They came from the stars, part nine.
~0~
X stared at the new arrival.
It was clear this was a tiny, tiny ride armour with a rather telling likeness with Kamala (Pink, round, adorable.) but what took him by surprise was at how... the thing felt like a reploid.
A reploid that was not... shaped like something found on earth.
"Ah... hello?" X tried as he kneeled in front of the tiny ride armour. The thing's face was so... basic, they had no way to emote or even blink.
The Robot turned to face X and waved at him.
"Oh my, what an excellent surprise. Hare Krishna, my tall and sparkling friend. It is quite the pleasure to meet you." The spherical robot extended a hand, and X gladly shook it. "My designation is Robobo, I'm Kaavi's old friend, I helped him in one of his adventures, I even sacrificed myself for him."
To X's credit, he did not give more than a thought to this. " A pleasure, Robobo. "My name is... well, Nillor-Mapop." Oh God (Krishna), it felt so weird on his lips. "But I'd rather go with X."
"Of course, X. It is a pleasure to meet with an Ancient. Kaavi told me much about you and your glorious spouse's adventures."
At those words, X felt his cheeks burn and his heart soar... despite his confusion. "... Kaavi?"
"Ah, you must know him under another name... what was it, Kamala!"
X's heart soared even higher... 'Oh wow... he's Approving of Him.' He felt whatever tension had about what Kamala, the Vaishnava would think of his relationship with Zero was gone.
He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder pad, turning around, he came face to face with a mildly smiling Zero. He still looked worried but... X knew the reason why.
:Zee... After all this, can we go to Jagannath Puri?: X asked over the air. An air thick with anticipation as Mangalananda dealt with the Nova's security system.
Apparently, X and Lori would have been able to enter its orbit without resistance but with the Ancient ship in a time out and X not knowing how to do this, it was up to Mangala to flex his archaeological muscles.
Zero turned to X, and held his hand. He seemed less anxious now as if something had been removed from his shoulders. He wore a small yet powerful smile. his eyes, not a moment before, had been hard as he planned his attack on Sigma.
:X... I will bring you to Puri, Mayapur, Haridwar, and Vrindavan..." then he looked away, his mouth twisting. : But... I think you'll have to go alone... since I'm not exactly welcomed there.:
: Zee... what did you do?: X playfully asked with a mock scowl.
: Ah... less um... just... Can we talk about this later? Like... after we kick Sigma's ass again and we rescue Lumine?:
: like a survival incentive?:
: Yeah, Exactly!: Zero readily agreed. Looking a bit relieved.
: Alright. Now, don't you go die on me, Zee? You will tell me about your many spiritual noodle incident or so God help me-:
"And we're in!" Mangalananda joyfully declared as he enthusiastically smashed a big old button on Lori's console, beside him, Madan shook his head at the dramatic flourish. "Alright, dearies, time to shine!" And with that, he opened a portal to the moon.
"Ah, little dude, why didn't you... cut a star portal when we were on earth?" Axl asked as he, X and Zero walked toward it.
"... I have my reasons." The tiny blue alien said, unwilling to divulge more. " Now let's get this over with!"
As X watched the portal, about to step on the Nova, he chanced a glance at a monitor, the one he could feel his sister in.
She was gazing at him as she worried her lips. Her frown was deep and fearsome when it fell on Zero.
: Brother... do not trust him.:
X felt his... crystal heart speed up. And chose to ignore Lori.
Maybe he was a fool... but he would not... could not...
When he had asked Zero to... take care of him, would he go rogue, X did it because he knew... he just knew he would never be able to do the same for Zero.
Oh sure, he would damage him... but he could never end the man of his like, his hero.
He just couldn't...
So no... no matter what happened, He would not be the one who dealt the final blow to Zero...
He was a coward... he knew... but X also knew his heart could not take the sight of Zero lying broken at his feet... by his own doing.
"X." his long-time lover, pressed his heavy, capable hands to X's shoulder. " Let's go..."
: I love you, Zero.:
: I love you too, X.:
~0~
The Nova's surface is... rather moon-like, in X's opinion. Meaning that it's dusty, grey and filled with pockmarks and asteroid impact sight...
and it's boring... the feeling of nostalgia having been there at the beginning.
It was now a very dusty place that gave the Father of all reploids hives just by looking at it. Even if he had no vents to worry about...
but Zero had those huge vents dotting his body, and X knew his lover was a notorious vent cleaning skipper. He hated having his maintenance done and the last time it happened was well over 48 years ago when doc Cain was still alive and-
'no... I have to focus. I can't fret on Zero now, I can always drag him to the cleaning pod and make it fun for him... after we destroy and liberate sigma.'
Liberating Sigma... now that was a weird thought. But at the very least, they had to send him to Pitri-Loka.
"What the hell!" Axl quietly exclaimed as he pointed at something in the distance. Some spires of some sort. " I thought this was a hunting piece of metal with nothing on! Why the hell is there some castle there!?"
"I'm sure those mavericks built Sigma a castle on his order... the prick," Zero muttered darkly.
Mangalananda hummed as he looked through the distance with his special telescope, probably something the ancients made. "No... those buildings in the distance are not recent at all. And from the look of it, this may be the Nova's worker quarter. Or slave quarters, if you prefer.
"They look like a palace," X commented from his vantage point. " Was it something the ancient's would do?"
"Why, yes!" The floating head happily confirmed as he collapsed his telescope. " They would take for slaves many other civilizations they deemed prehistorical and lowly. Then they would educate them and treat them better than kings and queens."
"Seriously?" Axl asked. "I mean... those guys lost their culture and identity in exchange for higher education and a better life. Isn't it... I don't know... amoral."
"Oh, no... They didn't lose anything, in fact, their culture was kept and integrated in the building they were constructing. Not only that, but they were-"
"Hey, Listen, as interesting as it is, we need to move." Zero snapped, he was holding his usual sabre, but with it had added the Durga Blade and...
his Bananas.
Like... the two battle fans.
X had no idea why his long-time lover had brought those with him since they were rather unwieldy and bulky, quite the opposite of what a battle fan should be.
'focus, X! Don't let your mind wander now... not in enemy territory.' A voice resembling Broke him out of his reverie.
He turned his gaze toward the rest of the group. Mangala and Madan-mohan stood beside the Lor, Madan on a tiny bump in a fake moon crater...
Apparently, he had a thing for height.
Kamala was in his sentient ride armour, the machine-man caught hold of X's eye and gave a full-body nod, and coming down the Lor's ramp was Dharadhara Das on what appeared to be a one-wheeled motorbike... it eyes.
The bike took one look at X and revved up...
OK, then.
"Aw man, why didn't you warp us closer Mangala," Axl whined as he downloaded his and his superior's land rider. "I hate those things..." he whined as he ruefully looked at the offending land riders.
"C'mon Axl, it's not because you crashed into a wall, obstacles, and Mechaniloids that it won't be different this time." Zero teased as he mounted his ride, the red nightmare.
Axl stared at his ride... then at X who was also looking at his ride with a peculiar mien.
Now, X loved riding his magnetic bike, he loved the speed, the sweeping wind, the sound it made... how good Zero looked on it.
But now... it felt redundant since... well.
"Say, Axl. Can you please de-rez mine?" He asked as he got his gossamer wings out, vibrating them experimentally.
His environmental reader was telling him that the surface of the Nova was perfectly anaerobic and thus, flight without combustion should be impossible.
And yet... there he was, flying. And it was something he'd known would happen.
He turned to his partner. "Hey, Zee... Mind a small race?" he playfully asked. His reward was a competitive glint in his lover's deep blue eye.
"Can we join?" Madan asked, his wings already out and twitching with anticipation.
~0~
Vava (it was Vile now!) peered at his favourite lookout... not that there was much to look at on the moon... except sand, sand, more sand, and the occasional structures.
Oh... and that ship, the flying one.
'Whatever it is... yeah, X got a terrible taste for conveyance.' He sneered under his mask. The thing was like a toy ship kids would play within the bath, and if it was not for the massive energy reading, Vava would have stayed in his den to wait for...
Whatever Sigma was planning to do... not that Vava cared much. The moon was bloody boring with no chance of mayhem.
'Mayhem is good, it's fun and productive. You want mayhem, you only need this in your life, peace is boring anyway, humans need to fear for their life' Sigma whispered to his ear.
But... if the reading were true, then his boring moon life was at an end, for it was clear as day that X and Zero were on their way... with their brat, of course. Still wet behind the ear and already considered a hero, the third Mouseketeer.
Ugh...
Oh well, he couldn't wait for his first glimpse of his old buddies. Especially that Cry baby. (He looks so pretty when his face is covered with tears of anguish.)
What was he called now? Commander?
Ah! Wonder who he had to service to get that position, the guy was already on his knees the moment he saw him, worshipping Humans as if they were the shit, simping after Zero like a lovesick fool...
Well, to be honest, it was Zero. And the Guy had this Aura around him...
Yeah... SO Vava missed the Guy, he missed X, he missed Zero...
'No, you don't you want to see them dead.'
Sure, Chaos was nice and all, and he could blow up whatever the hell he wanted when he wanted and with the amount of explosive he so desired but...
He let out a sigh... oh, who was he kidding. He hated his life, in his private moment, Vava wished he could turn back the clock and not join Sigma. No matter how fun it was.
It was always the same... and he was always alone.
Alone, while X and Zero had each other.
Looking through his scope, he was greeted by the sight of seven figures having a race.
'What the Hell? Is that... Alright, I can see Zero and his schmuck bait, and... holy shit, is this a fairy armour? It is! X got a Fairy Armour.' As if he could not get any more twinkier. ' And there's Axl... What the fuck's on his back, a slime?! Have you seen the tongue on that thing... Hey, is that a penguin on a uni-trike? And... alright, that's the edgiest bat I've ever seen... is that a star? Yeah, that's a fucking sticker star. Holy shit, that thing's going!... what the hell's going on here?!'
Seriously, Vava was expecting something like X in a crazy ridiculous armour, Zero and Axl...
Not looking much different since they never got the fancy merch, only pain and death.
' Our lives are a mess... I guess I could always end it in a blaze of inglorious gibs.' Yeah... death by Zero, to end this whole robot farce and move on to something else... or maybe just disappearing.
Nevertheless, Vile took his comm, out and warned Sigma of the Wonder Trio's presence.
'Hmm... Faster than expected, but this will do nothing to stop me.' The Remnant of Sigma, more virus than mech at this point, rasped out. 'Proceed as planned...'
"Alright... I'll wait for them." And with that, Vava warped to the entrance, ready to face X and Zero... and that new guy.
Who knows? Maybe this would rekindle his fire.
'Of course, it will.' Sigma whispered in his ears. 'That's why you joined me, Vile... you love to destroy, and what makes you tick is the look of pure anguish on X's face... you hate him, you hate him so much...you hate them all, and to see them crumbling to dust is your goal and only pleasure... isn't it, Vile?'
Yes... yes, it was...
I̟͍ͤ͢ẗ͊͆̽͏̱̣̻͉̯̳ͅ ̦̥̥ͮͮ̉͠a̡̤͉̠̹͙̫̼̒ͮ͗̇ͅl͎̬̳̪̻̙̗̈ͫ͘ẘ͉̦͛̔̉̕a͊͛ͩ҉̭͔͕̫͖y͍͈͇̖ͯ̂͘s̘̦̠̩͔ͣ̑ͫ̕ ̦͚̯͛̐̌̚͘h̛̻̭̟̱̱̫̞͆̉a͛҉̣̩̳̯͈̙͔͍s̰̞̏̈́̇͞ ̝̱͇̝̇̉̕b͖̝̫͇̩̯̥ͯ̕e͚͔̘͎͖̼ͫ̏̈͘e̦̲͔̭͖͆̈̀ͧ͞n͔͖͎̩͎̳͗͛͟.̖̙̘ͤ͘
~0~
The ride to the fortress had been a fun one. Like, legitimately fun.
The breakneck speed, Kamala's warp star's nimble moves, Madan-Mohan's sword skill, Dhara's crazy reckless moves in his deluxe Wheelie rider... and the strength of his arms as he swung his hammer.
And of course, his gorgeous Zero led the pack.
The crystallized Bomber sighed in joy as they all stopped, Mangala jumping from the warpstar and ecstatically floating to one fallen spire, speaking gibberish at a rate that would make Blue Blur blush and sputter.
"Huh... Translation, please?" Axl asked as he dismounted his land rider, his feet wobbly from the ride.
This caused all of those who were not from Halcandra to turn to him with the same eyes as Alia when he had dared to ask Zero about Iris.
"Ah, please excuse me, my friend. I was just marvelling at the state of preservation the control castle is. Just look at the ley-lines, the power conduits, the magicantilatitatio crystals, the-"
"Front door we're about to go through." Zero dryly stated, having already killed the guard with his buster, the other having met his end by his other blades. "There you go..." He kicked away the carcasses as if they meant nothing to him. " Alright, my lords, ladies and bots." he bowed as he gestured to the door. "The floor is yours."
X looked down at the dead. "Zee... I could've purified them."
"Maybe. next time, be quicker." and with that, Zero entered the lobby. Gone was his lover, this was now Maverick hunter Zero, a being with no mercy for the enemy.
"X Prabhu." Madan addressed the crystal bomber. " I know what you are thinking, but just know that those who will lose their lives were already dead, despite having free will and a changeable fate, we still have a destiny and an end to this body... and the soul never dies anyway."
X closed his eyes as he let Madan's words of wisdom seep in his heart. And with this done, the fairy-like bomber followed his mentor and lover. Trying to salvage as many reploids as he could, with Kamala at his side.
The progress made was a good one. With the celestial Vaishnava's ability to fly and eons worth of experience, Axl's copy ability and Zero's dedication to destroying whatever was trying to hit X. (All of those new-gen took Sigma's frame because, of course, they would! Bastard.) but as they made their progress through the fortress, X and Kamala made a shocking discovery.
They had managed to reach some new-gens before Zero had the chance to get at them. And, as the two purifiers aimed their hearts (Kamala had to lob it gracefully while X shot them out of his buster, at least some things never change.) the maverick did not get purified, and his heart didn't change.
Instead, he drew out Commander Sigma's Sabre and slashed at them, only to be crushed by King Dharadhara's rocket-powered war hammer.
Despite being built just like the hefty war model, the new-gen collapsed, his core sparking as he literally gave up his ghost.
X stared at the carcass, his life signal and spiritual energy now gone to Krishna knew where.
"Mapop?" Kamala asked as he gently touched X's leg. "Are you OK?"
"It didn't work..." X whispered as he looked at his buster...
Why didn't it work? It had worked on those mavericks back on earth...
"Old chap..." Robobo addressed X as he examined the downed reploid. "During my debrief, it was mentioned that those robots used to build the moon-base and the elevator was... different, another generation of reploid." The spherical toy spoke, his British accent soothing to X's ears. " And after scanning this husk and you..."
"But... I'm not a reploid now. I'm... something different."
" Definitely." a familiar and unwelcome voice intruded on the group, a green reploid emerging from the shadows, riding on an ancient ride armour. On his right shoulder was an overpowered blaster, his helmet simple, but the T-shaped Slit was always bad news.
"Vile." X hissed as he floated up from the ground, his buster ready despite knowing that it would not be powerful enough to kill the old bully.
"Who? And I'm asking for all of our extraterrestrial friends, by the way."
"Vile used to be a maverick hunter, he was active before me. He... chose to follow Sigma's ideal." Zero explained as he took his sabre out, hunching in a familiar form.
He heard Madan-mohan grunt. "I see... but I wonder, why does he still fight when his heart longs for change and freedom?"
The silence in the room was such that a pin could have been heard despite the vacuum of space.
"Tch... I ain't here to get therapy, blue ball." Vile shot back. "Imma blow you all up, scatter you all on the moon and-"
"You don't expect to win this." The blue knight spoke up again. " You have been dealing with death and destruction for something close to a century. You loved it at first, but right now, you are sick of it."
"SHUT UP!" Vile screamed as he shot the Vaishnavas, spurring Zero to strike... only to have it deflected by the tiny blue Vaishnava, who gestured him to stand down. "You know NOTHING About me!"
" Then speak to me!" Madan ordered as a deadly dance started. " I can feel your self-loathing rolling off from your mind. You know you've made a mistake, what you thought was nectar at the beginning ended up being poison in the end! And you see no way to escape from your self-imposed torture." Madan slashed through one of Vile's plasma shots.
" I can hear another voice in your head."
" Well, congratu-fucking-lations! You get a piece of this robot!" Vile hissed dementedly as he made his ride armour jump at X, not giving him the time to react.
'Oh no, you don't!" Robobo intoned as he punched the much bigger ride armour's knee, making it buckle under its weight.
"Why you little-" Vile jumped down the damaged armour, but his objective to destroy the toy-like robot smashed to pieces like his helmet after Dharadhara smashed it with his hammer, revealing a scarred face that was the mirror image of X.
Axl gasped at this revelation, despite his training with Red and the hunter.
It was like looking at a Maverick X...
But before Vile's shot could reach the sitting duck, Zero grabbed the new-gen while Kamala and Gandharva spewed stars at the maddened reploids.
Stars...
Vile shot at the diminutive beings, who nimbly dodged them, swallowing the defusing energy and spewing it back at the green armoured reploid.
As he was stunned, Zero took out his fans and began slashing at the maverick before ending his combo with his Z-sabre.
Vile was thrown back, oil flowing from his lips. But before Zero could follow through with the killing blow, he warped away, to the red Hunter's great dismay.
"STOP PLAYING WITH ME ZERO! SHOW ME YOUR TRUE POWER FOR MASTER! AWAKEN AGAIN OH-" But Before Vile could finish his mad rambling, X who had been charging his shot ever since Vile had burst out of his ride armour, released the overpowered bullet of pure plasma...
Only to realize that it was one of those heart bullets, the ones who did not work when it came to killing. The one that had failed to salvage the new-gens of the Virus.
The heart-shot struck Vile squarely in the chest... and a connection happened.
~0~
Vile opened his eyes... he was back in the park by the old hunter's headquarters. The sun shone gloriously on his head, and the clean breeze played with his short hair.
Oh... how strong did he long to be back in simpler times... and to punch his punkish ass dead for being an instrument for destroying it all.
He had been so foolish... a needlessly angry teenager holding matches and a gallon of gasoline, ready to light the world he was ignorant of on fire.
Just because he could... and because the voice told him so.
Under the tree reading a book, was X, his apparent father.
Vile had been activated before the father of all reploid had been. He'd only heard of him as hushed whispers, mostly in awe by the other scientist and reploids that milled around. X was supposed to be kept secret, but... well, gossip and all that.
Hell, Alia had killed a reploid that had the misfortune of sniffing too close to their father... not that Vile understood how a cold hunk of metal could provide DNA... wasn't DNA and organic things only?
Or maybe they had more in common with the transformers...
Nevertheless, Vile grew more and more belligerent the more he heard about the amazing father of them all. But... he kept that in.
Until he'd first met the blue wonder after stalking him to see how their father was.
He was a cry baby, everything would set him off.
He had no idea how to use his full power, and he would always hesitate to attack.
He was soft... and he wanted to be a maverick hunter.
Now, Vava understood... He understood why X didn't want to use his full power.
He was fully aware of the result... X, at his weakest, could blow up a fair-sized city without even trying.
He was not a cry baby... he was simply, and painfully aware of the amount of destruction he could rain on the world by accident.
And yet, he could not stand the reports of maverick attacks, the life lost, the trauma caused...
X... wanted peace, not for himself, but for everyone.
And despite the hell, he'd lived through, despite his PTSD, despite the numerous failure to find a cure and to have a recovery facility to treat the mavericks instead of destroying them, despite Zero's numerous death and having to kill his friends...
X never gave up... he would always find a way to fight. Even if it wasn't with his buster.
And for this alone...
For this alone, he deserved
"Vava?" X spoke up, dragging Vile out of his memory.
"Yeah?"
"You hated me... because I was soft?"
Vava opened his mouth and... once in his life thought about what he was about to say.
"No... I was jealous." He admitted. "I... When I woke up, I was given weapons by Sigma and the order to hunt and destroy my maddened brethren... but you... you started your life surrounded by-" Vava's voice choked up. He could not even say it.
X watched him, his ancient green eyes glowing with empathy for the devil. "I was raised with love. Even the capsules... even in them, I could feel the love of my father, doctor Light. And then the Love of Cain and his wife and... of Zero."
"I now knew what was at stake."
Vile scoffed... but not unkindly. "Zero? Love? Are you sure it's not something toxic?" Vile asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
X kept looking through him, his crystalline green eyes scanning the maverick, cleaning him from the inside out.
"You had a crush on him... still have." X managed to deadpan with a smile.
Vile had half a mind to vehemently deny it when...
"Yeah... and... and I wanted to be friends with you but..."
"Your pride came in the way."
"Yeah..." Vile returned his eyes to the green, green grass. "I... I was taught by Sigma that my... the nice and happy emotions I had were making me weak so I..."
X made a sound of disgust. "Why am I not surprised?"
"You want me to answer that?"
"Nah... but, if you don't mind, Vava. I wouldn't mind being your friend." X spoke as he gave the ex-madman his hand.
Vile looked at the proffered appendage, noting how soft and inviting it looked.
X had always given him his hand, either as a handshake or as an invitation of friendship...
But... What did it mean to take this hand?
No more Chaos, no more destruction... no more blowing shit up because it was fun.
He would have to follow the rules... and he would have to be boring and good...
But X would be his friend... he would have a friend.
An actual friend...
He took X's hand.
"Hey, Vava. My name is Nillor-Mapop, but you may call me X."
~0~
Vava blinked as the bucolic vista faded away, and he was sadly back in Sigma's palace...
But what hadn't changed was X's hands in his... it was the handshake he had wanted to give him the first time they'd met.
The battlefield was silent, and only Zero's naturally loud fan filled the room with noise.
'hey... Why do I hear a heartbeat?' He wondered as his eyes trailed off to Zero... only to realize that the sound most probably came from the diminutive fat bird at his feet...
Yeah, that must be it... and the place was quite echoing also.
"Vava." X broke the reploid out of his contemplation when he returned his ruddy eyes back to his source and tentative friend. The ancient Reploid was looking at him with deep concern.
And for once... Vava couldn't get mad at him. Since he now realized that, despite everything, X still cared about him.
The Mercenary, unable to maintain the compassionate eyes of his source, lowered them down to X's feet, only to notice that the short reploid was not touching the ground...
'Hey... what the hell is this armour also? Wait, not... this doesn't feel like one of his usual armour.'
"Hey, stop staring!" Zero snapped, his eyes never leaving Vava.
The purified reploid scoffed. "No, you." he snapped. "Besides, weren't you the one who kept staring at X's fine ass ever since you walked out of your pod?"
This had the intended effect, and Zero's cheeks turned a vivid, bloody red.
"Vava, That's enough." X gently chided. "Listen... we have much to catch back, preferably, when Sigma's but a bad dream. Got it?"
"Yes X..." Zero nodded, his narrowed glance lingering on Vava.
And... the way he looked at the reploid simply screamed loudly and boisterously, "I'm watching your every move."
"Hey... wait." Axl piped up. "Mapop... are we still fighting him? Ain't the guy a maverick or something?" He asked as he loosely pointed at Vava with one of his guns.
It was a scare tactic, for, unlike humans, Axl couldn't miss fire. They checked, it was in his code.
"Nope!" Kamala Piped up. "Mister Vava's free from the Dark Matter, He's our friend now!"
The robotic entities all stared at the diminutive star warrior.
"Me? Friend?" Vava asked as he pointed at his face, looking even more confused. "No, wait!" He snapped. "X! What the hell's going on, and you better not pull a let's kill Sigma first' shit because I know the over dramatic ass is just waiting for you guys to start his grand speech, so spill!"
~0~
About an hour later-
"So, Let me get this as straight as I reploidicaly can." Vava began.
"Ok, dude... that was painful to hear," Axl mumbled as he leaned on one of the numerous columns dotting the palace, Madan-mohan das was standing on a sconce while Kamala and Gandharva were running around the place like a pair of hyperactive kids.
Ignoring Axl, Vava soldiered through and began by pointing at the two childlike entities, The mysterious blue knight, the righteous king of dreamland, the mage from Halcandra and the world's tiniest ride armour.
"Those sickeningly sweet things are with the power to destroy eldritch abomination and are also servants of God sent here because they felt something called dark matter... basically the maverick virus. The maverick virus is dark matter and something disturbingly organic despite acting like a ghost... and I was possessed by one."
"Yeah, Basically," Dharadhara interjected as he inspected the inner component of his rocket-powered mallet.
"Also." He pointed at Zero. "Zero-Senpai's body's basically wetware sourced from the source of Dark Matter, another Zero that's basically just a floating white ball of hate and pain, filled with blood, ghost and spite and decorated with a single eyeball like a cherry on top of a hate Sunday-"
"Pretty much." Gandharva nodded wisely.
"Who's also an angel who can't die unless his retractable butt-cactus get raped by a fancy fairy crystal from outer space... and apparently, X is not a reploid but a Crystal robot made by a race of ancient beings called 'Ancients' who made him to destroy Zero, the source of all the Dark Matter virus... meaning we're just some unfortunate casualties it this point."
"Not really." Mangalananda piped up. " You see, Mother earth, or Bhu-Devi cannot be destroyed like all the other planets, for she is the most important plane of existence, Karma-Kshetra."
Vava paused to silently stare at the tiny floating thing.
"And-" But before He could keep going with his spiel, Kamala shoved his tiny paw in his nonexistent mouth.
"But I'm here, and X is here and we're gonna take care of the baddies like we always do!" He chirped. "Right guys?"
The rest of the intergalactic Vaishnava gave their cheers.
"We're doomed, aren't we?" Vava asked, only to have Axl hang from his shoulders like the brat he is.
"Nah, Man. This is Kirby, he's like, the guy you want when an eldritch abomination won't stay dead."
"Get off from me." Vava growled as he charged his shoulder mounted cannon.
"But whyyyy~. You're part of our team now."
"Axl." Zero began menacingly... or more like a tired dad. "Don't make him go maverick." The 'or else' was implied.
The young hunter quickly unlatched himself.
Vava let out a gusty sigh. "Man... I... Sorta miss that stuff but... It's... Overwhelming." he admitted with a blush.
Axl scoffed at his words. "Oh, Vava... have I told you that X here's not really called X but Nillor-Mapop, made by a super ancient race of super-intelligent and advanced aliens and built to purify reploids of the Virus? Oh, and that he's Waaaaaay above his initial age?" The brat gave Shit eating grin.
X's countenance darkened as he turned toward the door, "Hey, leave it Axl. Once Sigma's gone for good..." his shoulder's fell.
"X, what's wrong?" Zero asked as he rushed.
"I... Why did my Heart-Shot fail, those new-gens, they weren't purified of the virus."
"Oh, that's because none of them are actually possessed," Vava revealed as he donned his helmet again. "All these fancy new gen are basically nanite based, and they have access to an imminence database of forms."
"Including Sigma." Zero grumbled.
"Yeah... thing is because their DNA is always changing, they ain't supposed to get infected unless they want to."
"If I may interject," Mangalananda spoke as he floated fearlessly in form to the Ex maverick. " Reploids cannot have DNA, for the plain and simple reason that their bodies are manufactured. On the other hand, they have specific blueprints," he spoke with finality. "As for why your heart shot didn't work on the new guys. Well, those new gen's ability to withstand dark matter is simple... none of them were corrupted."
a stunt silence, one filled with the heavy sense of betrayal filled the room before Zero broke it.
"They chose to rebel." He spoke darkly. "Sigma's not the source of this uprising."
Vava Shrugged. "Can't say for sure though, I know he was the one who contacted all the new gen's about how they were all slaves to the humans and... you know, just the usual. And a bunch of nonsense about how they were ghosts in machines, stuck in robotic bodies subservient to a lesser race's whim."
"Huh... so, nothing about how they are the next evolutionary step?" X asked. "That's what Sigma's been preaching since day one."
They could practically feel Vava's eye roll. "Oh yeah sure. That's what would get him his canon fodder. But those that would hit hard? Like Magma Dragoon and Spike Rosered? Yeah, it was this mumbo-jumbo, all about ghosts, and how X wasn't even a robot."
"Well, about that."
"yeah... Ok, so Siggy was onto something then."
"And all reploids are ghosts in machines... and used to be human." X explained a bit uncomfortably. "And... I never was the source, I never was the Father of all reploids, just the first one. I was discovered with an extraterrestrial machine that would bind a ghost to a gem-core."
"... Fuck this shit." Vava spat. "I can't believe you! Really?"
"Yes... It's a hundred percent true, and once we deal with Sigma..."
"Oh yeah! That piece of Shit!" Vava Practically yelled. "Guy dare to steal ninety years of my life, Making me his bitch while you guys!" his voice shook. "Ninety years I could have spent hanging out with you, if I hadn't let my wimpy little pride take me over! I could be here, with you, riding the wind the smacking of Maverick like the Badass trio we should have been! Fucking hell, I love aliens, I'ways wanted to meet the third kind... and the guys I hated the most ended up being from outer space..." He spoke dejectedly.
"I'm not an Alien." Zero grumbled as he looked away with crossed arms, unseen by the others Madan gave a small jolt.
"The only dudes I ever had was... no one... I was... I was alone... Just following like the bitch I was." By the end of it, his voice had gotten thick with tears. "Alright... Alright let's Finish this... It's Payback time, Sigma, and yah won't get out of this one again... and if you do, I'm calling dibs!" The Green guy took a few fortifying vents before turning to X. "Also... Dang Pop, you looking good as a Fairy."
"... Let's just go." X groused.
They were close to the end, close to freedom.
No more Mavericks, No more bloodshed... no more secrets.
X couldn't wait to shed his heavy armour for good, to hang his buster and finally live with Zero in a world where...
Where no reploids were manufactured for humans' pleasure but as an act of procreation. Where they would be free to make their own home...
"But strife will always exist as long as we keep identifying as a body... no, you know what? I'll just... I'll just ask Zero to take me to Jagannath Puri... yeah, retirement sounds good.'
Yes... he had fought a useless war for over ninety years, it was time for him to focus on what was truly important in life.
For death could come at every moment.