Hello, once again! You know the disclaimer; so why all of a sudden, after several times saying it, would I just up and shout, "I OWN MEGAMAAAAN!!!!"? Cause, I don't. Well, on with part II!

Chapter 7: Arcadia pt. II

Downtown Arcadia
Time:
-12:02-

Alia opened her eyes to see a metool staring at her with mild curiosity. It quickly collapsed into a defensive state, its helmet clanging softly in the snow. Then it lifted part of its helmet to peek at her. She smiled then suddenly cringed, as her badly wounded leg throbbed and pulsated. Her shoulder didn't hurt much, as the anesthesia unit was located in the upper part of her body. This had been the first time she was ever shot. And as she found out, it was nothing like how Neo Hollywood projected it to be. Of all days, why did a maverick have to strike today? Why on their one day-off in years? Why, when she and X were finally getting close? Oh no, X! Where was he?! It had to be X who put this metool by her for shielding. She couldn't turn her legs without feeling like she was going to die for at least another ten minutes, as the anesthesia unit had not triggered yet. She looked around desperately, but to her dismay, X was not in sight. This would probably not work, but she decided to ask the metool.

"Heh heh, umm, do you know where my friend is? X?" She asked the small mechanoid, feeling grateful that no one was around to hear her question. Expecting to hear a confused warble, she was shocked when the metool perked up and pointed an over-turned teacup shaped foot in X's general direction. Alia painstakingly sat up and placed her hands behind her to search for X. Sure enough, he was there. She smiled to herself, feeling somewhat relieved that X was still alive. There was also Axl standing next to him. They were sure to make it out alive now. She turned to face the lil met. "Thank you." The little guy nodded his head up and down as if he understood her, then made an odd sounding warble and fell backwards because he was still standing on one leg. Alia giggled at the clumsy being. His feet were moving rapidly through the air, trying to flip himself over.

Alia reached over and flipped him. He warbled out something that sounded like a "Thank You!".

"You're welcome, little guy... what?" Alia stared at the metool with utter amazement. This particular metool was far more advanced than previously created metools. It turned towards X, Axl, and the mystery reploid. Alia followed suit, still amazed at the metool.

Axl charged at the maverick with great velocity while firing all the way. X was rapidly sorting through fifty-six different weapon programs in his mind.

"(Flame Mammoth, Chill Penguin, Wheel Gator, Ground Scaravich, Axel the Red, Tornado Tonion, Metal Shark Player, Magma Dragoon, Blizzard Wolfgang... I gotta sort these out later on...) OK!"

X activated both X-busters and downloaded a weapons program into each. Meanwhile, Axl flew towards the maverick, firing volleys of energy at him along the way. The maverick put up him arms to shield himself from the oncoming energy blasts. Axl skidded to a stop, kicking up snow that lingered in the air. This was not good, as the maverick was completely obscured now. Axl strained to see through the thick cloud of snow. He had found his target, or rather, his target's fist. The reploid's fist had flown off of his wrist and collided with Axl's jaw, sending him flying headfirst towards the side of a nearby building. Thinking quickly, Axl flipped himself around so that his feet would smash the building rather than his noggin. Axl closed his eyes as he made contact with the hard digibrick wall, sending up clouds of debris and puffs of smoke. By this time, X was rushing towards the maverick, both busters active and charging up. The maverick whipped around towards X, and held out a fist. X continued his charge, readying himself for anything the icy maverick would throw at him. The fist that clocked Axl had veered around and was hurtling towards X's right side. Waiting for the right moment, X activated his thrust engines to flip up and over the fast approaching fist. Now, he just had to find some way to avoid the second fist that was planning to swat him out of the sky. He needed both of the charged fire type weapons in his buster, so plan B was unsheathed.

Alia was watching the fight from the sideline as usual, but this time seemed different. She couldn't really give X any tips or strategies about this maverick, or tell him to be careful every two minutes. But now she could see how he fought, and how he dodged every attack thrown at him, the disgust on his face at the maverick for injuring one of his friends. This was the closest that any navigator in history has been to a battle. Now she knew exactly what X has been going through these many years. Now she knows why he tells her that he will be okay and she doesn't need to worry all of the time. Now, whenever X went on a mission, though she wishes that he didn't have to, she knows that he will be okay, that he'll come back.

X was meters away from the fist when he drew out the Z-Saber. With a swift vertical swipe, the maverick's fist was erased. X landed with a low thud in the snow and replaced the Z-Saber. He continued running towards the maverick, who seemed to be writhing in pain. Axl finally made it out of the large hole in the wall, with only a few scuff marks on his face. He grinned, and jumped out of the wall towards the maverick. But, the cloud of snow that Axl kicked up earlier was still lingering in the air. How odd. Axl was oblivious to this, as he phased-out his pistols and phased-in his Circle Blaze weapon, obtained from the Red Alert Incident. He blindly fired into the thick clouds of snow, vaporizing them as the blaze tore through, looking for its target. Then, all of a sudden, the snow clouds disappeared, revealing X on the ground, underneath the massive maverick's heel. Axl held his fire while studying the maverick's features. Ice blue armor, large shoulder mounted energy cannon, face-plated helmet. Yep, definitely Icestorm Konga. But why was he in the city? He belongs in the Hadokai Mountains....

"AXL! A LITTLE, H-HELP?!" X cried desperately. His armor was developing hairline cracks from the stress of the Konga's foot on his chest. Axl readied his weapon once more, ready to melt Konga's head off of his shoulder. As soon as he pulled the trigger, Konga jumped into the air, pushing off of X. The blaze of molten plasma streamed into the air, vaporizing part of a building. The ape-like maverick landed several feet down the street from Axl and X. Axl walked over to X, offering a hand to help him up. X took up the offer and stood up painfully. Icestorm stood in a wide stance as his shoulder cannon slowly lifted upwards. It began to snow lightly, with the snow going towards Icestorm's cannon.

"Damn! We have to stop that maverick!" X said while holding his chest. Axl nodded and fired off a round of his Circle Blaze. At least, that's what would've happened if he had any weapon energy left.

"Heh, looks like I'm out. Gotta spare recharge?"

"No dice." The maverick's cannon stored the channeled energy and was about to enter charge phase. A glint of blue aura surrounded the cannon as it began charging. X was in a panic now. As if Sigma's desperation attack wasn't enough to give him nightmares for a few years, Icestorm's weapon had piercing abilities and freezing effects! This did not bode well.

"X..."

"Yeah?"

"Wanna try it?"

"Alpha right? Yeah, it's worth a shot."

Konga's cannon was fully charged and was beginning to frost over. He planted his feet in the snow and crouched down a little bit. X and Axl began rushing towards him with something up their sleeves. Konga wasted no time as he hastily fired the cannon. X and Axl continued running as full speed.

"NOW X!!" Axl shouted as he jumped high in the air. X kicked off of a damaged car and was caught by Axl's hands. Axl then activated his air dashing ability, hurtling him and X towards Konga. Meanwhile, X swung his legs backwards to build up momentum for the next phase. As Axl's dash ended, he flung X forward. Now X had three options. One, he activated his air dash and rammed the maverick, causing him to fly back a few hundred feet. Two, he does nothing and slams into Konga, causing damage to himself. Three, he uses the stored weapons energy to hurt the maverick. X skipped over option one, and landed in front of Konga. He aimed at Konga with unmatched speed, and opened fire on his cannon. Konga let out an ape-like growl of agony as his shoulder became severely burned. The armor first melted to the synth skin, which burned away along with the synthetic muscles, revealing the shiny metallic bone, which blackened from the extreme heat. X looked up at Axl who was about to land next to him. As he did so, He and X began to glow with a blue aura. Konga recovered from his writhing pain and attempted to strike the hunters. But before any contact was made, X and Axl hopped a few inches off of the ground and performed a "star" stance. The aura surrounding them morphed into a sphere which expanded rather quickly and collided with Konga. X and Axl landed on the ground again and stood before the massive, but time frozen, Konga stood in the attacking position. Axl phased-in his pistols and rapidly shot plasma bullets at Konga, peppering his armor and face, while X's buster shot out a continuous hyper-condensed plasma beam into the ape-like maverick. Konga never moved an inch. Nothing moved as a matter of fact, except for anything that was inside the aura field (not including the enemy.) After about six seconds of attacking, X and Axl assumed another "star" stance. The aura field dissipated as X and Axl deactivated their weapons and started walking away. Within seconds, Icestorm Konga went up in a fierce explosion. The big head of the frosty maverick landed a few feet in front of Axl, its eyes still glowing red. Axl proceeded to bury a bullet into it.

"Axl, the hover car...should be...around the corner..." X said through gasps of air.

"Right, I'll bring it around."

X sorely shuffled over towards Alia and the metool. The metool was jumping around happily, making all kinds of whirring and warbling noises. He got over to Alia who was still bewildered by the Hyper Attack Alpha executed earlier. X knelt down beside her, and took off his helmet. She gave him the 'I'm glad you're okay" smile she usually gives him whenever he gets through with a battle. She then let out a small wince, as her wounded leg pained her a bit. X looked at her wound. Yep, she would be off-duty for at least two days. He was surprised at how well Alia has been, being shot twice and all. Hell, Stryke thought he was gonna die during holographic training. Before he knew it, she had him in a firm hug. He subconsciously returned her hug, feeling a bit lightheaded.

"Alia..." X said softly.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry...you had to...get caught up...in...this...on...our...daay...ooffff..." X trailed off, as his body became heavier. Alia was a bit surprised that X passed out, let alone in her arms. He must have drained his power cell a lot. She looked down at the metool, who was busy spinning around in circles. Poor X, and carrying all those bags probably didn't help, either. Axl turned the corner in the hover car, stopping a few feet away from Alia, the metool and the sleeping X. He got out and opened up the passenger door. Alia called out for him to help her.

"Whoa! He must've used up a pretty good portion of his power cell." Axl said as he hefted X up off of the sore Alia. X woke up briefly and started to stumble towards the hover car. Axl helped him along and got him inside. X immediately fell asleep again, his systems attempting to recharge themselves. Axl trotted back over to Alia, who managed to sorely stand up on her good leg. She draped her arm around his neck for support, and they began their trek to the hover car. The metool marched alongside them, as if escorting a government official. Axl eyed the small mechanoid as it marched along with them and smiled.

"Heh heh. I've never seen a metool that protective. Of anything other than itself, I mean." Axl said smugly as they reached the side door. The met looked up at him as if he were stupid, and made a warbled raspberry sound. Axl helped Alia into the car (and the metool followed) and shut the door. "And sassy, too." Axl said to himself. He jogged around to the driver's side and hopped in. Within seconds, the hover car hummed to life. It swung around and headed down the snow covered streets of downtown Arcadia.

A lone figure was hanging on the side of a building in the distance. She watched the hover car through deep blue eyes. It seems that they finished off what she had started...

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MHHQ
Time:
-12:26-

Signas sat back in his chair, rocking back and forth. What should he do? Should he? Or should he not? Signas continued to rock back and forth. Back and forth. Back an...

"Well, did you decide yet?!" An angry sounding voice exploded from behind his chair. He made a decision. His chair creaked as he turned slowly around to face Echo. He stood up and looked at her with a stern face.

"Well?" Echo asked quizzical.

"Echo Zelinger. You are to report to the 0th Unit in 0200 hours. The commander will give you further instructions as to where your quarters are, as well as issue you your standard armor. Welcome aboard, Echo." Signas extended his hand to shake hers.

"Thank you.... sir." Echo extended her hand to shake hands with her new superior commander. As she turned to walked out, she whispered to herself.

"Excellent."

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Mess Hall
Time:
-12:31-

Zero grinned wildly to himself as he walked into the mostly reconstructed mess hall. They had his favorite in today, and no one was going to take them. Today, no one could separate him from his beloved steamed buns. Lightly toasted flour shells filled with seasoned ground pork. All wrapped up and steamed to perfection. Oh yes, those heavenly steamed buns. He became all giddy, and let out a small squeal of joy. He finally got up to the line when he realized something was terribly wrong. There were no steamed buns here. He almost lost it when he remembered that they were on the other side of the cafeteria. Zero hopped over the barricade of hungry hunters as dashed to the opposite side of the mess hall. He grabbed people and shoved them out of the way, becoming quite desperate for the buns. After what seemed like eons of pushing, shouting and stumbling, he made it to the counter they were located. Or, were located, as Kicker grabbed the last one. Zero felt as if he were going to die of starvation. He latched onto Kicker, begging him to surrender the bun to him.

"No way, man. You had yours, and Leyna's, and Stryke's, and Locke's, and..."

"Come on, Kick! I...I'll just diiiie if I don't have one mor..." Zero's begging came to a halt as he was called to the southeastern parking lot over the intercom. Kicker was also called. Zero's whole attitude changed as he got up and ran off to the parking lot, with Kicker on his heels. They arrived at the parking lot to see a hover car shut down. It was the same car X and Alia left in a few hours ago. Zero found Signas, and decided to see if he could answer his question.

"Hey Signas, you know why those two are back?" Zero asked his first question. Signas sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know. X reported something of a maverick attack of some sort. But even if it were an attack, X would be able to handle it." Signas said with a confident smile. He looked at Zero as if he knew something. Zero smiled sheepishly as the hover car doors opened. Everyone was surprised to see Axl step out of the driver's side. He looked around and called out.

"Who's Kicker?" Axl asked the group watching him. A figure ran out towards him.

"I'm Kicker, and you're..."

"Axl. Nice to meet you, now help Alia, I got X." Axl ordered the medic, who had a confused face. Kicker turned to face Signas and Zero, looking for an answer. All he got was shrugged shoulders and equally confused faces. He sighed and ran around the car. Minutes passed before X and Axl walked around the front. X separated from Axl, who ran back around the side of the car. X shuffled his way to Signas, who was bewildered that he was injured somewhat.

"X, what happened? You look like hell." Signas asked the worn-out reploid. X had a miffed expression.

"Signas....No more...damned.....forced....vacations...." X forced out as he coughed up a little bit of blood. Signas caught him and called for a medic. As X went limp, Signas caught a glimpse of what looked like Alia, with a bullet wound in her leg and shoulder, being aided by Kicker. He couldn't believe it. There actually was a maverick attack. He was sorry that it took seeing Alia shot up to realize it. He turned to Zero.

"Zero, take your unit and go investigate downtown Arcadia. Use extreme caution."

"Yes sir!" Zero said smugly as he spun around and ran towards the building with Leyna following him closely. Kicker carried Alia to the nearby stretcher and sat her down. She looked over at X, who lay unconscious on another stretcher.

"He'll be alright. He'll be alright." Alia kept telling herself that X was okay, that he had been through worse. She continued to gaze at him as he was being rolled into the building. A tear fell from her eye as Kicker began to roll her into the building.

Axl walked over to Signas, who was pacing about. Signas saw Axl approaching and stopped.

"Ah, Axl. How have you been?" Signas asked the shorter reploid.

"I'm doin' good. How 'bout you?" Axl replied.

"Not so well. I feel bad about forcing X and Alia into a day-off." The woeful commander said in a monotone voice. Axl clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey! Don't feel bad about. You couldn't have known this was gonna happen."

"..."

"Cheer up! Anyway, I got somethin' to ask you." Signas raised an eyebrow of suspicion.

"What is it?"

"You still got a place for me in the Hunters?"

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OK! That wraps up pt.II! Did you enjoy? I enjoyed writing this chapter. I only wish that I could've made Axl's return more dramatic. Anyway, thanks to my reviewers, and I hope that you keep reading as long as I keep writing! Things are about to blow up soon. So don't miss it! Also, for those of you that don't know, a star stance is when one stands with their legs shoulder width apart and arms extended to either side, forming a star shape. Well, there ya go! Until next time!!