Chapter 2: The Return
They all watched in horor as the reploid that Zero knew he seen be destroyed came into view on the telescreen. "Wait a minute, didn't we destroy him when I sliced him in half?" X asked. "What do you mean you? I helped too little buddy" Zero said with a side glanced smile. They both brought thier attention to the screen, Copy-X was about to speak, "Attention all reploids, I suffered a great defeat a while ago, but I was only set back. Reploids have no place in this world, they are a threat to humanity. This is why I have reuinted the Neo-Arcadia army and we will now launch the largest attack on the resistance the world has ever known. In exactly 30 minutes you will see the death of the resistance, and then the annihilation of every reploid in the world. Then the humans will finally be able to be safe, they will never again be harmed by a reploid or robot. This is the only solution to the Maverick problem, and I will see to it that it will be carried out. Not even the great hunters X and Zero will be able to stop us. It will end here!" The screen went blank, the room was silent. X and Zero could only stand and watch in horor at what the Copy-X had to say. "The destruction of every reploid? Has he gone mad?" X exclaimed as he slammed his hands on the bench in front of him. "This is almost as bad as Repliforce." Zero commented as he lowered his head. Ceil looked at them with confusion, "You guys are just going to stand there and let it come? I mean, you guys have to do something! If you don't do something, all the reploids in the world are going to die!" Ceil exclaimed with terror in her voice.
X then straightened his body and turned to his partner. They both looked at each other and then tapped the crystal on the front of their helmets. The two reploids were gone in a flash, leaving their friends to thier faith of thier abilities. X appeared in front of the Resitance HQ and looked around for his friend. "Hey X! You need to get over here quick! Look at that army!" Zero pointed to the south, with a look of terror on his face. X walked over to where Zero was standing and looked on in awe and horor. The entire army was entirely made of copies of X. Every robot had all of his abilities, some even were different colors. Using the several weapons and inherent abilities of the major generals of Copy-X's army. Zero grabbed his plasma sabre and transformed his arm into his buster rifle. "You guys aren't setting one foot into this base." Zero said to himself. X turns his X-Buster on as well and started to charge a shot. "If this goes south Zero-" X started to say but Zero laid his hand on X's shoulder. "Don't you even say it, we will make it X." X looked at his friend and then to the impending army. "At least I hope so." Zero whispered under his breath.
The army marched forward, Zero and X at the front of the Resistance forces. Both seeming like hardened warriors, awaiting a battle they knew would be tricky, yet fun. Both reploids looked on with smirks on their faces. This is what they lived for, this is how they protected the innocent. Fighting those who would put an end to peace. Copy-X may be acting out of his programming to preserve the humans, but he was wrong. Reploids have the same rights to live as the humans. Reploids had the same right to peace as the humans. Zero knew this, X knew this. But yet they both questioned every now and then if maybe the enemy could be right. But Zero and X were not thinking of this right now. They were thinking of the battle ahead, thier robotic brains already waging the battle, running simulations, and making estimates of how things would go. Both were judging their abilities to fight against all of the copies. Then without warning X and Zero used thier EAS (Emergency Acceleration System) to charge toward the enemies. They wanted to keep the fight as far away from the HQ as possible. X reached the first copy and fired as he jumped over the reploid. But the reploid anticipated this and moved to the side and fired right at X in the middle of the air. The suprised X shot at the blast and activated his EAS to push him back to his previous position. But to X's suprise two more waited for him to land and then shot plasma blasts at him. X was able to dodge the first but the seccond and third hit him in the chest and the back. X let out a yell as he tried to ballance himself. He shot at the ground and let his body take to the air from the blas. He then turned in the air and powered up his X-Buster. He then shot it in the center of a large crowd of the copies. This seemed to distract a few of them as they paused and contemplated what to do. But it was too late and the blast took them out. There were ruined parts everywhere, X was figting hand to hand with several copies, when one of the copies charged into the fray and started to blast at his comrades., "You are all wrong!" The copy yelled as it continued to fight it's former army brothers. Then several other copies started to do the same thing. X and Zero stopped dead in thier tracks as they watched the battle ensue.
Some of the copies were defecting to the Resistance side, launching attacks at the other army of copies. "X look at that! Some of them are changing thier minds!" Zero shouted as he sliced into one of the copies. One of the robots started to charge up behind him and was taking aim when a copy jumped by Zero and landed on the attacking reploid. The revolt started to spread and nearly half the army was fighting itself finally the battle was starting to go thier way. X and Zero teamed up against a few other copies. They held their arms together and clothes lined them. Then Zero pulled out his sabre in a lightning quick move and severed several of thier head from their bodies. "Now this is how you win a battle X! You have extreme fun in it!" Zero said as he was laughing. X just stood there and smiled. His friend was having more fun now that he knew he was going to win. X figured hell, why not, we can't possibly lose, and we haven't lost a single Resistance member. Then X realized that he was being fired upon and started to dodge most of the plasma bolts. X even fired some of his own, landing a few good hits on a few of them. Then out of no-where a large plasma bolt shot out behind X and Zero. The two heroes looked behind them to see part of the army had started its attack on the HQ. "So much for the HQ being out of the fray. Let's hope they can last against them. We need to keep going against what's ahead of us. Those rebel copies won't be able to hold out on thier own. X you stay here, I'm going into the thick of it. If I need you I will signal." That was all Zero said as he turned and used his EAS to run head long into the ensuing battle between the rebel copies of X and the army of them. X continued to fight those around him, blasting some with plasma and engaging in mele combat.
Zero advanced through the mayhem, reploid parts lay everywhere. Some of the casualties even tried to keep fighting either against him or with him. But Zero was targeting one of the reploids who seemed to be giving more orders than fighting. The reploid wasn't a copy, it was another reploid. It was Arch Angel, a very advanced reploid from the avian fleet. "So Angel, you turned Maverick and betrayed the rest of us!" Zero screamed as he whipped his sabre out as he sped past Angel and before the other reploid knew it Zero had already laid two slashes at her legs. Angel turned to face Zero and suddenly felt like she lost her leg armor. She looked down and half of her shin armor was gone on both legs. "Wow, Zero, you really caught me off guard there. I didn't even notice your attack. But if you notice your helmet, I got a nice hit in too, and all without even looking directly at you." Angel said as she gestured to the gem on Zero's helmet. Zero picked up a helmet from a destroyed reploid and looked at his helmet through the shine. The gem had a scratch on it, Zero chuckled. He dropped the helmet and stared back at the reploid. "You know Angel, I always had a funny feeling about you," Zero shifted his stance to get ready for a pitched battle, "You always seemed to have an aversion to not fighting X." Zero positioned his right hand so that he could draw his sabre and positioned his other hand so that he could grab his whip.
"You know, your right Zero, I never wanted to fight X. He resembled Master X way too much. But you, you were a fight I just wanted because of your reputation. Zero, the legend, the undefeated. It was a challenge that I couldn't resist. So I took it upon myself to volunteer for this mission." Angel looked around herself and reguarded the renegade copies. "Unfortunately Master didn't shut down these reploids reasoning circuits." Angel then lashed out with her wings and created a strong gust of wind that turned into a weapon. The gust of wind turned into a large spike that went right for Zero. But luckily Zero was faster and dodged to the side as it crashed into all the other reploids behind him. "Sorry to dissapoint you there, but I don't fall for the whole demonstrating my power on such a weak attack." Zero said as he dashed toward Angel. Angel jumped into the air and launched an attack with her feathers that surrounded themselves with plasma. Zero's sabre deflected some of them, and he dodged the rest. He powered up his buster rifle and fired it fully charged at the reploid. Angel took the blast and then her wings glowed. The next seccond her wings let out a plasma explosion in Zero's direction. Zero couldn't dodge and got caught in the side. The brave reploid flew back and rolled across the ground tripping some copys fighting. Zero got up and recharged his sabre, and used his EAS to dash back over to Angel, and attack with all his strength. Angel caught the attack with her arm causing it to rip through and completely severing her forearm from the rest of her. But she already was charging her wing attack again and hit Zero with everything she had.
X was having the battles of his life, without the sabre X seemed to need to use more energy, and fight more agressively. Mele combat seemed to make him want to fight harder, and want to use more of his abilities. X noticed one of them running at him with it's X-Buster charged. "Die Maverick, may your days end here!" The copy yelled as it fired. The blast was just in the right line to hit X in a place he couldn't block. X tried to turn in time, tried to fire off a few plasma blasts to maybe lessen the impact. But the copy had anticipated this and shot at each indifidual blast that X gave. The blast landed square in X's side and made him fly off into a crowd. The lucky copy started to charge it's X-Buster one more time but then was cut off by X dashing into it's face and launching his own charged plasma blast. The copy just looked on in fear as he watched the built up energy leave X's X-Buster. Then X turned just in time to kick a copy that was trying to shoot him in the head also. But X got him first, and then looked around to see if there was any more close enemies. Seeing that there wasn't, X looked back to the HQ and took a look at what was happening. Most of the battle there had subsided, though some of the enemy copies were still getting through. But the good copies were fending them off pretty good. Then X looked back towards Zero, hoping to see that he had beaten whoever he went to go defeat.
X then saw Zero hit the ground hard and roll away. X wanted to rush over there and help him. But knew he would only get in Zero's way. This fight was for Zero, not X, X had to make sure he helped protect the HQ now. X turned and was about to join the battle near the HQ when he heard Arch Angel speak. "So this is the mighty Zero, lying around on the job. You make me sick Mavrick Hunter." X turned around to see her launch a powerfull attack at Zero that he couldn't dodge. Zero let out a scream and flew another few yards away. Zero tried to get up, but he couldn't. He fell to the ground clutching his chest, breathing heavily. (Even though he didn't need to breath, this was his human emulation program doing this for him). X felt helpless, his friend was in danger and he made a promise to stay where he was till Zero called for him. X decided that this was Zero's call. X used his EAS and dashed over to the fight, blasting anything that got in his way. Zero looked over and saw his friend coming to his rescue. "Should have known that crazy blue tin can would not abandon me. Even when I told him not to." Zero struggled to get up, his systems giving him several warnings of potential hazzards about his armor.
"You know Zero, you really should take care of your friends better than that." Angel said and turned to launch a powerfull attack on X. But X was prepared and already had his X-Buster charged and ready. X dodged to the side and hit her with everything he had. The plasma shot hit her directly in the side, away from her wings. This caused Angel to fly off and hit the ground several yards away. "Zero you ok? I came as fast as I could, you looked like you could use the help." X knelt down to help Zero stand up. Zero looked at thier opponent trying to assertain if X did any damage. Zero noticed something that made him smile. "You cracked her armor, you made it possible to beat her. I bet she is raging mad" X looked over and noticed the large hold in Angel's armor, just about the size of his forearm. "Well, I guess long range attacks work just as well don't they?" X said smirking at Zero. "Oh quit it, don't try to rub it in." Angel got up and started to angrily march over to the fight, pushing and sometimes blasting away any that got in her way. "Now X, that was a big mistake. I didn't want to have to put you out of your missery, but you forced me to have no other choice." Angel then flew up and powered her wings up with a massive energy.
"X! Get out of here! That attack will kill us all, but we definately cannot lose you!" Zero said as he pushed X aside and dashed over to below Angel and charged his Buster Rifle. X then came up beside Zero and charged his X-Buster. "Where ever you go, I go. We will not lose each other again my friend." X said as he took aim. Zero winced, but smiled. He knew that X's sense of friendship was strong, but not this strong. He was honored to have such a friend as him. They both looked up at the reploid and fired. Angel looked down in horor, she tried to power down her attack but it was too late. The combined power of both X's and Zero's butsters was powerfull enough to destroy her and add fuel to the explosion from her wings. The blas was enormous, sending X and Zero hurtling through the air. X landed hard against a tank, while Zero plowed through a bunch of copies and landed at the feet of Ceil in her armor. X got up and took a survey of the damage. The battle field was obliterated, many copies good or bad were destroyed from the blast. The landscape was one larg creator that stopped at the feet of the Resitance members. X then fell to the ground, panting hard, and then everything went black.
Ceil gathered them both up with help from the remaining good copies and got them back to the HQ for repairs. It was imperative they fix them or they would lose them both. She just hoped that she was good enough to bring them back to 100. Ceil then went outside where most of the copies were still standing, wondering what would be their fate. One of them looked up and then walked over to her position. "We have all spoken about what is next and we all agree, we pledge our services and our abilities to the Resistance. We wish to put an end to Copy-X's plans." the copy said to her taking one knee. Ceil did not know what to say, she was speechless. All of them were made by Copy-X to destroy the Resistance, but instead thier logic circuits told them what they were doing was wrong. This had to be some sort of miracle, or at least some sort of divine intervention. She wasn't sure what to beleive, but she knew that it happened. And she had to give them an answer, one that would apease everyone. "We commend your bravery for opposing your creator, and we are gratefull for your actions. But we must aproach this next action with caution. We need to come up with a comprimise that everyone agrees on. So that you can serve us better, and you will be assured your rights." Ceil hoped that it would be a good enough answer. Mainly because that was the only answer she had, and she didn't want to sound too impartial. The copies looked around and talked while their aparent leader walked back to the middle of the crowd. He sayed a few moments trying to discuss what the next thing they should do was. Ceil was hoping that they would be able to accept what she proposed. The leader of them came back and smiled, "We will accept whatever safeguards you use, and will do everything we can to hold up our side of the bargain." Ceil liked that response, and she shook his hands. "Then we shall start with the deliberations as soon as possible." The copy went back to his group and Ceil went into the HQ with a renewed hope.