The world is in ruins in the wake of the Eurasia Crash. With toxins spilling all over its hard for either Reploids or humans to live their daily lives.
Criminals are taking advantage of the chaos to pilfer and enslave the Reploids. Even with Shina's help X is having trouble keeping this all together.
It has been three weeks since the end of the Eurasia Incident, and Shina has seen neither hide nor hair of Alex.
She's also been having strange dreams, her latest one involving a strange woman and man getting out of a car. The woman appears to have the same bracelet as her, and her name is "Lumina". The man's name is "Abraham".
She wakes up to the sound of an alarm and hurries to meet up with X in the command center. There's currently an attack going on at the Eurasia crash site and X and Shina are going to investigate it.
Alia pulls Shina aside and tells her that she was unable to examine Alex's blade in good detail. Its just too foreign to her.
Shina takes the blade onto her belt and worries if she'll be able to find Alex, assuming that perhaps he's already gone off world...
But she keeps her head high and follows X on their mission. X is able to regain the Falcon Armor thanks to Alia's efforts, but its a little weaker than before.
Wielding the Z-Saber, X traverses the area and comes across some Reploids under attack from an out-of-control Mechanaloid.
While Shina escorts the Reploids to safety, X disables the Mechanaloid. But in the last moment, a copy of Zero descends and slices it in half.
Zero doesn't appear to recognize X normally and calls him weak before vanishing from sight. X, perplexed, finds out from Alia that said fake had the exact same signature as the real Zero.
Shina returns and before they can find out more about what's going on, another Reploid descends to greet them. His name is High-MAX, the Ultimate Reploid.
Investigating the Zero Nightmare, MAX questions X on his location. But and X and Shina attack him, with the Reploid effortlessly blocking their efforts and calling them weak.
He leaves, finding them beneath his notice.
Before this matter can be pursued further Alia comes in with a report from Abel City. A mysterious scientist Reploid speaks to a crowd of gathered citizens.
He warns of a new virus spreading throughout the planet that infects Reploids and twists their minds like nightmares, turning them into obedient zombies.
Said virus originates from the ghost of Zero that's wandering the Earth. Using this news to rally the citizens and eager hunters, the Reploid plans to have the ghost of Zero caught or eliminated.
X is furious and confused, but Alia's there to calm him down. Him and Shina return to base, and prepare to figure out what's going on.
Back at the base, Alia reports that from the voice recognition system, the mysterious Reploid who is rallying others against the Zero Nightmare is Isoc, a scientist who had vanished after earlier helping against the Sigma Virus.
X and Shina are determined to investigate the Zero Nightmare and determined who created the Nightmare Virus. Alia has some information to help, having pinpointed the locations where the eight Nightmare Investigators are reportedly working at.
The first location is in the Amazon, and X decides to go alone for now. He's warned to keep an eye out for the Zero Nightmare, and High-MAX too, as he seems connected to Isoc.
Without any knowledge of what the investigators look like, X cautiously moves through the jungle. There he finds an eager group of Reploids trying to claim glory.
But one of them, very frightened to be here, is targeted by a terrifying looking viral entity and possessed. X is forced to terminate them, and then convinces the others in his group to leave for their own sake.
An orb flies out of the dead Reploid and into X, but he doesn't feel different cause of it. Alia assumes what X just killed was the virus, and that it is attracted to fear. There's no saving the Reploids that get infected, but there is a long enough period before they do that X can save them.
So he keeps an eye out for the virus while making his way through the forest, eventually coming across a Dr. Light capsule.
X recognizes that Dr. Light repaired him and gives his thanks. Dr. Light is disturbed by this state of the world and has more armors ready to help X succeed.
One such armor is the Sword Armor, which'll let him wield the Z-Saber better. But he has to collect four parts again first.
The Ultimate Armor, however, is still being repaired. X doesn't want it right now though, fearing the power it contained.
Before X leaves, Dr. Light warns him not to confront Isoc...
X continues further in until he runs across a unique looking Reploid with a dragonfly-like appearance. His name is Yammark, the investigator for this region.
X tries to ally with him to investigate the region but upon calling himself a Maverick Hunter, Yammark immediately distrusts him, saying he's just here to kill him "again".
X's attempts to diffuse the situation only worsen when he tries to get in contact with Alia. Not only is Alia unresponsive, but her name sets Yammark off further.
Choosing not to lose his freedom again, Yammark attacks X, forcing the Maverick Hunter to take him down.
Yammark swears to X that he did nothing wrong as he dies, and X feels a sense of discomfort as he performs his usual routine of taking his power.
He's able to contact Alia again, who swears to not know a Reploid by the name of Yammark. He also finds another of those strange orbs, and Alia calls him back to base to discuss them further.
Turns out those orbs are what's powering the Nightmare Virus. Alia calls them "Nightmare Souls". While they're dangerous in the hands of the virus, once reaching X or even Shina's possession they only seem to power them up.
Alia's struggling to understand what's going on. The virus defies all conventional science.
But she does have one idea now that they've gotten this far. The Zero Nightmare seems to be attracted to places with large quantities of Nightmare Souls. So they just need to place a bunch of souls in one location to lure the Zero Nightmare out.
X proposes using the Amazon, but that place is vacant now and they need a whole lot more souls to lure the Zero Nightmare in.
So Alia tasks Shina with going to a museum and taking out the investigator there, while she works on a way to extract the souls currently inside of X.
Shina heads off, dealing with a winding series of mazes and warps while furthering deeper into the museum.
Along the way she runs into some Reploids who pelt her with stones, blaming the Maverick Hunters for causing more Mavericks to appear.
She cuts them off passively and then continues on her way with a sigh.
Then she runs into a Dr. Light capsule. After thanking him for repairing her too, Dr. Light has some news to deliver...Turns out, Shina has the same systems as X.
It explains why she hasn't been infected yet but just adds more confusion towards what happened to her and Alex on this world.
Shina wants to get a move on but Dr. Light has one question to propose to her. Much like X, Shina is faced with the possibility that she may have to muster up the courage to destroy Alex in the future.
Shina's already decided that no matter what, she'll save Alex instead of killing him. In her eyes Alex doesn't deserve a bad ending, and she'll risk her own happy ending to give him one of his own.
Dr. Light wishes her well, then passes on another armor part to be transferred to X.
Shina then wraps up going through the museum, eventually running into its investigator, a dung beetle Reploid by the name of Ground Scaravich.
Shina tries to butter him up with some lies to get him out of here, but the sudden appearance of High-MAX blows her cover.
Shina presses the panic button and tries to get Alia to send her out of here, but High-MAX jams the teleporter signal and ousts her as one of Alia's comrades.
Scaravich gets upset and begins to work alongside High-MAX to take this liar down, refusing to be terminated again.
Shina pulls out her weapons and bravely stands up to the two Reploids, exploiting High-MAX's arrogance to get him to attack Scaravich.
Shina then uses High-MAX's weakness, shooting him first with a rocket launcher and then kicking one of Scaravich's rock at him to damage him.
Frazzled by him having...weakness, High-MAX vanishes to recoup at his master's. Shina's then left with Scaravich.
Scaravich laments dying again, but can see that Shina is truly regretful for having to be his executioner. Shina finishes him off, and then prepares to tell Alia that this place is ready.
But before then she's suddenly shunted through time once more, this time arriving at the scene of Alex and herself talking.
Yet she doesn't recognize the area as a place she's been to...Even though she feels she sees.
She's pulled forward a little further, watching Alex cornered by the Susano'o armor. Yet in defiance, Alex contorts into an angry monster...From the sight of HER corpse.
Shina's pulled back to the present with a pale scream, which frightens Alia. Shina gets a grip on herself and tries to tell Alia what happened.
Now they can set up a trap for the Zero Nightmare.
Shina then pulls out the Gaia Temporis and realizes her strange visions are its doing somehow. But when pressed for answers, a voice can only offer a faint apology...
X and Alia arrived a little later with a capsule in tow that stores Nightmare Souls. After Shina and X pool their souls inside, Alia boosts a signal that draws in the Zero Nightmare.
X draws the Z-Saber and attacks the fake Zero. Drawing upon the memories of his fallen friend, X easily cuts the fake down and calls him nothing like the real Zero.
In the aftermath Alia is prepared to put the fake away for good, but X suddenly has a revelation...One that raises more questions than answer.
He uses his buster to suck all the Nightmare Souls out of the fake's body...But all that remains afterwards can only be described as the real Zero.
Zero stumbles to his feet and faintly recognizes X. X draws his buster and warns them to stand back. Zero, confused, insists he's X's friend.
Zero has to detail a memory only he would know, the exact moment of his death, for X to believe that he's the real deal.
But now X wonders how he could still be alive. Zero has no answers whatsoever. For now, all they can do is take him back to base to catch him up on what he missed. He takes the fake's sword for himself, and insists X keep his old one.
Meanwhile, a scientist by the name of Gate watches over High-MAX while Isoc appears to speak with him.
Isoc's worried about leaving Zero in the hands of the Maverick Hunters, but Gate insists he got all the information he needs to complete his goals.
Isoc brings up the matter of a runaway traitor, and Gate says not to worry about him.
Isoc then mentions something about another party absorbing large quantities of Nightmare Souls, saying they're operating outside the investigation zones and appears to be running an EMP Field to avoid being tracked with.
After Isoc leaves, Gate laughs, having overheard the name "Alia" be repeated multiple times. The name drives him mad, and he vows to make the world see his brilliance.
Back at HQ Zero's given a warm welcome by his allies and caught up on the Nightmare situation. Alia now has a new plan going forward to figure out who controls the virus.
One is to keep deleting the investigators to lure out the perpetrator or two...Capture Isoc and interrogate him for information.
X is confused seeing how Isoc sounds like the one responsible for the virus. But Shina and Alia point out how the mastermind is operating like Sigma would, and thus wouldn't risk revealing themselves out in the open.
With a new Z-Saber in hand Zero volunteers to head out to deal with another investigator as a test run to his performance.
He heads into a volcano and runs into a mutation of the Nightmare Virus shaped like a ringed dragon. Sadly Zero's techniques aren't all functional right now so it takes him longer than he admits to deal with the robot.
He continues through and deals with either more of that mutation or the same one revived, eventually burying it onto a rock slide temporarily.
He runs into Dr. Light's capsule and assumes that the doctor rebuilt him. But Dr. Light denies it, saying how he doesn't understand his systems at all.
But Zero suspects that Dr. Light does know who is responsible. Though Dr. Light isn't clear, he does reveal that the person who rebuilt Zero the first time was Serges, hoping that'll be enough to lead Zero to the truth.
Zero starts piecing things together, laying Serges and Isoc's appearances together in his head until the appearance of a familiar "W" causes him to stop.
He decides not to pursue the matter and thanks Dr. Light for his help. He then picks up a piece of the Shadow Armor for X, and continues further into the volcano.
At the end he runs into the phoenix investigator, Blaze Heatnix, a hot-head who'd rather fight than waste time talking. He also seems to have had a tie to Magma Dragoon.
Zero and Heatnix fight, and after a tough struggle Zero manages to win. He finds the victory conclusive enough to decide that he's back in tip-top shape, and returns to base.
X prepares to go after the next investigator after checking to see if Alia's able to make a connection between them.
Zero pulls X aside briefly, suspecting that Alia knows more than she's letting on. But X doesn't want to interrogate a comrade...not yet anyways.
He then heads to an arctic zone, which is under the effects of a strange phenomenon that causes flaming meteors to rain down.
Alia suspects the defeat of Blaze Heatnix caused the Nightmare Virus to want to seek revenge this way, but isn't quite sure.
As long as X has the power of the Nightmare Souls on his side though, he can deal with these meteors. He continues on cautiously, eventually running into another Dr. Light capsule.
X is troubled by urges to reveal the truth of Zero's birth to him, but at the same time...He can barely remember anything about Serges. Other memories seem to be damaged too.
Dr. Light apologizes for not being able to repair everything, but X knows he tried his best. He decides to leave the truth to Zero, and focuses on the current mission.
After getting another part, X continues on and finds the investigator, Blizzard Wolfang.
Wolfang does not wish to fight, rather, he wants to talk. X wants to know why Wolfang pledges his loyalty to someone trying to ruin the world.
Wolfang believes its out of loyalty, which was ingrained into him from birth, much like the wolves of ancient times.
But Wolfang does not believe he deserves his master's trust, as he failed him long ago in protecting this base and his pack.
After murdering a group of assailants in cold blood, Wolfang was then put out of commission by none other...Than Alia.
X is stunned, and in that moment Wolfang urges X to see reason in his master's actions. With the Nightmare Souls, they could eventually bring back all the dead Reploids who died for nothing.
X has his regrets, but he also can't see a peaceful world being made given the effects the Nightmare Virus is having on everyone and everything.
Wolfang understands his point of view, but will continue to believe in his master, even if the world calls him mad.
Once more X is forced to put down another good Reploid. Wolfang, in his last moments, laments his failures to his Master, Gate.
X keeps that name in the back of his mind as Alia returns him to base.
There's no time for hesitation now. X and Zero both realize that Alia's hiding the truth, and are forced to confront her over it.
Shina tries to defend Alia for a time, but Alia winds up blowing it by referring to Gate as "him" despite the gender never being brought up.
Zero gets aggressive with Alia, believing she doesn't trust any of them after all this time, and might secretly be working for Gate still.
Signas is forced to intervene and pull Zero away, upon which he reveals that he knew the truth all along, and humbly requests that Alia do the same for the others.
Alia forces a smile and turns to her computer, revealing a picture of her in a lab coat standing beside another Reploid...The one called Gate.
Her past involves desperation and betrayal. Long ago, she was one of twelve scientists working to create the next stage in Reploid development for humans.
Gate was another of the twelve, and the smartest of them all. His advances in the field, along with the development of the first viral-immune Reploids, earned him respect from the government and the jealousy of his peers save Alia.
Alia was forced into getting payback on Gate by peer pressure and fears that Gate's ego would one day cause him to leave her behind.
One by one the scientists sabotaged the eight Reploids Gate had made...the present day Nightmare Investigators.
Alia took two lives, murders that she'll never be able to forget.
When all eight Reploids were done, the scientists did little to taunt Gate over HIS failures. But Gate was no fool, he saw through their "clever" ruse and screamed at them for their conspiracy against his children.
When his pride was wounded the most, Gate turned feral and his rampage set fire to the laboratory. Seeing all Reploids as little more than beneath him now, Gate set out on his own to one day prove the superiority of his intelligence and make all who look down upon him kneel.
Having lost the kind soul she admired, Alia escapes the laboratory while the rest of the scientists were decommissioned. Being a loose end, however, she was hunted down by the government's "Shadow Corps" for a time.
Broken and tired, Alia was eventually discovered by Signas, who brought her into the Maverick Hunters and despite her past...Gave her a fresh start as a navigator.
Despite the story X doesn't believe Alia is at fault. Zero's more annoyed that Alia didn't trust them with the truth for this long, and leaves in a huff.
Alia turns to X, and asks if he hates her too.
X can never hate her, cause her trust has never been in question. But he cannot ignore the present situation, and if Gate's responsible for the Nightmare Virus then he'll have to stop him.
So he wants Alia to give her all too to continue helping him, so she can finally confront her past and put it behind her for good.
Alia's motivated by his words and vows to help him as best she can. And Shina's there to help her too.
After a break to reorganize themselves, X and Shina return to Alia to continue their mission. Zero is nowhere to be found.
Alia has a plan moving forward. As much as she hates to do it, the Investigators have to die again. That's the only way to lure Gate out of hiding.
X will continue on to a new location, a Reploid junkyard, guarded by Metal Shark Player, lord of the dead.
Shark was terminated for his illegal capability to resurrect dead Reploids. In the current state of the world, where humans can die once but Reploids can be brought back multiple times, a law preventing the rebuilding of Reploids had to be put in place.
Zero was lucky to have been brought back the first time, given those circumstances.
X presses on through the junkyard, having a rather uneventful trip to a Dr. Light capsule and seeing some of Shark's creations.
Eventually he runs into the junkyard master himself, dragging an anchor through the scrap and having an overall reaper-like appearance.
Shark sees right through X's appearance and recognizes the hundreds of dead inside of him. He calls him disrespectful of the dead, using them only to acquire their powers.
He takes good care of these junkyards because no other human or Reploid will. Once a Reploid is scrapped, they quickly become forgotten unless they made a big name for themselves.
He torments X over the guilt of the lives he's taken, and even revives the likes of Sting Chameleon, Magna Centipede and Blast Hornet to rub it in further.
X battles his undead horde and eventually figures out that his weakness is rusting up, using a makeshift ice and fire combo to make rain.
As Shark rusts over, he continues to mock X for never being free of his guilt.
But X lays a hand over his chest, stating how he'll never forget the lives he's taken. For he doesn't take Reploids' powers to gain strength, but to always honor and preserve their memories. That's why even when Shark's gone, he'll remain alive inside of him.
Shark doesn't consider that such a bad thing, and to honor X's good nature he gives him a warning...
His ally, Rainy Turtloid, is in pursuit of a dangerous Reploid that scars the lands with trails of flame.
Shina gasps, and recognizes that this might be the lead on Alex she finally needs...
Shina wants to head out immediately to Rainy Turtloid's domain on her own. She passes X along the way, who wishes her luck.
Diving into a place with acidic rain, Shina arms herself with a barrier and presses forward. Turtloid's in the water swimming, but in order to get his attention Shina's going to have to lure him out somehow.
She continues on through the area until running into a Dr. Light capsule through a tight corridor. There, Shina confronts him again about Alex, stating that it feels like he knows.
But Dr. Light doesn't want to reveal the truth, as he feels Shina isn't ready still.
Shina knows she'll have to hurt Alex when she meets him again...Its hard to swallow but, she refuses to hesitate any longer, not when Alex is suffering in a cage of his own emotions.
Dr. Light now believes she's being sincere with herself, and offers her a hint...She just needs to keep going forward, and she'll see the truth she wants to see.
After getting X another part, Shina continues onward and finally gets in a good position to grab Turtloid's attention by shooting him in the water.
He emerges and is a little annoyed to see her.
Shina apologizes for attacking, but it was the only way. Turtloid recognizes her as the outsider Reploid and is about ready to attack.
However, Shina disarms herself and insists that she's only here to find her friend. Her sincerity in her goal resonates with Turtloid, who decides to not fight for now until Shina can find her friend.
But before he makes a move, he's stabbed through the back and dropped to the ground...With Dynamo standing atop his corpse and absorbing his Nightmare Souls.
Shina assumes he must be the dangerous Reploid, but Dynamo denies it, stating the others were definitely referring to her hot-headed friend.
Dynamo wants to discuss him, actually, and tells Shina to meet him outside the Eurasia Crash Site...alone.
As much as Alia wants to provide back-up, Shina insists on falling for Dynamo's obvious trap alone. Alia points her in the right direction, then cuts communications for now.
Before Shina sets out, the Gaia Temporis pulls her through time once more, this time to another part of Alex's past.
Shina's forced to watch as Alex, as a child, is trapped inside of a prison cell and slowly losing his mind.
This is the day that Alex's mind gave birth to a split personality, one that leaves him with an eerie smile of joy...
Shina then returns to the present and is horrified by what she saw...and finally realizes how wrong she was to reject Alex's confession the way she did before. He sincerely was confessing his love...because she was probably the first person in a long time who treated him like a human and not an experiment or monster.
Punishing herself for such stupidity, Shina tightens her resolve and flies off to confront Dynamo and hopefully, save Alex from himself this time.
Back at the HQ, Zero returns and decides that he won't hate Alia, but she has to earn their trust back all over again.
After X briefs Zero on Shina's predicament, Zero has a plan to help indirectly. With the amount of Nightmare Souls Dynamo has absorbed there's no guarantee Gate won't send out the last two Nightmare Investigators or High-MAX to capture him.
So while they still hold the element of surprise, Zero and X will divide and conquer the remaining investigators under the assumption that High-MAX will be with one of them.
Zero heads out first to the laser defense facility housing Shield Sheldon, a former guardian Reploid who was blamed for sabotage and took his life out of shame.
Zero traverses a series of invisible platforms and laser defense grids until ultimately having another encounter with Dr. Light in his capsule.
Dr. Light confirms the presence of High-MAX here, along with one other unexpected guess. Zero suspects who it is, and Dr. Light warns him that he'll need to be prepared to confront the truth soon.
Zero moves forward without hesitation after getting X's next armor part, and finds Shield Sheldon, High-MAX and Isoc gathered in one room.
Sheldon has his qualms with High-MAX providing him back-up but with the way things are they need to join their forces as much as possible.
Isoc notices Zero's presence and calls him out. Boldly diving into battle, Zero attacks Sheldon and High-MAX together while Isoc observes in the distance.
Utilizing the two's lack of teamwork to his advantage, Zero weakens Sheldon enough to take him down in one stroke. He then uses Sheldon's shield to reflect High-MAX's energy back at him, damaging him enough to down him in one powerful sword slash.
Isoc cackles madly at Zero's impressive display of strength, stating how even X couldn't get this far alone. Zero plans to bring Isoc in, but Isoc is confident that he'll remain untouched.
He begins taunting Zero to say his true name, so that history may remember the name of the world's true ruler. Zero attacks him when the taunting becomes too much, but Isoc easily captures him in an energy field.
Remarking on the familiarity with his design, Isoc picks up High-MAX and leaves before X can join up and cause trouble.
For the next hour, Zero's left suspended in this trap, leaving X to deal with the final investigator alone...
Meanwhile Shina meets up with Dynamo at the destined location. Shina immediately attacks him for the Eurasia Crash, but Dynamo plays it cool..
All Dynamo's ever wanted is what all Reploids desire, freedom...and power. In a way, he found himself sharing a kinship with Alex Whiter cause of that.
But when things went south with Sigma, Dynamo had to look towards alternative means to get stronger. So he started harvesting Nightmare Souls in the wake of X, Zero and her efforts.
Now he's hunting the ultimate prize...Alex Whiter, who has gone on a rampage absorbing tons of Nightmare Souls himself.
Once Dynamo fights Shina long enough, Alex Whiter is sure to come out of hiding so he can reap his souls. Then he'll have all the freedom and all the power he could ever want.
Shina fights her with a full resolve and Dynamo proves be a lot tougher foe than he ever was before. But their battle is quickly interrupted as Dynamo's theory proves true.
But what descends isn't Alex Whiter...No, its a horrible blob-like monstrosity that quickly devours Dynamo whole, down to the base parts.
Shina's disgusted by the sight of this beast, but what's more disturbing is that the beast bears Alex's power...
The beast gurgles out a sound of familiarity towards her, taunting her for continuing to get in her way. Shina realizes then that this beast IS Alex. Not corrupted by the artifact piece but rather, from a heavy consumption of the Sigma and Maverick Virus.
Shina refuses to listen to the beast's taunts and demand Alex be freed. The beast complies, pushing him up through the top of its head like a newly formed boil.
Shina tries to wake him up but the beast laughs, saying its such a cruel gesture for her to NOW pretend that she cares about them.
Shina accuses the beast of being a parasite who has preyed on his suffering. Except...the beast is the only thing that has kept Alex sane all these years. Without its help, Alex would've broken long ago. Its more akin to a symbiote than a parasite.
This split personality wanted nothing more than for Alex to find pleasure and happiness, but the world continued to prove cruel and uncaring to his wants and needs.
Even when Shina arrived, and Alex swore he found the light he needed once more...She treated his confession of love like a joke.
It proved to the personality that there was no hope for love, for happiness, or for satisfaction the way they are now.
If Alex could render the heavens asunder just to save her life, even then she would laugh like a hyena at his confession.
Alex awakens, weakly confirming some of the things his split personality says. He apologizes to Shina, saying he never wanted her to see him as this...this monster. This whole time he has been selfish, and now she'll never get to see her family again, or-
Shina yells at him to "SHUT UP" with all her might.
To her, she refuses to let him beat himself up over stuff that's not his fault. He's Alex Whiter, not a monster, not a freak, just the only him there is.
She's the fool. She should've listened with her heart, not her ears. She had been cruel, and a liar too...Cause deep down, even she was starting to fall in love with him. What started as admiration grew into that over time, as he never gave up on her even after all her stupidity.
She says what Alex is, and right now that very Alex is screaming in his heart to be saved. So she refuses to let the parasite or symbiote or whatever the hell its called lead him astray any longer.
Drawing Alex's sword and activating the Valkyrie Drive, Shina yells at Alex to not run away from living, shocking him to the core.
She then demands that Alex repeat those words until she's certain he's telling the truth to everyone, even himself.
So Alex does so, but pleads with Shina not to go through with this fight. The split personality denies her love as another lie and plans to silence her to open Alex's eyes to the truth...That the only way to find happiness...Is to destroy everything there ever is!
So, as is his right as the Phoenix of Destruction, the split personality shall begin their rampage...By killing her!
Alex warns her that the monster can absorb energy from the planet to heal, so Shina tries to sever that connection first and foremost.
But ultimately even her aura blade can do little to dent the monster's hide or make it flinch. And Alex's blade is not responding to her will.
The monster continues to screech for her demise as she holds on for dear life, refusing to kneel to its rage.
As the situation grows desperate, however, Shina wonders if she even can do anything to save him. Suddenly, a feminine voice she somewhat recognizes as similar to her mother's speaks out.
It tells Shina the name of Alex's blade...Gekimetsu, and hearing that sparks Shina with an idea...If she can't defeat the rage monster, then she'll just cut Alex free so it'll have nothing to feed on.
She invokes the name of Alex's blade and it explodes with an inferno that rides up her arm. Alex panics that this'll kill her, but Shina doesn't care.
Driven to fight with all her strength AND his at her side, Shina charges the monster head-on and starts cutting it down in heavy swathes.
With the Gaia Temporis' help Shina is able to push through the monster's desperation attacks and dive towards Alex.
The monster makes one last effort to bury Alex inside of itself, but Shina dives in without hesitation and rips him free.
Alex being pulled out stops the monster for good, as it dissolves into nothingness cursing her name.
After a moment to catch their breath, Alex is admittedly a little grumpy but eventually softens up and thanks her for saving his life.
But then it dawns on them that they both just basically confessed their love earlier and after some awkward attempts at dealing with that they both agree to just deal with it later.
For now, Alex wants to rest. Fortunately the last artifact piece is in his pocket, but when Shina pulls it out it comes with a letter.
An entity called "Violet" congratulates her on assembling the artifact, but suggests its not over...of course.
Shina picks Alex up and carries him back to HQ, teasing him on them both being boyfriend and girlfriend.
Meanwhile X is busy dealing with the last investigator, Infinity Mijinion. He is a weapons master, and has prepared the titanic battle machine Illuminia to get in X's way.
Even with his newly equipped Blade Armor, X can't attack the machine easily and is forced to use other measures. Dashing down the winding staircase, X destroys the power inhibitors fueling Illuminia.
Once he destroys the last one, the titanic battle machine falls and Mijinion is angered beyond belief.
X finds the final Dr. Light capsule and completes the Shadow Armor too. But he confides in Dr. Light, worried that even these armors won't be enough. Dr. Light returns the Ultimate Armor to him, with X promising to give it back when this battle is through.
X then proceeds onward to Mijinion himself, who proves to be the tiniest Maverick X has ever run into. But what he lacks in size he tries to make up for with numbers...Which proves to be futile, as X easily locks onto the real deal and kills him in one slice.
He has no more time to fool around, and after getting Mijinion's power he returns to HQ in hopes that their plan to lure out Gate shall be successful.
Some time later Zero's free from Isoc's trap and returns to base. Then Shina returns a half-hour later, bringing Alex to the capsule she was sleeping in so he can rest herself.
She then gives him back his sword and the Gaia Temporis, preparing to stick around for a bit longer to deal with Gate.
And right on cue, Gate messages the HQ. Calling out X and Zero as fascinating, Gate restates his ultimate goal to create a brighter future where the weak are subservient or culled and the strongest, him, reigns supreme in all aspects.
But X argues against his wishes, stating that a better world cannot be created by one person alone...That it requires building trust between all species, through thick and thin, no matter the differences between them. Even someone deemed "weak" should be considered useful.
Gate spits on the word "trust" and invites him, Zero and Shina to his lab to decide the future.
He hacks the teleported to bring them to the outside of his lab, and the three leaves without hesitation.
His lab is underneath the Eurasia Crash Site, armed to the brim with the Nightmare Virus and plenty of traps. X uses the Shadow Armor while Zero and Shina provide assistance with their abilities to push through the first sector of his lab.
At the end they come across a nightmarish blob called the Nightmare Mother, who has been the one birthing the virus into the world to begin with.
High-MAX descends, prepared to finally prove his superiority to these weak Reploids.
Rolling her eyes at his boasts, Shina arms her weapons and says he's nothing worth worrying about now.
And indeed, faced against the three's combined might, High-MAX stands little chance now. His tricks are a waste of time more than a problem, and as Zero points out, that just makes him any other Maverick.
High-MAX screams at his weakness and then leaps up to absorb the Nightmare Mother into himself, morphing into the frightening Omega-MAX.
But that proves to be his undoing. Now driven only by the fear in his heart, Omega-MAX is consumed whole by the Nightmare Virus he spawns, ending him for good.
The trio then move on, coming across a divide in their paths. Zero goes left, suspecting Isoc is waiting at the end, while X and Shina go to fight Gate.
Zero quickly runs into Isoc working on a secret experiment behind Gate's back. Zero draws his sword and prepares not to hesitate this time.
But Isoc's words are hypnotic, lulling Zero into a false sense of security. Even when Isoc calls him "son", Zero stands there and refuses to attack.
And with those few seconds bought, Isoc's experiment is complete...And a familiar figure is reborn from the vats of liquid behind him.
Meanwhile X and Shina soon find the main part of Gate's laboratory, where the Reploid himself is overlooking the data gleamed from X and Zero.
Zero is close enough for him but X...is still missing 20 percent.
He greets his two guests happily, disturbing X, who expected him to be angered at the loss of his creations yet again.
But this time Gate realizes just how meaningless death is for the likes of him. He can just start over yet again, rebuild them anew.
He reveals the piece of Zero's DNA he snagged from the Crash Site, laughing madly at how his persistence finally paid off when he found this.
For years he had been observing X and Zero's battles from afar, but he could never truly break through his limits when it came to deciphering what made them tick.
But with the power of Zero's pure, untouched DNA, he's able to tap into an endless reservoir of power. Now, all he needs is to fully finish analyzing X, and he will be more complete than any other Reploid in existence. Not just stronger, but smarter, faster, and untouchable to all.
X and Shina call his glee something born of madness, but to Gate he views this as liberation. He will never make mistakes again.
He curses Reploid kind as a whole for sitting back and doing nothing, letting themselves be trampled over while the truly strong and brave like X and Zero save them.
And in turn what do they provide? NOTHING. So he will make use of them by culling their numbers, so that society will have all the freed up resources it needs to rebuild.
X can't ever justify slaughter, yet Gate refuses to bend his beliefs.
He manages to drive X to hesitation by explaining an uncomfortable truth...There are too many Reploids in the world.
At worst Reploids outnumber humanity two-to-one, and that has proven to be a problem time and time again. For its not humanity that has ruined the world, its the Reploids.
So culling the numbers isn't so he can enjoy the glory of power but rather, its his method of saving the world. With less Reploids, there'd be less violence. With less Reploids, humanity would not have to cower in fear. With less Reploids...there could be no war.
X begins to lower his buster cannon until Shina shoots Gate's hand.
She counters that a peaceful world can't ever be built off a mountain of corpses.
Gate wonders how Shina can have any say in this matter, as she's neither human nor Reploid, just an interfering outsider.
Its because she's been to other worlds that have suffered from war...And they didn't survive by slaughtering the survivors, but by working together to rebuild.
And if anyone can reach out to the Reploids and humans too scared to help, its X.
X smiles and apologizes for almost doubting himself. He does agree with some of Gate's points and that maybe someday, death might be their fate...But he's not going to let Gate decide who lives and who dies.
Gate laughs calmly, stating how he had hoped him and X would see eye-to-eye.
He then dons a golden armor similar to X's Ultimate Armor and flies off the ground, declaring that a king like X can only sit...While a god like him transcends their limits and flies.
The ground breaks beneath them, leaving little room to stand. Gate then wastes little time attacking X head on, saying he's wasted his potential.
His armor is very tough, tanking all of X and Shina's strongest attacks.
Even with X going into his Ultimate Armor, Gate manages to stand defiant against all odds. It takes everything X has got just to put a dent into Gate's armor, but when that happen Gate is ecstatic to see his own blood spill.
He declares X to be the greatest Reploid of all, but shall surpass him soon enough. Yet as Gate's analysis confirms...He's still only at 80 percent.
He's baffled by just what kind of being X is, and in desperation fires off one last powerful attack at the same time X does.
A blinding light floods the room, swallowing all fighters involved, and throwing the lab into chaos...
In the aftermath Gate lies defeated on the ground, barely able to move. X crawls over to him, but instead of finishing him off...Offers him his hand.
Gate thinks he's being mocked, but its nothing but. X says there's no reason for them to fight now that his ambitions have been foiled. He was sincere when he said that they ALL need to work together to put the world back together.
Gate says that his soft words mean nothing to him.
X doesn't care if Gate will hate him until the end of days, or if they'll fight forever. He chooses to believe in the good inside of Gate, and wants to give him a second chance to trust Reploids again.
He'll have a lot to atone for, and it'll be a tough road for them both. But he really is the smartest Reploid, and deserves to prove that for the sake of a better tomorrow.
Suddenly, their conversation is interrupted by Zero dropping in, damaged by Isoc's secret weapon...A revived, zombified Sigma.
Isoc calls X a bleeding heart and finally drops all pretenses of who he is. HE is Dr. Wily, back from the dead. By rewiring the Nightmare Virus back to its original form, the Maverick Virus, he will control all descendants of Dr. Light's legacy, the Reploids, and rule over the same humanity that looked down on him long ago.
He commands Sigma to devour Gate's armor, the pain of it knocking Gate out.
He then prepares to disable Zero and reclaim his destructive programming...Only for Sigma to stab him in the back.
Having no further use for him, Sigma discards Wily like trash and flees. X and Shina give pursuit, but Zero lingers behind for a moment.
Wily commands him to pursue and kill the traitor, and Zero leaves without saying a word.
Lingering behind with the last of his life fading from this robotic body, Wily recalls the events that led him up to this point.
The moments after killing Mega Man, where Bass confronted him angrily, and Wily revealed his plans to use Zero as a false hero to get humanity to acknowledge him finally now that Mega Man can no longer stop him.
Bass escaped to parts unknown while police officers infiltrated his base...and shot him down. Zero was sealed away, for a hundred years instead of a hundred days...
From there Wily's conscious became one with the Maverick Virus within Zero, which transplanted into Sigma due to their battke.
What follows are all the in-between in history. Wily slowly corrupting Sigma through words to betray humanity and recognize the lost potential of Reploids...
The creation of Serges and Isoc, whom Wily's consciousness inhabited.
The formation of the Shadow Corps, the creation of Double, using the leader of the Green Biker Unit, Perseus, as the basis for Dynamo...
Rebuilding Sigma's body time and time again, reclaiming Gamma's body to reuse as the ultimate battle armor for Sigma...
Wily recalls how far he had gone, how far he had fallen...And how it was still all for nothing.
In his last moments, he still sits under Thomas' shadow.
Dr. Light's hologram appears beside his fallen friend, speaking to him fondly as they used to do.
All Wily ever wanted was for his achievements to be remembered, to leave behind a legacy that would inspire future generations. But he could never be rid of his jealousy towards Thomas, and now all he's left in his wake is ruin...
Dr. Light sees differently...Wily has left behind one truly great creation: Zero.
X and Zero, both built to be enemies to one another, yet now they run together to face their enemies. Wily's legacy will be remembered as one of heroism so long as Zero still stands and that's...not something to be ashamed of.
With his last breaths, Wily smiles and realizes...perhaps he never needed to surpass Thomas after all.
Zero feels a chill up his spine and looks back, only to brush it off and rejoin his comrades in their pursuit of Sigma.
Sigma is cornered at the very back of Gate's lab, where the strange aura appears around him, much to Shina's annoyance.
Sigma then fuses with the golden armor Gate wore, being reborn into a more complete and intelligible form.
Feeling stronger than ever, Sigma stands before the trio and demands their deaths, stating that this time he shall achieve his full potential.
X, Zero and Shina arm their weapons for one final battle...
Sigma may be fused with Gate's armor, but that means he has inherited its strengths and weaknesses. Coordinate efforts with Shina and Zero in secret, X plans to strike the weak point he put into Gate's armor before with one powerful attack.
And when he's successful, Sigma states how he'll never be a memory. And so long as X and Zero continue to fight, he'll continue their war.
And X vows to always be there to stop him, finishing him with one final blow.
Zero and X have no doubts he'll return someday, but it'll take a longer time than usual without the Sigma Virus or Wily to latch onto.
The trio make their way back, with Zero taking one last look at "Isoc" while X picks up Gate, despite Zero's objections.
They head outside to meet Alia and Signas. After telling them what happened save for the truth about Wily, X requests Alia get to work on reactivating Gate so he can put to work helping restore the world.
Signas has his doubts, but figures X has earned enough of his trust and agrees.
Shina watches on, hopeful that they'll be able to make everything like out, then smiles, believing the same for her and Alex...
With this Nightmare Incident done and over with, X and Zero speak to one another in quiet back at HQ.
X has been thinking about what Gate was saying and how, he might have had a point. Yes, there are a lot of Reploids in the world, and yes, a lot of them don't do anything to contribute to society...But thinning their numbers is inhumane.
He's done so much as a Maverick Hunter, but he could be doing a lot more as a Reploid.
He decides to retire as a Hunter and go out into the world, helping whatever Reploids he can understand the powers and emotions they were created with.
Zero struggles with the idea of saying goodbye to his friend, but understands that he's not necessarily going away forever.
For now, Zero can pick up the slack by himself, and the two share a farewell handshake for now.
Meanwhile, Shina checks up on Alex, who has finally healed up enough to stand. He's already put together a new set of clothes too.
Shina gets him up-to-date on what happened then realizes that now that Alex is all better, they have no reason to stick around.
They still got plenty of months to spare but this is no excuse to slack off now.
They head to the command center and meet up with X, Zero and Signas one more time to say their farewells. X wishes them well on their journey, and Shina hopes that one day they'll be able to come back and see the better world X and them make.
With that done Alex and Shina leave the planet, regaining their human bodies, much to Shina's relief.
Alex is hesitant though, cause there's something really important he wants to discuss with Shina...The story of his past, and what led to the birth of his split personality.
Alex details the time he remembers with his parents, their demise, and the conditions that allowed a man called "Prometheus" to easily take him into custody for experiments.
"Prometheus" is a man who controls the world from the shadows, controlling an organization that has existed since before the creation of America as an independent nation.
Detailing thoroughly the pain of the experiments that infused him with Saiyan DNA, Alex talks about how trauma gave birth to his split personality as a defense measure.
The purpose behind making Alex the way he was was to create the ultimate warrior for Prometheus' army. Alex was to be the first of many, but going to Mario's world foiled his plans.
But for a long time Alex had forgotten a lot of what had happened during his time under Prometheus' grip, especially killing Joe Dark's family.
And its not like he could just rebel against Prometheus. Prometheus had programmed an inhibitor into his brain through a particular tune. All it'd take is one whistle of it and Prometheus would control him once more.
Shina believes that with the strength he has as an Elemental Overlord, however, he dealt with him quickly.
But Alex goes silent, telling Shina that Prometheus is still alive. Alex still doesn't believe he'll ever be stronger than the control Prometheus has over him, fearing for what he'd do if he got him as he is now.
Shina, however, vows to fight by his side to kill that evil man and free him from the pain once they get the Cosmos Drive.
Alex is happy to hear that. Its the first relief he's had in a long time...
Shina then finishes assembling the full artifact and with it, reveals the trail towards the Cosmos Drive.
One more destination awaits them...And their phantom is more than happy to greet them on THEIR world.
Part 4.5 Story 7 END.