I was expecting that reception to this story. 0.o Thanks everyone that reviewed and favorited! In this chapter, Cyber-Elf X explains what happened in his time to the Armors. The real fun stuff occurs in the last part, which I need to edit before putting up.
X carried Zero to the one place that he knew nobody, not the Irregulars, not the Hunters, would search: the ruins of Dr. Light's laboratory. The place would have the supplies and parts he needed, his own schematics (which would be very useful in repairing Zero, since the red Repliroid had been very heavily based off of his own plans, much more than the normal Repliroid), and it even had its own Cyberspace, since Dr. Light had been very fond of the Internet and virtual programs (the Armors' existence was proof enough of that).
Zero would take a bit of time to repair; it would take about three weeks, if he remembered correctly. The Cyber-Elf's first task was to find a source of energy for himself. E-Crystals didn't exactly exist in this time period, after all, and he couldn't keep his past self's body here for three weeks. X had returned to the Hunters less than two days after Zero had vanished during the Eurasia incident.
Leaving Zero lying on the lab table with the schematics spread out, X went and wandered around the house. "Who knows," he said to himself. "Dr. Light might have left something useful -- are those E-Tanks?!" Unable to help himself, X ran to where a pile of blue cans with a large black "E" painted where haphazardly tossed. Popping open the lid of one of the E-Tanks, he analyzed its chemical composition.
"Yes! They are E-Tanks!" He couldn't help but smile victoriously. E-Tanks were basically liquid versions of E-Crystals, and much healthier (in other words, already in a usable form) than the solid form. However, the technology to make E-Tanks had been lost sometime after the era of his older brother Rockman, and even their inferior form, E-Crystals, had only been developed late in the 23rd century, when Cyber-Elves had been first created.
Humming a small tune he had picked up from Ciel, X began to pick up the E-Tanks, making sure that each had liquid in them. Despite being in his past self's body, X's cravings for E-Crystals had not dimmed in the least. And E-Tanks made a very, very fine substitute.
As X placed the E-Tanks on the ground near the lab table, a light shone through the window. Blinking, X looked out the window to see a full moon shining. It looked quite majestic, and unobstructed -- it had been many years since he had been able to see such an unobstructed view of the moon. The destruction caused by the Elf Wars had caused much pollution on the planet, and the moon could only be seen through the dust and sand left behind, which obscured it.
My younger self doesn't have to go back until tomorrow, anyways... thought X. He climbed out the window and onto the roof, taking care to not sit on any weakened parts of the building, letting his legs dangle down the side as he gazed at the moon. It's been so long since I've seen the moon... Father, who knew that our home had such an amazing view? The moon looks almost blue from this angle... interesting, since the local news said it would be a blue moon tonight...
X leaned back, lying down on the roof with his head resting on his arms as he stared up at the moon. The fatigue of both spending much of his energy as a Cyber-Elf and being in a recently repaired body caught up with him, and he found himself drifting off.
"Hey, Dad!" Light called, waving as X suddenly found himself back inside the Cyberspace of his mind.
I'm going to have to get used to that again... He smiled back at Light and the other Armors. Force was now completely repaired, and Falcon and Gaea were now conscious. Nova was still out, and Gold was working on him. The present-day X was being watched over by Max.
"I fell asleep on the roof," X said in explanation. "I was enjoying seeing the moon and being in a body after so long."
"About that, Father..." Giga asked. "Can you explain why you are here?"
"I will do my best, but to be honest, Giga, I am not too sure how I arrived here myself," X said. He took a deep breath, and, looking over the expectant Armors that were now sitting cross-legged on the ground. X rubbed the back of his helmet in amusement. Despite being weapons of mass destruction, his Armors were like children.
X sat down on a block of data. "Well, as you all know, I am from the future. I never mentioned how much, but if I remember correctly, I am from about 200 years in the future. The era I came from is very different from how it is now. Coexisting with humans and Repliroids is a third species, which are called Cyber-Elves."
"What are Cyber-Elves?" asked Light.
"All of you would be classified as Cyber-Elves," X nodded to the Armors. "Unfortunately, aside from you all and very few other Cyber-Elves, most Elves perish after one use. That changed as the years went by, but by my standards, it was still rather recent technology. People ignored the fact that the Elves died after one use, and many Cyber-Elf lives were lost in the Wars that followed. When the war was over..." X shuddered slightly. "95% of Cyber-Elves, 90% of Repliroids, and 60% of humans were wiped out."
The Armors made various cries of alarm, staring at X in shock. "Wh... what about us?" Force asked quietly.
X said nothing, a sad look in his eyes. "I... all of you..." He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Strange how one can cry in the Cyberworld. "All of you fused with each other in order to form the Seraph Armor, possibly the strongest Armor I had ever seen, but... it cost you all your lives."
Suddenly, he stood up, grabbed Light, who was closest Armor to him, and hugged him tightly. "I missed you all," he said in a shaky voice. "I really missed you all... I was all alone. All of you, the Hunters, and even Zero and Axl... All of you were gone."
"Axl?" Falcon asked, blinking. "Who's Axl?"
"Axl is... Never mind, you all haven't met him yet. You will eventually a couple of years from now, if I remember correctly..."
Light remained where he was, allowing the Cyber-Elf to hug him, and moved his head a little so that he could ask X a question. "What happened after the war?"
"I was given leadership over a country named Neo Arcadia. I did my best to ensure that everybody was happy, but the pain of the loss never left me. But many years later, the instigator of the Elf Wars, a man named Dr. Weil, came back. He stole a very powerful Cyber-Elf, known as the Mother Elf, and transformed her into the Dark Elf. I was able to stop him by sending him to space, and the Dark Elf by sealing her in my body, but that forced me into the form you see me today. Returning to my body would have released the Dark Elf, so I stayed in Cyberspace for much of my time. A scientist with pure intentions created a clone of me to rule Neo Arcadia so that the people wouldn't realize I was gone. But..."
"Something went wrong," Gaea concluded.
"Exactly. The clone went bad. He started persecuting the Repliroids and killing them, accusing them of being Irregulars even when they weren't. The scientist that built my clone helped many of the accused Repliroids escape and they formed an underground Resistance. I began to help them anonymously at times. Finally, when I saw they needed help, I let slip where they could find Zero."
"But I thought you said Zero died?" Falcon asked.
"Yes and no," X said. "Zero sealed himself away to destroy the Irregular Virus inside him. I was sure he was clean, so I gave the Resistance the information as to where he was sleeping. Zero joined them, and what followed was a series of battles against him and Neo Arcadia. I won't go into too much detail... but he managed to destroy my clone. However, one of the Resistance leaders went Irregular, released the Dark Elf, and destroyed my body before Zero could stop him. I'll never forget the look on Zero's face..."
The cries from the Armors nearly deafened X, who winced. Light pulled away from X and stared at him in horror. "When you said you're like us now..." the first of X's Armors said in a small voice. "You really were telling the truth. You're trapped in this form, and that was why you enjoyed the time you were able to use present-Dad's body."
X nodded. "Then Dr. Weil, came back from space, along with Zero's original body, which Zero had transported his mind away from. Zero's body now contained a being named Omega. The battles that followed were quite... long, and I had to intervene several times so that they would survive, but that really drained my energy... I managed to stay in the real world long enough to see Zero destroy Omega and free the Mother Elf. I talked to Zero a bit, and then I must have fallen through a distortion in Cyberspace, because I suddenly found myself at the Eurasia crash site. And that brings us to our current situation."
He sighed, closing his eyes. "It's been about a day. I should return the present-day X to Hunter Headquarters."
"But don't you need a body?" Giga asked.
The Cyber-Elf shook his head. "I found E-Tanks in Father's laboratory. Cyber-Elves thrive off of E-Tanks and their solid form, E-Crystals. With them, I can produce a solid form."
"What about E-Pellets and E-Capsules? They're everywhere. Can't you use those?"
"E-Pellets and E-Capsules are too unstable for us, since they break down extremely quick if not for SubTanks," X explained. "You all don't need E-Tanks or E-Crystals because live inside me and therefore you feed off of my energy. But don't you all need to go into your sleep cycles? Falcon, Gaea, Nova, and Force were hurt, and Nova's still unconscious. The rest of you were helping them at the cost of your own energy."
The group of Armors looked sheepishly at each other. "Well... Perhaps?"
"Shoo!" X said, gently but firmly pushing them away. "You all need your rest! And... please do not tell the present-day X about our conversation? He does not exactly need to know the future. I most definitely didn't. And also, do not tell anyone else, either. That includes Nova and any of the newer Armors you will meet. The fewer that know, the better."
All of the Armors grinned, and Max winked. "Of course we won't! Good night, Father." All of them, except for Light, left the site, picking up Nova and the present-day X along the way, entering their own sleep cycles.
"Don't you need to sleep too, Light?" X asked his oldest, yet most childish Armor. Light shook his head.
"No... I didn't really do much except keep guard. And I don't think you should be by yourself..." Light said to him. He sat down. "You don't mind, Dad?"
X shook his head. "No, I don't at all." He gave Light a hug. "Thank you." The two were silent for several moments. Light was curled up beside X, his head resting on X's shoulder. "Light?"
"Yeah, Dad?"
"Are you ever lonely in here?"
"Kinda. Giga's the only one that puts up with me most of the time. All the others are so serious..." He sighed. "I wish there were some others like me."
"Do not worry about it. Once you meet Hermes and Icarus..." X chuckled. "Oh, you three knew how to liven up the day. I felt quite sorry for Nova."
"Eh? Hermes and Icarus?" Light blinked.
"A twin set of armors you became really good friends with. You will meet them in a few years," X replied.
"Really?!" the Armor program looked excited.
"Really."
"Yay! Watch out, Nova!"
"Light!"
If anyone is wondering where the Armors are from, they were originally from a fanfic I'm writing called "The X Factor" (Don't bother looking for it, it's not up on the site yet...). In all honesty, they just wrote themselves into the fic.