Character Thoughts: "{abc}"
Translated Speech: "abc"
Chapter 9:
Nightmare Control
Another flashback occurs within Shinja. She recalls how she and Double were constantly on the move due to the ongoing war with Repliforce, desperatly trying to stay out Sigma and the Hunters sights. At one point Shinja was under attack by Split Mushroom while Double was holding off two Raiden enemies. While X is a far distance away dealing with Sigma, only Colonel and Zero are within the area. Zero sees Split Mushroom attacking Shinja and quickly moves in using Raijingeki to finish him off. Before he could check on her, he is quickly attacked from the side by a Knot Beret G kicking him. Despite this, Shinja is able to get away and regroups with Double. As the battle viciously continues, they make their escape.
They come upon a subway with what looked to be a disabled train. It looked like it could still run, so the two head inside the train and to the main control unit. Double finds he can power it up while Shinja sits down. He feeds the train his own power and gets it moving. The train slowly picks up speed with its doors closing and within minutes is moving at regular speed. Shinja looks around the car and doesn't see any out of control or Maverick Mechaniloids. However, as they head into a tunnel, they hear a crunching sound from up top. It bursts through making strong winds from the moving train enter the car. As it stands erect, Shinja sees it's Slash Beast. He then lets out a roar and Double quickly rushes in front of her, preparing both his arm blades.
Slash Beast looks at him confused and asks, "Hold on...you look familiar...wait, aren't you that rookie Hunter, Double?"
Double replies, "Indeed I am, but I'm neither Hunter or Sigma's lackey. I'm a rogue Reploid now." He looks at Shinja and says, "Get into the control unit and shut the door. I have it on autopilot for now."
"Be careful, Double. Slash is quick and unpredictable. Don't charge at him if he's attempting to guard; he'll counter with charged energy slashes." Shinja warns, relaying info from the game and quickly rushes into the control unit, shutting the door.
Slash laughs before saying, "So, the girl did finds some claws to use. But, there's no way you'll be able to beat me in this tiny space. I can adapt to any situation. You'll die here, Double."
Double smirks saying, "Oh please. You know nothing of my true abilities. You only knew my clumsy form. This is the real me. And if you're to threaten Peyton then you'll be facing me."
"Oh, very brave words. I admire your courage; no one's been able to talk big to me without getting pushed of my trains or dragged on the tracks. However, you're pretty much rebelling against two powerful people, aren't you?"
"I don't care. I plan on keeping Shinja safe until this is all over. After that, I'll approach X and Zero. I plan on repenting as soon as this war is over."
"Well, you're repenting well so far. But, you're on my train. If you surrender now, I'll let the girl live, but you'll be killed."
"Not happening."
"Then die!"
Slash lunges at Double attempting to grab him. Double dashes quickly underneath and is about to use his Spinning Energy Disc, but realizes that any outrageous attack could destroy the train as a result. The lion-like Maverick looks over at Double, getting the same thought. They stand glaring at each other, trying to figure out how either of them could win by simply using only melee techniques. Double makes it clear when he lunges as Slash with Kiba Flash, managing to stab him in his chest crystal. He removes his arm blade and Slash laughs saying he's glad that crystal isn't his weak point. He then slashes at Double's chest and while dealing some damage, finds the melee battle just got harder; a mini flying robit splits off from Double and hovers over Slash. It fires small plasma shot at him, but Slash simply destroys it with a single punch.
The two end up glaring at each other again. They think about who will strike next and what they'll do in the small space. Lunging is near impossible; both are very tall and can barely fit in the car. Although Slash claimed earlier he can adapt to any situation, he finds himself unable to. If it were X or Zero he was fighting, he'd be literally running circles around them. Claws out and arm blades loose, both finally charge at each other, soon gripping hands and pushing against the other in a power struggle. Neither give an inch, glaring at each other. Double finally makes a move and kicks Slash's side, forcing the lion-like Maverick down. He then stands over Slash and is about to stab his head crystal with his arm blade, when the train suddenly looses power and the door to the control unit locks up.
Double jumps up to the hole in the top Slash made, but quickly pulls himself back in as the train enters another tunnel. Once the tunel ends, Double pulls himself out and finds a slender Mega Nest containing several Kyuunbyuun (the bee-like enemies). One bee crawls out from he nest holding wire cables in its mouth. Double sees that the bees cut off vital cables that supply power to the train. He drops back in saying what's going on. Slash growls at this knowing the train is now on a collision course with a rotary at the end of the tracks; with no way to control it, applying the brakes cannot be done, so slowing down the train is impossible. The two look at each other and quickly form a truce in order to stop the train. After passing through another tunnel, Slash jumps out of the hole and in front of the train, running to keep ahead of it. He quickly jumps, placing his feet on the metal railings and his hands on the train attempting to slow it down with his brute power alone.
Shinja is banging on the door with all her might to try and break through, but she isn't strong enough to even dent the metal door. Double slashes at the door and pulls it apart allowing Shinja to climb out. They pass through another tunnel and Double carries Shinja out of the train and over to a platform. The scraping metal sound of Slash's feet against the metal railings can be heard. Although Double would rather let Slash die, the train won't be able to slow down in time. As soon as the last car appears, Double dashes over and grabs on, trying to pull it back and Shinja shouting his name. Double then gets an idea; he looks down at the "horns" on his feet. While entering another tunnel, Double jumps and jams the horns into the walls, making the train slow down and allowing Slash to push hard enough to stop the train in time; he was only a couple miles from the rotary.
Shinja's memory starts to end, recalling that Slash was eventually taken care of by X and Zero after he lead an attack on the White House. The attack was unsuccessful since the Maverick Hunters were able to head him off. Timcanpy asks Shinja if she is okay, and she replies she's okay. She looks at the body of her old friend, Double. His eyes are closed, systems shut down...there looked to be nothing left of him. As she goes to try and locate his mind thinking she can take that chip at least, his gelatanous body suddenly lights up with the orbs throughout his body lighting up. Soon, the crystal on his chest lights up, and Double opens his eyes. Groggy and dizzy with blurred vision, he shakes it off while sitting up. He looks over at Shinja not even recognizing her.
He asks, "Who are you? And what the f*ck happened? Augh, my head hurts."
She replies unsure how to react, "Double it's me, Peyton!"
He looks at her shocked and stunned saying, "There's no way you're Peyton! She wasn't a Reploid!"
"But it is me, Double!" Shinja argues, "I'm really a soul in this body! Remember how I talked about wanting a Reploid body as badass as yours?"
Double looks in her eyes, finding they're the same color, the face is the same from what he remembers, and her voice hasn't changed, and he asks, "Peyton? It's really you in there? How'd that happen?"
Shinja smiles and says, "It's a really long story...oh, and I changed my name too. I go by 'Shinja' now."
"Shinja? Aww, but I liked your human name."
"You know how much I hated it."
"Oh and hey...I found out you lied about your parents being killed by Slash Beast."
"They were, dumbass."
"Then who were the ones you were living with afterwards?"
"Foster care. They sucked just as much."
"...Oh...well, in that case, let's get out of here, huh?"
"Let's."
Shinja helps Double up and both find he's left a little weakened by being inactive. Timcanpy provides support by attaching himself to Double's back and spreading his wings. Double looks at Shinja and she shrugs not having a clue what to call the program. They head out of the control room, through the corridor, struggle to climb up the hole, head through those hallways, and soon reach the entrance point. Shinja crawls through it but Double smashes the glass windows, creating a bigger hole for him to get through. Magenta suddenly glomps Shinja out of the blue, creating a mark on her chest. Shinja kicks her Ride Chaser off her and scolds her for the glomp. Magenta apologizes and waits to be mounted not even bothering to ask who Double is as she can tell he's the source of the signal.
Upon seeing the Ride Chaser under control, Double immeditaly wants to drive. He approaches Magenta and as he is about to grab the handles, she backs up and he falls to the ground having lost balance. Shinja facepalms now seeing that only she can ride Magenta and not anyone else. Double stands up dusting himself off, but finally getting a real look at how filthy he got from stuffing himself in a closet. Shinja gets on Magenta with Double having to climb on the end and hold onto his friend. Before they could leave, they can feel rumbling coming from somewhere. Shinja turns Magenta around pointing her towards Gate's lab, seeing something suddenly rise from it. It is a large tower surrounded by four smaller towers, each one doning a grey colored "I" in Old English Text MT font with a four-pointed blue colored star in back of the "I".
Shinja looks at it feeling her heart sink and a cold sweat. She takes it as a way of saying that Isoc has fully taken over the lab. This makes her want to ride over there, but Magetna throws herself in park, saying it's a bad idea to head there now. Upset and unable to handle the sudden situation, Shinja has no choice but to head back to Maverick Hunter HQ with a mission complete. Double can sense something is wrong, but doesn't want to ask in case he makes her more upset.
At Maverick Hunter HQ, Dynamo had successfuly scared the daylights out of Zero resulting in Zero punching his neck crystal in. With repairs out of the way, Dynamo is up and bothering the Hunters in the Navigation Room to no end trying to get them to spar with him, but neither are giving in. That's when Gate appears surprising everyone as he is escorted by an officer Reploid. With Signas in the room overlooking Shinja's mission, he orders the Reploid away and allows Gate to enter. Even Dynamo is surprised Gate is here.
Signas asks, "Gate, why have you come here?"
Gate answers, "I received word from High Max that Isoc has plans to take me down. I know I've made my mistake by creating the Nightmare Virus, but I had no choice but to come here. Plus, how can you say no when Shinja will openly argue with you?"
X says, "He's got a point there."
"He does. But why does Isoc want to kill you?" Signas questions.
"Probably due to the fact that I became close friends with a human, and that same human helped decrypt 99.98% of Zero's DNA." Gate answers.
Dynamo can't help but joke, "And it all comes back to Zero."
Zero growls, "You'll be going through a wall pretty soon if you keep it up!"
Alia interrupts receiving a message, "Everyone, Shinja has returned! And she's...brought someone back with her?"
"Okay, this has gotten out of hand now. Did she find the source of the signal?" Signas says getting a little aggrivated.
"She has. The signal is coming from who she brought back with her. Oh, and one of the Reploids report her not being in a very good mood." Alia replies.
X says, "Oh no, what's got her upset now?"
They all soon hear her voice call, "Geito-kun!"
They hear a second voice, Double's voice, call, "Hold up will ya? You're faster than you were before!"
Everyone watches as Gate moves to the side and Shinja appears in the doorway out of breath. Double appears behind her and soon becomes frightened upon seeing X and Zero, who are take aback by his appearance. Shinja quickly sees Gate with tears starting to form in her eyes. Gate walks over to her and she quickly runs over and wraps her arms around him trying not to cry. Double tries to back away but Zero dashes over and grabs his arm rather violently dragging him into the room.
Gate asks keeping calm, "Shinja, what's the matter?"
She looks up at him announcing, "That bastard Isoc's taken over your lab completely!"
He gets serious in his response, "He what? I didn't expect him to do that! What the hell is he planning?"
"That means this battle only got worse." Signas says before looking over at Gate, "Gate, since you're stuck here, you'll be helping us to delete the Nightmare Virus."
"I wish I had all my data with me. By now, Isoc might have put in a new security code." Gate says.
Alia says, "That's where I come in. I'll try and hack into the mainframe and recover the data."
Zero asks, "So then what do we do with this guy?"
Double says, "Uh...riiight...I never got to tell you and X...heheh...it's me, Double."
Both X and Zero look at him dumbfounded as Timcanpy detaches and flies over to Signas, coughing up the two Nightmare Souls he absorbed. Gate sees this and laughs. Shinja looks at him confused.
Gate says, "While you weren't working on him, I built in a protection program. It absorbs the Nightmare Souls. Haha, I may not need my data after all!"
X asks, "Double? We thought you disappeared completely! We couldn't find you at all!"
"That's because I was busy being a rogue and protecting Shinja." Double replies.
Gate looks at Double, then at Shinja and she says, "It was WAY before you, Geito-kun. I only told you part of my background; I wasn't ready to tell you all of it yet."
"What is he to you?" Gate asks.
"Hey, I should be the one asking that." Double says.
Shinja turns to Double and says, "Geito-kun's more like a big brother to me; he's wicked protective."
"A brother? I can live with that!" Double says trying to grow a smile.
Gate says, "Okay, we're on the same page. But, what is Double to you? You have a lot more history with him."
Shinja isn't sure how to respond. She scratches the back of her head blushing slightly trying to find a way to answer. Double acts the same way and Dynamo gets it easily.
Dynamo says, "Ahh, so you two were really close, eh?"
Double punches Dynamo in the face knocking him to the ground. Dynamo laughs saying he's right, only to get stomped by Double. The Hunters and Gate look at Shinja speechless that she may possibly have feelings for Double, but how much of that remains they can't tell. Signas regains everyone's attention by telling X to find a room for the new guys, stating they'll be room mates. As much as Gate wanted to argue, Signas instantly shoots him down saying it's final. He tells Alia to start looking at the Nightmare Souls Timcanpy has brought back for the time being, and orders Zero to bring Double to the Lavation Quarters in the West Wing so he can clean himself off. Finally he tells Shinja to head over to Douglas to be analyzed. Everyone does as their told, even though Gate wants to fulfill his brotherly duties and beat up Double.
With Shinja being scanned and analyzed for any vrus that may have snuck into her system, a final memory plays out. The war against Repliforce has ended, the Final Weapon destroyed. The Maverick Hunters work tirelessly with their new world trying to help repair any damages. With both worlds combined together, construction on Eurasia is quickly underway. With hundreds of humans and Reploids working together on the colony, it if finished within a few months and will be launched into space a month later. Double has been able to live peacefully with Shinja, not showing his face to the Maverick Hunters out of fear he will be labeled and Maverick and taken care of immediatly. Instead, he vulonteers to work within Space Colony Eurasia, much to Shinja's dismay.
Shinja tries to get Double to reconsider leaving her should trouble show its ugly face again. Although he tries to get her to come with her, she fears something bad happenening in space and dying on the spot. Instead, she is placed in foster care since she is unable to support herself. Double visits her every day and takes her out building a bond with her that she'll never forget. Shinja occasionally stays with Double in his Colony Dorm Room to try and spend as much time with him as possible. However, the day before the launch arrives. It is night and Double is about to leave for good.
"Double..." Shinja tries to say without getting emotional, "...these past few months have been the best time of my life. I don't know how I'm gonna survive without you here."
"You'll find a way, Peyton." Double responds. "The people that took you in seem nice. And this adventure will only be for a few months. I'll be helping to design pods so those that want to return to Earth can."
"You'll be one of them, right?"
"Of course. Like I wanna stay up there any longer than that."
"I really don't want you to go."
"Peyton, it's not like we can't be in contact. We can Skype; there are satellites up there you know. We both have each other's names."
"True. But still...you're the only friend I've got."
"...It's okay. I'll be back in a few months. I know, as soon as the launch is successful and the internet on the colony is working, I'll message you."
"Alright. Be careful up there, Double."
"You take care, Peyton."
The flooding memories begin to draw to a close. She was able to Skype with Double up until both sides received word that the colony was going to crash in 16 hours a couple months later. Ever since then,the two were unable to keep contact and the humans fled underground. The bond Shinja had with her foster parents quickly broke and they ended up getting into many arguements, leading Shinja to where she is now: a human soul in a Reploid body. She eventually assumed Double had died as he never found her, instead being found by Gate and him giving her a new name. Her scanning soon ends and her analysis is complete; she has nothing wrong with her and Douglas lets her go.
Meanwhile in Isoc's lab, Sheldon had passed on the word to Blizzard Wolfang that he is in charge of the remaining operations. This new status quickly goes into conflict as Isoc has heard it just by passing by in the halls. Sheldon and Wolfang go on the defensive, waiting to see what Isoc will do.
"So, Gate is gone, and he's leaving a mutt like you in charge? Not on my watch." Isoc says.
Wolfang growls, "Like he'd leave you in charge! But I'm pretty sure once he sees these towers he'll be looking for you!"
Isoc retorts, "He's got nothing on me. He can't battle. However, if you and the other six plan on rebelling against me, you're sadly mistaken."
Sheldon asks, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh High Max!" Isoc calls.
High Max approaches the arguing Reploids having no life in his eyes. Sheldon and Wolfang are blown away by this, Wolfang glaring angrily at Isoc.
"You twisted bastard. What did you do to him?" Wolfang demands.
"It was easy." Isoc states, " I simply took out his mind chip and now he's a mindless zombie responding only to my commands. You six are next."
"{Damn it! It's almost a repeat of Zero Nightmare and Metal Shark Player! Is he really going to do this to the remaining Investigators because we have a spot for Shinja in our hearts? I can't let this happen!}" Wolfang thinks.
Trivia:
1) Double protects Shinja throughout the war with Repliforce, and Shinja mentions how Zero saved her.
2) Slash Beast is still alive at this point, and even later on, suggesting he was able to adapt to the ongoing war and fight his way through anything. However, the train proved this wrong as he and Double are both very tall Reploids and can't maneuver in a tight spot.
3) Double and Slash quickly form a truce to stop the train. While Double did so in order to save Shinja, Slash did it possibly due to something being stored inside the train.
4) Shinja's true name is revealed to be Peyton. She reinstates that when Gate found her, he gave her a name.
5) Magenta shows her dislike of others trying to ride her.
6) Isoc takes full control of Gate's lab and comes up with his own emblem.
7) Double reveals himself to X and Zero; it is later said he didn't before out of fear of being terminated.
8) Both Double and Gate find themselves in a typical situation of [possible] love interest versus brother. Whether Shinja sees Double as her partner remains unknown.
9) Dynamo's personality gets the better of him again, seeing the obvious signs that Shinja and Double display, earning him getting hit twice, further proving he could be right.
10) Shinja reveals that she often talked to Double about having a Reploid body like his; sadly, she modeled it after Zero.
11) Isoc reveals he removed High Max's mind chip, possibly after finding out that the large nearly invincible Reploid told Gate everything.
