Snake and his group continued their journey to the next Smash Ball factory. They traveled all day, and now the sun had set. The night was coming.
"It's getting dark. I think it's about time we find somewhere to rest." Snake said.
"Are you sure? I mean we can keep moving." Ike replied.
"I prefer not to travel at night. It becomes difficult to be aware of your surroundings and it's much easier to get caught in an ambush. Besides, we're not in a rush."
"Well a little rest sounds nice. What do you think Peach?" Bayonetta asked.
"I agree. I'd like to give my legs a rest."
"Alright well if everyone else is on board, I am too." Ike said.
"Good. Let's find a spot to set up camp."
The group found an abandoned warehouse. Checking inside they found it was secure and would be a safe place to rest. Using some materials he found scattered across the wasteland as fuel, Snake set up a campfire for them.
"Quite the handyman, aren't you?" Bayonetta said.
"It's just something I learned in training." Snake responded. "Necessity is the mother of invention. Sometimes you've got to use whatever you have to get the job done."
"Well you have to teach me how to makeshift things. That sounds useful." Peach said.
"I'll teach you when we get back." Snake laughed. He looked over to Ike, also sitting near the fire. But he seemed to be lost in his thoughts, and whatever he was thinking about it was making him pissed.
"Hey, Ike!"
"Huh?" Ike's stammered as his focus came back to reality.
"You're looking a bit angry there. Is everything alright?"
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I'm just still kind of shocked about Palutena."
"Oh! The racist goddess?" Bayonetta labeled her.
"Yeah, who would have thought she'd be such a bigot?"
"Look I don't agree with her decision, but regardless it is her decision. If she wants to separate her world from ours then she can. As long as her world doesn't give us any problems, then I don't mind." Snake reasoned.
"Yeah. And besides we don't need her. Look at all the things we've done without her help!" Peach said to lighten the mood.
"Well I can't argue with that. We've certainly come a long way haven't we?" Ike grinned.
"I guess we have." Snake smiled.
"So how far from the factory do you think we are, Snake?" Bayonetta asked.
"We made pretty good ground today, so I'd say about a six hour walk tomorrow."
"Sounds great!" Peach cheered.
"Now hold on, don't get too excited just yet. It'll be a six hour walk if we don't get interrupted. I have to admit I'm surprised we didn't run into any trouble today, but I don't think we'll get lucky twice. Especially since this factory is located in uncharted territory. I've never been there before so I don't know what to expect."
"So what do we do if we don't know what to expect?" Peach asked.
"Expect anything. Just be able to face whatever we come across."
"That's a rather odd mentality, but it's better than just fearing the unknown." Bayonetta shrugged.
"That's right. It's better to be cautious than to be afraid. Now let's go ahead and get some sleep."
The sun went up and they immediately went back to traveling. After three hours they had made it into the region of uncharted territory. Not long after their arrival they were greeted with a very violent sight.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Ike said as he looked at a mob of people in the distance all engaged in a skirmish.
"They're fighting, that much I know." Snake said as he witnessed a man impale another man with a sword. "But they're all fighting each other. It's not a gang versus another gang, it's just one big battle royale."
"There are some using their fists, some using swords, and some using arm cannons…" Bayonetta trailed off as what she said sounded familiar to her.
"Oh my god! Those are Miis!" Peach gasped.
"Miis?" Snake questioned, not aware of what that meant.
"Remember the Alloys from the third tournament?" She asked.
"Those metallic things that we'd face during multi-man challenges? Yeah, I remember those."
"Well, these are Mii Fighters, and they replaced the alloys for the fourth tournament."
"Really? They look like people."
"Not just that. They acted like people too. Each one had a personality. Not all of them were fighters either. Some of them integrated into society, being civilians, having jobs." Ike explained.
"I see. So what's the problem with these guys?"
"I have no idea."
"Whatever the case is, they're in the way of where we need to be. What do we do Snake?" Bayonetta asked.
Snake continued watching the Miis engage in their civil war, rubbing his chin as he thought of how to handle the situation.
"We'll try to reason with them if possible. But if that turns out to be a lost cause…we have to eliminate them."
The others were saddened to hear that second option.
"Damn! I was afraid you might say that." Bayonetta frowned.
"I know; I don't want to do it either. I'd prefer to avoid conflict as much as possible, but right now these people look like blood-drunk killers. They may not stop at just killing each other, they could be a danger to civilians as well. We can't take any chances."
"Right. This is our duty." Ike said and brought out his sword. The others readied their weapons as well. "Let's get this over with."
The group walked towards the battle that continued raging on. There was now a good amount of corpses sprawled out on the battlefield. They were now very close to the Miis, and attempted to get their attention.
"Hey! Stop this!" Ike shouted.
"Why the hell are you all killing each other?!" screamed Bayonetta.
Despite their shouting, the Miis didn't even notice the four. They continued focusing on killing whoever their current target was. Seeing that shouting was going to get their attention, Snake drew out his pistol and shot to the sky. The loud blast stopped the Miis and they all turned to Snake.
"Would any of you care to tell me why you're all turning this spot into a bloodbath?" Snake questioned.
None of them spoke, just continuing to stare Snake down. But there was something about them that just looked off. Their faces and eyes show little to no emotion. They looked so lifeless, almost robotic. As if everything they did was pure instinct.
"Uh…can you speak?"
A Mii Brawler dashed towards Snake at high speed like a savage beast. He threw his fist forward, but Snake caught his hand and put him in an arm lock.
"It never can be that easy, can it?" Snake sighed. He threw the Brawler over his shoulder and onto the ground. A Swordsman came lunging his blade toward Snake. Ike stepped in and protected Snake by parrying the attack, knocking the sword out of the Mii's hands. Then Ike hit the Sword Mii with a massive kick to the face, knocking him into the Brawler that Snake had taken down. The Brawler then started wailing on the Swordman for unknown reasons. Then the other Miis also began fighting each other again, though several began approaching Snake and his companions.
"I don't think we'll be talking our way out of this." Peach deduced.
"Then let's put an end to this!" Bayonetta shouted and began opening fire alongside Peach.
Snake noticed a Gunner aiming for Bayonetta.
"Bayo!" He shouted and tossed her a reflector. She caught it and activated it just in time to deflect a charged shot back at the gunner. Ike dashed forward and cut down a few Miis, and blocked the attacks of a swordsman that approached him. Snake gunned down Ike's attacker down as well as a few more coming towards him. A Brawler attempted to get the jump on Snake from behind, but got shot down by Peach. A plasma shot nicked Snake in the shoulder, making him grunt in pain before shooting the attacking Gunner in retaliation. Two more fighters approached Snake, both of which he attacked with his machete. Peach grouped up with Snake to assist him.
"You all right Snake?"
"Yeah. Just a scratch."
Peach stabbed another attacker with her combat knife, and followed with killing several more with her pistol. A Brawler managed to sneak in a kick to her gut. Snake caught her before she fell down, and killed her attacker with a headshot.
"Back on your feet soldier!"
"Thanks Snake."
"Ike! Bayo! Group up on us!" Snake ordered.
"Got it!" The two said and began making their way towards Snake in the midst of battle. Miis got in their way as they attempted to unite with Snake and Peach. Ike parried an attack and followed with a riposte, impaling the MIi. He kicked the Mii's body off of his blade. But after doing so, a swordsman managed to slice at Ike's back with the very tip of its blade. Before Ike or Bayonetta could retaliate though, the attacker was tackled by another Mii and then killed by it, a reminder that this group wasn't really on the same team.
"Ike! Is it bad?" Bayonetta asked in concern as she helped Ike up.
"No, thankfully. Wasn't a deep cut." He assured. "Let's group up with Snake and Peach."
The group finally managed to unite on the battlefield. But this fight had been going on for almost an hour and a half.
"Damn this is exhausting!" Bayonetta said.
"I know, but there aren't that many left. Thankfully while we were fighting, they were still killing each other." Ike replied.
"I'm only counting ten still alive." Snake reported as he examined the battlefield. "Let's put an end to this."
Mounting one last offensive, the group succeeded in eliminating all hostiles in the area with relative ease.
"It's over." Peach sighed with relief. "Did anyone get injured?"
"I got grazed on the back, but it's nothing that will slow me down." Ike said.
"Let me take a look at it." Snake requested. Ike turned around and let Snake examine the injury. "Yeah it's a small cut. Let's take care of it just to be safe."
Taking out his first-aid kit, Snake pulled out a disinfectant spray and a bandage.
"This may sting a little." Snake warned and sprayed the cut, applying the bandage afterwards. "There you go. You're patched up."
"Thanks."
"I can't believe what just happened." Peach said sadly.
"Me either. What in the world happened to the poor fools?" Bayonetta asked.
"Whenever you fought them in multi-man battles, were they always like that?" Snake asked.
"Like what?"
"It's hard to say but the way they acted was very animalistic. Like they weren't even thinking about what they were doing, they were just fighting out of instinct. They attacked like beasts, not even knowing friend or foe."
"No. We've never seen them act so aggressive." Peach answered.
"I see. Well in any case the factory isn't that far away so we have to keep moving. We'll have to find out more about this later."
"Right. And who knows? Maybe we'll learn more on the way." Ike shrugged.
After an hour of traveling the group had made it to the entrance of the warehouse.
"Damn! The door's locked!" Peach cursed as she tried to enter.
"Stand back, I'll take care of it." Ike grinned as Peach stepped to the side. With one clean slice, Ike cut the door in half and kicked the pieces down.
"Well that's one way to unlock a door." Bayonetta laughed.
The group entered the warehouse, but one of the first things they saw was five Miis. They instinctively raised their weapons, preparing for another fight.
"Please don't shoot!" A female Mii shouted, her and the others in a corned cowering in fear.
Snake was surprised to hear her speak, as the Miis they encountered didn't say a word.
"Weapons down team." Snake ordered.
"She seems to still be sane." Bayonetta said.
"Okay calm down! Sorry to scare you but we weren't sure what to expect. We won't hurt any of you." Peach assured to calm the Miis down. They seemed to finally relax. "I'm Peach. And this is Snake, Ike and Bayonetta. What's your name?"
"I'm…I'm Samantha." She said. "How did the four of you make it here? Surely you must of run into the Hunters."
"The Hunters? You mean a large group of Mii fighters in the Wasteland?" Snake questioned.
"Yes that's right."
"We had to take them down. We tried to talk them down but they wouldn't listen I'm afraid."
"They're gone? Oh thank goodness!"
"Were they the reason you five bunkered down in this warehouse?"
"That's right. After they went berserk, we were in danger so we went into hiding."
"So they weren't always like that?"
"That's right." An old man entered the conversation. "Oh! Pardon me! Where are my manners? My name is Harold."
"It's alright Harold. Please continue."
"The Hunters were a group of Mii fighters that hunted and protected us civilians from vile beasts that roamed the Wasteland. They were good, noble people."
"That would explain why you call them the Hunters. So what went wrong?"
"About a month ago, the beasts stopped appearing. The threats were gone, and the Hunters didn't have anything to fight. Then they started acting differently. They were aggressive, hostile, just unsettling to be around. And not too long after that, they became what you saw out there." The man frowned.
"Did any of the Hunters not go insane?" Ike asked.
"Yes. Gerald, the leader of the Mii Hunters stayed sane. In fact, he's here with us, just in the other room."
"Alright, maybe we should ask him a few questions to find out more about this. But above all else we need to get Crazy Hand's pages." Snake said to the group.
They entered an office room to find Gerald. A rugged looking Mii dressed in a longcoat and a gun at his waist, sitting on a desk chair.
"So you four put my comrades to rest?" Gerald said before any of the others could say a word. "Don't worry. The walls don't have ears. They're just very thin."
"We're very sorry…" Peach frowned.
"Don't be, I'm glad you did it. They were dangerous. If they weren't killing each other, then they would've started killing other people. And that also means I can move these people back to the settlement now that the road's clear."
"They said that this started happening about a month ago. I don't think that's a coincidence." Snake said.
"You're damn right it's no coincidence. That's when the monsters stopped showing up. There used to be mutant beasts all over the place. So that's why I started up the Hunters, so that we could protect people from these monsters. That's my motivation anyway. Now I'm starting to think that a lot of Miis joined up just so they could fight something." Gerald explained.
"What makes you think that?" Bayonetta asked.
"We Miis were created and designated with a purpose by Master Hand. Mii fighters of course, were created for fighting. And unless we find our own goals or purpose, then our purpose will always be to fight. So what happens when a Mii fighter runs out of things to fight? If they didn't find another purpose other than fighting, then what would they do?"
"I'd imagine they'd have a major existential crisis." Snake replied.
"Exactly! They begin to question themselves, wondering what they're supposed to do. If they don't have fighting, they feel like they have nothing. And slowly but surely, the need to fight something grows. And then they snap! They lose self-control and just start attacking anything in sight. They become what they used to fight…beasts."
"But there are still Mii fighters out there that haven't lost it yet. Is it possible to save them?" Peach asked.
"If you can help them find a new purpose in their life, then they'll be fine. But once they go feral, there's no coming back." Gerald warned.
"I think we should set up some sort of program to help Mii fighters." Peach said.
"I agree. We'll need to set one up in each U.R. settlement, maybe even further than that if we can." Snake replied.
"So you people are part of the United Republic I've been hearing about?" Gerald asked.
"That's right."
"Well I appreciate what you've done for us today, but I have a feeling you didn't come here to deal with the feral Hunters. So why are you here? In this factory specifically?"
"We're looking for some documents related to Crazy Hand and we think they might be here. Would you mind if we looked around?"
"Knock yourselves out. This isn't our property; we've just been using it for shelter. I'll be taking the others to the Onett settlement soon."
"Alright. Stay safe."
"You too."
After Gerald left the room, the group looked around for the documents. It didn't take them long; it was right in one of the shelves. Now it was time to see what was written.