Mega Man Cross
Chapter 16
"The First Dragon"
By MEGAMANX411

While on the boat, X took the time to look at his hands. They felt familiar, but at the same time, it felt somewhat strange to be back in his original body. He looked back down at his blue armor and tried to force a smile. This should be a happy moment for him. He completed one of his main objectives. But the death of Dr. Doppler was too much to bear.

X looked over at Zero, who was looking out the window. He couldn't understand why Zero did it. He did know that Zero killed Doppler so X wouldn't have had to, so that his own conscience would be clean. But still, the fact remained that Zero killed him. X lowered his head in shame. He then felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"X..that wasn't your fault," a voice whispered.

X slowly turned his head to see Alia beside him. Alia sat down next to him, and placed her hand on his. X looked into her eyes, and almost felt too ashamed to speak back.

"X, Dr. Doppler would have done anything to fulfill his goal in that situation. He was being selfish, and he didn't even consider your objections. Zero didn't want you to live with that, so he decided to take responsibility himself. He's a very good friend, he understands you, and he wants to protect you..just like I do," Alia added.

X looked deep into Alia's eyes, and was amazed that her words managed to have the effect of soothing the very pain that was rooted deep in his soul. He just looked at her for a minute, and tried to imagine how she possibly came up with the right exact words he wanted to hear. Alia just rubbed his back and leaned up against X.

X looked back at Zero and realized that he didn't bear any ill will. It wasn't his fault that Doppler died, and he realized that he needed to be strong. All of his friends were counting on him. The whole universe may be counting on him. The very essence of space and time was riding on this.

"Alia...thank you," X muttered.

"X..." Alia whispered.

"I've realized that I can't just feel bad about things I couldn't prevent. I do undertand that Doppler should have been saved. But I won't let that stop me from completing this task," X announced, sounding as determined as ever. "Come on everyone! We have a mission!"

Zero nodded his head to X, symbolizing his respect. Kid and Korcha were just children, so to them, it wasn't much more than some kind of game. But they were going to have fun nonetheless. As for Alia...she had a promise to keep to X. She would stick with him until the end.

Norris then approached X. He hadn't seen him in his blue armor before, so he felt like he was talking to a completely different person.

"Excuse me..X?" Norris asked.

"What is it Norris?" X replied.

"I wanted to thank you for taking me to the Dead Sea. After seeing what it was like..I have a favor to ask of you. I want to go with you," Norris answered.

"Norris..I don't want to involve anyone that doesn't need to be put in danger. But I suppose I can't really stop you myself..." X muttered.

"I certainly won't be a burden, not in the least. I am a soldier, after all," Norris replied, smirking.

"I guess that makes us a team then," Zero muttered, a familiar cockiness coming over him.

The group departed for the first set of coordinates that Dr. Doppler gave to them. The island was simply dubbed "Water Dragon's Isle," so they assumed that it must be home to the first guardian, the water dragon. According to the data that Doppler had given to them, his actual name was Tsunami Leviathan, and rightfully so. He was said to be a dragon-type reploid of simply massive size.

X and company soon reached the island and disembarked. It was a rather small environment, with several pools of water, some caves, and greenery just about everywhere. It was very serene and tranquil, and so utterly calming.

"Alright...let's go find that guardian," Zero announced, holding his saber tightly in his hands.

Zero lead the way down a cavern which came out on the other side of the island. The place they entered was like the entrance...there were pools of water, greenery, and even some pillars scatterd around. It was a rather small space due to all of the clutter.

Butat the end of the room, there stood the dragon. He was simply huge. At least 30 feet in height, and most likely around 50 feet in length from head to tail. His armor was a dark blue color accompanied with some light blue swirls. He had a massive jaw, deep purple eyes, and a powerful body.

"The water dragon..." X muttered, looking up at the creature.

"If you want access to fate..you must claim the data from my body first," the dragon bellowed.

X looked back at Zero, and then shot glances over to Kid, Alia, Korcha, and Norris. They all nodded back, showing that they were ready. X breathed in slowly, and assumed his battle stance.

"We're going to stop Sigma...even if that means going through you!" X shouted, raising his buster high.

The dragon roared and threw its mammoth head back. It then brought up one limb and tried to crush the group with its massive weight. However, X quickly dashed out of the way, pulling Kid and Alia along as he did so. Zero followed suit with Norris and Korcha. Korcha was just a bystander, but it wasn't like he could exactly avoid being involved in such a small space.

The dragon then opened its jaw and tried to swallow Zero whole. However, the crimson hunter wasn't going to stand for that. When the beast got close, he slashed at its teeth and even cut some out. X and Alia were blasting away, trying to get it to back off, while Norris was trying to hit its eyes with his pistol.

The dragon was becoming a bit agitated now...it roared loudly, and then it opened its mouth wide. But this time, it didn't bring it down to bite. A deluge of water came pouring out, and the water wave threatened to wash away the entire group.

"Hold on to me!" X shouted, gearing up in his Falcon Armor.

X's appearance immediately changed, and he was now equipped with his nimble Falcon Armor. He had white, gold, and blue armor plating now, and his design appeared to be a bit more sleek. He grabbed onto everyone, and then soared into the air. He then dropped everyone off on a pillar

"Everyone ok?" he asked.

"Yeah..good thing you put on that armor," Zero muttered. "Gota plan on beating that thing?"

"I do," Alia replied.

"Let's hear it," Zero answered, sounding enthused.

"OK...X, you take Zero and drop him off on top of the water dragon's head. Zero, while on top of him, try to stab at his eyes with your saber. When he's preoccupied with Zero, we can have Kid plant a device on him that will allow me to hack into him and disable him. Norris can provide cover fire," Alia announced.

"You sure 'bout this?" Kid asked, sounding nervous.

"Yeah..I think it'll work," Norris answered.

"Everyone got it? Good, let's get to work," Zero added.

The entire group nodded accordingly, because it was a really good plan. They had a shot at winning this if they pulled it off. Following Alia's cue, X lifted Zero up and flew over the top of the dragon. Zero jumped down, and latched onto the dragon's head. It jerked around violently, but couldn't get the hunter off.

"Stay still!" Zero shouted, steadying himself.

Zero then brought his saber down and rammed it into the dragon's eye. The water dragon roared violently and flailed around, sending Zero flying off. Amidst all of the confusion, Kid was running behind the dragon, and climbed up its backside. Kid quickly ran up the dargons back, and threw a dagger at the back of its head. The dagger had a special implant attached to the blade, and when it was thrown at the dragon, it gave Alia access to its processor.

Alia quickly employed her hacking skills, and soon, the dragon began to twitch and convulse. The dragon fell over on its side, and ceased to move.

"Is it...dead?" Kid asked.

"Only one way to find out," Zero muttered, holding his saber tight.

He rammed his saber into the creature's head, and then pulled a data chip out. Zero fiddled with it in his hands a bit, and then decided to wrap things up.

"Let's see what you have there," Alia muttered, taking the data chip from Zero.

She put it into her computer and started accessing the data on it. Her eyes widened when she saw what was present. It was a continuous stream of extremely complex thereotical time-manipulation data. It was obviously one of the integral parts of the machine that Dr. Doppler spoke of. Sigma must have implanted it in a reploid to keep it secure. This chip seemed to have a secondary function as well...accessing the area to the machine itself.

"I guess this brings us a little closer to Sigma," X muttered, his buster reverting back to his normal hand. "We better head out now."