Shade Fox made a mental note to expand his unit’s training regimine to include more simulations of natural environments.
Their urban-centric training was a blessing in Abel City, but here, in this mechanical biome oh-so-carefully crafted to replicate nature, it was of little help.
Rubble and Azazel were still far behind the rest of the unit, trudging along through the foliage as carefully as a Reploid of Rubble’s size could. The preserve still needed to be kept as intact as possible, to reduce the stress inevitably placed on the surviving wildlife by this...unfortunate incident. There were so few successful repopulation programs left in the world, and some of the species here might not have been able to recover, if disrupted too severely. Rubble couldn’t just go crashing through all obstacles here, like he usually would.
They would not be catching up any time soon.
Meanwhile, Ume and Bark had descended into maintenance tunnels beneath the jungle, hoping to catch their target before he could spring a trap on them from beneath the surface. But had encountered little more than infected replicas of wildlife and maintenance mechaniloids in their search, and had little to report between their quiet check-ins. Shade Fox made a quiet note to himself to speak to them both when this was over. Their training had always showed promise, and he was pleased to see their skills carrying over into the field.
The tall Reploid stepped carefully over a sprawling tree root, and reached out to lay a hand on the shoulder of his own companion. Issimo took a moment to reach up and turn down his audio sensitivity before looking up at his towering commander. Shade Fox tilted an ear in a questioning manner, and Issimo shook his head.
“Still no trace, sir.” He reported. “I can’t hear any movement that’s heavy enough to be a Reploid of this size.” Shade Fox growled under his breath, and removed his hand. This was becoming...troublesome. All six of them moving together would still be too easy to detect, but the longer the unit remained separated in this terrain, the greater the chance of an ambush, as had happened with Azazel and Rubble. They needed to find Neon Tiger soon - Shade Fox was loathe to call upon anyone else to help finish the job.
His unit had a reputation, and by Azimov, they were going to uphold it.
“Keep listening.” He ordered Issimo, starting to move forward through the jungle in another direction. “The 17th has all the exit points covered, so he has to be in here somewhere.” Issimo nodded, and twisted the rings of his audio covers once more. Shade Fox took care to step as lightly as he could as he continued with his own search, to best reduce any painful audio interference, and Issimo closed his eyes.
All around him, he could hear the sounds of the jungle; the rustling of wind-blown leaves, the gentle humming of the electronics hidden beneath the faux bark of the trees, and the retreating footsteps of Shade Fox, crunching through the loam. The Reploid frowned to himself. There was something...off...about this natural soundtrack that he just couldn’t put his finger on. He probably should have mentioned something to Shade Fox, but...how could he even begin to articulate a concern when he couldn’t even figure out why-
A loud roar suddenly tore through the jungle, and pain seared through Issimo’s processor. He nearly collapsed right there on the spot, but a large hand grabbed his arm and yanked him roughly to one side - moments before a purple set of beam claws sliced through the air, and buried themselves in the loam where the Hunter had been standing. Shade Fox thrust the stunned Reploid behind him, and ignited his saber as Neon Tiger straightened up, and leveled a wild-eyed glare at the pair of intruders upon his domain.
“Intruders!!” The Maverick hissed, baring his white fangs in a vicious snarl. His tail lashed side to side like a whip, and he roared angrily. Issimo cried out in pain, and scrambled to turn down his audio system. “Get out, get out, gET OUT! YOU AREN’T WELCOME HERE!” Neon Tiger lunged forward at Shade Fox, and the Reploid quickly shoved Issimo out of the way before dodging himself.
The beam claws sliced through the trailing edge of his cloak, creating an acrid, burning smell, and Shade Fox hissed a curse of his own. That cloak had been a custom made item! Twisting around, the Reploid struck out with his own beam saber, countering a swipe from the claws that was aimed for his midsection, and directing it away. Unperturbed, Neon Tiger struck again, only to be countered again…and again...and again.
The jungle rang with the sizzling hiss of clashing beam weapons as the poacher hunter and the Maverick Hunter danced among the trees. Wild slashes and missed strikes cut through branches and foliage all around; the plasma blades and broken electronics plumed smoke up to the sky, and small fires began to spark up in the combatants’ disastrous wake. Their claws and frenzied footwork tore up the loam and grass, and for a few precious minutes, Hunter and Maverick seemed to be evenly matched.
That is, until Shade Fox stumbled.
Neon Tiger took immediate advantage of this opening, and ripped through his opponent’s knee in one swipe. Shade Fox howled in pain, and collapsed to the ground, off balance and unable to bear his weight on the damaged joint. Neon Tiger pounced - slamming his full weight down on the other Reploid - and backhanded the other’s saber out of reach.
“Look at what you’ve dONE!” The Maverick accused, lashing his tail side to side as he loomed over Shade Fox. “You’ve destroyed my home! You’ve burned the trees, and endangered the animals!” He stomped his foot down on Shade Fox’s arm, pinning it to the loam below, and raised both of his clawed hands above his head for the finishing blow. “I wON’T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!”
“중지!” Something suddenly grabbed Neon Tiger by the ears and jerked his head back, and from the Korean outburst, it could have only been Issimo. The Hunter had somehow managed to vault his way up to the Maverick’s head - an impressive feat on its own - and was holding on for dear life as Neon Tiger began to toss his head from side to side. With a frustrated roar, the Maverick abandoned Shade Fox, and poured all of his attention into trying to throw off this unwanted rider.
When his strategy of mad flailing failed to dislodge Issimo, however, Neon Tiger instead spun around and slammed his head back against a nearby tree. With no time to bail, Issimo was slammed against the truck with vicious force; his head snapped back against the bark with enough force to put a crack in one of his cheek guards, and Issimo slumped to the jungle floor.
Neon Tiger glared over his shoulder as the Hunter collapsed, but seemed to see no more danger in the small figure, and turned his attention back to Shade Fox. The 9th unit commander had managed, during the short distraction, to crawl closer to his beam saber…but it was still out of reach when the Maverick appeared again, and kicked it away.
Cursing under his breath, Shade Fox twisted away from those clawed feet and raised his arms, ready to at least attempt to defend himself. Neon Tiger laughed at this pitiful display, and started to raise one clawed gauntlet. Only one, this time - it was all he’d need to end this fight for good.
Just before he could begin to swing his arm down, however, Neon Tiger stiffened, and made a strangled noise of pain.
A small light flashed behind the Reploid - the blade of a concealable beam weapon - and Neon Tiger went down on one knee. Issimo appeared from behind him - helmetless, and once more clambering up the taller frame as one might climb a tree, with a beam knife clutched in his hand. He stabbed down into Neon Tiger’s neck with uncharacteristic force once, twice, three times! The animal-based Reploid collapsed to the ground, and Issimo stood upon his back, scowling down at the fallen poacher Hunter with unrestrained disgust.
Shade Fox stared intently as the Hunter knelt down, and sank the blade up to its hilt into the Neon Tiger’s skull. Tearing apart the slashed up metal by hand, he reached inside and pulled out the Reploid’s AI chip. Rising back to his feet, Issimo glared at the chip, and his hand twitched, as if to crush it. He looked at Shade Fox, and the unit commander pricked up his ears like a dog tempted by a treat.
He knew that look, and it was all the proof he needed.
Then, just as suddenly as the outburst had come, it faded, and the fury bled out of Issimo’s expression and stance like water through a leaky dam. He swayed, and dropped the beam knife; stumbling when he stepped off of Neon Tiger’s back. Shade Fox pushed himself into a fitting position, and rolled to lean on his shredded knee with a pained hiss. He quickly leaned onto his good leg, and stood up while he had the strength. Argh, but he’d need help to walk, with that shredded knee...
Issimo was staring blankly at the chip in his hand, and he flinched as Shade Fox clamped a hand down on his shoulder for stability. The Hunter looked up, and automatically shifted his weight to best stabilize his commander’s balance, though his expression burned with a whole host of questions.
“That Maverick slammed your head pretty hard.” Shade Fox spoke first, stalling whatever questions Issimo held on the top of his tongue. He reached up one hand to hold the side of his soldier’s head, as of examining some unseen injury. “How many ears am I wiggling?”
“You’re...not wiggling your ears, sir.” Issimo replies slowly. Shade Fox snorted a dry laugh, and dropped his hand to the Reploid’s shoulder. If Issimo found his commander’s state to be a bit more...intense...than usual, he chose not to mention it.
“Let’s get you to the repair bay quickly, anyway.” Shade Fox decided, straightening up as much as his injuries would allow. “I don’t want you wandering around with a head injury just because you can’t see it. The threat is dealt with, now, and the clean-up crew can dispose of the body.”
“...r-right.” Issimo chose not to look down at the lifeless form of Neon Tiger, and stored the chip he held in a pouch on his belt. He didn’t remember the end of the fight, and that worried him. But Shade Fox would have been more concerned if something truly bad had happened, right?
He’d even said, ‘that Maverick hit you hard’...
Surely, this incident was isolated, and nothing to worry about.
