Author's Notes; Dark Armors AU. Plot. Some action. Some Shounen Ai at the end. The stats I have for the scythes, as well as elements, adhere to Monster Hunter standards..Nethersbane's raw attack is 1200 with the element of Dragon, the red "lightning", at 700..Corruption has a raw attack of 1100 with a Water element of 600..X becomes Waterproofed, Zero becomes Fireproofed with the additions of Wind and Lightning control..After all these years, X's enhancements are still fuzzy..I'll come up with something though..Please enjoy..
I had to mull it over a bit, but I relinquished my position as Commander for the sake of training X. X was surprised that I gave up such a high position. I had my reasons though, other than just training. I admit, it had felt weird sitting back at HQ while X was on the front lines during the Doppler incident. That's what had persuaded me to get out there and help out as well as telling him to call me whenever he needed help. Though it wasn't everyday a hunter would get direct help straight from the Commander.
The reploid who took the position seemed respectable enough. His name was Signas. I had seen him before, but I almost didn't recognize him because he had been redesigned just before the Doppler incident. He was a short black-clad reploid back before Sigma went Maverick. Now he was taller than me and had 6 chest lens. What they're for, I can only begin to guess. I got joked for having 2, just because they resembled a woman's breasts. Signas has 3 times as many, he's going to get it.
Signas did a great job trying to reorganize Maverick Hunter HQ. He even managed to find a few new hunters for the other units. Though sometimes, I couldn't shake the feeling he was glaring at me and X.
Training with X proved to be quite interesting with these new weapons. X was great with his Buster, no question. With a melee weapon like Corruption however, he was like a child learning to walk. I taught him stance and posture on the first day of training so he didn't hurt himself. I let him practice while watching himself in the large mirror opposite the simulator's controls, giving him pointers along the way wherever I saw needed. I even let him mimic me if he wanted.
We learned even more about our new weapons on our second day training together. When we spared and parried, Nethersbane crackled with red lightning and a splash of water came from the white and red blade of Corruption. It seems Corruption was a water scythe, but I wasn't sure what sort of element was imbued into Nethersbane. It wasn't any lightning I had ever seen, but maybe it could prove useful somewhere. It wasn't proper electricity, but it must have its time and place for when its needed most.
While in these 'dark' armors as we called them, we allowed each other to experiment. A stream of fire from an old fire weapon X had picked up proved my new armor was fireproof. Even moving my arm caused enormous gusts of wind that nearly blew X across the room. I raced to him and helped him up in surprise. X smiled at me gently as I took his hand and helped him to his feet. He loaned me an old water weapon, wanting me to try it on him. I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, but I took it. When I powered up the weapon and shot, the water got accentuated with lightning and electrocuted X on impact.
I immediately ceased fire and ran to X after he had dropped onto the floor. I craddled him into my arms and walked to the bleachers, returning my scythe to my back and my buster to normal. I set Corruption beside me as I sat down and opened a compartment in my armor that had 2 E-Tanks packed. I could feel leftover shocks from the hit on myself as I got one E-Tank out and opened it. My new powers are monstrous, though I can't help but wonder about X's. Are they as bad? Or are they more benign, much like being waterproof? I carefully poured the E-Tank into X's mouth slowly, keeping him close in my lap. I wish I had known at the time that we were being watched.