The Demon's Arrival
Sigma looked down at his latest catch. He'd had a feeling that this girl meant something to the latest incarnation of Zero, though he wasn't completely sure just what. The encounter on the train had shown him that much. Once his tracking systems had finally been able to lock onto the renegade Reploids he'd taken very careful steps to make sure that he'd struck when as many of them as possible were out of the base, though he hadn't counted on losing quite so many soldiers to those damned auto-cannons. He turned to look at the helpless human girl as she struggled once again against the chains that held her to the wall. He still wasn't sure though what had happened to the girl to make her midsection seem so big. He'd remembered her being a great deal skinnier before.
"You do realize that all of your struggling is in vain, don't you?" Sigma asked her as he kneeled, bringing his face down to only about a foot above her's. "Those chains were measured out to hold you before your body changed, but the fact that you're minus one chain isn't going to help the fact that they're meant to hold you, no matter what."
"Apparently no one ever taught Sigma what the word pregnant means." Crystal thought as she glared defiantly back at the head of the Mavericks. "You're going to regret this when Zero gets here and tears you apart."
"My dear, I sincerely hope he does come, that was the whole point in kidnapping you instead of just killing you outright. I can finally get him right where I want him. Here, in my base, at my own time. He'll have an army of Reploid Masters to fight, and if he can make it through them in one piece, he'll still have to deal with me. And if I die, this base explodes. Simple as that. Either way, I win. After all, I've had my fun ruling over the humans, and to be honest, it just hasn't been as much fun as I'd thought it would be. Given the way things are going right now, I'd probably end up killing the whole lot of you within the next few years. After all, there's really nothing that you humans can do that us Reploids can't do." Sigma grinned as the thoughts of the slaughter rolled through his mind.
"You're wrong Sigma, but then, what we humans have that you don't are things that you'll never understand." Crystal snapped back at him. She cringed as she felt an odd pain through her midsection. "This is bad. I hope that feeling isn't what I think it is." She thought to herself as Sigma looked over his shoulder at an approaching Reploid.
"You might like to know, sir, the renegade Zero has beamed down into the landscape a short distance from here and will be arriving shortly." The Reploid bowed slightly as he gave his report.
"Good, let's make sure the welcoming wagon is firmly waiting for his arrival." Sigma extended himself back to his full height and walked out of the room, only to return minutes later and take his seat on his throne.
Zero touched down in a small clearing and had only to look up to see Sigma's fortress. He waited only a small moment before he leaned forward and kicked in his boosters, bringing him to the main gate within seconds. He slowed down only a fraction of a second as he released a level 5 blast from his Z-cannons. The door was blown apart, destroying the few guards that had been positioned behind it, Zero sailing through the opening before the explosions were cleared. As he touched down, he looked around to see copies of nearly every Maverick that he and X had fought beginning to surround him. He looked straight ahead.
"I'm only going to give all of you one chance to surrender. If I don't get Crystal back within a minute, I'll tear not only this base apart, but every last one of you as well." He closed his purple eyes for a moment as he heard laughter begin to spread through the ring around him. When he reopened them, no sign of the blue that his girlfriend was so fond of could be seen, the red seeming almost to glow as he finally found an outlet for his rage. "Very well then, prepare to be decimated!" Zero's voice rang out, silencing the crowd before the Z-saber was once again reignited, the point burning the surrounding ground to ashes. Zero brought his left fist up just as the ring began to move in towards him.
"RAKUHOUHA!" Zero slammed his fist into the ground, pouring the entirety of the attack's energy into it instead of the portions of it like he had done before. An attack that should've only hurt the Mavericks surrounding him now engulfed the courtyard in a fireball. Zero merely stayed crouched where he was, since very few of the Mavericks seemed intent on getting back up, let alone putting up a fight. As Zero slowly stood back up and prepared to deal with the few survivors he was instead treated to watching them all get blasted with plasma fire. Roll and X continued with the short barrage from their positions up on top of the remaining supports from where the main gate had been. Both leaped down and walked up to where Zero remained standing still. As X looked the air around Zero seemed to crackle.
"Don't come too close." Zero warned. "There's apparently another hidden power that's been hidden in this suit. It's above my previous levels, and yet it's still not close to overloading the suit. It's as if it's somehow rerouted the energy to make it more adaptable. But it's still releasing it into the air around me. I'm not sure how well it would react with your own systems."
"What's the plan?" Roll asked as she and X stopped.
"The plan is to blow straight through this place and find Crystal. Then, once I've got her safe, I'm taking out Sigma, and I'm not leaving anything standing of this place. If there's nowhere left for Sigma to transfer to, then we can finally be rid of him." Zero stated as he looked up at the two.
"I wouldn't count on that, Z," X replied. "Remember, we've tried that route before, and it's yet to work. I'm resigned to the fact that we're probably always going to be fighting him, it's just a matter of how long we can get him to stay away."
"Fine, but I'm still blowing the hell out of everything in this base that I can get a hold of." Zero stated as he turned around and headed for the nearest wall that would lead to the center of the base. Roll and X could only follow.
Sigma watched a small screen set into the arm of his throne as the courtyard exploded, knocking his camera offline.
"Well then, it would seem that he's once again raised his power level. He continues to amaze me with that capability. But it doesn't matter. He'll soon fall beneath my powers."
Crystal could only listen and grin before another pain forced her to grit her teeth.
The outer wall exploded, surprising every Reploid that had been near it. Zero dashed through before the smoke could clear out, slashing anything that moved in his way. Pieces of Mavericks flew in various directions as the red and gold blur moved from one to another. Walls were blown in as the possessed Hunter swept through rooms. A small section of catwalks proved to be no problem as Zero merely leaped up and kicked in the flight boosters that had been so neglected through his ground based fights. Roll and X were forced to take the catwalks and deal with the guards stationed there, slowing them down and putting them behind their leader.
"Damnit!" X shouted as he watched Zero blow through another wall and out his and Roll's sight. "This isn't good at all. He's completely out of control."
"There's not much we can do about that until we can find Crystal, so I'd say it's in our best interests to just follow him for right now." Roll replied as the two of them finally cleared the catwalks and jumped through the hole that Zero had left. They looked forward to see a whole line of holes.
"Well, I'd guess that Sigma set all that up as a way to keep us trapped for a while, but then, I'm sure he wasn't counting on Zero ignoring all the walls either." X replied as they began to hop over the small obstructions that were left in the debris trail.
"I know I sure as hell wasn't counting on him being like this. It's like he's a demon instead of a Reploid now." Roll replied.
Sigma watched as the wall opposite him was blown through by the enraged Class S Hunter. He stood from where he was and walked down the short set of stairs leading up to his throne. His typical green saber still hung lifeless by a clip at his side, a matching one on his opposite hip. He had reverted to a body identical to his original green armored setup. As Zero skidded to a stop, Sigma took the momentary diversion to try and assess just how much more powerful Zero had become. His scanners were unable to return him an answer, once more leaving him clueless as to what drove the persistent Hunter.
Zero stopped for a moment to check this room. His internal systems told him that this is where Crystal's signal was coming from. He looked and saw her chained to the wall, the chains all tightly holding her to the wall.
"Zero!" Crystal shouted out as she finally managed to look up at him. The pains were becoming much more frequent and much stronger. The moment she yelled at Zero she was forced to grit her teeth once again. This was did not pass unnoticed by the Crimson Hunter.
"You're going to pay for ever hurting her Sigma." Zero said calmly as he looked over at the head of the Mavericks. His grip on the Z-saber tightened. Before even he himself knew what was going on the Z-saber began to transform, the blade color changing to red, the energy solidifying to a curved solid form, making it more of a katana type of energy blade. Energy seemed to crackle over the surface of his armor, making the air around him heat up rapidly. The mane of his hair floated in the air behind him.
Sigma took in all of this and merely reached down for his sabers. The dual sabers both ignited neon green.
Roll and X both jumped through the wall to watch as the transformed Zero and Sigma both leapt at each other. Roll looked over to spot Crystal.
"We've gotta get her out of here." Roll said as she and X both took off for the human.
Zero dodged the first flurry of strikes from Sigma's sabers and kicked Sigma into the opposite wall. He looked over to see X and Roll quickly undoing the chains that held Crystal in place.
"Get her out of here now!" He yelled at the two of them. "And get yourselves out as well. I'll take care of Sigma."
"Are you sure you can take him, Z?" X asked before he moved.
"I'll take care of Sigma, one way or another, X, now get out of here. You carry Crystal, have Roll cover you, she can take out targets faster than you can, and you can carry Crystal easier. Get as far away from here as possible just in case Light can't get a lock on you in time to get you out of here before the explosion."
"Alright, we'll do it your way, but you better come back out of this. You've got a child on the way."
"Don't worry about me." Zero said before he turned back to see Sigma already rushing back into the attack. He ducked under one blade, using the transformed Z-saber to block the other one. He watched for every weakness he could find in Sigma's newest body, all the while dodging the dual sabers, blocking where he couldn't dodge.
Sigma found himself just as frustrated at this incarnation of Zero as he had been with the original. It seemed the longer the Hunter lived, the more he continued to increase his abilities. Sigma knew that this shouldn't have been possible. He also knew that X was the same way. Both were a mystery to him. Even when he had managed to turn either one Maverick, he'd still been unable to raise their power levels beyond what they were originally. And yet somehow, every time one of them turned back to themselves, their power levels would once again become unreadable. What was it about these two ancient Reploids that was able to defy modern technology? Was there something about their design that was unreadable? Something that just wouldn't show up on a scanner? What made them able to just keep getting stronger? X always seemed to change from one armor set to another, but Zero never did. And yet both of them continued to defy logic.
Zero continued to merely dodge and block all of Sigma's strikes, content just to hold the Maverick at bay for now. His sensors would tell him when X and Roll were clear of the building. It was merely a matter of time until he could retaliate.
X ran as fast as he could possibly manage, Roll staying a step behind him as they ran back towards the main gate.
"Doc, Alia, we need teleported now!" X threw his thoughts into the comm system.
"You'll have to get clear of the building first, X. We can't lock onto your signals while you're still within the boundaries of the structure." Alia responded as Roll quickly took out another group of minor Mavericks.
"Get ready, X! Don't need you to drop her when we get back to the base." Roll commented as they got into the clearing for the main yard. She was forced to move to the side as X skidded to a stop in front of her. "What in the - oh hell."
In front of them stood Vile and the X-hunters once again.
"Roll, take Crystal.I think it's about time I obliterated these idiots for good." He handed the redhead over to Roll, switching over to his Ultimate Armor. "Now get her out of here. Zero wouldn't forgive us if we didn't get her back to base safe."
"I'm on it." Roll took off running to the side of the field.
"I don't hardly think so, girlie." Agile said, pulling out his saber. He rushed over to block Roll's path, but found his own quickly blocked by a suddenly glowing X.
"And I hardly think so either, Agile. She's free to go. Your problem is with me. Now let's see if you've managed to improve any. Again."
"I'm not called an X-hunter for nothing. We've studied every battle of yours, including the ones that have resulted in our defeat. Don't even think that we'll allow it to happen again." Agile said, pulling back a bit closer to Violen and Serges.
"You couldn't have learned anything from our last fight, Agile. All three of you lined up for me to use one attack to blow right through you. Which means you didn't even get the chance to see how much power I've truly gained." X brought an arm up in front of him, the hand quickly transforming to a buster. "I've had enough of Reploids like you. All you do is complicate the simple things in life that those like myself live to enjoy. I'm tired of it."
"Enough talk, time to die, X!" Agile yelled as the X-hunters moved in.
"Why don't you fight back, you worthless hunk of scrap?" Sigma yelled as Zero continued to dodge and block his attacks.
"I'm guessing it never occured to you that I'm not too overly concerned about fighting back just yet? So far, all you've managed to do is expose every weakness in your latest body. Not that I can say that I'm particularly surprised, you never really were much of a fighter, otherwise you wouldn't need all those other forms to fall back on. All you've ever had to go on is your damned virus, and that's it. If either of us is truly a waste of metal, then it's you." Zero jumped back for just a moment to see what kind of effect his words would have. If Sigma held true to form, he'd more than likely get cockier, and sloppier in his fighting.
"I see. Then I guess perhaps I should've used full power from the start if that's they way you look at it." Sigma stood up for a moment and closed his eys. The air seemed to shimmer around him for a moment before he opened his eyes again. "Much better. I haven't been at full power since you and X were taken out."
"Don't worry too much, you won't have to deal with the strain of maintaining that level for long." Zero's hair still floated in the air behind him, his power level still causing the air around him to crackle with energy. "Where are the rest of the humans? You have them running treadmills or something to keep your base powered?"
"Of course not. What kind of barbarian do you take me for? I killed many of them with my own hands within a few years after you were killed. One nuclear bomb in the atmosphere to cause an electro-magnetic pulse, wiping out all the computers in the area that weren't shielded, not to mention most cameras and sensors, then mass murder. No mess to clean up after all the plasma fire, and ten years or so worth of weather got rid of the scorches from the plasma. Most of the humans that were still alive back then are dead now. Those that aren't, will be soon. The occasional sweep through kidnapping and murdering a few more keeps the rest in line. Simplifies my problems immensely I'd say."
"I'd say that it just adds to what you'll pay for when the time comes. And I think that time is very soon."
"You're right, one way or another." Sigma moved his sabers up to a ready position.
"What do you mean?" Zero asked as he brought his own saber up.
"Simply put, this base is going to hell no matter the outcome of this fight. If you kill me, the base explodes. If I manage to kill you, I'm probably going to destroy it anyway. I've gotten very bored being in charge. Without an oppenent like yourself to challenge me, I've sat in the same spot for years at a time, waiting for something that requires more attention than just giving orders. I lust for combat, much the same as you do. Your reappearance reawakened that spark. We're very much alike in that aspect." Sigma quickly sliced a saber towards Zero,
"I may like to fight, but I see no need for the senseless violence and death that you yearn for, Sigma." Zero replied, bringing his own saber up to block the green blur. As Sigma's other saber began to descend, Zero brought his free hand up, the energy crackling in the air around him solidifying in a beam around his forearm, prevent the blade from getting through to him.
Sigma jumped back once more, the energy returning to it's erratic path of interference in the air around Zero.
"I don't know what it is about you and X, but I will find out one of these days. I don't care if I have to turn you into shreds of molecular material to do so." Sigma ground out from between his teeth.
"By all means," Zero stated, "If you think you can do so, please, try."
Author's Notes: Getting near the end I think...never thought I'd see myself saying that. O.o I do plan to eventually re-write this, going back and adding more of a surroundings to the story and what not. I always feel like I'm missing stuff after I go back and look at a chapter, but I'm determined to finish it out, and quite possibly work on the sequel. Yes, I do have a good idea of how I'm going to end it, and yes, I do have intentions to continue the story. I just have to figure out exactly how to end it, and then, where to start from there, lol. This should be interesting.
Oh, and forgive me if something doesn't seem to fit in with pieces of Mega Man history that you're aware of, the cartoons and the games never really did seem to fit together too well other than having the same characters. I go by the games, and the history that they present (what little bit that they do) so I draw my own conclusions for a lot of things.