//------------------------------// // 2: Diplomatic Relations // Story: Melody of the Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// X and Octavia warped into the forest area of the Weather Control Center for their first mission against one of the Mavericks. "So, which Maverick's running amok here again?" Octavia asked. "Wire Sponge," X stated. "Not much is known about him, since his data isn't in any registries. There's reason to believe he was built by Sigma, however. And be careful: Reploid and Mechanaloid weapon systems have improved since our last mission, and our armor has to adjust to the new damage levels. We can't take as much damage as before-"(1) "Look!" Octavia interrupted, pointing to a hidden alcove in the wall above and behind them. "A Heart Tank!" Smirking, X leapt up and grabbed it, increasing the armor energy of both their armors. "That will be useful. Let's go." As they progressed, they encountered a few mechanaloids rising out of the ground, but they were easy to destroy. They also encountered two orbs that manipulated the weather in the area as they went. The second one caused a driving rain that caused a bit of a problem, but at Octavia's suggestion, they used the first in a sequence of narrow platforms over a pit of spikes to climb upward and take a different path. This path also led them to a new Sub Tank, which would prove useful since the old ones were already synced to their old armor energy levels. Since their armor energy now functioned differently with the new damage levels, the new sub tank synced to it, allowing it to hold enough energy to replenish either of them fully.(2) Further onward, they took an elevator upward to another level of the area, dealing with frog based mechanaloids as they continued. Entering yet another building, they found their way to the Maverick in question. The Maverick was bright green, resembling a sponge right down to the flower on his head. He lowered down from the ceiling via his long vines. "Hi! I'm Wire Sponge!" he called happily. "Do you wanna play with me?" His voice was...oddly childish. X started to open his mouth to issue the charges of tampering with the Weather Control Center, but Octavia spoke up first. "Can we play jump rope?" she asked. "Yay! I love jump rope!" Wire Sponge called out, hurling one end of his wire/vine to X. "Hold this!" Not knowing what else to do, X caught the end. Octavia ran to the middle, and X followed Wire Sponge's lead in the skip rope chant as Octavia hopped over the makeshift rope. "Built in a lab The Little Sponge awakes, Master says useless And go away! Broken mind And broken heart, Little Spongy still does his part. Master broken Spongy lost Like his base His heart storm tossed. Little pony Oh so kind, Be Spongy's friend And calm his mind?" As the jumping came to an end, Octavia hugged Wire Sponge. "Of course I'll be your friend," she said happily. "Want to come back to base? I think you and CiCi would get along well, too." "Yay!" Wire Sponge cheered happily, clapping his hands. "I made some friends!" X stared, unsure how to react to this. Wire Sponge had been happy to hand over his Weapon Chip after making "so many new friends!", and so X and Octavia had the Strike Chain weapon to help them with their journey. Their next mission took them to the Desert Base...but they had company. "So, why did you insist on coming with us, Storm Eagle?" Octavia asked when they arrived. "Overdrive Ostrich served under me in the battle with Sigma," Storm Eagle explained. "If anyone can get him to talk about why he joined the X Hunters and convince him to change sides, it's me." He spread his wings. "I'll perform aerial reconnaissance, see if I can plot a safe path for you." While Storm Eagle took to the sky, X and Octavia continued downward. Angled shots proved most effective in dealing with enemies as the climbed down ladders...and then they found a Ride Chaser. Grinning, they both immediately leapt on, skimming over the spikes. Using the Ride Chaser's built in blaster and Octavia's busters, they blasted through the enemies in their path and a large device that had been generating a sandstrom. Entering an indoor area, they were forced to abandon the Ride Chaser. Octavia was able to cross a pit of spikes - as they still had no effect on an organic being in Bio-Metal Power Armor - to collect another Heart Tank. Not long after, Octavia paused as Varia gave an alert. "Light capsule detected," she proclaimed. "Wall is destructible, but not with currently available weaponry. X nodded. "Then we'll remember to come back when we have a weapon that can do that," he instructed. "For now, let's keep going." Not long after, they found a missile launching. Catching hold of it, the pair blasted it with everything they had to destroy it before it could get high enough for the payload to activate. As they landed in the desert, Overdrive Ostrich raced up to them. "You!" he snarled viciously. "You'll pay for what you did to Commander Storm Eagle!" X and Octavia stared at him in confusion...especially as Storm Eagle came in for landing behind him. "Tell me, Overdrive," he asked calmly, "exactly what did they do to me?" Overdrive Ostrich spun to attack, but froze. "C-C-Commander? But...but you're dead! They...they showed me the footage! They showed me your destroyed Tornado Cannon!" Storm Eagle lifted the arm with the cannon in question. "I wonder how they managed that..." "Sigma did create a copy of you to defend his fortress," X pointed out. "If the footage you saw was on an aerial platform and not an airship, then it was the copy." Overdrive blinked. "They...they tricked me?" he gasped out. "But...but..." Storm Eagle stepped forward, resting his hand on Overdrive's shoulder. "Come back to base, my friend," he said softly. "We'll talk about it." Upon the group's return to HQ, Alia raced up with a report. "Commander X!" she called out. "The upper cadre of the X Hunters has made its move, going to back up the other Mavericks! Three high level Reploids have been spotted and..." She gasped for breath, plainly not wanting to believe her own report. "One of them is Serges!" "What?" X and Octavia demanded together. "There's more," Alia continued. "Based on energy readings, they have Zero's missing parts installed in their systems!" "Then we'll just have to take them back," X growled, priming his buster. "Along with some answers..." Octavia bit her lip worriedly, hoping the battles to come would not damage Zero's pieces beyond repair... (1) My explanation for why Life expansions don't carry over between games. (2) And now the Sub Tank explanation.