"Incoming transmission!" Alia cried out, cutting herself off from directing X to address a new message. "Unknown source!"
Signas quickly examined the video message. "...that Reploid is not in my data banks..." he murmured worriedly.
Dynamo smirked as communications opened. "Nice to meet you, Maverick Hunters! Nothing personal, but I've been hired to do a job, so I'm gonna do it. Before long, I will attack the Hunter construction site! Hope you've got a cool cat to face me down there. Otherwise, there's no telling what'll happen to your precious laser and shuttle." He then paused. "Oh, where are my manners? My name's-"
"Dynamo!" Octavia suddenly cut in, breaking into the communications. "You're alright! When I didn't hear from you on the message boards since just before the Viral Outbreak, I was worried you'd become infected and gone Maverick!"
Dynamo chuckled. "Aw, come on Tavs! You should know that fool can't get a hold on me! Sorry I didn't let you know, but I've been a bit busy on the job."
"Well, at least I can tell our group you're alright," Octavia replied with relief. "We were all worried Lady Astarell would have to be retired, and we were in the middle of her big character arc."
Dynamo suddenly looked incredibly flustered. "Tavs, could we not discuss that over an open channel?" he pleaded.
"Only if you stop calling me Tavs," Octavia countered.
Dynamo sighed. "Yes, Octavia-"
"And LARP at the next live camera session," Octavia continued.
"You're kidding!" Dynamo demanded.
"You took a job attacking where I work while we're trying to save the world," Octavia replied reasonably. "If you want to keep those leve-"
"Agreed!" Dynamo shouted quickly, cutting communications.
Alia and Signas both stared at Octavia over the communications screen.
"What?" Octavia asked defensively. "You know I DM, Mom."
Zero grumbled to himself as he beamed into the deep blue ocean. "Why did I draw the short straw here?" he grumbled. "I get that Colonel has previous experience dealing with Grizzly Slash, and X has a better rapport with scientists like Izzy Glow...but how come CiCi got to call dibs on Squid Adler while I'm stuck in the water? I can't even call on Timbre for help!"
"But you don't really need his help, do you?" Iris asked teasingly through the comms.
"Damn straight I don't, I'm awesome!" Zero responded immediately.
"Then go show it!" Iris replied. "And be careful. I'm detecting strong viral readings. You are likely to encounter viral clouds."
"Got it," Zero confirmed, making his way across the seabed.
A large ship moved past above Zero, and he dashed forward to get out of its way as it came down to pursue him from behind. "What the?" Zero demanded.
"That's...the U-555!" Iris informed him. "It was on display in the marine museum. It looks like the Virus infested it, causing it to go on a rampage. Looks like you'll have to destroy it."
"That's nothing new," Zero offered, lunging forward with his saber drawn. After wailing on the sub for a time, a good portion of the face he was attacking broke down, but he wasn't able to inflict any more damage beyond that, and the sub was still able to launch mechanaloids at him. "Damn it!"
"Keep moving!" Iris advised. "You should be able to find a twist in the path it can't follow you on!"
"Roger!"
Zero dashed forward, following the narrow cave path that led forward towards Duff McWhalen's base of operations, carving his way through the fish based mechanaloids that guarded the path.
At one point, Iris suddenly shouted through the comms, "Jump and cling!"
"Wha-" Hearing something behind him, Zero jumped and clung to a chunk of wall directly behind him, just in time to evade a massive discharge of laser fire from the sub. "Yikes! Thanks Iris!"
"I didn't realize what the energy buildup was until almost too late," Iris apologized. "I'll update you if the energy starts to build up again."
"Thanks."
Luckily, no other mechanaloids showed up once the sub began using its laser device, making forward progress much smoother for Zero. After a time, he reached a wide open area where the sub stalled, bits of armor plating breaking off as it started charging its laser device again. Lunging in, Zero positioned himself below the range of the laser and began striking the exposed vulnerable points with his saber. Before long, he inflicted enough damage that explosions began to rock the sub as it floated towards the surface.
"Here's hoping that's the last you'll see of it," Iris offered. "Good job, Zero!"
As Zero turned to continue onward, the sub appeared again, presenting another face for the attack. "...you just had to say something, didn't you Iris?" he grumbled as he began wailing on it with his saber.
"...sorry..."
After inflicting enough damage to the sub while racing ahead, it once more withdrew in explosions, allowing Zero to continue onward into a wooden area. As he entered, water drained away, leaving him in open air.
"Is this...an old sunken ship?" Iris asked, confused.
"Maybe I'll find some pirate booty?" Zero offered hopefully.
"Ex-cuse me?" Iris demanded primly.
"As in gold and jewels, not the training match your brother and I did where I dressed as a ninja," Zero explained.
"Oh...right..."
Chuckling, Zero made his way through the sunken ship. There were a couple of paths he simply wasn't able to explore at this time, and he didn't have time to figure out ways to circumvent the standard methods, so he continued out of the sunken ship and back into the ocean.
Once again, the U-555 showed up to attack him, this time also giving him a lift upward. This time, Zero was able to do enough damage to the sub to crash it completely.
Entering the final chamber beyond, Zero found Duff waiting for him. "Zero..." he gasped out, struggling to keep control of himself. "Long time...no see..."
"...you're infected," Zero murmured apologetically.
"...heavily..." Duff replied. "I know you're here...to access the ocean..."
"Hydrogen for the Enigma," Zero confirmed.
"You'll need my...weapon chip to...process it easily..." Duff finished. "Zero...I'm still in command of...myself for...now. Please...let me go out fighting...as a real man of the sea!"
Nodding, Zero drew his saber. "Bring it on, old man."
Roaring, Duff began firing blasts of ice at Zero, which the Hunter was experienced enough to easily dodge. However, the shaped ice blocks formed a path that Zero had to make his way along to attack Duff from, and his saber didn't slow him down long.
"Zero!" Iris spoke up through the comms. "My brother's returned from meeting with Grizzly Slash. I'm transmitting the weapon program to your saber!"
As the download finished, Zero lunged in with another slash. This time, an arc of energy lanced out from the edge of his saber, causing Duff to freeze up from impact. "Gyugh!" he gasped out. "I..."
"I'll make it quick," Zero promised, lunging in.
The remainder of the fight went quickly. Each impact of the energy arc the weapon download had added to Zero's saber caused Duff to freeze up and destroyed all the ice blocks he'd generated. Before long, Duff went down for the last time.
As Zero approached to acquire the weapons chip, however, a surge of Viral Energy leapt out of Duff's body, plunging into Zero. "Gyurk!" he grunted, his whole body locking up.
"Zero!" Iris screamed through the comms. "Zero, are you alright?"
After a time, his body settled, and Zero received an update from his systems.
Viral Program reacquired.
D-Type reserves partially replenished. Rerouting to systems...error. Energy reserves incomplete.
Zero blinked, unsure what that meant...but he felt an inexplicable urge not to bring it up to anyone just yet. "I...I'm fine," Zero replied. "Looks like my systems are as resistant to the virus as we thought."
"Well...you should still get back here and let Lifesaver look you over," Iris offered worriedly.
"...if we have time..." Zero agreed calmly as he beamed out.
Guess our hero found out he was... Patient Zero.
Let's be honest, that joke was going to happen sooner or later
When I read this, I thought we would see some RvB cameos.
I'm sensing shenanigans between Tavi and Dynamo next chapter.
7024600 you know what else is gonna happen soon?
ME THROWING YOU INTO A COMPACTER!
7024600 TIBIA honest, that pun really didn't work.
Duff Mcwhalen tried to hit Zero, but he... MIST.
(That is how it's done!)
This isn't going to end well.
Octavia and Dynamo doing LARP seems like an adorable image. When she said DM, though, I thought of D&D.
7024600
7024666 NYEEEEEEEEEH~!
7024761
Yup. Dynamo's part of Octavia's online D&D group, and as penalty for taking a mercenary job involving attacking her place of work during a planetary crisis, he has a choice of
1) Dressing and acting like his character (who is female) during the next video session (like playing D&D over Skype call)
or
2) Losing several recently gained levels.
...he's gonna buy the dress.
Huh, so he's NOT going to end up like Matt?... Ah, well, you can't guess every cliche there is.
More from pure stubbornness than anything else. It's like if Perfect Cell tired to put up a fight against Super Gogeta; you know who's going to get curbstomped every time.
What, does he roleplay or something? Come on, dude, that's not that embarrasi-
See, it's not even the dirty kind!!
Well, see you next chapter.
Er wats dm mean
7024779 DM stands for "Dungeon Master", who is the person in control of Dungeon & Dragons (and other games of that type) campaigns. The DM will design maps, dictate encounters and loot, as well as play NPCs.
7024779
Dungeon Master.
So, Zero and Colonel like to mix it up, huh? First pirates VS ninjas... What else, Pokemon vs Digimon? Deadpool vs Thanos? ...Squirrel Girl vs Wonder Woman?
The last one would, of course, be Octavia's doing.
7024779 The DM is your very unforgiving God when you roll a one...
7024809 so a d&d referance
7024808 then dms would hate and love my oc powerfull with a major drawback of randomly goimg nuts and trying to kill my yeammates
Zero is now one step closer to the ultimate sword skill. Ittoryoudan: Genmu Rei!
Another enjoyable chapter. Good work.
Oh dear, things are about to get serious for Zero, isn't it? MMX5 is my favorite one in the series, so I anticipate this getting really fucked up.
7024769
I would say it's more TSF Tien and TSF Vegeta. Dynamo knows that Sigma can simply up and annihilate him, but the moment Sigma does, he loses. By killing Dynamo he has to admit that such a weak, relatively speaking, reploid actually got to him. Sigma's pride, and the fact that right now he NEEDS Dynamo, prevent him from obliterating Dynamo. Let's hope Sigma doesn't actually get Dangerously Genre Savvy, and realized that the Evil Overlord CAN simply wipe out anyone that mouths off to him, no matter how weak, because that's what is expected. Screw what people think, crush your detractors with ludicrously disproportionate revenge.
Tats you KNOW this had to be done with that title.
7025334 I was talking about Sigma's status as a "fool", but all right.
7024923 Doesn't work that way, D&D and similar systems have a set list of choices you can make for your character. Granted, D&D 3.5 has punpun so it's kind of a moot point, but meh.
Octavia... You just became even more awesome and rolled a Natural 20.
It's sad to see some of the bosses not able to fight off infection any longer, is there going to be any that can be saved???
7025625 Natural 20 my ass. You can never see a natural 20 the same way when a friend rolls one 6 times in a row.
7025874 Six!?
That's pretty much as likely as me rolling all 18's for my stats.
Which I have.
This chapter reminds me of this:
[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=23E-YEHjASI]
7025874 The Natural 20 was to make me laugh and chant "One of Us!" several times.
7025541 i mean its hes base charatiristics did i spell it right mean hes hard to kill or hurt with fire and ice moves but to counteract hes a wild card who can go crazy and attack everyone at rabdom points making fights harder or taking outvhes own team
7026664 Yeah, D&D is an RPG. You start the game at whatever level your DM tells you to. I can assure you that unless you're playing an epic adventure path that starts you at level 17, you'd start at level 5 or under. Starting at level 5, I can assure you that you'll not have any immunities, you will not be stronger than any other members of the team (unless you know the system better than they do) and I can assure you that if you're dumb muscle that's a loose cannon your party caster will disintegrate you from existence.
Pathfinder is mostly the same system, only a lot better balanced, and is a lot better documented online. Here's a link if you want to check it out. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/getting-started
7025541 Any DM that allows a Pun Pun to be unleashed isn't paying attention. I admit Pun Pun and the various attempts at a 'Pun Pun Killer' are both hilarious and terrifying examples of how the rules can be used to break the crap out of the game, but the DM's job is to PREVENT someone from doing that kind of thing in the first place. My favorite example of a DM doing that was back when the best version of Pun Pun needed to be level 14. The moment the sorcerer started explaining what he was going to do the DM had a small Kobold walk up to the party and ask the "The fuck do you think you're doing? Stop, sit your ass down, and think about this..." what followed was a near TPK because I was the only other person to realize what was happening and my fighter DID sit his ass down and listen to the Kobold. Everyone else, including the sorcerer, tried attacking...
7027241 However Pathfinder's Official gaming society is completely asinine with their rules. Otherwise yes it's pretty much D&D 3.75 and thus awesome.
7026664 A) Spellcheck, It's built into any reasonable browser by default. B) As dusk flame said any DM won't let you do things like that, at least any decent DM. Also making a 'Team Killer' is a VERY dangerous idea by default. There are some good reasons to do it, and for such things there are proper ways. Any character that simply 'goes nuts and attacks his own team' at random WILL get killed. Usually by his entire party turning on them FIRST. NEVER announce you're a potential 'Team Killer'. The other players WILL go "Screw the metagaming rules, this guy needs to die." I've yet to see a character that can reasonably take out his entire team at the same time just by himself with reasonable chance of success. They are all going to be just as powerful as you are and you can only make so many moves in a single turn.
7028449 any DM that allows punpun to happen without any downside either shouldn't be DMing, or they just don't care.
7028471 not entirely true. one well placed fireball can TPK if you're spec'd into it. I also have a multiclass warpriest / empyreal bloodline sorcerer (wisdom based casting) / mystic theurge / master of many styles monk that has been able to TPK the rest of my team since level 3.
7028492 First part. That's pretty much exactly what I said.
Second part. The few times I've seen a caster strong enough to oneshot their entire party with a fireball, someone else has either Evasion of Improved Evasion. AoE becomes worthless on them.
That build has 4 classes, and you're saying it's got 3 character levels. Either your twisting the rules to the point that a smart DM should simply have you killed/tell you to roll a new character, or your bribing the DM, possibly with sex. From the classes listed, even if you have all of them somehow at lvl 3, you've got 2 divine caster levels and 2 arcane caster levels. You don't even have 2nd level spells yet. There should be no reason a 2nd level caster of either type can oneshot 3-5 people of his own level in the same round without possessing items that no DM should have given you at that point. Further, that early you SHOULD be squishy enough for a decent rogue to gib with a single sneak attack and decent damage, or a paladin with a solid Smite. I don't care what your alignment is, if you're trying to murder your entire party, you just became a valid target for Smite.
7030403 Nah, at level 3 it was a level of sorcerer and 2 levels of warpriest.
edit: Also, it's not 1 shotting the full party in a single round, it's having an AC of over 30, saves over +10 and a large amount of utility from war priest spells. I have enough staying power to take down the rest of the party one by one, though I'd imagine most would rather just (try to) run the fuck away.
As I'm sure you didn't notice, I was referring to level 3 in the past tense. I can't exactly remember all of my stats off hand from that far back, but he was sitting on an average of 30+ DPR with all buffs up, and a to hit of about 10 or so.
As for the evasion bit, evasion only means anything if your reflex save is good enough to be able to pass. Optimized blaster casters are looking at a DC 23 or so fireball when they get 3rd level spells. Your party's rogue is looking at what, a reflex save of 9 by then?
7030403
7030642
Guys i ment it like a very high levle quest stats and the whole team killer is ment for there and hes got a obvious tell and he carrys a item that freezes him when it happens and he attacks a team member until it weres off
7031124 That just makes it worse. You're practically begging your party's wizard to blast you into nonexistence, trap your soul, and bind a genie to uncreate you just to be sure you won't be a problem. There's nothing "fun", or "cool", or "interesting" about turning on the party. You are a liability, and the party will not suffer through keeping you around.
7031712 then its a good thing he isant a d&d character and thanks for helping me work out what be a good thing to use with him
7031766 That... is a good point. I can totally see Vinyl rushing to finish all the upgrades so they're ready to be sent to Octavia before Octavia manages to get back to Equestria.
And with that, I am now up to date. Time to finish off Vinyl's story as well.
...*chokes* I'll just... here...
This is no good!
HEhehe damnit Tavi
so both octavia and vinyl DM? did they meet in equestria shopping for extra campaign supplements? that would be an adorable meeting story though it begs the question of which one dm's when they're both in the same session
I don't know if this arc is also based on an official MM game, but if it isn't, was this segment inspired by Dire Dire Docks from Super Mario 64? I mean, this sounds like the kind of thing that could happen in TONS of games, but that's the first one that came to mind.
11007643
I can personally verify that this arc IS based off of the game Mega Man X 5.
another victim brought to rest by the one of the heroes, the rest need to prepare for what comes next...
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