MEGA MAN X: END OF A DREAM
By Erico
CHAPTER SIX: A MISSING HUNTER
It had been four days since Zero had left Maverick HHQ to contemplate. The immense time span worried X. Usually Zero would report in if he had gone missing. He lay back on his cot, scanning his Mega Man files via the overhead monitor. When X needed help, he would turn to his files. X longed to know his family. Mega Man, Doctor Light, Protoman…how come none of them existed anymore? Why had they left him to fend for himself, with no further assistance other than the capsules that did little except enhance his abilities? A reploid with beefed up armor is still just a reploid. X never received the concrete answers of his past he wanted. Just then, an alarm went off X shot up and clicked his helmet back into place, covering the thick bushy black hair. Oh well, contemplate later. Right now, the world needed him.
"What's the situation, Doc?" X asked as he dashed into the control room. Cain turned about, his face covered in fear.
"X, we have a new batch of mavericks taking over certain facilities all around the world. I'd wager that Sigma survived again." X frowned.
"All right, what is this bunch doing?" Cain pushed a button on the console and a video clip popped up. People were running through the streets screaming.
"This is New York City, Manhattan. Apparently one of the maverick clusters is making a path straight to Wall Street." X chuckled.
"That's the first intelligent thing anyone's tried to do with that place." Cain barked out,
"X, this is no time to crack jokes! Get out there and stop them before they harm any innocent people! And take the new squadron with you." X nodded. Shifting into the X1 armor he carried, he whistled to the squadron leader, Bastion, the orange reploid that had raised his hand in Cain's meeting.
"Bastion, organize your troops and follow my warp trail. I'm on my way over." Bastion clicked his heels smartly.
"Sir!" X nodded solemnly and phased into an intense array of blue light beams, which then shot up out of the roof and to the American coast.
The idea behind 'warping' as it was called came to be during 20XX A.D. The ability to disassemble molecules of something, turn them into energy, then when they arrived at their destination shift them back into particles and rearrange them was something nobody before that would have thought possible. It wasn't as fast as a beam of light, but it wasn't as deadly. The particles only partially became light, for some had to be particles just to keep the whole mess together and give a coordination to the movement. Besides, light just shoots around aimlessly like a ricochet, and the weightier but less speedy particle transfer beam did just the opposite, functioning much like a laser beam, except it moved around the curve of the earth's surface.
In any case, the total travel time for X was about ten minutes. To him it seemed like nothing, for his thought circuits had been for that period scrambled atoms. But he came to without a scratch, just in time to dodge a flying car that crashed into the side of a building.
"Oh yeah, the fun's not far from here." X grumbled as he swept the dust off himself. Activating his boots, X dashed away into the streets.
X stopped and peered around the corner. There a group of Bee Bladers and Ball De Voux were terrorizing the vehicles that were abandoned. Luckily, X noted, there were no people around as they were rampaging. That meant he could attack with no holdbacks. X slowly charged his arm cannon until it reached level four; a massive purple onslaught that sent a wave of plasma twice his height into the fray. If it failed, X had his backup fireballs, a special attack he could only do if he had full energy. X jumped out of the alley and onto the side of a building. He aimed for the highest Bee Blader and released the purple blast. It struck the Blader high up, sending the gyroscope out of whack and lopping off one of the props that kept it in the air. The Bee Blader plummeted, crushing a trio of Ball De Vouxs. But now they were all aware of X's presence. The Bee Bladers aimed their chainguns at him, and X dropped just in time to avoid being shredded by the depleted slugs. The building did not do so lucky, and a large chunk fell off, following X.
X saw this and morphed into his Retribution armor. Things were getting intense, and he needed his air-dash boots now. The boots did the trick, hurtling X out of danger and right into the path of a Ball De Voux. Swiftly, X grabbed one of the spindly legs, swinging the nuisance around and hurling it at the last Bee Blader in the air. The shot struck, and the explosion created by the Voux's destruction also damaged the flying juggernaut. The Bee Blader crashed, turning into instant shrapnel which flew everywhere and sliced the remaining forces into scrap. X took a deep breath, something he didn't need to do, but had picked up as a habit. But the wait was too short, as a large explosion went off behind X, hurtling him through the air.
X dashed into a stable fall and clung to another building wall. There on the opposite building rooftop stood a very angry and large maverick.
"Well, who do we have here?" X jumped off the building and landed on the roof. The maverick was an imposing sight, with a slick black body, a large head and a very threatening horn. It looked like some kind of whale to X.
The maverick blew his top, literally. His blowhole expelled some hot air from his systems and then he spoke.
"Ar, me hearty. I see thou have defeated my front line troops. But ye won't be doing any jigs when I be through with ye! I be Nitro Narwhal, scourge of the seven silicon seas!" Nitro finished his speech by shooting his horn at X. X dodged, but turned to see the straight shaft explode on impact, destroying another wall of the building which the Blader had hit first. X glared at the new threat.
"Har, har! You ain't got the sea legs to take me!" Nitro laughed, his arms supporting his body as he laughed vigorously. X calmly switched back to his Paladin armor, deciding to try his luck with the Hadouken fireball.
X growled and shot off his blue ultra shot. It hit Nitro's arm, shearing it off. Nitro harrumphed, then shot off a few more salvos of his horn explosive. X dodged the first two, but the last hit him head on, knocking off about a fifth of his shields.
"Damn!" X shouted, realizing this guy meant business. And now he couldn't shoot his fireballs. Nitro laughed again as he charged X, trying to spear him with the horn. X dodged it by jumping high up and dashing to the side, releasing an uncharged shot at Nitro. But it deflected harmlessly off his thick shell.
"Matey, you be walking the plank soon! This be no ordinary armor. This be TitaniTefloalloy!" X gasped. Only his most advanced armor was made of the revolutionary material. It was practically impervious to anything. X charged his cannon. Oh well, he thought. If I'm gonna go down, it'll be hard.
Nitro shot off another shot. X dodged the projectile but the explosion caught him. X somehow managed to fire his shot, only charged to the third level. It was a brilliant blue ball with a flaring tail. It went straight at Nitro's foot. But the TitaniTefloalloy deflected it, right at Nitro's horn. It hit, causing it to explode. Nitro stumbled back a few steps, woozy from the blast. Worse, the armor covering his head had cracks in it. Angrily, his blowhole spouted more hot air as he charged at X.
But now X knew what to do, and it made perfect sense! If Nitro's horns were made out of TitaniTefloalloy, they would never be able to explode on contact! The hard metal would prevent any disruptions. Therefore, his horn was the weak spot. Trying to hit it now that Nitro Narhwal knew what his plan was; well, that was a different ballgame!
"Matey, you be like a barnacle-just a pain in the arse!" Nitro fumed. He charged X, but X dodged to the side again and fired off another shot. Nitro's horn exploded again and shattered off the tough shell helmet. Underneath was circuitry, and the horn generator which produced the exploding horns Nitro Narwhal used. Now Nitro was critically damaged, and he slumped to a knee.
"You…you be a spunky one, matey." X growled.
"All right, tell me. Who is running this operation? Who else is a part of this?" Nitro coughed, then smiled.
"You won't be pumping any data from me, matey. I'm no common jungle squawker!" Nitro charged up and ran at X in a final desperate attack. X sighed, raised his arm cannon and fired the final blow. Nitro's circuitry overheated after the blast, and then he blew apart in a shower of sparks. X lowered his arm cannon and walked over to Nitro Narwhal's decapitated head. Touching it, X received the maverick weapon's blueprints. Instantly, X knew how to use this new weapon.
"Well, let's see…how about I call this…the Narhwal Cannon?" X sighed. He hated to take away life, even if it was necessary. But he had known for a long time now it was kill or be killed. X's coloring had shifted into a blazing forest green with this weapon. Uncharged, the Narhwal Cannon would fire explosive shots. Charged, it would cause horns to pop out of X's frame, protecting him from physical attacks. The charged horns could also be fired at will after they were created. Just then, Bastion and his men warped down. Bastion looked at the battlefield. No matter how often commanders saw it, most could not believe a lone reploid could be such a devastating force. X walked over to Bastion and shifted back into his blue armor.
"Commander, have your men scout the area for any scragglers. After that, begin reconstruction. This place needs it." Bastion nodded dazedly at his leader's calmness after such a fight. X closed his eyes and warped back to the HQ for repairs and to figure out where he needed to go next.