//------------------------------//
// 3: Confounded Ungrateful Reploids 
// Story: Melody of the Future 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	The trio charged readily into the next section of the fortress, finding the walls to be dark purple, with green ceilings and floors.  Large windows showed that this segment was underwater.

"Who is Doppler's interior decorator?" Octavia asked, looking a trifle green herself.  "They need to be shot."

"We probably will by the time we get to him," Zero joked.

As they progressed forward, they encountered a new enemy.  It was similar to the green jumping humanoid robots from the water processing plant, but purple, and heavily armored.  When one set of blasts destroyed the armor, another set was required to destroy the robot itself.  Also unlike their green counterparts, they didn't jump before shooting.  They also shot a lot faster.

Thankfully, with all the firepower the three of them had at their disposal, the trio was able to mow through the enemies with a minimum of damage.  "Is it just me, or are the mechanaloids getting tougher?" Zero asked.

"They are," X confirmed.  "But we're tougher still."

"Damn right!" Zero agreed.

After making their way past the first glut of enemies in the winding corridors, the trio found their way to a Ride Armor warp point.  "Which version should we call in?" X wondered.

Octavia checked her radar.  "Better make it the Frog," she suggested.

"What?" Zero demanded.  "But that's next to useless except for underwater areas!"

"And most of the rest of this area is underwater," Octavia clarified.

"...this is gonna suck," Zero complained as X summoned the Frog Ride Armor.

Dropping down, the trio fought their way through turtle mechanaloids, destroying them and letting the shells float upward to explode against the ceiling.  Thankfully, the segment was short, leading them upward through a narrow door leading East.  Inside, a dragonfly-like mechanaloid attacked them over a series of tubes of different colors.  The trio immediately unleashed their fully charged blasts, causing the mechanaloid to start veering around, its nav-comp destroyed.

"Oh yeah, we rock!" Zero cheered, pumping his fist.

Octavia's eyes widened, seeing the mechanaloid about to crash into Zero.  "Uncle Zero!  Watch out!"

Zero spun.  "What the-"

Before anyone could react, a pitch black hawk with a seven foot wing span dove down, seized Zero by his shoulders, and dragged him out of the way.  Before the bug-like mechanaloid could course correct, a black capsule dropped down from the ceiling, crushing the mechanaloid beneath its weight.  The capsule was similar to the Light Capsules - more so to the one that had contained the Classic Adapter for Octavia on second examination - but it had a white W on the top.

The hawk released Zero, revealing itself to be mechanical rather than organic, flapping over to the capsule and settling on top of it, its golden eyes locked on Zero.  It let off a screech of triumph as the capsule opened, revealing a hologram of a human scientist with a bald crown and overlarge sideburns.  The hologram rolled its eyes at Zero, gestured to the capsule, and vanished.

"...uh..." Zero began.

Before he could say more, Classic pushed him into the capsule, and he felt something being installed.  The capsule then beeped.  "Support Unit bonding complete.  Adapter installed.  Please designate support unit."

"Huh?" Zero asked, confused.

"I think the hawk's your new support unit," X replied.  The hawk, for its part, flapped down to rest on Zero's shoulder and began preening his hair.

Smiling, Zero began stroking the hawk.  "I think I'll call him Timbre," he commented softly.

Continuing onward, the trio followed a twisting path around to a narrow passageway upward lined with spikes on all sides.  Crawling along those spikes were snail-like mechanaloids whose shells could be destroyed, revealing a platform.  However, they climbed very slowly.

"Not doing that," Octavia commented dryly, calling in Classic and merging with him.  She then flew upward.

Smirking, Zero hopped onto Timbre's back as he carried him upward.  "Have fun, X!" he called out.

X ground his teeth.  "You know what?  Screw this!  Piano Spring!"  He'd seen the ridiculous looking option for Piano in his status screen, and hadn't bothered to use it, but now seemed appropriate.  As Piano appeared, X leapt onto his back...only to be propelled upwards at rocket speed.  "Too much spring!  Too much spring!  Too much-"  His words were interrupted by a loud crunch as he found himself embedded in the ceiling.

Laughing, Zero and Octavia managed to pull him out of the ceiling and onto a steady platform before another sealed door.  X and Octavia took the time to let the Energy Restoration system replenish their energy shielding - as well as the sub tank Zero quaffed to restore his - before the trio continued onward.  The chamber they found themselves in was completely underwater, and Timbre was forced to stay above.

A large mechanaloid that looked like a turtle crossed with a squid readied for battle.  However, Triad Thunder proved to be especially effective against it, and it went down before it truly had a chance to fight back due to the three-pronged attack.

With the mechanaloid's defeat, the trio continued into the next segment of the fortress, though Zero sent Timbre back to base to get properly registered.





The next segment had dark green floors and ceilings with dark brown walls.  "Well, this is a little better," Octavia muttered as the trio dashed down the halls.

The first hall was very short, leading them down past incidental mechanaloids into a large chamber filled with teleport capsules.  "So, this is the part where we face duplicates of the Mavericks?" Zero asked curiously.

"Can I handle them, Dad?" Octavia asked.  "I'll make it quick."

X frowned.  "Are you certain you can handle it?" he asked.

"Positive!" she promised, leaping into the first capsule and being teleported away.





Octavia found herself up against a duplicate of Blast Hornet.  She simply smirked.  "Varia, the music is in me."

"Override command recognized," Varia replied.  "Hadouken and Shoryuken temporarily unlocked for dealing with mindless duplicate Mavericks."

Octavia grinned widely, fire gathering around her hoof.





Zero blinked as he watched Octavia leaping from capsule to capsule, never spending more than a few seconds in each one.  "...she wasn't kidding about it being quick," he muttered.

As Octavia leapt out of the last capsule, X frowned down at her.  "You're still grounded when we get back to HQ for unlocking those moves without permission," he chided.  "I'm not fooled for a minute."

"But Da~ad!"

"Don't you 'but Dad' me, young lady," X scolded.  "I'm punishing you as a father for an infraction as your commander.  All appearances to the contrary, you're old enough to know better than to pull something like that."

Octavia turned away with an adorable pout, making Zero burst into laughter.

After another short passage onward, the trio found themselves face to face with Dr. Doppler himself.  "I've been waiting for you three-e-e," he began, his voice erroring for no apparent reason.  "I am Dopp-Dopp-Dr. Doppler."

Octavia's eyes widened as a suspicion crossed her mind.  Glancing over Doppler's shoulder, she gasped.  "CiCi, what are you doing here?  And...what are you wearing?"

Doppler spun around eagerly.  Seeing the opening, Octavia threw the last Neutralizer to attach to the back of his head.  Doppler staggered forward a few steps, then straightened.  "...did you have to make it so humiliating?" he asked petulantly.

"Wait...Doppler was under the control of his own Neural Computer?" Zero asked, confused.  "But then...who was pulling the strings?"

"It was Sigma," Doppler replied.  "And...I'm afraid I've built him a new battle body.  And I've determined his true form is that of a computer virus.  I've no idea how that happened, but I will attempt to create an anti-virus."

"Try basing it on X's brain wave patterns," Zero suggested.  "The signal had no effect on him."

"Your brain-wave patterns corrupted the signal, though," X countered.

"Hmm..." Doppler murmured, stroking his chin.  "Go deal with Sigma as best you can.  I will see what I can do."  Heading to a console, Doppler opened the path.  "Good luck you three."

Nodding, the trio moved further in.