X ran swiftly across the rubble, the setting sun getting into his eyes he did not care, he simply ran forward.
"I hoped this day would never come." he thought to himself.
Still recovering from the initial shock X had become more and more familiar with the fact that Zero was indeed an agent of Sigma's...his best agent. And that this was the last mission X would ever face. There were no more mavericks, all the crazy scientists of the days of old were dead and the few remaining mavericks posed no threat. This was his last mission, then he could go back to sleep...forever.
In the distance he saw a shadow...he knew it was him and he quickly pushed off of his right foot into a long dash towards where the shadow came from. He flipped forward in mid-air and landed on one knee in front of him. Slowly he stood and lifted his head..staring straight into Zero's soul.
*
Zero saw him coming...he knew he couldn't run from this battle anymore. Although he hated to admit it, Zero never wanted to have to fight with X to begin with, but it was his mission...and the only thing that he cared about more than X and the other Hunters was his mission. As X got up and gave him that cold, endless stare...Zero simply sighed.
"I never wanted to have to do this X..." He said softly.
X looked away for a moment..."I didn't want to believe them...I couldn't..." his compassion turned to anger.
"I can't believe you could do this to the guild Zero!"
Zero's hair flowed gently behind him, the cool evening breeze bringing some calm to the incredibly tense scene...Zero's eyes grew soft as he slowly unsheathed his Z saber...
"We both know what we have to do now..." Zero's hands began to shake slightly.
X simply watched his old friend, for the first time, draw his weapon against him in anger. The rush of emotions could not be explained and all he could do was unsheath Zero's old saber that he took up when he thought he was dead decades and decades before.
"Yeah..." his voice shaking somewhat... "I guess we do."
Zero backflipped and landed on one knee, pushing off of his left foot he charged towards X bringing up his saber...X took a leap forward and brought up his as the two greatest hunters in the history of the world began the fight that everyone always thought unthinkable.
*
The suspicions all began about 6 months prior in the year 24XX... the maverick activities had dwindled down to less than a case every two weeks. Everywhere the violence rates and destruction caused by maverick reploids decreased dramatically as the Hunters HQ finally began settling down, and the two star hunters X and Zero began to get more time off.
Other than battle partners for over 2 centuries X and Zero were the closest friends anyone could ever find. They trusted each other with their darkest deepest secrets and would easily give their lives for each other. Their friendship was unshakable until one day...
"Are the others ready?" asked zero quietly into the communicator.
"Yes sir..." a familiar voice said huskily... "We are all ready."
"We must wait until the time is..." and suddenly the door opened.
"Hey zero!" X said happily. He walked into the room quickly.
Zero quickly turned off the communicator and turned to X...although he was a reploid guilt was still written all over his face.
"Oh...hey X!" he tried to sound excited...but it didn't sound too convincing.
X examined Zero's face carefully.
"Is something wrong Zero?" he asked. He seemed very concerned.
"Me?" Zero spoke as if he would be the last person with anything wrong. "Of course not! The mavericks are growing smaller and smaller in number and we've gotten more vacation time in the last two weeks then in the last 2 centuries!"
X seemed convinced this time "That's true...well, I'm heading upstairs to report to Signas then I"m heading home...I'll see you tomorrow?"
Zero smiled and nodded. "Sure thing!"
X smiled and slowly walked out the door. He didn't like that...he didn't like it one bit. He walked up to Signas's office, troubled by Zero's odd behavior.
In the meantime Zero called back...
"Sorry about that...you're all ready?"
"Yes sir as I said all the men are ready on your command."
Zero looked around the headquarters...things were still a little too tight for them.
"No...we must wait for the right time. They must be completely unaware...only then could we demolish the headquarters with such a small army."
The voice on the other end sighed somewhat...in dissappointment.
"As you command sir." and the voice ended.
"Yes..." Zero spoke to himself... "We must wait for the right time..." as he stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes.
There was a gentle knock on the door.
"Yes...come in!" Signas ordered.
X walked in slowly, stopping before Signas's desk and giving him a salute.
"Evening sir..I have come to give the day's report and then head home."
Signas nodded and saluted X back.
"Very well hunter, report."
"Stopped by Area X-19 in section 5...report of a small maverick destroying people's property. That maverick was captured and put in jail. He currently resides in cell 1504. No other cases to report sir."
Signas smiled gently.
"That will be all hunter, dismissed!"
X nodded "Thank you sir." and gave a parting salute as he walked out the door. Turning left he passed the security room where reploids were always keeping watch on the area within a 10 mile radius in case of any attack on the HQ they could know about it at least 30 seconds ahead of time if it was the fastest maverick group on the planet. Much more time would be given for slower, larger attacks. He entered the teleporter and was teleported to the residential district where he had taken up a penthouse in one of the newer structures...courtesy of the Hunters Guild. X went home and did as he always did. Lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. This night was especially restless after Zero's odd behavior.
"What was he doing that he had to act so quickly?" he thought to himself. No...he wouldn't let those thoughts roam freely around his head. But when you can't sleep...its really easy to let those thoughts build up.
*
Zero ran under the cover of darkness to the haven where his men were waiting for him. He had assembled the final 12 mavericks willing to make one last move against the hunters guild. As he jumped down into the hideout and landed on one knee the 12 looked up ready to attack. As soon as they noticed who it was they all backed down.
"We were wondering when you would get here." Gravity Beetle said harshly.
"Yeah, we've been roasting down here for days now!" Flame Mammoth complained.
"It certainly doesn't make it any easier with Mammoth's huge butt in this small place." Commander Yammark commented smartly.
At that Mammoth growled and shot a little stream of flame, but Yammark simply smiled.
"That's enough from the both of you!" he barked viciously.
Zero looked around at the rest of them...there was Storm Eagle and Overdrive Ostrich, Wire Sponge, Metal Shark Player, Squid Adler, The Skiver, Cyber Peacock, Web Spider and Crush Crawfish. The final team to make the final assault on the hunters HQ.
"So?" Skiver asked curiously "When do we get to attack?"
Zero looked at skiver "90 more days...then we strike."
They all looked at each other and then back to zero.
"90 days?!" Cyber Peacock said violently. "We'll die down here in 90 days!"
Zero looked to Cyber Peacock "If I chose you to be on this team then you can survive 120 days in a 6 by 6 foot cell with 20 other people in it...understand?!!"
Cyber Peacock backed down..."Aye sir."
Zero looked around at the rest of them. "We must keep it extremely low profile! We can't let the hunters get any idea that you're even around anymore! Thanks to a little slip up today...no thanks to gravity beetle..." as he shifted his gaze over to the beetle cruelly the rest followed suit.
"Now X is getting suspicious...I repeat...do NOT call me while I'm at the Guild HQ....unless you want my cover blown...which is the last thing any living being wants."
Zero pulled his evil glare off of Gravity Beetle as he jumped back out of the haven.
"I shall return in 90 days time...and don't get too rusty!"
He ran back towards the HQ silently...confident in his plan to destroy the hunters guild once and for all...something that his rival Sigma could never do.
The alarm went off...the unbearable noise searing through the air...then X turned off his clock.
He stood and stretched even though he hadn't slept at all that night. Walking over to his transporter he yawned as he was sent back to the Hunters HQ. Many unsettling thoughts rested in his head over the course of the night...all of them having to do with Zero's odd behavior.
"Maybe I'm just paranoid..." he said to himself as he walked towards his office.
"I'm sure that's what it is..." he told himself with a smile as he opened the door...and there he was.
*
Zero saw X walk into the office and turned, standing up he smiled warmly.
"Morning X!" he said.
X smiled and felt extremely relieved.
"Look, I'm sorry about acting weird yesterday...I haven't been getting much sleep lately." he said, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes.
X closed his eyes "Thank god." he thought to himself and held out his hand to shake Zero's again as their hands locked he opened his eyes, Zero's friendly gaze reaffirming his confidence in him. X felt so stupid doubting him and felt that he had to do something to make it up to him.
"Look, Zero...I'm sorry that I've been acting weird too...its just.."
Zero chuckled "I know...you're just edgy cause we haven't been saving the world twice a month anymore."
X laughed. "Yeah..I guess that's it."
Zero looked at his forearm...
"Hey lookie here...reports of a rampaging maverick....sound fun?"
X's face turned serious as he took out Zero's old saber.
"Let's go."
And so Zero kept up the escapade for another 3 months, while his team grew stronger and stronger to levels far beyond that when X fought them the first time. And the fated day arrived.
*
Up in the security room the reploid surveillance team watched the screens carefully as Zero walked in calmly.
"Morning fellas...how's it coming?"
The team turned and were surprised to see Zero had paid them a visit. The team leader stood up.
"Its going fine sir...doesn't look like we'll be having problems any time soon."
Zero smiled..."I wouldn't count on that..." he mumbled softly as suddenly in a blur he sped through the room slicing the team to bits. At that exact moment, 12 tall figures appeared on the surveillance cameras. With no team watching though, the 12 simply walked into the perimeter unscathed. Zero had prepared the path of least resistance all the way to the HQ doors. This is when Signas finally saw the assault coming.
Quickly he got on the speaker
"ATTENTION...ATTENTION...THIS IS A CODE 5 ALERT...MAVERICKS ARE ATTACKING THE BASE...I REPEAT...THIS IS A CO..."
Signas's alarm was cut short by Zero's saber, which sliced straight down the middle of Signas's body.
"I'm sorry Signas...its nothing personal...really." Zero slowly turned and walked out the door, one last look over his shoulder as the door slid closed.
X got up....for the first time in a long while he forgot to set his alarm...and it would be his luck it would be the same night he actually got some sleep!
He was a half hour late...Signas would have his core unit if he didn't move. He ran into the transporter...but then something happened that struck fear straight into his body. The transporter wouldn't respond on the other end.
"No...that's not possible." he thought to himself.
He went over the possibilities... the transporter is automatically run...no officers are needed to operate it so that's out...the only reasonable explanation was that something terrible was happening at HQ. Quickly X relied on his trump card, an instant teleportation device installed in his right arm. After inputting the coordinates he appeared in front of what seemed like a scene straight from his worst nightmares...
The HQ was ablaze...fires streaming all around the building...dead hunters everywhere. Not one living hunter remained...then X's thoughts shifted to Zero.
"Oh no! Zero!"
X frantically searched around the premises for Zero's body...but could not find it anywhere...rage filling up inside him he dropped to his knees and let out a blood curdling scream that filled the air around him.
*
Zero turned back to the HQ...only losing Crush Crawfish and Squid Adler in the assault he thought that the mission had gone unbelievably well.
"We sure caught them off guard didn't we?" Yammark said with a snicker.
"The fools didn't even see it coming..." Metal Shark Player said with a menacing smile.
Zero simply stared back towards the HQ...
"X...don't follow me...please." he thought to himself as he turned back to the 10 remaining Mavericks.
"Tonight we rest easy...we'll head back to my residential compound."
The 10 agreed with a cheer as they walked off into the horizon, leaving their fiery mark behind.
*
After X gathered the strength to stand back up he tried to imagine who could have done it...his brain scanned electronically every maverick he'd ever faced. Nothing stood out...he couldn't put his finger on it and this infuriated him. He grasped his head violently shaking it back and forth
"darn! Think X! THINK!"
So lost in this was he that he crashed his head unit into a jagged piece of concrete...and a piece of data from seemingly nowhere formed in his head...a broken message read on his transmitter:
"ATT..TI..: NEW UN.. ZER. SIG.A'S SEC..T OPERATION. PRO..CT TRUST. YE.R: 21XX... EN. TRAN.MI..I.N"
X's eyes widen...he couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it.
He was his battle partner...his best friend. He couldn't be an agent for Sigma..there's no possible way...
X staggered back and forth...both from the physical blow to the head and the emotional blow from discovering the greatest act of betrayal in the history of the world.
"How could he...?" he asked himself...
"How did he pull it off...for so long?"
X became angry...angry at himself, angry at Zero...angry at everything.
With a scream he brought up his x buster and charged it up...loosing a gigantic blast into the remains of the Hunter HQ...desecrating the remaining ruins as pieces of flying, burninng debris rained down around him he turned towards the horizon...and remembered something Zero once said.
"Its beautiful isn't it? The sunset? As long as you walk towards the setting sun, I think you're always going the right way..."
X closed his eyes and took the first step on the one mission he thought he'd never take.
The seek and destroy mission of Zero.
The 10 mavericks walked into his compound, Zero trailing in last as he closed the door.
"Wow Zero...quite a place you have here...Sigma buy it for you? Gravity Beetle chuckled.
The compound was large. Over 15 bedrooms, large living room area..transporters and information units all over the place. Pictures on the walls...pictures of Double, Alia, Signas, Iris and X were everywhere. Zero tried not to look at X's pictures, they all seemed to be glaring back at him...
"So we can just take a bedroom right?" Mammoth asked.
"You can have two for yourself you fat slob." Commander Yammark inserted rudely.
Flame Mammoth turned and threw out his fist, hitting Yammark square in the face...the punch sent him reeling backwards as he flipped backwards and floated in mid air...
"You insolent fool!" he targeted Mammoth with his gun and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly a red blur appeared before him and shoved his gun-arm upwards and back, hearing it making a cracking sound as Zero spoke harshly into his ear.
"We don't have time for smart comments or fighting with each other, I'm not going to warn you again Yammark..." he pushed the arm back a little further before letting it go back to where it was. Yammark winced slightly, his arm pulsating with pain.
Zero then turned to Flame Mammoth
"I won't have any more attacks on comrades...understand? Throw that fist towards any of them again and I'll cut it off before slowly taking you apart piece by piece."
One thing Zero knew that they needed was teamwork and he wouldn't have them fighting amongst each other like children.
"Although...not like anyone was really going to be around to stop us..." he thought to himself and just then the alarm went off. The main screen showed X running towards the compound.
"That hunter is crazy!" Gravity Beetle yelled.
"We'll tear him apart!!!" The skiver shouted.
Zero simply stared at the screen.
Finally he turned to the rest of them.
"Listen...I want you all to go out first. I'll remain in the house. If he defeats all of you he won't have nearly enough energy to defeat me afterwards."
The other mavericks looked at each other, then back to Zero.
"You sure you could actually kill X Zero?" Overdrive asked.
Zero's face turned dead serious.
"Unlike the rest of you I am positive of what I am capable of...now get out there and stop him!"
The 10 nodded and ran out the door.
Zero turned back to the screen...then headed towards the back exit.
In his head as he walked out the door was one last thought:
"X...please don't follow me...please."
X saw them coming out of the compound. He wasn't willing to play games with them. He wanted to know what the hell Zero was up to. Metal Shark Player came up first.
"Well well Well...hello X." Metal said menacingly.
"What have you done to Zero? Why is he like this?!"
Metal Shark Player turned back to the others and laughed.
"Hey guys!" he yelled mockingly "What did we do to Zero?"
The laughter continued...X was filling up with fury and before metal could turn around X spun, unsheathing the old Z saber and slicing him in half. Making a quick move with his arm he then sliced the falling top half into 4 pieces and took a few steps forward as Metal's body exploded behind him.
"I'm not playing around you clowns...what have you done with him?!"
X was now an embodiment of rage...anger...he wanted someone to blame for Zero's betrayal...and these 10...or rather 9...unlucky souls were his first victims.
"You filthy hunter! I'll eat you for dinner!" Mammoth yelled as he charged towards X stopping short he shot out his trunk loosing a massive blast of fire towards X. X's cold dead eyes stared onward as the fire charged towards him he raised his X buster...remembering Chill Penguin's battle data he called forth his Ice attack and charged it up...forming a wall of ice in front of him. The rolling ball of fire slammed into the wall of ice, giving X enough time to roll to the side and jump towards Flame Mammoth, turning around in mid air he drove the Z saber through Mammoth's middle and pulled it upwards with all his strength...slicing the mammoth in two, he backflipped as the explosion sent the remaining 8 to the floor.
"This guy is crazy!" Yammark exclaimed fearfully.
X turned...emotionless...back to the 8 remaining mavericks.
"I ask you again...what did you do to zero? Why has he done this?!"
Gravity Beetle stepped up
"Fool! Just accept it! Zero has always been one of us! He was the ultimate weapon...the trump card!"
"No...no no no! Zero wouldn't do that! He was my..."X's anger increased..he was becoming more and more like a man possessed, ready to tear apart everyone and anyone who stood in his way.
"Friend? That's why they called it Project Trust you fool!" Gravity Beetle yelled out.
"And it was a complete success!" he laughed as he suddenly glowed gently...preparing for his Shining Charger attack.
X stood silently watching Beetle, anticipating his moves.
Beetle took off with blinding speed...straight towards X.
"Oh great...the shining charger." he thought.
X rolled to the side and pushed up into the air, turning he sheathed the Z saber and targeted Beetle with his X buster powering it up to the max he blasted it at Beetle, the energy so massive the air around it ignited into a large fireball and struck beetle head on.
Laughter was heard through the dust as X landed on one knee.
"Fool...!" Beetle charged again and this time X was grazed on the left arm as he jumped out of the way of the charge. He spun in the air slightly and put down his right hand, pushing off of it into a flip he landed a few feet away from Beetle.
X's left arm teemed with electricity from the attack and he winced.
"He's a lot stronger than before...should I use the backup?" he thought to himself...
"No...I'll need it for later."
He stood slowly and saw that Beetle was ready for another charge...but he knew exactly what to do.
"Prepare to die hunter!!" Beetle pushed off of his right leg towards X at blinding speed.
"That's right you overconfident Beetle...fall into my trap..."
As Beetle came charging forwards X flipped forward over Beetle's head and in the instant that Beetle wasn't invulnerable he unsheathed his Z saber...
"Goodbye Gravity Beetle..." and brought it across Beetle's neck, separating his head from the rest of his body, and then flipped forward, landing on one knee he closed his eyes and sheathed his blade as he heard the sound of Beetle's maverick body exploding.
X stood and turned silently towards the 7 remaining enemies...all of them looking a bit concerned. Gravity Beetle was, after all, the strongest among them...besides Zero. And here this hunter had taken him out with little more than a scratch. Surely he was to be stopped here and now, before he could reach Zero.
Storm Eagle flew forward and floated above megaman, flapping his wings violently. It was his Storm Tornado.
"Please..." X said mockingly. "Save your energy...your pathetic Tornado attack has no affect on me now...my leg advancements make 200 mph winds seem like a gentle spring breeze!"
While Storm fought to push X back he simply stood there calmly while boulders and rocks around him went flying backwards. Storm stopped and flipped backwards in mid air, landing next to Commander Yammark.
"If we work together I'm sure we can take him out...get those helpers of yours to keep putting on the heat!"
Yammark nodded as he took to the sky and flew to the other side...now Storm was in front of X, and yammark in back.
Yammark closed his eyes...focusing his energy he began to call his drones one by one.
X turned back to see Yammark calling his drones.
"darn..." he thought...and at that moment he suddenly heard a screeching sound above. Quickly he backflipped as Storm Eagle came about an inch away from the ground and turned soaring back up into the sky.
"Pay attention X..." he tells himself. "Don't let these clowns get the best of you."
He looked to Storm, flying around in the air, and Yammark, building up for his laser attack. He tried to set priorities.
"The sky dive is fast and powerful..." he thought to himself as he looked at the ominous circle pattern that Storm Eagle had in the air...
"And the laser attack is long and has great range..." as he noticed Yammark powering up his drones.
Then he got an idea...He charged up his X buster to the maximum and unsheathed his Z saber.
"You think you can defeat the both of us? HA!" Yammark laughed as he looked down at X and continued to power up his attack.
X looked at Yammark, and then at Storm.
"This has to work..." he thought to himself.
"If it doesnt...my untarnished record will be ruined." At this thought...he smiled to himself.
Finally, he took a deep breath...and executed the plan.
"NOW!" X yelled to himself.
He threw the Z saber at Yammark, it spinning effortlessly in the air heading straight for him. Yammark opened his eyes and was startled and quickly flew to the left...
"Gotcha..." X thought as he fired the charged X buster right into the area that Yammark flew into.
Suddenly with a gigantic blast Yammark's body was destroyed and the energy from the explosion caught Storm Eagle off guard as he broke out of his Sky Dive position, pieces of flying, burning debris all around him.
"That blasted hunter! He'll die for..." Just as Storm was about to finish his thought, the Z saber, which was still flying through the air, came slicing through him, cutting him in 2.
It quickly spun a few more times before X deactivated the blade and caught the hilt of it, as soon as he sheathed it Storm Eagle's body went up in a huge explosion and he turned to the 5 Mavericks left.
Overdrive Ostrich and Cyber Peacock looked at each other, then back to Skiver, Web Spider and Wire Sponge.
He smiled slightly.
"So...anyone else care to give me a little more information?"
X's eyes turned to slivers as he stared down the five mavericks, each looking ready to die simply from the way X was staring at them. He had taken out 5 of their comrades in the last 10 minutes...
Cyber Peacock finally spoke up...
"It was all a plan...right from the very beginning. Zero saving you from Vile...fighting Vile later on...everything that happened with Zero was planned to increase your trust with him. Even Iris's death."
X thought back to all those times, memories that weren't really true anymore...that red figure in his dreams wasn't who he thought it was anymore. He was a shadow now, a figure of darkness trapped inside X's head forever.
"He created the environment of a sportsman like competition between the two of you to keep the escapade up without much effort. You'd try and see who could defeat more mavericks in a day...and while he had no problem destroying us you still struggled with your emotions..."
As Peacock was saying these words Skiver and Web Spider walked around to creep up behind X and Overdrive Ostrich stepped up next to Cyber Peacock.
"Yes..." Overdrive said calmly. "And those emotions will be your downfall!"
Skiver and Web Spider grabbed X's arms as Cyber Peacock and Overdrive Ostrich walked towards him solemnly.
X struggled and fought to break free but they had a tight hold on him...
"Come into my parlor...said the spider to the fly..." Web Spider hissed as he squeezes X's arm and wrenched it back.
X yelled in pain...with the two in front of him ready to attack and the two behind him already doing damage things weren't looking too good...
Zero heard another explosion...before he could even think of the possibilites there was another.
"That wasn't X...neither of those were..."
Zero stopped running for a moment and turned back to where the fight was taking place. 5 explosions he's heard so far, and not one of them was X's. If he didn't move faster or if his men didn't fight harder he wouldn't get far at all before X was on his tail again.
Turning back towards the sunset he charged forward, running as fast as he could, running so fast it was almost like he wanted to outrun his pain, his sorrow, and all the problems that he had.
"ARRRRGH!" X grunted painfully as the Skiver pulled back on his arm as well.
Overdrive Ostrich laughed as he stopped a few feet in front of X.
"A good kick to the head from this distance could put you out of commission...but what fun is killing you right away?"
Ostrich jumped and spun kicking X across the face.
"[marathon]..." X said viciously...
"Such manners..." Cyber Peacock said with a patronizing tone... "You should know better than that." He signaled the two behind X to give his arms a good twist again that brought X to his knees.
"You know what?" Cyber Peacock kneeled down in front of X's beaten face... "Zero told us once that he couldn't wait until it was time...he said he couldn't wait to run his saber straight through Signas's head...but the thing that excited him most..."
The peacock's voice became like the messenger. Bringing a message that no one wants to hear.
" The thought of being able to kill you..."
X's thoughts built up, memories returning and anger growing even more as Peacock leaned right up next to his ear:
"Very...Very...slowly." And then he burst into laughter as well as the other mavericks. Long, echoing laughter that filled the air around him with insults and shut-downs. Until suddenly, X started laughing too.
It was an unstable laughter...it was a laughter that you wouldn't want to hear someone laugh. His entire body shook as he looked up to Cyber Peacock...laughing out loud in his face for a good 10 seconds and then suddenly...stopped.
At that moment X closed his eyes and recalled Sting Chameleon's attribute, charged it up and became a transparent multicolored image as he backflipped he fired two rounds of sting chameleons weapon that hit the Skiver and Web Spider in two separate places. Unfortunately he couldn't use any other weapon until the transparency wore off...luckily it only took a second.
"Laugh at me will you? I'll...give you...something to...laugh about!!" X was now finally coming apart at the seams. All the control he had demonstrated during his missions, all the times he let it slide. They were all catching up to him as his body began to shake violently with energy.
With blinding speed he unsheathed the Z saber again and charge the Skiver, running the Z blade through his stomach he brought his X buster up to the Skivers face and fired a full strength blast point blank into his head. Removing the saber he pushed off of his left leg towards web spider, spinning around he cut off the spiders head, then sliced him in half, what the rest saw was a few quick hand movements before the spiders Maverick body split into countless pieces and exploded. Overdrive and Cyber peacock both ran towards X, Overdrive going into an Ostrich kick while Cyber Peacock was targeting him.
"Come on...stick out your huge foot you overgrown penguin!!" he thought to himself as the ostritch went into a flying kick X sidestepped and grabbed his leg, spinning Overdrive around he launched him into Cyber Peacock and fired his X buster Charged to the max and then leaped right behind the buster so as soon as it hit he followed up by slicing the two remaining mavericks to bits before flipping forward and landing on one knee on the ground as a massive explosion above rained down their burning remains...and X just smiled.
"Just one more it looks like..." As he turned to Wire Sponge.
Suddenly, Wire Sponge began to laugh...but somehow this laugh was familiar...He knew who this was...and it wasn't wire sponge...
Wire Sponge turned off the cloaking device...and X couldn't believe his eyes.
"Hello X..." Signas said calmly.
"Si...Sig..Signas?" X didn't know what to do...
"I'm glad you passed the test X...you really are as powerful as they all say you are." Signas smiled.
"The...test?" X was getting dizzy, he couldn't process all that was going on...what the hell was happening!?
"Yes, the test." Signas said quietly as he stepped closer to X.
"Seeing as how the Hunters are basically extinct now...we wanted to perform one last test to see how strong you had gotten from the day you started being a hunter. You have grown exponentially. You have become the strongest hunter that ever was...except..."
X didn't like where this was going, and he took a small step back. The rocks moved slightly beneath his feet, every sound around him becoming incredibly loud as he suddenly discovered what Signas was doing.
"I can't let you get to Zero X, I'm sorry. You may have been able to defeat those other Maverick saps, but I won't go down as easily!"
Signas quickly unsheathed his own saber.
"But...how!? I thought you were dead!" X screamed, his world coming apart.
Signas laughed.
"At first, I must admit, I did not know that Zero was an agent of Sigma's. When I found out, I wanted to have him destroyed. But I was foolish then, and Zero convinced me that if I let him continue with his plan, when we destroyed the hunters for good I could have my own Continent to rule...imagine that....Emperor Signas!! HAHAAHA"
X didn't blame him completely, because not only was he tricked by zero, but the virus was beginning to get to his central unit. Signas was as good as Maverick by now.
"Crap...this isn't going to be a fight like the others is it?" X thought to himself.
Signas started first. Jumping up into the air he flipped forward and brought his saber down hard, and fast, towards X's head. X quickly brought up the old Z saber and blocked the attack...the two warriors holding their ground as the sabers gave off tremendous energy. X pushed off of the saber into a backroll and launched himself into the air loosing a volley of plasma blasts at Signas, about 12 small energy blasts. Signas simply sliced through most of these though some of them left little scratches on his armor. He pushed off his legs into a tremendous jump and gave X a headbutt...the stun caught X off guard but he backflipped and dropped to the floor on one knee before Signas could take advantage of the situation.
From above X could hear signas coming down, he backrolled again and then lunged forward with the blade...Signas sidestepping and lunging himself. X quickly flipped to the right and slid roughly on the rocky ground pushing off of his right foot he charged towards Signas and brought his fist up, punching him hard across the face. The force was so tremendous it sent Signas flying into a nearby boulder.
Suddenly he saw the tip of Signas's blade race around the outside of the boulder as it instantly turned to dust.
Signas rubbed his jaw gently...
"Very good X! I think I actually felt pain...now its your turn!"
X's left arm was still a little nonresponsive from the shining charger earlier on... which gave him a massive disadvantage as Signas attacked from the left side and sliced at X's chest...X backed up as far as he could but it still took a big chunk out of his chestplate armor. X winced...
"Dammit X...get a hold of yourself...this isn't the commander you knew...you can't hold anything back...or else he'll eat you alive!" he thought forcefully to himself as he glared back at signas, holding his Z saber tight. Suddenly he looked to the Z saber and got a wonderful idea. Quickly he deactivated the blade and made a quick movement behind his back,
then X smiled and stood calmly.
"Signas...one last thing before I die."
Signas smiled.
"I've always been a man of honor..." Signas said assuringly.
X walked up to signas and handed him the old Z saber...
"Would you keep this...? For me? And if you see Zero again...give it back to him."
X took a few steps back and knelt down...awaiting death.
"I most certainly will X...in fact, I'll use it to kill you...that way it'll mean so much more to Zero..."
Signas smiled as he walked over to X slowly...
Signas brought the saber above his head and pushed the button to activate the saber. But instead of a blade coming out...a huge explosion occured and heavily damaged Signas, sending him flying into a nearby wall of rock.
"Checkmate..." X said quietly as he got up and unsheathed the real Z saber...
"He...never told me...about that." Signas said slowly.
"Of course he didn't...its my design..." X smiled as he pointed the tip of the Z saber at Signas's head.
"No...X...you couldn't...not to your...commander!" Signas gasped out desperately.
X gave him a menacing look.
"You're not my commander!" And drove the saber through Signas' head.
X turned and threw the Z saber to the ground as he fell to his knees.
"Why...why do I have to go through this!?" he yelled into the emptiness. Hoping someone could hear him and give him an answer.
*
Zero got the signal on his arm...he knew that the others had been destroyed...even Signas.
Yes, Signas. Setting up that replica drone in HQ three months earlier was a genius way of getting satisfaction from killing signas, in a way...and at the same time getting a powerful addition to his squad. Of course he couldn't be part of his squad as Signas, so Zero gave him a cloaking device to blend in better with the crew. Though at first many didn't know why wire sponge was on the crew...Zero did all the talking.
"I picked who I did for a reason, if Wire Sponge is on the crew then he'll be an excellent asset, those who wish to disagree can always take it to me...outside."
Yes...Zero had set it up perfectly...but now his plan was falling apart...and he had the rage of an S class hunter on his tail...
But he wasn't an S class hunter himself for nothing...
*
X stood slowly, picking up the Z saber and began running again, towards the sunset...
X ran swiftly across the rubble, the setting sun getting into his eyes he did not care, he simply ran forward.
"I hoped this day would never come." he thought to himself.
Still recovering from the initial shock X had become more and more familiar with the fact that Zero was indeed an agent of Sigma's...his best agent. And that this was the last mission X would ever face. There were no more mavericks, all the crazy scientists of the days of old were dead and the few remaining mavericks posed no threat. This was his last mission, then he could go back to sleep...forever.
In the distance he saw a shadow...he knew it was him and he quickly pushed off of his right foot into a long dash towards where the shadow came from. He flipped forward in mid-air and landed on one knee in front of him. Slowly he stood and lifted his head..staring straight into Zero's soul.
*
Zero saw him coming...he knew he couldn't run from this battle anymore. Although he hated to admit it, Zero never wanted to have to fight with X to begin with, but it was his mission...and the only thing that he cared about more than X and the other Hunters was his mission. As X got up and gave him that cold, endless stare...Zero simply sighed.
"I never wanted to have to do this X..." He said softly.
X looked away for a moment..."I didn't want to believe them...I couldn't..." his compassion turned to anger.
"I can't believe you could do this to the guild Zero!"
Zero's hair flowed gently behind him, the cool evening breeze bringing some calm to the incredibly tense scene...Zero's eyes grew soft as he slowly unsheathed his Z saber...
"We both know what we have to do now..." Zero's hands began to shake slightly.
X simply watched his old friend, for the first time, draw his weapon against him in anger. The rush of emotions could not be explained and all he could do was unsheath Zero's old saber that he took up when he thought he was dead decades and decades before.
"Yeah..." his voice shaking somewhat... "I guess we do."
Zero backflipped and landed on one knee, pushing off of his left foot he charged towards X bringing up his saber...X took a leap forward and brought up his as the two greatest hunters in the history of the world began the fight that everyone always thought unthinkable.
X brought the saber horizontally across towards Zero's chest.
Zero quickly brought his saber down and blocked it, pushing off of it into a sideroll he launched himself into the air and fired three large plasma blasts towards X. Dashing backwards the three blasts created huge craters in front of him. He stopped and saw Zero coming down, Saber first...
"Quick X...do something!" He thought to himself...
X rolled forward and slid down into the crater, pushing up into a large jump he turned and targeted zero with a fully charged X buster...
"Goodbye!" X screamed as he fired it at Zero.
*
Zero saw X leap into the air and turned to see a huge ball of energy coming towards him
"Oh...crap!" He thought to himself as he pushed forward into a leap and then into a frontroll as the explosion behind him sent him flying forward, he flipped forward in the air and landed on one knee looking up to see that X was directly above him he threw his saber into the air like a boomerang and targeted X with his Z-buster.
*
X saw a red blur dodge his attack and then the red figure dissappeared under him.
"Where is he?!" he thought as he looked around...suddenly it occured to him...
"Underneath!" as he flipped foward in the air the Z saber came whistling within an inch of his face, he looked down and saw the Z buster attack coming at an unbelievable speed, so he held out his X buster and charged up his own attack blasting it into Zero's Z buster attack. The two masses of energy collided and a violent explosion ensued, X backflipped and landed on one knee about 25 feet away from Zero.
*
Zero saw X dodge the saber....which was predictable...
"Nice..but can you dodge this?" he thought to himself as he loosed his Z buster attack...he saw X look down in panic and then hold out his X buster.
"He couldn't charge it fast en..." he said to himself before he was forced to eat his words as the two blasts collided and nulled in mid air.
Slowly he looked up to X...this fight wasn't going to be easy...
It had barely begun...
As soon as X hit the ground Zero was running towards him again.
"Give me a second to breathe will you?" X thought to himself as he pushed off of his left foot and turned slightly targeting Zero with his x buster he fired multiple, low energy blasts at him trying to distract his attention as he followed up with a slash towards Zero's head. Quickly zero fired a volley to null all the plasma coming towards him and brought up his Z saber to block the slash and then stuck out his foot kicking X in the stomach as X doubled over Zero quickly brought his knee up into X's face as X backflipped and landed roughly on his stomach.
"Get up...get up...GET UP!" X slammed his fist into the ground as spikes of earth shot towards Zero...buying him time to get up and backflip to land on one knee. Reaching down to his right boot X quickly unsheathed a small saber dagger.
"Well X...that's one thing you never told me about..." Zero said quietly.
"I suppose its a good thing I didn't..." X growled...the emotional pain still reeling deep inside of him.
X charged and quickly slashed with the Z saber held in his left hand as Zero backed up X charged forward shooting the dagger towards Zero's head...this caught Zero off guard as he fell back and landed roughly on his backside, kicking up his foot knocking the Z saber from X's hand and sending it flying 30 feet to X's right side.
"darn!" X thought as he looked in the direction of his now lost sword as zero backrolled and stood, now going on an offensive of his own. He lunged towards X's stomach, X quickly brought down the dagger but it didn't have as much power as the Z saber did....it couldn't hold off the attack for long, so he pushed off of it into a flip to the right...and landed about 10 feet closer to the sword.
"Run...Run!! Come on X you have to get that saber back!" He ordered himself.
The saber's hilt grew closer and closer...10 feet away, 5 feet away...then suddenly a red flash in front of him and he went reeling backwards.
*
Zero saw X running towards the saber and knew that he couldn't let him have it back.
"He could never beat me in a race..." he thought to himself as he smirked...this battle being more like the days back at hunter training academy.
Quickly he bolted in the same direction and came in front of X, before X could do anything Zero jumped up and spun, bringing his foot hard across X's face as X went spinning.
Zero quickly picked up the other Z saber...kind of feeling at peace with it back in his hands as he revealed the blade.
*
X rolled a few times before standing up and saw that Zero now had both Z sabers.
"Think...both his hands are being tied up with sabers, so the only long distance possibility is if he threw one of the sabers..."
X thought for a split instant...
"He'll throw the old Z saber at me...and then follow up with a slash as soon as I indicate which direction I'm going....I'm sure he's got it charged up already...and from this distance I couldn't null it fast enough."
It was too late...Zero was getting the old Z saber ready for its throw...grabbing the hilt like a spear he launched it towards X as the tip went rotating, ready to drill into X's head.
"Come on X....IMPROVISE!" X knew what to do...
Zero knew exactly what to do as he looked at X slowly getting up. Smiling gently he took the hilt of the old Z-saber like a spear and threw it at X as hard as he could. Then leapt up behind it ready to follow up with a slash in either direction. The blade in front of him spun around violently as he came closer to X....the time was coming...NOW
*
X ducked straight down as the blade soared overhead and quickly reached up and grabbed the hilt as it passed over him, then with all his might he brought the blade down onto the oncoming assault from Zero as the two blades clashed and gave off so much energy a thunderclap was heard. So great was the energy that the two warriors were thrown back by their own attacks. Both Zero and X rolled backwards a few times before slowly getting up onto one knee.
"Give it up!" Zero said...still trying to sound threatening
X looked up and smiled.
"Still trying to scare me Zero? You may have gotten the inside information about all of the hunters top secret operations...but to me you're no scarier than a kitten."
Zero growled as he stood up...his armor beginning to glow.
"You know, it was fun working with you X...but I must leave those childish things behind now..."
"You can't just leave them behind Zero! Are you trying to tell me that over 200 years of teamwork means nothing to you!? Just because your a robot doesn't mean you don't have feelings!" X's voice cried out, breaking here and there from the emotional strain.
*
Zero looked away...then turned back to X with a grim face.
"Feelings are for the weak! Feelings got Iris killed! You had too much feeling for the humans! That was your downfall X...and now you'll pay with your life!"
Zero was breathing heavily now...He wasn't going to let X get to him...everything he did was for a good cause...a good cause...right?
"Of course what I did was for a good cause..." he convinced himself...
"Of course it was..."
Zero was getting angrier now....angry that X was so sure of his role in the world...angry that X had a stronger cause to fight for.
But even though he had the stronger cause....Zero would defeat him. To prove his superiority...
"That's right X!!!" he screamed in rage...
"I WILL DEFEAT YOU!
X stood helpless as he watched Zero explode in a fiery rage.
So consumed was Zero in his rage that he tossed his Z saber aside and charged straight up to X...Punching him across the face, sending X to the floor. As X rebounded off the hard rock floor Zero brought his foot hard into X's side, sending him flying across the rocks and dust...rolling violently a few times he tried to get onto one knee, but Zero was following him faster than he could react, and quickly Zero brought his boot up to X's chin sending him flying once again into a wall of rock.
*
"Always there to save the day..." he growled under his breath as he brought his foot into X's side and sent him flying...he took chase after his flailing body...
"Everyone always looking up to him for guidance...never to me..." he saw X get up onto one knee...
"...I was just his f***ing sidekick!" he screamed in his head as he brought his foot into X's chin, hard and X went soaring into the wall of rock behind him.
Zero leaped up and pulled back his fist, it lighting up with plasma energy as he drove it towards X as fast as he could...
*
X went flying into the wall of rock, his body reeling in pain as he saw a light glow coming towards him, he knew what it was and knew he had to get out of the way, fast.
With all his strength he threw his body forward as the punch just passed millimeters above his head as he dropped towards the ground at amazing speed he heard the punch above tear through rock like tissue paper as the whole wall came crashing down. He rolled a few times as he landed on the ground and turned to look up at zero...a dark figure resembling those he had seen in his dreams so often.
*
Zero thought that he had finally gotten X with the last attack...but as the dust cleared he noticed that X wasn't dead at all...in fact he was on the floor. Zero turned and looked down at X...his fury returning as he went plummeting downward with his foot extended towards X's stomach...
*
Finally the dark figure made a move towards him going for a kick to the stomach, X moved as quickly as he could but the kick still hit his right arm as he spun clumsily in the air, landing roughly on the rocky ground below.
"Da..darn...I can't let him win...I...just can't." The words flew around in his head as he was suddenly lifted from the ground...
*
Zero lifted X up by the helmet and smiled in his face.
"I told you...I would defeat you..." he started to chuckle. The chuckles turned to laughter...an empty laughter. Laughter that said "I did what I wanted...and yet I feel so alone..."
X looked up to Zero.
"My old friend, when did you become so possessed...so obsessed with surpassing me?" X's great strength was more of a curse in his eyes because everyone grew so jealous of him that he ended up hurting people he used to care for.
Zero growled and threw X with all his might...sending X tumbling over the rocks. Sharp, jagged edges tore up parts of his armor and left big scratches all over him as he stopped tumbling about 50 feet away from Zero...lying on his back breathing deeply. Walking towards X slowly Zero spoke again...
"I was always in your shadow X...no one ever wanted to listen to me. It was always the magnificent X...the legendary X...and what he wanted to say."
He grew closer and closer by the moment.
X lay on his back...listening to these confessions...these professions of hatred held back for more than 200 years.
"I was always in your shadow X...no one ever wanted to listen to me. It was always the magnificent X...the legendary X...and what he wanted to say." he said spitefully...
"No...no Zero..It was never like that at all!" X said desperately.
"SHUT UP!" Zero demanded as he kicked a rock towards X...it hitting him on the side of the head.
Then suddenly, X understood.
"I get it, you're making up these stories to justify what you're doing aren't you?... That's what you're doing!"
Zero stopped suddenly.
"Yeah! You couldn't live with yourself if you couldn't think of good reasons why you were doing this...so you're making them up! This is all a load of crap! A load of crap just so you can finish this mission!"
As X was spouting these accusations he remembered his backup...and his anger grew.
"Well I'm going to show you that what you did could not be justified by anything from the past...and unfortunately, my old friend, I'm going to have to show you the hard way!"
X closed his eyes as his backup recharged his systems and his wounds closed up. His central unit was running at 150% as his eyes stared down the enemy in front of him. Yes...he was an enemy now.
X's fist shook with rage...memories of the destroyed Hunter HQ...memories of the flames. The debris..all those lives taken by Zero and his ruthless troop.
"I will never forgive you for what you did Zero! I will avenge the deaths of my comrades!"
X held out his buster cannon as he charged it up past Maximum to the "Special" setting installed by a capsule he found about 3 decades earlier.
"Whether you like it or not!"
X let go of the blast...and all hell broke loose.
Zero was suddenly confronted with a humongous purple fireball with swirls of energy surrounding it.
"darn..darn...darn! I haven't seen him take it this far before!"
The energy grew closer and closer...and zero knew there was only one thing to do...
*
The gigantic purple flash surprised X...he had never used it before and didn't know what to expect. He wasn't dissappointed with the outcome and expected that Zero be at least critically injured after this blow...if not destroyed.
But is destruction what X really wanted?
"Must I say goodbye? Isn't there something I could do for him?" these thoughs came to him too late he thought. And suddenly the ground shook tremendously as energy shot up all around engulfing the purple fireball and destroying it in mid-flight. The explosion knocking X back but Zero remained intact since he had brought up a temporary shield during his ultimate attack, Rakouhoha. X slid for a while before pushing up and flipping forward to land on his feet, he turned quickly to see Zero charging towards him. X quickly brought up his right hand to catch the oncoming left punch and threw out his right foot, kicking Zero in the chest and then letting go of Zero's hand so he could jump and spin kick his head with his left foot, sending him soaring into the jagged rocks. Zero stopped himself by flipping forward and pushing off of the jagged rocks back towards X with incredible speed and slammed into him head first, X stumbled back as Zero landed and sweep-kicked at him, X falling backwards, then pushing off of his hands into a backflip as he loosed two powerful blasts towards Zero. Zero leapt back twice quickly the explosions breaking the ground beneath him. Stepping lightly on his feet he backflipped as X landed in front of him and stepped into his own trap, the loose ground beneath him breaking and causing him to fall down. Zero walked over to the helpless X in the crater and looked down on him, chuckling.
"You're such a fool...stepping into your own trap." Zero said with a smile.
X looked down and noticed a small crack in the ground under Zero's feet.
"And you're a fool as well..for stepping into mine." X shot out his foot and kicked the ground underneath zero violently causing the rocks to cave in and Zero to fall into a crater of his own.
X took advantage of this and got out of the crater quickly...but Zero was out at the same time as they both glared at each other from across the gap.
As Zero fell down he couldn't believe it.
"Crap! I need to get out of here fast!" he yelled in his head as he quickly scrambled to get out of the crater, seeing that X had just gotten out himself.
He turned and faced X...this battle taking far too long. Something needed to be done...and fast. Suddenly he turned and saw his Z saber on the ground...
"That's it!" he thought to himself...
The final attack was drawing near...in mere moments the battle would be over and the victor decided...
*
As X glared at Zero he noticed out of the corner of his eye the old Z saber...
"There it is!" he thought to himself as he conspired a plan to get to it...
*
The two warriors faced each other in a final standoff. Each remaining still...no sounds but the whistling of the winds around them. They stood still for a good five minutes...all sounds around them being drowned out...nothing in the universe existing but each other...then it happened.
Quickly both X and Zero raced for the Z-sabers...X's was on his left while Zero's was on his right, they each raced in opposite directions, picked up their swords and bolted towards each other...
*
"He's got one too!" Zero exclaimed as he made his final attack run...
"No matter...he's as good as mine now!" he convinced himself as he charged towards X and...
*
"Oh no! He got his back!" X thought to himself as he charged towards Zero for the final time...
"No matter! I will take him out for good now!" he yelled to himself as he charged towards zero and...
*
They stood silently now...their sabers held out still...both warriors standing very still as the wind blew silently around them...for now there was indeed a victor...and a loser.
The two warriors stood silently for a moment...the winds around them whistling silently.
Suddenly, one of them collapsed.
*
X knew what he felt, and he knew that it would only be a matter of moments before it happened...
*
Zero knew what had happened and he knew it wouldn't take long before it happened... he stood for a moment more before collapsing to the floor.
*
X turned slowly and dropped his Z saber, running towards Zero he picked him up in his arms.
"Zero...its not that bad is it?" X said with a shaking voice...he had hoped maybe he had just injured him, they could figure things out...Sigma wasn't around..why couldn't they just be friends again?
*
Zero winced slightly as X picked him up.
"Zero...its not that bad is it?" X said...
"Oh no...its just a little scratch..." Zero said with a smile, but he knew better. He had torn through his middle almost all the way through. The central unit was damaged beyond repair, considering all the greatest minds who could repair him were dead now.
*
X saw Zero's wound and knew he didn't have that long...he began to speak...his voice now visibly shaking with emotion.
"So...Zero...why...can you just tell me...w..."
Zero looked at him gently and smiled.
"Ever since I first met you...I knew what incredible power you could possess...power beyond my wildest imagination... Such power made me jealous of you. Jealous enough to give me the strength to do such a horrible act. And now I see...if I had just fought for what I believed in all along...I could have gotten strength from my cause."
X closed his eyes as his whole body began to shudder...
"Zero...you can't just leave me alone...I'm the only one left..."
Zero's eyes became very serious as he took X's shoulder and gripped it.
"X...you have to do it alone...There is no other choice! You know what you have to do...we had always planned on it...its just I won't be there to help you when the time comes."
X made a fist...he knew what was to come would be the hardest thing he'd ever have to do...and now he'd have to do it alone.
"Zero..." X said...tears now forming in his eyes.
"What is it?" Zero said...his smile hiding a wave of tears just ready to flow freely.
"I would have followed you to the ends of the universe...traitor or not..." as he gently took zero's hand and grasped it tightly.
"You are my friend...and..." his voice now barely forming the words...
"You always will be..." Zero's image was now a blur through his tears as he stood up and turned.
"X! Wait..." Zero cried, the last of his energy being used up...
X turned and looked upon his old friend one last time
"No need to say anything Zero...rest now...my dearest friend."
Zero blinked...two tears rolling down his cheeks as he lied back down and gently slipped into the abyss.
X turned and walked a few steps before falling to his knees...and screaming into the darkness.
*
PROLOGUE:
X knew what he had to do. After Zero's death X made his way back to the capsule he was found in and set up the procedure for a permanent shut down program. He put in the 4 digit code... 734...0. And gently stepped into the capsule. After a final voice command the seal slid shut...and X closed his eyes...hearing Zero's voice calling him from the abyss. He smiled...as the two comrades met up once again. In the land of whispers and shadow.
ALTERNATE ENDING: ZERO
The two warriors stood silently for a moment...the winds around them whistling silently. Suddenly, one of them collapsed.
*
Zero turned around and sighed, dropping his Z sabre he looked upon X, who was now on one knee, badly damaged, as he fell to the floor.
*
X looked down at the gaping wound in his chest, he gasped a few times and put his hand over it, waiting for the sub tank to provide some sort of relief, but none came. This wound would be the death of him...he had no doubt now.
*
Zero walked towards X slowly, his eyes growing softer with every step seeing his broken friend lying defeated on the ground, covered with jagged rocks. He stopped in front of X's wounded body and knelt beside him offering his hand as he held X's hand gently.
"I'm sorry X...I really am...but you have to understand that it was my duty...my mission..." Zero's voice was cracking and shaky.
X looked away, still too mad to even speak with Zero.
"Even in death you refuse to forgive me?! Surely you are a fool! I have defeated you and now you can take that to your grave, we were friends for over 200 years and you haven't the guts to at least say 'I forgive you'!?"
X turned angrily and shouted in rage.
"YOU NEVER WERE MY FRIEND!"
Zero let go of X's hand quickly, shocked and angered by the outburst.
"You only say that now because your pride has been hurt...you were fooled and do not wish to admit it!"
X's eyes began to water.
"Zero...how could you...? Mission or not...what we had was a comradeship I thought would never be broken..."
Zero turned away.
"It was never established to begin with...we were never comrades X, simply acquaintances... it was never anything more than that...and convincing yourself otherwise would be foolish."
X turned his head away, finally giving in completely to the sorrow as the water flowed from his eyes freely.
"And now my friend, I shall put you out of your misery before you lose that last shred of honor you have left in that broken body..."
Zero aimed his buster at X's head, his arm shaking violently, his eyes misty and blurred.
"Goodbye..." Zero said quietly as he blasted X's head and instantly disintegrated it.
Zero turned away and walked towards his sabre, as he bent over to pick it up he fell onto his knees and screamed into the night...his agony stretching out to the ends of the universe, he was truly the loneliest being alive.
*
PROLOGUE: Zero took the remaining reploids and launched a final, vicious assault against the human race. With no X or hunters guild to stop them they slaughtered millions before finally an elite human team of hunters finally brought down Zero's corps, known as
"The Redeemed".
Zero died tortured and alone, still not regretting the murder of his "acquaintance" years before.
"I hoped this day would never come." he thought to himself.
Still recovering from the initial shock X had become more and more familiar with the fact that Zero was indeed an agent of Sigma's...his best agent. And that this was the last mission X would ever face. There were no more mavericks, all the crazy scientists of the days of old were dead and the few remaining mavericks posed no threat. This was his last mission, then he could go back to sleep...forever.
In the distance he saw a shadow...he knew it was him and he quickly pushed off of his right foot into a long dash towards where the shadow came from. He flipped forward in mid-air and landed on one knee in front of him. Slowly he stood and lifted his head..staring straight into Zero's soul.
*
Zero saw him coming...he knew he couldn't run from this battle anymore. Although he hated to admit it, Zero never wanted to have to fight with X to begin with, but it was his mission...and the only thing that he cared about more than X and the other Hunters was his mission. As X got up and gave him that cold, endless stare...Zero simply sighed.
"I never wanted to have to do this X..." He said softly.
X looked away for a moment..."I didn't want to believe them...I couldn't..." his compassion turned to anger.
"I can't believe you could do this to the guild Zero!"
Zero's hair flowed gently behind him, the cool evening breeze bringing some calm to the incredibly tense scene...Zero's eyes grew soft as he slowly unsheathed his Z saber...
"We both know what we have to do now..." Zero's hands began to shake slightly.
X simply watched his old friend, for the first time, draw his weapon against him in anger. The rush of emotions could not be explained and all he could do was unsheath Zero's old saber that he took up when he thought he was dead decades and decades before.
"Yeah..." his voice shaking somewhat... "I guess we do."
Zero backflipped and landed on one knee, pushing off of his left foot he charged towards X bringing up his saber...X took a leap forward and brought up his as the two greatest hunters in the history of the world began the fight that everyone always thought unthinkable.
*
The suspicions all began about 6 months prior in the year 24XX... the maverick activities had dwindled down to less than a case every two weeks. Everywhere the violence rates and destruction caused by maverick reploids decreased dramatically as the Hunters HQ finally began settling down, and the two star hunters X and Zero began to get more time off.
Other than battle partners for over 2 centuries X and Zero were the closest friends anyone could ever find. They trusted each other with their darkest deepest secrets and would easily give their lives for each other. Their friendship was unshakable until one day...
"Are the others ready?" asked zero quietly into the communicator.
"Yes sir..." a familiar voice said huskily... "We are all ready."
"We must wait until the time is..." and suddenly the door opened.
"Hey zero!" X said happily. He walked into the room quickly.
Zero quickly turned off the communicator and turned to X...although he was a reploid guilt was still written all over his face.
"Oh...hey X!" he tried to sound excited...but it didn't sound too convincing.
X examined Zero's face carefully.
"Is something wrong Zero?" he asked. He seemed very concerned.
"Me?" Zero spoke as if he would be the last person with anything wrong. "Of course not! The mavericks are growing smaller and smaller in number and we've gotten more vacation time in the last two weeks then in the last 2 centuries!"
X seemed convinced this time "That's true...well, I'm heading upstairs to report to Signas then I"m heading home...I'll see you tomorrow?"
Zero smiled and nodded. "Sure thing!"
X smiled and slowly walked out the door. He didn't like that...he didn't like it one bit. He walked up to Signas's office, troubled by Zero's odd behavior.
In the meantime Zero called back...
"Sorry about that...you're all ready?"
"Yes sir as I said all the men are ready on your command."
Zero looked around the headquarters...things were still a little too tight for them.
"No...we must wait for the right time. They must be completely unaware...only then could we demolish the headquarters with such a small army."
The voice on the other end sighed somewhat...in dissappointment.
"As you command sir." and the voice ended.
"Yes..." Zero spoke to himself... "We must wait for the right time..." as he stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes.
There was a gentle knock on the door.
"Yes...come in!" Signas ordered.
X walked in slowly, stopping before Signas's desk and giving him a salute.
"Evening sir..I have come to give the day's report and then head home."
Signas nodded and saluted X back.
"Very well hunter, report."
"Stopped by Area X-19 in section 5...report of a small maverick destroying people's property. That maverick was captured and put in jail. He currently resides in cell 1504. No other cases to report sir."
Signas smiled gently.
"That will be all hunter, dismissed!"
X nodded "Thank you sir." and gave a parting salute as he walked out the door. Turning left he passed the security room where reploids were always keeping watch on the area within a 10 mile radius in case of any attack on the HQ they could know about it at least 30 seconds ahead of time if it was the fastest maverick group on the planet. Much more time would be given for slower, larger attacks. He entered the teleporter and was teleported to the residential district where he had taken up a penthouse in one of the newer structures...courtesy of the Hunters Guild. X went home and did as he always did. Lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. This night was especially restless after Zero's odd behavior.
"What was he doing that he had to act so quickly?" he thought to himself. No...he wouldn't let those thoughts roam freely around his head. But when you can't sleep...its really easy to let those thoughts build up.
*
Zero ran under the cover of darkness to the haven where his men were waiting for him. He had assembled the final 12 mavericks willing to make one last move against the hunters guild. As he jumped down into the hideout and landed on one knee the 12 looked up ready to attack. As soon as they noticed who it was they all backed down.
"We were wondering when you would get here." Gravity Beetle said harshly.
"Yeah, we've been roasting down here for days now!" Flame Mammoth complained.
"It certainly doesn't make it any easier with Mammoth's huge butt in this small place." Commander Yammark commented smartly.
At that Mammoth growled and shot a little stream of flame, but Yammark simply smiled.
"That's enough from the both of you!" he barked viciously.
Zero looked around at the rest of them...there was Storm Eagle and Overdrive Ostrich, Wire Sponge, Metal Shark Player, Squid Adler, The Skiver, Cyber Peacock, Web Spider and Crush Crawfish. The final team to make the final assault on the hunters HQ.
"So?" Skiver asked curiously "When do we get to attack?"
Zero looked at skiver "90 more days...then we strike."
They all looked at each other and then back to zero.
"90 days?!" Cyber Peacock said violently. "We'll die down here in 90 days!"
Zero looked to Cyber Peacock "If I chose you to be on this team then you can survive 120 days in a 6 by 6 foot cell with 20 other people in it...understand?!!"
Cyber Peacock backed down..."Aye sir."
Zero looked around at the rest of them. "We must keep it extremely low profile! We can't let the hunters get any idea that you're even around anymore! Thanks to a little slip up today...no thanks to gravity beetle..." as he shifted his gaze over to the beetle cruelly the rest followed suit.
"Now X is getting suspicious...I repeat...do NOT call me while I'm at the Guild HQ....unless you want my cover blown...which is the last thing any living being wants."
Zero pulled his evil glare off of Gravity Beetle as he jumped back out of the haven.
"I shall return in 90 days time...and don't get too rusty!"
He ran back towards the HQ silently...confident in his plan to destroy the hunters guild once and for all...something that his rival Sigma could never do.
The alarm went off...the unbearable noise searing through the air...then X turned off his clock.
He stood and stretched even though he hadn't slept at all that night. Walking over to his transporter he yawned as he was sent back to the Hunters HQ. Many unsettling thoughts rested in his head over the course of the night...all of them having to do with Zero's odd behavior.
"Maybe I'm just paranoid..." he said to himself as he walked towards his office.
"I'm sure that's what it is..." he told himself with a smile as he opened the door...and there he was.
*
Zero saw X walk into the office and turned, standing up he smiled warmly.
"Morning X!" he said.
X smiled and felt extremely relieved.
"Look, I'm sorry about acting weird yesterday...I haven't been getting much sleep lately." he said, pleading for forgiveness with his eyes.
X closed his eyes "Thank god." he thought to himself and held out his hand to shake Zero's again as their hands locked he opened his eyes, Zero's friendly gaze reaffirming his confidence in him. X felt so stupid doubting him and felt that he had to do something to make it up to him.
"Look, Zero...I'm sorry that I've been acting weird too...its just.."
Zero chuckled "I know...you're just edgy cause we haven't been saving the world twice a month anymore."
X laughed. "Yeah..I guess that's it."
Zero looked at his forearm...
"Hey lookie here...reports of a rampaging maverick....sound fun?"
X's face turned serious as he took out Zero's old saber.
"Let's go."
And so Zero kept up the escapade for another 3 months, while his team grew stronger and stronger to levels far beyond that when X fought them the first time. And the fated day arrived.
*
Up in the security room the reploid surveillance team watched the screens carefully as Zero walked in calmly.
"Morning fellas...how's it coming?"
The team turned and were surprised to see Zero had paid them a visit. The team leader stood up.
"Its going fine sir...doesn't look like we'll be having problems any time soon."
Zero smiled..."I wouldn't count on that..." he mumbled softly as suddenly in a blur he sped through the room slicing the team to bits. At that exact moment, 12 tall figures appeared on the surveillance cameras. With no team watching though, the 12 simply walked into the perimeter unscathed. Zero had prepared the path of least resistance all the way to the HQ doors. This is when Signas finally saw the assault coming.
Quickly he got on the speaker
"ATTENTION...ATTENTION...THIS IS A CODE 5 ALERT...MAVERICKS ARE ATTACKING THE BASE...I REPEAT...THIS IS A CO..."
Signas's alarm was cut short by Zero's saber, which sliced straight down the middle of Signas's body.
"I'm sorry Signas...its nothing personal...really." Zero slowly turned and walked out the door, one last look over his shoulder as the door slid closed.
X got up....for the first time in a long while he forgot to set his alarm...and it would be his luck it would be the same night he actually got some sleep!
He was a half hour late...Signas would have his core unit if he didn't move. He ran into the transporter...but then something happened that struck fear straight into his body. The transporter wouldn't respond on the other end.
"No...that's not possible." he thought to himself.
He went over the possibilities... the transporter is automatically run...no officers are needed to operate it so that's out...the only reasonable explanation was that something terrible was happening at HQ. Quickly X relied on his trump card, an instant teleportation device installed in his right arm. After inputting the coordinates he appeared in front of what seemed like a scene straight from his worst nightmares...
The HQ was ablaze...fires streaming all around the building...dead hunters everywhere. Not one living hunter remained...then X's thoughts shifted to Zero.
"Oh no! Zero!"
X frantically searched around the premises for Zero's body...but could not find it anywhere...rage filling up inside him he dropped to his knees and let out a blood curdling scream that filled the air around him.
*
Zero turned back to the HQ...only losing Crush Crawfish and Squid Adler in the assault he thought that the mission had gone unbelievably well.
"We sure caught them off guard didn't we?" Yammark said with a snicker.
"The fools didn't even see it coming..." Metal Shark Player said with a menacing smile.
Zero simply stared back towards the HQ...
"X...don't follow me...please." he thought to himself as he turned back to the 10 remaining Mavericks.
"Tonight we rest easy...we'll head back to my residential compound."
The 10 agreed with a cheer as they walked off into the horizon, leaving their fiery mark behind.
*
After X gathered the strength to stand back up he tried to imagine who could have done it...his brain scanned electronically every maverick he'd ever faced. Nothing stood out...he couldn't put his finger on it and this infuriated him. He grasped his head violently shaking it back and forth
"darn! Think X! THINK!"
So lost in this was he that he crashed his head unit into a jagged piece of concrete...and a piece of data from seemingly nowhere formed in his head...a broken message read on his transmitter:
"ATT..TI..: NEW UN.. ZER. SIG.A'S SEC..T OPERATION. PRO..CT TRUST. YE.R: 21XX... EN. TRAN.MI..I.N"
X's eyes widen...he couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it.
He was his battle partner...his best friend. He couldn't be an agent for Sigma..there's no possible way...
X staggered back and forth...both from the physical blow to the head and the emotional blow from discovering the greatest act of betrayal in the history of the world.
"How could he...?" he asked himself...
"How did he pull it off...for so long?"
X became angry...angry at himself, angry at Zero...angry at everything.
With a scream he brought up his x buster and charged it up...loosing a gigantic blast into the remains of the Hunter HQ...desecrating the remaining ruins as pieces of flying, burninng debris rained down around him he turned towards the horizon...and remembered something Zero once said.
"Its beautiful isn't it? The sunset? As long as you walk towards the setting sun, I think you're always going the right way..."
X closed his eyes and took the first step on the one mission he thought he'd never take.
The seek and destroy mission of Zero.
The 10 mavericks walked into his compound, Zero trailing in last as he closed the door.
"Wow Zero...quite a place you have here...Sigma buy it for you? Gravity Beetle chuckled.
The compound was large. Over 15 bedrooms, large living room area..transporters and information units all over the place. Pictures on the walls...pictures of Double, Alia, Signas, Iris and X were everywhere. Zero tried not to look at X's pictures, they all seemed to be glaring back at him...
"So we can just take a bedroom right?" Mammoth asked.
"You can have two for yourself you fat slob." Commander Yammark inserted rudely.
Flame Mammoth turned and threw out his fist, hitting Yammark square in the face...the punch sent him reeling backwards as he flipped backwards and floated in mid air...
"You insolent fool!" he targeted Mammoth with his gun and was about to pull the trigger when suddenly a red blur appeared before him and shoved his gun-arm upwards and back, hearing it making a cracking sound as Zero spoke harshly into his ear.
"We don't have time for smart comments or fighting with each other, I'm not going to warn you again Yammark..." he pushed the arm back a little further before letting it go back to where it was. Yammark winced slightly, his arm pulsating with pain.
Zero then turned to Flame Mammoth
"I won't have any more attacks on comrades...understand? Throw that fist towards any of them again and I'll cut it off before slowly taking you apart piece by piece."
One thing Zero knew that they needed was teamwork and he wouldn't have them fighting amongst each other like children.
"Although...not like anyone was really going to be around to stop us..." he thought to himself and just then the alarm went off. The main screen showed X running towards the compound.
"That hunter is crazy!" Gravity Beetle yelled.
"We'll tear him apart!!!" The skiver shouted.
Zero simply stared at the screen.
Finally he turned to the rest of them.
"Listen...I want you all to go out first. I'll remain in the house. If he defeats all of you he won't have nearly enough energy to defeat me afterwards."
The other mavericks looked at each other, then back to Zero.
"You sure you could actually kill X Zero?" Overdrive asked.
Zero's face turned dead serious.
"Unlike the rest of you I am positive of what I am capable of...now get out there and stop him!"
The 10 nodded and ran out the door.
Zero turned back to the screen...then headed towards the back exit.
In his head as he walked out the door was one last thought:
"X...please don't follow me...please."
X saw them coming out of the compound. He wasn't willing to play games with them. He wanted to know what the hell Zero was up to. Metal Shark Player came up first.
"Well well Well...hello X." Metal said menacingly.
"What have you done to Zero? Why is he like this?!"
Metal Shark Player turned back to the others and laughed.
"Hey guys!" he yelled mockingly "What did we do to Zero?"
The laughter continued...X was filling up with fury and before metal could turn around X spun, unsheathing the old Z saber and slicing him in half. Making a quick move with his arm he then sliced the falling top half into 4 pieces and took a few steps forward as Metal's body exploded behind him.
"I'm not playing around you clowns...what have you done with him?!"
X was now an embodiment of rage...anger...he wanted someone to blame for Zero's betrayal...and these 10...or rather 9...unlucky souls were his first victims.
"You filthy hunter! I'll eat you for dinner!" Mammoth yelled as he charged towards X stopping short he shot out his trunk loosing a massive blast of fire towards X. X's cold dead eyes stared onward as the fire charged towards him he raised his X buster...remembering Chill Penguin's battle data he called forth his Ice attack and charged it up...forming a wall of ice in front of him. The rolling ball of fire slammed into the wall of ice, giving X enough time to roll to the side and jump towards Flame Mammoth, turning around in mid air he drove the Z saber through Mammoth's middle and pulled it upwards with all his strength...slicing the mammoth in two, he backflipped as the explosion sent the remaining 8 to the floor.
"This guy is crazy!" Yammark exclaimed fearfully.
X turned...emotionless...back to the 8 remaining mavericks.
"I ask you again...what did you do to zero? Why has he done this?!"
Gravity Beetle stepped up
"Fool! Just accept it! Zero has always been one of us! He was the ultimate weapon...the trump card!"
"No...no no no! Zero wouldn't do that! He was my..."X's anger increased..he was becoming more and more like a man possessed, ready to tear apart everyone and anyone who stood in his way.
"Friend? That's why they called it Project Trust you fool!" Gravity Beetle yelled out.
"And it was a complete success!" he laughed as he suddenly glowed gently...preparing for his Shining Charger attack.
X stood silently watching Beetle, anticipating his moves.
Beetle took off with blinding speed...straight towards X.
"Oh great...the shining charger." he thought.
X rolled to the side and pushed up into the air, turning he sheathed the Z saber and targeted Beetle with his X buster powering it up to the max he blasted it at Beetle, the energy so massive the air around it ignited into a large fireball and struck beetle head on.
Laughter was heard through the dust as X landed on one knee.
"Fool...!" Beetle charged again and this time X was grazed on the left arm as he jumped out of the way of the charge. He spun in the air slightly and put down his right hand, pushing off of it into a flip he landed a few feet away from Beetle.
X's left arm teemed with electricity from the attack and he winced.
"He's a lot stronger than before...should I use the backup?" he thought to himself...
"No...I'll need it for later."
He stood slowly and saw that Beetle was ready for another charge...but he knew exactly what to do.
"Prepare to die hunter!!" Beetle pushed off of his right leg towards X at blinding speed.
"That's right you overconfident Beetle...fall into my trap..."
As Beetle came charging forwards X flipped forward over Beetle's head and in the instant that Beetle wasn't invulnerable he unsheathed his Z saber...
"Goodbye Gravity Beetle..." and brought it across Beetle's neck, separating his head from the rest of his body, and then flipped forward, landing on one knee he closed his eyes and sheathed his blade as he heard the sound of Beetle's maverick body exploding.
X stood and turned silently towards the 7 remaining enemies...all of them looking a bit concerned. Gravity Beetle was, after all, the strongest among them...besides Zero. And here this hunter had taken him out with little more than a scratch. Surely he was to be stopped here and now, before he could reach Zero.
Storm Eagle flew forward and floated above megaman, flapping his wings violently. It was his Storm Tornado.
"Please..." X said mockingly. "Save your energy...your pathetic Tornado attack has no affect on me now...my leg advancements make 200 mph winds seem like a gentle spring breeze!"
While Storm fought to push X back he simply stood there calmly while boulders and rocks around him went flying backwards. Storm stopped and flipped backwards in mid air, landing next to Commander Yammark.
"If we work together I'm sure we can take him out...get those helpers of yours to keep putting on the heat!"
Yammark nodded as he took to the sky and flew to the other side...now Storm was in front of X, and yammark in back.
Yammark closed his eyes...focusing his energy he began to call his drones one by one.
X turned back to see Yammark calling his drones.
"darn..." he thought...and at that moment he suddenly heard a screeching sound above. Quickly he backflipped as Storm Eagle came about an inch away from the ground and turned soaring back up into the sky.
"Pay attention X..." he tells himself. "Don't let these clowns get the best of you."
He looked to Storm, flying around in the air, and Yammark, building up for his laser attack. He tried to set priorities.
"The sky dive is fast and powerful..." he thought to himself as he looked at the ominous circle pattern that Storm Eagle had in the air...
"And the laser attack is long and has great range..." as he noticed Yammark powering up his drones.
Then he got an idea...He charged up his X buster to the maximum and unsheathed his Z saber.
"You think you can defeat the both of us? HA!" Yammark laughed as he looked down at X and continued to power up his attack.
X looked at Yammark, and then at Storm.
"This has to work..." he thought to himself.
"If it doesnt...my untarnished record will be ruined." At this thought...he smiled to himself.
Finally, he took a deep breath...and executed the plan.
"NOW!" X yelled to himself.
He threw the Z saber at Yammark, it spinning effortlessly in the air heading straight for him. Yammark opened his eyes and was startled and quickly flew to the left...
"Gotcha..." X thought as he fired the charged X buster right into the area that Yammark flew into.
Suddenly with a gigantic blast Yammark's body was destroyed and the energy from the explosion caught Storm Eagle off guard as he broke out of his Sky Dive position, pieces of flying, burning debris all around him.
"That blasted hunter! He'll die for..." Just as Storm was about to finish his thought, the Z saber, which was still flying through the air, came slicing through him, cutting him in 2.
It quickly spun a few more times before X deactivated the blade and caught the hilt of it, as soon as he sheathed it Storm Eagle's body went up in a huge explosion and he turned to the 5 Mavericks left.
Overdrive Ostrich and Cyber Peacock looked at each other, then back to Skiver, Web Spider and Wire Sponge.
He smiled slightly.
"So...anyone else care to give me a little more information?"
X's eyes turned to slivers as he stared down the five mavericks, each looking ready to die simply from the way X was staring at them. He had taken out 5 of their comrades in the last 10 minutes...
Cyber Peacock finally spoke up...
"It was all a plan...right from the very beginning. Zero saving you from Vile...fighting Vile later on...everything that happened with Zero was planned to increase your trust with him. Even Iris's death."
X thought back to all those times, memories that weren't really true anymore...that red figure in his dreams wasn't who he thought it was anymore. He was a shadow now, a figure of darkness trapped inside X's head forever.
"He created the environment of a sportsman like competition between the two of you to keep the escapade up without much effort. You'd try and see who could defeat more mavericks in a day...and while he had no problem destroying us you still struggled with your emotions..."
As Peacock was saying these words Skiver and Web Spider walked around to creep up behind X and Overdrive Ostrich stepped up next to Cyber Peacock.
"Yes..." Overdrive said calmly. "And those emotions will be your downfall!"
Skiver and Web Spider grabbed X's arms as Cyber Peacock and Overdrive Ostrich walked towards him solemnly.
X struggled and fought to break free but they had a tight hold on him...
"Come into my parlor...said the spider to the fly..." Web Spider hissed as he squeezes X's arm and wrenched it back.
X yelled in pain...with the two in front of him ready to attack and the two behind him already doing damage things weren't looking too good...
Zero heard another explosion...before he could even think of the possibilites there was another.
"That wasn't X...neither of those were..."
Zero stopped running for a moment and turned back to where the fight was taking place. 5 explosions he's heard so far, and not one of them was X's. If he didn't move faster or if his men didn't fight harder he wouldn't get far at all before X was on his tail again.
Turning back towards the sunset he charged forward, running as fast as he could, running so fast it was almost like he wanted to outrun his pain, his sorrow, and all the problems that he had.
"ARRRRGH!" X grunted painfully as the Skiver pulled back on his arm as well.
Overdrive Ostrich laughed as he stopped a few feet in front of X.
"A good kick to the head from this distance could put you out of commission...but what fun is killing you right away?"
Ostrich jumped and spun kicking X across the face.
"[marathon]..." X said viciously...
"Such manners..." Cyber Peacock said with a patronizing tone... "You should know better than that." He signaled the two behind X to give his arms a good twist again that brought X to his knees.
"You know what?" Cyber Peacock kneeled down in front of X's beaten face... "Zero told us once that he couldn't wait until it was time...he said he couldn't wait to run his saber straight through Signas's head...but the thing that excited him most..."
The peacock's voice became like the messenger. Bringing a message that no one wants to hear.
" The thought of being able to kill you..."
X's thoughts built up, memories returning and anger growing even more as Peacock leaned right up next to his ear:
"Very...Very...slowly." And then he burst into laughter as well as the other mavericks. Long, echoing laughter that filled the air around him with insults and shut-downs. Until suddenly, X started laughing too.
It was an unstable laughter...it was a laughter that you wouldn't want to hear someone laugh. His entire body shook as he looked up to Cyber Peacock...laughing out loud in his face for a good 10 seconds and then suddenly...stopped.
At that moment X closed his eyes and recalled Sting Chameleon's attribute, charged it up and became a transparent multicolored image as he backflipped he fired two rounds of sting chameleons weapon that hit the Skiver and Web Spider in two separate places. Unfortunately he couldn't use any other weapon until the transparency wore off...luckily it only took a second.
"Laugh at me will you? I'll...give you...something to...laugh about!!" X was now finally coming apart at the seams. All the control he had demonstrated during his missions, all the times he let it slide. They were all catching up to him as his body began to shake violently with energy.
With blinding speed he unsheathed the Z saber again and charge the Skiver, running the Z blade through his stomach he brought his X buster up to the Skivers face and fired a full strength blast point blank into his head. Removing the saber he pushed off of his left leg towards web spider, spinning around he cut off the spiders head, then sliced him in half, what the rest saw was a few quick hand movements before the spiders Maverick body split into countless pieces and exploded. Overdrive and Cyber peacock both ran towards X, Overdrive going into an Ostrich kick while Cyber Peacock was targeting him.
"Come on...stick out your huge foot you overgrown penguin!!" he thought to himself as the ostritch went into a flying kick X sidestepped and grabbed his leg, spinning Overdrive around he launched him into Cyber Peacock and fired his X buster Charged to the max and then leaped right behind the buster so as soon as it hit he followed up by slicing the two remaining mavericks to bits before flipping forward and landing on one knee on the ground as a massive explosion above rained down their burning remains...and X just smiled.
"Just one more it looks like..." As he turned to Wire Sponge.
Suddenly, Wire Sponge began to laugh...but somehow this laugh was familiar...He knew who this was...and it wasn't wire sponge...
Wire Sponge turned off the cloaking device...and X couldn't believe his eyes.
"Hello X..." Signas said calmly.
"Si...Sig..Signas?" X didn't know what to do...
"I'm glad you passed the test X...you really are as powerful as they all say you are." Signas smiled.
"The...test?" X was getting dizzy, he couldn't process all that was going on...what the hell was happening!?
"Yes, the test." Signas said quietly as he stepped closer to X.
"Seeing as how the Hunters are basically extinct now...we wanted to perform one last test to see how strong you had gotten from the day you started being a hunter. You have grown exponentially. You have become the strongest hunter that ever was...except..."
X didn't like where this was going, and he took a small step back. The rocks moved slightly beneath his feet, every sound around him becoming incredibly loud as he suddenly discovered what Signas was doing.
"I can't let you get to Zero X, I'm sorry. You may have been able to defeat those other Maverick saps, but I won't go down as easily!"
Signas quickly unsheathed his own saber.
"But...how!? I thought you were dead!" X screamed, his world coming apart.
Signas laughed.
"At first, I must admit, I did not know that Zero was an agent of Sigma's. When I found out, I wanted to have him destroyed. But I was foolish then, and Zero convinced me that if I let him continue with his plan, when we destroyed the hunters for good I could have my own Continent to rule...imagine that....Emperor Signas!! HAHAAHA"
X didn't blame him completely, because not only was he tricked by zero, but the virus was beginning to get to his central unit. Signas was as good as Maverick by now.
"Crap...this isn't going to be a fight like the others is it?" X thought to himself.
Signas started first. Jumping up into the air he flipped forward and brought his saber down hard, and fast, towards X's head. X quickly brought up the old Z saber and blocked the attack...the two warriors holding their ground as the sabers gave off tremendous energy. X pushed off of the saber into a backroll and launched himself into the air loosing a volley of plasma blasts at Signas, about 12 small energy blasts. Signas simply sliced through most of these though some of them left little scratches on his armor. He pushed off his legs into a tremendous jump and gave X a headbutt...the stun caught X off guard but he backflipped and dropped to the floor on one knee before Signas could take advantage of the situation.
From above X could hear signas coming down, he backrolled again and then lunged forward with the blade...Signas sidestepping and lunging himself. X quickly flipped to the right and slid roughly on the rocky ground pushing off of his right foot he charged towards Signas and brought his fist up, punching him hard across the face. The force was so tremendous it sent Signas flying into a nearby boulder.
Suddenly he saw the tip of Signas's blade race around the outside of the boulder as it instantly turned to dust.
Signas rubbed his jaw gently...
"Very good X! I think I actually felt pain...now its your turn!"
X's left arm was still a little nonresponsive from the shining charger earlier on... which gave him a massive disadvantage as Signas attacked from the left side and sliced at X's chest...X backed up as far as he could but it still took a big chunk out of his chestplate armor. X winced...
"Dammit X...get a hold of yourself...this isn't the commander you knew...you can't hold anything back...or else he'll eat you alive!" he thought forcefully to himself as he glared back at signas, holding his Z saber tight. Suddenly he looked to the Z saber and got a wonderful idea. Quickly he deactivated the blade and made a quick movement behind his back,
then X smiled and stood calmly.
"Signas...one last thing before I die."
Signas smiled.
"I've always been a man of honor..." Signas said assuringly.
X walked up to signas and handed him the old Z saber...
"Would you keep this...? For me? And if you see Zero again...give it back to him."
X took a few steps back and knelt down...awaiting death.
"I most certainly will X...in fact, I'll use it to kill you...that way it'll mean so much more to Zero..."
Signas smiled as he walked over to X slowly...
Signas brought the saber above his head and pushed the button to activate the saber. But instead of a blade coming out...a huge explosion occured and heavily damaged Signas, sending him flying into a nearby wall of rock.
"Checkmate..." X said quietly as he got up and unsheathed the real Z saber...
"He...never told me...about that." Signas said slowly.
"Of course he didn't...its my design..." X smiled as he pointed the tip of the Z saber at Signas's head.
"No...X...you couldn't...not to your...commander!" Signas gasped out desperately.
X gave him a menacing look.
"You're not my commander!" And drove the saber through Signas' head.
X turned and threw the Z saber to the ground as he fell to his knees.
"Why...why do I have to go through this!?" he yelled into the emptiness. Hoping someone could hear him and give him an answer.
*
Zero got the signal on his arm...he knew that the others had been destroyed...even Signas.
Yes, Signas. Setting up that replica drone in HQ three months earlier was a genius way of getting satisfaction from killing signas, in a way...and at the same time getting a powerful addition to his squad. Of course he couldn't be part of his squad as Signas, so Zero gave him a cloaking device to blend in better with the crew. Though at first many didn't know why wire sponge was on the crew...Zero did all the talking.
"I picked who I did for a reason, if Wire Sponge is on the crew then he'll be an excellent asset, those who wish to disagree can always take it to me...outside."
Yes...Zero had set it up perfectly...but now his plan was falling apart...and he had the rage of an S class hunter on his tail...
But he wasn't an S class hunter himself for nothing...
*
X stood slowly, picking up the Z saber and began running again, towards the sunset...
X ran swiftly across the rubble, the setting sun getting into his eyes he did not care, he simply ran forward.
"I hoped this day would never come." he thought to himself.
Still recovering from the initial shock X had become more and more familiar with the fact that Zero was indeed an agent of Sigma's...his best agent. And that this was the last mission X would ever face. There were no more mavericks, all the crazy scientists of the days of old were dead and the few remaining mavericks posed no threat. This was his last mission, then he could go back to sleep...forever.
In the distance he saw a shadow...he knew it was him and he quickly pushed off of his right foot into a long dash towards where the shadow came from. He flipped forward in mid-air and landed on one knee in front of him. Slowly he stood and lifted his head..staring straight into Zero's soul.
*
Zero saw him coming...he knew he couldn't run from this battle anymore. Although he hated to admit it, Zero never wanted to have to fight with X to begin with, but it was his mission...and the only thing that he cared about more than X and the other Hunters was his mission. As X got up and gave him that cold, endless stare...Zero simply sighed.
"I never wanted to have to do this X..." He said softly.
X looked away for a moment..."I didn't want to believe them...I couldn't..." his compassion turned to anger.
"I can't believe you could do this to the guild Zero!"
Zero's hair flowed gently behind him, the cool evening breeze bringing some calm to the incredibly tense scene...Zero's eyes grew soft as he slowly unsheathed his Z saber...
"We both know what we have to do now..." Zero's hands began to shake slightly.
X simply watched his old friend, for the first time, draw his weapon against him in anger. The rush of emotions could not be explained and all he could do was unsheath Zero's old saber that he took up when he thought he was dead decades and decades before.
"Yeah..." his voice shaking somewhat... "I guess we do."
Zero backflipped and landed on one knee, pushing off of his left foot he charged towards X bringing up his saber...X took a leap forward and brought up his as the two greatest hunters in the history of the world began the fight that everyone always thought unthinkable.
X brought the saber horizontally across towards Zero's chest.
Zero quickly brought his saber down and blocked it, pushing off of it into a sideroll he launched himself into the air and fired three large plasma blasts towards X. Dashing backwards the three blasts created huge craters in front of him. He stopped and saw Zero coming down, Saber first...
"Quick X...do something!" He thought to himself...
X rolled forward and slid down into the crater, pushing up into a large jump he turned and targeted zero with a fully charged X buster...
"Goodbye!" X screamed as he fired it at Zero.
*
Zero saw X leap into the air and turned to see a huge ball of energy coming towards him
"Oh...crap!" He thought to himself as he pushed forward into a leap and then into a frontroll as the explosion behind him sent him flying forward, he flipped forward in the air and landed on one knee looking up to see that X was directly above him he threw his saber into the air like a boomerang and targeted X with his Z-buster.
*
X saw a red blur dodge his attack and then the red figure dissappeared under him.
"Where is he?!" he thought as he looked around...suddenly it occured to him...
"Underneath!" as he flipped foward in the air the Z saber came whistling within an inch of his face, he looked down and saw the Z buster attack coming at an unbelievable speed, so he held out his X buster and charged up his own attack blasting it into Zero's Z buster attack. The two masses of energy collided and a violent explosion ensued, X backflipped and landed on one knee about 25 feet away from Zero.
*
Zero saw X dodge the saber....which was predictable...
"Nice..but can you dodge this?" he thought to himself as he loosed his Z buster attack...he saw X look down in panic and then hold out his X buster.
"He couldn't charge it fast en..." he said to himself before he was forced to eat his words as the two blasts collided and nulled in mid air.
Slowly he looked up to X...this fight wasn't going to be easy...
It had barely begun...
As soon as X hit the ground Zero was running towards him again.
"Give me a second to breathe will you?" X thought to himself as he pushed off of his left foot and turned slightly targeting Zero with his x buster he fired multiple, low energy blasts at him trying to distract his attention as he followed up with a slash towards Zero's head. Quickly zero fired a volley to null all the plasma coming towards him and brought up his Z saber to block the slash and then stuck out his foot kicking X in the stomach as X doubled over Zero quickly brought his knee up into X's face as X backflipped and landed roughly on his stomach.
"Get up...get up...GET UP!" X slammed his fist into the ground as spikes of earth shot towards Zero...buying him time to get up and backflip to land on one knee. Reaching down to his right boot X quickly unsheathed a small saber dagger.
"Well X...that's one thing you never told me about..." Zero said quietly.
"I suppose its a good thing I didn't..." X growled...the emotional pain still reeling deep inside of him.
X charged and quickly slashed with the Z saber held in his left hand as Zero backed up X charged forward shooting the dagger towards Zero's head...this caught Zero off guard as he fell back and landed roughly on his backside, kicking up his foot knocking the Z saber from X's hand and sending it flying 30 feet to X's right side.
"darn!" X thought as he looked in the direction of his now lost sword as zero backrolled and stood, now going on an offensive of his own. He lunged towards X's stomach, X quickly brought down the dagger but it didn't have as much power as the Z saber did....it couldn't hold off the attack for long, so he pushed off of it into a flip to the right...and landed about 10 feet closer to the sword.
"Run...Run!! Come on X you have to get that saber back!" He ordered himself.
The saber's hilt grew closer and closer...10 feet away, 5 feet away...then suddenly a red flash in front of him and he went reeling backwards.
*
Zero saw X running towards the saber and knew that he couldn't let him have it back.
"He could never beat me in a race..." he thought to himself as he smirked...this battle being more like the days back at hunter training academy.
Quickly he bolted in the same direction and came in front of X, before X could do anything Zero jumped up and spun, bringing his foot hard across X's face as X went spinning.
Zero quickly picked up the other Z saber...kind of feeling at peace with it back in his hands as he revealed the blade.
*
X rolled a few times before standing up and saw that Zero now had both Z sabers.
"Think...both his hands are being tied up with sabers, so the only long distance possibility is if he threw one of the sabers..."
X thought for a split instant...
"He'll throw the old Z saber at me...and then follow up with a slash as soon as I indicate which direction I'm going....I'm sure he's got it charged up already...and from this distance I couldn't null it fast enough."
It was too late...Zero was getting the old Z saber ready for its throw...grabbing the hilt like a spear he launched it towards X as the tip went rotating, ready to drill into X's head.
"Come on X....IMPROVISE!" X knew what to do...
Zero knew exactly what to do as he looked at X slowly getting up. Smiling gently he took the hilt of the old Z-saber like a spear and threw it at X as hard as he could. Then leapt up behind it ready to follow up with a slash in either direction. The blade in front of him spun around violently as he came closer to X....the time was coming...NOW
*
X ducked straight down as the blade soared overhead and quickly reached up and grabbed the hilt as it passed over him, then with all his might he brought the blade down onto the oncoming assault from Zero as the two blades clashed and gave off so much energy a thunderclap was heard. So great was the energy that the two warriors were thrown back by their own attacks. Both Zero and X rolled backwards a few times before slowly getting up onto one knee.
"Give it up!" Zero said...still trying to sound threatening
X looked up and smiled.
"Still trying to scare me Zero? You may have gotten the inside information about all of the hunters top secret operations...but to me you're no scarier than a kitten."
Zero growled as he stood up...his armor beginning to glow.
"You know, it was fun working with you X...but I must leave those childish things behind now..."
"You can't just leave them behind Zero! Are you trying to tell me that over 200 years of teamwork means nothing to you!? Just because your a robot doesn't mean you don't have feelings!" X's voice cried out, breaking here and there from the emotional strain.
*
Zero looked away...then turned back to X with a grim face.
"Feelings are for the weak! Feelings got Iris killed! You had too much feeling for the humans! That was your downfall X...and now you'll pay with your life!"
Zero was breathing heavily now...He wasn't going to let X get to him...everything he did was for a good cause...a good cause...right?
"Of course what I did was for a good cause..." he convinced himself...
"Of course it was..."
Zero was getting angrier now....angry that X was so sure of his role in the world...angry that X had a stronger cause to fight for.
But even though he had the stronger cause....Zero would defeat him. To prove his superiority...
"That's right X!!!" he screamed in rage...
"I WILL DEFEAT YOU!
X stood helpless as he watched Zero explode in a fiery rage.
So consumed was Zero in his rage that he tossed his Z saber aside and charged straight up to X...Punching him across the face, sending X to the floor. As X rebounded off the hard rock floor Zero brought his foot hard into X's side, sending him flying across the rocks and dust...rolling violently a few times he tried to get onto one knee, but Zero was following him faster than he could react, and quickly Zero brought his boot up to X's chin sending him flying once again into a wall of rock.
*
"Always there to save the day..." he growled under his breath as he brought his foot into X's side and sent him flying...he took chase after his flailing body...
"Everyone always looking up to him for guidance...never to me..." he saw X get up onto one knee...
"...I was just his f***ing sidekick!" he screamed in his head as he brought his foot into X's chin, hard and X went soaring into the wall of rock behind him.
Zero leaped up and pulled back his fist, it lighting up with plasma energy as he drove it towards X as fast as he could...
*
X went flying into the wall of rock, his body reeling in pain as he saw a light glow coming towards him, he knew what it was and knew he had to get out of the way, fast.
With all his strength he threw his body forward as the punch just passed millimeters above his head as he dropped towards the ground at amazing speed he heard the punch above tear through rock like tissue paper as the whole wall came crashing down. He rolled a few times as he landed on the ground and turned to look up at zero...a dark figure resembling those he had seen in his dreams so often.
*
Zero thought that he had finally gotten X with the last attack...but as the dust cleared he noticed that X wasn't dead at all...in fact he was on the floor. Zero turned and looked down at X...his fury returning as he went plummeting downward with his foot extended towards X's stomach...
*
Finally the dark figure made a move towards him going for a kick to the stomach, X moved as quickly as he could but the kick still hit his right arm as he spun clumsily in the air, landing roughly on the rocky ground below.
"Da..darn...I can't let him win...I...just can't." The words flew around in his head as he was suddenly lifted from the ground...
*
Zero lifted X up by the helmet and smiled in his face.
"I told you...I would defeat you..." he started to chuckle. The chuckles turned to laughter...an empty laughter. Laughter that said "I did what I wanted...and yet I feel so alone..."
X looked up to Zero.
"My old friend, when did you become so possessed...so obsessed with surpassing me?" X's great strength was more of a curse in his eyes because everyone grew so jealous of him that he ended up hurting people he used to care for.
Zero growled and threw X with all his might...sending X tumbling over the rocks. Sharp, jagged edges tore up parts of his armor and left big scratches all over him as he stopped tumbling about 50 feet away from Zero...lying on his back breathing deeply. Walking towards X slowly Zero spoke again...
"I was always in your shadow X...no one ever wanted to listen to me. It was always the magnificent X...the legendary X...and what he wanted to say."
He grew closer and closer by the moment.
X lay on his back...listening to these confessions...these professions of hatred held back for more than 200 years.
"I was always in your shadow X...no one ever wanted to listen to me. It was always the magnificent X...the legendary X...and what he wanted to say." he said spitefully...
"No...no Zero..It was never like that at all!" X said desperately.
"SHUT UP!" Zero demanded as he kicked a rock towards X...it hitting him on the side of the head.
Then suddenly, X understood.
"I get it, you're making up these stories to justify what you're doing aren't you?... That's what you're doing!"
Zero stopped suddenly.
"Yeah! You couldn't live with yourself if you couldn't think of good reasons why you were doing this...so you're making them up! This is all a load of crap! A load of crap just so you can finish this mission!"
As X was spouting these accusations he remembered his backup...and his anger grew.
"Well I'm going to show you that what you did could not be justified by anything from the past...and unfortunately, my old friend, I'm going to have to show you the hard way!"
X closed his eyes as his backup recharged his systems and his wounds closed up. His central unit was running at 150% as his eyes stared down the enemy in front of him. Yes...he was an enemy now.
X's fist shook with rage...memories of the destroyed Hunter HQ...memories of the flames. The debris..all those lives taken by Zero and his ruthless troop.
"I will never forgive you for what you did Zero! I will avenge the deaths of my comrades!"
X held out his buster cannon as he charged it up past Maximum to the "Special" setting installed by a capsule he found about 3 decades earlier.
"Whether you like it or not!"
X let go of the blast...and all hell broke loose.
Zero was suddenly confronted with a humongous purple fireball with swirls of energy surrounding it.
"darn..darn...darn! I haven't seen him take it this far before!"
The energy grew closer and closer...and zero knew there was only one thing to do...
*
The gigantic purple flash surprised X...he had never used it before and didn't know what to expect. He wasn't dissappointed with the outcome and expected that Zero be at least critically injured after this blow...if not destroyed.
But is destruction what X really wanted?
"Must I say goodbye? Isn't there something I could do for him?" these thoughs came to him too late he thought. And suddenly the ground shook tremendously as energy shot up all around engulfing the purple fireball and destroying it in mid-flight. The explosion knocking X back but Zero remained intact since he had brought up a temporary shield during his ultimate attack, Rakouhoha. X slid for a while before pushing up and flipping forward to land on his feet, he turned quickly to see Zero charging towards him. X quickly brought up his right hand to catch the oncoming left punch and threw out his right foot, kicking Zero in the chest and then letting go of Zero's hand so he could jump and spin kick his head with his left foot, sending him soaring into the jagged rocks. Zero stopped himself by flipping forward and pushing off of the jagged rocks back towards X with incredible speed and slammed into him head first, X stumbled back as Zero landed and sweep-kicked at him, X falling backwards, then pushing off of his hands into a backflip as he loosed two powerful blasts towards Zero. Zero leapt back twice quickly the explosions breaking the ground beneath him. Stepping lightly on his feet he backflipped as X landed in front of him and stepped into his own trap, the loose ground beneath him breaking and causing him to fall down. Zero walked over to the helpless X in the crater and looked down on him, chuckling.
"You're such a fool...stepping into your own trap." Zero said with a smile.
X looked down and noticed a small crack in the ground under Zero's feet.
"And you're a fool as well..for stepping into mine." X shot out his foot and kicked the ground underneath zero violently causing the rocks to cave in and Zero to fall into a crater of his own.
X took advantage of this and got out of the crater quickly...but Zero was out at the same time as they both glared at each other from across the gap.
As Zero fell down he couldn't believe it.
"Crap! I need to get out of here fast!" he yelled in his head as he quickly scrambled to get out of the crater, seeing that X had just gotten out himself.
He turned and faced X...this battle taking far too long. Something needed to be done...and fast. Suddenly he turned and saw his Z saber on the ground...
"That's it!" he thought to himself...
The final attack was drawing near...in mere moments the battle would be over and the victor decided...
*
As X glared at Zero he noticed out of the corner of his eye the old Z saber...
"There it is!" he thought to himself as he conspired a plan to get to it...
*
The two warriors faced each other in a final standoff. Each remaining still...no sounds but the whistling of the winds around them. They stood still for a good five minutes...all sounds around them being drowned out...nothing in the universe existing but each other...then it happened.
Quickly both X and Zero raced for the Z-sabers...X's was on his left while Zero's was on his right, they each raced in opposite directions, picked up their swords and bolted towards each other...
*
"He's got one too!" Zero exclaimed as he made his final attack run...
"No matter...he's as good as mine now!" he convinced himself as he charged towards X and...
*
"Oh no! He got his back!" X thought to himself as he charged towards Zero for the final time...
"No matter! I will take him out for good now!" he yelled to himself as he charged towards zero and...
*
They stood silently now...their sabers held out still...both warriors standing very still as the wind blew silently around them...for now there was indeed a victor...and a loser.
The two warriors stood silently for a moment...the winds around them whistling silently.
Suddenly, one of them collapsed.
*
X knew what he felt, and he knew that it would only be a matter of moments before it happened...
*
Zero knew what had happened and he knew it wouldn't take long before it happened... he stood for a moment more before collapsing to the floor.
*
X turned slowly and dropped his Z saber, running towards Zero he picked him up in his arms.
"Zero...its not that bad is it?" X said with a shaking voice...he had hoped maybe he had just injured him, they could figure things out...Sigma wasn't around..why couldn't they just be friends again?
*
Zero winced slightly as X picked him up.
"Zero...its not that bad is it?" X said...
"Oh no...its just a little scratch..." Zero said with a smile, but he knew better. He had torn through his middle almost all the way through. The central unit was damaged beyond repair, considering all the greatest minds who could repair him were dead now.
*
X saw Zero's wound and knew he didn't have that long...he began to speak...his voice now visibly shaking with emotion.
"So...Zero...why...can you just tell me...w..."
Zero looked at him gently and smiled.
"Ever since I first met you...I knew what incredible power you could possess...power beyond my wildest imagination... Such power made me jealous of you. Jealous enough to give me the strength to do such a horrible act. And now I see...if I had just fought for what I believed in all along...I could have gotten strength from my cause."
X closed his eyes as his whole body began to shudder...
"Zero...you can't just leave me alone...I'm the only one left..."
Zero's eyes became very serious as he took X's shoulder and gripped it.
"X...you have to do it alone...There is no other choice! You know what you have to do...we had always planned on it...its just I won't be there to help you when the time comes."
X made a fist...he knew what was to come would be the hardest thing he'd ever have to do...and now he'd have to do it alone.
"Zero..." X said...tears now forming in his eyes.
"What is it?" Zero said...his smile hiding a wave of tears just ready to flow freely.
"I would have followed you to the ends of the universe...traitor or not..." as he gently took zero's hand and grasped it tightly.
"You are my friend...and..." his voice now barely forming the words...
"You always will be..." Zero's image was now a blur through his tears as he stood up and turned.
"X! Wait..." Zero cried, the last of his energy being used up...
X turned and looked upon his old friend one last time
"No need to say anything Zero...rest now...my dearest friend."
Zero blinked...two tears rolling down his cheeks as he lied back down and gently slipped into the abyss.
X turned and walked a few steps before falling to his knees...and screaming into the darkness.
*
PROLOGUE:
X knew what he had to do. After Zero's death X made his way back to the capsule he was found in and set up the procedure for a permanent shut down program. He put in the 4 digit code... 734...0. And gently stepped into the capsule. After a final voice command the seal slid shut...and X closed his eyes...hearing Zero's voice calling him from the abyss. He smiled...as the two comrades met up once again. In the land of whispers and shadow.
ALTERNATE ENDING: ZERO
The two warriors stood silently for a moment...the winds around them whistling silently. Suddenly, one of them collapsed.
*
Zero turned around and sighed, dropping his Z sabre he looked upon X, who was now on one knee, badly damaged, as he fell to the floor.
*
X looked down at the gaping wound in his chest, he gasped a few times and put his hand over it, waiting for the sub tank to provide some sort of relief, but none came. This wound would be the death of him...he had no doubt now.
*
Zero walked towards X slowly, his eyes growing softer with every step seeing his broken friend lying defeated on the ground, covered with jagged rocks. He stopped in front of X's wounded body and knelt beside him offering his hand as he held X's hand gently.
"I'm sorry X...I really am...but you have to understand that it was my duty...my mission..." Zero's voice was cracking and shaky.
X looked away, still too mad to even speak with Zero.
"Even in death you refuse to forgive me?! Surely you are a fool! I have defeated you and now you can take that to your grave, we were friends for over 200 years and you haven't the guts to at least say 'I forgive you'!?"
X turned angrily and shouted in rage.
"YOU NEVER WERE MY FRIEND!"
Zero let go of X's hand quickly, shocked and angered by the outburst.
"You only say that now because your pride has been hurt...you were fooled and do not wish to admit it!"
X's eyes began to water.
"Zero...how could you...? Mission or not...what we had was a comradeship I thought would never be broken..."
Zero turned away.
"It was never established to begin with...we were never comrades X, simply acquaintances... it was never anything more than that...and convincing yourself otherwise would be foolish."
X turned his head away, finally giving in completely to the sorrow as the water flowed from his eyes freely.
"And now my friend, I shall put you out of your misery before you lose that last shred of honor you have left in that broken body..."
Zero aimed his buster at X's head, his arm shaking violently, his eyes misty and blurred.
"Goodbye..." Zero said quietly as he blasted X's head and instantly disintegrated it.
Zero turned away and walked towards his sabre, as he bent over to pick it up he fell onto his knees and screamed into the night...his agony stretching out to the ends of the universe, he was truly the loneliest being alive.
*
PROLOGUE: Zero took the remaining reploids and launched a final, vicious assault against the human race. With no X or hunters guild to stop them they slaughtered millions before finally an elite human team of hunters finally brought down Zero's corps, known as
"The Redeemed".
Zero died tortured and alone, still not regretting the murder of his "acquaintance" years before.