Chapter Text
We’ve studied the world some more, sir!
And what have you found?
It’s in a state of flux sir. It’s because of the...thing…
The what?
We did something to the world… can’t remember what… Er, what’s important is that we found an entire area that seems time-displaced; The level of technology is far beyond that of the planet’s current level, even with our supplements!
...Keep an eye on it and notify the Director and I of anything of interest. If there is a fine specimen, send a Dark Heart.”
Of course, sir! You can count on me!
Hope.
Hope was a concept X had long clung to. The hope to make his creator’s dream of robots and humans coexisting as equals a reality. Hope that someday peace will be achieved. Hope that someday, he and his allies could stop fighting.
That hope was tested time and time again. He fought through eleven maverick wars. He once fought his closest friend in a fight that almost resulted in their deaths. He witnessed the world get devastated, despite the Maverick Hunters’ attempts to save it. Occasionally, the fighting would cease for a brief time and X would delude himself into thinking that progress towards peace could be continued. Then, yet another incident would break out and force X back into reality.
When he had learned that the New Generation reploids, who were meant to be immune to the Maverick Virus, decided to willingly revolt anyway, X almost lost all hope.
Even so, he and his allies managed to stop the new-generation uprising. Even with the potential cases for trouble on the horizon, upon learning that Sigma’s essence had finally faded on the moon, X desperately wanted to believe that it was finally, truly, over.
The Sigma Palace hanging above his head said otherwise.
“ Is peace even possible ?” X asked himself as he stared at the flying fortress. So caught up in his despair he was, that it took him a moment to notice Kirby calling him.
“Hey X! X!” The pink ball said out of concern. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, Kirby. Just… fine.” X sighed, a rather human reflex.
Kirby turned to look at the fortress. His memories may be gone, but something about it stirred emotion within him. His curious gaze quickly turned into an angry pout.
“That big mean fortress is making you sad, isn’t it!?” Kirby asked. “Is there someone bad in there?”
“Yes. Someone bad.” X said. He wasn’t sure exactly how old Kirby was, but he figured that letting him know of Sigma’s crimes would be too much. “He has done many bad things.”
Kirby’s pout grew more determined. He took off into a run, startling X.
“Let’s invade it!” Kirby shouted boldly as he headed off in the direction of the fortress. X ran alongside him.
“Do you have a plan to get up there?” The reploid asked. Kirby stopped in his tracks and looked thoughtful.
“...Uh… I don’t think I can float up there…” He mumbled. X ignored his disbelief and opened his communications channel.
“Alia, I have visuals. It really is the Sigma Palace.” X’s tone could not help but add a sense of urgency. “Is Zero-”
“Still out of commission. Axl too.” Alia replied immediately. She clicked a few more keys. “We’re spread thin as it is. We can arrange for a transport to send you up there, but finding a way yourself is preferable.”
“That’s easier said than done. It’s moving this time. Not to mention that I still have to deal with…” X looked up and noticed that Kirby had vanished. He looked around and spotted Kirby, looking around the area where he crashed.
The area where Vile was rebooting at.
“Kirby!”
The pink ball turned around, just in time for Vile to force himself back up. Not noticing the new intruder, Vile glared at X.
“X… You’re just a weakling… how can you…!!!” Vile began firing bullets and missiles at X, forcing the maverick hunter to remain on the defensive.
“The Sigma Palace… Vile attacking me here… It’s all too familiar.” X mused. As Vile prepared a second volley, X tried to speak with him. “Vile!”
“Cry all you want, X! Nothing is stopping me from-”
“Vile! Are you working with Sigma or Lumine?”
“Lumine? What the hell are you whining about? And don’t you dare lump me in with Sigma! I’ll kill you all by myself!”
X ducked just in time to dodge another set of rockets.
“He doesn’t recognize Lumine? And he isn’t working for Sigma…” X continued to ponder as he moved out of the way of Vile’s volley. Fortunately, he got a distraction.
Unfortunately-
“Hey!”
Vile turned to the source of the voice: A small pink ball.
“Stop attacking Mr. X! That’s mean!” Kirby shouted at the rampaging reploid. Vile stared at the pink sphere.
“...What the hell’re you?” Vile asked.
“Pretty please?” Kirby asked earnestly.
Vile glared coldly at Kirby before kicking him aside. As the pink ball picked himself up, Vile activated his rocket launcher and launched a flurry of missiles.
“Kirby!” X shouted.
Kirby stared blankly at the missiles that were headed towards him. Right as they were about to impact him, Kirby suddenly opened his mouth wide. A vortex of wind emerged from Kirby’s mouth, pulling the rockets to him even faster. But instead of exploding and impacting Kirby, the missiles were pulled into Kirby’s mouth. For a moment, the alien simply stood with his mouth full.
Then, he swallowed.
In a wink, Kirby suddenly had a cap, stylized to look like the head of a missile. He glared at Vile, who was stunned from the situation he just witnessed.
“W-what the hell?! You’ve gotta be…?!” Vile said, backing away. Kirby leapt in the air and in a puff of smoke, transformed into a pink missile. Kirby slammed into Vile and burst in a violent explosion.
“K-Kirby!!” X screamed.
“What’s wrong, X?”
X blinked. The smoke cleared, revealing Kirby without so much as a scratch on him. Behind him, Vile lay unconscious, smoldering from the explosion. Kirby waved excitedly.
X starred in baffled amazement. His own Weapon Variable System allowed him to copy the abilities of others, but Kirby’s power is something else entirely.
An explosion far off caught both of their attention. They turned to see the Sigma Palace, drifting into the city. If it got to the central district…
X broke out into a sprint. He wasted too much time here. He needs to find a way to get up there before Sigma caused destruction yet again.
As X ran after the fortress, he became aware of a twinkling sound behind him. Shortly after, Kirby flew next to X, riding some sort of star.
“K-Kirby?!”
“Come on! I’ll get us up there!”
X wasn’t quite sure how Kirby procured the craft, or what it even was for that matter, but with the Sigma Fortress entering the town, he had to take the gamble. X hopped onto the vessel and Kirby flew them in the direction of the fortress.
Vile groaned as his systems rebooted. He got up just in time to see X and Kirby take off into the sky. Saying no words, Vile clenched his fist before taking off in the other direction.
“Urgh…”
“T-that pink demon… How DARE that hideous creature try to stop me…”
“Taranza! Prepare my forces! I will make the pink demon pay for this!
“...”
“...Taranza! I command you!”
“...”
“...He is not here. Where am I? This is not Pop Star.”
“!”
“Such a castle is an insult to the eyes. Still, I do not have many other options. As offensive as it is, I shall claim it! ”
“...And that’s what was happening until now.”
X and Kirby walked through the corridors of the Sigma Palace. X’s memory banks recalled this sector being much more understaffed, and it would seem that it held true now. Indeed, the Sigma Palace was structured eerily similarly to how it was the first time. Less like Sigma had recreated it and more like it had been ripped from that exact moment.
Thus, X took the time to catch his new friend up on what was happening. Judging by Kirby’s face, this may have been a mistake.
“But I don’t get it! Why would the New General Reptiles want to do bad things?” The pink ball asked.
“They have a copy of Sigma’s doctrine built into them.”
“Doctorate?”
“No. I mean, they can think like Sigma does. If they decide that he makes sense, then they can go maverick and willingly join him.”
“Why?”
“That’s just how some reploids are. We were given the ability to think for ourselves. It is only natural that some would believe in reploid supremacy, no matter how misguided it is.”
Kirby gave X’s words some thought.
“Maybe they’re just hungry?”
“Kirby. Reploids don’t eat.”
“What?! You don’t eat?!” Kirby asked with a stunned expression on his face. “But eating is one of the best things to do in the world!” Kirby’s face turned serious and he asked his next question with significant gravity; “Do you nap?”
“We have recharge stations. That puts us into sleep mode.” X explained. That seemed to soothe Kirby slightly.
“What do you dream about while you’re sleeping?”
“Dream…”
X had heard of dreams. In all honesty, X was unsure; X could only remember one dream, that of a bearded old man speaking to him while he was in his capsule. X had no idea if it was some memory file in a location he himself did not know about or if he had indeed ‘dreamed’. Some of the Maverick Hunter HQ staff also claim that some of Zero’s reactions upon emerging from his capsule were unusual, but X never discussed it with him.
“...I’m not sure if I dream.”
“You can’t dream?!”
“Not normally. It’s probably for the best. I’m not sure if the dreams I would have would be peaceful.”
“Aw. No wonder the New General Reptiles are mad at Rick.” Kirby muttered before frowning. “Rick?”
“Is something the matter?”
“I dunno. I feel like I knew someone named Rick.” Kirby shook his head. “But I can’t remember yet.”
X watched as Kirby struggled to remember. He decided to switch the topic to something that he hopefully would have more knowledge of.
“What was that that you did back there? You somehow turned into a missile…?”
“Oh, that? That was my Copy Ability!” Kirby looked excited as he explained. “Sometimes when I eat things, I get an ability that I can use!”
“You get abilities when you eat ?”
“Not everything, but yeah!”
X couldn’t help but chuckle. Kirby looked confused and X noticed.
“Sorry. It’s just that I know a reploid that has the ability to change his form, much like you.”
“Wow! Really?!” Kirby asked with stars in his eyes.
“Somewhat. He changes his entire form to mimic the forms he takes, but it is a similar ability.”
“OOh! What’s his name?!”
“Axl.”
X grew reflective. He had given Axl a hard time when he first joined the Maverick Hunters. At the time, it seemed uncharacteristically harsh of X, but the blue bomber had merely grown frustrated. Perhaps it was selfish of him, but he had hoped that Sigma’s apparent demise would make peace more of a possibility. Axl, much like the organization that he hailed from and regardless of his intentions, was the antithesis of that possibility; A ruffian who seemed to hunger for battle rather than an end to it. It took quite some time before X finally accepted Axl as a hunter.
He wished he had handled it differently. Better.
“Wow! Do you have any other friends, X?”
“I have a few. But one in particular-”
“Look out, X!”
X turned just in time to see green meet yellow. Beams clashed as two reploids attempted to strike the other. One of them was painted red and white with an eye-catching blonde ponytail. The other was more intimidating: spiky, an emulation of slicked back hair and one eye missing, a scar running over that side of his face.
“Zero?!” X shouted towards the red intruder. Zero turned his eyes to X and smirked.
“You’re deep in enemy territory, X. You can’t always rely on me to cover you.”
Zero got the upper hand and forced the reploid back. The reploid in question glared at the maverick hunters.
“So, the S-class hunter Zero is here too.” The reploid brooded. “This is lookin’ to be quite a rumble.”
Red, the leader of the former Red Alert Syndicate pointed at the hunters with his scythe.
“Now. Let’s talk about your friend and what he knows.”
In the heart of the fortress, the Maverick King watched his screens with anticipation. It had been some time since his awakening, but it would come to a head soon. As heavily armed as this fortress was, it was but a means to an end. More important than its weapons was for it to function as a stage. A means to test the king’s theory.
A way to awaken X to his true potential.
Velguarder began to grow uneasily. The Maverick King turned to confront the guest, possibly one of his underlings delivering news.
It was not.
It was a young woman, dressed in a business dress, complete with blazer. She carried a haughty air to her as she stood down the maverick as if he were a mere mettaur compared to her.
“A human?!” The maverick growled.
“Good afternoon, sir! Dark Rimura at your service!” The woman saluted. “We have randomly selected you to receive a special boon, courtesy of our leader.”
“Keep your gifts! There is nothing a human could have that could possibly benefit a reploid! You are beneath us!”
“On the contrary, sir! What I have to give you…” Rimura reached into her pocket and pulled out something. Sigma could not quite tell what it was, but his sensors began to blare at him about an unknown substance. “...Will certainly pique your interest.”