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Chapter Text

Maverick Hunters

Reploid Recommendation Form

Name: Dr. Julius Citron

Reploid Recommended:

Serial number- Unknown

Preferred name(s)- Amaterasu, Ammy

Height- 5 ft 2 inches

Weight- 116 lbs

Special Features- ability to change into an animal form

Skin tone (if applicable)- Caucasian

Hair color (if applicable)- white

Eye color- gold

Description:

Ammy is, in my opinion, a unique specimen of a reploid.

She was discovered under mysterious circumstances by the residents of Shin Kamiki Village, a rural town that sprung up in what used to be the Shinshu District of Tokyo, Japan.
No one knows how she appeared beneath their sacred Konohana Tree, not even her. I’ve checked her memory systems, and anything before that day is blocked. I’ve tried everything to help her recover her memory, but aside from more invasive procedures I haven’t had much luck.
She seems to remember some things on her own, but these snippets are triggered mainly by sensory input.

I was studying the agricultural practices of the village when she appeared. In fact, I was one of the first humans she met. She protected me from something I couldn’t see, but I could definitely feel it. I’m still not sure what it was exactly, but it made me feel exceedingly physically ill. In fact, there had been a few villagers with similar symptoms. At first, I thought it had something to do with the water, until Amaterasu came along.

Suddenly, those villagers recovered, and acted like they’d never been ill after only a few hours. The villagers seemed to greatly respect Ammy after that. I’ve heard a few call her a kami, an old Japanese term for a god-like spirit.

She was taken in by the Headman of Shin Kamiki, Mr. Sudachi, and under his tutelage, she learned the ways of a priestess, or more accurately, a miko.
She has become a valued part of the community in the past year she has spent among them, and I believe she can become just as valued to the Hunters’ cause.

In my observations, Amaterasu has shown capability of wielding a blade or handheld buster, which I have provided for her. She lacks one built into her systems like most combat models.

She has a special weapon of her own, which she used against whatever-it-was causing the villagers to grow ill. It is a round shield of sorts with one side holding a mirror. Engraved in it are kanji that roughly translate to ‘Divine Retribution’. That is what we’ve been calling it, or DR for short.

She has combat capabilities to be sure, with much room to learn and grow.
She has talents outside of combat as well, such as painting, foot racing, dancing and helping the villagers with their busywork. The children adore her and she seems to enjoy entertaining them.

As mentioned under the ‘special features’ above, I learned that Amaterasu also has the unique ability to change her form into that of an animal. A wolf, to be specific. And she doesn’t look like a wolf reploid, she actually walks on four legs and has realistic fur. She allowed me to touch it and I can confirm it feels like her hair.
I have seen her patrol the outskirts of the village in this form, keeping watch for something, likely more of those creatures that it seems only she can see.

It is my hope that, should Amaterasu be accepted into the Hunter ranks, she can learn to better wield her abilities and protect innocents.

End Form

Commander Signas hummed as he looked over the recommendation form, submitted to the Maverick Hunter Recruitment Department only a few days ago. They hadn’t gotten many recommendations in the past weeks, especially not ones like this.
Most were usually department transfers, or recommendations from other Reploids on behalf of those they pulled off the streets or friends from previous lines of work.

The Hunters were understandably wary of any mysterious units, since there was a high chance of them being Maverick.
Given this one’s origins in a farming village, living among non-military-trained humans for a whole year, Signas supposed this Amaterasu reploid could be safe.

In this peacetime, there was a shortage of new staff (and funding) to the various Hunter Bases, including the HQ in Abel City. As it was, all anyone really did was perform basic police operations and investigate potential maverick sightings.
It left veteran Hunters with more free time than they knew what to do with.

Signas glanced at the corner of his office where the Hunter he’d recently sent for stood, awaiting his orders.
He’d already debriefed them about this potential new recruit.

“I would like to send a Hunter with Dr. Citron back to Shin Kamiki. See if this recommendation has potential or needs to be dealt with.”
He turned to the Hunter in question.

“I am assigning you to this mission, Captain X. I understand you were looking for something to occupy your time? Any objections?”
Really, Signas wanted to help get him out of the HQ for a while. He looked like he needed it.

“None at all, sir. I just hope nothing happens.”

“I hope for that as well, for your sake. If anything does, I know you are more than capable of handling it. Connection will be spotty out there, so be sure to accommodate for that if you do require backup.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Feel free to take backup with you if you feel you might need it. Dr. Citron also requested you bring an extra Armor Disc.”

X quirked an eyebrow.
“Alright, I will. Is there anything else I should know?”

Signas smiled knowingly.
“The reploid in question has been living among humans in a rural farming community for over a year. They have combat capabilities, but hasn’t used them against any humans or Reploids.”

“She hasn’t? But you said she fought of whatever was making people sick.”

“I did. Dr. Citron clearly stated that he didn’t see what it was, but Amaterasu did. There have been reports of minor Maverick activity out there. I’d like you to look into that as well.”

“Very well, sir. Will that be all?”

Signas nodded.

“You will meet with Dr. Citron at the Train Station at 0900 hours tomorrow morning. If there are no further questions, you are dismissed.”

X was handed a copy of the recommended form. He took it and saluted before leaving the room, making his way to the Command Center where he’d left Axl and Zero before.

“Well… she sounds interesting, at least.” He muttered to himself as he looked over the form.
“… Five foot two… a hundred and sixteen pounds… change into an animal form? That’s new. … a unique specimen, eh? I’ll see about that.”

Later…

“An escort and evaluation mission?”

Zero asked.

He was there when X returned, right where he’d left him. Axl had gone off to train, or so he claimed. You never knew with that boy.

The two relocated to the commissary to talk, where X handed his blonde friend the copy of the form.

“Yes. It’s not my first, though having to go all the way out to the boonies is new.”

Zero huffed, skimming over the form.
“Should make it interesting though. I regret to say that I haven’t been to many agricultural farms, but I’ve heard that the communities there are quite different from what we have in the city.”

“I’ve heard that too. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a farm. I’ll tell you about it once I get back. Maybe snag some fresh produce while I’m at it.”

Zero chuckled, causing X to smile at his own quip.

“Hehe. I don’t know about that. But if this ‘Ammy’ turns out to be Maverick…”

A dark look crossed X’s face.
“I’ll be careful. And their name is Amaterasu. Like the goddess.”

“Might be a bit stuck up then.”

“I don’t think so. From what I read, she doesn’t seem like that type. Oh, Signas also told me to grab an extra Armor Disc for her. Apparently, she has armor, but doesn’t wear it often.”

“… huh. Wonder why?”

X shrugged.
“I dunno. Must not be much going on if she doesn’t need to wear armor all the time. I envy her. The fact she has it at all means she might not be a civilian reploid.”

Zero nodded in agreement.

“I know civilian models used to, but nowadays if they aren’t made with combat in mind, they don’t get much armor, if at all. Resources for that are lower now.”

“Luckily, I have some time before the mission starts. I’m supposed to meet with Dr. Citron at the Train Station at 9 AM tomorrow.”

“Dr. Citron? Don’t think I’ve heard of him.”

“Me neither. I looked him up, and apparently he specializes in using reploid tech in farming and agriculture. Hence why he was in Shin Kamiki in the first place, I suppose.”

“That makes sense. According to this, it seems Amaterasu likes helping with such things. Maybe you two will get along?”

X smiled wryly, remembering the days when he wanted to do nothing but help.
Heck, he still did. Just in more non-violent ways.
“Yeah… maybe.”

“By the way, why is he sending you? There’s plenty of other Hunters he could’ve sent out there.”

“Yeah, but I think it’s because I’m more experienced and… I’ll admit, I’m kind of looking forward to some fresh air and sunshine.”

“I don’t blame you. You like being outdoors and they’ve kept you cooped up here for… what, a couple years now?”

“Sounds about right. Then again, it’s been so hot and humid lately and it’s supposed to get below eighty degrees next week.”

“That’ll be nice.”

It was at that moment that a certain red-haired reploid came into the commissary.

“There you guys are! Alia’s looking for you!”
Axl said, approaching his mentors.

“Is she? Must be something important.”
X said, getting up from his seat.

“What’s that?”
Axl asked, pointing to the paper. Zero handed it to him.

“A recommendation form Signas gave me. He wants me to evaluate them and, if they pass, bring them here for documentation and initiation.”
X said as Axl looked the form over.

He grinned wider as he kept reading, following the two older Reploids as they made for the Command Center.

“Hey, this gal sounds pretty cool! Can I come?”

X shrugged, smirking at Axl’s enthusiasm.

“The Commander did say I could bring backup. Why not? You have been getting stir crazy lately.”

“Stir crazy? Me? Naw…”

Zero lightly bonked the New Gen reploid on the head.
“Yes you are. You need to get out of here as much as X does, I can tell.”

“Hey.”
X cast a mock-offended look at the red reploid.
He was right, though.

The next day, 9:00 AM

The Abel City Train Station was bustling with activity, people both reploid and human coming and going with attendants ushering them to their desired destinations.

X and Axl were wearing civilian disguises, since they didn’t want to be waylaid.
X looked like he could be a normal college student save for the round black earpieces, with his slightly mussed up black hair, t-shirt, jacket, jeans and sneakers.
Axl meanwhile looked like a high schooler, a hood covering his own earpieces. He also wore a long-sleeve shirt with slacks and sneakers. X carried a satchel while Axl wore a backpack to carry their travel supplies.

Walking past the turnstiles into the Plaza, they soon found their escort sitting at one of the benches before a wide staircase.

X approached the older man as he was reading a book. He couldn’t see the title.

“Are you Dr. Citron?”

The man looked up from his book at the question. Dr. Julius Citron looked to be man in his 50s or 60s, grey hair balding slightly at the scalp but the rest was cut to a side part, with a short beard decorating his face. He wore glasses over his blue eyes, and a simple tan suit and white shirt.

“Hm? I am, and who are you, young man?”

“I’m a representative from the Maverick Hunters. My partner and I are here to escort you back to Shin Kamiki Village and evaluate the reploid you recommended.”
X said in a friendly but clipped tone.

“I suspected as much. Our train doesn’t depart for another thirty minutes. If we hurry, we can get our tickets and we won’t have to wait in line too long.”

Dr. Citron grabbed a wooden cane that sat next to him, using it to help him stand up. Its top was ornately shaped into a wolf’s head.

“He seems okay.”
Axl commented as they followed after the older man.

“He does. But we’re evaluating the reploid, remember?”

Axl frowned.
“I know. Man, this only makes me more excited to meet her!”

“I’m sure we can learn more from him while we wait for our train.”
X said as he walked up to the booth and paid for their tickets.

“So… Dr. Citron…”

“Yes? Did you want to ask me something?”

“Yeah, so, that reploid you recommended? What’s she really like?”

The older man had a knowing look on his face.

“You’ll find out when we get there. Don’t worry, she’s a right sweetheart. But I don’t think you’re her type.”

Axl sputtered at the response, blushing lightly as X came back with the tickets.
“W-what? That’s not- “

Dr. Citron laughed, taking his ticket from the blue reploid. X overheard their conversation and couldn’t help but smile slightly at Axl’s reaction.

“Seriously, though, I think you’ll like her. You might learn something from her too.”

“We’ll see about that.”
X said skeptically as they waited at the platform.

Later…

“Just a little more… there!”

The white haired reploid smiled as she hung the last lantern. At the top of the tree she’d used as a ladder, Ammy surveyed her last hour of work.

All the lanterns, which had been specially painted by the village children and herself, had been hung equidistant from each other along stretches of wire, starting from Sakuya Hill all the way to the entrance of Shin Kamiki Village.

Ammy had painted exactly fifteen lanterns, the vast majority of them. You could tell them apart from the other lanterns from the fact she used black ink as opposed to the more colorful paints the children had used.

Each of the ink paintings depicted an animal from the Chinese zodiac, and then some.
The zodiac seemed to be one of Ammy’s favorite things to paint, alongside nature.
She wasn’t sure why.

Mrs. Sudachi called it her muse.

The lantern Ammy just hung depicted a whale of all things.

She looked up to the sky, shielding her eyes from the bright glare of the mid-summer sun. From its position, she could see it was nearing noon.
It had been so hot lately, she was glad to feel the cool breeze that swayed the lanterns. She could even see sparse clouds in the distance.

“I should go help prepare lunch. Then I can see what else I can do.”
She muttered to herself, hopping down from the cherry blossom tree.
The majority of its pink blossoms had already gone, replaced by the green leaves indicative of summer.
Yet, Ammy could still catch their sweet scent in the air.

Summertime wasn’t Ammy’s favorite season, but she found reasons to enjoy it. Summer festivals being one of them, and Shin Kamiki held its own every year. She remembered attending her first festival last year. It had only been three months since her activation, and she was still new to a lot of things.

It was the most fun she’d ever had! She hoped to have just as much this year, with the added knowledge of what everything was.
She was still a little embarrassed about how she peppered poor Haruka with questions about everything.
Well, now they could just enjoy the festival together!

With that in mind, Ammy walked down the dirt pathway to what had been her home for the past year. The Headman’s house, which doubled as the local shrine since Mr. Sudachi was also a certified Shinto priest.

He’d taught her everything she knew about the local religion and the practices involved. Including the origin of her name, Amaterasu.

She liked being called Ammy instead, as she felt like her full name carried with it the authoritative weight of a goddess. And Ammy wasn’t a goddess. Not really.
Even though she could name a few especially religious villagers that would argue otherwise.

As she walked up the stairs to the shrine entrance, she saw that more lanterns had been hung between the torii gates at the top and bottom. These ones were traditional red chochin lanterns, their small electric bulbs already lit in preparation for nightfall.

“You’re back! How’s it looking?”
Haruka asked as Ammy reached the top of the stairs. The young woman was sweeping the stone ground, wearing a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun from affecting her too much.

“It’s looking great so far! Just finished putting the rest of the lanterns up.”

“Great! I can’t wait to see them tonight. You guys worked hard on those.”

“We had fun! The children even wrote their names on them so they can take them home after the festival.”

“That’s clever. You taking a break?”

“Kind of. I was going to see if your mom needed help in the kitchen.”

Haruka smiled, shaking her head fondly at her adopted sister-figure.
“She probably does, but she insisted on making the dumplings herself this year. You were a great help last year, though.”

“Of course she does. Well, I’m still a bit hungry so I’m going to get lunch. Want to join me?”

“Sure.”
The girl put her broom by the door, taking off her geta as she entered the house on the shrine’s property. Ammy took off her dirtied shoes, walking into the house in ankle socks.

“What are we feeling? We’ve still got leftovers from last night.”
Haruka said as she entered the kitchen, where the latest batch of her mother’s dango were still baking.
Earlier batches were resting on the counter to cool, the woman in question stirring a new mixture in a bowl.

“Oh hello, girls.”

“Hey, mom.”

“Hi, Sudachi-san.”

“Need any help with this?”
Ammy asked, gesturing to the dango.

“Oh, no! I’m fine!”

“Okay… just let me know if you do.”

Ammy turned to the teenager.

“Leftovers sound good. Is that okay?”
Despite being a reploid, Ammy could actually eat human food. It took longer to process than normal reploid nutritional substances, and they had to be in smaller portions, but she enjoyed it more than E Tanks. No matter what kinds of flavors they made E Tanks in nowadays.

She still grabbed one from the fridge, part of a case of matcha flavored ones Dr. Citron had gotten for her.

“Yes, that’s fine. I was going to have something else.”

Just as the girls grabbed paper plates and sat down in the living room to eat, they heard a knock at the door.

Haruka sighed.
“I’ll get it.”
She said as she begrudgingly got up. As she was doing chores around the shrine earlier, Haruka was currently dressed as a shrine maiden.

Ammy was dressed more casually, in a cute t-shirt with a sun motif and long red skirt.
She preferred skirts to pants most days. She wore her white, black tipped hair in a ponytail.

She took a sip of her matcha E Tank as Haruka answered the door, black earpieces picking up a familiar voice.
She smiled, getting up to greet Dr. Citron as he came into the living room.

“Dr. Citron! Okaeri!”

“Konnichiwa, Ammy-chan. I’ve brought some guests with me. I hope Sudachi-san won’t mind.”

“Dad’s out by Sakuya Hill performing the Konohana Ceremony, Mom is in the kitchen.”
Haruka said.
“Ammy and I were just about to have lunch. Want to join us?”

“Would you like me to get something for our guests?”

“Some E Tanks would be lovely, thank you.”
X said, moving into view with Axl close behind.
He spotted the blue canister on the table.

“E Tanks…? Oh! You’re Reploids!”
Ammy exclaimed, not expecting to see others of her kind.

“Yes. They’re from the Maverick Hunters. They wanted to evaluate you.”

“M-me?”
Ammy pointed to herself nervously. She wasn’t expecting this, and so soon before the festival!

“Yes, you.”
X said, taking the opportunity to sit across from her and get a good look at the potential new recruit. Axl sat next to him.

“I’ll get those E Tanks. Hope you like matcha flavor.” Haruka said, disappearing into the kitchen for a moment.

“Oooh. Matcha.”
Axl said, excited. He hadn’t had that flavor before.
“What’s that?”

“It’s green tea flavor. It’s pretty good, actually.”
Ammy said, holding up her can.
Haruka returned, handing a can each to the two boys.

“So… should we leave or…?”

“No, you can stay if you want. We just need to ask Ammy here a few questions.”

Chapter Text

Ammy felt her core thrum loudly in her earpieces as she nervously sipped her E-Can. 

‘The Maverick Hunters want to talk to me?’ 

She screamed internally. 

Haruka sat next to her with a box of peach juice. 

“So… what do want to know?” 

“Well… I should probably mention that it was Dr. Citron who recommended Amaterasu. He seems to think you would benefit from joining our ranks.” 

X started, his emerald gaze never leaving the subject of the interview. 

“Of course he did… did you know about this, Ammy?” 

Haruka scoffed. 

The white haired reploid shook her head. 

“No. I mean, I may have mentioned wanting to join once or twice, but I didn’t give him permission to submit me.” 

“I see. Nevertheless, he had nothing but praise for your abilities and what you’ve done for the community here. Can you elaborate on that?” 

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” 

Amaterasu’s eyes seemed to light up. 

“Um, which one?” 

“Let’s start with your abilities. He mentioned you can shapeshift into a wolf?”

“Oh yeah, that. I discovered I could do that a couple of months after the Sudachis took me in. It happened pretty suddenly, but once I figured out how to change back it became easier.” 

“How exactly do you change form? For me, I just copy another reploid’s DNA and activate it.” 

Axl spoke up, curious to learn about another shapeshifter. 

“It’s kind of like that for me too, except I have to really concentrate. Here, let me show you.” 

She got up from the couch, walking a few paces towards the door. 

Then she spun around, getting down on her hands and knees with her heels up. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, and then her body was encased in a white light. It wasn’t so bright that the onlookers had to cover their eyes. 

It seemed to be a byproduct of the transformation, as Ammy’s body warped and changed. The light died down after only a minute, revealing her new form. 

“… she really does look like a wolf.” 

X observed, mouth agape. 

He’d read that detail in the report, but he didn’t believe it until he saw it with own optics. 

Ammy’s tail thumped against the floor as she looked at them, barking once, as if saying “See?” 

“Wow! That’s so cool! C-can I…” 

Axl trailed off, reaching one hand out. 

Ammy nodded, allowing the copy reploid to pet her head lightly. 

He laughed as he felt the soft fur. 

“It feels real too! The old guy wasn’t lying!”

“Evidently…” 

X muttered. He turned to Haruka who seemed to be enjoying the show. 

“So how did this happen the first time?” 

“If I remember right, Ammy told me she was having a dream about running through a forest or something, and she just woke up like that. I sure freaked out, but after she proved it was really her, we eventually figured out how to change her back.” 

She turned to the she-wolf, who had followed Axl back to the couches and was now curled up next to the human girl. 

“Go ahead, Ammy. They want to talk to you, not me.” 

The canine nodded, before sitting on her haunches and closing her eyes again. 

Another minute passed as light enveloped her, and she returned back to her humanoid form. 

Her clothes were the same as before the transformation. 

“So… yeah, I’m a reploid werewolf.” 

She quipped, making Axl smirk. 

“Anything else?” 

“Yes, actually. The report mentioned you had armor, and a shield-type weapon? May we see it?” 

X asked, getting the interview back on track. 

“Uh… sure. I can show you my Reflector.” 

“Reflector?” 

“That’s what I’ve been calling it. I use it as a shield, but it’s also a mirror, so… I-I’ll just show you.” 

She reached into her shirt and pulled out a circular pendant necklace. She held it up to show the reflective side, before laying it flat in her palms. She concentrated, staring at it before it seemed to float in the air. 

Haruka leaned back as orange flames erupted from the sides of the pendant, which grew in size until its diameter was similar to a large dinner plate. 

It was segmented into three circular tiers, all the same jade green color. 

The fire seemed to lessen as Ammy held the Reflector out for the Hunters to examine. 

Axl was practically starry eyed as X took the weapon in his hands. 

“How did you do that!?” 

Ammy laughed nervously, looking sheepish. 

“I uh… actually don’t know? I’ve been able to activate it from the start. I learned I could shrink it a little later on. Makes it easier to carry.” 

“I imagine it does.” 

He noticed that she held it by its sides when she held it out, despite the flames licking her hands. Hesitantly, he held it the same way, amazed to find the flames didn’t hurt at all. He felt no heat from it but it was still definitely there. 

“This fire… how is it not burning?” 

“We’re not sure about that either. Any other fire still hurts. Learned that the hard way.” 

She grumbled the last part. 

“A shame too. We thought she might be fireproof, but nope!” 

Haruka added. 

“Interesting… so you can control the effects?” 

Ammy nodded. 

“Pretty much. The flames don’t hurt other people either, as you can see. Unless I want them to. Again, learned that the hard way.” 

“Nearly burned my freaking hand…” 

“I said I was sorry!” 

Axl laughed lightly at the sisters’ banter while gears turned in X’s head. 

He laid the Reflector on the coffee table between the couches. 

“Can you do it now?” 

“Yeah.” 

She nodded as she held her hand over the weapon, eyes narrowing as she concentrated. X hovered his hand to the side, his eyes widening as he felt the flames increase in temperature. 

It decreased again before it got too hot. 

‘So she has thermokinetic abilities, but only in relation to her weapon.’ 

X noted. 

“You’ve been using this against mavericks in the area?” 

Ammy nodded, but she also seemed unsure. 

“Well… I don’t usually see other reploids out here. Dr. Citron uses certain parts to enhance the villagers’ farming tools. It’s… a little weird. But I actually use my weapon against demons.” 

X shared a skeptical look with Axl. 

“… demons?” 

Ammy blushed in embarrassment. 

“Yeah, I know, it sounds fake. But I promise, I’m not lying! That’s the only way I can describe them.” 

“Explain.” 

She shared a look with Haruka, who made a ‘go ahead’ gesture. 

Ammy sighed, steeling herself. 

“Ever since I activated, I’ve been able to see things the villagers can’t. Not even other reploids. These things… they’re some sort of humanoid or simian creature, with unnaturally colored fur. They cover their faces with slips of paper, and each of them has a different number written in katakana. At first, I thought they might be mavericks, but I don’t know. They seem too… organic.”

“So… you’ve been fighting a bunch of monkeys?” 

Axl asked. 

Ammy smiled a little in mirth. 

“I wish. These things aren’t natural. No one but me can see them. Somehow, they were causing diseases in the people here, and the crops to wither prematurely. I literally saw one hovering over Mrs. Sudachi while she slept! After I drove them off, the people and their crops suddenly improved. I know there’s a connection.” 

“And I can’t thank you enough for that. Mom was really sick. We were all afraid she was going to…” 

Haruka trailed off, glancing towards the kitchen where she could hear her mother cooking away. 

X leaned back on the couch, arms crossed as he processed this information. 

Axl seemed to be thinking on it too. He spoke first. 

“You say you drove them off? Do you know where they went?” 

Ammy nodded. 

“Yeah, I do. I can feel their presence in a valley northeast of the village. They still try to bother people who venture into the fields at night.” 

“That could be the minor maverick activity the Commander was talking about.” 

X said, sitting back up. 

“Can you take us there? I trust you know the area.” 

Ammy was taken aback at the request. 

“Wait, you want me to go with you? I’m not even a Hunter.” 

“Call it a trial run. We have yet to actually see you in action, after all.” 

X assured, his own suspicions about this mysterious reploid starting to wane. 

“But you can’t go fighting mavericks without your armor!” 

Axl pointed out. 

“We even brought a Disc for ya!” 

Ammy tilted her head. 

“Disc?” 

X retrieved the spare one from his bag. 

“An Armor Disc. It lets you carry your armor with you when not on duty, and put it on in an instant should you need it.” 

“It comes in super handy! But each Disc can only hold one set… unless you’re X and can switch between armors at will.” 

X rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah. So, where is your armor?”

“It’s in my room, follow me.” 

Ammy again got up from the couch, an excited skip in her step, this time with X following behind her up the stairs. She carried her Reflector under one arm, using the other to open the shoji door. 

The armor set was right there by the door, on an armor rack. 

X noted its general appearance. 

Primarily white with red and black accents and triangular ear shapes on top of the helmet. 

“I hope it’s okay that I see your room.” 

X said, just then realizing how inappropriate it might’ve been. 

“Oh! It’s uh, it’s okay. There’s not much else in here.” 

She was right, the room was rather sparse save for the myriad of clothes, both modern and traditional, in her open closet. A set of traditional fans and a scroll depicting the Chinese zodiac were hung on her wall, and a few plushies and floral patterned sheets decorated her bed. 

He also spied an easel and some ink paints in one corner. 

“So… how does this Disc thing work?” 

She asked, genuinely curious. 

“Like this. Watch carefully.” 

He placed the Disc up to the center of the chest piece, pressing a button in the center. It attached itself to the armor, the back of the disc scanning its entirety with a grid light before making a beeping sound. 

Ammy startled as the armor seemed to disintegrate into pixelated particles. 

X noticed her distress.

“Don’t worry, it’s just turning it into data for storage. It’ll be fine.” 

“Alright…” 

The disc beeped once when the process was complete, falling to the wooden floor with a clatter. X bent to pick it up, then handed it to Ammy. 

“Now you activate it.” 

She held the disc to her chest. 

“How? Do I just…?” 

She pressed the same button in its center, the back of it scanning her. 

After it beeped, seeming to confirm something, a cloud of pixelated particles swarmed her body.

“Hold still.” 

X advised. 

She did so, holding her arms out as the particles consolidated around her. 

After a few seconds, she was wearing the armor she was found in. It felt the same, and looked the same as she examined herself in it. 

She smiled, laughing a little at the strangeness of it. 

“It worked!”

“Of course it did. Now to put it back, just press a button on your chest. It’ll have blended into your armor, but you should still be able to feel it there.” 

Ammy felt along her breastplates, white gloved fingers finding a small raised bump in the center of her chest piece. 

She pressed it, and her armor began to pixelate again. 

She caught the Disc as it fell from her front, holding it together with her Reflector.

“Thank you… um… I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever got your name?” 

X felt like slapping himself. 

“Right, sorry. I’m X, and my friend downstairs is Axl.” 

Ammy blinked, recognizing the name. 

“X…? You don’t mean… you’re not the MegaMan X are you?” 

“In the synthetic flesh.” 

Ammy stared at him in shock. 

“Oh… oh my gosh, it’s such an honor to meet you!” 

She bowed at the waist, a happy smile gracing her face. 

“When Axl said you can change armors at will… I thought he…” 

X raised his hands in a placating gesture. 

“It’s okay, I get it. My bad for not introducing myself earlier.” 

He gestured to the open shoji door. 

“Shall we go?” 

“Yeah!” 

Ammy scampered past him down the stairs, the brunette reploid close behind. 

“Axl! Come on, we’re moving out!” 

“Alright!” 

The redhead cheered. 

“Sorry Haruka, we’ll see if we can make the festival tonight!” 

“You better! Ammy was supposed to go with me this year!” 

“Why don’t we all go? It’ll be fun!” 

Ammy suggested as she stopped in the living room. 

“It sounds like it. We saw the preparations walking through town. But let’s see if we can find those mavericks first.” 

The blue reploid liked the idea of attending a traditional summer matsuri, but he knew duty came first. 

‘If we don’t take care of it by nightfall, then so be it.’ 

“Right.” 

Ammy said, already putting her shoes back on. 

“See you later, Haru!” 

“See ya, Ammy. Go kick some maverick ass!” 

The two Hunters followed the prospective out the door and to the right, following the path back to the village entrance. 

Several villagers were busy with preparations for the festival, but they all stopped to say hello or acknowledge Ammy as she walked by. 

“She sure is popular.” 

Axl commented. 

“She’s an important person here. You heard Dr. Citron when he said some of them think she’s a deity.” 

“Yeah. After curing a sickness like that, I don’t blame them. Assuming it’s true.”

“Yeah. It sounds a little far-fetched, but Citron, the villagers and her didn’t seem like they were lying.”

“So where we going?” 

Axl asked excitedly, changing the subject. 

“Northeast. Ammy knows the area, so she’ll be guiding us.” 

Ammy turned around a bit to address the two behind her. 

“We’ll need to go into Shinshu Field. The mavericks are hiding in a valley to the northwest of it.” 

“Are you talking about Hanasaki Valley?” 

An old woman with grey hair tied in an elaborate bun asked as she walked by, carrying an armful of produce. 

“Apologies, Ammy dear, I couldn’t help but overhear.” 

“It’s alright, Miss Asama. Yes, we were headed that way to deal with some maverick sightings. These two here are actually Hunters from the HQ in Abel City.” 

Ammy gestured to the boys, who nodded to the old lady.

“Oh my! Well, I hope they can stay for the festival. Though the young men of the village might get jealous.” 

“Agh, Miss Asama… please.” 

Ammy blushed. 

“We’ll be going now.” 

“Just a moment, young lady.” 

The old woman called after her, her tone more serious. 

“That valley has been barren for several years. There is something dark lurking there, draining it of life. Please be careful.” 

“We will.” 

As the trio walked towards the village entrance, Axl felt a little spooked. 

“Hey, Ammy. Is what that lady said true?” 

“Sort of. Hanasaki Valley is named for the beautiful flora that blooms there every spring. It’s really quite the sight! But… I did notice there weren’t as many in bloom this year… “ 

She fell silent as she thought about what Miss Asama said. She’d always been a bit mysterious, appearing out of the blue sometimes, but she was liked well enough in the village.
Ammy liked her, usually finding her sitting by the Konohana Tree. She was like a kind grandmother figure, always with a patient ear and wise words to say.

…. 

Shinshu Field was the main farmland of Shin Kamiki Village, with paths of dirt cutting through various different crops. 

There were a few houses and sheds dotted around, belonging to those who regularly tended to the crops. 

In the very center of the field was a large cherry blossom tree, which towered over the tallest of stalks and was said to be about as old as the Konohana. 

Given it was summer, the pink petals had given way to green leaves with ripe red cherries growing in its branches. 

Ammy could smell them as she and the other two reploids walked past. 

“Okay… so this is where I last saw one of the demons- er, mavericks.” 

She said as they approached the tree, spotting an iron bench installed near its base. 

Green leaves swirled around them in the breeze. 

“Hanasaki Valley is this way.” 

The path led them to the northwest corner of the field where a river ran north to south along the base of a small cliff. 

There was a shed built by an adjacent cliff nearby, which contained a tunnel going downhill. 

X and Axl activated their armor simultaneously, Ammy following suit. 

Now she recognized MegaMan X, and even Axl, from the various magazines and such that Haruka kept. 

Stepping into the dark tunnel, Ammy suddenly felt an uneasy chill up her metal spine. 

‘There’s… something here.’ 

She looked around warily, keeping an eye on the shadows as one darted past her. 

She steeled herself before continuing, exiting the tunnel into a bright valley. 

“You were right, Ammy! This place really is something! If you like dead trees.” 

Axl said, a tad unimpressed. 

“What?” 

Ammy looked ahead and noticed that the majority of the trees in the area were, indeed, dead or nearly so. 

“Oh no… but they seemed fine a few months ago. It hasn’t been that hot…” 

X walked past her further into the valley, noting the state of a copse of blackened trees along the path. 

“You’re right. This decay is… unnatural.” 

As he approached one of the trees, Ammy noticed one its branches twitch. 

“X, look out!” 

He paused just in time to see the tree’s shadow move seemingly on its own. 

“What the…?” 

Something impacted him straight in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. He looked down to see the remains of a rotted stone fruit splattered against his armor. 

“Where did that come from?” 

“The tree!” 

Ammy cried, pointing at it. 

“Here it comes again!” 

This time, X kept his eyes on the tree’s shadow, dodging the fruit attack. He watched as it sailed past his head, the projectile splattering a little ways away. 

“Ew…” 

Axl complained as he knelt down to examine it. 

X wisely backed away from the tree before it attacked him again. 

“That was… weird.” 

“Yeah. But I’ve encountered them before.” 

Ammy said. 

“They’re called Possessed Trees. They throw fruit at trespassers. Normally, that fruit is hard enough to knock a human’s head off.” 

“What!?” 

Axl exclaimed. 

“How do you know that?” 

“It’s what Mr. Sudachi told me. But did you see anything strange?” 

X nodded.

“Yeah. I saw its shadow move.” 

“That’s something. That fruit was covered in spirit flame too. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt by it.” 

She noted a slight dent in X’s armor from the impact. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’m tougher than I look.” 

“Me too!” 

Axl said confidently. He looked towards the path with the trees, thinking. 

“Hey… think maybe if we run for it, they won’t have a chance to attack?” 

“Worth a shot.” 

X turned to Ammy. 

“Ready?” 

She nodded, readying her Reflector just in case. 

“Okay… on my mark… one… two… three… go!” 

As one, the three reploids ran past the Possessed Trees, their enhanced speed allowing them to dodge most of the fruit attacks. 

They made it to an alcove under an overhang once they determined there were no more Possessed Trees ahead. 

“Now where do we go?” 

“We can follow the path further in. I can’t guarantee what else we’ll find, though.” 

Ammy cautioned. 

“Hopefully, it’ll be something we can see.” 

Axl said. 

“That shadow thing was freaky!” 

“Agreed. Keep your optics peeled.” 

X advised before the trio attempted to move onwards. 

Suddenly, a chill breeze blew though the area, bringing with it the distinct sounds of flutes and chattering. 

“Brace yourselves!” 

Ammy warned, just before five monsters leapt in front of them. 

X and Axl kept their eyes on the ground, only able to see the monsters’ shadows. 

“Are these the demons you spoke of?” 

X asked, activating his buster while Axl brought out his pistols. 

“Yes. Three green and two red.” 

“We don’t know what that means!” 

Axl said as he shot at the shadow closest to him, only for the bullet to seemingly hit nothing. 

“Huh!?? Ack!” 

The red haired reploid was suddenly knocked to the ground. 

X grit his teeth as he fired a charged shot at another shadow. Again, it missed, scorching only the ground instead. 

“Shit… our attacks won’t work…” 

Then Ammy jumped in front of them, running into the middle of the enemy group with her Reflector at the ready. 

One by one, she hit the monsters with her weapon, each impact making a noise.

“But hers can…” 

He muttered. 

It gave him an idea. 

“Ammy!” 

He barked, the white haired reploid turning to face him. 

“What?” 

“Let me copy your power.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I have the ability to copy the abilities of others and integrate them into my systems. You think that if I copied your power, I’d be able to see these things too?”

“Maybe…? It’d be nice not to be the only one anymore… but how- hey! Knock that off!” 

Ammy scolded air, thwacking the offending monster with her weapon. 

“Dang it… it turned to stone. I guess now’s a good time…” 

She quickly ran back over to X. 

“Whatever you’re going to do, do it quick!” 

“Don’t worry, it only takes a second.” 

X placed his left hand on Ammy’s shoulder and concentrated. He felt a tingle in his arm as his Weapons Copy System went to work. 

“Wolf Fire…” 

He muttered, stating the name of the ability he’d just copied. 

“Okay.” 

In an instant, he activated the ability, and his armor changed with it. 

His under armor was the same color, but now his outer armor was black with blue markings similar to the red markings on Ammy’s armor. He even had similar ears on his helmet, as well as a furry black tail poking out from where his tailbone would be. 

He stared straight ahead, eyes widening at what he saw. 

Just before him were five simian-like creatures, three with green fur and two with red fur. They wore simple, short and tattered kimono-like garments, as well as white paper slips on their faces decorated with the katakana for ‘i’ and ‘ro’. 

The red ones in particular had a single horn on their heads, and sharp claws at the ends of their digits. 

The green demons wielded what looked like wooden flutes while the red ones had large Japanese guitars, also known as shamisen.

Two of the three green ones laid prone on the ground. The remaining three demons noticed the blue reploid’s eyes on them, readying for attack. 

“You see them now?” 

Ammy asked. 

“I do.” 

X confirmed, readying his buster which now seemed to emanate the same sort of flames as Ammy’s Reflector, except purplish-white in color. 

He aimed and fired just as one of the red demons made to rush him, hitting it square in the chest. The plasma bullet knocked it back, leaving an ugly burn on its sagging skin. 

It screeched in indignation and pain. 

X smirked. 

He shared a glance with Amaterasu, who readied her Reflector. 

“I’ll leave it to you guys, then! I’m gonna scout ahead!” 

Axl called. 

“You do that, we’ll catch up!” 

As Axl barreled past the demons, distracting them momentarily, the two lupine reploids pounced. 

With X’s help, they were able to clear the area of demonic presence faster than Ammy would’ve been able to on her own. 

The Hunter Captain was even able to shoot down the Possessed Trees, knocking them out of commission temporarily. 

They moved further into the valley, finding the damage to the natural area was worse as they went. 

The eventually came to a cave at the other end of the valley, though it looked like it had been through a few cave-ins and excavations over the centuries. 

There was a straight path dug through the old rubble, forming a rough tunnel of rock at a slight incline. The tunnel didn’t look like it was formed by any man made drill. 

The tunnel let out into an inner chamber within the hill, a double staircase leading up to a higher platform overlooking the area. 

Behind it was a long slit in the wall that let in the afternoon sunlight, illuminating the remains of a once-grand tree that lay crumpled and withered in the middle of a decorated stone platform. 

Amaterasu could feel an energy in the air, one that caused her to feel a little sick. 

There was a mist permeating throughout the room, thin enough that they could see but not even the sunlight could fully penetrate it. 

X was looking around warily, as he could see the mist as well, but Axl, of course, could not. 

He meandered through the room unimpeded, but also felt something was off. 

He climbed up the earthen steps to the higher platform, observing a hole in the middle of it. 

‘Is something supposed to go here?’ 

As Ammy stepped towards the center platform, the entire room began to shake. Debris fell from the ceiling, not large enough to cause any real harm to their persons. 

“An earthquake!?” 

The platform under the dead tree suddenly split open with a loud ‘crack!’. The cracking spread rapidly until the entire circle collapsed into a chamber below. Dust rose from the impact, as well as a fountain of black mist that threatened to choke anyone who breathed it in. Even reploids. 

X coughed harder than he ever had, trying desperately to clear his airways of the pollutant. 

Though she was struggling to keep her vents open as well, Ammy pulled something out from inside her belt, and pointed it at the sliver of sky she could see through the slit in the wall.

She drew a small circle in the air. 

Bright sunlight came pouring into the room, clearing the miasma instantly. 

They all breathed in the cleaner air greedily before the boys looked to Ammy for an explanation. 

Two pairs of green eyes landed on the ink brush she had in her hand. 

“I suspect Dr. Citron probably didn’t write about this… but I have one more power. With this brush… I can summon the sun.” 

The bright light dissipated the moment she said that, the sun returning to its normal position in the sky. 

“It’s called the Celestial Brush. I had it on me when I was found. I liked to draw, so the Sudachis got me calligraphy ink to use. The first time I used this power… was to save the village from a miasma like the one we just experienced.” 

She looked a little guilty as she held her brush, her gaze directed toward the giant hole in the floor. 

“Sorry I didn’t mention it earlier. I didn’t think you’d believe me.” 

“We wouldn’t have.” 

X agreed, staring at her with a mix of confusion and awe. 

“Shapeshifting and unique weapons are one thing, but bending things like the actual sun to your will… is something else.”

Axl felt the same, though he was also looking into the pit with some trepidation. 

“But now that you’ve shown us, I’d like to see what else you can do with it.” 

“Not much, honestly. Though… I did manage to cut grass one time.” 

She said, trying to add in a little mirth to ease the tension in the room. 

“… are we going down there?” 

“I don’t see anywhere else to go.” 

Ammy looked unsure before taking a breath. 

“… okay.”

She got down on her hands and turned into her wolf form, leaping into the pit and sliding down on her paws. 

She felt more confident in her animal form. That, and she didn’t want to talk about her power much more. 

“Geronimo!” 

Axl cried as he jumped from the higher platform, using his hover jets to slow his descent. 

X slid down the side of the wall, joining the other two at the bottom. 

The sunlight from the upper chamber barely reached down here, where the darkness seemed to envelop them. 

The ground was a pit of sand, the fallen platform in pieces throughout it. 

Suddenly, something burst from the center of the sand pit, spraying the grains onto the three as it made itself known. 

It was a large demon, at least twice the size of the red ones with yellow coloring instead. 

Half its body was buried in the sand, its top half carrying a large taiko drum which it struck menacingly with two large sticks. 

Its paper mask depicted the katakana for ‘ha’, a sound that it made as it observed its opponents. 

“Okay, I definitely heard it!” 

Axl said, eyes darting around with his guns out. 

“But I still can’t see it! Ammy, I’m gonna need some of your DNA!” 

The she-wolf gave him a look of confusion, unable to respond verbally at the moment. 

The redhead groaned, making to dart across the sand but careful to avoid the large shadow. 

He wasn’t careful enough. 

Next thing he knew, he was being picked up by the yellow demon and thrown across the room into the shadows. 

He never hit the wall, able to stop his momentum before touching it. 

His night vision kicked in, as the shadowed area seemed to be larger than he initially thought. 

Large roots partially held up the dirt walls around him, though they looked just as sickly as the plants outside. 

His proximity sensors detected something large nearby just as he was about to rejoin the fight. He glanced to his right, spotting a shape propped up against a particular root. 

Approaching it with some caution, and keeping an ear on the action, he poked the thing with a pistol. 

Its eyes opened, a familiar Maverick red. 

Immediately, the Hunter pointed his pistols at it. 

The Maverick closed its eyes again, seeming to accept its fate. 

“Do what you must… I am.. beyond repair… but do this old rat… one favor?” 

The thing spoke, its voice high pitched and squeaky but also labored. 

“… what is it?” 

“Give Lady Amaterasu… my power… once you are done with it. I intended to deliver it myself… but I was… intercepted.” 

It rolled over slightly, revealing a nasty wound on its underside. 

Axl grimaced at the sight, but kept his weapons trained on what he could now see was a large digging robot in the shape of a rat. 

The redhead nodded. 

“I will. … who even are you anyway?” 

“My former brethren… called me Rending Rat… then traitor.” 

“Okay, Rat. Can’t say it was nice to know you.” 

“Likewise. Quickly now!” 

Axl obliged, firing straight into the Maverick’s core and central processor. 

Immediately after, he reached his hand inside and pulled out said core, just as a white light emerged from the maverick’s body. 

Meanwhile, X and Ammy were fighting a small horde of red and green demons that the yellow one had summoned to defend it.

Ammy attacked them with her Reflector, which she controlled telekinetically, along with her teeth and claws. 

X meanwhile continued to fire at the offending creatures, scorch marks marring their already sagging skin but the damage didn’t keep them down permanently. 

“It’s never ending!” 

Ammy barked in agreement as she tore through a red demon’s throat. 

She immediately spat it out, disgusted at the taste and sensation of demon flesh in her mouth. 

“Now I see you!” 

Cried a voice from the darkness, followed by a figure leaping into the air delivering a fierce downward slash to the yellow demon’s arm, as it raised it to shield itself. 

That arm fell to the sandy floor as it was cut clean off. 

The yellow demon screeched, flailing in shock. 

Landing atop its drum was a reploid neither X or Ammy had seen before. 

It resembled a rat or mouse, with a primarily black body and red markings similar to Ammy’s armor. It wielded its tail and claws like deadly blades. 

“How do ya like that!?

It taunted, its voice squeaky and high pitched. 

“… Axl?” 

X asked. 

The rodent turned to face the two lupine Reploids with a cheeky grin on its snout. 

“Yep! Found somebody to copy over there!” He pointed into the shadows. 

“And lucky for me, he had the same Sight our rookie does! Which means…” 

He leapt off the drum towards the thing’s neck. 

“I can do this!” 

He took out his guns and open fired, the bullets resembling kunai as they pierced multiple holes into the demon. 

The thing slumped to the ground, dead, in a matter of seconds, at which point it started to dissolve to dust. 

He and X shared triumphant grins, the three turning their attention to the rest of the demons, who were swiftly dealt with thanks to Axl’s new form. 

When it was finally over, they all slumped against the wall to rest for a moment, changing back into their true forms. 

“That was… different.” 

X commented. 

“This whole mission has been different!” 

Axl said. 

“What even were those things? You said they were demons?” 

“Yeah. I’ve also heard the villagers call them Imps, or amanojaku. By the way, Axl… that form…” 

“Oh yeah! I found him somewhere over there. He was already dying, and he was obviously Maverick, so I put him out of his misery. You can still check it out if you want.” 

“Uh, no thank you.” 

Axl shrugged. 

“Eh, fair enough. But he did ask me to give his power to you. He even called you ‘Lady’.” 

“Eh? Why me?” 

“I dunno. But I’m not one to break my word. It didn’t affect me too badly, so… here goes nothing.” 

“Axl, wait!” 

X motioned to stop him, but a white light left Axl’s body through the lens on his chest piece before the blue reploid could do anything. 

The light was about the size of Ammy’s head, and flashed with multiple pale pastel colors. In its center was the kanji for ‘rending’. 

It circled Ammy once before it flew into her chest. She gasped, leaning forward as a warm feeling flooded her body. 

She looked up, and suddenly the world was awash in creamy white, fluffy clouds floating in a canvas-like void. 

Just in front of her was a being that resembled Axl’s new A-Trans, except white and much smaller. 

“Hail, Mother Amaterasu.” 

The rat-like being greeted. 

“I must say, I am fortunate that I was able to see you again before I departed. Thanks to that boy.” 

“Who… who are you?” 

Ammy asked. 

The rat made a sad keening noise. 

“I see… you lost your memory again. Perhaps I can help. I am Tachigami, Brush God of Rending.” 

“Tachigami…” 

Ammy parroted. The name was familiar, but she couldn’t place why. 

“Brush God…?” 

“That’s right. With my technique of Power Slash, you will once again be able to strike down your foes with ease. The others will not be as generous as I. They will guard their techniques jealously, but you must cut past their corrupted forms to their true selves.” 

He sighed tiredly. 

“I must go soon, but heed my words, Mother. The other Brush Gods have become monsters from lack of worship. Their Aramitama have taken over, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation by dark forces. You must put them at peace, and recollect all your sacred powers.” 

It paused, its beady eyes tired and brimming with tears. 

“I pray that we may meet again in another life…” 

The illusion was broken as Amaterasu returned to consciousness. 

“Ammy!” 

She jolted to wakefulness. 

“What? What just-?” 

“You were unresponsive for a minute. Are you okay?” 

X asked, concern evident in his eyes. 

She felt her face 

‘Why am I crying?’ 

She wiped her tears away. 

“I’m fine. Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Text

After the defeat of the demons, the state of Hanasaki Valley was visibly better, but everything was still decayed.

Amaterasu hung her head, saddened by the sight of it.

She replayed her encounter with Tachigami over in her head for the third time since it happened, following behind X and Axl as they passed back through the valley.

“Their Aramitama have taken over, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation by dark forces.”

‘Aramitama…? What does that mean?’

X noticed her lagging behind, so he slowed his gait, letting her catch up.

“It’ll recover.”

X tried to reassure her.

“I hope so.”

She said despondently.

“I can’t believe all of this was the work of demons… there must be a way to fix it.”

“Yeah… I’m struggling to believe it myself.”

X admitted.

A whole new world was revealed to him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to explore it.

“I don’t think there’s much that we can do about the valley. At least there’ll be plenty of fertilizer for next year’s growth, right?”

Ammy smiled slightly, seeing his point.

“That’s true. And there’ll be plenty of mushrooms to harvest in the autumn.”

The mood lifted somewhat, X deactivating his Wolf Fire as they saw Axl pause at the entrance of the valley.

“Come on! Let’s celebrate our victory at the festival!”

“You’re staying for it?”

Ammy asked.

“Yeah, at least I am! What about you, X?”

“I think I’ll stay for the night as well. Besides, there might be more of those… imps. You said they come out at night?”

“They do. With their base compromised… they might retaliate.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“But we’re still gonna have fun!”

Axl insisted, leading the way through the tunnel into the evening fields.

They returned to the Sudachi residence with the good news, deactivating their dirt-covered armor.

X assured Ammy that the discs had a self-cleaning function, though they’d need to replace the fluid once they got back to HQ.

The moment Ammy stepped through the door, she was greeted by an exuberant Mr. Sudachi who hugged her close.

“Ah!”

“Thank goodness you’re alright, Ammy!”

The man released her, looking her up and down, still smiling.

“I knew I felt a shift in the air, I guess that was when you defeated those demons!”

He was still dressed in his Shinto priest’s attire when Ammy and the Hunters arrived.

Dr. Citron came up behind the priest.

“I’m glad to see you came back safely. May I ask what happened?”

“Certainly, sir.”

The white haired reploid cast X a grateful look as he talked to the agriculture specialist. She didn’t feel like recounting the events of the battle herself right now.

“I’m gonna go raid your fridge!”

Axl announced, making for the kitchen.

“Hey!”

Haruka protested.

“Don’t take them all!”

She heard Axl scoff.

“I won’t!”

While the others were occupied, and Mr. Sudachi was still there, Ammy thought then and there was a good time to ask him.

“Hey, Dad…. can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“What’s an Aramitama?”

Mr. Sudachi looked surprised.

“Oh. Well… it’s one of four mitama that make up a Kami’s soul. Specifically, it’s associated with what happens when a Kami gets angry.”

“Oh… “

She muttered disappointedly.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because… I think it might have something to do with those demons.”

Mr. Sudachi crossed his arms and nodded in thought.

“… it might. See, when people worship a kami, pray to it and hold it in high regard, it gives them power. It fuels the parts of their soul that keep the Aramitama at bay. So when they lose that worship, and are angered enough… disastrous things can happen. And demons can take advantage of that.”

“What kind of disastrous things?”

“Droughts, empty harvests, natural disasters… all sorts of misfortunes. In the old stories, it usually occurs as a result of humans destroying a Kami’s territory in their expansion.”

“I see… thank you.”

‘I think I understand a little better now. The Brush Gods must have lost their worshippers ages ago. Something must have happened to make them go AWOL.’

“Anytime, Ammy. But don’t fret about things you can’t control. You should go get changed for the festival. It’ll start soon.”

“Oh. Right!”

Ammy hurried up to her room, her mind reeling from what she’d learned while throwing her armor disc onto her bed.

“I’ve got to cleanse them somehow…”

She wondered as she went to her closet.

“If I can find them…”

She shook her head.

“Dad’s right. I shouldn’t worry about it for now.”

With a smile, she picked out a pretty pale pink and vermillion yukata with a pale yellow sunburst pattern on it, taking a jade green obi to go with it.

“Tonight will be a chance to unwind.”

Later…

The Sudachi family and their guests left the house just after sunset, when the hot summer sun gave way to cooler temperatures, heading for the festival grounds that took up half the village. The paper lanterns that Ammy had hung earlier that day were lit up, providing a soft inviting glow to the venue.

Each stall had their own light source of course, both natural and electrical, but each one had something to offer throughout the night.

Axl practically made a beeline for the shooting gallery, intending to win one of the large plushies on display for Pallette.

X found himself gravitating towards the fishing games and clothing stalls, perusing the clothing for sale.

Ammy, meanwhile, enjoyed a couple of specialty cherry rice balls while attempting to knock stacks of cups down with a wooden ball.

She managed to win a prize for knocking one stack down in the time allotted, that being a wooden fan with a depiction of the Konohana tree on it.

She tucked it into her obi while she explored the various stalls with Haruka, making sure the human girl didn’t do anything foolish while still having fun.

About two hours into the festival, the three Reploids congregated by a bonfire that had been lit in the center of the village, where a taiko drum kept the beat of a circle dance.

“Come on, let’s dance!”

Ammy excitedly invited them to join her, taking the boys by their wrists. Haruka followed, an amused smile on her face.

X and Axl could admit that they enjoyed themselves, the incident from earlier almost forgotten.

After the dance, as they gathered to watch the fireworks go off above them, cherry blossom petals started to fall from the sky along with the soot from the pyrotechnics.

The people marveled at it, children catching some in their palms.

Haruka did the same, only for her to wince and shake her hand.

“Ow!”

“Haruka, are you okay?”

Ammy asked, taking her foster sister’s hand. There were small burn marks on her palm.

Looking down, she saw the petals dissolve into acid upon hitting the ground.

Her amber eyes widened.

Almost immediately, panic spread among the human festival-goers as they tried to find shelter from the corrosive flowers, most of them huddling under the awnings of stalls or tents.

“Everyone, get to shelter!”

X barked.

“X, look!”

Axl said as he held a few petals in his hand.

“They’re not burning me!”

X looked, and the few petals that Axl had caught weren’t dissolving.

“… huh.”

“I must only react to organic material.”

Ammy supposed after she made sure Haruka and her parents would be alright.

“That’s good to know. But we should find the source before it gets worse.”

X said, looking up in the direction the petals were falling from.

“There!”

He pointed to Sakuya Hill, where the Konohana Tree stood at the top.

Pink blossoms decorated its branches, which was very unusual for this time of year.

“What? Why is it in bloom?”

Ammy wondered aloud as she and the Hunters rushed to the source, activating their armor.

“I don’t know. Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

Axl said as they ran back through the street towards the Hill.

Small fires broke out as the acid burnt through the roofs of the village, but there wasn’t much the Reploids could do about that.

Luckily, some of the humans were brave enough to take care of it for them.

At the edge of the village was an old stone stairway winding up Sakuya Hill, with a wooden path branching off it.

The three continued up the stone path to the summit, pausing just before passing under the torii gate.

Ammy gasped at what she saw.

Standing there beneath the corrosive falling blooms was what looked like a simian reploid with a long tail, perhaps a macaque, with red eyes and black armor similar to that of Rending Rat. Its back was turned to them.

X and Axl immediately pointed their weapons at the obvious Maverick.

“Maverick! Turn around.”

X ordered, keeping his buster trained on the macaque’s abdomen.

The monkey reploid did as ordered, turning to face the trio, revealing a woman trapped in his arms.

“Miss Asama!”

Ammy exclaimed.

“Ama-“

The old woman tried to cry out, but the black armored monkey clamped a metal hand over her mouth.

“I see my little trick worked as intended. Now I can dispose of you myself… Amaterasu!”

The monkey roughly threw Miss Asama to the ground, taking out a weapon of its own.

It looked like a shō, a sort of bamboo wind instrument.

“Who are you?”

X asked.

“I’m called Flora Monkey. A bit on the nose, but accurate.”

Flora Monkey smirked as he put the instrument to his lips. The resulting sound seemed to cause the branches of the Konohana above him to shake wildly, as if dancing in a strong nonexistent wind.

Several petals flew off their branches, forming a swarm that circled around Flora Monkey protectively.

Axl immediately tried to shoot at the offending instrument, realizing that he was using it to control the flowers.

But the maverick monkey dodged, and caused a portion of the petals to shoot out like darts, which would’ve struck Axl had he not seen it coming.

“What!? You’re so slow!”

The redhead laughed.

“This’ll be easy!”

He again aimed for the instrument in the monkey’s hands… only for something to force him to the ground.

Ammy growled at the sight of a Red Imp that had seemingly come from nowhere.

“There’s imps here!”

She announced, as more appeared around Flora Monkey.

“Great…”

X groaned, activating Wolf Fire again.

“Yes!”

Axl cried, excited to use his new A-Trans again. In a flash, he transformed into Rending Rat. The sight of the murine maverick made Flora Monkey growl.

“So the traitorous rat found you, despite his wounds? Very well. I’ll send you all to Yomi myself!”

Flora Monkey screeched like the simian he was, a demonic sound that resonated with the demons it summoned.

A barrier seemed to spring up around them, formed of violet and red flame whose smoke turned into kanji that rose to an indeterminate point.

If one bothered to stop and read them, the characters translated to words describing all sorts of negative emotions and phenomena that contributed to the demons’ power.

Most of all, the barrier prevented the combatants from going anywhere.

Three green and three red imps appeared from clouds of dark petals, leaping at the Reploids.

Ammy blocked the first strike with her Reflector, willing its flames to grow and burn the offending demon.

The green imp screeched as it backed off, part of its front singed.

It was then struck in the face with the green flaming disc, knocking it out cold and allowing Ammy to finish it off with her newly acquired technique.

She drew a straight line with her Celestial Brush, bisecting the creature and sending its two halves flying as it disintegrated into flowers.

She noticed something else fall to the ground, but she didn’t have time to check it out as another imp came at her.

A purplish-white fireball hit the second green imp in the side, blowing a hole right through it.

Ammy nodded her thanks to X, their eyes meeting for a second before they focused on their main objective.

Flora Monkey sat cross-legged on the ground beneath the Konohana, playing his sho as the acidic petals formed a dome shield around him.

Miss Asama was nowhere to be seen. Ammy hoped she was able to get away to safety.

She picked up the thing the first green imp dropped as she advanced towards the Maverick, stowing it away for later.

Before she could get too close, a red imp blocked her path, swinging its shamisen down on her like a club.

Again, she blocked with her Reflector, using Power Slash to knock the demon away.

It left a slash mark on its tattered robe, but no blood came from it that she could see.

A few more hits with her Reflector and it turned to stone on her.

She growled, but then she thought of something that made her smirk.

“What if I…”

She used Power Slash on the petrified red imp, immediately breaking its shell of stone and rendering it prone.

She wailed on it with her flaming weapon again, though it tried to use its shamisen as a shield, it broke and shattered under the onslaught.

It was thrown backwards with one strike to the head, finished off with a Power Slash that cut it in half.

Another blue thing fell from its corpse as it was purified, which Ammy picked up.

She took a moment to observe her surroundings, noting that X and Axl were finishing off their own green and red imp pairs.

Ammy advanced towards Flora Monkey again, slashing and bashing her way through the imps the Maverick continued to summon until she was upon the barrier of corrosive blooms surrounding him.

She was the first to do so, briefly looking around to see X and Axl waylaid by Imps only seconds behind her.

‘Might as well make the first move.’

She thought as she brought her weapon down on the barrier, burning the flowers it made contact with.

She had to do so four or five times, as the petals she destroyed were replaced by more, until a well aimed shot from X created a gap large enough for her to use Power Slash on the peacefully playing Maverick.

The attack struck, knocking the sho from the simian’s hands.

Ammy didn’t wait for him to refocus, attacking him again.

Flora Monkey was knocked back a few feet, hitting his head against the trunk of the Konohana.

Ammy continued after him, bashing her Reflector against his abdomen with a vengeance.

Now that she was up close and without the instrument in the way, she could see that the joints of the Maverick’s metal body were held together by tangled and thorny brambles.

She heard X and Axl come up behind her, observing Flora Monkey as he groaned.

X had his Buster and Axl his guns trained on him as he glared up at them.

“You haven’t won yet…”

Raising his hand, he summoned more petals which launched towards the three.

While they had little effect, it served as an adequate smokescreen, allowing Flora Monkey to retreat into the branches of the Konohana.

“You’re not getting away!”

Axl cried in the voice of Rending Rat, climbing up after the monkey.

X tried to get a good shot in as Flora Monkey leapt from branch to branch, his instrument left discarded on the ground.

Ammy slashed the thing in half, turning the two halves of the sho to dust.

“There.”

She said with finality, turning her attention to the chase between Axl and the Maverick.

Gunshots rang out as Axl tried to shoot the tricksy monkey, but was thwarted either by the petals flying in his face or the monkey’s own agility.

“Agh! Screw this!”

Axl cried, deactivating the A-Trans in favor of his regular form, allowing him to hover and leap around more easily.

“Axl, what are you doing!?”

Ammy yelled.

“Without Power Slash, you can’t hurt him!”

“Don’t need to!”

Axl countered as he used the same tactic the monkey did to hide himself, before tackling him from above.

This sent them both tumbling to the ground, wrestling with each other and trading punches and kicks.

X trained his Buster on them, waiting for the opportune moment.

‘Now!’

Axl grabbed Flora Monkey by his tail as he tried to get away, leaving him wide open for a Charged Shot.

Flora Monkey was hit right in the abdomen, followed by a peppering of normal shots and Power Slashes from Ammy.

Their combined attacks sent the Maverick to his knees, then Axl transformed again and held his rat claws to the monkey’s neck.

Ammy aimed strategically for the brambles around Flora Monkey’s joints, each of them falling away with two hits and taking the monkey’s limbs with them.

Flora Monkey growled angrily as his left arm fell off, falling uselessly to the ground.

He used more acidic pink petals to attack the Hunters, no more than pot shots without the aid of his instrument.

He let out a mighty screech of indignation, lunging for Amaterasu with his fangs bared.

Axl leapt after him, slashing at his tail and legs.

Flora Monkey suddenly collapsed, the brambles around those limbs falling away.

With just one arm left, he seethed, glaring at the lupine reploid with hatred.

“Damn you… Amaterasu… Damn you!”

His words didn’t hurt, but the vitriol behind them made Ammy cringe.

“I was defeated… so easily!”

Flora Monkey pounded the ground in his anger.

“My brothers were right… I am the weakest…”

“Brothers?”

X wondered aloud.

“Yeah… I’m but one of three monkey units. They use plants in combat like I do… but their techniques are vastly different.”

He laughed self-deprecatingly.

“Go on. Put me out of my misery already. Surely… Master knew I would lose.”

X and Axl shared a look.

“As you wish.”

X said as he released a charged shot into Flora Monkey’s exposed abdomen and straight through his core.

The Maverick fell down, dead.

“It’s over…”

X sighed, lowering his Buster and turning it back into his hand.

Before anyone could walk away, a bright white light emerged from Flora Monkey’s defeated form.

It split into two, streaking towards both X and Ammy.

X didn’t dodge. He let the light hit him, and in an instant, he felt the presence a new copied ability.

‘That’s… different.’

He didn’t detect anything malicious about it.

“Sakura Storm?”

He activated it experimentally.

His armor’s design remained largely the same, except the wolf ears and tail were replaced by those of a monkey.

Reactivating his buster, he sent out a shower of what looked like cherry blossom petals, which turned to acid upon hitting the ground.

“Alright! Two new abilities in one day!”

Axl praised, prancing over to the monkey’s body and pressing his hand to it.

“And so do I!”

X grimaced a little at Axl’s enthusiasm.

He then looked over at Ammy, who seemed to be in that trance-like state again.

For her, the world was awash in that creamy white void again, fluffy clouds supporting her feet.

In front of her was a white furred creature that resembled Flora Monkey only in that it appeared to be the same species of monkey and had similar red markings.

It played a sho as well, except it was made of bamboo.

“Hail, Mother Amaterasu! I heard that you do not remember us, so allow me to re-introduce myself! I am Sakigami, one of the three Hanagami!”

The simian suddenly castrated himself in front of the white haired reploid.

She stepped back, startled.

“I cannot tell you how sorry I am for what I’ve done! I am eternally grateful to you for freeing me of that wretched machine! Please forgive me, Mother!”

“Uh… “

Ammy didn’t know how to respond to that right away.

“Hey, i-it’s okay! It wasn’t your fault!”

She held her hands out in a placating gesture.

“I must ask, though… how is it that you were… y’know, Maverick?”

The monkey sat on his legs, his instrument set to the side.

“Ah… yes. It is an unfortunate circumstance. Myself and the other Brush Gods were transformed into mechanical monstrosities. It is the work of a most maniacal master. I cannot recall his name, nor what he looks like. If you free the others, I’m sure they can tell you more.”

“Thank you. I will pass that along to the Hunters.”

“Please do! I’m just glad that my technique has once again been granted to you. You know, Bloom was one you would use often, more than any other technique. It has a variety of uses, not just for making trees flower!”

Ammy nodded.

“I see… so how do I use it?”

“Simple! Just draw a circle around a flowering plant’s branches to make it bloom! It’s in the name!”

Ammy couldn’t help but giggle at Sakigami’s enthusiasm.

“I think I can remember that.”

A warm smile graced both their faces, before the white monkey keened softly.

“Deepest apologies, it seems my time is up. I wasn’t kidding when I said my brothers were more powerful than me. When you meet them, give them no mercy!”

Amaterasu smiled determinedly.

“I won’t. I will use your technique well.”

“I am glad. I pray that we may meet again in another life…”

With that, the canvas-like void faded away to reality.

As Ammy came to, she felt something drop into her hand.

Looking down, she saw a large green colored pearl, the size of a human eye.

‘What’s this?’

She wondered, holding the pearl up to the light of the lanterns around the Konohana.

“Ammy! You’re back!”

Axl said.

“Check this out.”

Ammy got up from where she had laid slumped against a leg of the large torii gate, going over to where Axl indicated.

It was Flora Monkey’s deactivated and thoroughly thrashed body.

The brambles had disintegrated to dust, and the two Hunters had gathered all the maverick’s parts together.

“What am I looking at?”

“It looks like some kind of foreign tech was used to make Flora. We’ll be taking these back to HQ for analysis.”

X explained, pointing out the foreign tech in question. Combined with the familiar Reploid parts were pieces of grey metal, like platinum or steel, laced with glowing blue veins in patterns than none of the three recognized.

“That… is weird. I’d suggest asking Dr. Citron, but I’m not sure he’d know.”

“That’s why it’s going to the lab. I’ll contact HQ as soon as we’ve made sure everyone is alright.”

X nodded to Axl, gesturing for him to come along.

“Are you coming, Ammy?”

Before she could respond, a low pained groaned emanated from somewhere near the Konohana.

“Oh my gods, Miss Asama! Uh, I’m going to see to her. I’ll catch up!”

“Alright.”

As X and Axl left, Ammy rushed to the old woman’s side.

She was laid prone on the ground, but didn’t appear physically injured from being so roughly handled.

“Miss Asama! Are you alright?”

She helped the old lady to sit up.

“Oooh… I-I’m fine, dearie.”

“Clearly, you’re not. Let me help you to your house.”

“Honey, that’s really not necessary. I can-“

As she tried to stand up, her left leg wobbled and she fell to one knee.

“I insist, Miss Asama.”

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t actually know where Miss Asama lived. She kept to herself a lot.

The old woman sighed frustratedly.

“Darn old age… don’t grow old, Ammy. It’s never suited you.”

She tried again, this time standing up straight albeit with a crick in her back.

“Now where’s my cane? Ah, who am I kidding?”

In a flurry of green magic and flower petals, a wooden cane with a top resembling that of the Konohana tree appeared in Miss Adams’s hand.

“That’s better.”

Ammy blinked owlishly, looking between the cane and the old woman. She noticed she was wearing a pink and yellow yukata, not unlike the ones the festival goers were wearing, but she wore autumn leaves in her grey hair and as a wrap beneath a red obi.

“Miss Asama…?”

The old woman smiled apologically at the lupine reploid.

“My deepest apologies for deceiving you like this, Amaterasu. But once I found out you’d lost your memories again, I thought it necessary to appear human to you until you regained more of your powers.”

With an aura that smelled sweetly of cherry blossoms, a hagoromo of violet clouds appeared around Miss Asama’s shoulders.

Her obi extended to form a sort of skirt with a yellow line along the hem, as did the bottom of her yukata until it fluttered around her feet.

A long cowlick extended from the top of her head, resembling the top of the Konohana tree with little leaves poking out of it.

Though these matched the autumn coloring of the other leaves on her person.

“My real name is Konohanasakuya-Hime, but everyone calls me Sakuya. I am the spirit of the Konohana Tree and Guardian Deity of Kamiki Village, or Shin Kamiki now, I suppose.”

The name Sakuya rang a bell in Amaterasu’s mind.

“Sakuya… I think I remember you… but…”

“I know. It’s been a very long time since we last saw each other, old friend.

Centuries, in fact. Kami can grow old and decrepit just as mortals do.”

She laughed.

“Especially if they are anchored to an organic entity.”

Ammy nodded, not quite understanding but the statement made some sense.

“So… you’re not hurt?”

“Physically, no. That corrupted monkey didn’t hurt me that bad. I appreciate your concern nonetheless. You always were compassionate.”

Sakuya smiled gratefully, but then sighed with some melancholy.

“I hate to ask this of you, dear. But do you remember my Guardian Saplings?”

“I… think so?”

Another bell rung in her mind.

“They are trees, similar to my own, dotted across the country. I used to have dozens! My Saplings in Shinshu and Hanasaki have kept me alive, but just enough so I didn’t wither away every winter. The corrupted Gods destroyed one of them. With that pearl, and with Bloom in your arsenal once again, you can revive the Sapling in Hanasaki Valley and boost the Shinshu Sapling’s power.”

She paused to take a breath.

“Use this technique well, bless the land with your light once again and it will praise you.”

With that, Sakuya faded away, leaving the scent of cherry blossoms in her wake.

Ammy looked towards the Konohana tree, noting how its summer green leaves were intact but still rather sickly looking.

“I’ll help you, Sakuya. But first...”

Ammy stowed the green pearl in a safe compartment before she got down on her hands and knees.

With a howl, she turned into her wolf form and took off down the hill back into the village.

“Ammy!”

Haruka cried upon seeing her approaching. The girl ran up to her, kneeling as Ammy slowed to a stop in front of her.

“I heard there was a Maverick! Is everything okay? Are you okay?”

Ammy turned back into her humanoid form, both women standing up before she answered.

“Yes, there was, but we took care of it. I’m fine.”

“Thank goodness…”

Still, Haruka glanced over Ammy’s armor, just to be sure.

“The Festival’s still on if you want to rejoin. Dad is commemorating you guys’ victory.”

Ammy peered over Haruka’s shoulder to see a crowd of villagers surrounding the Hunters, giving their thanks and celebrating with gusto.

“I think I might. Come on, let’s get some food. I could use some fuel after that fight.”

She deactivated her armor, catching the disc and stowing it in her obi as the two girls made a beeline for the nearest manned food stall.

Later…

It was almost midnight when everyone finally left the festival grounds for their homes, including the Sudachi family and their guests.

“You’re welcome to stay the night with us!”

Mr. Sudachi said, tired but welcoming.

“I appreciate the offer, Mr. Sudachi. We’ll be glad to, and we’ll be out of your hair by morning.”

“Yeah. We gotta get back to HQ as soon as possible. This is a nice village you got here.”

“Thank you. And I completely understand. I’m sure Ammy would like to see you off.”

“If she’s awake.”

Haruka quipped.

“If there’s one thing you should know about her, it’s that she likes to take naps and sleep in.”

Axl sniggered.

“Well, if we don’t see her, tell her we’ll be expecting her at the next initiation.”

Looking around, he didn’t actually see Ammy anywhere.

“Where’d she go?”

“Dunno. She probably went home already.”

Haruka assumed.

In actuality, Amaterasu had slipped away from the festival, making for Hanasaki Valley.

She retraced her steps through the decayed copses of trees, with only moonlight as her guide.

When she reached the inner chamber of the dug-out cave, where the floor had fallen, she carefully skirted around the edge of the room to the steps, going up to the balcony overlooking the area.

She looked down and saw a large hole in the middle in the floor, where something might be placed.

Ammy took out the green pearl, visually comparing its size to the hole.

“I feel like this is supposed to go here… but it’s too small.”

She then glanced up through the crack in the wall to the open sky.

On a hunch, she drew a circle in the sky and summoned the sun, holding the pearl up so that it filtered the light onto her face.

Her eyes widened as the pearl seemed to glow, absorbing the sunlight until it was as too bright for Ammy to look at.

She turned her head away, letting go of the pearl. Stepping back, she saw that it somehow stayed in midair, floating there as the sunlight disappeared.

It then zipped into the caved in floor, presumably landing somewhere at the bottom.

And then the ground shook.

Ammy braced herself against the wall as she feared the ground would fall out from under her again.

She definitely heard something break nearby.

When the shaking stopped, she looked around to see that another passage opened up on the right side of the room, unblocked in the sudden quake.

Taking the hint, she made her way over and peered inside.

“So dark…”

She muttered.

She took out her Reflector, willing its flames to burn brighter so that she could see where she was going.

At the end of the narrow tunnel was a small shrine with a bear’s skull set on top of it.

Ammy grimaced at the grisly sight, her gaze flicking to a large green orb resting in front of the shrine.

“That must go in the hole.”

She surmised.

She pushed it with one hand. It wasn’t that heavy and moved around rather easily.

‘Is it made of glass?’

She wondered, stowing her brightly glowing Reflector onto her back and taking the orb in both hands.

She lifted it easily, though its size made it cumbersome to hold.

She bowed to the bear skull shrine, internally thanking whatever being was honored there for letting her take it.

Ammy managed to bring the orb back to the balcony with little difficulty, though as she carefully inched her way to the stairs, she glanced down into the hole.

There was something new down there.

Something green.

Upon placing the orb in the hole in the balcony, she turned and drew the sun in the sky again.

As the sunlight filtered through the green orb, its verdant light shone down into the pit.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Ammy felt a surge of energy emanate from below, green magic whirling around what was down there.

In a matter of seconds, a large tree identical to the Konohana grew from within the pit, its tallest branches reaching the balcony.

“Whoa…”

Ammy breathed.

“Moment of truth.”

She took out her brush and drew a circle around roughly where she imagined its blossoms or leaves to be.

Instantly, the ink seeped into the bark and emerged as beautiful pink blossoms, shining with holy radiance that spread out to the surrounding area in a shockwave of energy.

It nearly bowled Ammy over from the intensity, the perfume of flowers and fresh grass almost overwhelming.

It triggered something within her, a memory, one that had been so foggy that no matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t clear it until now.

She remembered Sakuya as she was long ago, young and vibrant with hair dark as her celestial ink.

“Thank you…”

Ammy looked towards the newly revived Guardian Sapling, seeing the ghostly form of the elderly Sakuya.

“I know you will be leaving again soon. Do try to come visit now and again. And if you encounter any more of my Saplings, do me a favor and grant them your strength. It won’t revive me completely, old as I am, but it will help.”

“I promise I will, Sakuya.”

The spirit smiled gratefully.

“Good luck with your training, and bring peace to the rest of the Brush Gods. Praise be to the Gods.”

The visage disappeared, leaving Amaterasu reeling somewhat.

“Right. Shinshu.”

She still had another Sapling to revive.

“And then I should probably go to bed.”

A long yawn escaped her mouth as she traversed the cave to the exit.

As she walked out of the tunnel, she gasped at what she saw.

Hanasaki Valley had been completely revived as well. Where there were once dead or nearly-so vegetation, it was now full of life.

She grinned triumphantly, a small laugh escaping her lips as she walked down the path she came.

Chapter Text

Ammy tried not to let her nerves get to her as she navigated the hallways of Hunter HQ in Abel City, looking for the training room she’d been assigned to.

She’d accidentally woken up late, after having settled into her new room.

‘Why didn’t she wake me!?’

Ammy thought frustratedly to herself, wondering why she wasn’t woken by her new roommate.

‘What am I thinking? How would she know? Ugh, me and my stupid habits!’

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, instead focusing on her objective.

Finding the training room.

She’d been a bundle of nerves just yesterday, the day of her official initiation into the Maverick Hunters. There weren’t a lot of new recruits, maybe fifteen or twenty from her count, but she was told that was rather normal in this peacetime.

There wasn’t as much of a need for Hunters as there were during times of war, which Ammy could understand. Still, that didn’t mean they weren’t unneeded at all. Especially since more minor mavericks still needed policing, and eager young Reploids wanting to help.

There had been a couple of those in the group if she recalled correctly.

The initiation yesterday had included a tour of the building, which Ammy had tried to memorize the details of.

“Let’s see… the training rooms were this way, right?”

As far as she knew, everyone else would be there already. She didn’t see anyone else going towards the same direction she was.

She groaned to herself.

‘Great… I’m already late!’

Specifically, she was late for her first day of basic training, which was something every active Hunter had to go through no matter if you were assigned to the field, navigation or as a mechanic.

Basically, they wanted to know how well one could handle combat situations.

A randomly selected senior Hunter would be their instructor today, testing them on basic weaponry and agility before they all were to take a physical exam later that day.

‘That shouldn’t be too hard… right?’

Ammy thought, trying to reassure herself as she found the correct corridor and started scanning the door plaques.

“17-A… 17-B… ah! 17-C!”’

The door opened when she stood before it, lifting up as it detected her weight on a pressure plate below the threshold.

Upon entering the room, she found it to be occupied by the other initiates from yesterday.

They were all already practicing with various melee weaponry against dummies.

Some of them noticed her enter, but most didn’t bother to acknowledge her.

Feeling a bit out of place, and mentally berating herself for being late, Ammy looked around the room until she saw a familiar shade of blue armor.

“Oh! E-Commander X!”

Ammy called, catching herself before she accidentally mis-addressed him.

She jogged lightly over to where the blue reploid stood next to another. His companion was tall, wearing bright red and white armor. 

“I’m so sorry I’m late! I overslept and-“

“Hey, it’s okay! It’s only your first day!”

X said reassuringly, recalling Haruka’s words concerning Ammy’s sleeping habits.

“Just don’t make a habit of it.”

“Yes sir. Um… are you the instructor?”

“No, I’m not. I just came to check in with him.”

X gestured to the red armored reploid next to him, who looked between her and X with an eyebrow raised in askance.

“Ammy, meet Commander Zero. He’s an SA Rank and one of the most skilled Hunters here.”

“Really? Well, I hope I don’t disappoint you, sir.”

Ammy bowed respectfully.

Zero looked her up and down appraisingly before bowing slightly himself.

“Zero, this is Amaterasu. That wolf reploid I told you about? She’s with the new recruits.

X said, gesturing to said wolf reploid.

“So you’re the ‘reploid werewolf’?”

Zero asked, a small amount of incredulousness in his tone.

“I am… uh… would you like me to show you?”

“Not at the moment. For now…”

He plucked something off a nearby wall and lightly tossed it to Amaterasu, who fumbled slightly as she caught it.

“I want you to practice with that. I’ve got everyone else doing drills right now.”

“Okay. I’ll get right on that.”

“Since it’s your first day, I’ll show you some mercy. In the future, I expect you to show up to training on time. Got it?”

He ground out, his baritone commanding the wolf reploid’s attention.

“Eep! Yes sir!”

Ammy stood ramrod straight, hands at her sides. She tried not to look Zero directly in the eyes.

“Uh… how exactly do I use this?”

She asked, holding up the object he’d tossed her.

It looked like a short, metal stick, about as long as her forearm.

There was a circular rim on one end and some sort of triangonal jewel on the other.

There was a small button just under the rim.

At her look of confusion, X piped up.

“That’s the same low level beam weapon we give everyone. Just press the button there, and keep the hilt pointing away from your body.”

Ammy nodded, idly wondering how many times he’d had to explain that to others.

She pressed the button, and with a whoosh a blue-white beam of hot concentrated plasma formed the shape of a short sword in lieu of a metal blade.

She had to stare at it for a moment, having never seen or held a beam weapon before.

“Whoa…”

“Now go practice with it on that dummy.”

Zero said, pointing to one of the unoccupied training dummies that littered the room.

“Swordplay is a good skill to have even if you’re a novice at best.”

Ammy looked between him and the dummy, nodding again.

“Right!”

X and Zero watched as she got into position, holding the beam weapon like a katana. Zero’s sharp blue eyes watched her like a hawk.

It was slightly unnerving.

Though a bit clumsy, she struck the dummy in the head with a downward slash.

It left a burn mark and an indent, but otherwise showed no other signs of damage.

She looked to her instructor, noting how he started walking around the room observing the other recruits.

X was still there, catching her eyes.

“Keep going.”

He motioned.

She nodded, and kept practicing with the beam weapon.

At least, she was trying to.

With each swing, she decided to experiment by attacking from different angles, hitting different parts of the dummy’s body.

She frowned, not sure if she was doing something wrong.

‘This feels… weird.’

“Your strikes are hard, but your stance is unsteady.”

Zero commented as he passed by.

Ammy startled a little at his sudden presence.

“Sir?”

“Spread your legs out more, and hold it like this.”

He demonstrated with his own Z-Saber, holding it in one hand.

Ammy tried to copy his stance, moving her training sword to one hand.

Zero nodded with approval.

“Now show me.”

“Okay.”

She said, begore doing as told.

She struck the dummy again with one arm.

“Hm… not bad, but keep practicing.”

“Yes, sir. Uh, thank you?”

He didn’t respond as he moved on.

That’s when X came up to Ammy as she started to practice again.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s like that with most of the new recruits.” X said, trying to reassure the wolf girl.

“Oh. I… I see. He’s just so… firm. All this is still so new to me, I have much to learn.”

X nodded sagely as Zero paused, turning back to the conversation taking place.

“How long have you been activated?”

The red reploid asked, genuinely curious.

Ammy had to think about that.

“Uh- about two years. I’ve been living in a rural farming village all this time.”

Ammy answered honestly.

“Ah. No wonder you were off our radar.”

Zero said appraisingly.

“X tells me you have some battle prowess already. I’d like to put that to the test.”

“Alright? I’ll admit blades like this aren’t my strong suit.”

Ammy said, still a little nervous but trying to sound confident.

“Uh… did you want to do that now?”

Zero smiled a little at her honesty.

“Yes, if you would. I’ve been told you have a rather unique weapon. Can we see it?”

“Um… sure.”

Ammy deactivated the saber, handing it to X before pulling her Reflector out from her back.

She held it out in front of her, the flaming jade green disk immediately catching the interest of the other recruits, as well as Zero’s.

“It’s called a Reflector.”

The blonde reploid held his hand out, tentatively hovering it over the flames emanating from the perimeter of the disk.

He took the Reflector in his hands, Ammy allowing him to hold it and turn it around as he inspected it.

“It’s… not burning me?”

“It won’t as long I will it not to.”

Ammy said, somewhat ominously as she willed the flames to get hotter.

Zero handed it back to her as he felt the heat.

“Thermokinetic, just like you said, X.”

He and the blue android shared a look. “How do you use it?”

“Well, I usually just throw it.”

“Show me.”

“O-okay!”

Ammy startled at the sudden command, but recovered quickly.

With practiced ease, she aimed and threw her weapon like a frisbee, hitting the metal dummy square in the head and creating a small dent in its surface.

Like a boomerang, the Reflector came back to its owner, unharmed.

“I see. It’s a flaming shield.”

“Pretty much.”

Ammy confirmed.

“Unique weapon indeed. Hey, rookie!”

Zero called to one of the other recruits, a unit in sage green armor that resembled military JAGS.

“Yes, sir?”

The unit asked, pausing in his own practice with a saber and pretending he hadn’t just been watching the show.

“Come here a sec.”

The rookie jogged over, eyeing Ammy questioningly.

“I want you to pair up with Amaterasu here. See if you can strike her with the saber.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll do my best.”

The rookie turned to face Ammy.

“The name’s Rick, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. … go easy on me?”

Rick chuffed.

“Not a chance, sweetheart.”

Ammy smirked, feeling a bit more confident.

Her opponent squared up, getting into a sword stance with his saber aglow.

Ammy held up her reflector, the shield-like weapon holding up well against the plasma blade as it made contact.

She tried to bash Rick with it, but he backed away in time.

Before he could retaliate, Ammy threw her weapon at her opponent, beaning him in the head.

“Ow!”

He exclaimed, her weapon coming back to her.

She smirked as he glared at her, part of his helmet smoking from the heat of her Reflector.

“Why you little…!”

He came at her again, but Ammy blocked with her weapon, using it to shove the saber away and back away a few paces.

“You mind if I show you now, Commander? My special ability?”

“Go ahead.”

Permission given, she got down on her hands and knees. With a mighty howl, she transformed before everyone’s eyes.

Rick was so surprised by this, that he wasn’t able to retaliate as Ammy came at him, knocking him to the ground as she pounced.

He dropped the practice saber, the weapon deactivating on its own as it and he hit the floor.

Ammy snarled in her fellow rookie’s face, barking once.

“That’s enough!”

Zero yelled, effectively calling the match off.

Ammy got off her opponent, allowing him to get up off the floor.

“Good show, both of you. Although, I will admit that special power of yours is… something.”

Zero said appraisingly, looking over Ammy’s lupine form.

She looked up at him, whining a little.

“Can you talk like that?”

Ammy shook her head, but then pointed to her head with her paw.

“You can still use coms. That’s good. Hey, X?”

“Yeah?”

“We got anything to test bite strength?”

The question surprised Ammy, her ears perking up.

“Uh… I think we do? I’ll have to go check.”

X said, also surprised by the question.

“Could you bring it here, please?”

“Sure.”

X smiled, knowing what the red reploid was thinking of doing.

“While he’s doing that… Amaterasu.”

The she-wolf barked, sitting at attention.

Zero smiled a little at the reaction.

“Try attacking the dummy as you are now.”

She nodded.

She’d had to fight imps in her wolf form before, several times.

Getting into a stance, she ran at her target, leaping up and using clawing at the dummy’s abdomen.

It left a few light scratch marks, about as effective as the standard beam saber in terms of effectiveness.

But it was still rather impressive, at least to the onlookers.

“Nice!”

Cried one of the other rookies.

“Again!”

Zero commanded, and Ammy went at the dummy again.

A few minutes later, X came back with a gnathodynamometer (also known as a occlusometer).

He noticed the state the dummy was in, several claw marks marring its metal covering.

“Sorry, it took me a while to find this. We haven’t had to use it for a long time.”

The she-wolf looked up as he approached, padding over to him as X kneeled down.

“Open your mouth please, Ammy.”

She obliged, opening her maw to reveal very real-looking teeth typical for a wolf.

X positioned the device between her incisors, then retracted his hand.

“Now bite down. Hard.”

She did as told, part of her hoping she didn’t accidentally break the device.

X looked at a second device, wirelessly connected to the first, as it processed the reading.

After a few seconds, he read out the results, his eyes widening.

“… 1200 psi. Wow.”

Ammy dropped the measuring device on the ground, tail wagging at the impressive number.

She decided to change back into her humanoid form, stretching her arms above her head.

“Well? Did I do good?”

X and Zero shared a look.

“For your first training session? Not bad. That goes for everyone.”

Zero said with approval.

The twenty or so rookies smiled and cheered at each other.

“That doesn’t mean we’re done yet!”

The red reploid barked.

“We’ve still got time until your physicals, and I expect you here same time tomorrow! Everyone pair up!”

With that, though some were reluctant, everyone was put into pairs and sparred with each other. X took that opportunity to tend to his other duties, while Zero went around and corrected things here and there.

Later in the day, after Zero had dismissed the new recruits, he and X met up in the cafeteria.

“So, what do you think of her?”

X asked as they sat down with their E-cans.

Zero took a sip of his E-can as he contemplated his answer.

“You’re right. She’s definitely… unique, but she’s no Maverick. Even if she did try to burn me.”

He smirked, looking at the small singe mark on his finger.

X ex-vented a sigh of relief.

“She certainly is. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Reploid like her before.”

“Hm? How so?”

“Her powers, for one. A literal reploid werewolf, as she put it. And her weapon.”

‘Not to mention the brush powers… that’s a whole can of worms by itself we still need to look into.’

X thought to himself despairingly.

‘I sincerely hope the Lifesavers perform that test I asked them to do.’

He remembered how it felt using Wolf Fire, how he was able to see spirits and affect things.

He decided not to take it out of his systems since returning, except to let Alia examine the chip of course.

She found nothing wrong with it, save for a strange, if benign, energy reading.

“Hm… I’ll admit, her weapon does intrigue me. Other than that… just another mystery to add to the pile.”

Zero said contemplatively.

“It seems we’ve been getting a lot of similar recruits lately.”

“Yeah… I noticed a lot of them are coming from companies and businesses that don’t exist anymore.”

“Probably not a coincidence.”

X hummed in thought.

Ammy was probably the only one of her model in existence.

According to some digging X conducted himself, she wasn’t even government registered, which would need to be rectified very soon.

Her physical examiner would do that for her automatically, after her practical exam.

They’ve had bad luck with animal themed Reploids in the past, but Ammy’s ability was a special case. X had a good feeling about her.

Later…

Commander Signas sat in his office, looking over a document the Chief Lifesaver unit had sent to him not ten minutes ago. A knock on the door altered the Chief Maverick Hunter.

“Come in.”

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

Asked a newer reploid to the Hunters’ forces, noticeably timid in the Commander’s presence.

“Indeed. Thank you for escorting her, X.”

“It was no trouble.”

The blue reploid said as Ammy took a seat in front of the Commander’s desk.

“Since you’re here… you might as well sit down. This will concern you too.”

X looked confused, but did as told, sitting beside the new recruit.

Signas placed the documents he’d been reading in front of them.

“These are the results of Amaterasu’s physical exam. All your specs are within acceptable range, even in your special form.”

Ammy smiled a little at the praise.

“That’s good to hear.”

“However… there are some things I’d like addressed sooner than later.”

He pointed to a section of the document labeled ‘Manufacturer’.

“According to our research, you seem to be custom-made, but there is no record of your creation by any of the well-known and even lesser-known manufacturers.”

Ammy’s eyes widened.

“Oh… I know Dr. Citron said something similar. But I was hoping…”

The disappointment in her tone didn’t go unnoticed.

“An illegal custom-make, then?”

X said, looking at Ammy with a mixture of pity and suspicion.

“It’s likely. There are few others with similar backgrounds in the Hunters, and we have made exceptions for them in the past.”

Signas said, thoughtfully.

“Are you certain you know nothing about where you were made, Amaterasu?No name, no model number? According to your examiner, you are not labelled anywhere.”

The white haired reploid shook her head.

“No. I swear I don’t remember who made me. The first thing I really remember was waking up on Sakuya Hill in this body.”

‘In this body?’

X wondered.

“Well… I can say for certain that while many of your… traits don’t match up with previous reploids of similar make…”

The Commander straightened in his seat, looking Amaterasu in the eyes.

He smiled softly.

“I am glad the Hunters got to you before the Mavericks could. God knows what might have happened were you swayed to their side.”

Ammy smiled back.

“Me too. Though, I don’t think I would have.”

“A lot of us think that.”

X said solemnly.

“That’s another thing I thought you might want to know, X.”

The blue reploid looked up at Signas’ words.

“It seems… Ammy here indeed has a similar trait to yourself and Commander Zero. She’s immune.”

“What?”

X and Ammy asked at the same time.