8: In Fear of the Flood
X frowned worriedly as he mentally went over the latest report regarding the Orbital Elevator, the tower being built to rapidly evacuate civilians to the moon should it prove necessary as part of the Jakob Project. New-Gen Reploids built around Copy Chip technology based on Axl's A-Trans chip proved to be as effective at working in uncertain conditions as predicted, and the leader of the project - a New-Gen Reploid named Lumine - had the construction well ahead of schedule. Everything about the report said there was nothing to worry about.
And yet, like Octavia, he found himself tense, waiting for the other armored boot to drop. He, Zero, Octavia, and Axl were all determined to be there when it did, to catch it before the world was crushed beneath it. Still, there was nothing to go on, no logical reason to suspect anything amiss. Despite this, none of them were willing to completely disregard what their instincts told them. As such, he was on patrol near the Orbital Elevator just in case something should go wrong. Much to his chagrin, something did.
The No. 4 descending container encountered a fatal glitch while racing down its track on the Tower, causing it to burst off and fall to the side. X managed to get to it as it hit, hearing the report of the error. He quickly opened communications as he arrived.
"This is X. I've encountered an accident while on patrol at the Orbital Elevator. Dispatch rescue Mechanaloids immediately!" He scanned his surroundings quickly, searching both for hazards and a safe path for said rescue Mechanaloids. As he spoke, however, something caught his eye that made him freeze.
Heavy mechanical hands gripped the edges of a break in the container from the inside, slowly pushing it apart. Inside, X caught sight of a face he knew all too well forcing the breach open as he started to climb out.
"Sigma!" X barked out, readying his buster. "Alert! We have a Sigma level alert-" His voice died in his throat as the breach was fully forced open and several Sigmas clambered out, one after the other. "It's...not possible..."
"X!" CiCi's voice cut through over the comms. "Repeat, you said a Sigma level alert! Please confirm!"
X couldn't make his mouth move as he found himself face to face with nine Sigmas, standing there staring at him. "It...it can't-" Eight Sigmas then stepped aside, revealing a different Reploid amongst them.
This one was very short, shorter than X himself, in light and dark blue light armor with purple hair spread out behind his head, one red eye visible with the other covered by his hair. "To protect ourselves from damage during the accident," the Reploid explained, "we had to take on a body sturdy enough to handle it. I am sure you can attest that there are few forms as sturdy as this one." As he spoke, the other Sigmas flared with light, shifting down into a humanoid form about the same height as the speaker, in standard issue worker armor.
X breathed a sigh of relief. "Lumine," he greeted, recognizing the Reploid from reports. "Cancel the Sigma Alert, CiCi. Just a first impression for the history books."
"Understood X," CiCi responded. "Do you still need rescue Mechanaloids?"
X started to respond, then spun, his sensors picking up further damage. "Cancel the rescue Mechanaloids for now. We've got Maverick activity near Point Galapagos. I repeat, Maverick Activity in Noah's Park! Dispatch all available S Rank Hunters to back me up." He turned back to the Reploids who'd climbed out of the container. "Lumine, can you and your subordinates keep yourselves safe until the coast is clear."
"Affirmative," Lumine stated firmly. "It will take more than a Maverick Mechanaloid to be a true danger to us."
X frowned internally. He did not like how smug that sounded when Lumine said that. "Then stay out of the way," X ordered. "The last thing I want to do is mistake a Copying Reploid for a Maverick while hunting the real threat." Turning, he headed towards the Park. "Where's my backup?" he called into the communicators.
"Already in position," Octavia called out through the comm. "Large, crab-like Maverick Mechanaloid wrecking havoc in the Park."
"Don't you mean wreaking havoc?" X asked curiously.
"Considering it's wrecking everything else, no," Octavia countered with a humorous lilt in her voice.
"Axl here, Gramps!" the next voice called through. "I've got an aerial position, and I've managed to identify the Mechanaloid as a Crabs-Y construction class Mechanaloid. Heavily armored for construction work at the Orbital Elevator, air-tight for eventual use on the Moon, and heavy set to take the Moon's lesser gravity into account for when it gets there."
"Sounds like we've got ourselves a challenge," Zero added as his signal came online. "I'll be there soon, X! Save some Maverick can for me!"
"X!" CiCi called out once more. "On orders from Signas, you are to split up into teams of two for this mission to ensure full coverage. You need to be extra careful here, as I'm picking up more Maverick activity than just the Crabs-Y. It looks like every Mechanaloid and drone in the park has gone rogue, and there also might be civilians in danger. The R&D division will be working on systems to help your performance and give you more of a safety net, but resources are stretched a little thin with the Jakob Project underway. Any Metal Resources you can find to help out will be appreciated."
"Understood!" X confirmed. "Octavia, Axl, since you two are already there, begin investigation. Zero and I will join you as soon as we catch up."
"Roger!" Zero, Octavia, and Axl responded immediately.
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Crab.
A giant, mechanical crab.
Where is Rarity?
HIT IT'S WEAK POINT FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE!
and now I feel ashamed for saying that.
Now it begins though the Jakob's incident, we're in for a wild ride.
A rather interesting encounter with the Sigma's. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
7707898 7707948 You guys thought of those references. My mind immediately went to these.
7707948
I'll at least cut you a bit of a break. Those words were exactly my first thoughts when I first came across it.
EDIT: Bit of an extra thought here, though. I've heard that Command Mission is canon, or at least good enough to be considered canon. Will you be doing that when X8 is done with, or are you passing it up entirely? Granted, canon or not it was a damn good game, and certainly far better than X7.
And now my favorite game of the series that regained the feel of the SNES games while having improved graphics and nicely done characters with a good array of weapons/techniques.
Silly idea: Well, if it's a giant crab, maybe they could trap it in a large amount of water and boil it to death????
Serious idea: All four S-Rank Hunters Quad Attack for super damage finisher.
Bonus idea: Alia and Iris eventually get to warp in to do a Couples Double Attack with their husbands. Especially if the bad guys decide to turn to kidnapping the kids to try to make the Hunters loose their cool.
...Still broken from the end of WWW, so one pun from me.
Whoever's behind this attack is sure is...shellfish.
7707998
this one strait from the guys who made it....
Ah, the one game in the franchise I've played and beaten repeatedly. It's fairly simple once you know what to do for everything. Getting 100% is a bit trickier, but still nice to do. And the fact that the 100% reward is the Navigators as playable characters is the cherry on top.
I will say this, though: Lumine's motivations continue to confound me. He says that the new-gen Reploids can turn Maverick at will, but he doesn't explain WHY he chose to do so. Heck, the same is true of all the Mavericks you fight, with the exception of Sigma and Vile; we get no real motivations from most of them. Although they have different pre-battle quotes depending on if you fight them before or after the revelation that Sigma is involved.
7707898 What does Rarity have to do with crabs?
7708057 Those Mavericks are probably feeling a little crabby from the pressure being put on them so they're probably feeling a little wrecked at the moment.
7707898
orig13.deviantart.net/32de/f/2014/093/1/2/diplomacy_has_failed_by_i_am_knot-d7br8gc.png
Why not the CMC.
Also 7708260 It's a forced meme someone started by hiring a bunch of artists to draw Rarity vs. Crab art.
7708230 I always assumed that he ment on a level of Sigma's, not as individuals.
7708230 All the new gen repliods, sans Axl, have a portion of Sigma's corrupt coding in them, and if they decide to activate it, there is no going back. On top of that, What Lumine mostly meant is that the term 'Maverick' was exclusively for reploids infected by the maverick virus. As that is no longer a thing, it means that they can act maverick and kill humans, but then again, ANY reploid could do that, even X. Actually, ESPECIALLY X, with his immunity to hacking and external coding restrictions making it so that you can't code the First Law into him. He, and by extension, the new gen reploids, would have to CHOOSE to kill, the only difference being X can choose to stop, and new gens can't. Lumine is really just mocking regular reploids by saying they are too scared to break the law.
7709344 I forgot if you had changed who made Splash Woman or not...
7709501
Yeah. All the RObot Masters of that game were no longer Light bots.
7709501 There were only two sets of Robot Masters Dr. Light made! Not every Robot Master was made by Santa 2.0...
7708323 Thinking of Crabmeat... Rarity became One Punch Pony! She made 100 dresses, lifted 100 accessories, and pranced 1000 miles nonstop... every. single. day.
Flaming Cock.
That's the boss I am waiting for.
I expect great, throbbing things for that chapter.
7708020
Or they could hit it's weak point for massive damage
7710525
Hahaha!
7708294 Oh hey, first I get someone asking if I'm you and know I get a reply from you.
This has tibia massive coincidence or fate.
7711725 Well, whatever the case, be prepared for a skeleTON of puns! Do you find this HUMERUS perhaps?
Orbital Elevator? Now that's something that can and probably will go horribly wrong.
You know, the more I think about it, the more an orbital elevator sounds really stupid to me. Ignoring the, quite literal, astronomical resource requirements just to build it, you're talking about the equivalent of tying the Earth and Moon together with a rope. Anyone with even basic knowledge of gravitational forces and centrifugal force would realize just how much of a VERY bad idea that is.
And even if you somehow brought the Moon to such a perfect stop as to acquire a geostationary orbit, it will eventually lead to the Moon being drawn into the Earth's gravitational field, as the Moon's current orbit rate is the only thing preventing that. If anything, some time in the future humanity is gonna need to figure out how to pull the Moon back into a proper orbit around the Earth, as it's slowly pulling away from us.
The only time I can see an orbital elevator being realistically applied is if it's attached to a geostationary space station. Even then, the station itself would be nothing more than a glorified bunker and/or warehouse.
8900396
Actually, the orbital elevator is connected to a space rock at the Lagrangian point between the Earth and the moon, where the Earth's gravity is exactly countered by the moon's thus creating a zero-cost launch point from which to reach the Moon.
Orbital Elevators have never been about anchoring the Earth to the Moon. It's always been about getting cheaply to the Lagrangian point for zero-cost launches into space.
8900404
Which still doesn't make much sense if you consider that the lagrangian point will always be between the earth and the moon. The moon is not geostationary and thus, neither is the lagrangian point. As such a space elevator cannot be anchored there as the upper anchor for a space elevator has to be in a geostationary orbit by definition.
9849180
I looked up how space elevators are supposed to work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator
so giant enemy crab as the first foe... well this is gonna be a wild adventure.