Digital Souls
By Wanderer D
Chapter 3
Peregrine and Weregarurumon ran down a long tunnel towards their destination: the first of the two missiles they would have to stop. On their way they found an assortment of robots which were easily disposed of.
Peregrine was surprised at how well her teammate adapted to fights. She was no longer mad at Zero, although she would have preferred teaming up with *him*.
Weregarurumon blasted to pieces a small bat robot and looked at her. "Are you tired, Peregrine? Your face is going red."
Peregrine's face became even redder and she shook her head. "No! I'm not thinking about Zero! Let's go!" She spread her wings and flew down the tunnel, stopping further argument.
"But... I didn't ask that!" Weregarurumon shouted as he ran after her.
Finally they reached a titanium alloy door. Peregrine touched a pad next to it and it opened without so much of a whoosh. However, the Maverick inside would know of their intrusion by now.
The door opened to reveal...
"Shocker!"
"You know him?" Weregarurumon asked in surprise.
Peregrine nodded. "His name is Shock Dragoon. He's the younger brother of Magma Dragoon, another Hunter turned bad."
Shocker looked similar to Magma Dragoon, a mixture of human and dragon but he was lighter and incredibly swift. His armor was yellow, unlike Magma Dragoon's crimson.
"Peregrine... Long time no see..." Shocker greeted. "Tell me, have you come to join us, or to die here?"
Shocker closed his fists and blue lightning surrounded him then flew around the room, rebounding on the walls to finally converge on his body again, and almost disappear. It's only residue evident in the eerily glowing eyes of Shocker, and the fists crackling with energy.
***
Zero dashed down another tunnel, barely even stopping as he cut and slashed through his enemies. Finally he reached his own objective, and after opening the reinforced door, dashed in.
He found himself standing in a large factory full of large ovens. For a moment he had a sinking feeling in his gut as he heard a roar. Then his instincts took control as he jumped back and away from four lines of fire that cut the air -and the ground- where he was standing mere seconds ago.
Pulling his saber in front of him, he prepared himself for action as his attacker walked into the room.
The Maverick that stood in front of him had the face and mane of a lion and the lower body of a human; his feet and armored hands ended in claws and were covered in fire.
"I am Fire Lion! Prepare to die, Zero!"
Zero smiled as the familiar thrill of battle invaded his body. The only warning Fire Lion had was the fire burning in Zero's eyes as the latter shot forward, swinging his saber in an upward slash.
***
X shouted, jumped, dashed, fired, retraced his steps and generally made a mess of the enemies that appeared in his way. When finally none was left, he calmly walked to the door and blasted it open.
Inside he found himself face to face with a Minotaur out of Greek mythology. Only this one was made out of reinforced metal and with a huge axe. Bulging metallic muscles and two towering and wicked looking horns on each side of its bovine head gave this Maverick an impressive and violent look.
X looked up at the monster. "And who are you?"
"I'm TauroX! THE DESTROYER!"
Without warning, he batted X with his axe against a wall. X grunted as he stood on all fours. He then rolled to the side barely avoiding the axe as it crashed next to his head.
X didn't have time to think as his battle-honed instincts took over. He dashed under the massive minotaur's legs as he charged his booster. X jumped to the nearest wall, and hanging from it shot his charged blast at TauroX's head.
Even though the minotaur blocked the shot with the flat of his axe, he was still shoved back a couple of steps.
"Axe SLASH!" TauroX charged the wall and cut a straight line through it, breaking it in two. X, however, had jumped just before impact and activated his boots, shooting over the minotaur's head.
X had charged his booster yet again, and as his enemy started to tear his axe away, he shot to the small of TauroX's back.
The huge Reploid fell to his knees, temporarily stunned.
***
"I was wondering when you would come here," Shocker commented, casting a curious look at the werewolf standing next to Peregrine. It was not a Reploid as far as he could tell.
"And I was wondering what happened to you after you left." Peregrine answered.
Shocker shrugged non-committal. "Oh, I've been traveling around. Until I heard what happened to my brother!"
Peregrine looked at Weregarurumon worriedly. "Look, Zero had no choice!"
"There's always a choice!" Shocker bellowed as he shot a series of rapid thunderbolts.
Weregarurumon and Peregrine scrambled out of the way as Shocker stopped his barrage.
"Dragoon attacked him and would have killed both Zero and X if he hadn't fought back! The only reason Dragoon had was his wish to fight Zero to the end!"
Shocker would not hear about it and shot out again, this time hitting Peregrine in the chest. Weregarurumon caught her before she crashed onto the wall, and helped her to her feet as she shook off the effects of Shocker's blast.
"Don't lie to me!" Shocker shouted. "I know the truth! Dragoon was weak and Zero killed him!"
Weregarurumon shook his fist angrily at Shocker. "That's not true! Matt would NEVER do such a thing!"
He was blasted out of the way by a lightning bolt.
"Who's Matt, anyway?" Shocker asked.
***
Fire lion grasped the remnants of his arm quickly dashing away from Zero. The latter stopped his blinding attacks and regarded his enemy.
The fire Reploid was cut in several places, his left arm was missing, and two of his claws were cut cleanly. The lion growled and backed off wearily.
Zero walked forward calmly.
***
Shocker stopped attacking them, as he heard something only he could hear.
"You say Zero wouldn't do that?" he asked.
A huge screen appeared behind him.
There they could see Fire Lion, wounded and now short-circuiting, backed against a computer console.
Zero shot forward suddenly. His sword flashing in intricate patterns as he cut Fire Lion to pieces. When the last piece fell to the ground, he stepped in front of the computer and typed something. He then raised his communicator, and, sure enough, they heard Zero's voice clearly.
"Nuke disabled. Moving off to next target."
The screen turned off and Shock Dragoon looked at them, noting Weregarurumon's uneasiness at his friend's actions.
"It is undeniable, Zero massacred Fire Lion when he was obviously helpless. He could have spared him, but no! He killed him quickly and efficiently."
Peregrine frowned. She turned to look at Weregarurumon.
"This is not the time to dwell on that. We have to stop the nuke here and move on to the next!"
Weregarurumon nodded grimly and growled menacingly at Shocker.
Peregrine and Weregarurumon acted as one. The Digimon did a spin kick and released some kind of energy that Shocker easily avoided. The wall behind him shattered with the force of the energy. Both Reploids stared at Weregarurumon in surprise.
"Zero was right when he told me not to underestimate you, Weregarurumon!" Peregrine noted.
Shocker attacked them then, firing his lightning bolts with seeming abandon.
Both fighters avoided the attacks. Weregarurumon suddenly shot out a blue beam from his mouth, which hit Shocker fully in the chest.
As Shocker began to freeze, Peregrine flew towards the nearest computer and started typing.
"Weregarurumon! Keep Shocker occupied while I finish here!" she shouted over her shoulder.
"Why don't you kill me as your leader killed my brother?!" Shocker demanded between struggles.
"We don't kill our friends, and you know it, Shocker!" Peregrine answered over his shoulders.
"It's probably because you haven't been around Zero long enough!" Shocker growled.
The Reploid was shocked when he was hit by Weregarurumon. The were- creature's huge fist connected with Shocker's face and forced his head painfully back.
"Don't you dare say that about Matt! He would give his life for his friends! That can't be said about you!" Weregarurumon practically shouted.
Shocker looked up at Weregarurumon. "I assume this 'Matt' of which you speak so highly is Zero. On what basis do you tell me he would?"
Weregarurumon glared at Shocker. "He has done so before! He did it to save X from Vile!"
"Caught in battle frenzy." Shocker stated cynically.
Weregarurumon snorted. "You don't know Matt as well as I do."
"And why should you know him any better?! I hadn't seen you ever before with Zero!"
"Because I knew him before he became the machine he is now!" Weregarurumon howled enraged. "I knew a kid that risked his life not once, but twice to save his world and mine! I knew a boy who would rather be tortured than let his brother or his friends get hurt!"
Peregrine and Shocker were staring at Weregarurumon, completely silent.
"It's my fault he's what he is now! If you want to kill someone for the death of your brother kill me!" Weregarurumon declared.
Peregrine walked up to him. "Why? Why would it be your fault?"
"A kid?" Shocker whispered to himself, confused, but Weregarurumon and Peregrine heard him, nevertheless.
"Yes! A kid. I was supposed to protect Matt! I swore I would be there for him, and I promised myself to protect him! But I failed." The werewolf sank to his knees and looked at his hands guiltily. "One night while we both slept he screamed and when I woke up I couldn't get to him as I saw how he disappeared in front of me! And I was helpless! What kind of friend and protector am I that I failed him when he needed me?!"
***
TauroX swirled his axe above his head and slashed at X, who ducked under it and fired at his head.
The minotaur stumbled back as the shot almost blew his head off. He was fast, but X was faster. In a fight against anyone but Zero or X, he would be the clear victor. However, the First Reploid was clearly too much for him, TauroX noted as he was shot yet again.
Suddenly, X's radio activated and both could hear Zero's voice announcing the destruction of one of the targets.
X ignored it, but TauroX was a little disturbed by that. He attacked X again, swinging his axe down when X dashed under him again and shot.
TauroX brought up his axe, but it wasn't a normal blast. It was acid! The Minotaur Reploid was forced to throw his axe away as it melted under the effects of Spray Rat's acid.
TauroX gulped when X looked at him grimly.
***
Shocker was free of the Ice, but he wasn't doing anything but stare at Weregarurumon.
"Then, when I finally come here and find him, I also find out that he has spent 30 or more years here, and worse, my friend was transformed into a killing machine by some idiot!"
He shot his eyes forcibly. "I didn't only fail him; I failed his parents, his friends and his brother."
Weregarurumon shook his head and looked at Peregrine.
"Have we finished here yet? I don't want to stay in this place any longer."
Peregrine looked at Shocker for a moment and nodded.
"Yes, I believe we can go now," Peregrine turned on her transmitter. "This is Peregrine. Target disabled."
X's transmission greeted her in turn. "Roger, mine's too. Let's get on with it!"
They walked out of the room, leaving Shocker to his thoughts.
***
Zero found his next enemy to be the same Rat Reploid X had fought.
"Don't tell me I have to fight you too." Zero muttered closing his eyes and sighing.
"I am Spray Rat! And you have to fight me! You are not to my level of Power! Give up and join us... or die!" the robot replied.
Zero shrugged.
***
X, now having and Axe Spin attack, dashed down to the underground caverns where he would meet his next enemy.
***
Peregrine glanced occasionally at Weregarurumon as they walked up a spiral staircase in the center of the tower where they were to disable the next missile.
The were-creature had remained quiet since they had left Shocker behind, and had instead stubbornly kept his eyes away from her.
Even though she was barely starting to understand the situation she could feel his pain.
"He's not a murderer, you know." She said softly.
Weregarurumon ignored her, although he did frown and speed up a little.
"Sigma would've used Repliforce to kill the whole population in this planet. You cannot call him that when he regretted having to fight Magma Dragoon so much."
Weregarurumon sighed. "I know, Matt told me about it. But that's not what bothers me."
Peregrine was a little confused, but she prodded the Digimon to explain.
"It's the fact that he became a machine just because I couldn't-" he started.
He stopped as Peregrine slapped him hard on the muzzle. He looked up at her in surprise, and noted that she was close to tears. "How can you say that?!"
Weregarurumon could only rub at his cheek flabbergasted.
"We are not simple 'machines'! Each of us has a soul! I don't know how it works or why, but I know I feel pain here," She patted her chest where her heart would be.
"If one of my friends gets hurt. I know I feel. I know I learn and that I have the capacity for love! And you come here and tell me that I'm a lie?! And that X, Zero, Lynx and all the others are living a lie?"
Twin tears slid down her cheeks, and Weregarurumon softly passed his fingers over them, cleaning her face, only to stare at his finger. "You're crying..."
Peregrine rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yes. It's a simple matter to enable these kind gadgets to a Reploids eyes."
Weregarurumon shook his head. "You cried!"
"So?! Is it wrong? Oh, I forgot, since I'm a machine I shouldn't be able to feel emotional pain and cry. Sorry."
This time, Peregrine was the one to start walking away in anger, leaving Weregarurumon to catch up with her.
***
They finally arrived at the top of the tower, and entered a large domed room where a human-looking Reploid in simple black armor waited for them.
"I am Afcaal. I am here to protect this missile from you two losers, so prepare to fight... and die." He said, taking a step towards them.
***
X entered the missile room only to dash under hundred of yellowish tentacle- like... noodles?
"What the?!"
The noodles returned to a dark area of the room, and out of it stepped a Maverick that actually looked like an instant noodle soup!
"You've got to be kidding me!" X shouted, rolling away.
"Megaman! Prepare to die!! Noodle Wall!" Noodleman shouted.
Hundreds of metallic noodles flew at X, who quickly activated his Acid Gun.
X's armor changed from blue and white to green and white, as he shot acid at the approaching noodles.
The acid didn't affect them, however, so he had to dash away.
Noodle man laughed manically twirling his noodle-weapons around in an effort to capture X.
The Maverick Hunter dashed, slid, rolled, jumped and fired at the noodles with his X-buster, but the noodles only looked a little burnt.
"Only one chance now..." X muttered as he activated his newest weapon. A white energy circle surrounded X as he transformed into his new mode. The blue areas in his uniform turned orange, and his X buster was substituted by a double edged axe.
Jumping high into the air and throwing the axe at the noodles, X started his attack.
***
Spray Rat was slammed against the wall, Zero's saber stopping mere millimeters from his throat.
"I thought X had killed you." The Hunter asked the Maverick.
"He did!" Spray Rat gasped trying to pray Zero's arm away from him.
"Well, who rebuilt you then?!" Zero asked.
"I... won't... tell... you!" Spray Rat shouted defiantly.
Spray Rat managed to sneak his gun between the two, firing a spray of acid into the air. Zero jumped backwards, barely able to avoid the deadly rain. Spray Rat wasn't so fortunate. The acid consumed large parts of his furry pelt and face.
Just when Zero had thought the acid would finish his work for him, Spray Rat shot at him.
"My own attack will not kill me!" the half burnt rat shouted angrily.
Zero dashed to the side and was able to avoid much of the spray, however, a few drops fell on his sword arm and he felt it start burning through his armor. Gritting his teeth, Zero jumped at Spray Rat, impaling him into the wall with his sword. Spray Rat had time to look in surprise from the sword to Zero's feral expression just before the latter pulled his sword up cutting the Maverick from the waist up in half.
Spray Rat's cut cables short-circuited and sparks flashed out igniting whatever fluid the acid was and making the former Maverick explode, throwing Zero into the console of the nearby computers.
Which exploded in turn.
Zero dragged himself out of the fire and turned on his back, breathing heavily. He had noticed that he and X were the only ones who did that. Breath heavily that is.
Well, not really, not anymore; Dr. Cain and his comrades-at-lab had reproduced this function into the newest Reploids about a couple of Reploid generations back.
He chuckled slightly. True, they were also the ones that ended up the most beaten up of the group and survived... until Peregrine's group started action. Her team had been able to take a wallop and somehow survive and complete the mission.
It seemed humans related more to Reploids that panted.
For a moment, Zero thought about that thought. He wasn't human; not now, but he wasn't exactly a Reploid either. What was he? Was he Matt? Was he Zero the Maverick Hunter?
Zero groaned, still eagle-spread in the ground, and sighed. He would worry about that when this mission was finished. Right now he didn't have time for Matt the human. Right now he was to be Zero; the Reploid who beat he hell out of Sigma with a broken pipe.
***
Peregrine slammed against a metallic wall, and stayed there, followed mere seconds later by Weregarurumon, who slammed to her right.
Afcaal regarded them for a moment before releasing his gravitational hold on them.
"Damn!" Peregrine grunted.
Weregarurumon could only wheeze as his breath was pounded out of him with the force of slamming on the ground.
Afcaal's armor changed into a red hue as he walked up to them. "Fire Chain!" he shouted.
Peregrine jumped and opened her wings hovering up, while Matt's Digimon rolled to the side as a pair of chains engulfed in fire hit the ground where they had been.
Afcaal's armor changed yet again into a dull brown, and his right hand buster changed into a drill.
"Drill missile!" He shouted as he shot three consecutive missiles at Weregarurumon. The werewolf rolled under one, stepped hastily to the side to avoid the next one and finally jumped over the last. He grinned at Afcaal, but his mirth faded when he saw the Reploid smiling smugly back at him.
Then the missiles hit the wall behind him and Weregarurumon literally flew into the wall at the other side of the room with the ensuing explosion.
Peregrine, who had been charging her buster, didn't waste another minute and fired at Afcaal.
The Maverick was engulfed by the black ray and completely covered in a few seconds. When the darkness around him faded, he had already fallen on one knee. Small trickles of black energy surrounded his body, but dissipated as he stood up.
He angrily twirled around as his armor changed colors into yellow. "Die! Sparkle!"
Peregrine tried to evade it, thinking it would be an electric attack, but the unexpected flash left her stunned and she fell to the ground. A sickening crunch and a scream encouraged Weregarurumon to stand up. He looked in horror as Afcaal, in a rusty-red armor, stabbed some kind of giant needle on Peregrine's left wing. She screamed again as the Maverick stood back to survey his work.
She had been impaled to the wall by two of Afcaal's needles, one on each wing, and she was hanging limply, energy drained and tears slowly streaming down her face. Her booster had apparently blown up and all that remained of it was scrap metal. Afcaal had removed her stylized helm letting her long thick brown hair fall around her face.
She looked like a horribly mutilated angel.
Standing up he started to slowly walk towards his enemy, as Afcaal changed colors again. This time into a variant of yellow.
"You're gonna blow up this time, little birdie." Afcaal taunted.
Peregrine barely registered his words, but the tone was obvious. She closed her eyes and waited for her execution as Afcaal started to charge up.
She felt the electricity build up as her hair started to rise in response to the huge amounts being released. When she heard Afcaal announce his attack she closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable.
She heard the discharge and winced, but the blast never came. She opened her eyes carefully and slowly, to find herself face to face with Weregarurumon.
The Digimon smiled slightly at her, and then slid down to devolve back into a semi-conscious Gabumon.
"G-Gabumon?" She asked in surprise.
"I'm sorry... I... I didn't understand before..." Gabumon slumped into the ground, now unconscious.
"Gabumon! Gabumon!"
Afcaal kicked the immobile figure away and stood sneering at her.
"Hmm. It seems you'll live a few more seconds." He now changed into a deep blue armor.
Gabumon was fighting a loosing battle with reality, but he managed to open his eyes, only to stare helplessly at both Reploids.
"Matt, I failed you again... I promised to take care of her..." Gabumon, fueled by his promise dragged himself towards Afcaal. "No... I... will... not... fail you... again!"
***
Zero sensed something pulsating. As he stood up he looked down at his Digivice. It was glowing.
"True, I will not stay here. I must meet the others. My friends." He said resolutely.
He clasped his Digivice and walked towards the door.
The Digivice glowed stronger.
***
End Chapter 3
By Wanderer D
Chapter 3
Peregrine and Weregarurumon ran down a long tunnel towards their destination: the first of the two missiles they would have to stop. On their way they found an assortment of robots which were easily disposed of.
Peregrine was surprised at how well her teammate adapted to fights. She was no longer mad at Zero, although she would have preferred teaming up with *him*.
Weregarurumon blasted to pieces a small bat robot and looked at her. "Are you tired, Peregrine? Your face is going red."
Peregrine's face became even redder and she shook her head. "No! I'm not thinking about Zero! Let's go!" She spread her wings and flew down the tunnel, stopping further argument.
"But... I didn't ask that!" Weregarurumon shouted as he ran after her.
Finally they reached a titanium alloy door. Peregrine touched a pad next to it and it opened without so much of a whoosh. However, the Maverick inside would know of their intrusion by now.
The door opened to reveal...
"Shocker!"
"You know him?" Weregarurumon asked in surprise.
Peregrine nodded. "His name is Shock Dragoon. He's the younger brother of Magma Dragoon, another Hunter turned bad."
Shocker looked similar to Magma Dragoon, a mixture of human and dragon but he was lighter and incredibly swift. His armor was yellow, unlike Magma Dragoon's crimson.
"Peregrine... Long time no see..." Shocker greeted. "Tell me, have you come to join us, or to die here?"
Shocker closed his fists and blue lightning surrounded him then flew around the room, rebounding on the walls to finally converge on his body again, and almost disappear. It's only residue evident in the eerily glowing eyes of Shocker, and the fists crackling with energy.
***
Zero dashed down another tunnel, barely even stopping as he cut and slashed through his enemies. Finally he reached his own objective, and after opening the reinforced door, dashed in.
He found himself standing in a large factory full of large ovens. For a moment he had a sinking feeling in his gut as he heard a roar. Then his instincts took control as he jumped back and away from four lines of fire that cut the air -and the ground- where he was standing mere seconds ago.
Pulling his saber in front of him, he prepared himself for action as his attacker walked into the room.
The Maverick that stood in front of him had the face and mane of a lion and the lower body of a human; his feet and armored hands ended in claws and were covered in fire.
"I am Fire Lion! Prepare to die, Zero!"
Zero smiled as the familiar thrill of battle invaded his body. The only warning Fire Lion had was the fire burning in Zero's eyes as the latter shot forward, swinging his saber in an upward slash.
***
X shouted, jumped, dashed, fired, retraced his steps and generally made a mess of the enemies that appeared in his way. When finally none was left, he calmly walked to the door and blasted it open.
Inside he found himself face to face with a Minotaur out of Greek mythology. Only this one was made out of reinforced metal and with a huge axe. Bulging metallic muscles and two towering and wicked looking horns on each side of its bovine head gave this Maverick an impressive and violent look.
X looked up at the monster. "And who are you?"
"I'm TauroX! THE DESTROYER!"
Without warning, he batted X with his axe against a wall. X grunted as he stood on all fours. He then rolled to the side barely avoiding the axe as it crashed next to his head.
X didn't have time to think as his battle-honed instincts took over. He dashed under the massive minotaur's legs as he charged his booster. X jumped to the nearest wall, and hanging from it shot his charged blast at TauroX's head.
Even though the minotaur blocked the shot with the flat of his axe, he was still shoved back a couple of steps.
"Axe SLASH!" TauroX charged the wall and cut a straight line through it, breaking it in two. X, however, had jumped just before impact and activated his boots, shooting over the minotaur's head.
X had charged his booster yet again, and as his enemy started to tear his axe away, he shot to the small of TauroX's back.
The huge Reploid fell to his knees, temporarily stunned.
***
"I was wondering when you would come here," Shocker commented, casting a curious look at the werewolf standing next to Peregrine. It was not a Reploid as far as he could tell.
"And I was wondering what happened to you after you left." Peregrine answered.
Shocker shrugged non-committal. "Oh, I've been traveling around. Until I heard what happened to my brother!"
Peregrine looked at Weregarurumon worriedly. "Look, Zero had no choice!"
"There's always a choice!" Shocker bellowed as he shot a series of rapid thunderbolts.
Weregarurumon and Peregrine scrambled out of the way as Shocker stopped his barrage.
"Dragoon attacked him and would have killed both Zero and X if he hadn't fought back! The only reason Dragoon had was his wish to fight Zero to the end!"
Shocker would not hear about it and shot out again, this time hitting Peregrine in the chest. Weregarurumon caught her before she crashed onto the wall, and helped her to her feet as she shook off the effects of Shocker's blast.
"Don't lie to me!" Shocker shouted. "I know the truth! Dragoon was weak and Zero killed him!"
Weregarurumon shook his fist angrily at Shocker. "That's not true! Matt would NEVER do such a thing!"
He was blasted out of the way by a lightning bolt.
"Who's Matt, anyway?" Shocker asked.
***
Fire lion grasped the remnants of his arm quickly dashing away from Zero. The latter stopped his blinding attacks and regarded his enemy.
The fire Reploid was cut in several places, his left arm was missing, and two of his claws were cut cleanly. The lion growled and backed off wearily.
Zero walked forward calmly.
***
Shocker stopped attacking them, as he heard something only he could hear.
"You say Zero wouldn't do that?" he asked.
A huge screen appeared behind him.
There they could see Fire Lion, wounded and now short-circuiting, backed against a computer console.
Zero shot forward suddenly. His sword flashing in intricate patterns as he cut Fire Lion to pieces. When the last piece fell to the ground, he stepped in front of the computer and typed something. He then raised his communicator, and, sure enough, they heard Zero's voice clearly.
"Nuke disabled. Moving off to next target."
The screen turned off and Shock Dragoon looked at them, noting Weregarurumon's uneasiness at his friend's actions.
"It is undeniable, Zero massacred Fire Lion when he was obviously helpless. He could have spared him, but no! He killed him quickly and efficiently."
Peregrine frowned. She turned to look at Weregarurumon.
"This is not the time to dwell on that. We have to stop the nuke here and move on to the next!"
Weregarurumon nodded grimly and growled menacingly at Shocker.
Peregrine and Weregarurumon acted as one. The Digimon did a spin kick and released some kind of energy that Shocker easily avoided. The wall behind him shattered with the force of the energy. Both Reploids stared at Weregarurumon in surprise.
"Zero was right when he told me not to underestimate you, Weregarurumon!" Peregrine noted.
Shocker attacked them then, firing his lightning bolts with seeming abandon.
Both fighters avoided the attacks. Weregarurumon suddenly shot out a blue beam from his mouth, which hit Shocker fully in the chest.
As Shocker began to freeze, Peregrine flew towards the nearest computer and started typing.
"Weregarurumon! Keep Shocker occupied while I finish here!" she shouted over her shoulder.
"Why don't you kill me as your leader killed my brother?!" Shocker demanded between struggles.
"We don't kill our friends, and you know it, Shocker!" Peregrine answered over his shoulders.
"It's probably because you haven't been around Zero long enough!" Shocker growled.
The Reploid was shocked when he was hit by Weregarurumon. The were- creature's huge fist connected with Shocker's face and forced his head painfully back.
"Don't you dare say that about Matt! He would give his life for his friends! That can't be said about you!" Weregarurumon practically shouted.
Shocker looked up at Weregarurumon. "I assume this 'Matt' of which you speak so highly is Zero. On what basis do you tell me he would?"
Weregarurumon glared at Shocker. "He has done so before! He did it to save X from Vile!"
"Caught in battle frenzy." Shocker stated cynically.
Weregarurumon snorted. "You don't know Matt as well as I do."
"And why should you know him any better?! I hadn't seen you ever before with Zero!"
"Because I knew him before he became the machine he is now!" Weregarurumon howled enraged. "I knew a kid that risked his life not once, but twice to save his world and mine! I knew a boy who would rather be tortured than let his brother or his friends get hurt!"
Peregrine and Shocker were staring at Weregarurumon, completely silent.
"It's my fault he's what he is now! If you want to kill someone for the death of your brother kill me!" Weregarurumon declared.
Peregrine walked up to him. "Why? Why would it be your fault?"
"A kid?" Shocker whispered to himself, confused, but Weregarurumon and Peregrine heard him, nevertheless.
"Yes! A kid. I was supposed to protect Matt! I swore I would be there for him, and I promised myself to protect him! But I failed." The werewolf sank to his knees and looked at his hands guiltily. "One night while we both slept he screamed and when I woke up I couldn't get to him as I saw how he disappeared in front of me! And I was helpless! What kind of friend and protector am I that I failed him when he needed me?!"
***
TauroX swirled his axe above his head and slashed at X, who ducked under it and fired at his head.
The minotaur stumbled back as the shot almost blew his head off. He was fast, but X was faster. In a fight against anyone but Zero or X, he would be the clear victor. However, the First Reploid was clearly too much for him, TauroX noted as he was shot yet again.
Suddenly, X's radio activated and both could hear Zero's voice announcing the destruction of one of the targets.
X ignored it, but TauroX was a little disturbed by that. He attacked X again, swinging his axe down when X dashed under him again and shot.
TauroX brought up his axe, but it wasn't a normal blast. It was acid! The Minotaur Reploid was forced to throw his axe away as it melted under the effects of Spray Rat's acid.
TauroX gulped when X looked at him grimly.
***
Shocker was free of the Ice, but he wasn't doing anything but stare at Weregarurumon.
"Then, when I finally come here and find him, I also find out that he has spent 30 or more years here, and worse, my friend was transformed into a killing machine by some idiot!"
He shot his eyes forcibly. "I didn't only fail him; I failed his parents, his friends and his brother."
Weregarurumon shook his head and looked at Peregrine.
"Have we finished here yet? I don't want to stay in this place any longer."
Peregrine looked at Shocker for a moment and nodded.
"Yes, I believe we can go now," Peregrine turned on her transmitter. "This is Peregrine. Target disabled."
X's transmission greeted her in turn. "Roger, mine's too. Let's get on with it!"
They walked out of the room, leaving Shocker to his thoughts.
***
Zero found his next enemy to be the same Rat Reploid X had fought.
"Don't tell me I have to fight you too." Zero muttered closing his eyes and sighing.
"I am Spray Rat! And you have to fight me! You are not to my level of Power! Give up and join us... or die!" the robot replied.
Zero shrugged.
***
X, now having and Axe Spin attack, dashed down to the underground caverns where he would meet his next enemy.
***
Peregrine glanced occasionally at Weregarurumon as they walked up a spiral staircase in the center of the tower where they were to disable the next missile.
The were-creature had remained quiet since they had left Shocker behind, and had instead stubbornly kept his eyes away from her.
Even though she was barely starting to understand the situation she could feel his pain.
"He's not a murderer, you know." She said softly.
Weregarurumon ignored her, although he did frown and speed up a little.
"Sigma would've used Repliforce to kill the whole population in this planet. You cannot call him that when he regretted having to fight Magma Dragoon so much."
Weregarurumon sighed. "I know, Matt told me about it. But that's not what bothers me."
Peregrine was a little confused, but she prodded the Digimon to explain.
"It's the fact that he became a machine just because I couldn't-" he started.
He stopped as Peregrine slapped him hard on the muzzle. He looked up at her in surprise, and noted that she was close to tears. "How can you say that?!"
Weregarurumon could only rub at his cheek flabbergasted.
"We are not simple 'machines'! Each of us has a soul! I don't know how it works or why, but I know I feel pain here," She patted her chest where her heart would be.
"If one of my friends gets hurt. I know I feel. I know I learn and that I have the capacity for love! And you come here and tell me that I'm a lie?! And that X, Zero, Lynx and all the others are living a lie?"
Twin tears slid down her cheeks, and Weregarurumon softly passed his fingers over them, cleaning her face, only to stare at his finger. "You're crying..."
Peregrine rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yes. It's a simple matter to enable these kind gadgets to a Reploids eyes."
Weregarurumon shook his head. "You cried!"
"So?! Is it wrong? Oh, I forgot, since I'm a machine I shouldn't be able to feel emotional pain and cry. Sorry."
This time, Peregrine was the one to start walking away in anger, leaving Weregarurumon to catch up with her.
***
They finally arrived at the top of the tower, and entered a large domed room where a human-looking Reploid in simple black armor waited for them.
"I am Afcaal. I am here to protect this missile from you two losers, so prepare to fight... and die." He said, taking a step towards them.
***
X entered the missile room only to dash under hundred of yellowish tentacle- like... noodles?
"What the?!"
The noodles returned to a dark area of the room, and out of it stepped a Maverick that actually looked like an instant noodle soup!
"You've got to be kidding me!" X shouted, rolling away.
"Megaman! Prepare to die!! Noodle Wall!" Noodleman shouted.
Hundreds of metallic noodles flew at X, who quickly activated his Acid Gun.
X's armor changed from blue and white to green and white, as he shot acid at the approaching noodles.
The acid didn't affect them, however, so he had to dash away.
Noodle man laughed manically twirling his noodle-weapons around in an effort to capture X.
The Maverick Hunter dashed, slid, rolled, jumped and fired at the noodles with his X-buster, but the noodles only looked a little burnt.
"Only one chance now..." X muttered as he activated his newest weapon. A white energy circle surrounded X as he transformed into his new mode. The blue areas in his uniform turned orange, and his X buster was substituted by a double edged axe.
Jumping high into the air and throwing the axe at the noodles, X started his attack.
***
Spray Rat was slammed against the wall, Zero's saber stopping mere millimeters from his throat.
"I thought X had killed you." The Hunter asked the Maverick.
"He did!" Spray Rat gasped trying to pray Zero's arm away from him.
"Well, who rebuilt you then?!" Zero asked.
"I... won't... tell... you!" Spray Rat shouted defiantly.
Spray Rat managed to sneak his gun between the two, firing a spray of acid into the air. Zero jumped backwards, barely able to avoid the deadly rain. Spray Rat wasn't so fortunate. The acid consumed large parts of his furry pelt and face.
Just when Zero had thought the acid would finish his work for him, Spray Rat shot at him.
"My own attack will not kill me!" the half burnt rat shouted angrily.
Zero dashed to the side and was able to avoid much of the spray, however, a few drops fell on his sword arm and he felt it start burning through his armor. Gritting his teeth, Zero jumped at Spray Rat, impaling him into the wall with his sword. Spray Rat had time to look in surprise from the sword to Zero's feral expression just before the latter pulled his sword up cutting the Maverick from the waist up in half.
Spray Rat's cut cables short-circuited and sparks flashed out igniting whatever fluid the acid was and making the former Maverick explode, throwing Zero into the console of the nearby computers.
Which exploded in turn.
Zero dragged himself out of the fire and turned on his back, breathing heavily. He had noticed that he and X were the only ones who did that. Breath heavily that is.
Well, not really, not anymore; Dr. Cain and his comrades-at-lab had reproduced this function into the newest Reploids about a couple of Reploid generations back.
He chuckled slightly. True, they were also the ones that ended up the most beaten up of the group and survived... until Peregrine's group started action. Her team had been able to take a wallop and somehow survive and complete the mission.
It seemed humans related more to Reploids that panted.
For a moment, Zero thought about that thought. He wasn't human; not now, but he wasn't exactly a Reploid either. What was he? Was he Matt? Was he Zero the Maverick Hunter?
Zero groaned, still eagle-spread in the ground, and sighed. He would worry about that when this mission was finished. Right now he didn't have time for Matt the human. Right now he was to be Zero; the Reploid who beat he hell out of Sigma with a broken pipe.
***
Peregrine slammed against a metallic wall, and stayed there, followed mere seconds later by Weregarurumon, who slammed to her right.
Afcaal regarded them for a moment before releasing his gravitational hold on them.
"Damn!" Peregrine grunted.
Weregarurumon could only wheeze as his breath was pounded out of him with the force of slamming on the ground.
Afcaal's armor changed into a red hue as he walked up to them. "Fire Chain!" he shouted.
Peregrine jumped and opened her wings hovering up, while Matt's Digimon rolled to the side as a pair of chains engulfed in fire hit the ground where they had been.
Afcaal's armor changed yet again into a dull brown, and his right hand buster changed into a drill.
"Drill missile!" He shouted as he shot three consecutive missiles at Weregarurumon. The werewolf rolled under one, stepped hastily to the side to avoid the next one and finally jumped over the last. He grinned at Afcaal, but his mirth faded when he saw the Reploid smiling smugly back at him.
Then the missiles hit the wall behind him and Weregarurumon literally flew into the wall at the other side of the room with the ensuing explosion.
Peregrine, who had been charging her buster, didn't waste another minute and fired at Afcaal.
The Maverick was engulfed by the black ray and completely covered in a few seconds. When the darkness around him faded, he had already fallen on one knee. Small trickles of black energy surrounded his body, but dissipated as he stood up.
He angrily twirled around as his armor changed colors into yellow. "Die! Sparkle!"
Peregrine tried to evade it, thinking it would be an electric attack, but the unexpected flash left her stunned and she fell to the ground. A sickening crunch and a scream encouraged Weregarurumon to stand up. He looked in horror as Afcaal, in a rusty-red armor, stabbed some kind of giant needle on Peregrine's left wing. She screamed again as the Maverick stood back to survey his work.
She had been impaled to the wall by two of Afcaal's needles, one on each wing, and she was hanging limply, energy drained and tears slowly streaming down her face. Her booster had apparently blown up and all that remained of it was scrap metal. Afcaal had removed her stylized helm letting her long thick brown hair fall around her face.
She looked like a horribly mutilated angel.
Standing up he started to slowly walk towards his enemy, as Afcaal changed colors again. This time into a variant of yellow.
"You're gonna blow up this time, little birdie." Afcaal taunted.
Peregrine barely registered his words, but the tone was obvious. She closed her eyes and waited for her execution as Afcaal started to charge up.
She felt the electricity build up as her hair started to rise in response to the huge amounts being released. When she heard Afcaal announce his attack she closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable.
She heard the discharge and winced, but the blast never came. She opened her eyes carefully and slowly, to find herself face to face with Weregarurumon.
The Digimon smiled slightly at her, and then slid down to devolve back into a semi-conscious Gabumon.
"G-Gabumon?" She asked in surprise.
"I'm sorry... I... I didn't understand before..." Gabumon slumped into the ground, now unconscious.
"Gabumon! Gabumon!"
Afcaal kicked the immobile figure away and stood sneering at her.
"Hmm. It seems you'll live a few more seconds." He now changed into a deep blue armor.
Gabumon was fighting a loosing battle with reality, but he managed to open his eyes, only to stare helplessly at both Reploids.
"Matt, I failed you again... I promised to take care of her..." Gabumon, fueled by his promise dragged himself towards Afcaal. "No... I... will... not... fail you... again!"
***
Zero sensed something pulsating. As he stood up he looked down at his Digivice. It was glowing.
"True, I will not stay here. I must meet the others. My friends." He said resolutely.
He clasped his Digivice and walked towards the door.
The Digivice glowed stronger.
***
End Chapter 3