Mega Man X: The Mist Enigma

Part 1: Return of the Shadow

I was doing nothing at the time. I was just flying around, looking over the city, minding my own business. But in a blink of an eye, I saw some black dust like stuff ahead of me. And I could swear I saw Death from beyond it. I tried to avoid it, but it ran right into me. I completely lost control of myself. It was as if I was in the middle of a tornado. As I was being stampeded by this dark wind, Death cackled at me. That was the last thing I remembered before I hit the ground. Hard.

I couldn't feel my body at all. I couldn't see two inches in front of me. I couldn't breathe either. I think I was out like that for a solid hour and a half before they found me. "Holy crap." A deep, beach bum voice muttered, probably in regards of me, a half awake human. "Get over here quick!" he called.

I heard a whoosh followed by another set of feet hitting the soft ground, probably desert. Another voice spoke, this one more generic. "What's up?"

"I've got a body here. Look familiar?"

"Looking at the sword with it...oh my God! We've gotta get him back quick."

"Are you sure? Can we treat him?"

"We should be able to. Now let's quit wasting time. He needs help ASAP. Let's take him back..." It was then that my hearing completely went out. I needed a few more winks.

I woke up with the biggest headache in the world. I sat up and shook my head. As my vision began to come back, I saw pale green tiles all over. "Unfamiliar ceiling." I was on a hospital bed. A doctor was standing at the foot of it. At least, he looked like a doctor.

"It's good to see you are awake, Mr. Satoryu," it said in a very mellow voice. My vision cleared to show me that the doctor was actually a robot. It was a Reploid, to be more exact. He was the lead physician and surgeon Reploid, Lifesaver.

"I think so," I said holding my head, "but where am I?"

"You are in the Emergency Repair Sector of Maverick Hunter Headquarters. You were found in a wasteland by Commanders X and Zero. They brought you to me to see if I could help your condition. It seems you only had a big fall and a large gash on you right leg." I then realized that my right leg stung like a bitch. My pant leg was rolled up and my shin was bandaged up. It was still bleeding a little bit. "I'd advise you not to walk for a while."

Just then, two more robots entered the room. One was blue with a helmet of the same color; the other was red with a red helmet and long blonde hair jutting out from the back of it. They were Mega Man X and Zero, the best Maverick Hunters ever known to mankind. "It's been a while, Chris," X said to me.

"It has," I retorted.

"How are you feeling?" Zero asked.

"Fine, just a deep cut and a migraine," I moaned.

"Well it's great to see you are feeling all right. What are you doing around here?"

"Really, I don't know. I only remember that I was swept out of the sky by some weird black dust. And when I woke up, I was in Maverick Hunter HQ."

"Did you say black dust?" Lifesaver asked. "We've seen a similar thing happening here. But we cannot confirm what it is exactly."

A siren went off. "Emergency. All hunters report to the control room. This is of Class S importance." The voice sounded deep and feminine. It was one of the Navigators, Layer.

"Maybe they've just found out," Zero said. "Come on," he waved. "We'll lead the way." He and X ran down the hall. I flew after them.

A set of doors opened to show a large control center with more Reploids working at computers. X jumped into his own control desk. Zero walked down a set of stairs to where three Reploids sat at a holographic sphere. They were the tall purple haired Layer, the young blonde Pallette, and the very attractive Alia. "What's the deal?" Zero asked them.

"Take a look at this, everyone," Alia said. She pushed a key on her holographic keyboard that activated two images to appear on a large screen. The images were of Reploid DNA. "The left picture is of a fallen hunter's DNA that had just perished from the weird wind."

"The one on the right," Pallette continued, "was from a hunter that died during the Nightmare outbreak."

"The two images are so similar," X pointed out. "Are you saying that...?"

"Yes," Layer nodded. "This is almost an exact likeness of the Nightmare. That would explain the odd changes in the environment."

"Not to mention some Reploids becoming Mavericks," Pallette added.

I was in shock. "How could this have happened?"

Almost as a cue, my last query was followed by Axl, the youngest hunter with red hair and twin pistols, running through the doors. "We've got big trouble! Gate's body is gone!"

All of us turned to him and shouted "What did you say?"