Mega Man X: The Mist Enigma

Chapter 20: I. Love. Giant Robots.

Like the areas before this one, no enemies were in our way. I feared the worst. As we ran, X asked me, "Chris, you said we would be fighting Shieldner Sheldon here. How did you determine that?"

I answered, "Through process of elimination, Sheldon is the only one who shares Hyakulegger's elemental property. Scaravich was ground and Mijinion was light. That leaves electricity."

"I see," X grunted.

We reached a dead end. The blocks that fall in this stage normally completely blocked our path forward. Unlike the normal gray and pink ones, these were blue. Dynamo fired two buster shots and slashed his twin saber at the bottom block. Not a scratch on it. Dynamo sighed, "Damn, were stuck."

Zero tried the Sigma Blade on the block. Still no effect. "Maybe a special weapon can destroy it." X and Axl took Zero's advice and fired all the Maverick weapons at the blocks. Nada.

"Well this stinks," Axl smugged. I was confused by this too. If nothing the Hunters had could bust the blocks, what could?

Layer called us. "How about a Ride Armor?" We all turned to the Bulbrite. "If you had a Ride Armor, you could probably break through."

"Good point," I said. "I'll check in the hidden area." I flew up to where the Heart Tank in this stage used to be. There wasn't a Heart Tank, but there was a smaller golden block. It looked just small enough to lift. So I wrapped my frail girly arms around it and lifted. It was no problem at all, considering I used a bit of ki. On the wall behind it was a dashboard. "This must summon them," I thought aloud. I pushed all four buttons on it without hesitation.

When I jumped back down to the Hunters, they were each in a different model Ride Armor. Dynamo had a classic Rabbit, Axl had the Raiden II, Zero had an Eagle, and X had the Cyclops model. "It's demolition time!" Axl cried as the Hunters punched and/or blasted the blocks apart.

Dynamo looked back to me. "We owe you again! I could kiss you!"

I waved my finger. "You'd have to pay ME to do that, stud."

When we stepped through the new opening, we saw another computer. This was the room right before where X fought and defeated Sigma the second time. Our happy faces turned to shock as we saw another Ride Armor, Chimera model I believe, in front of us. And the pilot was a dark figure. The silhouette was easily distinguishable. "Vile!" we all shouted. Vile, for those who don't know, was a former Maverick Hunter who got kicked out for being a little too, well, vile. He's fought with X and Zero on three separate occasions, and has swore to haunt X's life 'till the day he dies.

Luckily for us, this was yet another Mist replica. Fighting it wouldn't be a problem, especially because the Hunters had mechs of their own. I floated above as the fists and missiles started flying. After repeated explosions and crashes, all five mechs exploded. That was my cue. I threw my Kaiser to Vile. It sliced right into his Boba Fett style helmet. I flew down to him and removed my blade. I winked to X and cupped my hands behind me. I gathered ki into them and thrust it forward in a fireball.

"HADOUKEN!"

The Mist Vile exploded once the energy ball hit him. It left a hole in the floor. This hole would be where Sigma used to be. Or in this case, it was where Sheldon and Gryfflion would be. Axl took out the Nova Flare and X changed to Solar Saw.

We began to jump down when Dynamo stopped us. "Wait a minute. The other way is open too. Shouldn't we check it out also?"

Zero nodded. "Good point. Let's see what's there first." We ran to find another dead end. This time, it was just wall. No blocks, no doors, no nothing.

Dynamo shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I tried." He kicked at the floor, which set off an alarm. "Oh man!" he shouted. "What did I do now?"

A capsule rose from under his feet. Dynamo jumped off it to see Dr Light's hologram. "Dynamo, this capsule is for you. It's not new armor, but it is a new weapon. Step inside and I shall enhance your beam saber to inflict elemental damage. Fire, ice, darkness, you name it, you can use it." Dynamo stepped inside. Light enveloped him as he stood still. When it stopped he stepped out and took out his saber. He swung it with electricity, water, light, and metal auras consecutively. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you," Dr. Light frowned.

"No, no, no, this is great!" Dynamo smiled. "Thank you very much, Doctor!"

"You're welcome. And good luck."

We ran back to the hole and jumped down what seemed like a bottomless void. It wasn't, because we eventually hit land. Once we did, a pink shellfish appeared in front of us. As you may guess, it was Shieldner Sheldon. A lightning bolt then crashed on top of him. Gryfflion appeared in Sheldon's place. Sheldon then reappeared and clamed up, so to speak. Gryfflion formed a chain of electricity and attached on end of it to Sheldon. He then swung it violently like a mace. Its moves were erratic, but we managed to avoid them. Gryfflion then threw a lightning bolt at each of us. I caught them, and the Hunters rushed to the boss.

We had already figured out what Gryfflion would be vulnerable to, so we didn't waste any time. Axl fired the Nova Flare directly into Gryfflion's face. X charged and formed a huge ball of light over his head. "Solar Comet!" He tossed the ball to Gryfflion, who was pushed into the wall and badly torn up. Dynamo slashed across his scars with light energy and split the griffin in two. I then tossed the lightning bolts back. Each bolt hit a half of the Maverick. When they connected, the two halves fell to the ground and exploded. The room warped and took us somewhere else.

Specifically, it took us to a dying forest. It was the forest where X fought Neon Tigerd. "Holy Guns 'n' Roses!" The Hunters raised an eyebrow at my randomness. I explained myself. "This place's background music eerily sounded like 'My Michelle,' one of the band's songs."

The four Reploids said, "Ooooohhh!" in unison.

I shook my head. "Enough about washed up musicians. Let's go!"

Although I didn't show it, I was getting scared. Infinity Mijinion would be here. Then again, so would another armor piece. Odds are it would finish X's Ultimate Armor. Maybe the complete armor would give X some incredible ability that could vanquish any foe in the blink of an eye. But that's probably wishful thinking. I try to limit what I do in each universe. I don't want to be a glory hog. But if Mijinion was as tough as I imagined he'd be, I would have to butt in and go full force.