X's normally friendly face hadn't smiled in days. He couldn't remember the last time he had enjoyed himself. When was the last time he laughed with friends? All that was gone. His innocent nature was no longer with him. Now he only had a hollow feeling of the truth and no where to turn with it. All his dreams and hopes for peace where gone with this moment. He had killed and he had drawn blood from other living beings in which he could never undo. He was a murderer, though many would call him a hero. A savior. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry.
Gripping the wall silently, X's face darkened and he began to propell himself up along the wall, slowly forcing the thoughts out of his mind. Time for reflecting could be done after the final battle...if he survived. As he worked his way closer to the top of the chute, to the end of the gauntlet, the feeling of hatred and vengeance filled the air. In a war, is any side wrong? In a war, there is no totally good and totally evil, right? It all came down to one person's view conflicting with another person's view that leads to battles. X knew Death Star, at least, though that, since had told him that once. But did the fighter even think that anymore, after this war? Was Sigma totally evil, or did his views just conflict with the rest of humanity? X was about to find out.
Pushing himself up into the room at the top, X heard a door close and lock under him. He landed on the floor and glanced around the dark room. He was in the heart of hell and there was no escape. He could detect a teleporation barrier up that would not allow him to escape until Sigma lifted it.
Taking a deep breath, X let it out. Silence. Time seemed to pass slowly, each second seeming to last an eternity. Finally, Sigma teleported down with a dog at his feet, growling fiercely at X. Sigma sneered at him. "Ah, Mega Man X...you've finally arrived. We've been waiting for you. I can see now why Zero depended on you so much." X felt Sigma's gloating coming off at him at that last line, a slap in the face of what had happened to his friend earlier this day... "My pet here will finish you off," X heard Sigma babbling, not really paying attention. He was slowly moving himself into a fighting position. "Don't disappoint me, X..." was the last thing X heard as Sigma teleported away.
The dog howled fiercely and jumped at X. The azure reploid ducked as the dog sailed over him, landing somewhere behind him. X turned around and aimed his blaster at the dog before it could turn itself around to launch another attack. He fired a level three blast straight into the dog's back, sending him skidding across the floor into the wall. It's howls of pain let X know he had scored a direct hit, but not enough to stop the canine.
Switching silently over to his Boomerangs, X crouched as the dog got to it's feet, turning around. It howled again and jumped onto the wall, launching a three beam attack. X rolled backwards, dodging the attacks, and watched as the dog landed on the ground. Firing the boomerang, he watched in dismay as the dog swatted it with it's tail, sending the weapon uselessly into the wall.
X jumped back as the dog tried to bite his leg. Kicking out, he nailed a direct blow to the dog's head, sending it rolling backwards into the wall. Switching over to Storm Eagle's attack, he raised the blaster and fired a whirlwind at the dog. It hopped to it's feet and deflected the attack, only taking slight damage from it. Mentally cursing, X felt himself being tackled by the dog. It howled and bit his shoulder, tearing his armor away. Screaming in pain, X could feel circuits being torn and battery fluid oozing out. The pain was great, but bearable.
Grabbing the dog by it's throat, X raised a shaking blaster to it's head and fired, sending it flying upward into the air, then gravity took affect and slammed it onto the hard floor next to X. The two laid there momentarily until they both hopped to their feet at the same time. The dog howled, snorting angrily. For a robotic dog, this thing sure was tougher than some of the Mavericks X had fought over the past few hours. Sigma must be real proud of the bitch.
X jumped back as the dog tried to tear his stomach open. He switched over to his ice attack and fired, severely damaging the dog. It sparked, growling more in pain than anger. Grinning, X grabbed the wall and propelled himself over the dog, landing behind it as he fired another quick shot, once again scoring a direct hit. The dog whimpered, shaking off the sleepiness that threatened to overtake it as it's circuits shut down from the ice.
"Down boy, DOWN." X fired a third ice shot at the already sluggish dog. It tried vainly to move, but the blast caught it in the lower stomach area, causing it to twist over as it landed on the ground. At first nothing happened, but slowly small explosions could be seen until soon the dog had vanished in a bright light.
The tired X slumped to his knees, panting hard, a roaring in his ears from the pain in his shoulder. He could tell Sigma had reappeared behind him and was talking about something, but he couldn't pay attention to it. Panting hard, X used one of his reserve tanks to restore a little of his energy, then turned around to face Sigma, who had finished his little speech to X.
"Now, X..." Sigma said matter of factly, "we fight to determine the course of the human race and the entire future of this planet. I look forward to the battle..." He threw off his cloak and pulled out his beam saber, flicking it on. The two warriors stood there, facing off; one in excellent shape and condition, fighting for a cause in which his race would be superior to the humans; the other hurt, tired, confused, and fighting for a cause that humans and reploids can live in peace if both tried for it.
In that moment, the earth itself seemed to tremble with the knowledge the fated battle had finally arrived.
Delta and Wildfire looked over, blinking. Wildfire was the first to speak. "Where's Zero?! X can't possibly defeat Sigma! There's just no way!"
Delta frowned. "I don't know...I sense that he might just pull it off..."
Death Star crossed his arms. "This fight here will determine the outcome of this war...hell, perhaps our future in general. If X loses, none of us can stop Sigma. But if X can win, then maybe the wars will end and we can have peace..."
Delta shook his head. "This battle might determine if this war ends for us, but in the long run, there will always be fighting."
"Yeah, Carter, you're right..." Death Star said almost bitterly. "As long as people's views conflict with each others', there will always be fighting. A type of waltz." He sighed, thinking of North Star and the peace he once knew...and probably would never know again in his life time. Was his destiny just to fight?
Wildfire walked over to the keyboard. "Let me try to hack into this thing so we can help X by self-destructing this damn house of horrors."
Delta walked over. "Hey, there seems to be a shield in that room. X can't teleport out if we self-destruct this place."
Wildfire swore. "You're right. I'll have to lower it while they fight and hope Sigma doesn't notice. Then we'll have to blow this place up."
Death Star nodded, feeling uneasy as the two warriors on the monitor continued to face off. "Go, X...our prayers be with you...if I believed in God, that is..."
X1 stood next to him, wearing fanboy material with "GO X!" written all over it. "Yeah, Doc..."
"I have a feeling X is the one fighting Sigma."
"Yeah, Doc..."
"Think he'll win?" asked Dr. Cain.
"Of course! I taught him the nipple twister myself! He'll twist Sigma into submission! Just you watch!" X1 said. Dr. Cain groaned loudly, not hearing X1's next words. "You can do it, bro...you can do it..."
And Cran didn't like it, one bit.
"Lose, Hunters...lose..."
Almost like the night Mega Man had died, all those years ago. Would history repeat itself tonight, the shadowed figure wondered. "You can do it...Mega Man..." he whispered to the sky, hoping, somehow, the words reached the fighter.
X stepped back, blinking in surprise. He suddenly wished he had asked Death Star to teach him some saber moves. But all he had was his blaster, some copied Maverick attacks, and his wits in this battle. X charged his blaster as Sigma dashed towards him, pulling the saber back in a preparation to chop the azure reploid in half. Bracing himself as Sigma came closer, X crouched and pressed off the ground, going straight up into the air as Sigma swung, the saber missing his feet by mere inches. X pointed the blaster at Sigma's bald head and fired, nailing him head on. The maverick blinked in surprise and stepped back, unhurt. "Excellent X."
X landed on the ground, panting, and stared in disbelief as a level 3 blast to the head at point blank range had no effect. "N-No!"
"Are you finally beginning to see how futile your resistance against me truly is, X?!" Sigma taunted. He pulled back and swung at X. X ducked the saber and propelled himself at Sigma, tackling the bigger reploid onto the ground. Sigma grinned in pure delight as he smashed his knee into X's stomach. He then picked X up and slammed him head first into the wall, pulled back, and repeated the motion. Then, almost in disgust at how easy it was, he threw X to the side, watching him bounce along the floor. "I'm disappointed."
X struggled to push himself up, coughing up fluids; his entire body trembled, threatening to give out on him as soon his arms could no longer support holding his torso up. His vision was threatening to give out on him, almost as if power was leaving him and everything was shutting down. Perhaps...this was the case. He could hear footsteps approaching him. Sigma was coming. Turning his head, he could see the Maverick's legs there. Then, a feeling of weightlessness followed before X realized Sigma had picked him up by his throat. The two stared each other in the eyes.
"You make me sick, X."
X grinned. "Sah-Sigma?"
Sigma sneered. "Still have enough energy to talk?"
"I-I'll never give--u-up. Be-Because I'm--fighting---for---peace." With that, X aimed his blaster straight into Sigma's face and fired a level 3 shot. The surprised Maverick dropped him and stumbled back, holding his face in pain. Roaring in anger, Sigma looked down and grabbed his saber, turning around to slice the insect that had dared to sting him...but X wasn't there anymore.
"What!?" Sigma roared, glancing around the dark room. Using his advanced tracking systems, he picked up X...right behind him! Turning around, he was caught by an ice blast straight into his stomach, followed by an Electric Spark that caused him to stumble back, then a laser blast that nailed him in the forehead, sending him crashing to the ground.
X stood there, blaster being held out, panting and shaking all over. Thinking he had finally beaten Sigma, he allowed himself to sit back and relax. "I-I did it..."
Delta grabbed his arm. "Calm down. There's nothing we can do but work on bringing down that shield around them."
Wildfire typed furiously away. "Give me time, give me time..."
The blow that hit X in the side of his head came with no warning. The Hunter never even saw it coming, but he felt it. His body was sent scraping along the metal floor until he finally came to a stop. Raising his head weakly, he saw Sigma standing there, smirking. His saber glowed in the dark, lighting him up like the harbor death. "This is proving to be more interesting than I thought..." Sigma snarled and leapt at X.
The Hunter rolled to the side moments before Sigma's saber sliced through the metallic floor, embedding itself seven inches below it. Sigma slowly pulled it out and turned to X, who was now on his feet, fighting to maintain a fighting pose. Laughing, Sigma swung at X, who jumped back, almost in reflex by now. Laughing harder now, Sigma continued to swing wildly at X, causing him to jump further and further back until he was pressed against a wall. "This is over, X..." Sigma simply stated in a calm voice. With that, he pulled back and thrust forward with the saber, connecting.
X looked down and saw the saber embedded deep within it's target. Grinning, he watched Sigma try to yank it out of the wall. With that, he charged his blaster up and blasted X in the chest, sending him stumbling back, but also freeing his saber. X then punched Sigma in the hand, knocking the saber out of it and sliding across the floor. Not wanting to let up, X then kicked Sigma in the stomach, causing him to double over. Then he followed up with a knee-slam into the head.
Sigma grabbed X's leg and begin to swing him around and around. Finally he slammed X straight into the wall, shattering it. Refusing to let X go, he jumped into the air and slammed the weak Hunter into the floor, causing it to crack up and sag. Grinning, enjoying his handy work, Sigma swung X one more time straight into the next wall, finally letting him go as he slid down, limp.
X charged his blaster, not moving. Sigma scoffed and walked towards him. "You shouldn't start a fistfight that you can't win, little bug..." he said.
X stood up, his blaster aimed right at Sigma, sizzling from the intense level of the blast. "You're right." He fired off a high level 3 blast straight into Sigma's chest that just pressed against the Maverick, eating away at his armor as it slid him across the room. Gagging in pain, Sigma knocked the blast off and it slammed into the wall, leaving a smoking hole. "Damn you!" Sigma shouted. He grabbed his saber and jumped at him.
X dived to the side and fired another blast into Sigma, ignoring his own pain right then. There was only going to be one chance to beat Sigma and that was not to pass out. Sigma took the blast and jumped again, slicing at X's head. The hunter ducked the swing and fired another level 3 blast into Sigma's chest. The Maverick roared in anger and twirled his saber, coming down with a chop slash, hoping to split X in two. X reached up and grabbed Sigma's hand, straining to hold it back. "You...will...not...win... Sigma!"
Sigma snarled. "You...will...die!" he shouted as he struggled against X's grip. The saber slowly began to move downward and both reploids knew it was only a matter of time before X's strength left him. "You're...just slightly weaker...than me...X...you will...not last much...longer...at this!" X blinked, knowing what Sigma said was true. He was a whole level weaker than Sigma...but he could still win with his wits. He raised his blaster, which he had been charging during the engagement, and fired a level 3 blast into Sigma's chest, blowing out a hole. However, X lost his grip on Sigma's hand.
The next few moments happened rapidly, but time seemed to slow down almost. As Sigma stumbled back, his saber swung downward, slashing X's side and arm with a deep gash, but not totally severing it. As X fell over in pain, a pool of fluids appearing, Sigma fell beside him, sparks shooting from his chest. And then, time seemed to resume normally, with each of them glaring bitterly at the other.
Sigma gripped his saber tightly. "You're...good..."
X charged his blaster. "Good...enough...to beat...you."
With that, each warrior jumped to their feet, aiming their weapons at the other. Sigma swung as X fired his blast. The blast, amazingly, went underneath the slash, which hit X in the shoulder. The blast itself nailed Sigma in the stomach and doubled him over. X aimed the blaster and fired off an Eletric Spark shot straight into the sparking area of Sigma's chest, causing a massive overload which resulted in an explosion. The explosion nailed X in the side sending him falling backwards onto the ground. Sigma, however, faired much worse, being engulfed in the explosion and vanishing.
X looked around weakly and let out a weak laugh before blackness threatened to consume him. It looked like he had actually won.
Death Star glanced at the readings on Sigma, all reading 0. "Yeah, I was worried for a moment there too."
Wildfire turned around. "The shield's lowered so X can teleport out of there. I'm going to work on getting the self-destruct system to work."
Death Star nodded. "Excellent. But no rush, Sigma's dea---" he started when suddenly the life signs beeped. He turned around, his eyebrow arching, as he saw 1% flashing on Sigma's life. "This can't be!" he whispered. Delta's face paled and Wildfire looked shocked himself.
"Is X awake?!" Delta asked.
Death Star looked at the readings on X. "No, he's still out of it!" He turned back to the 1% life sign. "Sigma's still too weak to do anything but live right now. There's nothing to worr---" he stopped himself again when an idea hit him. He adjusted the sensors to scan the entire room. "Oh my God..."
Wildfire looked at him. "What?"
"Nevermind! JUST GET THAT SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE GOING, AND NOW!" Death Star shouted.
Opening his eyes all the way up, X watched in horror as Sigma's head attacked itself to something in the darkness and suddenly he saw it. A huge battle suit, unable to move, embedded in the wall. "Oh NO!" he shouted. Sigma continued to laugh evilly.
X pulled himself to his feet, watching to spiked arm things float around. What the hell is this?! he thought to himself, bracing his weary body for one more battle. He noted, also, that the shield around the room was down. Perhaps the other Hunters were around?
Sigma laughed some more. "This is over, Mega Man X." With that, he launched one of the spiked "arms" at X. He dived to the side, rolling, charging his blaster. Sigma laughed some more at his futile attempts to dodge his attacks. "There's no escape, X. You see, this body is more powerful than any other reploid alive. And I will crush you with it."
X didn't need anymore introductions to how dangerous this situation was. He jumped up into the air, landing on the spiked thing's top, which was smooth and able to stand on. He rode it up into the air as it spun around. Aiming his blaster Sigma's head, the only thing that resembled his old body, he let the blast fly at Sigma's head. Time seemed to slow down once more as the blast connected, engulfing the head briefly, then vanished. There was absolutely no damage caused.
Sigma laughed wickedly as he spun X off the spiked thing, smashing him painfully against the floor. As the Hunter bounced along the floor, desperately trying to think of something to use again Sigma, he switched to his Shield attack he received from Armadillo. Standing up, he was blasted in the back by a wave of flames that shot out from the body, sending pain signals shooting throughout his systems. Staggering, X choked back a cry, refusing to let himself fall. He smiled, turned around, and jumped up into the air as the spiked "arm" came flying at him. Landing on top of it, X jumped at Sigma's head and fired the shield, damaging it.
Landing on the ground, X knew he had found the key in defeating Sigma. And so did Sigma. "NO! You think I'll let you win that easily?!" He sent one of the arms flying at X's blaster, smashing it into the circuits that allowed it to fire. X screamed in pain, falling to his knees, as his weapon, his only weapon, was damaged and unusable. Sigma began to laugh again. "This is over, X!"
The second spiked arm smashed into X's back, sending him skidding along the floor. X felt the pain, accepted the pain, and felt himself giving up. There was no way he could win without his only means of attacking Sigma. His armor, azure with white in it now from the upgrades Light gave him, was in ruins. He had failed. Failed himself. Failed the Hunters. Failed the world. And failed Zero.
Laying on the floor, time ticking away as X gave up, something in the back of his mind screamed at him to continue. So what if he was being beaten!? So what if he had to fate his brethren! He had the ability to do something to stop the pain of others. He would no quit! Would not surrender!
Sigma watched the spiked "arm" fly at X's back as he laid there, preparing to kill him once and for all. But suddenly, the X stood up, turned around, and jumped into the air. He landed on the flying spiked arm, surprising Sigma that he had still had any energy left in him to fight. X closed his eyes and began to chant to himself as he rose into the air, coming closer to Sigma's head. This...is it! "HA-DO-KEN!" X shouted, forming an energy wave between his two hands.
Sigma blinked in surprise. "What is this?!"
X fired the fireball straight at Sigma's head. The blast hit it, blasting away everything around it in a brilliant light. X, drained of energy, fell back, landing on the floor with a loud thud, his body laying there limply. Sigma, on the other hand, felt his entire body being eradicated. It began to explode and fall apart and his head fell from it's perch onto the floor.
The mighty maverick leader had been defeated.
Death Star glanced back at the monitor. "Sigma's been defeated. All X has to do is teleport now. This base is going to be blowing up any second now. We need to telep--" he stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Delta. "Oh NO! He can't teleport!"
But not before hearing Sigma's final words.
Sigma laid there, defeated, his life force slipping from him. "This...cannot...be happening..."
X looked at him with pity. "You shouldn't have thought you could win with evil, Sigma."
"But why, X, why?" Sigma asked pathetically, moving something in X's heart. "Why have you joined the humans and turned your back on your brothers? You've doomed us, X..."
X looked at him, trying not to get sick, either from his words or as the base exploded. "What do you mean, Sigma? Your course would have led to them killing us all."
Sigma glared as his body began to give out. "And you call slavery living, X?" X said nothing, simply standing there as the room began to tilt. "...I...thought...so...X...." Sigma managed to say, spite in his voice, then he exploded in a brilliant light, like all the others X had killed.
Standing there for a few more moments, X teleported out of hell. He just hoped whoever set off this explosions did the same. He didn't want to think of anymore deaths today.
Wildfire looked at the two in a panic. "What are we going to do, Death Star!??!"
Death Star held his head, trying to come up with some solution. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" he shouted. Then the first of the explosions went off, shaking the entire room. "Okay, I got it, Wildfire, you teleport out of here. I'm going to help Carter here find a teleporter somewhere in this base."
Wildfire looked unsure. "But don't you...?"
Death Star cut him off. "No. If all three of us get killed in this, then all this will have been in vain. I'll get him out of here."
Wildfire nodded. "See you on the other side." He teleported from the room, leaving Delta and Death Star alone. The two looked at each other, unspoken words of trust and perhaps friendship passing between the two.
Delta finally cleared his throat. "You know, you can teleport out of here right before the explosion."
"Yeah."
"If we don't make it in time, will you?"
"We'll see," was all Death Star muttered, running out into the hallway, which was beginning to tilt as the base began to roll over from the resulting explosions. Delta followed, shaking his head with a smile. And so the two's desperate run against time, just like at the Airport weeks ago, began.
Death Star ran down the hallway, shielding his face as wave of fire passed by him, resulting from the explosion of some important equipment. "Dammit." He jumped through the fire, sensing Delta was following him still. He ran up to a door, pulled back, and punched it, denting it. Growling, he looked around, grabbed a support beam that had fallen down, and rammed the door with it, bending it enough that Delta could put his gun in the small space and pry it open.
Delta ran through, followed by Death Star. More explosions surrounded them and the hallway was half-way to being upside down now. Trying to maintain his balance on the walls, that now served as the floors, Death Star began to feel vertigo that humans experienced. Chuckling, he looked around. "I hope we're going the right way."
Delta looked back at him. "Have a little faith." Death Star grimaced, knowing that they had less than a minute left before this base either exploded or smashed straight down into the sea which would result in it exploding. He gathered his balance again and jumped past Delta, running along the wall as fast as he could, jumping over the open door ways that threatened to swallow him up. Grinning, Delta jumped after him.
Death Star arrived at an elevator and pried open the doors, looking right, seeing how far the shaft went. "You know, there's a small chance if we get into this, we could escape."
Delta looked puzzled. "How?"
"Well, the elevator goes straight to the top of the base, no? If we can arrive at the top when the base explodes, the force could propel us out."
"Or straight into the roof with a nice big splat," Delta countered, frowning.
"Have a little fun in life, Carter," was all Death Star responded with as he ran down the shaft. Shaking his head, Delta jumped into it after him, the two running along. The base began to tilt more and then they found themselves sliding down the now tilted shaft. The base must have been going upside down now. Grimacing, Death Star watched as the end grew larger. Reaching out, he grabbed a cord, and stopped himself, thanking his protective gloves, and reached out, snagging Dleta as he flew by.
Gently letting go of the cord, they both landed on the roof with a small thud. Bending down, Death Star examined the roof of the elevator shaft. "Hmmm..."
"See? Told you!"
Suddenly a loud explosion could be heard down the shaft. They both turned their heads and saw a wave of fire shooting down the shaft. Also, the pressure was building up inside the shaft as the walls began to crack. Noticing this, Death Star turned back to the roof, watching it begin to splinter into hundreds of pieces. "Yes, c'mon..."
The fireball came closer, the intense heat pouring off of it. Death Star aimed his blaster at the roof. "I might not be as strong as X, but lets see what I can do!" He fired a level 2 blast straight into the roof, causing a sizeable hole. Delta aimed his rifle and fired the next shot, blasting an even larger hole. By then, the pressure was beginning to cause the two of them to sway, plus the fireball was seven seconds from impacting on them.
"RAM IT!" Death Star shouted and rushed at the holes. Delta followed suit, both of them hitting it at the same time. The holes gave in and broke apart, both of them finding themselves falling now. With all sense of direction confused, Delta looked up and saw the ocean getting bigger. A loud pop could be heard as the fireball shot out from somewhere underneath them. Confused, Delta braced himself for impact against the ocean.
He collided against the ocean, causing a large wave of water to wise, and all his nerves in his body screamed in protest. And with that, everything went black.