Demon's rage.
A MMZ oneshot. By zhead.
Alright. A few things I should explain first. This is an AU of MMZ.
Mandatory horribly written summary:
There were no elf wars, so no Weil or Omega.
Following the X6 ending, Zero was sealed to cleanse his body of the virus. They didn't make Mother Elf, so the virus that wasn't in Zero was still around, but fading since Sigma was toasted.
Though the original type of mavericks still kept coming up: ones with program errors, reploids like Vile, etc. X was, well, tired. Almost a century of war does that to a pacifist. As for going to sleep, he actually allowed his body to be analyzed to allow less maverick prone reploids to be made. What people didn't expect was for his soul (cyber elf) to disappear. Ciel builds copy on orders of some of the higher council (they didn't want to tamper with the original's body, not that they could do much to it anyway.) and let it replace X, but Copy X… Well you know. Guardians were built while X was being analyzed, but never met him. Their souls are not fragments of his soul this time around, but were built with specific instructions and modifications from X (he more or less ordered their construction and designed them). They never met him, so assumed the copy was the real one. Ciel leaves after copy starts going extremist, resistance forms, finds Zero, game goes on.
During he missions, Zero's memory starts returning, bit by bit, and he more or less remembers most of his battles. He still doesn't remember X that much.
Anyway. Read on.
Neo Arcadia, Area X.
Having fought his way through the revived Neo Arcadian generals, and the Four Guardians, Zero now found himself confronting the so called 'Master' X. The blue reploid had dismissed his remaining three Guardians, knowing they were no match for Zero…
"Do you see, Zero? The humans are finally happy. I have managed to bring about peace. This is something that neither you, nor the original X, could do. This is something only I could do."
"This 'peace' is brought by terminating countless innocent reploids… It's no different from you, just a fake."
Copy X simply chuckled at this. "You're a funny reploid." Activating his Ultimate Armor, he continued "But now, lets get to business!"
Both reploids assumed a battle stance. X began by blasting Zero with charged shots in quick succession. Dodging them, Zero counter with a blast of his, hitting X. Unfazed, X charged at him, continuing his barrage. Zero quickly jumped out of the way, slashing at X with his saber as he did.
"Argh! Why you-!" Flying up, X changed his weapon to an ice element, and started firing shards at Zero. Zero moved out of the way, but was unprepared for the smaller shards that burst from the impact of the larger ones.
"Guh!" As he was hit, something flashed in Zero's mind. 'SHOTGUN ICE!' Shaking his head, he charged his saber and leaped at X, releasing the burst, damaging him.
"GAAAH!" The blast flung the copy into a wall, and as he moved out of the crater, he saw Zero jumping towards him, ready to stab him. Changing elements once more, he shot a wave of fire at the crimson warrior, forcing him to back away. Quickly changing again, taking a green color as he did, he shot several orbs of lightning at the red reploid, each hitting him.
"These attacks… my body… remembers…urgh…" 'MEMORY UNIT STABALIZING. RECOVERY AT 85%'
The red hunter was assaulted with visions running through his mind, making it harder to concentrate on his opponent.
'Sigma… Repliforce… … Iris…. … partner… Partner? Who...'
"Damn… Not now…" A blast headed towards him. Rather than dodge, his instincts made him swing his saber in an arc, deflecting the blast away. "What?"
"Hmm… I see…" Copy X mused to himself. 'I must destroy him quickly. The longer he fights, the more of his skills return to him.' Launching himself at Zero, he made a barrier of energy around him, attempting to ram Zero. Zero managed to dodge at first, but then the copy broke the field and charged at him faster, slamming him into the walls of his chamber. Flying away, he then unleashed a full barrage on Zero, damaging him as much as he could.
"GAAAAAHHH!" Zero screamed in pain. 'I need to move. I NEED TO MOVE NOW.' 'RECOVERY AT 90%'
"… Sougenmu…"
Copy X was surprised when a silhouette of Zero jumped out of the blast zone and tried to slash at him. Backing away, he saw Zero standing up from the crater, but he saw his barrage was effective. The red reploids body was covered in cracks, and red fluid was leaking out of his body suit. Smirking, he said, "Even if your skills return to you, what good is it if you are so damaged?"
Zero remained silent. Instead of making a retort, he simply gathered energy in his hand. "REKKOUHA!" Slamming his fist in the floor, Zero caused beams of energy to surge out of the floor, catching Copy X off guard. "AAAAH!"
Zero looked at his opponent again. The copy was not as damaged as he was. Between that and Zero's mind deciding to defragment his memories now of all times, he was starting to get rather angry. Something about that copy was angering him. Looking at him, he remembered… someone. It was like when that cyber elf came and told him he unlocked the transerver for him. The feeling of a comrade, a friend… a brother.
'RECOVERY AT 95%'
"So… You now have access to your more advanced techniques…" X practically spat. "No matter… It's time to get serious then…!" Gathering energy around himself, X's damaged parts began to repair themselves. Zero looked at him, shocked. 'A Subtank! I don't even have any to-' The thought was cut off as he sidestepped a few shots.
"Do you really think you can defeat me, Zero? You don't have any means of repairing yourself," 'Else you would have done so' "And I doubt you can do much in that state anyway."
Zero grunted, breathing heavily, barely managing to stand. 'This fake… is starting to get on my nerves… He acts like a maverick... and wears HIS face…'
"Hmph. You truly are weak. I expected more form the legendary S-Class hunter…" Copy X looked at him smugly. "The original was weak too, unable to bring peace after all. He was a fool for having faith in a reploid like you. He could not do something so simple…"
'… Weak? …A fool? ... SIMPLE? …You… You dare…'
"You… how dare you…."
'RECOVERY COMPLETE. INITIATING REBOOT.
MEMORY UNIT STATUS: REPAIRED.
AUTO REPAIR SYSTEM: ACTIVATING PROTOCOL NO. W0
NANOMACHINES ACTIVE. REPAIRING ALL SYSTEMS.'
'He… You… You don't have…"
"What?" Copy X could not believe what he saw. Zero's forehead jewel had begun glowing, and his armor had started to glow faintly. He could see the energy flowing around him, repairing his body. "NO!" He began blasting Zero angrily.
"X… X Wasn't…"
'ALL MOTOR SYSTEMS REPAIRED.
ALL Z-SABER TECHNIQUES RESTORED.
ALL UNARMED TECHNIQUES RESTORED.
ALL SYSTEMS READY.'
Jumping at the blue fake, cutting his way through the barrage, Zero screamed. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!"
Copy X found himself on the receiving end of Zero's fist, and then imbedded in the ground. Boosting out, he was surprised to see Zero having sheathed his saber. But he was more surprised by his enemy's eyes. They were glowing blue. 'What… Just what is this? He was almost dead! How could he-' He dodged Zero's punch and responded with a jab of his own. Zero ducked and simply struck his stomach. "Guh!" X bent over due to the impact of the punch, and then was hit by Zero's knee to his chest, knocking him back up. But rather than let him stagger back, Zero grabbed him by his neck, and pulled him back for a head butt, damaging X's helmet at the same time.
"You talk of gaining peace like it was an easy task!" Zero continued to assault the fake with more punches and kicks. "You would never understand what X had to do. He wanted equality, he wanted humans AND reploids to have peace, NOT THIS FAÇADE!"
Copy X tried to block and counter the raging reploid, but was unable to keep up with Zero's speed. The damage he was sustaining had caused his armor to break down, showing his normal blue armor underneath, and even it was showing cracks. 'I cant even get enough energy together to activate the Seraph system!' "Everyday he would fight, he would go out and terminate his own kind 'for the safety of humanity', and it HURT HIM. There was never an end in sight, but he still fought. And even then, he still cared. He always worried, thinking about other ways to end the war, trying to find solutions other than violence!" Zero grabbed the copy's fist as it approached him and crushed it in his hand.
"AAAAH! SHUT UP!" X fired a blast through his broken hand in order to make some distance between him and Zero. Zero backed away, as he hoped, but before he could do anything else, the Red Demon was upon him again. X tried firing again, but noticed that Zero was now holding a buster. His buster. Looking down at his arm, his systems now registered that his arm was missing. 'How…?'
Horrified, he looked at Zero again, only for the red warrior to swing his own arm at him.
'I haven't done something like this… since Sigma…'
Pushing that memory away, he continued his assault, beating the copy a few more times punching him through his chest.
"X… He was a worrywart. Always reluctant in battle, always trying to talk instead of shoot. Everyone called him weak for that… But that is exactly WHY he was a hero… He was a better hero than you could ever be." Zero spoke solemnly, his arm still buried in the copy, with his hand feeling the empty air behind him.
"D…Damn… you…" His systems failed him. He couldn't do much anymore. Looking up, he saw something 'What… What is… that?' A cyber elf, but it was different. He looked closer, and the elf, as if knowing he was staring at it, changed its shape to a very familiar form. Copy X was terrified by what he saw. It was the ghost of his predecessor, glaring at him with cold, unforgiving eyes.
Zero then removed the copy from his arm, letting him fall to the floor in a pitiful state. Zero looked behind him, sensing a familiar being, but the spirit was gone. 'You came by… Well, I did what you asked… Old friend…'
Copy X knew he was done. 'I was… supposed to… be…' "Maverick… I'll t-take you… with m-me…" Before he shut down, he sent the self destruct command for Area X.
"Time to go." Zero dashed out as the explosions began.
It was a barren wasteland. Zero managed to get away from the main explosions, but one of the last ones threw him out of the tower, still at an extreme elevation. How he survived, he didn't know, but right now, he was just content on lying down on the ground till his systems finished repairing him.
"For so long… I fought… Alone…" A voice alerted him and he turned his head to see a spirit. "X..." His old friend's ghost sighed. "A hundred years… battle after battle… Even after making this… 'Utopia'… for the humans and reploids… It didn't end. Worse… I found I no longer cared… I no longer cared about the mavericks I had to terminate… I couldn't go on like that… without becoming even worse than that copy…" Zero understood. And it hurt him to see his old friend like that. X was an optimist, an idealist. "So… You think I can just… leave for a while? I know I'm being selfish but… I… I'm tired…"
Zero started getting up. "You were always selfless. It wouldn't hurt for you to be selfish for once. Don't worry. I'll take care of things now. You can go rest. That's why we're the best of partners, right?"
Smiling, X started floating away. "Thank you… Zero…"
Standing up, Zero watched his weary comrade leave. "Well then…" Looking at the thousands of pantheons that were approaching him, "Shall we get started?" Unsheathing his saber, Zero charged.
End notes:
Alrity. First off, yes, I might have made Zero a bit OP. But he's in his original body, so it comes with that. The nanomachines repairing him was based on Ainrhyr's Rise of the Chosen fanfic (Awesome story, check it out.) As for why he suddenly goes berserk when X is insulted, well, Zero just remembered the hell X had to go through, and didn't like how the copy disgraced his memory.
Now for the battle itself, Copy X wasn't this powerful in the game, but I decided to make him a tad more powerful, as Ciel did a better job copying X's combat abilities this time (minus the evolutionary capabilities. That's patented by Dr. Light yo :]). Also, Zero was easier to attack because fighting a copy of X was bringing his memories back even faster, but that was getting in the way of his focus.
As for the speech, the way he delivered it was inspired from when Archer and Shirou fought in the UBW route. And another reviewer told me its sounds like Zero loved X. The hoyay type. Sorry if it seems that way. ^_^''
If I have copied anyone's idea here, do tell me.