------ Part 8 ------
X and Arturo looked out to the floating island in amazement. Of all the places to find one of Dr. Light's capsules, this surely was the strangest.
The capsule, resting on an altar of some sort, simply stood there, it's many lights glowing and it's red beacon on the top glinting in the distance. Somewhere above a ray of light shone upon it, perhaps from a hole in the ceiling, perhaps from a light powered by something else, X could not tell. All he knew was that the more he looked towards the capsule, the more he began to be drawn to it.
X looked at Arturo, complete awe on both their faces, then looked back at the island. Slowly X began to walk onto the bridge, but as he did so, a power began to wash over him, controlling his footsteps over the bridge.
The bridge began to creak precariously, taunting them both with the threat of breaking. Arturo shook off whatever had been holding his attention and called out to X.
"Be careful, X," he said, "This bridge is weak and will break beneath your weight!"
Suddenly what Arturo said came true. The bridge snapped under the unnaturally heavy weight of X's exoskeleton, and he began to fall. X closed his eyes, and watched the blackness below surround him.
Then suddenly, he was flying though the air towards the floating mass of rock. He looked over his shoulder, and Arturo was there, face pointed to the island, and a jet coming out of his back.
How in the hell did he do that...
They landed on the island, Arturo letting go of X just before they landed. X crashed to the ground while Arturo slowly descended, graceful as an angel. After his jets shut down, he looked around in wonder. They had landed not too far from the altar where the capsule had been placed, and the 3 rocks now seemed to hold inscriptions on the sides facing the altar.
"These inscriptions...Do they mean anything to you, Arturo?" X asked, staring at him as if he just awoke from a dream.
"They are written in a language I have not seen in many years..." Arturo replied, walking around the stones, examining them closely. After he had looked at them for a while, he looked up to the altar.
"Look here, X," He said, walking over to the Altar and pointing at the top, "There are 3 other inscriptions on the table..."
X walked to the Altar and examined the engravings on the top. He looked back and forth from the stones to the Altar, not quite sure what to make of them. Suddenly, an idea came to his head.
"By themselves, these make no sense," He said, his excitement growing, "But when you put them together in the right order, it makes a-"
All of a sudden, a hand came from behind X's neck, and it grabbed him violently, lifting him off his feet. Crying out in alarm, he struggled to get free, and looked over his shoulder into the eyes of Arturo. Arturo's eyes glowed with red as he dragged X towards the capsule, his grip unrelenting.
As they drew nearer, the inside of the capsule created a small field of energy, and Arturo literally hurled X into the field, which suspended him in midair. As X regained his co-ordination, he faced Arturo directly, looking into his eyes, which glowed with red like 2 small suns.
"Arturo, what the hell are you doing!" X cried, struggling to get free, "What is this machine?"
Arturo said nothing, as he turned and went to the Altar and stood in front of it.
"You are part of something great, X...I can feel it in my very soul...And now we are all about to see just how powerful you really are," Arturo said, turning towards X.
He outstretched his arms as if welcoming a friend, and let out a earsplitting roar. As he did so, a shockwave began closing in on the capsule with incredible speed, and shot through the capsule like a pillar of light.
X onlly felt pain as the light surged all around him. He lifted up his arms slowly, using every bit of strength he had, and watched as his body began to change in front of his eyes. Within him, he could sense his code changing, evolving at a rapid pace. He was becoming something more, something incredible...
He was nothing. He saw everything. Time and space were puppets, and he was the puppeteer.
He closed his eyes as the light exploded all around him, and Arturo, the altar, and the world around him disappeared...
-----------------
Zero awoke slowly, very disoriented, not quite sure where he was. He got up and began observing his surroundings. He was apparently in a large room, with no windows, no chairs, nothing but himself and a door.
The room itself was a very drab color, and the lighting was very poor. The violet light above him gave it a very eerie tone, and it kept on flickering.
Suddenly the door opened and he was greeted by a humanesque creature, with claws for hands and red skin. He was very well built, and the uniform he was wearing covered his legs and his torso, leaving his arms bare. It sneered at Zero, and walked out the door. Puzzled, Zero looked out the door to see where it had gone, only to surprised as it charged and him and flattened him against the wall.
Zero cried out in pain, but regained his fighting instinct and gave the creature a kick to the gut. The creature howled, loosening his grip just enough for Zero to fall to the floor. He flopped onto his front side, and launched himself in a spiral directly into the creature's gut, sending it flying into the far wall. The creature fell to the ground, and Zero landed gracefully on the ground and whipped out his beam saber, ready for more.
The creature began to get up, but then a voice called from the hallway.
"That will be quite enough, Hea'zmar," Said the voice as a figure dressed in a dark robe entered, bearing a staff in his one hand, "I think our friend here has a little explanation in store for him,"
The creature backed down, standing at attention like a soldier. The man who entered the room patted the creature, Hea'zmar, on the shoulder and turned to Zero.
"I imagine you're wondering where you are right now," said the figure, smiling, "But first, allow me to introduce myself."
He waved his hand, and a panel slid away from the wall and a screen appeared. Immediately it displayed what seemed to be a record of his profile on a computer.
"My name is Altair. I am the chief scientist on this vessel, the Mitos. You need not worry about Hea'zmar, his kind are very powerful but only docile unless commanded by their masters"
He sneered, "Think of them as a guard dog of sorts,"
Zero gazed at the demon, beam saber still in his hand. The demon didn't flinch, and remained unmoved by his stare. He returned his eyes to Altair, not quite trusting him at all.
"Why am I aboard this vessel?" Zero asked, with a small bit of anger in his voice, "What business do you have on Earth?"
Altair laughed. You know so little, Zero...I guess he told you nothing at all...
"You may recall a certain scientist, a Professor James Lazarus," He said, that odd smile still on his face, "He was a contact of mine here on Earth. He had discovered a virus on your planet, the one you call the Nightmare Virus, and was about to send a very large shipment into space before we arrived."
Zero questioned this, but asked "Who was he sending it to?"
"A group of people called the Ghazarkhan," Altair responded, "They are more so a group of rebels that pirate and pillage goods for their own doing, but I would go so far as to say they simply want domination over our Galactic Senate."
"In any case, we intercepted the final communications and destroyed their freighters long before they arrived here. When I told Lazarus we were coming, he told me I would be sorry for this, and that was the last I heard of him,"
Awfully sharing for an alien. Still, could be some truth to it.
"And now you're here and I'm here. Still doesn't answer my question though," Zero said, spitefully.
Altair could only smile his devilish smile. The very shape of it made Zero uneasy. There was a flash of a second where he almost ran to Altair and cut his stupid smile off his face, but he controlled himself.
"Come, Zero," Altair said, moving to the door, "I have something I wish you to see."
Zero walked slowly behind Altair, and Hea'zmar followed behind him, grunting slightly. The corridors they walked were mostly bare, some with doors, others just walls and lights. After a good while they finally made it to a big opening.
This room was much different from the rest of the ship he had seen. Along the sides of the room there were pillars that ran up to a ceiling Zero could not see, and in the far end of the room there was a chair with 3 cables extending in symmetry to a statue which portrayed 2 figures clashing in battle.
Altair halted, and Zero continued moving forwards slowly, examining the artwork along the walls. They were of alien design, but the style remained the same for all of them.
Then Zero felt something stab into his back, and immediately he was immobilized. He turned his head, struggling to move, but Altair has jammed something into his back that held him there.
"Argh!" Zero cried, "What is this?"
Altair laughed, his maniacal laugh echoing through the halls and the room they were currently in. His eyes began to glow such a deep red, Zero thought he was staring into the eyes of the devil himself for a brief moment.
"Zero...The Angel of Apocalypse...Or better yet, our holy creator!" He cried out, still laughing, "I've wasted enough time with these moronic beings that never cease to amaze me with their ignorance of what our organizations destiny really is. Today, though, it seems all will come to light soon enough!"
Altair sneered that hideous smile again, "Would you like to learn of your destiny, Zero?"
Zero grunted and continued struggling, but made no response.
Damn...I let my guard down...Argh...Can't get free...
Altair moved away from Zero, towards the chair. His eyes were fixated on the statue with the determination of a fanatic.
"Sometimes, Zero, things must be destroyed to be reborn again so that what is wrong will eventually become right again," He said, his expressions now solemn and focused, "In your particular case, your soul was sent to Earth become more than just the carrier of some infectious disease."
He turned to Zero in disgust, "That was the doing of your creator, the man named Wily. He believed he could implement a virus that would eradicate the one you call X if you were ever destroyed, and eventually he would kill himself out of madness once infected."
"However, as was the case with the reploid Sigma, the virus was transferred ineffectively, and X was spared," Altair said, finally reaching the chair at the end of the room, "This you must know, as you were the one who infected him,"
Zero flinched, remembering his battle with Sigma in a flash. He remembered, all right. The device still wasn't relenting, and Zero decided struggling against it was ineffective.
Altair sat down in the chair, extending his arms over the armrests, "So now here we are, in the very room you were created, along with the soul that was sent along with you and implemented into X's body by the man Dr. Light. It was here the Dementia Machine was created, and will be here where your destiny begins!"
As he said that, the room began to quake, and Altair lifted his head up towards the ceiling, letting out a mad wail that almost shorted out Zero's audio receptors. Hea'zmar flinched by the door, covering his eyes with his arm.
The statue behind Altair began to glow with a bright light, and soon a ball of energy was formed above it, pulsating and fluctuating as little rings of energy rotated across it's surface.
Suddenly the light got brighter, and Zero had to close his eyes. He felt something strike his chest as he was let free from the device that had suspended him in place. Dropping to the ground, he clutched his chest where the object had struck it. It felt like his power reactor had reached critical mass, but then suddenly everything stopped.
Time and space ceased to function, just for a split second. But in that split second, Zero saw what was to come in the future. He saw the scorched surfzce of the planet, the enslaved humans working like dogs, and he saw a vile creature flying over them, sending a rain of flames to the ground, and he saw the battle that had caused the suffering.
He hated it. Even as he began to rise from the ground, all he could do was bow his head in shame. For in the next split second, he became the creature from his nightmare.
I'm sorry...X...
-----------------
In the months to come, the planet known as Earth became a battleground. As the mighty race the Dragoon and his people came from descended to the world which was once lush and green and thriving, it eventually became nothing more than a place of suffering and death.
The survivors of the attack were given a choice. Become the slaves of the holy creator, or perish with the rest of their worthless race. Most chose to become slaves, in hopes that someone would save them someday, but deep underground the ever vigilant Maverick Hunters have established multiple command centers across the world, and became divided into many different groups.
They too hope one day, their protectors would return in glory, and save them from the evil foe that enslaved the human race.
