Author's Note:  I formally apologize for not updating when I said I would, but school was a priority, what with Finals and all, but now that I am out of school, I am free to write.  Now, I would like to thank my readers and their encouragement of this story.  I have a reason now to write this story… To stay alive.  You don't think that I'd still be alive if I stopped right now, do you?  My readers would kill me!  No, I have to keep writing because of self-defense!!  Seriously, though.  Without you, this whole story would just be for nothing.  Once again, if you have any suggestions, comments, or concerns, don't be afraid to put them in a review, or an email.  I accept all forms of criticism, except for flames.  Rule:  Don't flame unless you can prove you're able to write this story better than me.  'Nuff said.

Disclaimer:  Once again, I will say that I do not own any of the Mega Man X characters.  I do not, have not, and likely will not own any of them.  One can only dream…  The only character I do own is Wy.  She is mine and only mine.  If you want to use her, ask first.  My email is in my profile, so… yeah.  You know the deal.

Chapter 3:  X, Wy, …

            Wy stood behind X, jaw agape.  She knew that X liked to give tough entry exams, but this was just short of murder!  Going up against the legend, the hero, X… No one does that and wins.  This was either going to be very short, or very long and drawn out, depending on how he was going to play with her…  She had this image of X toying with her mind as she ran the maze of simulated wasteland, defeating simulated Mavericks along the way.  She could see him playing with her like a cat plays with a mouse….
            "Wy, hello?  Are you alright?"  Wy jerked to attention, embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming.  "Don't blow a bolt on me right now, you'll need all the help you can get in this course.  I'm choosing a factory setting.  They're will be plenty of Mav's to keep both of us busy for a bit.  Once we enter into the SDR, it's a free for all.  If you make it to the entrance before I do, then you can deactivate the Maverick sims, but you will still need to land at least nine non-consecutive hits on me.  Think you can handle that, rookie?"  X was hoping to goad her into competition, believing that she was similar enough to Zero that she'd fall for it.  She did.
            "Bring it on!"  She wasn't sure what exactly made her say it, but she knew she meant it.  She stepped up to the door at X's side, and tried not to see X's face.  She was sure that she'd see him grinning at her, that stupid, naïve grin that he had that made him look so young.  But when she looked up at him, all she saw was a fierce look of determination… it puzzled her, but she didn't have time to piece together this particular puzzle, as X said simply, "Go."  His hand was pointed at the now open door, and the simulated danger that lay ahead of her.  She did what she was told, and dove headlong into the simulation.
            X waited at the door for a moment, before hitting the command on the door to shut and lock behind him.  He walked into the SDR slowly, taking his time while he thought out loud.  "I promise, Zero.  I'll take care of her.  She'll be a Hunter unparalleled amongst her peers.  I promise."  And then, he dashed into the fray that was now the entire environment, skimming along the slight path left from Wy's passage, and making his own path…
            While X worked his magic in the SDR, Wy was left to defend herself against the likes of some of the fiercest Mavericks that the Maverick Hunters had ever encountered.  Neon Tiger was among the first that Wy had had to battle, and she was surprised by the level at which he fought.  X must have turned the Danger settings up to just below 'Deadly Force'.  This won't be as easy as I thought it might have been.
            Wy used her Buster sparingly, not even using her 'Saber.  She relied on her hand-to-hand capabilities, which was almost unheard of for a Hunter to do, not unless that was what they were specifically built for.  She blasted at the larger mavericks, and took out the small ones with precise, fierce attacks with both feet and hands.  She seemed able to hold her own up until she encountered Neon Tiger.
            She shot a normal shot at him, and he blocked with his extended claws.  She took aim for a second volley, but didn't have the time as Neon charged in towards her.  She relaxed herself and lashed out with her hands and feet in a flurry of movement… she succeeded in merely stopping Neon's charge, but did no damage to him.  He grinned evilly at her, and said, "My turn."  His voice held all of the venom of a Maverick gone completely over to the Virus, and his next attack proved it.
            Neon struck out with his claws and became a storm of motion.  His hands never stopped moving while his tail came up behind his back and shot a cluster of plasma charges at Wy, hoping to catch her unawares.  Unfortunately, she had not been caught unawares, not in the least.  What she was, was angry.  She was angry with herself for letting this go on this long, and she was not about to let this continue.  She had managed to dodge or block most of Neon's slashes, but she had taken damage from him.  She was not happy.
            She tensed her legs and jumped back, being assisted by a brief burst from her Dash system, which flew her back to a distance that put her safely out of range of that last attack, and set her up for her next strike.  She ran at Neon, full out, and just as she was about to plow into him, she reached down to her 'Saber, and drew.  It came out with an initial upward strike, activating as she swung it, and lashed out in three quick, precise, and powerful strikes.  The 'Saber was returned to its holding place almost as soon as it had left.  And then, only then, did Neon Tiger drop to the ground, disabled.  His arms were severed, and a large hole was in his chest plate.
            Wy looked down at her handiwork for a moment, and then moved on, using her Dash system to give her an extra boost to catch up for the lost time.  She moved on, completely unaware of the eyes that had been watching the entire battle unfold.  She rushed through the maze of debris and completely missed that X had been so close to her.
            X, on the other hand, was rethinking his strategy for dealing with her.  Just watching how she dealt with the maze up to Neon had given him ample information to form a working plan for fighting her.  She fought the small mavericks hand-to-hand, which meant that she was conserving energy either because she didn't have much use for her Buster, or she simply liked to dispose of smaller mavericks like that.  The blast from the Buster, when she used it, reminded him of Zero's Z-buster, but it seemed like it had more range, and like it might have more power behind it if given the opportunity. 
            Her entire strategy with defeating Neon had been startling.  She fought so much like Zero that it was frightening.  She struck at all of the weak points and went straight for the kill spot, no lingering.  No waiting.  That was so much like Zero…  Her style was, however, so much different from Zero's that he had no idea how to counter most of her attacks, save by just not letting her attack.  She had a 'Saber, yes, and it could be blocked, yes, but she was so quick that being able to get his own 'Saber out in time to block hers would be nearly impossible.  He wasn't sure what would happen if she were allowed to close in on him with that thing…  He didn't think about it for long, though.  He dashed off, himself, to go find where Wy had gotten off to…
            Wy, had indeed gone off somewhere, and was now deeply regretting not having taken the upper path.  This path that looked like a short cut, was indeed anything but.  She was forced to use her Buster to clear a path, time and again.  She charged up, and launched large bolts of plasma towards her enemies.  It cleared the path successfully, and she shot past the dazed and confused leftovers, disabling each with a quick blow to their control jewels.  She moved on and came to the mid-point of the maze. 
            It was a large area, with a few barriers here and there, but it was pretty much a straight shot to the other side.  This was too easy.  Wy didn't like it one bit.  But she didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter.  She shot forward, but juked to the right, just in time to miss a bolt of low-yield plasma hitting the spot where she had just been.  She looked up to find the source of the attack, and that was her mistake.  She was hit from behind with another low-yield plasma bolt.  The SDR damage readout flashed across her vision and told her that her virtual energy reserves were down by 2%.  The shot that was taken, low-yield as it was, registered in the SDR as a charged shot.  She was slightly surprised by how little damage she had taken from that kind of shot from X himself…
            She had the inkling of a reckless plan beginning to grow in her head.  She figured that if she was trapped in here, so was X, because he would anticipate any escape, even his own, to be a possibility for her.  He was either driving for this to be the decisive battle, or he was just testing her.  He would soon learn not to do that again…
            She finished her maneuvers, and rolled to the side, just in time to miss another blast.  She jumped up and Dashed backwards, in effect reversing her direction, and heading straight into the charging X.  It didn't catch him as off-guard as she would have liked, but she knew that he wouldn't be prepared for the next move.  She whipped out her Z-Saber, silently blessing her father for giving her his own, and she struck out with it, but it was a diversion.  She threw her weight into it, and did a flying kick directly at X.
            It was enough to catch him in the shoulder.  He had been trying to block the impending 'Saber strike, and had failed to fully block her kick.  He managed to slightly deflect it, but that was it.  It completely knocked him out of his path, and he 'spun out' having to scrabble for traction on the ground below to keep from tumbling about. Wy, on the other hand, flipped gracefully down to the ground, and initiated her Z-Saber just in time to deflect three consecutive shots from X.
            His look was enough.  He was impressed.  But she was still only a rookie.  He took aim above her, and fired a 'charge shot' that hit the wall, and caused an explosion of rock and debris to fall down on Wy.  She didn't even have time to dodge.  X stood by and watched as the rocks and heaps of dirt fell on her, covering her.  He lost sight of her eventually through the clouds of dust, but he watched the spot that he had last seen her in with the intensity of a hawk. 
            When the dust settled, and the debris stopped falling, he approached the mound of rubble, Buster at the ready, humming with a steady charge.  He let the shot go into the mound, loose, it would seem… but it had purpose.  It didn't make a mark on his internal sensor as a hit for him, so he assumed that she had gotten out of the rubble somehow… He looked about, looking up and down, side to side, getting a bit paranoid… when he looked up at the hole in the wall that he himself had made when he shot it.  There was, indeed, a hole.  A hole more than large enough for Wy to have gotten through…  This was going to be more difficult than he had thought.  She was resourceful.
            Meanwhile, X may have been momentarily puzzled by her disappearance, but Wy was more than peeved at her condition.  Her virtual readout said that that rockslide had caused her more than 30% damage.  That was a large chunk, gone, wasted.  This scenario was designed to be a survival course.  She was now at a distinct disadvantage.  Her energy was much lower than his, and he was still at almost peak efficiency.  He would undoubtedly continue after her, likely setting up another ambush.  She was sure that that ambush she wouldn't walk out of.  It would be all or nothing.  Until then, she had nothing else to do but run through this labyrinth and see if she could find the end of it before X.
            While she ran the maze and dodged the enemies, she thought.  What was it that X wanted out of this?  She knew that he wanted to see how good she was, whether she could do this… but, she got the feeling that he was searching for something, as well.  It was a feeling deep down inside of her, something that she just knew.  She couldn't help but wonder about it, but she didn't really give it any more thought.  It wasn't the mission at hand, so it didn't truly matter.  What mattered was not getting blasted by any of these damned Mavericks, and getting through this maze intact…
            Wy ran the labyrinth with a renewed determination.  Each Maverick she encountered she dispatched with the utmost speed and efficiency, not having the time or energy to waste on them.  She found a sort of rhythm that she could move with, and she fell into a sort of 'autopilot'.  It was a serious mistake.
            She nearly dove into the impending plasma wave; she was so sunken into her rhythm.  She recovered in time to dive desperately to one side, managing to barely miss being struck full on by the blast.  Her sensors registered the virtual heat from that blast, she was so close.  It was enough to rattle her and make her pay attention to the path before her.
            What she saw was not comforting.  She might have preferred X to this ruffian….  It was Dynamo.  He had plagued both X and Zero for some time now, and to her knowledge, he was still at large, causing havoc, but managing to lie low, which was different behavior from a normal Maverick…  But her problem, though, was that he was here now, plaguing her.  She knew that on some occasions he had managed to surprise both X and Zero, and nearly defeated them on separate occasions…
            He charged at her, and threw two plasma bolts at her from both of his hands, not appearing to have used a Buster of any kind.  She leapt high into the air, dodging the blasts, and engaged her Dash system in mid-air, coming down right at Dynamo.  She didn't have time for his antics, which was no doubt what he was here for.  Antics.  A stalling measure, nothing more.  Her headlong charge was welcomed with a wicked smile, and then Dynamo threw up both his hands and plasma lanced out from his hands, racing towards the charging Wy.  She unsheathed her Z-Saber and struck out at the arcing plasma as if it were something to be wrapped around her 'Saber…
            Startlingly enough, though, the plasma did wrap around her 'Saber and it arced madly from the difference in frequency between it and the 'Saber.  With her continuing momentum and Dynamo's total shock, Wy was free to attack.  She spun in a somersault, slashing outwards with the 'Saber, and she struck Dynamo with the "charged" Z-Saber. 
            The effect was almost instantaneous.  Dynamo was blown backwards by both the intensity of the plasma, and the strength of the blow.  He landed most unceremoniously on the ground about fifteen feet behind where he had been standing.  His armor was marred by the blow, and his control jewel was flashing the warning of low energy.  He looked up at Wy, bewildered beyond belief.  However, his eyes held fear, as well.  The words he spoke, though, were not those of a frightened man…
            "Damn you, cursed spawn of Zero!  You will rue the day that you met me!  Your father was always far too meddlesome for his own good.  I will have my revenge!  If I must carve it from your damned hide, so be it!"  With that, he spat at the ground before Wy's feet, and warped out of the SDR.  It was then that Wy realized that this had been the real thing.  That had actually been Dynamo, not just a simulation of him…
            She stood there, shocked from her encounter… but she couldn't let herself get distracted from the goal at hand.  She forced herself to move on, despite the obvious intrusion by the Maverick… Her path ahead was somewhat less crowded than before, either because Dynamo had had to destroy some of the Mavericks, or because someone else had…
            She approached this new section with apprehension.  She didn't need to face X again, not this soon.  She wasn't sure if she could take another battle with him… He had already demonstrated a willingness to use the battlefield to his advantage.  And he was more than a match for her when it came to experience with battlefield advantages… He had seen so many battles, so much violence… He knew more than she could possibly be expected to know.  She was, after all, a child in comparison.
            Her apprehension, it seemed, was unfounded, for she found a new wave of Mavericks waiting for her just past the crest of the hill that had blocked her view of his new section.  They attacked with the same, nearly predictable pattern as the rest had done, and she dispatched them with the same ease, but she kept herself from falling into a trance, having learned her lesson the hard way. 
            It seemed she might make it to the end of this twisting maze without having to face X again, but she caught sight of a blue blur in the distance, moving in a parallel path to hers.  She paused behind a large piece of machinery, keeping her eyes on the blur, and she activated her telescopic lenses.  She closed her sight in on him, finding that he was unaware that she saw him, and that she was watching him now.  She smiled, a tight twitch of the lips, really, and she started charging her Buster. 
            She leaned out to the side enough so that she could take aim at the moving blue target.  She sighted in on him, leading her target, calculating for molecular drift, and she let loose the massive shot.  Her virtual readout read that her energy reserves had gone down by 5% for that shot.  But it didn't matter to her, not if her aim was true.
            She kept her eyes on her target, waiting for him to notice the bolt, waiting for him to dodge it, but he never did.  It took him completely broadside.  X never even saw it coming.  She was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events, checking her readout for how many strikes she had on him.  Two.  She had struck him twice, out of the required nine.  Her spirits faded slightly, but she leapt up from her hiding spot, checking X to see him searching for the source of his attack, but not finding it in the immediate vicinity.  Wy Dashed and kept on her path, disabling those Mavericks in her path, but reserving energy and not bothering with the ones far enough away from her not to matter…
            X, however, had stopped his movements, and was running over his own virtual readout again.  It shouldn't be possible.  She didn't have any enhancements that would have made her capable of dishing out that kind of punishment!  His readout read that that blast had taken him down nearly 27%.  Counting the minor damages sustained from the Mavericks in the scenario, and the damage from his earlier encounter with Wy, he was down by 34%.  Nearly even to her own levels… if she was capable of that kind of output, then this battle might not be as clear-cut as he had thought.  What did you create, Zero?  What did you do?  X let his thoughts wander while he attempted to regain lost ground…
            Wy, on the other hand, was within fifty feet of the secondary objective.  The problem was that there was someone standing between it and her.  She was frozen to her spot.  What stopped her from charging on, though, was not fear, or anything like that.  No, it was total and complete confusion.  She was totally taken aback by the figure before her, as he should not, could not possibly be there….  Her confusion was cut short, though, as X entered the scene and shot three bolts at her.
            She dodged with a roll and an upward Dash, followed by a Dash that led her straight down.  The shot that had been launched to hit her in the air sailed past her, and she landed in a crouch on the ground.  She had time to look back to the spot that she had seen… Nothing.  There was nothing there.  No trace.  She let that problem slide to the back of her mind, as she needed to deal with X.  He kept back from her, launching volleys of three shots at her, keeping her in evasive maneuvers.  She kept moving, and she became aware that X was driving her away from the secondary control panel, the one to deactivate the Maverick sims…
            She drew her 'Saber and deflected the next volley instead of dodging, and she charged, firing her own Buster.  Instead of firing charged shots, or even normal shots, she halved the power output and the Buster shot out like a machine gun.  The change delivered the expected result, and X was forced to dodge.  He stopped firing, and concentrated on dodging.  Even moving at close to top speed, he still got pegged by three shots, each one non-consecutive, which raised her score from two to five. 
            Wy kept firing at X, keeping him pinned down by her cover-fire, and she moved towards her objective.  It was on a raised platform, which required her to Dash jump to reach its top, but that required her to stop firing at X…  She took the chance, and Dashed up, praying that she could reach the top before he was able to take aim…
            Alas, she was still five feet from the top of the platform when she was driven into the side of the plateau.  It was enough force that the platform had dents… enough for her to grasp and keep from falling, but little else.  Her reserves read that she was down to 48% vitals… She needed to find a way to win, and fast, or she was going to lose… Even as she thought it, she felt the lancing pain as another charged shot, this time more powerful than the last, hit her again.  Her reserves now read at 21%.  Her chip was beginning to flash slowly, warning her that her reserves were low.
            She became desperate then.  She let go of the fragile hold she had, and Dash-kicked the wall at the same time, effectively launching her upwards, and almost over.  She needed just a bit more of a boost… In a way, she got it, but at a high price.  A shot from X lanced her, taking her down to 9% vital reserves, her chip flashing madly, the light flashing like a panicked bird trying to fly free of some imprisonment.  However, the outcome of the blow was that she landed on the top of the platform.  She was mere feet from the control panel.  She slowly dragged herself to her feet and reached forward to hit the switch when she heard a sound behind her. 
            She dodged, and the blast just barely missed her, but it totally destroyed the control panel.  Sparks flew and electricity arced from it, hitting both Wy and X.  The electricity damaged her to within 1% of her vitals, and it dealt X damage as well, but he was still standing.  She was barely able to keep herself kneeling.
            She thought to herself, It can't end like this, I have to win.  I have to show him that I can be great…  Her words echoed in her head, and she attributed it to some trick of energy depletion.  When she heard the voice, she was almost sure she was hallucinating.  It couldn't be him… Zero?  "Wy, you have to get up.  You can defeat X.  You need to believe in yourself."  But, how?  I can't even stand up, I have so little energy…  "Trust in yourself.  Believe you can do this, know that you can.  I believe in you…"  Thank you.
            X saw Wy, trembling from exertion, and he couldn't bring himself to fire that last shot, not just yet.  He saw her and he saw himself in her, in a way.  He saw his fierce determination to get the job done.  Then his external sensors read the impossible.  Her vital reserves jumped back up to 52%.  She stopped trembling, and shot straight at him.  He wasn't prepared for the sudden recovery, and so, wasn't able to block the 'Saber strike.  She didn't stop, she just kept moving.  She Dashed straight up, flipped and Dashed down again, this time landing behind X.  She blasted him with a briefly charged shot, and quickly Dashed to the left before he could get a bead on her and return fire.  She performed a double flip and reversed direction, landing and sliding on the ground, firing her Buster at half capacity once again, landing fifteen consecutive hits on X before he shot back.
            The shot pounded into her.  X had apparently been charging since she recovered.  The blast took her back down to 29% vitals.  Her momentum had halted, and she was stunned from being pounded into the ground like that.  She recovered in time to get struck in the left arm by X's 'Saber, damaging her again.  She rolled to the left, believing that that would be less expected.  It worked, enough for her to draw her own 'Saber and counter attack.
            X fired two shots then slashed at Wy, hoping to driver her back.  It worked, and she Dashed back from him, but she Dashed right back at him, giving him no time to regroup.  She slashed at him, and he blocked but the second blow was coming too fast for him to block.  He didn't bother blocking, instead he just threw himself back as hard as he could.  The second slash missing him by nanometers, and he was now lying on his back, watching yet another strike come from Wy.
            He couldn't let her land another blow on him, she had already gotten him eight times, and the scenario was programmed to end if her vitals reached zero, or if she hit him nine times, non-consecutively.  He was almost out of options.  It was his fault, but by sheer luck she was attributed achieving the secondary goal, as he had destroyed it trying to hit her…  And she was so close to getting him…  He was out of options.  He had to do use it. 
            He rolled back, and tapped a control on his wrist-comm., deactivating his safety protocols…  He braced himself, and shouted his password/command code.  "Giga Blast!"  His Buster didn't even charge, just fed directly from his reserves.  His vitals fell to 7%, and his weapons reserves ran dry.  The Buster grew hot, and then it lanced out with its shot, just as Wy landed her last blow.  Wy's body was thrown off the platform by the blast, and her vitals reached zero.
            X staggered back from a combination of her final blow and the Giga Blast.  His vitals read at 1.3%.  He was barely able to stand, let alone walk to the edge of the platform, but he managed it.  He saw her prone form on the ground below, but it wasn't any kind of victory he felt over her.  No, it wasn't that, since he hadn't really won.  Seeing her like that brought an empty feeling within him.  He saw her and felt empty, nothing else.
            He touched a different button on his wrist-comm. and the environment around them faded away, leaving them in total darkness for a split second before reinstating the normal lighting.  The simulated damage that the two had sustained from the battle vanished with the simulation, and X was now at full strength, as was Wy.  She woke with a start, and sat bolt upright.  "What happened?  Where did that come from?"  X raised his hand, motioning her to still her questions, and he spoke.
            "Congratulations.  You won the scenario.  You've passed your exam, and you are, as of this moment, assigned as First Officer to Unit #0.  Zero would be proud of you, Wy.  You fight very impressively.  Report to Unit #0's Unit Leader tomorrow at 0700 hours, and don't be late."  He didn't bother waiting for Wy to ask any other questions, he just headed for the exit, oblivious to anything other than what was raging inside his mind.  He paused at the door and, in barely audible voice, he whispered, "I wish you could have seen her, Zero…"
            Watching X leave the room, Wy was almost hollow from the news.  She had beaten X.  She had met the conditions given to her…  She'd won.  In the back of her head, she could almost hear what sounded like a voice, but she ignored it…  The not-voice said, "I was there, X.  I was there."





End Notes:  Once again, I am REALLY sorry for not updating any sooner, but my life has been hell with the end of school; Finals suck.  The chapter was originally going to be only six pages long, but I felt that I owed all of you more than just six pages for waiting for me for so long, so you got two bonus pages.  The next chapter will entail the results of this chapter, as well as introduce a new character…  Never before seen in the Mega Man X universe… 
And now for the usual stuff… Please read and review as I thirst for approval, or for any attention, as a matter of fact…  But that's just me… Read, review, I'll update more regularly, I promise.  'Nuff said.  Thanks for reading.