//------------------------------// // 1: Ocean of Trees // Story: Melody of the Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// While it had been X and Octavia's intention to immediately seek out Sting Chameleon to swing him back to their side with the rescued hostages, word had reached them that Launch Octopus was about to launch a major assault on Abel City in general and Maverick Hunter HQ specifically from his base in the ocean. As a result, X and Octavia were forced to go after him first. As they teleported in, they found themselves in water. The water was only waist high on X, but Octavia was already dog paddling to stay afloat. "How am I supposed to fight like this?" she demanded. "I can barely keep my head above water!" "Calculating..." Varia replied. "Solution found. Balancing your weight against the strength of the Dash unit, temporary modifications can be made to provide a steady thrust to let you maneuver in the water." "Do it, then!" Octavia ordered. Varia promptly began to alter configuration. Sealing Octavia in completely, she then locked Octavia's hind legs pointing backwards, with fins to the sides for angling in the water, her forelegs still mobile to shoot at anything. "...this is not comfortable," Octavia complained as the dash units gave her a steady thrust like an outboard motor. X did his best not to burst into laughter. Once in the main part of the ocean, the pair moved forward easily, mostly dealing with blowfish and seahorse based mechanaloids. They also encountered a submersible with an optic light designed to lock onto their location, an intake turbine for drawing water in or expelling it outward, and missiles it could shoot. Octavia moved above it to behind it, allowing them to trap it between them. Since Octavia had two busters to work with and was more mobile, it classified her as the greater threat, and slowly turned to face her. However, it was destroyed by the time it had fully turned. This tactic worked just as well with the second one. Shortly thereafter, X made his way to the surface to take down a warship, which crashed through the sea floor to reveal another path. Along that path, the pair encountered a giant sea snake mechanaloid, which Octavia's mobile combat proved very effective against, as all it did was swim around trying to smash them with its body. Behind it, they found the second to last Heart Tank they needed to unlock the Hadouken. Up above, they encountered another sea snake mechanaloid, which mixed up its combat by diving into the sea floor to hide on occasion. It proved no more of a challenge than the previous one, however. Shorty thereafter, they reached Launch Octopus' base of operations. "So you've come to me at last," he bubbled, laughing to himself as his tentacles waved in the water. "Now you will see what a true artist I am in underwater combat!" Without waiting for a response, he leapt towards them, firing off his missiles. X dashed under him, switching to Rolling Shield. Octavia went up, switching to Boomerang Cutter. As Launch Octopus landed, X hit him from behind with a dashing, fully charged Rolling Shield, slamming him bodily against the wall. "Gyak!" Launch Octopus gasped out, spinning around to face X. "You'll pay for that-" Diving straight down, Octavia launched two Boomerang Cutters, each one slicing two of Launch Octopus' tentacles off. "Gyah!" he screamed out in pain. "That hurt! What happened to taking us alive and in one piece?" "I'm running out of oxygen," Octavia replied simply. "I don't have the tech to handle that aspect yet," Varia added. X slammed his buster into Launch Octopus' mouth, his buster charging to pink. "So you can either surrender, or I blow your head off," he stated simply. "If your stubbornness makes you a threat to my daughter, you aren't worth my worry or hesitation." Launch Octopus stared into X's eyes, and found only determination. He would pull the trigger. Not wanting to die, Launch Octopus shut his motor functions - and the teleport shield around his base - down. The three were immediately teleported back to base, Launch Octopus straight to the cells. As X and Octavia beamed into the jungle that was Sting Chameleon's base of operations, X turned to Octavia. "You need to be extra careful here, Octavia," he pointed out, indicating the large basket strapped to the pony's back. "That's precious cargo." "I know, Dad," Octavia replied, settling herself. "I won't let it come to harm." Nodding, X led the way forward. Octavia backed him up with blasts from her busters, but she couldn't risk charging above Green Burst, and had in fact disabled Pink Stream function temporarily. X blasted his way through lumberjack bots, grasshopper bots...and bush bots. He decided not to comment on the strange design. When they came to a point where the path split into three layers, Octavia held up a hoof. "Varia's sensors indicate a heart tank below us, and something creating seismic disturbances above. If we try to take the middle path without dealing with the upper path, we are likely to face a cave in." Nodding, X took the lower path first, using the high water level to leap to the Heart Tank easily, before then taking the upward path. Octavia waited for his return. After a time, Varia beeped. "New armor upgrade data incoming!" Her armor flashed, the entire thing now glittering with a white sheen. "New energy fields and reinforcements of armor reduces damage taken by 50%. ...armor unit can now generate oxygen for aquatic mode." "That would have been useful earlier," Octavia pointed out with a roll of her eyes as X returned. "Hadouken unlocked," Varia added. As they progressed, X decided to test out the Hadouken, as he currently had full armor energy. The small fireball that was launched forward looked pathetic...but it destroyed anything it came in contact with. Traversing forward, the pair came to a ride armor, which Octavia took control of. Making their way across a swamp, the pair reached Sting Chameleon's lair without problems. Sting Chameleon revealed himself, a sad expression on his face. "You cannot talk me into changing sides," he stated simply. "There's...too much riding on this for me." "We know," X replied as Octavia set the basket down. "Though we don't...fully understand," Octavia added, uncovering the basket. Inside was a female Akita and four nursing puppies, the 'hostages' they had rescued from Boomer Kuwanger's base. The adult lifted her nose and let out a short bark. Another bark responded, and a male Akita raced up to the basket, his tail wagging eagerly as he nuzzled the female and the puppies. Sting Chameleon stared from the adult dogs to the puppies, then finally to X and Octavia, tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he said simply before approaching the male Akita, scratching it between its ears. "I told you I'd get them back," he whispered to the dog. "I kept my promise, Hachiko..." With a happy bark, the Akitas licked Sting Chameleon's face affectionately.