Melody of the Future

by Tatsurou


8: Two by Two

Noah's Park was a lush area of rolling hills and thriving vegetation, along with the occasional wild animal facsimile. The overall goal behind the park was to give any evacuees - when and if it actually happened - a last peaceful look at Earth before being sent off to the moon. After all, if the facility on the moon did prove viable as an evacuation facility, priority would be on making it habitable for as many evacuees as possible long before making it pleasant.

Axl and Octavia weren't surprised to see many of the systems that maintained the park running amok, birds fleeing in panic as robot bees attacked everything in sight. "Hop up," Axl suggested with a sigh. "I think we'll be wanting to go fast."

"I'll watch your back," Octavia promised as she leapt up to Axl's shoulders, allowing him to start dashing forward.

As they dashed forward blasting the rogue Mechanaloids, the exploding mechas scattered a great deal of Metal resources the R&D department had requested. Luckily, one recent upgrade had been a new sub-system that drew the Metals to them once inactive, sending them back to base as they were collected. This meant the pair didn't really need to think much about collecting them.

It wasn't long before they caught sight of the Crabs-Y that had gone rogue, causing the disaster of this day. It stood well above the pair in height, as Axl barely came up to the first joint of the leg. Red armor covered the lowest part of the four silver metal legs, the wide main body far above, and the two massive claws held towards the pair, each claw large enough to seize and crush a Reploid, let alone a pony. Inside the claws, a green crystal sparking with energy could be seen.

"That crystal generates a paralysis field," CiCi informed the pair over the comms. "If one of you gets grabbed by the claws, you'll be stuck until the other is able to free you. Signas has predicted that this is a tactic we'll be facing a lot, and ordered that Hunters travel in no less than pairs."

"Then we just won't get grabbed," Octavia stated firmly as she leapt off Axl's shoulders. "Let's give it more targets to chase."

The pair focused their attacks on the upper body, Axl attacking from the front while Octavia dashed ahead between the legs to attack from behind. As they'd discovered previously, Maverick Mechanaloids - whatever the size - lacked the AI necessary to deal with a multi-pronged attack, and it was soon backing away in an attempt to get a more favorable combat area. Before long, it had started to break, leaving behind a slew of Metals before leaping away.

Axl dashed after it, coming to a stop at a cliff's edge that wasn't in the original plans for the park. "Okay, I think we should be more careful now," he muttered worriedly.

"Agreed," Octavia confirmed as she caught up. "We should probably wait for X and Zero-"

"Ya-hooooooooooo!" a familiar voice cried out as a Ride Chaser flew overhead. "I'm comi-wait, where'd this cliff come froooooooom?" The Ride Chaser - and its crimson armored passenger - sailed overhead beyond the edge of the cliff to descend to the ground far below with a resounding crash.

X dashed up behind the pair, stared out over the edge of the cliff, and brought his palm to his face. "Makers dammit, Zero..."

"Well, as long as we're all here," Octavia sighed, climbing back onto Axl's shoulders and nudging him into leaping off the cliff to catch up to Zero. X quickly followed.

Dropping down, they made their way past a waterfall, now dealing with robotic bats instead of bees as they progressed. They eventually caught up to Zero in a cave system, rubbing his head as he stared at the wrecked Ride Chaser he'd bailed off of. "Okay, I'm gonna sue whoever put that cliff there," he grumbled as they arrived. "They did not properly submit the new plans to GPS tracking-"

"We're pretty sure it was done by the Maverick Mechanaloid, Uncle," Octavia pointed out dryly.

"...so I get to rip them apart instead?" Zero asked eagerly. "Sweet!"

Hoof met face, and the group continued.

Beyond another cliff, a massive waterfall fell behind a bridge. The Crabs-Y stepped out from within the waterfall to attack, only to be forced to withdraw as the group immediately unleashed a massive barrage of energy blasts and saber slashes, dropping more Metals for the group to collect.

Not long after, they made their way into a building. "Anyone else thinking we're walking into a trap now?" X asked cautiously.

"Do you even have to ask?" Axl countered as he primed his guns.

"I doubt there's anything in here we need to worry about," Zero added with a grin, limbering up his sword arm.

"...men," Octavia grumbled under her breath.

The path through the building proved rather straightforward, the only obstacle of any concern being yet another upward tunnel that closed in on them as they climbed. Thankfully, this one was opened by blasting a button below it, so Octavia dealt with it by calling Classic in to constantly shoot the button until they were clear.

As they entered the final chamber of the building, the Crabs-Y blasted its way in through the outer wall. However, with the four of them combining their assault, it proved incapable of sustaining itself and soon collapsed into a pile of scrap.

"Not bad, Hunters," a familiar voice spoke up from the opening in the wall. "You're just as tough as I remember."

"Vile!" all four in the group snapped out angrily, lunging for him with their weapons drawn.

Vile leapt back out into the open, shaking his finger chidingly. "Now now, don't be so hasty." He waved his hand to his side, where a drone running off his signal clutched Lumine in a vise-like grip. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to him, now would you?"

All four hesitated. "You bastard..." Octavia growled deep in her throat.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere with me," Vile taunted. "I'd love to stay and play, but I'm just too busy. However...I suppose I can leave you with one parting shot." Lowering the cannon on his arm, he fired off a stealth shot, a charged sphere of energy that was completely self contained, making it next to impossible to detect mid-flight.

X ducked to the side as the blast shot right over his shoulder. "That doesn't really do any good when we're watching you shoot," he chided.

"You missed by a mile!" Zero taunted.

"Did I?" Vile gloated, chuckling wickedly. "Tell me, Hunters...how do you deal with a snake?" With that, he, the drone, and the captive Lumine warped away.

Octavia frowned worriedly. "What do you think he meant-"

"Emergency recall of all Hunters!" CiCi barked out over the comms. "I repeat, emergency recall of all Hunters! We have a Skyfall scenario! Signas is down! I repeat, Signas is down!"

Gasping in shock, the four immediately warped back to base.