"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" Abraham Lincoln
Suzaku looked up after he had awoken several hours later…or at least he thought it was several hours later. He wasn't sure now. In fact…he didn't even know where he was now. The only thing he could remember was the being in the cockpit of the Lancelot.
"Where…am I?" He asked after a minute of coming back to consciousness.
And then it hit hit…Zero was not there. He shot to his feet to look around, but found no memories returning to him. None of them at all.
"It's no good." He said. "I can't remember anything."
The reality of both Suzaku's and Lelouch's situation was that after Lelouch casted a Geass order on Suzaku, the two of them flew away from the area as Suzaku's command to live was cast on him. At the same time, Princess Euphemia and Kallen followed them, though their methods were not known how.
As for X and Zero, when the barrage commenced, Zero grabbed X and did a forced teleport, using no configuration settings whatsoever, and going to whatever landmass was not the area he was in at the time. In conjunction with the mass communication blackout waves, and without setting up a destination, Zero ended up on a completely different island of that of Lelouch and the other three.
To complicate matters even more, the jamming device that was still in effect was still present, and no one was receiving communication from anyone. Britannia was forced to using old fashioned tactics of communication, such as flare or signal flags to keep in communication with anyone overseas. On land, the Britannians were forced to courier messages over jeeps and Knightmares.
The Black Knights were even worse off because of the lack of knowing anything that was going on. Everything was a complete mess.
The Britannians managed to secure the site where the Lancelot was taking place, but much of their command still had no idea what was going on, because of the lack of information. Sigma managed to get a small messaging caravan going, as well as setting procedures for emergency situations, and finally as a series of patrols around the island to find the location of Euphemia, and to ascertain the location of the Black Knights.
"Have we been able to contact anyone about the location of the Princess?" A soldier asked as they walked around the excavation site of where Rakskata's device was.
"Not at all." A soldier said. "In fact, communication is even worse than what it was an hour ago. We can't even reach headquarters."
"This is insane." He said. "Our jeeps are going to have had to refill twice already with the amount of messages we've been sending back and forth between base and the site."
The soldiers then arrived at Sigma's tent. Sigma was currently pouring himself over electronic equipment, hoping to find a usable frequency. None of them worked.
"General Sigma." A soldier said. "A messenger from headquarters…it seems the prince was the one who was on board the ship that bombarded the area."
"Oh?" He asked. "Was he now?"
"Yes…" He replied. "The prince demands your presence, along with the R&D team, specifically Count Lloyd and Lady Cecile."
"Is that so…very well." He said. "I'll have Colonel Fair then resume all operations here…inform him to reach this post immediately."
Sigma walked out of the tent and then towards the R&D team, leaving the soldiers then to sigh with disbelief of another drive to the base, and then departing towards the jeeps.
Sigma then walked towards the R&D team, most notably the Reploids who were still busy trying to ascertain the location of the jamming frequency.
"Any idea why communication is still blacked out?" He asked.
"I wish I could give you an answer." He said. "I can say that the device used in the jamming beacon is very advanced, and probably Reploid made as well. As for the device's location, I cannot say. We can't get in reach of satellites to try to find any specific lesion that might be on the island, or any strange protrusion…we can't use our scanners to scan for unusual metals."
"Teleporting isn't blocked…but it it's dangerous to use at this moment." She said. "Anyone attempting to teleport, without a sophisticated system risks having they're particles ripped apart, and not reassembling properly. Teleport technology is much different than the OSI Model."
"So, we'll have to find it the old fashioned way." He said. "Where is the jamming frequency at it's strongest?"
"We'd need to send out a team with a proper device to measure the wave's frequency." Iris said. "We don't know more beyond that."
"You three will then stay here, and assist military units in location the source of that jamming wave so that military units can destroy it." He said. "We need to end this communication black-out so we can begin looking for the Princess. Without electronic communication, we won't know what is going on. That's an order so get to it."
"Roger." All three of them said. They all then departed the area and walked away from Sigma, who then began to set up transporation with Lloyd towards the air ship. As Alia looked up, she had a hint of worry on her face.
X…please be safe.
Zero woke up an hour later, seeing the waves of water splash against his feet. He woke up with his memory fragmented, and his body aching more than usual.
"Ahh…my back." He said, as he pulled himself to his feet. He looked around to see if he recognized the area. "No good…my database doesn't register this location. The current time appears to be 13:23:43…with that being the case, I've been unconscious for roughly an hour or two."
He looked around to take in the area, and saw nothing. All he could see was the mountains in the distance, the wind blowing against his hair, the trees basking in the sun, and cold water brushing against him.
"Man…where did I go?" He asked.
Zero pressed his jewel on his head, and then opened up a holographic prompt window in front of him.
ZERO SYSTEM v1.0
Loading system…
32%
68%
99%
100%
Load complete…enter command.
run –
REPLOID FULL BODY SCAN COMMENCING
Zero closed the prompt after entering all that information.
"Might as well let that run as a service for the time being; while I try to deal with my more immediate problems." Zero said to himself. Zero then began to walk around the area, trying to figure out where he was.
Zero decided to head for higher ground, figuring that it would be the easiest solution for his problems for the time being. He activated his dash system and hopped up the side of the mountain wall, until he reached the top. He looked out to see that he was on a lone island, with nothing to see for miles. No matter how much he scanned the area, the only forms of life that he saw were none other than plant or animal life.
"How the hell did I get here?" He asked.
Zero raised his communication system to try and hail the Black Knights. But to his immediate surprise, not only was the Black Knights not in the area, but also he got nothing but complete static on his end.
"Damn." Zero said. "I remember hearing some form of communication error earlier on the display on my eyes; but I was sure something like that would have passed by now. Great…I'm on an unknown with no forms of communication, enough electronic signals in the air to make teleportation unreliable…"
A ! mark appeared on his HUD and he looked to see the scanning program was complete. He then looked in complete horror to see his Buster system was offline, along with several other special abilities within his data. He then reached for his saber to see it wasn't working properly either. He couldn't even turn his arm into the Buster cannon.
"And with very little means of defending myself against a Britannian Knightmare…or X." He said. "Not good."
Zero then walked leapt down towards the forest.
"Communications are still offline." Craft said in a meeting room in the Black Knight's submarine. No one else was there other than them at the moment. "All of our men however managed to escape without a scratch. In a way we should thank this radar jam…it gave the Black Knights long enough chance to pull out of the area before Britannian reinforcements overwhelmed us."
"Who initiated the jam?" Axl said. "This can't be a Britannian jammer; they would have ended it by now."
"It's neither." C.C. said where the Reploids were.
"What makes you say that?" Axl asked.
"Because no one here knows what's going on, and as you said, the Britannians would have ended it by now." She said.
"A third party?" Craft said. "But who else could be on the island?"
"I'm not sure." Ciel said. "But as long as the jammer stays in place, we can't hail anyone, or more or less even get information on what's going on…or even…"
"Find Zero?" Douglas said. "Psshhh…yeah…that's one of the big discussions going on right now at the mess hall."
"Can't we do anything?" Ciel asked.
"Are you kidding?" Douglas barked. "Britannian has military forces everywhere right now…even without communication…a vessel firing on something is a pretty big sign of intruder alert! If we get caught and fired upon, it takes that one shot to blow all of our cover away."
"Hate to say it, but he has a point." Leviathan said.
Everyone was immediately hit with a wave of silence when Leviathan and Douglas had they're words out. Leviathan turned away from the group. Then Leviathan herself started walking towards the exit of the room.
"Hey Leviathan…"Douglas said. "Where are you going?"
"To look for both Zeroes." She said.
"Wait…what?" Douglas said. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"Yes…" She said. "And that's why I'm going to talk to the others about sending me out to find them. Just remember boys…I was built for underwater travel."
She winked and then left the Reploids to try and talk some sense into everyone else.
Zero kept walking around the island, taking in the plant life, and the insects that was all around him. He occasionally watched an animal or two scatter about around his vision. Zero gave himself a smile as he did, watching the animals flutter about.
As Zero walked around the area, he opened up a sound file and began to record as he talked to himself…just in case of the unforeseen.
"Back in my world, animals and vegetation was practically extinct." He said. "Because of constant demand for resources, humanity drove many of its forests to extinction. It's…actually nice to see what plant life is all around you that isn't electronic."
Zero opened up a panel on his hand, looking at the inner circuitry.
"The jamming is carrying a large EMP pulse all around it." Zero said. "I didn't notice this earlier due to the heat of battle. Obviously when I teleported, the electricity emitted within the sky must have sent a few parts from my inner circuits scattered over the island…I'm missing over fifteen chipsets that control a lot of my functions…including the arm cannon. Even my saber wasn't spared…though I really should consider myself lucky that when my particles reassembled as a result of the teleport that much more of my body didn't go missing either. Of course, now the EMP pulses in the area make teleporting unstable and unsafe…which means I'll to explore all the local islands until I can find the Black Knights or hitch a ride with Britannia…somehow."
As he walked around the area, he eventually found a surge of energy nearby. Seconds later he ducked out of the way to see X jump at him with an attacking speed. Zero flipped onto his feet and stayed there ready to fight, as he saw X stand there with his arms ready to fight.
"I finally found you." He said. He then pointed his arm cannon at him. "Zero…it's time to retire you!"
Zero stood there, raising his arms in a fighting position.
The Black Knights were still underwater since the battle was postponed. All of them were busy eating, and waiting for the ship above them to pass. Eventually it did.
"Enemy battleship has left the area." A voice said over the intercom. All of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"Can't believe that they have a freaking flying battleship." Tamaki said.
"We can't stay here much longer." Tohdoh said.
"Ohgi…I disagree." Diethard said. "We ought to at least stay put and look for Zero."
"You both have points in both regards." Ohgi said.
"We can't send out a search party in this current situation." Tohdoh said. "Even if we could, thanks to Rakshata, we have no guarantee that Zero and Kallen are still alive. One wrong move threatens the entirety of our organization."
"I disagree." Diethard said. "It's entirely the other way around. Our organization has been built around Zero."
"It's not a group without members." Tohdoh said. "The way you speak you sound like a typical Britannian to me."
Diethard grunted and then stood up in his seat. "All right then, answer this. How is it that we have every ideology under the sun with us, and yet they all cooperate towards the same goal? Is it the results we get; I think not? Who do you think gets us those results!?"
"I'll be the first to admit that he does." Tohdoh said. "But is he worth the lives of everyone here?"
"At times, the life of a single man is worth than a million." Diethard continued to banter, raising his voice. "I thought that would be common sense to a soldier."
"You dare say that here?" Tohdoh barked.
"Easy guys." Ohgi said.
"Oh very well." C.C. said as she walked in the room. "Zero is very much alive."
"We have no time for your wishful thinking." Tohdoh said.
"It's true…I simply know it." C.C. continued.
This didn't seem to win much confidence, especially with the lack of information.
"Oh…is that so!?" Tamaki shouted. "Now you're an oracle now!? I told you to shut your yap and get some training on a Knightmare you dumb ass!"
C.C. turned to Tamaki and gave him such a stare of defiance.
"Dumb ass!?" C.C. said. "It's been ages since anyone has had the gall to refer to me as that."
"Like Zero's mistress has the right to get uppity with us!" Tamaki shouted.
"As if I'll take that from a man with vulgar ideas." C.C. sneered.
Tamaki now seemed even more angry than before, getting out of his chair and moving his head towards C.C.'s face.
"You've got some nerve addressing a superior officer like that." He shouted.
"Easy guys!" Ohgi shouted, getting out of his seat. "None of this fighting is going to do us any good…how about this? We hang out here until the end of tomorrow, and move the sub just outside of detection range. Then we can send Leviathan out to look for Zero, Kallen, and the Red Knight. She's is specifically trained for this if I remember…we send our units out only after we know that it's safe to do so."
Everyone seemed to go with that motion. It seemed like the most prudent option at the time.
"Alright." Tohdoh said.
"Well…" Leviathan said as everyone saw her in the door. "Guess there's no reason for me to propose anything." She spun her lance in her hand and looked at Ohgi. "When do you want to swim out and look boss?"
Zero stood there as X held out his arm cannon and pointed it right at Zero.
"I've been looking for you since I landed on the island." X said, pointing his arm cannon at him. "And now…I have you right where I want you!"
Zero went to raise his hand, but then remembered his arm cannon wasn't working.
"It seems your Z-Buster isn't working." X said. "I scanned your arm cannon after I saw you standing still and noticed there was no energy flow. Which means I have the advantage!"
X went to fire an X-Buster, but the only thing that happened was a small burst of electricity…and nothing else. Zero opened his eyes to see no shots, and X standing there stupefied. It didn't take long for Zero to process what was going on after that.
"Seems my Buster isn't the only one offline." Zero said grinning.
"No way." X said. "I was so caught up in the opportunity that I forgot to scan my X-Buster for damage."
"It's not like you to get that over-confident." Zero said. "Not like you at all X."
X grunted as he backed away from Zero.
"Even so…" X said. "I still cannot allow you to pass. I have an order from the Britannian Government to defeat you at all costs to bring a speedy end to this battle." X then raised his fists in a fighting position and prepared for combat. "I don't need my X-Buster or X-Saber to defeat you…I'll do it with my own two hands."
Zero grunted in frustration. Fighting X was not part of his plan here at the moment. He sighed and then looked up at X.
"I didn't come here to fight you X." Zero said. "Think this through rationally…you don't have a Buster, and I'm sure you don't have a beam saber as you just said. And when it comes to melee combat without tricks, you know how this song and dance ends…do you really want to do this?"
"I've gotten better." X said. "While I can't destroy you right now, I believe I can surely defeat you here, and bring you back for destruction."
Zero sighed, and then assumed a Kenpo style martial arts pose.
"If that's the way you want it, then I'll be happy to oblige." Zero said.
The two stood there for the longest time, simply staring at one another, waiting for the other to move.
Schneizel had just finished his conversation with Count Lloyd, expressing real interest in the Lancelot, as well as Lloyd's other exploits. He was also keenly interested in the Reploid technology Lloyd had unearthed when he first excavated Mega Man X.
"General Sigma…" Schneizel said as he walked into a dark room with Bartley at his side. "So this is the secret General my father has had working for him. I've been very much interested in meeting with you."
"The King's son in my presence?" Sigma asked. "I'm honored."
"It's interesting to hear of many exploits you have done, yet your name is not on official records?" He said.
"I've always been on the sidelines when it came to things." Sigma said. "I've been many battles, commanding men from the darkness…and ensuring victory unto this holy empire."
"He's been in many battles, including that of the War against Area 11." Bartley said.
In reality of course, Bartley never knew what he was saying was nothing more than a false memory implanted by Charles Di Britannia. Charles knew that he had to ensure as many of the top ranking officials believed that Sigma was a real entity in the many battles Britannian has had, in order to make sure Sigma had a place here. Charles knew Sigma was useful in many ways, and was not something he could simply throw away.
"This cyberization program if I am correct has something to do with the term 'Reploid' I've been hearing a lot about from Count Lloyd and the R&D development team." Schneizel said.
"Reploids…" Sigma said. "The term for used for the humanoid machines known as 'Reproduction Androids.'"
"And the ancient weapon that holds the key for Britannia's future in science…where is this X weapon I've been hearing about?" Schneizel asked. "Is he not among us?"
"I'm afraid he is MIA, like that of Kururugi." Sigma said. "Under normal circumstances, his RDF should be able to break through jamming barriers, but this one is obviously much stronger than anticipated."
"I see…well then I'll have to wait…" He said. "Speaking of jamming, that now brings me to my next point. We are facing severe communication issues with the mainland and settlement…and this jamming device is to blame. Based on science team's reports, we can assume that this jamming device is not something developed by known sciences…this Reploid technology is the only leading cause that could pull such an impressive feat."
"We know that the Black Knights have also developed Reploid Technology; and have made much more boons in it than we have." Sigma said. "It isn't unlikely that the jammer may have been developed by the Black Knights."
"We need to destroy it ASAP, and recover Kururugi." He said. "Can you do that?"
"I've managed to set up a network of communication on the surface as we speak." Sigma said. "It's archaic, but it's the only method we got right now. Simple signal flags and flares…if any of them spot Kururugi, they have been told to bring him straight to the CP and inform me or any other leader in authority immediately."
"Good." Schneizel said. "There's an inquiry about him that we need to address."
"Don't worry." Sigma said. "I'm very much aware of his last communication before the ship's cannons fired. As much as he is a good solider, insubordination is not acceptable under any means."
And then the battle began.
X ran at Zero and attempted to deliver a swift kick, Zero parried the attack, and simply tripped X off his feet…and then delivered a solid kick to the stomach before he even hit the ground. X shook his head and leapt to his feet, attempting a flying kick, but this was met with again another block, another trip, and another kick to his face.
Shaking his head, and slowly getting agitated, X charged at Zero again. This time however, he feinted and made Zero throw a punch at the wrong time. Luckily, Zero ducked under X's and then uppercutted him in the face, and then delivered three punches to his chest. Zero then grabbed X's arm and then swept him off his feet again. Zero then backed up as he waited for X to get up.
"When it came to ranged battles, you always had an edge over me." Zero said. "But when it came to melee fights, I always had an edge over you...at least when we were playing fair. Without the buster or saber, you're not in a good position to fight me."
"Maybe so…" X said. "But there's some things that internal damage won't take away…" X then resumed his fighting stance.
And then he pulled back his hands, cupping them to make enough open space for a small sphere. A glowing blue ball then appeared in his hand, and then he launched it forward.
"Hadouken!" X shouted.
Zero had forgotten about they're "special moves" they had acquired over the years, and moved out of the way to avoid the attack. The blue fire hit a nearby tree, exploding and sending debris everywhere. X then took the opportunity to kick Zero in the face, knocking him to the ground. Zero rolled back to avoid X's curb stomp, and then leapt to his feet, just in enough time to block a series of punches from X, taking only two hits to his stomach.
Zero himself then landed a kick, and then round house kicked X in the face.
"Well then, if we're playing that way…" Zero shouted, repeating the same motion as X.
"Hadouken!" Zero shouted. X saw the attack and leapt over it, only to be hit by another as Zero repeated the motion twice. As X got up, he saw Zero right on him, diving for an attack. As Zero punched, X grabbed his arm and threw him behind him, causing Zero to hit the ground nearby. X then popped up to his feet and resumed his fighting stance, along with Zero.
"I may have been weak in melee combat back then…" He said. "But throughout my time battling you and the Black Knights, I've had time to refine my skills."
"Guess so." Zero said.
Zero then dashed at X and then slid on the ground, knocking X right in the leg, knocking him off his feet. X used his hands and back to leap back onto his feet, kicking Zero away. As Zero got up, X leapt at it, spinning in the air with his foot stretched out.
"Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyauku!" X shouted, hitting Zero three times in the air. As soon as Zero landed, X performed a hadouken again, hitting Zero into a nearby rock formation. The force of Zero hitting the rock caused several cracks on the rock to appear. Zero refocused his senses in enough time to see X leap at him. Zero pulled himself out of the rock and leapt off to avoid a swift kick from X, further splitting the rock. He then leapt onto the ground, and caused flames to ignite on his hand.
"Shoryuken!" Zero shouted, leaping into the air and uppercutted X, right as he turned around to face Zero. X landed behind the rock and Zero landed right next to him. After he landed, Zero clasped his hands together.
"Sougenmu!" Zero shouted, creating a physical, yet illusionary copy of himself. After that Zero prepared a stance just as X managed to pull himself to his feet.
"I'm sorry buddy, but you're finished!" Zero shouted, as energy began to coalesce into his hand. Flames began to ignite on his hand. "ULTRA SHINRYUKEN!"
Zero first uppercutted X into the air, and then began a series of attacks on him while he landed, before finally before delivering a flaming uppercut to X, sending him flying away. His illusionary copy performed the same attacks, meaning X was hit twice in a row with the same barrage.
X landed nearby Zero. A spark came from his body, meaning Zero had hit somewhere in the right spot; that or had just now began to deliver damage to him. X held his arm as he pulled himself to his feet. Zero let his copy fade away and pulled his fists back up.
"Where…where did you learn that?" X asked.
"Same guys that taught you those moves." Zero replied.
"I don't remember you learning that." X shouted.
"I decided to take an advanced course with him." Zero said. "Seems like I can still get the timing done too."
"Decided to learn more from your instructor eh?" X said as he pulled himself back into a fighting pose. He held his hands there for a few seconds and then went to perform the Hadouken again. "I guess that makes two of us then."
"Huh?" Zero muttered.
Zero then watched as X's Hadouken began to charge with more energy that it needed; and the sphere began to grow rapidly. Zero watched as energy came from all around X as he threw out the sphere.
Which really turned into a large beam.
"Shinkuu-Hadouken!" X shouted, firing the Bluish beam right at Zero.
Because Zero did not expect this as a form of attack, Zero did not raise Guard shell quick enough to deflect it, and took the whole beam. While he was not destroyed from it, he was severely weakened, to the same level that X was. The beam also took a lot out of X, and he went to his knees, along with Zero.
"Man…" X moaned. "Should have…held back a bit."
"Really trying to make me out here…" Zero said. "I had the edge for so long; yet one mistake put me to your state."
"Heh." X muttered. "It's not like you to lower your guard."
"Guess that's true." Zero said.
Both the Reploids weakly pulled themselves back into a fighting position. Zero and X both maintained their close quarters style and looked at each other for quite a long time.
BAM!
A Buster shot ran out and hit Zero right in the back. Zero stuttered for a second and then fell forward, unconscious. It was so unexpected that X could do nothing but stare. He knew Zero was weak, but not that weak. Then again, Zero probably wasn't expecting a Buster shot to his back.
X couldn't really see the Reploid that shot Zero too well. He was obscured by the shade of the trees.
"Who…who are…" X began.
A second Buster shot from the Reploid's other hand rang out and hit X in stomach, making a small gaping hole. X looked at the hole that was now made in him for a few seconds before collapsing and falling into darkness.
As for Zero, he looked up to see a Reploid standing over him. The Reploid had its Buster out and pointed at him, charging the shot. It held that for a few seconds more, before releasing the charge and pointing the arm cannon away.
"No…" Bass said. "Not like this…you'll die with a weapon in your hand."
To any Street Fighter fans who read this fanfic...this chapter was specifically a shout out to all of you. Hope you liked that.