Zero teleported down. The sun was just rising now, and he realized that alot of time had passed since his last battle, against the Fleet. Shaking his head, he cleared his thoughts, knowing he was just trying not to think of what he was about to have to do...
Running across
the runways, the Fleet flying by in the air, heading for Space, Zero jumped across
the gap and worked his way over the obstacles. There wasn't a lot to stop him with,
but that could be explained in they didn't have hardly anything set up yet
to really hinder him. That means that had to be counting on something....or someone to
stop him.
Making his way across the traps, Zero arrived in a small area. He glanced to his left and saw the Fleet continuing. X would be waiting for them in space.
Shaking his head again, Zero began to advance to the next building to stop
as much as the Fleet as possible from taking off in space when suddenly Colonel teleported in.
"I don't want to fight. Step back," Zero shouted.
"I'm sorry. I can't let you through..."
"Iris will be sad if she loses you..."
"Don't be so presumptuous Zero!" Colonel snarled, anger thick in his voice
finally. "Save it until after you defeated me!" He brought out his sword. "Show me what you got!" he yelled
and launched himself at Zero with amazing speed. Zero had to dodge it and flip over Colonel, not even getting a chance to
attack, and Colonel was all ready back on the offense again, causing Zero to jump back and jump off the wall, landing behind
Colonel and slashed him.
Colonel teleported and reappeared, stuck his sabre into the air and lightning bolts came crashing down, hitting Zero and causing some damage. Colonel was already slashing towards him, though, before he could move and he got him, causing alot of damage. Zero slashed wildly, and bounced off the wall and slashed again, causing Colonel some damage.
Colonel teleported and appeared behind Zero and slashed, but Zero finally managed to block with his sabre and the two were caught in a deadlock, until Colonel shoved all his weight into it and caused Zero to stagger backwards and slashed him before the Zero could recover.
Zero slashed at Colonel's feet and slashed him good, sending it upward, causing more damage, but Colonel threw purple sonic blasts with his sabre at Zero. Getting hit, Zero began to black out. He was critically low, he new, and anymore damage would be fatal.
Propelling off the wall, Zero slashed Colonel and landed on the opposite wall and slashed him again before Colonel leaped up and slashed at him. Zero let himself fall and slashed Colonel on the way down, hitting him but missing Colonel's attack. Zero then did a dash under Colonel before the larger Reploid landed and stood on the other side of the area. He spared a glance to see that the last of the Fleet was taking off now. Colonel launched himself at him with amazing speed and Zero swung his sabre to try to stop him.
He slashed Colonel with great might as Colonel rammed into him, taking precious life away from Zero. They both staggered backwards, dazed. But then Colonel launched himself at Zero, who propelled off the wall and slashed Colonel as he soared over him. One more hit, and Zero would be dead, he figured.
Colonel launched himself again, slashing this time instead of using bulk like before. Zero blocked and the two got into a deadlock, and Zero finally realized Colonel was in great pain too! He tried to shift his weight on Colonel and Zero saw it was actually working. He knew he was going to only get one chance at his before Colonel over powered him. He rammed all his bulk into Colonel and slashed lower while ducking Colonel's sabre and got him. Colonel collapsed in great pain, and Zero found himself panting in pain.
"Impressive Zero! But it's too late!" Colonel managed to say with great difficulty.
"What!?"
"Repliforce has left for space. Even if I perish, Repliforce lives!" Colonel said triumphetly. What he didn't know what that the Hunters would take care of the Fleet.
"...Colonel," Zero whispered with pity.
"...Zero. Tell Iris that her brother died happy! ...Good bye Zero!" Colonel managed to say, and he slumped the rest of the way down.
"COLONEL!!!" Zero shouted as his friend blew up in a brilliant display of light. Zero sighed and teleported back to HQ, knowing he was going to have to tell Iris what had happened.
X stood there and watched the first resistance of the Repliforce Fleet come up. It split into two, and one half took off on the other side of the world. X did a quick scan and found a hidden Space Station up there. "What!?" he shouted in surprise. This wasn't good. It would be too costly to take the Fleet head on....that meant Zero would have to take it.
"Ignore the second group, attack the miltary part of the Fleet," X said through the Com to Death Star and the other two Fighter Squads, which were launching out now. Death Star was suppose to command the wounded Attack Carrier, which was next to the one X was in, but he had requested to be allowed to fly in one of the Fighters. X had put one of the two Captains, Captain Koff, in charge of it.
The Fighters took off. (Note: Back then, they didn't have names like the ones in the RPG today, and they aren't even the same class) They began to open fire on the Fleet, blowing up some targets, and Repliforce let it's Fighters out.
"Sir," came a voice behind him and X turned to see Double there. He was looking funny.
The 5 other crew members turned their heads and suddenly Double began to transform and he blasted
all five of them, killing them. Now Double was huge, and he had a glowing sword, and he looked
truly evil.
"Double?! Why'd you do that? I trusted you!" gasped X, shocked, and began back away.
"Heh heh heh, you are so naive X. And that will be your downfall, count on it," Double snarled and stepped forward. "My boss wants me to keep you busy while he destroys Earth. Too bad for you." Double launched his attack and X jumped out of the way and blasted him.
Double launched himself at X again and slashed wildly, hitting X's shoulder, causing battery fluid to splurt out. "Damn!" X cursed and jumped across the room and blasted Double over and over again as the Maverick ran at him, firing little blasts that X couldn't dodge, and the Hunter got hit.
Propelling himself off the wall, X blasted Double again as he landed on the ground. Double lashed out and hit X, sending him skidding across the room. "Good bye, X!" Double said and was about to blast when X roared and blasted him with a charged blast. The Maverick stumbled back and fell to the ground, too hurt to continue on. "I can't believe....I lost....to a weakling.... like you...."
X stood there, panting. "Why, Double?"
"You are so naive.....why X? Because I wanted.....too.....but....at least.... your Fleet.....will be wiped out....bwahahahahaha...." Double said and blew up.
X rushed back up to the control panel and saw that they were winning the fight so far, but then he noticed three big bleeps coming from behind the Attack Carrier. 3 Attack Carriers! And the Hunter Fleet didn't know about it.
"Hunters, watch out. We got 3 Attack Carriers coming up behind us. Prepare for some heavy fighting," X informed them. He then called up a backup crew to handle this Attack Carrier, which was a sitting duck until they got up here.
The wounded Attack Carrier started to turn around and began to take off toward the 3 Attack Carriers. X sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Hunter Leader to Gold Leader, to you copy?" asked Death Star over the com. He was in control of Koff's squadron.
"Gold Leader here."
"Listen, I'm going to give you half of my squad. Take out the Fighters here while the rest of us take on the Attack Platforms and Cruisers. Lets home Home One and Two can handle those Attack Cruisers for the time being," Death Star ordered.
"Roger."
"Hunters Seven through Tweleve, break off and join Gold Squadron. The rest of you, follow me in. This is going to be tricky," Death Star said and brought his Fighter in a barrell roll downward and then headed toward one of the Cruisers. He winced from the pain from his earlier injuries.
The Seven Fighters from his group began to open fire on the Cruisers. Hunter Three and Four took out an Attack Platform while Five and Six harrassed one of the Cruisers. Death Star, One, Two, and Seven blew up another Cruiser. Seven was destroyed in the assualt.
He brought the remaining pilots over to assist Five and Six and they blew up that Cruiser. The skies were starting to look clearer, espically with Gold Squadron finishing off the last of the Fighters. "Okay, lets wrap this up on this side and go help Home One and Two take out those Attack Cruisers," he said, keying the com.
X had to sit down from all the shaking from the bridge. They were taking a pounding. But the other Attack Cruiser was also having trouble too. Then X noticed that Repliforce's second Attack Cruiser was advancing toward their side. "We got company. Lay out the welcome mat for them," X said drly.
The wounded Attack Cruiser suddenly blew up, and X sighed. They lost an important weapon there. Now all three Attack Cruiser's were advancing toward them. Suddenly the com crackled to life. "This is Hunter Leader to Home One. Both Squadrons are coming in to help you deal with these," he informed them. X knew that less than 20 Fighters weren't going to be a match against the might of an Attack Cruiser.
Zero had repaired himself and arrived in the control room to find Iris when the alarms started going off. "Zero, Zero! The Repliforce has entered a Space Station. Upon further analizes we have have discovered it is a giant weapon. Scramble up there!" came Cain's voice.
Zero looked around for Iris. "Iris? Where are you? Iris! She left with them? NO!!!" shouted Zero. He sighed. "I'm on my way!" he shouted at the com and then whispered. "Don't do this to me Iris." He teleported up to the station, which was code named The Final Weapon just as they set up a teleportation blockade. Now no one could teleport in, and no one could teleport out. It was up to Zero now, as he looked around.
X watched as part of the bridge exploded, sending everyone flying backward. Fires were raging now. "Commander, we took a direct hit to the bridge. We have no control left up here anymore," said one of his Lieutentants. "We have to go to the Second Bridge, sir."
X nodded and watched as the suriving bridge crew members take off. Sighing, he went over to the weapon station, which was barely working, and began to fire it. He couldn't have them a sitting duck.
Suddenly the Attack Cruiser blew up, and the blast waves hit the Hunter's. X fell backwards. That was one down, two to go. Standing up, he hurried off to catch up to his crew.
Just as he thought, there was a gaping hole in the side of it. Flying in, Death Star began to fire repeatedly, destroying stuff. He was in the Outer Structure, in the engine part. So he probably wouldn't even enter the part where the crews were.
One and Two followed him to a key, picking up on his idea. "Scan for the largest power source possible. Then the second, and then the third. Those are the three cores. Then we'll each take on one," Death Star said. A few moments later, the three seperated, each going to tackle its own core.
Suddenly Home One rocked and sent him stubbling. Alarms were going off and the lights went out, replaced by the back-up light system, which made everything red. "Sir, we're taken hull damage. We lost decks four through nine. We need to pull out now...." the Lieutenant said.
X thought. If they pulled out, then the Attack Cruisers would get away and cause trouble again in the future. This would not be good. Sighing, X shook his head. "We have to take at least one of them down before we get out of the way," he told him. The Reploid nodded and went back. Suddenly Home One lurched again. "We've lost half of our turbo cannons...." the Lieutenant said.
"Damn."
The Core shook with some damage, and he swung around again, blasting at the Core while trying to dodge the defenses. Suddenly one of them got him and his Fighter began to drag, smoke blocking his back view. But he kept on firing at the Core. And suddenly, he was hit again and the controls locked up on him. He was about to ram the Core.
Still firing as he rammed into it, Two crashed into the Core and it blew up, sending a huge fire wave throughout the Attack Cruiser, blowing up 1/3 of it.
"So you fought with my brother..."
"I'm sorry."
"Then it's over. Everything..." Iris moaned.
"Wait Iris! Listen to me!" Zero cried out.
"Good bye Zero..." Iris said and through up a purple orb. It enlosed her in a armor battle suit. "Forgive me, Zero..." she added and than began to attack him. Zero began to lash into the suit over and over with his sabre until the orb popped out. Seeing he was causing the suit no damage, he began to attack the orb over and over, dodging it's traps and tricks.
After taking a resonable amount of damage, he destroyed the orb, thinking that Iris was now defenseless and wouldn't attack. It backfired on him. It caused the suit to blow up, destroying the room and Iris.
Zero ran across the room toward Iris' limp body. "IRIS!!!! IRIS!!!!!! IRIS!!!!" he shouted to her and then went over and kneeled down besider her and took her hand.
"Zero."
"Hang in there, Iris!" Zero pleaded.
"Please...stay away from Repliforce. That way we can live together where only Repliforce exist."
"There is no world just for Reploids."
"I know...I just wanted to believe in it....to live with you..." she managed to say, gave him a weak smile, and died. Zero picked up her body and began to scream in rage.
"NOOOO!!!!!! WHAT IS ALL THIS FOR?! WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOR!!!!!!!!!"
"Sir...I don't think we can fight much longer...." the Lieutenant said. X nodded.
"Okay, start pulling back, but don't let go of the firepower..." he finally said.
"One, this baby is going up. Follow my lead," Death Star said and shot out in front of him, going through the small areas as fast as his ship would take him. One followed his trail with ease and a few seconds later they both shot out of the Attack Cruiser as it exploded in a brillant ball of fire.
"Good job One. Now lets go help the others with that last one," Death Star said.
Smiling, X finally sat down, exhausted. But then the Attack Cruiser cranked up it's engines and started to fly towards them, trying to ram them. "Pull us out of it's way, and keep firing!" X shouted, getting back up and looking out of the viewport. This wasn't going to be easy but....suddenly the Attack Cruiser blew up. He turned to the Lieutenant.
"We got her, sir."
Nodding, X went over to the Com and brought up Cain at HQ. "Repliforce's fleet has been stopped, but we took sever damage."
Cain looked worried. "The Repliforce Station....it's actually a giant weapon, X. Code named: The Final Weapon. You must stop it."
"We can't, sir. We're too battered down."
"Then it's up to Zero....lets hope he can do it."
General, who was sitting down, saw Zero and stood up,
destroyed his chair, and looked down on the Hunter. Zero spoke first. "General! Many people died because
of you! Those lives are on your conscience!"
"Independence always has a high price..." General said.
"What about Iris!? Did you forget her?"
"I have no regrets. Come on Zero. My fate is sealed...I have no choice," General said and launched into an attack against Zero. Zero crawled up the wall and kept hitting the General in the head as flew across the room. He kept repeating this, doding the General's laser spikes and other attacking orbs. Finally the General blew up and he stood there, floating, totally managled.
Suddenly the entire place began to shake. "What is this!?" Zero shouted. "What happpened!?"
"No! This weapon can't be working..." General said in amazement.
"General! What's wrong?"
"Someone else is controlling it!"
Then...Earth's in grave danger! It must be stopped! I'll handle this..." Zero said and teleported out of there to the Control Room deck. He began to run along until he arrived before the doors to the Control Room, and suddenly a phantom appeared. The one that had been talking to General eariler.
"Hee, hee, hee. Good work Zero!"
Zero reconigized the voice and his jaw fell open. "You're...Sigma! ...Sot it was you!"
Sigma laughed evilly. "Hee, hee, hee. Yes! Simply brilliant! You even defeated Colonel and Iris!"
Zero shook with rage. "...You made me do it!"
Sigma snickered. "No. You wanted to destroy them! Allow me to remind you that I was once the leader of the Maverick Hunters..." he began and brought back a flashback memory in Zero.
"Update me on the situation with this red Maverick."
"He has destroyed Gamma and Beta Squadrons, sir."
"You may leave. I will handle this personally," Sigma said and began to walk towards the cave.
"By yourself?"
"I don't want anymore of my men dying," Sigma snarled and he walked over to the blast doors and opened them, stepping in. A red Maverick had his back turned to him, but he quickly turned around. It was Zero.
Zero launched himself at Sigma, and began to punch at the speed of light. Sigma easily dodged them, a smile forming on his face as he kept phasing and missing the punches. Zero looked more determined at this and began to pick up the rythum.
Sigma threw him over his shoulder and let him crash into the ground, then grabbed him and threw his head through the roof. Zero brought out his head and gave Sigma an evil grin and launched himself at him. The two punched at each other, their fists connecting, the two were thrown back. Sigma kicked Zero around some more, but the red Maverick jumped up and grabbed a pipe and launched himself at Sigma again.
Sigma brought out his sabre and the two connected, the pipe and the sabre reflecting off amazing energy as the two stood locked that way. Until finally Zero went flying a little ways behind Sigma. Sigma roared in pain, his arm taken off and it crashed onto the ground. Grinning, Zero began to rip into Zero, ripping his face up.
Just as he was about to finish Sigma, a buzzing noice went off and W flashed on his helment. Screaming in pain, Zero flung himself back. Sigma got up and punched the crystal on Zero's head, destroying the W and it and knocked Zero out.
Limping away from the cavern, he ordered his shocked men to have that Maverick studied.
"What's your point?! Are you that surprised?" Zero asked.
"Sigma chuckled. "Ah...Zero! You're most impressive!"
"Sigma...I will defeat you!" Zero said. Sigma teleported away and Zero entered the Control Room as the phantom appeared, floating above his head.
"Are you ready for your final journey?" asked Sigma and began to attack Zero with amazing speed. Zero used his sabre and made it use fire, which this verision of Sigma was weak against. He easily took Sigma out.
Sigma crashed to the floor, and then threw off the cloak and revealed his body. "Are you ready for round 2? I've been waiting for you Zero! It's time for us to settle this!" Sigma said and they furiously began to fight. Sigma threw his hammer at Zero, who dodged and watched it lodge into the wall/ He them jumped over Sigma, who was firing eye rays and began to slash him repeatedly. Sigma them jumped up and his hammer flew back into his hand. He thew it in a circle, hitting Zero back.
Grabbing his hammer, he threw it at Zero again. Zero dodged, but it hit the floor, and Sigma began to launch a series of attacks, throwing boomerangs and his hammer was sending electric volts all around. Zero kept getting hit over and over, until he finally managed to hit Sigma and he blew up.
Suddenly the floor exploded underneath him and Zero fell into a sub area, the roof caving in. A deformed Sigma appeared, the size of the room and holding a gun. "Ha ha ha! You're finished Zero! Iris is waiting for you! Tremble in terror, you are finished!" Sigma taunted and vanished. Suddenly a Sigma head appeared on the left side of the room and began to suck Zero in, who layed into a series of hits and slashes.
The head vanished and three statues began to attack Zero. They soon left and the big Sigma appeared again. Using his flaming sabre move again, Zero kept hitting Sigma who couldn't shoot him in the position he was in. The big Sigma left again and the statues appeared, attack Zero. Destroying the blue one, the other two vanished and the Sigma head appeared again.
It blew Zero towards a bed of spikes, but he used his speed and slashed the head over and over. The head exploded into a brilliant light and the statues all returned. Destroying the red one, which was firing fireballs at him, the big Sigma appeared again. Zero hit it four times with his flaming sabre and Sigma blew up a little.
"...Hee hee hee," Sigma laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"This weapon is aimed at Earth...No one can stop it..." Sigma said.
"No!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!! Good bye, Zero!" Sigma laughed and then blew up in a brilliant light. Zero ran through the doors into the Reactor Core and General flew in, still badly damaged. "General!"
"...Zero...I was...wrong. Sigma...He blinded me to the truth..."
"It's okay...Rest."
"...With my body I can stop the weapon," General said.
"But then you'll..."
"It's over for this soilder. Farewell!" General told him and flew down into the Core, the entire place shaking uncontrolablly and begining to blow up.
"General!!!" Zero shook his head and teleported to the docking bay. Getting into one of the shuttles, he flew away from The Final Weapon as it exploded, the sonicwaves close behind him. Hitting the thrusters, Zero managed to escape it, and then settled back in his chair, letting memories run through his mind. "Maybe Reploids were meant to go Maverick after all..." he said and flew toward Earth.