[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

[Arctic Tundra]

R pushed the big metal doors. He leered inside, full of curiosity. He walked in, his feet making clank noises as he walked on the frozen floors. Ahead of him stood an army of Mets, and above them, was a mechanical hive of Bat-Bones. On it was an "R." This one room took up 1/8th of the floor. R looked to the left. According to the map he sees on the wall, there was over 245 floors. R could easily rule out 70 floors, as the top of the tower was decimated.

"... Don't make loud noises... We don't want to alert them..." R said.

Chiba nodded, and Kazuo was panting. R made his way around the rather large room, and checked the first door. An office. R stepped back, and walked to the next door. He could tell it was an Elevator Shaft. He pried the doors open, and looked inside. No good. The Walls are coated in ice. The Stairs are their only chance. Chiba and Kazuo followed.

[Vérité]

"Whoa.." Juno said, taking in the large tower, and the hive of bat-bones. Even this many mechaniloids seemed menacing to her. She was sure to have gentle clanking foot-steps.

"R, you found any activity?"

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

"No... We're going to proceed up. The Elevator Shaft is... Too cold. We're taking the stairs." R said.

Chiba looked at him weird. "What? Cold? Can we even feel cold?" Chiba asked.

"I c-c-c-can..." Kazuo said, shivering.

R pushed another set of doors open. Elevator Shaft. Next door. Another office. Next door. Bathrooms. R was getting frustrated. He pushed one more set of doors open, and a Stairwell was there.

"... Yes." R said.

He proceeded through, and started the long climb. He went up 3 flights of stairs. Not one door. He got to the 4th flight, and he saw "Floor 2." R was shocked. He proceeded up the stair case more, until he reached floor 43. Chiba and Kazuo caught up, with Juno not far behind.

"Aren't we investigating?" Kazuo asked.

"Yeah... We're going to take it from the top down. The Elevator Shaft we'll use to go down." R said.

The 43rd floor had no stairs, and the walls were icy. "We're going in..." R said, kicking the doors open.

[Vérité]

OOC: Reaction post, will be short.
Juno caught up with them as R kicked the door open.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

R looked in. All he could see was trash piled up all over the room. He saw multiple Mets pushing it into place.

"... It seems that the Mechanaloids just want to make this place a home for themselves... They want to get away from all this disaster that goes on in the real world... We should leave now..." R said.

"... No, stay here, and go to the top. Something huge is waiting up there..." Chiba said.

"That's just the Dragon. He must be the keeper of the place." Kazuo said.

"No, this signal... It's a Reploid." Chiba said.

R exclaimed. "What!?" R said. "... No matter, we need to head up through here." R said.

[Vérité]

"You mean to tell me that ginormous thing is... a reploid?" Juno kept her jaw shut, though wanted to allow it to drop. That was unbelievable. "How can you tell, from the readings?"

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

"Big blips, Juno. You are both correct and wrong. There are two Reploid Signals... The massive blip on the screen, and a small blip coming out of the bigger blip..." Chiba said.

R looked shocked. He faced forward, and walked past all the piles, and was searching for a way up.

[Vérité]

"Using the stairs, or kicking up to the next few floors?" Juno suggested mildly. She wasn't sure what they were up against.. Two reploids? This is turning up odd.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

"Juno, the walls are coated in ice. No grip means the stairs are our only option." R said.

He busted a door down, and found another Elevator shaft. This one had cables.

"Finally, we can use the cables. Everybody get over here." R said.

Chiba, and Kazuo ran to where R was. R jumped, and his arm transformed into a pulley that grabbed onto the cable.

"Let's go." he said.

[Vérité]

Juno followed the routine, using her pulley to scale the elevator wire. She had only covered this in basic training, but was happy to finally use it.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

R pulled himself up, along with Chiba. Kazuo himself floated up. He was having trouble with staying balanced, and often spun around, wound up hitting the walls, and so on. He flew alongside R, and R reached the top of the shaft, He only went up 57 floors. Floor 100 awaited.

130 floors until the top is reached.

-----

R jumped off the wire, and onto the small opening for doors, he pried them open, and saw a room with nothing in it but a spiral stairwell that lead up in the center. Kazuo and Chiba entered, and waited for Juno.

[Vérité]

As Juno followed up, she sighed. "More stairs." Without another word, she dashed up the stairs, but allowed herself to stay within sight of the others in case of an attack.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

The Elevator shaft closed itself.

A voice started to speak eerily...

"... Hmm... Maverick Hunters in... My territory...? This is a rather... Disturbing breakthrough for... Me and my pet... Unfortunately, you're time has run out... You shall die here... Except for you... Leader of the pack... I can sense tremendous... Power from one of you... I need to make extra sure... You die... I shall pray that... You entertain us... Goodbye... Maverick Hunters..." The voice said.

R looked around. He wanted to know what was threatening his team. The room started filling up with water coming from the walls. In it was electricity.

"Oh shi... Hurry, touching that water causes short circuit followed by death!" Chiba said.

R dashed towards the stairs. He looked up. They went from the center, and expanded to the walls very fast. In a split second, they were coated with ice, making it harder to walk. To top it all off, they crack and shatter easily. Chiba followed R, and Kazuo is close to death.

"KAZUO! RUN!" R yelled.

[Vérité]

Juno could see the water rising. She smiled. Lovely, yet lame. Juno looked down at her Hyper-drive, and it was at 100%.

"I guess it's time to try something new!" She slammed down on it, the energy exploded into the radiance. Her special form, the Eclipse, emerged.

She started swiping her dual sabers at the ice, melting it away with the headshade effect. "Alright, boys! Follow in my tracks!!"

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

Juno's arm was coated in ice, and began to freeze the rest of her body, Kazuo had his chest frozen, preventing his Reactor from using any Reploid techniques. Chiba was frozen so his arms were stuck to his torso. R had the same treatment.

"Such techniques are... Useless here, and you should... Focus on running..." the voice was taunting.

The Water Dragon came right at them. R ran forward, and hip-checked Kazuo, and kicked Chiba, urging him to move.

[Vérité]

"You're going to have to do better than.. that!" Juno used the heatshade of her scimitars to melt away most of the ice.. But she did start to run up the stairs, slowly melting herself a tiny path. "I'm hoping you guys can try to follow!"

I guess the only way out is up!

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

"Your attempts... Are useless..."

Kazuo was running. He could feel the power in his body disappearing. He was slowing down. Chiba was sounding like he has a voice changer stuck in his throat. Both were dying slowly. R pulled out his saver, and held it up to the ice. It melted slowly, and R was free. He looked back, and saw Kazuo moments away from death. Chiba sounded like crap. The Dragon hit the stairs in front of them, leaving a massive gap. R ran forward, and looked at the gap. Right now, they were as good as dead. In the area, wind started to spin in multiple directions, almost knocking R off. Water was being shot everywhere, and with it, death. Electricity attached to flying water was exactly what they needed. R looked down, and saw that they progressed at least 50 stories, and had a bit to go.

[Vérité]

Juno fell backwards as the Dragon took out a section of the stairs. Then, as she tried to recover she had dropped both scimitars.

Shit! she thought, now realizing the worse danger as she had been encased in the ice!

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

R grabbed Kazuo and Chiba, and threw them across the gap. Kazuo made it, and Chiba almost didn't. R grabbed Juno, took a step back, and realized that the water was closing in. He felt like he was being sucked in. He ran forward and jumped across the gap. Kazuo and Chiba were about 2 stories ahead, and Kazuo was no longer held back by the ice. He jumped down, and grabbed R.

"Hold on tight... This will be bumpy..." Kazuo said.

He yanked them both up. R held on to Juno tightly as to not accidentally drop her. Kazuo flew up, and then grabbed Chiba on the way up. The raging waters stormed up even faster, and Kazuo was having trouble flying. He stopped, and dropped everybody 7 stories from the top.

"Run... I can't fly anymore..." Kazuo said, panting.

Chiba picked him up, and carried him over his shoulder. Juno was covered in ice, so R ran up with her. He made it to around 2 stories before falling. There was just a hole in the ceiling for walking through, and a metal door began to close.

[Vérité]

Juno's systems were resisting against the ice, but she'd never ever heard of ice of this magnitude. It was amazing, almost.. But she couldn't move, only felt R tugging her lifelessly.

Damn it... My scimitars..