Chapter 12: The Mavericks Who Say Ni
"Aaaaarrrrghh! I am deeply disappointed in you, Zero!", yelled Dark Phantom as he and Zero stood in the middle of the old lab inside Skull Castle. The dark robot had slapped Zero in the face with the back of his hand, causing him to reel back. The crimson Reploid turned to look at his brother and said, in a defensive yet calm way:
"Phantom, please. X never meant us any harm. No one EVER meant us any....."
"WHAT?!", interrupted Phantom, "What are you talking about?! Mega Man X is our sworn enemy! He destroyed our robotic brothers! He destroyed ME!! He drove our master, our FATHER, to his grave! I hate him for all that he done to us! I HATE MEGA MAN! It is our destiny to destroy our enemies and respect our father's wishes! DO YOU UNDERSTAND??!!"
"I understand, Phantom! I understand how you feel!", replied Zero. "I just don't believe! I don't believe we were destined to be evil! Wily may have given us great power when he made us into Reploids, but he never realized that he gave us the ability to choose our path in life. I never wanted this kind of life when I first met X, even when I did remember my past. Back then, even when I was Bass, deep down inside, I wanted a friend. Not someone like Guts Man or Treble, but a real friend!"
As Zero kept talking, Phantom thought, Blast! The Bisodium is wearing off! I have to give him another dose before he turns on me!
Zero finally finished, "Don't you see, brother! Wily had unwittingly freed us from the boundaries that a robot had from being human! We don't have to follow his principles just 'cause he said so or to honor him! We don't need to be evil to get revenge!"
Phantom swung his hand and yelled back, "ENOUGH! I will hear no more of this!"
At that moment, the sound of clanging metal came from the hall and Frost Walrus and Flame Mammoth soon came into the old lab.
"Boss! Sorry we're late!", said Flame Mammoth.
Phantom turned his attention towards the two portly Reploids and said, "Where are the others?!"
Frost Walrus stepped forward and nervously said, "Um......they were.......ahhhhhh......d-d-d-d-destroyed!"
Phantom's eyes lit up and he yelled, "WHAT?!! MY PSYCHO-MAVERICKS DESTROYED??!! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??!!"
Flame Mammoth also stepped forward and said, "W-W-Well, there was this big, blue, weird comet guy that had attacked us and......"
"Excuses!", interrupted a very irate Dark Phantom, "I do not wish to hear LAME EXCUSES!!!" He then raised his taloned hand towards the two Mavericks and continued saying, "You two had FAILED when you left your comrades to die! For this I can only give you this punishment!" Suddenly, two beams of purple energy had shot out from the palm of Phantom's hand and had struck Mammoth and Walrus in their chests. Reeling back in discomfort, the two Mavericks felt their invincibility slip away, and the Psycho-Maverick design that adorned the left side of their bodies had completely disappeared. Mammoth and Walrus had become their normal Maverick selves once again.
"Hey!", said a surprised Frost Walrus. "What happened?!"
"You are no longer Psycho-Mavericks! You are now the same worthless Mavericks that once worked for Sigma!", said Phantom.
"Awwwwwwwww!", moaned Flame Mammoth. "I loved bein' a Psycho!"
Phantom turned his back and continued, "You still have your pitiful lives! Now GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!! Guard the doorway from intruders! At least you can do THAT right!"
Like two children scolded by Daddy, Mammoth and Walrus had solemnly nodded their heads and started down the hallway. They started exchanging insults just before they left, saying:
"This is all YOUR fault, Dumbo!"
"It wasn't MY idea to run, Tuskbreath!"
"DUMBO!!"
"TUSKBREATH!!"
After they left, Dark Phantom turned his attention back to Zero, who had pleaded with him, saying, "Phantom, please. You have the power to stop all this!"
Having calmed down a bit, Phantom shook his head and moved towards Zero as he said, "Ohhh, Zero. The previous battle had obviously made you stressed out and delirious. But don't worry, after a good rest, you'll be back to your old self!" He then stared hard at Zero and began his Sleep Chant.
"What are you doing?", said Zero as he started to feel faint, "No, Phantom! Not again! You don't have to do this!"
"Sleep!", chanted Phantom in an unholy way, "I need to sleep! I must close my eyes and...."
Suddenly, his chant was interrupted by a crash in the ceiling. Both Zero and Phantom looked up at the hole to see a bald-headed Reploid flying in from above and landing a few feet away from them.
"I'm sorry!", said Sigma, "Did I interrupt some bonding time?! Heh heh heh!"
They both yelled in unison, "SIGMA???!!!"
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Auroran Flash, Buzzsaw, and Duo were sitting behind a large rock as Mega Man X laid on top of the rock, looking out of a pair of binoculars towards Skull Castle. Flame Mammoth and Frost Walrus were coming out of the complex as X remarked, "Well, it WAS unguarded! Look, guys, it's the fat bunch!"
The three robots peeked out from behind the rock to see the two Mavericks guarding the front. Aurie queried, "How's come I don't see their Psycho-Maverick.......stuff on them?"
Buzzsaw jumped in and replied, "Who cares? Let's blast them to kingdom come and get Zero back!" He then started to walk towards the complex, but was stopped by X who jumped down from the rock in front of him.
"Wait a second, Buzz! We can't just blast them in broad daylight! Dark Phantom will know we are coming the second he hears the gunfire!"
Duo jumped in and replied, "X is right. As long as Dark Phantom has the Orion Crystal, he will have the power to destroy us. We need a plan."
Everyone stood silent for a minute after Duo's speech. Finally, Buzzsaw's eyes lit up and he said to the galactic robot, "Hey Duo! Do you have the ability to create illusions?"
Duo replied, "It is one of my functions, yes. But I haven't used it in a long while."
Buzzsaw smiled at Duo. He pulled out a small-sized remote control from his pocket and had said to his comrades, "Everyone! I have an idea!"
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Flame Mammoth tossed a rock out into the open desert as he continued to complain about losing his invincibility. He said to Frost Walrus, "It's just not fair! That big comet guy killed our buddies and WE get the blame! I loved bein' a psycho! I loved bein' a lean, mean, killing mach....."
"SHUT YOUR FREAKIN' MOUTH, DUMBO!", yelled Walrus. "Ever since we got back, it's been nothing more than complain, complain, COMPLAIN! You really are a pathetic, fat-@$$ed loser, you know that!"
Looking veeeerrrrry steamed *no pun intended since he IS a fire Reploid, hehheh*, Mammoth replied, "Oh yeah! OH YEAH!! Well, you know what I think of you?! You're nuthin' but a self-centered, ice-chunky son-of-a.........."
Suddenly, Mammoth's rather rude retort was interrupted by a sudden sandstorm. Sand kicked up right where they were at, blinding the both of them. Walrus yelled out, "Hey! Where did the sandstorm come from?! I can't see!"
After a few minutes, the sandstorm had died down and the two portly Reploids opened their eyes and saw three, really tall, black-armored robots standing before them. They spoke to Mammoth and Walrus, saying:
"Ni!"
"Ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni ni!!!"
Looking very puzzled, Mammoth replied, "What the......who the heck are you?!"
The middle robot stepped forward, saying in a high-pitched voice, "We are the Mavericks Who Saaaaaaay.......Ni!"
Also puzzled, Walrus replied, "Wha......The Mavericks Who Say Ni?!"
"The same!", said the leader, "We are the keepers of the sacred words! Ni, Peng, and Neeee-wom!"
"Neeee-wom!", repeated one of the other Mavericks.
As the spectacle continued, Buzzsaw watched from behind a rock below Skull Castle and is pointing the small remote control in his hand towards Flame Mammoth and Frost Walrus. He continued to watch with a smirk on his face as the strange black Mavericks continued speaking.
"The Mavericks Who Say Ni...........demand a sacrifice!", said the leader.
Mammoth stepped forward and said, "Look, Blackie! We ain't got time for your fancy words and sacrifices, so get outta here before we........."
The black Mavericks interrupted Mammoth with the word "Ni". As he said it, a sharp jolt had coarsed through the two bulky Reploids, causing them to reel back in pain. The pain continued as the strange robots kept yelling out:
"NI! NI NI NI NI! NI NI NI!"
"OW! OW! STOPPIT!!"
"NI NI NI NI! NIIIII!!"
Finally, the leader quieted his group with the raise of his hand. As they stopped, so did the pain inflicted in Flame Mammoth and Frost Walrus. The leader stepped forward and said, "We shall say Ni again to you, if you do not appease us!"
"How'd they do that?", said Walrus quietly to Mammoth. He then said to the "Ni" Mavericks, "OK! OK! Whadd'ya want?!"
The leader replied, "We want....................a SHRUBBERY!" *you can almost hear the suspenseful music! Hehheh! ^_^*
Looking all confused, they both replied, "A WHAT?"
Irritated, the Knights.....errrr.....Mavericks continued to yell out Ni at the two portly Mavericks, causing sheer pain. Finally, Mammoth yelled out, "Stop it! STOP IT!! ALRIGHT!! ALRIGHT!!! We'll get you your shrubbery! Just stop....saying.....that.....WORD!!"
Now pleased, the leader said back, "Very good! But THEN......when you have found the shrubbery......you must cut down the mightiest tree in the nearby forest.........WIIIIIIIIIIITH...........A HERRING!! *hyuck hyuck!!! ^_^*
Mammoth and Walrus didn't say anything, they just wore stupefied looks on their faces. The leader continued to say, "You must return here with these items! Or else you will never pass through this word...(snifffffffffff)....ALIVE!"
"Alright! Let's go, Dumbo!", said Walrus as they began to leave. As they walked towards the horizon, they continued to converse:
"Soooo, how in the heck are we gonna cut down a tree with a herring, Tuskbreath?!"
"I don't know! I guess we find a big one!"
"Oh yeah! That should be easy, since you ARE a fish-eating fat@$$!"
"Screw you, Dumbo!"
After Mammoth and Walrus were gone, the Mavericks Who Say Ni had disappeared like ghosts, and Mega Man X, Auroran Flash, Buzzsaw, and Duo ran to the entrance to Skull Castle with smiles on their faces.
"I knew it would work!", said Buzzsaw proudly, "Thanks for the illusions, Duo!"
"You're welcome, Buzzsaw.", said Duo. "It was a little hard at first to scan the images from your mind and turn them into holograms, but I'm glad the results worked."
Aurie stepped in and said, "How did they cause pain in the Mavericks if they were just holograms?"
"I actually did that on my own.", said Buzz as he showed Aurie and the others the small remote control. "I got this little doohickey from Dr. Cain. It scrambles electronic fields within registered Mavericks, causing them pain. Each time the holograms said "Ni", I pressed the button and it gave the fatboys a dose of electricity, Buzzsaw-style!"
Everyone laughed at Buzz's fanciful speech. X came forward and said, "Very good, Buzz! I which we had time to congratulate you, but......", he then turned his attention to the Castle and finished, "We have to get in there and save Zero!" Everyone nodded at that remark, and had started to run in to the castle. As he ran, X said to himself:
"Hang on, Zero! We're coming!"
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"How did you find us!", said a surprised Zero.
Sigma smirked evilly and replied, "I guess I have YOU to thank for that, Zero!"
"What are you talking about!?", said Zero. Both he and Phantom strained their ears to hear what Sigma had to say:
"Allow me to remind you of the day I fought you in that bunker. The time when you were Maverick and I was a Maverick Hunter. After our fight and after I was fixed up, I had personally studied you and I had found out about your past. About Dr. Wily and his fight against Mega Man, and the hopes he had for you. I knew this information would come in handy someday, so I had it downloaded from your circuits into mine. Little did I realized that I was given a gift greater than this knowledge!"
"The secret weapon.", said Phantom as his eyes dimmed.
"Yes! The secret weapon!", replied Sigma, "The computer virus that Wily created to bring the Reploid race under Zero's command! The very same virus that manifested itself into my program and transformed ME into a living computer virus, no! A TRUE GOD OF MACHINES!!"
Unmoved by Sigma's message, Phantom stepped forward and said, "Well, Sigma! It is time that the god finally became the helpless mortal! I think I've let you live long enough, it is time to finish you!" He then charged purple energy into his arms, executed his Street Fighter-style maneuver, and had launched a great purple fireball at Sigma. The impact caused a great explosion that threw Zero back into the wall.
Meanwhile, on the top floor, X and his friends hear the explosion and X says, "What was that?!"
Aurie adds, "I think it came from downstairs!"
Duo also adds, "I can sense the Orion Crystal's presence below this floor!" He then took his enlarged hand and pointed to a nearby stairwell and said again, "This way! HURRY!" They all nodded and ran with Duo down the stairs. As they ran, X thought to himself:
"Please be alright, Zero! Don't be dead, old friend!"
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