Chapter 6: Unleash the Flame Stag

With Bubble Crab's demise, X was now halfway through the Mavericks the X-Hunters had hired to fight against him. Not only that, but he had acquired two of Zero's three parts and gotten half of the Second Armor Dr. Light had prepared for him in those capsules. He was feeling pretty good about things at the moment, even though he still was concerned about how Zero was going to be put back together. Dr. Cain's holographic consciousness had not yet returned with news of his search for help in repairing Zero, but at the same time X had been so focused on his mission so far that he hadn't even considered asking the doctor how things were going.

But first X had to get a quick repair job done onto him after facing both Violen and Bubble Crab, which led to him detouring to the repair capsules for a couple minutes before he returned to the central command room. Upon entering the room though, he thought to himself while glancing at Alia "I should check up on Dr. Cain…Hopefully he's made some progress." After climbing the small staircase, X goes straight to Alia, finding that she was looking at the data for Zero's body and arm parts.

The moment Alia hears someone approaching her, however, she switches her computer screen over to the map of the island the X-Hunters were occupying and turned her chair to the left to look at X, laying her hands atop her legs as she commented "We've made a lot of progress so far X. Half the Mavericks have been defeated, and you just need to find one more of Zero's parts. Are you looking for any information on whether the Mavericks have returned to their bases or not?"

X gestured his right hand out and commented quietly "In a moment Alia…First I want to know if Dr. Cain has gotten in contact with HQ recently." Alia nodded her head and turned to look at the computer screen, and she quickly tapped away at the keyboard to check and see if there was any contact from Dr. Cain, suggesting that she had not been directly contacted by him since the last time the doctor was here. After a few seconds, Alia remarks "Seems he hasn't been in contact with anyone here recently X."

X hung his head a bit and remarked "I thought so…Ok, that's alright Alia, I know he'll contact us later. Right now just show me the map of the island and I'll go after another Maverick." Alia said while immediately tapping on the keyboard "Not a problem X. But you sure you aren't getting tired? Just because you're mechanical doesn't mean you can't overexert your body." Alia's concerns are noted by X, who said to her with a bit of a smile on his face "I'll be alright. I can rest once we're all done with the X-Hunters."

After that Alia tries to pop up the map for the island, only to be met with some strange interference on the screen that appears to have a particular form to it. "Huh? Is someone hacking into the mainframe?!" Alia was shown to be surprised for once as she tried to quickly type something onto the keyboard in hopes of repelling whatever was appearing on screen, but while she did that X looked around and saw that no other computer was being affected and he raised his arm up to remark "Wait a moment Alia, I think someone's trying to contact us, not hack into the mainframe."

Alia decided to trust X's judgment as she noticed something particularly familiar about the way the static distorted. Letting things go as is, Alia and X both watch as the static on the screen changes to show a copy of Dr. Cain's body physical body in a 16-Bit looking sprite. The sprite moved around a bit as a voice came out from the computer screen and said "Ah, sorry for the disruption there. Still, you were successfully fending off my presence for a few seconds there Ms. Alia…Your reputation is certainly warranted."

"I-I'm honored you know me, sir. What brings you back here, Dr. Cain?" Alia inquired after a moment of surprise, and X got in the way of Dr. Cain explaining himself through the computer right away by asking politely "Have you found anyone who can help us repair Zero? I've managed to recover two-thirds of his body so far." Dr. Cain remarked after that "You have? Excellent job X, I expected such progress from you. As a matter of fact though, I have actually managed to convince an old friend of mine to help us out with Zero's reconstruction. He should be over there even-"

Suddenly, the door in the command center opens up behind X and Alia, and as someone walks into the room they say in an accented tone of voice "So 'dis is the Maverick Hunter HQ? Fascinating…But their defenses could use a little upgrading. Someone else of my intelligence level could easily break in." Alia was surprised by how suddenly this person appeared in this room, and as she turned her chair to look at them X does the same, with Dr. Cain remarking in a humored tone "Ah, you already made it, my old friend."

Standing in the room with his arms folded behind a pure blue-white lab coat was a Reploid with small generators sticking out of his shoulders and wires going from them to his forehead. He had a long white beard shaped somewhat like a lightning bolt and a tall head of white hair to go along with it. He had bushy eyebrows and small dotted black eyes fit into a triangular frame, and his boots were blue and grey and shaped very similar to X's own. Instead of introducing himself to the confused X and Alia, this Reploid instead raised his right arm up and looked at a watch sticking out from the back of his hand, remarking in a humored tone "Beat me by .00024 seconds Cain. You're slipping in your old, digitized age."

"Or perhaps you are still getting better in your old age, my friend." Dr. Cain stated in a happy tone, and the Reploid smiled before looking at X and Alia, at which point X asked "Who are you?" The man took his right hand out to X's own and shook it before he got a chance to do the job himself, leading to him remarking as he casually looks off at his left arm and sees a gauge monitoring the pressure of X's own grip before remarking "I am the most prestigious and renowned Reploid doctor slash scientist in the world. I would assume that my reputation would be enough for you to identify me henceforth, Mr. X?"

As X just goes with the flow of the handshake, he lets out a confused "S-Sorry…I've never heard of you before." The Reploid's eyes immediately widened and he turned his attention towards the monitor Dr. Cain data consciousness was inhabiting and asked in a very bewildered manner "Cain, did you not tell them about me before I made my grand entrance?" "Sorry old friend, but you got here before I got the chance to do so. X, Alia…This is Dr. Doppler. He is the very first Reploid scientist ever made, and by far my closest friend." Dr. Cain explained after feeling a bit of regret for not introducing his friend sooner.

Alia immediately recognized the name and said in an impressed tone "Dr. Doppler? You're THAT Dr. Doppler?" Doppler turned to Alia and preemptively grabbed her right hand, shaking it much to her surprise as he looks at his left arm and this time monitors the data processing capabilities Alia possessed. As he looks at that he nonchalantly remarks "If there were any other Dr. Dopplers in the world, I'd remove them from existence post-haste, I assure you."

"Well, I may not have heard of you before, but any friend of Dr. Cain is a friend of the Maverick Hunters. It's an honor to meet you, Doppler." X stated with a smile on his face, and Doppler immediately pulled his hand away from Alia, turned around, and bent down enough to press his face against X's while reminding him with a firm glare "You shall refer to me as DOCTOR in my presence. Only my good pal Cain is allowed to not call me by that title." X awkwardly stated "Y-Yes sir" in response to that, and Doppler then pulled his face away and stood upright with his arms folded back behind his coat.

"So Dr. Cain, what's going on here? Why is Dr. Doppler here?" Alia inquired while focused on the computer, and Dr. Cain explained "I called upon him for help in reconstructing Zero. I've told him everything that's been happening so far with the X-Hunters, and he was more than happy to oblige." Doppler nodded his head and remarked "Of course. It's not every day that one gets a chance to recreate a fine piece of work like Zero. Cain has already given me a copy of Zero's blueprints to work with, and with both the body and the legs in your possession I'll be able to get started right away."

"With some supervision from me, it should only take a few hours to put the first two parts back together. After that, the head will be quite easy to place on once you get it back, X." Dr. Cain remarked, putting his faith into X's capability to get the head back, which leads to X nodding his head and saying "Can do Dr. Cain. And it's an honor to be working with you Dr. Doppler. Thank you for coming." X extends his hand out for another handshake, and Doppler simply chuckles a bit at the appreciation and says "But of course. Though I must say, you may seriously want to consider fixing your teleporters. It was a little easy for me to hack into the wavelength and bring myself right into your base."

"W-Wait…You hacked your teleporters?" Alia remarked with a surprised look in her eyes, and Doppler grinned and said "But of course. Had I not done that, a lot of time would've been lost that could've instead been spent working on Zero! Speaking of such things, I suppose idle conversation is also getting in the way of my work, so I shall take my leave to your workshop and begin working on Zero once you send the two parts to me, Ms. Alia. And I would appreciate it if I was not at all disturbed during my work, unless it's to give me the last part I need."

Doppler then goes for the door without shaking X's hand, and once the good Reploid doctor was out of the room X remarked "He definitely loves his work…" Dr. Cain stated on the monitor right away "I created him with an equal love of science as myself. I suppose I should've given him a little bit of social skills as well, but he's still been a close friend of mine despite all that. Anyways, I'm afraid I will have to join him soon. First I need to make my way out of his laboratory's mainframe…Hmmm…Good luck X, though I suppose I don't need to tell you that."

Dr. Cain's then disappears from the monitor, making it return back to the map of the island as Alia began tapping on the keyboard and remarking "I'm giving the request to the science department to forward both of Zero's parts to Dr. Doppler's possession, but now we need to focus back on the Maverick situation. There's four Mavericks left to deal with, and right now everyone is back at their bases. Where do you want to go next, X?"

X turned to the monitor and looked over his options, and found himself drawn towards a volcano where a Maverick was currently residing at. "I probably just got a water based power from Bubble Crab. It might not be a bad idea to go after the Maverick in the volcano and use this power against him." X commented in an analytical tone, and Alia said in a surprised manner "Thinking strategically there? That's not a bad idea though X. Flame Stag's base has been showing signs of seismic activity lately, and considering he's in a volcano I can't imagine the tremors are leading to anything good…"

"Then it looks like it's settled. I'll go after Flame Stag next." X stated, and Alia replied with a "Way ahead of you" as she tapped away at the keyboard to set the coordinates in the teleporter for X to use. X complimented Alia's efficiency with a cheerful "Thanks a lot. I'm heading out now." and then turned around to go make his way towards the teleporters. It only took him a few seconds to make the trip, and he was sent off to the volcano Flame Stag was occupying in a flash of light.

X lands down on an elevation of rock close to the bottom of the towering volcano, and he's immediately finding himself looking straight at a passage into the volcano. But before he entered inside the volcano, he laid a hand against the side of his helmet and decided to get some information on Flame Stag from Alia. "Alia, what's up with Flame Stag? Tell me everything you know." X inquired, and Alia replied quickly "Flame Stag used to be a Maverick Hunter. He was one of our Elites and a close friend of Boomer Kuwanger. The two rebelled and became a part of Sigma's army at the same time, but it seems after Sigma's defeat the X-Hunters picked him up and made him a part of their group. His appearance on the island marks the first time he had been seen since Sigma's defeat. He's probably one of the most powerful Mavericks the X-Hunters have recruited to their side, so be careful."

"I will. Anything else I should know?" X inquired while taking Alia's information to mind, and she told him honestly "There's no X-Hunter signals or Dr. Light capsules in the area. All you have to do is go to Flame Stag and defeat him. Just one more thing though. The seismic activity is causing lava geysers to erupt on the sides of the volcano, so keep an eye out for them as you scale the volcano."

X grabs onto his arm cannon and states "Alright then, beginning mission!" X leaped right off of the rock structure and air dashed into the passage, sliding on the ground as he sticks the landing and immediately being greeted by a large armored beetle with a horn that had a whirling bladed tip and rockets on it's lower body keep it afloat. The moment it spots X, the beetle pushes it's rockets back and charges right at X. X bends himself back and falls to the ground while lying down so the beetle can charge harmlessly over him, and it kept flying straightforward until it crashed against the rock pillar outside and blew both it and itself up.

X pulls himself back upright and then moves forward, leaping up towards a wall and preparing to jump off it to ascend up a small rocky shaft. It was a little heated inside of the volcano at the moment, and X took a second to prepare his ventilation system to keep himself cool as he continues onward. He then aimed his arm cannon upward diagonally to shoot at a two-legged machine with spikes on it's head that was patrolling the area, and X was able to destroy it before it could attack.

He then leaped off the wall a couple times and ended up on another rocky ledge, walking just a little bit further until he had to leap forward to climb up another wall with some quick but well-timed jumps. On a longer rocky ledge, X saw some more of those two-legged robots stuck to the wall up ahead, and X held his arm cannon up while charging energy within the barrel while the robots fired off some lasers from their spikes to try and hit X as he ran. X leaped between the upper two lasers from the machines and then fired his charged shot in retaliation

After taking down all three patrol robots, X dropped down off the ledge and landed on a thick metal beam suspended over a boiling pool of lava. The heat he felt increased tenfold immediately, but his ventilation kept him safe as he walked across the beam while looking up for any sign of a shaft he could climb up. Right as he found it, X had to keep himself balanced as the volcano began to experience some seismic activity. Not only that, but like Alia warned him about the lava below him was starting to rise up rapidly.

X quickly leaped off the beam and started to scale the shaft with wall jumps as the lava rose up quickly after him. The pressure was on for X to make it to the very top of the shaft, for he not only had to pay attention to the walls to make sure they'd be stable enough to support him, but that he wouldn't also run into enemies along the way up. Just in case though, X began charging his arm cannon so he could instantly deal with any obstacle that got in his way.

After at least thirty seconds of scaling, X leaps out of the lip of the shaft to the right, and the lava erupts into a mighty, towering geyser that spreads lava across the ground around it randomly. X gets far enough away from the geyser to avoid having any lava land on his armor, and he takes a moment to catch his breath due to the frantic nature of his ascent up the shaft. After ten seconds of resting, X dispels the charge of his arm cannon by firing directly upward towards the sunset skies and then looks on ahead towards his next obstacle. There were a few stone pillars suspended in the middle of another lava pool, and it was clear they weren't going to be that stable and would fall the moment X got on them.

But X leaps bravely across the platforms without hesitation, making it to the passage back into the volcano on the other side even though he had to grab the side of the ledge with his left hand to make it all the way. After climbing up onto the ledge, X runs forward a few feet and sees the heat of the lava exuding in the air as he gets to the end of the rocks. X gets a good look at the machinery planted inside of the volcano from this point, and he sees in particular that some pistons were dipping into the lava and causing the tremors to go off through the volcano.

There were a few more rock platforms suspended over lava, and X jumped down to the first one and prepared to make a leap across them all before they sunk into the lava. But another of those armored beetles get in his way, forcing X to charge up his arm cannon as he jumped across the platforms and then fire two shots at the beetle to destroy it as it charged at him. He then continued on his way as the remains of the beetle fell into the lava.

X then reached a small rocky ledge beneath a very tall shaft through this next part of the volcano. He had to take note of the heated air vents spewing fire occasionally before he decided to climb his way up to the top of the area. But as he climbed his way up, an incredibly large tremor shook the volcano, forcing X to drop down onto a ledge at the beginning of his ascension as the lava began to rise up below him.

X quickly rose up the shaft, but this time around the lava was rising a lot faster than before, meaning that even with his perfect jumps and such X was going to have a very difficult time outrunning the lava geyser before he makes it to the top. Having to distract himself by destroying robotic dragonflys did not make things any easier for him, and as such X had to come up with an alternate solution to get to the top of the geyser.

His mind worked fast, and he quickly noticed an extension of work large enough to make it through the rest of the shaft and act as a platform for him to stand on. As such, X switched to Overdrive Ostrich's colors for his armor and fired a Sonic Slicer that ripped perfectly through the end of the rocks and dropped a platform towards the rising lava. X leaped onto it right in the nick of time while switching his armor back to the familiar blue tint and rode the rock up to the very top of the shaft.

Once the geyser reached the top of the shaft, X leaped right off of the rock platform and performed a short roll on the ground to get underneath a wall of rock so he'd be protected from the downpour of lava droplets coming from the geyser. But this action also placed him directly in front of the steel sliding doors that would lead to Flame Stag's location within the base. X was surprised at how quickly he got through the volcano upon turning around to look at the doors, and he quickly contacted Alia and asked "Are you sure there aren't any X-Hunters here, Alia?"

"No. I get the feeling Flame Stag wanted things to be easy for you to deal with so he could face you himself at full power. That's pretty confident of him, so be careful X." Alia gave her little commentary on the situation before X entered the doors to Flame Stag's domain and found himself dropping down a small shaft until he lands on a sleek metal platform suspended over a boiling vat of magma. This area was the central hub where the seismic activity was being commanded, but at the moment Flame Stag was nowhere to be found.

It doesn't take long though for a voice to call down from above with a gruff but well-mannered tone "I knew you would make it here eventually, X." X looked up and saw the Maverick he was searching for standing atop a ledge of stone for but a moment, as he leaped off the edge of it and perform a quick flip before landing on the platform across from X. The Maverick was a tall bipedal robot with ignition vents on his wrists and legs that shoot out burning red flames at certain intervals around his fists and legs. His body was composed of a non-combustible orange metal and he had blue chest and leg armor to help regulate the temperature of his body so he doesn't overheat himself, and his deer-like head had 'antlers' created from flames coming out of two small green broilers.

Flame Stag folded his burning fists together against his chest, and X immediately said to him "Flame Stag? What are you planning to do with this volcano?!" Flame Stag responded politely with "I don't plan to do anything with it X. The X-Hunters are the ones who wanted to use the volcano for their plans. They hope to make it erupt and cover the skies with volcanic ash to start a new ice age, and since we Reploids wouldn't be affected by the cold we'd outlive the humans once it began."

"That's insane! And you're just going along with that?! Why? You used to be a respectable Maverick Hunter, you and Boomer Kuwanger both…" X couldn't believe that Flame Stag would go along with such insanity, and he was right to make that assumption as Flame Stag looked at X and said "I agree. The X-Hunters' plans are completely insane from what I've seen and heard." "Then why are you with them?" X said with a sharp but accusing tone of voice.

"…I hope you aren't assuming that I've stopped being a Maverick because I oppose the X-Hunters, X. I still agree with Sigma's views about Reploid evolution…But at the same time, there was something I could gain from being a part of the X-Hunters that I absolutely had to have." Flame Stag explained while closing his eyelids, and X inquired quietly "And what's that?" Flame Stag pointed his right hand out from his arms and said to X "A chance to fight you one-on-one X."

"What? Why?" X stated while pointing at himself, and Flame Stag explained while folding his arms back together again "You made quite a name for yourself by defeating Sigma, X. I must admit, I at first thought Sigma's views of you being the herald of Reploid evolution was ridiculous, but then you not only destroyed Boomer Kuwanger, but Vile and Sigma in quick succession. There's certainly a reason to believe that what Sigma was saying is true, and I must admit I'm curious to test your capabilities out because of that."

"Then you can return to the Maverick Hunter HQ and accept punishment for your crimes, and once you've been on trial we can spar whenever you want. You didn't have to join the X-Hunters to fight me, Flame Stag." X commented on, and Flame Stag closed his eyelids again and pointed out "I'm sorry X, but I can't do that. If we fight just a sparring match, then I know you won't go all-out. You have to fight with something at stake…And as much I hate to go along with the X-Hunter's goals for even a moment…If you don't fight me with all of your strength, then I will use the remote detonator within my body to set off the volcano. Only by destroying me will you succeed in stopping their plans, X."

X was shocked that Flame Stag was willing to go that far to fight him, but knowing now that this behavior fits in line with a true Maverick, X grabs onto his arm cannon and says "Then you choose to behave like a Maverick to the very end, Flame Stag. Fine, if you want your fight, then you've given me no choice but to defeat you!" Flame Stag unfurls his arms and states with a smile on his face "Now that's the spirit X! Show me the strength you used to conquer Sigma!"

Flame Stag then flares up the flames on his fists, legs and antlers and is all-too ready for battle. X tries to start things off with a charged shot despite knowing that Flame Stag would be weak to Bubble Crab's power. But Flame Stag leaps right over the charged shot and thrusts his right fist out to send a couple of fireballs spiraling close together straight at X. X flips to the right to avoid the fireballs, but Flame Stag coats his right foot in flames and dive kicks right down at him the moment the dodging happens.

Flame Stag strikes the ground with his kick and creates a plume of fire that hits X and knocks him back against the wall, and as his body bounces off of it X is hit with a flaming uppercut to the chin from Flame Stag that knocks him right up to the ceiling and cracks it apart a bit upon impact. This is followed up by X pulling himself from the ceiling and getting both of his arm cannons out so he could rapid-fire shots down at Flame Stag. Flame Stag leaps back across the platform as the shots rain down upon the ground, and he thrusts his right fist out as X lands on the ground.

Two more fireballs are sent at X in the same manner as before, but this time X was prepared for the move and quickly lifted his right foot up and spun to the left to dodge it while grasping onto his right arm cannon and charging it up. By the time he put his foot back down on the ground, X was able to fire a charged shot right at Flame Stag. The attack strikes him directly in the chest and makes him stumble back a bit, but then Flame Stag follows up by punching both of his fists against the ground to send pillars of flames right at X.

X leaped back to get onto the wall before the flame pillar could hit him, but he had gotten to where Flame Stag had wanted him to be as the Maverick leaped off the ground and spun his right foot out while it was covered in fire. X got off of the wall after the flame pillars went away and grabbed Flame Stag's foot before he connected the kick, and as X landed on the ground he swung the Maverick right into the wall behind him with enough force to shake the room. X then let go of Flame Stag and pulled his arm cannon back out ready to perform his next move.

Flame Stag propelled himself backwards out of the indent in the wall by igniting the flames on his right fist, and as he flew towards X he thrust his right leg behind him to try and kick him. X saw this coming and leaped to the left to get out of the way, leading to Flame Stag landing one foot on the ground while the toes of the other stopped him from skidding back further than necessary. X then switched to Bubble Crab's colors and aimed his arm cannon at the Maverick.

X then fired off a large stream of yellow-ish bubbles right at Flame Stag, and the Maverick was taken by surprise upon seeing this attack and thus got hit by it rather quickly. The bubbles popped and splashed Flame Stag's body with water, dousing his flames as he remarked "T-This is…" Once his flames were out, X ran right at Flame Stag and punched him hard in the chest with his left fist to not only dent his armor, but hit him against the wall behind where he stood.

X then jumped back as Flame Stag dropped to the ground on his knees, and after a few seconds he remarked in a surprised tone "I-I see now…This is the potential that Sigma always spoke about…It's your ability to copy the powers of other Reploids…If such a power could be given to other Reploids, they'd be able to evolve past their current state…" X raised his arm cannon up once Flame Stag got done with his sentence, and Flame Stag commented afterwards "…But I do not need to be changed. I am already strong enough as is, X. If you think some mere bubbles are going to stop me, then you'll be quite surprised by what I'm about to show you!"

Flame Stag suddenly thrust his upper body upright and clenched his fists tightly, and suddenly the pressure meter on his chest shot up to the red mark as the flames erupted around the Maverick's body once more. But this time the flames were bright blue, increasing the heat of the room quite a bit as the flames flared brightly across the entire area. X was pushed back by the sheer pressure of the flames, but he quickly fired off another wave of the Bubble Splash at Flame Stag.

But the bubbles sizzled away from the heat Flame Stag exuded, surprising X greatly right as Flame Stag thrusts himself forward with heavy bursts of flames from his feet and quickly performs a gigantic uppercut that covers his whole body in fire as he strikes X hard in the chin again. X is thrust up high into the air again, but as he rebounds off of the ceiling Flame Stag leaps high into the air and wraps his arms around X's body. The heat of the Maverick's flames pressure X's body constantly as he stays within it's presence.

Flame Stag then flips his body upside down and kicks his feet off of the ceiling to greatly increase his descending momentum, and as his body is wrapped brightly by the blue flames he slams X right into the ground with incredible force, creating a room covering explosion of blue fire that somehow doesn't melt apart the platform they were on instantly. Flame Stag leaps back rather quickly after letting go of X, and X falls onto the front of his body with a great deal of burn marks spread across his entire body along with a couple bits of wires exposed on his arm cannon and legs.

As electricity sparked out of the wires, X began to push himself up while gritting his teeth, realizing that he had to try something else to defeat Flame Stag since his weakness strategy isn't going to cut it. That particular word he thought, 'cut', gave X an idea on how to deal with Flame Stag. He recognized that Flame Stag fueled his flames with the hoses connected to his body from the pressure meter on his chest. Without those hoses, he wouldn't be able to summon forth any flames at all.

X switched over to Overdrive Ostrich's colors and immediately firmed his concentration on Flame Stag's movements, watching as the Maverick leaped at him with double the speed as before, barely allowing X time to swerve to the right and dodge the kick Flame Stag threw his way. Flame Stag quickly kicked off of the nearby wall and jumped between both of them to ascend to the top of the room before he dropped down and slammed his foot against the ground to create a few pillars of fire around his entire body.

X leaped back before he was consumed by the pillars of flame, and he aimed his arm cannon where he knew Flame Stag's hoses would be once he lifted up. With a little bit of accuracy, X manages to slice right through the right hose on Flame Stag's body, which makes blue flames erupt from it for a few seconds before they go down to red flames. Flame Stag turns around only to have his other hose cut through with a Sonic Slicer.

"U-Urgh!" Flame Stag groans as his two hoses flail about due to the flames being released from them, and it was only a matter of time before they went out entirely without a proper way of keeping them flowing through the body. X takes advantage of Flame Stag's surprise to switch back to his normal colors, prepare a charged shot, and then fire it right at the dent he created earlier on the Maverick's chest. The dent is broken through easily, with some of the crucial wire buried behind the armor being destroyed at the same time.

This immediately makes Flame Stag drop onto his knees, with electricity spewing from his innards uncontrollably he looked at X and said "Not just Bubble Crab…But Overdrive Ostrich as well…You can take on more than one Reploids' powers at a time. Hmm…I-I have no qualms with my defeat here…I can see why Sigma held you in such high regards, and I enjoyed our fight X…" X lowered his arm cannon as Flame Stag grimaced in visible pain from the damage in his body, and Flame Stag commented "It was a good life X…Trust me when I say I hold nothing against you for terminating Boomer Kuwanger, even though he was my friend…"

Flame Stag then closed his eyelids and let his body collapse on the ground, his flames dying out entirely as his eyes turned white to signify that his body had shutdown completely. X felt some pity towards Flame Stag for his decisions, and didn't say anything about him as he bent down and touched his body to acquire his power, which made his armor turn red briefly. He then lifts up and remarks to Alia as he lays a hand on his helmet "Mission Accomplished Alia, you can bring me back to base now." Alia didn't make any commentary this time around as she set things up so X could be brought back to the HQ right away, and now there were only three Mavericks left to go…

Next Time: Junkyard Rumble