Previously on Mega Man X: Maverick Buster...
After the destruction of Sigma's Palace, X teleported to the remains of Abel City, where Wheel Gator's tank was causing even more damage to this once proud city. But the tank was also dealing with some internal problems, as it had the legendary Steel Massimo captive, while his replacement was trashing the place in his search for him. When Massimo's predecessor died, he got angry enough to destroy even more of the tank before it crashed into an active volcano! Meanwhile, Zero had encountered the number one enemy of the Maverick Hunters: Sigma! Sigma not only told Zero that the two of them were revived because of the X-Hunters, he also said that he was responsible for Repliforce turning on the Maverick Hunters before The Day of Sigma! After realizing that his battle with his close friend Iris wasn't neccessary, Zero stole Sigma's Laser Saber and attacked the Maverick in a fit of rage, shattering his body in the process! But after Zero left Sigma's remains behind -and claimed the Saber as his own- they all started to re-assemble into the same body that Zero had fought! Can Zero escape where he was restored before Sigma finds him again? Will X be able to defeat the X-Hunters and find his good friend? Find out next in Mega Man X: Maverick Buster!

Mega Man X: Maverick Buster
Season One: The Search for Zero

Episode 5 - Chapter Five: Red Hot Signals

As X approached the foot of Mt. Magma -where Wheel Gator's tank crashed, and caused the sky to grow dark from the smoke- he saw Alia teleporting in with another Reploid.
"Alia! I see you've brought backup." X exclaimed, making the green Reploid nod in response.
"Just like I said I would." Alia replied. "But, we shouldn't stay here for long... that tank has made this volcano pretty angry, if you know what I mean..." While listening to his friend, X spotted a few Mechaniloids around the volcano in some way.
"I'm not leaving until I find another lead on Zero..." He said as he walked towards the volcano.
"X, wait! C'mon, GBD!" Shouted Alia, before she and the green Reploid chased after X, who had started dashing towards the volcano.

As X began his climb up the volcano, Alia and the Reploid she called GBD stopped at the crashed tank when Alia's curiousity got the better of her...
"GBD, can you stand guard while I check this out?" She asked, while the green Reploid nodded in response. As she walked into the wrecked tank, she spotted a large Reploid who looked unconscious. Concerned that it was a Maverick, Alia armed herself by trading her left hand for her Buster. "Are you OK? Do you need help?" The large Reploid groaned as he woke up.
"I'm fine." He replied in a deep voice. "But you'd better get away from this volcano if you wanna keep fighting those Mavericks..." After that warning, the Reploid teleported out of the tank, which was when Alia spotted a timer with a yellow "M" on it counting down from five minutes. Seeing this made her eyes widen in horror, before she switched her Buster for her hand, which she placed over her ear.
"(It can't be...) X, can you hear me?" She asked, trying to get in touch with her friend as she made her way out of the tank.

Meanwhile, X was jumping up the edge of the volcano, when a beetle-like Mechaniloid came hovering down towards him. Once it was level with X, it started spinning its horn around at a high speed before flying towards X. Fortunately, X slid down the volcano, making the Mechaniloid impact the volcano, leaving a crack behind, and giving X an idea as he charged up his X-Buster. While the Mechaniloid was recovering from its attack, X took this opportunity to jump back up to where the crack was, making the Mechaniloid target the Maverick Hunter again. Just before it flew towards him, X slid back down so the Mechaniloid could strike at the volcano again, creating a hole big enough for X to enter. Quickly after X jumped inside, he fired a Charge Shot at the Mechaniloid, destroying it in the process.
"*bzz* X, can *bzz* hea-*bzz*-e?" X heard Alia say via radio, making him stop in order to communicate with her. "You're in *bzz* get *bzz* now! *bzz*"
"Alia, I can barely hear you." He responded. "Re-*bzz* I can *bzz* hear *bzz* Ple-*bzz* repeat your *bzz*"
"X, GBD & I have cleared the volcano because the tank that crashed into it is about to explode! You need to get out of there, now!" Alia told X, but she didn't get a response, so she tried something else. "Layer, can you pull X out of this area? I can't seem to get in touch with him..."
"*bzz* I'm sorry, Alia... *bzz*" She heard Layer say through faint static. "*bzz* -the seismic activity around Mt. Magma at the mo-*bzz*-is messing with the teleportation iand/i communication signals. *bzz* I'm lucky I can keep-*bzz*-act with you right now..." Hearing this, Alia looked concerned as she looked up at the volcano again.
"X... please be all right..." She said to herself, as GBD placed his hand on her shoulder.

At that moment, X was running through the volcano, shooting whatever Mechaniloids were attacking him. He also noticed that the magma within the volcano looked a little unstable as he jumped to the other side of the volcano. Suddenly, he heard a different beeping sound from within him...
"Hm?" He muttered as he raised his left wrist up to his chest so he could see a red dot and a blue dot near each other. X then pressed on the red dot to reveal the face of an animal Reploid that resembled a deer. "Flame Stag... I should've known that he'd follow Boomerang Kuwanger's lead and go Maverick..." Just then, outside of the volcano, the tank exploded with about 5 times as much force as when Zero self-destructed to make Vile vulnerable.
"X!" Cried Alia as she tried to run towards the explosion, but GBD held her back. The tank's explosion was enough to make the magma level rise in the volcano, making X jump up the shaft as fast as he could!

"I should've listened to you, Alia!" He said to himself as the magma was gaining on him very quickly. Soon, X jumped out of the volcano seconds before it erupted, forcing X to dash away before the lava consumed him! Before the lava caught up with him, X made it into a small shaft which had gas shooting out of pipes. This shaft was beyond a chasm that X was able to jump over, while the lava flowed down into it. Before beginning his ascent, X spotted some green flying squirrel Mechaniloids entering the shaft from above... and the flames on their tails were flying past the gas lines, igniting them in the process! X managed to shoot two down with weak shots. But he missed one and accidentely hit one of the gas pipes, setting off an chain of explosions throughout the shaft! Crouching down to shield himself, X's colours changed from blue-and-cyan to yellow-and-pink as he was building up energy for his Buster. "Here goes nothin'!" When X released the energy as he aimed at the incoming explosion, about a dozen bubbles emerged from the X-Buster and started circling X. When the explosion came down on X, he couldn't feel any burning -or melting- from the flames. "I'm... not damaged?" X then looked at the bubbles circling him. "Hmm... Looks like Bubble Splash might act like Rolling Shield after I've charged it..." Not giving it much thought after that, X began his ascent up the shaft with his ring of bubbles protecting him.

Once X reached the top of the shaft, the colours on his armor changed back to blue-and-cyan, before another beetle Mechaniloid was flying towards him from behind... but X managed to jump onto the flat surface on its head as it flew towards a wall of rocks. X jumped off the second before the Mechaniloid crashed into the wall. When X walked into the cave that was just created, he walked right past the Mechaniloid now trapped within the rocks. Spotting a couple of snipers stuck to the walls, X quickly shot them down before going deeper into the cave. Shooting down more Mechaniloids as he travelled further through the cave, X noticed that the temperature seemed to be getting warmer... when he stepped on a fragile rock surface and was sent plummetting down to a landmass below.
"And here I thought you were good at scaling mountains, X..." Said a voice that X recognized. Soon, the Reploid that X referred to as Flame Stag came down towards him, jumping from side-to-side. The only thing about Flame Stag that couldn't be seen in the picture was that his antlers were made of fire. "You couldn't have possibly defeated Boomerang Kuwanger if you moved around like that..." Getting up to face Flame Stag, X aimed his X-Buster at the Reploid.
"Flame Stag, I'm only giving you this one chance to surrender peacefully." X warned, making Flame Stag scoff. "I was already forced to destroy Boomerang Kuwanger and Storm Eagle. Don't make me do the same to you, too..."
"There's always the possiblity of sacrifice in wartime, Maverick Hunter X..." Flame Stag replied as his firey antlers changed from blue-to-red. "...and I intend to continue that trend by triggering an eruption to block out the sun, and create a new ice age!" Hearing Flame Stag say that, X prepared himself for battle...

Meanwhile, Zero was taking a break from running through the abandoned Reploid factory, when he couldn't help but wonder what he had experienced since being revived...
"X... could he really turn on me like that?" He asked himself as he remembered his dream where he was forced to fight X. Zero then got a glimpse of the Laser Saber now attached to his back. "And these X-Hunters... why would they revive me and Sigma? It doesn't make any sense..." Just then, Zero heard cackling from a large, cracked green orb next to him. Within the orb were the X-Hunters.
"So... the great Maverick Hunter Zero has reawakened..." Exclaimed Agile, before raising his hand towards Zero. "...and now, he is a Maverick, just like us! You will now obey me..." Not fazed by Agile's trickery, Zero pointed his Saber at the X-Hunters, startling the three of them.
"So you three are the X-Hunters..." Zero guessed. "I'd rather stay dead than become Maverick scum like you!"
"Agile... h-he's g-g-got Sigma's-" Stuttered Violen, somewhat nervous about what Zero was holding.
"I have EYES, don't I, Violen?!" Agile shouted, while Serges had an idea...
"You seem attached to Sigma's Laser Saber, Zero..." He suspected. "Why don't we test out your sword-skills?" After Serges said that, the image of the X-Hunters was replaced by a sword made of polygons that phased out of the orb, before pointing at Zero. This sword had a green blade, while the handle was blue. Zero pointed his Saber back at the polygon sword, supposedly accepting its challenge...
"If I can beat Sigma, you X-Hunters are gonna be finished before sundown!" Zero warned before dashing towards the sword.

Just as Zero got close to the sword, he jumped high up into the air seconds before it could swing down on him. Zero then fired weak shots from his Buster at the sword, but it only deflected them all. When Zero started to fall back down towards the sword, it was preparing to slice Zero in half again, prompting the Reploid to hold his Saber out in front of him to block the attack as he landed on the ground. As he strained to keep his opponent from harming him, Zero was also charging up energy, while the X-Hunters were cackling at the sight of Zero struggling. Zero then kicked the enemy sword away so he could roll back and shoot at it with his Buster. Zero's Charge Shot mostly hit the blade, and while that didn't seem to do much, the handle flashed red when the rest of the shot hit it.
"So the handle's its weak spot..." He realized. "That gives me an idea... Hadangeki!" As he shouted that, Zero swung his Saber as his Buster built up energy again, and a wave of green energy was launched from it, stunning the sword as a result. Seeing this as an opportunity, Zero fired his Charge Shot at the sword's handle, giving it some more damage as he charged up more energy in his Buster. Seeing what Zero was now doing, Violen & Agile expressed concern, but Serges seemed impressed as he watched Zero leap towards the sword. "Rasetsusen!"
"Impressive." He said to himself as he watched Zero spin around with his Saber out in front of him. "(It seems my skills in Reploid construction may rival your creator's, after all...)" Zero then kicked himself away from the sword again in order to fire another Charge Shot before immediately charging his Buster again. The Charge Shot stunned the sword again, giving Zero the opportunity to dash in close.
"Class dismissed." Zero stated as he put his Saber back into where he kept it as he traded his right hand for his fully-charged Buster and raised it up into the air. "Tenshouha!" While yelling that, Zero smacked his Buster into the ground, unleashing a large beam of light that not only disintigrated the polygon sword, but the beam penetrated the ceiling and blasted high up into the sky!

Not long after the beam of light disappeared, Zero heard slow clapping from Serges.
"You certainly have impressive skills, Zero..." He said, almost complimenting the Maverick Hunter. "I look forward to testing you out personally." Hearing that, a smirk appeared on Zero's face.
"Good, cause I'm comin' for you three next." He told them before teleporting through the hole in the ceiling, worrying Violen enough to get a smack in the back of the head by Agile, while Serges stroked his moustache.

While Zero was battling the polygon sword, X had engaged Flame Stag in battle. As Flame Stag threw fireballs at X, X fired semi-charged shots back at Flame Stag.
"Speed Burner!" Flame Stag shouted as he threw more fireballs at X, but that was when X changed colours to yellow-and-pink again.
"Bubble Splash!" Yelled X as he fired five bubbles that blocked Flame Stag's attack. Stunned by what he'd just witnessed, Flame Stag tried throwing more fireballs at X, but he just blocked them with his bubbles. Once X was close enough, he fired more bubbles, giving Flame Stag a great deal of damage! When Flame Stag threw more fireballs, X quickly dodged them and fired more bubbles... or at least, he would have if he wasn't out of ammunition. "Crud."
"NOW let's see you beat the Heat Knuckle Champion, Maverick Hunter X!" Shouted Flame Stag as his firey antlers changed from red-to-blue. Flame Stag quickly grabbed X, jumped up and threw him back down with great force! "I'll make you pay for destroying Boomerang Kuwanger!" As Flame Stag began falling down towards X feet first, the Maverick Hunter was charging up energy in both of his Busters.
"It's OVER!" X yelled as he fired both Charge Shots at the same time, making Flame Stag scream out in pain before he came plummetting down to the ground.

Once the firey antlers on Flame Stag were extinguished, X approached the Maverick with determination in his eyes.
"You can't stop the X-Hunters' plans..." Flame Stag weakly said as X placed his hand on Flame Stag's shoulder. "They will revive Zero as a Maverick... just you wait." Without saying a word, X teleported out of the chasm, and ended up back outside.
"I don't listen to lies from Maverick scum like you..." He said to himself while looking down at where he fought Flame Stag. Just then, X heard something that made him look up. What he saw was a beam of light emanating from a building in the nearby junkyard. "Zero..."
"*bzz* X, come in!" Yelled Alia via radio, making X place his hand over his ear. "The seismic activity has subsided, so you should be able to hear me fine now. Right? *bzz*"
"Yes, Alia. I can hear you. *bzz*" X replied, making Alia sigh with relief. "*bzz* Listen, stay where you are, because I think I've found another lead on Zero... *bzz*"
"*bzz* That's great, X! *bzz*" Alia replied. "*bzz* But are we going to find him together? *bzz*"
"Absolutely. That's why I told you to stay where you are." Said X as he slid down the mountain, unaware of the red teleporter beam that flew out from the same building as the beam of light...

END OF CHAPTER