Relic from the seas

By

Dr Facer

-13-

X stood in front of the door separating the long hallway from the large room where the main telescope's control panel was located. He checked his systems before entering and confirmed his power core was at 89% and that his weapon energy was at 75%, not too bad but not great either. He had received a few hits fighting his way through the Observatory, and had been forced to use a few shots from his special weapon in order to destroy the two large Mechaniloids that had been guarding the rooms where the hostages were.

"I should have brought more special weapons instead of only the Wing Spiral with me," X lamented as he debated over using one of the two full subtanks he carried to recharge his power core. In the end he decided to wait, he could always use them during the fight if things got too intense. He certainly hoped they didn't, and that Dynamo was still weak against wind-type weapons.

Thinking that he was as prepared as he was ever going to be, X finally entered the room.

"Ah, finally, I was getting really bored waiting for you!" Dynamo greeted once the blue armored hunter entered the room. The black armored mercenary was standing in front of a large window, and outside a massive telescope could be seen. "It took you nine hours to get here from Earth and an additional three hours to get through the Observatory, X, you disappoint me!"

"I don't care if I disappointed you, Dynamo," X said. "Why did you do this? It makes no sense!"

"Well, for two reasons. I was bored, for one," Dynamo said, smiling cheekily. "And the other, I wanted to show you something good. Nice scarf, by the way, I hope you don't mind if I take it as my prize once I've defeated you."

X touched the scarf protectively and raised his buster, pointing it at the annoying mercenary. "I think that's enough talking, I just want to arrest you and complete this mission. Don't make it hard on yourself."

"Oooh… that rag must be important if you react like this," Dynamo said with a mocking grin. "Who gave it to you, that blonde navigator who is always so worried about you? Hah, looking at your face it seems I hit the jackpot! Well, don't worry, partner, I'll go visit her once we're done here. I'll make sure to teach her how to like me."

X frowned, quite upset at the idea of seeing Alia hurt because of him. "I swear if you ever do something to Alia, I'll…"

"En garde, X!" Dynamo shouted then, taking advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction to hit him with a cheap shot, which sent him skidding all the way to the control panel.

Power Core at 71%

X gritted his teeth as his systems warned him about the sudden decrease in energy. His standard armor had absorbed the attack without additional damage, but he didn't want to try his luck more than necessary so he immediately switched weapons and equipped the Wing Spiral, dashing at Dynamo with blazing speed and unleashing a rising tornado right on his face.

"Oh, crap!" the mercenary managed to say before being smashed on the ceiling by the powerful wind current X had attacked him with. His servomotors, weak to strong winds, struggled to compensate the damage as he crashed down loudly in front of the aggravating hunter. He knew X was strong, but he didn't expect him to attack him full force right away!

"Ready to give up?"

"Of course not, we're just getting started!" Dynamo said as he got back to his feet, ignoring the warning that indicated his power core was now at only thirty two percent. He could still fight a little more and besides, he had one more trick up his sleeve that would turn this fight around. "In fact, I am going to show you that thing I was telling you about, X."

Dynamo grinned as he opened the small compartment on his chest and pointed at a glowing battery he kept in there. "Do you know what this is, X?"

The hunter gasped at what he was seeing, he recognized the eerie glow quite well, and he had really hoped he would never see it again. "Are… are those Nightmare Souls?"

"Indeed they are!" Dynamo laughed. "Did you think you and your friends had deleted all of them? Well… I admit you Hunters destroyed most of the Nightmare Souls, but I got the ones you missed and thanks to a friend of mine I can now use them to gain incredible power with his new Nightmare Drive! Heh, heh, heh… I'm afraid this time it's you who will lose, X… permanently!"

"Wait, Dynamo, the Nightmare is too dangerous, don't…!"

But the mercenary did not listen and activated the 'Nightmare Drive', unleashing the terrible power of Gate's creation. Dynamo felt the corrupting energy of the Nightmare virus fill his each and every circuit, granting him a power boost unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It took him a second to grow accustomed to the new power level but once he did so he couldn't stop a macabre laugh.

"Oh, this is great!" He cackled as his body started glowing with a sickly green light. "Much better than what I was told, with this power there is no way I can lose… X, prepare to die!"

"The Nightmare Souls are driving you insane!" X countered, remembering quite well what Gate's creation did to the reploids it infected.

"Insane, you say? I don't think so!" the mercenary said and, moving with a speed that X could barely follow, smashed his fist on his enemy's torso, following this with an overhead throw that sent X crashing against the telescope's control panel with strength enough to completely destroy it. "With this Nightmare Drive I am invincible, even Zero will fall before me now!"

Realizing talking was no longer an option, X waited until Dynamo got close and then unleashed another wind blast at him, but this time the Wing Spiral did nothing. The infected mercenary simply used his beam saber to quickly dissipate the wind currents, following that with a gigantic charged shot that struck X straight in the chest, making him scream in pain.

WARNING: Power Core at 18%

Now that was bad. Just how powerful was that Nightmare Drive making Dynamo? If he got hit a second time… X tried to use the subtanks, but much to his surprise he discovered that his system had used them instantly the moment he was hit by that massive charged shot, using all their energy just to keep his Power Core functional.

"This can't be…!" he thought, fighting to keep fear under control. Not many foes had hit him that hard before. Only Sigma, Lumine, Gate and Vile had managed to damage him so badly so quickly!

"X… X, can you still hear me?"

"I can, Alia," he replied, focusing on dodging the new barrage of attacks Dynamo was throwing at him. "But things aren't looking good, do you have any suggestions?"

"I'd tell you to warp out, but you can't, there's a force field surrounding the observatory," Alia provided. "But the field does let things in. Zero is on his way, he should be there in…"

"It'll be too late by then!" X stated, dodging another charged shot and countering with one of his, only to see Dynamo take it and receive no damage from it. This caused X to hesitate for a moment, something his opponent took advantage of and rushed in, punching him in the face hard enough to drop him on his back.

WARNING: Power Core at 14%

X managed to roll to the left just in time to avoid Dynamo's boot. He was breathing hard, trying to help his self-repair function to cool his overheating systems with very little success. This was not good at all.

"Alia, you said I can't teleport out but you can beam things in, right?" X asked, jumping high and then bouncing on the wall to dodge the crazed mercenary. He had an idea that, if he was lucky, would allow him to win this battle. He just hoped he could live long enough to try it!

"Yes, but… we've never beamed anything that far, I don't know if…"

"I don't care, send me the Gaea Armor, now!"

"R-roger, right away!" Alia stammered, unable to control the panic filling her voice. She said something else, but she was cut short by Dynamo expanding his energy field, jamming the transmission.

"Exchanging some last words with your woman, X?" the mercenary said, a demented grin adorning his face. The Nightmare Virus had consumed his sanity completely and he had become a monster with very little self-control. "Don't worry, after I kill you here… she'll be my next target!"

Saying nothing more, Dynamo shot another massive charged shot and…

The blast hit, but X was still standing there, undamaged. Because the hunter wore now a bulky grey and black armor which had neutralized the attack. Dynamo paused, he had seen this armor in the past. X had used it before during the fifth Maverick Uprising and he knew it was very powerful. Perhaps powerful enough to help him win.

"No…" the mercenary shouted. "I am so close… so close!"

Growling, Dynamo released a charged shot, which was cancelled by one of X's, who followed this with another full charged buster shot that blasted Dynamo all the way to the opposite wall.

"That was the eraser shot, Dynamo," X explained. "It can delete any virus or dangerous program. Stand still while I get rid of all those Nightmare Souls you have running through your systems."

"Never, the Nightmare souls are mine!" The mercenary yelled as he used his laser sword to send several energy waves at X, but his effort was for nothing. The hunter simply jumped back and kicked the wall in his direction, in an arc that made it impossible for him to aim on time. Dynamo could only lift both arms to block his rival's attack, but he only partially succeeded: Mega Man X's boots slammed against his forearms, and he was brought down hard. Before he could react, X reached down, ripped off the lid covering his Nightmare Drive and fired an eraser shot directly into it.

The first thing Dynamo felt was an agonizing wave of pain coursing through his systems as the eraser shot deleted a big chunk of the virus that was powering him up. The second was fear as he got the warning that his power core was now at only twelve percent. Realizing he was about to lose he abandoned himself to despair and thrashed madly, managing to throw X against a panel on the wall. Dynamo got up, drove all the Nightmare energy he could into his buster and then rushed at X, preparing to deliver a charged shot point blank.

But X anticipated this and intercepted him, dashing in and stopping right in front of him.

"It's over, Dynamo," X said, raising both hands, palms facing outward. "Giga Attack!"

And calling his ultimate attack, X unleashed an energy ball which fully engulfed Dynamo.

Notes:

Thanks to Adam for beta reading this chapter.

Dynamo versus X at last, I know you guys wanted to read this fight, so I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for reading!