Chapter 13- Stand Tall
In which X assumes command

ACT TWO- POWER

Tonight, I lost power.

Why I yielded, I don't know. Why I surrendered, I don't know.

But when the one I loved held a blade to her chest, I couldn't bring myself to end her life… Why is that? She was protecting the person… I came to destroy… She was protecting the enemy. She was an enemy. I had failed my mission.

What held me back?

I don't know.

What I do know is…

I don't intend on it happening again.

I entered the base, just like I had on so many occasions before. The rest of my unit were in the medical bay, recovering from that mysterious girl's brutal attack. How could two inferior firearms wound so many of us?

They weren't powerful enough.

I gritted my teeth, entering my quarters. Within, I began to slowly remove my blue armor. The helmet came off, twin straps becoming soon unclipped. I removed my gun next…

I didn't fire.

There was nothing to lose, was there? If I shot Y, then I'd be getting rid of one of my enemies. I'd be eliminating a target I needed to eliminate anyway, so what was the point of me sparing my ammunition?

Then, my enemy's words came to my head.

"I'm going to die anyway…"

I spat on the thought. Was that a praise to my sheer power, that the 'mighty' Hero of Kalos would surrender to me? That I had finally outwitted him? Or was it a insult? Something he had uttered sarcastically to taunt me?

You are some sort of joke to him.

I tore off my breastplate, throwing it against the wall. That was not true! I was the most powerful Irregular Hunter that ever lived! I was the leader of the Z-Hunters! I was more than powerful enough to kill anyone who gets in my way… With or without help from others!

No.

I closed my eyes, angry at myself. I let them escape. I let them run away to poison Kalos with more of their rebellious notions. I had him in my sights, but I couldn't bring myself to end his life.

You aren't powerful enough.

I paused, just about to remove my boots. My cannon slipped back on my arm, vanishing in a flash of blue pixels. I grabbed my helmet, placing it upon my head.

Following that, I headed to the virtual simulator. It was time to train.

Targets flashed into view before me. I charged my weapon up, blasting each target into pixels. I imagined each target was an enemy of mine. Everyone who had made fun of me in the past flashed through my head.

"Hey! He's the son of that mad scientist guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah! You wanna be a scientist too?"

"Oh, what are you going to do?"

I activated Speed Fighter, vanishing at full speed in a blue blur. Fists and energy were in a blur. Shattered red pixels appeared all around.

"MODE ACTIVATED: GUNNER"

Various lasers flew out around me. I backflipped over each one with practiced grace, activating my Rock Shield. I dashed forwards, lasers bouncing off my hard-light barrier, before I dispelled it. The rocks struck the virtual cannons, making them explode. Each one was an enemy in battle, and I had the upper hand. I gripped my weapon, eyes shut. I breathed in and out. Just as my anger seemed to dissipate from my mind…

"Paging Commander X. Commander X, please report to the mission control! I repeat! X, head to the mission control!"

I nodded, "Copy that. It's time to take the offensive!"

I entered the room, clad in my armor, "Okay. What's our mission?"

The Hunter approached me, pulling out a holographic datapad, "X, we have a problem. We had a brand new prototype armor called X2 was being transported here by a Hunter airship, but it crashed... But just recently, we got its signal from the coastline. And its mobile... Somebody has stolen it."

I pounded my fist on the desk, "Which coastline?"

"... West coastline."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Operator, I'm moving out to engage. Scramble the Z-Hunters."

The man at the computer nodded, tapping away at his keyboard, "On it, commander! Good luck ...and happy hunting."

A blue flash. A loud clunk.

When we started the mission, it was late at night. The first thing I upon arrival was I was on a beach of sorts. Empty crates surrounded us. But that was not the mission at hand. I had to eliminate the Irregulars in the area... My team and I stood up, facing the massive metal structure before us. It was the size of a normal naval destroyer, but with large engines and rockets on the sides that could allow it to...

Fly...No, it couldn't be...

I turned around, and saw a massive brick tower in the distance, bright lights piercing the veil of night. My jaw fell open.

Shalour City...!

One of the men in my squad pointed ahead, "Sir, there's something in that ship! Look, the lights are on!" I turned to face ahead, and I saw through one porthole a shadowy figure working away at something. The figure paused, looking out of the window, before walking aside.

I ordered my team to step back, keeping themselves ready in case anything happened. Soft metallic clunks sounded, followed by several loud clanking sounds coming from a door. A small makeshift staircase of crates allowed access to this door, and when it came open...

A brunette, emerald-eyed mechanic clad in blue. Her white headsets were still on her ears, playing soft rock music in the night. In her hand, she held an apple.

Then, she spoke.

"X! Nice to see you... drop... by..." Aile's face fell, looking at the Hunters behind me. She gritted her teeth, "...Is something the matter?"

Those wide green eyes looked into my own. I sighed, before becoming serious again.

"Aile Kaskett. You're under arrest on charges of owning Military equipment without a license, aiding a wanted criminal and crimes against Kalos."

She spat out part of the apple she was chewing, white bits splatting against my blue breastplate. I kept my stoic glare, activating an energy shield and burning off the white blots. Aile looked around, shocked, "B…What?! But… Mr X, I never did any of those things! All I did was protect my home… I saved lives! I helped you, didn't I?!"

I closed my eyes.

"You were a good man, X! Both of us know each of us couldn't sit around, watching things explode without rushing to aid!"

I opened my eyes again, training my gun on her, "D-Don't play dumb, Aile! I know you have the X2 armor."

The young mechanic froze, looking between the gun and my face, "W… What?! HOW?! This is a Team Flare Airship! Why would the good guys be transporting supplies in their enemies craft?! That makes no freakin' sense!"

She… She was right! No matter how I turned it about in my head, I couldn't seem to piece the facts together. Why would.. a Prototype X-armor be on a Team Flare airship… Transported to our base… If it was in…

"Irrelevant." I spoke again. She was trying to confuse me.

"Hunters! Silence this Irregular!"

Plasma bolts rang out through the night sky, followed by the scream of a young girl.

I looked through the smoke…

Aile still stood there, her body shimmering and shining. She let out a growl, and those young green eyes gained steel. Those Determined Eyes glared at my squad, as she straightened herself up.

One Hunter gasped, "Armor?... Oh no!"

The young girl clenched a fist, the small little fire in her eyes becoming a massive inferno, "X… You were once a good man. But now, I think you've lost sight of what is good and you've placed your 'mission' over it. I'm sorry…"

"I can't let you!" she raised her fist skyward. Chunky blue body armor warped on over her similarly colored jacket. A blue helmet landed upon her brown hair, the forehead gem on this armor was blue, much unlike my own. Her shoes became covered with dash boots.

Her left arm formed into a blue Mega Arm, but her right gained a box-like cannon. It had a small metal tube sticking out of the bottom, and a single red LED flashed on the front of this strange weapon.

"HALYCON ARMOR!"

She raised her left arm, "Stop shooting, guys! If you want me, then you'll have to catch me first! SHINING LASER!" She aimed the odd box at the sky, firing it. A brilliant white beam streaked across the night sky. My squad writhed in pain, falling back, "MY EYES! SHE BLINDED US!"

I deactivated my face shield, which I had wisely put up to protect my eyes from the bright light, "All units, stay here! I'm take care of this!" But Aile was gone.

I only glanced sideways just in time to catch a glimpse of her boot escaping through the ship door.

"Found you."

I chased her into the ship, easily air dashing over those silly wooden crates.

Upon setting foot into the crashed airship, I soon encountered… some rather nice furniture and carpeting?

The place was set out like a little house, with some nice wooden furniture and a random potted cactus, oddly enough. It was quite cozy, but there was no time to admire the nicely set-out home. It would be odd to be fighting in somebody's house, but I shook these irrelevant worries aside and kept moving into the house.

As I traversed deeper into this location, I could hear a loud humming sound coming from behind a door labeled 'Engine Room'. What the heck could it be?! I mean, dismissing the obvious sign, this ship was crashed! The engines were fried, broken! I saw to it personally that this ship would never fly again! Was this girl really that deluded to believe she could escape?!

Then, another sound. This one was a voice.

"Cell switch on! Refractor rotation speed steady! 3, 2, 1… Ignition!"

I blasted open the doors to the room Aile was in. She turned around, holding out her Mega Arm before her. Her Pichu jumped in front of her, growling.

"Back for more?! Uh oh…!" She whimpered.

I held out my hand, "Surrender and make it easier for us right here, right now." She growled, "N…No! I won't let you! X! What is wrong with you?! You once actually-"

Freeze Frame. The world slowed. I dashed forwards, guns blazing. All of a sudden, Aile returned fire with TWO charge shots at the same time. Was it one of the X2's equipped traits, or did Aile add it on later?! I was sent flying back, but soon regained my ground. I had to take her out, no matter what. It was my duty.

She hefted the 'Shining Laser' up, straining a little with the weight, "SHINING LASER!" She fired it at me. A gigantic beam spat out of the end, akin to that of an oversized laser pointer or a pen-light. This attack sent me flying back, as well as Aile due to the recoil. Warning lights flashed all over my HUD, as my Auto-repair attempted to fix me up.

Aile rubbed her butt, standing up, "I gotta adjust the recoil on this thing after this… It's too powerful, it even scares me!" All of a sudden, while she was musing to herself, I activated Freeze Frame, running around behind her and landing a clean punch on her helmet. She let out a cry, falling forwards. As she did, I activated the time-stopping attack again, slamming my fist into her yet again, this time enhanced by Speed Fighter. A loud crack sounded throughout the room, and a large dent was placed in Aile's helmet. She screamed, falling to the ground.

"ROCK!"

All of a sudden, the Plusle from earlier jumped on my back, sending a powerful burst of electricity through me. My systems started short-circuiting, and I was stuck in place! I was open to attacks… But she didn't attack me…?!

Aile gasped, "That was too close! Rock, can you help me up?" Her Pokemon leaped onto her back, placing its plus-shaped tail into a socket on the side of Aile's armor. He smiled, charging her back up. With that said and done, Aile removed her helmet, revealing her messy brown hair…

And a bloody spot on her forehead.

Rock just stared in shock. Aile blinked curiously, "Huh? Is there something…" She put a hand to her forehead, and when she took it off…

For the longest time, she just stared at the blood. Then, she became very pale, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinheads, "Guh… Bul…Buh… Ugh…" She swayed for a few seconds, before shaking it off and turning back to face me. I had just recovered from her last attack, and I had been charging up the whole time.

"Game Over."

The orb of plasma blasted into her… Or at least, it should swung her Mega Arm around weakly like a baseball bat, "Shields up! 70%!" Her arm cannon beamed brightly, and she just managed to hit the Charge Shot back at me… Oh, shit.

The shot struck my breastplate, sending me flying out the window. I fired Vine Grapple upwards, swinging over to the windowsill. I couldn't pull myself up again! I was hanging from outside the ship, as massive blue flames licked at my feet. From within, Aile gasped.

She dragged her broken body over to the window, holding out a hand, "X! Hurry up and grab my hand! We can still settle this peacefully! I don't want… Another of my friends to die!"

I glared back. Another?

"F….Forgive me…"

I raised my hand upwards, reaching out for her hand…

And changed it into a cannon.

"…But this is all in the line of duty."I spoke, firing a shot into those wide green eyes.

The sound of screaming echoed throughout the night sky. This was followed by the roar of the powerful engines on the airship activating, and the entire metallic structure lifting into the heavens. In amazement, nobody ever noticed the blue figure who plunged off the side of the craft, down, down on the coastline below.

The scream ended, and there was only silence.

This battle has only begun. Wherever you are… You can keep running… But you are only delaying the inevitable.

I'm taking the fight to you.

I am the Hunter, X.

Enter the Hunt.