Mega Man Cross
Chapter 20
"Twin Dragons"
By MEGAMANX411

As Alia typed away on her computer to search for the final two dragons, she noticed something odd. They were both supposedly located in the same area based on the information included in the data chips given to them by Dr. Doppler. Alia winced her eyes to make sure she wasn't reading the data incorrectly, and then resumed her search.

Alia wasn't sure if this was lucky or a bad sign. If this information was true, which Alia believed to be the case, then this may be a rather difficult battle. Each dragon they had faced so far was already difficult by itself, so fighting two simultaneously might prove to be next to impossible. Still, if they did manage to defeat these dragons, then that meant they would be able to gain access to Sigma.

"Something wrong Alia?" X asked, looking over the navigator's shoulder.

Alia wasn't sure if she should express her worry on the matter, because it might just create needless panic. However, she did think it may be in her best interest to inform the others.

"X, I think we should carefully plan our next battle," Alia replied, turning to face the blue hunter.

X looked back at Alia curiously and was a bit confused as to her meaning.

"What do you mean Alia? Did you find something out?" X asked.

"Well..the next two dragons are in the same location. That means we may have to fight them both at the same time," Alia replied.

"I see..." X replied, his eyes lowering to the ground. "Alia, I appreciate you expressing your concern about this. But what precautions can we take really?"

Alia shrugged her shoulders, admitting that she wasn't entirely knowledgable on what to do. That certainly wasn't normal for her. Still, one had to admit that there wasn't much they could do really. There weren't many options available to them at the moment..but they could still make a battle plan. Alia was then reinvigorated with a sense of courage, and tapped X on the shoulder.

"X, I think I have an idea. We should separate into teams and try to get the dragons away from one another. If we have numbers on our side, we might have an advantage. I can go with you, and Zero can take Norris and Kid. We might be able to take down one dragon ourselves, and Zero and his team can take the other down," Alia offered.

X nodded his head in confirmation and rounded up the other members of the group. He informed them of Alia's plan, going over the more intricate details with them on the matter. If there were two dragons involved, they did not want to have them together. Having their two enemies cooperating might prove disastrous, so they concluded that it would be best to separate the dragons and eliminate them with individual teams.

"Areyou sure you two will be ok by yourselves?" Zero asked. "I mean, if it's just you and Alia, that might be a bit dangerous..."

"Don't worry Zero. We'll be ok," Alia replied. "It works out better this way. Besides, we need to have you and X on separate teams because you two are the strongest here."

"But how come you are the one who got paired with X?" Kid asked, a smile appearing on her face. "Why ain't Norris with him?"

"Well..this way things seem more even.." Alia replied, blushing a little at the implication Kid was making.

X just smiled at Alia and placed a hand on her back.

"I think these teams work out nicely," he replied, putting an end to the discussion. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes sir. All preparations are complete," Norris replied.

The group then disembarked the boat, getting onto the island. This one was unlike the others in the sense that it wasn't really open. The whole island was entirely rocky and jagged, with the only noticeable thing being the two cave entrances on either side of the island. The air around the island had a strange sound to it, like nothing was alive on one end while the other seemed full of life.

"Alright. Zero, you and your team check out that end," X announced, pointing to one end of the island. "Alia and I will take the other cavern."

"Gotcha. Let's move," Zero replied, motioning for his team to follow his lead.

"Right behind ya!" Kid answered.

Zero ran off to the far side of the island with Kid and Norris not far behind. Zero's blonde hair swayed elegantly in the wind as he ran, and he soon disappeared from view as he entered the cave. Kid followed closely behind, making sure to stick close to Zero..her seemingly implied father figure. Norrs, the quiet and dignified soldier, slowly entered the cave, making sure that they weren't going to be ambushed from the rear.

"Alright. Guess that means we have the other end," X muttered, looking back at Alia. " You ready?" X asked.

Alia slowly nodded her head and walked up close to X. The blue hunter made his way across the rocky ground to the cave entrance with Alia right behind him, almost clinging to his arm. As they entered the cave, they both noticed how dark and dank it was. It was very difficult to see anything, and it was deathly quiet, save for one thing: the droplets of water hitting the ground.

"X..this is pretty creepy.." Alia muttered, getting a bit closer to X.

"It's ok..just stay close.." X muttered.

Luckily, the lights on X's armor did illuminate the cave to a degree, making passage a little easier. Because of that reason, Alia wanted to make sure that she was close to X. He was their main light source, after all. X and Alia then heard a loud crash.

"What was that?" Alia asked, looking around the cave.

"It's here..." X muttered, steadying his buster.

Slowly, from the darkness, crept a massive shadowy creature...it wasn't like something was coming towards them, but it was more like the shadows themselves were growing in size. The shadows seemed to be forming into a creature, something diabolical.

"Alia..stand behind me.." X muttered, transforming his arm into a buster.

"No..I'll fight with you," Alia replied, standing next to X.

Finally, the creature became somewhat recognizable. X and Alia could see the outline of another dragon reploid. It was positively huge, despite being eclipsed by the shadows of the cave. It's blood red eyes were glowing brightly and were clearly visible. The dragon had an incredibly muscular body and it simply surged with raw power. It was clearly an engine of destruction.

The dragon's wings were folded inwards to allow it to fit within the cave, and its massive teeth and claws made it appear even more fearsome. It had to be the strongest looking dragon they had come across with ease.

"X...we'll have to attack together if we want to beat this thing.." Alia offered.

"Alright..charge your buster, and aim for its mouth," X replied, his gaze hardening.

The dragon then hurled itself from the shadows, trying to maul Alia and X with a frenzied assault. X and Alia quickly dove out of the way and tried to blast the creature in retaliation. However, their weapons had little effect on the creature's armor. The dragon then wheeled itself around and looked at X.

"Watch out X!" Alia shouted.

The dragon tried to swallow X in one bite, butAlia shot a blast into the dragon's mouth before it was able to consume him. X just stood there in shock for a moment before finally coming to his senses. He looked at the creature intently, and tried to read its moves.

"Alia..when it tries to bite me again, repeat that attack.." X muttered, readying his stance.

"X..but that's insane!" Alia replied.

"Trust me on this.." X answered, his voice surprisingly calm.

The dragon lunged forward again, and its mouth bashed into the wall. As it crashed into the cave wall, a layer of dust and debris was picked up. Luckily, X dove out of the way in time and shot a blast backwards into the dragon's mouth before it was able to hit him. Alia added to that with her own shot, perfectly timed with X's.

The dragon threw its head back and roared violently, trying to soothe the pain it was feeling in its mouth. The dragon then ran down into the deeper recesses of the cave.

"Come on, we have to follow it!" X shouted.

Meanwhile, Zero and his team were entering the other side of the cave. This cavern was lit up thanks to the holes in the roof of the cave, making it easier to navigate. The cavern was pretty dry, but it still had an odd feeling about it.Zero shot a look back at the others.

"Stay close, ok?" he muttered, tightly gripping his beam saber.

"Gotcha..." Kid replied, looking around the cave.

Norris said nothing, but just tightened his grip on his pistol. He too was a bit unnerved by this whole situation. Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound was heard from the ceiling. Zero immediately looked up to see a massive creature descend upon them. Zero quickly dashed out of the way, taking Kid and Norris with him.

The creature landed and smacked the ground with an absurdly loud crash. That's when the reploid's shape became identifiable. It was yet another dragon reploid, and it was certainly one of the largest they have come across. It's body was simply massive, almost taking up the entire cave. It's hard, metallic skin had a white color scheme, and it had dark eyes that easily stood out against the rest of the colors.

It's body was incredibly musuclar, and it's wings were folded inward so it could fit inside the cave. It's jaw had rows of ultra-powerful crushing teeth, and it's claws were almost ridiculously long.

"Oh..god..." Norris muttered, looking up at the behemoth of a creature.

"This may not have been such a good idea.." Kid added, her expression turning dire.

"This is no time to panic! We gotta stay focused!" Zero shouted.

The dragon narrowed its eyes intently at the group and it lowered its massive head. Zero just stared back at the dragon with fire in his own gaze, determined to win the fight on his own. Kid and Norris stood behind Zero, trying to emulate his courage. The dragon then quickly opened its jaw and tried to make a meal of the group, but Zero quickly brought everyone out of the way.

Norris then aimed his pistol and shot the dragon's mouth. The white dragon barely flinched at the bullets, however. Kid then tried her hand by stabbing it with one of her energy daggers, but that didn't do it much good either.

"Norris, Kid...we'll have to pull out all the stops to beat this thing. We can't hold back. Let's just see if this works...Rakuhouha!"

Zero slammed the ground with his fist and a massive shockwave came as a result. The ground shifted as Zero's savage power ripped through it, slamming into the dragon. The dragon roared as its feet were being assaulted by the huge wave of energy, and it almost tipped over. As it did, Kid ran along the dragon's underbelly, cutting wide gaps across it. Norris then aimed for soft spots by its limbs, inflicting more pain upon the massive dragon reploid.

The white dragon then got back up, shook around violently, and then retreated deeper into the cave.

"After it!" Zero shouted, motioning for the others to follow.

Zero and his group chased after the white dragon while X and Alia were chasing after the shadow dragon. But both groups came into contact with each other at the very center of the cave. In that room, half of the area was bathed in light while the other was eclipsed in darkness. It was a large, open area, with enough room for the dragons to even spread out the wings and move about...not a very good sign.

The shadow dragon came from its side while the white dragon came from its side. They stopped just before colliding into each other and just stared at one another for a moment. X and Alia stopped to see what the shadow dragon was up to while Zero and his group stopped to see the white dragon.

"Zero! You guys are alright!" X shouted.

"Heh..guess the other dragon didn't do you in either," Zero muttered.

The dragons then started walking closer to one another..but what was strange was that their bodies didn't collide like any typical physical matter. Instead, they began to overlap. Their bodies shifted into one another, as if the concept of occupying space had no relevance. The dragons seemed to occupy the same space together, and then a bright light shone forth.

When the light subsided, there was one dragon where the two once stood. It was different though; instead of having just white or just black armor, it had swirls of the two colors with intricate designs and a grey base. It had four wings, two tails, massive claws and teeth, and was even more imposing than the two dragons previously.

"Well..I guess there's only one dragon after all.." Zero muttered, looking up at the creature.

X stood in front of the group anda bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

"This doesn't look too good...I'll have to end it myself before anyone gets hurt.." X muttered.

X then let out a scream as he was encased in brilliant light. His body began to shift and his was once again covered by his creator's ultimate gift, the perfect armorUltimate Armor. X was covered in bulging, black armor and was surging with massive power. But not even he knew if that was enough.

"I'll have to help you out with that.." Zero muttered.

Zero then invoked his own specialty, his Absolute Zero hyper mode. Zero was then given demonic bat wings and large claws to accomodate his new form. He was also surging with massive power, on par with X. He and X were truly legendary reploids in these forms. Kid, Alia, and Norris just stood there in awe.

"Let's go X!" Zero shouted.

X raised his buster, charged, and let loose asimply massive plasma blast. The gigantic wave of energy ripped through the air and slammed into the dragon's side. The dragon roared and whipped it's twin tails at X, knocking him back into a wall. X braced himself for impact so he could back into the fight.

Zero then flew up to the dragon's face, avoiding being bitten while slashing at its eyes with his powerful claws. The dragon tried to bring its jaws down on the hunter, but Zero simply slammed his feet into the dragon's teeth, knocking them out before it could damage him. X then launched himself in the air and shot the dragon in the back of the head with yet another huge blast.

The dragon roared and slammed the ground with its tails, making a huge shockave. Then, it started to collect energy inward. It's body resonated with a strong glow and it slowly opened it's mouth. X shot a look back at the group.

"Watch out!" X screamed, throwing his body in front of Alia and the others.

The dragon's blast was a massive amount of bright, white light followed by a small black orb. The blast went outward, but then the black orb began to suck things inward like a black hole. X looked back to see that his friends were on the verge of being sucked in.

"No! Gotta think of something fast!" he shouted.

The wings on X's back began to unfold and his body started collecting enormous amounts of energy. He was preparing his most powerful attack, the all-powerful Nova Strike. X hurled himself at the black ball, and it merely flickered out of existence as X collided into it. The hunter continued flying forward with amazing speed and ripped through the dragon's throat, emerging out the other side. Zero then flew over and slammed himself into the dragon's head, knocking it off the body.

X and Zero both landed, heaving breathes. They looked at each other, gave one another a thumbs up, and then reverted back to their normal forms.

"Whew...guess that's over..is everyone ok?" Zero asked, looking back.

Norris, Kid, and Alia all nodded, but were in such a state of shock that they couldn't really formulate a coherent answer.

"I'll take that as a yes..." Zero muttered, rubbing the back of his head in embarassment.

"Well, we have the data chip..that means.." X whispered.

"We're going to face Sigma..we're going to face fate.." Alia answered.