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Title: Mega Man X6: False Awakening
Chapter: Stage 07 "You ancient piece of junk!"
Notes: Well, forget all of you. You suck. Except mysteriousguy898. Him I still like.

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"So I'm back here again," X noted grimly, looking around the ruined wasteland of Eurasia's crash site. The faint moonlight was barely enough to make out the edges of the sandy dunes and the towering pieces of the colony. Everything was silent as the grave - it was a grave, in a way, of thousands and thousands of people.

"I can't believe their base is hidden in a place like this," Alia said quietly. "They must have set up in one of the more intact sections... The signal terminated somewhere just up ahead."

Another voice broke in over the comm, speaking over Alia. "X! Return to base immediately!" Signas demanded. "This mission hasn't been authorized! At least return for a check up! You might have been damaged!"

Wordlessly ignoring the commander, whose voice became more and more distorted by noise, X made his way onto one of the half-buried sections of Eurasia. In the middle of it, a large dark hole gaped like an open maw, ominous and threatening.

"It's like it's inviting me..." X murmured. His eyes narrowed as he saw the faint glow of something deep in the darkness. "I can see some light... I assume the base is below here. I don't think I can communicate with you once I enter."

"X!"

"I have to stop this," he finally said to Signas. "And I have to go alone. I'm the only one left..."

"Just be careful, X," Alia told him, her voice soft. Her words faded out as he jumped, the transmission completely lost.

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X traveled in darkness only for a short while. A faint glow appeared and grew stronger, emanating from the walls. Power was running through Eurasia's abandoned machinery. Only a little further in, something else appeared as well - strange crystalline formations run through by what looked like circuitry and inscribed with mysterious symbols. When he tried to analyse them, X's sensors returned only a confused mess.

"Another Nightmare phenomenon," X commented to himself. "But it's so solid..."

The crystal formed regular blocks, growing on and around the battered remains of Eurasia's systems. They provided a stairway for X as the passage he followed opened up and sloped down into a cavernous chamber, its boundaries hidden in creeping shadows. The far wall was lined with a computer bank and a large monitor, apparently part of the original Eurasia structure.

Isoc stood in front of it, the Zero Nightmare suspended nearby in the same force field High Max had used. The Reploid was saying something, but X could not make out the words. As he moved closer, X realized that something was missing.

Where was High Max?

A Hunter's instincts made him spin around, just in time to avoid a blue-green energy blast. The ominous black form descended from the shadows, already gathering energy for another attack.

"You are persistent," High Max noted. "I'll make sure to destroy you this time."

X didn't bother to reply. Instead, he released a charged shot that momentarily stunned the giant Reploid, giving X the opening he needed to close in and slash with Zero's Saber.

High Max staggered under X's attack, then took to the air again, while X jumped away to a wider platform. Out of the corner of his eye, X could see Isoc watching them calmly. He seemed completely certain that X would be defeated.

"We'll see about that," X muttered. "But I'll need to speed this along. There has to be a way to damage him properly."

Mentally, he flipped through the abilities he had on hand. His Buster, Zero's Saber, the boosting abilities of the Blade Armor... there was also the Ultimate Armor, which had finally been repaired and could be activated if things got desperate enough...

Of course, there was also the data he had collected from the investigators themselves. It was a fifty-fifty chance, whether Isoc and Gate had made High Max immune or at least resistant to the attacks of their other pawns.

Glancing at Isoc again, X decided he was willing to gamble on it.

He would end this in one shot.

Instead of another energy blast, High Max formed a glowing shield around himself, patterned oddly similar to the crystal formations around them. He rushed at X with the intent of ramming him, but even High Max's deceptively high speed wasn't enough to match the Blade Armor's maneuverability. X easily jumped over the charge and hovered in the air as High Max rushed past and crashed into one of the crystalline walls.

While High Max struggled to right himself, X called up the data from Blaze Heatnix, one of the investigators he had defeated, and let the flame energy infuse Zero's Saber, holding it until a charge formed. But that alone wouldn't be enough. X let more energy flow through the Blade Armor and into the Saber, setting up the Giga Attack. The two techniques overlapped and merged, making the blade of Zero's Saber glow like a star going nova.

As he slashed down with the burning blade, a wall of flame was let loose. It engulfed High Max, disintegrated the crystal structure around him and melting the remains of Eurasia.

When the flames disappeared, leaving behind molten slag that still glowed with heat, what remained of the black Reploid's battered form reached fruitlessly toward X.

"N-no!" High Max ground out, his vocal components barely functioning. "I am s-superior in every way! An old robot like you... This can't be t-true!"

Finally, the damage proved too much. High Max's body jerked as something vital gave out and ruptured. His reaching hand froze as power went out of his limbs. The only movement remaining in the body was the bending of overheated metal.

X watched what remained of him for a moment longer, before turning toward Isoc, his next opponent. But the researcher seemed remarkably unconcerned, more annoyed than anything, even as X purposefully moved toward him.

"Tch," Isoc scowled. "So High Max wasn't enough. To think Light's final creation would prove this resilient. How frustrating."

The mention of his creator made X pause, his eyes narrowing. He raised his Buster threateningly, but Isoc only scoffed.

"Shoot me if you wish. It makes no difference." Spreading his arms wide, he glared venomously at X. "You ancient piece of junk! It's not over! I'll destroy you myself!"

Isoc was a researcher, a non-combat model with no detectable weapons. X wasn't prepared for him to attack. He was taken completely by surprise, when something suddenly shot out of the researcher's body, a glowing energy construct - An ability? A Virus? A Nightmare effect? - that rushed at X.

He released his shot even as he dashed aside, without waiting to see what would happen. The glowing shape, whatever its true nature, did not dissipate. Though he continued to fire, his shots seemed to have no effect on it, barely causing a disruption in its energy pattern. Its form constantly shifted, barely humanoid, but with two distinctive protrusions on the sides of its "head" that looked almost like horns.

Giving X no time to regain his footing, it turned and attacked again. It was fast, unnaturally so, and he couldn't get away before it reached him. Its limbs slid through his armor, just like a Nightmare's, and a ripping, burning sensation tore through X's systems.

It was the same as Virus infection. No, worse - so much worse.

X barely bit back a scream. He could feel the gleeful, sadistic joy of the thing above him as it - he? - thrust its limbs deeper and moved closer to his central systems. Somehow, X was certain he wouldn't survive having them come into contact with this apparition, but his body refused to respond to his commands.

It was almost too late, its hands grasping at his core, when it suddenly screeched and tried to rear back.

A shining blade thrust through the ghost's body from behind and was slowly dragged through its middle, tearing it in two. The apparition flailed and screeched, but trapped between X and its assailant, speared upon the saber blade, it couldn't get away. Behind it, X caught a glimpse of the Zero Nightmare, released from the force field holding it in place.

The ghost flailed back, its limbs bending backward to strike at the Zero Nightmare. Where the two beings met, their insubstantial forms overlapped and disrupted each other, leaving their edges shredded and torn.

Finally, the Zero Nightmare ripped its saber clear through the ghost. The two halves seemed to reach for each other, but, cauterized, couldn't reconnect. X's eyes widened as the Zero Nightmare lifted its sword in a familiar motion, and he barely rolled out of the way as it unleashed Zero's final move, Genmurei.

The ghost was cleanly split in two again, this time too damaged to even try to reconnect. The energy contained in the silhouette shuddered, as if struggling to maintain its form, then released explosively. Buffeted by the blast, X tried to shield his eyes. Someone - a voice that sounded familiar, distorted though it was - laughed, pained but gloating, before being suddenly cut off.

As the light faded, X dropped to his knees. Isoc's prone form lay crumpled beside him. What kind of attack had that been? His sensors, coming back online sluggishly, showed only that Isoc's body had just broken down. The readings were unsettlingly familiar. "...Like the Erasure Incident. Then, was that... his Soul?..."

Looking up, he saw the Zero Nightmare. It seemed almost... torn around the edges. It looked at him for a moment, as if trying to convey something, before suddenly collapsing in on itself. Bright lights - Souls - burst outward in all directions, passing through the walls and making the crystal formations glow.

To X's surprise, one of the lights passed through a wall he had assumed to be another part of Eurasia's structure, causing the same effect. Standing, he moved away from Isoc's body and placed a hand against the glowing, inscribed surface. It felt different, even when the light faded away.

Coming to a quick decision, X took a step back and lifted his Buster. A simple shot bounced off harmlessly, but he followed up with a charged one that shattered the block that had made up that section of the wall.

Another passage opened up behind it, made of the same conglomeration of metal and crystal. But the light that shone from both had dimmed, and X found himself moving through a twilight gloom as he cautiously proceeded onward.

X paused, certain that he had heard something. Though his sensors showed nothing, half-scrambled as they were from the Nightmare lingering here, he trusted his instincts more. Moving silently, X paused at a corner and raised his Buster.

Whirling around the edge, he aimed down the passage, ready to shoot. But the sight that greeted him made X stop cold.

It was Zero.

X shoved the thought away sharply. He should have been ready for this, but somehow the sight of his friend's face on an enemy always threw him off balance. Trying to cover up the opening his hesitation had created, X switched to the Saber and raised it to counter the blow he felt certain was coming. The fake was almost upon him.

But it wasn't attacking. If anything, it had fallen back in surprise at the same time X had. It was staring at him wide-eyed now. X had a moment to realize that it was different from the Zero Nightmare - too solid, too real - before it opened its mouth and demanded in Zero's voice...

"X, what the hell did you do to my Saber?!"

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Notes: Down the rabbit hole. Also, forget game mechanics. I don't want to hear it.

I miss Alia. (:( ) But at least Zero is finally here! (Yes, spoiler, it's really Zero.) This story probably should have been marked as X/Alia for characters, but... anyway.

So I was writing about the Zero Nightmare. And then I got to this chapter and thought, okay, so what exactly is it? Is it like Alia said, a Nightmare that is based on Zero's data? Created by Gate, or by Isoc? Or is it Zero's ghost/DNA Soul/whatever? Or does it exist because of Zero's unique connection to the Maverick Virus?

And then I thought, what am I doing? This is MMX6. There are no answers.

Incidentally, that's why Zero just kind of turns up at Isoc/Gate's lab. He got repaired by Isoc, as Gate hinted way back in chapter 4, but besides that...? Pfffft. I dunno! I'm just being true to the material! (:V) Same for Isoc. (The original theory is that the program Sigma and Zero "came into contact with" back in Wily's abandoned fortress was the one Wily used to become some kind of cyber ghost. His ghost can possess Reploid bodies, like Isoc and Serges way back in X2. And also talked to Sigma in X5. But, you know, that's just one theory.)

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