Nothing like a long boring walk through the woods to kill a sense of urgency and importance. Well, Zero was still serious, and Alpha was normal, but his counterpart and his future friends had dropped out of serious mode... "...And then once the kid's to safety, we'll defeat the lead guy of this operation, then find our way home." Future Zero finished. "You think it's going to be that easy?" Zero asked, slightly annoyed that his future self thought little of the challanges ahead. "Well the things we've been fighting so far aren't exactly challanging. That Panzer we fought earlier wasn't very though at all." "That wasn't a Panzer, that was a large CNDragon..." "What's the difference?" Future Zero asked. Zero had caught his attention. "Well, for starters, Panzers have armor and ammo, and boy do they have alot of...huh?" Zero stopped in mid sentence and stride. Alpha had come to a halt. He wasn't just stopping, he seemed frozen. Alpha did thing whenever there was something of great importance, but there was nothing there... They were about to try to get Alpha to move along when a bright light suddenly began to show. They realized they were seeing a transprortation to the planet from the outside... "Do you think it will be one of our friends?" Iris asked. The light flashed brightly before it disappeared. What apeared from the light was not a pleasant sight for Zero. As it turned it's head, seeming to recognize Zero, it was none other than a bonified, grey armored, CN-35... "PANZER!" Zero shoved F.Zero out of the way, jut barely in time to dodge a small barrage of armor piercing bullets. Alpha lepted the Panzer, knocking onto one foot, but the 20 ft CNDragon swatted its smaller cousin away easily. Future Zero fired of some shots, but they had no affect. They bounced off the armor, doing as much good as paper balls. The Panzer slammed its foot back down, shaking everyone too the ground. It let up a massive, dinosaur-like roar. Iris spotted a small gap between some boulders, hidden around the other side, which they all ducted into for the moment. Alpha would have continued the fight, but Zero called him back. The Panzer moved slowly, amost at the pace of a walk. If they were lucky, maybe the thing would walk right past their hiding place. "We can't just hide! We need to fight that thing!" Future Zero growled, slightly upset that he hadn't dealt any damage. "Panzer's have strong armor, we can't just fire randomly at it. There's a chest plate that covers the linkage for the whole armor. If we take off the buckles that hold that on, we'll be able to damage the linkage that holds the armor. If we get rid of the armor, then we'll be dealing with a normal CNDragon..." Zero explained. "Sounds like we should probably split up to confuse it, maybe get in more shots..." Future Zero started... "Not sure, it might work, but Panzers are pretty smart..." How true... Alpha let out a massive hiss. The group turned to see a large, familiar eye looking in on them. Never taking his eyes off the Panzer, Zero adressed the group in a calm sounding voice... "Move out the back side of the rocks one at a time slowly. We might delay it for awhile. If we run, it might fire, so lets just get out of here first before trying something..." Zero was right. The Panzer for the moment seemed more curious, watching its small prey react. Its eye contracted and dialated while watching them. Alpha seemed ready to leap at it at any given time, crouched down low and his mouth open wide. If Alpha had been a real feline, all of the hair on his body would have been standing up. It didn't look as if Alpha was going to budge from that spot, but it was only him and Zero left in their nitch of a cave... (Zero Dashes out of the Cave,preparing to use his Giga Attack Rekkoha,as he gets closer to the Panzer he can tell already that the Panzer has a target lock on Zero) Zero:Alpha,Back me up!! get ready with your Strongest attack!!... (as Zero says this he stops the Dash and uses the Rekkoha Attack which then Rains down Large Energy Beams in the immediate area,a few of these beams hit a Buckle near the Left Shoulder on the Panzer) (Alpha takes off into the Air,Flies Past the Panzer using an Energy Slash from his Claws Slicing the Buckle on the Lower Right Part of the Chest...) (The Panzer then opens fire and a slow pace,allowing Alpha and Zero enough time to escape with their lives) F:Zero: Well, Treble2 and I are back at full strength,so let's see that panzer! (Confronts Panzer) 5 minutes later.... F.Zero: Hmm...Internal Sheilding? That's a new one, must be some kind of Super Panzer. (Charges up) F.Zero: ASTRO CRUSH!!! (Siren goes off) F.Zero:All Right,Everyone! We have 5 minutes to evacuate the area before the asteroid hits! If anyone else is in the cave, they're in pretty deep so they'll be OK. But the Panzer'll be squashed! Let's MOVE!!!!! Alpha snorted and stayed where he was. ~(If that meteor actually works, I'll eat someone's old boots...)~ Zero wasn't too confident. "Maybe if we're lucky this will be one that's not too good at firing..." The Panzer turn and cocked its head to one side, studying the incoming meteor. After a moment, it opened its mouth, seemed to take a deep breath, then fired off a massive lazer from its mouth. Once the lazer struck, it shattered the meteor into afew hundred pieces. Two massive containers attatched the the Panzer's shoulders (the 'wings'), revealing a rather large number of missles. It fired of a good many of these at the meteor fragments, vaporizing what was left of it. If reploids had been capable of it, everyone would have probably paled. Zero gave a slight nervous laugh. "Heh...a long-range sniper...why us..." The Panzer turned back to them, lowering it's head and leting out a roar, almost seeming annoyed. Alpha roared back at the Panzer. ~(We're in too close. I can't target the lazer or missles at this close a range, but any closer and we'll be back in the way of those bullets...)~ Zero(To Alpha): you're larger than I am...I can distract him while you go for the Missile tanks...ok? (with that,Zero heads out arming the last buster weapons he took from the HQ,Tornado Fang and Parasitic Bomb) (Alpha stayed behind Zero) (Zero started Launching Wave after Wave of T.Fangs and P.Bombs at the Panzer the T.Fangs hitting and Drilling through the Buckles on the Right Shoulder and the Lower Chest,the P.Bombs Blowing them away) (Alpha manages to release a Large,but EXTREMELY Hot Flame Blast at the Missile Tank on the Left Shoulder,the Heat only getting hotter and hotter,eventually setting a chain reaction in the tank destroying it) (alpha heads back to the cave as Zero RE-Enters it) Zero: Well done,Alpha...Let's hope that was enough (Alpha just snorts at the comment made) The battle lasted with the Panzer for quite some time, no one was sure how long. The Panzer had become wise to their tricks and wasn't giving them any chance to get anywhere near it's chestplate. For the fifth time, Zero managed to strike one of the missle chambers on the Panzer and caused a chain reaction to blow up the missles. Everyone waited, taking a tense break from the fighting. The previous four times the Panzer had simply rearmed itself with missles and begun the attack again. Maybe it was finally out of ammo, at least in that compartment, they hoped. The Panzer turned its head to look at the empty compartment. A large series of clicking noises were coming from it as the Panzer searched for left-over ammo. The Hunters were about to sigh with relief, but a different clicking started, followed by the missle compartment reloading itself with fresh ammo. Everyone in the group looked like they could faint in that moment. "Man, where the heck is it getting all of that from?" Future Zero asked. The Panzer had gone through enough ammo to demolish a small base, and it still didn't seem to be running out. The Panzer turned back to them and began another barage of missles, forcing them to retreat into one of the nearby small ravines again. This time, however, there was a problem. This one was a dead end, and the Panzer had already closed in. Zero sighed. Finally cornered, it seemed like things were ready to end. No where to run, no where to go. Zero felt terrible. He didn't even get a chance to know what had happened to his brother... "KIIIIIYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" The Panzer abruptly looked upwards in the direction of the noise. Something flashed out of the trees, striking the Panzer in the eye. The panzer roared with pain, giving his attacker, Jag, an opportunity to take out one of the remaining to buckles with his Tazor Rang (sp?). "JAG! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" Zero yelled. There were alot of times where they could have used his help. "Getting a good possition! I would have gotten him along time ago, but you kept luring it away!" Jag counters. "GUYS!" Future Zero yelled. The warning came almost too late, giving them barely enough time to dodge a barrage of missles. Alpha shot a burst of flame at the last remaining buckled. The fight had been so long and hard, that it almost seemed impossible that it was ending. Time seemed to slow as they watched the metal plate fall away from the panzer's armor, the only sound registering to them being the thunderous clatter as it crashed to the ground, and then again as it fell flat on the ground. But as time seemed to resume back to speed, they hit the realization that the battle was far from over. The Panzer roared with a rage that they had never heard before. Jag had damaged its eye beyond repair, and the Panzer knew it was near to loosing it's protective armor and that none of its friends would come to help him. With the Hunters still cornered in the ravine, the Panzer took afew final steps to seal them in from escaping it again. Giving a vicious growl, it armed all of its amunition and targeted it on the hunters. The Hunters seemed Frozen, unable to move. Something seemed to snap into Future Zero's mind suddenely. He knew it would never work, but he had to try, it wasn't as if they had anything left to loose... The Panzer had almost finished targeting the hunters when one of them made a movement. One of the Hunters was trying to charge him. The Panzer tried to finishing the targeting sequence, but with only one eye it was just slightly to slow. Future Zero got the first blow with is Beam Sabre, destroying the armor's holding mechanism. As Future Zero landed on the ground, the armor began to self destruct, covered in explosions. The mechanism also seemed to be responsible for the armor's stability, not just for keeping it on. The Panzer twisted, then seemed to swing its head. The armor began to come off, several exploding pieces at a time. The Hunters managed to slip passed the Panzer quickly to avoid the detonating armor and get to a safe distance. Alpha snatched Future Zero away, over to the rest of the group. The the explosions finally finished in a large one, but when the light faded the fight was still one. The Panzer, now a normal CNDragon, was still unharmed except for its one eye. The CND roared with fury. "We have to take it, now!" Zero yelled. The armor was off, and that meant that it was vulnerable. Treble2 snarled and charged the CND, leaping for its throat, only to get swatted away by the CND's tail. It was now fast. Very fast. Treble2 yelped, limping behind his master. "We can't charge it like that!" Jag yelled. Zero, as well as the rest of the group, backed up. He was right, it'd just kill them if they attacked now. 'There has to be something we can do...' Zero thought, begining to feel very hot. He realized suddenly that it wasn't himself that was getting hot. Alpha was heating up; he was preparing a powerful fire attack, the specialty of red CN-29 Dragon, the Volcano Ring. Alpha lifted his head, openning his mouth, a small ball of energy flashed for a second before Alpha closed his mouth. He lowered his head, lining up his sight with the larger CND before spitting his energy ball at it. As it passed through the air, it began to expand into a red/gold energy ring. When it connected with the large CND, it detonated, causing the already injured CND to be destroyed. The battle was finally over, but at a price. A small transport and its cargo had arrived at its destination by the time the hunters had won their fight, and the Hunters were still a day behind before they would catch up to it. (as the Battle with the Panzer is over the sun begins to set,as well as winds picking up and everyone is showing signs of fatigue) (Zero Looks on at what remains of the tire tracks) Zero:...It seems that the Transport continues on in this direction...but if we wait any longer we may never find it again...I don't know about you guys but I'm going ahead...I'm not waiting for the enemy to lay harm to Ep...(Zero Makes A motion like he's leaving the immediate area as Alpha steps infront of Zero) Alpha: ~(Where do you think You're going? It's nightfall and everyone's exhausted,get some rest...then we'll continue in the morning.)~ Zero: (To Alpha)...hmm,this ground is sort of muddy...maybe the tracks will stay,but what about Ep?...(thinks to himself) Ep's tough...and it'd be stupid to go into a battle tired... (Finally Zero agrees with Alpha and stays in the area for the night) Zero:(to everybody) ok,we'll move out in the morning,get rest and we'll start up just after Dawn so we can use as much of the Daylight as we can,and if anyone's got a problem with my Plans...well that's tough because we have to work as one...(looks to F.Zero) you know this as well as I do... Cymon arrives in some sort of lab. He is put into a tank filled with chemicals to heal him. When he wakes up, he is told what's going on by a strange voice in his head. He gets to his feet, and walks. A CND-79 appeared. Cymon and Bitt looked at it for about 2 seconds before running around like crazy yelling,"HELP!!!!!" Let's just hope they can outrun the CND until they find some help. Bitt and Cymon had enough,so Bitt destroyed its attack and defense program files.Then Bitt went into overload,firing everything it had at it. The CND tried to become something stronger, as it had an updated file, but it was destroyed. But as the files where being erased, Bitt downloaded the transformation program. For several hours now, the group had once again begun to trudge through the endless forest. The forest gave way to swamp, and then back to forest, and again into swamp. The tracks the group had been following had long since dissapeared and they were forced to rely only on their judgement to deside what way to go. Alpha for the most part seemed to be the one to deside what way they would travel. The darkness of the swamp around them made their moral sink, and they felt as sad and dark as the swamp around them. ~(Something is not right)~ Alpha paused, staring ahead of him. He lowered his head, close to touching the water that rose several inches above their ankles. ~(Hours ago I scanned the terrain and we were half way out, but now, it is as though we never moved...)~ Zero stopped, causing the others in the group to do so as well. Alpha couldn't have possibly meant what Zero thought he had said... "Do you mean we've been going in circles?" Zero rationalized. ~(No, we have been traveling straight forward)~ Zero took a step forward, growing nervous. ~(The forest will not let us leave)~ Zero again stopped. "That's impossible." ~(Impossible is me being careless enough to loose my master)~ Zero was silent. He knew that the CN-29s were very loyal to their masters, to the point that they'd take a life threatening blow for them, but with all the excitement, only now was he seeing the effect of Ep's capture on the dragon. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. "So what do we do now?" Zero asked. Alpha began to walk again, churning up the mud in the water around him. ~(We continue forward)~ Bann was practicing his battle strategies. No doubt Sigma was behind the dissapearing Hunters. He flew up to the training dummy, slashed at it, and flew right through it. He was suddenly warped through space and time into the strange land called New Genesis He saw and recognised the dissapearing people. He looks around and then asks Zero what's going on. When Zero tells him, he is shocked. Both because he has to find his way out of this swamp, and that he won't get to kick Sigma's cybernetic butt. "Oh well, these Avalist guys sound just as good, but I guess we have to beat the mavericks first. Oh well. Let's go!" He says, as he is scared, though very intrigued. Bann looks around as he is explained about the swamp. "Hmm... Well. I don't suppose they can make us go in circles if we go up, can they? I can fly, but can all of you? maybe if we found a way, we could fly high enough to see the edge of the swamp, then we could leave. Let's just find some way to get you guys in the air. Zero:(facing Bann) well,that is a good idea...why don't you go ahead and try it...My theory is that the fact that we're going around in circles is because it's all in our vision...if we were to "Walk Blind" closing our eyes and the like...we might be able to counteract what this darned swamp is throwing at us... (facing Alpha)...(Zero Pointing to himself)I really don't think Alpha wants this 2-ton weight on his back...(chuckles a bit) ~Alpha,you don't need to worry about Ep...He's Safe as long as we have his scarf...the Mavericks NEED this in order to have any advantage...outside of the Home field advantage,in any case,we'll find him and obliterate whoever kidnapped him in the first place,ok?...don't look so down...~ Bann looks up. "Your vision idea might work, and probably will, but I'll try mine first." Bann flies up into the air and then back down, trying not to cause a sonic boom. "I saw the edge of the swamp! All we need to do now is find a way for all of you to fly. That... might be hard, but maybe we could get some leaves and some sticks, and make them into a glider. Of course... we'd need to sew the leaves together. We'll find a way. I'll start collecting leaves, someone else will need to get the sticks, though, because I'm not strong enough. This swamp goo seems sticky to glue the leaves together, as long as it doesn't rain, unless anyone has a better idea." Bann starts gathering leaves. ~(It won't work)~ Alpha said calmly to the only person who could understand him. Alpha was sitting on one of the few dry patches of land in the swamp with his eyes closed. He almost looked alseep. "Why not? Zero asked stubbornly. When Alpha didn't reply, he sighed and looked around for some sticks to carry out the plan. Thats when he first noticed it... "What happened to all the twigs..?" There had been thousands earlier. Now there wasn't even a piece of bark. Out of sheer curiosity, Bann desided to fly up into the canopy to get another look in what direction to go, only to crash back into the murky water below again. Bann rubbed his head. "Ow...that branch wasn't there before..." Zero grimaced. All of this that was happening was impossible. Twigs don't dissapear, branches couldn't spontaniously move, and forests couldn't keep hostages..! ~(We can't defeat magic with Science)~ Alpha said, stepping off his island and back into the water ~(And you can't reason against what's not meant to be rationalized)~ To everyone else in the group, Alpha only sounded as though he was making noises or growls, but they could tell from Zero's expression that the dragon wasn't making sense to him either...but...at the same time he did. Zero was too confused. Nothing was making sense any more. Nothing seemed to be working. Why were they even trying..? Before Zero's thoughts could sink any further, something seemed to catch the corner of his vision. ~(There!)~ Alpha had seen it too. Zero whirled, barely managing to catch a glimpse of it before it flashed away, deeper into the swamp. "After it!" He order without waiting to see if anyone else had seen it. The group persued it, but now it was no-where to be seen and Zero was unsure if they had gone the right way, but something kept drawing him towards this direction. As they continued to move, a single thought ran through Zero's head. That wasn't a Reploid... Bann saw the thing too. He didn't get a good look, but he saw it. "That... that thing must be what's causing this, unless it's lost too. If it is, then this swamp must be constantly shifting around. We'd better stay close, or we might get separated from each other for good. And without you guys, I'd never get back to Earth and destroy Sigma, so I figure we'd better work together. Hey, is there something up ahead? It looks like... a lake! We must be getting somewhere, but why a lake?!? I'm made to fly, not swim. And I can't even... do... that in this... swamp... and... no! not now! I can't let my fear take over... I... have to... keep up with the group..." Bann is only a few feet behind everyone else when he faints. (after nightfell and after everyone seemed asleep,Zero Continued the search for the "thing" everyone saw earlier..) Zero: if there is something that can lead us out of the forest I must find it...(looks back and thinks(Alpha can't take much more...neither can I for that matter...) (just as he said those few words,Zero heard the sound of something or someone stepping in a large puddle) Zero:No way...Could it be!?...(fires a low heat flare shot so he can see well in the darkness of the Swamp's night) The flare did its job, lighting up the area with its bright red light, but the darkness of the forest dimmed the flare, and Zero only managed to catch a glimpse of what he had heard in the water. The thing in the shallows of the lake was what they had been following, he was sure of it. The creature was as tall as a human, and had a similar body design, but the features Zero had managed to make out was more similar to a cat. He had even made out a tail and pointed ears before the light had failed. "Why were you following us?" Zero called out into the darkness. "I? You chased me here. Why were you following me." "You followed us first." Zero had felt as though they were being followed ever since the fight with the Panzer, but he had simply ignored it as his own nerves. Now he knew that she had really been following them. He was still waiting for her to respond. She seemed to be thinking. Zero paused in his thoughts for a second. It looked like a she (from what he had seen) and it sounded like a she, but on this new planet he wasn't entirely sure that he could be possitive about that. "Fair enough." Zero looked up. He heard a faint sound of something coming out of the water, like a fish leaping, but not the sound of a second splash. In the darkness, he could faintly make out the creature landing on an old dead tree, half burried in the mud of the shallow water of the lake. He had been right about his earlier description, but with the creature crouching down on the log, it looked even more cat-like than before. Zero turned in the direction of the 'cat' and began to walk towards it. The cat talked quietly, as to not disturb the others who had somehow still managed to stay asleep. "My name Asquira. I have been following you since you slain the large dragon." Zero stopped when he was close enough to see her (he was sure it was a she now) but still kept his distance. He could clearly see 'Asquira' now, despite the darkness. Though she was completely covered in fur, she wore clothes that reminded him of what characters in fantasy magical worlds would wear. She wore jewelery, mostly metalic bracelets and bands with strange carvings on them. Asquira seemed to be studying Zero as well. "What are you?" He asked eventually. Asquira paused from studying Zero. "I am a Lenxya." She paused again, still staring at him. She abruptly, but fluidly, jumped off her log and circled around Zero, too close for his comfort though. "Hey!" Zero yelped, but before he could do anything, she had already returned to her perch. She cocked her head. "You are odd..." She cocked her head "You are not like the others..." Zero sighed. "I think I know who the 'others' are, but why don't you tell me, as well as why you were following us."