Chapter 18 - Rival X's

32 gasped for air as X1 gripped his throat a littler tighter, his buster still placed against 32's forehead. He snarled and threw 32 into a nearby wall, watching his body slam into it and fall to the floor. He smirked lightly and walked over to the fallen Reploid, keeping his right hand as a buster, he set the barrel back against his forehead, grinning darkly.

"Time to say your prayers.."

X1's charge began to rev up, and the sound of a soft high-pitched whirring noise came from behind him. He turned his head to glance behind him, when he was jerked forward and sent flying into the far side of the room, his body twisting up against the wall.

Enzan pushed himself to run harder through the long corridors, his legs were getting tired fast, but he had to make it back to the lab as quick as he could. The sound of 32's voice when he had contacted him was urgent, or that's how he had taken to be. It was hard for him to tell with these Reploids, who could contract human emotions as easily as any human could. The sound of something extremely heavy coming in contact with a wall came to his ears through the many halls.

'What could that have been? ... It came from the lab!' "32!"

Enzan took off at a harder run, pushing himself harder than he'd ever pushed himself before. He had to make it to the lab in time, he didn't know what he might find there, but he had to get there before something serious happened to 32, or the X and Axl clones.

X had reached the lab just in time to save the Reploid scientist from taking a blast to the forehead, and ending what life he had left for him. X's medium-charged blast had done little to effect this.. Clone that was standing front of him.

"Heh.. Hello X." The voice sounded extremely familiar.

"..." The clone smirked a little, "Not going to say hello to poor little X1?"

'X1.. Light Armor! That's why it looks so familiar.. It was when I first began my life as a Hunter, the first armor I got. That Reploid must have upgraded him to have the Light Armor at the beginning. Ah.. It all makes sense now.'

"You're just a clone, X1." Which got a snort out of X1.

"I may just be a clone.. But I'm stronger than you'll EVER be!"

X1's buster lurched upward, as did X's. The two busters, almost identical in shape and size began to let off soft high-pitched whirring noises. X1 smirked a little, the dark purple helmet gem gleaming ominously, illuminating X's face in the dark purple glow. X thinned his lips, and tried not to notice it, but it was distracting to him.

"X, if you back down.. I won't have to kill you."

"I won't back down to a low-life Maverick version of myself!"

"Maverick? Maverick? I'm not a WEAKLING like those pitiful virus-infected things you've fought in the past, X! I'm something much more than that!"

Both of their busters began to gleam at the tip, and 32 watched on. He closed his eyes tight. He drew his arms over his chest and head, his left arm overlapping his right arm. The two busters left off at the same moment. X1's blast igniting with a deep purple radiating glow, streaming forth from the end of his buster, while X's blast ruptured forth from the end of his buster in a deep blue hue. The two blasts collided sharply, struggling back and forth with each other, and then they both exploded in upon one another.

The resulting explosion shook through the entire building, multiple beams of energy erupting outward through the roof of the building, tearing holes through the atmosphere and out into space. The ground quivered for a few seconds after the explosion had occurred.

The two teams out in the city all turned their eyes toward the beams of light erupting from the direction of the rubble of the Maverick Hunter HQ, all of their eyes widening incredible at the site of such power being displayed at this point. None of them knew what was going on back at the base, but each and everyone person swore at themselves for not being there to help 32 protect the base from that kind of power.

X fell to his knees, gasping for air, his armor cracked in multiple areas. He glanced up as X1 stood over him, barely damaged at all. X1 morphed his cracked right gauntlet back into a buster and set the end of the barrel to X's forehead. He leaned down and grinned darkly.

"The original X falls to a copy.."

X1 went flying into the sidewall, his body twisting slightly and crunching into the thick concrete and metal plating. He dropped to the ground, turning to stare at 32, who hefted his hammer up on to his right shoulder. 32's left arm, or what was left of it, was sparking at its base, the actual arm was mangled on the floor behind him.

"Sorry X1. But you fail at life."

X1 glared angrily and snarled at 32. He got to his feet and quickly dashed from the room, passing by X's crouched figured. X1 launched himself out in the hallway, his hand morphing into a buster and beginning to charge as quick as he could make it go.

'This one is stronger than I thought.. X is a weakling now, heh. More fun for me.'

"Time to die.."

X1 activates his dash and slid back into the lab, plowing his shoulder into 32's chest, sending him back a little. X1 whipped his buster out in front of him and fired, the level two plasma shot connecting straight into 32's gut and sending him flying into the wall, dropping to the floor once more.

'Too easy.'

32's nanites activated and swirled around his body. He leapt to his feet, a pair of dark blue wings erupting from his back. His right arm morphed into four busters, all pointing in X1's direction. 32 grit his teeth and began charging the four busters.

"Four? Overcompensating for something?"

"You wish. Now die!"

32's busters all activated at once and X1 turned and dashed from the room. Four waves of energy mixed into one massive energy blast and swept out the doorway to meet X1's fleeing form. 32 only laughed as the explosion rocked the entire building. He dropped down to the ground and his nanites morphed his body back to normal.

X1 leapt backward and away from the blasting, curling himself up into a ball. The wave of energy wrapped around him and sent him flying into the wall. As the energy dispersed, he leapt from the hole and dusted himself off. He smirked a little, checking himself for any major damage.

'Hehe.. This armor always has been very durable..'

He turned and walked out of the base, letting his metallic footsteps vibrate down the hallways, making sure to take harder steps than normal to show them off that the littler performance with the four busters was nothing more than an act. He was barely harmed at all from that blast. He exited the base with dark grin on his face, his left hand beginning to glow and crackle with purple energy.

"I will have my fun with this world yet.."

32 walked back into the Stasis Room and grabbed his arm from the ground. X was leaning against the wall by the doorway, breathing heavily. His arm was cracked in multiple places, coolant leaking from the side of his helmet and from his left side. 32 stood in front of him and set his hand on his shoulder.

"It's nice to see someone hasn't forgotten how to fight."

"Shut it.. I lost, remember."

"A lose is only a lose, if you die."

X stared at 32 as he walked into the lab and began reattaching his arms, his nanites pulling the arm up into its socket. He sighed heavily and fell into his lab chair. X grit his teeth and limped over to the side other side of the room, falling against the wall. He turned his gaze to 32 and closed his eyes.

"Are we the only people here?"

"Yea we ar-.. ENZAN!"

32 jerked forward in the chair and began typing quickly on the sparking keyboard, his fingers desperately working at the controls to try and get the computer to respond to what he wanted. One of the upper monitors sparked to life, though it had a crack down the middle. 32 checked the map of the base and sighed lightly, nodding happily.

"Good. The kid is still alive." X shook his head, "Why is there a human kid in here?"

"Certain.. Problems have arisen. It's a good thing you're now awake, X."

'You go ahead and think that, 32..'

"Enzan, you hear me?" 32's hand was set against the side of his helmet, which was almost cracked completely.

"I hear you, 32. Though your side has got a lot of static."

"Ge-kzztt-kzzt-abkzzt" 32's voice kept sliding in and out, Enzan was having a hard time trying to hear him, but he nodded his head, "I'll be there in a minute."

Enzan sighed heavily and took off running around, the rubber soles of his shoes making a light padding noise all the way down the hallway. He had been here for a day, and he was already getting used to the winding hallways, creepily lit corridors, and stale air. It seemed this was going to be the base of operations, until they either found somewhere new to go to, or they all died.

'I'm hoping for the former, and not the latter on this one..'

X rubbed his hand into the side of his neck, working out the crick that had just begun to form there. He sighed heavily and began to run diagnostic checks on himself. He glanced over at 32, who was once again typing furiously at the keyboard. He squinted a little to find out what was on the pale green screen.

'Are those.. Axl's schematics? That was Axl I saw in that chamber.. But why?'

"32.. Why are remaking Axl?"

"Because we need Class S Hunters, and we don't have any. But now we have you."

"I know where Axl is.. I could probably get him activated before tomorrow."

"..."

"What?"

"I did all this work for nothing, dammit!"

X smirked a little, but couldn't hold back as he began to laugh heartily, setting his hands against the wall on either side of his body. It had been a long time since he had laughed, a long time since he'd done anything. It felt good to be back out in the world, despite that fact that his world was now in shambles and disrepair.

'I'll just have to get this place back together.. Make it the place I remember.'