X1

As both of his feet touched the metallic floor of Sigma's final base, X feared the giant walls laying before him would be the last things he sees. Or that the caterpillar-like Reploids crawling out from the towering walls would be the last forms of life he would gaze upon before meeting his end at the hands of Sigma.

"No. I mustn't think like this. If I don't defeat him, the human race as we know it will cease to exist! I HAVE to do it! Not just for those that he's killed...but for those that have yet to be born..."

X took one look up the long shaft and sighed. He clenched his fists with determination and began scaling the walls. From left to right, he jumped from wall to wall. Coming to where the caterpillar Reploids were crawling from, he dash-jumped easily over them and continued his climb. Finally reaching the top, the dark pit below him disappeared as a chrome plating surface sheered out from underneath him. Before him stood Sigma. He was an intimidating Reploid, to say the least. A towering Maverick, with deep glowing white eyes staring off right past X. His shoulder pads spread out so far they could touch the edges of the universe. His crimson-red cape fluttered as the man laughed in spite of what he saw. Next to him was a Reploid dog, likely his pet. Dark splashes of purple and orange smattered everywhere gave the beast an appearance of untamed evil. Its sneer shot right through X's eyes and out the back of his head.

"Welcome! I see you managed to get here by yourself. Very impressive!"

Sigma took one step forward and X braced himself.

"I could destroy you, but I would not rob my pet of that pleasure. He knows how to deal with betrayers!"

X began breathing heavier and heavier in sheer hatred over Sigma's overconfidence.

"Should you live, I will be waiting for you. Don't disappoint me X!"

Sigma teleported away in a flash. His pet dog howled in anticipation of gnawing on X's spare parts.

'Gotta find this dog's weakness...' pondered X. He began switching from weapon to weapon, firing wildly at the dog but to no avail. It jumped on X and tore at his Z-Buster arm.

"Aaaaagh! Get off!"

X swung his arm around until the dog broke free of his hold and smacked into the wall. Switching to the Shotgun Ice, X kept trying his luck at this Maverick dog's weakness. He fired a shot and missed, but a lone ricocheting ice pellet connected with the dog, freezing it in place and sending the dog on a spiraling tumble to the ground.

"Yes! Now I can take you down, you crazy mongrel!"

The dog rose to its feet and growled a snarling growl. It jumped towards X and he fired, but missed! The dog had jumped over X and planted himself firmly on the wall behind him. Jumping back, he pounded X to the ground and began pawing him with its sharp talon-like claws. X fired a Shotgun Ice shot to the dog's temple, temporarily deactivating it. This gave X a chance to rise to his feet and take proper aim at the creature. He began powering his Z-Buster for the final shot, but suddenly the dog pounced up and spouted blue flames from its mouth, singeing X's protective armour in the process.

"You are one tough mutt! But it ends here!"

X's powered-up Z-Buster blast echoed through the small room. It connected with the body of Sigma's devious pet and burst clear through the other side. The dog's head took one last look at X and winced before its eyes went cold black.

"Why, Sigma? Why send poor defenseless Reploids, animal or not, to do what you yourself could do easily?"

X saw the smoldering pile left by his destructive Z-Buster and called out once again.

"Show yourself!"

Sigma teleported down and stood in front of X.

"Excellent job, X! I see why Zero counted on you. You are almost as good a hunter as I was."

X remembers that day when the Hunters all turned on X and Zero, and Sigma went Maverick. It made him ache with pain to even think about it.

"But, the time of your destruction has arrived! You shall regret ever having defied me!"

Sigma flung off his red cape, revealing the rest of his near-perfect green armour. He sheathed a saber not unlike Zero's, and it glowed with an evil green hue. X didn't even have time to THINK about charging his Z-Buster before Sigma had taken a slice out of the side of X's arm.

"Aaaargh! My arm!"

But X pressed on and began scaling the walls. Sigma followed him, flying from wall to wall just as his pet did in the fight before. With a fully charged shot ready to burst, X timed his breakaway from the wall just as Sigma came into firing range.

"Take this, MAVERICK!"

X blasted Sigma with everything he had, but Sigma kept coming towards him. A little shaken, but not completely destroyed. His green armour had absorbed most of the blast, doing only little damage in the process.

"What!? My God, Dr. Cain made you almost TOO perfect! Even Zero's Z-Buster-"

Sigma laughed hysterically at X's words.

"ZERO? Granted he was powerful and a skilled fighter but his limits were in his potential. Your potential, X, is limitless! Not only do I see you've become a stronger person, but your fighting skills have improved! Join us Mavericks and you will know power like no other!"

X could only grunt.

"I guess you still have a lot to learn about me, Sigma. Hunter or not, you're still a Maverick. And I'll stop at nothing to save the human race!"

X came at Sigma with another charged blast, but Sigma stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Really, X? Even sacrificing one of your own?"

X powered down his Z-Buster and stood fast against his foe.

"What are you talking about? If you mean Zero, he died in the heat of battle! I had no choice!"

"I think otherwise. You had the time and resources to save him but instead chose to strip him of his weapons and leave him for dead."

X grabbed his head and shook it violently.

"No! You lie! Zero was beyond the point of repair!"

"You don't know that for sure, do you X?"

Sigma snickered at the suffering and torment of X. He knew just what to say to throw X off. X had other things in mind though.

"You say these things, but you yourself don't even know for sure just what I'm capable of! Zero was a great fighter, a good hunter, and an even better friend. And I'm not about to let your scathing words destroy what memories I have of him! Take this!"

X fired a blistering shot of hot pink energy at Sigma's unsuspecting face, blowing his green armour right off of him.

"Unghh, X...how can you...destroy one of your own..."

"You're not like me, Sigma. You're nothing like me. We share different schematics, ideals, and hopes for the future. It's almost a waste to even CONSIDER you a Reploid."

X walked over to Sigma and blasted several pellets into his chest, paralyzing him to the ground.

"X, be careful what you say...you don't know just who you are talking to..."

Sigma's armour broke away from him, as did his legs, arms, and neck. The lights in the room grew brighter and brought to X's attention a massive bodyframe with an electromagnetic force emanating from it. Sigma's head was drawn to the immense bodyframe and latched in place atop an enormous head that didn't look unlike his former pet dog. Two monstrous claws circled around with electric currents shooting from the palm and back of each claw. Its body was a temple of solid metal, unpenetrable in any fashion. Its shoulders were lined with spikes so sharp it could cut through the air were the spikes moving.

"You see, X? You cannot destroy me! With each striking blow I am reborn! REBOOORN AHAHAHAHA!"

X's shock nearly made his knees buckle, but he knew that this form could only be Sigma's last. His egomaniacal ways and self-loving attitude could only dream up such a "tribute" to perfection in biomechanics.

"No matter what form you take, Sigma, I'll still be there to stop you from taking innocent lives!"

Streams of lightning firing out from both claws zapped around X as he struggled for some solution to this hideous contraption. He saw Sigma's head resting firmly at the top of the structure, unguarded by any force fields or shielded armour.

'Of course', thought X to himself, 'how fitting that Sigma's weakness be his own head! Once again his ego will be his downfall!'

One of the claws slashed out its piercing nails and drove off in X's direction. X timed his jump to land safely on the top of the claw as it retracted back to its original position.

"Taking my perfect specimen for a ride, X? AHAHAHA! There is NO stopping me now! YOU WILL PERISH WITH THE REST OF THOSE PITIFUL HUMANS!"

X charged his Z-Buster to full capacity and fired right at Sigma's head. X had barely enough time to dash off of the claw before another burst of electricity consumed the entire surface of the claw.

"Nyaaah! Your pathetic toy gun may have startled me, but NOTHING can stop me from ruling all of humanity!!!!"

The giant beast head's mouth opened with a creaking wail and spewed hot fire from its giant maw. X dashed towards the wall and scaled upwards, barely avoiding death at the hands of Sigma's machine.

"RUN ALL YOU LIKE, X! YOU CANNOT STOP PERFECTION!"

X switched his Z-Buster over to the Rolling Shield and jumped from the wall to Sigma's head. He fired a Rolling Shield directly into Sigma's face and leaped to safety. Sigma writhed in pain and shook his head in disbelief.

"ARRRGH! HOW!? HOW DID YOU HURT ME? I AM PERFECT!"

X smirked and ran to another claw.

"After connecting with your head the first time, my Buster realigned itself to match your energy output frequency! Sure enough, the Rolling Shield matches your source of energy consumption from the machine's! See, as naive as you think I am, Sigma, even I can learn a few new things!"

"NOOOO! IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU'LL BE DEAD LONG BEFORE YOU GET ANOTHER SHOT!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," muttered X to himself as he climbed aboard the electrified claw one more time.

X inched closer to Sigma's head once again when he was caught off-guard by an electric burst surging through his electrical circuits.

"Oww! Aughh!"

X's body fell to the floor. Steam rose from his circuits. He looked up at Sigma's head as it laughed away in hysterics.

"GAHAHA! ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE YOU'RE DEAD AND THE HUMAN RACE ALONG WITH YOU!"

X fought through the pain and rose to his feet.

"Nnnnnno! I won't let you!"

Armed with the Rolling Shield, X jumped up to the claw and across to Sigma's face. He stared directly into Sigma's glowing white eyes.

"This...is for humanity."

A fury of Rolling Shield fire blasted from the Z-Buster, each one connecting with Sigma. Round after round, his head grew darker and darker until finally his head, along with the giant face attached to it, broke apart and collapsed to the floor. The separation from the main body set off a chain reaction of explosions covering the whole room.

"No!!! It's not possible! I'm a Reploid! I can't be destroyed by you! Why, X?! Why have you done this to us?!"

X stood there watching as his worst enemy was exploding in front of him.

"Without the humans, my Reploid brothers could have ushered in a new age....."

Sigma's face grew white hot with energy. X teleported away in the nick of time, just as Sigma exploded into nothing more than a pile of metallic dust.

X made it safely outside of Sigma's Fortress upon a nearby cliff. He watched as the Fortress sunk into the ocean and exploded into fragments.

"Dr. Cain, I'll be there soon. Zero, I'm sorry. Everyone...I'm...sorry..."

The war has ended for now and peace has been restored. But those who sacrificed themselves for the victory will never return.

Exhausted, X gazes at the destruction he helped cause and wonders why he chose to fight. Was there another way?

Standing on the cliff, the answers seem to escape him. He only knows that he'll fight the Mavericks again before he finds his answer.

How long will he keep on fighting? How long will his pain last? Maybe only the X-Buster on his hand knows for sure.....

. . . . .

In the distance, a very faint voice echoed through the air....

"You have won a temporary victory, X! What you destroyed was only a temporary body -- my spirit remains intact. In time I will find other bodies strong enough to do my bidding and I will return. I shall see you soon, X. Very soon..."

THE END