Welcome back team! As usual, let's get the reviews sorted first.
As a general answer to all the review from the last chapter, I'm glad you all liked the battle so much. I have tried to update the fighting style of the characters, using their weapons less and their physical abilities more. This is particularly important for X since he was a traditional buster user and not one for close combat.
Locke Lynx: Should have guessed that much, Michael Bay doesn't have the skill to make such compelling dialogue.
Pea Brain Writer: Yeah, maybe those author notes were kind of jarring, if so I apologise.
Also about Yaboiooverthar... I genuinely have no idea what he is talking about... seriously. Is it some relationship term or what?
With that sorted, on we go.
(Insert music: Megaman Legends 2 OST – Yosyonke Church)
Watching the base fall apart through the eyes of a spy Reaverbot, the Aberrant Council members sat silently. It seemed as though they cared little but Gate and Lumine seemed more annoyed than anything else.
"Well that was disappointing." Lumine said.
"Yeah." Gate agreed. "I thought it would be amusing to see Adam throw one last tantrum but he went out with more of a whimper. X is still alive and he rescued his friend as well."
"Never trust a human or faunus to do a reploids job." Lumine concluded.
"Just as well we sent Double and Sigma out there then, isn't it?" The scientist smiled.
Through all this though, there was one council member who sat lost in thought.
Zero.
The spy Reaverbot had caught glimpses of the battle that had taken place, mostly to try and understand the abilities of X and his friends. That was not what echoed the reploids mind though.
No, it was how X had reacted to everything so far. He didn't abandon his friends or comrades. He fought with everything he had to try and save them. He even showed mercy upon his attackers when he could. It was all of these acts that sent ripples through his memory banks.
"Zero don't you recognise me? We're partners!"
The conflict at the arena still weighed down the red reploid. X claimed he knew him, now these memories that were coming back seemed to support that.
"I'm afraid for every kind and sensitive reploid like you X, there always seems to be a borderline maverick like Vile around."
He could remember speaking with X, he could remember fighting alongside him but... those memories could be fake. It was all to easy to replace a reploids memory data with another load of false memories. He needed clarification. He needed to talk to someone who would know both X and him well enough to speak the truth.
That was when his eyes snapped back to the feed, showing a purple reploid carrying a pink haired girl away from the base in his arms. They were both badly injured, they would pose no threat.
Zero rose from his seat and made his way out of the throne room.
"Going somewhere, Zero?" Xevach asked.
"I grow tired of simply watching." He lied. "I am going to train with some of the corrupted Grimm."
Xevach seemed to believe him. "Very well then, good hunting."
With that, Zero made his way out of the room and towards not the training area, but the transerver room. Inputting the co-ordinates of Vile's former base, he stood and awaited the transport process to begin.
If the Council would not tell him, he would get his answers another way.
Patch Island – Signal City
Mercury and Emerald regrouped having drawn Ruby and Yang's friends far away from the battle they were having with Sigma. They met up at one of the busy market areas in Signal City's shopping district. The locals were obviously bewildered at the sight before them, unsure of what to do.
Emerald spoke with a filtered sounding voice due to her breathing apparatus. She raised her hand and a glowing orb of energy appeared in it.
"Attention shoppers, the market is now closed."
She then threw the orb at one of the groups of stall and it exploded in a fiery pillar. Naturally, the terrified civilians began to run for their lives. Mercury continued to destroy the other surrounding stalls.
Mercury seemed content to enjoy watching until he saw a female shop owner crawl out from the wreckage that was once her store. He knelt down towards her and revealed a grenade launcher concealed within his kneecap. Not even having a second of remorse, he fired the grenade which engulfed the woman in a sea of fire.
Or it would have if Jaune had not leapt in at the last second with his semblance activated. Dismissing the barrier, he helped the woman to her feet.
"Get out of here, we'll handle this."
The shop owner sprinted away as Pyrrha, Ren and Nora arrived.
"Aw, isn't that cute?" Mercury mocked. "The knight in shining armour saving the damsel in distress."
"Why are you ding this?" Jaune demanded. "Why would you side with Sigma and Neo Arcadia? Don't you realise he want to destroy all of humanity?"
Mercury got serious. "Don't take us for fools, Arc. Of course we realise we're working for the bad guys. They are going to destroy every human and faunus alive and we're going to help them."
"But why?" Ren reiterated.
"Why?" Emerald said sadly. "Because we have no choice. It is the only way we can be freed."
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.
"We can't get our old bodies back, we can't change our destiny. If we don't fight, Sigma will force us not to die but to live on."
Mercury continued. "If we defeat you here and now, Sigma will destroy us. If we lose to you, you will destroy us. Either way, we'll come out winners... in a weird, twisted way. So why don't we have some fun and go out with a bang?"
(Insert music: Megaman ZXA Tunes – Trap Phantasm)
Mercury opened the battle with a powerful kick aimed at Jaune, only for it to impact his shield. He quickly backed away and tried again, though Jaune held his defence well. The third time Mercury tried to strike, Jaune side stepped him and the blue haired boy stopped just beside Jaune. Pyrrha then ran up behind him and bashed Mercury into the ground with her shield with enough force to break the ground.
Thinking the job was done, Pyrrha and Jaune relaxed, only to have Mercury blast out of the ground behind them and this time land one of his trademark kicks to Pyrrhas back. The Spartan smashed into Jaune and the two were sent flying with Mercury in hot pursuit.
Seeing the danger approaching, Pyrrha threw Jaune to the safety of the ground after he rolled a bit. She then flipped in the air and landed against the wall of a nearby building. Sliding down slightly, Mercury's next strike hit the wall just above her head, grazing her hair it was so close.
She then grabbed Mercury by the leg and threw him underneath her against the wall. Letting him bounce off it, Jaune was ready to smack him right back into it. The two repeated this action several times like Mercury was a tennis ball being hit against the wall. Jaune and Pyrrha then stuck Mercury with their blades together and sent him right through the building. Letting the boy fall through the other side, they then jumped through the rubble to continue the chase.
Emerald meanwhile was dealing with Ren and Nora. Letting the jewels in her robotic arms glow purple for a moment, she called forth two shadowy clones of Ren and Nora.
"Since when could you do that?" Nora asked.
"Guess those were part of Sigma's upgrades, right?" Ren said.
With a look of no pity, she sent Ren's copy to take on Pyrrha and Jaune while sending the Nora off to fight against her original self, leaving Ren to fight alone for the moment. The two dashed across each other, Ren using his blades and Emerald using her arms which were made of Ceretanium.
"That stuff again? Seriously, how much of that do you have?" Ren asked, annoyed.
The two crossed rapidly, only taking quick swipes at each other, though none found their target. On the next one however, Ren front flipped over her strike and converted the dodge into a downward stab with his two pistol blades, knocking Emerald to her knees briefly.
Nora had managed to almost lose her shadowy copy. Seeing the clone approach, she ducked in behind some of the ruined stalls. The clone arrived seconds later, confused and angered.
"Where the hell are you, ginger?"
Nora giggled quietly to herself and leapt from the bushes. Raising her hammer overhead, she swung it like a golf club and caught her doppelgänger by surprise, sending her shooting off through some more buildings. Oh well, at least she didn't have to pay for them.
"Aw yeah, that's how it's done you little- WAH!"
As Nora celebrated, the Ren clone zoomed across and smashed into her with, sending Nora off in the same direction as her clone. Emerald then tried to follow Ren but Pyrrha landed in front of her and began slashing away at Emerald's form. The cyborg foe blocked each strike expertly.
Emerald was about to retaliate when she was knocked to the ground by Jaune being thrown into her.
"Ow." Jaune rubbed his back. "Aw crap!" Dodging aside, he missed a kick from Mercury which naturally hit Emerald in behind him. Emerald grit her teeth in pain as Jaune seized the opportunity to keep up the assault, slashing at Emerald several times before bashing her away with his shield.
Nora's clone meanwhile had caught up to her original self and swung her hammer into the original Nora's gut. Keeping the pressure on, she then whacked her in the back with a sickening thud. The fake Ren now joined in and they knocked poor Nora back and forth between them with alternating attacks.
The fake Nora raised her hammer to finish her true self off. Before she could however, the original Ren grabbed the hammer she had raised over her head and using all his might, he pulled her back towards him. Sticking his leg out as he did so, the fake Nora tripped and Ren hit her with her own hammer before tossing it away and electing to use his blades instead.
The fake Ren tried to help but the original Nora recovered and blocked his attempt with a grenade to his chest. Nora then switched back to her hammer and spun around like a ballet dancer, holding her hammer out as she did so. The result was being hit by a hundred hammer strikes in a few seconds.
"Ren! Hammer throw!" She called.
Ren quickly leapt up and grabbed his friend by the arm. Spinning her around, Nora held out her hammer with the other arm and as they built up enough momentum, Ren released her. Nora smashed her weapon into the fake Ren's chest before moving back slightly and firing another grenade at him.
Emerald and Mercury had tried to withdraw but were being followed by Jaune and Pyrrha. They then found themselves cornered in a back alley with nowhere to go.
"Now we've got you!" Jaune puffed.
Emerald looked up briefly before nudging Mercury to bring his attention to what she saw. A quick nod of agreement and the two villains began jumping between the walls as they ascended towards the rooftops.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called.
"Done!" she replied.
Casting her semblance on Jaune's armour, making him glow with a black aura, she threw her fiancée straight up at a rate of knots that was ample enough to catch up to Emerald and Mercury.
Jaune kept his shield up and smashed directly into Mercury but stayed with him as the two tumbled onto the roof top. Emerald was surprised by this but was even more surprised when Pyrrha's shield hit her in the face, followed by the red haired huntress using her semblance once more to pull herself towards the shield.
Swinging from the handle of it, Pyrrha kicked Emerald straight upwards before landing gracefully on the roof herself. With all four on the rooftop, it became a bit more of a disorganised brawl.
Emerald got back up and punched Pyrrha straight back in return. Jaune then charged into her so Mercury then tried to tackle Jaune. The blond knight leapfrogged over him though and returned the favour with a sword slash. Emerald came straight back and fired a powerful fire blast from the crystals on her hands. The explosion forced Jaune away as Pyrrha resumed her attack on Emerald.
It was now Mercury's turn as he grabbed Jaune's shield and threw him into Pyrrha. Mercury tried to follow this up with another strike but Pyrrha threw her shield in front of Jaune and blocked the hit on behalf of him. She then used her semblance to throw the shield into Mercury before pulling it back and shoulder charging him away. Emerald gave chase but forgot about Jaune who also used his shield like a ram.
Carrying the two villains side by side, the perfect partners pushed them off their shields and performed a simultaneous sword slash that knocked them back towards the original starting location of the fight.
At the same time, Ren and Nora had practically threw their copies back to the same location. The result was a massive collision between the four enemies. The clones had taken so much damage that they dissipated, leaving Mercury and Emerald to fight alone.
Mercury got up and spat some blood from his mouth, wiping the trickle that remained from his mouth.
"You're tougher than you look Arc. Guess it's all that training your girlfriend gave you."
"Glad you noticed in between the beatings we just gave you." Jaune responded.
"Please, we were just getting warmed up. Now we know you're capable of holding you own we don't have to hold back any more!"
Before engaging again, Mercury activated two large sabre blades on each of his legs. He then hurricane kicked towards JNPR, forcing them to split up before kicking down into the ground and launching a barrage of debris around himself.
Stomping the ground, he launched a piece of the rubble into the air before round kicking it towards Ren.
"I got it!" Nora called as she switched to her grenade launcher and blew the projectile to smithereens before it could do any harm.
Pyrrha noticed that Emerald had seemingly disappeared before she made herself visible at a great distance away. Holding her arms to the sky, Emerald spoke a single word.
"Thunder."
Several sparks of electricity were fired from her hand crystals and began zig zagging their way towards team JNPR. Jaune stepped forward and angled his shield in anticipation of them. He would not waste them though. Rather than simply blocking the electricity, he deflected them towards Mercury.
The blue haired brute was more than ready though, using the energy sabres on his legs to absorb their power and render the projectiles useless. At least now they couldn't harm the rest of Jaune's team.
Mercury came back for more, leaping into the middle of the team and trying to cut each of them into strips with his leg blades. Pyrrha and Jaune had no trouble blocking with their shields but Ren and Nora had a more difficult time. Ren was using his speed to his advantage, acrobatically dodging every kick that came his way. Nora was not so agile and so relied on a mix of blocks from her hammer as well as using it's propulsion trigger to gain extra speed for her dodges.
"Emerald, now!"
"Begone!"
Casting the thunder once more, Emerald focused both orbs onto Mercury. A brillaint electric surge burst forth from him and expanded outwards, blasting all of team JNPR away from him. Ren and Nora were thrown one way and Pyrrha and Jaune another.
Emerald brought her hands close together and fired off a cloud of icy mist from each one. Moulding it in the air, she created a beautiful ice hourglass shape which she then dropped to the ground. It did not shatter as JNPR suspected it would but began bouncing towards Ren and Nora.
"Guys, take that thing out, quick!" Jaune warned.
Ren and Nora opened fire with their respective weapons but the bouncing object seemed to have some degree of awareness as it bounced around the various explosions from the grenades as well as being tough enough to resist Ren's bullets. It came ever closer before making one last giant leap into the air and coming down right beside Ren and Nora.
*BOOM*
The two were quickly engulfed in a sub zero cloud of mist, much to the dismay of Jaune and Pyrrha. They could only watch and hope their friends were alright but the sound of crackling ice made them fear for the worst, as It turned out to be.
The mist was soon blown away but revealed both Ren and Nora trapped in an icy prison, the looks of surprise on their faces revealing they had been flash frozen. At least that meant they were still alive but this did little to pacify either Pyrrha or Jaune's outrage.
"I always said that hyper little ginger needed to chill out! Gahaha!" Mercury joked.
"You soulless monster!" Pyrrha snarled.
"Looks like you need to do the same as your friends. Emerald, how about an ice pack for these two?"
Emerald detached her hands from her wrists and they floated around Jaune and Pyrrha quickly. They then pointed down and began casting sharp icicles which were fired off rapidly. Ice is not the toughest material in the world but these natural bullets were tough enough to embed themselves in the concrete without breaking, as such, Jaune and Pyrrha did not want to risk using their shields lest the ice got through and tore off their arms!
As Pyrrha danced her way around the lethal shards, Mercury saw a prime chance to strike.
"Enkoukyaku!" He shouted.
Mercury kicked straight down at Pyrrha, though this time his leg was engulfed with fire. Pyrrha stepped back and dodged the initial kick but Mercury still hit the ground and caused fireballs to erupt from around the point of impact. Shooting in all directions like a volcanic eruption, Pyrrha held her shield above her head for protection, the rocks clattering upon it relentlessly.
It soon subsided but as Pyrrha got back into a fighting stance, Mercury leapt onto her and was practically sitting on her shoulders. He then tightened his grip with his thighs before throwing his body weight backwards. The two backflipped with Pyrrha hitting the ground front first and Mercury stomping down on top of her back.
He readied himself for a finishing blow when Jaune threw himself into the fray and slashed the back of the joints between Mercury's thighs and legs. Mechanical fluid spurted out from the gashes and Mercury's legs began to stiffen up thanks to the loss of the fluid.
"Gah! You son of a bitch!" Mercury cursed. "Emerald, take care of these two!"
"Why you..." Emerald softly growled before swooping in and casting the electrical shots once more.
This time however, they formed around her as long poles of electrical energy, forming a barrier that Jaune could not get through. He started to back away as Emerald approached him slowly, the electrical field drawing ever nearer. Jaune slashed away occasionally but his blade would not go through the barrier.
Jaune started to panic now as Emerald spun two of the electrical staffs to point directly at the knight. Pyrrha groaned as she got back up from Mercury's attack, only to gasp in horror as she saw her beloved being cornered. Springing to her feet, she began making for Emerald but she knew there was no way she would make it in time.
Jaune braced himself for Emeralds critical blow, raising his shield on the slight chance that it would protect him, though he knew deep down it would not be enough.
"Jaune, NO!" Pyrrha cried as Emerald thrust her staffs forward.
*BZZZT*
The sound of electricity buzzing told Jaune he had been hit. The lack of pain however told him otherwise. What had just happened? Had Pyrrha made it? She shouldn't have, it was impossible.
"You will never win with your eyes shut like that, my friend."
That voice... was that?
(Insert music: Megaman X Command mission – Massimo of Steel)
Opening his eyes, Jaune saw not Emerald in front of him, but a huge hulking man covered in black steel armour. Looking up at the gargantuan defender, he saw an all too familiar red, spiky ponytail at the top of his helmet.
"Klaymoor?" Jaune asked in disbelief.
"Well it sure ain't Santa!" Bola joked as he appeared on Klaymoor's shoulder.
Jaune laughed with a mix of relief and surprise at the two appearing. "Not that I don't appreciate it but, why are you two here?"
"Klaymoor heard you were in town and wanted a rematch. Seems we have a different fight on our hands now though." Bola explained as he peered past Emerald and waved to Pyrrha.
"Miss Nikos! These two clowns giving you trouble?"
Pyrrha nodded. "Yes, to put it lightly."
"Yo, Klaymoor. I'm gonna go thaw out our friends over there, do me a favour and wail on these two for me. Show them what happens when they mess with our friends."
"Gladly." Klaymoor replied before drawing his massive blade as Jaune and Pyrrha readied up beside him and prepared to advance on Emerald and Mercury.
"I still want my rematch after this, Miss Nikos. I'll consider this a warm up." Klaymoor laughed.
"Even if it is just warm up, these two are a threat. Don't feel like you have to go easy on them." Pyrrha explained.
"Oh don't worry. I never do!"
Betcha thought they were a one time cameo, huh? Nope, I brought them back into this! Emerald and Mercury better start praying methinks! The question now is, what about Ruby and Yang. Not to mention Zero, will he get the answers he seeks and who is he going to even get them from?
Until next time
TOODLE PIP!