Mega Loops X
Author's Note: Someone commented last chapter about Jet's bashōsen being excessive since it's at the top of Narutoverse power levels. Let's get one thing straight right now: Jet's bashōsen is not the Narutoverse bashōsen. His weapon is the green feather-war fan that he canonically uses in the Sonic Riders games. One is not necessarily equal to the other. I apologize for sticking this in here, but the commenter in question left no way to just reply to them personally.
10.0 (adapted from a contribution by cj304)
It was a familiar sight to the Lights. Dr. Wily was gloating about his latest brilliant scheme to conquer the world from the relative safety of a skull-themed battlecraft as Rock, aka Mega Man, and Roll, aka Mega Woman, and their allies faced off against the Robot Masters and the co-opted robot forces they fielded.
"–and only when the world's leaders sign all government power over to me will I–"
"YOU!" an unfamiliar voice pierced the scene and everyone turned to look at a large blue android that looked a great deal like a more mature Rock that was pointing a charging arm cannon directly at Dr. Wily. The mad doctor himself was so startled by the interruption that he stumbled from his perch.
It was probably the only thing that saved his life as the mysterious blue-armored robot unleashed a plasma bolt at least as large as himself that obliterated the skull craft even as Shadow Man caught the falling Dr. Wily.
Everyone stared at the raging blue android, shocked and horrified at the casual way he had nearly committed murder. Wily scrambled unceremoniously behind Shadow Man after landing and stared as well, trembling from his brush with death. Shadow Man stared, and tried to think up a way to survive such a powerful and enraged foe, or at least last long enough for Wily to get to safety. Rock and Roll stared, staring in horror at what looked like a sibling ranting about how he despised Wily so much that he would consider the deliberate murder of a human being. Doctor Light stared from where he was watching remotely, wondering what would drive what looked like a creation of his to such an act.
No one had the courage to make him stop shouting, to interrupt him, afraid it would set him off again. But the android, known to those in his home time as X, wasn't mad, he wasn't Viral, or Maverick, he was simply angry. So, so very angry. Angry beyond description. Because here he was, the man responsible for so much of it, the Uprisings, the Wars, the Devastated Environment, the deaths of–
"–and ignoring all of the fighting you caused! The centuries of political ramifications! The monsters born from your example! The devastation of the environment and near-total corruption of vital resources - people starved and froze to death because we didn't have enough energy - the worst part. About your Virus, about your sick legacy, your twisted Last Laugh. The worst part about it is..."
Here he stopped, gasping for breath to cool his systems, clearly overwhelmed by the deluge of emotions he'd likely been holding back for an unknown amount of time rushing to the front nearly overwhelming him to the point that his own systems couldn't keep up with the demand to express all the things he was feeling.
"The Reploids, they were called that because they were made from studying me. They were replications of me. But, but the first ones, they weren't perfect. They needed constant modifications, and someone to guide them through developing their Prototype Personality Matrixes. They were blank slates that had no idea what they were doing beyond their build specializations. Like..."
He swallowed, seeming equally distraught and wrathful at the same instant.
"Like children. MY children! I watched them! I guided them! They looked up to me as their 'progenitor', as their 'source', as the closest thing they had to a father! And every new version after that was still family to me! Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren! Even Sigma!"
None of them knew who Sigma was, but they all got a distinct feeling something like ice pool in their guts at the mention of his name, even Doctor Wily and Shadow Man seemed to understand where this was going.
"And who do you think he went after first, when he started infecting people for his first Uprising? It wasn't just the strong ones; it wasn't just the most advanced. It was the ones who knew him, the ones who knew Reploid Science best, because they were there when it was developed! The ones who were old and close enough to my coding that they might be modified to resist the Virus when people finally found out about it! The ones who would serve as symbols to the uninfected, whose support of his ideas would make Sigma seem less like a mad terrorist, and more like a freedom-fighter!"
X's whole body seemed to sag, his head facing the ground as he continued to list the sins that Wily had yet to commit, yet his Buster still pointed at the Mad Doctor, the center of the barrel starting to glow
"And who... do you think had to deal with them. Who do you think was both immune to the Virus, and understood their capabilities enough that they were sent to neutralize them?"
The penny dropped. Roll covered her mouth with her hands. Rock fell to his knees, gritting his teeth so hard they cracked, and Doctor Light squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to stop thinking about it. Shadow Man stood ramrod still, not moving an inch, while Wily stared at the blue android pointing a weapon at him with so many conflicting emotions one couldn't tell what he was feeling.
"Do you understand, now? Do you know what that means? What I'm trying to say?"
X's head snapped up suddenly, his buster reaching beyond maximum charge, angry tears falling down his face to dissolve in its ambient heat.
"BECAUSE OF YOU, I HAD TO KILL MY CHILD93|\|!1!11P$#ZX#$x_xl...
JUMPSTART ATTEMPT USING SECTION 1 FAILED
Zero.I
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 1 using primary Anchor candidate:
Zero blinked as he came to awareness. He was kneeling in some sort of liquid and he could feel the cables attached to his back that led to machinery that was either defunct or barely functional from what he could tell. Plus, while the diagnostics were inconclusive, he couldn't feel his arms.
There were also sounds getting closer. Sounds of buster fire, explosions, and pained screams. The sounds of violence that he knew so well... Somehow...
"Wha?! What kind of monsters are these?!" the muffled shout was barely audible before a sound like a beam of some kind was heard and they fell silent.
'Wait...' he thought to himself, 'I remember something like this... Did this happen before...? Should I even be active right now,,,,,,/?#$#Cvt5HBY?$%C$%EtF
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.1
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt I using primary Anchor candidate:
X wasn't entirely sure why he'd found one of Dr. Light's capsules in the area Armored Armadillo had taken over. Plus, as he approached it, he could have sworn that it hadn't been here before...
"Ah, X," the voice of Dr. Light spoke as his form appeared in a hologram, but it looked... different from what X had been subconsciously expecting, "you have managed to find this special capsule."
Dr. Light... had on camo pants, a tank top, and his hair was combed upwards into a flat-top.
"Within this capsule is a special gift, please enter now and receive it!"
Shrugging off the feeling, X stepped in and felt the capsule activate, downloading a technique into his systems called the Son1( 800|\/|W$GCTtregc%$#...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. II
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 2 using primary Anchor candidate:
Zero shook his head at the familiarity of events happening to him as he walked through the new resistance base to meet with the new commander.
And there he was, with his long platinum blond hair, beret-shaped light sticking out of his head, cyan shirt, and fuchsia longcoat. For some reason, Zero really wanted to just punch the guy's lights out, but he suppressed the instinct and walked over calmly to introduce himself.
"Ah, Zero! The living legend himself! I am Elpizo, the new commander of this base!" the reploid grinned energetically. "I've heard so much about you! Please let us join forces and destroy Neo Arcadia! With your combat prowess and my leadership, we are sure to be victorious! And then I can gain the invincible power of the Dark Elf and eradicate those pathetic humans who waste all our resources and make Ms. Ciel love me and..."
Elpizo trailed off as he became aware of Zero, and everyone else for that matter, staring at him incredulously.
"...and I said that ou7 L0|_||), |)1|)|\|"7 1V,?{?}B|"?^%...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.2
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt II using primary Anchor candidate:
"Kugh," Gate grunted around the severe damage to his golden battle armor as X stood over him. "I lost even though I used Zero's DNA... No... Ugh... I should've... analyzed it more... Wa... was there a... fault in the program...? But... ack... this is not the end. I don't... ack... give up so easily... I prepared for this just in case. Ha ha. I really... don't want to use this... I might be destroyed as well, but... I brought back the evil... Si... Sigma..."
X thought he was prepared for what some part of him knew would be Sigma revealing himself, but watching the partially completed body simply shamble in through the door wasn't what he'd been expecting.
"Heh... hehehehehe..." the seemingly walking dead form of Sigma chuckled darkly. "Bring... me back... did you? Fool... I cannot die... I am... the living dead... and now... so are you...!"
Sigma raised his one hand and something... dark and foreboding snaked from it and into Gate's dying body, causing the heavily damaged reploid scientist to stand back up, slowly and bending in unnatural ways.
"What...?" X backed away, having no idea what was going on and not liking it at all.
"Come... Gate..." Sigma stared at the confused X as the two raised their arms (all three between them) stiffly forwards and began to swing them back and forth in time to a tune that came from nowhere. "Dance... wit4 |\/|3GVL]'45\?$%"./\]']...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. III
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 3 using primary Anchor candidate:
"Not bad, Zero!" Dr. Weil laughed. "But Omega's power is much greater than you've been led to expect. Go get him Omega! Release the power of the Dark Elf!"
"GrrrrrrRRRRRAAWWRR!" the already large yellow robot roared as a bright light burst forth from it before dying downfown to reveal...
Zero stared at the giant form of Omega that emerged. It looked... wrong. The red and blue arms attached to the white torso should have had heads at the shoulders that looked like himself and X, but...
But instead they had hands that... the blue one looked like some sort of wolf while the red one almost looked like a dino5An965ETEG53%&^$$#*GTR34v$fd...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.3
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt III using primary Anchor candidate:
Things had been a bit weird for X lately. It had been a routine response to another mechaniloid Maverick when things had gone... strange. At least for him personally. Sigma had taken Zero and a battalion and cordoned off an area around the out of control construction equipment and called for X to be air dropped into the area. On the way down, he'd gotten... flashes. Almost like memories.
Images of himself and Zero fighting against Sigma. In his normal form. In giant forms. In revived forms. In pure cyber-construct forms. In dead-yet-still-moving forms. In command of Maverick forces composed of some of the Hunter's most renowned members no less. Doing things that... wrought widespread catastrophe. Things that, even with the Hunters victorious, would take centuries for the world to fully recover from.
The rush of images had almost made X botch the operation, not to mention his landing.
In the end, he'd been so disoriented that Sigma himself had needed to step in and take care of things, showing why everyone called him the Mega Man after the legendary hero.
"We must become both sword and shield for those who cannot protect themselves: that is our sworn duty. Never forget that!"
Those had been the words of Sigma to him that day. Which was why the current situation was so hard for him to accept. The one who had been sending the mechaniloids on a rampage. Who had massacred Hunters. Who had taken over the new missile base was... Sigma himself.
"Now's your chance, X," Sigma grinned as he held a captive Zero, X's comrade and best friend, in front of him. "Fire! If you really want to stop me, you'll have to shoot, destroying Zero in the process!"
'Why...?' X hesitated, not understanding why Sigma would do this. Had those flashes... been visions of the future? 'Why, Sigma? Why are you...?'
"Hahahahaha!" Sigma laughed. "It seems you need a bit more encouragement, X!"
Sigma then tossed Zero into the air and slashed him across the chest with his beam saber as X watched, horrified.
"Agggghhhh!" Zero screamed in pain as he hit the ground, clutching his wound.
"Zero!"
"Not enough?" Sigma grinned maliciously. "How about this?"
The former commander of the Hunters dashed forward and grabbed X by the neck, lifting him up.
"Are you ready now?" Sigma taunted as he put his saber away and pulled out a remote trigger device. "Or perhaps you need even more reason to act? With one push of this button, I will launch every missile in this facility at our cities! One is aimed straight at Maverick Hunter headquarters even!"
"Why...?" X choked out in confusion.
"Why?" Sigma grinned darkly. "Because you are the key to reploid evolution. For us to achieve our ultimate potential, you must first achieve yours! I thought that I could lead by example, but your progress is just too slow. And so I've decided to speed things up a bit, by making myself your opponent. History may despise me, but it is a small price to pay to see you become what you were meant to be! To see you become the Mega Man!"
X stared into the insane eyes of Sigma and felt something inside him rise up, like an immense pressure seeking release, and then something in h1|\/| 5|\|A993|)R%KCKIN]';/..43/;&^"}]]/...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. IV
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 4 using primary Anchor candidate:
Zero wanted to hit something. Even after everything he'd done and all the enemies he'd defeated, Neo Arcadia was still under tyrannical rule. Now by some human madman named Dr. Weil.
And so he'd grabbed a bike and ridden out into the wastelands of the world, looking for something, anything, to take his mind off of things. To present to him some measure of clarity. Because it certainly wasn't forthcoming from anywhere else.
Then he spotted it. A massive derelict wreck off in the distance that tickled something in his memory. Something that called him to investigate further...
Before he knew what he was doing, he had turned towards the structure and accelerated. As he got closer, he could spot parts of the wreck that suggested it had once been a space station of some kind and when he was almost on top of it, he spotted the stylized 'R' on a relatively intact portion of the hull. A symbol that sparked a memory in him...
"Colonel!"
A memory of a reploid. A military man in black, white, and red. All over...
"I'm disappointed in you, Colonel!"
Memories of fighting against this man, and... Someone else. Someone he could almost, but not quite, see in his mind's eye... But he could hear that person's voice. A woman's voice, pleading for...
"This must be some kind of mistake!"
"Zero, please! Don't fight with my brother!"
Zero braked hard to avoid colliding with the structure in the sudden onslaught of memories and shook his head hard. What was all this about...?
Looking back, he firmed his features and stepped off the bike to enter the wreck.
"Someone... must stop Repliforce...!"
Yes... they'd been called Repliforce. Intended to help maintain peace... only...
"No! ... Please wait, Zero! I don't want to see you two fight..."
"I don't want to fight. Step back."
"Impressive, Zero. ...But it's too late!"
Only for the group to fall prey to the same... something... that plagued everyone else of that era... Forcing Zero to fight that man, Colonel; who he'd viewed as a friendly rival, a brother in arms, a dear friend; fight and slay him for the sake of the world...
And in the middle of it all was that woman reploid whose voice pierced his heart like an arrow each time it echoed through his mind... Why? Who had she been? What was she to him...?
"So you fought with my brother..."
"I'm sorry..."
"Then it's over. Everything..."
"Wait ...! Listen to me!"
"Good bye, Zero..."
Zero stumbled as he entered a chamber in the wreck. A chamber that screamed painful familiarity to his mind. What had happened here? What tragedy had befallen him?
He could partially see her now. An indistinct innocent figure of red, indigo, and brown. Holding the glowing program core of her deceased brother, the brother Zero had been forced to kill, and merge its program with her own. Then the indistinct form grew and became clear. An armored form of purple and lavender the size of a ride armor with metal wings and a huge arm cannon. And violent as it charged forth in maddened grief and inconsolable pain. Forced to choose between two impossible options and destroyed by it long before his beam saber shattered the external power core.
The explosion of the armored form... The sight of her on the ground, every detail as clear as if it had happened yesterday... Her innocent pained face, her long brown hair, armor in a style suited for a support role, not combat... Running towards her in a panic to make sure she would be okay, even as he knew it was an impossible hope...
"Iris! ...Iris..."
That was her name... Iris... Created by Dr. Cain to be the perfect enforcer of peace. Only for the dichotic nature of the creation's programming to necessitate splitting into two... Iris remaining the peaceful arbitrator and her brother Colonel created to house the strong-willed fighting instinct...
They'd... They'd worked together for the short time she'd been alive... They'd been comrades... friends... He'd...
"Zero..."
He'd loved her... And then he'd ended up killing her... Held her as she died in his arms... All because she'd wanted to live in a world where there was no fighting... With him... A world she'd concluded was impossible without enacting great tragedy...
"Hang in there, Iris."
"Zero..."
"Iris! Iris!"
As he collapsed to his knees involuntarily, Zero could almost swear he could still hear her...
"Zero..."
Just like that... Just...
The sound of motion jolted him out of his grief and Zero turned to the noise, saber at the ready as a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
"I knew... you never forgot me... Zero..." the groaning feminine voice repeated as a black and lavender foot slid into view, attached to a red and indigo leg. Damaged and degraded seemingly beyond repair.
And then the rest began to emerge. That same form of red and indigo, but with rusted gashes and exposed circuitry that sparked feebly at random intervals, like it was attempting to emulate life but had long since lost the strength to do so. And then the face... the same face, but with wide tears in it showing the metal underneath, and the long brown hair, tattered and filthy with centuries of unwashed grime and dust.
"But now..." the decrepit spectre of his past love moaned out raspily as she shambled forwards and Zero felt the hilt of his saber fall from fingers shock had rendered unresponsive, "now... we can be... together... Together... as we couldn't... before... Peace is... impossible... for the... living... but not... the dead... We can be... together now..."
Zero tried to make his limbs move as the undead body of his former love began to reach for him with arms that began to twist and distort into wicked purple and lavender claws.
"Together... in deA74$TVY^$%./$%y65'b;Tr][...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.4
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt IV using primary Anchor candidate:
X paused as he entered the chamber and saw the rookie Hunter, Double, within. Why did this seem so familiar...?
"Double, what are you doing here?" he asked, already getting the feeling that he knew the answer and wasn't going to like it.
"Heeheeh*eelp*... Hahaha*blorp*ha..." the portly yellow reploid began to laugh as his body began to bulge oddly. "Mavericks, Hunters, Replifor*shlop*... All idiots... *glip* All too *urp* easy..."
"Double... what in the world...?" X backed away involuntarily. This was just too weird...
"Poor *elgksh*! Gonna get recy*clood* by the J*elp*o Dev*ilp*!" Double's body bulged and twisted as it grew, and grew... into a engorged pink gelatinous monstrosity with a single crims0|\| 3-3WL%E)T(U($IJ#Kfs...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero.V
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 5 using primary Anchor candidate:
"So this is the Ragnarok Core..." Zero mused as he walked into the chamber. All of this... just seemed so... familiar somehow... 'Think later,' Zero shook his head to regain focus, 'stop Ragnarok from crashing now...'
"Hehehe..." a familiar laugh rang out. "Welcome to your front seat for the end of the world!"
"Dr. Weil...?!" Zero jumped in surprise and took a combat stance as he looked around for the source of the voice. "Impossible! No one could have survived that attack from Ragnarok!"
"That's easy..." Weil's voice continued as something teleported into the room, the sight of which caused the keyed-up Zero to stare in slack-jawed disbelief. "Because I... am a little teapot!"
Zero continued staring as the thing that was apparently Dr. Weil broke out in song.
'The F#%]?654[[(8}...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.5
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt V using primary Anchor candidate:
"So..." X began hesitantly as he addressed the figure before him, "you're the one who's been causing so much trouble...?"
"I do apologize," the reploid in question bowed deeply, "I, Axl, have left Red Alert after... differences of opinion to become a Hunter under the legendary X!"
"Uh... huh..." X replied dubiously. "And you say you're... Axl, was it?"
"Yes indeed," the reploid stated quickly, "who else would I be?"
"Well..." X thought of how to phrase this, "you frankly look like Serges in a bad mask."
"What?!" Signas, the new Hunter commander, sputtered in surprise as he did a double-take.
"Curses! You saw through my brilliant disguise!" the identified Serges swore. "X-Hunters attack!"
From various places in the room, Serges's comrades leapt out and charged at X.
'Agile... Violen (how'd he fit in that flower pot anyway?)... and it looks like Bit and Byte tagged along this time...' X thought as he calmly charged up his arm cannon. "X BUSTER!"
A dusty explosion rocked the room, oddly damaging nothing but still propelling all five figures out of a convenient window and into the distance.
"Looks like the X-Hunters are blasting off agaaaaiiiinnn..."
'Honestly, that's the third time this m0|\|74{%']b\]'.bp/[pl6$%?}[_+=...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. VI
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt VI using secondary Anchor candidate:
Zero grunted as the blow from his opponent sent his beam saber spinning upwards out of his grip, the follow-up blow sending his to his knees. His opponent chuckled darkly as he caught the hilt of Zero's beam saber and swung it in an arc that chopped the crimson hunter's leg off before he could stand again.
As he screamed in pain, Zero wondered what had happened to his former comrade. He had no idea why Vile had turned on the Hunters, but some part of himself insisted this fight seemed familiar. That same part of himself also seemed to think it had been a long time ago, but... they had been performing missions together just last week. It... it made no sense!
"And so ends the mighty Zero," Vile taunted as he began charging up his shoulder cannon. "I'd like to say it was nice knowing you, but... I'd be lying."
*Pnnnnnnnnnn-Y0\/\/WR?GC654^%$ CFRhyr54...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.6
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 6 using secondary Anchor candidate:
X had no idea how long it had been since he'd felt his body. He just knew that he'd gotten tired of all the endless fighting and the general insanity. Particularly the parts that had seemingly warped reality.
Had those even happened? He wasn't sure. All he was sure of was that he'd given up his body to seal a great and dark power for the sake of the future and left the world's fate in other hands.
Hands that were now being tested. But he'd prepared for this. He always knew that his friend might come back one day and so he'd kept the old weapon. The situation even seemed familiar. Except... Why did some of his memories insist that his heroic friend was Zero, the scientist held captive by the golem, instead of the warrioress Ciel?
He just wasn't sure of anything anym063#VVY^rtkm$%?"^%4;...
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. VII
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 7 using primary Anchor candidate:
Zero's head hurt. For one thing, he kept getting weird flashbacks of... other lives? Stasis dreams? He didn't know. For another, every time he removed his helmet, he completely lost control of his body to an alternate personality that was...
Well, he was a total wuss, that's what he was. Honestly, Zero was ashamed to share processing space with him.
Of course, that was neither here nor there at the moment. Right now, Zero was meeting with the leader of Heaven, the capital city of Neo Arcadia (housed in a gigantic cross-shaped building no less).
"Welcome, Zero," the figure wearing a visored helmet greeted him. The voice sounded familiar somehow. "Truly, I never thought I would again meet the ancient hero."
Zero blinked. "Have... we met?"
"Ah, right, your memory problem," the figure nodded and moved to remove the helmet. "Perhaps this will jog your circuits."
Zero backed away in shock. He did recognize the individual. From those flashbacks. "Lumine?!"
"Ah, you do remember me," the purple haired reploid smiled, "that simplifies things greatly. You see, Zero, after you went to sleep, I returned and perfected the new-type reploids. Eradicated the old-style Mavericks one by one and destroyed any potential for resurgences by eradicating the rest of the old-style reploids. Even your former comrade X did not evade my grasp, only you in your hidden repose escaped. I was soon made the head of a utopia of my own design: Neo Arcadia. With all humans and new-types under my command, I became revered as a GOD! And with my new-type reploids, I reign supreme! And now... the time has come to finally remedy old mistakes. Shitennou!"
"Sir!" the four figures of Fighting Fefnir, Sage Harpuia, Fairy Leviathan, and Hidden Phantom declared as they entered behind Lumine.
"Join with me! Become the ultimate reploid and execute Zero!"
"Scream! Shout! We are the Fallen Angel!" the four yelled enthusiastically and leapt for their leader, combining in a blinding flash of light that obscured Zero's vision. But he could almost see the outline of a familiar armor, with four wings 1|\| A|\| 54A93}^ %:$^:^$:F$KFr...
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.7 (OathToOblivion)
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt VII using primary Anchor candidate:
X had no clue what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being a Cyber Elf and entrusting the world's future to Zero, and now he was somehow in his body again...fighting Vile?! But Vile had died ages ago, back before the Elf Wars! Whatever, he was under attack, and he needed to do something unless he wanted to lose his body again. Instinctively shifting to Shotgun Ice (Shotgun Ice? He hadn't used that in decades.), he fired a few rounds off to stop Vile's incessant shooting, then dashed backwards in order to gain some distance. It was then that he noticed something off.
"Hey, Vile, since when were you green?" X questioned. Indeed, his opponent was green rather his usual purple.
"Vile? Who's Vile? I'm the elite bounty hunter, Boba Fett, and your head will fetch a pretty price, Mega Man X," his opponent declared, shooting him with...lasers?!
'What in the world is going-#$VfxfrbyhRFBabAvAVa?'
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. VIII
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt VIII using secondary Anchor candidate:
The year 22XX:
"Careful Axl," Zero told his long-time partner as the two flanked the gate leading to the Maverick leader's inner stronghold, even as he tried to shake the feeling that his partner should have been someone else... someone blue... "there's no telling what this guy has up his sleeve this time."
"Roger, Zero," the brash youngster, at least in Zero's mind, grinned as he raised his Copy Pistol. "Ready when you are."
"Okay, on three. One... two..."
As one, the two turned and blew the gate open and rushed inside, to be greeted by the sight of the black-cloaked figure of the Maverick leader.
"Give it up, Epsilon!" Zero shouted. "There's nowhere to run this time!"
"Run?" Epsilon laughed from his place in the shadows. "Why would I do such a thing like that? After all–"
*SKRRCH*
The year 21XX:
"–you know I can never die," Sigma grinned malevolently in his latest body.
Zero shook his head in confusion and glanced at Axl. The rookie hunter didn't seem to have noticed the sudden shift in reality. Zero shook off the disorientation and returned his attention to Sigma.
"I'll return again and again until–"
*SKRRCH*
The year 20XX:
"–you acknowledge the truth of who I am to you," the hologram of an old balding man in a labcoat and tie with wild gray hair sprouting from the sides of his head grinned madly. A man Zero felt looked all too familiar to a deep, buried part of his mind. "That you are–"
*SKRRCH*
The year 2XX1:
"–nothing more than a Maverick yourself!" Dr. Doppler accused with a fervor that would have had a human frothing at the mouth. "You should–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X2X1:
"–leave now," the giant form of the General, supreme leader of Repliforce, demanded as Zero shook his head in confusion. "You cannot walk in here and simply accuse us–"
*SKRRCH*
The year 2XX2:
"–of being Mavericks," Colonel Redips scoffed. "Only history can truly say which of us was in the wrong. It is only right that we seek to evolve to the–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X21X:
"–strongest we can be!" Berkana grinned madly. "Come, Zero! Axl! Test yourselves against–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X2X2:
"–my unparalleled strength!" the vupline reploid with nine tails declared as Zero and Axl readied themselves. "Your might shall prove–
*SKRRCH*
The year 2X1X:
"–impressive," Gareth grunted in admiration as Zero and Axl's weapons bounced off his shield. "But it will prove–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X22X:
"–useless!" Gate screamed, eyes wide with madness as he unleashes a blast that blew Zero and Axl back. "I may be insane, but it's just so–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X2X2:
"–terrifying..." Red shook as he tried to hold himself back. "Please, stop me before–"
*SKRRCH*
The year 2X2X:
"–you get hurt!" Dynamo sneered confidently at the two. "After all, neither of you can match my coolness or–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X1X2:
"–power," High Max intoned. "I have surpassed you, Zero. I may have been created from your data, but I am the stronger of us. You have no–"
*SKRRCH*
The year X2XX:
"–chance!" Omega loomed over them menacingly. "But then, it is better that you don't, Zero. Because they may call me the 'devil reploid', the messiah of darkness, but we know the truth, don't we?"
*SKRRCH*
The year XXXX:
Zero blinked as the constantly shifting terrain resolved itself into the decimated lab that he himself had originally been found in, and the foe he and Axl had been facing was no longer there.
"We all know who the real evil is..." a voice Zero knew very well spoke sinisterly from behind him, punctuated by Axl's pained gurgle.
Zero turned around; certain he didn't want to see what this new form of his distorting opponent was, but unable to stop himself; to see a sickly purple beam saber blade protruding from Axl's torso as the light of life went out in the younger reploid's eyes. And behind him...
Was what appeared to be Zero himself. Only clad in armor that glowed with sinisterly purple light instead of his normal red. A nightmare with his face...
"It's you, Zero," the foe with his face spoke with his voice. "You and the virus you carry... The source of all Mavericks... The world will never be at peace as long as you l1^3%|}$%{:$:#$******************
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.8
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 8 using secondary Anchor candidate:
X floated in troubled unconsciousness as he digested the memories that tormented him. Fevered stasis dreams and over a hundred years of experiences mixed together in a parade of dark strangeness. All of it pointed to one thing...
"It was all your fault."
...wait. That wasn't a memory... That was a voice... He knew that voice...
X fought his way back to consciousness and opened his awareness, to see a red-eyed face staring straight at him. A familiar face... His own...
"That's what I've come to realize," the replica of himself continued. "You were the first. The one that all the rest after were modeled on. It was your ability to chart your own destiny that did it, combined with your incredible power, that dictated the tragedy that followed. No reploid would have ever gone Maverick without those things after all."
The copy of himself began to circle and X found he couldn't move, not even to follow the figure with his eyes.
"But that wasn't enough, was it? You had to try and be a pacifist in a time and place that was always one step away from war. You had to squander your infinite potential trying to keep the peace even as an endless parade of despots and destroyers took advantage of your kindness to wreak havoc on the world. You had to paint a target of everything you cared about because you were too 'nice' to defend it. To do what was necessary."
X watched, unable to make a sound, as the reploid with his face, his body, stepped in front of him once more.
"I know all about what happened with you. You sealed yourself away because you evolved your emotions right out of your system just to keep from snapping under the stress. And the funny thing is that you honestly think that's when you stopped caring, isn't it? That you stopped caring about others when you finally deleted your emotions, but that's a lie. You never cared, did you? Because, if you had cared it would have never gotten that bad."
X wanted to refute everything, but his impotent words only echoed in his own mind.
"But I don't have that problem. I succeeded where you failed. I've taken the surviving humans and reploids and forged a utopia out of them. One without Mavericks, because I'm not afraid to dispose of the problem cases like you were. Because I care enough to fix the prob13|\/|5P^$MF$P,o4%]/^|}********************
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero. IX
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 2 activation attempt IX using secondary Anchor candidate:
Zero breathed heavily in the decrepit lab he found himself in. He didn't know what was going on with himself, only that he'd come out of a stasis pod in a murderous rage at... something... and decimated everything in sight. Even the figures that must have been reploids, or possibly humans, that had come to try and fight or restrain him. He couldn't be sure which.
The burning fury had only dissipated when he recognized the face of his last victim.
Sigma.
The leader of the Mavericks for endless years, or was he? Hadn't he only gone mad after being infected by the fire that now burned through his circuits? Zero wasn't sure of anything. Only the burning ceaseless rage that he now struggled to keep under control. But it fought him every step of the way. Was that half-remembered dream of another him right? Was he a monster?
It would certainly explain why he'd been singing that song ever since he'd half-snapped out of it.
"This secret side I keep hid under lock and key. The virus is caged, but I can't control it. Cause if I let it out, we'll be torn up and broken down. Why won't somebody come and save me from this? Make it end!"
"Is someone down here?" a voice Zero knew all too well echoed down into the room and he wanted to plead with the owner not to enter. Not to see him like this. But the virus wanted something else. It wanted to rip and tear the owner of that voice apart, and that desire spiked when the blue armor came into view. "Hello? Can you hear me? Do you need help?" X stepped in, his face a mask of worry as he scanned the room and saw the bodies. "Commander Sigma?!" he yelled as he rushed in and ran to the dead reploid. "What happened?" he looked around, before spotting the figure of Zero half hidden in the shadows. "Did... did you do this?"
Zero wanted to tell X to run, as far and as fast as he could, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was more song as the rage within forced him to stagger forwards as he tried to make his body go the other way. "I feel it deep within, It's just beneath the skin... I must confess that I feel like a monster!"
"What... what are you?" X backed up a step, a horrified look on his face.
"I hate what I've become," Zero continued singing against his will, clutching his head in pain as sinister purple energy began to flicker over his form, "but the nightmare's just begun! I must confess that I fEeL lIKe A mONsTER!"
Zero clamped down on the virus, forcing it back down after it made his voice go all guttural as X formed an arm cannon and pointed it at him.
"It's hiding in the dark! Its teeth are razor sharp! There's no escape for me: It wants my soul, It wants my heart!" Zero tried to inject the warning into the lyrics, but he knew even before X's expression firmed that his friend would never run. His only friend, even if they'd never met?
"What's wrong? How can I help?"
"No one can hear me scream..." Zero whispered as he took in the desire to help on X's face. "Maybe this is just a dream... Or maybe it's inside of me..." he continued, realizing that if there was anyone at all he could trust to stop him if he lost control, to take him out if he became the monster, it was X... "X, please, stop this m0|\|573R!?$%{}V];************************
ATTEMPT FAILED
X.9
Yggdrasil Log: Megaverse Section 3 activation attempt 9 using secondary Anchor candidate:
X looked at the form of his best friend. A bit different from before, but it was still very clearly Zero. It was... good to see his old friend again after so long. But the most telling thing about this emotional moment was... he didn't feel any of it.
"Zero..." he spoke, wondering at the sound of his own voice, the one that sounded so much like the copy that had taken over in his place. "I... I can't even recall how long it's been since I've been fighting alone... Battle after battle... loss after loss... insanity after insanity..."
"...X?" Zero looked a little creeped out.
"Heh..." X chuckled as some odd part of his mind decided to latch onto a song he'd heard... somewhere... somewhen... and began to play it. Music, and a chorus of his own voice echoing around them.
"Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum," the chorus went.
"Zero, what's wrong with me?" X asked, genuinely wanting to know the answer.
"Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum."
"Why do I feel like this?" When had he stopped feeling at all?
"Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum."
"I... I'm going crazy now," he really was.
"Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum."
"X?"
"Got no more fight, I feel dead," X continued, heedless of the question in his delirium.
"Please don't get me started," the chorus added.
"Never heard, never said," he'd been silent for so long.
"I just can't speak about it."
"I'm out my life and my head," oh, was he ever.
"Won't even think about it."
"Feels like I'm going insane, yeeaaahh!" and... he thought some part of him liked it.
Zero began backing up as he watched the Elf form of his former friend lose his mind right in front of him.
"Twas thief in the night that came and grabbed me," X began to explain in the song. "It just creeped up inside and consumed me. A disease of the mind that now controls me."
Then the chorus joined his words. "And. It's. Too. Close. For. Comfort."
Zero ignited his saber in an effort to warn X to keep his distance. Zero... his best friend.
"I made the pretty lights and built a city of wonder, where if you didn't play nice, well then, you might just go under. Better think twice or your train of thought will be altered, so if you must falter be wiiise."
"X, what's gotten into you?" Zero finally gave voice to his worries.
"My mind is in disturbia!" X answered truthfully. "It's like the darkness is the light!" after all, his friend deserved no less. "Disturbia! Am I scaring you tonight?" After all, Zero had been strong enough to stand up and fight after X himself had given up. Zero was the only one that could stop X's madness, even if that meant killing him. "Disturbia! Can't remember what I'm like... Disturbia! Distu68|A!MLM$#O 43'[.$?#****************************
ATTEMPT FAILED
Zero.X
Hephaestus sighed. This... This just wasn't working. It wasn't trying to activate both sections at once that was the problem, the system was handling that just fine. It was...
"Excuse me, Hephaestus," Brynhildr's voice came over the intercom from the reception area, "but Athena is here to see you."
Hephaestus sighed and pushed back from his terminal before getting up and limping over to the door to see what his sister wanted.
Opening the door, he saw the typically calm face of the Olympian goddess of wisdom, as well as the general of Olympian forces in times of battle (much to the eternal consternation of Ares), looking apologetic.
"I'm sorry, brother," Athena began formally, "but I'm afraid you've been assigned a student to instruct in the operation, maintenance, and repair of Yggdrasil."
Hephaestus blinked several times as this sunk in. "Why? I already have more than enough on my plate at the moment! If it weren't for my parole officers being able to watch my less problematic assignments, I'd be stretched beyond my limit!"
"I'm aware, and I brought this up, but father," Athena spat the title out viciously before regaining her calm, "made the argument that you are among the most knowledgeable and capable admins available, you have watchers who can ensure you are fulfilling the task, and the subject in question has been held up from her induction to her new duties for far too long as it is."
"Her...?" Hephaestus blinked. "You don't mean...?"
"I'm afraid he was very persuasive," Athena apologized. "Enough that I can still find no fault in his reasoning, and not for a lack of trying..."
The goddess of wisdom sighed again before motioning another figure over, an apparently teen girl with long pink hair and a flowing pale pink dress that looked at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted," Athena bowed and left the office.
Hephaestus stood there for a minute, waiting to see if the girl would say anything before sighing heavily. "I'm not going to bite," he said at last.
"Um..." the girl fidgeted nervously, "I mean... I didn't think you would... It's just..."
"You have not had a warm reception from many since your Ascension, have you Madoka Kaname?" Hephaestus folded his arms pointedly.
"Um... no... not really..."
"They blame you for Ascending to the divine level," the forge god stated evenly, "our level of existence, despite the fact that you were the designated Anchor for your branch of Yggdrasil, meaning that the entire section of reality you held up collapsed from your very absence in its infrastructure. They proceed to ignore the well-known fact that your familiar was the one who subtly goaded you towards ever-greater heights of power as well as the fact that none took the time to warn you of the dangers inherent in acquiring too much in the Loops."
"Right..." the girl agreed readily.
"They are also suspicious of the fact that you do not seem to mourn the loss of your reality or that of your looping friends, only looking so far to discover that your branch's data has vanished without a trace, leaving only the Hub backups remaining to restore it from when the Loop protocols conclude. They do not look hard enough to see that shortly after your Ascension, there was a data transfer of your branch before it faded into nonexistence."
Madoka started sharply at the claim as Hephaestus reached out over her shoulder and pulled a living piece of wood in the form of a bow out of nowhere.
"A data transfer to this very divine tool if I'm not mistaken."
"What?" Madoka stared in shock at what the forge god had just done. That... only she was supposed to be able to call her bow forth. Right?
Hephaestus chuckled and handed the bow back to her. "Ah, that never gets old. Young lady, I am one of the Admins that comprised the team which developed the protocols for ontological paradox storage of divine tools. We all learned a few tricks that others have never bothered to research."
"I... see..." Madoka accepted her bow and put it away.
"I also saw the files on you collecting the looping version of your friend Homura, among others, to add to the data on your bow. It's why you never mourned for your lost reality, because you haven't really lost it yet, have you?"
"...no..." Madoka said quietly. "Please..."
"I won't say anything, and from the way my lovely parole officers seem engrossed in their peripheral intern duties, I dare say they've gone temporarily deaf. You will have to address these things eventually, but not now."
Madoka looked around at the three Valkyries that she realized must have heard everything typing away busily and looked back at Hephaestus. He was now standing aside and gesturing to the interior of his office. Taking a deep breath, Madoka stepped through.
"What we do now is I do my best to teach you the ropes as an Admin, and afterwards you will likely be slotted into some low-level busywork job to free someone more experienced for more pressing projects. I know it's likely not what you hoped for, but that is the way of things now."
Madoka was vaguely listening, but her attention had been grabbed by a pair of profiles still active on her new teacher's console. "What are...?"
"Ah," Hephaestus nodded, "them. I suppose my latest problem is as good a place as any to start. You see, these two are known in their reality as X and Zero. They are the primary players of note in not one, but two distinct sections of a very damaged branch. As fate and Yggdrasil would have it, they are both the only currently viable Anchor candidates for both sections and they are proving rather... difficult to set in place."
"What's wrong?" Madoka prompted as she looked over the data on the two. She didn't yet understand the particulars, but some part of her could tell that they were in such pain.
"What's wrong is that they are proving unstable on their own," Hephaestus sighed. "If I didn't need both sections looping, I'd ask Yggdrasil to set one as a normal looper early and be done with it, but I do need both sections. While this branch, which for simplicity's sake has been designated the 'Megaverse' after the title of its most notable heroes, has numerous sections, they have interwoven data along two distinct timelines. Sections 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 comprise the largest timeline with 4 and 5 as the other. I have section 1 active and my current project is sections 2 and 3. The issue is that sections 6 and 7, 6 in particular, rely on the events of section 3 to even exist, which in turn relies on section 2, which relies on section 1. Trying to activate section 3 without section 2 would invite paradoxical disaster even if it worked, but if I write off section 3 in favor of getting section 2 online, it is tantamount to sentencing the entirety of sections 6 and 7 to oblivion as well."
"And you can't accept that..." Madoka interrupted, before realizing what she'd done and looking away.
"No," Hephaestus agreed, deciding not to complicate matters further by delving into the issue of the scattered data of 'section X', "nor do I believe for a moment that my loopers would ever forgive me for such an action. The issue remains that both X and Zero undergo very high levels of mental stress in their baselines. Levels that would outright shatter the psyches of lesser mortals and the repeated experiencing of which is already proving too much for them."
Madoka looked a little confused.
"Among other things about this branch are an exponentially higher number of bugs, viruses, and other issues than is average," Hephaestus explained. "One such bug is granting memory access of failed activation attempts to all the loopers that undergo them. It is proving very frustrating, but I have become resigned to the notion that this will prove normal for all sections of this branch. In any case, X and Zero, for all their strength, each regard the other as the unshakable pillar that will continue to stand should they themselves fall. Without regular contact with a version of their friend who remembers past Loops to share the burden, I fear that their very souls will snap under the strain and with them–"
"–and with them, their whole realities could collapse as well," Madoka immediately understood the implications.
"Yes."
"There's no way you can have them looping together?" Madoka pondered the problem as she studied the two's data. She could see the connection. Not a bond between souls, but one almost as important in its own way. A bond between comrades. Brothers. By blood shed if not by blood born. The strength to help the other stand when they couldn't on their own. Two pillars of strength that were very separate, but always stood stronger together.
"No..." Hephaestus mused. "Not with needing each to Anchor their own section... Unless..."
Hephaestus suddenly moved a lot faster than his limp would suggest him capable of, plunging into his chair and fingers flying across the terminal before his forward momentum had even begun to halt.
Madoka stared as lines of code sprung into being that she couldn't even begin to comprehend, much less offer aid with.
"Maybe if..." she heard her new instructor mutter to himself. "Yes, if I thread the code from the Anchor point like so to the other section and did that from both ends... Yes, this could work..."
As Madoka watched the forge god code away in awe, Hephaestus smiled widely, double-checked his work, and prepared to activate the attempt. As an afterthought, he added a tandem link to the next iteration of section 1 for extra stability. "I apologize for not explaining things, but with any luck I can show you the ropes during this attempt without anything serious cropping up."
BEGIN JOINT SECTION ACTIVATION ATTEMPT USING EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOLS DESIGNATED 'HEPHAESTUS 2'? Y/N
Y:\ Y
BEGINNING LOOP...
10.0) Because, as cj304 pointed out when he posted the original this is adapted from, X is canonically nicknamed "The Father of all Reploids".
Zero.I) Zero's understandably confused.
X.1) At least he didn't have rainbow hair.
Zero. II) Well... that might have resolved itself...
X.2) It's a Thriller night!
Thriller by Michael Jackson: www. youtube watch? v=4V90AmXnguw
Zero. III) Omegamon plot bunny by Reydrago. Snip by me.
X.3) Maverick Hunter X: Day of Sigma, with a couple of tweaks. Honestly, I think that version of Sigma scares me more than the typical interpretation of him.
Zero. IV) I know it's terrible of me, but the idea of zombie!Iris came up back when I was writing Loop 1.0 and I knew I had to write it, no matter how much it would torment Zero. Honestly, I like the guy a lot, but his canon history makes him way too easy to torment. Then again, X doesn't exactly have it any better...
X.4) Interesting fact: When I first fought Double way back when, people were calling his other form Jello Man. No idea where that came from in the first place, but it stuck with me and so he became the Jello Devil here. In any case, have a song for him. The Blob seems appropriate at least.
The Blob Theme Song: www. youtube watch? v=AK5jyVCdXwc
Zero.V) ...lolwut?
X.5) I... got nothing.
Zero. VI) Eh, not much to see here. Just a cool line Vile had during his one appearance in the Megaman cartoon that I really liked.
X.6) Yeah, switching sections wasn't really working out there.
Zero. VII) The Zero Manga. Sort of. Your mileage may vary on whether the original material makes more sense or not. Also Shitennou = "Four Heavenly Kings"
Fallen Angels by Black Veil Brides: www. youtube watch? v=VuGzJVKtW6g
X.7) Oath: Well, everyone calls Vile a Boba Fett rip-off to begin with. Now it's come full circle.
Me: Going back to their original sections doesn't seem to be working either...
Zero. VIII) o_O
X.8) O_o
Zero. IX) Zero's having some problems...
Monster by Skillet: www. youtube watch? v=0jLp-qP9iYs
X.9) X is... (sorry for the pun) disturbed.
Disturbia by Rihanna: www. youtube watch? v=Lm0IzB10JTo
Zero.X) Madoka is the former Anchor of the Puella Magi branch who Ascended to Adminhood, which also caused the collapse of her branch. But she saved the data on her bow before it could disappear and then tracked down her looping friend Homura to recover her and put her on the bow (as seen in the MLP Loops). Some people on the Spacebattles forums have talked about her learning the ropes from Hephaestus, so I thought I'd run with that.
As for the rest of the Zero.X Loop that will activate both the X and Zero sections, that will be done via flashback, told by X and Zero themselves to the other Megaverse loopers (including Lan and Hub who are up next). For now, enjoy the fact that X and Zero have officially joined the Loops and expect to see them in upcoming compilations!