MEGA MAN X: ISLAND OF AWAKENING
By Erico
CHAPTER ELEVEN: MUTINY ON THE H.M.S. MAVERICK
"Well, that's probably the most unorthodox way I've ever heard of a Hunter taking down a Maverick…" Cain mused, rubbing at his chin while his legs were propped up on his desk. X leaned up against a wall in the MHHQ's command office and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.
"Whatever it takes. That guy was tough, Cain. TOUGH. He made Armored Armadillo look like a chump even."
"True, true…" Cain mused, looking down at the cleaned and hollowed out shell of the aforementioned Maverick. It now served as little more than a fishbowl for his office. The last goldfish who'd lived in it, Sigma II, had died. The replacement goldfish had also been called Sigma II, and Cain showed no signs of altering the name.
"But remember, X, Armored Armadillo's setup didn't have potentially explosive Energen Crystals in the walls and ceiling that you could exploit for victory either." The Hunter's leader tapped on his armrest. "Still…This proves one thing."
"What?"
"You truly have become a Hunter." Cain said sadly. X shook his head.
"No need for moping, Cain. I'm the only one left, you said it yourself on June 20th."
"I guess." The archaeologist sighed. "Still, I wish that you could have lived your life another way."
"Pish tosh." X muttered. "What happens happens, and we can't change the past."
"True." Cain replied. He turned the datapadd on his desk about and nudged it towards X. "I've got the details on your next mission."
"How many more do I have to pull here??" X groaned. Cain lifted up two fingers.
Nuts, is that it?
I don't like doing this stuff, remember? Two's just fine.
Suit yourself, party pooper.
"The next one is Cornus's Deep Sea Base, on the Southeast side of the island. They use it primarily for geological research, but the GDC tells me it also has a backup command center, if the main Computer Complex in the center of the island ever suffered from problems."
"I get it." X said calmly. He looked at the datapadd. "First, I make sure that the secondary command center at the Deep Sea Base will never be operational for the Mavericks."
"Yeah, and we have some data on the Maverick there for once." Cain said. X looked up in surprise. Cain motioned to the datapadd. "Flip to the next page." X pushed the button, then stared at a freeze frame image of what seemed to be a crablike Maverick.
"That's a Cancer-class reploid…" Cain winced. "Sorry, I just can't help but be hurt by the connotations of that name."
"Me too." X said sadly, remembering his yellow colored friend, the first reploid ever made.
"Anyhow, in the short run, that's a reploid built to resemble a crab. Like his animalian brethren, he doesn't have squat in the way of walking abilities."
"What's the upside?"
"His breed of reploids were designed in April of 2118, and they discontinued them in June. The upside X, is that these things were built for deep underwater exploration. Their armor's capable of withstanding the crushing depths in the Marianas, and could probably go deeper. With all that defensive capability, they were considered to be a risk."
"So they stopped building them."
"Only 73 ever got off the line. This guy has his own record…He was a part of the Tokyo Harbor patrol when the First Uprising started." Cain harrumphed. "I guess he went with Launch Octopus…because he went missing. Only now, he's come back."
"Terrific." X muttered. "Which means I'm going up against a Maverick who's had months to train, on top of his defensive capabilities, and the fact it occurs underwater."
"And this time, we really have no choice BUT you." Cain said anxiously. "Your armor has enough extra protection that you can withstand the pressure to the Deep Sea Base."
"Why can't I just warp in?"
"No good." Cain said drily. "They have an EM shield up to prevent direct warp-ins. You have to infiltrate the base the long way…and doing that means going deep. Deeper than you did in Tokyo Harbor."
"Oh, great." X muttered. "Anything else I should be aware of?"
"The seafloor at Cornus is highly unstable…Your route will give you about a 100 foot clearance for your depth safety limits. Should you plunge down one of the abyssal drops riddled about the base…" Cain's voice trailed off.
"I get the idea." X muttered. "My air-dash should still work underwater, though. I'll be cool."
"I hope so, X." Cain replied. X gave him a brief nod and a quick smile, then warped out in his usual jumble of particles.
Cain put his chin on his hands.
"There are times I wonder if I'm to blame for all of this."
"X will probably be heading your way next." Agile said calmly over the intercom. The Maverick General staring back at him on the viewscreen blinked his large optics slowly before rubbing the side of his round body and head with a stubby arm.
"If he's a fool, he will."
"He's coming, and he's no fool." Agile growled. "Don't underestimate X. When he gets going, and I mean really going with a full head of steam and an angry mind, he flies."
"I know his record." Bubble Crab replied. "But he isn't unbeatable. No one's just given him a dangerous enough gauntlet that wears him down enough before a fight." He pointed at the screen. "That's the trick, comrade. You've put your best hopes in taking out X during a fully heated battle. Well, guess what. It doesn't work like that with him. He's running with two fully loaded Sub-Tanks, six Heart Tanks borrowed from our now dead associates, and a spiffy new set of armor that comes from God knows where. I've seen the uploaded data on what that suit's capable of."
"Yeah, it is dangerous."
"Not really…not for me." Bubble Crab said stoically. "I've got the highest level of defense of any of the Maverick generals. The armor I wear can withstand crushing pressures three miles plus deep. Aside from X's major plasma explosion trick, which from what I've seen, he can only use once before a recharge, his basic functions are just too pitiful to stand up to me."
"So you stand a chance?"
"He doesn't." Bubble Crab replied firmly. "I'll let you go. I have to prepare my gauntle…" Bubble Crab paused and lifted his arm. A tiny monitor on it was blinking. He turned back up and stared grimly at Agile. "I'm going to have to let you go now. The pest's arrived earlier than expected." The monitor display clicked off, and Agile was left alone in the dark.
The Maverick leader folded his arms and rolled his eyes.
"Well? Where's the criticism, Sigma?"
In response to Agile's query, the screen flickered to life, but the wire frame head did not appear. Only the green lines of text did.
What can I criticize? Bubble Crab is confident in his abilities, and they are impressive.
"Oh sure. Now you turn nice on me." Agile grumbled.
His attitude is one that all of you Mavericks need to adopt.
"Just because I'm Maverick doesn't mean that I put blind faith in everything." Agile replied tersely. "X almost killed me once. He's killed off every General he's run across. He killed you."
So? Death isn't absolute, Agile. Look at me. I came back from the grave.
"That doesn't help me any." Agile snapped. "Even while I struggle to finish this damn Maverick Stronghold codenamed Ice Fortress, the raging new Blue Bomber rampages onward, burning his way through every obstacle with as much ferocity as the plasma his X-Buster spews!! The rebellion is FAILING, Sigma. IT'S FAILING, AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO TO STOP IT!!!"
The Maverick Agile stared at the screen with his burning red eyes, expecting some sort of angry retort from the somehow alive Sigma. But for several seconds, nothing came. And finally, it did.
You fall far short of my expectations, Agile. When I left you, Violen and Serges in charge of that small expedition to leave my stronghold in the event of the worst possible scenario, you had no signs of weakness.
"I was stupid then. Stupid, naïve, cocky." Agile said in a subdued tone.
You had spirit then. X has deprived you of it.
"And what would you do in my shoes?" Agile asked sadly. "We've lost Zero back to the Hunters. Six of our generals are dead. Cornus Island, the place where our rebellion should have, by all rights taken off into a new and glorious stretch of yellow brick road is being taken back from us, piece by agonizing piece. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, SIGMA??"
For one…conquer.
"Give me a break." Agile scoffed. "How?"
For one, the Hunters may think they have Zero back. In that, they are wrong.
"And two?" Agile asked in a wizened tone.
Two…I'm going to restore the Agile I once knew.
Agile blinked, then stared at the screen with a look of confusion.
My powers on you have seemed to grow weak these last months…
"What power??" Agile asked warily.
The screen went dark.
Then came the sound of a powerful whine, the unmistakable imprint of a high frequency data transfer.
And Agile's screams…lasting only seconds before shutting off.
The lights came back on…Agile looked back up at the screen.
Welcome back, Agile.
The Maverick grinned a toothy grin at his leader…His eyes shone a darker shade of blood red.
"All will come to pass."
And if Sigma's free-floating program could smile…
It was grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, sunset on Cornus Island." X said as he got his bearings. He stared about, looking at the rocky outcropping that served as his entry point to Bubble Crab's lair.
Gotta love sunsets.
Not if it's the last one you know you'll see.
Aah, get real X. You'll live. I know you…you'll live.
Thanks for the support.
X broke off chatting with the voice in his head as a sudden fluttering of metallic wings caught his auditory sensors on alert.
"Batton Bones." He watched as the chittering robotic drones crept closer and closer, exiting out of the safety of the cavelike alcove X needed to enter into. X calmly lifted his left arm up, shifted it into a Buster, and blew the robots to scrap.
Think that set off any alarms?
If it did, expect more trouble.
X sighed and walked onwards.
The rocky outcropping he had warped onto served as the entry point for his path. It would set off no alarms, but warping in closer to the base would. Therefore, the element of surprise, as necessary as it became, was utilized. X acknowledged more times than not the element vanished halfway through his missions.
Dropping down the long shaft left by the forgers of Cornus's Deep Sea Base, X was finally immersed in the salt water of the Pacific Ocean. He shuddered for a moment as the liquid covered every part of his body, then realized this was probably cleaner water than what he'd dunked himself in in Tokyo Harbor.
Seawater detected. Self-sealing procedures initiated.
The command flashed across the iris of X's left optic, informing him that his body was tightening the seals in his armor so that no water could get in. Sea water especially, did one Hell of a number in corroding wiring and shape memory alloy components. The feature had also come into play during the Tokyo Harbor mission of the First Uprising.
But it had never been pushed this far…
X realized with grim intensity that this mission would push his seaworthy systems to their limits. He only hoped his dash thrusters would still work, or he'd really be screwed.
He dropped onto a small ledge at the bottom of the shaft, and almost moved on.
Had his wandering eye not spotted a metallic gate ten feet below suddenly roll open.
Something's coming.
Then STAY PUT AND DON'T LET IT SEE YOU.
X flattened his body against the ledge, knowing that the voice didn't need to tell him THAT twice.
And sure enough, a rather large, cumbersome…and heavily armored robot came swimming out of the alcove. X narrowed his eyes. It resembled a fish in every respect, and he'd seen them before.
I believe those are called Fisherns. Fisherns or Sea Canthllers, I'm not quite sure…
It doesn't matter much. I've seen 'em too. GDC class sentries for deep sea ops. They scan for stuff, and in the worst scenario, they have a mildly powerful laser. I'll bet anything this one's been beefed up.
So just don't let it see me?
Bingo.
X stayed put and let the drone wander on by, then relaxed and dropped down.
Sure enough, the Fishern, or whatever the Hell it was, floated on. X estimated taking down its vulnerable spots…the tail, the head, the fins…would probably bring it down. The only downside would be he'd take damage in the process, and set off every alarm on the Deep Sea Base. Not his style.
Its mouth sent out a sweeping yellow beam of light, and X identified it easily as the main scanner. But by proper use of his jumping skills, X found he could avoid being caught in its sweeping length. It also shot out depth charges occasionally, but X was still not that deep in the water, and so it presented little danger. Still, he'd have to move farther and farther awa…
Never mind, the thing had given up on firing depth charges. It floated silently at the end of the undersea corridor, seemingly stuck facing the wall. X froze, wondering if the sentry might turn back around and head his way.
But no…it was only pausing to open another metallic gateway, X saw as he leapt up higher in the water to get a better view. It silently dropped down to wherever the next fall led, and left X standing alone. As he floated back down to the chunk of seabed he'd jumped from, his eyes caught a glimmer of something high above, almost buried in the ceiling above. He grinned.
Hey, leave it to the resident Maverick to stuff his Heart Tank someplace I can reach, but not without not excellent skills.
Something tells me we're about to spend five minutes shooting for this item that we could spend infiltrating this base…
It's called experience. X replied, dashing towards the wall on the other side of the newly opened drop. The voice sighed.
Whatever, X.
"Hermm…" Bubble Crab mused, rubbing at what could be called his chin. "My search and destroy minion hasn't locked onto X." He narrowed his eyes. "But he's here…I know it." He turned to the rest of his monitors. "He's just not willing to show his face. Either that or he's trying to avoid my sensor grid."
The Maverick shook his head.
"No matter. When he comes…and he will come…I shall destroy him." Still, it seemed a little odd to have this ability, this power over his domain to know just where X might be. The other Maverick generals had had this ability as well. Perhaps they were all just weaker.
Truth be told, Bubble Crab, because of his ludicrous defensive capabilities, was one of the more dangerous Maverick Generals. Then there had been Wheel Gator's grimfaced tactics of destruction, and Crystal Snail's hidden powers.
X had triumphed over all the Maverick Generals before. But Bubble Crab had learned from his predecessor's mistakes.
Crystal Snail had fallen because his lair's walls and ceilings were composed of potentially destructive Energen. All it took was X going a little blast crazy, and the overloaded Energen Crystals returned the attack in full bore, wiping out the Maverick with devastating results.
Wheel Gator…The Maverick who could face any and hold his salt. His lair, a room with a thick layer of mud in the floor, provided a cover for his stealth. But he had also failed to see the quirky way that X could fight. All it took to end Wheel Gator's life was exposing the circuitry of his tail, and then throwing the Maverick tailfirst into a high powered display screen.
Bubble Crab, the third of the strongest Maverick Generals, would not fall like his comrades before. His lair was bare, empty and devoid of any piece of landscape that could be used against him. X would have no easy victory because of his use of the terrain. It would be him, Bubble Crab, and the inner walls of the Deep Sea Base's sanctum.
He calmly walked out of his lair and punched on a wall panel he'd programmed to act as his computer interface with his patrolling robotic sentry.
Right now, it was approaching the final leg of the run to the base. Bubble Crab allowed himself a smile.
If X was trying to avoid detection, it'd end there. It was nothing more than a series of high rise towers, all thin and unstable. If X fell down one of the abyssal drops…
Well, no matter what his flimsy armor was capable of, he'd die.
In fact, Bubble Crab mused, in all likelihood, the Hunter would run across the corpse of that fool GDC reploid who had tried to stop the Maverick's assault on late December 19th.
His Landchaser had been destroyed in the same plume of flame that took a good portion of their groundling Maverick commanders. All the Generals had remained intact, thankfully.
But he had paid with his life. That fool…
Yes. X would more than likely run across the corpse of that GDC reploid, which had been caught in the currents and placed on one of the rock towers in the abyssal zone.
Bubble Crab wondered if that might be a spark to his insane fury he shouldn't have left there to ignite.
X had taken his sweet time moving about the underwater passages after retrieving the hidden Heart Tank. For good reason, considering he still didn't know exactly where that blasted sentry robot was.
As he went deeper, it got darker. Thankfully, X found that by storing a charge in his Buster and leaking small amounts out, he made a sort of sparkler that illuminated the immediate area. If he wanted to see farther, he increased the output for a bright flash of light. And that worked quite well, aside from the Jelly Seekers he attracted. But those were particularly easy foes to defeat, if you kept them a fair distance from you so their paralyzing field didn't snag you. A few shots, and the possibly dangerous Jelly Seekers became little more than robotic scrap in the underwater caverns.
Something tells me that they weren't expecting an assault to come along this route.
No, that sentry of theirs would indicate otherwise.
Oh, right. And we just let it walk off.
AHEM. Sometimes the safest route is stealth, all right?
Bull. Just fire off a maelstrom of plasma and go home happy.
Jesus, you're stubbornly violent. You almost sound like…
X froze.
Like who?? The voice replied humorously. X rolled his tongue about the inside of his mouth. No way…
There could be no way…
Forget it. X finally grumbled, plodding along. Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about. We're fast exiting the cavern zone of this stage. Think I'll give this area a scan before I go on.
Oh, your new helmet gadget, huh?
X didn't bother to reply, turning the power to his sensors to full and letting the crosshair that appeared on his vision walk about the room.
Something up above suddenly caused it to go haywire.
What the…?!
Looks like it found something. The voice said humorously.
X shut the scanner off before it drove him nuts. No kidding. I guess we're coming back later, huh?
Why not shoot for it now?
Hello?! You may be combat minded, but examine the circumstances! That's too high for me to jump, and I couldn't climb the cavern wall high enough to kick my way to a handhold. I'm going to have to pick up a thruster pack or something and come back for it later.
Interesting.
What is?
Through all of this, X, I've helped you to become more in tune with your fighting capabilities.
Yeah, so?
In turn, you've helped to look at situations a little more logically. Hell, I would have never thought of throwing Wheel Gator into the viewscreen, or causing Crystal Snail's room to go nuclear.
So we both benefit?
We both benefit.
X shrugged and walked on towards the abyssal region, the most dangerous section of this mission. His Buster's illumination increased as it was needed, for the depths seemed to suck in the light like a black hole. Occasionally, he blew away a Jelly Seeker that strayed too close, but for the most part X's main focus was on keeping himself as high up as he could in this mess of abyssal drops. Even as he walked along, he was cursing at his body for flashing countless warning messages about the external pressure onto his optics, which if not for his grim concentration, might just have sent him plummeting to his untimely end as easily as the Jelly Seekers.
He hopped along as best he could, expanding his visual range when he was edgy about his next jump.
But along the way, he paused on one rock pillar, staring in confusion at the next.
Something was already there. Something far out of the ordinary.
I don't like the looks of that.
So scan it. X took the voice's advice, letting his helmet's scanning systems shoot on ahead.
It identified two things;
One, it was a reploid.
Two…it was dead.
Oh my God…
X leapt as quickly as he could onto the next pillar, his left arm's Buster lit up a bit brighter. He turned the body over.
Even with all the destruction X had seen and caused in his life, this…His face blanched.
The reploid's back, which X had noticed first, was completely shredded. His armor had easily given way as it was torn apart by some sort of explosion.
One of his arms had a hole that ran straight through it…a shot that could have been far worse. Perhaps most grisly of all was that he only had one leg.
The reploid looked like he had been through a grinder. But his face, even though it was crushed inwards like the rest of him by the intense ocean pressures…
Had a mask of placid contentment.
This just doesn't make sense…why is he smiling?!
I'll tell you this much, X. That's no Maverick. Sure enough, as X examined the corpse closer, he noticed the GDC service insignia lapel attached to the reploid's left shoulder. But GDC lapels also came with rank designations and their area of service. This one looked particularly new…couldn't have been more than three weeks old, even with the sea exposure.
X looked closer, squinting and turning his Buster's luminescent output up a tad.
A moment later, he lowered the lighting, bowing his head in stunned silence.
So…this is the Dino Tank reploid Damien.
Yes…
The one that put his life on the line to get the message out that Cornus was in it deep.
Yes.
And more than likely, he washed up here after he was shot up.
Yes.
Damnit, X! Can't you say anything but YES?!
What would you have me say? X shot back angrily. He's DEAD. I know that. There's nothing I could have done to prevent it. The only thing I can do for him is continue on and avenge his demise. The only thing.
X stood up straight and saluted the corpse of the proud reploid Damien.
Farewell, Damien…You will not be forgotten.
X gently nudged Damien's body over the side of the rock tower, then watched it plummet towards the depths below, growing dimmer and dimmer and smaller as it dropped from his Buster's lighting like a stone.
If X hadn't been underwater, there would have been a tear in his eye.
He turned back about and jumped on, finally reaching a very large abyss with rocket propelled platforms. With adept skill, he jumped from one to the next until he reached the other side.
Turning his Buster's power output up another few notches, X saw he had finally reached the Deep Sea Base.
The heavily armed and armored robotic sentry lay in a dock above. An airlock was only eight feet above where he clung haphazardly to the craggy rock the base was built in.
X's eyes burned angrily.
So, you're angry?
YES.
Because Damien's dead.
YES.
And did you notice you're speaking exactly like me now?
Shut up.
Don't worry. X reassured the voice, determination seeping into his thoughts. He slipped through the airlock, waiting until the water had drained and his warning messages about the external pressure had ceased repeating themselves.
Dripping water from his shoulders, X walked on with his Buster going up to a higher charge level. With the facility's lights, it was once more time to destroy.
Damien won't be forgotten.
Now I fight for him as well.
There were only minimal defenses inside the Deep Sea Base. Which would stand to reason from a normal perspective, seeing as it had an anti-transport EM shield up, and was located so deep that a normal assault wouldn't work.
Of course, X was far from a normal assault, and he didn't rely on the normal perspective. By luck, or by skill, he had weaved about the dangerous traps left along his route, completely evaded Bubble Crab's sentry robot.
And now, here he was, climbing up the sides of the vertical service shaft leading to Bubble Crab's lair. Whether or not the Maverick was expecting him was of little consequence.
And so he blasted his way through the trident headed sentries attached to the walls and promptly slipped through the rotating gateway he found by emerging into a corridor shaft.
On the other side was a well lit room, rectangular in design. X recognized it instantly.
This is where battles are fought.
"So you come to my house at long last." X lifted his head up and watched with limited concern as the Maverick dropped down.
Head to toe, he looked exactly like the report had described him.
"Bubble Crab, huh?" X growled. "It's a shame you went Maverick in Tokyo Harbor. You could have fought against them with that power."
The portly figure sidewaddled his way from where he'd fallen, keeping his arms at his sides.
"Oh, and using it to help free the reploid race from bondage is…"
"Shut up."
"NO, YOU SHUT UP." Bubble Crab flared angrily. He waved an arm at X. "Look at yourself. You lived a sheltered life with that damned Doctor Cain, X. All you ever had to worry about was finding something to do after lunch. You never had to put up with the abuse and mistrust that humans have for our kind, you never had to fear for your life because some bigotted fatass with a penchant for hating robots decided it'd be fun to take his magpistol and blow away a few passerbys. Sure, there'd be fines, maybe even some jail time for what he pulled." Bubble Crab took another step closer, his eyes enraged now. "But let's face it. When a human kills a reploid in cold blood, he gets at most a few months in jail. When a reploid kills a human, even by ACCIDENT, that reploid's torn apart into scrap without so much as an inquiry."
X backed away a few steps, but kept his Buster charged.
He stared back at the Maverick.
"If that's so, why then do you attack those reploids that will not join you?" Bubble Crab rubbed his chin.
"Same reason that humans did to their own kind hundreds of years ago. If you're not with us, then you're against us." Bubble Crab glowered. "And you, X, are most definitely against us."
"And you, you Goddamned Maverick," X shot back with his rage in full bloom, "Are nothing more than another notch on my roster of kills."
Bubble Crab couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Give me a break. How can you expect to do any sort of reasonable damage with that popgun? My armor's tempered to withstand pressures in the thousands of TONS." X shook his head.
"No one is unbeatable, Crab. I'll show you that firsthand." Bubble Crab sighed, then shrugged his shoulders.
"You can try."
X fired off both supershots without even thinking, but Bubble Crab proved that his mass was not without boost. The Maverick took a gigantic leap that cleared the room's length and threatened to crush X into the floor.
But the Blue Bomber of 21XX had his own tricks, dashing out of the way and opening fire with a wide spray of smaller plasma bullets. Some hit, but did little to no damage.
Bubble Crab clacked his fists together, then sighed.
"This battle environment's a little too bland for my tastes." X perked his ears up, holding back another charge. The Maverick lifted his arms up…
And somehow triggered a sudden rush of seawater into the room. It filled up to the very brim, until both X and his foe were ensnared in a room of the same murky seawater X had traversed outside. The only difference was the bright lights which kept his visibility up.
The Maverick seemed pleased, then turned back to X.
"Shall we continue?"
Underwater, X's movement proved to be more sluggish than if he had been on dry land. Moving against the water was different than pushing his body against air, and it was an advantage Bubble Crab had counted on.
Gasping, X felt something vicious bite into his back. He dashed forward a bit more and turned about, watching as a thoroughly satisfied Maverick picked himself up from his crouching position and disarmed the plasma energy blades his shoulder blades had emitted. X shook his head and the dizzying sensation that accompanied the warnings.
That Bastard almost sliced through my armor…
Or would have, were it not the next generation piece of machinery that X's gift from the departed Doctor Light it had been designed as. Still, it had knocked off a fair chunk of his energy, and the next attack might slice clean through the protective metal and attack far more delicate internal circuitry.
"Just like I thought." Bubble Crab harrumphed in pleasure. "Stick you in the deep, you're like a fish out of water."
"I'll thank you not to use that sort of badgering wordplay." X grumbled back. Truthfully, because they were underwater, they could not speak in a manner that would be audible in normal air. Like the fight X had held with Launch Octopus during the First Uprising, they were communicating via commlink. "And for the record Bubble, I haven't run out of tricks yet."
"Neither have I." The Maverick said boastfully, crossing his arms. He narrowed his vision. "But if you think you have something, try it."
He'll pay for his arrogance.
I dunno, X…He seems to be pretty good. Up until this point, your basic Buster's seen you through pretty well. That thing on your arm may not cut it.
X drew in his arms towards his body, in a predictable maneuver. Bubble Crab's eyes widened for a moment, then he finally crouched inwards.
The G-Crush exploded from the Maverick Hunter with its usual fury, but underneath the waves, its fury was dampened so much that all it did was cause the protected Maverick to bounce back a few meters.
Bubble Crab emerged from his crouch and grinned at X.
"Nice trick, but a wasted effort, boy."
X did his best to keep the desperation from showing.
Great, now what?
Well, let me see here. He's a Maverick designed to live under the waves. Kinda stupid to think the G-Crush, for all its power is gonna do much, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE UNDER FRIGGING WATER!!!
Bubble Crab unleashed a horde of tiny robotic crabs, each contained in their own bubble. X recognized it instantly, a pseudo-descendant of the Bubble Lead robot Doctor Wily had kept in his Third Ring. Sure, these versions were far smaller and therefore less potent, but…
Damnit, I'm in it deep here…
Deep's the optimum word. But I have a suggestion, if you're willing to try it.
What?
He's a crab. The voice said drily. Crack his shell.
X used his Dash Thrusters again, narrowly scooting away from Bubble Crab's horrendous slam attack in time.
Of course…
The Maverick unleashed another wave of robotic crabs in their bubbles. X gritted his teeth and switched over to a Special Weapon…one that turned his armor green aside from the white and gold.
Quickly, he switched over his Level 2 Buster charge into the matter replicators, waiting anxiously for the charge to reach Level 4…the point where he could unleash the attack that would hopefully level the odds.
The projectiles sent out by the Maverick homed in on X, drawing closer and close by the moment on an unalterable and dangerous path. And Bubble Crab laughed, a horrendous and malignant laugh that could be heard ever so clearly over the commlink.
X shut his eyes, listening to the telltale whines he'd become familiar with…the whines of his Buster's charge levels.
Finally, it reached its peak charge. X released the trigger with nary a second thought.
X wasn't watching. His eyes were shut as the Bubble Lead impacted with his body, crushing him to the ground. But the shot was fired.
The Spin Wheel emerged from his Buster, malevolent as always. But this time, the added charge came with an enhanced effect…
Instead of dropping to the floor and tearing off to whatever port of call it felt like, the Wheel spun in midair for a brief moment as it correlated X's position. Then, sure the attack would not strike him as well…It exploded.
The Wheel was transformed into a storm of shrapnel, each shot as devastatingly offensive as the basic Spin Wheel.
Two connected solidly with Bubble Crab, each impact throwing him backwards. Stunned and dazed, the Maverick collapsed onto his back, growling and picking himself back up.
His growl was cut short as his voice choked. X finally opened his eyes.
Stunned, the Hunter could only gape in amazement at what he saw.
There were two gaping holes in Bubble Crab's chest, both so close to each other it looked like a single blast had struck. And there was one very important thing missing from Bubble Crab's chest.
It lay in the corner of the flooded room, still intact. And thank God it was, or the entire room and everything in it might have been blown to atoms.
What lay still active, still functioning, but severed from its owner was the very thing that gave him life.
Bubble Crab's Microfusion Tank.
Sensing that there was no power drain from it, and that it would eventually cause a power buildup and subsequent explosion, the Microfusion Tank underwent its automatic shutdown procedures. Within a few seconds, the fusion power source would be dead, its reaction ceased.
But Bubble Crab didn't have that long. Collapsing onto his knees, he stared up at X with an incredulous stare, one that grew duller and duller as he began to run out of his sustenance. The Maverick had enough energy to open his mouth and utter one slow, stuttering word…
"Im…possib…llle…" And like so many before, the Maverick collapsed.
Defeated at the hands of a prototype robot who did not want to kill, but knew why he had to.
Calmly, X walked over and laid a hand on Bubble Crab's forehead, accessing his Weapons Copy program and allowing it to scan his foe.
A new icon appeared on his menu, under the heading BUBBLE SPLASH. X set his jaw and stood back up from his crouch.
He noticed that the room was draining the water out. Apparently without its Master, the room was returning to normal.
Well, I say we backtrack a little.
Lemme guess. We're gonna snag that thing we couldn't reach.
Yes. This Bubble Splash is capable of increasing my buoyancy if it's charged. It should do the trick nicely.
X waited until all the water had drained out, and then he opened the rotating door and went back the way he'd come.
On the way out, he reset the Deep Sea Base computers to initiate a complete 96 hour lockdown. No one would get in after he left. That would be long enough for him to finish this business on Cornus.
Long enough for him to put a stop to the Mavericks once and for all.