Mega Man X: The Mist Enigma
Chapter 12: Three Dog Night
We touched down in the control room as usual. Pallette called to us, "Should I send you guys to the Withered Wood right now?" The hunters nodded. Pallette entered the coordinates, and the Hunters teleported out. I stayed behind and ran to the living quarters.
"What's the matter?" Alia asked me.
"I gotta get all that salt out of my hair." I immediately stepped into the shower in my room, threw my clothes off, and turned the hot water on. I scrubbed my head to rid it of the sodium. In a flash, I was out and drying off. While doing so, I noticed my breath was dark purple. The Mist was still in my system a little bit. I changed to my male self to get rid of it. I threw my clothes back on and teleported to where the hunters were.
When I landed, I saw dead trees all around me. The sky was pitch black and the wind whistled amongst the branches. I got a chill down my spine. The hunters then walked up behind me.
"Boo!" Axl cried.
I wasn't fazed. "Nice try," I said with sarcasm.
"Oh," Axl pouted.
I turned to X. "What's the mission?"
The blue bomber responded, "Sanhound is guarding a package that contains something belonging to Gate. We are to defeat him and retrieve the package."
"Oh goody. We've turned into a recovery service." As I finished my sentence, a swarm of mechanical bats flew to me. I quickly retaliated by thrusting my palm in their direction. "Snake Bite! Eat you heart out, Ban Mido!" The hunters were confused. I smiled goofily at them. "Don't worry about it."
"Actually," Axl started, "you aren't still wearing that bikini are you?"
My eyes widened. "NO! My clothes change with my gender. Didn't you know that?"
Axl looked away. "I guess the atmosphere of this place is just freaking around with me." He then screeched and jumped in the air.
Zero had tapped him on the shoulder. "Gotcha!"
Axl growled. "Damn you, Zero!" X and I laughed.
After pranking around, we continued walking further into the woods. Bigger bats swooped down to us along the way. We easily took care of them. A mile or two later, we heard a shifting sound, like earth moving. We looked down to see that we were on top of a trap hole. We fell a short distance into a dark cavern.
A voice echoed to us, "So nice of you to drop in, Mr. X and Zero-san." We couldn't see who greeted us, but his voice was very familiar. Axl used a light in his helmet to show the person's identity. It was no other than everyone's (and by that I mean no one's) favorite mercenary, Dynamo. "And you have friends this time," he gleefully said. "That's so nice."
Zero pointed his Z-Saber at him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Dynamo shook his head. "Isn't it obvious, Zero-san? I'm here on a job."
"What kind of job?" X asked.
"I'm a bodyguard for a bodyguard. Hell Sanhound hired me to make sure no one got to him while he guards his package." He then took out his twin blade saber. "Sorry guys, but business is business."
Dynamo lunged forward and attempted to slash at my chest. I caught his hand and threw him over my shoulder. Zero then slashed at him, bringing him to the ground. Dynamo got up and jumped back. He crashed his fist into the ground, which caused beams of energy to rain down on us. We dodged them with a lot of effort. Dynamo began to try it again, but Axl stopped him with his rapid fire. Dynamo gritted his teeth and spun his saber around. He threw it to Axl, who was pushed back by the spinning saber's force. X fired a Charge Shot to shoo the blade away. Zero called for the K-Knuckle and punched Dynamo in the face. Dynamo screamed and threw his fist back at Zero. It hit his face, and Zero drew back slightly. Dynamo then charged energy into his fist preparing to use another Giga Attack. X and Zero took the opportunity and surrounded him. Zero slashed at Dynamo repeatedly while X fired a Stream Shot-esque beam. When they finished, Dynamo held his sides and coughed. He then screamed at the top of his lungs and threw his fist to the ground. A split second before it made contact, Axl fired a bullet directly into his helmet. It was split in two. The bullet also entered Dynamo's forehead and brought him to his knees.
He sighed deeply. "You guys are way too good. Better than I remember. Guess I'd better take my leave."
"Guess again," three deep voices bellowed from afar. Giant footsteps revealed a large Cerberus Maverick. Clearly it was Hell Sanhound. "Dynamo, you have failed in the task I gave you. I expected better from the one who unleashed the Sigma Virus onto the Eurasia Colony. You deserve to die where you stand." Dynamo gulped. Sanhound looked to us. "Do with him as you please. Then we can face each other."
I looked into the camera Bulbrite. "Layer, transport Dynamo to HQ."
Layer gasped. "Are you sure?"
"I am. Let Lifesaver patch him up. I have plans for him." Layer uneasily agreed. Dynamo disappeared in a flash of light.
Sanhound got into battle position. "Are you ready?"
Axl took out his Ocean Sniper. "Damn right!" He fired the blast towards Sanhound's center head. The Maverick ducked and dashed to Axl. He punched with his right claw. Axl was sent flying into the cavern wall. Sanhound then roared. Heat began to collect in each of his mouths. He fired three large fireballs to Axl. X used the Hydro Slash to nullify the blasts. Sanhound swung his heads from left to right with a beam of fire emitting from it. X blocked with the sword as he ran to Sanhound. He thrust the sword forward, but Sanhound caught it. X calmly raised his Buster and fired a shot into the Maverick's center face. He roared in agony.
Suddenly, two Ocean Sniper bullets went through his other heads, leaving steam from the bullet holes. "Schmuck!" Axl cried. Sanhound held his damaged heads and stared at X coldly with the center one.
"Up here!" Zero called from above. "Suiryujin!" His Z-Saber crashed through Sanhound's center head and brought him to the ground.
His body emitted steam everywhere. "Nice job," he grunted. "I have never failed a job before today. You have my respect."
X walked up to him. "As I you. But unfortunately, you are a Maverick, and I must terminate you."
"I understand."
"But before I do, can you tell us the contents of your package?"
"I would if I could. My employer told me not to look inside."
"I see." X then turned to me. "You want to do the honors?"
I modestly nodded and walked up to Sanhound. I flipped my Kaiser upside down and raised my fist along with it. I reached back and threw an open palm enveloped with energy into Sanhound's face. Light emitted from every available opening and electricity surged from me to him. I quickly removed my hand. Light still poured out of Sanhound's face. A slight delay. Sanhound exploded in a burst of radiant golden beams. I closed my eyes. "Talon of the Just."
After light entered the hunters, they checked their new abilities. Axl had a triple barreled gun that fired three fireballs in a spinning triangular motion. "Delta Ember."
X in red and black armor punched forward. A fist of fire then rocketed ahead. "Tyrant Fist."
Zero dashed and swung the Z-Saber across. A trail of fire remained after he finished. "Ensenga."
I heard clapping from a distance away. Gate was floating nearby with the package in his arm. "Congratulations on defeating your seventh Maverick. Only one more to go now."
Axl aimed to Gate. "What's in the box?"
Gate sighed. "I'm not going to tell you. I ain't stupid. Oh, by the way, even if you had remembered to go for the package instead of Sanhound, it wouldn't have amounted to anything. There's a force field around this box. Only I can open it."
"Then why did you need Sanhound?" Zero called.
Gate chuckled. "He was simply a pawn. I needed the time to work some things out. See you in a few." He disappeared instantly.
The hunters sighed. "Let's go back," X said. We did so.
I touched down in the repair quarters. A damaged Dynamo was just ahead in a stretcher. "Why did you spare my life?" he asked weakly. "Is it out of pity?"
I shook my head with a smile. "Once you're repaired, do you have an open schedule?"
"I guess. Why?"
"I gots a proposition fer ya."
"What's the job?"
"Find out anything pertaining to Gate and the Mist. Then relay it to us here."
"What's the pay?"
I thought about it for a second. "Five hundred million Zenny?"
Dynamo eagerly reached out and shook my hand. "You got yourself a deal, my good...uh, what's your name again?"
"Chris." Lifesaver then walked in. I said to him, "Fix him up good."
"Of course," he replied. With that, I left Dynamo to be repaired.
Sure, it's a controversial decision to hire a past enemy. But keep in mind: he was never actually against us. His employers were. He held no grudges. To him, it was just business. So I just spoke his language. And it worked. We now can find out more about what Gate is planning. And possibly who's really behind all this. Dynamo isn't the one to betray his employer, so I've put my trust in him. And hopefully, the Maverick Hunters have done the same.
