Mega Man Cross
Chapter 19
"The Fourth Dragon"
By MEGAMANX411

"It's somewhat hard to believe that we're already halfway there. I mean, it's a good thing, but it's kind of unreal too.." X muttered, taking a long stretch.

Zero just shrugged his shoulders and then resumed his typical arrogant stance.

"X, you've known me for how long and you're doubting our ability as a team? Come on. You know that this wasn't going to be too hard for us. And soon, we'll crush Sigma," Zero announced, his eyes hardening with resolve.

Alia's eyes lit up as she was hit with an idea.

"You know, I've been wondering. If Sigma is dead in our world...what would happen if we destroy the Sigma in this world? I mean, it obviously isn't natural for elements of one dimension to interfere with the outcome of the other. What if we end up doing more harm than good?" Alia asked.

X rubbed his chin and thought for a minute. He did wonder about the complications of interfering in another dimension, but he wasn't fully aware of the consequences.

"You know..you may be right. But I don't think we can just let him be, though. I mean, if we simply stop, he'll just use that machine Dr. Doppler created to destroy everything..." X whispered, his voice softening.

X just realized that if Alia was right about this..then they were caught in a serious lose-lose situation. If they didn't destroy Sigma in this world, they'd all be doomed. If they did destroy him, there was the chance of a dimensional collapse. Elements from one dimension are not supposed to meddle in another..and that may seriously damage the space-time continuum.

Zero decided to step in and end things right there. He knew that this talk was necessary and productive, but if they stopped their quest due to this imposing question nothing would be resolved.

"We'll find out sooner or later. But the main thing that we have to do is confront Sigma so we can at least destroy that machine of his. We just can't quit now," Zero announced.

"Zero's right. Unless we keep fightin' we ain't gonna get anythin' done," Kid added, nodding her head.

"Alright then. Come on guys. We have another dragon to take care of. Where's it at Alia?" Zero asked, looking over at the navigator.

Alia quickly brushed her hair out of her eyes so she could see better, and then pulled out her computer to find the next location. Alia inputted the coordinates that Dr. Doppler gave, and the next location came up. Norris led the boat in the direction that Alia specified, and they soon arrived at the next island.

As they disembarked, they noticed that this island was covered in lush forestry. The grass was exceptionally tall, and the trees were simply mammoth. The island was completey filled with the beauty of plant life, and seemed to be incredibly vibrant. Zero led the way, batting any branches out his way as he explored the tiny island.

Alia, Kid, and Norris followed Zero, and X took up the rear. Soon, Zero came to a clearing in the forest. The area he was in was devoid of pesky trees thankfully, which would allow for clearer vision. But there was no dragon in sight.

"This things gotta be around here somewhere.." Zero muttered, looking around the forest.

"How can you tell?" Alia asked, backing up towards X.

"I can kind of feel these things," Zero replied. "Just stay on your toes."

All of the sudden, a muscular green dragon bursted out from the nearby forests. The dragon stood on its powerful hind legs and threw its head back as it roared viciously. It was a very muscular dragon, much like the water dragon that they had faced earlier.

The dragon had a somewhat more humanoid form to it, but it still had a very imposing set of claws and a huge jaw full of razor sharp teeth. The dragon reploid almost matched the water dragon in terms of size, but it still seemed incredibly agile despite its size.

"Heh, what did I tell ya? Get ready everybody!" Zero shouted, pulling out his saber.

The dragon lunged forward with a powerful swipe of its claws, and it just barely grazed Zero. The red hunter spat and spouted a few curses, but quickly got back in the action. He tried to repeat his method of getting on top of the dragon, but the creature batted him away before it could be done. X and Alia used some buster shots, but the dragon managed to actually deflect them with its tail.

Norris tried to gun the creature down by shooting it in its supposed weak spots, but the dragon proved to be far too quick for him to pinpoint. It evaded the shots with surprising agility, and rushed again at the group. The dragon quickly lashed out with its tail and batted away X and Norris, sending them straight into nearby trees.

Alia and Kid luckily managed to escape injury. They exchanged nervous glances and then looked back up at the dragon. Normally the guys would be all over the dragon already, but they were getting beat pretty bad too.

"Kid, I think we need to work together to beat this thing," Alia whispered, standing ready with her buster.

"I hear ya. What do ya suggest?" Kid asked, holding out her twin daggers.

"Try to distract the dragon. Run under him," Alia replied.

Kid's expression turned blank. Her eyes shot open from sheer surprise. She could simply not believe what Alia was suggesting.

"Are ya purposely tryin' to kill me?" Kid asked, a bead of sweat sliding down her face.

Alia just smirked at Kid and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Just trust me, I have a plan," Alia answered.

Kid reluctantly smiled back and nodded her head, but was still rather uneasy. She stood up and looked back at the dragon. A feeling of nervousness came over her, but she looked back at Alia and was suddenly filled with more confidence.

"Alright..I'll trust ya on this one," Kid muttered, readying her daggers.

With surprising agility, Kid darted underneath the dragon, proving that she was far quicker than the beast. She ran under it, and the dragon bent its head down to try and catch her. In the mean time, Alia quickly charged her buster and ran forward. Kid continued running past and then the dragon finally had to turn around. As it wheeled itself around, it caught a glimpse of Alia.

The dragon tried to bite down, but as soon as its mouth opened, Alia let loose a fully charged buster blast. The high-powered blast flew straight into the dragon's mouth. The dragon immediately winced in pain and fell backwards as its esophagus and innards were shredded by the blast. As it painfully threw itself around, Kid took an opportunity by slicing the dragon's underbelly with her daggers.

The dragon finally stopped twitching and finally let itself fall to the ground with a loud crash. As the dragon's huge bulk smashed into the earth, a wave of dust was shot up. Alia and Kid braced themselves to see that the dragon was indeed finished.

"See? What did I tell you?" Alia asked, smiling.

Kid didn't anything in reply, she just gave Alia a similar smile and a thumbs up. X, Zero, and Norris soon woke up, rubbing their aching heads to find that Alia and Kid had already taken care of business. X wasn't really mad or anything, but he was a bit worried that Kid and Alia fought the dragon by themselves. Zero and Norris were just kind of mad that they missed out on the fight.

"You took down that dragon?" Zero asked, his mouth open. "Just you two?"

"Yup. He wasn't so tough, if you have a plan that is," Alia replied, teasing Zero.

Zero just crossed his arms defiantly, but thought it best not to say anything offensive. After all, it was still a victory regardless of whether or not he was involved in the fight. X then walked over to Alia and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright? You sure the dragon didn't hurt you at all?" X asked.

"No, I'm quite ok X. I did complete the training at Maverick Hunter HQ, after all," Alia replied, clearly proud of her achievement.

"Guess I was just a little worried..but I suppose you proved to me that you don't need me to be concerned!" X replied, smiling back at Alia.

As Alia and X exchanged comments, Zero walked up and collected the data chip from the dragon, still a little miffed at the fact that he missed the fight entirely. He walked past the group and onto the boat, and quickly went back to sleep without saying a word. Kid was flaunting her achievement for awhile as well, but the group just stopped listening after awhile...save for Korcha, who was still completely head over heels for Kid.

Norris, the quiet one of the group, just resumed his place at the helm, ready to take them to the next dragon. X and Alia boarded the ship again, ready to face the next enemy. There were four dragons down, and two to go. They were getting even closer to their goal, closer to Sigma, and closer to discovering their fate.