Mega Man X: The Mist Enigma

Chapter 7: A Puzzle with a Lot of Missing Pieces

The four of us, three Hunters and myself, charged towards the priestess Shadow Renaraid. Not even a step after, she had disappeared. We screeched to a stop and looked around for her. "Where'd she go?" X called.

"Get out here, you wimp!" Zero shouted.

I looked to Axl, who was aiming his Axl Bullet at my face. "Chris," he said in fear, "help me!" He fired a shot, but I used my quick reflexes to catch the bullet in my free hand. Axl then dashed to me and attempted to fire again. I teleported behind him before he fired and grabbed his arms. His body was struggling to get free. But after a few seconds, his body became limp. I let him go. He looked at his hand. "I can move my own body again," he said. "Thanks Chris."

I raised an eyebrow. "But I didn't..."

My sentence was cut off by the sound of the X-Buster charging up. Axl and I turned to X, who had Buster out. His face was struggling, but a full charge shot was fired. Zero jumped in front of us and slashed the shot in two, negating it. "What's happening to me, Zero?" X called.

"Shadow puppetry," the blonde Hunter answered. "Renaraid is taking control of you through your shadow." I then noticed that X's shadow wasn't of his shape. It was Renaraid's form. But in an instant, it changed back to X's. Renaraid's shadow flew across the floor towards Zero. Zero stopped it by stabbing the Z-Saber into the ground. The shadow faded away.

Renaraid reappeared in front of Zero. "You've seen through my tactics, Reploid Killer."

Zero gritted his teeth. "How dare you call me such an outrageous name?"

Renaraid continued. "Psychological warfare won't work on you at all. You prefer hand-to-hand combat." She bent over to one of the downed students and took his halberd staff. "Come."

Zero spoke into his helmet. "Douglas, send me the D-Glaive pronto."

"Roger." A large zanbatou with a blue blade appeared in Zero's hand. He held it to his side and spun it repeatedly. He leaped towards Renaraid and slashed it across. The kitsune's halberd caught it and parried the blow. Zero jumped back and thrust the D-Glaive forward. Renaraid dodged and tried the same. Zero blocked it. The two froze in their places.

X, Axl, and I watched with weapons ready. We were going to charge in. "Three," X counted down. He charged his Buster. Axl aimed both pistols at Renaraid. I channeled ki into my hand and held it forward. "Two. One!" We dashed and fired directly at the priestess. The blasts were swiped away by her halberd. I grunted in disappointment. Renaraid then thrust her halberd towards us. It stretched in size and spun like a drill. We jumped out of the way. It hit the wall that was behind us, demolishing it in a heartbeat. Zero jumped to the ceiling and tried a downward slash. Renaraid blocked it. Their fight commenced.

I helped X up from the ground. We turned to Axl who was already up. He was smiling. "You got an idea?" I asked him.

"Yep." He exchanged his pistol for the Nova Flare. He aimed it at Renaraid and fired the large blast. Absolutely nothing happened. Everyone was in shock.

Renaraid laughed hard. "You thought that rays of pure light could stop me? I may use dark arts, but I am still a priestess. Light cannot harm me because I am pure!" With that, four of her sutras snaked their way to us. They wrapped around us and left us helpless. I couldn't even break free, and I'm a pure being myself. "Now die," she yelled, "you arrogant wastes of life!"

The sutras tightened. Zero and X strained in pain. I screamed with agony. Axl was silent. Was he already crushed into submission? Not even close. His body began to glow orange. Renaraid let go of him as Axl shouted, "Transform!" His outline began to change. It grew a few inches taller. His head shape changed drastically, as did most everything else. Most noticeable, long blades grew from his forearms. The light subsided, and in Axl's place stood Darkneid Kamakil, the praying mantis Maverick that was defeated during the Jakob incident.

"What in the world?" Renaraid asked with jaw agape.

In Kamakil's old western accent, Axl said to her, "Time to die, little tumbleweed."

Axl slashed the sutras with his blades to free us. He then leapt to Renaraid and slashed repeatedly across her body. She drew back holding her stomach. "You vermin! How are you doing this? I am pure!" Axl fired two Black Arrows from his hand and trapped Renaraid on the wall by the wrists. His left blade glowed with a purple light.

"I blacked out your holy light. Now before I send you to your gods, tell me who made you like this. Who made the Mist? Where is Gate?"

Renaraid coughed up blood. "I'd rather be killed than tell you. I will say, though, that he's been dying to see you again." She lifted her head and looked into Zero's eyes. "Especially you, Reploid Killer." Zero shook his fist in rage.

Axl raised his blade above his head. "Last chance, foxy."

"I'm not saying anything else. Just kill me, you damn fool!"

Axl sighed. "Fine then. Sayonara." One clean swipe chopped Renaraid's torso in two. She exploded immediately after. Light entered the Hunters as it had done before.

Axl changed back to his regular form and looked at his hologram. On its hand was a strange ornament that covered three of his fingers and the back of his hand. It held that hand forward. Black after-images of Axl flew out from the ornament at a moderate rate. "That's an interesting one," he said with confusion. "I guess it's kind of like the Soul Body X used. The 'Night Walker.' Weird."

Zero looked at his hologram. It jumped in the air and dashed. After the dash, it held its sword out and spun. Its sword turned black and two reflections of him followed, one above and one beneath him. "Hieiryuha. Great attack power and great distance. That's great." I chuckled at his repeated use of the word "great." I don't even think he noticed that he did that. All the funnier.

X's hologram showed him with black and purple armor and Buster out. It fired a large sutra that went straight, one that curved up, and one that curved down. "The Stun Tag. It stops enemies in their tracks and can be aimed slightly. Sounds good."

Mist came out of all the downed bodies and disappeared. One by one, the students got up in amazement and confusion. "Send a medical team here on the double," Zero said into his helmet. I looked at his face. He was very tense. "Let's go back," he said.

"Right," X answered. We teleported out.

As we left, I heard the students of the temple shout a bunch of stuff to us. They were along the lines of "Thank you!" and "You're the best!" It made me feel really happy to see them all alive.

But Renaraid was worrying me. She hinted to who created the Mist as someone who has met them before. And this person especially wanted to see Zero. That furthered my suspicion that it was Sigma, but his soul was completely absent. I couldn't feel a trace of it anywhere. Also, Zero was really shaken up by the "Reploid Killer" thing. I believed she was referring to back when Zero was a Maverick, though I don't recall hearing him with that name. Somehow, it still sounded familiar. But from where? Everything was becoming more and more confusing. I sure hit the nail on the head when I decided to call this "The Mist Enigma." Because that's what it was; an enigma. An enigma that was going to be very, VERY difficult to solve.