Author notes:
Thanks a lot to all of your reviews, I started out this story kind of as a test story to see what people say about my writing in the Megaman division and it turned out that you liked it, I'm pleased with myself. I must really thank you all for taking the time to review my work and express your opinions, also I'd like to thank those who told me how I can improve in their opinion, that really taught me some important lessons in how to write my stories.
I am right now updating in a rate of one chapter per day, it is exhausting but worth the effort. Some chapters are different than others and sometimes I try new things in my writings, and I just remembered there are going to be many plot-holes that will be explained later on in the story. So hang in there! I am a writer who likes to keep the unexplained details to the end where everything will become obvious once the reader understands it so have patience and you will find out what is going on.
Again thanks to you all, even the writers who haven't reviewed my story. Just reading their work is inspiring and productive!
-Cursor
Chapter 9: The underwater storage facility
"Whoa..." Zero said as they arrived, the submarine bay was full of sliced and crushed Pantheons, their fluids decorating the walls.
"The executioners were definitely here." Leviathan said slowly as she walked between the bodies of the Pantheons.
Zero followed her, avoiding the large number of bodies and trying hard not to step on any part of them.
They reached the submarine door and opened it, to find a large cannon powering up to fire at them.
"Duck!" Zero yelled and both he and Leviathan hit the deck, the beam of the cannon went right over their heads.
Leviathan stood up and threw her staff at the cannon while it was charging up. The cannon exploded, throwing the staff right back at Leviathan who caught it gracefully.
"Where did that cannon come from?" Leviathan asked, "I think these guys can make mechaniloids too..." She added.
Zero sighed, it's just going to take longer he thought. Those stupid executioners thinking that they could best the greatest reploid who ever lived... he snapped out of it, what is going on? It was the third time a thought like this jumped into his head.
"Leviathan, let's go." He said quickly to distract himself from his thoughts.
They reached a dead end after about a minute.
"A dead end!? There isn't any dead end here... argh!" Leviathan tried to punch the wall but her fist has just gone through it and she fell on the floor.
"Those executioners are going to get it this time..." Leviathan muttered as Zero helped her up.
"What about your helmet? Haven't they got it fixed yet?" Zero asked, staring at Leviathan's cyan hair as she rubbed her head.
"Oh, well I didn't pick it up yet... I feel really comfortable like this." She explained with an apologizing tone.
"What if whoever's in here will attack your head? Then you will be defenseless." Zero said as they continued following the signs leading to the command room.
"Never mind that, look!" Leviathan pointed at Thoth, wait a minute... Thoth?!
He stood there with his scythe ready for action.
"What is going on?" Zero asked, "No way someone could have rebuilt Thoth this soon!"
"It's the doppelganger effect." Leviathan said, her voice lowering "Whoever did this is probably really smart, but I know how this can be possible... It's a copy, not like X was. But a copy that mimics the ability of it's original but is far less strong. They are easily produced just like Pantheons but I have yet to see one." Leviathan explained quickly.
"The executioners probably thought we'd be intimidated and then escape..." Zero understood.
He dashed forwards and sliced 'Thoth' with his Z-saber.
The doppelganger was sliced in half as if he was a mere Pantheon hunter.
"You were right, did Copy X teach you that?" Zero asked.
"How did you know?" Leviathan asked but Zero didn't answer.
Zero knew that the original X was by far more powerful than Copy X so he himself was to be considered a doppelganger.
They moved on and encountered a pack of Thoth, they sliced at Zero and Leviathan but they were too strong for the Thoth's to be able to even scratch them.
They kept walking and reached a gigantic room, the mess hall. It was full of Thoth's and what was odd Hyena was there too.
"A Hyena doppelganger?" Zero asked Leviathan who shrugged.
"We just left Hyena's body there, thought your people might clean it up." Leviathan said nonchalantly.
The battle begun and as dozens of doppelgangers attacked them they were growing weary.
After the seventieth doppelganger Zero started to pant heavily.
"We can't keep this up much longer." He said to Leviathan who was panting even more than he was.
"I know I know..." she puffed.
"We have got to do something it seems those guys never stop coming..." Zero yelled over the commotion of the doppelgangers stampede.
Leviathan looked around frantically and finally spotted something she could use.
An airlock right near them, filled with water.
"Hold on!" she yelled as she launched one of her daggers at the airlocks door.
The door broke and water from outside started flooding the mess hall.
Leviathan looked even prettier and more graceful in the water, if that was even possible Zero thought.
She summoned up a whole pack of her leviathans and the water serpents destroyed the helpless doppelgangers.
Zero and Leviathan helped the serpents clear out the last of the doppelgangers and both fell to their knees panting heavily from the battle.
After a while both started laughing, they laughed and laughed and couldn't stop.
After what seemed like half an hour they pressed on, destroying cannons and some piranha mechaniloids that greatly reminded Zero of the Sharkseals.
They went through the corridors and entered an airlock that filtered away the waters much to Leviathan's disappointment.
"Dry combat from now on." Zero commented, looking at Leviathan's sapphire eyes and smiling.
Leviathan smiled back and they both entered the next few hallways.
They reached another dead end but this time it really was blocked.
"What!?" Leviathan hit the wall hard a couple of times.
"How can it be? There is supposed to be a door here. Did the executioners seal it?" Leviathan said in frustration.
"Wait a minute, where is the door's controls?" Zero asked,
"There should be a panel on the door's left." Leviathan said and Zero started to feel the wall to the left of the door until his hand touched something, a button. He pressed it and he went through the hidden door.
"Clever. Whoever did this sure wanted to keep us out of the command room." Leviathan said and suddenly gasped.
Zero followed her gaze and quickly crouched so that the laser beam would miss him.
A great doppelganger of Seraph X was floating up in the air.
"M... master X...?" Leviathan said weakly.
"No! Its another doppelganger, what are those executioners trying to pull?" Zero asked worriedly.
Zero leaped into the battle as Leviathan was paralyzed.
The doppelganger tried to hit him with his energy rings but as Zero knew this move he was able to dodge it pretty easily and he attacked the fake X, slicing his head once.
The doppelganger's armor took the blow nicely and the doppelganger used its beam attack and burned the floor.
Zero had to pick up Leviathan and move her away so she wouldn't be harmed.
"This place is filled with old schematics of us and our army reploids, and Copy X..." Leviathan said, "The executioners can easily create doppelgangers resembling us and send them to... oh no!" she looked at Zero and Zero looked back.
"Neo-Arcadia!" they said in unison and Zero yelled in his comm.
"There are doppelgangers we are still here if there is another Leviathan in the base destroy her!" he yelled.
Meanwhile at Neo-Arcadia's mission room...
"There... here... Leviathan... in... the base... her..." sounded through the room.
"Its just Zero, wanting to know if I arrived safely." Leviathan said to Harpuia and Fefnir.
Harpuia was fixed rather quickly this time as all of the maintenance reploids worked solely on him.
"Hey Leviathan I want to talk to you..." Harpuia said and beckoned her to follow.
She followed him to his quarters and they entered.
Harpuia's quarters were huge, they were X's former quarters. With a throne and all.
Gold decorated the walls and magnificent furniture furnished the gigantic room.
There was a massive closet to the left of the room.
Exactly in the middle was a great king-size bed, with a golden H on it. It used to be an X but as Harpuia became leader they changed it to H.
Harpuia looked for a second at Leviathan and suddenly noticed something, since when did Leviathan had red eyes?
Leviathan drew her staff from behind her back and stepped tried to impale Harpuia, who jumped out of the way.
"What are you doing Leviathan?!" he shouted, hoping that she would stop. But she didn't she pressed on and Harpuia was helpless, not wanting to hurt her.
He could only dodge her attacks but soon he knew she would manage to hit him. He just prayed someone would come by then since his wrist comm. was still in the maintenance room.
At the underwater storage facility...
Leviathan and Zero fought about a dozen of the guardians' doppelganger.
Zero had just destroyed another Fefnir as a Harpuia attacked him.
"We got to hurry, if a Leviathan is in Neo-Arcadia she must be already doing something." Zero said urgently.
"You're right, we have to do something. Use Thoth's technique and wipe out as many of them as you can." Leviathan suggested even though it sounded more like an order.
Zero stopped time for a brief period of twenty seconds in which he managed to wipe out half of the doppelgangers.
"I need time to recharge my attack." Zero said.
"You got it." Leviathan dashed forwards and used her staff as a lance, piercing a row of doppelgangers.
Zero kept on fighting, taking out large numbers of doppelgangers by trapping them with the chain rod and crushing them against something.
"Come on!" Zero said as he was about to be recharged.
He then stopped time for the second time and destroyed what was left of the doppelgangers.
"Now to get into the command room." Leviathan said and ran through a doorway just to fall into water.
"What the!?" She asked, the command room was filled with water and on top of them were floating icebergs. On top of them stood a blue reploid, who resembled a humanoid octopus. A humanlike body and the head of an octopus completed with tentacles.
He held in his hand a trident and looked at them with his glowing blue eyes.
"I am Poseidon, chosen of the Executioner Whirlpool. And I am your doom." His eyes flashed.
Zero jumped onto an iceberg and prepared for battle, he preferred leaving the underwater fighting to Leviathan as it was her specialty.
They both waited for Poseidon to choose his move, whether to fight Zero above or Leviathan below...
To be continued...