Rebirth of the Machine (Updated: 03/03/07)

[Andrew]

Alright, well.. I told you all that I was going to start up the 2nd draft of Rebirth of the Machine, because of the horribly planned plot for the 1st draft, and now it's finally ready to be shown off again as the 2nd draft. I got Monarch to lock the old thread at BnG, but you can find the 1st draft right here, for nostalgia's sake.

On with the show, eh?

~~~~~~~~~~Prologue (1)

A loud bell chimed three times, indicating that lounging time was over and it was time to head to your classrooms and get ready for a day of learning. One such classroom was slowly filling up as the last bell chimed, indicating that students should be in their seats or they were late. This particular teacher watched as the last few stragglers shuffled into the room, but he made no tardy marks upon his roster. He knew that each and everyone student would show up for his class. He clapped his hands together once to get their attention.

“Alright kiddies, it’s time for you all to pay attention.” He rubbed his hands together.

“What past cataclysmic event are we going over today?” Asked a kid with his feet up on his desk.

“We’re doing the review. It’s everything this time.” Groans resonated through out the small room, “Oh, hush..” He moved around in front of his desk, sitting down on it.

“We’re going to start at the beginning..”

* * *

The year was 1980, a class of students was graduating from M.I.T. The Valedictorian, Albert Wily, and the Salutatorian, Thomas Light, both received degrees in the fields of A.I. systems and robotics.

In 1988, now doctor, Thomas Light came upon much success with his robotic designs, selling them for profit to industries and for personal use as well. He constructed a much larger laboratory, beginning his work on a more advanced A.I., but he came upon a hurtle he couldn’t overcome. Dr. Light turned to Albert Wily for assistance, whose militaristic robotic designs were floundering in the water, Wily accepted Light’s offer and came on as his assistant.

In the year of 1995, enormous progress was made by the duo in the construction of the new advanced A.I. systems. Light already began integrating this new A.I. into his industrial and personal robotic designs, giving credit to Albert, whose resentment for his partner has begun to grow.

At the turn of the second millennia and on through 2002, the Light-Wily programming went public. Due to the success in the A.I. design, Light and Wily began designing H.R.A.s. Wily refused the offer of full partnership. In mid-June, Blues ‘Proto Man’ WilyLight is completed. The International Robotics Commission forms, creating the Law of Robotics as its first line of duty.

In 2003 through 2004, Light and Wily began designing even more advanced robots, named Mega Man X and Zero, with Free-Will Circuitry. Wily quit, taking the finished Blues, the unfinished Zero, and many other designs with him. Light continued to work on his two newest H.R.A.s, finishing them; Rock and Roll.

Within the eight year of span of 2005 and 2013, Light finished six robots for industrial use, although they are non-H.R.A.s, they are more advanced then any robot before them. Wily used the newly upgraded Blues to attack Light’s lab, stealing these six new robots, Rock, and Roll. Rock escaped from his prison, taking Roll with him, but was unable to save the other six robots. He returned home to be upgraded by Light, using the same type of modifications Wily used on Blues; Mega Man was born. Rock ‘Mega Man’ Light destroyed the ‘Sinister Six’ with his new upgrades. Wily tried this twice more, but was foiled both times by Mega Man. On his fourth attempt, Wily kidnapped Kalinka Cossack, daughter of the famed Doctor Cossack of Russia. Wily blackmailed Cossack into constructing eight new robots to battle against Mega Man. Mega Man was sent out to destroy them, doing so easily. He confronted Cossack, only to discover that Wily was behind it all. He rescued Kalinka with the help of Kalinka’s science project, Ran, another H.R.A. with the minor set-back of being destroyed by a single touch, but easily rebuilt from scrap parts. Mega Man also brought Blues back to Dr. Light to be repaired and reprogrammed. Wily was imprisoned after his sixth attempt, but a set of ‘failsafe’ robots he set up for just an occasion broke him out of prison. Wily’s newest robot, another H.R.A., Forte introduced himself at this point, deceiving Mega Man into befriending him. After Forte destroyed Light’s lab, Mega Man tried to end Wily’s life, but he shut down due to Dr. Light not wanting a human death on any of his robots’ hands, allowing Dr. Wily to escape once more.

In the year 2014, two beings from outer space battled outside the Earth’s atmosphere, until both plummeted into the Earth’s surface. One, named Duo, was on a mission to destroy the other being, who was made of an energy called ‘Dark Energy.’ Upon impact, Mega Man and Rush were busy battling it out with Forte and Gospel, but Dr. Light called Mega Man out and sent him to an island where a mysterious reading was being registered. As he arrived, Dr. Wily was seen fleeing the seen with a mysterious purple orb. Before chasing Dr. Wily down, he discovered a damaged robot and asked Dr. Light to return him to base and try to repair him. Dr. Wily had discovered the crash site of the other being and immediately stole the dark energy to use for himself. He released four robot masters for Mega Man to contend with, all of which were easily dispatched. Mega Man collected the energy cores each Robot Master had been upgraded with and Dr. Light identified that each had been infected with this new energy. He returned the lab whereupon Dr. Light told him that the mysterious robot would be fine, he just needed to rest, and then explained to Mega Man that this new energy contained great power and must not fall into the wrong hands; namely Dr. Wily’s hands. Duo awakened once they left the lab, saw the cores infused with the dark energy, became enraged, and fled the lab to deal with the problem himself. With Rush, Mega Man followed the mysterious robot, who he found in a mine shaft on the other side of the world. They battled for a moment, but Blues showed up to inform Mega Man that Wily’s new fortress, the Wily Tower, was just ahead. Mega Man headed out, but was captured by a giant robot. Luckily, the mysterious robot showed up to save him, introducing himself as Duo, and easily dispatching of the giant robot. Duo told Mega Man the reason he had come to Earth, how the energy currently in Wily’s hands would eventually take over the world entirely if it was not completely eradicated, but the Wily Tower had a barrier that neither of the two could get through, but Duo knew that Wily’s remaining robot masters each held a part of the key to deactivate it. Mega Man headed out to dispatch the last four robot masters while Duo headed around the world to dispatch the energy that was not under Wily’s control. Mega Man hastily destroyed the final four robot masters, releasing the barrier surrounding the Tower. He rushed the Tower, destroying all the robotic henchmen that stood in his way, including the dark energy infected Forte and Gospel, and ultimately defeating the doctor as well. Unfortunately, Mega Man became trapped inside the Tower as it began to crumble through the force of the dark energy. Mega Man escaped somehow, as he is later found by Duo in an open field. Duo cleansed Mega Man of the infection of the dark energy within his system, cleansing the Earth of the last trace of dark energy as he did so. Duo told Blues to give Mega Man a message for him when he awoke, “Thank you”, and then left them both.

In 2015, Dr. Wily attempted once more with a new robot named King, who claimed to be the strongest robot ever built. Forte and Mega Man ‘teamed’ up to take him down, destroying him and his army of robots, some new and some old, only to discover that Wily was behind it once more. After losing Blues, the dark energy being eradicated, Forte’s disobedience, and the betrayal and destruction of King, Wily turned to the unfinished Zero. Dr. Light had continued his construction of Mega Man X all the while, arming him with a buster and armor.

In 2017, Mega Man X and Zero were both completed. Wily sent Zero to Light’s lab, besting Mega Man. Zero ended Light’s life at this point, but not before Light set up X’s pod to run ethical testing for thirty years. Blues took Roll and the others to a safer place. Zero returned to Wily, informing him of Light’s death and of X. Wily sent him back, but Zero was distracted by security drones that Blues had set up, giving him the chance to damage Zero enough to have him retreat. Zero returned once more to Wily, who installed a virus into him, but forgot to repair him. Zero headed out once more, but got attacked by security drones before ever leaving Wily’s lab. These security drones were under the command of three H.R.A.s; Cronos, of WilyLight design, Hachiman, another one of Wily’s deserters, and Ran Cossack. Zero bested all three of them, but he failed to destroy any of them, giving them a chance to flee. While Zero was occupied, Blues dropped in on Wily and ended his life, much to Wily’s surprise. Blues then took out the support structures to the fortress before leaving. Zero, and his virus, were buried underneath a large amount of rubble. Blues returned to the rest of the Light family at this point, Ran also returned to his home in Russia. Cronos and Hachiman seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth.

* * *

“Did anyone ever find out where Cronos and Hachiman went to?” Asked a student with large round glasses.

“Not at that time, but their story comes forward later on.”

“I think they ran off to be butt buddies.” Said the same kid with his feet up on his desk.

“And that right there would get you shot by both of them.”

“Gotcha.” The student removed his feet from his desk and placed them on the floor.

“Another question, wasn’t the official name of the energy that Duo was after actually Evil Energy, not Dark Energy?”

“Most of the files on record call it Dark Energy, but there are a few case files of it being called Evil Energy. We went with the more used version so we didn’t confuse the public. Well, that’s all for today’s lesson. Report back here tomorrow so that we may continue.” The dulled scraping of chairs across carpet sounded as the classroom emptied out, leaving only the teacher, who tidied up the notes upon his desk.


* * * * *

The teacher slammed down a very large book on to the corner of his desk, making all of the students turn toward the front of the room and pay very close attention to him. The teacher reached up and took his glasses from his nose and proceeded to clean them, before replacing them back upon the bridge of his nose with a smile.

“Glad to see you’re all back and ready to learn, and very silent too. I might have to cut today’s lesson short for such good behavior,” he tossed open the book he had slammed down and flipped nimbly through much of the book before stopping, “Alright.. Where were we?”

“2017.” It was the kid with the large round glasses.

“Ah yes..”

* * *

In 2039, Zero remained buried in the collapsed Skull Fortress. Earthquakes rocked the land, reducing Light’s lab to rubble, burying X’s capsule with it as well. Rock’s body disappeared, along with Blues and Roll.

The scans that Dr. Light put into the automated system on X’s capsule finished testing his ethical systems in the year 2047, but X remained buried in the rubble.

Between 2063 and 2099, the pollution of the planet increased to critical levels. Underground cities were being constructed with the help of robots, but none of which were as advanced as Wily’s or Light’s designs. The United Earth Government, U.E.G., was formed in 2071. Nuclear weapons were launched into the sun. Stockpiles of waste were set for sun-disposal as well. Underground city populations continued to grow. New terra-forming stations were established and new recycling technologies were developed to ease the stress on the Earth’s resources.

From 2100 to 2104, humans were once again able to walk on Earth. A botanist by the name of Phillip Cain discovered the remains of Light’s lab on an archaeological dig, discovering the capsule that contained the still inactivated X. Upon activating him, X’s behavior was childlike in nature. It took him six months to go from childlike to that of a teenager. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were successful. X was fully matured after only four years of being activated. Dr. Cain used X’s template, and X’s assistance, to create a production line of H.R.A.s dubbed Reploids. Factories began popping up worldwide.

From 2109 on through 2113, reports came streaming in to Dr. Cain of overly aggressive to near insane Reploids. He studied a newer model Reploid on the production line and found the problem to be in the Neural Matrix. He rooted out the problem in his newest H.R.A.s. The reports kept coming in, and these problematic Reploids were dubbed Mavericks. Dr. Cain decided to create a force to contend with the Mavericks, bringing together the Maverick Hunters, lead by Sigma. Dr. Cain’s progress in H.R.A.s reached new heights as Reploids became semi-organic, needing nourishment and rest for these parts, instead of just a recharge in a capsule. In 2110, the Sky Lagoon fortress was constructed for usage by the Maverick Hunters.

Things get interesting between the years of 2114 and 2115. A team of archaeologists excavate a buried lab in the southwestern region of the United States; Wily’s laboratory. They accidentally reactivated Zero while excavating. Once awakened, he went on a rampage and killed almost all of the archaeological team. The remaining few radioed in the Maverick Hunters to come and deal with this problem. Gamma showed up with his unit and another, but proved to be no much for the Red Nightmare, as he massacred Gamma’s entire unit effortlessly and severely crippled the other group. They radioed back to HQ to get Sigma to come in and deal with this menace. Sigma arrived and entered into the compound alone to battle Zero. Zero was beating him around like a piñata, until he started screaming and grabbing at his head gem. Sigma took this opportunity to its fullest and landed a direct blow against the gem on Zero’s forehead, crushing it completely, knocking the red Reploid out. Sigma left the scene silently, acknowledging none of the cheering from his fellow hunters. Zero’s body was sent to Dr. Cain himself, who repaired him, reprogrammed him, and then initiated him into the Hunters. Sigma began to roundup the Mavericks he was sent out to destroy, creating an army of Mavericks, and finally declared war upon the human race and any Reploid that didn’t join him in his cause to eliminate the inferior race. X joined up with the Hunters, against Cain’s wishes, and his training was also cut short so that he could be sent out on a mission with Zero. He and Zero were sent to New York City and they rushed through the Maverick riddled area before eventually getting separated. Both continued on, despite being separated, and X stumbled upon Vile with his ride armor. X was outmatched completely and was quickly within the grasp of Vile’s ride armor’s arm, being crushed. Zero showed up just in time to save him, blowing the ride armor’s arm off with a single shot from his buster. They both returned to base after cleaning up the leftover Mavericks they could find. Eight Maverick bases were confirmed, X heading to each in turn. En route to one of the bases, he stumbled upon a capsule that contained a hologram of Dr. Light. Upon receiving the upgrade, he informed HQ to come and take the pod back to the base for him. X destroyed all eight Mavericks, as well as obtained more upgrades from Light Capsules he encountered along the way. Sigma’s fortress was finally revealed and Zero and X head there together. Zero cleared out the area around the base as X snuck inside. Nearing the end of the fortress, X watched Zero chase Vile into a room. With sounds of battle ringing in his ears, he followed them as quickly as he could, but he was too late; Vile had captured Zero. Vile once again bested X in a match, but Zero broke free fro his cage and self-destructed, destroying Vile’s ride armor. X easily dispatched of the Maverick, getting in a few last words with Zero before he went offline. X rushed off to defeat the leader of the Mavericks. He first took down Velgaurder, Sigma’s robotic pet dog, and then took down Sigma himself.

From 2115 on through 2119, X fought hard against the Mavericks, gaining ranks quickly and easily within the Hunters. He never was promoted past a B Rank due to his pacifistic nature. The X-Hunters showed up, along with a present for X; a reactivated Zero with a beam saber, made with a single task in mind, destroy X. X survived the encounter and dealt a deactivating blow to Zero, who he took back to Dr. Cain for repairs and a reprogramming. X was shipped out to destroy the eight Maverick bases, as well as the X-Hunters; Agile, Violen, and Serges. Upon his return, Zero had been reactivated. He informed X that Sigma had been reactivated as well, and only he knew where. The two head out and destroy the Maverick menace together, ending the second Sigma War. A short time later, a group known as the Shadow Hunters emerged. A member known as Techno hacked into the world’s Mother Computer, destabilizing all the networks, allowing Mavericks to roam free. X, naturally, volunteered to be sent into cyberspace to try and put a stop to this madness with the help of Middy, a Reploid child prodigy. The eight Mavericks set up to intercept X in his mission were all ones he’s faced in the past, so he had no trouble in taking them out. On the way to the fourth Maverick, X encountered one of the Shadow Hunters; Zain. Due the size of Zain’s sword, X had to be on the tip of his toes, but he eventually destroyed the Maverick. He continued onward, and on his way to the last Maverick, he encountered a second Shadow Hunter; Geemel. Geemel was thoroughly pissed at X for destroying his friend, Zain, and went all out on the Maverick Hunter. X, however, overcame and destroyed the Shadow Hunter. X finally found Techno and destroyed the computer with which Techno was using to hack the Mother Computer. Middy revealed that Techno and he were twins and they both perish simultaneously. Sigma revealed that he had been controlling Techno, as well as the rest of the Shadow Hunters, and X chased him down. He took down the cyber-version of Sigma easily, exiting the core with Zero. After ending this cyber-threat, a scientist by the name of Dr. Doppler rose into fame with his anti-virus for the Maverick threat, that reduced their aggression. These reformed Reploids built a city close to their savior named Doppler Town. All seemed well until the Maverick Reploids reverted back to their aggressive selves and started to cause trouble once more, Dr. Doppler was held to blame. X and Zero were sent to quell this new threat, but quickly returned to Hunter HQ to destroy the forces from Doppler Town that were attacking it, along with a slew of Hunters that had gone Maverick as well, including X and Zero’s friend Mac. After finishing off the onslaught at the base, X and Zero head out to take out eight key positions inside Doppler Town, as well as the Mavericks at those eight posts. After defeating two of the Mavericks, Dr. Doppler sent out Bit, Byte, and Vile to deal with the Hunters. Along with the last six Mavericks, X and Zero dealt with those three as well. The two made there way quickly through Doppler’s fortress, not letting anything get in there way. They finally got to the doctor himself and were forced to do battle with him, stopping his rampage. Upon his defeat, he regained his sanity and informed them that Sigma had not been defeated and had turned into a computer virus that caused Reploids to go made just by coming into contact with them. The two headed off to try and destroy the Maverick leader once more in his new Doppler-built body. After destroying his first and second form, Sigma showed X and Zero his virus form and tried to infect them both. Doppler got the drop on him and used his body, now containing a working anti-virus for the virus and self-destructed himself to stop Sigma. What was left of Doppler was taken back to the HQ when X and Zero returned themselves. He was placed into a stasis for repairs, and eventually a reactivation.

* * *

“Alright, any questions?”

“Was the virus that Dr. Wily implanted into Zero transferred into Sigma Cain during their first encounter?” A girl with dark brown hair put up into pigtails.

“It is believed to have, yes. When Sigma came in contact with Zero’s head gem and shattered it, it is surmised that the virus was released into Sigma at that point. It is also believed that the virus mutated upon entering into Sigma’s system, but we’ll get into that later.”

“Did Dr. Doppler ever have a working anti-virus for the Maverick threat?” The kid with the large round glasses.

“Not at the beginning of the third war, no. What he had actually created was more like a suppressant, hiding the virus from inspection, but not completely removing it from the system, letting it reactivate at a later time. The anti-virus he used at the end was made simply to destroy Sigma that single time, no other anti-viruses ever came up from the information taken from Doppler’s notes.”

“Why did they take Dr. Doppler back to the base with them?” The same kid.

“It is believed that since Doppler had regained his sanity and helped the Hunters to defeat Sigma that he would be of later use to the Reploid race. More information on that later.”

“Everything seems to come later..” The kid with his feet on the desk, who was now leaning back in his chair as well.

“Well, you’ll just have to keep showing up to class and then you’ll understand everything, now won’t you?” The teacher grinned, pushing his glasses back up, “Alright, well. I’ll see you all tomorrow for the next section of the review.”

[swimstud600]

Sounds good to me, lots of info for those who aren't sure of the full story and you presented it in a new way.

[Andrew]

~~~~~~~~~~Prologue (2)

The teacher brushed a hand through his slightly greying hair, watching as his students entered into the classroom. The same few showing up seconds after the bell, but like always, he made no intention of making a mark on his attendance list. He leaned forward over his desk, smiling sharply.

“Everyone ready to learn? Who knows where we last left off?”

“We just finished the Doppler Town section.” The kid with his feet up on the desk.

“It seems even the rebels are starting to pay attention to the lessons. It’s about time.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, teach.” That same kid smirked.

“Uh huh, alright.. We’re moving on to the Soul Erasure section now.”

* * *

In 2124, mysterious events began to occur concerning Laguz Island. Reploids around the world began to lose their DNA souls, and those souls were being sent to Laguz Island to strengthen an undead army of Mavericks. With assistance from Iris, as their navigator, X and Zero were sent out to discover what was happening and put a stop to it. They also discovered that the Mavericks on the island were also using the DNA souls from Reploids to create items, something that Iris mentioned she was able to do with Maverick DNA souls. Zero suggested that he and X split up to take down the eight undead Mavericks commanders. After X defeated Neon Tiger, Volt Catfish, Launch Octopus, and Flame Mammoth and Zero defeated Tunnel Rhino, Wire Sponge, Overdrive Ostrich, and Blast Hornet, the two met up near the end of the fortress on the island. There were two passageways, so they once again decided to split up. X took the upper route and encountered Berkana, while Zero took the lower route and encountered Berkana’s right-hand man Gareth. Berkana was a Reploid Researcher willingly working under Sigma, while Gareth was blind to the truth behind her actions, believing that they were only erasing the souls of “evil” Reploids. After Berkana’s defeat at the hands of X, Gareth became obsessed with defeating him, which stripped him of his logic, leading to his demise at Zero’s hands. X and Zero met up after the defeat of Berkana and Gareth, where Sigma revealed himself to be the one behind this devious plot. The two hunters fought against him together, easily dispatching the Maverick leader again. They returned to Hunter HQ to congratulate Iris on a job well done as her first time as a navigator.

Peace was welcomed in the year of 2125, but it went downhill on through 2128. Cain Labs and the U.E.G. decided it was best to create a supplementary force known as the Repliforce, to help the Maverick Hunters efficiently take down the Maverick threat once and for all. Zero was assigned to act as liaison between the two Reploid factions. Zero and Colonel Aiden befriended one another, and Zero also began to date Colonel’s sister Iris. Six months after the Repliforce was established, Cain Labs found its methods ineffective, questionable, and potentially dangerous in the Maverick defense. To make matters worse, General had been meeting behind the scenes with a mysterious figure who was plotting the Hunter’s demise, insinuating their being a “significant threat” to the Repliforce’s jurisdiction. Sigma had been in hiding for just over one year, and five years prior to that. Sigma converted Magma Dragoon, leader of Unit 14 of the Maverick Hunters, to crash the Sky Lagoon into the city below. Magma Dragoon eagerly agreed to crash the floating city, if only because he figured it would get him a chance to fight Zero. While Magma Dragoon set up the Sky Lagoon to crash, Sigma unleashed a giant dragon Reploid with the insignia of Repliforce on its side. X and Zero discover Magma Dragoon in the core room of the Sky Lagoon, but he claimed to have just gotten there as well, claiming that the Repliforce’s dragon Reploid was responsible. All three teleport off, with X and Zero landing in the city below after the Sky Lagoon had smashed into the ground. The destruction was immense, with thousands of casualties of both Reploids and humans and causing injuries to even more. X and Zero rush through the destruction, searching for the dragon Reploid that they believe had caused this catastrophe. They discover the body of Cronos amongst the ruin and send him back to base, where upon being repaired, was hired on as a Hunter, because the pay was better than working at the Sky Lagoon. They also ran into Iris along the way and Zero stayed behind to make sure she was okay. X continued on, eventually finding the Reploid and dispatching it. He informed Zero that he was heading back to HQ. Aiden showed up to take Iris back to the Repliforce base. Zero asked him to disarm and return to the Hunter HQ for questioning to resolve this matter. Aiden, feeling insulted by such a request, refused to cooperate and left, along with Iris. Zero returned to the Hunter HQ, informing X what Colonel Aiden had said. Repliforce started their coup, claiming independence from Earth and that space would be their home. Sigma began infecting key Repliforce officers, forcing the Hunters to deal with them, angering the Repliforce further. Iris and Double showed up to assist the Hunters, Iris trying to convince Zero to stop and Double helping X. The two destroyed the Maverick Repliforce officers, Split Mushroom telling them to guess who was actually behind this scheme. When they came across Magma Dragoon, he informed them that he was the one actually behind the Sky Lagoon crashing. He also informed them both that Sigma is behind it just before his destruction. The Repliforce finished their construction of their space station, but Sigma converted it into a weapon capable of destroying the entire Earth. X and Zero piece the whole scheme together and split up. X confronted Double upon the space station, where he revealed that he was a double agent for Sigma, but he was no match for the Hunter. X hurried on to take on the General, while Zero encountered Colonel. Zero bested the Repliforce officer, but wasn’t counting on Iris taking Colonel’s soul into herself and began attacking him. Against his will, he fought her. He miscalculated his finishing blow and struck her energy core, destroying her. X entered into General’s chamber and they spoke briefly before X was forced to fight him, and damage him immensely before he stopped. Sigma took control of the Final Weapon, the Repliforce space station, while X was busy fighting General. Zero rushed on to stop Sigma, while General told X to stop Sigma. X showed up to watch as Zero reduced Sigma to nothing but scrap metal, but the Maverick menace was somehow able to activate the cannon on the space station. General used what little power he had left to intercept the blast from the cannon, protecting the Earth, but destroying himself in the process. X and Zero activated the self-destruct sequence on the station and took an escape pod back down to Earth.

In 2131, prior to the fifth Maverick war, Dr. Cain passed away and the leadership of the Maverick Hunters was placed on to the shoulders of a Reploid built just for such a position; Signas. Brought in along with Signas were Lifesaver; a medical Reploid able to create multiple copies of himself to be able to efficiently repair more damaged Hunters at once, Douglas; a mechanic Reploid who could create something out of nothing and have it actually work, as well as Alia; a navigator who could assist Hunters during their missions. Alia informed X and Zero that the Hunter base was under attack by none other than Sigma, the two were sent out to intercept Sigma during his assault, but his defeat was planned from the start. As X and Zero destroyed him, he released the Sigma Virus with the explosion, spreading the Maverick Virus worldwide. Sigma paid off a mercenary Reploid by the name of Dynamo to force the Eurasia colony to come crashing down as well. The Hunter ranks were crippled from the worldwide infection of the Maverick threat. Douglas informed Signas, X, and Zero of two ways to stop the Eurasia colony from crashing into the planet. One was to use an out-of-date cannon, Enigma, to blast the colony into pieces small enough to disintegrate in the atmosphere. The other was to crash a large shuttle into the colony to create the same effect. The only problem was that the parts needed to assemble Enigma and make the shuttle ready were in the hands of eight Mavericks. X and Zero rushed to retrieve these pieces, Douglas having also informed them that they only had sixteen hours before it would be too late to stop Eurasia. They destroy the eight Mavericks and returned to the base. Douglas repaired and upgraded the Enigma cannon using the parts they had gathered, but the shot failed to do enough damage to the colony. Zero then volunteered to crash the shuttle into the colony. Douglas hurriedly added the parts needed to the shuttle and Zero was launched into space. Upon impact, Zero used the escape pod to return to Earth, but the crash was a success, to a degree. Eurasia still caused considerable damage to the Earth from the explosion. Zero set out after Sigma once he had landed and X followed suit. X arrived to find Zero badly beaten, half of his body missing, but Sigma was in a similar state, barely functioning. X rushed to Zero’s side, lifting what was left of him off the ground. Sigma used what was left of his energy to fire a laser through both X’s and Zero’s chests. As Zero fell from X’s grasp, he gathered enough energy into his buster to fire off one last shot, finishing Sigma off. A recovery team arrived later, but found only X and Zero’s saber laying nearby. Six weeks passed had passed and the clean up progress was becoming hindered by what people were called “phantom Zero,” the original was pronounced dead. X headed to the Sky Lagoon crash site to defeat a giant Maverick, but a purple Zero showed up and destroyed it for him and then vanished. X asked Alia if she saw what he did, she confirmed that it couldn’t not be Zero. X got attacked by High Max, but his buster dealt no damage to High Max’s armor, but High Max was the one to retreat. Alia and X discover the bizarre sighting of this purple Zero coincide with global reports. Accompanying this phantom Zero was a amnesiac virus that put Reploids into a Nightmare-like state. Several days passed before a public announcement was made by a Reploid named Isoc, who explained that a group of investigators, being lead by High Max, were out looking into the phenomena that he referred to as the Zero Nightmare and the Nightmare Virus. X became infuriated at Isoc and went to Signas in anger. Signas teamed X up with Alia to track down the investigators and question them. Metal Shark Player and Ground Scarab attacked X, without warning, upon his arrival to their locations. X was confronted by phantom Zero in Ground Scarab’s lair. Zero pleaded with him to join him and leave the Hunters to spread chaos. X refused and dispatched the phantom Zero with the real Zero’s saber, that he carried with him in remembrance. The real Zero showed up just as X was about to leave. They return to Hunter HQ together, discovering from Alia that both Metal Shark Player and Ground Scarab had been declared Mavericks many years ago. No connection is discovered between the other investigators, other than that some of them were created by a scientist by the name of Gate, a former colleague and close friend of Alia’s. X and Zero spend the following week tracking down the last six “investigators.” X headed to the locations of Blaze Phoenix, Infinity Mijinion, and Blizzard Wolfgang, while Zero went toward Rain Turtle, Shield Sheldon, and Skye Yammark. As they returned to the base, Gate contacted them and challenged Zero to a find him. Alia tracked the signal to the Eurasia impact site. Zero and X head there, destroying High Max on the way. While Zero continued on toward Gate, X discovered Isoc’s body, but it looked like it’s DNA soul had been removed. Zero bested Gate, who used his trump card as a last resort. Gate unveiled a half-finished Sigma, but one that had enough power to swat Gate aside like a rag doll. Zero gave chase, but lost him. X took Isoc’s and Gate’s body back to the base, giving Gate’s body to Alia and Isoc to Lifesaver. Zero desperately tracked Sigma upon his return to base. Upon finding his location, he teleported out without warning, forcing X to follow him. X convinced Zero to let him take of Sigma this time, since Zero was still heavily damaged from his fight with Gate. Zero reluctantly agreed and X took down the malfunctioning Sigma.

In 2134, a large enough percentage of the damage to the Earth’s atmosphere had been repaired to a point where the surface was one again livable for humans. Full repopulation procedures began going underway. Dr. Cain’s son, Phillip Cain Jr., continued on his father’s work and established several new Hunter bases around the world, but this caused the New York base to become understaffed.

From 2135 to 2136, X resigned as a Hunter, refusing to fight anymore. A former Hunter named Red established a new faction known as the Red Alert Syndicate to do the Hunter’s job for them, though their methods are questionable. Axl was part of Red Alert, but he felt his power was being abused by Red. He left the Red Alert, meeting up with Zero accidentally. Zero and X team up to destroy the Maverick that Zero had been after. Zero took Axl back to HQ with him. X said that Axl shouldn’t be fighting, but Signas teamed Axl up with Zero. Alia discovered eight Maverick signals, but much to Axl’s dismay, each Maverick seemed to be a member of the Red Alert Syndicate. Almost immediately after Alia discovered those signals, a massive amount of stress calls began to stream in. Axl and Zero quickly rush out to destroy the Mavericks as well as save as many endangered Reploids as possible. After rescuing forty Reploids and destroying four of the eight Mavericks, X decided that he had no choice but to fight again. The three destroy the last four Mavericks and save the last forty Reploids. Douglas decided that now would be a good time to administer some upgrades, giving each one of them upgrades. X received a new model of armor from the Light capsule he had kept, getting the Glide Armor. Axl then lead them to the Red Alert base. The three Hunters take down the rebuilt Red Alert members before turning to the leader. After a fierce battle, Axl dealt the final blow to his former boss. Red told them that Sigma had been behind it the whole time, telling them exactly where to find him. They rushed to where Red had said Sigma was. The battle with the Maverick menace proved to be a fierce one, but Axl proved himself invaluable to the group as Sigma was bested once more.

* * *

“That was a long one, wasn’t it?” The teacher closed the book he had on his desk, looking out toward the class.

“So.. How many times have they defeated Sigma at this point?” A girl with blonde hair in a ponytail.

“Eight times, unless you want to count the Cyber Mission and Soul Erasure sections, then the count is officially ten.”

“Do they ever figure out what happened to Isoc?” The kid with the large round glasses.

“The official story was that his DNA soul was removed, or erased, like what had happened during the Soul Erasure period.”

“What’s the unofficial story?” The kid with his feet up on the desk.

“The unofficial story? Well, some people believe that Isoc was always an empty shell. That he was created for the simple purpose of carrying Dr. Albert Wily’s DNA soul. If Dr. Light could survive as a sentient hologram, why couldn’t Dr. Wily be preserved inside of a Reploid? There is no truth to this though, it’s all theory and rumor.”

“Why did X take Gate’s and Isoc’s bodies back to the base?” The girl with dark brown hair, still in pigtails.

“X took Gate’s back as a show of mercy, since he was a former colleague and a very close friend to Alia. He wanted to give her the chance to repair him. Isoc was given to Lifesaver to see if he could uncover what exactly had happened to him. Anything else?” The teacher looked around the room, but saw no more inquisitive faces, “Alright then, class dismissed, I’ll see you all tomorrow. We’re almost finished with the review.”

[Sonic]

Damn, I just read the whole thing, very enlightening. I missed reading this...

[Andrew]

~~~~~~~~~~Prologue(3)

The teacher flipped open his large book, having book-marked his page this time, so he wouldn’t have to ask the students where he had last left off. He glanced up, checking to make sure everyone had showed up, before retrieving his glasses from his nose and rubbing them clean. He replaced them upon his nose and pointed to a certain paragraph in his book.

“Alright, we left off at the end of the Eighth Maverick War. Ready to continue?”

“We have a choice?” The kid with his feet up on his desk.

“Of course not, I’m the teacher.” He grinned softly.

* * * * *

From 2137 through 2139, X continued to fight alongside Zero and Axl with a renewed vigor, feeling that Sigma had finally been defeated. Production began on new-generation Reploids, like Axl, as well as the construction of the Jakob Project, an elevator that could reach the moon. Douglas worked with Axl to produce stronger body parts for X and Zero that would match the new style created for the new-gen Reploids; Axl didn’t need these upgrades. The Jakob Project was finished under the new project manager, Lumine’s supervision. An incident occurred where an elevator crashed and X was sent to investigate this event. He was shocked to discover that the elevator was carrying an army of Sigma clones, but they all began to change back to their normal forms right before his eyes, even Lumine was among them. He explained that Sigma’s first form body was a strong body and they had used it to ensure their safety during the crash. The Hunters hired on two new Navigators; Layer and Pallette, giving Alia more time to work on Gate and to get in some field work, as Signas had put it. Lumine got kidnapped by Vile only weeks later. The three Hunters were dispatched to Noah’s Park because a Maverick was sighted in the vicinity. After they destroyed the giant crab Maverick, Vile showed up, announcing that he had captured the Jakob Project manager. Alia and the new Navigators report to X, Zero, and Axl that the new-gen Reploids have begun to go Maverick, even though it was said that they were incapable of doing so. Before heading out, Douglas upgraded Axl’s and Zero’s combat systems, giving them access to a larger range of weaponry. The trio easily dispatched the eight new-generation Mavericks, but what they were told by each one made them think over the Hunter views. X found a Light Capsule and retrieved his latest armor, the Neutral Armor, which had three different modes; Icarus, Hermes, and Ultimate. Douglas revealed to Zero the black armor that Sigma had made him way back during the Second Maverick War, only this time it’s actually an upgrade instead of just a color change. Sigma contacted the Hunters and told them that he had established a base on the moon. Vile tried to stop them at the elevator, but failed. They destroyed the copies of the new-generation Mavericks and then destroyed Sigma, but it only turned out to be another new-gen Reploid. They continue on to the moon without interruption. Halfway through the moon base, Vile showed up once more. X stayed behind to take care of him, while Axl and Zero moved on to deal with Sigma. Sigma turned out to be more than only Axl and Zero could handle, but X reappeared halfway through the fight and they were able to overpower Sigma. Lumine revealed himself to be the true mastermind after Sigma was destroyed. Lumine attacked them, using a combination of the attacks from the new-generation Mavericks, but he turned out to be no match for them. Lumine suddenly went into his Seraphim mode and Axl took him down alone, since neither of X’s or Zero’s attacks could get through Lumine’s defenses. After the fight, Axl approached Lumine’s corpse, but a tentacle ripped forth from his body and shattered the gem on Axl’s helmet. Zero caught Axl’s limp form, cutting through the tentacle with his saber, while X charged and leapt from behind, the single shot destroying the tentacle and what was left of Lumine’s body. They returned to the elevator and headed back down with Axl’s unconscious body. Axl was given to Lifesaver for observation.

In 2140, the Jakob Elevator was dismantled, the parts recycled for later use. The project was deemed a failure and a very bad idea to begin with.

In 2142, Alia finished her repairs on Gate, but X was forced to request that Signas not give the reactivation order. Alia agreed and left him in stasis. Dr. Light was able to force Gate’s pod to start the same ethical testing that Light had used on X, to ensure that Gate wouldn’t lose control again.

In 2150, Axl was still comatose from the fight against Lumine, but X and Zero have continued their duty as Maverick Hunters and made much headway in their battle against the Mavericks. Many Maverick overlords have been put into the new, improved, and rebuilt Alcatraz prison on the rock. Zero didn’t understand why they had to imprison Mavericks now instead of destroying them. Apparently, the government wanted to use them for testing anti-viral treatments for the Maverick virus. The government also approved of a new space station, development and construction began immediately. Fifty percent of the underground population had returned to the surface of the planet to rebuilt cities that the Reploids had finished.

In 2152, Axl had finally awakened from his coma, but he was put under heavy surveillance and wasn’t allowed to perform any form of field work.

In 2158, an anti-virus for the Maverick virus was finally completed, unfortunately it only worked on a single strain of the Maverick virus and not enough Reploids had been infected with this particular strain to deem the anti-virus a success. It was taken back to the drawing board. Axl was finally allowed to return to the field in the later months of 2158, but he was only given light duties to perform. The reports that came back to Signas, X, and Zero about Axl’s performance seemed to indicate that Axl had become more serious and efficient in his work. X didn’t see this as a good thing.

From 2159 on through 2164, the U.E.G. demanded that the Hunters open their ranks to allow humans the opportunity to enlist. The new CEO of Cain Labs; Nathaniel Cain, the son of Phillip Cain Jr., tried to fight this debate, but his opinion was tossed aside and the Hunters were forced to comply and their doors were opened. Few humans made it through the physical test that was given to all recruits, and those who did had to be outfitted with bionic parts to replace the ones that had been lost. They were also injected with a large amount of nanobots to increase their healing rate. Signas was forced to expand the Hunters to compensate for all the new arrivals, the ranks increasing from the original eighteen to many more.

In 2165, having succeeded in getting humans into the Hunter ranks, the U.E.G. began to make changes within the Maverick Hunters to reform them into what the U.E.G. could work with and control. They failed and Cain Labs refused to allow such a thing to happen anymore and removed all the spies that had been accepted into the ranks. Loyal humans were allowed to remain Hunters if they wished to stay.

From 2166 and on till about 2174, life continued as normal. The Hunters continued to expand with new arrivals of human and Reploid. Signas began establishing new bases around the world, spreading the Hunter influence more abundantly, making it easier to end a Maverick outbreak.

In 2175, the space station that had been in development since 2150 was finally completed and put into orbit. More space stations were designed, constructed, and launched into space by many other countries as well, including but not limited to Russia, England, Japan, China, and Germany. These “colonies” were used to mine passing comets to replenish the resources on Earth, as well as to keep the planet from overpopulating. Most of the colonies were of one race or another, few of the colonies were populated by both human and Reploid.

In 2188, a meteorite struck the planet, doing an insignificant amount of damage, considering what the Earth had been through in the past. Like all meteorites that strike the planet, it was transported back to a lab and studied. This particular space rock was formed from an unidentifiable substance. Said substance, when implanted into Reploids, greatly enhanced their abilities. Public knowledge on this subject was kept as confidential as possible.

In 2183, news of this new material leaked out to the public. X, Zero, and Axl worried that Sigma might rear his ugly, bald head from wherever he had been hiding to try and get his hands on it, but nothing happened of that magnitude. An all out war began to stop the Mavericks from getting a hold of it though. The material was dubbed Force Metal by the public and it stuck.

In 2195, a rookie by the name of Shadow joined up with the Hunters and quickly made his way through basic training. Signas saw great potential in this one and decided to team him up with X, Axl, and Zero.

In 2199, news reached the Hunters that the Reploid city on Gigas Island was having a civil war. Lieutenant Commander Redips requested that Signas send X, Zero, Axl, and Shadow to be sent over to take care of this unrelenting Maverick threat that the Resistance weren’t able to handle themselves. Axl was unable to be sent over, since he was already on a personally requested mission, so Signas only assigned X, Zero, and Shadow for this mission. Dr. Light equipped X with a new armor specifically made for this mission, as well as giving him a backup armor to use in dire emergencies.

* * *

“Alright, we’re nearing the very end of the review, does anyone have any questions about today’s section?” He stared out over the classroom, wringing his hands together slightly

“So what exactly happened to Axl after he was attacked by Lumine?” The girl with the dark brown pigtails.

“Some believe nothing happened and that Axl just got more serious about his work, to ensure that never happened to him again. While others believe that Lumine has transferred into Axl’s body, so there are two personalities sharing Axl’s body. No one is for sure.”

“Is Sigma finally dead?” The girl with the blonde ponytail.

“Wait and find out, we’re not done yet. After the review, we’ve got one more section of material to go over.” The teacher smiled at his students, placing his hands on his thighs, leaning toward them slightly, “Anyone else?”

“Are the stations the U.E.G. constructed the ones that are still up there now?” The girl with the blonde ponytail again.

“Yes, yes they are. Of course, they’ve been upgraded with age, but in all purposes, they are the very same that were launched in 2175. Alright, I’ll see you all tomorrow for the Command Mission section of the review, and if we go fast enough, we can start on the new section of material.” He slid off his desk and walked around behind it, sorting out notes as he went, listening to his students exit his classroom.

[swimstud600]

Nice, I'd like to read more of this. I hope its not over after the series ends.

[Andrew]

~~~~~~~~~~Prologue(4)

The teacher rubbed his hands together as his classroom filed in, all of them earlier than usual. He smiled lightly, already having his large book out and turned to the current section of the review. As everyone took their seats, the bell rang and the teacher sat down at the edge of his desk.

“Alright, once we finish with the Command Mission section, we’re going to go over a few things, but then we’re going to have some special guests finish out the rest of the section for us, does that sound good to all of you?”

“Gonna tell us who they are?” The kid with his feet up.

“Of course not, that’ll ruin the surprise.” The teacher just grinned.

* * *

The entirety of Command Mission took place from late 2200 on through mid 2202.

Douglas developed a new transportation bot, so that teleportations were less likely to go awry. X, Zero, and Shadow were the first of the Hunters to test the spider-like mechaniloids when they were teleported down on to them at Giga City Island. Upon entering the Lagrano Ruins, X is split off from Zero and Shadow and forced to fend for himself until they can meet back up. As the three proceed through the ruins, they encounter Reploid Production Pods; eight regular pods and four special pods. Epsilon’s pod had encountered an error during his production. X and Zero finally meet up after using the control terminals to unlock the doors. Shadow had hurried on ahead of them to the roof. X and Zero are forced to battle a Hippopressor as it busted in through the outer wall. They easily dispatched the monstrosity. They rushed to the roof. Epsilon was there. X and Zero prepare to take him down when Shadow betrayed, holding Zero at knife point. Epsilon’s Cadre showed up, the other three Reploids from the special pods. Through efforts made by each of the other three, Zero was thrown from the roof. X announced to Shadow that he would never be forgiven and then fired a blast into the roof as a distraction and leapt from the roof to escape.

X awakened inside of a place called New Hope. After exploring through the city for awhile, Redips contacted him just as an intruder warning against X was going off. X lost contact with Redips and proceeded to roam through the city freely, none of the civilian Reploids made any attempt to turn him in. As he exited out on to a balcony, a large Reploid turned on X and prepared to smash him into the ground when the Reploid exploded. A mysterious Reploid, introducing himself as Spider, wanted the bounty on X for himself. They fight for a moment, until alarms start blaring again. Spider retreated, wishing he could have finished X off right then and there. X rushed off and eventually ran into a Reploid named Aile, who used a hover chair and talked without moving his mouth. X decided to rescue Chief R for the Resistance, Aile removed his ID gem from his chest and gave it to X to use to get into the Governor’s Precinct. Aile pushed X from the room as Preons barged in. He self-destructed to destroy the Preons and give X time to save Chief R. Wild Jango and Spider conversed the terms of payment if Spider destroyed X. Wild Jango promised Spider as much money as he could handle. Meanwhile, X was rushing through the complex when he ran into a Reploid who said that the rest of his unit was being held hostage in the next room. X busted in and destroyed the Preons, saving the Reploids. He was given the key to the Data Backup Room, where Chief R was being held. Spider attacked X as he got to the door for the Data Backup Room. X dropped Aile’s ID. Spider, upon seeing the ID, decided to help X instead of destroying him. Spider rushed back down the hallway, destroying Preons as he went, giving X time to rescue Chief R, which he quickly did. Though the Chief had no idea who X was. Wild Jango contacted X through a vid-screen, showing that he had Spider captured and that he had begun the self-destruct sequence for the city. Chief R helped X get through the base to the control room that Wild Jango had been in. X made it just in time to deactivate the self-destruct sequence and then rushed to the roof to take down Wild Jango. X and Wild Jango scuffled, with X dropping Aile’s ID again. As Wild Jango went to touch it, a shot seemingly from nowhere blasted Wild Jango back. A beaten Shadow emerged from the shadows of the doorway, furious that Wild Jango would dare try to touch Aile’s ID. X and Spider team up to destroy Wild Jango.

X decided to join up with the Resistance, Shadow did as well. Chief R sent them to a prison within which Nana, New Hope’s system operator, had been taken captive. Upon arrival, they team up with Steel Massimo to rescue not only Nana, but all the other P.O.W.s as well. After fighting their way through the guards, they released some of the prisoners, but one attacked them. He turned out to be a guard himself and handed over his ID and warned about Silver Horn, the prison warden. They back tracked and took down the guards inside the Dark Room, saving Nana. Spider and X helped her get out of the machine that she had been forced to use. Steel Massimo asked if there were any files about him ever being captive here, she said that Massimo had been there and had also been executed. The three rushed through the compound, with Nana telling them how to unlock each set of doors they came upon. They rescued even more P.O.W.s, who all tell them to destroy Silver Horn for his crimes. Massimo slipped away when they reach a door that couldn’t be opened without Nana’s help. Massimo knocked down two guards to get down into the deeper levels of the prison, finding the real Massimo. The real Massimo was glad he had given his armor to this Massimo, claiming that he can become just as strong as the real Massimo ever was, and more. X and Spider back track to find him and then they al hurry back to the door that Nana had completed unlocking. They heard a scream from the other side of the door that sounded like Nana. They head through the unlocked door and continue on, finally running into Silver Horn. He called the real Massimo a feeble hero and Massimo slammed him to the floor with a single hit. X and Spider rushed to Nana’s side, getting her out of the way. X and Spider then rushed to Massimo’s side to finish off Silver Horn.

Upon returning to New Hope, Nana and Chief R briefed X, Spider, and Massimo on a professor named Gaudile. Professor Gaudile refused to help the Resistance or the Rebellion when the civil war between the two started, and instead hid within his laboratory. Chief R wanted to send X, Spider, and Massimo to convince the good doctor to finally come over to the Resistance’s side. Nana informed X that the Sky Room and the Deployment Center were back up and running. X gave Nana permission to deploy mechaniloids to her heart’s content, to find anything that they didn’t. Nana teleported X, Spider, and Massimo in and they destroyed the Preon guards protecting the door. As they rushed in, they also let in an uninvited guest, a petty thief. They hurried through the laboratory, avoiding the stationary sensors as well as the moving ones. After avoiding the sensors, they ran into Dr. Psyche, another one of the eight Reploids from the pods. Dr. Psyche fled, leaving the three in the company of his Preon entourage, which they easily dispatch. They followed after him. At that same moment, Marino, the thief, entered into the room where a Reploid named Cinnamon was hiding. Dr. Psyche confronted Professor Gaudile about his Force Metal Generator. X, Spider, and Massimo proceeded through the lab and finally ran into Gaudile themselves. He explained what Dr. Psyche wanted from him, but the good doctor still refused to help the Resistance. Dr. Psyche found Marino and Cinnamon, and his Preons brutally assault her. Cinnamon rushed to Marino’s aid and healed her, much to Dr. Psyche’s enjoyment. X and company encounter the Eternal Forest portion of Gaudile’s laboratory, which he explained to them. The group head into it, taking the easiest route through. They finally caught up with Dr. Psyche and Marino helped them. After kicking his robotic ass, his mangled body lifted up off the ground and attached to the Mad Nautilus, which didn’t help him any. The four of them easily take down this monstrosity of a machine, Dr. Psyche included. Cinnamon decided on her own accord to join the Resistance, and Professor Gaudile came along with her. Gaudile explained that the Resistance could use Cinnamon’s Force Metal Generator to create new Force Metals for themselves.

After returning to New Hope with Professor Gaudile and Cinnamon, the good doctor proceeded to use his knowledge to boost the power of the transmitters so that X could contact Redips. Redips informed X that they had picked up Zero’s signal at Point A6 and suggested that they go get him before proceeding further. Nana briefed X and Spider finally showed back up, they then all head to the Ulfat Factory. Alarms were blaring upon their arrival. After avoiding the alarm devices and most of the security drones, X accidentally ran into one of the security, but it just turned out to be Axl. Axl explained that he had been on Giga City Island since the beginning of his vacation, trying to discover any clues about his creation. He agreed to accompany the group from here on out, also to help find Zero. Axl showed the group how to use the conveyor belt systems to get to the exits of the Intake and Delivery lines. They finally ended up in the Freight lift area and Cinnamon determined that the injuries inflicted all of the Reploids within this room were done with a saber. Zero busted in on Mach Jentra at the exact same moment that Mach Jentra was being informed of more intruders. X, Axl, and the rest of the group hurried through the factory, surprising Mach Jentra and Zero. Mach Jentra fled at that moment, leaving a badly beaten Zero behind to be healed by Cinnamon. Zero joined up with the group and they quickly followed after him. Mach Jentra activated the Duboar machine and scores of Preons began to come to his aid, but the group easily dispatched the Preons and Mach Jentra. Before his demise, Mach Jentra informed them that the Duboar would go out of control with his destruction and continue to pump out Preon after Preon. After destroying a good amount of Preons, Axl had had enough. He used his DNA Change ability to become Mach Jentra and order Duboar to cease releasing Preons. With this distraction, X and Zero lay waste to the machine. After returning to the base, Zero left the group once more, infuriated that X would join up with a group of vigilantes.

Nana opened up a transmission from Redips, who explained about a hidden lab of the Rebellion Army. After the transmission, X left the room and noticed a bright flash, from which Spider emerged, but thought nothing of it. After the group arrived at Gimialla Mine, Spider and X converse on the location of the hidden lab. Shadow was watching them from the ventilation system. After roaming through the mine, and encountering some seemingly indestructible boulders, the group uncovered some upgrades. Axl and X argued over who would be getting the upgrade, but Gaudile interrupted to state that only X would be capable using this upgrade. After using the new upgrade to destroy the boulders, they group hurried on through the mine. Upon reaching basement level three, Shadow showed up. Shadow cackled about his new power and almost obliterated X, but Zero showed up and sent Shadow reeling. The real fight with Shadow began and, with Zero’s newly gained assistance, the group has little trouble taken down the former ally. After the fight, Zero turned on X, chastising him for his naive behavior. Shadow took a pot shot at Zero’s back, but Spider leapt in the way, deflecting the blow and delivering his own death blow to Shadow, completely destroying the former Hunter. Zero thanked Spider, who refused to stay behind, saying that a group of Hunters like them would be able to handle a handicap. The group continued on and encountered a group of Degravers that needed some help. X decided to help them and after giving them all their correct pickaxes, the chief Degraver unlocked the fourth level of the basement. The final door of the mine was locked by a set of beams. The group proceeded to destroy the energy globs that were connected to the beams, unlocking each one in turn. They hurried through the unlocked door and run into Incentas, After defeating the elemental-switching bastard, he decided to lock the exit and remotely set the base to self-destruct. Before he could flee, Spider tackled him and dragged Incentas and himself into the beams of the locked door. He used the explosion of his kamikaze and Incentas’ to open the door and give the rest of the group a way out. The group escaped with their lives and Zero apologized for his bad behavior and vowed to avenge Spider.

After returning to the base, Redips tried to contact the base, but with no avail. Nana informed the group that the signal was being jammed somehow and that the jamming was coming from the Vanallia Desert. The group had no choice but to investigate and put a stop to the problematic jamming. As soon as they emerged from their teleportation, a sandstorm hit. Through the flying grit, the group found the machinery emitting the jamming waves. Following the wires connecting each jamming pole together, they eventually discover the control panel to the jammer. Zero suggested that the group continue to investigate a little further. Following a separate wire coming off the control panel, they find the most active jamming emitter and Ferham decided to attack at just that moment. Massimo is knocked into quicksand with X soon following. X grabbed Massimo’s hand and Zero grabbed X’s and he tried to keep them from sinking into the deadly sand. Ferham taunted Zero while whipping him, trying to force him to let go, but he refused to do so, even when Massimo and X told him to let go of them and defeat her. He eventually succumbed to the brutal assault by Ferham’s whip and the whole group went into the quicksand. Everyone awakened inside of an underground base. The group decided to spread out and find the six switches needed to deactivate the beams that would allow them to open the door to continue further into the base. After finding the switches, the group came upon an elevator. Botos chuckled about how the Hunters survived Ferham’s attacks, Scarface told Botos that the Resistance Reploids were now his responsibility. X and the group came upon a room filled with un-lethal beams and reflectors. By using the reflectors, X and the group were able to unlock the doors and other things on the floor above them. They proceeded to the second floor and found a room with a power console and used it to unlock all the doors back down on the first floor. Axl congratulated X on a job well done after they reflected all the beams and unlocked everything they could using the beams. After disabling all the jammers, Botos sent them a transmission “inviting” them all to the top floor. Upon arrival, Botos began to taunt them with some erratic music, but his musical attacks had no effect on the group and they were eventually able to end his one man band concert in a few short stanzas. Botos dropped a piece of Supra-Force Metal before fleeing the scene. X and co. realized that it had to be a trap, but they ignored the signs, grabbed the Supra-Force Metal, and returned to the base to let Professor Gaudile take a look at it.

The Supra Force Metal dropped by Botos was given to Professor Gaudile upon return to New Hope, now christened the Air City due to the excessive usage of the Air Bus system. Gaudile examined the Force Metal and explained to X and the group that this particular Force Metal was as strong as about ten thousand normal Force Metals and that it took an extremely abundant amount of the right Force Metals to create it. Gaudile pointed out that the Melda Ore Plant was the only place with an abundant enough amount of Force Metal readily available to create such a powerful enhancement such as that. After teleporting in, Gaudile requested that the group take snapshots of the entire facility for him. Reluctantly agreeing, the group proceeded to take snapshots of everything that was deemed important by Gaudile. After collecting all the pictures that Gaudile requested, the group ran into Botos on the fifth basement floor, but he turned out to be a pushover this time around and he quickly ran. The door that he was standing in front lead into the base floor of the missile silo. This time, the group used the elevator to go upstairs. The group ran into Botos again and after a quick fight, he split himself into two and danced off. The group came upon a fork in the road and took the left path first, running into yet another Botos clone, but this one put up more of a fight. Some silly music played during the entire battle, and this Botos didn’t use his normal Q-Bit helpers, but he was quickly dusted off like the rest of the Botos’ that X and the group had confronted thus far. The group then proceeded to take the right path in the fork and came upon the elevator. After going up, the group saw Botos split himself into two again. After following him, Botos called in his Q-Bits, but immediately ran away. The group quickly destroyed the helpers and chased after Botos. After using the elevator once more, the group watched Botos rush through one of the three doors on this floor and after discovering that the other two doors were locked, the group followed after him. But they discovered Ferham instead of Botos behind this door. After a quick battle with the whip-wielding dominatrix Reploid, the party took her down. And she fell, all the way down to the base of the missile silo. It took the group to realize that Ferham had the key and they rushed back down to get it from her. Unfortunately, Botos beat the group to her and took the key from her for himself. He gloated that the Supra-Force Metal was all his and that the ends justified the means. A mysterious figure appeared behind him and told him he was on to something there. The group returned to the room that they initially fought Ferham in and found Botos’ dead body, but no Supra-Force Metal. They ponder what happened before returning to base.

Upon their return to Air City, alarms are blaring as someone is attacking. The group rushed to the Air Bus and took it to the opposite end of the city. As it landed and let them out, the group was immediately attacked by Scarface, Epsilon’s right hand man. After a hard fought battle, Scarface informed the group of the ideals behind the Rebellion and why Reploids were given free will and then he retreated. X and co. spread out around the roof, talking to civilians to see what happened. After conversing with everyone on the roof, they head inside and get the same information. Scarface didn’t attack anyone unless they attacked him first, he also stopped to help one of the civilian’s wounds. The group realized that Scarface might have been a great addition to the Resistance if he wasn’t a probable Maverick and if he didn’t work for Epsilon. The group then returned to the Air Bus and took it back to the base and went into the control room for their mission this time. Nana shipped the group off to the Rebellion Grave Ruins. Upon arrival, they discovered three doors; one was blocked with electrical beams, one was malfunctioning, and one was working fine, seemed Epsilon was ready for them. After entering through the only working door, the group approached a bright red beam in the room, but it set off the alarm and a troupe of Preons entered the scene, but were quickly dispatched by the group. X and company had to get out of the room before the alarms reset and the doors became locked again and even more Preons showed up. The next room the group ended up in was a hallway filled with many doors, but all of them were locked. They utilized the beams to unlock the doors, discovering the Rebellion treasures within. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, they discovered a control panel that released the electrical bars on the door back at the entrance of the base, so they backtracked all the way back to the beginning of the ruins. The newly unlocked door lead into a teleporting hatch that lead to the Level B security area. This room was just like the first one, with a bright red beam, so the group knew what to do and quickly dispatched the Preons and exited the room before the alarm reset. The group came upon another teleporting hatch and utilized it to end up in a room filled with enemy mechaniloids and retrievable items, which they proceeded to scrap and grab, respectively. The next room had two columns within it and depending on the combination used on the rising columns brought the group to different rooms. After a few failed attempts, the group ended up in a hallway that lead to yet another teleportation hatch. This one took them to the next floor up, like usual, and the group followed the hallway leading away from the room into a room with three Preons exclaiming that they would never make it to Epsilon, but X and company quickly dispatched the guards. The door that the Preons were guarding was holding them back better than any of the guards thus far. The group heads up the ramp off to the side and enters into a hallway that splits. Half the group heads one way and the other half heads the other, both groups looking for a control panel to unlock the door that was barring their way. After hitting both of the control panels at each end of the hallways, the two groups gather back at the Final Gate and head through it. They soon ended up in a room where Epsilon was and X wasted no time in trying to waste the Maverick, but Scarface made his return appearance and deflected the shot away. He claimed that X could copy the abilities of the Reploids he destroyed, so what kind of power would he obtain if he destroyed Epsilon. Scarface said that he would take care of the problem for Epsilon, but X and his group proved him wrong and took the powerful Reploid down after some time. After Scarface’s defeat, the group moves on to the real threat now. Epsilon initially proved to be an easy kill, but after a few minutes of battling, Epsilon activated his Supra-Force Metal and the real fight began. Although he’d upgraded himself with the Supra-Force Metal and completed restored his energy, he was still taken down, although it wasn’t as easy the second go-round as it was the first time. As he lay defeated, X asked him why and Epsilon explained that without power no one was going to listen to what they had to say, after all the Federation had already labeled them Mavericks, so what choice did he have? Epsilon also said that he would continue to fight for his ideals for as long as he lived, but while saying this, he left himself open and Zero told X to take the shot. X took it ad completely destroyed Epsilon with a single blast. After the explosion, X picked up the Supra-Force Metal that Epsilon had activated during the fight and began to feel like what he had done had been the wrong thing, but both Zero and Axl told him that they had done the right thing. Colonel Redips showed up then and congratulated X and his group on a job well done and that after returning to Air City, a plane would be arriving to pick up the three Hunters and return them to Hunter HQ.

[Andrew]

After arriving back in Air City, X traveled around the city and everyone wanted to talk to him and congratulate or thank him for destroying the entirety of the Rebellion. Some of the Reploids he talked to also mentioned that Spider had been at the place where Axl’s chameleon ability had been developed. X went to Zero’s location and the two got ready to head to where the plane would be arriving. Axl showed up shortly after and the rest of the group decided to see them off on their plane back to Hunter HQ. As the group went out to where the plane would be docking, said plane instead launched an attack on them, trying to destroy them with a few well placed missiles. Colonel Redips had decided that X and his little troupe had all become traitors and they all just wanted the Supra-Force Metal for themselves, so he’d be the one to take care of them and end the threat for good. After the failed attempt on their lives, Redips transported the entire group to the entrance of the fortress he had set up in space. After entering the fortress, the group came upon an elevator and the room that it took them to turned out to be a tactics simulator center. Wild Jango appears for round two, but he’s quickly dispatched for the second time. X and the others marvel in the fact that they just fought Jango again, but Axl explained that it was just someone with a copy ability like his own. They deduce that someone with Axl’s copy ability must have gotten into Central Tower, but said person must be dead now. Up the next elevator is a nurse Reploid who offered to repair any of those injured, but the group headed through a pair of glowing purple doors. Upon each wall is a row of hatches, unknown as to what’s behind them, the group headed into one door. They faced off against Silver Horn for a second time, easily besting him again. It seemed that they were more new-gen Reploids with Axl’s copy ability about on this fortress. Each hatch lead to another one of Epsilon’s former compatriots, and each and everyone was dispatched in a similar fashion as they first time around. After clearing all the hatches, they head into the next room and run into Redips’ fortress guardian; Depth Dragoon. Depth Dragoon continuously kept boosting his speed, trying to get the upper hand, but in the end, it was futile and he was defeated. After returning to the nurse for a quick repair, the group headed further upward into the fortress until they ended up at another door called the Final Gate. After passing through this door, they encounter Redips, who claimed that he will be the ruler of everything, and he thanks the team again for getting rid of his competition; Epsilon. X labeled him a Maverick and an all out war began between Redips and X’s group. After the quick scuffle, Redips revealed that he was actually Spider, using his own copy ability to spy on the group, and then he transported the group to a barren room with one door. The group quickly exited the room to finish off Redips, heading down multiple tunnels before finally catching back up to Redips once more. This time he took on a giant form, using the Supra-Force Metal he had collected to amplify his power many times over. The group targeted the two Supra-Force Metal pieces, knowing that his power would decrease greatly without those. After a few minutes, Ferham showed up, much to everyone’s surprise, and broke the Supra-Force Metal from Redips’ right shoulder, since that was the same piece that Epsilon had used. With one piece gone, the group reorganizes and goes full out on their former leader, using all of their power to end the battle as quick as possible. Redips and X’s team fail to see eye-to-eye and he can’t comprehend their concept of friendship, believing that the only way for Reploids to strive in life to is to become stronger and continuously improve upon their abilities. But this discussion is rather moot, as the entire fortress is beginning to fall toward Earth, with everyone still standing on it. Ferham requested of X that she be the one to dispose of the Supra-Force Metal that she had taken from Redips’ shoulder and he granted her permission to do as she saw fit, but to his surprise, she leapt from the falling fortress and floated out into space. As soon as she was far enough away from the fortress and Earth, she self-destructed, taking the Supra-Force Metal with her. All the while, the fortress continued to move closer and closer to Earth, beginning to tear up in the atmosphere. X gathered everyone and they all rushed back inside, taking cover deep inside the fortress. When they emerged later, the fortress had crash landed in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but water as far as the eye could see. It seemed that everyone had a lot of swimming ahead of them, since no one could get a communication signal from their location.

* * *

“Always with the bases in space..” The kid with his feet on his desk grumbled, taking his feet from his desk and putting them on the floor, “What is up with these bad guys? Do they not have any individuality or originality?”

“Oh, I see I’ve finally gotten you interested in this lesson. It’s about time you started asking questions. And those particular questions can’t be answered by me, because the only people that understand the bad guys are well, the bad guys.” The teacher smirked.

“Alright.. So what exactly is Force Metal and the Supra-Force Metal?” The blonde with the ponytail asked around a mouthful of gum.

“In laymen’s terms, it’s an amplifier. Like an amp for your music, it increases the overall output. Force Metal are upgrades for Reploids, some pertaining toward the overall energy distributed through the weapon systems, or just core capacity. It all depends on the Force Metal used. While Supra-Force Metal is an all around amplifier, it effects the entire system of the Reploid, increasing all systems to a much higher level of output.” The teacher pushed his glasses back up on to the bridge of his nose, resting his hands on either side of him.

“Does Force Metal still exist today, professor?” The kid with the glasses asked.

“Of course it does, but it’s all hidden away in the research and development labs of the Hunter HQs around the world, keeping it safe from Maverick hands. Alright, well. Tomorrow is the big day. We’ll go over a little bit more of the lesson and then our guests will show up to fill in the rest. Be prepared with some good questions, I don’t want them to be disappointed. And hopefully, they’ll do such a wonderful job that none of you will be confused at all.” The teacher smiled as they all got to their feet and headed out of his classroom.

He turned and rested his hands on his desk, sighing heavily. He pushed a hand through his hair, moving it from his forehead, only to have it fall back into place. He began to collect his materials and stack them upon one another in the middle of his desk, before taking a seat in his chair, closing his eyes as he took his glasses off.

[swimstud600]

I wish I had this class. Number one it talks about interesting stuff and number two, the teacher is just cool, I never get a good teacher.

[Andrew]

I know how you feel.. None of my teachers were cool like that.

Now my home room teacher was kickass, but I only saw him once every two weeks on Wednesday.

~Paragon