Author's note: Well, I guess everyone but me starts with Chill Penguin. Anyhow, here's the next part of "Variable X", I hope you enjoy it!
Listen to the boss appearance theme while reading the dialogues between a Maverick and X, and the boss battle theme during the boss fight!
I did decide to make a nod to Vile's weaponry from Maverick Hunter X, however he won't have his full arsenal (but he will have more than he currently does). Vile is able to use every single weapon system simultaneously here for both personality and plot reasons: I felt his arrogance had to be justified somehow, and anyhow it makes a stronger opponent for X to defeat.
Iron Dome Missile Base, outskirts of Abel City
Chill Penguin stared out over the expanse of the plateau that the base was situated on from the base's former command center. Next to him lay a shard of metal that once belonged to Sigma' face. The commander had brought X and Zero to their knees and launched his first onslaught from this very room. The irony, however, was that the system was originally designed to shoot down incoming meteors and satellites falling from orbit, though they also proved effective against aircraft. Given the rockets' small size, each silo could hold multiple rockets. However every single missile had been fired on Abel City a week earlier. Though lacking in destructive power, the rockets had fallen from a low orbit, amplifying their power all the more. Sigma along with many of his Reploid followers had laughed as almost 40% of the city was leveled by the very same system that they had entrusted their lives to.
The base had changed significantly since that day though, as Chill Penguin had begun digging in his forces. Unlike the others, his location had been abandoned already, allowing his forces to begin digging in almost immediately. Just as well: most of his combatants couldn't fight at optimal capability without a cold environment. Though Chill Penguin had helped generate the thick layer of snow and ice coatings that now made up the majority of the plateau's landscape, maintaining that layer was surprisingly easy. With no prevailing winds in the area, all Chill Penguin had to do to maintain the layer was fire dry ice into the sky to seed clouds over the areas that needed more snow. Naturally, he was bored out of his mind.
Thus, when Sigma gave the order to attack, Chill Penguin had paid little attention as his objective was already conquered and his defenses established. Until the one person he did not want to see showed up at his base.
"Whaaat are you doing here, Vile? Didn't the Commander give you orders to remain at the palace?" Chill Penguin squawked.
"Stow it, turkey, I'm not here because I want to help. X is going to show up sometime, and I intend to fight him when he does. That being said..." Vile let his statement hang in the air before suddenly tearing Chill Penguin's liquid nitrogen pod off his back.
"Whaat? What is this?"
"Shut up before I stick my cannon into that oversized carrot you have for a mouth." Vile proceeded to adapt the pod's systems to his own weapons systems. "Perfect."
Chill Penguin facepalmed, at least as best as a penguin could do. "When the Commander hears about this, Vile, you're in trouble..."
"Listen, you oversized bobsled. Have I not made it obvious I don't give a damn what Sigma wants me to do? So save your breath for forging ice scupltures and cut the bitching." Fortunately Chill Penguin had requested a repair bot and the smaller android had no problem re-attaching the pod.
Their misgivings of each other were interrupted when the proximity alarm sounded.
X sighed. Why couldn't the teleporter just take him straight to Chill Penguin? Brushing the thought aside, he began firing at an attacking patrol of Bomb Beens. Just as he dispatched them, several Ray Bits burst out of a nearby snowdrift and fired a volley of laser blasts. Thankfully, they were terrible shots. The lasers landed all around X, but not a single one hit him. They never got a chance to correct their aim as X blasted them to scrap.
Several suspiciously tall snowdrifts caught X's attention. As he moved closer to investigate, the bottom of one of them came flying at him, and spikes popped out from underneath the snow. X expelled a curse and dove for the ground. As he raised his head, the Axe Max who had hurled the first log bit suddenly threw another at him. X rolled aside, but the log slammed into his foot. Thankfully the spikes missed him, but he was still knocked off balance. Upon seeing X take the hit, the Axe Max gave a monotonous, low chuckle. The log proceeded to regenerate new segments, but X's charged shot smashed through the Axe Max's primitive wall and the minion itself. Navigating past another patrol of Bomb Beens, X came to a checkpoint guarded by two more Axe Maxes. As he approached, several Ray Bits also popped out of the snow. Wonderful. He'd have over a dozen enemies attacking him and no cover.
Praying his armor could take any lucky hits, X began to demolish the Axe Maxes crude walls with continuous buster fire. Eventually several shots penetrated the regenerating barrier and one of the Axe Maxes fell. Now behind the other one, X had no problem taking it out now that its wall no longer protected it. During all this time, the Ray Bits hadn't scored a hit. One of them had come close, but one of its overzealous comrades had jumped in front of it and taken the hit instead. X felt a twinge of sympathy, but it didn't stop him from taking them down; poor aiming skills or not, they were still a threat.
By now X realized he was near a bunker built into the plateau. He scanned it quickly and found an entrance. But just before he could enter, he heard something from behind him. X dove to the ground as a blast destroyed the bunker door. When he got up, he saw Vile standing in front of him, having leapt down from his hiding spot atop the bunker.
"Surprise, X. Now stand up and fight!" Vile roughly seized X by the neck and hauled the latter to his feet.
"Great." X cursed. He didn't have time for this but he had no way around Vile. As X fired repeatedly at the fast-moving Reploid, Vile unleashed a blue/white projectile from his arm. X barely had time to register it before the heavy ice needle slammed into his chest. Though it didn't penetrate, it had hit a lot harder than he thought such a small projectile could: there was a massive dent in his chest plating and the armor was cracked. Giving him no respite from the Distance Needler shot, Vile dropped several bombs on the ground near X's location. X barely managed to dodge the array, and Vile immediately followed up by throwing several icy boomerangs. They soared inches from X's face as he rolled to avoid the continuous barrage weapons fire. Vile unleashed several slow-moving missiles from his wrist launcher while attacking again with his other weaponry. X saw the trap coming and dodged as best as he could, but one of the missiles detonated close enough to blind X for a second. Vile pinned X to the ground in that second and laughed.
"Once a wimp, always a wimp, huh, X?" X didn't reply and blasted Vile with a charge shot to the chest. "Gaah!" The purple Reploid staggered back, clutching the massive hole in his chest. The charge shot hadn't penetrated, but it had burned away the armor and some of Vile's reactor shielding.
"This isn't over, X!" Vile stumbled away from X, only to have his cannon slashed off by Zero's Z-Saber.
"Game over, Vile." Vile didn't respond but launched a bomb at Zero's face. The red robot dodged the explosive and sliced the bomb launchers off Vile's legs.
"X, get inside! I'll take care of Vile!" Zero shouted as Vile, spewing curses and profanity, attempted to take Zero on in close-quarter combat. X looked on with concern, but he knew Zero was more than capable of handling Vile and ducked inside the bunker. Finding another door at the end, X promptly kicked it down and found himself on a catwalk inside one of the missile bays. Suddenly there was a screech behind him. Several Bat Bones had activated upon sensing the intruder and were now swooping down at X, their oversized eyes glowing red.
Zero ducked Vile's punch and thrust out with his saber, catching Vile in the back of the leg. The purple Reploid suddenly revealed hidden flamethrowers in his legs. Zero only had time to raise his hands to shield himself from the worst of it as twin jets of flame emerged from Vile's legs. Rolling away from the inferno, Zero counterattacked by slicing the flamethrower nozzles off Vile's body. Unfazed, Vile jumped away and fired his spike-lined fist, which grew a hard coating of sharp ice as it flew. Zero dodged the projectile, but it kept chasing him. Meanwhile, Vile continued to pound away at the red robot with his other weapons, though he was running low on weapon energy and couldn't do much as his shoulder cannon was gone. Finally Vile launched a single Distance Needler shot, and by sheer luck, it shattered the crystal on Zero's chest.
As the power rapidly drained from his systems, Zero used the remainder of his power to teleport back to Hunter Base just before the massive rocket fist struck him. Once his fist returned Vile also teleported out, with a newfound respect for ice and charged shots.
X quickly shot down the Bat Bones. However the buster fire had drawn the attention of hundreds of them scattered throughout the bay. X ran down the catwalk, trying to find a way down or out. He didn't find any, and his only way forward was cut off by several lines of Spikies that dropped from the ceiling. Suddenly X noticed an alcove to his right and ducked inside. The wall behind him suddenly gave way and he fell into a hidden room. A dormant capsule behind him whirred to lfie as it sensed his presence, and a hologram appeared.
"So you've come...X, I gave you the freedom to chose your own path in life, and I hoped the world would allow you to chose a peaceful one." X recognized the voice and hologram of his late father. He sounded...disappointed, though given his vision of a robot/human utopia, X could understand.
"...Because I thought the world might need a new champion, I have hidden capsules like this one." X knew that Dr. Light would be proud to see him fulfill his vow, but all the same, the necessity of his inventions was a sad reality.
"...Step into this capsule and recieve an acceleration system to boost your speed." X obliged, and with a flash of light, a pair of white, gold, and blue boots replaced his existing ones. Along with the physical upgrade came a download of information that told X how to use his new boots. X dashed out of the hidden room, and the swarm of Bat Bones immediately re-activated and began chasing him. X dashed through them, cutting down any that got in his way with his buster. Seeing an exit at last, he made his way towards it, blasting a pair of Flammingles in the process. Kicking down the door, he found a Ride Armor and its sleeping operator only a few feet from him. X powered up the walker and pressed on.
Several nearby igloos suddenly began releasing Tombots. A clever disguise, but not clever enough. X smashed them in turn and destroyed the released drones. Suddenly, a Jamminger dove out of nowhere and suicided into the Ride Armor. X looked around and spotted another igloo-like structure on a rise. Using the Ride Armor's dash-jump feature, X reached the rise and smashed the Jamminger holder. X noticed something odd in the wreckage. As he picked it up, he felt some long-dormant instinct take over and place the Heart Tank inside his chest. Immediately, the tank began to store X's excess reactor energy, and within seconds it was fully charged. X remounted his Ride Armor and continued on into a small valley. There was a sudden rumble from above and a massive snowball crushed the machine. X managed to dig himself out, but the Ride Armor was a total loss.
Chill Penguin watched with dissatisfaction as his minions were mowed down. True, he had only been ranked an A/B Hunter, but he had taken X specifically into account when he built his defenses. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard footsteps behind him.
"Welcome, X! Nervous to return to the place of your demise?"
"Near-demise, Chill Penguin. I ask you as a friend and comrade to stand down. I don't want to fight you."
"Haaaah! Sigma has paid for the use of my power, and besides, fighting you beats sitting in this frozen morgue while being bored out of my mind!"
"How could you say that? What Sigma's doing is wrong!"
"Listen to yourself, X! Acting so high and mighty...you're making me sick!"
"Then...I'm sorry for what I must do, Chill Penguin. Will you surrender when I defeat you?"
Chill Penguin laughed. "When you defeat me! Listen to that arrogance in your voice! It's time I remind you of your place, X!"
Without another word, Chill Penguin opened his mouth and spewed a barrage of ice chunks. While X tried frantically to dodge the onslaught, Chill Penguin's shoulder vents spewed liquid nitrogen, forming a bullet-shaped coating of ice around him. No sooner had the coating formed than Chill Penguin threw himself at X. The latter yelled in pain as the two collided and X went flying into a wall.
Chill Penguin opened his mouth again and the air around him began to freeze into ice sculptures. However, a charged shot to the face from X interrupted the process, and the half-completed statues fell to the floor and shattered. Shaking off the damage, Chill Penguin fired dry ice into the air. Immediately, clouds formed on the ceiling of the room, and X found himself walking against a minature blizzard. Intending to take full advantage of X's limited mobility, Chill Penguin formed the ice coating around him again. X remembered his dash function, which had remained unused during the fight until then. Dash-jumping over the former as he slid under him, X turned around and fired a charged shot at Chill Penguin's back. With a massive explosion of cold air and metal shrapnel, Chill Penguin's liquid nitrogen tank exploded.
X walked over to the shredded remains of the Reploid. "I'm sorry, old friend..."
"Just...do your duty, X, and...finish me..."
"I..."
"X...Sigma will do...it if you don't...Just kill me!" X raised his buster, closed his eyes, looked away, and fired. Chill Penguin's lifeless head hit the floor with a metallic clunk.
X walked over to his friend's lifeless form and whispered: "You fought as well as you ever did as a Hunter, friend. Zero would be proud..." X's voice suddenly trailed off as another old instinct took over and he placed his right arm on Chill Penguin, his variable-tool system copying and adapting the Reploid's freezing unit. With the copying complete, X stood up and bowed his head for a few seconds before teleporting out.
Throne Room, Sigma Palace
Sigma had watched the entire battle between X and Chill Penguin. He had to admit, the blue bomber seemed to have taken his first battle with Vile to heart. Speaking of Vile...Sigma's eyes narrowed in anger as a repair droid walked in and notified him that they had finished repairing the purple Reploid.
"Good. Bring him in here."
As Vile walked in, Sigma noticed that even his arrogant demeanor had cracked slightly. Sensing Sigma's anger towards Vile, Velguarder growled as the latter was brought in.
"Vile...I need your help..." Sigma spoke in a calm tone. Vile looked at Sigma with what was unmistakably confusion. Sigma continued, "Yes, I do indeed need your help. Help deciding what I should kill you for first!" With blinding speed, Sigma rose from his chair, drew his saber, grabbed Vile, and slashed off one of the latter's arms with one swipe, stopping with the sword just above Vile's neck. "Not only did you disobey my orders to remain at the palace, you attacked Chill Penguin for your own means, foolishly challenged Zero and X, and dared to return to me alive after all that!" Sigma slashed off another one of Vile's limbs for every offense. The repair droid could only stare in astonishment. Nobody had ever seen their leader so unhinged. Even Velguarder was keeping its distance, though it continued to growl at Vile.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Vile?!" Sigma's voice filled the throne room. Vile looked away, afraid to meet Sigma's eyes for fear he would cut his head off for such impudence. The standoff continued for a few tense minutes before Sigma sheathed his saber and dropped Vile. Returning to his throne, Sigma ordered: "Take this coward away from my sight! All of him!" Several repair droids scrambled to pick up Vile's severed limbs before hastily exiting. Sigma sighed and absentmindedly scratched Velguarder's ears. He took no pleasure from what had just happened; he would much rather be fighting humans as a unified front. However, discipline had to be maintained for that unified front to exist...
Hunter Base
As X exited the teleporter array, he immediately ran to the repair bay. Zero had already been repaired and was walking out as X arrived.
"Hey! I watched you take out Chill Penguin. Nicely done!" Zero smiled at his friend, then looked down at his boots. "Nice shoes."
"A little gift from my old man." X sighed as he thought about what could have possibly convinced Dr. Light that building such things would be necessary 100 years ago. "Now I can dash like you! Maybe you aren't so special!" X teased. They both smiled at that. "So, what were you doing at the missile base?"
Zero sighed. "I was in the general vicinity; Sigma's fortress happens to be nearby you know. I happened to notice you were in the area so I was monitoring you to see if you needed help."
"Thanks Zero, I owe you one again. How are you feeling? Did Vile rough you up badly?"
"X, thanks for your concern, but I'm not made of glass. Nah, the prick just scored a lucky hit. Got some sort of range upgrade for his autocannon; I didn't recall it had that much hitting power at that range..."
X changed the subject. "So...are you going to go back to tracking Sigma?"
Zero nodded. "Yeah, I want to gather some intel on his fortress before we go charging in there. Who are you going after next?"
X sighed. "I don't think I'll regret any mission as much as the next one. I'm...going after Storm Eagle."
Author's Note: Tsk tsk, Vile. Several people wanted to see more of him, so I spliced him in here. And because the "Not a Charged Shot!" meme needs some explaining, there's your explanation as to why Vile's deathly afraid of charged shots. :P
I hope you guys enjoyed the Chill Penguin adaptation! I changed the stage layout quite a bit because I gave this place its Maverick Hunter X description, but the description doesn't fit Chill Penguin's stage from either game. Thus, I also had to re-located the dash boots. Hopefully I made it so for the better. Most of the other stages will recieve alterations too, but not on such a large scale.
I decided to write this while I had the time and since nobody seemed to give a response besides "Chill Penguin", I decided to implement an order suggested by speedrunners for the sake of minimal backtracking. The only backtracking with this order is actually going back to Chill Penguin's stage for the Heart Tank, which I decided to rewrite because I'd already changed the stage drastically.
As always, please rate and review! I'd especially appreciate any feedback with regard to the boss battle and dialogues; trying to keep my characters accurate and the boss battles unique but still within recognizable limits is my goal!