Harry: Da last chapta was called 'Popcorn' because dings started poppin'!
Web: 'Corny', I know, but a good pun nonetheless.
Harry: Dat does it! -whips out hammer- You pull anoda pun, and I'll let you have it!
Web: Let's just get to reviews? Okay? Archeon, as long as the games sell, Capcom will keep cranking them out.
Harry: Even dough X5 was supposed ta end da whole series.
Web: I won't go there. N. B. Special, how should I know?
Begin Chapter!
"Lion failed." Serges looked up from his monitor. "Looks like it's my turn."
"How close is Master Harpuia to success?" Vile GA peered over his companion's shoulder.
"The Maverick Virus will be active within the hour."
"Excellent," Vile grinned.
Serges never saw the robot draw his sword.
A sharp sizzle flooded the area, as Vile swept his blade across his supposed partner.
Serges didn't have time to question, to say anything at the betrayal, before he ceased to exist.
"Sorry, Segres." Vile GA muttered, "But Zero's mine, and mine only. You'd never win against him, so I decided to save you the trouble."
"This way!" Merge continued to lead Zero down the flight of steps. "Ms. Ciel down lower…"
The swordsman rushed downward following his Elf's advice.
A burst of movement came from the corner of Zero's eye. Acting on instinct, he stopped and threw himself backward.
A purple saber stabbed through the spot his head would have been occupying had not the swordsman stopped so abruptly.
Instantly, Zero bounded backward, putting some distance between himself and his opponent. As the Hunter landed, he realized that this wasn't going to be the average fight, the stairs were going to make this tricky.
The swordsman stared at his new opponent, the lean robot known as Vile GA.
"You're an X Hunter I presume." Zero drew his favored blade.
"Correct, the last opponent that you shall ever face." Vile GA muttered as he raised his own blade. "The reincarnation of Agile. I promise you that I'll be the one to retire the famed Zero."
"Over my dead body."
"My plan exactly!" Vile rushed up the stairwell, his sword cutting through the air.
Zero snapped his saber around to deflect the blow, and instantly he was using the momentum of his block to lash out at his opponent.
Vile sneered and he took advantage of the sloped incline. Since he was lower than Zero, he was able to duck and allow the blade to whistle over his head. As soon as it was clear, Vile straightened himself, swinging his sword in the process.
The swordsman went into a low jump; just clearing Vile's thrust. At the apex of his leap, Zero lashed out with his foot, aiming a kick at his opponent's face.
The X Hunter threw himself backward, going into a low back flip and causing the swordsman to miss completely. As soon as he touched down, Vile rushed back up the steps, gunning for his adversary.
Zero sidestepped as Vile slashed wildly at him and then retaliated by launching himself into the air above Vile's head. Utilizing his 'Saber Smash' technique, Zero began his descent, keeping his inverted blade pointed at the X Hunter.
Vile leapt up the steps, putting himself higher up on the stairwell than Zero, and avoiding the attack.
The swordsman dropped to the ground and then bounced backward down the steps; instantly the two opponents rushed at each other with swords drawn.
It was then that Vile pulled a dirty move.
As he closed in on the swordsman, the X Hunter sheathed his sword and pointed his right hand at Zero. When Vile opened his palm, a blast of intense plasma burst out of his hand. In such close quarters, there was nowhere for him to go, and as a result the firepower rained down on Zero, sending the hero plunging backward down the staircase.
As he fell, the swordsman went into a mid-air, backward, somersault so that he was able to land erect.
"Just try that again." Zero threatened as he selected another weapon, his Shield Boomerang.
"With pleasure!" Vile raised his blade.
The Hunter made his move, activating the 'Shield Sweep' ability; he unleashed his Boomerang Shield, sending it racing up the stairway at his opponent.
"Is that your best?" The X Hunter chuckled as he vaulted over the spinning disk.
"No, but this is."
Vile's head snapped up to see Zero, sword upraised, flying at him.
And since he was in mid-air, there was no way that Vile could dodge the coming attack.
The Swordsman put all of his strength into the slash; he had to make it count. His attack hit home, the force sent Vile plunging over the handrail of the stairs, and down to the next flight of steps a story below them.
With a loud crash, Vile slammed into the stairway.
The Hunter waited until his Boomerang rocketed back to him, and then leapt over the railing, dropping down to resume his fight with the X Hunter. Deciding to make the most of his situation, Zero pointed his blade downward as he pulled another Saber Smash.
Vile leapt up the steps, dashing out from under Zero's attack. Putting his momentum to use, Vile launched himself up onto the wall and then flipped over to land upright, he shot back down the steps toward the landing Zero, his sword set to impale his opponent.
Zero recovered in the knick of time, and snapped his blade up to stop Vile's attack.
Again the X Hunter attacked, by jumping over Zero and trying to attack from behind.
The swordsman spun around, activating his Shield just it time to cut off Vile's strike. With a shove, the Hunter knocked the Neo Arcadian's sword aside, giving himself an opening to attack.
Zero capitalized on his position, and struck.
Unfortunately, Vile was ready.
The X Hunter raised his free hand, opened his palm, and unleashed another devastating laser burst on his adversary.
Zero took the attack full force, and reeled, finding himself with his back against stairwell's railing.
Vile attacked the stunned swordsman, by driving his fist into the Hunter's face.
The swordsman could feel himself loosing his balance, but he couldn't seem to do anything as he tipped back over the handrail.
"See ya." Vile smirked as he punched his adversary again.
The force of the blow knocked Zero over the rail, and with a shout the swordsman vanished from sight.
Vile rushed over to the handrail and peered over the side, trying to locate the falling Zero.
For a long moment all was quiet as the X Hunter searched the dim stairwell in an effort to locate his opponent.
He was rewarded with a kick in the face.
His red boot connected solidly with Vile's face as Zero vaulted out from his hiding placebeneath the stairwell, and back up topside. As Vile reeled backward in shock from the attack, the swordsman ignited his blade.
"Playtime's over."
The swordsman attack with controlled speed and precision, slashing with amazing speed and accuracy at his opponent. Vile didn't have a chance to recover between attacks, and was soon whittle down to size.
"This ends now!" Zero raised his sword above his head for the final strike.
Vile could only watch helplessly as the blade came down.
And then it was over.
The deactivated Vile crashed to the ground; he wouldn't be going anywhere ever again.
Zero switched his sword off, and then collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
"Mr. Zero O.K.?" Merge hovered down next to his friend.
"I'm fine." Zero panted, "Just fine."
Trapped between the two Pantheons, Ciel couldn't do anything but watch as the doors slid open. Once the area was clear, the two robots roughly escorted her inside.
Ciel stared in shock as the doors slid shut behind her; this wasn't an interrogation room.
This was a laboratory.
Across the left wall, a row of large, vertical, glass tubes had been set. A mass of computer equipment rested against the right wall next to a large square vault-like box, and a workbench was sitting next to the far wall, tools littering its surface.
Ciel's eyes widened as she saw the unconscious, Cyber Elf, form of X lying in one of the glass tubes.
But that wasn't the shocker.
There, standing smugly in the center of the room, stood the proud figure of Wiel.
"You!" The blond scientist took a step backward at the sight of the crazed man.
"Yes, it is I." Weil gave a mock bow to his captive.
"But how?" Ciel tried to figure out just how her nemesis had infiltrated a Neo Arcadian Correctional Center. "How did you get here?"
"Ah, Ciel, it is all painfully easy." The crazed scientist's explanation was cut short as the familiar form of Harpuia entered the room.
"Harpuia…" Ciel breathed a sigh of relief, there was no way that the Thunder Guardian would pass up a chance to grab Weil for his crimes against Neo Arcadia.
Her relief turned to horror, as the green Reploid strode up to the crazed scientist…
And kneeled before him.
"I have brought her here as you ordered." The Thunder Guardian spoke to Weil.
"Very good, very nicely done, Harpuia, now rise."
At those words, the Guardian rose to his feet, and stepped over to stand beside the scientist.
"This can't be happening…" Ciel couldn't believe her eyes. Harpuia had just joined forces with an enemy of Neo Arcadia!
"Oh, but it is." Weil smirked, "You see, back during the whole Omega fiasco, I took the liberty of… upgrading Harpuia's capabilities during one of his routine physical exams. Lets just say that he isn't feeling quite like himself."
"You… You monster!" The blond strained against the drones holding her prisoner. "Robbing a Reploid of his free will! … But I shouldn't be surprised, you did the same thing with the Mother Elf before…"
"True."The scientistturned and pushed several buttons on his computer console. "But unfortunately, I forgot to take into account your wretched Zero's immunity to the Maverick Virus, and as such giving him protection from the Dark Elf's abilities."
"But that is a thing of the past, and I can assure you that I have learned from that past. I have learned much, such as the power of Maverick Reploids. And then an idea came to mind, why not recreate famous Mavericks and frame the Resistance for their appearance? Neo Arcadia would immediately mobilize against them, and the resulting war would completely wear out both forces, leaving the path wide open for me to take over."
"My latest creation," Weil produced a computer disk, and proceeded to slip it into his computer's disk drive. "A recreation of the most powerful Maverick of all! Sigma himself!"
"You can't! Sigma is much too powerful to be-"
"My plans call for the annihilation of the currentworld, so that a new world can be born... So I expect him to disregard my orders, but rest assured that I'll have the last laugh. Especially once we recreate the Maverick Virus as well, by the way, I must thank Original X for providing me with the details for Sigma and the Maverick Virus. I just wish that he hadn't been so stubborn about sharing them."
Before Ciel's eyes, the crazed scientist activated the disk's contents, causing the vault next to the computer to glow ominously.
"ARISE!"
At Weil's command the doors creaked open by degrees, revealing the dark, sinister form of a duplicated Maverick. He was tall, almost two heads taller than Zero, his white body was covered by dark green armor. A sheathed Saber hung from his back, and his spiked knuckles subconsciously clenched as new power began to flow through its body. It's scarred face looked up as its sickly purple eyes sprang open, looking every bit as sinister as they had in the past.
"Weil, STOP!" Ciel screamed as the Reploid began to stir. "You can't!"
"I can and I am!"
"I've got something to say about that."
Ciel stiffened as a rush of air whistled past both sides of her body, and through the Pantheons.
The blond scientist couldn't believe it when the robots groaned, and then crashed to the floor in a severed heap.
Out of the shadows, came Zero, saber drawn and Shield Boomerang in hand.
"Ciel, run."
Heeding the swordsman's advice, the scientist turned and rushed past the Hunter, and out into the hallway and freedom.
"So, Weil, you had to stoop to your lowest level yet in order to achieve your goals." Zero kept his weapons raised as he addressed the scientist.
"The end justifies the means." Wiel shot back, eyeing his enemy. "And while I could have Harpuia destroy you for interfering with my plans. I'm afraid that won't be happening, instead I'll let Sigma seize control of you, and add your wonderful skills to my cause."
"Just try it." Zero didn't seem the least bit bothered at the threat.
"Very well." Wiel raised his hand and snapped his fingers, causing Sigma to straighten and prepare for its orders. "Take him!"
With a shrill shriek, Sigma flew out from the vault, and shot through the air towards the swordsman.
"So," Zero raised his Z Saber. "Shall we dance?
End Chapter!
Next: -wink- Wrath of Thunder!
