Natural Reserve (Main entrance)
Time of arrival: 10:05 hrs.
By the time X, Zero and Axl arrived to the reserve, alongside their companions Cinnamon and Rush, they quickly noticed how crowded the place actually was, probably due to the hasty evacuation action the visitors went through by orders of the staff, and rangers on duty alike. At the very least, the blue bomber was relieved that no serious injured were on sight compared to the attack on the city.
"Alright, listen up. Cinnamon, you stay here and take care of the wounded. Don't hesitate to call up to base if you need more assistance" stated Zero, taking full lead of this operation.
"U-understood!" nodded the shy reploid nurse.
"X, Axl, you're with me. I'll take Rush to the main control room so they can input all their data in its memory chip" he added before marching solo whilst leaving the two reploids behind.
"Geez, can't say he's enjoying being the leader..." mentioned Axl, sarcastically, with both hands behind his head.
"I keep telling you to let me through already!" stated a clear female voice that sounded both irate and familiar to X.
As he scanned through the crowd, he managed to identify the figure of Luna arguing with some reploid rangers that were preventing her from stepping into the natural reserve, which had been closed off for civilians as they await for the hunters' arrival to the scene.
"What's she doing here?" wondered X in his thoughts confused, and decided to find it out on his own, which didn't go unnoticed by Axl.
"Oi, X, where you going?" he tried to call him, but the bomber continued walking towards them without paying attention to the auburn teenager.
"It's ok guys, she's with me" spoke the blue reploid in favor of his human friend.
"X! Finally a reploid I can trust!" said Luna relieved after seeing him.
"What are you doing here Luna?" he asked her, somewhat confused by her presence in the reserve at this precise moment.
"Well, Cutman promised me a free tour in the reserve in exchange for some maintenance privileges over his brothers. And now, I find out that there's a maverick uprising going on! Do you think I can just sit here knowing that and do nothing like everybody else?" she vented out for him and Axl, who just approached the two.
"Talk about though luck, am I right?" pointed out the prying teen much to Luna's surprise.
"Luna, this is Axl. Axl, this is Luna" stated X, introducing them for the first time.
"Zup!" he greeted her cheerfully while raising one hand.
"Y-yeah" she replied, still taken aback by the young reploid's overfamiliarity.
Soon after, the two maverick hunters-followed by the former delinquent-decided to join with their team leader in the main control room, where the head operators of the natural biosphere were inputting all their data in the canine unit's system. For his part, Zero was patiently waiting for the process to end, that is until his attention got diverted to the trio the moment they stepped in.
"We're almost done here, guys. We'll be going shortly into the reserve" he informed to both X and Axl, without even minding about the human that was accompanying them.
"Roger!" nodded the blue reploid in response.
"Wait, if you are going there you have to take me too!" stated Luna out loud, intervening quickly in their conversation.
"Absolutely not. This is a maverick hunter's operation. Civilians must stay out of this" replied the swordsman reploid firmly, hoping his message was clear for the intrusive engineer, who then tried to look for support with X.
"X! You know very well that only I know how your brothers' robotics work. What if Cutman is in bad shape out there and defenseless against maverick attacks?" she explained, thus making a valid point for the blue bomber to reconsider.
"She's right, Zero. My brother may need a quick assistance as we speak".
"X, she will be a burden for us. Also, how do you expect to fight off the rebels we'll encounter in the reserve while you're focused in her protection?" he asked him back disapprovingly with both arms crossed around his chest.
"I-I'll keep an eye on her too, Zero!" stated Axl this time, bumping into the conversation as well.
"That way X won't be so limited when fighting" he added confidently, which earned him the thankful and pleased looks of the two.
"Hmph, do what you like. But I will not be held responsible for this if something happens to her" commented Zero as he warned them of their reckless decision.
After a short wait, it was time for the hunters to finally take a step into the now deadly natural reserve. As they passed the main entrance, which had been tightly sealed for safety precautions, it became clear for them that they were in hostile territory.
Not only the biosphere's inner-weather system had been severely compromised, which caused a serious temperature dropped in the environment. Now a dense layer of fog covered most of the terrain and beyond their sights. That and the eerie silent atmosphere did not help making this a pleasant moment.
Transmission call
Alia: It seems the climate system has been altered significantly. I wonder if this was part of the mavericks' plan...
Zero: It's hard to assume they would waste their time just to manipulate a natural biosphere
Layer: Multiple enemy units have been pinpointed within the area and in a radius of one kilometer away from your current position. They're using the fog to their advantage
Zero: Roger, we'll be careful
Pallette: The Natural Reserve comprises both forest and mountain landscapes well-preserved through artificial means. According to the executive board, the starting point of the outbreak initiated in the Flowers Vase, where various staff members, including A-Class Ranger Cutman, were last located
X: Cutman…
Axl: What's that 'Flowers Vase' anyway?
Pallette: It's a famous natural formation pertaining to this ecosystem, found in the deep East area of the forest. Its existence dates from hundred years back, before plans to make the reserve were made. It's a marvelous cavern that goes deeper underground…
Zero: Pallette…
Pallette: According to the first studies, it is considered the largest cave passage in existence with more than 30 kilometers that run below the surface…
Zero: Pallette…
Pallette: Its main and only entrance is a large doline of 185 meters deep, with a diameter of 20 meters. Through it, the artificial sunlight and induced rainfall reach the cave's floor, which helps the growth of trees and other types of vegetation inside this section of the cavern…
Zero; Alright, Pallette. I think we already have enough information. I'm breaking contact
Pallette: U-Understood!
"Let's not dwell around trivialities. Rush, plot the shortest route to the Flowers Vase" stated Zero as the red canine unit-using the input information in it hours ago-traced a path in its head that would surely take them to the designated point the quickest.
With a single loud bark, Rush took the lead through the forest surroundings, and the others soon followed it close behind. Zero, being the team's leader, was the first to stick behind Rush, tailed by the others. X and Axl were quick to provide cover for the team in case of an inadvertent maverick attack whilst Luna tried to stay as close as possible to the long-range shooting reploids.
"Ough!" yelped the young engineer the moment she accidentally bumped into Axl due to her own uneased fast pacing in contrast to the calm and collected steps of the hunters.
"You ok back there?" he asked her with genuine concern for the human alongside them.
"Y-yes! I'm fine" she replied while trying to keep her composure and to prove she could handle the situation as well as them. But once again, Axl's good-natured perplexed her. Ever since she had memory, reploids weren't built to form bonds of friendship with humans.
"I have to say, you don't look like your everyday hunter type. You're from Delta City too?" wondered Luna as she detailed the black cladded teenager from head to toes.
"Would have wanted that. Actually, I'm from Nefterom, along with my brothers and Alisa".
"You mean Alisa Cossack?! The genius inventor and head of Cossack Repliroid Labs?! That Alisa?!"
Luna's high-pitched scream obviously didn't go unnoticed by everyone, including for the enemies that were silently lurking within the perimeters of the reserve, yet now in the move; driven by sheer provocation towards that noise. Zero could only glare at the human girl for her clear lack of cautiousness as he prepared himself for the maverick assault.
Most-if not all-rebel units appeared to be former robot workers from the reserve, alongside some local fauna, now turned into ravaging beasts. This did not matter though, as one by one, the mavericks were dished-out through for good thanks to Zero's reliable, and sharp, saber skills, couple with an incredible action response from X and Axl at the rear back. Even Rush displayed great combat skills with the help of its medium-sized arsenal incorporated in its fabric design.
It wasn't long when a new type of robotic enemy joined the fray as well. Carefully hidden within the treetops were some small green and black bats that, aroused by the sound of battle below, emerged from their hiding spot, forming a small colony in the air that begun their assault on the group. However, this proved to be in vain as the combined fire power of X, Axl and Rush was enough to decimate the whole flying menace.
"Heh, another bunch that bites the dust" smirked the auburn teenage reploid happily while playing with his pistols.
"I'd have preferred to avoid getting us unnecessary attention" commented Zero as he stressed the last part without taking his eyes from a sheepish Luna Syrus.
"Guys, come see this" stated X with a serious voice, urging his companions to assist him in his detailed examination of the out of commission reploids.
"It's not just them, but also the animals from the reserve have them too" he continued for the two hunters standing next to him as he showed them a pair small circular shaped holes in the bodies of said enemy reploids.
"Wait, you don't mean…" began Axl, perplexed as to what he imagined X was going to make mention of.
"The responsible behind this maverick uprising is using the bats to spread the virus throughout the reserve" concluded Zero based on the first-hand evidence provided to him.
"I'll report it to the base" insisted the blue bomber before calling his friends from the division.
Transmission call
X: Alia, do you copy?
Alia: Loud and clear, X, did you find something?
X: You can say that…I'd like the team to perform an analysis on a particular enemy unit we just came across
Layer: Acknowledged. Have Rush perform a scan of the enemy and I'll have it fully analyzed with the assistance of Middy and Techno
X: Thanks, I'm counting on you. Rush, you can start
Rush: Woof!
Following his orders, the red canine approached the remains of one particular bat and with its eyes collected all the necessary data for the analysts at the base to work on that. Once that was done, the group pick up the pace. They still had a lot of ground to cover on foot in order to reach the Flowers Vase.
After crossing most of the wooded sections in the reserve, along some battling on the way, the group reached a small clearing, where they decided to check up their progress so far. Only a couple of miles-and a ravine-separate them from their objective.
"Phew! Finally, a moment of rest from all those battles" sighed Luna relieved as she slumped on a small tree stump.
"Now you realize how difficult it is to take part in a maverick hunter mission?" mentioned Zero, unsurprised by how tired she looked.
"Well, sorry I'm not an inorganic machine, like you guys are!" she retorted before sticking her tongue childishly at the swordsman reploid, who didn't seem to be bothered by her attitude.
As they relax for just a minute, thus lowering their guard, they failed to notice-until it was right above their heads-a large ride armor that was coming down fast to where they were standing. Without wasting any more precious seconds, and following Zero's command to take cover, both he, Axl and Rush quickly side-stepped backwards, and X-being the closest to Luna-tackled her far from the ride armor's landing site.
The state of the mech was deplorable by mere appearance. Its dark purple armor was no longer shining or lustrous, but muddy and battered after receiving many blows and hits continuously, probably as a result from the enemy fire. The presence of vines and leaves all over it also suggest that it must have been ridden for hours and through most the East area of the reserve.
All hunters, and patrol unit, prepared themselves to strike the moment the rider inside the armor's cockpit would dare to proceed with their assault. However, and to everyone's surprise, the reploid piloting the ride armor was in a bad, if not worse, state than their transport. As they stumble limply with just one arm, they finally found the strength to come out and gasp for some air before they eventually collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion.
"Cutman!" cried X distressed as he and the others approached the fallen reploid.
-Activation Sequence Initiated-
"Ugh...nnngghh...oh...hey there, bro. Luna, you also came" muttered the young industrial reploid, trying his best to show a good attitude despite how terrible he looked.
"Of course I came, you big idiot! And be thankful there was a spare battery inside the ride armor" she informed him, showing genuine concerned for the robot under her care.
"Are you ok, Cutman?" asked X, who was also worried for his younger brother.
"You mean this? Heh, I've been much worse other times" he joked, nonchalantly, to lighten up the tension on him.
"I think everybody here disagrees on that, so you can stop making a fool of yourself" said Luna as she continued welding any loose connection of his broken arm.
"Fine, this is actually the first time someone tore me, bit me and ripped my arm apart"
"They bit you?!" cried X shocked as well as the others.
"Well, yeah..." he replied unconcerned while moving his head slightly to one side in order to show everyone the very same small, circle-shaped holes by the carotid section of his neck.
"They stung for quite a while now, but other than that, he didn't damage my neck to head inner connections".
"How...?" wondered the blue reploid-still confused-as to why his brother hadn't fallen prey of the maverick virus yet.
Transmission call
Layer: X, do you read me?
X: Sure, Layer. I'll link your signal with my brother's
Layer: Roger. I'm contacting you because we just finished analyzing that bat unit
Zero: What did you find?
Middy: It's just as you guys suspected. Those bats carry a computer virus in their systems, which they spread by injecting their code into other robotic units
Cutman: That bastard...
X: Is there an anti-virus we can use on the reploids that have been affected? My brother has been bitten by the maverick controlling those bats, but hasn't gone rogue yet
Techno: That's impossible. Our analysis indicates that the coding of the virus is one of the strongest in the list. One simply bite is enough to damage a reploid's programming in a matter of seconds
Cutman: Oh? So that's what you guys are all worried about. Heh, well, fear not. The Dr. made sure me and the others were virus proofed, thanks to the Copy Chip installed in our systems
X: Copy Chip?
Techno: No wonder...by having that valuable integrated circuit, you can escape even the deadliest programming virus on Earth
Middy: To give you a brief summary, X, that special chip is notable for its feature of changing a reploid's DNA data code repeatedly. In doing so, the virus gets decoded and recoded instantly, making it ineffective
Axl: I thought you were aware of that X
Zero: Even if it's not mandatory for maverick hunters to have it, it does give you a fair preference when it comes to candidate selection
Techno: Not only they're scarce these days, but it is also difficult to get your hands on a perfectly flawless Copy Chip. There may be only a handful of immune reploids in existence, including you lot
Layer: Still, we can do something about the situation. If you can bring the head maverick to the base, we can have him analyzed in order to create an anti-virus that can counter his programming virus
Techno: It may be too late for the robots of the reserve already. But we might save more lives in the future and control the situation more efficiently
Middy: We're counting on you guys!
"We're almost at the site. Come on, let's get going" insisted Zero, who seemed to be quite inclined of ending this mission once.
"But..." tried to intervene X on behalf of his damaged brother and the young engineer working on him.
"It's ok, bro. You guys go ahead and I'll catch up with you later" said Cutman, reassuring him. But the blue reploid had already a solution for their safety.
"Rush, stay here and protect them while we're away" he added before receiving an approval bark from the robotic canine.
With that out of the way, the three main hunters picked up the pace and continued their path, hoping that by taking out the maverick who attacked Cutman, they would be able to retake control of the situation.
"I hope they're safe..." muttered the reploid with scissor-like appearance, still achy from the damages he received.
"Who, X? They'll be fine, they can handle pretty much anything" she responded.
"No, not them. My team..." he clarified.
After leaving the two behind (so they could recover properly), X, Zero and Axl quickly arrived to the ravine and proceeded to climb it down, whilst defeating the remaining lines of defense on the way to the Flowers Vase. Unsurprisingly, the variant enemy units posed no threat at all, as the trio easily swept them away. Then it all came down to a clear straight path to the cave's doline on the ground's surface.
The hunters pushed forward swiftly, then leaped downside the hole by the rocky walls. As they descended to the bottom of the cavern, they encountered more robotic animals far gone berserk, as well as the deadly bats from before. Based on their increased numbers, it was clear that they had made the Flowers Vase their main home, while also expanding their territory on the outside.
When the three successfully reached the cave's floor, they caught sight of a humanoid, bat-like reploid of mostly green colors (with the exception of his large black wings and dark bat-like-flower shaped face with long whiskers), who was nonchalantly admiring the plants that grew inside the cavern. He seemed so drawn by the greenery that he barely paid attention to any of the three; that was until he decided to speak to them.
"I take it you're responsible for all the disturbance in my dominion" stated the green bat-like maverick with a calm and composed attitude as he addressed to the hunters.
"Then you know what is coming to you, maverick" replied Zero with a remark of his own.
"Maverick? … I beg you pardon, what exactly do you mean by 'maverick'?" he asked back seemingly confused by the term he was being labeled.
"That's someone like you, pal. An out of control reploid with no regard for its destructive actions" stated Axl, answering his question in a cheeky manner.
"Absurd" responded the bat reploid, clearly offended by the teen's statement.
"On what basis do you accuse me, Verdant Black Bat, of being an unreasonable being? When all I'm doing is procuring a domain of my own" he added.
"You can drop the feigned act already. You're not fooling anyone here" retorted Zero, who was starting to get tired of playing around with the guy.
"I. Am. Not. Trying. To do so. As far as I'm concerned, you can't hold me responsible for anything that's been happening until now".
"You gotta give him some props, he does sound convincing" joked Axl in a whispered tone as Zero uttered an angry tsk through his teeth.
"Do you know what year you are?" spoke X for the first time, addressing directly to the maverick with a simple question.
"The 21X, obviously" he answered very straightforward.
"21X?! But that's way back before the Maverick Hunter association was ever created" commented Axl genuinely surprised by the maverick's statement.
"To put it simply, this guy is acting all aloof because he believes we're in another time. I think we're done talking" concluded Zero finally reaching his Z-saber hilt.
"Agreed. It's time I end this nonsense you so spoke of" declared Verdant Black Bat as he extended his bat wings to gain some altitude.
MAVERICK'S INFO:
-Verdant Black Bat-
(Based on the 'Tacca chantrieri', also known as the black bat flower)
Finally, I had the time to finish this bad boy! (you have no idea how long this chapter was sitting there for me to write it down D: ) Once again, I have to apologize for my previous statement since I didn't present you the proper maverick boss battle I promised you (though I provided the intro, that still counts, doesn't it? xD)
Plus, now in the next chapter, I can start writing about our next destination, which is 'The Chronos Institute' based on you guys' comments in the review section. Therefore, you can start casting your votes again :D for our third area to explore between:
* Military Port
* Glacier Research Center
Without much else to say, I say my goodbyes for now in order to immerse myself in creating the next chapter And I'll see you again in the next update, take care yourselves!