Chapter 4:

Axl let out a slight sigh. Here we go again, he thought. He was standing on a platform across from Snowflake, counting down the seconds to when the simulator would start, and the battle for the title of A-Rank Hunter would begin for her. At least, this was what he was used to. "You ready Snow?" he shouted to the other end.

Snowflake heard his words loud and clear, pointing a finger out to him. "You bet! And this time, you're the one who's gonna be pinned!"

Axl flashed a grin to his rival. "Sounds like a good time to me!"

"Oh, Axl!" she pouted, "Why do you have to make things sound so wrong?"

Axl relaxed and let out a laugh. Sure, it was tedious to go through battle simulators like these every other day or so with her, but it let his mind scamper away from the thoughts of needing missions to keep him occupied and the one who never gave them to him in the first place.

Pallette. The thought of her made him tense. He didn't know why, but usually he looked to Pallette for fun times. But now it seemed like ever since Snowflake had made her way into the ranks amongst the hunters at Hunter Base, work had gotten the best of Pallette. Now, Axl held a twinge of hesitancy every time he confronted her, even if it was about the usual. He wondered what could have changed, whether it was the fact that Snowflake was here or not, or if it was merely something else that she focused her attention on. But none of it mattered now.

Twenty more seconds, he knew.

A sound rang from the intercoms in the room. "Battle Simulation starting soon."

He didn't even need to look across the platform to know that Snowflake wasn't focusing on him anymore. He already knew that she was focusing on her breathing, her squeezing of her palms that held her power of the ice and cold.

That was the name of the game. Focus.

"Fifteen Seconds. Today's spectators include: Captains X, Commander Signas, and Cinnamon"

The same as usual. Axl knew that it was mandatory for these three to spectate battles that held A-Rank titles or higher in the balance. Supervision of these battles was needed to truly test the skills of the hunter in question. And to do this, the battle simulator was designed to add twists to the stage and either add or remove cover or certain environmental factors.

And these twists were critical. Even the most advanced of hunters could find themselves trapped in the midst of a twist, giving the other the advantage of a lifetime.

"Ten Seconds…"

He exhaled slowly. He went through his tactics, his skills, and his abilities, all on his HUD. He began to wonder how she would start out, a straightforward assault or the stealthy strike? He began to-

He closed everything on his HUD and stopped. Just roll with it.

"Safety off in five…four…"

He pulled his twin shooters out from their holsters, unconsciously spinning them around his fingers as he felt his trigger finger itch. The sensation began to increase, spanning his whole hand, and the spinning continued, getting faster.

Faster.

"…three…"

Strength is in the speed.

"..two…"

Speed is in the hands.

"…one…"

Hands enforce the weapon.

"BE-"

I am the enforcer.

"-GIN!"

In a flash his guns were up, but he did not see Snowflake. She wasn't in the starting position. But this wasn't a surprise to Axl. He quickly engaged his thrusters and began to glide in the air, ascending in a crescent motion and back down, coming up under the lip of the stage.

She wasn't under the stage either. Axl hovered in place, unsure of where she was but feeling she was close. The underside of the stage looked like a triangular prism, descending gradually until the center came to a point. Axl was facing one side of the surface, and with a quick dash, checked the other side as well with his blasters up. Again, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

He felt something cold touch his back.

"Gotcha!" He whipped around, blindly firing two shots into-

Nothing. The energy pellets pierced the far wall and left burn marks on the metal, two holes side by side. Where could she be, he wondered. It didn't seem like she was even in the room itself. Keeping his guns cocked and ready, he made his way back to the top and placed his feet down. A wet sensation surrounded his boots, and he looked down to see water beginning to sprout from the arena floor, followed by the rapid growth of soil and grass. Next thing he knew, trees had sprouted all around him, surrounding him completely and even cutting off his vision. Everywhere he looked, floral plants surrounded him. He looked to the sky and only saw holes of the "sunlight" that perforated the leaves. By the time he looked back down, everything had been changed and modified. The stage had gone through its twist, and now he was standing in a shallow creek.

"A forest, huh?" He aimed down his sights and fired at the nearest groups of trees, blasting them to pieces. He went into full circle like this, clearing out his path. He stopped when a few clearings had been made, and put his shooters down. However, he hadn't expected them to come back, and this time, with metal coatings. He charged his shots together before firing, and aimed at the closest one that turned into metal. He fired-

"Whoa!" He quickly dashed to the side as his shot immediately backfired towards him, slightly missing his waist and nailing a tree behind him. Nevertheless, the injured tree turned into a metal one as well. He ran through a diagnostic in his HUD and assessed that there was no damage. He was surprised, not at the feat of almost hurting himself, but how such a thing was even possible. Then again, he thought, it is a twist.

"Nice dodge!" said a voice that seemed close.

He immediately withdrew himself into his stance, focusing both shooters behind him while turning. He scanned the area and saw no one. "Very funny," he said. He aimed his guns to his sides. "Why don't you show yourself so we can get this over with? Or are you scared?" He turned his head toward a noise of ruffling leaves. He began to walk over when something dashed behind one of the trees from them. He fired a couple of shots that missed the target, and then focused fire on the tree. The thing dashed from tree to tree like this until it came behind a metal one, forcing Axl to stop as he did not want to repeat his misfortune. He approached it slowly, noticing the icy blue arm that was sticking out from the metal. A grin came onto him as he stood a foot from the tree, sights focused on the arm. "Gotcha," he said.

But the voice he expected came from behind. "Think again!"

Before he could turn his head, the arm he focused on suddenly erupted into bright mist and clouded his eyes. He brought his arms up to block, but suddenly found them frozen in place. He dashed backwards and peeked through the crack of visibility allowed to see a crystalline figure moving towards him at rapid rate.

Commencing Overdrive.

The small text appeared on his HUD as a surge of energy rushed through his body, freeing his arms into firing position. He unloaded a barrage of bullets into the incoming figure. A shot hit its face, disfiguring it into a grotesque form, and as the rest followed it immediately fell to the ground, melting into mere water. He exhaled and relaxed. Obviously his target had gotten more skilled in making duplicates.

He heard footsteps behind him and whipped around to see Snowflake staring at him, a cheeky smile spread on her lips. He wondered if she had been watching the whole time.

"Good job in beating my clone!" she said, "I didn't think she would have lasted anyway. I mean, it was only one."

Axl let out an uneasy laugh. "Seems pretty quick for a clone." He kept his sights aimed down on her, waiting for her to make a move. He didn't know she had gotten much better in her training. Or maybe it was because he wasn't used to the action? It had been so long since he actually had to focus, and he assumed that no missions or training had taken its toll.

"You're right about that. They do need a little bit of fine tuning…still," she had transformed her frosty hands into ice picks, "Nothing you can't handle right?"

"That's right," he said, pointing his blasters at her. "Now, give me all you got and don't hold back!"

A bluish aura started to rise around the icy reploid. "Fine, have it your way Axl." Around her feet, the ground had turned to ice, and figures began to rise up around her. Axl made a quick count of how many there were.

Six, excluding Snow, he thought. His aim flittered between the figures, as he had to think about which to attack first. "Only six, eh? You sure that you have gotten better?"

"I don't think your underestimation will help you today tough guy. You see," she flicked her hands in an upward motion, "these ones are not like the ones you've faced before." The icy figures began to bubble, mold into something else, shuddering with an intense stress. Axl watched this display until it reached its climax. Each figure regained its form, although they had grown in different directions. But it wasn't their bodies that grew; it was the ice on their bodies.

They had grown into long spikes, and these spikes were covering their whole bodies. In their hands, they all held daggers about the size of those on their body, and Axl knew that this was supposed to be their method of attack. Six figures shooting projectiles might prove to be troublesome, but as long as his overdrive was on point, he could nail every single one. He tried for a bluff. "Why don't we settle this right here and now then?"

Snowflake smirked. "If you're that eager to lose, then why not?" She thrust out her hand. "Angels, attack!" she commanded.

Overdrive Start!

The Angels let out a shriek as they let loose with their ice barrage. Axl quickly identified all of the projectiles and their trajectories, and he started to go to work. He quickly fired a few shots at three daggers coming his way, while dodging the other three by bending his body back. He felt the rush of the cold air as the ice daggers flew by, and he could feel the power in them. As all the projectiles were done firing, he quickly let loose a barrage of his own ballistic pain upon the six figures, easily spreading the damage equally as his marksmen skill allowed him to. They all let out another shriek and fell to the ground, melting away like the other one. Axl blew away the smoke from his blasters and let out a chuckle. "You've got to be kidding, Snow. If that's all these bad boys got, then I'm afraid you're out of luck."

But her expression didn't falter. "I don't think you know what you're dealing with this time." She brought out her other hand, and began to do the same with the other. He could see that the figures in front of him began to reform, and he could feel-

A slight shiver behind him. He whipped around, but he was too late to realize. There were formed the ice figures from the measly one he had destroyed earlier, now fully equipped and armed to the teeth with the ice daggers, which looked bigger than before. He turned forward again, and he began to see the plan all along as he became surrounded front to back with these figures.

An ambush due to his cocky nature. He had to laugh, it was only fitting that he would succumb to this. "You got me this time, Snow."

How are you gonna get out of this one Axl? He pointed his blasters in opposite directions in order to face both sides. Dodging the projectiles from this angle would be impossible, unless he were to bend like water itself.

Water…

"Ahahaha! I finally win!" Snowflake shouted with glee, "I knew I could beat you this time, Axl! You didn't believe me, but you fell right into my trap!" She continued to laugh, all the while Axl cursed himself for falling for a trap due to his misconceptions. If only he were able to get out from the center, then he could run for it.

Wait a minute… He thought about it for a moment. If he had to get out of the center, the only way through the circle was through those figures. They were made of ice, so they were able to reform. However, they could only reform if their structures weren't damaged. This meant that the inhibitors that kept their bodies intact through the different stages of matter had to lie within them somewhere. And this was a common idea among the enemy guards he had faced before with X and Zero when they hunted down Mavericks. Every reploid, whether they be a copy or an original, had a code that kept their body's structural form imbedded in the mainframe of the body. This was to make sure that they could be easily repaired if they were damaged. However, these clones didn't have any physical metal body. They were completely see through, made purely of the elements.

Which means… He pointed both of his blasters at Snowflake.

"It was fun, Axl, but you see, I intend on winning this battle. That way, you can't look down on me as a B-rank Hunter!"

"I never doubted your abilities, Snow." He planted his feet, "I still think you need more training, but you definitely got better. Still, I think your approach is a bit sloppy."

Snowflake frowned at his reply. "How dare you Axl! You still doubt me after what you've gotten yourself into!" She pointed at him and exclaimed, "I tricked you fair and square!"

We'll see about that. He set his thrusters in reverse, since he couldn't move up. He would be a sitting duck if he ascended, as his thrusters could mostly move him from left to right. He wouldn't have much power after using his ascension. "Why don't you end this here then and win? Or are you not so sure of yourself?"

The icy reploid let out a small scoff and exclaimed, "Fine, if you want to end this examination so soon, then so be it!" Her hand had changed, with the light blue aura returning to it. The Angels began to shriek more, and they took aim with their ice daggers. "After this, you'll have to acknowledge me as an A-Rank Hunter, and I will be your equal!"

"Dream on, little girl!" Axl switched the safety to a different setting, ready for the assault. If his plan were to work, it had to work 100%. If not, then he would be defeated right here. "Let's see what you've got!"

Her aura darkened and flashed brightly. The Angels raised their daggers and began to throw. "Angels, attack!"

Axl's arms tensed, as he sensed the daggers getting ready to pierce his body. In order for his plan to work, he needed less than half a second to process his information. It didn't seem as if the odds were in his favor, but a smile almost unseen escaped from him.

I'm counting on you, Copy Shot.

Signas and X, along with Cinnamon, watched the battle take place to the point it had reached. Signas let out a sigh, "I thought Axl would be smarter than this. It seems as if he has gotten himself into a trap with no way of escape." He walked back to the main computer, where the stage changes were inputted. He began to write the code to turn the stage back to normal, signaling the end of the match and Axl's defeat.

X walked up to him and placed his hand on his arm. "Hold on, sir. I don't think that this fight is over quite yet."

Signas glanced up at X with a look of concern. "Oh, you think so?"

X nodded. "Even though Axl seems to be at a disadvantage, I don't think he is quite done for." He began to walk back to the window and started to explain himself. "Even when we were out on missions, I knew that Axl could handle himself in even the toughest situations. Before I came back to fight, he proved to be an excellent adapter in every situation he faced with Zero before he even became a Maverick Hunter."

Signas retook his place at the window. "Even so, X, he still has no way of escape. How is he supposed to win this situation without taking substantial damage?"

Cinnamon held her hands up to her face, slightly covering her mouth. "Oh no!" She let out a whimper of worry. "I hope Axl will be okay! He seems to have gotten himself into trouble this time!" She started to worry about him and the damages he would sustain, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face X, who was smiling. "Don't worry Cinnamon, Axl will be fine." He turned back to the battle. "I know he will. Even if he is cocky, he is no quitter."

"I want to see what plan he has up his sleeve," said Signas, stroking his chin. "In a surrounding such as that…no, he can't be doing what I think he is going to do, is he?"

"What?" Cinnamon turned towards the commander. "What is he going to do?"

X motioned towards the battle, to which the Angels were almost ready to strike. "Let us see what Axl has planned for us."

The three watched, giving complete attention to Axl as the command to strike was given by Snowflake. All of the Angels converged at once on top of him, throwing the daggers and coming in for quick slashes at the same time. In a short burst, the scene became indistinguishable. The ice and snow powder had created a cloud, in which neither fighters could be seen.

X gripped his hand behind his back. Hang in there, Axl.

As the dust began to settle, the three watched eagerly for what happened next.

Snowflake dove behind the closest tree near her. She heard the scrap take place in her absence, and she had no concern for it. She had a hand held tight onto her arm, which she removed to assess the damage. There was a small hole on the outside of her armor, but the wiring on the inside remained intact, despite it feeling inflamed and severely painful. She channeled her ice power into her hand and placed it back on the wound, feeling the relief rush to her servos. After a couple of seconds, the pain stopped registering, and she had formed a small ice cover over her arm to shield the vulnerable wiring. She also noticed that the fighting had come to an end. As she started to get up, she couldn't help but laugh. "You see, Axl, you have lost this time. You couldn't even debilitate my arm, let alone injure me in general." She knew she was lying about the latter, but it didn't hurt to gloat. As she came upon the remains of the fight, the dust started to settle as her troops withdrew. They formed a circle around a site, ready to surround him if he stood up again. "At first, I thought this would be a good battle, but it seems you've just let yourself go. A pity, because I was really looking forward to bragging to your face about it, but you've disappointed me."

As the dust cleared, Snowflake brought up her hand to re-equip the Angels with their daggers, just in case. Her gaze was stern as she stared down the spot of the wounded warrior, waiting to see what she had done to him. In her mind, she didn't really mean to hurt him, but only to pin him to the-

Her eyes went wide. "What?!"

When the dust completely vanished, sitting in the middle of the site was not an injured Axl, but in fact, there was no Axl to be found. Instead, in his place stood a vacancy.

He was gone. Or so it seemed.

Snowflake whipped her head in every direction, anywhere he could have possibly gone. If he had escaped, he'd be on the run and she could have heard his rustling in the forest. However, the scene was dead silent as she stood there with her Angels.

How could he have gotten out of that?! She ran to the middle, as if trying to see an escape from his perspective, but she couldn't. It's impossible. He should be pinned to this spot! With a grunt she took a step back, but her breath had so shortened that she retreated to a knee. Damn, these Angels are draining all of my power. She raised a hand, channeling a reverse aura into it. I have to get rid of some of them. She gave the command and instantly four of her seven had melted into the puddles they started out as.

"The rest of you, go after him!" she exclaimed in a huff. The three ran off in a rush into the darker corners of the forest, leaving Snowflake by herself. She knew that she was leaving herself wide open, so she traced a circle in the dirt around her body. She then clapped her hands together and muttered a series of commands. After that, the circle started to glow an icy blue, until a ring of snow lay all around her.

This will be my base of attack. She took care to try and breathe normally, adjusting the rest of her power in her servos to be used according to the rest of the battle. If she were to be ambushed right now, she would recall her Angels and shield herself with her Powdered Ring she made around her.

But for now, she had to think of a game plan. Axl was out there, but she didn't know where. She looked around and found that there was a nearby river running about 20 feet away from her.

This would be her trump card.

A shriek from inside the forest cried out, and then another in an opposite direction. Her brow furrowed. "Only one left, and I don't have the energy to make anymore." She thought about where he was, but couldn't fathom it. She had sent the three of them to cover the forest in opposite directions. How could Axl have possibly gotten to two of them that fast?

She lifted her hand and the aura returned. "Return!" she cast out. From a distance, she could hear her last Angel coming towards her. At last, it emerged from the nearby woods, locking eye contact with her. Snowflake sighed in relief that she still had one left. Being able to sustain these things were much easier than creating them. "Come to me, my creature." She beckoned the figure with her hand. "Stay by my side until he shows up again."

The creature's eyes flashed blue, acknowledging the statement. It began to walk towards her, puffing the daggers out of the body it had in order to protect her from a threat. Snowflake stood up from her circle. "Even though you can't understand me, I'm glad you're back." She stepped outside of her circle. "For a second, I thought I was a-"

She felt a rush of air pass her cheeks. As she stood there, frozen in place, she was speechless as she felt the rush of cold wind pass her face. She heard the dagger bang into a tree behind her and fall to the ground, but it was undeniable the pain she felt on her cheek.

She pulled a hand to her cheek, and retracted it when she saw the small trickle of blood that was starting to run down it.

What the…?

Her breath came short as she began to huff. Was her creature turning on her? She saw it pull another dagger out of its back and retract its arm.

It was going to fire another.

"No…" she took a step back, but fell inside of her ring of protection. However, she knew it wouldn't have mattered. The ring only protected against projectiles not made of water or ice, so it would easily pass through and impale her. "Don't…don't do it…" she whimpered. She didn't understand what was happening or why.

But it didn't matter. With a shriek, the Angel let loose with the dagger just as Snow put up her useless Ring.

She screamed as she put both of her hands up to block the dagger. She remembered turning her head away from this monster that she created. She remembered the fear of being impaled and laying there, fighting a battle outside of the one she already was in.

But along came no pain, and instead a clang took its place, where the dagger fell to the ground with a thud. She looked up, noticing her Ring still in place, unbroken, unscathed. She checked herself as well, and noticed no damage other than what she sustained on her cheek. I don't understand, she thought. I should be bleeding out onto the ground right now. How could that dagger not have passed through?

She started to lose reason, but that was when she heard a laugh coming from the Angel itself. However, it wasn't a grotesque one of a monster.

It was one of a reploid she knew all too well.

"What the...how?!" She got up onto her feet. "How did you do that?!"

"Ahahaha! Oh, boy! You should have seen your face!" Even the mouth moved normally with each of the words that came out of his mouth. But she couldn't see his body. He still looked like her Angel.

And suddenly she became furious at this fact. "Tell me how you were able to manipulate my Angels!" she declared from her safety bubble.

The Angel copy cleared its throat. "It was easy. When you were busy with your monologue and winning speech, I switched the safety of my blasters to my signature Copy Shot move. It allows me to take the form of other reploids so long as I have their data on their blueprints."

"But that doesn't make sense, they are completely made of water!" Based on what he just told her, she knew there would be no way that he would be able to copy their forms based on their liquid form alone. She was the only one who knew how to form them.

And when she suddenly understood, it seemed as if the ice on her arm had melted away, revealing the hole in her armor. He wasn't aiming for any of them, she thought. A faint throb came about in her arm. He was aiming for me.

"You should really study your opponents more, Snow." He gave another snicker, and then before her eyes, the body of the Angel shined and transformed back into the body of the former reploid. "I was lucky that your clones are see through. You were standing right behind them, so I knew I could get a direct hit on you."

Hearing this made her even angrier. How could she let her guard down so easily? She knew he had projectile based weapons, so why did she stand behind a guard that was basically air compared to his bullets? And why didn't she know about his stupid Copy Shot?! Her mind was starting to scatter. Between the fact of her cluelessness and recklessness, she could do nothing but be mad at herself.

And also at him.

"It seems you don't have much energy left. Oh well," he said. "I guess that means this is over." He began to walk towards her, his guns up, but spinning on his trigger fingers as if to celebrate. "Maybe next time, sweetheart!" he declared.

This drove her over the edge. She brought both hands straight up, channeling the rest of her energy into them, and began to charge up her Ice-form powers. She dissipated her Ring, saving almost all of her power into this one shot. "No, this is not the end, Axl," she muttered.

Axl stopped walking and became rooted, his guns now pointing at her and waiting for her next move. He hadn't anticipated this, but her energy was almost gone, so he figured he'd just have to wait it out and dodge when he could. Then he would move in to finish her, and this test would finally be over. But still, he couldn't help wondering what she could have up her sleeve.

Considering it had a hole in it.

"You're going to regret underestimating me!" Snow let out a cry, and aimed both hands at him. "You didn't even witness what I'm fully capable of yet!"

Axl scoffed as he took a step back. "A straight shot, huh? You do realize the minute you launch that attack I'm just going to fly up into the sky, right?"

Snow started to pant, but her aura around her hands stayed strong.

Axl regained his confidence. He began walking towards her again. He was only teen feet away, blasters able to shoot right through her at a blink of an eye.

This was her chance. She suddenly shifted the aim of her hands from Axl right to the river, which was starting to wade rapidly at this point. In an instant, she controlled the waters and leapt them high through the sky in a wave headed straight for Axl.

"Seismic Tsunami!" she yelled, as she jumped back to avoid the damage.

Axl tried to get his thrusters to reverse him out of reach, but it was too late. The wave crashed down hard on him, and as it swept him in its waters, the entire body turned to ice, containing him as he lay motionless among the giant slab of ice.

As her feet touched the ground, she charged forward as she shifted an ice spear and destroyed the ice in one thrust. The ice blasted into pieces, and Axl flew into the sky from the force, still frozen in pose. She put both of her hands together and charged up the reserve power she had saved. At her hands formed a small ball of icy blue energy.

"Frost Bullet, fire!"

The small but fast energy ball shot into the sky straight at Axl, hitting him square in the chest and exploding on impact. A smoke cloud filled the sky, and Snow formed ice daggers of her own as she ran to approach the bottom of the cloud. She stood there, waiting for him to fall down so she could finish him off.

Instead, a barrage of shots came from inside the cloud down upon her, and she was forced to dodge out of the way as Axl came crashing down to the ground with an assault of his own. She rolled to the side as the shots came to an end, and Axl charged towards her fast when he landed. They met in the middle of the forest and began to exchange shots blow for blow. Axl swept his leg under Snow, to which she replied with a jump as she tried to come down with her daggers. Axl anticipated this, and he blocked both daggers with one arm, pulling his pistol beneath her stomach. He pulled the trigger, but Snowflake released a burst of energy and blocked the shot. She jumped away from him, throwing daggers in an arc until she landed, just as Axl responded with his own flurry of shots. Mark for mark, both projectiles erased each other out the sky, struggling to break free and make its way to its opponent.

Snowflake had to keep checking her reserve gauge, and she could tell it was on its dying breaths. This is it, she said. It has to end here. She stopped her dagger assault and dove behind a nearby tree. Axl fired a few shots into the tree, trying to break the trunk in half to force her out, but he couldn't get enough shots in before the reflective metal plating came back. He was forced to stop shooting, but he started to approach the tree as a follow up. "I know you have nothing left, Snow," he said while keeping his blasters trained on the tree. "It's over."

Snow was panting, and she could feel her chest contracting hard. She was driving herself to her limit. Of all times, she just wanted to win this one time the most. Nothing else in her mind mattered, not even what came after this fight. Right here, right now, she wanted to prove that she could be an A-Rank Hunter even if it killed her. And, she knew if it came down to it, she would have to use her ultimate move.

Now seemed to be about as best a time to use it, even if it wasn't perfected yet.

Axl was right behind the tree at this point. She could feel it. She closed her eyes and charged her aura, this time around her entire body. When it was ready, she could feel the steady hum of her power moving through her limbs, even all the way up her spine.

It was ready.

A hint of agitation crept into Axl's voice. "Snow, if you don't surrender, I'm going to have to win by disabling your legs. And I can't do that without shooting them, so if you want me annoying you the whole time you're in the repair room, I suggest you surrender." He didn't know what happened, but for some reason, having to go against real opposition for once had made him a little upset. He wasn't ready for it, but he knew what he had to do. Still, a little warning would have been nice. And that was when a smile crept back onto his face. He was feeling cocky. "But if you have anything else to show me, now would be the time."

For what seemed like minutes, Axl just had his blasters pointed at the metal part of the tree before he moved his aim to both exits of the tree. One blaster on the left, the other on the right, he covered both exits. All he needed was one well-placed shot, and this would end for good. He cleared his throat, "Well are you gonna show your-"

He couldn't get his words out when Snowflake had burst out from the tree, to the right, trying to escape. He bit down hard to re-focus. His blaster followed her exact movement as if it were in slow motion. His finger gripped the trigger and began to pull back. This is it Snow, he thought.

He pulled the trigger and the shot rang out, hitting its target square in the leg. Axl pulled back his pistol, smiling at his handiwork-

Until his eyes widened at what he saw. He knew he had hit her, because there was an emergent hole in her entire leg. The fact that it looked like he had just shot a puddle of water…that was what he wasn't expecting.

"What?!" he exclaimed as he took aim again.

But it was too late. He could hear her words ring out through the stadium. "Blizzard Fury!"

He fired off two shots, but couldn't even see where they went when he saw a blinding light, which forced him to cover his eyes. He jumped back, and when he could see again, all he could see was Snow's body, her outline all but gone and replaced with what looked like a blizzard forming all around her body. "I don't understand," he took aim again, "You should be out of energy by now!"

This time, it was Snowflake's turn to smile. "Silly Axl, this is my ace in the hole." She outstretched her arms for him to see. Immediately, the blizzard bent into form with her body, and moved with her limbs as if they were the center of the change in weather. "Because I'm able to spread my energy around my body instead of projecting it, this form uses less energy to cast. Your shots will do nothing to me, not even scratch me. My inner body as completely permeable, and the core of this form is spread so thin that even if you hit it, it would repair instantaneously. All thanks to my permeability."

Axl's eyes widened. His shots weren't effective? "Damn…this can't be!" He fired off 3 shots, all of which Snow dodged easily. She blinked across the ground, repositioning herself a few feet each time a shot rang out. Finally, as if to show she wasn't lying, she let a fourth shot go through her body, to which Axl responded with an even more panicked look on his face.

"No…" he quivered, his guns lowering in defeat. "You have to have a weakness!"

Snow cracked her knuckles and got into her fighting stance. She didn't have long before this form ran out, but she could make due with what time she had left. "Yes, Axl. And now, prepare to be defeated!"

She charged forward so fast that Axl didn't see her until she was just mere inches away. He tried to block, but the blizzard was scraping his body all over. His arms were in a frenzy, until he felt a planted punch from Snow right in his gut. He doubled over and was launched in the air as Snow gave him an uppercut almost immediately after. One of his guns went flying in some direction, to which he couldn't find. He tried to brace himself for the landing, but she was already on top of him again with another flurry of attacks. All he could do was put his arms in front of his face and block, but the sheer bitterness of that blizzard was making his armor begin to crack. As they landed on the ground, he was punished with more jabs, kicks, and shots than ever before. His status went critical, and he knew that he couldn't take much more.

A weakness, he thought. The assault had lifted to where he could see over his arms, but not for too long as he felt the blow to his head come from a solid kick from Snowflake. The scene went black for a moment as he felt himself leave the ground and connect with a tree, at last falling to the ground. When he was able to see colors again, he looked down at his arms. The armor on the outside seemed to be torn to shreds, but he still clutched in his one hand the blaster he had before. A weakness. He tried lifting his arm, but it was no good. She has to have a weakness.

"Give it up, Axl, I'm tearing you apart!" she giggled. She began to slowly walk over, as if she were teasing him. "I told you I was stronger than before, but nooooooo you didn't listen to me!"

Axl thought about what she said earlier. How his shots were ineffective, how her core would just repair itself no matter how many times it was shot.

The core. That's it, he thought. He looked down to his blaster and remembered his Copy Shot. He put on the setting, but struggled to aim. All he could do was angle his hand so that the barrel was facing her. He would have to wait until she was closer.

She kept walking, noticing his taking of aim. "I told you, it won't work!" She was right in front of him now, kneeling down to meet his face with hers. "Any last words, Mr. Mouth?"

Even with one eye open, Axl cracked a smile. "This'll do."

And he pulled the trigger. He didn't even have to confirm if the shot met or not, as waves of information were crowding his HUD, already reconfiguring his DNA. He felt the rush of wind, and soon enough, flurries of snow began to whirl rapidly around his body as he felt it become light as air.

Snow's eyes went wide with horror as she realized what happened. She got back up and began to back pedal, as if to escape.

But, again, it was too late. Axl leapt up from his seat, and placed his hand on her stomach, releasing all of the energy he had into the core of which they both had now, and he fried it. Both of them returned to their normal state, and fell to the ground from the sheer amount of energy they took in. Their capacitors were drained, their circuits fried, their ability to even register pain all but gone. However, they weren't in any real danger, as they were only incapacitated from moving. They lay side by side, their faces mere inches away from each other.

It was a tie. The first one between them. No victory nor loss, and yet, Snowflake looked sad. They could both feel the stage revert back to its normal state, and they both still laid there, not willing to move and not being able to if they wanted. The whine from the medical bay could be heard in rooms down the hall from where they were, and they knew that they were headed for a meeting with Lifesaver.

Axl was the first to talk. "What's wrong? Aren't you glad that you were able to take down an A-Rank Hunter such as myself?"

Snowflake offered a slight smile, but it quickly faded. "Yeah, and look how it turned out. You're done, but I'm down for the count as well." She sighed. "I just wanted to win this time. I wanted to prove that I could have what it takes to win against someone of a higher caliber than me. I don't know, Axl. I just wish that, just this once, I could win."

As she sat there, she remembered how hard she worked, all the countless hours studying his methods of attacking, his style, coming up with her own moves and trying to make them work. It seemed as if it were all for nothing.

To her surprise, she heard Axl starting to laugh. "You think you didn't win? Hahaha! Snow, as long as your enemy is down, it does count as a win. It means that Maverick won't do harm to any more people."

She scoffed at this as she replied, "Oh yeah? Then why is it a win if it is at your own expense?" Axl stopped laughing, as if he was thinking about it. But she kept going. "People, reploids, they all fight to make sure that society is safe from Maverick harm, but what good is it if you are dead alongside with them? What about the people you come home to, how happy they are knowing you are safe and sound." She turned her head towards the ceiling as she shifted her body weight. "Sure, they would be safe, but they would be mourning your loss as well. It's not an ideal situation."

Axl didn't think about that. With all the missions he had done with X and Zero, he hadn't the time to think about what the rest of the Hunters would do had they had to go on without him. He didn't think about the pain that X and Zero would be in if their trio had returned to a pair. But, in the end, his smile returned. "You know, I'm sure people would be sad if they knew I was gone. I mean, everyone loves me around here, you know?"

He was met with another scoff. "That's why you're on janitor duty right?"

Axl chuckled. "But in all seriousness, if my death means that the people I love are safe," he pointed a finger to her, "even you, then I wouldn't let it get in the way. I would carry out my duty without worry knowing each one of you guys would be safe with my sacrifice."

The medical team began to form around them as they entered the room. As if she wasn't satisfied with his answer, she said, "But you would be leaving us, Axl. I want you back safe and sound, WE want you back alive. If I'm going out there just to go even with these guys and die, then I'm leaving a lot of people who are expecting me back here."

The medical team began to fit them onto the rescue beds. "Perhaps," he said. As he was hoisted up, he let out a sharp breath. "But I wouldn't worry about. I'll have your back out there, you know, so I'll make sure you come back alive."

"Don't worry, we won't be going on the same missions together, remember?" she said gruffly as she was hoisted up as well. "B-Rank Hunters like me can't go on missions with A-Rank Hunters, remember? So you don't have to worry about protecting me." A pang of sadness hit her deep as she realized once again that she would have to test again to try for A-Rank, how this time she was completely exposed, and how everyone would be ready to counter her. She would have to get used to being in the B-Rank for a long time until another opportunity arose.

But for the third time that day, she heard a laugh coming out of Axl. A long one, where he didn't stop and couldn't catch his breath. She puffed her cheeks, until she finally shouted at him, "What's so funny?!"

Axl fake wiped a tear from his eye. "What are you talking about with this 'not having to worry about me' stuff? Why wouldn't you be an A-Rank Hunter now?"

Snowflake was surprised to hear this. Was he brain dead? She didn't pass, it was a tie! "I thought I was supposed to win in order to become an A-Rank Hunter, right?"

Axl merely shrugged. "I mean, it's ideal with what you said and all, but the aim is to 'take down the opponent, no matter what the opposition.'" He looked at her and beamed. "And look, it seems as if I'm down for the count like you said!"

She couldn't register what he was saying. Was he serious? Did this actually mean…?

Before she could say anything more, Axl gave her a simple thumbs up. "Congratulations Snowflake, you are now officially an A-Rank Hunter!"