THE TENTH DISK
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001
Chapter Twenty-Three
X
I smiled as I saw Zero rip through Sigma's legs. "Still feeling cocky,
Sigs?" I asked with a smirk.
"You have no idea how much you Hunters pain me," he remarked. "I
hate times like these."
"Why is that, Sigma?"
"It means I'm losing."
"Awww...." I said in a little-kid voice. "Poor widda viwus....boo hoo..."
"Frankly, X," he said as he plucked me from his snout, "I've had
enough of your flippancy. You'll learn firsthand exactly how much I hate
losing." He grinned as his eyes began changing colors...not to green or brown,
but to solid red. The redness spread over his entire eyeball, as if taking him
over. Energy began gathering in his eye beams, and I had no way of escaping
this time, whether I struggled or not.
The deadly gaze was leveled to fire on me, centering my form in his
optical reticles. The beams finished gathering their energy, and he was
about to fire, when...
Out of nowhere, a blast! From behind Sigma's head came Roll. She
held a small laser pistol, smoking, of course, and wore a look of pure disgust
on her face. She discarded the blaster and walked directly up to Sigma's
eyes. "Try it, you piece of garbage," she spat.
Sigma yelled in anger, throwing me off his snout and into the air. I
hovered, bringing myself to a safe landing. Roll, however, had stayed latched
onto the dragon's face, and I was powerless to stop Sigma from doing
something to Roll. I lowered my head. She was gone for sure.
She stood out on the edge of his snout. "I think you're afraid to kill
me, Sigma, I really do," I heard her call.
"Roll, don't!" Iris called. I would've done the same, but I knew it
wouldn't do any good. I waved for Iris to stay quiet.
I saw the eyes heat up to that scarlet red once again, saw the
energy particles being drawn to the storage batteries as Roll continued to
taunt the growling Sigma...
And then frowned as I heard one of the strangest noises I'd ever
heard in my life.
A peculiarly familiar whistling noise found its way to my earlobes,
and as I turned this way and that to try to find its source, so did Sigma. His
eyes darkened back to their normal hue, and he donned a confused
expression. A pair of charged-up cannon blasts came from behind the
dragon, sending him lumbering forward a few steps. "Who fired that shot?" I
asked of our unit. "We've got no one back there!"
But as Sigma turned `round to face his attacker, I was just curious
enough to go back up to Sigs' snout and take a look. Using my air-dash and
plain old climbing to get back to my original position, I hugged Roll to me as I
gazed down upon the ground.
Standing there were two figures, back to back, with their gun arms
outstretched towards Sigma, their cannons smoking. One was garbed in red,
yellow, and grey, the other in tones of blue. I thought this color scheme
somehow oddly appropriate, but furthered a look at their faces, and smiled.
The original Mega Man and Protoman, both in the flesh, had come
back from the grave for one last fight.
* * *
Zero
I turned my head towards X as he shouted "Come see this, Zero!" I
obliged with a double-jump to Sigma's chest, and a short climb. Once I stood
on his snout with X and Roll, I took a look down at the two fighters. "Mega
Man and Protoman," I muttered, a smile drawing my lips apart. "Well, I'll be
damned..."
They leaped in unison to the chest to climb up to where we stood
now. Rock got up first, reaching for his brother's arm to pull him up. When
they both stood only a few feet from us, I had to check to see whether I was
dreaming. Nope, this is really them!
X smiled in disbelief. However, he did find enough of his senses to
walk forward and extend a hand. Rock took it, shook it firmly, then returned
a smile. I felt I was being shunted, so I stepped forward to Protoman. He,
likewise, stepped forward and offered a hand.
"Is it just me, or do you look extremely handsome?" I heard Rock say
to X. He laughed out loud, and I couldn't help it myself either. Their voices
were exactly alike! It was spooky, to say the least.
"You making the little whistle, right?" I muttered to Protoman.
He nodded. "Always. My calling card, you know."
"I know."
Roll walked up. "It's strange," she said. "You've never met before in
your lives, and yet you're acting as if you're old school buddies or
something."
X stepped aside to let Roll shake Rock's hand. "Honored," he said
quietly. "Your name?"
"Roll," she said with a giggle.
He smiled too. "Named after my own sister, are you?"
"Can't escape her, even by coming a century into the future, eh,
Rock?" Protoman chuckled.
"How rude of me, though," X said. "I'm Mega Man X. Just call me X."
"And your all-too-familiar cohort here?" he gestured at me.
"Zero," I said with a grin.
"We saw you had Wily taken care of down below, so we thought we'd
just join the party upstairs," Protoman said.
"Not the worst of ideas," said X, "especially since your appearances
saved Roll here."
"How's that?"
"Sigma there was gonna nuke her with his eye beams," I informed
them. "You guys showed up just in time."
"Oh, by the way, be glad your Reploid friend back in the base isn't
prone to heart conditions," Mega Man said. "He had quite a start when we
showed up."
"Can't you understand why?" Protoman interrupted. "We're robots
from a hundred years ago, and he was alone down there, you know."
"Not to mention that you both are heroes that go down in history
together," X said.
"That too," Protoman said, keeping a smile on his face.
"Anyway, care to help us exterminate this virus?" I inquired.
They both nodded. "Let's do it."
X turned to Roll. "I can't ask you to stay for this, Roll," he said. "It's
us or him now."
"And it will be you, I trust," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
"Come back to me safely, love."
I, likewise, blew a kiss to Iris as Roll hopped off the nose of our
enemy, no doubt already anxiously awaiting X's return.
* * *
X
I shook my head, still trying to cope with what had just transpired.
Mega Man and Protoman were checking out their cannons, making sure they
were in top condition before they began to fight. In the moment, I had
almost forgotten about our target--Sigma! "You still up for a final match, big
guy?" I asked. "You've gotta pay for what you've done to everyone."
His eyes flexed into a calm smile. "I still have a few tricks up my
sleeve, X. Don't be so cocky."
With this, he arched his head upward and two great wings shot out
of his back. Stretching them thoroughly, he began an ascent into the arid
heat of the afternoon. We began to fly, to make a direct climb upwards. I
heard Zero swear. "Crap!"
"What is it?"
"Dropped my saber. Oh, well. Stick to the cannon, then."
"He's gonna try to get past the atmosphere," I realized. "He's trying
to drain our air."
"He's got a ways to go," remarked Protoman. "You think he'll make
it?"
"Not if we start working now," Mega Man replied as he began a Mega-
Buster charge.
"Right," I said. "Let's get going."
Zero nodded, and began charging a series of three blasts with his
cannon. He headed `round to Sigma's back, from whence I saw purple and
blue flashes seconds later. I smiled as I let fly with my own blast, catching
the dragon Sigma in the end of his snout.
At that moment, he suddenly kicked up the afterburners a notch,
throwing all four of us down to wherever we hung or stood.
"Having fun now, X? I could go even faster, if you'd like."
I flattened myself onto the snout as I called for the others. "Guys!
Get in a triangle position around Sigs' head!"
They complied as quickly as they could. I nodded to them each in
turn, all starting charges on their cannons. Recalling my full-capacity energy
charge back when I'd first seen this version of Sigma, I concentrated on
staying balanced. Sigma's jets echoed mightily through the sky. He punched
it again, G's increasing every second.
Spheres of blue, green, and red energy arced around my three
companions. "Get ready!" I yelled, raising my hand above my head.
Sigs heard and throttled the jets harder, sending all of us crashing
to our knees again. I could barely stand up, but I managed. The others were
having a considerably harder time, but they eventually made it back up. The
wind, what there was left of it, tore at the corners of my mouth, forcing
them downward, as it did my arms. I struggled to keep the one I had held up
in the air, however. Succeeding at that, I took a deep breath.
I coughed. The air had become scarce, and the oxygen count thin.
Sigma was rising quickly, and the atmosphere was nearly cleared. I coughed
one last time as my hand flew down with tiredness. The other three
immediately fired off multiple blaster charges, Zero firing three, Mega Man
one, and Protoman two.
I cursed. I had not meant to throw my hand down at that moment.
Take the chance you've got now, X, I told myself. It's the only one you've got
left.
Readying myself, I concentrated on unleashing the capacity of
energy inside myself. As the other began wheezing around me, I rose slightly
from the snout of the dragon and closed my eyes. Yellow energy began to
spurt out around my body, like flames, almost. At this intensity of G's, the
power was taking longer to disperse. At the peak of the release, I snapped
open my eyes and gave Sigma an evil look. He cringed, knowing his end was
near.
I released the energy and let the Nova Strike attack plow right into
his eyes.
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001
Chapter Twenty-Three
X
I smiled as I saw Zero rip through Sigma's legs. "Still feeling cocky,
Sigs?" I asked with a smirk.
"You have no idea how much you Hunters pain me," he remarked. "I
hate times like these."
"Why is that, Sigma?"
"It means I'm losing."
"Awww...." I said in a little-kid voice. "Poor widda viwus....boo hoo..."
"Frankly, X," he said as he plucked me from his snout, "I've had
enough of your flippancy. You'll learn firsthand exactly how much I hate
losing." He grinned as his eyes began changing colors...not to green or brown,
but to solid red. The redness spread over his entire eyeball, as if taking him
over. Energy began gathering in his eye beams, and I had no way of escaping
this time, whether I struggled or not.
The deadly gaze was leveled to fire on me, centering my form in his
optical reticles. The beams finished gathering their energy, and he was
about to fire, when...
Out of nowhere, a blast! From behind Sigma's head came Roll. She
held a small laser pistol, smoking, of course, and wore a look of pure disgust
on her face. She discarded the blaster and walked directly up to Sigma's
eyes. "Try it, you piece of garbage," she spat.
Sigma yelled in anger, throwing me off his snout and into the air. I
hovered, bringing myself to a safe landing. Roll, however, had stayed latched
onto the dragon's face, and I was powerless to stop Sigma from doing
something to Roll. I lowered my head. She was gone for sure.
She stood out on the edge of his snout. "I think you're afraid to kill
me, Sigma, I really do," I heard her call.
"Roll, don't!" Iris called. I would've done the same, but I knew it
wouldn't do any good. I waved for Iris to stay quiet.
I saw the eyes heat up to that scarlet red once again, saw the
energy particles being drawn to the storage batteries as Roll continued to
taunt the growling Sigma...
And then frowned as I heard one of the strangest noises I'd ever
heard in my life.
A peculiarly familiar whistling noise found its way to my earlobes,
and as I turned this way and that to try to find its source, so did Sigma. His
eyes darkened back to their normal hue, and he donned a confused
expression. A pair of charged-up cannon blasts came from behind the
dragon, sending him lumbering forward a few steps. "Who fired that shot?" I
asked of our unit. "We've got no one back there!"
But as Sigma turned `round to face his attacker, I was just curious
enough to go back up to Sigs' snout and take a look. Using my air-dash and
plain old climbing to get back to my original position, I hugged Roll to me as I
gazed down upon the ground.
Standing there were two figures, back to back, with their gun arms
outstretched towards Sigma, their cannons smoking. One was garbed in red,
yellow, and grey, the other in tones of blue. I thought this color scheme
somehow oddly appropriate, but furthered a look at their faces, and smiled.
The original Mega Man and Protoman, both in the flesh, had come
back from the grave for one last fight.
* * *
Zero
I turned my head towards X as he shouted "Come see this, Zero!" I
obliged with a double-jump to Sigma's chest, and a short climb. Once I stood
on his snout with X and Roll, I took a look down at the two fighters. "Mega
Man and Protoman," I muttered, a smile drawing my lips apart. "Well, I'll be
damned..."
They leaped in unison to the chest to climb up to where we stood
now. Rock got up first, reaching for his brother's arm to pull him up. When
they both stood only a few feet from us, I had to check to see whether I was
dreaming. Nope, this is really them!
X smiled in disbelief. However, he did find enough of his senses to
walk forward and extend a hand. Rock took it, shook it firmly, then returned
a smile. I felt I was being shunted, so I stepped forward to Protoman. He,
likewise, stepped forward and offered a hand.
"Is it just me, or do you look extremely handsome?" I heard Rock say
to X. He laughed out loud, and I couldn't help it myself either. Their voices
were exactly alike! It was spooky, to say the least.
"You making the little whistle, right?" I muttered to Protoman.
He nodded. "Always. My calling card, you know."
"I know."
Roll walked up. "It's strange," she said. "You've never met before in
your lives, and yet you're acting as if you're old school buddies or
something."
X stepped aside to let Roll shake Rock's hand. "Honored," he said
quietly. "Your name?"
"Roll," she said with a giggle.
He smiled too. "Named after my own sister, are you?"
"Can't escape her, even by coming a century into the future, eh,
Rock?" Protoman chuckled.
"How rude of me, though," X said. "I'm Mega Man X. Just call me X."
"And your all-too-familiar cohort here?" he gestured at me.
"Zero," I said with a grin.
"We saw you had Wily taken care of down below, so we thought we'd
just join the party upstairs," Protoman said.
"Not the worst of ideas," said X, "especially since your appearances
saved Roll here."
"How's that?"
"Sigma there was gonna nuke her with his eye beams," I informed
them. "You guys showed up just in time."
"Oh, by the way, be glad your Reploid friend back in the base isn't
prone to heart conditions," Mega Man said. "He had quite a start when we
showed up."
"Can't you understand why?" Protoman interrupted. "We're robots
from a hundred years ago, and he was alone down there, you know."
"Not to mention that you both are heroes that go down in history
together," X said.
"That too," Protoman said, keeping a smile on his face.
"Anyway, care to help us exterminate this virus?" I inquired.
They both nodded. "Let's do it."
X turned to Roll. "I can't ask you to stay for this, Roll," he said. "It's
us or him now."
"And it will be you, I trust," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
"Come back to me safely, love."
I, likewise, blew a kiss to Iris as Roll hopped off the nose of our
enemy, no doubt already anxiously awaiting X's return.
* * *
X
I shook my head, still trying to cope with what had just transpired.
Mega Man and Protoman were checking out their cannons, making sure they
were in top condition before they began to fight. In the moment, I had
almost forgotten about our target--Sigma! "You still up for a final match, big
guy?" I asked. "You've gotta pay for what you've done to everyone."
His eyes flexed into a calm smile. "I still have a few tricks up my
sleeve, X. Don't be so cocky."
With this, he arched his head upward and two great wings shot out
of his back. Stretching them thoroughly, he began an ascent into the arid
heat of the afternoon. We began to fly, to make a direct climb upwards. I
heard Zero swear. "Crap!"
"What is it?"
"Dropped my saber. Oh, well. Stick to the cannon, then."
"He's gonna try to get past the atmosphere," I realized. "He's trying
to drain our air."
"He's got a ways to go," remarked Protoman. "You think he'll make
it?"
"Not if we start working now," Mega Man replied as he began a Mega-
Buster charge.
"Right," I said. "Let's get going."
Zero nodded, and began charging a series of three blasts with his
cannon. He headed `round to Sigma's back, from whence I saw purple and
blue flashes seconds later. I smiled as I let fly with my own blast, catching
the dragon Sigma in the end of his snout.
At that moment, he suddenly kicked up the afterburners a notch,
throwing all four of us down to wherever we hung or stood.
"Having fun now, X? I could go even faster, if you'd like."
I flattened myself onto the snout as I called for the others. "Guys!
Get in a triangle position around Sigs' head!"
They complied as quickly as they could. I nodded to them each in
turn, all starting charges on their cannons. Recalling my full-capacity energy
charge back when I'd first seen this version of Sigma, I concentrated on
staying balanced. Sigma's jets echoed mightily through the sky. He punched
it again, G's increasing every second.
Spheres of blue, green, and red energy arced around my three
companions. "Get ready!" I yelled, raising my hand above my head.
Sigs heard and throttled the jets harder, sending all of us crashing
to our knees again. I could barely stand up, but I managed. The others were
having a considerably harder time, but they eventually made it back up. The
wind, what there was left of it, tore at the corners of my mouth, forcing
them downward, as it did my arms. I struggled to keep the one I had held up
in the air, however. Succeeding at that, I took a deep breath.
I coughed. The air had become scarce, and the oxygen count thin.
Sigma was rising quickly, and the atmosphere was nearly cleared. I coughed
one last time as my hand flew down with tiredness. The other three
immediately fired off multiple blaster charges, Zero firing three, Mega Man
one, and Protoman two.
I cursed. I had not meant to throw my hand down at that moment.
Take the chance you've got now, X, I told myself. It's the only one you've got
left.
Readying myself, I concentrated on unleashing the capacity of
energy inside myself. As the other began wheezing around me, I rose slightly
from the snout of the dragon and closed my eyes. Yellow energy began to
spurt out around my body, like flames, almost. At this intensity of G's, the
power was taking longer to disperse. At the peak of the release, I snapped
open my eyes and gave Sigma an evil look. He cringed, knowing his end was
near.
I released the energy and let the Nova Strike attack plow right into
his eyes.
