Final Battle: Elpizo

Zero and Elpizo met in a weapon clash, and then jumped away from each other. They then ran back to each other and clashed weapons ferociously. This went on for a few seconds, until Elpizo jumped away with a Battle Card floating over her hand.

"Acid Ace!" she shouted crushing the card. She then disappeared as a clone of Acid Ace appeared in front of Zero. The clone activated his sword and ran up to Zero at high speed slashing her, actually doing heavy damage.

"Two can play at that game!" Zero said pulling out a Mega Card of her own, "Harpuia!" she said activating the card. In her case Harpuia pointed his swords at Elpizo creating a green tornado of electricity, also doing massive damage. Elpizo fell to one knee, and then looked at Zero with a smirk.

"How fitting, the one with the devil's power using cards of the planet's enemies," Elpizo said to Zero, who frowned in offense.

"And what about you, using a card Ace probably gave to you for revenge! I thought that you were a good officer Val! I trusted you!"

"I am a good officer! What, did you think that I wanted to destroy Planet FM for some revenge trip like everyone else in Neo Arcadia? I'm not that twisted! I wanted to fight Planet FM with the sole purpose of saving the planet! My only grudge is against my so called family, and the devil who claimed my name!"

Now I'm being called a devil, Zero thought. She then activated another Battle Card, "Fire Sword!"

"Barrier!" Elpizo shouted as Zero ran up to her, her Fire Sword meeting an invisible barrier. When the barrier was lifted Elpizo slashed Zero away from her and activated another Battle Card, "Gatling Gun!" Elpizo shouted firing at Zero, who held her arms up in defense. She took damage from the attacks, but it was minor.

When Zero put her arms down she was surprised by Elpizo's sword, who knocked her into a wall. Zero reactivated her sword and began returning Elpizo's assaults. While fighting, Zero activated a Wide Sword and slashed forcing Elpizo back. While she jumped back, Zero activated a Long Sword slashing downward doing serious damage to Elpizo, who fell to the ground.

Elpizo got up, but was forced into a defensive position by Zero's Gatling Gun. She fell back from the attack, this time staying down for a little while.

"I see," Elpizo said, "Zero's power is too great for me at this moment," Elpizo staggered up and walked up to the red crystal, "Ara! Give me your strength one last time! The strength to destroy all those who oppose me!" Elpizo shouted. Just as she said that what looked like wires made of the Nightmare Virus came down and latched onto Elpizo, dragging her into the red crystal. Zero looked up in horror as the crystal began glowing.

"What's going on?" Zero asked.

"Beats me!" Xerox replied, "Whatever it is though it doesn't look good!"

"The Ara has responded to Valerie's need for revenge!" Geo shouted getting Zero and Xerox's attention, "I see, this is why Kitty's family had to guard it! The Ara is a weapon that responds to negative emotions!"

"Kid, that's why the Nightmare Virus was a good power source!" Xerox said to Zero, "That virus is fear incarnate! What negative emotion is there that's just as easy to acquire and harness as fear?"

"My God..." Zero said looking up at the crystal again. The crystal glowed brighter and brighter, until it exploded with a force similar to when Zero went Nightmare Zero. As it exploded, they heard what sounded like Elpizo screaming loudly in pain, and four large sharp metalic wings came out of the crystal, or rather, the crystal became the wings. After that two sharp claws came out, and what was looking at the three of them wasn't Elpizo anymore. It was a large black monster that looked like a monstrous butterfly of sorts and was hooked up to the machine by wires. What was scary was that it had a black mask on, red eyes, and long red hair flowing out of it.

"What is that?" Zero asked in horror.

"That, Prez, is what's left of Valerie," Geo responded. Just then the monster slammed its claw into the ground where Zero and Geo were standing. Geo flew out of the way, but Zero had to roll to the side.

"The Ara must have injected Val with all of the Nightmare Virus it gathered and turned her into a virus!" Xerox shouted, "Kid, we have to take her out now!"

"But!" Zero said looking up, she really didn't want to kill anyone, not like this.

"Prez, Xerox is right!" Geo said catching Zero's attention, "Right now she's too far gone! The only way to save her now is to put her out of her misery!"

"Damn it!" Zero shouted punching the ground. She was angry at Val, angry at Issac, angry at Neo Arcadia, but as angry as she was, killing someone was just too much. Truth was, she knew that Geo and Xerox were right, that there was no other way to save Val, and she couldn't just leave her.

Zero stood up and thrust a Battle Card into her arm, "Gatling Gun!" she shouted, firing at Val. It did some damage, because Val screamed, but she shot a barrage of missiles at Zero from her wings, forcing Zero to take cover.

Val then shot lasers around the entire room from her wings, hitting everything. Zero wasn't able to dodge and fell back. As Zero staggered up, she looked at the monster Val turned into, praying for an answer on what to do.

"Think Luna!" Zero said to herself, "What is it that can defeat hate?" Zero thought for a second, and then got it, "Love! But how can I..." she then looked at the red collar wrapped around her wrist, remembering her dear friend.

Flashback

The first day they met in the cafeteria...

"Really, because I think your gorgeous," Kitty said with a smile.

The night they became Brothers...

Kitty ran into Luna's arms and embraced her, "Thank you so much Luna!" she said happily.

At the concert...

Luna and Kitty looked in each others eyes, "I'm glad I could spend my first concert with you, Luna," Kitty said sincerely.

And Kitty's last moments,

Lynx was lying on the ground. She held her hand up and N-Zero grabbed it tightly, "I'm so happy... that I met you Luna... I love you... so much..." Lynx said, her eyes filled with tears.

End Flashback

"Kitty..." Zero said in sadness, "You were my best friend. No, you are my best friend!" Zero took out the ring and held it in her hand too, "I love you Kitty, and I'll always treasure our friendship," Zero let one tear fall onto the ring, and something strange happened. It began glowing, and both it and the collar, merged into a Giga Card, "This is..." Zero took a look at the picture on the card, and was shocked...

It was Lynx...

Zero nodded at the card, understanding what happened, and thrust the card into her wrist, "Lynx!" she shouted. At the same time, Val shot a large laser at Zero, but Zero was carried out of the way, by what turned out to be Lynx.

"I see," Geo said watching this, "Prez's friendship with Kitty produced a Battle Card that allowed Lynx's data to temporarily reform. Thus is the power of love."

Zero and Lynx looked at each other, and then both got in fighting stances. The two of them rushed at Val, and ran t two different sides of Val. Val tried to fire at Zero with her lasers, but for some reason Zero felt rejuvenated, and was able to dodge the attacks with no problem. While she was focusing on Zero, Lynx jumped up and actually kicked one of the wings off, making Val scream out loud.

Zero took that as her chance to attack herself, so she activated her Z-Mirage attack and all three Zeros attacked a wing also destroying it. Lynx was jumping out of the way of Val's claw attacks, but while that was happening Zero ran past them and fired a Mega Cannon at Val. Zero and Lynx looked at each other, nodded, and jumped up in the air. Zero, with her Z-Saber slashed left, at the same time Lynx slashed right with her claws, and both girls slashed down at the same time, creating a cross on Val that was crimson red on the left side, and hot pink on the right. When the girls landed, they turned their back to Val, who exploded behind them, screaming the entire time. When the explosion stopped, Lynx ran up to Zero and hugged her tightly. She said nothing, but Zero understood exactly what she was trying to say.

"Yeah... I love you too Kitty..." Zero said returning the embrace and shedding one tear for her friend, "Good bye..."

Lynx tightened the embrace for a second, and then slowly vanished. Zero wiped the tears from her face.

"You did good kid," Xerox said, "You and Kitty made a good team."

"Yeah," Zero said with a smile, "We sure did," she looked down and saw the ring in her hand. This time she actually put it on her finger and looked at it, "May this always keep us close, right Kitty?"

Zero was shocked out of her moment by a cough behind her. She turned and saw Val lying on the ground.

"So... that was the power of friendship..." she practically wheezed out, "To think that my anger... turned me into such a monster..."

"Anger is a powerful emotion," Zero said walking up to Val and getting on one knee next to her.

"Luna, I'm so sorry," Val said looking at Zero, "I had been harboring that hatred for the longest time, so long that it made me sick."

"What about now?" Zero asked, "How do you feel now?"

"I don't hate you anymore... I don't think I hated you ever... I was just angry... that you had my name... and what I thought should have been my smile..." Val looked up at the sky, now open from the explosion, "I never could please my adopted father. He raised me, gave me the family name, but he made quite clear that I wasn't a true member of his family. I only had vague memories of my real parents, and I wanted to find them, but when I came to Cyber City four years ago, I saw you. You were with three other boys, one big, one small with glasses," she turned to the hologram of Geo, who was standing there looking at her in sadness, "and him, only he had on those green glasses you wear sometimes. You looked so happy, but then I heard you say your name, Luna Platz. I was so filled with anger, that all I wanted to do was get revenge. I knew it wasn't your fault, but I hated that they gave you my name."

Truth was, even Zero wasn't too sure how to feel about that. But she understood. They thought the real Luna was dead probably, and with her being an infant when she was found, why not give her their biological daughter's name.

"Do me a favor..." Val said reaching for Zero's cheek, "Don't tell Mom and Dad, alright? As far as they're concerned, their biological daughter died fourteen years ago. I don't want them to see me like this. The name, Luna Platz, is officially yours now," Val closed her eyes and smiled, "Good bye... Zero..."

"Good bye... Luna..." Zero said also with a warm smile. Val closed her eyes, and her body became lifeless. Zero got up and looked at Xerox's image on her Hunter VG, "Xerox, contact the Satella Police and tell them what happened, leaving out that one part."

"What part?" Xerox asked, as a statement that he also respected Val's last wishes. Zero looked over at Geo, who was looking up at the sky seriously.

"Do you really think that Planet FM will attack?" Zero asked.

"I know they'll attack. It may take a while to prepare, but eventually they will attack, and when that happens..." Geo looked down seriously, as if he expected the worst.

"You said that the planet wasn't doomed, how do you know? I know Xerox and I can fight, but we're just one girl and an alien. What can we do against what's going to be an entire army?"

"Against Aries and the Four Guardians? Not much," Geo said turning to Zero, "Unless I get us some help."

"Help, from who?" Zero asked.

"Let's just say from three old friends of mine. Very old friends of mine," Geo said, but Zero was still confused, "I don't know when Planet FM will attack, but when they do, you'll have to be ready. For now the Nightmare Virus will still be a problem, so you should stay with the Satella Police for now and keep helping them."

"And when Planet FM attacks? Then what?"

"Don't worry, they won't attack before help arrives. You'll be ready, I'm sure," Geo turned into an orb, "I'll see you sometime soon, Prez," Geo said before flying up in the air and vanishing.

"So, now what?" Xerox asked Zero, who was still looking up at the sky, now filled with dark clouds and rain.

"Now, we wait. The biggest fight for Earch is about to begin, so we better be ready," Zero said, almost feeling Aries and Harpuia staring down at her, and anticipating the fights in the future.