Ex-Hunter General Wiedl stared in awe at the field that had been laid out before him, standing atop a large hill. It was a magnificent, beautiful sight to behold; a stream of the greenest grass he had ever seen in his life spread far into the horizon, adorned with an array of brilliantly colored flowers that illumated the tranquil scene. The sky, bearing the purest shade of blue imaginable, was adorned with distinct white clouds that formed innumerable shapes and sizes. Mighty oak trees lined the far sides, their leaves the most beautiful he had ever seen. If he could have a guess at it, he would probably bet that he had somehow stumbled upon Eden itself.
He didn't waste any time. Summoning up as much energy as possible, the burly reploid sprinted gleefully down the steep, grassy incline, letting the wind rush through him like a gale. When he finally reached the leveled-out valley, he almost felt weightless as he frolicked carelessly in the abounding multicolor flowers. After doing such frolicking for Lord knows how long, he laid himself down to rest beneath the flower bed, letting the calmness of the entire place soothe him. Now he was free, now every day would be his own, he thought as he let the tranquility send him to bliss...
...that is, until a very familiar sound echoed throughout the land.
"Wiedl..." it sounded, causing the flowers surrounding him to rustle and vibrate. It was a voice, one that while sounding calm and reasonable also had an ominous quality to it. Wiedl poked his head out of his resting spot to search for the bearer of the voice, but was a bit surprised to see nobody there. Then, only after a few moments, the cry was heard again, only about ten times more powerful than before: "WIEDL!!!"
Before he could attain a grasp on exactly what was happening to him, the giant Hunter was immediately swept off of his feet, being pushed back far beyond the green grass, the majestically beautiful flowers, the pure blue sky, the solid and never stirring oaks. A powerful wind was carrying him, one so strong that it carried his body beyond the sky and into a sea of darkness. Wiedl yelped in fright as he fell flat on his back, staring into nothingness as his mind began to lead him to another land...
He awoke abruptly, lifting his head slowly up from its resting place. He could feel his large arms being pressed against a desk he was seated at, forming a small ring around the area where his head had previously been dormant. His eyes were groggy, weak; he slowly forced them open, only to be met with excessive blurs and faded circles all around him. Yawning a bit and wiping his eyes, his vision sensors could now clearly see that he was back in his office, slouching on his desk... back in the real world again.
"Wiedl...!" he heard the voice calling again. "Wiedl, are you there?! Pick up, Wiedl!"
Now slowly but surely returning to his senses, the tired ex-general was now able to recognize exactly where that mysterious voice had been coming from. Glancing to his left, he eyed a small black box-type object sitting next to his computer, with a little red light consistently blinking on and off. The speaker phone.
"Wiedl! I'm beginning to lose my patience with you! Wied-"
"I'M HERE," the reploid replied to the voice, pressing a button down on th machine so that his voice could be heard on the other end. "I'm here... Doctor Cain. Sorry about the delay there."
"'Sorry', you say... yeesh," Cain muttered, the frustration rising in his voice. "Do you realize how long I've been trying to get in contact with you? My lungs feel sore, to say the least. Just what the blazes have you been DOING in that little basement room of yours?"
Wiedl raised his metallic eyebrows, unsure of exactly how to tackle that question. "Well, you see, Doc..." Wiedl began, his classic eccentric smile spreading across his face. "It's the damndest thing, really. Y'see, I believe it was only a few hours ago that I came back down to the office. I was a little bushed, to say the least, so I found it an opportune time to take a brisk nap. I had a great dream, Doc. I was in a beautiful field, surrounded with magnificent flowers, mighty trees, a perfect atmosphere... man, I wish you could've seen it."
"Well, that's all very nice to hear, Wiedl," Dr. Cain replied with little amusement. "But just to let you know, while you've been sleeping, we've been UNDER A FRACKIN' STATE OF EMERGENCY HERE. I need you to get upstairs to the surveillance area RIGHT NOW. I would say that there have been some major developments, but that would be something of an understatement."
"Aha... understood, Doc-O!" Wiedl announced, character returning to his previously worn out voice. "I'll be up in a jiff. Don't you worry, you can always count on me!"
"Yes, well..." Cain said sighing a bit. "Please hurry up. I'm not sure how much time we have right now."
"Gotcha," Wiedl confirmed, releasing the button and thus ending the transmission. Stretching his arms back to loosen up his tensed joints, he pondered the meaning of what Cain had implied. 'Major developments an understatement', he says... well, this one aughta be interesting to hear about.
Yawning a bit, the now anxious reploid rose to his feet once again, brushing himself off and heading towards the large door that led straight to a series of stairways. As he ambled out of his personal sanctuary, his mind once again displayed to him his beautiful dream in the field, and the kind of freedoms and joys he had felt there. He let out a mournful sigh as his large metallic boots clanged against the cold steel of the stairway.
Meh... I never get a break, do I?
The internationally renowned Dr. Cain stared listlessly at his computer monitor, hoping for some kind of important development to take place before it was too late. He'd been at this very computer for an extensive amount of time; exactly how much time, he didn't exactly know. He predicted for sure, however, that it had already been over a period of five full hours... yes, he didn't doubt that one bit.
The MHHQ's surveillance room was somewhat large, with computers and security monitors taking up almost all of its space and limiting general mobility quite a bit. Most of the television monitors were planted onto the room's large walls, which were usually used to keep the entire building in check. The computers, which were placed onto long rectangular desks and were all arranged into seperate columns throughout the room, were mostly used to monitor activities occuring outside of the HQ; and of course, in this case, they were being used to keep track of the desert fortress that the Hunters had been raiding. Unlike some areas of the building, the security area was usually filled with experienced Hunter employees who were actually very devoted and skilled at their jobs... though there would be some times were some random slacker would be caught using his monitor to watch reruns of some obscure show.
But at this time, there was absolutely no slacking off whatsoever; everybody in that room, even those who never usually worked much at all in the past, had been working their butts off in trying to keep track of the Hunters' progress in the desert. It had been Dr. Cain, however, who had been working the most out of all of them - not only had he been making sure that everyone else in the room were doing their duties, but he'd also been watching his Hunters' activities since the moment they had been beamed into the middle of that sandy wasteland. And these new, shocking developments that he'd just seen right before his eyes... well, they helped affirm his belief that he was getting too old for this job.
"Weedo, zoom in at point 1800F77, right quadrant," he ordered calmly through a jet-black minicomm he held in his hand. The comm was actually linked directly to the highly skilled spyderoid Weedo, the spiderlike creature that served as Wiedl's pet, and who Cain had been using to consistently survey the fortress from a secluded point in the desert. However, the structure could hardly be called a 'fortress' at this point; only about two hours earlier, the entire place had suddenly come crashing down to the ground in an enormous flash of light that had almost blinded everybody watching the event. After the light had cleared, all that was left of the once majestic fortress was a large massing of torn, shattered ruins, with an abundance of smoke rising from the rubble. Luckily, thanks to the craftiness of their Unit leaders, almost every Hunter had already made it back to the building without as much as a scratch, including the aerial and desert units. The primary problem at hand, however, was the fact that several prominent reploids - X, Zero, Glacier and Magma Dragoon, and even Vile - had suddenly dissapeared since the explosion, just like that, without any sign of them on his energy scanner. Even since this realization, he'd been thrown into a fit of worry, praying with all of his being that these elites hadn't been destroyed with the rest of the building.
"Hmm... no, there doesn't seem to be anybody else..." Cain noted to himself, still scanning the rubble for any remaining soldiers. He'd figured that, while the Hunters really hadn't suffered any casualties, the Mavericks (he now knew they were Mavericks from the soldiers' reports) may have lost much more than they had. Though there was little evidence to really prove this belief, Cain had managed to find various pieces of scrap metal amongst the smoking rubble, which seemed to have been previously part of a reploid of some kind; but then again, it could have really been anything. Due to Weedo's secluded viewpoint, it was very hard for the elderly doctor to get an accurate picture of exactly what was happening in that desert... but he could feel his gut telling him that somebody had fallen, somebody very important and innocent had lost their life in that building...
But Cain wasn't be able to ponder this feeling much longer. A loud, painfully familiar clanking of large boots were quick to greet his ears from the other side of the room, a noise that soon became louder and louder as it approached him. It only took about a second for Cain to figure out who the birther of the noise was; glancing briefly to his right and lifting his head, he found himself staring straight into the goofy, smiling face of ex-general Wiedl, who seemed to be having some trouble maneuvering his bulky body through the overly-narrow row. After forcing the table left of him to shift forward a bit and almost knocking a few workers to the ground, he finally managed to reach the doctor's computer, offering a brief and prideful salute.
"Ahh, Wiedl," Cain said with a bit of a smile. "Glad to see you here. Hope you didn't run into too much trouble on your way up."
"Oh, there wasn't any trouble sir," Wiedl voiced with unbridled enthusiasm. "I'm here, on time, and ready. Just like you told me to be. See, I'm a responsible guy, Doc. When I'm called to do something important or be somewhere as soon as possible, I'm very dynamic in getting my tasks done efficiently..."
"Yes, yes..." Cain interrupted, raising his eyebrows. "We're all aware of your abounding 'efficiency', Wiedl, and I'm glad to hear that you're asserting yourself and whatnot. I would've preferred you up here earlier, but let's forget about that. Maybe we should start focusing in on why I called you up here. Sound kosher?"
"Oh, yes, of course!" Wiedl agreed, eagerly nodding his head up and down like an overexcited puppy dog. "Sorry about my digression, doctor, but I'm just very curious about these developments you told me about earlier. I figure it has something to do with that big desert fortress, is that right?"
"Oooh, excellent assumption, Wiedl," Cain said with a hint of sarcasm. "I guess owe you a toffee. Anyway, yes, it definitely has to do with the desert fortress, and it's definitely a major development. Y'see, what happened is... err... well, maybe you should take a look for yourself. I'd be wasting my breath trying to word it correctly."
"Oh... alright, then," Wiedl gave in, taking a glance at the computer screen Cain had been seated in front of all this time. It only took a few moments for the hulking reploid's eyes to double in size and his mouth to hang agape; the sight had come as a complete surprise to him. Rubble, smoking, jagged and large rubble, was all over the screen... it was just one massive image of ruins, ones that could have possibly been the remains of a formerly large building.
"Wha-uhh..." Wiedl stuttered, practically unable to speak. "That's... is that the desert..."
"...fortress? Ayup," Cain finished for him, somewhat amused at Wiedl's reaction. "Or at least, this is what's left of it. In case you didn't realize it yet, that fortress was actually Maverick territory, as was reported by some of our retreating soldiers. Approximately two and a half hours ago, that entire building suddenly exploded in a flash of light, bringing the entire place crashing to the ground. Surprised all of us. Here, let me show you..." He grabbed his black comm. "Hey, Weedo. I need you to play me the recording from about two hours and twenty-seven minutes ago. Just need to show Wiedl a little something."
After a few beeps of confirmation from the other end, another window hurriedly popped up on the computer screen, this one displaying the Maverick fortress in all its apparent glory. Then, after only about a few seconds, a few large beams of light could be seen shooting out of the windows, mostly coming from the windows. As the beams became larger and multiplied in size, the vision of the building became so illuminated that it was almost impossible to get a good view of it. Finally, an extremely audible explosion sounded, causing the entire screen to go temporarily white and prompting Wiedl and Cain to briefly shield their eyes. When the light finally began to tone down and the once majestic edifice was once again in view, Wiedl watched in distinct awe as the entire structure came crashing violently to the ground, kicking up smoke and quickly setting aflame. Soon enough, the rubble settled to the desert floor, smoke still rising and fire covering the entire area.
"Oh... oh my," Wiedl uttered, his face still displaying unyiedling shock. "That was... a dilly of a pickle, yes. Umm... if you don't mind me asking, exactly HOW did this happen?"
"That's what we've been trying to figure out," Cain said sternly, closing the computer window. "I have a few suppositions, but they're simply simply speculation, nothing more. We really can't find any evidence as to what caused this explosion..."
"Ya-huh..." Wiedl agreed, furrowing his brow. "But, uh, what about the Hunters? How many were killed from that giant... thing?!"
"Well, no Hunters were killed, to our knowledge," Cain stated, his voice taking a much more serious tone. "Maverick-wise, we have no idea who survived, except for Violen who escaped the captivity of our Hunters and went running off into the desert somewhere. The only Hunters that aren't accounted for are..." He paused for a moment, letting out a sigh. "...X, Zero, Glacier, and Magma, unfortunately. Glacier's friend Icarus told us that Glacier had ran in after the other three, so... well, he obviously got involved in what was going on in there. I'm praying that they're alive and well, but... well, we haven't heard anything from them, not at all. We're hoping that, somehow, they avoided the blast, but... we just don't know."
"Oh..." Wiedl said, his voice lowering in tone a bit. "Well, uhh... geez, I didn't know that the situation was THAT serious. Bad things always seem to happen while I'm asleep... maybe I should lay off those naps, eh, doc?"
"Yeah, well..." Cain said with a shrug, partially ignoring Wiedl's dry humor. "We're trying to remain hopeful. It's only been a couple of hours, so Lord knows what could be hindering them now."
"And... what about Vile?" Wiedl suddenly remembered to ask, perplexed that he had forgotten to do so in the first place. "He alive, or is he in the same position as the other Hunters?"
"Oh... well, there's a complete mystery," Cain commented, the memories of Vile suddenly coming back into focus. "We sensed him in the building, his power still entirely intact. I'm not sure if he and the Hunters had a confrontation or not, but... well, there's a good chance of it, considering that he was captured by Mavericks. They could have converted him, they could've not had the chance... who knows. But he, as well as the Hunters, has dissappeared from our scanner."
"Ahh... I'm getting it now," Wiedl replied with downed enthusiasm, not feeling as energetic as he usually felt after hearing Cain's cryptic news. The Hunters were lost now? Could they have been fried in that explosion? For a fleeting moment, he actually felt a strong sense of sympathy for his mentor, considering all of the stress and worry that he had been forced through in the previous hours. If only there was something he could do to help out...
"Dr. Cain, sir!" called an energetic voice from Cain and Wiedl's left, breaking both of their mental concentration. Both turned swiftly to face a young, red-haired male human with a thin build and a bit of painfully recognizable acne. He was breathing a bit heavily, holding a few matted pieces of paper in his greasy hands.
"Ahh, Guterson," Cain called back, addressing the human properly by his last name. "Looks like you've got some news for me."
"Damn straight," Guterson replied vociferously, making it obvious that the message he was delivering was of high importance. "Seems like we've had a stroke of luck, sir. Some strong energy signals have been located very close to the outskirts of the town, seemingly coming from an underground location. Good news is, we've managed to identify them pretty easily - X, Zero, and Glacier Dragoon."
"X, Zero, and Glacier..." Cain whispered softly to himself, a small smile of reassurance beginning to form on his face. "Well... thank heavens they're alright. But wait a second..." His expression changed from one of jubilance to one of concern. "So you're saying that you've discovered only three energy signals? Are there any more?"
"Well..." The young human ruffled a hand through his hair, as if thinking for a moment. "There is another energy signal, bit it's kind of on the faint side, and was barely detected by our sensors. We believe that it might be an injured soldier, but... well, we really can't tell."
"Hmm... I see what you mean," Cain thoughtfully agreed, running his fingers through his ruffled, greyish beard. "Have you been able to open up any kind of communication with the three of them?"
"Well, we're trying, sir," Guterson replied, "but it actually seems like they're still underground, so our communications are kind of blocked out. They're approaching the surface at an extremely rapid rate, though, so I figure that it won't be much longer before we can open up a link."
"Ahh, good, good..." Cain repeated to himself, feeling an awkward mix of relief and worry. "Alright, then, Guterson. I'll let you lead me to where you've managed to locate the three. I'd like to try and talk with them as soon as possible. Hopefully, they'll all be safe..." He shifted his view to where Wiedl was still listening in silence, taking sporatic sippings of a coffee cup he got from Lord-knows-where. "Wiedl, I'd like you to keep an eye on the Maverick fortress while I'm gone. I'm not quite sure how long I'll be away, but believe me, I'll let you in on everything that's going on the moment we've gotten these matters straightened out."
"Yessir, Doc!" Wiedl exclaimed with zeal. "You can count on me, ayup. Oh, and don't worry about those Hunters. Trust me, I'm sure that they were prepared for a situation like this. I mean, before this whole thing started up, I passed on to them some of my sagest advice on battle that I have. They're all a bunch of good listeners, Cain, and that's why they're elites! They've probably pulled through alright." He gave a nod of confidence, followed by another goofy smile. "So best of luck to ya, Doc. But believe me, you shouldn't have any worries."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I won't," Cain muttered somewhat apathetically, grabbing his walking stick and gradually lifting himself up to meet his human subordinate. "I'll see you in a bit, Wiedl. Make sure things run as smoothly as possible. I'm hoping this won't take too long."
"Of course... let's all just hope those recruits didn't get themselves fried! That wouldn't be a great development, now would it?" Wiedl barked out with a chuckle, displaying a bit of unnatural - and generally unwelcomed - glee. Luckily, the overly-ardent Hunter assistant wasn't able to see the look of complete embarrassment that spread over the doctor's face as he and Guterson headed out of the room.
Samantha Wesson, a stout, middle-aged woman with reddish hair and a somewhat surly disposition, enjoyed to eat her meals in complete tranquility. Sure, the city was nice, she figured, but she hated all of the bustle and noise that it had the annoying tendency to produce almost all of the time. So, in order to receive full enjoyment in her meals, she usually headed all the way to the secluded outskirts of Terencse City, a place that the townspeople rarely visited. The area consisted of only a few abandoned warehouses, a small paved street, and more noticably, a large, emptied desert just beyond the city border, partially hidden by a scarce amount of trees. It was probably the only area in town that was completely silent at all hours of the day, and also had a very serene view to boot - no doubt the perfect spot to eat in peace, alone, undisturbed.
But, unfortunately for Samantha, the sanctuary she had loved to escape to for so many years was being shattered right before her very eyes. The pudgy woman had been enjoying a delicious double-cheeseburger with extra ketchup when audible clanging, clomping, and snapping noises could be heard throughout the entire area, forcing Samantha to freeze into a frightened position. Remaining at her tiny bench seat and taking a brief look around, she noticed that the sound couldn't be coming from the surface, as there seemed to be nobody in sight for miles and miles; as the noises began to get louder, she soon came to the conclusion that the ruckus could only be coming from beneath her. Then, after only a minute or so, the noises became so distinct that she could even hear some voices sounding from deep below:
"Hey guys, can you see any light yet?" one voice called.
"Yeah, I think we've reached an entrance back to the city..." said another, deeper voice. "Look, a ladder. C'mon, just follow me up."
"Hey, easier said than done!" whined a third voice, coming from far below. "You guys can climb, but my hands are kind of full down here..."
"Don't worry about it, Glaish. We'll help you out... OWW!! My face! Hey, Zero, would you watch your gosforsaken feet?!"
"Oh, stop complaining. I'm not in a desirable position here to begin with, X, and if I shift myself too much I might just end up losing my precious grip. You'll just have to deal with it until we reach the surface..."
"Guh, I'll give ya a 'precious...'"
"Guys, could we keep the bickering to a minimum until we get the hell outta here, please? This smell is gonna strike me dead..."
These voices continued to chatter on over time, becoming louder and louder as the three individuals approached the Earth's crust at an alarming rate. Samantha soon watched in utter horror as a sewer cap, which had been resting peacefully in the middle of the deserted road for quite a while, began to shake and twitch violently, the force so strong that it caused a small bit of ground around the cap to vibrate along with it. Soon enough, the cap was jarred free of its predictedly eternal resting space and was carelessly shoved to the side, revealing the large circular street cavity that served as one of the town's many entrances to the sewers. The woman, failing to take notice of the greasy beef patty slowly slipping out of her burger and falling to the ground, sat with terrified eyes as several... things... slowly crawled out of the polluted hole of filth, very rapidly rising to their feet and facing the woman. There would be three of them in total, three of the most disgusting creatures Samantha had ever laid eyes on; it almost appeared as if they were some class of sludge monsters, as the trio was completely covered with a greenish-brown filth of some kind. Soon enough, one of the creatures directed its gaze right at her, its eyes barely visible.
Samantha couldn't move; the utter fright brought upon by the situation as forced her body to go completely rigid. Her mouth hung agape as the tall creature, the sludge dripping heavily off of his body, began to approach her position, taking very cautious steps. Soon enough, the thing was only a few feet away from her, the smell of the creatures smell hitting her like a turbulent gale. She went totally pale as the creature extended an arm straight at her.
"Ermm... good afternoon, miss," the thing voiced raspily, a huge glob of sludge from his extended arm plopping to the ground as he spoke. "We've been in the sewers for a pretty long time, and we're not quite sure where we are. Would you mind..."
"GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU DISGUSTING BAG OF SEWER SCUM!!" Samantha shouted as loudly as was humanly possible, right into the creature's face. Before the monster could retort this, the husky female threw her meal to the ground and darted off in fright, her legs pumping as hard as they could. She screamed the entire way, and soon enough, she'd dissappeared over the horizon, her voice still painfully audible. The sludge-covered creature stood completely still, confused at the woman's brash response.
"Huh..." it said, scratching its head in bewilderment. "Well, she seemed a little... edgy. What possibly could've scared here that much? I was just tryin' to be friendly."
"Well, Zero," addressed one of the other figures behind him. "Maybe it's because you covered in about ten gallons of rancid grease, filth, and slime. And, for some reason, you decided against cleaning yourself off first. But hey, what do I know."
"...no kidding?" The 'friendly' creature named Zero paused for a moment, checking his body up and down. It was true; all this time, he'd been lined with a seemingly unlimited amount of slime from his trip into the sewers, and wiping it off of himself had not even crossed his mind. Shrugging to himself a bit, he reached his hands to his neck and began to pull of a large, pointy object that had been concealing most of his head. When it was off, a normal humanoid face was revealed, with a long stream of golden hair covering its top (which was now almost completely greased up). Zero wiped his blueish eyes a bit, so that he could clear up his previously foggy vision. "Wow. I guess that sewer really did a number on us, eh?"
"Excellent observation," commented the other 'creature', who had done exactly what his friend had by taking his own helmet off. His jet-black hair appeared extremely matted a dirty, with slime still dripping off of its sides. The humanoid being wiped his hands though the tangled mess, only to have his hands mucked up more than a little. "Ick... disgusting. I can honestly say that that was one of the most friggin' traumatizing experiences of my ENTIRE LIFE. I thought things were gonna calm down after we got dumped into the toxic waste... but NOOO, then we have to have a nice dip into the Manure Pool of Fun and Jubilance. Fer Chrissakes..."
"Yeah, I admit that things got pretty rough back there," the third greased-up reploid chimed in, wiping the black substance off of his face and revealing a long dragonlike snout and a blueish-tinted face. It appeared that he was carrying a second figure of similar build on his shoulder, who was also covered with the vile substance. "But hey, I'm almost happy that we went through with it. I mean, we made it out of that hellhole alive, didn't we?"
"Huh. Barely," Zero commented with little enthusiasm, trying to get off as much filth off of his body as he possibly could. "But you're right, Glaish. That was completely disgusting in every way comprehendable by Man, but it got us the hell away from that explosion." He squinted over to the desert horizon, noticing a small blackened area far beyond their standpoint. He widened his eyes. "I'm still kind of shocked that we made it this far, to be totally honest. I mean, that explosion was big. Really big. We really weren't too far off when it happened... I mean, yeesh. Makes ya think."
"True," Glacier agreed. "I'm guessing that Vile... or Vava, whatever you called him... knew what he was talking about."
The blackhaired soldier, X, couldn't help but cringe at what Glacier had said. Vava... he'd almost forgotten about him, due to all of the hubbub stemming from the sewers. He pouted a bit at the thought, remembering the immense guilt he had been feeling the moment Vava teleported from them in a flash of golden light. So... he DID finally go through with it. Vava was gone, gone forever, and there was nothing that anybody could do about it. This revelation prompted X to remember an addage that had been thrown around constantly over the years: Life's a bitch.
"Yeah. I'm still surprised that he did what he did, but..." Zero continued, his voice trailing off as he also began to remember Vava's final words. Before he could dwell on him much longer, however, a very faint yet distinctly familiar beeping noise began to sound through the crisp afternoon air. The Crimson Hunter, almost immediately realizing what the sound indicated, reached for his belt and pulled out what at first appeared to be another giant glob of sludge. However, as Zero wiped the thick layer of disease off of the object, it turned out to be a black, rectange-shaped device, with a few buttons at the bottom and a large reddish orb placed in the middle. The beeping sound was now extremely audible, and the red orb was blinking consistently.
"Well, I'll be damned," Zero muttered in complete disbelief, utterly transfixed at the sight. "And here I was, thinking that these communicators were the epitomes of useless crapola. I'm speechless... I am WITHOUT speech."
"Alright, alright, just ANSWER it already!" Glacier shouted in anticipation. "It's probably somebody important!"
"I know, I know, I know..." Zero repeated, rolling his eyes. "Patience is a friggin' virtue, ya know." Dropping the subject, he pressed the button in the bottom-middle, which enabled the transmission. "Yellow!" he started with a mocking voice. "This is Zer-O, and you've entered the PHONE ZONE! Leave your name and number..."
"ZERO!" exclaimed the receiver at the other end, having an extremely familiar voice. "Zero! Is that you...?"
"Hey hey hey, Doc!" Zero replied wih enthusiasm, a relieved smile forming on his face. He glanced briefly over to Glacier and X, who were also looking somewhat less unnerved. "Jeez, it's good to hear your voice again, sir."
"Likewise," Cain responed with obvious joy. "You wouldn't believe how stressed out I've been since I caught sight of that fortress exploding. Tell me, is everyone alright? Any major injuries...?"
"Nah, don't worry, we're all alive and basically well," Zero assured him, glancing at X and Glacier, who were still severely mucked-up. "X, Glacier, Magma and I are kind of mucked up, though. Y'see, we've been trudging through sewer sludge for Jeebus knows how long..."
"Magma's there?" Cain said questionably. "Is he alright? I'm only getting energy signals from you, X, and Glacier... there's a fourth one, but it's very faint. Would that happen to be him?"
Zero made a quick glance to Magma's fallen body, which Glacier had placed limply to the ground. Though he was covered in innumerable filth stains and didn't look the least bit happy, he was certainly alive, just in a mode of stasis. To the inexperienced eye, it might have appeared to them that he was dead as a doornail; but the Hunters, with their basic combat skill, were good in detecting a reploid's stasis when they saw it.
"...yeah. That's probably him," Zero confirmed. "He's alive, but to put things bluntly, he's not in the greatest of conditions. He ran into a bit of a spill as we were fighting the Mavericks, and... well, he got some pretty nasty injuries. He's been in a state of unconsciousness since we escaped the fortress."
"Oh... I see," Cain replied understandably. "But, out of curiosity, why is it that Magma was injured and completely knocked out of commission, while the three of you fared much better in the long run?"
"Uhh, well.. err..." The Crimson Hunter glanced back over to Glacier, who stared at Zero with an expression of nervousness and anxiety on his face. If Zero tattled on Magma's actions, then things would certainly not be easy for Glacier and his brother when they got back to the HQ. But then again, what Magma had done was extremely out of line, and it wasn't very easy to trust him after a stunt like that... could he blatantly lie to save his hide?
Apparently so. "Well, doc, he just got caught up in the moment, y'see," Zero explained, fibbing through his synthetic teeth. "We were fighting Vile and Sigma, all together, and Magma got riled up a bit and attacked. Vile was too much for him, though, and he was taken down a bit too easily..."
"Okay, whoa whoa whoa..." Cain interrupted. "Back things up for me, Zero. Before you get into the fight, I'd like you to start things from the beginning. From the time you got into the building, to when you escaped. Just summarize."
"Hmm... the beginning, eh?" Zero took in a very deep breath; he was going to need it. "Alright then, doc. You deserve to know what's been going on lately. When we arrived at the building, we obviously had no idea that the place was infested with Mavericks until we heard Sigma's voice on the intercom. The soldiers eventually retreated, however, since their weapons were useless. So, when we reached the second floor, we spontaneously ran into Violen..."
X and Glacier listened dilligently as the leader of the Elite Unit Zero explained basically everything that had occured during their 'visit' to the fortress, from their run-in with Violen, to Vile's return to evil, to Magma's attack (omitting as much as possible), to X and Zero's seperate battles with Vile and Sigma, all the way up to Glacier driving his foot into OmegaVile's head and returning him to his senses. Cain was completely speechless as Zero finished up his speech, explaining all of 'Vava''s final actions and his ultimate demise.
"...so Vava then told us about a secret passageway out of the fortress, through an underground river in the building," Zero continued to conclude. "We managed to get out of there easily enough, but Vava stayed and destroyed himself inside of the fortress's control deck. Thr resulting explosion obliterated not only Vava, but everybody and everything in that building as well. We barely managed to avoid the explosion, and after trekking through the sewers for hours, we managed to reached the surface here. And, well... here we are."
A solemn pause followed; it almost seemed as if Cain were unable to say anything more. Zero was about to ask his superior if he was still alive when an astounded voice broke the silence apart.
"...wow," the doctor said with awe, still taking in everything that the Hunter had just told him. "That's... well, to be honest, I really don't know what to think right now. So you're saying that Vile reverted back to his original form, somehow... and he made peace with all of you? That's just... well, I honestly find it hard to believe."
"Well, to be honest with ya, we all thought it was just a hoax, at first," Zero admitted, scratching his dirtied scalp. "But eventually, well... when I think about it now, he really, really did seem genuinely good back there. As I remember, he instructed us to tell you how happy he was that he'd finally reverted back to the reploid you had always wanted him to be, before he died."
"Yes, well..." Cain continued, his voice sounding a bit somber. "When I created Vava way back before the first uprising came into full swing, I had always intended him to be both a very devoted peacekeeper, as well as an ardent and powerful fighter when need be. He would be a very dilligent and useful ally in combat, as well as one who might help break the animosity between humans and machines. But when he became the overly-violent psychopath that we have known him to be over the years, my hopes of him ever becoming that dream reploid I had always imagined him to be dwindled to nothing. However, I knew, deep down, that the purity I'd wanted him to have hadn't been destroyed completely, and that one day he may somehow turn back to who he used to be. And now, well... I never expected him to go to such great lengths for us, considering his background. To be honest, it's good to know that my efforts weren't completely in vain..."
There was something of a lengthy, solemn pause. X, Zero, and Glacier were all reflecting on Cain's words, as if their mindsets had suddenly been reverted back to that fortress, that third-story lobby, where Vava had given his last parting words. Cain's voice, however, broke the silence very quickly. "Alright then, everyone... I just have a few more things to say, and I'd like all three of you to listen in. X, Glacier, can the two of you hear me?"
"Yeah, we hear ya, doc," X said somewhat casually, trying his best to mask his partial depression. "You can go ahead."
"Good. Okay now, listen..." Cain began, clearing his throat a bit. "I know that now is not the time for me to be lecturing the three of you, but according to these developments, I feel that there are some things that I need to get out in the open. Regarding Vava... well, though his actions may have seemed a little brash at first thought, the service he has done for the Hunters - and the human race as a whole - has been invaluable, to say the least. Basically, the blow he has dealt upon the Mavericks, including Sigma, is a wound that will not heal very quickly, if ever. They lost almost all of their resources in that explosion, and it will be very difficult for them to form their ranks again anytime in the future. But..." He inhaled a deep breath. "...it goes beyond the fortress. Vava, as good-natured as he might have seemed, obviously had a fatal flaw in his systems that could have very well spelt the ultimate end of the human race... or even the end of everything, reploids included. The fact that he was ready and willing to give up his own life for the Earth's future... well, that's an amazing thing.
"Now, I want none of you coming back today feeling guilty, depressed, or angry about what happened today," Cain said, taking on a stern tone of voice. "That is, in no way, what Vava would have wanted you to feel. Instead, I want all of you to be thankful, and proud... proud that Vava, after all of his troubles and strife over these years, died doing what he believed was right. From this day forward... I don't believe that any of us should consider him a failure. I certainly won't."
It would be impossible to describe the kind of emotion flowing through the bloodstreams of those three soldiers at that precise moment; they were lost in thought, lost in themselves, letting Cain's words sink in and take full effect. What he was saying made a lot of sense...
"But also, I don't want any of you thinking that the Mavericks have been permenantly defeated," Cain reminded them, breaking the silence. "Though it'll be hard for them to recover, we'll still need to prepare dilligently for any more dangers that could come our way. Who knows what other conflicts may arise in the future..." He paused for a brief moment. "Alright then, you three. I think it would be a good time for us to focus on getting the three of you to safety. Zero, are any of your teleporters working at all?"
"They're a little fuzzy," Zero admitted, examining the wrist device. "But I think we'll manage with 'em. I'm not really sure how much of a distance we can go with them, though."
"Hmm... okay then, here's the deal," Cain began again. "I'll send some transports around towards the edge of the city. It's not a very long walk at all, so you won't need your teleporters for the distance. Sound good?"
"Yeah, that'll work out," Zero replied. "So, err... we'll see you then, I'm guessing?"
"Guess so," Cain added nonchalantly. "Might as well end the transmission now. Well, glad to see that you're all safe, and... stay safe, for now. We'll discuss matters finally when the three of you finally get back."
"Sounds good," Zero said. "Arrivederci," he finished, pressing the middle button once again to cut off communications with the somewhat elderly doctor and placing the small communicator back on his belt. He looked over to X and Glacier, both now in a state of complete silence. X was staring at the ground, his face concealed by his matted hair, his arms crossed. Glacier was looking to Zero in concern, as if somewhat confused.
"So..." the Dragoon said, his voice a bit silent. "You didn't tell him about what Magma did, eh?"
"Yeah, well..." Zero muttered, taking a brief pause. "I thought about it, and I figured that it wasn't worth it. I mean, sure, what Magma did back there was pretty pigheaded and dangerous... but trust me, I know your brother. He may be pretty stubborn at times, but he does learn from his mistakes. Vile hurt him pretty badly back there, almost killed him. I think he's been punished enough, really... and I don't think he'll ever try to pull a stunt like that again."
Glacier shrugged and glanced to his comatose brother. "Yeah, I'm guessing you're right. But if he ever does cause trouble for us again, we'll have to do something about it, no doubt..." He bent over the fallen Hunter, lifting him off of the paved road with both arms. He slung him over one shoulder again, keeping one arm wrapped firmly over his torso. "Well, I think now would be a good time to get ourselves back to the HQ, don't you think?"
"Oh, HELL yes," Zero blurted out with enthusiasm. "Let's go back now. I don't think I'll ever get a trace of my sanity back until I clean this filth off of me." He turned to X, who still appeared a bit depressed. "You ready to get goin', X?"
The Neo Blue Bomber didn't bother to meet eye-to-eye with his friend; instead, he kept his head directed to the ground, barely acknowledging Zero's words. He let out a faintly audible sigh. "Actually..." he began timidly, lifting his head up a bit. "You guys can get going, and I'll catch up with ya. If you don't mind, I'd like to just have a moment to myself. I'll be with you in a second."
Zero and Glacier exchanged perplexed looks, a bit surprised at X's response. Both of them, however, soon gained an understanding as to why X would want to be alone. Zero, though still a bit concerned for his comrade, shrugged it off. "Yeah, we'll give ya some time, X," he bargained, turning to leave. "But try not to take too long, alright? I'm sure Cain is anxious to see us again."
"Yeah, I'll be quick," X replied solemnly, waving a small goodbye to his friends. As they began their advancement towards the larger parts of Terencse City, X once again found himself very much alone, only having his tumultuous mind to turn to for company. The air surrounding him was calm, peaceful, deviod of sound; and usually, in a quiet area like this, X's mind began to wonder as it had done so many times in the past.
For some odd reason, he found himself staring back at the desert, to the distant rubble that served as the eternal burial ground for Vava. He was not feeling great about the whole ordeal; he couldn't deny that. He couldn't shake the constant reality that, though Vava had a horrible and violent nature in the past, could have been just a normal, friendly soldier in the Hunter ranks. No, he wouldn't be 'normal'... he would probably take something of an elite status, known around the world for who he was and the kind of peacekeeping actions he took. He could've been their friend... maybe, in some far-out universe or time period, he could imagine them fighting together, talking together, working together, even growing together. Maybe... 'Vava' could have been the factor that would ultimately end the constant violence between the humans and the repoids, if that were indeed possible. Just considering that theory made X cringe... he knew that, as much as he hoped, that his peaceful existence would never become a reality.
But then, at that very moment, he remembered Cain's final words about Vava's sacrifice. Saying that it was something the Hunters should all be proud of, be thankful for... something that Vava certainly believed was his destiny. As a battle-hardened X turned away from the barren desert battlefield, he found solace in the fact that, though Vava's death wouldn't be easy to get over, it would be the one thing that would destroy X's nightmares of Vile forever. Vava's death was meant to heal X, as well as the world, from Vile's former tyranny. And though the humans may never forgive Vava for what he'd done in the past, Vava still knew that they'd be safe from Vile for the rest of their lives. And, even though X didn't quite realize it at the time... he would sleep well that night, the haunting monsters spawned by Vile being replaced with the kind-hearted, peaceful image that was Vava. The ordeal would finally be put to rest.
Well... X thought, surprising himself by releasing a bit of a smile. Vava... thank you. Best of luck to ya, wherever you are.
The meagerly respected 'Admiral' Agile hated his desk with a passion. Though he was never one to really hate lifeless, inanimate objects, he found it surprisingly easy to make an exception with the overpriced hunk of wood that he foud himself doing his paperwork on. But then again, considering the incredibly undesirable situation he just had the luck of being in, what wasn't there to hate?
Darkness was all that the thin, surly Maverick elite had been seeing all day; unfortunately for them, electricity hadn't been installed in the establishment yet, considering that the place was still undergoing some heavy construction. Also, since the Maverick population had dwindled from five thousand to about thirteen in three seconds, everybody was busy with other matters and never really minded using candlelight most of the time. Or, they were just a pack of lazy bums. To Agile, none of that really mattered either way - incompetence wasn't a rare thing to find within the Maverick ranks anyway, when he gave it some thought.
A candlestick burned quietly to the left of Agile's papers, the poignant aroma helping mask the common, unpleasant stench that wafted from the entire building almost all of the time. Using the flame's illuminating aid, the dilligent Maverick pulled out a large piece of fresh notebook paper, feeling a sudden urge to record his thoughts down on paper. A 'report'... yeah, that's what he'd call it, an account of the events that had happened recently. It might prove useful sometime in the future.
Acting on impulse, he whipped out a sleek ball-point pen and began to write:
May 27th, 21XX
My oh my, how fate can give you a good kickin' in the bum sometimes.
As far as I can measure, it's only been a little bit over a month since that incident with our last fortress, and the hubbub with Vile. Because of it, our entire organization has been going to hell in a friggin' handbasket - Vile's lover-ly little 'parting gift' left us with only a handful of Mavericks left in our ranks, if that many. We've barely been able to keep ourselves alive and well - the fortress's collapse took with it tons and tons of expensive equipment and supplies, all of which were extreme necessities to our cause. Even worse, about 85% of our ranks have been destroyed by the entire ordeal, leaving us in total shambles. I honestly haven't gotten a wink of sleep since late April... if I were a human, I would most likely be a dead man right about now.
The good news is, we've managed to rebuild... well, sort of. After we escaped the falling of the building, we were able to retrieve some other Maverick soldiers who had barely been able to escape the blast and fled the desert, keeping ourselves under the radar for quite a long time before we discovered another area on the planet that would prove an even safer hideaway than even that godfosaken desert. It's a very nifty area, one where sunlight never reaches, a place where the Hunters would never think of looking, really. Since it's very secluded, however, none of us can really show our faces in the light of day, forcing us to stay within these concrete walls for about ninety-nine percent of the time. And from personal experience, let me tell ya - staring at a poorly-leveled floor for hours on end doesn't get any more exciting than it sounds. Really.
We had something of an unexpected discovery before we completely evacuated the desert, however - in a bizarre act of fate, we found the badly injured body of Sigma, still intact, near an area on the desert's edge. All of us had thought for sure that, against all our hopes, that Sigma had been consumed by Vile's blast. It still confuses us, though - I mean, if he had been stuck up in the third floor of the building, how could he possibly - especially with his injuries - manage to get that far away from the blast in such little time? It seems as if he's in a state of delirium... when we found him, he kept on mumbling and rambling on about an "angel" that came from the heavens and transported his body to safety before returning to the sky. He still wouldn't shut up about it before we drugged him a bit and started rebuilding him. Maybe he'll start to make more sense after he's fully conscious again...
Well anyway, like I mentioned before, there have been very few known survivors of the explosion. Violen is indeed alive, but we still have no idea what happened to him after he was escorted out by the Hunters; we have reason to believe that he managed to escape them with some other reploid over his shoulder, but we're not quite sure on that one. Also, Gelves assured us that he found some surveillance footage of Dark Necrobat, Spike Rosered, and Jet Stingray flying off somewhere into the city... but we can't find them, either. I'm still hoping that the fourth new recruit, Dynamo, managed to survive the blast - I mean, he was one of the most valuable soldiers we've had in years. The only soldiers we have here now are me, Serges, Darrick, M-24, Gelves, Sigma, and some spare mechanics and guards who somehow got a lucky break. And that would also include T-17 and T-18 - two traitors who abandoned the entire army and hijacked their only capsule out of the building. We'll make sure that they get their just deserts...
Suddenly, Agile's reporting was interrupted by the squeaking of a door opening. The violet Maverick lifted his head to meet the gaze of an approaching Sergeant Serges, his expression very cold and serious. He offered his fellow elite a small salute before speaking.
"Agile, the two traitors are here for their punishment," he said coldly, expressing a high degree of hatred for the supposed criminals. "They await their meeting with you, sir."
"Ahh, finally," Agile said with relief. "Send them in."
"Yessir," Serges responded hastily, extending an arm and beckoning the two prisoners of fate to enter the room. The two ambled in like frightened animals about to become the new addition to a fur coat, keeping their heads down to the ground and shaking in their boots. Their hands were in shackles, and it seemed as if they were having trouble walking as they shimmied worriedly over to Agile's desk. Beginning to lose his patience, Serges gave both something of a forceful nudge, fully encouraging them to move faster and sit their sorry behinds down already. And, soon enough, they did just that.
At first, there was just a long, painful silence; the pudgy 18 and lanky 17 continued to keep their heads aimed to the ground, choosing not to take a gander at the utter contempt and rage that was in Agile's eyes at that time. The Maverick, being cruel when he needed to be, decided to leave them hanging in unnerving silence for a little bit before finally breaking the ice.
"So... 17, 18," he said with mocking apathy. "Seems like the two of you thought you could get away with this little heist of yours, did you?"
"To be honest with you, sir, we honestly didn't," T-18 blurted out. "Sir, if you'd just listen to us for a second, you'd know that we didn't purposely steal that capsule..."
"Oh, please!" Agile almost shouted, expressing distinct disbelief. "I don't see how you couldn't 'purposely' steal that capsule, considering its massive size. You were disobeying orders, straying away from your fellow Mavericks... and because of it, you caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers! THOUSANDS!"
"Hey, it wasn't MY fault, sir!" 17 yelled in rebuttal. "It was all 18's fault, I SWEAR it! You wouldn't believe what he was telling me to do, sir. He convinced me to steal the capsule, and he knew it wasn't intended solely for us! He's the culprit here!"
"That's a LIE, and you know it, you filthy donkey excretion!" 18 shouted in response, malice in his eyes at his 'friend''s sudden betrayal. "He was the one who planned it all, who convinced me to go searching for that stupid capsule before anybody else! HE should be deep-fried in acid, NOT ME...!"
"SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!!!" Agile barked at the top of his lungs, rapidly ceasing the arguing between the two renegades. "It doesn't matter to me who conviced who in this scandal. In the eyes of the Mavericks, both of you are purely guilty of desertion." He shot daggers at both of them. "There's nothing you can do individually to clear your names, you know. NOTHING. Every functioning reploid in this building loathes you with a passion. There's quite a bit of loathing going on..."
"Wait, hold on a second," 18 interrupted him, unexpectedly. "Are you saying that everybody in this building loves us? Why would they love..."
"No no no..." Agile repeated. "No, everybody here LOATHES you."
"Loves us?"
"...LOATHES."
"Why would they love us if we betrayed them...?"
"No, they - alright, let me put it another way," Agile began again. "Everybody in this building ABHORS you, with a passion."
"...ohh, okay. So they love and adore us, too?"
"Oh, fer Chrissakes, man! I said 'abhor'. They ABHOR you..."
"I adore peanuts. Maybe you're confusing us with peanuts."
Had Agile the gall, he would have very well committed suicide right there, regardless of the consequences. Instead, he clenched his synthetic dentures and tried his best to push on.
"Alright, let's try a word you can't twist around," the disgruntled Maverick rasped. "Everybody, in this building, HATES you. HATES."
The stocky T-18 paused for a moment before letting the phrase take full effect. "Ohhhh! I see," he replied dumbly. "They HATE us. Well... I'm guessing that that's not a very good thing."
"No, 18. I guess it isn't," an annoyed T-17 chimed in, rolling his eyes and looking back to Agile. "Y'see, sir? This is just a taste of the things I have to go through every day of my life..."
"Oh, shut up, the both of you!" Agile shouted, seriously losing his nerve. "Enough of this useless banter... I think my brain is eating itself as we speak. Let's get down to friggin' BUSINESS already." He leaned over the desk, a sickeningly evil smile forming on his face. "It's about time you learned about your initial punishment."
"Ohno ohno ohno ohno ohno..." 18 repeated nervously, shivering even harder than before. "Please be merciful on us, Mr. Agile! We'll be good from now on...!"
"Enough," the 'admiral' responded coldly. "Now, listen, the both of you. Though what you two have done is highly unforgivable, I'm willing to make an offer to you. An offer you can't refuse, unless you have a death wish." He snickered to himself a bit. "Here's the plan. Both of you are going to be involved in a fun little 'project' of sorts, a plan that Sigma's been aching to put into effect for years now. I believe that both of you, with your differing personalities, would be perfect for the technique rarely used in the reploid world... a little process we like to call a 'merger'."
"M... merger...?" 17 stuttered, extremely unnerved. "What... what's that...?"
"Oh, you should be familiar with it," Agile replied smugly. "Dr. Doppler was quite proficient in the technique. He used the process on his assassin Mavericks, Bit and Byte, to create the Godkarmachine O Inary, that monster of a fighter. But with you two... it'll be a little different." His smile widened. "We'll merge you into a two-timing fighting machine, one that seems innocent on the outside by cold and viciously evil on the inside. You would be interchangable, almost... one of the greatest fighters that the Mavericks could ever have. And those foolish Hunters... they'd never realize it. In this way, and this way ONLY, can you ever anticipate redemption for your actions."
"But, but... sir, wait!" 18 protested, looking straight in his superior's eyes with a desperate expression on his face. "This isn't fair! The two of us were never built for fighting purposes! It's ridiculous!"
"Yeah, and you should also remember, Agile..." 17 began, not sounding quite as unnerved as his partner. "We WERE the ones who found Vile in the first place, and brought him to all of you. Don't you think we deserve a little mercy, just for that?"
Agile suddenly burst out laughing at this remark, barely being able to control himself. "Oh, PLEASE!" he said in amusement, shaking his head. "'Mercy'? For that? No way... if anything, you deserve MORE punishment for that, considering the situation that wretched bucket-head put us in. I'll take no more words from you two." He motioned for Serges to come to attention. "Serges! Get these two out of my sight, and take them to their designated quarters. We'll deal with them later." He laughed to himself a bit. "Enjoy your last days as individual beings, boys! Your freedom won't last much longer!"
"Don't think this is over, Agile!" exclaimed T-17, who was being thrashed out of the room by a disgruntled Serges. "Some day, we low-class Mavericks will rise up against you! And after that day comes, you'll be on the streets begging for silver dollars from RICH, SNOBBY DRUG DEALERS!!!" He bared his teeth as he was yanked through the office doors. "IT'S NOT OVER, YOU PURPLE PILE OF CANINE FUNGUS! YOUR BLACK SOUL WILL BE SENT TO THE WOLVES SOON ENOUGH! THE WOLVES!!!"
But Agile didn't listen; he just laughed to himself, watching the sight of the two being carried of into oblivion. Now, the universe would be balanced... now everything would start to improve for the Mavericks. As his office doors were shut tightly together and he was left alone with his pen and paper once again, he began to think that, despite their horrific defeat, things could only get better for the Mavericks from this day forward. I mean, when he really thought about it, how could things possibly get any worse?
Grabbing his ball-point pen once again, he pondered over his 'report', pining about what he should write now, to conclude things. Since he didn't feel like wasting his time coming up with some cliched, fancy parting words, he just decided to scribble down whatever first popped into his head:
Hopefully, things'll start to improve for everybody around here. It hasn't really been the easiest month, but... hey, the only way out of this hellhole of a life is up, right?
So, uhh, anyways... I guess that's it. Here's to a hopeful future for the Maverick organization. May we, in some distant day in the times yet to come, be the supreme rulers of the world, free of rotten, sniveling tree-monkey... things... called humans. Or something like that. I'm sorry, my vocabulary just completely reeks right now... would it KILL somebody to get me a thesaurus?
Sincerely,
Agile, Leader of the X-Hunters
He placed his pen down on the desk, staring at his final words with a bit of regret. A frown began to form on his humanlike face... at this rate, like so many others in the past, it was gonna be a looooooong day.
THE END...(insert cliched question mark here)
Well, there you have it. Finally, after over a year, I've finished my first actual dip into the MMX fanfiction realm, Vile's Redemption. Horray!, glory!, whoopah!, etc. etc.
Anyways, I hoped that all of you enjoyed the story, and I hope that the ending finished things off well enough. I basically started writing this story for several reasons - for one, I wanted to give a 'reason' why Vile made a sudden hiatus after the Doppler incident, even after promising to haunt X until his dying day. Secondly, I really was aching to try something different in an MMX 'fic, one that might make people think a little differently on Vile's character. And, for the most part, I just really wanted to take a shot at a piece of fanfiction, due to inspiration from some of the great MM writers out there. I know that VR isn't exactly an 'epic', and it's pretty whacky and out-of-control/nonsensical during several parts of the story. But hey, I didn't set out to make it a masterpiece of writing - just something the average MM fan would enjoy. And I think I accomplished that.
Well, before I wrap things up officially, I think I'll do a bit of thankin'. First off, I'd like to thank the Megaman Outpost (or the forums, more specifically) for being basically the first site to make VR public, and just being a great Megaman site in general. Same goes for the Megaman Network, which provided a HUGE amount of MMX info that helped me shape out certain plot points in the story.
Also, I'd like to thank uber-talented fanfic writer Revokov for providing advice for the fighting scenes, as well as comic-monkey Starnik for being nice enough to host VR at his spiffy website (nik both have been reading VR since its early days, even when it was a little 3-page thinger that probably made no sense to sensible folk. So BIG thanks to them for that.
Also, thanks to Red Draco and Mechadrake.com for not only providing me with a lot of great reading and inspiration, but offering an awesome message board which I still frequent to this day. She along with Ice Blue X run the board, and they do a damned good job of it; I can easily say that it's where VR found its feet, thanks to all the supportive members there.
And finally, thanks to Fanfiction.net for being a nice place to host this fic, and for all the reviewers. Hell, I've gotta thank EVERYONE who read this thing, and especially those who commented (good or bad, I appreciate it). What kind of person would I be if I didn't?
Oy gevault. ::smacks self:: I think I've gone a bit overboard with these final words, eh? Well, I'll just end things by tellin' ya that I'm not gonna stop writing MM 'fiction, no siree bob. You should probably expect another story from me sometime in the future - I'm leaning towards a sequel, but I'm not entirely sure yet. If you've got a comment, or have any suggestions on what you would like to see, feel free to e-mail me at SpydaBass@aol.com. I'd love to hear what you think.
Well, I guess that finishes it. I've had a lot of fun writing this story, and I really hope you enjoyed it as well. Peace for now, and I hope to see all of you again real soon. :)
-- Sean Rose ('SpydaBass')
"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we may fall."
--Oliver Goldsmith