MEGA MAN X: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
By Erico
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FORESTS OF THE PAST
In the northwestern portion of New Tokyo lies one of its great attractions; a glittering gleam of old mother earth in a world gone mad with technology and artificial, air conditioned structures. This is the natural forest, a combination zoo and walking park and arboretum and every other wilderness involved thing that might come to your mind. Since the time of Light it has existed, the gem of the natural hub. From its placement, one can look out over the harbor and to the deep blue eyes of the alluring Pacific Ocean, or stare upwards and gaze at the infinite stars, so bright it hurts your eyes to look at their unwavering gaze. Or the moon, worshipped and admired since man could walk.
It was such a night when X warped from the MHHQ. As he opened his optics, scrolling his eyes from side to side, the tranquility of his surroundings tried to lull him. A dreamy look of happiness crossed his face, and X remembered all the time he used to spend here; before Sigma went maverick, and he became a Hunter.
And before Cancer was killed. X lowered his head, sadly remembering Cancer. He was feisty at times, but Cancer was a true friend. Easy to laugh with-or at-Cancer always made X feel at home. And then Sigma and his merry band sliced his life to shreds. X painfully recalled the memory file of how he discovered Cancer, slashed to pieces, bleeding to death and with a calm smile on his pained face.
"X, promise me something. Stop Sigma; before more die." Those were Cancer's last words to the best friend he had had in his six months of life, before his optics blurred, his servomotors gave out and his head dropped to the floor; his synth-hair becoming matted with the cold purple blood that trickled like tiny rivers along the hard concrete floor. X had screamed loud and long in anguish, crying for the innocents who had died so uselessly.
X screamed again, slamming his fist on the ground where he stood. He lifted his teary face and brushed the fluid aside, giving his optics a clear view. His mouth, still quivering from the pain calmed down, becoming firm once more. X nodded his head up towards the sky, his silent speaking partner.
"Will there ever be a time when I can look at something again as I once did? Not as a threat, but as a wonder of nature?" X tightened his jaw, squeezing a fist. "Don't worry Cancer; I won't fail you." After X finished taking out Sting Chameleon, he would make Sigma pay for what he had done.
Only then could Cancer rest. And only then could X find peace with himself as a murderer. With the night still dark, and Sting already on full alert, X knew he had to get going. He wasn't getting any younger, and the night was only dying as it did every day.
Consider the night, for it has seen things men keep hidden in themselves and only reveal to the nothingness.
'Repair cycle completed. Good evening, Hunter Zero!' the cheery computer chirped into Zero's groggy head. Wearily, he opened his eyes and focused on his surroundings.
"Repair pod, medical bay, Hazil pounding on the plastic shield?" Zero gave himself a small smile. "Nope, I ain't dead. I'm still in hell." Zero pushed the interior of the plastic bubble open, causing Hazil to back up several feet. Rolling on the smooth wheel assembly which served as his transportation, Hazil almost ran into one of the flat tables which he did major repairs on. He looked over Zero with his doctor's eyes, making sure everything was fine. He finally gave a begrudging nod.
"You're all fixed, Zero. The armor still has the dings in it, but all your systems are back online-dash thrusters included." Zero gave a curt nod in response and lifted his frame out of the white bubble pod. "Speaking of which Zero, I've been examining yours and X's dash systems in my spare time. I feel quite comfortable with the design of it now." Zero shook his head, pulling his helmet off to get the blasted rattle away from him. He focused one eagle eye on the crafty doc and raised his mouth in a half smile
"Meaning what, you box on wheels?" Hazil frowned.
"Hey, if my creators had had any sense and not watched as much Jetsons, I would have had legs like yours-SO BACK OFF. What I mean is that I believe with the right materials I can build an emergency acceleration system into any reploid." Zero slugged his helmet back on, his red twin horns looking ever more ominous now with the dings and scratches in his armor.
"So? Sigma had them, I had them, X GOT them, Spark had them; what's so special about it?" Hazil cocked a finger at Zero's head.
"Hey, for whatever reason you guys just HAD it. Remember, Sigma made his own modifications, and that all the other mavericks had theirs prebuilt. It's a lot easier to go from scratch than to upgrade in the old car body." Zero shook his hair sideways, making sure it wasn't damaged.
"I still don't get it, but I'll leave the technical mumbo jumbo to you and Cain. I just kill mavericks. Any news from X?" Hazil grinned.
"You'd better watch out, that greenhorn's gaining mileage on your record. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he ended this himself. After he took out Launch, he came back here and got the location of Sting from Cain." Hazil jerked a thumb out the door. "If you're not sick, which you aren't by the way; get your butt to the war room and work with Cain on cracking the scrambler code for Sigma's radio. X said he'd come back with a head on a platter for you guys." Zero nodded.
"I agree with you, X has promise as a Hunter. But he lacks the bloodthirsty attitude." Hazil raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.
"Who said that was a bad thing? You know Zero, some of us like to go home and have a life when we're not saving the world." Zero laughed.
"All right, I give up. Never mess with a reploid with a medical degree. I'm on my way, Hazil. Talk to you later." Zero tromped out the door and Hazil raised his hands to his mouth, forming a megaphone.
"FINE! One less thing to make a mess in here!" Hazil chuckled. "Keep it up, guys. Sigma's gotta be having a gallstone by now." Hazil blinked, then smirked. "I forgot. Reploids don't get gallstones; they get servofluid buildup."
"Try and flog ME with logs, willya?" X screamed at the very annoying Axe Max, a tall robot who did little more than chop logs off a regeneration pad and towards him. The robot couldn't understand X, and doubtless Sting had reprogrammed it to NOT listen. Lacking any remorse for pathetic robots, X jumped on top of a flying chunk and dash jumped over the enemy, striking him with a burst of his Fire Wave. X shook his head.
"Damn fine waste of Canadian programming." X squinted around, shaking his head. There were too many Amenhoppers jumping about, trying to take him out. X took them out as well, and kept on going.
Then he met an impass. He could go up, because he clearly saw a dash jump would get him to the overhead ledge of rock. Or he could go down. Either way wasn't positive as a solution, and either one could be a trap set out by Sting to cover his tracks. X shook his head.
"I hate bloody cramped areas. I'll go high first." X braced himself and made a massive dash jump, leaping off at the last possible foot of distance. He soared high, and he stuck one of his feet out to brace the impact. He hit the side of the ledge at incredible speeds, and clawed his hand into the rock surface. Satisfied he wouldn't drop unless he wanted to, X began to jump his way up the surface of the rock. He finally hopped onto the very top of the ledge and moved ahead. But he stopped and squinted.
"Crap! A dead end." X sighed and turned around-
Only to have his nose almost sheared off by a series of cascading stone blocks, which piled up and blocked off his exit. X turned around, on full alert and charging his Buster, just waiting for an attack.
And did it come. As X looked on, a giant figure dropped down from the wall of the dead end. The funny part was, it lacked the look of evil which the other maverick guardians had had. The Thunder Slimer in particular was something which this new enemy did not resemble.
It looked more like a circus 'bot than anything, with its rotund bulk and the incredibly silly happy face grin painted on its chest. It had an incredibly small head for its size, and a pair of rotating pincers for hands that looked a bit ominous compared to the rest of its body. It even bleeped an odd message.
"Unit RT-55J operational. Target in sight. Begin attack program DLBeta. Unit on standby." X frowned at the gibberish it spoke, not able to figure out just what it was. But he knew it was trouble, and he began to charge his Buster. Whatever this thing was, it wouldn't be a threat long.
The massive green 'bot threw itself across the area, heading to smash X into the ground. But X saw it coming and quickly dashed out of harm's way. He turned about and leveled his cannon, releasing the trigger. The level 2 green shot sizzled away, and slammed into the chest armor of the hazardous threat. It made a small ping and then the entire blast was deflected away, doing no harm whatsoever. X's eyes boggled and his mouth gaped open.
"He deflected it-HOW'D HE MANAGE THAT?!" X shook his head at the incredible sight. But he paused too long as RT-55J swung one of its arms out. It clenched X tightly in its grasp. With a mighty whip of the connected chain, the robot slammed X into the wall of the dead end, knocking off a good chunk of his energy. X grunted at the heavy blow and steadied his Buster again.
"This bugger's going down-NOBODY messes with my armor, especially a stinkin' bot!" X roared. This time, he sent the shot high, trying to aim for the tiny pinhead on the massive shoulders of the beast. It didn't bounce away, and sunk in with a satisfying sizzle, eating away at the heavily armored helmet of the core components. X nodded.
"Aim for the head. Figures!" X jumped up and popped off another one, hitting the head with another shot. The robot noticed it was getting attacked, and made another leap across the arena. X dodged him again, and this time pelted the head with as many small shots as he could. Any larger than that, and he risked the plasmic deflective armor from knocking the blow away from the critical point. And he wanted to keep his distance-this 'bot played dirty with those pincers.
Slowly but steadily, X picked up on the pattern with the demon robot. He quickly made scrap out of the tiny head, until at last X fired the final shot, and beheaded the beast. Without the head to give commands, the robot fell apart, oddly enough, so perfectly it vanished into dust. X stood pondering why such an easily defeated robot would try and get in his way-
When something from under the ground shoved his feet aside and sent him screaming into the air. He fell back down, a jumble of limbs and sore aching servos. Groaning, he rubbed his head and looked up from his not so dignified position. All his pains vanished as he saw what it was that had knocked him off his feet.
"Whaddya know. One of my dad's capsules again." X shook himself and got up, preparing to walk over to see what the 'doc had to say this time.
But a thought flashed in his mind; was RT-55J the guardian of this capsule? Was that why it had been so easy-and yet not so easy-to defeat? To serve as a test to him? X shrugged. He could examine it later, but right now all he wanted to do was see what Light would give him this time.
Not long afterwards, the holographic message was gone, and X gleamed in full white and gold trimmings. His entire body was covered in Light's upgrades, and now he stood more of a fighting chance than he ever did before.
"Thanks, dad." X gave one final nod to the blue capsule before it vanished underground again, to go back where it came from. X sighed and looked outwards as the wall of bricks exploded.
"This wasn't a trap; this was a test." X clenched his fist. It was a test he had passed with flying colors.
A quick drop down the bottom of the passageway led to yet another treasure. After slamming his head through a protective layer of blocks, X was able to leap through the water and reach Sting's Heart Tank.
"Water which Launch is to blame for." X mumbled quietly as he jumped out of the liquid. All of the explosions and wrecked treatment facilities in the harbor had flooded the sewers, to which the forest was connected with. His Buster was slowly charging to its maximum level, and X knew he might need it. For a while now, the tunnel had been collapsing, probably because he'd taken out the bracing layer of rubble rock in the water. Luckily, his helmet blocked the debris from causing harm, and there was no need for worry. But a larger chunk fell down, and X soon realized it was a creation a bit more powerful than the others. A mutation of rock and robotics, another reprogrammed drone stood in his way. But X released his purple wave, and it was turned to scrap before it could even blink.
"They probably have more like this one around here. I'm getting a whiff of Sting-he's close." X checked his weapons array; he had enough of everything to handle the problems, but X doubted his Fire Wave would do much.
Sting always kept far away from his enemies until he came in close for the fatal tongue lashing.
"Sigma, pick up the phone!" Sting hissed nervously. Already reports were coming in from his forces that X was wreaking havoc everywhere. Worried beyond all bounds for his life, knowing full well X could destroy him, Sting pounded the send function for all his life. Finally, the satisfying click of the other line picking up the call came through the scrambled connection, and a grim face appeared on his monitor.
"What is it, Sting?"
"WHADDYA THINK I MEAN SIGMA?! WE'VE BEEN AMBUSHED!" Sigma's eyes flared to brilliant life as he swore angrily and threw a yelping Velguarder across the room.
"Those Hunters are PISSING ME OFF! Sting, how are you holding out?"
"Not good, man! X seems to have received new armor as well now, and he's just plowing through everything. Pretty soon, he'll be in the swamp area."
"Wait a minute, don't you have Chimera 'mechs?"
"Yes, and they're deploying to that area now. I hope they can stop X." Sigma shook his head.
"I do as well. For all their strength, they're second rate compared to the 'mech Vile has. And he's putting the final touches on the base. I'm sorry Sting. You're on your own for this." Sting looked at him crazily for a moment, and then grudgingly acknowledged the statement.
"You're the boss, Sigma. I won't gripe like Arm did. But chances are I won't come out of this alive." Sigma gave him a wry smile.
"Oh, come now. You're a true Hunter, surpassing all bounds of the others. Your entire body is designed for just that purpose-to stalk prey. Just do your best. If it's not enough…then you died doing your job."
"I suppose that's all that's left, eh?" Sting sighed, rolling his bulging eye. Sigma nodded for a brief moment, just before alarms began to blare to life on the comms.
"What?!" Sigma yelped. "Shit! Sting, they've traced the call!" Sting pounded the comm off, his reploid heart beating furiously.
Not only was X coming to destroy him, but now Zero and those at the HQ knew precisely where Sigma was talking from.
A secluded corner of Hokkaido, in the fortress overlooking the ocean.
"Got ya, Sigma!" Zero cocked his hand like a gun at the screen, where a bright flashing beacon indicated the newly built maverick base. His armor, for all the dings it had seemed to glitter even brighter at the discovery. Cain sat at the controls of the scanner, responsible for finding the transmission in the first place, and then moving to decode it and track the signal's receiver.
"Not a bad piece of work, if I do say so myself!" Cain chuckled lightly. Zero laughed loudly and slapped Cain on the back, making the doctor grunt in pain at the heavy blow. "Easy on the hardware, Zero. I ain't no frackin' reploid." Zero shook his head, ignoring Cain's comeback.
"At long last; after everything that has gone wrong, we can finally go after the big man himself." Cain nodded, but the initial excitement had faded from his eyes.
"I don't derive any happiness from what will happen. I am ordering you and X to go and destroy my child, as it were. Not only that, but you still have Vile and Velguarder as well to contend with. Just because Sigma has lost his greatest generals doesn't mean he won't go down easy. Already, we have paid a heavy cost in this uprising." Cain shook his head. "Zero, tell me. Was I right to create the reploid race?" Zero looked down and blinked in surprise.
"You're asking me this? The Demon Hunter? The Crimson Terror? Well, I can say very little, because I speak with my stick." Zero cleared his throat. "Cain, throughout myth and history, there has always been bad that went with the good. Communism, right? The all for one premise was spectacular. Unfortunately, dictators came into play and ruined the whole kabob. Humans as a lot are a lot like reploids. Within the bushel of earth, you're bound to have the rotting remains in a sea of dull bland ones; as well as the occasional bright red crispy fruit."
Zero paused for a moment, gauging Cain's response. He smiled and patted Cain lightly on the shoulder. "Cain, would you judge an entire race because of the actions of so few? If so, would you stop it? I can honestly say that in that case, you wouldn't." Cain raised an eyebrow.
"Really? How'd you come up with that?" Zero smirked.
"If so, God or whatever supreme being you choose to believe in would have long ago thrown away the plans for humanity." Cain laughed at the irony of the comment.
"A reploid, speaking of religion? Stranger things have happened. Now all we need is X to come back alive, and we'll be set." Zero nodded, his eyes full of hope.
"Come back alive, Cain? X won't come back alive-he'll come back with Sting's head on a platter."
Once X had climbed his way up the wall of the jungle complex, passing by mace wielding mavericks; actual reploid mavericks, not robotic drones he remembered with a chilling thought; he came across what seemed to be a huge swamp in front of him. He dropped down from the high ledge, and unexpectedly landed in a cockpit. With a quick scan, X realized he had landed in the control section of a generic 'mech, a powerful dashing piece of hardware which was all too familiar to him. Vile rode in a modified version of this, and X knew what it was capable of. He pushed the activate switch, and a thin microbubble covered the top. Any impact or attack made towards him would be put to the tank instead, and any energy enemies left behind from their defeat would be left for X to recharge with and fill Sub-Tanks. He flexed a stick for a minute, getting used to the controls and slamming a powerful hydraulic fist into the mountain behind him.
"Whoever said it felt good to be sitting in a big machine was right!" X chuckled. A newfound sense of protection came over him, but he couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
A whistling grew louder from close by, and X rotated the 'mech to the source. A maverick reploid was casually walking back towards the mech, but froze midstep when he saw who was in it. Even with his sensor helmet firmly in place, X could read the signs of fear and surprise by his body's movements; or rather, lack of them.
"CRIPES!" The maverick yelled, before running and screaming towards the swamp, where at the opposite side Sting and help would be at. X gritted his teeth. It was this part of being a Hunter he hated. Taking out mindless programmed robots was one thing. But this was a living, breathing, sentient reploid, capable of emotion and rational thought. And as a Hunter, X would have to do the worst part of war.
Take a life. He shook his head and spoke softly. "I'm sorry. If only you weren't a maverick, maybe this would be different." X gritted his teeth. He had chosen this fate, to become a maverick and follow Sigma. And with a powerful thrust forward, X plowed over him and silenced the alarm before it could alert anyone else.
"Not like that does much." X muttered softly, sniffling back a tear. He'd have to face them eventually. He shifted the controls forward, hitting the boosters. Soon, he was making good time, but the thick muck threatened to bog him down. With a few test leaps, X gauged what he would have to do keep himself and the 'mech above the grimy depths.
Unfortunately, waves of enemies came charging at him. Helo Drones, more of those blasted Amenhoppers, and even another maverick controlled 'mech stood in his path. They all fell to his power, and little damage was done. In fact when it was all over, X had refilled a second Sub-Tank. Two more were empty, though. And that worried him. He hoped he could overcome that soon enough.
But he knew Sting was a formidable foe, almost as Quick as Boomer, not as powerful as Spark or Flame, but having his own special ability to hide in with his surroundings. It was that which worried him. If he could keep Sting from using his vanish technique, he might stand a chance.
If not…well, that was one less Hunter for Sigma to worry about.
Inside the forest's observation bunker, Sting waited calmly for X to appear. Part of his original data consumption involved heavy study of the Shogun and Ninja of Japan. Both did not fear death, and fought with great courage until their final moments. With that same intensity Sting waited. He could hear outside the noises of destruction and plodding hydraulics, and he knew X had to be at the controls. He also knew the door was too small to let the 'mech in, which meant X would have to come here in person.
Finally, the clicking of the sliding doors was heard, and Sting faded into the greenery above, hanging onto the leaves with his claws.
Sting was odd in that respect from the other mavericks. The others had hands-barring Launch, who Sting had always felt close to because of that. LAUNCH. Sting tightened his grip on the branches. X had destroyed Launch. And Sting would avenge his friend.
Finally, the last door slid open and X stepped inside. He looked about the room with steely focused eyes. Finally, he checked his Buster and switched to a shade of olive green, clashing against his white and gold armor. He looked up at the ceiling again and fired a shot. A powerful homing missiles went off and with no target to track, exploded in the ceiling. X kept his Buster raised, and cleared his throat.
"Sting, you in here?" X waited calmly for Sting to appear before him, but it was the noise which gave him away first. His ability to blend in with objects had a nasty side effect-even though it makes him silent and undetectable to every sensor possible, to stay in it too long meant overheating his systems. And the sound it made while he cloaked and decloaked bordered on a jetplane volume, making it all too obvious when he was coming or going.
"I'm here, Hunter." Sting was hanging off the wall with one paw and pointing at X with the other. "You've caused a lot of trouble in your short career, you know that?" X shrugged, his own cold expression matching dead even with Sting's.
"So what? I've killed your friends, and you killed mine. Sorry Sting, but you chose the wrong side going with Sigma." X fired off a missile, but Sting batted it away with his massive tail with ease. Sting hissed loudly.
"I follow Sigma, wherever he goes. I risked my life with the guy, and that is loyalty. Something which you will never understand, rookie. You may have defeated the others by pure luck, or by your newfound abilities. But I know you have Sub-Tanks and Heart Tanks. I came prepared for that contingency, my friend. I came with a warrior's spirit. You came with your weapons of desecration, taken from the dead bodies of honorable warriors! Tell me X…who is the one who has done the worst? The one who followed his leader?" Sting then ominously pointed a pincer at X. "Or the one who betrays his own kind, the race he is responsible for creating?"
The question froze X for a moment, but then he raised his Buster again and shook his head.
"You know, Flame asked me close to the same question before I destroyed him. And you know what I did?" X fired off another Homing Missile. Sting blocked it, but a second was already closing in, too fast to block. The shot hit home and Sting was knocked down from his perch. X thought of allowing himself a small smile, but he decided against it. One shot wasn't enough-he'd celebrate when Sting was dust.
Sting brushed the dirt off of himself and stumbled to his feet. His fully robotic eye rolled angrily at X and he pointed a giant claw finger at his adversary.
"Nice trick. I see you've desecrated Launch as well with that attack. But I'm gonna let you in on something, my rookie Hunter; I was designed to take abuse upwards of immense force equal to great grizzlies. That is strong-too strong for your pathetic firecracker to take out. My armor, be it not overt like your own, is no less powerful. And in the end, because you have NOTHING which will work against me, you will fail." Sting leapt onto the wall and lashed his tail out, spreading a triad of green energy bolts. X blinked for a moment, until finally he realized that the blasts stood a very good chance of damaging him. With a well directed thrust from his boots, he dashed backwards and hopped up onto the wall, directing a plasma shot at Sting's position. A low chuckle filled the room as the noisy cloaking device of Sting's activated, and a shimmering shuffle covered Sting, until it was as if he had melted into the wall. He was now fully blended, and in cloaked mode. X stared at the wall where his shot sizzled against branches and leaves, cursing angrily at Sting's tactic.
He took in a breath and focused. Sting would be moving around, trying to gain an advantage against him with his vanishing technique. His only chance of success would be to try and find Sting ahead of time before the blasted maverick got close enough to try any funny business on him. He primed his Buster, holding the charge until it built up again to its max.
"Sting, where are you?" X muttered under his breath. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a flash of light, but not much of one. Just enough to have his Hunter's instincts spasm in a jolt of self-preservation. He dropped off the wall, then dashed forward and tucked into a roll. Behind him, the wall was smashed into dust with a quick snap of Sting's Irontongue, and then the chunk of ground right by his boots broke into rubble, where the razor sharp roll of Sting's palate took a second attack. X curled out of his roll and turned about, beading his Buster and releasing the shot. With Sting cloaked, he couldn't see where he was aiming. But his advanced hearing helped him to pick up on where the tongue shot from, because X knew from the computer files on Sting that the cloaking device lost its integrity field around objects which escaped the main 'bubble' at too rapid a velocity; namely any attack Sting made. This was why he moved slowly, to maintain the field's effect.
But some who had faced Sting before they perished might have come up with a different reason; that the sneaking was meant to frighten them out of their wits and force them to make rash and fatal decisions.
But X had faced a total of 7 other maverick generals up to this point, always coming out on top. Instincts which he never knew he had possessed before he joined up with Zero and the now all but decimated 17th Unit had flared to vibrant vitality, saving his life time and time again. And those same instincts now helped him as much as they ever did.
A cloaked Sting took the shot dead center in his stomach, knocking him out of the field and also from his handhold. The purple blast was almost too powerful, throwing the limber Sting Chameleon across the room as if a magical wind had become angered with him. A scream of surprise and pain rose from the maverick's throat until he was slammed into the other side of the room and had the wind knocked out of him. Sliding down the wall in an almost comical fashion, Sting resembled something that X had to laugh at.
"A bloody bug on a windshield." X shook the comment off of himself and prepared another blast. Sting shook his head for a moment, coughed in a loose jerk and then picked himself up, grabbing hold of the wall with his pincer hands.
"Oh, you're definitely good, rookie. Zero has trained you well. But even he can be defeated." Sting threw himself across the room, so fast was his leap X couldn't follow it with his Buster. Sting bounced off the wall right above X and hopped down, boots first. He smashed X to the ground, pinning him with a devastating crunch. X cringed at the blow but managed to stifle the racking pain in his body. Sting hissed angrily at him, throwing a lopsided punch which still managed to throw stars in X's eyes.
"All Hunters die sometime, X. It's a lesson I learned the hard way in my early days. It just seems that your time has come a bit earlier than most." Sting picked up his hand and primed the finger pincers. X blinked at the sight, and somewhere within the confines of his dazed mind he realized Sting was going to try and stab him with his thick claw hand.
"Oh no you don't, you sick sonofa-" X backed up his head a bit and then smashed it forward onto Sting's kneecap. Even in reploids, pressure points existed. One was the kneecap, and the thick metal helmet of X's, capable of smashing through stone crushed the armor inwards to the limb. Sting howled in pain at the attack and readied a rabbit punch, but X activated his thrusters. With Sting riding on top of him, the thrust was lessened, but no less powerful. The end result was that when X skidded to a halt because of friction, Sting was thrown off of X like a stone in a catapault.
But the maverick had managed to scrape together a parry for the blow, and as he lashed his tongue out to grab hold of a sturdy branch hanging off the wall, and his tail swung down in a vicious sweeping arc, scraping along the thick armor of X's chest. The blow was softened and no vital systems were damaged, but the impact drained a tiny bit of energy from his systems. X got up and readied himself again. Sting had had him pinned, and if he managed to again, nothing X did could free himself. He had gotten lucky that time, and luck was something one did not rely on too frequently.
"Damnit, X! Now you'll pay! You messed up my damn kneecap…crap!" Sting clutched the dented armor painfully, but still managing to level a triad blast at X with his tail. X dodged out of the way with another dash, but Sting dropped down for a frontal attack. X stalled, realizing Sting had once again made him move to a vulnerable position. Sting fixated on X's wide eyed expression for one moment with a growl of anger, but the growl increased into a scream of pain. Sting dropped to one side limply, but he managed to use his tail for balance. Still, X could see the maverick's kneecap wound was more serious than Sting would have liked it to be. X chuckled.
"Funnybone connected to the legbone, eh Sting?" Sting howled angrily at X and jumped up onto the wall again. X looked up with a look of disgust on his face. Sting was being too proud, and it showed on his pained face. For all the damage X had given him, he would not even admit X to be a true threat.
Sting leapt across the room again, but this time he took hold of the wall with his tail and swung down, arms outstretched. X fired off another blast of hot plasma, but Sting batted it aside with a swipe of his paw. Then he spat his tongue out in a powerful unexpected twist of strategy. X didn't even have time to react at all before the powerful palate wrapped itself around him, and the spines rolling on the long axis of the mouth's limb sprang out at Sting's command, burying into the armor of X's torso with a powerful punch. X screamed in pain, feeling the tiny pinpricks passing through his newest armor, feeling their long shredding tips digging deeper and deeper, causing horrible amounts of damage, causing every automatic alarm in his body to ring out in protest of the intrusion. X was badly disoriented by the compounding secondaries, and he found his vision beginning to blur. But finally, by either choice or by cruelty, Sting whipped his tongue around and rolled it off of X.
The end result of that throw could be compared to what happens to a yo-yo when the string breaks in the opening loop of an around the world spin; X was sent sprawling in a wild upwards and forwards arc across the room, too weakened by the blow to respond with any defensive measure.
Even with his new armor and the thick protective helmet, X still felt the impact of the wall cascade through his body, permeating every tiny servomotor with angry vibrations. Finally, the force of the throw died out as its kinetic energy finished wracking through X's body and into the wall. When he dropped down from it in a pile of dazed limbs, a large dent with cracks still spiraling outwards like a spiderweb remained, giving full proof as to where X had smashed into the heavy concrete bunker.
His world spun around him, stars still dancing in front of his eyes. Sting hung off the wall, letting his large tail whip around lazily in satisfaction.
"Not so invincible, are you? I've told you before, ROOKIE. You lack the drive and experience. You rely on big guns to fight, and the end result is simply there is no finesse. I do believe there is one other creature in the world that might fit your fighting style; It is commonly called the Rhinoceros." X got up, his nostrils flaring angrily, but his wounds still caused his breathing to be labored. He lifted a finger, pointing it at Sting.
"You want a fight of honor, eh?" Sting stopped swinging back and forth from the ceiling and dropped to the floor, careful to balance his weight mainly on his good leg. With a large sweeping bow, he clasped his hands together and blinked his eyes.
"X, I desire nothing less. I have been bred as a true warrior throughout my Hunter career, and my long study of the Shogun. They do not fear death as weaker warriors do, but they embrace it with the same ferocity they embraced life. I believe that in a true honorable fight, you would lose. Every bit of our conflagration to this point has been based on street fighting, wrestling, sheer power and sneaking about like cowards. I may lose my cloaking ability, but that does not concern me. With the loss of dishonorable weapons, you lose almost all of your abilities." X grated his mind. Sting wanted to fight it his way? Fine. But he was right.
X often did resort to large overpowering attacks to defeat his opponents. But it seemed a newer fighting style was in order. A fighting style which used not his supershot, not his Fire Wave, nor any other weapon as such.
It is said that ideas come to one in a flash of inspiration, out of the blue and totally unexpected. Sometimes, they are ignored like flies, with disastrous consequences. But every so often, the possessor of such a radical thought realizes it for what it truly is, and then great things happen.
The Wright Brothers had the first flying motorized airplane. The US went to the moon within a decade. Doctor Thomas Right created X, a robot with human emotions and thought processes.
And X in turn found the most honorable weapon he had in his inventory, and also perhaps the only thing that would forever silence Sting Chameleon. He grinned and gave a similar bow to Sting, making note the twisting of his upper torso came very difficult, much like standing straight was for the injured Sting. They had both given and received blows, serious enough to hinder performance, but not enough to be life-threatening.
"All right, Sting. An honorable duel it will be. I hate random violence as much as you do. If it will be a duel of skill and dexterity as you wish, I will be more than happy to challenge you." X's armor shimmered brightly for a moment, the blue vanishing to be replaced with gray. Now X had adopted another master weapon to fight with, and his chances of winning with it were quite good.
Sting looked at the display curiously for a moment, then frowned.
"This had better be an honorable dueling weapon, I hope. Otherwise, expect no mercy." X shrugged.
"Oh, it fits the bill." He shut his eyes and a thin micro-rang appeared in his hands. The molecular arrangers in his X-Buster design allowed him to create a Boomerang Cutter from thin air, using the molecules of hydrogen and dust. It would work quite well, but then X would need to form another. The bonds would only last so long in the makeshift piece of weaponry, but until it lost power, it was deadly. X carefully gripped the metallic 'rang in his hand with a defensive pose and glared over at Sting.
"Whenever you're ready, maverick. I'll be waiting for your move." Sting rolled his eyeball and slammed his mitts together. Then he bowed to X and jumped for the roof, his massive good leg stopping the jump as he twisted his head downwards. He then dropped a bit before his tail caught hold of the wall, and his momentum dropped his body in a swinging arc. At the right moment, Sting opened his mouth and flicked his tongue out in a powerful strike. X sidestepped the blow and hurled his 'rang straight for Sting. But the green maverick saw it coming and swung aside, letting it pass him by. Then he swung back down and grinned at X, waving his right pincer in a left-right motion.
"Aww aww aww. Nice shot, but youoooOOOAAAAIIIIII!" Sting's sentence was interrupted as the 'rang completed its return loop, slicing cleanly through the wrist joint of Sting's waving hand. The now decapitated limb fell to the ground with a dull thud, while a good deal of reploid blood poured from the wound until automatic pressure valves in Sting's arm shut off blood to the wound. Sting howled angrily in pain, clutching the stump of his once mighty fist. But then the screams stopped and Sting made it all too clear to X with a powerful glare he would show no mercy. The placid techniques of Sting's personality had vanished in an instant, and now X looked on in confusion as to what Sting was doing.
It was as if all of a sudden, the old Sting had vanished, leaving a powerful and deadly warrior so enraged that his entire body would frighten a man. He was an empty shell, a shell which wanted so dearly to punt kick X's head off of his shoulders. X shuddered for a moment at the sight, but calmed down and drew another blade from the air. He was doing all right, and now Sting was down an arm. Hoping for the best, X pulled out another blade so he held one in each hand. He would need all the power he could afford for this. A wild animal craziness it seemed had possessed Sting, and wounded trapped animals were unpredictable and deadly to the extreme.
Sting swooped down, tucking all his limbs inwards to prevent X another easy hit, curling into a spiked ball of metal and rolling along the floor. X threw one blade at the ball, but it bounced off the hard surface and slammed into the ceiling before dissolving some seconds later. X jumped the rolling attack and peered up at his wasted blade. But it gave him an idea, a strategy that even Sting would be proud to have created.
When Sting finished with his attack, the maverick sent a triad green blast towards X before climbing onto the wall again, biding his time with another second blast. X dodged the first salvo, but the second was perfectly primed. X cursed and threw his second blade, quick to soon have another pair in his hands milliseconds afterwards. Sting dodged the speedy blade and dropped onto the floor, charging like a bull at X with a powerful roar. But X dashed towards Sting with his own ferocity, throwing a blade at the nimble warrior. Sting easily dodged it, and even jumped up to cleanly leap over the returning blade. But even as he swung around his stump for a massive blunt punch towards X, the crafty Hunter had snuck underneath the arcing limb and with his second blade made a ferocious slice along the tender belly of the maverick.
As the first blade buried itself in the wall, Sting grunted in surprise as a searing fire skewered along his torso, sending a spray of blood into the air. Stunned by the move, Sting was unable to respond as X then shoved his body upwards in a massive uppercut, slamming the maverick clean off the ground by several inches, and then another terrifyingly powerful swipe of the 'rang along Sting's legs. Sting hung in the air, his body still shaken by the powerful combo when X, now totally pumped up by his system's energy did a backflip, kicking Sting forwards in the beginning, and upon landing dashing forth again.
In a final swift one-two, X sliced Sting's tail clean off and gut-rammed the maverick into the wall. The blow would not have been as damaging, except for one tiny detail that X had planned mere moments before.
The Boomerang Cutter Sting had evaded in X's throw was firmly embedded in the wall, and when X slammed Sting into the rough concrete, the maverick was impaled upon the blade.
It vanished moments later into molecular dust, but the heavy damage had been done. Sting had lost a hand, his tail, and had severe cuts in his torso and legs, as well as a destroyed kneecap. His eyes glazed over in pain, and he groaned softly, finally coming back to his senses. X backed up from the mortally wounded reploid and glared at him.
"You're finished Sting." Sting looked up at X, but not with hatred or bitterness. In his last moments of death, he looked upon X with smiling eyes.
"Now you are a true warrior, X. You have overcome a powerful foe with strategy and honor. If you are to remain on your path, remember that lesson. Finesse is key to all." Sting weakly lifted his left hand and pointed at his severed tail.
"X, you have earned my weapon, perhaps more so than any other's. My weapon is in the tail. Take it now." X shook his head sadly, looking upon the now soft-spoken and dying reploid.
"Sting, it didn't have to be like this!" Sting trembled softly, in what might have been a laugh.
"X, I am a warrior. A warrior desires nothing less than a great duel for his death. But now I must move on to the next level. The Samurai have a tradition. When their honor is gone, they commit suicide. Storm had the respect in that tradition to take his life. I will do no less." Sting shook his head sadly, and X jumped forth, a horrified look on his face.
"No! Sting, don't do it!" Sting laughed loudly now, before he exposed his vital circuitry, his microfusion generator and set it to overload. He waved at X one last time.
"X, I have no other choice. I can only die; but at least I die knowing I did so at an honorable foe's hands. Sigma would have destroyed me anyway, but it seems the tables have turned. It is now your task to destroy HIM."
With those last sage words, Sting vanished in nuclear fire. The flash was brilliant, and when it had ended it left only a disturbed X behind in its wake.
An X, who even though he had done what it seemed was his destiny, felt so confused and alone once more. With a sigh, he looked down at the tail, and picked it up.
The Chameleon Sting became his, but X shook his head. He needed some time to think about this; to digest recent events and cope with his newfound emotional problems, and come out of it stronger than before. He had very few places he could go to be alone, but he knew of one place which might be that way;
The abandoned mines where Armored Armadillo had been.
When he got there, it seemed like Sigma had sent some sophisticated drones to do some last-minute mining for raw materials, because the place was bustling like he'd never gone through and eliminated them. Of course, the fact that X had left a few Batton Bones active in the upper region might have done something for that as well.
"Looks like this is one shipment that Sigma won't be getting today." X grumbled as he blasted away an entire row of Battons with a single plasma blast.
He'd muddled through virtually the entire complex in minutes, already familiar with the layout and equipped with more power than he'd had the first time around. The smell of dirt in the air and the solitude of the mine was invigorating, and gave him more than enough time to reexamine his status as a Hunter.
As he reached the final mine cart which served as his wild ride to the open skies and Arm's now abandoned lair, he noticed something very odd; he'd managed to fill up all his Sub-Tanks, as well as keep his stamina at full health. A very admirable accomplishment in X's mind, considering his current state.
"A time before I feared this cart." X shook his head and began to charge his Buster, knowing Battons would be close by. "Now I fear nothing."
X took the plunge, blasting away the last of the Battons, the cart piledriving through the final row of Dig Labours, and the wind whipping in his face. The sun blinded him as he shot out of the tunnel, but his optics adjusted in time. X saw the ledge approaching, and knew if he jumped soon enough, he could make the upper ledge for a final energy pellet.
The leap took him there, but when he climbed above something surprised him; Yet another of Doctor Light's capsules was on the ledge as well, the remains of its burrowing evident. X shook his head happily. These capsules always picked a secluded spot away from enemies, and within his abilities to reach. The solid door opened and the holographic image of Light appeared.
"What the?!" X exclaimed. Doctor Light was not in his usual white lab coat and tan pants, but rather a cloth garment befitting one that went to karate classes. The odd garb made X waver off balance. But it was Light, no doubt about it. The doctor smiled oddly, his red bandanna around his head waving in the holographic breeze.
"I give you a special present, X! This will help you considerably with your foes, so stop being a doof and get in! Enter the capsule, please!" The message was short, but Light's mood was ecstatic, which X took to mean that this capsule had something really good, so good in fact Light spent more time working out the kinks in the design, and less with the message.
When he stepped out of the capsule moments later, he tested his new ability, forming the energy ball in his hands and chucking it out into the empty sky.
"Hadouken!" X yelped childishly. He giddily chuckled at his newfound gift, and the implications were profound. The 'Hadouken' was in fact the most powerful weapon X possessed now. When he was at full energy, he could use some of his reactor's excess power and concentrate it into his hands, focusing it more and more until within less than a second it was extremely powerful. He could hold it in his hands with ease, with Light's design in place. Then when he was ready, all he needed to do was give it a shove with his mitts and it would go flying. And when it did; something would go boom.
It's incredible power would melt through any armor, and then conveniently deposit itself in the power matrix of whoever was on the receiving end. When that happened, no matter what got hit, the power systems would overload and the whole thing would explode with a great flourish.
Sting may have proved to X that finesse and style could often get the better of an opponent. But looking at his newest toy, X grinned widely.
There was something to be said for almost unstoppable power as well.
Just then, his comm went off in a loud chirp. He flipped it on and looked into the viewscreen. It was Zero.
"Zero, buddy! Wassup?" Zero gave him a look of pure devilish joy.
"We've managed to locate Sigma's hidden fortress! It's up in a corner of Hokkaido, overlooking the ocean." X whistled.
"Damn! Never would have thought to look there." Zero shrugged.
"None of us would. But now we have to go stop him. You with me, X?" X nodded.
"Yeah, Sting's fried, and I got two new toys to play with." Zero raised his left eyebrow.
"TWO?" X chuckled.
"I took out some more mining drones in Arm's place. And one of Light's capsules showed up as well." Zero twisted his mouth in a half smile.
"I should be jealous. Report back to base, X. We have to get stocked up for 'bar huntin'!" X clicked the comm off. He shook his head and gave a final pat to the side of the capsule before it dug back underground and vanished.
"On my way, Zero. On my way."
X turned into a bright beam of light, and warped out. But the last thought on his mind was a goodie.
At last, he would stop Sigma. And then everyone who had died during this could rest peacefully.