|
Rise of the Chosen (pt. 2) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
((Please read part one first...))
“Now!” The Frost Walrus yells, barreling into the sparring ring. The four snap their gaze towards their opponent, but the Masters are already upon them. The more powerful four go after Slade and Nightwing, while the weaker four go after Raven and Beast Boy. For the first time in his life, Nightwing fights alongside Slade, for the same goal. Surprisingly enough, the two work very well together. Not nearly as well as Raven and Beast Boy work together, playing off of each other to completely destroy the opposition. But, like normal, they easily enough destroy their aggressors.
Out of the shadows, Cyborg walks onto the battleground, applauding the four of them. Slade growls at Cyborg, but Nightwing puts his hand on his father’s shoulder.
“No, this is my fight.” He says, pulling his staff out of his utility belt. Slade bows his head slightly, walks over to the other two, and sits back to watch.
“So you’ve finally come back, huh?” Nightwing says, circling with Cyborg, who nods in agreement. “Well good. I’ve been waiting for our rematch. This time, I won’t be such an easy win.”
“Good,” Cyborg says, “because I’d not have it any other way.” With that, the two lunge at each other, meeting in mid-air. Metal strikes metal as fist meets staff, sparks flying across the roof. Defying gravity with their speed, the two seem suspended in the air for a moment as three or four blows rain down from the two of them, none actually hitting anything close to a vital spot. Kicking off of each other, the two land a few feet away, to circle each other again.
“She’s dead, you know.” Nightwing says, his hands glowing green. Cyborg gasps, shocked, but then dodges as five bolts of energy come whizzing past his head. Rolling, he fires a shot ‘from the hip’, missing Nightwing entirely.
“How?” Cyborg asks, dodging continually to avoid the barrage of energy blasts. Nightwing laughs, green fire seeming to emanate from his eyes.
“Chicken Pox.” He says, as a set of laser vision beams cut through Cyborg’s chest. Robin’s best friend, Nightwing’s first felled enemy, lays back, feeling his life support systems beginning to shut down. For a moment, the green in Nightwing’s eyes subsides, and Robin rushes forwards to kneel by his best friend’s side.
“My god… What have I done?” Robin asks, a few tears starting to form around his eyes. “First Starfire, and now you too? I can’t handle this!” Cyborg coughs, and touches Robin’s hand with his own.
“Don’t worry about it, Robin. Just take out Zero, and all will be forgiven. Yo… It’ll be good to get back. See you on the flip side…” Cyborg coughs again, and the red glow from his cybernetic eye fades to black. When Robin stands, Nightwing’s eyes flare from his face, but it seems to be a mix of the two that stands tall and proud in front of the other three. He walks over to the others, and looks Slade in the eyes.
“What do you know about Zero’s place of business?”
Nightwing takes point, Beast Boy and Raven behind him, and Slade takes up the rear. After what happened last time in this cave, he doesn’t want anyone trying to sell him out. This, of course, makes the three Teen Titans left nervous, but they walk into the cave without showing any fear. Upon getting into the cavern, they see Zero standing there, just as promised. Raven and Nightwing seem to suddenly start exuding energy, as if they know they’re going to need it for the battle to come.
“Ahh, so the battle finally comes to my doorstop. And I suppose Cyborg is dead?” Zero asks, his voice calm and cool. Nightwing’s eyes flare out, but a calming hand on his shoulder from Beast Boy makes him just slightly less homicidal, for the moment.
“Y…Yes. He’s dead. You’re next.” Nightwing says, but Zero holds his hand up, motioning his head towards X’s capsule.
“Maybe so, but not here. Not in front of him. If you want to fight me, we’ll do it anywhere else, on this planet or off, but not in front of him. I won’t fight you in front of this capsule.” Right then is when Slade decides to make his move.
He pushes through them, running almost in slow motion towards Zero. As he does, he screams at the three. “Go! Take X and go! He’s the only one to match Zero’s power! I’ll hold Zero off, just go!”
Zero laughs, his hand moving towards his blade as the other three move towards the capsule that X is being held in. Raven puts out her hand, to slow Zero slightly, so that Slade can get to him before he pulls out his blade. And Slade does get there first, grabbing the Z-saber for himself and throwing it across the room. Beast Boy turns into a gorilla, pulling the capsule out of the tubing, which causes the green liquid to disperse and the capsule to collapse, broken glass getting all over the place. But, instead of worrying about that, Nightwing just grabs X and tosses him over his shoulder, flying out of the cave with the other two at his heels. At the entrance to the cavern he hesitates, turning back to see Slade grappling with Zero. He knows the man isn’t going to give him much more time, and so he flies out, hearing the death screams of his father as he goes…
A few weeks pass. Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Raven search the megalopolises of the world, finding the most brilliant scientists in the world. But, one after another, they fail to revive the mechanical warrior that Slade gave his life to give to the Teen Titans. They have the eight Robot Masters to study as well, but still nothing comes close to the complexity of the one named ‘X’. But then, a revelation.
In the back of a small library, full to the brim with old, paper books that must be over six to seven hundred years old, an old man tinkers with an ancient brass lamp. He is slightly chubby, with pure white hair. Raven walks into his library, the local sentiment being that he’s the smartest man in all of Under. When she gets to him, however, she notices a strange feeling about him, a calming essence that she couldn’t’ feel from outside. Was this the man they had been looking for?
“Excuse me, sir…” She asks, getting him to turn to face her. A small set of ancient, actual glass glasses sit on the end of his nose, which he pushes up with an ungloved finger.
“Yes? What can I do for you?” He asks, his humble voice calming her soul. Instantly, she knows him to be pure, his heart to be a good one.
“We need you to help us. I can feel it, you’re the one that can save him.” She says, her eyes sparkling. The man in front of her looks confused for a moment, and then realization dawns on him.
“It’s X, isn’t it? Oh god, he’s back… Yes, of course I’ll help you.” He says, walking around the counter. The two of them walk out of the shop, and he locks the door behind him. Then she takes his hand in hers, flying back to the Titan’s Tower.
Two hours after the man, who identified himself as Dr. Light, put himself into the room where they were keeping X, he walks out to address the three members of the Teen Titans.
“I’ve done all I can do. Should Deo smile upon him, he shall rise soon. Other than that, I can only tell you of one thing. Hidden, by myself, there is a program that can be put into X. I have separated it into four separate parts, that when put together, push X’s limits to their absolute greatest. His physical form alters to match this, and he will find himself wearing what can only be described as the Ultimate Armor. If your quest is to destroy Zero, then you will need that Ultimate Armor, and one with the computer intelligence to put the pieces together. I… Didn’t take it apart in the first place, so I can’t put it back together. Now, my involvement in this is over. I need to get back to my home. Please excuse me…” Dr. Light, carrying his bag, leaves, getting the proper goodbyes from the Teen Titans. Then, they wait for X to get up.
Sure enough, within the next few hours, X walks through the door. He wears a helmet now, of the two colors of blue, which hide the top of his head. That, and where he had skin below that is now covered with a very light blue, skin tight armor piece. Instead of his right hand, he now has an empty space, probably where an arm cannon rests.
“Good morning, humans. I am Megaman X. I have been programmed to fight any evil that shows itself in the world…. Do you know of any such evil?” He says, his eyes focused and green. If they hadn’t known that he wasn’t human his own self, they would’ve thought him incredibly funny…
“Before that, we need to find your Ultimate Armor. The opponent which we must fight is a strong one indeed, one who’s already taken a lot from us.” Nightwing says, turning slightly away. Megaman X nods slightly, and turns to Raven, and Beast Boy. She stands just a little bit closer to him, and he pats her on the shoulder. All three of these have seen incredible losses, and just want this whole mess to be over.
“All right then, let’s go find these pieces of the Ultimate Armor!” X says, bouncing just a little bit. His voice sounds like that of a little kid, but that doesn’t bother the Teen Titans any. They just smile slightly, though Nightwing doesn’t keep his smile for nearly as long as Beast Boy keeps his.
“We don’t know where the Ultimate Armor is, X. That poses much more of a problem than the computer genius. Even in our time, the world was full of hackers. I’m sure that with the advances into science and technology, there are probably more cyber-punks now than there were six hundred years ago. You go out and find yourself those pieces of the armor, and take Raven with you. Just in case. Beast Boy and I will go out to find the hacker-“ He is cut off by a whining sound from Beast Boy.
“Can’t you go with X, Rob-err… Nightwing? I don’t want to leave Raven behind.” Beast Boy asks, his voice sounding more like a plea than an actual question. With minimal grumbling from Nightwing, he agrees, and the groups are set. Nightwing and X go out to one side, where X is sensing some energy signature, while Beast Boy and Raven go back into Under, to try to find that one person that would have the information that they’re looking for.
In the jungles of Brazil, X’s signal gathering device reaches an all-time high. Clearing some foliage, the two find themselves in a clearing, with a capsule, much like the one that was found in Zero’s cave. The top is connected to the trees around the clearing, probably not trees at all. The bottom is in the ground. X steps inside the capsule, for a moment, and a green light emanates from the inside of the capsule, X’s body seems to exude electrical energy for a moment. Nightwing watches in awe as X hovers, suspended, for a moment. Then, as quickly as he stepped in, X steps out, and the signal from the capsule is gone. The two go on, to try to find the next piece of the armor.
Beast Boy and Raven walk into a cyber café, where an impromptu tournament of the latest RTS video game is being played. And, one by one, all of the people in the café are losing to the same person, who goes by the screen-name “Alia5”. So the two go through the café, looking for this Alia5. Searching, searching, but to no avail. He, or she, isn’t in the building. So, they turn to one of the people in the building. He tells them that he, or she, can be tracked, but it will take them a while. So, Beast Boy and Raven wait there, for the person to complete their trace.
The afternoon sun beats down upon Nightwing and Megaman X as the two ride a motorboat to an abandoned oil rig in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But, when they find themselves at the base of this rig, they notice that the signal starts getting slightly weaker as they climb up on top of the rig. So, X stops on the great ladder, and motions for Nightwing to get back onto the boat. With a cat-like grace, X dives into the water. Seconds seem like hours for Nightwing as he sits in the relative peace, awaiting the return of the warrior from the far past, which is the far future to his eyes. He thinks about the death of Starfire, of Cyborg, of Slade, of everyone he had ever known. He is lost in the sea of time, and he doesn’t especially like it. But then, just as he begins to get depressed by his own thoughts, X comes back up into the boat, nodding. He has the part, and so they go towards the next nearest signal on X’s radar.
“I’ve got it.” The guy says, pointing at his screen. They have an address of the computer that she’s using at the moment. They turn back to the guy, and tell him to hold her at that site for as long as they can, to have her keep playing this game, so that she can’t run away. He nods, and they rush out of the café. Flying through the streets of Under, they eventually come to her address, an old house that looks from the outside to be abandoned. Silently, they get inside. Searching the house, they only find a single person, a little girl. She sits at her computer, presumably playing a game with those at the café still.
“Excuse me, are you Alia5?” Raven says, from the doorway. The little girl’s head snaps up, and her eyes go wide. She scampers to the back of the room, but Beast Boy is already blocking her secondary escape, sitting on it in his human form again. The little girl starts crying, and so Raven walks over. “It’s okay, we’re not here to hurt you, or to get you in trouble. We need your help, little one.”
“You can’t breathe in space. I have to do this alone.” These are X’s words to Nightwing, over the intercom, as he prepares to fly this small, one-man rocket into outer space. The third capsule seems to be on a satellite, somewhere far above where Russia used to be. Nightwing can do nothing but watch as X comes into orbit, launches himself out of the ship and into the wreckage of the satellite, make the entire thing glow with an eerie green light, and then launch himself back to the ship. Re-entry is not a problem, and he very soon finds himself back at the Titan’s Tower, with Robin, trying to locate the last, tiny signal.
“That sounds really complicated, you know.” The little girl says. She has stopped crying, but is having a hard time figuring out just exactly what the Teen Titans need her to do. Raven, who is petting the girl’s hair (at first to calm her down, now just because she likes it), tells her again, calmly, what they need done. The girl scratches her head, stands up, and walks over to her computer. As she sits, typing, Raven turns to Beast Boy.
“You know… We won’t be teenagers forever. Maybe…” Beast Boy’s eyes get about the same size as dinner plates, and he shakes his head.
“No… Not for me. Thanks, but no thanks.” He starts sweating, but then sees the giggle on her face, blushes that same strange color, and turns away. Raven hugs him from behind, kissing his cheek.
Eventually, Nightwing and X find the signal’s source. So, the two spelunk down into Mt. St. Helens, deep into the now dead volcano. Of course, all volcanoes are dead now, but that’s not the point. This specific one has the capsule in the middle of a small lake, a lake of lava. This is probably the only place on Earth that still has lava out in the open like this, but all is well. Easily leaping across, X finds the last piece of the Ultimate Armor, the energy coursing through his metallic veins, making the energy almost palpable on his skin. He is tempted to walk across the surface of the lava, using the energy he feels as a balancing maneuver, but he does not. Instead, he leaps across, giving Nightwing a high five and letting the two of them escape the hottest place on Earth, to get back to Under and the Titan’s Tower.
“Alright, I’ll help you guys out. I mean, it is all about saving the world, so I guess I can help out with that.” The little girl says, as she closes her laptop computer. Raven and Beast Boy cheer for her a little bit, giving a bit of applause, and then the three of them head back towards the Titan’s Tower. When they get there, Nightwing and Megaman X are sitting on the couch. Nightwing waves at the girl, looking up at Raven and Beast Boy. But X can’t help but stare at her…
“Do I know you?” He asks, his face showing the faintest of memory. The little girl shakes her head, and sets her computer down by the main screen of the Titan’s Tower. After connecting herself into the system, she holds out a plug.
“Whoever it is that’s getting this needs to step forwards.” She says, and X stands up, cautiously taking the plug in his hand. He snakes the cord to his arm cannon, and plugs himself in. The little girl starts typing away, trying to find out how to unlock the secrets of this robot’s system. One at a time, the pieces of his armor start coming on-line. When the piece comes on-line, it turns from his normal blue to a more white color, leaving a small line of blue underneath it where his old armor is still. Eventually, she finishes, and Megaman X’s Ultimate Armor is complete, on him. He unplugs himself, stands up, and feels the absolute power run through him. The main addition, that he can see, is that he now has a small set of wings coming out of his back, theoretically that can open and give him flight. While he goes up onto the roof to test this out, an emergency signal appears on the main screen.
“It’s Zero! Come on, we’ve got no time! He is attacking our tower!” Nightwing yells, and the four warriors scramble. It appears that their final fight, the fight to end it all, is about to finally happen. When they get out, up and onto the roof, Beast Boy happens to be at point. He turns himself into a very large, very angry looking animal, supposedly from Starfire’s world. With a huge, bear-like claw, he swipes at the fragile-looking Zero. But that creature is too fast for him. A slash from Zero’s sword sends that claw, and the arm it is attached to, flying. So Beast Boy changes forms, into a great wasp-like creature, also from an alien world. Almost able to match Zero’s speed, he stabs and slashes with the robot’s sword, actually scoring a few hits. But he is no match for the demonic warrior robot in red. A few lightning-fast slashes later, and Beast Boy is on the ground, bleeding to death. He instinctually changes back into his normal form, and the bleeding is slowed down because of that, but he is still mortally wounded. Raven rushes to his side.
“Beast Boy! No!” She yells, kneeling at his side. He just smiles up at her, coughs, and utters his last words:
“Raven… I love you…” His body changes once more, from a humanoid to a small puddle of green fur. Beast Boy is no more. Raven shakes for a moment, then stands up. Slowly, she turns to face Zero. The white robes surrounding her blow up and out, as if a very strong gust of wind suddenly started whirling around her. Once again, her robes change color. What was violet, and then was white, now becomes the red and yellow of fire, her hair and eyes flashing the same colors. Yet the energy she throws at Zero, in spades, is the same classic pure black, electricity flaring off of it. She does not hold back this shot, that had destroyed an entire plane of existence not three weeks prior. Zero crosses his arms over his chest, growling and finding himself flung back, off of the side of the building. Raven flies after him, to finish the job. As she gets to the end of the tower, she raises both hands above her head, forming enough energy above her to decimate the entirety of existence in general.
“You b*****d, you killed him! You killed my Beast Boy! Die!” Raven yells, as she throws the ball of energy down the side of the tower. That ball takes out a hemispherical shape out of the side of the tower all of the way down, before hitting Zero. But, instead of exploding like it was supposed to, it seems to just disappear. Raven just hovers there, and then Nightwing calls to her, to come back. She turns, as maniacal laughter can be heard even here. A purple arc of energy can be seen passing straight up through her, and she vanishes into a cloud of violet dust. The exact same way she had died over six hundred years ago.
“No…” Nightwing whispers, as the purple fire he has only seen once before hovers up the side of the Titan’s Tower. Zero, in black armor. His sleek, bulbous black armor has gold trim on the ankles and wrists, all covered over in an incredibly powerful purple energy signature. Megaman X takes a step back, gasping in awe, but Nightwing takes a step forwards.
“You have killed your last, Zero. You have destroyed my friends, giving me nothing left to lose. You’ll find, shortly, that a man with nothing left to lose is a dangerous opponent.” Then Nightwing starts hovering in the air, his body crackling with green energy to match and off-set Zero’s purple energy. Then, in a wonderful and fast-paced clash, the two of them begin to do battle.
Zero’s sword meets Nightwing’s staff, the energy from the two of them exploding to unprecedented levels. They leave an energy trail behind them as they clash and fly away, circle around and clash again. All within a few microseconds of each other. Eventually, they decide to make the battle three dimensions, and so the circular trail that had been around them now turns into a pure sphere. The fluxuating energy field around the two of them seems solid, opaque. X just stands by, waiting for his turn with Zero. Then, a scream is heard. The energy field dissipates quickly, as Nightwing clutches at Zero’s wrist. Coughing up a little bit of blood, Zero’s hair is marred by human blood. Not for the first time…
“You… You won’t get away with this…” Nightwing slides off of Zero’s energy sword, his internal energy making that blade quite solid to him. As he slumps to the ground, he looks over at Megaman X, breathing out. A small bit of green energy flows through the air, and X’s eyes glow pure green, before going back to just the green irises of before. X just looks up at Zero, and charges a shot on his blaster. Zero chuckles, floating down and landing on the ground before X.
“You know you can’t defeat me. You weren’t able to defeat me last time, you won’t defeat me this time.” Zero says, walking confidently towards X. “These humans were nothing, just as you are nothing. Give up now, and I’ll let you live again, to fight another day.” X shakes his head, imbuing the last of Starfire’s energy into this blaster shot. Shooting it at Zero, he hopes for the best. But Zero just slashes once, and the blast dissipates into nothingness.
“I won’t let you harm any more innocent people, Zero! You’ve gone Maverick, and you need to pay the price!” X yells, his wings unfurling. His Giga attack, the Phoenix Dash, activates, and he uses his body as the weapon to fling himself through Zero. One slash, however, and X’s Ultimate Armor flashes a warning across his virtual Heads Up Display.
[WARNING, CORE COLLAPSE IMMINENT. CORE COLLAPSING IN THIRTY SECONDS.]
X weighs his options for a moment, and then finally comes to his final decision. Dashing forwards, he tackles Zero to the ground. Zero looks up at him as his armor begins to broadcast its warning, lest there be any innocent civilians in the way of the explosion. But Zero can not break free.
“Goodbye, Zero…” X says, as the core detonates and makes the entire Titan’s Tower explode.
[Three hours later]
“Dr. Light, is this what you were looking for?” A humble fireman, still trained even though there are no more serious fires in the world, picks out a small corpse from the debris of the tower. From the looks of the wires sticking out of various places of the corpse, it is a robot. Its eyes are closed, but it has the slight remnants of a blue helmet, welded to the pseudo-flesh skull. Dr. Light hugs this little corpse to his chest, even though it has no legs. In fact, the only limb still attached it the little guy’s right arm. Dr. Light thanks the fireman, bows, and walks back to his library, in the city of Under.
A few hours later, he arrives, pulling out a book from one of the shelves behind the counter. A bookcase slides into the wall, leaving a small passageway into a deeper section of the library. Making sure no one is watching, he walks inside this place, where a small white table, tools, parts, and a large capsule is found.
“Don’t worry… I’m going to fix you. You’re going to be all better…”
©Johnathan Russell Cameron, November 2007
 Thorn the Mighty · Wed Dec 12, 2007 @ 11:15pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
