Disclaimer: Even though I may use some bits from Erico's works, it's primarily "The Physics of Mega Man" that I'm concerning myself with, not any of his actual stories, because the bits with Dr. Cossack make NO reference whatsoever to Ran.
Also, the "Stage Intro" theme (i.e. the theme you hear when you're introduced to a boss you've selected), which I composed myself, can be found at http://firstreality.keenspace.com/images/X13-stageintro.mp3 or .wav or .mid if you want to hear it. So here's the chapter.
In Search of Lost Time
Chapter 6: "Aquaphobia"
Jakesten was there when Andante awoke. He was sitting by the medical bed early in the morning, dozing. Her eyes fluttered open and after a moment, she sat up. "Jakesten ..."
Jakesten jerked awake and saw her. "Andante!" He threw his arms around her. "You're all right ..."
"Hey," she said, then blinked, remembering. "Was I ...? How long was I out?"
Jakesten suddenly realzied how foolish this would probably look to any observers and disengaged himself. "You were out for almost a day," he said. "I'm ... it's just ..."
Andante looked worried. "She's getting stronger ..."
"Hey, don't worry about the Mavericks," he said. "The important thing is that you're all right."
"But I was built to destroy One Alpha," began Andante, but Jakesten shook his head.
"You shouldn't take a robotic point of view about it," he said. "I mean, yes, you're the only Reploid in the world who could cut off her arm, let alone scratch her, but that doesn't mean you can't think of anything else."
At that moment, Twexty entered, followed by Edward (who had been hooked up to a small antigrav device). "Ah!" said Twexty, bustling over to the bedside. "Welcome back to th' world of th' livin', disreputable though it is. Now lie back down, th' shutdown mode en't exactly stasis, and ye're drained enough as it is what with me tryin' to fix a hundred'n'fifty-year-old Reploid with modern technology!"
"I helped," said Edward. "It's good to see you fully functioning again."
Andante lay back down with a smile. "Thanks for fixing me," she said.
"Ye're welc'm, lass!" replied Twexty. "Now let's see about rechargin' ye. Jehkstin, goodbye!"
Jakesten got up, grinning, knowing that when Twexty said "goodbye" in that tone of voice, he basically meant Get out! "Goodbye," he said as he walked to the door.
Just outside, Arvisven said, "Three ... two ... one ..." The door opened. "Ah, Jakesten, how's your girlfriend?"
Jakesten shot Arvisven a scathing look, and for a moment it looked like this was the only response he was going to give the bat. Then he slowly smiled said, "I don't know about any girlfriend, but Andante's fine." He walked off.
"Now I'm beginning to get envious," said Arvisven. He left in search of yet another way to annoy the hell out of everyone else.
Meanwhile, Jakesten almost collided with Ryu. "Oops, sorry ..."
"Ah, Jakesten," said Ryu. "The Doctor has requested that I order you to remove your metallic posterior from the medical wing if the assumption that you don't require any of the services there hold true, and also to report on Andante's condition." He retained his typical stoic expression, but his lips were twitching at this point.
Jakesten grinned. "She's awake now, and getting recharged," he said. "What's new on the Maverick attacks?"
"We have recieved word that Mega Man X has focused himself on countering the main Maverick threat," said Ryu. "I believe he has already destroyed one of the Maverick generals -- the one at the Los Angeles shipping docks -- and will shortly embark on defeating another."
Blade Seastar
(Seaport Area)
---------
Mega Man X materialized in Los Angeles and looked around. "I'm here," he said into his transmitter. "What's the situation here?"
"The Mavericks have taken control of the shipping docks," came Cala's voice. "It should be two blocks ahead and to your left."
X shrugged and dashed over to the shipping docks. It was here that he first encountered any signs of the enemy. Of course, the Mavericks were more interested in taking control than actual destrucion, so there wasn't too much damage. Though there was an overturned car here and there and the smoking wreckage of a cruiser, all in all things were looking good. In terms of property, anyway; X didn't really feel like counting on too few casualties.
"Yep," he said, "the Mavericks were here. Don't see too many, though. There's four of 'em, over by a group of Chimaera Ride Armors."
"You be careful," said Cala.
"Hey," said X, "it's me."
X silently approached the Mavericks. "Didn't really think it'd be this easy," one of them said.
"Yeah!" said another. "No hide nor hair of any Hunters or RAS yet!"
"I'm beginning to think that they might just let us take this place!" cackled a third.
"Too bad," said X, and he blasted him to bits.
The way he did this was to fire off a fully-charged Super Shot at him. The reason he could do it without actually charging was that he had installed a device that allowed him to dispense with actually having to charge his X-Buster and fire fully-charged shots right away.
The other Mavericks scrambled to their Ride Armors, but with an air dash, X got there first. It was then pathetically easy to eliminate them and their Ride Armors.
"Looks like you got 'em," came Cala's voice.
X grimaced, remembering the Fifth Uprising. "Cala, would you mind not calling me unless I call you first?"
Blade Seastar was designed with more flexible limbs than most Reploids. He had full control of the bending of every inch along his five arms, the ends of which he could morph into hands or blasters. He was very ill-suited for travel on the ground, so he spent most of his time underwater. And he was an expert in employee relations. "So," he said into his transmitter, "how's everyone doin'? Group One, how are things over there?"
"Just fine, Boss," came the response.
"What about you, Group Two?" said Blade.
"Everything's just great!" said the leader of Group Two. "No sign of any bad guys yet!"
"Great! How about you, Group Three?" said Blade with a widening grin.
There was no response.
"Group Three??" said Blade. "What's going on over there??'
"This is Group Four!" said another voice. "We're under attack! It's someone in a Chimaera! I repeat, we're under -- arrghhh!"
"Uh-oh," said Blade. "Group Ten, you guys still livin'?"
"Yeah, but there's a ruckus over in sector 4 ... Want us to investigate?"
"Yeah," said Blade, "but be careful! I don't wanna have to report back to Sigma that we all got our asses handed to us!" He smirked. "Those of us that have asses, anyway."
Mega Man X trundled along in the Ride Armor, smashing all the Mavericks that approached him. He felt somewhat guilty; they never had a chance. Of course, given his Ultimate Armor, there was some debate over whether it would be any harder without the Ride Armor.
Then, something unexpected happened. There was the sound of a plasma shot being fired, and the left arm of his Ride Armor was sheared off. This had happened to Vile during the First Uprising; Zero had pinpointed that particular weakness that Chimaera Ride Armors had, and no feasible solution had been subsequently offered. Which was why Chimaera armors had fallen into disuse over the past century.
Except by this group. X jumped out of the Ride Armor and fired towards the building that the shot had come from. There was an explosion, and X covered his eyes. When he looked again, there was only ruins.
"Missed me!" said a voice off to the left. X fired a super shot, and a sudden yelp that was just as suddenly cut off indicated that he had been successful.
"Good work," said a voice coming from a nearby speaker, "but you can't beat all of us!"
"Who are you?" snapped X.
"I am Blade Seastar!" said the voice. "Find me if you can! And then I'll take personal pleasure in destroying you!"
So, a typical Maverick general. X rolled his eyes and said, "What makes you think you have a better chance at defeating me than the ninety-six other Maverick Generals who've tried to fight me?"
"Hmm, good point," said Blade Seastar. "But I'll be able to pinpoint your weaknesses!"
X considered this, and said, "I don't think I really have any weaknesses."
"If there is no way to defeat you outright, I will do my best to take you with me," said the Maverick General in a mock-solemn tone of voice. "But remember this: the wheel turns both ways!"
There was a click, and the transmission cut off. X pondered this for a minute, then muttered, "No matter how hard you fight, I'll still win."
One Alpha woke in the Maverick repair center. She felt as though she had been skewered, which was remarkably close to what had happened.
She looked around. Sigma stood there, looking regally down at her. "Who was that Reploid?" he asked.
One tried to think amid the haze in her mind. "Her name is Andante," she managed to say. Then the world faded again.
When she next awoke, she felt like she could stand up. What's more, she felt like she could fight, and said so.
"Good," said Sigma. "I must speak with my Maverick generals. In the meantime, I have another mission for you. And this time, you will not be hindered."
One grinned. "What do I get to destroy this time?" she asked.
Blade Seastar watched X on one of his monitors. "Okay, guys, here's the deal," he said into his transmitter. "We've got the Head Honcho himself here. Don't underestimate him. And don't try to actually fight him. That's just throwin' your lives away. Use the remote-controlled big guns."
The others responded, confirming. Then a hologram of Sigma appeared. "Blade Seastar, what is your progress there?" he asked.
"Well, sir, we got company," said Blade. "Blue Boy himself. Mega Man X."
Sigma snarled. "Dispose of him," he said.
Blade used two of his arms to give the impression of shrugging. "I'll try, sir, but, ah, his current score is ninety-six to nothin'."
"Then simply do your best," said Sigma curtly. "If you fail to destroy him, then you will be destroyed."
"Yeah, okay," said Blade, cutting the transmission. "Boy, has that guy got issues."
X jumped to avoid a spread of blaster fire from a cannon. This was beginning to get on his nerves: these remote cannons were hard to destroy, and even if they didn't do much damage, they hurt when they hit him.
One of the shots knocked him off the dock and he fell headfirst into the water. After he managed to right himself, he looked around and saw something shining and pink: a Heart Tank. He grabbed it, opened his chest compartment, and installed it, chuckling inwardly as he felt some more life energy enter his body, as well as extending his capacity. Eight Maverick Generals ... heart tanks scattered all over the place ... Some things never changed. He wondered when he was going to find the --
A Maverick looked over the dock and into the water. "Did I kill him?" he asked, looking for X. His expiring thoughts involved two facts, those being that a) just because your target fell overboard didn't mean he was dead, and b) Mega Man X had a really annoying habit of surviving attacks and then blasting out really powerful Super Shots at you when you let your guard down.
But meanwhile, something large came into view. It was the RAC warship Enterprise. X noted that there were no visible humans on the deck and concluded that since it wasn't RAC policy to have less than 25% of the crew on deck be human, let alone none, the ship had been attacked and most likely conquered by Mavericks. This theory was confirmed when the Enterprise began firing missiles, lasers, and plasma at him. X considered his options and decided that underwater was his best hope. He jumped into the water, avoiding all the shots.
Three of the missiles followed him. "Smart missiles," he muttered, and dashed towards the ship. The missiles followed him; he made a beeline for the side of the hull and at the last minute altered course and went straight to the side. The missiles barely managed to avoid hitting the ship and continued to follow him. "Really smart missiles," he muttered, and fired a super shot at each. The explosion rocked the Enterprise, but didn't do much damage, since the hull was designed to withstand direct hits from guided missiles and these were mere glancing blows from the same.
X climbed up to the top of the hull and began blasting at everything in sight. Almost none of the Mavericks managed to do more than aim before they ceased to exist. One or two managed to pop off a shot at him, but they merely glanced off his Ultimate Armor.
There was a large blaster cannon on one part of the deck that one of the Mavericks now fired. X easily dodged before it managed to fire, and the blast tore a tremendous hole in the deck. "Missed me," he said.
There was a burst of profanity from behind the cannon. X fired a shot into it, and the explosion of the cannon took the Maverick with it.
"Excuse me," said Blade Seastar's voice over a loudspeaker, "but would you mind telling my officers to watch where they're firing the goddamn cannon??"
"Don't know what good it'll do to tell them something when they're dead," said X, looking around and seeing the hole. "That you down there?"
Two amorphous arms came out of the hole, which X now saw was filled with water. "Yes," said Blade Seastar, pulling himself out. "You wanna fight? I'm down here. Or you worried about getting wet?"
"I'm already as wet as I can get," said X. "Let's get ready to rumble!"
"Now THAT'S an attitude I like!" said Blade, dropping into the hole.
X touched his transmitter. "Any info on this guy?"
"Blade Seastar," said Cala. "I think he was designed for underwater research. I think that he's weak against an electrically-based weapon or ... that's weird: a fire weapon."
"So in other words, nothing I can use yet," said X.
"Guess not."
"Oh well. Here goes nothing." X jumped into the hole. A blast door closed above him. There was no immediate escape until this Maverick was disposed of.
"Now, I'm sure you're familiar with the rules of mortal combat," said Blade Seastar. "May the best Reploid win: me!"
X fired a supershot, hitting Blade Seastar head on. "Where'd you learn what 'best' meant?" he asked.
"Ack," said Blade, morphing one of his arms into a blaster, "I learned it when I got that dictionary installed in my head!" The blaster fired a sort of shuriken.
X leapt up to avoid it and found that it was still moving towards him. It hit him in the shoulder and exploded. X was knocked off balance, and Blade took that opportunity to grab him by the leg and throw him against the wall.
Mega Man X had learned a few Uprisings back that laughing when he was dealt a blow that would have crippled him had he not been wearing his Ultimate Armor tended to freak his opponents out, so he did so. "Well then you must be wrong about which one of us is the best," he cackled. "Gimme your best shot."
"O ... kay," said Blade, unnerved. "Here you go." He raised three of his arms, morphed them into blasters, pointed them at X's face, and fired three of the explosive shurikens from each.
X dodged just in time. Now, despite the fact that the Enterprise could withstand guided missile attacks with barely a scratch, the hull designers had clearly not counted on nine exploding shurikens being fired towards the same spot at point blank range from the inside, and so there was a nasty hole there when the blast cleared. Water began to seep into the gap between the walls, and the Enterprise began to sink. There was also now a current flowing in that part of the room. "I hate it when that happens," said Blade, who had also been somewhat damaged by the blast.
"You ain't seen nothin' yet," said X. "Nova Strike!" He rocketed towards Blade Seastar, who only managed to open his mouth to protest before he was slammed into the other side of the room.
Warning messages flooded Blade's mind. "Okay, this is no longer funny," he said. "Now you die." He started spinning and ricocheting around the room. X tried to dodge, but he was hit three times and fell to the floor. "Now who's the best??" taunted Blade. "Just try and get up!"
X struggled to get up, but stumbled. "The ... best ..." He coughed. He raised his X-Buster to fire. "... is ... me!" He fired a Super Shot.
Blade Seastar was caught off-guard. He had been only expecting a minor plasma shot, and so he hadn't bothered to try and dodge. The blast hit him head on, and he felt something give way in his reactor. "D'OH!" he said, and exploded into a million pieces.
X managed to grab onto a DNA chip. He activated his transmitter. "Home base," he said, "this is X. The Maverick threat at this location is neutralized. Repeat, the threat heare is neutralized. Now teleport me directly to the medical center."
As he dematerialized, he felt yet another pang of nostalgia. Ah, this was so much like things before ...
Sigma recieved the signal shortly after One Alpha left. Blade Seastar was destroyed! Once again, Mega Man X was destroying his Maverick Generals ... the outcome would be the same as the other twelve times ...
A low groan escaped him. How futile was this? Were all his insurrections predoomed to failure? Was this truly how it would all end?
No! he thought. He would continue fightning. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many times my body is destroyed, I MUST PERSEVERE! I WILL CONTINUE! AND I WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS!
Sigma snarled. Mega Man X would pay. He would see to that, and then destroy the human race. The Reploids would take their place, and Sigma would be their master.
But a shred of doubt was still in his mind, even as he made this resolve ...
