Vile: Getting out Chapter 7 of GSTART seemed to help me get back some spark, so I managed to cook up this chapter within the space of a day. I never really known what to say in this story's chapters, so let's just get into this. Enjoy!
MMZX3: Mega Man ZX Enforcers
Chapter 23: Model Z's Crisis
The transerver in the Hunter's Camp activated, warping in Grey, Ashe, Aile, and Vent. The Commander noticed them, as well as Prairie and Fleuve, who had been warped back to the Camp. Prairie's eyes lit up. "Vent! You're OK!"
"Heh heh, hey, Prairie." Vent said with a smile. The rest of the Mega Men warped in behind them.
"Nice job removing the jammers and the Pseudoroid." The Commander said. "That leaves just 1 Pseudoroid left."
"Has there been any luck with Model Z's repairs?" Grey asked.
"Model Z? You guys found Model Z?!" Vent cried.
"Ngh… Not so loud…" A familiar echoed voice said. The repaired Red Biometal floated out from behind Fleuve. His Biometal aura seemed weaker, though.
Model X floated from Aile's belt. "It's nice to see you awake again, Model Z."
"No joke. If I had a head, it would be hurting like heck right now." Model Z groaned.
"I've managed to repair the damage from Kyuubrrr's ice… but it's not perfect." Fleuve said.
"What do you mean?" Aile asked. "Model Z's awake again."
"Yes, but his power level has been drastically diluted because of the ice." Fleuve said. "I'm not even sure you'd be able to Megamerge with him now."
"Only one way to find out." Model Z said, floating over to Aile. "Give it a shot."
"Okay." Aile said, taking hold of both Biometals and crossing them above her head. "Double… MEGAMERGE!"
The Blue Biometal activated the M.E.G.A. System within its matrix with no problems, but the Red Biometal was activating it slowly. "Urk… M.E.G.A. System… Online… Agh!" The lights on the M.E.G.A. System began to fade in and out.
"Model Z?" Model X asked in worry as the Megamerge began to occur.
"I… I'm tryin'…!" Model Z replied.
Model X didn't believe him. "Aile, cancel the Megamerge!" He warned. The urgency got to Aile, and she willingly stopped trying to Megamerge. Model Z was heard panting heavily. "I knew it. Model Z's M.E.G.A. System has been weakened."
"Don't give me that…" Model Z panted. "You know I've… gone through worse than this."
"No you haven't. If you even managed to Megamerge on your own, the stress on your weakened system would destroy you." Model X said.
"Great… so I'm demoted to bystander for this?" Model Z asked rhetorically.
"Fleuve, why couldn't you completely repair Model Z?" Vent asked.
Fleuve looked away slightly. "It must have been the combination of being frozen, being used as Kyuubrrr's weapon, and holding Models F, L, H, and P in place during the Ouroboros incident. Not to mention any impact damage." He explained. "His system was in too delicate a shape for me to even attempt to fix it, as one slip-up could've rendered him permanently inactive."
"Damn it!" Taylor cursed. "Now what are we supposed to do? We can't awaken Model R like this!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Model H said, floating from behind Aeolus. The other three elemental Biometals floated into view as well.
"So long as Model Z is awake, we can still get into the Temple of Light, where Model R rests." Model L said.
"How so?" Ashe asked.
"The Temple of Light's doors are sealed by our passwords." Model P explained.
"Of course! I had forgotten about that!" Model X exclaimed. "The doors only require we Biometals, not necessarily our Chosen Ones!"
"So we could just head out to the Temple right now, crack open the doors, get that Biometal, and stomp Model D into paste!" Model F said.
"Uh… there's still a problem here, guys." Model Z said nervously. "You guys don't know my password, do you?"
"No. Why would we?" Model L asked.
"Well… Oh, man…" Model Z began to say, but he changed his tune quickly. "I DON'T REMEMBER MY PASSWORD!"
"WHAT?!" All seven other Biometals cried, Models A and O coming out of their silence.
"What do you mean, you don't remember your password?! It's engraved in your M.E.G.A. System like ours!" Model F griped.
"Hello? Did you forget what Fleuve said? Model Z's M.E.G.A. System was damaged from the back-to-back injuries he sustained!" Model O spoke up.
"Great! Now we're REALLY screwed against Model D!" Model A whined.
"There's gotta some way we can figure out Model Z's password! It's our only hope!" Grey said, slamming his fist into his palm.
All of a sudden, a static crackling was heard in the command room's monitors. "What's going on?" The Commander demanded to know.
"I'm not sure! Something's trying to get into the circuits!" One of the navigators said. "Wait, hang on… It just sent us a message!" She cautiously opened the message on the screen.
The message came up with the image of a red Cyber-Elf. "Mega Men… Please let this be the correct destination of this message…"
"A message for us?" Atlas wondered.
"That voice… It sounds familiar." Vent mused, getting a nod out of Aile and Prairie.
"If this has reached you… I have sensed something wrong…" The voice said. "Red Biometal… Damaged M.E.G.A. System… Repairs needed quickly…"
"How does he know about this?" Model X wondered.
"G… Go here…" The Cyber-Elf said, pulling up a coordinate map and indicating a location. "Take this gateway… Look for me… I can help repair Model Z… Please, hurry… I await your arrival, my friends…" The transmission went to static before cutting out completely.
"You got those coordinates, right?" The Commander asked.
"Yep. We're setting up the transerver now." One of the navigators said, typing in the coordinates. A map showed up, pinpointing the location of the coordinates. However, something shocked her. "Eh?"
"What is it?" Grey asked.
"The coordinates are valid, but… they lead to Smidge Island." The navigator said.
"Smidge Island? That's the smallest documented island on the planet, barely big enough for us to walk 2 miles!" Atlas said. "Why would that Cyber-Elf send us there?"
"There must be something important there. Are you getting anything?" Grey asked the navigators.
"We're getting an odd signal there." A navigator said.
"I think it's worth checking out." The Commander said. "Head out and see what's there. We'll keep watch over the area on the monitor."
"Looks like I get to tag along after all." Model Z said, floating to Aile's hand. "Let's find this Cyber-Elf and see what we've got." Aile nodded.
"I'm going, too." Vent said.
"You really think you can fight without a Biometal?" Aeolus asked.
Vent smirked. "Who said I didn't have a Biometal?" He asked rhetorically, looking at Aile. Aile copied his smirk and nodded, grabbing Model X in her free hand and clapping it into Vent's hand.
"MEGAMERGE!" They both shouted. Model X's M.E.G.A. System came to life and covered them both with a bright light, which faded to reveal them both as Mega Men Model X. Vent's bangs stuck out from the front of his helmet much like Aile's ponytail came out of the back, and the Hyper Armor Leg Upgrade was visible on him.
Vent noticed the new legs. "Hmm. Give me details on the way there." He mused, getting a giggle from Aile.
"All right, let's quit stalling and move!" Ashe chirped. A positive response came from all the Mega Men, and they all stepped on the transerver, the whirling green lights warping them out.
Within seconds, the Megamerged team had been warped to a small island, surrounded by miles of ocean under the blue sky. Taylor looked back and forth, raising an eyebrow. "You weren't kidding, babe. Is this actually an island?"
"Hey, look at that." Siarnaq pointed out. The group turned and saw an odd object on the ground, not even remotely covered by anything.
"Hey, that's… just like the Upgrade Capsule I found in Sector W." Aile said. "It looks different, though." While it had the exact same shape as the other Capsule, its colors were different: It was mostly red instead of blue, the protrusions were yellow, and the core was blue. The slot didn't look the same as the other one, either: It had a more pentagonal shape with an indent on top. She thought about it for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Blue Capsule, Model X. Red Capsule…"
"Model Z." Model X said.
The Red Biometal didn't emerge. "I don't know about this. My damaged M.E.G.A. System might cause the thing to malfunction. If that Cyber-Elf can repair it, maybe we should come back here then."
"Good point, Model Z." Aile replied.
"Well, now for the 60 million E-Crystal question: What are we supposed to do now?!" Thetis griped, his yell echoing.
All of a sudden, the six original Biometals felt an odd presence, groaning in response. "There's… a disruption in the air here…" Model P said.
"It's givin' me a headache!" Model F griped.
"You don't have a head, Model F." Model H snarked.
"Okay, Mr. Technical, does a 'matrix-ache' sound better?" The Flame Biometal shot back.
"…Aile. Face northwest and walk two steps." Model X said. Aile did so, confused. "I feel it… the disturbance is right… here!" A flash of light occurred, and when it died down, a seemingly holographic green gateway of sorts appeared.
"Whoa. Who knew this thing was here?" Taylor asked. "Uh… what is it?"
Then, the gate began to slowly open, revealing a white portal within. "Do… Do you think we can go through it?" Aile wondered. She hesitantly stuck her hand through the white space.
Vent walked to the side of the holographic gate and saw that her hand wasn't showing up on the other side. "Looks like the gate works." He said. "I say we see where this leads." Aile nodded, and nervously moved fully through the gate, vanishing.
"It's safe on this end, everyone!" Aile was heard from the other side. Aware that the gate was safe, the Mega Men went through the gate one-by-one until the tiny island was empty again.
As the final member of the team (Vent) jumped out, the gate slowly closed behind him, the door staying visible to them. The area appeared to look like some sort of weird jungle area, but the sky was the most striking: It looked like a wireframe pattern of green lines on a maroon background. "Where in the heck are we?" Ashe asked.
"Mega Men? What are you doing?" A familiar voice asked.
"Commander?" Grey noticed, checking his communicator. "We're all present!"
"I know. I can see you." The Commander said, confusing Grey. "Turn around." The group turned around, and everyone was shocked. A boulder had a visual of the Commander and two navigators.
"What the…?" Taylor wondered, walking over to the boulder. "What is this, some TV rock?" He whacked the top of the boulder with his O-Saber hilt a couple times.
"It's not a 'TV rock', Taylor. This is a visual feed." The Commander said. "That was no ordinary signal on that island."
"You're right. It was some sort of gate to a new area." Grey asked. "But I've never been in this Sector before."
"You're not IN a Sector, Grey." The Commander said. "The gateway was a Cyber-Gate from a century ago. To spare you the details… you're been transported into Cyberspace!"
Vile: The team has been warped into Cyberspace in pursuit of a mysterious red Cyber-Elf. But who is this Elf? Hopefully it can repair Model Z's damaged M.E.G.A. System. If you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me! Ja ne for now!
Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.