All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. All he could see was the small monitor in front of him surrounded in darkness. The monitor showed a map moving with the small blinking dot.
"So close. I'm ready to get this over with. I can't afford to let her down," Sheldon thought to himself.
He took a moment to take a deep breath. Thirty seven seconds later, he heard the sound of the buzzer.
As soon as the pod dropped from the bottom of the giant air craft, he yelled "Full power on!"
The pod broke apart revealing that Sheldon was piloting his new improved Silver Shell. The battle had already started. Powerful laser rounds were being fired in the direction of the giant aircraft as the aircraft was also returning fire. The sounds of war were near deafening. As soon as he dodged a few laser rounds, he caught a glimpse of Jenny dodging some herself. He didn't stare because he'd then be risking his life. He smiled and swooped straight downward to merge with the crowed of ground troops.
"Hey! It's Silver Shell, everybody!" One of the soldier yelled out.
Some of the soldiers took the time out to look up at him who was flying about six feet above them.
"Today is the big day. I wish you soldiers good luck. Please don't die on me," Sheldon yelled out as he picked up speed leaving the crowd behind.
Ground troops, both human and robot, and tanks were everywhere. The bright colors from the lasers illuminated the ice below them, along with the sight and sound of explosions actually excited Sheldon as he made his way towards the base.
After taking out a few mounted cannons, he yelled out "You will not kill me today!"
As soon as both X and Zero touched the ground, they both decided to transform.
X jumped into the air yelling "Now! Shadow Armor!"
He glowed brightly, and then he emerged from the ball of light running at blazing speeds. He was covered from head to toe in mostly black armor that looked a lot like a ninja's outfit. He began slashing through both enemies and mounted guns with a yellow beam saber protruding from his arm cannon.
Zero emerged from his ball of bright light doing a continuous dash with his Z-Saber in hand activated. The red portion of his armor was now black, and his hair was now silver instead of blond. The color of his Z-Saber was also no longer green, but bright purple.
As an enemy saw him approaching, he said nervously, "Shit! Why did I have to get Zero, and in his black armor no less?"
Jenny decided that her best strategy was to focus most of her energy into the energy barrier she set up around herself as she tries to find a way inside the base. At this point, she felt as though she would lose too much energy trying to fight against outside forces. She and Misty both flew side by side.
Melody, with her upgrade already activated, flew alongside Vexus. The other XJs had their strength enhancers already activated and volunteered to help the soldiers and the other Maverick Hunters fight on the ground. Grace already transformed was doing a whole lot better than she thought she would. Even Angel was surprised at how powerful they were. Even so, they could not let their guard down for a second.
Misty decided to try and keep as many soldiers alive as possible, so she mostly stayed near the ground.
Many Skyway Patrol members were also there fighting. Many veterans of whom hadn't served since the first intergalactic war had volunteered to fight as well. It was indeed a full scale assault. It was decided that sending only a small force in at a time was too great a risk. It was all or nothing this time.
As some of the Mavericks waiting inside the base watched the large screen, Sting Chameleon said nervously "And here I was thinking this was going to be a prolonged war, not a one day battle. I never would've guessed they'd actually send in so many troops all at once."
"It is surprising. They would never normally be willing to risk so many of their troops and spend so much money organizing this. Modern governments have never behaved this way before not even in our world. Smytus and Krackus must've taught them an important lesson," Sigma added with a grin.
"You're not nervous, Master? Your backup plan must be better than I thought," another Maverick guessed.
"It's better than you know. All right! I want Division D to head to the main entrance and protect it. To make you all feel better, I'm sending help with you. In the mean time, the rest of you follow me to the lower level.
Sheldon mad managed to get within about a hundred feet of the main entrance when his sensors told him to back away ASAP. He did so at the last moment as he dodged a powerful explosion from below. The explosion shook the ground below as two large figures came rising out of the hole in the ground. Most of the action outside halted as they all wondered who the figures were.
"Shit, it's High-Max! But who is the other one? I don't recognize him," Zero yelled.
Jenny couldn't believe her eyes. The second figure was mostly unrecognizable, but she recognized one feature.
She raised her voice, and yelled "No! It can't be you! I thought you were dead! How can you still be alive?"
The figure looked in her direction, and then yelled in a loud and deep voice "Yes! I see you haven't forgotten my eyes, XJ9! I, Killgore, challenge you to a rematch, right here, right now! What are you fools doing standing around staring? Kill the humans and their partners now!"
With that, he took off in Jenny's direction at full speed, screaming angrily, leaving a pool of melted ice behind him with the heat from his rockets. High-Max stood there watching Killgore for a few seconds before returning his attention to the field.
He then yelled "If anyone wants to get through this entrance, they will have to go through me first. Try your best. I want to see a good show. And my brothers in arms; fight harder or I will destroy you myself.
As Jenny fought with Killgore, both X and Zero headed directly towards High-Max.
As High-Max's attention was mostly focused on Zero, he thought to himself "Here they come. It was only a matter of time. You are too dangerous to left alive, Zero. The nightmare must be destroyed."
He began by forming a blue energy field around himself in the shape of a ribbon-like ring, but the energy did not appear to be solid. It looked like an array of some kind of writing in an unknown language.
As they approached, X yelled "He wasn't able to raise that barrier that quickly last time. Get ready to hit em' hard."
High-Max pointed his left palm towards them and started rapidly firing small black energy balls surrounded in electricity. Both X and Zero dodged knowing that there would be casualties, but there was little they could do about it and save themselves at the same time.
Both of them weaved between the attacks, and finally, X released a huge wave of rotating quarter-moon shaped blades of yellow energy. High-Max barely dodged them, but received a small scratched on his right knee. Heading straight upwards, he watched his opponents carefully.
"Try dodging this!" Zero yelled as his entire body glowed bright purple.
He dashed straight upwards, not with the rockets on the bottoms of his feet, but with the energy itself. Even High-Max knew he couldn't dodge that in time, so he focused, and then grabbed Zero's sword with his bare hands. The shock began rocketing them both straight upwards.
High-Max then strained to yell "Is that what you had planned; a javelin attack? I expected more from the nightmare!"
They both struggled against each other, growling the entire time.
A few seconds later, High-Max yelled "Get off me!"
He mustered enough strength to throw Zero to the side. Zero's barrier disappeared for a couple of seconds as it appeared as though he was going to go plummeting to the ground. To High-Max's surprise, Zero's barrier reactivated suddenly followed by another dash straight up into the air, and then a sharp curve, followed by a descent straight downwards heading for the top of High-Max's head.
High-Max didn't expect this maneuver, so he didn't think to dodge the attack, but he did manage to catch the blade once again with his hands. By the time High-Max realized that Zero was trying to smash him into the ground, Zero had already pushed out even more energy into his attack.
Rocketing towards the ground, Zero said with a grin "You asked for a nightmarish attack, and you got it. This should kill me too, but I know how to get off of you in time so I won't hurt myself, but what about you?"
A couple of seconds later, X grabbed Zero in mid jump carrying him to safety just before High-Max smashed into the ground. The weight of his huge body caused the ground to shake for over a hundred yards.
When X and Zero landed, Zero said "Thanks man. I probably could have gotten off of him in time by myself, but it's easier when you do it for me."
"You're welcome, but look sharp. He might not be dead," X replied.
"Right!" Zero said as he regained his focus.
Suddenly, High-Max jumped straight up out of the hole and stopped in mid air.
"Surprised? That only caused minimal damage. You have improved: both of you, but my body has been heavily upgraded…what does she think she's doing?" High-Max asked in disbelief.
X and Zero both looked to see Grace flying in their direction.
"Wait! She's not coming towards us, she's charging High-Max dead on! Is she insane? She'll be killed!" X yelled.
"Fine by me. Just try me, Red Angel!" High-Max yelled.
"Don't do it, Grace!" Zero yelled.
Grace and Angel both started screaming in unison as they concentrated a lot of energy into their flame barrier. High-Max's previously confident expression then became one of fear and anger. He then raised the barrier from before once again, but this time, it was double-layered. He then fired bright white laser pulses from his eyes. Grace didn't even slow down for a second as the lasers fizzled out upon impact.
This time, High-Max tried beam lasers instead of pulses. He pushed a lot of power into them. Upon impact, Grace was finally being slowed down. As she pushed to get closer to her target, hers and Angel's screaming became louder.
"That double barrier will be hard to break through, but I could try…" X thought to himself.
He then jumped into the air, reverted to his normal armor, and then it changed from its usual colors to sky blue and yellow. He absorbed a lot of energy, and then released it from his buster. When the ice impacted, it exploded and incased most of High-Max's body in a mass of ice. The explosion, plus the cloud of residue, distracted High-Max enough to cease his laser firing.
Grace then broke right through both layers of his barrier and the ice and punched him directly in the chest releasing enough energy to cause a huge explosion. The explosion was strong enough to push her away from it, and it sent her flying away from it with her body flailing around out of control.
Surprised, Zero yelled "That was amazing! I didn't know she could do that!"
As Grace regained he composure and landed, the explosion cleared enough to reveal High-Max still alive. Grace grinned when she realized that he had a large crater in his chest.
As High-Max looked down at the spark shooting out of his chest, he then screamed "ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES!"
He then screamed at the top of his lungs, and his body then glowed a blinding bright blue. This made a lot of the field action stop once again only just to cover their eyes. Many people felt their body being forced away from the spot that they were in. For over two miles, the force of the explosion spread outwards away from the front of High-Max's body.
When Jenny regained consciousness, she looked around for a moment wondering why her vision was so blurry. A few moments later, she suddenly remembered that that bright light High-Max was responsible for making was responsible. She then took a moment to run auto repair on her vision.
As her vision began clearing up, she slowly stood up and began feeling her way around.
"I'm inside of an underground cave. That hole in the ceiling says that I crashed right through it. My vision is almost repaired now. It's time to get out of here and back to the battlefield," She said as she prepared her rockets.
Suddenly, she was knocked into a nearby wall. When she turned around, a hand grabbed her neck and pushed her against the wall. She then realized it was Killgore. His face and body was shaking with frustrated anger.
Killgore then yelled "That face makes me angry! Why are you making that face?"
"What do you mean?" Jenny growled.
A moment later, Killgore replied "This isn't the way it was supposed to be. You must be an imposter. You're not XJ9."
He lifted her off the ground and held her high.
"What the hell are you…talking about? I am…XJ9."
In a frustrated growl, Killgore raised his voice, and then strained out the words "You can't be her! You just can't be! You…look like her…but you don't look like her! You act like her, but you don't act like her! Tell me where I can find the real XJ9…so I can have my victory!"
She then tried to kick him in the face, but he grabbed her foot and slammed her into the ground. When she turned over to face him, he stared down at her with an extremely disappointed expression.
"You're not the same either, Killgore. Did you ever notice that?" Jenny asked with a surprisingly calm tone.
"I made myself better so that I may finally triumph over my greatest nemesis!" Killgore said.
He then jumped up, and landed straddled over Jenny, with his fist in the ground. Jenny moved her head to the side at the last moment. He then punched at her face over and over again screaming each time, and each time, she dodged the punch.
When he stopped, he then screamed "But you weren't supposed to change! What happened to you? How did you lose your pride? Why are you so angry now? Why are you so sad? If I kill you now…as you are…all the time I spent preparing for this day will be for nothing."
A few seconds later, Jenny slowly raised her right hand and placed it gently on his left shoulder. Surprised, he froze not knowing what to do next.
Jenny smiled slightly, and then said "You're not the only one Killgore. A lot of time has passed since we last met. A lot of things have changed in that time too…and we've both had a lot of disappointments since. I am not…the same Jenny from before…and I'll never be her again. I've changed too much. Two years is a long time. So, you really don't watch the news, do you? Did you know that I attempted suicide?"
Shocked, Killgore asked "You?"
"Mm hmm," Jenny answered as she nodded her head.
A moment later, Killgore said "That sad look in your eyes. I see. You're telling me the truth."
"You have to understand, Killgore, there's nothing to be gained from this anymore. Even if you did manage to kill me, that wouldn't make you the greatest villain. The stakes have become too high, and whether or not the people live to see tomorrow, is no longer solely up to me. I'm not that special anymore. If you kill me now, people will think of it as more along the lines of the death of another celebrity. I used to be famous enough for this to matter, but not now. That time has passed. Not only that, but you wouldn't get the credit anyway because you got your upgrade from Sigma," Jenny explained.
Killgore lowered his head in shame, and then said "You're right. You've always been right. I was never able to outwit you. If you are so smart, tell me what I should do now."
"I don't know. This is one time I do not have an answer for you. I know what you shouldn't do. Please don't give up on life," Jenny said with a slight tremble in her voice.
He looked back at her face surprised, and then asked "What?"
Jenny then continued saying "Maybe I'm just overreacting, but whenever I see someone fail at something and become sad…I imagine them trying to take their own life…just as I did."
A moment later, Killgore said "I don't plan on doing that. I'm keeping my life for as long as I can."
"That's good. But listen, I might be asking the wrong person, but we could really use your help," Jenny said.
Killgore grinned and replied "So, this is the second time you ask for Killgore's help. I was wrong about you. If you need help from somebody, more than once, maybe I wouldn't get much glory out of killing you after all."
"That also proves that I'm not the same anymore. What you just said would've offended the old me," Jenny said while smiling.
"All right. I'll help you this time, but if I feel like I'm in too much danger, I'm leaving. I don't plan on dying for the humans like you'd be willing to. When this is over, our rivalry is officially terminated," Killgore explained.
"But that's just it; I never wanted a rivalry with you. I was annoyed with you at first, but I got over it. In a lot of ways, I wish you were still the cute little wind-up robot you once were," Jenny said with a smile.
Killgore laughed, slowly stood up, and then helped Jenny to her feet.
"I guess a lot really has changed. A wind-up toy. I once was just that too. Whatever. We need to get out of here. Those guys must be worried sick about you," Killgore said.
"Right! Let's get going," Jenny said.
And with that, they both activated their rockets and headed upwards and out of the hole in the ceiling.
X followed the signal that Zero was emitting. He wandered around searching for around twelve minutes before he noticed Zero's right foot sticking up out of the ice in the distance. He ran over to Zero and began pulling him out. About thirty seconds later, he had Zero lying on his back trying to wake him up.
The sound of a distant explosion caused Zero's eyes to shoot open.
"You're finally awake," X said relieved.
"What a monster? That…High-Max could never have pulled that one off before. Sigma went all the way with his upgrade. How long have I been out for?" Zero asked.
"About twenty minutes," X answered.
As Zero stood up his said "For all we know, all the humans on that field could be…"
X cut him off by saying "We really…shouldn't be so pessimistic."
As they both started walking, Zero said "X. No offense, but you're usually more pessimistic than me."
Angrily, X asked "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You wish for a better world, but you don't see much hope for it. You didn't think I noticed? I don't know what Grace said to you, but I know she made you spill your guts all over the place. I didn't have to investigate any further than the looks in your eyes the next time you ran into each other to figure out what happened. Jenny told me earlier that that girl has a way of bringing out people's hidden anger. Remembering that little tidbit, it wasn't hard for me to connect the dots," Zero replied.
"Even if I did spi…" X said angrily.
Zero turned around suddenly and cut X off by grabbing his left shoulder with his right hand.
"Why the hell do you continue, X? Are you insane? You suddenly got dropped into another world that you didn't know existed, and then you felt an even greater sense of responsibility fall on your shoulders? I told you a long time ago that you are unrealistic, but now you've risen to brand new level. Haven't you figured it out yet? People are people, and they're always gonna be the way they are. That's what the problem is. You can't fix the problem unless you actually reprogram their minds. Most people are constantly thinking of how far are the willing to push the idea of helping others until circumstances make them resort to self-preservation. A lot of people, on the other hand, only think of self-preservation. I know that drives you up the wall. I know it pisses you the hell off. The reality is that most people are not confident enough in what they have to want to make real sacrifice for the benefit of others. Reploids are the same way. Most people feel weak and scared even though they usually don't admit it. A lot of them don't even know how to admit it to themselves. So I guess their problem is what they feel they have to fall back on in case things don't work out. Look around you, X. The world is a harsh environment to live in, with very little resources as it is, and a growing number of mouths to feed. Not everybody has the emotional strength and enthusiasm that you have, man. Unless you can make up for the difference, things will remain as they are, or probably get worse. To do that, you would have to be pretty much omnipotent, and that's because mortal bodies, flesh or metal, can't handle that kind of stress," Zero explained.
His eyes racing, and in his frustration, X asked "Then what…"
He removed Zero's hand, turned away from him, stared at the ground, and asked in a loud frustrated tone that even surprised Zero "Then what am I supposed to do, huh? What the hell was Dr. Light thinking when he made me? Was it just the dying wish of a depressed unfulfilled old man that I was created? Am I just following in the footsteps of his delusions? He said my name was X. He said that the variable, X, stood for unlimited potential for growth. How long is it supposed to take to reach the level necessary for me to be that champion for the people he wanted me to be? I want them to live a better life, even if it's without me. I don't want them to see me as some god. I just want to make all this better to live in. I just want them to love each other and live a full life. I've been fighting for a very…very long time now. If I'm supposed to be so damned special, Dr. Light, why is it taking so long to see any improvement?"
He then fell to his knees and began sobbing. He felt a great deal of his strength leave him.
"I thank you for coming to my rescue, X. You've always been a good friend to me. According to Dr. Wily's plans, that wasn't supposed to be possible. The belief in God has mostly left both our worlds, or at least the number of the believers of the past and the believers of today is quite a big difference. The point is that if he is real, the fact that a great evil like I was supposed to become hasn't destroyed the world, but instead helped save it, seems as though some kind of intervention happened to help achieve a balance, or at least allow the course of events to flow the way the always have. Since I can't prove it, it could've been mere coincidence," Zero said.
As X continued crying, Zero turned and walked in the direction of the battle saying "I don't really know what to tell you, old friend. I think you made the huge mistake of putting all of your eggs in one basket, and when that basket began to fail you, well, you know the rest. Please don't take what I'm saying as an insult. I really do want the best for you. I still chose to have hope for them, X. I'm gonna go help them fight now."
The sound of Zero's voice began to diminish as he got farther and farther away from X. The sound of the wind began to take over as X was no longer able to hear Zero's running clearly. About twenty or so seconds later, all X could hear was the sounds of the wind, the sounds of the battle in the distance, and his own sobbing.