(7.5) Auxiliary: Finding Partners

"So, what do we do now?"

Regis asked. They now knew the locations of both the targets of their main mission and subsidiary missions, but they could not attempt it as of now, whereas running into another group of cadets and convincing them to work together was something based on chance.

"Let's go back to where we met Avner and Mirjena. If we are lucky and the terrain there hasn't changed, I can try to track them from there. It will be difficult to find other group if all the groups were teleported evenly across the entire forest."

Since there was no other alternative, Regis agreed with Alex's proposal and they began to back track the path they had taken earlier. There were some parts of the track that had been manipulated and the terrain was impossible to identify, but with the help of Alex's mask, they were somehow able to return back to the spot where they had run into the other team.

After looking around the spot for some time, Alex was able to spot some footprints left behind by the cadets that they were looking for, and began tracking them.

After following the trail for some time, Alex turned to face Regis with a complicated expression hidden behind his mask.

"What should we do now?"

"What's the matter?" Regis asked back.

"There is a synthetic beast blocking the way in front. If we decide to circumvent around it, we will have to start looking for further traces in a circular area of tens of meters radius with the beast at centre so that we stay out of its range." Alex replied.

Regis also contemplated this problem before coming up with a scenario that would be helpful.

"Aren't the synthetic beasts made so that they can fulfil the role of the beasts that they are modelled after, and ensure that the ecosystem is sustained?" Regis asked.

"Yes." Alex replied. "Synthetic beasts were created with the purpose to do what their real counterparts did in natural conditions so that the dying ecosystems like the one of this planet could be saved." As he spoke, Alex got increasingly more excited.

"It might actually work, but we will need to test it out."

"Then you test it out, I will stay at the rear and support you if things go wrong. Also, if we need to engage it in a fight, try to kite it away from the region such that some of the signs are spared." Regis was the first to opt out of the task of approaching the synthetic beast just to try if it attacked them.

Since Alex had nothing to add and he agreed with Regis' choice, he had no reason to opt out and decided to be the test subject.

The two of them approached the synthetic beast silently while hiding their presence as much as possible. Regis got the first look at the synthetic beast when he was only dozens of meters away from the beast.

'It does look to be a vegetarian.'

The synthetic beast looked similar to a mountain goat with two of it's horns resembling the curved horns of goats and while it did not seem to be eating plants, it could help in scattering the seeds of the plants and other things that a herbivore was meant to do in order to sustain the ecosystem.

Alex looked at the goat for sometime and then turned towards Regis to confirm their plan. Regis gave the most reassuring smile that he could muster to see Alex off. Alex took in a deep breath before he started approaching the synthetic beast. Regis locked the target of both his gloves on the goat and took cover behind nearby bushes.

Alex walked forward a few steps before suddenly coming to a halt. The synthetic goat which had been standing in midst of the forest while 'acting' to be grazing on the grass suddenly jerked up and turned towards Alex. None of them moved as the stare down lasted for nearly half a minute.

After staring at Alex for some time, the goat began its acting once again. At the same time, Alex's mask was scanning the area for the signs of human passage. Alex took another step forward and once again; the goat raised its head to look at Alex before lowering it once again.

The lights in the mask turned blue and it finished processing the scan results. Alex looked towards the direction that he found the traces, looked back at Regis and gestured that the task was done. The synthetic goat suddenly scratched the ground with its hoof and charged towards Alex.

Regis looked at the back of Alex and immediately fired light beams in his direction. Alex who had his mask on was also able to detect the goat's movement immediately. He panicked for an instant because he had his back facing the goat, but as a trained cadet, he immediately recomposed himself and leapt towards his side while turning to face the goat once he landed.

Two beams of light passed through the spot he had been standing and went towards the goat. Surprisingly, the goat was able to barely react to the beams and move its forehead to prevent it from corroding under the effects of the light beam. Regis continued to fire at the goat rapidly while Alex slowly retreated under the covers of nearby trees.

"Quite an interesting reaction you had over there." Regis commented when both he and Alex had escaped the pursuit of the goat.

"I was surprised…" It was now that Alex realized that his mask had been covering his face for the entire time and looked at Regis who had a light smile on his face as he looked back at Alex.

"Ahem!" Alex let out a fake cough. "Anyways, lets continue. I found the general direction of their movement. We just need to circumvent around the goat."

"Yeah sure." Something about the tone of Regis' reply did not feel right to Alex, but he decided to overlook it and took the lead to move forward.

After some more time had passed, Regis and Alex were finally able to find the people that they were looking for. On the branches of a tree, there were both Mirjena and Avner who were munching on a chocolate shaped food supply.

Suddenly, they both turned to look in the direction where Regis and Alex were standing.

'Ting! Ting!' Mirjena's armor created the same signal tone once again.

"We just wanted to see if you were willing to co operate with us to take down an Asceptus bot." This time, Regis could hear Alex's voice, but the source seemed to be located just between the two cadets standing on the tree branches.

"Asceptus bot! Where did you find one?" Avner asked, clearly surprised enough to forget about the signal code. The number of Asceptus bots were limited and it was only occasionally that people ran into them and that was after those bots decided to remain in an area as if declaring it as their territory.

"We can take you there, but only if you agree to work together. We will be taking the core of this one, but will also help you to find and defeat the next one." Alex replied. It was like an unspoken rule that the ones who found the Asceptus bot first were the ones who took the core.

There was an awkward silence between the two groups for some time as Mirjena looked at Regis for some time then Alex and then back at Regis as if trying to scrutinize them. In the end, she nodded and jumped down the tree.

Avner had nothing else to add and climbed down the tree with a few steps on the bark.

"Nice, I will tell you the details as we walk. There is no need to keep an eye on the surroundings. Leave that to me." Alex said as he made the gesture of going on his toes and placing one hand on his chest and the other towards his back. Regis had learned that this was a gesture for greeting team mates that was popular among a group of soldiers that belonged to a specific region of the galaxy.

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"This can be a bit tricky." Mirjena said while looking at the Asceptus bot.

Alex's prediction was correct. The Asceptus bot truly did stay in the location where they had run into it, but it was now standing right beside the mechanical plant, which seemed accepting of the bot's presence.

"Yeah, it can be. And taking into account the intelligence of that thing, I am sure that it won't leave the vicinity of the mechanical plant that easily even if we kite it during the battle. Not to mention that only I and Regis can deal damage to the plant if we want to complete our subsidiary mission. If anyone of you two deals any damage to it, we will have to find a different target later." Alex replied.

There was only one thing that they could do in this situation and that was to dedicate either Alex or Regis to take care of the mechanical plant while the other three tried to keep the Asceptus bot at bay for the time being.