Megaman Xtinction: Future's End
Chapter 4: For the Sake of Mankind
By Mirai X
A/N: Yes, I'm continuing this as you've requested. I'm flattered so many of you like this and I hope this meets your expectations.
"Douglas!" a female voice called through the Reploid mechanic's speaker phone. Douglas, who had been in the middle of tuning up a speeder bike's dash lasers, promptly bolted up in shock and bumped his head against the undercarriage of the vehicle.
"Damnit, Alia," he groaned, rubbing his greasy hand over his head, "Don't do that...."
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice softened, a hint of worry meandering in. "I need you to tell me something--Has X left to challenge Sigma yet?"
Douglas laughing quietly, amused. "Afraid so. The Captain's gone off to give Siggy the ass whooping of a lifetime."
Alia's brow furrowed from the command chamber, and her grip tightened on her earpeice.
"You just let him WALTZ out of her with only a buster and a bike? Are you insane?!"
The green-armored mechanic laughed again. "Aw, is Allie worried about her boyfriend?" He crooned.
Before she could unleash the incoming stream of profanity, Douglas cut her off. "Don't worry, babe, everything's fine. When the Hunters hired me, I convinced X to let me study the armor he wore during the Repliforce rebellion. Fascinating, really. Can't see why he always disposes of his armors. Well, anyway, I took the liberty of mastering the data-to-matter technology Dr. Light programmed into X's capsules and did a little number on his helmet gem."
A relieved smile crossed Alia's gentle features. "You amaze me sometimes, Douglas....."
The mechanic smirked arrogantly. "Yeah, I know, my genius astounds me too."
Sigma lifted his head to the sky, the smell of spent nuclear isotopes, melted metal and burning wood filling his cyber nostrils. He mockingly took a deep breath and turned his gaze back to the small hunter. "Such a nice day to begin the end of mankind, don't you think?" he asked cockily.
X continued to glare daggers at his evil foe. "I think you mean Maverick-kind, asshole." he spat.
The large, bald Mavick shook his head idly and chuckled softly. "I believe you have it all wrong, Hunter. You see," he began, his voice taking a more serious tone, "I won't lose this time. The true mark of greatness is learning from mistakes, and I must say, I've been a busy student since we last met."
X's facial expression grew colder, twisting into a form that would make humans and reploids alike shudder in fear. The usual naive cheer that shown so brightly from the young hunter's eyes was replaced by one of fierce hatred and determination. "So have I." he answered, lifting two fingers to his forehead.
Suddenly, a piercing green light shown from X's joints, washing over his body as smoothly as spring water, concealing all but his face, which was hidden nonetheless by the intense glare. The light shifted and formed over X's small blue form, darkening it and rising in some areas, which became a brillant gold.
When the green rays faded from sight, Ultimate Armor X stood, ready for battle and charging his buster. He then waited silently and patiently for his enemy to make the first move, so he wouldn't be caught off-guard by any new tricks he may have.
Sigma's chest rose and fell in an uninspired yawn. He rotated his wrist idly, the scythe keeping pace. "X, X, X..... How predictable..." he mused, "Always thinking Daddy's little toys can solve your problems for you. Well, boy, it's time I taught you to fight your own battles!"
Suddenly, a neon green thermal beam sprung forth from the cold steel handle and Sigma launched his hulking form at the blue hunter, slashing and screaming. X dodged each of the deadly swings masterfully through a series of somersaults and dashes, remaining steady as he studied the Maverick's attacks.
He frowned to himself and cursed. Sigma was alot stronger than their last encounter, but then again, he always was. It seemed that with every friend X lost and every time he was forced to draw his hand into his forearm, Sigma became that much more powerful. It was as if the very escence of everything X hated propelled Sigma's strength to newer, more adbominal heights.
But X wouldn't allow that power to continue to grow.
For every hunter that had died trying to stop him. For every human threatened by Maverick kind. For his friends. X would destroy Sigma.
"Weapons don't make the reploid, asswipe." X retorted as he connected a plasma blast to Sigma's left arm. A few sparks flew from the wound, but barely managed to slow Sigma's onslaught. Undaunted, X continued the stream of white-hot plasma spheres, hoping their collective power would affect his adversary more in the long run. As he shot, Sigma made several deadly swipes with his scythe and firing lesser electric attacks from his free fist.
"Don't they, though?" Sigma replied, a cruel smirk creeping upon his lips. "If weapons didn't make the reploid, you might actually have had a chance of leaving here alive!"
The neon glow of the scythe dissappeared, leaving it nothing more than a large metal staff. Sigma then placed it behind his back arrogantly and charged electrical energy in both hands. X readied himself for the attack, his right arm in a blocking position and his buster at full charge.
Sigma laughed, the cruel viciousness of his voice ringing throughout the cool morning air, which was now tainted by the smell of smoke and slag. The energy between his fists grew larger, swelling to suround Sigma's hands and wrists. X couldn't get a steady reading on the blast, but what he saw told him that this would be one hell of an attack, one that would drawf any of Sigma's earlier efforts from past battles.
As parts of X's cybernetic brain worked toward a counterattack to this insanely powerful blast, a thought creeped up toward the surface, in the form of Sigma's stolen device. Not much was known about it, but Sonaku Labs were known for innovations in electro-nuclear power converter technology.
Could Sigma be using it now? Was this why Sigma had been so arrogant, to the point of not even considering backup?
"Die, Hunter!!" Sigma screamed, unleashing a wave of massive electric energy toward X. The hunter snapped back to conciousness, whatever semblance to instinct he possessed kicking in. Suddenly, golden yellow energy crackled around X as he leaped into the air toward the blast. 'One chance... Gotta time this just right...' he thought.
Just as the white-hot energy was close enough to X to singe his visage, the yellow energy enveloped him completely, his parts shifting into a semblance of a fighter and his speed increasing dramatically.
"NOVA STRIKE!!" X screamed, his temporarily invincible form plunging harmlessly through the energy wave. (Editor's note: Is it just me, or does X using the nova strike look alot like the Wing Gundam in bird mode?)
As X fell into a crouch and stood, finding his equilibrium, he noticed Sigma's anticipative evil smirk hadn't vanished. Instead, he errupted into a fit of maniacal laughter. Then, X realized his mistake.
"NOO!!!" He screamed, turning around toward the energy wave. It was just as he feared. The blast was heading straight into the city... toward the power plant.
"K'SO!! I won't let this happen!" X screamed, firing off several full buster shots at the blast, trying in vain to ignite or redirect the wave.
But it was too late. The glowing wave of energy began plunging through streets, buildings, vehicles, and innocents alike, wiping them all from existance, all in a matter of seconds. And then, the destructive projectile planted itself in the heart of Tokyo's power plant, igniting the metropolis' energy core.
"Now what?" Zero asked quietly, still gazing at the monitor.
"I guess our questions are answered." Bass replied. "All we need now is to figure out how to clense your systems of that virus."
"But... what if the virus is a bigger part of me than what we think? Couldn't removing the virus affect my CPU?"
Bass paused in thought. He hadn't thought of that. For all the destruction Zero was capable of, the good deeds he could put forth were double. In a sense, the very personification of evil had, instead of creating a vengeance-wreaking demon, granted the Earth and mankind an angel of mercy, even though the demon lay buried deep within. To destroy it would destroy the angel as well. Unless, of course.....
"We could just rebuild your body from the metal of Wily's robots. Then, I could defragment your CPU and remove the corruptions of the virus."
"Why wouldn't we just have my entire body defragged?" Zero suggested.
Bass looked up from a blueprint of Zero's body. It would take too long, and there might be a chance a small amount of the virus could survive. If I just do your CPU and take some extra time, I could preserve your data in prime condition, aside from the corruptions of course. But not being a mad scientist with a knack for mechanics means I'd need some sort of--"
"Extra programming?" Zero offered, brushing off an old circuit board. "This might help."
Bass took the circuitboard and ran a quick diagnostic. A slight smile hovered over his solemn face. "This will do nicely." He said, lifting a panel from his buster and inserting the circuit board. Dr. Wily had managed to replicate Megaman's power absorption module and place it in Bass, but he had always been too arrogant to use it. Perhaps he still was. But now, the data reading program that allowed it to function was allowing Bass to download several mechanical and electrical techniques Wily used in creating robots--specifically Zero.
"We should get started now." Bass said, cleaning off a table. "The sooner we're done, the better."
X's mind was in shock. Moments ago, the city of Tokyo had been a bustling commercial center in Japan. Children ran through its streets and men and women went about their daily lives.Now, a great of of it was in ruin and the rest was left in dissarray. Nearly a quarter of the city's population had been killed in that single blast. It was nothing more than a huge, smoking crater, on which the blue hunter literally stood on the edge of. The incredible heat from the explosion was still fresh to X's face. Only by the grace of his gaurdian angel had he avoided more damage than a few chips on his armor.
But even ground zero of that blast wasn't even a prelude to what was boiling inside of X as he regained his senses. His fists clenched tightly, electricity sparking from the joints as his fingers dug into his palms. The rest of his body began shuddering, failing at an attempt to contain the rage. X's lips parted in a vicious snarl, a growl emmitting that would make the worst of Mavericks shake in fear. Silently, overcome by a deadly calm with only a murderous glare expressing X's inner feelings, he turned to face the one responsible for the destruction.
Unlike X, Sigma hadn't gone unscathed by the blast. A large chunk of shrapnal had flown over X and dove straight through the evil Maverick, leaving him impaled by a portion of it and pinned by the rest. He grunted and heaved, but his power core had been drained dry by his apocalyptic blast. And yet, by some perverse miracle, Sigma survived.
Making his way slowly over the battered terrain toward Sigma, X withdrew his fist into his buster once more.
"This is the last time," a bitter voice in his head echoed. "This bastard dies now. For every reploid, for every adult human, and for all those children..!!" Light blue energy emmitted from every point on his body as he now stodd over Sigma, prepared for the Coup de Grace.
But instead of a terrified scream or beg, or even a final curse, a cruel smile crept up to Sigma's lips. He began to shake, but not from pain. The injured Maverick instead through back his head and laughed.
X scowled and concentrated the energy around him into his X buster. "Laugh all you want." he spat coldly. "You'll be crying in anguish soon enough in Hell."
And then, the laughter stopped.
As if he himself had been afflicted with the same deadly calm X was, Sigma scowled up at him. In a hoarse whisper, Sigma asked, "Tell me, X. Do you believe in a plain of nonexistance?"
"I don't care if there is. What're you babbling about?"
"Well," He began, lifting a fist up toward the hunter, "You're about to find out! Goodbye, X! Forever!"
Before X could even think to discharge his buster, a plasma barrel snapped out from inside Sigma's forearm and a blinding flash emmitted, engulfing the hunter. X's eyes widened in horror as he futilly attempted to dodge, but it was too late.
Not even a few seconds later, X had vanished from the face of the Earth, leaving only a charred shadow beneath him, reeking of sulfer and eggs.
Sigma smirked cruelly and pressed a switch on his chestplate. Soon, his lackies would arrive to aid him in freeing himself from his junkpile prison, and he could begin his conquest of the world. Nothing, not even Zero, could stop him now.
TO BE CONTINUED......
Is X truly gone? What does Sigma have in store for a world without a hero? Why isn't he worried about Zero? Can Bass fix Zero in time to realize the peril the Earth is in? All this and more next time on Megaman Xtinction: Future's End.
Author's Note: I know this was short, but that was a critical cliffhanger. Don't you just hate those? I'm also sorry if the fight scenes were under par, but Ive been distracted as of late. I promise the next chapter will be better. Until then, later!