Digital Souls Pt. 2 By Wanderer D ---------------------------- The usual Disclaimers Apply. ---------------------------- Things to take into account, This is a possibility of the time Matt deserted the group after talking to Cherrymon and the fight with Tai. We are assuming that the Digiworld is not only linked with the Digidestined world. We are also assuming that time passes faster in X's universe. (48 hours Digiworld = 302400 hours aprox. X's universe) This was supposed to be a spamfic, however I think I'll make it a oneshot. We are *also* assuming that more than one generation of robots passes between each of the Megaman X manga and games. I don't know if that was the plan, but the Digidestined act way more mature than they should at their age, so I'm taking advantage of that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ End Rant ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Peregrin looked askance at the new addition to the team. Lynx and Afroman, who didn't know who Gabumon was -they had arrived at the base earlier that evening, after going to scout the enemy base-, also looked quizzically at Zero, who shook his head. "Gabumon here is our secret weapon." "Gabumon?! What a stupid name..." Lynx muttered. Gabumon heard, however. "What did you say, Kitten?!" "It talks!" Afroman noted. Lynx, however, was not amused. "What did you call me!?" Zero stepped between Gabumon and Lynx. "Enough! I don't want to pick up the pieces of the first who argues again. So don't!" Lynx turned around fuming, to find X, Peregrin and Afroman grinning. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!?" Gabumon, however, was surprised at Matt's change. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face X. "Don't take it personal; Matt is just being responsible. If we let divisions into the group we might risk failure in our mission, and we can't risk it." X went over to check his hover bike and Gabumon again considered the situation. X was right, of course. If Gabumon wanted to help Matt he wouldn't do so by fighting with his teammates. Gabumon walked over to Lynx. "I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have insulted you." Lynx was surprised but nodded. "I too am sorry. I shouldn't have called your name stupid. Please forgive me." Gabumon nodded and walked back to Matt, pleased at the results, and missing the glare Lynx directed at him. Peregrin noticed it however, and decided to keep an eye over both Gabumon and Lynx. *** The attack was going to be swift and effective. Matt briefed them on the way on how it would work. The craft they were currently in -A huge oval thing with wings-, would deposit them thirty kilometers away from the Maverick base. Then they would charge out of the jungle and sneak into the base undetected. Being under the radar range and moving at high velocities, they would easily get inside. Once there, they would find the nuclear warheads and disarm them if possible. If not, launch them into outer space towards the sun, then destroy the base. Either way the base should be destroyed. Gabumon was excited, looking around at the controls, then out of the window. The team took his enthusiasm with stoicism. Finally, they arrived at the drop point, and Gabumon jumped behind Zero on his hover bike. "Hold on tight!" Zero warned. Then they shot out of the ship and through the jungle towards the Maverick base. Gabumon tried to scream, but the speed and the air prevented him from doing anything. Finally, Gabumon was able to see the Maverick base. It looked like a large, metallic castle with 8 spires and a large dome in the center. Ice Lynx walked forward guiding them next to a large ventilation shaft. He started freezing it as Afroman informed them that those spires were, in fact, the nuclear missiles. When the shaft broke down, Zero stopped them. "Listen, we know what will happen once we're inside, so we'll split into teams to take care of the main Mavericks." "First, we'll reach the center of the complex. Then, Ice Lynx and Afroman will go west, Peregrin will go with Gabumon east, X and I will take North and South respectively. Once you've taken care of the nuke, you will go clockwise and destroy the next one. Then return to the center." Zero waited a moment to see if everyone understood. "In short, all the teams should fight two bosses and disable two missiles per team. Once that is done, we'll meet again in the center. Understood?" Everyone nodded. The only reploid with a problem was Peregrin. She was quick to voice her opinion, though. "I have to work with Gabumon? No offence, but he won't be able to do much damage to one of them." Zero merely smiled at her. He then knelt next to Gabumon. "Take care of Peregrin, Gabumon. She may talk much, but she's not that experienced..." Zero stood up and walked a little away from Gabumon. He pulled out his Digivice and pointed it at Gabumon. Having a deeper understanding of the Digivice than before, Zero concentrated on the feelings of friendship he had towards X, Gabumon, Peregrin, Afro and Lynx. Mostly on the first three. Peregrin was the rookie of the team, true, but she had adapted quite fast and made fast friends with both him and X. And so, Zero concentrated. The Digivice glowed and to the surprised looks of the others Gabumon digivolved into Garurumon, and then into Weregarurumon. To say that Peregrin's views of victory improved would be the same as saying that X would probably find a cool new armor in the building. It was the understatement of the year. Afroman and X liked their new improvement, too although Lynx looked a little nervous. Maybe it was because Lynx sort of looked like a frozen cat. Zero shrugged and gave the signal to go forth. *** Peregrin and Weregarurumon ran down a long tunnel towards their destination, the first of the two missiles they would destroy. On their way they found an assortment of creatures and robots which were easily disposed of. Peregrin was surprised at how well her teammate adapted to fights. She was no longer mad at Zero, although she would have preferred teaming up with *him*. Weregarurumon blasted to pieces a small bat robot and looked at her. "Are you tired, Peregrin? Your face is red." Peregrin's face became even redder as she shook her head. "No! I'm not thinking about Zero! Let's go!" She opened her wings and flew down the tunnel. "But... I didn't ask that!" Weregarurumon shouted as he ran after her. Finally they reached a titanium alloy door. Peregrin touched a pad next to it and it opened easily. However, the Maverick inside would know of their intrusion by now. The door opened to reveal... "Shocker!" "You know him?" Weregarurumon asked in surprise. Peregrin nodded. "He was the younger brother of Magma Dragoon, another Hunter turned bad." Shocker looked similar to Magma Dragoon, but he was lighter and incredibly swift. His armor was yellow instead of red though. "Peregrin... Long time no see..." Shocker greeted. "Tell me, have you come to join us, or to die here?" Shocker closed his fists and blue lightning surrounded him then flew around the room, rebounding on the walls and finally converging on his body again, only to disappear. It's only residue evident in the eerily glowing eyes of Shocker. *** Zero dashed down another tunnel, barely even stopping as he cut and slashed through his enemies. Finally he reached his own door and again dashed in. He found himself standing in a large factory, full of large ovens. For a moment he had a sinking feeling in his gut as he heard a roar. Then his instincts took control as he jumped back and away from four lines of fire that cut the air -and the ground- where he was standing mere seconds ago. Pulling his saber in front of him, he prepared himself for action as his attacker walked into the room. The Maverick that stood infront of him had the face and mane of a lion, and the lower body of a human, his feet ended in claws as well as his hands, which were extra armored, and covered in fire. "I am Fire Lion! Prepare to die, Zero!" Zero smiled as the familiar thrill of battle invaded his body. The only warning Fire Lion had was the fire in Zero's eyes as the later shot forward, swinging his saber. *** X shouted, jumped, dashed, fired, retraced his steps and generally made a mess of the enemies that appeared in his way. When finally none was left, he calmly walked to the door and blasted it open. Walking inside he found himself face to face with a minotaur out of Greek mythology. Only made out of metal and with a huge axe. Bulging metallic muscles and two towering and wicked looking horns on each side of its bovine head, gave this Maverick an impressive look. X looked up at the monster. "And who are you?" "I'm TauroX! THE DESTROYER!" Without warning, he batted X with his axe against a wall. X grunted as he stood on all fours. He then rolled to the side barely avoiding the axe as it crashed next to his head. X didn't have time to think as his battle-honed instincts took over. He dashed under the massive minotaur's legs as he charged his booster. X jumped to the nearest wall, and hanging from it, he shot his charged blast at Tauro's head. The minotaur blocked the shot with the flat of his axe, although he was still shoved back a couple of steps. "Axe SLASH!" Tauro charged the wall and cut a straight line through it, braking it in two. X, however had jumped just before impact and activated his boots, shooting over the minotaur's head. X had charged his booster yet again, and as his enemy started to tear his axe away, he shot to the small of his back. The huge Reploid fell to his knees, temporarily stunned. *** "I was wondering when you would come here," Shocker commented, casting a curious look at the werewolf standing next to Peregrin. "And I was wondering what happened to you after you left." Peregrin answered. Shocker shrugged non-commitally. "Oh, I've been traveling around. Until I heard what happened to my brother!" Peregrin looked at Weregarurumon worriedly. "Look, Zero had no choice!" "There's always a choice!" Shocker bellowed as he shot a series of rapid thunderbolts. Weregarurumon and Peregrin scrambled out of the way as Shocker stopped his barrage. "Dragoon attacked him and would have killed both Zero and X if he hadn't fought back! The only reason Dragoon had was his wish to fight Zero to the end!" Shocker would not hear about it and shot out again, this time hitting Peregrin in the chest. Weregarurumon caught her before she crashed onto the wall, and held her to her feet as she shook off the effects of Shocker's blast. "Don't lie to me!" Shocker shouted. "I know the truth! Dragoon was weak and Zero killed him!" Weregarurumon shook his fist angrily at Shocker. "That's not true! Matt would NEVER do such a thing!" He was blasted out of the way by a lightning bolt. "Who's Matt, anyway?" *** Fire lion grasped the remnants of his arm quickly dashing away from Zero. The latter stopped his blinding attacks and regarded his enemy. The fire Reploid was cut in several places, his left arm was missing, and two of his claws were cut cleanly. The lion growled and backed off wearily. Zero walked forward calmly. *** Shocker stopped attacking them, as he heard something only he could hear. "You say Zero wouldn't do that?" A huge screen appeared behind him. There, they could see Fire Lion, wounded and now short-circuiting, backed against a computer console. Zero shot forward suddenly. His sword flashing in intricate patterns as he cut Fire Lion to pieces. When the last piece fell to the ground, he stepped in front of the computer and typed something. He then raised his communicator, and, sure enough, they heard Zero's voice clearly. "Nuke disabled. Moving off to next target." The screen turned off and Shocker Dragoon looked at them, noting Weregarurumon's uneasiness at his friend's actions. "It is undeniable, Zero massacred Fire Lion when he was obviously helpless. He could have spared him, but no! He killed him quickly and efficiently." Peregrin frowned. She turned to look at Weregarurumon. "This is not the time to dwell on that. We have to stop our own and move on to the next!" Weregarurumon nodded grimly and growled menacingly at Shocker. Peregrin and Weregarurumon acted as one. Weregarurumon did a spin kick and released some kind of energy that Shocker easily avoided. The wall behind him shattered with the force of the energy. Both reploids stared at Weregarurumon in surprise. "Zero was right when he told me not to underestimate you, Weregarurumon!" Peregrin noted. Shocker attacked them then, firing his lightning bolts with seeming abandon. Both fighters avoided the attacks. Weregarurumon suddenly shot out a blue beam from his mouth, which hit Shocker fully. As Shocker began to freeze, Peregrin flew towards the nearest computer and started typing. "Weregarurumon! Keep Shocker occupied while I finish here!" "Why don't you kill me as your leader killed my brother!" Shocker demanded. "We don't kill our friends, and you know it, Shocker!" Peregrin answered over his shoulders. "It's probably because you haven't been around Zero long enough!" Shocker was shocked when he was hit by Weregarurumon. The were creature's huge fist connected with Shocker's face and threw it painfully back. "Don't you dare say that about Matt! He would give his life for his friends! That can't be said about you!" Shocker looked up at Weregarurumon. "I assume this 'Matt' of which you speak so highly is Zero. On what basis do you tell me he would?" Weregarurumon glared at Shocker. "He has done so before! He did it to save X from Vile!" "Caught in battle frenzy." Weregarurumon snorted. "You don't know Matt as well as I do!" "And why should you know him any better?! I hadn't seen you ever before with Zero!" "Because I knew him before he became the machine he is now!" Weregarurumon howled enraged. "I knew a kid that risked his life not once, but twice to save his world and mine! I knew a boy who would rather be tortured than let his brother or his friends get hurt!" Peregrin and Shocker were staring at Weregarurumon, completely silent. "It's my fault he's what he is now! If you want to kill someone for the death of your brother kill me!" Peregrin walked up to him. "Why? Why would it be your fault?" "A kid?" Shocker whispered, but Weregarurumon and Peregrin heard him, nevertheless. "Yes! A kid. I was supposed to protect Matt! I swore I would be there for him, and I promised myself to protect him! But I failed." The werewolf sank to his knees and looked at his hands guiltily. "One night while we both slept he screamed, and when I woke up I couldn't get to him as I saw how he disappeared in front of me, and I was helpless! What kind of friend and protector am I that I failed him when he needed me?!" *** Tauro swirled his axe above his head and slashed at X, who ducked under it and fired at his head. The minotaur stumbled back as the shot almost blew his head off. He was fast, but X was faster. In a fight against anyone but Zero or X, he would be the clear victor. However, the First Reploid was clearly too much, Tauro noted as he was shot yet again. Suddenly, X's radio activated and both could hear Zero's voice announcing the destruction of one of the targets. X ignored it, but Tauro was a little disturbed by that. He attacked X again, swinging his axe down when X dashed under him again and shot. Tauro brought up his axe, but it wasn't a normal blast. It was acid! Tauro was forced to throw his axe away as it melted under the effects of Spray Rat's acid. Tauro gulped as X looked at him grimly. *** Shocker was free of the Ice, but he wasn't doing anything but stare at Weregarurumon. "Then, when I finally come here and find him, I also find out that he has spent 30 or more years here, and worse, my friend was transformed into a killing machine by some idiot!" He shot his eyes forcibly. "I didn't only fail him, I failed his parents, his friends and his brother." Weregarurumon shook his head and looked at Peregrin. "Have we finished here yet? I don't want to stay in this place any longer." Peregrin looked at Shocker for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I believe we can go now," Peregrin turned on her transmitter. "This is Peregrin; target disabled." X's transmission greeted her in turn. "Roger, mine's too. Let's get on with it!" They walked out of the room, leaving Shocker to his thoughts. *** Zero found his next enemy to be the same Rat Reploid X had fought. "Don't tell me I have to fight you too." Zero muttered closing his eyes and sighing. "I am Spray Rat! And you have to fight me!" "I'm not really up to this, I should quit while I can and join you in your conquest..." Zero predicted. "You are not to my level of Power! Give up and join us... or die!" Zero shrugged. "Close enough." *** X, now having and Axe Spin attack, dashed down to the underground caverns where he would meet his next enemy. *** Peregrin glanced occasionally at Weregarurumon as they walked up a spiral in the center of the tower where they were to disable the next missile. The were creature had remained quiet since they had left Shocker behind, and had instead stubbornly kept his eyes away from her. Even though she was barely starting to understand the situation she could feel his pain. "He's not a murderer, you know." Weregarurumon ignored her, although he did frown and speed up a little. "Sigma would've used Repliforce to kill the whole population in this planet. You cannot call him that when he regretted having to fight Magma Dragoon so much." Weregarurumon sighed. "I know, Matt told me about it. But that's not what bothers me." Peregrin was a little confused, but she prodded the Digimon to explain. "It's the fact that he became a machine just because I couldn't-" He stopped as Peregrin slapped him hard on the muzzle. He looked up at her in surprise, and noted that she was close to tears. "How can you say that!" Weregarurumon could only rub at his cheek flabbergasted. "We are not simple 'machines'! Each of us have a soul! I don't know how it works or why, but I know I feel pain here," She patted her chest. "If one of my friends gets hurt. I know I feel, I know I learn and that I have the capacity for love! And you come here and tell me that I'm a lie?! And that X, Zero, Lynx and all the others are living a lie?" Twin tears slid down her cheeks, and Weregarurumon softly passed his fingers over them, cleaning her face, only to stare at his finger. "You're crying..." Peregrin rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yes. It's a simple matter to enable this kind gadgets to a Reploids eyes." Weregarurumon shook his head. "You cried!" "So?! Is it wrong? Oh, I forgot, since I'm a machine I shouldn't be able to feel emotional pain and cry. Sorry." This time, Peregrin was the one to start walking away in anger, leaving Weregarurumon to catch up with her. *** They finally arrived at the top of the tower, and entered a large domed room where a human-looking reploid in simple black armor waited for them. "I am Afcaal. I am here to protect this missile from you two losers, so prepare to fight... and die." *** X entered the missile room only to dash under hundred of yellowish tentacle-like... noodles? "What the?!" The noodles returned to a dark area of the room, and out of it stepped a Maverick that actually looked like an instant noodle soup! "You've got to be kidding me!" "Megaman! Prepare to die!! Noodle Wall!" Hundreds of metallic noodles flew at X, who quickly activated his Acid Gun. X's armor changed from blue and white to green and white, as he shot acid at the approaching noodles. The acid didn't affect them, however, so he had to dash away. Noodle man laughed manically twirling his noodle-weapons around in an effort to capture X. The Maverick Hunter dashed, slid, rolled, jumped and fired at the noodles with his X-buster, but the noodles only looked a little burnt. "Only one chance now..." X muttered as he activated his newest weapon. A white energy circle surrounded X as he was slowly transformed into his new mode. The blue areas in his uniform turned orange, and his X buster was substituted by a double edged axe. Jumping high into the air and throwing the axe at the noodles, X started his attack. *** Spray Rat was slammed against the wall, Zero's saber stopping mere millimeters from his throat. "I thought X had killed you." The Hunter asked the Maverick. "He did!" Spray Rat gasped trying to pray Zero's arm away from him. "Well, who rebuilt you then?!" "I... won't... tell... you!" Spray Rat managed to sneak his gun between the two, firing a spray of acid into the air. Zero jumped backwards, barely able to avoid the deadly rain. Spray Rat wasn't so fortunate. The acid consumed large parts of his furry pelt and face. Just when Zero had thought the acid would finish his work for him, Spray Rat shot at him. "My own attack will not kill me!" the half burnt rat shouted angrily. Zero dashed to the side and was able to avoid much of the spray, however, a few drops fell on his sword arm and he felt it start burning through his armor. Gritting his teeth, Zero jumped at Spray Rat, impaling him into the wall with his sword. Spray Rat had time to look in surprise from the sword to Zero's feral expression just before the latter pulled his sword up cutting the Maverick from the waist up in half. Spray Rat's cut cables short-circuited and sparks flashed out igniting whatever fluid the acid was and making the former Maverick explode, throwing Zero into the console of the nearby computers. Which exploded in turn. Zero dragged himself out of the fire and turned on his back, breathing heavily. He had noticed that he and X were the only ones who did that. Breath heavily that is. Well, not really, Dr. Cain and his comrades-at-lab had reproduced this function into the newest Reploids about one Generation of reploids back. He chuckled slightly. True, they were also the ones that ended up the most beaten up of the group... until Peregrin's group started action. It seemed humans related more to Reploids that panted. For a moment, Zero thought about that thought. He wasn't human... not now, but he wasn't a reploid either. What was he? Was he Matt? Was he Zero the Maverick Hunter? Zero groaned, still eagle-spread in the ground, and sighed. He would worry about that when this mission was finished. Right now he didn't have time for Matt the human. Right now he was to be Zero; the reploid who beat he hell out of Sigma with a broken pipe. *** Peregrin slammed against a metallic wall, and stayed there, followed mere seconds later by Weregarurumon, who slammed to her right. Afcaal regarded them for a moment before releasing his hold on them. "Damn!" Peregrin grunted. Weregarurumon could only wheeze as his breath was pounded out of him with the force of slamming on the ground. Afcaal's armor changed into a red hue as he walked up to them. "Fire Chain!" Peregrin jumped and opened her wings hovering up, while Matt's Digimon rolled to the side as a pair of chains engulfed in fire hit the ground where they had been. Afcaal's armor changed yet again into a dull brown, and his right hand buster changed into a drill. "Drill missile!" He shouted as he shot three consecutive missiles at Weregarurumon. The werewolf rolled under one, stepped hastily to the side to avoid the next one and finally jumped over the last. He grinned at Afcaal, but his mirth faded when he saw the Reploid smiling smugly back at him. Then the missiles impacted on the wall behind him and Weregarurumon literally flew into the wall at the other side of the room with the ensuing explosion. Peregrin, who had been charging her buster, didn't waste another minute and fired at Afcaal. The Maverick was engulfed by the black ray and completely covered in a few seconds. When the darkness around him faded, he had already fallen on one knee. Small trickles of black energy surrounded his body, but dissipated as he stood up. He twirled around as his armor changed colors into yellow. "Die! Sparkle!" Peregrin tried to evade it, but the flash left her stunned and she fell to the ground. A sickening crunch and a scream encouraged Weregarurumon to stand up. He looked in horror as Afcaal stabbed some kind of giant needle on Peregrin's left wing. She screamed again as the Maverick stood back to survey his work. She had been impaled to the wall by two of Afcaal's needles, one on each wing, and she was hanging limply, energy drained and tears slowly streaming down her face. Her booster had apparently blown up and all that remained of it was scrap metal. Afcaal had removed her stylized helm letting her long thick brown hair fall around her face. She looked like a horribly mutilated angel. Standing up he started to slowly walk towards his enemy, as Afcaal changed colors again. This time into a variant of yellow. "You're gonna blow up this time, little birdie." Peregrin barely registered his words, but the tone was obvious. She closed her eyes and waited for her execution as Afcaal started to charge up. She felt the electricity build up as her hair started to rise in response to the huge amounts being released. When she heard Afcaal announce his attack she closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable. She heard the discharge and winced, but the blast never came. She opened her eyes carefully and slowly, to find herself face to face with Weregarurumon. The Digimon smiled slightly at her, then slid down to unevolve back into a semi-conscious Gabumon. "G-Gabumon?" She asked in surprise. "I'm sorry... I... I didn't understand before..." Gabumon slumped into the ground, now fully unconscious. "Gabumon! Gabumon!" Afcaal kicked the immobile figure away and stood sneering at her. "Hmm. It seems you'll live a few more seconds." He now changed into a deep blue armor. Gabumon was fighting a loosing battle with reality, but he managed to open his eyes, only to stare helplessly at both Reploids. "Matt, I failed you again... I promised to take care of her..." Gabumon, fueled by his promise dragged himself towards Afcaal. "No... I... will... not... fail you... again!" *** Zero sensed something pulsating. As he stood up he looked down at his Digivice. It was shining slightly. "True, I will not stay here. I must meet the others. My friends." He clasped his Digivice and walked towards the door. The Digivice glowed stronger. --------- End Part two. --------- As always, you can email me about this to the return adress. Anyway, I hope you liked this, since I'm actuallly putting a lot of work into this, as some people can testify. I thank the people that wrote about the first part and... CONDEMN THE... um, sorry! ^_^' In reality, I do thank them and ask that whoever reads this also write her/his opinion, since I'm aspiring to someday become a writer I do need the comments!