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Title: Mega Man X6: False Awakening
Chapter: Stage 10 "I have no time to waste on you."
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"Sig... ma..."
Even before Gate breathed out the last syllable, X and Zero were moving. It was almost a reflex to jump back and ready their weapons, searching for their greatest enemy's new monstrous form.
"...I did not die," that dreaded voice boomed. "Nor d... did I need your help! Now get lost!"
Suddenly, one of the incomplete Reploid frames jutting out of the crystal growths jerked to life. Its eyes flared crimson and its lower jaw snapped open, energy gathering in its maw. Instinctively, X and Zero dodged away.
They didn't realize it wasn't aiming for them.
"GhaaaaaaAA!" Gate screamed as the blast tore into his prone, already-damaged body. The lower half was completely destroyed, and bolts of energy ran across his head and torso, damaging internal systems beyond repair. He jerked mindlessly for a moment longer, and then went limp.
The sight of his half-torn body was frighteningly familiar, just like the sound of Sigma's triumphant, bloodthirsty laughter.
"I knew you'd return," Zero said coldly, reaching for his Saber. "Time to end this!"
Pushing away his unease, X readied his Buster as well.
This would teach him to trust anything Dynamo said - whether the mercenary had been lying or just didn't know what he was talking about.
"Kgeh!" Sigma hacked, tearing his limbs free of the crystal. "Is it... X...? Or Zero? Who cares! Just g... go away!"
X could see now that his body had not been restored completely. The inner workings were exposed, covered only by a tattered sheet, without any armor or casing. Having freed himself, Sigma gracelessly dropped to the ground, his limbs jerking uncoordinatedly, and rather than straightening, flopped loosely into an upright position.
"You don't seem to be all there, Sigma," X noted grimly.
"Silence!" Sigma roared, swinging himself to face in his direction. "I'll destroy y... you! Even with this half-completed body!"
X didn't bother with further words. Instead, he simply unleashed a charged shot. Even as he fired, Zero was dashing forward, his Saber drawn to attack in the moment Sigma was off balance. He followed up with a shot from his Buster as well. Each attack drove Sigma further back and finally sent him flying into a wall. Making no move to regain his meet, Sigma simply slid to the floor almost lifelessly.
Zero jumped away neatly and dropped into a ready stance, knowing better than to relax so easily. Sigma's crumpled body shuddered as he began to laugh, a deep, ominous sound.
"Bha ha ha ha! Not yet!" Sigma's voice emanated from his shaking form. His limbs jerked unnaturally, and something groaned as if sliding out of place. His head thrust up, laughing despite its contorted position, and his torso followed it, twisting around toward X and Zero.
The cloth sheet had been destroyed, leaving his skeleton and parts on full display. Even the skin-like covering on his head had been ripped away, showing a copper-tinted skull. X could see the pistons in his limbs catching and shuddering, unwilling to accommodate the motions Sigma tried to make.
"THE BADDLE HAZ JUSD BEGUNN!" Sigma's distorted voice boomed, the words slurring together. "DIE! JUSDIE, XS, ZERRRROOO!"
"What is he saying?" X wondered. "His mind is gone, but he still remembers revenge..."
"Let's put him out of his misery," Zero said, raising his Saber.
Suddenly, green slime began to leak from among Sigma's innards. It wasn't any sort of hydraulic fluid, and X didn't need the failure of his sensors to tell him it was another Nightmare effect. The green goop flowed quickly and began to pool around Sigma. But instead of spreading further, it gathered together and bubbled strangely.
Round holes appeared on the slime spheres, three together, then gaping mouths beneath them. Skulls leered at X and Zero, as Sigma continued to laugh, wet and sickly. Then, they attacked.
The skulls went down easily, from X's Buster or Zero's Saber, but even as X fired without pause, they just kept coming. They swarmed until Sigma's decrepit body was hidden from sight, forcing the Hunters back... and away from each other.
X stumbled, barely avoiding a skull's lunge for him. Sparing a glance down, he saw that the green slime had flowed across the floor and under his feet. It was much thicker than it looked, almost swamp-like in consistency. Or rather, he realized belatedly, it was purposefully clinging to him. The sludge gathered around his legs and pulled sharply, sending X tumbling to the floor with a yelp.
"X!" Zero called out from amongst the still-multiplying skulls. "X! Hold on!"
X struggled to get up, but the slime had gripped him tightly. He couldn't feel it through his armor, but he knew that it would not be long before it began to filter through the joints. It was a terrifying thought. He needed to get loose.
"Let him go, Sigma!" Zero yelled. His energy suddenly flared, clear even among the viral readings.
Light swept across the room as Zero unleashed his Giga Attack. It burned away the skulls and the sludge, leaving X suddenly free.
The tableau that greeted him sent a flash of horror through his core. With the slime gone, Sigma had become visible again. His maw was gaping open, revealing the cannon installed inside. It was already powered up - Sigma had been planning to aim for X, incapacitated as he had been. But now, he swung his head toward Zero, who stood on one knee in the wake of his own attack. He wouldn't be able to move quickly enough, X knew. He wouldn't be able to dodge.
"I'm taking Zero!"
X didn't know if Sigma had truly spoken or if the memory of the words was repeating in his mind. All he could remember was the last time they had faced Sigma, Zero's broken body lying just out of reach, his own foolishness that made Zero sacrifice himself over and over again.
"I won't let you!" X roared, overwhelming energy engulfing his body as he threw himself at Sigma with reckless speed.
His Nova Strike crashed into Sigma's crippled body, allowing X to plow right through. The flawed incomplete form gave way almost too easily, as even the Virus supporting it was quickly burned away. Fragments went flying in all directions, littering the crystal floor.
"Gwaaaaaaaaah!" Sigma howled, the sound transforming into laughter, even as his body continued to fall apart. "It's USELESS! You know... it is, X! You can't defeat me! You know... you can't, X..."
Straightening, X turned to regard him coldly. "I have to work for the reconstruction of the world. I have no time to waste on you," he told Sigma. "If you show up, I'll defeat you, no matter how many times it takes."
"Bha ha ha ha! Don't f... forget you said that! That gives me the motivation to c...come back! I will! I... will... Woaaaaaaah!" A Buster shot blasted what remained of him, finally silencing the Maverick.
"Just die," Zero muttered, lowering his still-smoking Buster.
He and X exchanged a long look. Neither could believe it was over. Not just this battle, but also their struggle against Sigma.
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The entire room shuddered, almost sending the Hunters to the floor. The Nightmare readings were quickly clearing away, and with them, the Nightmare effects were also disappearing - including the crystal formations that had formed the chamber they were in.
The floor beneath them dropped away, and X just managed to air dash to the nearest metal ledge, as Zero jumped and then jumped again to land beside him. X glanced back, catching sight of Gate's body falling amongst the chaos of the collapsing ruin.
"X!" Zero barked. His voice was harsh, but his expression showed a certain understanding, even though he didn't know who Gate really was or how much he meant to Alia.
X nodded and turned away, accepting there was nothing he could do.
They raced back the way they had come, through Eurasia's collapsing passageways. There was no sense of time in the chaotic rush, but it wasn't long before they burst into the room where X had confronted High Max and Isoc, their bodies now half-buried under rubble.
To his surprise, the computer bank was still functioning, the large screen displaying some kind of progress bar.
"An automatic download," X realized, pausing and studying the display. "In case something happened to this place... Gate didn't want his research to be lost."
It was almost complete.
Eurasia's ruins continued to collapse around them, but X hesitated for a moment, long enough for the computer to flash a "download complete" message. X dashed to the terminal, pulling out the data disk and backing away just in time to avoid the length of pipe that crashed through the monitor.
"I'll lead from here!" X called out, hurrying toward the opening he had used to enter, when he had started his assault. He paused, hearing no response. Come to think of it, why hadn't Zero already berated him for lingering here?
Zero stood not far away, seemingly lost in thought as he stared down as Isoc's body. His expression was hard to read, filled with disquiet.
"Zero!" X called out again, louder, making his friend start and glance at him in surprise.
There was no time to ask what had distracted him so much. Only sparing a moment to make sure Zero was following, X led the way out of Eurasia's collapsing ruins, the data disk clutched firmly in his hand.
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In the chaos of the final stretch, they had to improvise a path out as the old opening gave way and ended up surfacing somewhere else entirely. In the distance, the ruins of an unknown city rose out of the dust clouds created by the lab's destruction, which dyed the rising sun a deep orange-red.
"It's over," Zero commented as they sat down to rest and wait for transmission to reestablish, after the debris settled down again.
"Yeah..." X agreed half-heartedly, though he couldn't bring himself to truly believe it. After Eurasia, he had thought it might be over, but it was beginning to seem like Sigma would never truly die.
"X..." Zero began, looking away, into the red distance, "you've become a lot a stronger. Thanks, for back there. I guess, now you'll be fine on your own..."
X stiffened. "No!" he burst out. "I... We need everyone! To restore the Earth, everyone needs to work together! We need every Reploid we can get..."
"...Right. Sorry about that," Zero conceded quietly, glancing at X. "I'll do my part. You can leave the hunting to me..."
The silence that fell between them was broken by static blaring across their comms. It quickly resolved into Alia's familiar voice.
"...Can you hear me?" she demanded. "Are you two okay?"
"I'm okay," X replied.
"Same here," Zero added.
"Welcome back, Zero," Signas's voice came across now, and X wondered if he had been waiting with Alia for their signal to reappear. "Your unit is on deployment right now, but they'll be happy to have you back in command."
Zero smiled, looking pleased and maybe even touched. Signas had not reassigned the 0th Unit to a new captain, or disbanded them; in his own way, he hadn't stopped believing that Zero would return.
"Um, Alia," X said hesitantly. "...I have some data for you. It's... Gate's research."
Zero glanced at him, and X suddenly remembered that all of Gate's data was based on a piece of Zero. But Zero only shook his head. "That's just like you," he said quietly. "Well, that's fine. Don't lose that kind heart of yours." He crossed his arms and leaned against a piece of rubble, closing his eyes and symbolically giving X and Alia their privacy.
"It's up to you, Alia. Did I do too much?" he wondered as Alia remained silent. "I just... I know what it's like to lose a friend..."
"...No. Thank you, X," Alia said finally. "Thank you, for Gate's sake as well. I'll do my best to achieve our dream. I'll develop a program resistant to corruption and viruses."
"Right. We'll all do our best to restore the Earth," X said. "We've got a long road ahead of us."
"Yes. Let's build a real utopia... together..."
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Notes: It's over!
Well, kinda. I still have the MMX5 special flashback chapters, hahaha. Yes, plural. That stupid ending dragged on and on, so I split it in four small sections.
So, random stuff. In the fight with Sigma, X probably could have just broken free with his own Giga Attack, but I guess Zero didn't think of that. Also, I spent ages agonizing over how the Hunter command structure works. Units have commanders, but Signas is apparently a commander too, in charge of the entire organization. And in X5, X is referred to as a Captain. So, I decided that Units would have captains.
Yes, X didn't bring Gate, and instead took his data. (I doubt we'll ever see Gate again, so it's not a real problem.) There are reasons for this. Sinister reasons. (If you read between the lines, Gate's plan is... exactly like Weil's plan. He wants to use an energy-based life form created from Zero (Nightmare/Mother Elf) to control Reploids, with a giant Reploid, also built from Zero, as the core (High Max/Omega). Did Weil just crib from Gate's notes or something? ...Heheheh...) Gate was also the first person to get anywhere analyzing Zero's DNA data, well enough to create the Nightmare, which is basically the first step toward the Mother Elf and Cyber Elves in general.
But hey, that's not something we need to worry about. This is the end of X6. It's been a fun ride. Thanks, to all of you! (But especially you, mysteriousguy898.)
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