Disclaimer: A noun. A thing that repeats past information given in earlier chapters. It is hardly needed, but required for a fanwork to be legal. (I don't own what Capcom owns.)
A/N: I'm going to give you a link to a site that has a song that you should REALLY listen to while reading a part of this chapter. It has the right mood and everything. I highly suggest downloading: Father of All from w-w-w.darkesword.c-o-m (take out the hypens) by Shariq Ansari. After entering the site, click 'Listen' then click 'Remixes and Arrangements'. The song you're looking for is fourth from the bottom. Whether you download it or not is up to you. This remix was created and is owned by Shariq Ansari. The above website is also owned by Shariq Ansari. Awesome guy. Now, onto the chapter.
Chapter 14: Path to Fate
MHHQ - Med Lab
Time:
-21:31-
The light surrounding X faded into the familiar building of MHHQ. Standing up, he thought about how he was going to explain what had happened. He could have saved himself the trouble of having to do that if he hadn't turned his comm link off. He stepped off of the pad and walked towards the Med Lab.
"(Apus Epsilon...the key to open the Gates of Paradise Eden...Sigma being a puppet...all of this is happening so fast. Father...I hope this is the last time I need to use weapons of war...)" X thought as he absent-mindedly made his way to the Med Lab. He knew this base in and out, and could easily find any room with his eyes closed. He soon reached the doors of the Lab, and was greeted by Signas.
"X! You're okay!" An overjoyed Signas exclaimed. "Yes Signas, I'm fine." Peeking over the taller reploid's shoulder, X saw Alia standing behind him, a smile on her face. He smirked back at her.
"Signas, where are the others?"
"In the O.R. What's the reason?"
"I have urgent news to tell all of you..."
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X sat down and took a swig of his energy drink. His crowd surrounded him, anxiously waiting for the blue bomber to spill the beans. He set the can down and took in some fresh air.
"Ok. You all already know about Paradise Eden, and its effect on reploids when opened." The group nodded in unison. "Well, we have less than two hours before it opens. I have to try and stop Eden from opening. I must stop Eden from opening."
"X. I still don't understand. Just what is Paradise Eden?" Axl blurted out. He was sitting next to Locke and Stryke, with Leyna, Echo and Alia on the bench next to them. Signas and Kicker chose to stand. X stood up.
"It's supposed to be a sanctuary for reploids. A great utopia of some sort." X said, his view trailing towards the ceiling.
"A utopia for just reploids?" Axl sounded intrigued by this. X immediately fixed his gaze on the young hunter.
"At the cost of humanity." One loud gasp occurred when X completed his sentence.
"Oh no...X! We can't let that happen!" Locke jumped up and commented angrily.
"We won't let it happen. As soon as we find the Gate, I'll go destroy it." X said while instinctively gripping the saber hilt in a slot on his back. He pulled it out and looked at it for the first time. The others looked at it as well. Echo was the first to ask the question. "X, what's that?"
X dropped his arm lazily and turned around slowly.
"It was a final gift from Raydia." Echo's eyes widened in surprise. She slowly hunched over and placed her hands on the sides of her head, her dark hair hiding her blank expression.
"You mean she's...she died?" Stryke asked in a hurt tone. X nodded grimly. "For sure this time." X replaced the hilt in its place on his back and turned back around. Echo was now sobbing silently, evident by her slightly heaving shoulders.
"I won't let her death be for nothing. I swear on it. Paradise will fall." X stated with a unique sense of determination.
"Man, I almost wish Sigma was the main issue." Axl commented to himself. Signas jumped a bit when his comm link beeped suddenly. He muttered an acknowledgment before letting out a surprised grunt. After he dismissed the link he cleared his throat and updated them on the situation.
"Hunters, the navigation team has located the Gate." He said while looking at X, who gave him a responsive nod. "It's located at the exact location of the Outpost."
"Ok. It's time..." X said as he stood up. Signas motioned for everyone else to follow him to the Assembly Hall. As they got up and followed him out of the door, Leyna grabbed X by the shoulder and pulled him aside. X looked down at the troubled girl with a curious expression.
"Leyna, what's wrong?" He inquired. She wiped a tear from her eye and looked up at the green eyed reploid.
"X...If you can...please bring him back. I...I want to get to know more about him...what lies under that cocky exterior..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she went deeper into her request. X pulled her into a hug.
"Don't worry. I'll bring him back. Zero will return." X gave her a reassuring smile as she ran off out of the doors. X walked out of the doors and walked towards the Assembly Hall.
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MHHQ - Assembly Hall
Time:
-21:57-
X waited for the giant digisteel doors of the Assembly Hall to open up. He was greeted by the personnel of the entire base, all lined up on either side of the pathway to the warp field. He saw the 17th in its entirety lined up on the left, including some of the injured. The 0th, 1st, 23rd, 7th, everyone. As he walked towards the warp field, the ranks before him would snap to a salute. He could barely contain a smirk, having never received such a large amount of attention before. As he neared the warp pad, he turned towards Signas. He could see Alia and Ed behind him at the navigation console. Signas rendered him a slow salute.
"Good luck, X. May Light be with you." Signas spoke softly. X returned his salute and snapped his arm down. As Signas swiftly brought his arm down, the many ranks of the MHHQ did the same simultaneously, resulting in a big whooshing sound. X turned towards the warp gate and drew in a deep breath. The red holographic scarf materialized and fell against his back. He stepped into the warp, his soul filled with confidence.
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Paradise Eden Gates
Time:
-22:00-
X dropped onto the frozen sands about fifty yards away from his destination. As he stood he looked on at the sight before him. The Paradise Eden Gates was a giant building of sorts. Stained glass windows decorated the front. It seemed to pierce the sky, which was illuminated with bright swirling colors. X scanned the sky and noticed that the swirling in the sky seemingly bordered with the darkness of the night.
-Beep-
"This is Alia. I'll be your navigator for the duration of this mission. Do you have any questions about this operation?"
"Alia..."
"Don't say it, X. I'm going to be right here with you. Whether you like it or not!"
"...Thanks."
"Anytime. Now, what's your current situation?" X could basically see the smile on her face through his comm link. Who knows? Maybe he would ask her out to that restaurant after all this was over. He began walking towards the Gates when sounds could be heard. Twitching his ears, he stopped for a second.
"Alia, I'm hearing some strange kind of..." He listened for a little longer. "...music?"
"I can't hear anything. Could you move closer to the source?" X walked even further forward towards the giant building that threatened humanity. The voices got louder as he came closer to the structure.
"Can you hear it now?"
"Yes. Give me a sec..." X waited while she deciphered something. While doing so, he made out the words that he was hearing.
Genero, Contego, Quasso, Eradico. Expositus sanctus porta tenus noster nostra nostrum mundus.
"X. It sounds like its Latin for: 'Create, protect, break, destroy. Open the holy gates to our world.' Sounds like a chant or something."
"Hmm. I'm moving on." X walked on until he reached the giant silver doors.
"X...I'm...pi..cking...interfer...current...cation..."
"Alia? You there? Hello?" The comm link inside his helmet popped a few times before frying. "Shoot, lost the signal. Well, time to go!" X said to himself as he put a hand on the massive door in front of him. To his surprise, he found himself standing inside the building the instant he touched the door. Wasting no time, he dashed off into the heart of the Gates.
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MHHQ - Navigation
Time:
-22:06-
Alia was typing furiously at her station's keyboard, trying to reestablish a connection with X. Signas looked over at the navigator in dismayed frustration. Sighing he stood up and looked around. It was like his twice before: X and Zero were off to defeat the ultimate threat to the world, and the rest of the hunters were anxiously waiting their return. Only this time, things seemed so much more...more grim. This was definitely one of the worst moments in his day. Not wanting to feel too relaxed, he decided to walk around the Assembly Hall. Bad idea, as he had dismissed the navigation teams, support teams and everyone else, giving him a boring walk. He decided to head back towards Navigation.
When he arrived, he saw Alia with her eyes closed and hands pressed together. She was chanting something, and when she was through she slowly pressed a key on her console. She then proceeded to pound the console in defeat. She sank back in her chair and let out a long puff of air. Signas decided to just leave before she decided to vent on him.
"Signas, would you mind getting me a coffee?" She sounded...calm?
"Uhh...sure?" He replied confusedly, not knowing how else to respond to her apparent mood swing. He rushed off towards the cafeteria in an instant.
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Gates Core
Time:
-22:06-
X let loose with his famed buster and ripped another mechanoid to scrap and darted towards the staircase. As he climbed he counted the number of staircases he scaled. So far, thirteen. As he reached the top of the U-shaped stairway, an all-too-familiar feeling ran through him. Before him was a door that had a top section, bottom section and a rotating lock in the middle. He charged his buster and approached the door. As he expected, the lock quickly released as he touched it and the door split apart, allowing him access into the next room. He stepped through and looked around for anything suspicious. The door behind him slammed shut and locked. The lights in the room flickered and lost life, leaving the glow from X's buster to illuminate the medium sized room. A small mechanical sphere hovered in front of him and dropped in the middle of the room. From it, an image of Apus erupted. He turned towards X with a smirk on his face.
"Apus! Where are you?" X said crossly while pointing his buster at the hologram. "X. I didn't expect you to make it this far, let alone show up at all! You do realize this is futile?" Apus Epsilon said in a calm manner. X lowered his buster, but kept his charge.
"I will stop Eden from opening. I will stop you from destroying human life!" Apus let out an ominous chuckle. "You will learn soon enough that you cannot change fate. Besides..." A shadow unbeknownst to X formed on the floor behind him.
"...How can you stop me if you can't stop yourself? Have fun!" Apus said before the hologram faded. X was puzzled by his last words, so he failed to see the red plasma bolt shot at his back. X screamed out in half pain, half surprise when the bolt collided with his back. Whipping around too quick for human eyes to see, he gasped at what he saw.
Across the room on the side where he came in, stood a shockingly similar identity. X was staring at a duplicate of himself! He had the exact same features as the original: Ultimate Armor, stood at about six foot nothing. The only difference was that he appeared to be washed out. His skin was pale white, the deep blue of the Ultimate Armor was pure black, with the gold portions a washed out gray. His eyes were blood red and a foreboding grin was plastered on his face. X felt a bead of sweat forming on his brow underneath his helmet.
"What's the matter, Rock? Scared of your dark side?" The dark version of X taunted the real X, his voice in an evil, but identical tone. X said nothing as he charged toward his reflection. Aiming his buster at Dark X's head, he released the energy he had stored up. A surge of ballistic plasma flew into the far wall, leaving a scorched area on it. X looked around to check for signs of his duplicate. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and spun him around. "Right behind you, bro." X flew back into the wall as Dark X hit him with a hard punch. As X cleared his dizziness, he climbed out of the wall just in time to avoid a giant globe of red plasma. Rolling out of the explosion, he caught a kick to his chest, sending him sprawling about on the floor. His dark twin let out a string of shots, peppering his armor before he got up. X jumped towards the wall and kicked off of it, sending himself with unreal speed towards the dark version of himself. He then felt a familiar presence. As he threw a punch at Dark X, he felt something rapid change around him. His punch hit nothing but thin air as he landed on his feet at the spot where Dark X stood. Dark X wrapped his arm around X's neck and used his other arm to hold X's arm behind his back, putting him in a chokehold. He realized that he just used Dark Hold, a previous weapon from the Fifth Maverick Uprising. X struggled to break free, but was unable to.
"Well! Looks like Alia will be all mine when this is through! Maybe I'll hand her head to Epsilon for sacrifice or somethin'!" He taunted his real self. X was getting pissed now, not wanting to hear anymore from his dark half. "Or maybe I'll make her my slave. Would you like that, Rocky?"
"SHUT UP!" X shouted as he broke free of the ensnarement. He managed to make Dark X stumble back a bit, so he whipped around and slammed his armored leg into his twin's abdomen. With rage, X activated his wings and flew towards the dark version of himself. As Dark X quit doubling over, he looked up in time dodge a hurtling Nova Strike. As he turned around, he saw X disappear. Then he turned around in dreadful realization. This time, he could not avoid the real X.
Dark X howled out in pain as he felt a cold chill run over his spine and throughout his body. He turned around slowly to see his real twin standing in a dashing position with a triangular beam saber held outward. X turned around to look at his dark side.
"No, I wouldn't like that. Bastard." He deactivated the saber and placed the hilt in his back. Dark X started to fall slowly backwards. A large gash formed across his body and white blood sprayed out of his wound. As he continued to fall back, he felt his body disengage from the world. Soon, the only remnants of Dark X was the white blood stained floor. X continued through the door and it locked behind him.
-Start music here!-
X looked at the flight of stairs before him. Before heading up he drew his saber and activated his buster. He was almost there. X ran for the stairs and immediately started climbing them. He was sure there would be spike traps and mechanoids along the way. He let his thoughts wander to Apus, the 'Key' to the Gates.
"(I wonder where he came from. He seems to be an entity that needs a physical body to move about and...oh shit...)"
His thoughts were cut short when he came across another Dark Copy. Not slowing down, he cut through him and kept running. If there was one, there had to be more. Sure enough, he found more. They intended to pepper his armor with red plasma bolts, but couldn't land a shot on the swift reploid. He hacked up the few that were in his way and kept running.
Apus Epsilon was sitting in a throne-like structure, watching the dancing red scarf move fluently through the Dark X army on a holo-monitor. He smirked to himself. "Well, at least I won't be bored, waiting for the Gate to appear."
X stopped for a short moment, needing to catch his breath. Behind him, the Dark X army was advancing slowly. He looked up the stairs in front of him to see that he was almost to the top. Having caught his breath, he sprinted up the winding stairwell. A creaking sound caught his attention while he continued up the path.
Reaching the top, he found the source of the noise. A giant mechanoid, about five times X's height, stood across from the rouge hunter. As soon as he saw the smaller reploid, he dashed over and swung his heavy blade at him. Thinking quickly, X dove to the left, just barely dodging the blade. He saw what looked like a large elevator in the middle of the room. Getting on it now would only get him killed by the giant.
"Greetings, Megaman X. I am the Gate Sentinel, protector of the Gates of Paradise Eden. Turn back, or die by my blade." The large armored foe echoed out hollowly. X stood up and faced the large enemy.
"Get out of my way! I have to stop the Gates from opening!" X shouted out at the large animated suit of armor. Without another word, the Gate Sentinel reared back and threw his large sword at X, who in turn rolled out of the way, activating his buster as he went. During mid-roll, X shot a few blasts at the chest of Gate Sentinel, which bounced off. He remembered fighting a foe like this before. As the large mechanoid pulled on the chain connected to the bottom of the hilt, X stood upright and fired a large plasma wave at the head of the mechanoid. Ducking under the wave of energy, the mechanoid shot a fist at X. Not having enough time to dodge, X crossed his arm in front of him to absorb the blow. The fist sent him flying into the wall before a chain connected to the wrist pulled it back into place. The blade dislodged from the wall and returned to his left hand. Now it hit him! This guy is just like General! Smirking, X ran off and clung on the far wall. The large mechanoid threw his chained blade at X once more. X dropped as soon as he threw the blade, letting it embed itself in the wall above him. X hopped on top of the make-shift platform and slid on the chain connecting the weapon to the master. As he reached the halfway point, he leaped up and landed on the shoulder of the large beast. Charging up his buster, he released the energy at point blank on his head. The large beast hollered as the surge of pain rushed over his body.
"One more shot should do it!" X began charging his buster, ready to end this fight. The giant pulled on the chain, causing the blade to extricate from the wall in a wild manner. As the blade flew towards the giant, he ducked, letting the blade sail over his shoulder. This caused X to be crushed into the wall against the flat side of the blade. The giant reeled in his blade and turned to face the immobilized hunter. He quickly began punching X with his fist, driving him deeper into the wall with each blow.
After about ten strikes, the giant backed off to observe his enemy. The front of X's armor was severely dented and scratched. His face was riddled with cuts and gashes. He fell lazily out of the crevice onto the floor, either dead or unconscious.
Epsilon laughed out loud while observing the scene from his throne on the holo-monitor. He stood up and walked over to the middle of the room, a triumphant grin slathered over his mug.
X slammed into the far wall after being thrown by the angry Sentinel. He lay on the ground, blood seeping out of his many face injuries. His vision was blurry as he saw and felt the heavy footsteps of the giant. Try as he might, X was powerless to get himself up.
"(D-damn. It's...all over...I've...failed...)"
"X. I thought something like this might happen."
"(...Raydia?)"
"I have one last objective before I pass on. I was hoping to wait until you reached Epsilon, but I can't wait any longer." As soon as the image of Raydia faded, X's eyes widened as the coolness in his body suddenly exploded in warmth. The numerous cuts and gashes on his face sealed back up. He felt his crumpled armor reverting back to its unscathed state. He felt his overall power restoring, and expanding. Gate Sentinel had stopped to observe the sight. Once he realized what was happening, he dashed after the downed reploid. X felt himself being lifted up by a strong force. He felt renewed, refreshed. The Sentinel threw his blade at X, who did not budge. As the blade hit the renewed hunter, a bright flash illuminated the room briefly. The solid material of the blade shattered into millions of crystalline shards. X opened his eyes and drew the saber hilt. When he activated it, instead of a beam weapon, a lightweight blade materialized from the hand stop. The blade was a pure white and radiated with the energy coursing through X's veins. Without a second thought, he dashed vertically up the wall and kicked off of it, sending him towards the stunned Sentinel. He lowered the blade and with one swift movement, took his head off of his shoulders. While X landed smoothly in front of the elevator, the head of the late Sentinel clattered noisily along the ground and the body slumped over lazily. X stood up as the body exploded, sending a rush of warm wind at the shining hunter. He stepped onto the elevator and hit the 'UP' button. As the elevator rose, X felt the power in his body fade. It didn't leave permanently, but rather set itself aside for later use. He fixed the sword to his back and thought about what was to come next.
"(Wow! This is some power Raydia left me. With this, I should be able to stop Epsilon and Eden. This is it, now or never...)" He thought to himself as he paced around the large lift. He stood in the middle as he felt the lift slow down. Preparing himself, he drew in a deep breath and cleared his mind.
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Here ya go! A nice chapter, if I do say so myself. How did you like the music? How was the chapter? Stay tuned for more! Review, if you will! Until next time!