Before anyone asks why this took so long, I was grounded. The final part of this chapter was fairly easy to write actually. I also made this extra long to boot!
I hope you all enjoy the twelfth chapter of "Twist in Time!"
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs
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Standing there, next to Pandora and Prometheus, were a green warrior, a blue one, a red one, and a purple one. The green one and the blue one were ones X, Zero, Axl and Giro recognized. They had seen them when Grey and Ashe had battled Vent and Aile the other day. The others they didn't recognize.
The red one had two spikes protruding from his helmet. Strapped to his back were a pair of powerful looking busters. The purple one had a mask that covered most of his face and that combined with his glowing red eyes gave him a demonic look. A small, ragged cape flowed out from behind him.
"Aeolus, Atlas, Thetis and Siarnaq!" Ashe hissed.
"What are you four doing with Pandora and Prometheus?" Grey demanded.
The green one, Aeolus, crossed his arms, "We share similar goals, so we decided to form an alliance."
"You four do realize that by being here, you endanger your own existence!" Giro called out. His mind was whirling. Ashe and Grey obviously recognized these four.
Be careful, I sense Biometal on these four. Said the Model Z. Giro nodded in understanding,
"Right." But what did this all mean?
The blue one, Thetis, put on a look of surprise, "What's this? Another Mega Man?"
"MEGA MAN?" X, Zero and Axl were thoroughly shocked. Up until this point, Giro had simply referred to those who could use the Biometals as Chosen Ones. He had never made any mention of Mega Man!
"He's one that was originally eliminated early in the Game of Destiny," Prometheus explained, "He's supposed to be long dead, but I guess he's one who just doesn't know when to die!"
"I see," Aeolus looked at Giro straight in the eye, "As for endangering our own existence, that's but a mere technicality."
"One that we already have a solution to!" added the red one, Atlas.
"You mean the time crystals! And you think we're all going to just stand here and watch?" Zero asked coolly.
"Heh, resistance!" Prometheus activated his scythe, "Y'know, we never got to finish that battle!"
"Bring it on!" Zero shouted, activating his saber.
"APPROACHING BIOMETAL SIGNATURE," The purple one, Siarnaq, suddenly spoke.
"Another one? Who exac-ah!" Prometheus's lips curved into a smile when he saw who had just warped in and was now standing on a nearby rooftop.
"You four! I knew we would catch up to you sooner or later, just didn't expect it to be here!" Aile was Megamerged, with Vent standing next to her. She crossed her arms, "Y'know, this is actually pretty convenient, you can all just hand over your Biometals right now and that'll be one thing off our checklist!"
"The Model X Chosen Ones…" said Pandora quietly. Turning to Prometheus she said, "We should leave…we must finish gathering the time crystals."
Prometheus growled. Turning to Zero, he said, "This isn't over." He warped out, with Pandora close behind.
"HEY! Wait for us!" Thetis yelled. He warped out, along with Aeolus, Atlas, and Siarnaq.
"This…isn't good," said Axl a few moments after Pandora and Prometheus and the Megamerged quartet had warped out.
"So they ARE after the time crystals!" Giro exclaimed.
"Ahem." The group looked up to find Vent and Aile looking down at them. Remembering why they had come to this time, they all quickly took a battle stance.
Vent shook his head, "No, we won't fight you here, or now."
Aile turned to Vent, "We detected a strange signal earlier. Y'think that might have been a time crystal?"
Vent turned to her, "Probably, it's similar to previous signatures we've gotten of the crystals. If we hurry, we might be able to beat Pandora and Prometheus to it and retrieve the stolen Biometals while we're at it."
Aile turned back to the group, "Don't get any ideas. Our ultimate goal in this time remains the same. But we aren't going to let Pandora and Prometheus get away with this either. We'll come back for Axl later!" Aile then warped out.
Vent looked at the group silently for a few moments. They all tensed. Was he going to attack? Letting out a depressed sigh, Vent turned and warped out.
"What the hell was that all about?" Zero asked.
None of them had any time to answer before…
"Oh dear, did he already leave? I was hoping to talk to him." The group looked around for the source of the voice.
"W-who said that?" X asked, wary.
There was the sound of someone warping in. When the beam dissipated, a strange creature was standing in its place. It looked a bit like a small fox, with silver fur, and silver eyes. It seemed to project a mystical and mysterious air.
"It seems things are starting to slowly spiral out of control, doesn't it?" It asked, "A pity that the Inheritor left, I was hoping for an audience with him."
"Who…are you?" Grey asked.
"And who exactly were you hoping to talk to?" Zero added.
"One thing at a time, dearies!" The creature looked away, staring off into the distance, "My name…is Silvera. I am a guardian of this world. I make it my task to assist where I may be useful." She looked back at the group, "As for who I wanted to talk to, I was hoping to talk to the one Tatiana had spoken with." She paused and thought for a few moments, "What was his name again? He's always accompanied by that girl, and he just left…"
"Is it Vent by any chance?" Axl asked.
"Ah yes, that's it!" Silvera smiled, "It's rare when Tatiana talks to someone face to face, you see and I always want to make sure that she knows what she's doing when she chooses to do so."
"Wait a minute…" Axl began slowly, "Tatiana was the one me and Vent talked to at that weird shrine! And you must be the Silvera she was talking about!"
"Axl, do you know what the hell she's talking about?" Zero asked.
Axl shrugged slightly, "Somewhat…"
"Indeed dearie. I already know enough to know that you are safe enough, Axl."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I know that Tatiana was right enough in talking to you. It's Vent I'm worried about."
"Why's that?" Ashe asked, "He's nice enough, he's just gotten a little…skewed off course."
"Precisely! A strong sense of justice can be a good or bad thing depending on one's definition of justice. What if, for example, someone viewed evil acts as 'justice?' A sense of what is right or wrong varies, even slightly, from person to person," Silvera smiled sadly, "That is the reason I'm so worried about Vent. He has come to view a potentially devastating and evil act as an act of 'justice.'"
"Are you talking about his attempts to destroy Axl?" Giro asked.
"Perhaps, or perhaps that is not the case. That is up to you dearies to decide."
"Would you make sense?" Ashe asked, slightly frustrated.
"It is never a good thing for one to know too much about the future. I, like the maidens of the Time Dragon's shrine, possess the ability to receive visions of the future. But mine is far stronger than their's."
"What are you trying to get at?" X asked.
Silvera turned, her back facing the group, "I understand that at the moment, you Hunters are very confused about what is occurring. X, dearie, I think you might find it useful to tell the Inheritors your full name." She paused for a moment, "Within this time lies keys to secrets of another. Many trials and battles lie ahead. I wish you all good luck on the long road ahead." She warped out before anyone could say anything else.
"Hey X, just what did she mean by your 'full name?'" Grey asked.
X gulped, slightly uncomfortable. If he told them, it would likely raise multiple questions. But then again, maybe it would answer a few of the questions he, Zero and Axl now had.
"She means just what she said," said Zero, sounding more than slightly shaken.
"My full name…is Mega Man X. Everyone just calls me 'X' for short," X explained.
The look on Giro, Grey, and Ashe's face was incomparable. "B-but…" Ashe began, her voice faltering.
"X, Chosen Ones in my time, they're called Mega Men…" said Giro, thoroughly shaken.
"W-what do you think it means?" Grey asked.
"I have a better question, why are Chosen Ones in you time called Mega Men?" Zero demanded.
"Don't look at us, we didn't think up the title! It kinda came with the job!" Ashe snapped.
"Hey, guys, Silvera said that our time held the keys to secrets in another time, y'think the 'other time' she was referring to your guys' time? Maybe this is one of the 'secrets' she was talking about," said Axl.
"Maybe," said Giro. His mind was whirling with everything that had happened. What did it all mean? That fox had said that many trials and battles lay ahead. Did that mean that this was far from over? The only thing that he was sure of was that Pandora and Prometheus wanted the time crystals. But why? Why did they want to alter this time?
"I have a question, what are the 'time crystals' that you all keep mentioning?" Grey asked, "And more importantly, what are Pandora and Prometheus doing here?"
"From what Vent and Aile told us, the time crystals are crystals that have power over time itself. The more crystals one has, the more power. A single crystal gives one the power to slow and stop time." Giro explained.
"So if a single crystal can give one powers like that, what happens when you collect all of them?" Ashe asked. There was a silence. No one knew and no one wanted to think about it either.
"As for the reason Pandora and Prometheus are here," said Giro, breaking the silence, "We aren't really sure…"
"Huh," said Ashe, "I get the feeling a lot has happened before we came here, hasn't it?"
"…The purpose of Mega Men is to guide humanity along its path of evolution…" Grey said in barely a whisper before anyone could respond to Ashe.
"Come again?" Giro asked.
"Its something we were told during the Game of Destiny," he explained.
"That's right! It wasn't true of course, but still…" Ashe shook her head gently, "There were some who believed it was true, mainly those four idiots who just left with Pandora and Prometheus."
What exactly was this 'Game of Destiny' that keeps being mentioned? The Model Z asked.
"I wouldn't mind knowing either," Zero muttered.
Grey shifted uncomfortably, "It's kinda hard to explain…"
"Here, let me. The Game of Destiny was something the Mega Men of our time competed in. The one who could defeat all the other Mega Men became ruler of the world!" Ashe snorted, "And you know what? It was all the biggest load of crap ever. In the end, it was just a way for a certain mad scientist to take over the world himself. And the Mega Men were no more than just pawns in the whole thing!"
"Did Vent and Aile participate in this by any chance?" Giro asked.
"The opposite actually," said Grey, "They both worked to try and stop it even before they were even totally aware of the Game and its rules."
"But you both participated, right?"
"I was just…" Grey's voice trailed off.
"Grey was just trying to regain something he had lost," Ashe cut in, seeing how Grey was struggling, "And I was just doing some jobs that involved participating in the Game to earn some extra cash, put simply."
"So, considering how you're both still here, I take you stopped the bad guy, right?" Axl said.
"Pretty much."
'Oh…no...' The Model A suddenly spoke up.
"What's wrong?" Grey asked while X and Zero looked at him oddly.
'Do you remember why those four were competing in the Game of Destiny? Maybe the reason they decided to team up with Pandora and Prometheus was so they could…'
"Crap, I see where you're going with this. Worse, you're probably right," said Ashe
"Right about what?" X finally asked.
"The Model A thinks that they reason that the other Mega Men are here is so they can alter the past in order to create their ideal world!"
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I SWEAR, I can NEVER go a SINGLE fic without making SOME mention of Pokemon! Why do I say that? Because Silvera is technically a silver Evee! I came up with her after seeing a picture of a shiny Evee on But that doesn't make this a Pokemon crossover. In the stories I come up with (obviously I don't post most of them), I usually portray Silvera as either a mystical creature from another world or even a reploid herself (albeit, a highly unusual one) in case of Mega Man fics. In other words, she just happens to look like a shiny Evee, but is actually not one at all. So what exactly is Silvera in this fic? That's for me to know and you to find out!
I pulled a small joke on Atlas in this chapter. Can anyone figure it out? Also, I originally had a huge battle scene planned for this chapter. But because of a combination of writer's block, the fact that this chapter was already lengthy, and that I decided that I had kept my readers waiting long enough, I decided not to include it. I hope none of you feel cheated for that!
In the next chapter, Vent and Aile reflect on their goal in 21XX and wonder if it will lead to the repetition of a living nightmare. Meanwhile, a cocky Bomber Lizard challenges Ashe to a little competition.
A sincere thanks to all my reviewers!
R&R!