.
"Zene will get the highest! I wouldn't be with him if he was weak!" Tabitha said proudly. On the inside she hoped that it would be an increase, any increase in damage. 'Actually I would've stayed with him even if he was weak…he did save me…' She blushed a bit at her thoughts.
-Loaded-
-Moving Units Away From Range- … -Complete-
-Initiating Attack-
-3-
-2-
-1-
Sparks began to form in front of the center barrel. The sparks arced onto the main cannon. The sparks were now blue like plasma. The center barrel of the Megatank's main turret was covered in plasma-blue electrical veins. The veins pulsed and the cannon fired. Plasma-blue gas escaped from the barrel as the projectile exited the barrel. A distortion in the air radiated out from the barrel and a sonicboom followed soon after. The projectile was not the standard Black Hole tank round that it was once before…it was now white. The white projectile disintegrated after a short while…but not before leaving a scorched line of trees and earth right in front of the Megatank.
-Processing Data- … -Processing Data- … -Complete-
-Reporting CO Power Diagnostic Test Results-
-120% Defense Rating, Movement Costs Reduced To Roads, 250%+ Attack Rating. –
Jugger's report finished. Zene, Tabitha, Bolt, and 238B stared in awe at the incinerated patch of forest and earth. Zene stood atop the turret, awestruck at his powers. Tabitha stared in awe at how Zene exceeded her hopes. Bolt stared in awe at how Zene's ability surpassed even some CO's advanced abilities he faced before. 238B stared in horror as her 'food' was burnt, she was the first to speak up.
"You burnt perfectly good food!" She yelled at Zene. Bolt ruffled her hair and tried to calm her down.
"There are plenty of trees left. So don't worry."
"Yes Bolt." She said reluctantly. She was still mad at Zene for burning her food.
"Zene! I want to speak with you when you're done gawking!" Bolts words made Zene snap back to reality. He climbed down the tank and went up to the three at the ramp.
"Zene, I helped you with your ability. In an actual battle I will not be giving you the energy needed to activate your ability. You will have to gather your own power by yourself, either emotional power or get them from objects. My first ability, Short Circuit, lets me fuel my power from the meteorite shards, so it's best for you to rely on emotional power. Any emotion will do, it just has to be a strong enough emotion."
"I knew it wasn't that easy." Zene said. Bolt called out to Jugger.
"Prepare for departure! We will be heading off to the ruins to search for survivors! And Close the Bolt Arc when we leave ok?"
-Understood-
A/N I just added a 'b' to the original Oozium 238 (Yes...no creativity i know...) Ehh...i tried my best to make some sense of CO abilities. Zene knows how to use his power...but he doesnt know how to activate it...for now. I personally think that this is overkill, so i'm going to limit its use on small skirmishes.