Secret Mission to Ursa

**Secret Mission to Ursa** is the fifth chapter of Ray Fox. It deals with Ray about to have his first mission to the Ursa region.

## Summary

### Part 1

The chapter starts with Liz going to Ray's room to tell her brother to go to work at the gym. She is met by Karnto, who now leaves in her brother's former room. Liz recalls that Ray now lives with Asuka, causing her to cry because she thinks it's her fault that Ray left. A suprised Karnto is forced to console Liz.

At Jak's gym, the trainees are talking about Ray becoming a Meta Officer, expressing doubts in his success. Jak calls them out, reminding them that Ray beat Liev in a one-on-one fight and that he trained in the same gym as they did. Gordon chimes in the conversation, which causes an annoyed Jak to beat him up.

Meanwhile, Ally is eating with her family. Her brother is angry at the fact that Ray became a Meta Officer before him. Though his father tells him to relax, Ally's brother swears to beat up Ray and not give him mercy like Morales did. For her part, Ally is conflicted on how to feel about Ray. For his part, Morales is at his limousine, watching the Alfred Heart Show with Natasha.

Back with Liz, Karnto manages to console her by telling her of a promise he made with Ray before he left. Ray knows that his sister will feel vulnerable wigth her departure and he won't be there to console her. He asks Karnto to tell Liz that he's okay because it will be thanks to her that he knows what right decisions to make. Feeling better, Liz asks Karnto to come to her with class, calling him her temporary nugget.

At Asuka's house, Ray wakes up and prepares for his first day as a Meta Officer. To his dismay, Asuka is asleep after gorging herself in Liz's cooking. He wakes Asuka from her nap, telling her that it's 7:45 AM. Asuka considers it too early and falls asleep. Knowing that he'll be late, Ray decides to go to the S.O.S. HQ to meet Carol. He is stopped in his tracks when he sees the television turned on.

The show in the screen is the Alfred Heart Show. Alfred is discussing about Ray's abilities with his fellow host. Though the co-host points out that Ray's abilities are a result of evolution, pointing out that Khali can fly. Alfred counters by pointing out that Khali uses an armor while Ray can summon fire out of nowhere. He calls Morales a quack for letting a criminal fight crime rather than get the Monroe Syndicate out of Meva City. Ray recalls how Asuka warned him about the public reception when he became a Meta Officer. He then decides to go to work.

Outside, Ray is met with fear when he asks a mother tiger when the bus arrives. Likewise, upon getting in the bus, all of the passengers are scared of him. Despite his annoyance, Ray swears that he won't let the public rejection get to him.

At the Save Our Souls Meta Agency, Carol arrives to her office and is prepared to start her day. Her good mood is ruined when she sees that Ray arrived early. Ray annoys Carol by asking questions, such as where is his office. Annoyed, Carol leads him to a dirty abandoned office, tasking Ray to clean it so that she won't have to talk to him. After an hour, Ray finishes cleaning up his office and goes to talk to Carol. She tasks him with mopping the building, which makes Ray ask if there are any janitors. This sparks an argument between Ray and Carol as the latter is in no mood to answer questions.

Their argument is interrupted when Summer and Rose arrive at the agency. Carol picks up Ray and delivers him to them. She then gives Rose papers to analyze, wanting an assessment in two hours for their next mission. After Carol leaves, Rose starts asking Ray questions about Liz's chowder and tries to find out more about Ray's family tree by asking about his mother.

Rose's gossip is interrupted when Regi appears, cowing her and Summer with her presence. Regi tells Summer that they have an important B-Rank mission about to happen, telling Rose to stop her gossiping since they will depart once she's done with her part. Rose apologizes and goes back to work once Regi leaves. She asks Ray to come to her office to talk about the mission.

At Rose's office, she explains to Ray how the ranking system works. Missions are based on importance with the capture of the Port Town Gang being ranked D, the capture of Blaze being ranked C, protecting Morales being ranked B, and most missions delivered by Georgia being ranked A. Summer is excited to fight criminals and gets annoyed at Rose's talking, demanding to know the purpose of the mission.

Rose explains that their mission is to go to the Ursa Province to search and retrieve a young bunny named Maureen Digger. Summer is annoyed at the type of mission she's getting, with Rose has her doubts, pointing out that S.O.S. hasn't had any important mission in two years, stating that capturing Ray was the closest thing to an interesting mission they had. She states that being given a mission with such a huge reward for a little girl means that Maureen must be very important.

Ray and Summer start talking about how long it will take them to arrive at Ursa, causing an annoyed Rose to explaint that it will take fourteen hours to arrive by train. However, the bright side comes in traveling through the Big Al Express, a train designed to carry large animals around. Rose explains to Ray that the train is a cruise ship for smaller animals like her and Summer. Though Rose and Summer are happy to enjoy the cruise, Ray feels nervous about going on top of a train with large animals knowing who he is.

Back at Asuka's house, she gets a call from Carol. She immediately answers by apologizing for the incident with Al, though an annoyed Carol tells her that they will review about the incident after the mission. Asuka is confused on Georgia giving them a task, which sparks an argument between Carol and Regi about taking the mission. Carol wants to take the mission so that they can use the reward money to pay for repairs while Regi is too cautious and misrtrustful of Georgia to take the mission.

They called Asuka to act as a tiebreaker, as she's the only member of the trio to be a field agent and was the most affected by Meva Affairs years ago. Asuka accepts the mission, pointing out that she's been looking for an adventure for a while. She promises Regi and Carol that everything will be fine with her on board.

Meanwhile, in some place, a bull and a large lizard are fighting. The large lizard easily overwhelms the bull and gets a call from his boss. The lizard defeats the bull as he talks with his boss, who warns him that the group that he'll fight has already beaten their best men. Having won his fight, the lizard promises to do his best for the mission.

### Part 2

The team arrives at North Central Station, the home of the Big Al Express. Ray is impressed at being at a site filled with so many large animals. Asuka notices Ray feeling nervous and starts roughhousing him to cheer him up. Summer notices the two together and looks away, an act that Asuka notices with concern. Meanwhile, Dexter observes how weird it is to see Blaze being scared of something so normal, causing Arty to add that they didn't have to drag him there.

Arty jokes that Dexter is allergic to grass and sunlight, but Dexter refutes the joke by stating that he's an engineer who doesn't like field work to find some dumb bunny. However, he doesn't want to turn down a 4,000 uni paycheck, so he just needs to tag along for it. Their conversation is cut short when a hamster arrives, telling them that they need to complete the mission if they are to get the award.

The hamster is a special agent of the Bureau of Meta Affairs named Eric Sagmuz. He was tasked with supervising the team since this will be the first B Rank mission that they take in years. He points out that he was sent because Asuka's work behavior has been dubious. The hamster is not impressed with Asuka's team, especially since Ray is present. He spits out the train tickets and keys, telling her that they'll meet in Room 519.

Rose observes that the Bureau of Meta Affairs keeps tabs on all Meta related activity, meaning that they will have to be on their best behaviors to avoid their nameless agency from being on the radar. Summer tells Rose to go stalk someone else. Asuka tasks her team to go into the entrance to register while she takes Summer to the van.

Inside the van, Asuka is enjoying some treats that she got from the Himitsu area. Summer takes the time to apologize to Asuka for causing her trouble lately. Having figured out what's wrong, Asuka apologizes Summer for ignoring her since the Blaze incident. Asuka grabs Summer by the cheeks, telling her that she's irreplaceable to her. This causes Summer to remember her first meeting with Asuka, where she grabbed her face like that in a motherly way. After a bit of playing, the two women go to their mission, though Summer still feels unsure of what to feel.

Rose, Ray, and Arty are at the entrance of the train, talking about their upcoming assignment. Rose says that she didn't find anything interesting about Maureen, but she voices her belief that she may be involved with the Monroe Syndicate, scaring Arty and stressing Ray. The fox remembers his previous encounters with Liev, Brigade, and Roulette, stating that the assignment will be more dangerous than expected.

Ray is knocked down by a walking rhino, creating a scene where most of the passengers recognize him as Blaze. Eric chides Ray, reminding him that they have an important assignment, and telling him to stay at home if he's not feeling up to the task. Ray feeling reinvigorated by the challenge rushes past Eric, thanking him for the advice. He resolves to defeat the Monroe Syndicate.

Inside the Big Al Express, it is revealed that the lizard just beat up a passenger there. His brother tells him that the mission is about to begin. He gets out and is met by two tiger security guards who inform him that there's been noise complaints in his cabin. They are horrified to find out the beat up bull inside. The lizard's brother sneaks up behind them and grab them by their heads. The chapter ends with the lizard knocking out the tigers with the help of his brother, ready to begin their mission.

## Trivia

* The ranking missions are introduced in this chapter.
* Rose has been working on S.O.S. for two years based on her dialogue.
* Asuka and Summer met during a fight.
* This is the first time that Karnto speaks, as he was silent throughout the previous chapter.