Once X saw where Shadow Hitler had set up his fortress from which he would rule the world from, he was stunned. Out of all the places in the world, the creep just had to choose Germany.
The fortress wasn't located in any of the cities, but it was in the countryside in the hills almost in the middle of nowhere. Either way, the sight of the castle was intimidating to say the least.
Shadow Hitler's fortress was huge, almost 6 feet tall with towering towers, multiple swastika banners decorating it and a gigantic statue that seemed to look down upon X and Zero as they neared the gate.
Approaching the place where they would end the nightmare before they truly began, X and his comrade remained alert, keeping an eye out for any guards and trying to avoid Shadowstika Portals popping up.
Yeesh, X had nearly forgotten about those portals, he'd been busy dealing with Shadow Hitler's minions and he hadn't even thought of the danger the portals could possess as long as Shadow Hitler was alive.
Hopefully, once the Shadow Nazis were beaten, the portals would go away and the world would be safe. After that, X could go after Sigma and try to bring and end to the Maverick War for good.
"You ready, X?" Zero asked, readying his Zero Saber, "Its time to take this damn mustached monster down and finally bring an end to the tyranny of the Nazis for good before they really start again."
X primed his X Buster gun, "Lets do it, Zero. I'm ready, lets charge this guy's fortress, break down his door, kick butt and beat the shit out of the Shadow Nazis before they can conquer the universe."
Breathing in the fresh air and the figurative smell of confidence, the two robotic comrades charged towards the door, evading gunfire from the guards and making sure to avoid the portals that appeared.
Zero made quick work of the door hinges and X did the rest, blasting down the metal doors and paving the way for them to storm the inside of the castle, taking down Shadow Nazi soldiers guarding the interior.
As they made their way inside, Shadow Hitler's voice came over a loudspeaker, his voice unchanged and recognizable from when he made his big broadcast earlier, announcing his return.
"SO YOU DEFEATED MOST OF MY FORCES AND FOUND MY HIDEOUT, YOU DAMN PATHETIC BLUE BOMBER!" Shadow Hitler bellowed, "YOU MAY HAVE HAD YOUR VICTORIES, BUT YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO BEAT ME THIS TIME, FOOL!
"I'M WAITING FOR YOU IN MY CHAMBERS IN THE HIGH TOWERS ABOVE, IF YOU WISH TO FACE ME AND TRY AND STOP ME, THEN COME. OH, DO TRY TO FIGHT YOUR WAY TO THE TOP THROUGH MY GUARDS AND DEAR SHADOWSTIKA PORTALS.
"I HOPE YOU FIND THIS CHALLENGE TO BE CHALLENGING, MEGA MAN, AS MUCH AS I HOPE TO SEE YOU DEFEATED FOR GOOD THIS TIME. YOU'VE BEEN THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR CHAMPION OF JUSTICE FOR FAR TOO LONG!
"PREPARE FOR YOUR DESTRUCTION, MEGA MAN! HA HA HA HA! GUARDS, KEEP THE BLUE BOY AND HIS ASSOCIATE BUSY ENOUGH AND BUY ME THE TIME I NEED TO GAIN ENOUGH STRENGTH TO CONQUER THIS MESSY WORLD!"
The large, entrance hall made from dark-stones and decorated with shadowy swastika banners began to shift and contort around X and Zero, almost dizzying them and turning into a strange dimension.
If our heroes knew one thing, it was all Shadow Hitler trying to mess with their minds, he was not going to succeed nor would he be able to achieve his ultimate goal in the end.
Shadow Nazi SS soldiers and towering elite Shadow Nazis came forth, attacking the robot heroes. X blasted away, taking out a group of enemies, while Zero got to work with his sword.
After defeating a group, the duo broke down another large door and dashed up a flight of stairs to Level Two of the shadow castle, heading down a twisting hallway full of active machine guns.
The weapons blazed to life, trying to get X and Zero as they evaded them all and took out any Shadow Nazis attempting to stop them from advancing towards Shadow Hitler himself.
Portraits of the original Adolf Hitler came alive and attacked X and Zero, trying to grab and tear them apart, acting like vicious creatures of pure darkness and roaring like mad.
"GET OFF!" X yelled and unleashed a flury of nonsensical Shadow Nazi German Propaganda that made the bad guys heads explode, with the coast clear, he and Zero made their way to a nearby elevator.
"Aw, no stairs?" X quipped, "I like stairs, but then again, I guess elevators are damn quick and easy. Am I right, Zero?"
"You got it, partner." Zero replied, he pressed the up button and the elevator doors opened, leading to another fight with a group of Shadow Nazis that ended with them getting blown up by X's cannon.
However, the fight came with a small cost, Zero's eye ended up getting damaged due to a Shadow Nazi saber strike. He acted as though it was nothing, unconcerned about if he were to go down... again.
The two robots entered the elevator and pressed the up button again, ascending to the next floor and then entered a large square-shaped room full of Shadow Nazis and Shadowstika Portals.
X and Zero fist bumped, wishing each other good luck, and charged into the fray, taking down as many Shadow Nazis as possible all while trying to stay clear of the Shadowstika Portals.
Despite their best attempts to evade the portals, at one point, X and Zero fell into a Shadowstika Portal while trying to get out of the way of a grenade blast and landed somewhere else.
Their new location was a bizzare, swirly void full of swastika banners and distorted, disfigured beings in Nazi uniforms with Hitler moustaches, the ground was invisible too and X was confused.
"We'll find a way out!" Zero shouted before he came under attack from a Dark Nazi Monster, the creature attempted to rip apart the Maverick Hunting Warrior's arm off, only to end up losing its head.
More disfigured monster Nazis attacked X and Zero, attempting to break and rip them apart, reduce them to scrap and do who knew what else to what remained of them once they were done with trashing them.
It felt like an eternity in the void, fighting off creepy Nazis and trying to escape, but X and Zero finally managed to escape back into the real world into the interior of Shadow Hitler's Castle
X had a few scratches on his armor and Zero was partially damaged with nothing too fatal at all, their weapons were still in good condition and they were more prepared than ever before.
Advancing onwards, they found a metallic cylinder with a swastika symbol on it and, upon scanning, learned it was a teleporter. Assuming it lead to Shadow Hitler, they jumped on in...
...Only to discover that it lead to ANOTHER bizarre dimension where they came face to face with a eight familiar looking Shadow Nazis, waiting for them with several big guns in hand.
"Aw shit!" X groaned, "Boss rush time!"
Zero readied his Zero Saber, "C'mon, X. Can't handle a challenge before we take on the big bastard, I thought you were a brave hero warrior Maverick Hunter. Where's your courage?"
"I'm fine, lets just beat the fuck out of these shadow monsters and get that mustached bastard. Besides, I just slaughtered the hell out of those guys and I wanted to conserve energy for the big battle."
"If you say so, fellow robot! Lets get these guys."
And so the two battle robots charged forth to meet the Eight Shadow Nazi Commanders in battle, the enemy standing ready with guns and sabers prepared and equipped. Within seconds, chaos broke loose.
The first two Shadow Nazis to go on the attack were Shadow Goebbels and Shadow Himmer, full of vengeance after being humiliated by a blue robot two times, they pounced on X, growling and ready to scrap him.
Shadow Goebbels opened up his mouth and began blasting out Shadow Nazi Propaganda, making loud nonsensical declarations such as "VICTORY IS OURS" or "THE JEWS ARE EVIL MONSTERS".
X refused to listen to this, even as Shadow Himmer started to work on trying to tinker and deactivate him, however, the Maverick Hunter resisted long enough to go all out and push the two off him.
He super charged his X Buster and blasted off Shadow Himmer and Shadow Goebbel's heads all at once before moving in to help Zero take down Shadow Keitel, Skorzeny, Boremann, Speer, Husseini and Muller.
While Zero had tried to put up a good fight against both enemies, he was being overwhelmed and about to seemingly get torn apart, sparks were flying and his body was seemed to be starting to crack.
Thankfully, Zero didn't have to wait too long for reinforcements until it was too late as X barged on in right in the nick of time and blasted the six remaining Shadow Nazis to kingdom come.
"Need help getting back up, buddy?" X asked, holding out his hand to Zero. The red robot gladly took his hand and struggled to his metallic feet, high-fiving the justice warrior.
"Thanks for the assist, pal. I sure needed that." Zero complimented.
"HOW CUTE?!" Shadow Hitler's voice boomed, "The two of you looking after each other like 'friends' do, if I didn't know any better, I would say there's something more than friendship between you."
X and Zero looked at each other with shock and then at their surroundings, they were now standing in the middle of a spacious throne room decorated with red banners and their target was here.
Shadow Hitler stood just eight feet away, very close from where they stood, right near his throne. His half-hideous appearance hadn't changed a bit, aside from the fact a sinister aura surrounded him.
"Whats up, Shadow Dolfy?" X remarked in a snarky tone, "We've been looking for you just as you were waiting for us."
"DON'T YOU DARE THINK ABOUT CALLING ME WHAT I THINK YOU MIGHT CALL ME NEXT, BLUE BOMBER! I. HATE. THAT. DISGUSTING. NICKNAME!"
"What nickname, Shadolfy?" Zero teased.
"GRRRRRRRR! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT, SHADOLFY RHYMES WITH GADDAHFI AND I HATE THAT MAN, HE MOCKED AND CHALLENGED ME AND MY REICH AND WAS A PAIN TO GET RID OF. YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT INSULT, PROTO MAN!"
"Its Zero actually."
"I don't care, you're Mega Man and Proto Man with new designs and you deserve your destruction. I will turn you all into scrap metal and then I will devastate all of civilization, my Reich will reign."
Zero lit up his Zero Saber, shouted a battle cry and charged at Shadow Hitler, deciding that the time for talking was over and it was time to get to the fighting and butt kicking.
X, who was concerned about his mostly damaged comrade, tried to warn Zero about charging in, but it was too late: Zero attacked Shadow Hitler head on, slicing at the shadowy creeper who evaded swiftly.
"Pathetic, you stand no chance!" Shadow Dolfy drew a large axe and proceeded to swing it at Zero, who's reflexes may have been fast but weren't enough, the Shadow Overlord struck home.
"NO!" X screamed as he watched Zero get cut in half, the robot's upper half slid across the floor and stopped next to X while Shadow Hitler smashed Zero's lower half.
A barely functioning Zero gave X his saber. "I'm... I'm sorry, X." The former Wily robot said weakly, "I was overconfident, you fight Shadow Hitler, w-we'll m-m-meet again. I-I'll be back, right?"
"Yes, you will, buddy." X nodded, "You'll be rebuilt."
Zero smiled happily and his eyes closed, his functions ceased to be and he lay still, he had once again been destroyed, having unintentionally sacrificed himself to help X in the battle.
X glared at his enemy, who smiled cruelly, prepared for battle and willing to avenge his fallen comrade. The Maverick Hunter warrior hero ignited the saber, a look of determination upon his face.
Shadow Hitler spun his axe, held out his hand and flexed his fingers with a wider cold smile on his face, X got the message. Bring it on! The dark overlord was saying, and so, it would be!