Hey everyone! I'm back! First of all, this chapter was a lot longer then I originally anticipated, but I've already started work on the next chapter, so hopefully I'll get that out soon. It's hard to type things up when you're sharing a computer with someone while their laptop is being repaired, so that's why this chapter took longer then anticipated. On another note, it's been over a year since I started on this story. I can hardly believe it.
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"Hey Ashe, you okay in there?" Grey felt concern well up when there wasn't an answer from behind Ashe's door. Ashe was normally cheerful and perky, but after the mission yesterday, she had seemed, well, depressed. It wasn't like her, and it worried him.
"Something up?" Giro came up behind Grey.
"It's Ashe. Ever since the mission yesterday she has been, well, out of it." Grey stared at the door, "I just can't figure out why."
"She's probably just in shock," said Giro, "Aile reacted in a similar way. It can be hard to come to grips with it, but the fact is that this is a totally different time, with different values and different ways of seeing things. While in our time, reploids are treated with equal footing with humans, in this time, we're treated much differently, and with much more prejudice. That's just one of the major differences between this time and our own."
"So what do we do?" Grey asked.
"Leave her alone for now. We can check up on her later, just to make sure she's okay."
n/n/n/n/
Hey Ashe, you alright? Ashe, who had fallen asleep, woke up at the sound of the familiar voice in her head. She sat up, and found the Model A, hovering over her.
"How did you get in here? Wait, never mind, I don't want to know. But what are you doing here?" She asked.
I came to make sure you were doing okay. It isn't like you to be depressed. You have Grey worried too.
Ashe yawned, "I'm fine, its just…" She trailed off, unable to continue.
It's just what? Come on, you can tell me.
Ashe sighed and looked at her pillow, "It's just that…this time is so different from ours…and with all the differences, I'm worried."
It took every ounce of Model A's will not to burst out laughing, You? Worried? About what?
Ashe looked up at the Biometal, "Model A, listen to me. That day I met Draynor, he asked about Grey. I'm worried that he's going to come back to look further into us. He suspects something, and I just know its not going to end well."
But you're just as much a cause for suspect as Grey is, Model A pointed out, Why isn't this Draynor character worried about you?
"After what Giro told us, I now know its because the guy prejudiced," Ashe sighed, "I've been trying to think of some way to tell Grey what happened. After what I've learned about this time, I'm afraid that if we don't do something to explain him, Draynor might do something about Grey. And it won't be anything good either."
Model A took a few minutes to ponder this. You may be right, It finally said, But you certainly won't help things by drooping around like this! You'll only wind up getting everyone worried. So perk up! And you might want to talk to Grey in the morning.
Ashe chuckled at the Biometal. Although it was a bit…immature at times, Model A knew her as well as Grey did, and always seemed to find a way to make a situation seem that much better.
n/n/n/n/
"We detected this signal just a few minutes ago," Alia pointed to the spot on the screen.
"It's a time crystal, right?" Zero said it as a statement, not a question. The group had been called into the command room, two days after the mission in the military base.
Alia nodded, "It's located in an ancient forest. There are ruins there that the time crystal is likely hidden in."
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Unless we want that time crystal to start moving on us again, we better get going!" Axl said.
Giro nodded in agreement, "Even now, Pandora and Prometheus may be going after the crystal. Time is of the essence. Let's go!"
As the group gathered near the teleporter, Grey hung back a little to talk to Ashe.
"Are you alright? You were pretty down the other day," said Grey.
Ashe simply smiled at him, "It's nothing. Really."
The Model A said nothing but it was mentally frustrated that Ashe did just outright tell Grey what had been bugging her.
n/n/n/n/
It seemed peaceful enough but everyone in the group knew from experience that looks could be deceiving. There were birds chirping in the background, and although it was overcast, the green trees of the forest seemed to glow with their own light.
"Where do you think those ruins are?" Axl asked.
"About some yards that way," Ashe replied pointing in one direction. When she got a series of odd glances, she sighed irritably, "Hello! Hunter! I've worked with ruins in places like these for a long time! I know the signs that indicate that some are nearby. You see, greenery gets thinner in that direction, and there's no sign of charring, which means that a forest fire isn't the cause. That's a sure sign that there's been some human activity around that area. The forest is still trying to restore itself from whatever they did. It reasonable to assume that whatever happened was centered around those ruins."
Zero shrugged, "Sounds good enough for me."
The group started to walk in the direction that Ashe had indicated. Besides the wind and the occasional sound of a bird or another forest dweller, it was pretty quiet.
And that unnerved the Hunters.
At some point, they heard an "Ah!" They all quickly turned around.
Grey looked down at the sheer drop he had nearly fallen down. He had slipped and had nearly been sent tumbling down the cliff. He couldn't see the bottom and he got the feeling that if he hadn't caught himself in time, it wouldn't have been good.
"I didn't notice that before," Zero remarked, as he looked down into the abyss along with X, Giro and Axl. Trees grew up from it, rooted somewhere down at the unseen bottom.
"The plants around here must have prevented us from noticing it earlier," Giro remarked
"I'd hate to fall down there. It looks like a long way down," said Axl.
"I very nearly did," said Grey, feeling shaken.
"Hey! If you boys are done yet, I can see the ruins up ahead!" Ashe called out. They turned and looked in the direction they had been walking. Sure enough, just up ahead, the trees opened up into a clearing. And within the clearing, there was a series of ancient stone buildings. Although they could make out the details very clearly from this distance, there was clearly vegetation growing all over it and it was obvious that it had been a very long time since anyone had been there.
"Well, let's get moving," said Zero. As the group moved forward to the ruins, Axl hung back a bit, looking nervous. Zero looked back at him, "You coming kid?"
Axl, sounding unnerved, said, "Yeah, I am but…did it ever occur to any one why people stopped coming out here?"
As if on cue, a large swarm of bug-like Mechaniloids came swarming into the area. Everyone quickly went into attack mode. Pretty soon, the air was filled with shots coming from both sides. X personally fired every which way in desperation. There were so many of them, that they blocked his view. Unfortunently, the Mechaniloids made it almost impossible for him to watch his step.
"X, watch it!" Zero's yell was the only warning the blue Hunter had. X took a step back, only to find that there was nothing behind him but thin air.
X fell over the sheer cliffside.
n/n/n/n/
It had been a bit of a drop, and X felt shaken as he stood up. After he confirmed that he hadn't sustained any damage, he took in his surroundings.
He had fallen into another part of the forest. The sun broke through the clouds and filtered through the trees. Up ahead, there were more ruins, perhaps ones where the time crystal was hidden. But there was also something else…
"The crystal should be somewhere around here. With any luck, this retrieval should go without interference." There was a human boy up ahead. He was facing the ruins with his back to X. He had pale green hair and wore a scabbard at his side.
"Who are you?" X asked.
The boy seemed startled and quickly turned around, taking a defensive position. A look of recognition quickly crossed his face, "You…you're one of the Maverick Hunters! One of the legendary heroes of this time!"
X seemed a bit confused, "You know me?"
"We've met once before, but I don't think we got around to proper introductions." The boy held out his sword and called out, "Megamerge!" There was a brief whirl of wind and lightning. When it settled, X gasped. Standing there, was one of the ones that had been with Pandora and Prometheus during their last encounter with the pair.
"You…You're with Pandora and Prometheus!"
The boy smirked, "Correct! I am Aeolus, the Wind Mega Man and Chosen One for Model H."
Mega Man! That was a name he hadn't heard since the last time they had faced Pandora and Prometheus. X's predecessor had that name. He had been a hero, one that fought for peace and justice…And his name was part of X's own. But why did Aeolus call himself this name now? Giro had said that Chosen Ones in his time were called Mega Men. But why?
X couldn't think on the subject any longer before Aeolus suddenly activated his flight thrusters and charged at him with duel sabers ready. X quickly got out of the way, a gust of wind billowing up as Aeolus flew by. Aeolus landed a short distance away, pivoted and charged again. X went one way to avoid him. What he didn't expect, was for Aeolus to change direction in midair. X quickly threw up his arms and felt two sabers bite into them.
"Why did you attack!?" X demanded.
Aeolus smiled, "I know you're not just going to let me take the crystal, so I decided that I might as well get the inevitable battle over with."
Drawing upon his reserve of strength, X managed to shove Aeolus back. He quickly summoned his buster onto his arm as Aeolus used his flight thrusters to gain altitude and hover, high in the air. X took aim…
And found he couldn't fire.
He just couldn't. This wasn't a Maverick. This was a human. To fight him would be to betray the last of the morals that he had when it came to fighting. It would make him no better then any of the Mavericks that he had fought in past.
X let out a cry of pain and surprise as he felt a pair of powerful cyclones rip through him.
Aeolus landed, "You hesitated. But why? You had no reason to."
X did a quick check of his systems. His energy was near the halfway point yet, but those cyclones had done a considerable amount of damage. He then noticed that Aeolus looked liked he was slashing the air. Why would he do that? He, unfortunately, got his answer. A shockwave tore through the air, scoring a direct hit.
Now X's energy had dipped just below the halfway point. He had to fight back. Yet he could not find the strength within him to do it.
Aeolus used his flight thrusters to get up close to X, who dashed out of the way quickly before he could be slashed with the two sabers.
He had to fight back…yet he couldn't…
Realization suddenly dawned on Aeolus, who promptly smiled, "Now I see why you won't fight. You're bound by the morals of this time."
"Wh-what do you mean?" X asked, his voice shaky.
"Exactly what I said," Aeolus responded as he turned to face X, "You believe that, because I'm human, that attacking me would make you Maverick. And in this time, that's effectively a death sentence. In addition, there's an unwillingness to fight in general. I can see that in your eyes. You would avoid this conflict altogether if you could."
With that short speech, Aeolus had hit on nearly every sensitive nerve X had. He was right…He couldn't fight…He didn't want to…
Another pair of cyclones slammed into X and he was blown back. His energy dropped near a critical level. If he didn't fight back…
"You are just as foolish as everyone else. You judge me, someone of another time, by your time's standards. Once we've finished gathering the time crystals, I'm going to make sure that any fools never get the chance to exist!"
The full impact of Aeolus's words hit X hard. If I let him get the crystal, he and the rest of them will be closer to fulfilling their plan. And if we allow them to follow through with their plans, who know what will happen to the world? I've got to fight back... He began discreetly charging his buster.
"I won't destroy you. As we don't yet have all the crystals, there's no telling what impact that will have on history. I'll just have to settle for disabling you instead." Aeolus activated his flight thrusters and charged forward again with sabers ready.
A powerful blast of energy tore through him, severely injuring him in the process. The power of the blast had been incredible, something truly worthy of a legend.
X was left breathless from the attack. He had channeled an awful lot of power into that one attack, but it seemed to do the trick. Aeolus was clutching at his side, obviously having been badly injured in the blast.
Then the harsh reality of what he had just done settled in. Had that really been necessary? Was there some way he could have avoided all this? He had just hurt a human. Had this really been inevitable?
Aeolus seemed to be getting frustrated, "You…! I'll finish this here and now!" He drew out his sabers. But before he could strike, a familiar voice rang through the area,
"You! You're here for the crystal!" X looked up in the direction the voice had come from. Making their way up to them, was his friends. Ashe, the one who had spoken, was looking at Aeolus with a hostile glare. Grey and the others were coming up behind her.
Grey tensed when he saw Aeolus, "How did you get here?" He asked.
Aeolus merely hmphed, "We have our ways." He looked at the Model A Chosen Ones, clear antagonism in his eyes, "It appears I've made a minor miscalculation. But don't worry! I'll be back! Once we have the time crystals, the Game shall be able to recommence!"
"That's why you all are after the time crystals!? Hey wait!" Grey let out a sigh of frustration as Aeolus warped out.
"They want to restart the Game of Destiny? Is that what this is all about?" Ashe wondered.
"Somehow I doubt it. Pandora and Prometheus hated the Game remember?" Grey pointed out.
"That's true," Ashe agreed.
"I don't get it. I thought you two said that the Game was long over," Axl sounded understandably confused.
"That's what we thought too," said Ashe, "But even if that's the reason their after the crystals, that doesn't explain Pandora and Prometheus."
"So we have to assume it's something more," said Giro.
"Hey X, you okay buddy?" Zero walked up to X, who was thoroughly shaken.
"N-no…I'm not okay…Zero I just hurt a human! I'm no better then the Mavericks now!" X felt like he was breaking down mentally. The battle had taken a harsh toll on him.
"Don't feel too guilty about it," said Ashe, "Aeolus and the other three members of his crew are no better then Mavericks. They've hurt their fair share of people."
"And besides if you hadn't, that guy would have gotten the time crystal," added Axl.
"True…" said X, sounding and feeling weak.
"Don't worry. We'll leave out the little detail that he was human in our report," Zero reassured him.
"Why would you do that?" Grey asked.
"Because when a reploid attacks a human, that reploid is usually immediately classified as a Maverick, under the assumption that the reploid must be infected with the Maverick Virus. And being Maverick is a death sentence." Giro explained.
"That's harsh," said Ashe, "And given the general opinion of reploids in this time, I bet that the Maverick labeled is abused, isn't it?"
Giro nodded, "More then you can imagine."
"Alright, so what about the crystal?" Axl asked.
"According to what Aeolus said, the crystal is within those ruins," X pointed.
As the group began to file off in that direction, Giro grabbed the shoulders of Grey and Ashe, "I need to talk to you two for a moment."
Grey and Ashe looked at him quizzically and he sighed, "I need to know more about these new Chosen Ones. Who are they? And how did they obtain their Biometals? And what about the Biometals themselves? Do they have evil personalities to contemplate their Chosen Ones?"
"We aren't sure about the Biometals. We've never heard them say anything," said Ashe, "All we know is that Vent and Aile originally had them and they were stolen from those two."
I remember now.
"Model Z?" Giro asked.
I knew that I had seen those four at another time. Their Biometals are being used against their will. Model X and I had theorized that those four Chosen Ones had found some way to suppress their Biometals' consciousness.
"As for who their wielders are, they're Megamen who participated in the Game of Destiny," said Grey, "Their goal was to create their ideal world and they hoped to do that by winning the Game."
"In others words, the Game tempted them with power, which they eagerly sought," Giro sighed, "I suppose I was hoping for too much when I trusted the Biometals to choose people who would, perhaps, help Vent and Aile."
"Hey guys! Are you coming or not!?" Axl yelled.
"Coming!" said Giro.
n/n/n/n/
"X?"
"Huh?" X turned from his spot to see Ashe, who apparently had just come up. X was up on the roof of HQ, watching the sunset. What had happened that day still bothered him greatly. They had found the time crystal within the ruins. It had looked exactly like the others, except it was purple while the other two had been pink and blue. But it was what he had done that day that now haunted him. How could he have…? "How did you know I'd be up here?"
"Zero told me. And you might want to go see him once I'm through with you. He and Axl are starting to worry," Ashe replied, "You're still thinking about what happened today, aren't you?"
X remained silent and turned to look back at the horizon. How could she, a human herself, understand what he was going through? How could she understand how severe what he had done was?
Ashe took his silence as a 'yes,' "Well then, stop beating yourself up over it!" X looked back at her,
"You don't get it, do you? I hurt a human. I'm nothing more then a Maverick now."
"And that human was pretty much Maverick himself!" Ashe snapped back, starting to lose her patience. She then sighed, trying to calm herself down, "X, listen. If Aeolus and the others truly plan on restarting the Game of Destiny, then the world is in grave danger. I'm not sure of the full extent of the crystals' power, but if it's enough for them to restart the Game using them, they must be extremely powerful. Stopping Aeolus was a good thing. If he had gotten the crystal, they would have been that much closer to completing their plans."
X just continued looking out at the horizon. What Ashe said was true…but…
But it still haunted him. And it would continue to haunt him. He had done something he was never supposed to do today. He knew that his own creator had sealed him away to ensure that he would never do that very thing.
Ashe sighed. She wasn't getting through to him. She could see that. The one thing she didn't get was that if reploid-human relations were so strained in this time, then why did hurting a human bother X so much? She remembered how Signas had originally prevented her from going on missions to stop her from getting hurt. Did it all come back to being called Maverick?
"Any luck?" Zero came up the stairs that led to the rood.
Ashe turned and walked past the red Hunter, "Nothing. You try talking to him. The guy won't budge."
As she went down the stairs another thought struck her, one that stopped her in her tracks and sent a chill down her spine.
Draynor had asked about Grey. Ashe had since suspected that Draynor was on to them, and she had expressed her worries to the Model A earlier.
But what if the real reason that Draynor was suspicious about Grey was because he thought Grey was actually a Maverick, hiding out here at Maverick Hunter HQ? What if just because her partner was cause for suspicion, he would be accused of being Maverick despite the fact that he hadn't really hurt anyone (with the exception of Vent and Aile, what WERE those two up to right now anyway?) since he had came to this time?
The thought scared her and made her realize that Grey, her close friend and partner, may soon be in grave danger.
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Poor X. Looks like the upcoming battles are going to take a very harsh toll on him. He certainly isn't in the best of mental states after that battle. Oh, yeah, and I unintentionally made another subplot on the fly.
In the next chapter, another time crystal is found in an abandoned building. Axl goes to retrieve it, and gets a bit more then he bargained for! In the battle that follows, he finds himself face to face with another ally of Pandora and Prometheus. During the whole thing, Axl may finally learn part of the reason why Vent and Aile attacked him that day.