After planning their strategy, the three of them got ready. Ban was the first to move. His mech was wielding a vibro knife, the mech's secondary weapon. The nimble machine ran directly ahead. Since the enemy was on high alert, he was spotted quickly. This was part of his plan. They needed to grab attention.
He sprang around 40 meters from the tree line and stabbed his vibro knife into the ground. Ban quickly retreated into the tree line. His Mech skillfully evaded the shots fired at him. The enemy mechs moved to chase the escaping scout mech. Not one of the shots directed at him was able to connect.
The poachers moved away from their assigned posts and towards the area where Ban turned away. At the same time, Beater and Melly engaged the incoming mechs from the tree line. They took potshots at the enemy from behind cover.
The moment they started receiving fire from the left and right flanks, the enemy mechs fell into a bout of confusion. They returned fire into the tree line without having a clear sight of their targets. Once Melly and Beater started to move and fire from different positions, the problem for the poachers intensified.
Ban took advantage of the chance that the entire team had created. The scout pilot used his mech's sensors to paint the knife in the ground. A few moments later, Alpha's attack arrived from the sky. As the shots fell, they generated an explosion. Ten of the fourteen poacher machines were in the area of the bombartment. They were quickly engulfed in the detonation caused by the shots of Alpha's long-range cannons.
Two machines were brought down due to the proximity to the knife. Eight had been damaged, but four were in pristine condition. Beater took advantage of the confusion. Dashing out of the tree line, he fired the Warren rifle.
His Aim was true. The machine in his sights fell limp to the ground after receiving three laser shots. The closest enemy reacted and lifted a weapon to shoot at the incoming McCain Reaper. But two shots from Melly's rifle kept Beater in one piece. A third mech fell to the ground due to Ban's laser pistol.
The enemy machines that were out of the explosion range started firing at the attacking mechs. Their first target was Melly's machine. With elegance, Melly evaded their shots. However, the poacher mechs behind the girl had no time to react. Two more fell to the poacher's friendly fire. Apparently, that setting was only turned off for the players
Beater received a few shots, but the armor extension took the damage. He returned fire to the offending machine. Two pulls of the Warren rifle's trigger made quick work of the attacker. The teen pilot then moved to cover Melly's flank.
Ban dodged and weaved between the downed mechs, taking advantage of the confusion. Using his skills and with the right opportunity, he managed to bring down another machine. The scout mech evaded the attacks with an uncanny skill uncommon for pilots of the first level. While dodging the enemy fire, he created an opportunity for Melly to attack.
She aimed her rifle at the last of the damaged machines. The girl lost no time in taking it out. One of the undamaged mechs took advantage of the girl's focused mind and attacked her. Nevertheless, the strengthened armor plates of the Star Dancer halted the attack. The mech suffered minimal damage.
However, Melly was infuriated; one of these filthy poachers dared to damage her big brother's gift. The girl fired back with reckless abandon. Her attacker fell to the barrage of laser fire.
Two of the remaining enemy units took advantage of Melly's unguarded attack. The mechs aimed their weapons at her. However, before the poacher's weapon could fire, Beater covers her mech with the McCain Reaper. As the poachers' attack landed on the red surface of his mech, pieces from the armor extension fell loose.
The young pilot survived the attack. Lifting the Warren Rifle, he returned fire using the burst mode of the weapon. At the same time, Melly, seeing that Beater's mech was taking a beating, reacted. She moved to Beaters' flank and fired along the damaged machine. The two enemies fell to their fire.
When they started looking for the last machine, they noticed that Ban had already taken it down. Beater was amazed by the skill of the scout mech's pilot. "Wow! Ban, you managed to take a lot of mechs with your scout.
Ban answered with a confident tone. "Its just a matter of knowing where to shoot."
Melly looked at the damage of Beaters machine."I'm sorry your mech got damaged because of me." She felt bad about the event and thought of a way to make it up to him. "I will ask my big brother to fix your mech."
Beater decided to eject the armor extensions. "Don't worry, Cosmos. That's what the armor is for." The remaining pieces of the armor extension fell to the floor. Underneath, Beater's mech was undamaged. "Lets go free the animals and return to the rest of the group."
While the three pilots looked around the camp, they saw a group of normal cages on one side and three massive cages on the other. Ban moved to the smaller cages to free the normally sized animals. Melly and Beater piloted their mechs to the large cages.
The first of the large cages had a massive snake-like creature. The beast's exaggerated size was imposing. At the moment, it was coiled inside the cage. A plaque on the cage read Gigantophis Garstini.
The second cage contained a boar-like beast. The creature was larger than the mechs. It had a set of six massive tusks coming out of its mouth. Tearing down mechs with those would be child's play for this creature. The plaque on this cage read Hylochoerus meinertzhageni Maximus.
The last cage contained a large feline beast. Two exaggerated fangs came out of the creature's mouth. The furry face and tender expression of the beast won Melly's heart. She wanted to pet the thing. However, the creature was the size of two medium mechs put together. The plaque on the cage of this one read Titanus Smiledon Fatalis, Cub.
As they read the plaque, Melly and Beater realized that the creature before them was a cub. It was not done growing. Beater could not contain his amazement. "Its that big as a cub!? How big does it grow to be?" His face showed a look of amazement.
Since this creature was simulated and not a real one, Melly got no reading from it. She would have loved to play with the real thing. Without much delay, the girl opened the cage. The simulated beast started following her. Once the two other cages were opened, the beasts ran into the jungle. Apparently, they can only have one creature at a time assisting them.
Moving back to the ambush point, they reunited with Ban. At the moment, he was looking at his vibro knife, still stuck in the ground. Even after the bombardment, the weapon looked pristine. Ban suddenly remembers that the friendly fire is off for the second pilot level. With a hesitant movement, he grabs the weapon once again. The scout pilot ponders to himself, "Have I discovered an exploit?"
Melly and Beater looked at the teen as he admired his knife. Beater broke the silence. "Can we go now? I want to get back to the others at the spawn point."
Ban was shaken from his admiration. Looking at the rest of the team, he noticed the titano sabertooth tiger behind Melly. The scout pilot shared his opinion. "The Sabertooth tiger is a good choice. I would have personally chosen the boar, though. It has a very strong charge attack."
Melly shook her head. "The tiger is the cutest of the three. I wish I could take it home with me."
Beater, imagine the massive creature living in the city. "I don't think that is a good Idea. It takes a lot of space. Besides all the food it eats, will probably make your parents go bankrupt."
Melly felt a bit sad, but she knew Beater was right. The girl tried to negotiate with herself. "...Maybe I can get a smaller one?"
Ignoring Melly's self-struggles, Ban started to move back to the spawn point. Beater and Melly followed after him. The tiger followed the girl. Suddenly, Melly had a doubt. She decided to ask Ban about it. "Ban, how do I use the giant tiger?"
Ban was about to object, but he remembered this was the first time this group had done this operation. With a reluctant tone, he answered the girl's question. You have to order it around. The thing has a basic AI, so don't expect too much from it."
The girl decided to test this by asking her tiger to jump. When the simulated animal complied with her order, Melly's eyes filled with joy. "This is fun." The girl decided to play with her tiger as she moved towards the spawn point.
Meanwhile, Alpha, Sugar, and Nina were on alert. After Alpha had used his mech's cannons a second time, the sound of the cannons firing and the heat signature had attracted unwanted attention. Alpha had detected the poachers' approach with the sensor suite of his heavy mech.
The teen pilot relayed his readings to his teammates. "Sugar, Nina, I'm picking up around eight signatures coming from the south. It appears that my bombardment did not go unnoticed. Shall we prepare for a fight, or do we move?"
Sugar wanted to know more."Can you distinguish the mech types from here?"
Alpha responded quickly. No, but judging from the way they are moving, three are light mechs, and five are medium-sized. It's safe to assume the three fastest ones are scouts. They should have light weaponry and thin armor, but high mobility."
Sugar decided to let Alpha come up with a plan of action. He was the best at coming up with good strategies. "Do you have any Ideas?"
Alpha thought for a moment." The job of the scouts is to keep us here. We will have no time to move with my mech. Let's make a stand here. We need to take the three machines quickly. Nina, we are counting on your Dash and Bash here. Take a position covering me from the direction of the poachers."
Nina was eager to start the action. Ever since this operation started The teen had done nothing. She was bored out of her mind. Nina moved her mech facing the incoming threat. She then unfolded her shield and wielded her shotgun. "It was about time; I was dying of boredom."
Sugar started to move to the tree line. The outgoing teen resolved to meet them halfway and herd them towards Nina. Wielding his Warren rifle, the blue McCain Reaper entered the tree line. A few moments later, the sound of laser fire and metal Clashing was heard. Two light mechs came out of the tree line.
Nina lost no time; she did not want to give them the chance to react or maneuver. The thrusters embedded in the calves of the mech light up, propelling her mech forward. The incoming poachers had no chance to evade. In a flash, the surface of Nina's shield made contact with one of the light mechs. The difference in weight caused the lighter mech to be launched backwards. The machine, which crashed into a tree with tremendous force, was torn into pieces.
Using her shotgun nina fired at the other mech. Because of the proximity, the machine took the shot in full force. The remains of the mech fell to the floor. In one movement, Nina had taken both machines out. While part of it was because of her top-tier equipment, the skill of the pilot could not be denied.
Alpha whistles in admiration. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
Sugar came back. His rifle still emitted heat from the shots he took. "I brought down one of the scouts. Did you deal with the rest?"
A smug look could be seen on Nina's face through the comm-channel image. With the tip of the shotgun, she pointed at the wreckage that used to be the poacher scouts. "They were a piece of strawberry shortcake."
Sugar laughs. "I can take a hint. I will get you one from Bullets Cafe once we finish the operation."
A smile and a light blush showed on Nina's avatar. Since it was a custom avatar, it had more emotion options. "I will hold you to your word." She had a flirty tone as she spoke these words.
Alpha interrupted her flirting. "People, the remaining five mechs are closing in. Let's get ready. Also Im detecting another wave of enemies after this one."
Sugar gave the two other teens a small pep talk. "Don't worry, Alpha, Nina lets put our heads together. We only have to hold until the others arrive." Raising his Warren rifle, he screamed. "LET'S DO THIS!"
The other two teens said nothing. But they were feeling better after Sugar's silly antics. Sugar was keeping their morale high. With no other choice, they braced for the fight.
As Ban, Melly, and Beater reached the spawn point, they found the three mechs that stayed behind. While they walked into the area, they were met with nearly a dozen wrecks. Alpha's mech was the only one with a pristine look. The auto canons on the mech's arms were still hot.
Nina's machine had laser marks all over the shield. While the mech had a few laser burns, it was still in one piece and ready for action. The thrusters embedded in the mech's calves were still smoking. At the moment, she was recharging the ammo for her shotgun. Her machine had a few magazines stored in a utility backpack.
Sugar was ejecting the remaining pieces of the armor extension. He seemed to be happy with the performance of his new equipment. "Those armor extensions are the Bomb. They only cost about 500 vouchers, but save so much in repairs.
Beater was the first of the incoming group to talk. "Hey, guys, are you all right? This place looks like a graveyard." His mech turned its head from side to side, looking at the wreckage.
Melly enters the area with her tiger following her. The moment Nina spots the beast, her heart melted. Even the image of her avatar had a light blush on the comm-channel image. She had to fight the impulse to go pet the big kitty. A blue blur passed quickly beside her mech.
Sugar was already petting the big cat. He used the hand of his mech. And with a soft motion, he stroked the cat's hide. "Who's a good kitty?"
Melly had a smug look, since she was the one who freed the animal; it would only obey her. "This is my kitty Im going to call him Little Fang." A yellow name projected on top of the simulated beast
Alpha reminded them about the operation. "Sugar, Nina lets focus on the mission. We still have to deal with the camp to the south and the Hunt Master. There is no time to play with this cat." At the moment these words left his mouth, the teen was using the red dot of his laser sight to see if the cat followed it.
Ban called on them. "People, we have to move. The time for the operation is running out." The reluctant teens stopped playing with the giant tiger and kept marching south towards the main poachers' camp. They stopped two kilometers from the base. Alpha decided that this was the best position for his mech. Nina remained with him.
Beater, Sugar, Ban, and Melly kept marching south. Ban was moving in front of the group. With his sensors, he scouted the area where they planned to pass. Since the enemy was already aware of their existence, the only option for them was a head-on attack. After a few minutes, they reached the base.
Immediately, they noticed that something was wrong. The base looked empty. There were no heat signatures in the area as they walked. Even the animal cages were left unguarded. To the group, this was very suspicious. However, if they wanted to finish the operation, the trap must be sprung.
Ban decided to use his exploit once again. The scout pilot coordinated with Alpha and the others. Beater and Melly already knew what to do. They brought Sugar up to speed on the maneuver. Having completed their preparations, Ban started to run in the direction of the base.
After 60 meters inside the perimeter, the poacher mechs started to show. Ban stabbed the vibro knife in the ground and made a gesture with the middle finger of the mech's hand. At the same time, he screams with a taunting tone. COME GET IT LOSERS!
The mechs that came online started dashing towards the scout mech. Ban lost no time and retreated. The moment the enemy machines got near the area of the knife, Beater started shooting from the left flank. Sugar had the right flank, and Melly moved around in the center.
Once again, the machines fell into disarray. The confused poacher started to shoot randomly. Some of the lighter mechs even fell to the sporadic fire of the teens. A few moments later, Alpha's laser shots fell onto the knife. This time, nearly 20 mechs were engulfed in the explosion generated by the bombartment.
A few machines succumbed to the explosions. Only 4 light mechs fell prey. However, there were more than a few mechs in a bad state. Since keeping the enemy in that same spot was unlikely, the teens charged forward.
Melly and her tiger joined the frey. As she dodged and weaved with her usual grace, the girl fired at the weakened enemy mech. With her command, Little Fang started tearing the enemy apart. With the size of the animal, it was easy for it to tear even pristine machines limb from limb. Much less this weakened enemies.
Beater shot his Warren rifle selectively. The pilot was still in a covered position. Giving his weapon enough time to cool between shots, he hung back, covering the other three teens.
Sugar ran all over the place. Taking pot shots while dodging. More than once, he fell into trouble and had to be bailed out by Beater or Melly. However, he was contributing to the fight.
Ban displayed his unusual skills once again. Even with the number of enemies before them, his dodging skills were only met by Melly's graceful movements. Shot after shot, he took down a mech each time. It was as if he could tell the location of damaged parts and each mech's weaknesses.
The shot from Alpha's cannon fell on the structure away from the animal cages. Little by little, he was erasing the enemy camp. Suddenly, He transmitted to the rest of the party. "People, the Hunt master is here. Nina is engaging it, but the machine is too fast. We need backup."
Having dealt with most of the damaged machines, only a few undamaged mechs remained. Beater asked Melly to go help Alpha and Nina. Even with the diminished top speed, the Star Dancer mech was the fastest of the group. The girl lost no time. With the speed her mech had, she could reach that distance in under a minute.
Dashing through the jungle was not an easy task. Too many trees stood in her way. But with her graceful movements, she had little trouble. Little Fang followed closely behind her.
As she arrived at the clearing Alpha had chosen for his bombing run, the girl found the mechs fighting the Hunt Master. The boss of the operation was using a tiger-like mech. The machine was optimized to fight in the jungle.
AT the moment nina was holding it at bay with her club. The shotgun she wielded was on the floor, bitten in half. Alpha's mech was missing a leg and an auto cannon. Since his machine had eight legs originally, he could still move.
Melly fired at the tiger mech, which was at the moment busy fighting Nina. The shots connected, and she damaged the mech. The Hunt Master suddenly turned, locking up to her Star Dancer, the tiger mech jumped at Melly.
The Girl issued an attack command to Little Fang and jumped to the side. As the Hunt Master fell on the spot where Melly was standing mere moments before, Little Fang pounced on the machine. The Mech and the animal were locked in fierce combat.
Melly took the opportunity and, with a few shots, created a window for Little Fang to land a claw attack. With the full strength of the tiger's body weight, the head of the tiger mech flew into the jungle. A second claw attack with the other paw put an end to the Hunt Master.
The operation was over. Since the teens found the hidden camp at the begining they managed to obtain the 100% bonus. Melly even got the Hunt Master's token. Followed by an achievement. A Cat to kill a Cat, the picture of a red clawmark represented the achievement.
Back in the waiting room, Beater and his friends sent Melly and Ban a friend's request. While Melly accepted, Ban left the room. The teens were a bit surprised about Ban's refusal; they had worked so well together.
Ignoring Ban's random antics, Melly thought of a way to make them feel better. She decided to invite them to The Grease Monkey Workshop. "Guys, would you like to come to my big brothers Workshop?" She thinks of a way to entice them. "He was the one who made Beater's and Sugar's mechs. Plus, we can get a lot of sweets from the food stations of The Waiting Room."
When they learned who Melly's big brother was, they all accepted. A chance to meet the creator of the McCain Reaper enticed Beater, Sugar, and Alpha. The sweets mentioned by Melly tempted Nina. She appears to have a sweet tooth as well.