"Alex! We have a problem!" Shouted Cave as she ran towards him.
"Yeah I'll say. The freaking rats here are huge." He said.
"The culprits have-!" She said with a stern tone before making a confused expression. "W-Wait...what?"
"I just saw a huge rat the size of a kid." He replied while measuring the mouse's size with his hands.
"I mean, I'm not all too familiar with the wildlife in Leanbox but surely having rats that big isn't a a good thing right?"
At first Cave was confused, but soon realized something about Alex's words.
"Wait! Was that rat you saw grey and had a heart-shaped tail?" She asked.
"Huh? Uh, yeah it did." He said.
"That's him!" Said Cave while taking a step closer to Alex. "Quick! Where did it go!?"
Although confused, he simply pointed at the direction they ran towards.
"Quick, follow me. I might need your help!" She replied while turning around and chasing after the rat without even giving the young boy a chance to ask.
As he saw Cave maneuvering among the already thinned out crowds, Alex got over his confusion and followed her.
During the chase, Alex tried asking her for more details.
"Hey Ms. Cave, do you know that rat?" He asked.
"Yes, I do. His name is Warechu. A member of the ASIC." She replied.
"ASIC?" Questioned Alex.
"I'll explain it properly to you later. For now, we need to catch him!"
"A-Alright got it!"
Both of them squeezed through the clusters of people when the crowd got thicker and maneuvered when it got thinner.
Alex had slight difficulty doing so while Cave moved as swiftly as the wind.
After getting through dozens of people, they finally managed to get outside the plaza and into the streets but it was already too late.
"It seems they got away" Said Cave while lowering her head and closing her eyes.
"S-Sorry it's my fault. I didn't know that they were suspicious people." Said Alex feeling a little guilty.
Cave raised her head to look at Alex and gave a small smile.
"Don't worry. It was my fault for not explaining the situation in more detail when I could." She said before turning around to face the stage again "For now, I should return at once. I still need to escort 5pb to her home."
Alex looked at her walking away before raising his head and looking at the night sky as he sighed.
"I should be heading back too." He said.
Although there were quite a few questions in Alex's mind, the only thing he wanted at the moment was to go back and sleep after a pretty eventful night.
The following day, Alex had received a call from Cave asking him to meet with her in some underground caves.
The young boy questioned it at first but figured it was really important so after a while, he had arrived at the caves and met up with Cave.
"Good day Alex. Sorry for calling you all of a sudden." Said Cave who was already at the entrance and waiting for him.
"Don't worry. I still feel guilty for what happened last night so I figured I could make things up today." He replied while walking closer to her "So what's up?"
"After last night's concert, I asked around for information regarding that mouse's whereabouts and there have been multiple sightings of him around this area." She explained before turning around to look at the dungeon's entrance. "I have come to the conclusion that this might be where he's hiding at the moment."
Alex looked at Cave for a moment before turning his head and looking at the dungeon's entrance as well.
"Alright then. Let's go find that rat" Said Alex while drawing his sword.
"Technically, it's a mouse" Corrected Cave.
"To be honest, does that really matter?" Responded Alex.
Without anything else to make them wait, both of them entered the dungeon to search for Warechu.
Cave took advantage of the calm before the storm and gave Alex an explanation about Warechu and about the ASIC, short for the Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime.
Cave explained how it was led by four powerful individuals known as the 'Four Felons' or 'The Hards', and how they wished to resurrect Arfoire, The Deity of Sin. The one they consider as their true goddess.
Cave also mentioned how she suspected that they could be connected to the sudden increase of viral monsters that took place over the past week and a half.
"Okay, I think I got most of it except for one thing." Said Alex.
"What is it?" Asked Cave.
"If this Arfoire really wants to destroy Gamindustri, then why do they want to revive her? Kinda pointless to revive their one true goddess if said goddess is just gonna kill them in the end."
"I'm not certain. All I know is that they must be stopped at all costs."
After focusing his mind back onto the search, Alex noticed a heart shaped tail wiggling about just around the corner.
Once he got closer, the mouse they were searching for was in sight.
"There he is!" Shouted Alex as Warechu quickly turned around after hearing the boy's voice and panicked upon seeing them.
"Damn it! They found me-Chu!" Said the mouse before turning tail and running deeper into the dungeon.
"Quick, don't let him escape!" Said Cave while running after him
The two then chased down Warechu all the way to the deepest area of the dungeon, where the Underling was waiting for him.
"Underling! We have trouble-Chu!" Shouted Warechu
"Huh?"
The Underling turned around and saw both Alex and Cave running after Warechu, straight towards her.
"Wha-? You dumbass! The hell you brought them here for!?"
"Just shut up and help me-Chu!"
"Nowhere to run now little rat!"
"Who are you calling rat!? I'm a mouse-Chu!" Snarled Warechu at the Underling.
Alex looked behind Warechu and noticed the Underling.
"Hey wait a minute. You're the girl from last night!" Said Alex.
"Have you seen her before?" Asked Cave while turning her head to look at Alex.
"Yeah. She was at last night's concert with the rat!"
"I see." She said before looking at both members of the ASIC and walked towards them. "Now then, we have a few questions that need answering. Surrender peacefully and we won't hurt you."
"Surrender? I ain't going down just yet!" Yelled the Underling while pulling out an iron pipe
"Are you crazy? They'll rip you apart-Chu!"
"The hell am I supposed to do then!?" Snraled the Underling while looking at him.
When faced with this quesion, Warechu looked around him before looking at Alex and Cave once again.
"Guess there's no other choice. Let's use that-Chu."
Underling turned her head and looked at Warechu with a confused expression.
"That? What'cha mean?"
"Just wait and see-Chu" Said the mouse while looking for something in his pockets.
After shuffling around in it for a bit, he pulled out something that seemed like a controller, albeit a very simple one.
"Okay, Killachine ON-Chu" He said while pushing one of the buttons.
Suddenly, the area began to rumble as if there was an earthquake happening.
In a quick second, a huge robot abruptly emerged from within the lava and floated into solid ground.
Once the lava cleared off, the Killachine's appearance became clearer.
It was a massive robot with the lower body like that of a snake and a humanoid upper body, with two large arms and even larger axes on each hand, each one no smaller than a car.
"W-What the hell is that!?" Shouted Alex in complete shock.
"It's a Killachine. An ancient war robot created by the Deity of Sin" Answered Cave while preparing for battle.
Alex certainly was impressed a little with the Killachine's sudden appearance, however the boy quickly shrugged it off and also got into a battle ready stance.
"Killachine, kill those two-Chu!" Shouted Warechu.
As the mouse gave the order, the Killachine gave a few beeping sounds before its eyes lightened up.
The robot then quickly moved forward and launched a dual chopping attack against Alex and Cave, forcing the two of them to jump backwards to avoid the large axes falling down on them.
The moment Alex touched the ground, he dashed forward along with Cave.
The two attacked the Killmachine constantly, but the robot didn't go down easily.
Despite its size, it could move quite fast and had strong attacks.
As the fight went on, the Killmachine's attacks became slower every moment, making them even easier to dodge.
After a few more minutes, the Killmachine began beeping uncontrollably and releasing sparks.
"Eat this!" Yelled Alex dashed towards the malfunctioning Killmachine and jumped, heading right towards the upper body with his sword's tip emitting a flame.
He then spun around, unleashing his circular flame slash as he cut the machine in half.
He then jumped backwards a few seconds before the Killmachine violently exploded.
"Guess you could say, he went out with bang." Said Alex, putting his sword away with a smirk.
Cave simply turned her head to look at him with a neutral expression.
Alex noticed it and turned his head away to hide the slight embarrassment he felt from saying that out loud.
"H-Hey don't judge me okay!? It sounded a lot cooler in my head! He said.
To Alex's remark, Cave simply turned around and closed her eyes.
"I have nothing to say." She replied calmly before opening her eyes again and looking around. "Now then, where did those two go?"
While she looked around for the two ASIC members, Warechu was hidden behind some rocks, away from their sight.
"Oh man. The Killachine got busted up...I better get out of here before they find me-Chu."
"Too late."
"Chu?"
Warechu suddenly felt something grabbing his tail and lifting him up.
As he dangled around like a pendulum, he saw Alex was the one holding him by the tail.
"You!? Ho-How did you find me so fast-Chu!?"
"I mean, I was kinda expecting you two to bail during our fight so, not exactly surprising to me."
"Well done Alex." Said Cave while walking towards him.
"Thanks. Unfortunately, I think the girl got away."
"We can deal with her later, at least we captured one." She said before looking at the mouse hanging by its tail "Well then. Are you ready to talk?"
"Y-You're not getting a word outta this mouse-Chu!"
"I see." She said as she raised her hand and created a sphere of fire "Maybe I should use some persuasion, then?"
'S-She's immediately resorting to brute force!?' Though Alex while sweat dropping.
When Cave was about to turn Warechu into a fried mouse, her phone began ringing.
"Oh. Hold on for a second." She said as she dispelled her flame and searched for her phone.
"I-I'm saved-Chu." Said Warechu with relief while Cave took out her phone and answered it.
"Hello? Ah, Chika, what's wrong?" After hearing Chika over the phone for a moment or two, Cave's expression turned more stern than usual "I see............I'll send him right away."
After ending the call, she stored her phone back in her pockets and quickly turned to look at Alex.
"Alex, we need to head back to Leanbox right now!" Said Cave in an urgent tone which quickly concerned Alex.
"W-Why? What's going on?" He asked with worry in his tone.
"The city is under attack!"
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Chapter 9: Complete