Book 9: Blasting Through the Stars
Chapter 2: A Broken Planet
Planet Flosante
On the broken planet of Flosante, Ashe and Megaman Volnutt were just about finished repairing an abandoned Launch Point with Samus' space gunship parked nearby.
"Alright, that should do it." Volnutt informed while closing the Launch Point's control panel. "It should be operational for Geiz's team to use."
"I'm surprised something like this is here on a broken planet." Ashe remarked. Hopefully Samus and Grey find any survivors, or maybe map data of Flosante."
"Until then, we need to wait for the others to arrive before we begin exterminating the mutant guardians." Volnutt stated.
"Incoming vehicles of four approaching our location." Samus' AI, Adam, informed from the gunship.
"And wait time's over." Ashe grinned as they looked above and saw the four vehicles approaching.
The three MAs performed a crash landing, generating green gaia particles that went inside the MAs, while the Time Mazine took a slow landing.
"Oi! Watch where your landing those battletanks!" Ashe scolded the MA drivers inside with her fist raised. "Are you trying to crush us?!"
"Sorry, just wanted to test out the hydraulics and the Gaia System." Jason spoke from inside G-SOPHIA.
"At least give us a warning first…" Ashe sighed.
"...Oops."
"See? Told you we should give them a heads-up of our arrival." Geiz stated from inside the Time Mazine.
"I'll put a mental note on that."
"Where's Samus and Grey by the way?" Copen asked from inside G-Byakko.
"They scouted around the broken planet for survivors, mutant guardians or map data." Volnutt answered.
"Is it because of the launcher terminal we saw before landing here?" Gunvolt guessed, earning a nod from the Blue Bomber.
"The two were gone for five minutes. They should return shortly." Adam informed.
"Thanks, Adam." Geiz replied. "In that case, let's wait here until they return."
"Actually, I see them right now!" Charlotte corrected as Samus and Grey in their battlesuits arrived.
"Oh, you're here." Samus greeted. "Looks like you got my message."
"We didn't take too long, did we?" Cecilia asked.
"Don't worry, you're just in time." Grey assured.
"So about your scouting on this broken planet. Status report, please." Laura requested.
"...No survivors, unfortunately." Samus replied as she and Grey shook their heads. "All we see are mutants."
"But we did find something else." Grey took out something from his pocket; a green hexagonal object. "A LIFE-UP for the MAs and Jason's suit."
"Nice find, guys!" Eve praised. "Just bring that to me and I'll download them onto the MAs and Jason's suit."
"You got it." Grey nodded as he approached G-SOPHIA.
"Still can't believe you have your own MA now, Ix." Ashe turned to the white MA.
"Wanna get one for yourself, Ashe?" Lola offered.
"Maybe some other time, we got a job to do."
"By the way Jason…" Samus spoke. "I can't believe you used mutant fibres on your suit. Are you trying to copy the style of my Fusion Suit?"
"Well if it worked for you against the X-Parasites and the Metroids, then maybe it'll work for me against the mutants." Jason replied as Eve does her work after retrieving the LIFE-UP from Grey. "Don't worry, I've already done the tests and they work just fine."
"If you say so. You're the scientist, after all." Samus shrugged.
"...Aaand done. LIFE-UP download complete." Eve informed.
"Alright team, time to exterminate some mutants." Geiz declared.
"Finally we get to go on the offensive!" Ashe cheered with her arms raised.
"You really are itching for another adventure, huh?" Vent asked.
"It's already been a month, Vent!" Ashe replied. "Sure, the adventure in the Color-Verse is nice, but I miss adventuring in our own multiverse."
"Speaking of which, Ashe mentioned that you met the other MegaMen and Bayonetta in that other multiverse." Samus recalled. "Been a while since I fought the Umbra Witch of this multiverse in the last Smash Bros. tournament."
"Ja, she's pretty strong according to Zeo and Akira since they went to her world." Bronya recalled.
"Heh. Good to know she's still got it." Samus smirked. "Anyway, Grey and I will stay here and take a break. Ashe, Volnutt, if you wanna go with the others, go right ahead."
"I plan to." Ashe smirked, punching her open palm. "Got room for me, Geiz?"
"No problem, hop in." Geiz replied as Ashe went to the Time Mazine.
"Volnutt, wanna board G-SOPHIA?" Jason asked.
"Sure thing." Volnutt nodded before heading for the red MA.
"Alright everyone, follow my lead!" Jason said as his MA moved ahead.
"Roger!" The other drivers complied as the three vehicles followed suit.
"Go kick some mutant butt, guys." Samus nodded. "C'mon, Grey. Let's go check out the launch terminal for a bit. Ashe and Volnutt should be done fixing it while we're busy."
"Right behind you, Samus." Grey replied as the two head for the Launch Point.
(Play BGM: Flosante: Flying High - Blaster Master Zero 2 OST)
After the vehicles went through a tunnel after shooting down breakable blocks, they encountered a crab mutant with an armoured shell.
"This must be one of the new mutants Samus and Grey saw during their scouting." Ashe informed. "I think a dose of something explosive should do the trick."
"Time to give those Warhead Missiles a workout." Jason said. "GV, Ix, care to join me?"
"Roger!" The two drivers complied as the three MAs fired their Warhead Missiles at the mutant, destroying it before it could counter.
"Hmm… this one didn't put up much of a fight compared to that crab mutant guardian." Charlotte commented.
"Be thankful we did not encounter an army of those guardians." Bronya stated. "Resuming exploration."
The vehicles then pressed onwards, leaping up platforms and destroying more crab mutants with missiles until they reached another tunnel. After going through the tunnel, Eve found something on G-SOPHIA's sensors. "Heads up, guys. SOPHIA'S sensors are picking up an item below us."
"Is there an entry point somewhere?" Gunvolt asked.
Geiz saw on his monitor a ladder at a distance with another crab mutant patrolling the area. "That ladder should do it. Though we need to clear out that mutant first."
"So who's going to take the ladder?" Copen asked.
"I think my team will handle it." Jason answered. "Cecilia, Volnutt, wanna come with?"
"Sure!/No problem." The two replied.
"Then I'll stay with the others near the ladder." Eve deduced. "Good luck, guys."
"Leave it to us, Eve." Jason replied.
Once the patrolling mutant had been dealt with, the vehicles parked near the ladder as Jason, Cecilia in her IS and Volnutt, all with helmets on and went down the ladder. From there, they saw a four-legged machine walker mutant guarding the domain entrance across some floating platforms.
"A walker mutant. Well that's new." Volnutt observed.
"Cecilia?" Jason requested.
"With pleasure." Cecilia complied, taking aim with her beam sniper rifle. And with a single charged shot, the mutant was destroyed with ease. "I am loving this upgrade to my rifle." She smiled at her weapon.
"Even better if you fuse two of them together, but only in certain situations." Jason stated.
"Alright, time to enter the domain." Volnutt declared as they navigated across the platforms and entered the domain.
(BGM End)
(Play BGM: Flosante: Falling Down - Blaster Master Zero 2 OST)
Once inside, they find themselves in a large floating terrain along with a nearby wall with a crack on the center blocking their path.
"I got this." Volnutt stepped forward, equipping the Arrogant Fang weapon as the lance spun into a drill and smashed the cracked wall with one thrust. "I know I miss my Drill Arm, but this is way better."
As they moved onwards while destroying the lesser mutants, they found a few floating rocks, each with a glowing gem.
"Floating rocks, huh?" Volnutt observed. "I wonder what happens if we destroy those gems?"
"Let's find out." Cecilia answered, firing a sniper shot at the Gem. Once it was shattered, the rock fell and was smashed to pieces after touching the ground, letting out a shockwave. "Ah, so it's some kind of floating gem. Though that shockwave looked painful. We should let the others know about this after we leave."
The others nodded before pressing ahead. Soon, their path was blocked by a corrupted drone with an energy shield on the front.
"A shield drone, huh?" Jason observed as he stepped forward. "Stay back, I can handle this one."
"You know a way to penetrate that shield instead of attacking it from behind?" Volnutt guessed.
"Just watch." Jason smirked, firing a single shot from his G-Rifle. Once it struck the shield, it fired back with a shot of its own. But right before it landed on Jason, his cape glowed blue and his visor turned yellow as he swerved to the side as time slowed down from his point of view and fired a charged counter shot that destroyed the drone before the colours and time returned to normal.
"Whoa…" Cecilia and Volnutt remarked in awe.
"This is the result of weaving the mutant fibres onto my suit. The Blast Counter." Jason explained. "But it has a limit so I can't overuse it."
"It's still pretty cool to see though!" Volnutt remarked.
"Hmm…" Cecilia pondered after witnessing the Blast Counter. "To think that weaving mutant fibres onto the suit could result into something like this… I wonder…"
"Hm?" Jason noticed the IS pilot pondering. "Something on your mind, Cecilia?"
Cecilia shook off her thoughts and waved off before answering. "O-Oh! It's nothing. Let's just carry on, shall we?"
The two guys looked at each other in confusion before going after the British pilot who went ahead. They soon discovered a large group of rocks in one place after leaping across a bottomless pit which caused Jason's sensor on his helmet to ring. "Guys, the item we're looking for is in that rock pile." He informed. "But we'll need to break them carefully or we'll risk breaking the map data by accident."
"A gentle touch, huh?" Cecilia mused.
"I can do that. Just a few gentle chops should do the trick." Volnutt volunteered, gently breaking the rocks with karate chops left and right. Eventually, he found a green data chip and picked it up. "Found it!"
"A green data chip. That means it's for the map data." Jason deduced. "Right, let's head back to the others."
"One quick trip back to the vehicles, coming right up." Cecilia took out her Zikan Phone set to Blaster Mode and fired a wormhole nearby, allowing the group to walk inside.
(BGM End)
"Welcome back, guys." Eve greeted the arrivals that came from the wormhole. "So what was the item you found in that domain?"
"Map data for Planet Flosante and its domains." Jason showed off the data chip. "You know what to do, Eve."
"Alright, hop in."
After Jason's team boarded G-SOPHIA, Jason gave the map data to Eve and downloaded them onto the vehicles. Once the downloads were completed, Jason looked at the map of the planet on the navigation screen. "Let's see… Two mutant guardians on the top…" He looked at a mutant icon on the top of the map and another one on the top left. "Then we have an item in there…" He then looked at a blue dot at a domain icon near the mutant one and the Restore Point icon. "Though I wonder what's with those tunnels on the right?" He turned to the tunnel icons on the right of the map before turning to the smaller screens showing Geiz, Gunvolt and Copen. "Any ideas on where to proceed?"
"The mutant and item icons are top priority, especially the former since they contain data chips upon defeating them." Copen stated. "Though I will admit, I'm a bit curious about what's beyond the tunnels on the right."
"How about I take my team to check those tunnels out?" Geiz volunteered. "You guys go after the guardians and the item. "I'll head back to the Launch Point once I'm done."
"Alright then." Gunvolt nodded. "You go on ahead. The rest of us will debate on which domain to explore."
"Okay, see you guys later!" Geiz replied, turning off the screen as the Time Mazine took off.
"Now then, where do you guys want to go?" Jason asked. "Because I want to take down a mutant guardian this time."
"In that case, you can handle the top one." Copen replied. "GV, is it okay if I handle the other guardian? I want to test out my new gear in a real fight."
"Sure thing, Ix." Gunvolt nodded. "Guess that means my team will go get that item instead."
"Then it's settled." Jason said. "We'll all rendezvous back at the launch terminal once we're finished. Best of luck, guys."
"You too, Jason./Catch you later." Copen and Gunvolt replied before turning off their screens.
"Okay…" Jason turned to the others while G-Rairyu and G-Byakko went ahead. "Besides Eve, should I bring both of you or just one?"
"I think you should just bring either Charlotte or Volnutt." Eve suggested. "Sure, I can protect myself now, but a little bit of company would help."
"She does have a point there." Volnutt agreed. "That being said, I'm going to stay with Eve, if that's okay with you."
"Cecilia?" Jason asked.
"As long as Eve is safe, then we can rest easy." Cecilia replied. "Let's get the job done, Jason."
"Then it's decided." Jason replied back before taking the MA's controls and head out. "Let's move."
Meanwhile with Gunvolt's team aboard G-Rairyu, the MA traversed through the floating terrain, including ones that were created by shooting the glowing gems at the rocks. They also had to deal with more crab and walker mutants along the way. By the time they reached the entrance to the domain, they were ambushed by a locust swarm, but they were obliterated by GV's Flashfield before they could touch the MA.
"Phew. Nice save there, GV." Aile praised before shuddering. "Ugh… swarms are the worst."
"You know, I feel like this MA amplified more power to your Septima than before." Vent remarked.
"I think Ix remembered that fight against the mutant toad guardian where GV used his Septima enhanced Spark Tackle to kill it." Joule recalled.
"Yeah, it was so satisfying." Gunvolt agreed. "Anyway, who's coming with me to get that item?"
"I'll go with you, GV." Aile volunteered. "I feel like trying out a Double MegaMerge against those mutants."
"Alright, then I'll stay here and watch over the MA." Vent noted. "Have fun, you two."
"Oh, we definitely will." Gunvolt smirked as he and Aile in her Model X armor got out of the MA and went inside the domain.
Once inside, they were immediately met with shield drones that fired energy projectiles. While Aile dodged the projectiles, Gunvolt immediately dashed right behind the drones with lightning speed, and used his Luxcalibur to destroy them with a single slash.
"Well that was a nasty surprise." Aile remarked.
"I'll say." Joule agreed. "They're really getting aggressive, huh?"
"These mutants are not like the ones we've encountered on Earth, so don't let your guard down." Gunvolt stated.
"Mm." Aile nodded as they continued onwards.
As they reached the next area while dealing with more shield drones, the door closed behind them the moment they stepped inside, causing more mutants and shield drones to appear via wormholes, including a red turret drone.
"An ambush already?!" Model X gasped from Aile's helmet.
"If GV is going for speed…" Aile took out Model F. "...then I'm going for power. Model F, it's time!"
"Finally! I've been itching for a fight!" Model F spoke in Fefnir's voice.
"Model X, Model F, Double MegaMerge!"
"Biolink Established! M.E.G.A. System Online!" Model X and F announced as Aile began to glow in orange flames. Once the flames dispersed, she now donned Model FX, consisting of an orange armor, the head guard having two yellow large protrusions running perpendicular of one another that covered the front and back, a small guard covering the jewel in the center, two upward forward-facing horns that are placed on the back with two smaller ones on the lower portion, giving it the appearance of a horned dragon's crest. She also wields a pair of hand cannons called the Knuckle Busters.
"Whoa." Gunvolt remarked in awe.
"You know, if Fefnir were here to see this, he'd be impressed." Joule added.
"They do realise I'm still here in spirit, right?" Model F questioned.
"Joule can't hear you. Only the Chosen MegaMen can." Model X reminded.
"Meh, whatever. Now let's go shoot stuff down!"
"GV, take care of the drones! Leave everything else to me!" Aile ordered, aiming her hand cannons at the mutants.
"Roger!" Gunvolt complied, rushing towards the drones in blinding speed with his Luxcalibur ready. He effortlessly evaded the oncoming projectiles before destroying them with slashes from behind.
As for Aile, she fired powerful buster shots at the mutants before they could even attack, and even destroyed a group of them by launching a bomb from her cannon that latched onto one of the mutants before exploding with a large blast radius.
Once the threats were eliminated, the door in front of them opened. "Man, that felt good." Aile smiled, looking at her hand cannons.
"Wasn't expecting that form to fire bombs." Gunvolt remarked.
"Ashe did mention that function when she A-Trans into Model F." Aile explained.
"Ah, that explains it." Gunvolt noted before the two moved onwards.
They continue to eliminate mutants in their path while also destroying the floating rocks. Eventually, they reached the end of the area where they saw a purple data chip being guarded by two shield drones.
"There's the data chip, but we need to get rid of those two first." Gunvolt observed the drones guarding the chip.
"Let me handle this, GV." Aile replied, aiming her hand cannons upwards and fired as the shots destroyed the drones from above with precision. "You may not know this, but Model F can control the trajectory of the buster shots, which is why I was able to hit them from above without moving an inch."
"Now that's cool. No way my Dart Leader can do that." Gunvolt remarked, approaching the data chip and scanned it using his Zikan Phone after retrieving it. "Huh, well this is new."
"What's up?" Aile asked.
"This data chip has coordinates of resource planetoids in this sector of space."
"Planetoids, huh? What should we do?"
"Let's head back to the launch terminal and wait for the others. We'll tell them about this later." Gunvolt replied, putting the chip in his pocket and fired a wormhole nearby.
"Gotcha." Aile nodded, reverting back to Model X as the two went inside the wormhole.
Meanwhile with Jason's team aboard G-SOPHIA, the MA traversed the area, leaping onto floating platforms and using its hovering while also shooting down mutants. Eventually, they reached the entrance to the domain.
"Alright, we're here." Jason informed. "Eve, Volnutt, if something comes up while Cecilia and I are inside, contact us."
"Roger." Eve and Volnutt replied.
"We'll be back soon." Cecilia said as she and Jason left the MA with their suits on and went inside the domain.
Upon entering the domain, they encountered a few mutant spiders… that were immediately shot down by Cecilia.
"Spiders… Why did it have to be bloody spiders?!" Cecilia complained, holding her beam sniper rifle.
"Wanna bet the mutant guardian is a spider queen?" Jason asked.
"If it is, I will show no mercy to it and its swarm. Let's get moving." Cecilia replied before moving ahead.
"At least wait for me to catch up first!" Jason quickly went after her.
They soon discover a floating rock above a spike pit. "Aren't you going to use your jet boots?" Cecilia asked.
"I would, but I want to try a different method of going across." Jason replied, aiming his rifle at the rock's gem. After one shot, the rock dropped onto the pit, creating a bridge. "There we go. I'll need to remember this method as we move ahead."
The two traversed deeper into the domain, clearing out more mutants, and creating more rock bridges by destroying the rock's gems. Although for some areas, Jason used his jet boots to leap across bottomless pits while Cecilia simply hovered across in her IS, saving valuable time. Moments later, they find themselves in a recharge terminal with a spider web bridge ahead.
"A spider web bridge…" Cecilia observed after the two used the recharge terminal. "So there really is a spider queen in charge of this domain."
"Well then, let's get to work." Jason declared as the two went across the web bridge.
Once they reached the end, they saw a large light blue tarantula with six yellow eyes, a pair of yellow chelicerae, twelve tentacle-like appendages, six three-toed legs, yellow spinnerets, and a large amount of mutant spider Cogmockula eggs on the carapace of its cephalothorax; some of these eggs are cracked, ready to hatch.
"Okay, that's not just a mutant spider. That's a tarantula!" Cecilia observed.
"And it's carrying spider mutant eggs on its back." Jason added. "Some of them are going to hatch soon."
"Jason, if those hatchlings appear, shoot them down for me while I handle the tarantula."
"Gotcha." Jason nodded, setting his rifle to Splasher Shot, while Cecilia prepared her beam sniper rifle.
"Alright you bloody insect. If you're the one responsible for shattering this planet, then we'll make sure you won't do the same to Earth!" Cecilia shouted at the mutant tarantula, letting out a roar.
=WARNING=
THE LAIR OF
"THE WEB OF DESTRUCTION"
=MOCKRANTULA=
(Play BGM: Cosmic Cataclysm - Blaster Master Zero 2 OST)
The mutant tarantula immediately launched its eggs that quickly hatched into spider hatchlings to attack them. As Jason quickly destroyed the hatchlings with his Splasher Shot, the tarantula lunged its appendages at him. However, Cecilia split her four laser drones into eight and intercepted the appendages with spread lasers which destroyed them, while the IS pilot fired charged shots at the mutant's face.
After taking heavy damage, the mutant launched webs above the bottomless pits and leaped onto one of the webs before crawling away while launching more hatchlings that fired red projectiles at the two.
Jason switched his shot to Absorber Shot to absorb the oncoming projectiles while Cecilia's drones shot down the hatchlings. Cecilia then fired her rifle at the tarantula, but it was too fast.
"Tch…! Slippery little…!" Cecilia muttered with gritted teeth while still firing at the tarantula.
"We need to find a way to slow that mutant down." Jason thought as he watched Cecilia having trouble landing a hit. But then he turned to the spider webs the mutant created. "I wonder…" He used the absorbed projectiles to fire at the webs, causing them to break.
The mutant tarantula realised too late that the webs on the front were breaking, forcing it to leap back to the center of the arena.
"I don't think so!" Cecilia retaliated by launching her drones to pierce its belly before it could touch the ground. While the drones slowly lifted the mutant tarantula upwards while firing lasers that pierced through its belly, Cecilia flew near the mutant's face, materialised another beam sniper rifle, fused them together into a twin buster rifle and aimed at its face while charging her weapon's energy. "This is for Planet Flosante, you bitch!" Mockrantula fired a projectile in retaliation, but it was pointless as Cecilia fired her fully charged weapon, vaporising the projectile and the mutant with a powerful laser. Once the mutant was no more, all was left is a blue data chip that fell off until Jason caught it. "Forevermore… adieu." She concluded as her drones returned to her IS and her weapon was dispersed while she regrouped with Jason.
(BGM End)
"Good job finishing it off, Cecilia." Jason praised while scanning the data chip with his helmet's sensors.
"Thanks." Cecilia smiled. "Though you pretty much gave me an advantage by destroying those spider webs, hindering its movements."
"Well if you want to take down a target, try it in a different angle." Jason stated as he finished analysing the chip. "Well how about that? This chip is an upgrade to the Hover function with a faster hover speed and less energy consumption."
"GV and Ix will definitely love this upgrade." Cecilia smiled.
"You bet." Jason agreed, taking out his Zikan Phone in Blaster Mode and fired a wormhole nearby. "Alright, time to go."
"Right behind you." Cecilia replied as the two entered the wormhole.
Meanwhile with Copen's team aboard G-Byakko, the white MA traversed through the floating terrain, creating platforms over bottomless and spike pits by shooting the rocks' gems, and destroying more mutant locusts. Eventually, they reached the path to the domain that can be only be accessed on foot since the way in is too small for the MA to fit through.
"Well, I guess this is as far as this MA could go." Lola said. "Ret-2-Go, Charl?"
"Oui. I'm ready to move out." Charlotte replied.
"Watch over things while the two of us are inside, Kohaku." Copen instructed.
"You can count on me." Kohaku replied. "Be careful in there."
"We will!" Lola replied back as Copen and Charlotte left the MA and went inside the domain through a narrow opening.
Once inside, they encountered narrow pathways with more moving rocks floating above the spike pits.
"I think this puzzle is telling us something." Lola remarked.
"Mm." Copen nodded. "We'll use those rocks to create a path. Charl, would you do the honors?"
"Of course." Charlotte complied, taking out her heavy assault rifle with a tactical scope attached to the top, took aim at the gems and fired, causing the rocks to land onto the spike pits, creating a bridge. "All done, let's move."
The two traversed deeper into the domain, dealing with more mutants and drones, and creating more bridges by destroying the rocks' gems floating over the spike pits. A few minutes later, they reached the recharge terminal with another path to their left.
"A recharge terminal. Guess that means the mutant guardian is nearby." Lola deduced.
"Let's have a quick recharge, then we're going in." Copen said.
"Roger." Charlotte replied as the two used the terminal and went through the next path.
From there, they find themselves in a large area with bottomless pits and narrow pathways with a few larger platforms. And the most notable one of it all was at the center of the area which is a large hermit crab mutant with a green spiky conical shell; two blue eyes; an orange body with a head, claws, and two pairs of legs.
"A hermit crab, huh?" Copen observed as the two aimed their weapons at the mutant, only for it to hide in its shell and spun rapidly. "Tch, coward." He quickly shifted his armor to Bullit Shift.
"We won't be able to land a direct hit if it hides in that shell." Charlotte stated.
"Better wait and see what it can do, so watch out!" Lola warned.
=WARNING=
THE LAIR OF
=MINE MITE=
(Play BGM: The Mutant Pandemic - Blaster Master Zero 2 OST)
The mutant immediately began its attack by spinning towards the two, causing them to fly off to evade.
"Don't bother chasing it down since it's hiding in its shell! Just stay in one place and wait for a chance to counter!" Copen ordered while evading another spin attack.
"Then let's wait at the center!" Charlotte replied as the two landed on the center of the area and kept their guard up.
The spinning mutant then flew around the area, planting visible mines onto the large platforms.
"I don't like the looks of those mines, better destroy them quickly before they give out more trouble!" Lola warned.
"You take your side while I handle mine!" Copen ordered while taking aim at the mines on his side.
"Okay!" Charlotte replied, taking aim on the mines on her side with her heavy assault rifle.
Once the mines were destroyed, they observed the hermit crab as it stopped spinning after landing on a large platform with its body exposed to rest.
"Alright, it's taking a breather! Now's the time to strike!" Lola informed.
"You're mine!" Charlotte quickly aimed her rifle at the exposed mutant as the micro-missile racks on the sides of her rifle opened up and launched a swarm of micro-missiles, dealing immense damage onto the mutant on contact. Copen also provided support fire with his Blazing Ballista Ex-Weapon.
After the mutant took too much damage, it hid inside its shell and performed another spin attack towards the two.
"Incoming!" Charlotte shouted, preparing to evade the attack.
Copen however, stepped forward while shifting his armor to Break Shift and opened his arms wide.
"Ix?!" Charlotte gasped.
"Don't worry, I got this!" Copen assured as he braced himself. The spinning mutant then collided with the Luminous Avenger, but thanks to the strength of his Break Shift, he only took less damage and held his ground. "Now, Lola!"
"Twintail Bunker!" Lola shouted as Copen's support bits materailized a pair of large drills and lunged right onto the mutant's shell while Copen kept the mutant at bay without letting it go. The mutant's shell started to show cracks overtime until it shattered, leaving it defenceless. "Your move, Charl!"
"With pleasure!" Charlotte complied, arming her pile bunker, plunged it at the mutant hermit crab and fired five explosive rounds at it. "Au revoir!" And with one last explosive thrust that sent the mutant flying upwards, it exploded and dropped an orange data chip which was then caught by Copen.
(BGM End)
"Nicely done, Charl." Copen praised while taking out his Zikan Phone to scan the data chip.
"You as well, Ix." Charlotte replied, dispersing her rifle. "Your new armor is indeed an improvement over the previous one."
"Though I never expected your heavy assault rifle to have both a tactical scope and micro-missile racks." Lola remarked to the IS pilot. "I could've sworn I've seen those mods in a video game."
"Well… about that…" Charlotte poked her index fingers together.
PROXIMITY MINE:
A land mine that automatically explodes when enemies draw near. Can also be detonated remotely.
"Huh, looks like an upgrade to Jason's Ignition Bomb." Copen remarked after reading its info.
"I think Jason will enjoy this new upgrade for his suit." Charlotte said.
"No doubt about it." Lola agreed. "Well, our work here is done, so let's get outta here."
"Agreed." Copen nodded, using his phone to create a wormhole nearby before the two went inside.
"Welcome back, guys!" Kohaku greeted the two arrivals coming out of the wormhole near the white MA. "So what kind of mutant guardian did you fight in there?"
"A spinning hermit crab with a spiked shell." Charlotte replied. "But we managed to win thanks to Ix's new armor."
"We're able to get a new data chip for Jason after the fight. It's an upgrade to the Ignition Bomb called the Proximity Mine." Copen added.
"Nice! Jason will definitely like it! Alright, let's head back to the Launch Point and meet with the others. They should be done with their tasks by now."
"Roger." Copen and Charlotte nodded as they boarded the MA and began heading back to the launch terminal.
Fortunately, they were very close to their destination, though they had to navigate through more spikes and mutants. Nevertheless, they were able to make it back safely to the Launch Point where Samus and Grey, along with the former's gunship, were waiting.
"Welcome back." Samus greeted. "You're the first ones here."
"The others are not back yet, so you're gonna have to wait for a few minutes." Volnutt added.
"That's fine, we could use a break." Copen noted.
"What kind of mutant did you encounter in the domain you explored earlier?" Adam asked.
"A spinning mutant hermit crab with a spiky shell." Lola answered. "But it's no match for the Luminous Avenger and the French IS pilot with a pile bunker."
"We've also obtained the Proximity Mine data chip for Jason's suit. An upgrade to the Ignition Bomb." Charlotte added.
"Proximity Mines, huh?" Samus mused.
"Hey, everyone!" Jason greeted as G-SOPHIA and G-Rairyu arrived and stopped near the group.
"Looks like you're done taking down the mutant guardian." Gunvolt spoke to Copen's team. "What did you get?"
"Proximity Mine data chip for Jason's suit." Copen answered. "Sending the chip via Zikan Phone to yours, Jason. Gimme a sec."
"No problem, Ix. I'll make good use of this new weapon." Jason noted.
"Actually it's an upgrade to your Ignition Bomb." Lola corrected.
"An upgrade, huh?" Eve mused. "Speaking of which, we also gained an upgrade for the Hover function after Jason and Cecilia destroyed a mutant guardian."
"Which happens to be a large tarantula." Cecilia said before shuddering.
"A mutant tarantula? Eww…" Joule also shuddered.
"I know, right? Especially when it launched its hatchlings at me and Jason."
"Okay, too much info there." Vent sweatdropped.
"Anyway GV and Ix, I'm sending copies of the Hover upgrade to your MAs via Zikan Phone. Use them well." Eve informed.
"Understood." Gunvolt and Copen replied.
"As for what GV and I found at another domain, it was a purple data chip. And it contained a map of a nearby planetoid." Aile informed.
"A planetoid?" Jason repeated.
"What's up, guys? We're not late, are we?" Geiz greeted as the Time Mazine arrived and stopped near the group.
"Nope, you're just in time." Samus replied. "So what did you find in your exploration?"
"Well, we had to do a lot of digging." Bronya answered. "Fortunately, the Bronya gave a drill function to Bunny to speed up the process."
"We've also had to eliminate more mutants along the way until we reached a dead end." Laura added. "And what we've found is some kind of rare plant. After examining it using the Zikan Phone, it was revealed to be a Nu-Nasae Herb. We're not entirely sure if it's a medicinal herb or something else, so we decided to bring it along for the time being. Maybe the scientists back on Earth can figure it out."
"I see." Jason noted. "Anyway Aile, about that planetoid you've mentioned. Should we take a look?"
"Wait, planetoid?" Geiz repeated.
"GV and Aile found the map data of the planetoid in the domain they were searching." Vent informed.
"Oh." Geiz noted. "You know what? I think we should take a look at that planetoid. You'll never know if there's a mutant guardian hiding over there."
"Geiz has a good point there. Never leave a stone unturned." Bronya stated.
"Well, now that the mutants have been eliminated on this broken planet, we can head out to the next one." Jason said.
"At least the residents that once lived on this planet can rest peacefully." Cecilia said.
"Yeah, that's true." Ashe agreed. "But we've got a long way to go. Our space adventure is just beginning."
"Alright everyone, time to blast off once more!" Eve declared as the vehicles used the Launch Point to blast off into space. Samus and Grey quickly boarded the gunship and followed the other vehicles.
After a few moments of traveling through space and checking the map of the planetoid's location, they arrived at their destination; an orange planetoid labeled 'A-1". The moment they landed near a launch terminal, Eve suddenly picked up a signal.
"Wow, we've already touched down a planetoid and we're already getting a signal." Ashe remarked. "What's the sitch, Eve?"
"Two of them, actually." Eve answered. "The first one is very close to us. I think it's showing the same signal as that purple data chip."
"And the second?" Grey asked.
"A mutant guardian is hiding up ahead."
"Wait, that early?!" Cecilia gasped. "We just got here!"
"Either way, Geiz's hunch was spot on about some mutant guardians hiding within planetoids." Jason said. "But let's grab that data chip first before we fight the mutant."
"Where's that signal coming from again?" Kohaku asked.
"It's hiding inside those rocks with a gem on it." Eve replied.
"I'll do it. My Wave Beam can pierce through terrain, so I have no trouble landing a hit." Samus got out of her gunship and approached the rocks. With a few shots of her Wave Beam at the gem, the rocks moved above, revealing another purple data chip. Once she retrieved the chip, she used her Scan Visor on it. "Planetoid Map A-3… Hey GV, the planetoid map you found was called A-1, right?"
"Yup." Gunvolt replied. "Something up?"
"The name of this map shares the same letter as the one you got, so I'm assuming that this area must be a space sector. And since this map data has A-3, that means there's another planetoid near this sector."
"So we're going to another nearby planetoid once we're done with this one?" Laura asked.
"I think we have some time to spare." Samus replied.
"Any objections?" Adam asked the group.
"...I don't see why not." Copen answered. "Like Bronya said, leave no stone unturned."
"Exactly." Bronya said.
Samus then approached G-SOPHIA and gave the planetoid map data to Eve. "Here you go."
"Thanks. I'll download the data onto the vehicles shortly." Eve replied and got to work while Samus returned to her gunship. "So who's going after the mutant guardian this time?"
"My team will handle this one." Geiz volunteered. "Copen's team and Jason's team already had their fun."
"Okay." Vent noted. "But if you need help, contact us."
"Noted, see you in a bit." Geiz replied before driving the Time Mazine ahead.
Once inside, they saw a large mutant bee with a hexagon-shaped abdomen and two large wings to support its body.
"Oh crap, it's a mutant bee. And this one is a lot larger and more mature." Geiz muttered.
"No doubt it will summon its swarm to attack us." Laura said. "Permission to leave the vehicle and attack using my IS?"
"Approved. Ashe, you got an A-Trans of that bee Falseroid, right? Remind that mutant who's the superior insect."
"Oh, I can definitely do that." Ashe grinned as she and Laura disembarked from the vehicle with the latter in her black IS and her space helmet on, and the former quickly using A-Trans into Queenbee. "Hey! This planetoid is off-limits, so get out!" A-Queenbee shouted to the bee mutant, who retaliated by deploying its eggs that hatch into bouncing larvaes. "Meh, I tried."
"No point negotiating, Ashe." Bronya stated. "Beginning mutant extermination."
"Roger!" Laura acknowledged as the team prepared themselves.
=WARNING=
THE LAIR OF
=HEXA BIBY=
(Play BGM: MegaMan X3 Boss Theme - MegaMan X Legacy Collection Soundtrack)
Laura immediately rushed towards the larvaes with her energy blades on her arms and slashed them one by one, while A-Queenbee fired her flame stingers at the bee mutant with the Time Mazine providing support fire with Homing Missiles and Beam Vulcans.
The bee mutant then launched more eggs that hatched into not only bouncing larvaes, but also more bees.
"Oh crap, not more bees!" Geiz muttered before the vehicle fired missiles at the approaching bees while Laura continued to attack the larvaes.
"Will you stop laying eggs already?!" A-Queenbee shouted, continuing her attack on the large bee that kept laying eggs.
"This is going to take forever to destroy this mutant thanks to its swarm!" Laura muttered, slashing another larva. "We need to take out the swarm in one shot!"
"Hmm…" Bronya pondered for a moment while observing the hatched swarm, until an idea came up. "Geiz, summon the Arm Legion. It and Bunny will fire a combined gravity bomb to suck up the swarm, and hopefully the large bee."
"Alright, let's give it a shot!" Geiz complied as Bunny and the Arm Legion appeared before the Time Mazine. The two then fired a combined gravity bomb from their arm cannons onto the swarm, creating a miniature black hole that sucked up the swarm.
The gravity pull also affected the large bee mutant as it turned around and desperately tried to fly off. "Going somewhere?!" A-Queenbee retaliated by shoving her fully charged flame stinger at the mutant's face and fired, launching it right onto the gravity bomb to trap it. "Last shot's all yours, Laura!"
"Roger!" Laura complied, aiming her twin shoulder railguns at the gravity bomb. Once fully charged, she fired a powerful twin shot that exploded the bomb, incinerating the mutant guardian and its swarm to dust. Afterwards, a blue data chip fell off from the subsiding explosion and was caught by the IS German pilot. "Target destroyed and data chip acquired." She concluded as everyone regrouped with Ashe reverting back to Base Form after landing and the Arm Legion and Bunny vanishing.
(BGM End)
"And that's another win for the Rebellion!" Ashe cheered while dusting her hands. "Geiz, Bronya, thanks for saving our skins with that gravity bomb tactic."
"Actually it was Bronya's idea, so thank her instead." Geiz pointed out.
"You're welcome, by the way." Bronya responded.
HEXA MISSILES:
Fires multiple homing missiles at targeted enemies. Can also lock on to single or multiple targets.
"Hexa Missiles…" Laura repeated after using her Zikan Phone to scan the chip. "Guys, I think this is an upgrade to the MAs' Homing Missiles."
"Sweet! The others are gonna love this!" Ashe grinned. "Let's head back ASAP."
"Understood." Laura nodded as the two boarded the Time Mazine and returned to where they first came in.
"Looks like you guys took care of the mutant guardian." Jason greeted the arrival of the Time Mazine.
"So what guardian is it this time?" Gunvolt asked.
"A bee. A large mutant bee and its swarm." Geiz answered.
"Oh for the love of…" Cecilia muttered. "First a spider queen, and now a queen bee. This is getting ridiculous."
"On the bright side, at least we got the Hexa Missiles after killing it." Ashe said. "It's an upgrade for the Homing Missiles."
"An upgrade for the Homing Missiles?!" Lola gasped. "Now that's way too good of an upgrade to pass up! Eve?"
Eve giggled. "I know, I know. Just send me the data chip and I'll handle the rest."
"Sending it via Zikan Phone now." Laura complied, using her phone to transfer the chip to Eve. After Eve copied the data chips and sent them to the other MAs, the data was downloaded.
"I've already checked the map of this planetoid, and there's nothing else to be found." Adam informed. "We should move on."
"In that case, let's go explore Planetoid 'A-3' for a while." Jason declared.
After leaving Planetoid 'A-1' and traveling through space for a few minutes, they arrived and landed at Planetoid 'A-3' near a launch terminal.
"Okay…" Kohaku checked the map of the planetoid aboard G-Byakko. "According to the map and checking the sensor, there's two items up ahead. Whatever they are, I'm not sure, so you're gonna have to take a closer look. Fortunately, there's no sign of a mutant guardian, though watch out for any mutants lying around."
"In that case, one team will go and fetch those items." Geiz said.
"My team will handle this part. It won't take long." Gunvolt volunteered.
"Alright then, good luck." Copen replied as G-Rairyu moved ahead.
From there, Gunvolt's team saw a ladder leading upwards and a path in front of them.
"So about those two items, maybe one of them is on each path?" Aile assumed.
"Most likely, so someone needs to climb up that ladder while the rest will explore ahead." Joule replied.
"Let me handle that part. I think it's time to give Model HX a go." Vent volunteered.
"Ah, that one." Aile noted. "Really wanted to get it over with, huh?"
"Something like that." Vent replied, disembarking the blue MA in his Model X armor. "See you guys in a bit!" He waved before climbing up the ladder while the MA moved ahead.
Once Vent reached the top, he could see a data chip at a far distance beyond several flying rocks. "Ready to do this, Model H?" He took out the green biometal.
"On your command, Vent." Model H replied in Harpuia's voice.
"Model X! Model H! Double MegaMerge!"
"Biolink Established! M.E.G.A. System Online!" Model X and H announced as Vent's body glowed with a green cyclone. Once the cyclone dispersed, he now donned Model HX, consisting of a vibrant green hue armor, a winged helmet akin to a hawk with gold linings and a pair of wings that also has gold linings. He's also wielding a pair of purple beam sabers called the Sonic Blades.
Purple energy constructs appeared on his wings as he took flight and flew ahead towards the data chip, slashing away the floating rocks in his path. Once he retrieved the data chip upon arrival, which was revealed to be a purple color meaning another planetoid map, he flew back to the ladder and climbed down where he saw the blue MA arriving when he reached the bottom.
"Got the data chip?" Gunvolt asked.
"Yeah, and it's a purple one leading to another planetoid." Vent replied, reverting back to Base Form. "And you?"
"Same thing." Aile replied back. "So how's using Model HX again?"
"Feels good to become the wind again." Vent smiled as he boarded the blue MA before returning to the others.
"Welcome back!" Lola cheerfully greeted the arrivals. "So what did those items contain?"
"Map data for two planetoids, but not for this space sector." Vent answered.
"After examining those chips, the maps are for 'B-4' and 'D-1'." Aile added.
"In other words, Space Sector B and D respectively?" Geiz guessed.
"Mhm." Joule confirmed. "So how about we go to Sector B next?"
"We would, but we've got ourselves a situation while you're gone." Samus replied.
"What kind of situation?" Gunvolt asked.
"We received a sudden distress signal with a voice message. Have a listen." Adam answered, playing the message with the gunship's loud speaker on.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" A female voice was heard from the message. "This is Pela, intelligence officer for the Silvermane Guards from Belabog. I'm currently in an abandoned immigration ship after being warped by a strange quake while I was hiking with Lynx and Serval outside the city. Nameless of the Astral Express, if you can hear me across the cosmos, please come to this location. It seems there's also mutants lurking about on this ship which is why I'm using this voice message. I'm not sure how long I can hide from those mutants, so please get me out of this ship as soon as possible."
"Warped by a strange quake, huh?" Joule mused. "That's definitely a Dimensional Quake."
"And it's not just Pela, Lynx and Serval are also caught up by that quake." Aile added.
"But who are the Nameless of the Astral Express?" Vent pondered.
"Must be a space traveling expedition team." Bronya assumed.
"That can wait, we need to focus on saving Pela first." Copen stated.
"Adam, can you trace the location of that message?" Jason asked.
"I've already did after receiving the message." Adam replied. "It came from the north, several kilometres from here. Travel using hyperdrive is recommended."
"Saddle up, team! We've got a rescue mission on an abandoned immigration ship to deal with, so let's move out!" Geiz declared.
"Roger!" The team complied as the vehicles blasted off to space in hyperdrive from Planetoid 'A-3' and towards the direction of where the distress signal is located.
"Hang in there, Pela." Jason thought. "Rescue team's on the way. But not from the Nameless of the Astral Express, but by us; Xross Drive Rebellion."
Chapter 2: A Broken Planet
End
Author's Note: That's right, the stage order will be changed as the team will explore the abandoned immigration ship instead of another planet. The latter will happen after the next chapter. And in more additional surprises, Pela will show up in the next chapter, while Lynx and Serval will appear in future chapters. No doubt Bronya will get surprised reactions when she meets those three.
As for this chapter's highlights, Team XDR got to show off their new upgrades in action against the mutants on Planet Flosante and the surrounding planetoids, gaining new upgrades for the MAs and Jason's suit in the process. As for that rare herb Geiz's team has acquired, that won't come into play until a later chapter. And for those who know, no spoilers please.
Next up is a rescue/liberation mission aboard the abandoned immigration ship. Until then, stay safe and see you next chapter!