Chapter 16: "Darkness"
Standing before them, was a Megaman unlike anything they had seen before.
Even the combination of Biometals Alex achieved with Model A was way more cohesive than this.
Iapetus was now covered in a dual-colored armor, red and blue clashing against each other, as if the very soul of the Biometals was against this union.
In his helmet, shined a red gem in the shape of an arrow, and in his arms could be appreciated not only the expected cannon, but a saber as well.
"Fufufufu... So this is what true power feels like" He thought out loud, delighted with his new form.
"Curse him!" Model A resonated in his head. "To think he forced Zero to take part in this... Alex, you better rip him a new one!"
"Sure thing" He replied, going back to his base form.
"What's this? You think you stand a chance with a single Biometal?"
"Oh, please..." He grinned. "I just thought you'd need a handicap"
"WHAT?!" Iapetus's face was disfigured with rage.
"After all... You're all alone" Alex continued.
"And we're not!" Maya completed with a slash of her blade.
Iapetus blocked it with his own sword, but definitely didn't feel comfortable doing it.
"Tch...! I guess that much was to be expected of the likes of you... Teaming up like the rats you are!"
"Well, what can I say" Alex shrugged. "This might just be the 'Hour of Rats' if you put it like that!"
"And you won't leave here alive... Darkness!" She added as she activated the power of the Dark Elf.
"Maya, be careful. If you keep using that with your already tired body, you might lose control" Her Biometal reminded.
"Shut me down if necessary then, E" She requested. "But we must do whatever it takes to beat him once and for all!"
"*sigh* Can't deny that..."
Iapetus didn't waste a second as he charged his buster, firing two shots before slashing a blast of energy from the saber.
"Fufufufu... Hahahahahaha! I could totally get used to this!" He laughed madly as he tasted the power of Double Megamerge.
Alex escaped the shots by climbing the walls, but Maya wanted to demonstrate she wasn't remotely menaced by their foe's new transformation.
With her beam rapier, she slashed the two shots and canceled out the final saber blast.
"As I thought, a new transformation won't change the fact that you're weak"
"Is that so? Then get ready for this!" Iapetus groaned, activating a new form of the Ultimate Armor he had inherited from Copy X.
This time however, the armor seemed to be made of gold, and made the rest of the armor the same color, while leaving a white suit with blue and red stripes in the uncovered parts.
The evil Megaman prepared his saber for an unseen attack.
Maya, predicting his movement, could tell it would be a barrage of slashes, but didn't see beyond it, so she just braced her laser blade in order to parry it all.
"MAYA, NO!" Alex saw the real danger, however, as he heard how Iapetus had charged his buster too.
"DIE!" He said as he blasted a myriad of charged shots, followed by flying saber slashes that came in the blonde's direction.
"Kgh...!" The girl gritted her teeth as she tried to slice every attack that came at her, but they were so many she soon became unable to handle them all. "Argh!"
"Hahahahaha! Aaaahahahahaha!" Iapetus bursted with an evil laughter. "How does it feel now, bitch? How does it feel to be WEAK?!"
"Rahh...!" She growled, taking damage as she changed her rapier's stance. "I'll... Never know!"
A dark aura emanated from her as she drilled through the attacks with her blade, continuing to suffer injuries, but not willing to stop her barrage.
"Cause I'm not YOU!"
"Maya..." Alex stood in awe as he beheld his companion's all-or-nothing attack.
Finally, her drilling blade got to Iapetus, who was pierced about a tenfold times, before finally receiving a strike that crashed him onto the closest wall.
"*pant* *pant* Take that..." She panted, exhausted. "...Bitch"
"Maya, that's enough. Any more and you'll lose control" Model E warned her. "The Dark Elf's consciousness is growing stronger, I can't hold it at bay much longer"
"I see... That's why I felt so violent and bloodthirsty all of sudden" She recognized a change in her own emotions. "Very well then, Alex, I'll leave the rest in your-"
"NOT... YET!" A desperate scream filled with rage echoed in the room. "I won't allow it! You can't beat me! This is my final form! There's no way I'll lose to the likes of you two!"
Iapetus quickly changed into the previous elemental forms, his armor remaining in gold but the uncovered bits changing into green: first filling the room with black clouds filled with lightnings.
Deep blue: Summoning a hailing storm.
then Red: Casting fire balls that descended upon them.
And finally black: Throwing a barrage of large ninja stars at them, all four in the matter of seconds.
"No!" Alex Combined the elemental biometals in an attempt to protect Maya.
Using both Model F and Model H, he took a form that took elements from both armors, creating a firebird sort of appearance (in classical Megamerge fashion) and quickly created a flame tornado around themselves, acting like a force field.
The increase in heat as well as the wind also helped disperse the shocking clouds, but there was one more threat.
The ninja stars were coming from all directions, and Alex was too busy keeping the flaming cyclone going.
"Dammit!" She cursed, knowing that it was risky to keep going, but having no other choice. "Just keep it up a bit longer!"
With her superior wild instincts, she sensed the metallic objects as they entered the fire, threatening her companion, and slashed them all one after the other.
"No, Maya! Stop!" He understood the risk it posed.
"Shut up! There's no other choice, idiot!" She was oddly severe, but still right about their situation.
"Fuck!" He cursed. "If only I had more power... I could stop Iapetus right away!"
"Well... Technically speaking, there's still something we haven't tried" Model A spoke.
"Wait! You mean...?" He couldn't believe the suggestion.
"Hey! I'm not particularly fond of the idea, but... If you make it quick, it might be alright"
"Let's give it a shot then"
"Whatever you two are planning, just do it now!" Maya groaned. "I'm losing myself out here!"
The fire hurricane disappeared, and Alex came out back in his standard form.
"Darkness!" He commanded.
"Oh, boy, here it comes...!" Axl could feel the change.
The dark blue armor became purple, and the red pieces of his head changed into jet black.
His foot parts also became pointy, like Maya's, and his hair turned lilac.
"What the..." Maya was at a loss for words too.
"That's right! You can't hope to defeat me if you don't give it your all! Come! I'll kill you in an-" Iapetus suddenly felt shovers down his spine. "What... What are you doing?"
Alex didn't say a word as his guns disappeared, leaving in his hands a big weapon that resembled a panzerschrek instead.
"You did well, Maya. Leavethe rest to me" He sounded different, strangely cold.
"O-Ok" The girl agreed, going back to her base form.
"Disappear" He told the enemy as he shot the missile.
Iapetus quickly dashed, attempting to avoid it, but the projectile followed him.
"Are you kidding me?"
"And we're not done yet" Alex shot twice more, increasing the menace to thrice the amount.
"This has to be a joke...!" Iapetus, complained. "Why am I running? I can just blow them to bits!"
He charged his buster and shot the missiles, taking down one after the other.
"Hahaha! Is that your best?" He chuckled nervously, but inside thought: "I destroyed them, so why hasn't this feeling gone away?"
"Fr' fuck's sake... I gave you an easy way out" The young man sighed. "I'll show no mercy then"
Again, the guns disappeared, but this time no fire weapon came out.
"What is going on?" Maya couldn't believe it when she saw it.
Instead, a buster was emerging from his left arm.
"Die"
Holding the cannon with his right arm, an incessant barrage of purple charged shots of energy came after Iapetus, just like a ricochet.
At first, the evil Megaman tried to parry the blast, just like Maya had done with his attack before, but soon he saw the futile nature of this.
"No... No way!" He complained, unable to keep up, to the point that even his saber got thrown away by one of the blasts.
His gold armor slowly started giving out, shattering as the blasts continued, and slowly pushing him back to the wall once more, and this time, burying him beneath it.
As the scrap metal burned, dust and smoke came out in huge quantities, filling the room for a couple moments.
As the smoke started clearing out, some noises were heard.
"How...?" Iapetus, still megamerged, was crawling on the ground. "It can't be...! I have two legendary powers within me! How can I lose to the likes of some nobody like... You?!"
"I don't know what this is..." Alex was amazed too. "But somehow... It feels primal. Like this power was always sleeping inside of Model A. I wouldn't be so quick to judge"
"I have the power of X and Zero combined! I can't be defeated!" Iapetus rambled on.
"It is with no doubt that both X and Zero are legendary reploids, so I think I understand where you come from" He stared at him indifferently. "That said, forcing Zero to merge with a cheap knockoff like the one you have is definitely not gonna work wonders"
"You... What would you know?!"
"Enough bullshit. Release Model Z now or I'll force you to" Alex still had enough control to show mercy.
"Kgh... Haha... Hahaha... Ahahahaha!" Iapetus bursted with laughter once more.
"Time's up" Alex concluded, readying the buster to end it all.
However, in this moment a dark power came out of the evil Megaman, giving him enough protection to rise again, and tainting his broken gold armor into a shade of violet.
"This is not the end...! I have absorbed power from Model W itself!" He boasted. "I just need to push this body a little futher! Just a bit and then I'll achieve a new power to destroy you-"
"Enough is enough" Another voice said.
The next moment, Iapetus had merged out of his ZC form, going back to his Model C Megamerge with a fatal wound across his chest.
"You!" Maya knew him right away.
"K-Kronos!" He recognized his brother's voice. "Why...? Just when I had them!"
"You failed, scum. Now die once and for all before you spread your misery to the rest of us" The black haired replied, holding Model Z in his left hand.
"No... I can still fight...! I am not scum! I AM NOT USELESS!" He seemed even more pitiful somehow. "MEGA...MORPH!!!"
His body started dissolving into a multicolored dust, slowly reforming above them, forming a Seraph mechaniloid of blue color with large hands.
Right away, the quick sound of a Megamerge was heard.
Before them, the figure of a dark red Megaman of light blonde hair stood.
"Drop dead" Kronos muttered as he punched the floor, pillars of destructive light ascending towards Iapetus in his final form.
"DAMN YOUUUU!" He yelled with a robotic voice as he started exploding. "KRONOS... I... CURSE... Y-"
And finally, blew up to smithereens, only Model C remaining, damaged on the floor, its data flying towards Alex, who didn't even react to it once he absorbed it.
"Well, I guess you're next in line?" The Copy Megaman asked Kronos ironically.
"I'm afraid no... Not this time" He retorted carelessly. "You might think you're pretty tough now, but this is only your first brush with darkness in the real world"
"So what? I demolished him in no time, and will do the same to you"
"Careful. That sense of pride is what killed that poor excuse of a brother I had"
Alex shot another trail of blasts, but Kronos was able to keep up with them, deflecting most with rather ease.
"No way..."
"Must be painful. Training hard to master something, and then realizing you're just average even after all the effort" Kronos salted the wound.
"Tch... Fine. We got what we came for anyways" Alex tried to keep calm. "So just give Model Z back like you promised and we'll settle this some other day"
Kronos went back to his base form, giving the impression that he agreed to those terms.
"You seem to be mistaken about something, kid" His face continued emotionless, but his red eyes seemed to glisten with anger. "Unlike Iapetus, I don't play games with my prey. This is an all-out war. And in wars, there's no such thing as 'fair game' or any similar trash"
"You wouldn't...!"
"Double Megamerge"
A red bright with a heavy dark aura blinded the two heroes for a moment, making way for a new threat.
A thing that should not be.
An unholy union between two entities that had been separated eons ago.
"No... No..." Maya could tell just by the aura that this was dangerous. Her legs were shaking, and the rest of her body was frozen with fear.
"Behold, humans" Kronos spoke, clad in a dark red armor that seemed way more complete than the images they had of Vent when Megamerged. "This is the true form of Model Z. The body of the God of destruction, and the heart of the original Reploid... This is Model OZ"
Alex was about to charge towards him right away, but he was stopped.
"Argh! What is... Going on?!" Maya complained, back in her fuchsia armor. "What did you do, E?!"
"It wasn't him" Kronos retorted. "It was me. You hunters have no idea of the true capabilities of Biometals, but I do, and I forced you back into your transformation for a little experiment"
From deep inside the chamber, glistening red lights started emerging from everywhere.
"Model W!" Alex recognized.
"Aaaargh!" Maya screamed in pain, as orbs of dark energy forcefully entered her.
"What are you doing?! Stop it!"
"I'm doing her a favor" Kronos told him in a mocking manner. "Her Biometal has a particular compatibility with the Dark Elf... So why not let everything out?"
"I told you to fucking stop!" Alex blasted again, but Kronos dashed quickly at him with an unbreakable combo of slashes...
...That culminated in a final slice that sent him flying.
"Weak" Kronos condemned. "The weak shouldn't be allowed to act. Just wallow in despair and watch as the truly strong emerge"
"Kgh... Dammit!" His dark form was shut down. "Why did you cut it, A? Don't you see what he's doing?!"
"You're losing control! And besides..." Axl hated to admit it too. "We're no match for him"
"No... You're not supposed to say that!"
"Alex!" The girl's voice reached out to him. She was already in her dark form, yet the aura of evil energy around her kept increasing. "Before I lose myself... I... I want to thank you"
"What?"
"Just... For being a friend... This short time" Despite the unbearable pain, she somehow bore with it and kept going. "I know... How strong you really are... I know... You can do it... If you try, so... Kick this guy's ass for me"
"Maya...!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaarrrggghhh!!!"
Limiter 0
A forced Megamorph was activated in that moment, showing a dark blue mechaniloid with white demonic wings.
"It is... Beautiful" Kronos complimented.
Right after the transformation however, the being came back to its previous Megaman form, in the white skeletal armor.
"Huh...? Did she control it?" Alex still had hope.
"Alex" She spoke.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Remember what I told you about this world?"
"Eh... Yeah? More or less?" He smiled a bit. "That its beauty was-"
"Just... Stop" She cut him right off. "It's embarrassing. There's no way you could be that naïve"
"What do you mean?"
"What is there to protect? As a fellow human you should understand. We're all going extinct and slowly, all life has been replaced by machines" She sounded way too negative all of a sudden. "The truth is... I hate this world. I hate the world that took my mom and dad from me. I hate the world that falls into one crisis after the other. I hate the world... That constantly gives me hope for a day that never comes!"
"Maya... Is this true?" He was shocked. "No... This has got something to do with the darkness! There's no mistaking it"
"You're half right" Maya accepted. "The darkness is there... But it only made me realize my true feelings. The reason I have no friends, is because I don't trust anyone. Not the hunters. Not the raiders. Not even you, for instance"
"That's a lie!"
"Why? Because I told you something that we agreed on just to make you feel comfortable? I was using you, just like I used Vent so he would stop being so damn annoying and give me a free pass to use my Biometal" She sounded serious. "The truth is, I don't give a shit 'bout anyone else but me, and now that I have the chance, I'd like to see this world done for"
"I can help with that" Kronos joined the conversation. "This world was a mistake. We will devastate all that's left of it"
In that moment, a sound only communication came to him.
"A...lex..." The signal was poor. "...e..d ...e"
"Vent! Is that you?!"
"Alex! Do you read me?" It was him. "Abort mission! Hunter base is under attack!"
"What?! Who is it?"
"A huge army of reploids. They share a lot of similarities with Model W, but we're not sure what they are"
"So it has begun" Kronos smiled for the first time. "The Master made his move"
"How are you holding up?" Alex ignored the enemy.
"We are doing our best, but with all the Megamen in the base currently weakened, I'm not sure we can make it on our own. We need you and Maya to come back right away!"
"Hmph, how pathetic" Maya smirked. "And they are the ones that want to save the world? Give me a fucking break"
"Shit...!" Alex ground his teeth. "Alright, I'll go right away!"
"I'm counting on you" Vent concluded.
The communication cut immediately.
"Alex, you can't be serious" Maya facepalmed on her helmet. "You just saw how useless they are! What's the point of throwing away your life for them?"
"Alex, don't listen to her" Axl tried to convince him.
"*sigh* it's all right, A" The young man smiled sadly. "The Maya I know would never say something like that"
"So you'd rather live alie than accept the truth" Kronos shook his head.
"No. I'm sure that somewhere deep inside, those feelings of resentment do exist inside her. That said, the girl I know still had that very hope she now despises driving her to move forward even when she was all alone.
During our training, I could tell what she's really like. She's smart, kind and hella strong. Although she had the stigma of being the daughter of a Raider, she kept doing the things she loved and training hard day by day, and was brave enough to be by herself so that she wouldn't drag anyone else into her problems"
"!!!" In that moment, tears fell from Maya's eyes, even though her current personality couldn't process why. "What the-"
"Just wait for me, Maya. I'll be gone for a while, but I'll come back as soon as possible and get you back!"
"That was a fine speech and all..." Kronos blocked his path. "But you're going nowhere. This will be your grave"
"This motherfucker..." Model A couldn't help but swear.
The Zero-like Megaman prepared both his saber and a charged shot, ready to annihilate Alex without further ado.
When an unexpected rival appeared.
"Who?!" Was all Kronos could mutter as his sword clashed with another.
What seemed to be a Megaman of brown hair in a ponytail, clad in a bright red armor with a skirt and white inlays on the thighs, held a pink laser blade against the enemy.
"Thank God I wasn't too late!" She said with relief. "But... That form...! Unforgivable!"
She jumped in mid-air and did a rolling slash of tremendous destructive power, forcing Kronos on the defensive once more.
"This power...! Who could possibly- Argh!" His body receded.
"I'll make you pay" She said coldly, but a passionate rage was definitely burning inside her. "But not today. You, Biomatch A, come with me! There's no time to waste!"
"Huh? Ah, I mean, sure!" Alex was still astonished by the performance he had just witnessed. "Who the Hell is she???"
And that's all for now... I'm guessing this was a bit of a longer chapter, but that's only fair for ALLLL the time I haven't updated this little story.
I don't know, I just felt it was the right thing to do to get to it once again, though I can't promise regular updates. We'll see how it goes...
Evhron out.