X1

X went over the briefing in his head as he began to teleport to the Central Highway. Dr. Cain reported increased Maverick activity in the area and insisted that X be the one to neutralize any hostile forces he may encounter. X's training had prepared him for such "routine" Hunter missions, but the first real battles can be the most intense.

As X landed in a mostly-quiet area, he noticed some activity occurring up ahead. It seemed some of the locals in the area were quickly vacating in their vehicles. X had a bad feeling, but pressed on. He saw some whirly spinny thing, but just jumped over it in case it too was an escaping Reploid. Some giant metallic round-thing with tiny legs remained stationary, however. Never one to be impolite, X decided to strike up a conversation with the unfamiliar Reploid.

"Excuse me, but there have been reports-"

Without a moment of hesitation, the Reploid began to steam and emit enormous balls of energy from its innards. Cascading along the floor, they reached X's feet and electrocuted his body in a barrage of seizure-inducing flash-bangs.

"Aaaagh! Dammit, what the Hell, guy! As an official Maverick Hunter I'm placing you under arrest!"

The mechanical marauder merely shrugged its jagged edges in a display of indifference. As X approached the fiend, its chest made a whirring noise as several lock-loaded rockets began searing their way in X's direction.

"Holy Hellfire! Rockets, even?"

X jumped feverishly over said rockets and landed in a tumbled mass on the Highway road.

"I see I'll have to take a less diplomatic approach."

X raised his brand new X-Buster arm into the air and placed his free hand upon its shiny new blue glaze finish.

"Time to test out the new hardware..."

In a moment of adrenaline-fueled joy, he began furiously pumping the unidentified bluish-silver Maverick with pellet after pellet of X-Buster firepower, lighting up the enemy with every piercing blow.

"Goddamn, how much juice does it take to-"

In a puff of red smoke and electricity, the Maverick had been taken out.

"...Oh. Well. I kinda liked that!"

With his newfound energy and understanding of his gear, X pressed on to eliminate any further difficult encounters.

Speaking of difficult, the terrain itself became an enemy all its own. Gaping holes in the long stretch of road forced X to jump time and again, barely making each jump as he was still new to the whole 'Hunter' thing.

"Seriously, they are not making this easy for me. Hmm? Now what are those?"

Up ahead appeared to be even meaner-looking Mavericks. These ones could fly. Oh, and they could completely destroy the Highway surface immediately below them.

"Ugh, first it was a bulbous energy-shooting robot, now I gotta deal with propeller-wielding permanent pressers!"

X clenched his hands and began to make work of these Highway hazards. Keeping his distance, the effort was minimal, but costly. As time grew on, the surface of the road became less tangible and more falling-like.

"This is not a good thing. Where's that red fellow when I need him? He seems to be able to do this job like he's cooking a pizza pocket! Here I am playing shoot-backs as the turf below me is withering away!"

X's anger forced him to clench his hands so tight that he began to emit an aura. Almost like he were absorbing energy around him. As he witnessed the destruction, the energy reached a peak of intensity that X could not take anymore.

"Gaaaah get off my case, you Maverick bastards!"

He jumped into the air and fired off a cataclysmic light-burst of immense energy, wafting through the cavalcade of airborne assailants with little effort.

"...Holy crap. I have GOT to do that more often."

As X kept finding his way through the tirade of more blue-silver robots and flying mashing nuisances, he noticed the sky begin to darken. A brooding sensation to quiver over X's simulated flesh.

"Okay, what's going on here? Suddenly the activity has seemed to stop...Oh, NOW I see. IT'S A BIG, FRIGGIN' MAVERICK WITH GUNS!"

X's shock was well-merited. From the skies emerged a giant flying machine not too dissimilar from a giant bug of some type. X quickly jumped as green rockets headed directly towards him. A continuous machine gunner on the front threatened X to traverse near the concoction.

"Looks like this'll require a distance game. Thank God I have the home version."

X began charging his energy as he did with the flying enemies from before, only now it was in motion. It's a sensation X found exhilirating and enticing.

The machine drew closer and closer, so X began firing round after round of giant blue flames of energy at the body.

"This is taking too long. I'm gonna be overwhelmed if I don't do somethin' fast!"

X's self-narrative was right. Within moments the bug-bot would overthrow him and engulf him in machine gun, rocket, and now pod machine walkers. They kept emerging from behind the robot and forming into walking terrors. X could quickly make due of them with a few pellets, but the entire machine? X decided to take a direct approach and fire pellet after rapid pellet without looking back.

"Just die already! Agh! It's putting such a strain on me!!"

Just as he was about to give up, the last pellet struck the machine, short-circuiting its insides and sending it crashing onto the Highway floor.

"Whew. Glad that's over. Couldn't have gotten any worse."

*CRACK* *CRUNCH*

"Umm...what's that sound?"

From one little crack and crunch, to the sound of rubble billowing under his feet, the weight of the scrapheap he'd made in front of him caused the Highway to buckle and collapse. X could do nothing but fall wherever gravity took him. That trip was about three seconds as a lower platform lay below him, saving him from certain doom.

"Oh my goodness, one in a million. Now then, let's see what else is up ahead..."

After climbing up the side wall with stylish boots, X continued on eradicating minor X-Buster fodder along the completely ruined Highway surface. He once again fought another bug-robot flying machine, but made a fast job of that creature too.

"Why would they send two of these things? I swear their only goal is to close down this Highway. Hmm, maybe there's more to this than I thought..."

As X kept on running to where the Maverick activity was said to be greatest, he noticed his hypothesis may not be so far-fetched after all. The ground itself was falling away under his feet. Luckily he had sufficient enough time to jump away from the perils.

"Ugh I swear this place needs far more maintenance. Unfortunately it's the maintenance Reploids that are messing it up! Oh Zero, if you were here you'd have found the cause of all this by now. I'm surprised I'm not dead yet!"

Zero was nowhere to be found as he was assigned another important mission. X had to do this on his own. He knew this mission would show how ready he was to take on the bigger missions. As the Maverick Hunter agenda was an army of two, he knew he had better rise up to his full potential.

Flying through the sky were what once were monitor Reploids for the Central Highway Security Force. Now mindless Mavericks buzzing through the air like drones, X could not help but put them out of their misery with one fire from his trusty weapon. Up ahead he heard clanking and clunking, but thought nothing of it.

"Just more of the same. Why can't these Mavericks just understand that peace can be so simple? *sigh* More of the same. If only I could speak to them. If only they could understand me instead of blindly fighting for something even they don't understand. Oh well. If they won't listen to me, they'll listen to my Buster."

After a nod of self-assurance from his diatribe, X had to continue on. Zero was sure to arrive any minute to see how X was holding up. But X wanted to complete this mission on his own at all costs.

Nearing a giant flying station, a band of rogue Mavericks in speeder cars began racing towards X at very illegal speeds.

"Halt! I am X, Maverick Hunter! I demand you slow down and vacate the vehicle immediately! I am armed and ready to fire!"

They drew closer and closer. So close that X realized they were right in front. With no time to fire, he jumped over the slick red cars, somersaulted to catch his balance, turned around and fired a charged blast right into one of the Maverick's drive shafts. A wave of sparks from the shaft caused the car to shake violently and explode in a fireworks display of metal and Maverick parts.

"Wow. I didn't realize what I'm capable of. But no time to dwell. Must press on!"

Finally arriving at his pre-determined destination, X had to take out several more boxcar bandits that emerged from an enormous flying facility. A few charged shots directly the body of the cars sent the automobiles flying off and over the side of the Highway, the Mavericks screaming in dismay echoing from below. But X figured something was wrong.

"Something's wrong. There's nothing here. Where's this onslaught of Maverick activity originating from?"

Then suddenly, one last thing came out of the giant flying station. It was a Reploid in purple armor, commandeering a Ride Armor. It said nothing as it jumped from the platform to the ground directly in front of X. The looked at each other, sizing each other up in their heads. "This is what brought all the chaos here," thought X. "And therefore, this must also be destroyed before more innocent lives are taken."

Without thinking, X was already fully charged for a killshot. But the purple enemy barged towards him in a flurry of hard punches, smacking X to the ground hard. He shook it off and began firing waves of pellets at the enemy, not even making so much as a scratch on him. Another punch was delivered to X's chest, causing part of his metal armor to be exposed. Having trouble moving, X could only fire from a standstill and watch as his enemy come at him with zero damage. The intruder blasted a heavy yellow burst of energy from its side shoulder cannon, paralyzing X to the ground. The Ride Armor grabbed X by the throat and hoisted him into the air, his body sparking up the air around him. X knew that he had been defeated, and could only await death.

"You worthless piece of scrap metal. Did you think you could defeat me?"

These would be the last words X would hear from his victor. But from far behind, a piercing sound of energy charging began to shimmer in X's ears. From the distance a fiery blue flame came through and severed the arm from the Ride Armor, setting X free. A red-armored hero raced in, his flowing blond hair rustling in the wind, and began charging another shot to take out the evil being. Unfortunately the flying station was too quick for him as it scooped up the evildoer in the nick of time. The blue ball of energy flew safely underneath the purple Maverick and continued on into nothingness. Now X lay there as his saviour Zero looked on at the escaping station.

"Damn! I guess I'm not powerful enough to defeat him..."

X's words rang through Zero's head with frustration.

"X, you shouldn't expect to defeat him. He is designed to be a war machine. Remember, you have not reached full power yet. If you use all the abilities you were designed with, you should become stronger..."

He looked down at X and smirked.

"You may even become as powerful as I am."

X sighed in a so-so manner to humour Zero. It didn't work. Zero now began to puff out his chest and look serious again.

"I'll scout ahead and collect as much information on Sigma's fortress as I can. I'll meet up with you when you get there. See you later! X, I know you can do it."

X furrowed his brow and though, "Ah yes, Sigma. The reason I'm doing all this. I'm the reason why he exists. Therefore, I'm the reason the world is in chaos." X had thought about it many times, but now he was in the thick of this and knew he would have to face his own design and creation soon. He just hoped that Zero would be there for him when things start to get tough.

With a final look back at the Highway and another sigh of disbelief, he teleported away back to Dr. Cain's lab. There was a lot more work to be done.