Back at the base, the situation was discussed and a new plan was formed.
"Alright," Ciel stated firmly. "It's plain that Sigma is spearheading this Maverick rebellion. Taking him down has to be our top priority. Vile was supposed to be our way of finding out his location, but with his escape, we're out of options. We still only have three combat ready units we can guarantee Sigma can't influence."
"Which means we're the only ones we can risk facing Sigma," Zero agreed. "So what's the plan?"
"Zero, you're the best we've got at stealth and tracking," Ciel replied. "Your job is to track down Vile and Sigma, but don't engage. We're going to send the three of you in together when the time comes."
"Understood," Zero agreed. "I'll handle it." Turning, he headed out for his mission.
"X, Tavi," Ciel continued, "you two are continue going after the former Hunters. Try and sway them back to our side, but if that fails, termination has been authorized."
"...understood," X replied softly.
"We'll do what we have to do..." Octavia agreed hesitantly. "Any suggestions on who we should go after first?"
"Chill Penguin," Ciel stated firmly. "Out of all of them, Tavi, he's the one you've interacted with most. He'll be the one you're most likely to be able to influence."
"Understood," X and Octavia replied together, heading to the teleporters.
As they warped into the snowy landscape, Octavia shivered a bit. "Varia, can you do anything about this cold?" she asked, her teeth chattering.
"Internal heating systems at maximum," Varia replied as Octavia's teeth stopped chattering, though she still shivered. "Recommend moving in order to counteract the remainder of the cold."
"Right," X agreed. "Let's go."
The pair quickly moved on, coming across robotic rabbits, robotic lumberjacks throwing mechanical tree trunk pieces at them, some Bomb Beens, a couple Spikys, and robotic bats.
After climbing their way upward onto frozen ground, they found a blue capsule with the symbol of Light Labs emblazoned on the top. As they approached, the capsule opened, and a holographic image of Dr. Light appeared.
"So you've come..." the hologram stated softly.
"Father?" X asked, his eyes wide.
The hologram opened its mouth as though to recite a recorded message, but froze. It then smiled. "I never imagined you would come to think of me that way..."
"You're alive?" X asked hopefully.
The hologram shook his head. "No. And even what you see before you is not truly me. When I knew I would not live to see your activation, I copied my brain wave patterns into a self-maintaining computer system, which has continued to work to assist you, should the need arise...and to guide you if you find yourself lost."
"Quite a father, Dad," Octavia said softly.
The Light hologram turned to Octavia. "I see you survived and thrived as well."
"You know me?" Octavia asked in surprise.
"Just before I sealed X inside his capsule, you appeared in my lab," Light replied. "You were tiny and weak, with not enough energy to survive. I was too weak to tend to you, so I acted in desperation. Quickly altering X's capsule to include bio-stasis functions, I placed you in the capsule with him, in the hope that X would choose to care for you when he awoke." He chuckled. "Even in a sleep state, he wrapped his arms protectively around you, as though he already had protective, parental instincts."
"When I was activated, I knew I was supposed to take care of Octavia," X confirmed.
"Oh, is that what you named her?" Light asked. "A lovely name-"
"It was her name," X corrected. "Octavia Melody. I knew it just as I knew I was supposed to take care of her."
The hologram raised an eyebrow. "Truly? Curiouser and curiouser..."
When no more was said, Octavia shifted awkwardly.
"And the armor you wear?" the Hologram asked.
"That would be me!" Varia pointed out. "Bio-Metal Varia. I interact with Tavi's unique energy wavelength to generate power armor with capabilities equivalent to X, whose data programmed me."
"But you're female," Light pointed out.
"So?"
Light chuckled at that.
"So...what's this capsule?" X asked.
"My systems detected that the world has turned to war," Light replied softly. "While I'd hoped you might be able to live in peace, I knew this world might one day need a champion. As such, I created these capsules...with energy and data with which you can upgrade your systems. This particular capsule contains an upgrade for your legs, a dash unit that will allow you to speed across the ground rapidly, and if used properly, increase your jumping and shooting ability."
"Speaking of shooting," X asked, "how come you didn't include shooting at angles other than straight forward in my buster drivers?"
"Because none of the robots of my era could handle the advanced targeting necessary to shoot at angles while moving," Light replied.
"Fair enough," X replied.
"Good luck, X," the hologram said as it faded. "Good luck, Octavia..."
X stepped into the capsule. As the energy flowed into him, the focus crystal at his helmet glowed. The one on Varia glowed in the exact same way. As X's upgrade finished, both his leg unit and Varia's had turned white.
"Upgrade complete!" Varia piped up. "Dash unit added to hind leg armor."
"Seems that aspect of Ciel's design works," X replied. "Let's go!"
As they continued onward, they encountered a few Jammingers and what looked like a purple flamingo that threw its hair at them. The pair's firepower was enough to tear through the enemies, and then they found a Ride Armor.
X hopped into the pilot's seat, while Octavia clung to the back. Not long after, they encountered a point where the path split into an upward and downward path.
"I'll go high," Octavia pointed out. "You go low." With that said, she leapt onto the upper platform.
As she crossed, she came across two igloo-like structures with low tunnels through them.
"With the dash unit, you should be able to pass through those tunnels," Varia pointed out.
Nodding, Octavia did so, seizing an armor-energy upgrade item from under the second igloo as she went. Naturally, she installed it in Varia.
At the other side, she met up with X, who had been forced to discard the Ride Armor at some point. "Did something happen up there?" X asked. "My armor energy increased while I was down there."
"Apparently, the upgrade sharing system goes both ways," Octavia replied. "Let's go."
The only robots they faced after that were green ones that threw snowballs at them, or created large snowballs that rolled down the slope towards them. Once past those, they came across Chill Penguin himself.
"X!" Chill Penguin proclaimed as he dropped in. "So you've come! I knew you would-" He paused. "Octavia? You're here too?"
"I am," Octavia replied. "I'm here to talk you into switching back to our side."
Chill Penguin laughed. "And how do you plan on doing that? A guilt trip?"
"I figured I'd crack you open like an egg, extract your power core, persona unit, and hard drive, and then figure out talking you around back at HQ where it's not so fragging cold!"
"Octavia!" X scolded. "Language!"
Chill Penguin burst into laughter. "Watching you two interact is always so much fun!"
"And if you stay on Sigma's side, you'll never see it again," Varia pointed out.
Chill Penguin's jaw dropped. "I...I never thought of that..." He scratched at his chin. "...is it too late to sign me back up?"
"Not at all," X replied. "Let's get back to base." With that, the trio beamed back to HQ.
At Chill Penguin's suggestion, they went after Storm Eagle next, as he was highly honorable, and thus most likely of those remaining to be convinced to change sides. As a result, the pair teleported in to the airport.
While several flying robots tried to grab them, a shot upward or at an upward angle was easily able to destroy them before they got in range. Off in the distance, Octavia spotted another armor-energy upgrade, and leapt to snatch it before racing to catch up with X.
Further on, they encountered gun bots on various platforms, as well as more Gun Volts. Taking one platform up allowed X to acquire a sub tank. A little further on, there was a blocked path down below the main path. At Octavia's insistence, they blasted their way in.
Inside, they found yet another capsule. "X, Octavia," the hologram began as they approached, but paused. "How does Varia have the dash unit?"
"I downloaded the data from X!" Varia replied.
"And I've been getting the armor-energy upgrades she collects," X replied.
"Hmm..." Light murmured. "I wish to try an experiment. Octavia, step into the capsule. I will upload the upgrade into Varia's systems directly, and see if X receives it. This upgrade will strengthen your helmet, allowing it to break through certain blocks...like those currently above you."
As the hologram vanished, Octavia stepped in. As suspected, the systems resonance granted X the same upgrade.
With that done, the pair continued the rest of the way through the airport - dealing with more flying robots and a few Metools - until they found Storm Eagle hovering over an airship.
"Storm Eagle!" X shouted. "We want a word with you!"
In response, Storm Eagle flew down. "I have no desire to fight you, X," he stated firmly. "And certainly no wish to harm your daughter. However, I have no choice but to serve Sigma."
"Why?" X demanded.
"I tried to stop him near the start of this rebellion, but failed," Storm Eagle replied. "He had me at his mercy, and offered me the choice of death or servitude. I...I was a coward, and chose servitude. To turn my back on that now...I would never be able to live with myself."
"What if Dad beats you and offers you the choice of death or neutrality?" Octavia offered. "Would that work? Then you don't have to participate in this war, and after Sigma's defeated you can come back to the Hunters."
Storm Eagle stared down at Octavia for a time. "X, your daughter is brilliant. Now, show me your power!" He dove straight at X.
X leapt to the side, using Chill Penguin's ice weapon to freeze Storm Eagle's wing joints. Kicking off the air ship's fin, he slammed into Storm Eagle's back, smashing him to the ground.
Storm Eagle cried out in pain as the ice breaking snapped his wings off, and then found X braced over him, one foot on the small of his back, the other on his buster arm. X's buster was charged, and pointed at his head. "Choose," X stated simply.
With a smile, Storm Eagle went limp. X and Octavia were beamed back to HQ for their next mission, while Storm Eagle was beamed straight to his temporary holding cell.
A solid choice (no pun intended). Also Chill Penguin's Shotgun Ice move is strong against Spark Mandrill.
Actually, Sting Chameleon's move is more effective on him than Shotgun Ice. just sayin'.
another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Damn that's cold
chattering
continued
*slow claps*
I thought of some more ideas for fics. Do you have one for Celestia? if not you could have her adoptive parent be Jetstream Sam (Metal gear rising). no logical reason just thought it was a cool idea. the other one is since Twilight is getting raised by Ratchet and Clank. You could have Twilight 2.0 AKA Sunset Shimmer get raised by Ratchet and Clank's rivals Jak and Daxter.
That'll do Tavi, that'll do.
6393009
Celestia should obviously be raised by Okami.
6393009
Celestia's going to be raised by Picard.
Sunset Shimmer's going to be raised by team Star Fox.
Shining Armor's going to be raised alongside Jak and Daxter.
6393073
Nope, Tat has something else planned for Tia. Something about a starship with a certain Captain Picard...
Not sure how it will work, or if I'll even like it; Picard is a great captain, but I'm not a trekky.
6393009
Tat already has an idea for Jak and Daxter. If memory serves, it'll involve Shining Armor getting adopted by Jak's real father shortly before the events that led to Praxis taking over Haven City. He'll end up going into the past with child Jak and Samos, placing him in the first game.
And yes, it's really confusing. Not surprising, as the time-travel crap in those games is one giant mind-buck.
6393084
I look forward to absolutely no part of this except one.
I must see what happens when Celestia connects the dots between Discord and Q.
Ah, I almost forgot.
Heh, honestly, this was the first thing I thought of when I saw your version of Bomb Man.
6393103 I've always been a Voyager fan myself.
6393078 ok i guess those make more sense, but if you don't have any ideas for other ponies you can ask and i could come up with an idea. now i feel stupid for not remembering Sunset and Celestia were taken.
So, can Chill Penguin just share his weapon data for X to get Shotgun Ice?
6392895
True, but X and Octavia went into his stage with the intention of convincing Storm Eagle to come back to their side, rather than destroy him. I imagine that from now on, X and Tavi will want the Mavericks' weaknesses.
6393378
1: well, the original megaman could do that even if his enemies were only unconscious. I don't see why not.
2: okay, that makes sense. i'll take it.
Behold Storm Eagle junior!
6393461
More like Storm Owl Junior.
6393477
Fair enough. But same powers and same noble attitude. He apparently gave his magic wings to a mother so she could get her kids to safety.
6392895
I refuse to believe Chameleon Sting (yeah nice name by the way, Capcom, I'm surprised of all their bouts of laziness over the years they never did THAT again) actually has a legitimate reason to work other than arbitrarily rounding out the weakness chain. I mean...it doesn't even DO anything to him aside from raw damage, he doesn't flinch from anything! Now ice? That makes way more sense to take down a winged opponent.
6393739 i suppose that's true. but hey, they have Armored Armadillo's power work against Launch Octopus and Storm Eagle's power works well against Flame Mammoth. i don't think they're high on logic.
I love the upgrade sharing and getting Chill Penguin and Storm Eagle Back on the good guys side. I seriously doubt Sting Chameleon will come back... he strikes me as being down right evil with his stealthy attacks as well as being cold blooded. And Launch Octopus for largely the same reasons. Armored Armadillo... maybe, Flame Mammoth is also a possibility... though he might also be a bully because of his size. Boomer Kuwanger and Spark Mandrill are both from the 17th Elite unit and could be friends of X and Tavia, so I'd give them a chance.
It will be interesting to see how some of the Mavericks switching their loyalties back to the Hunters will change things, I know a few of the bosses from X2 and X3 joined Sigma because they had friends or family in X1 who did and sought revenge for X killing them.
Oh, and Storm Eagle needs to take Tavi for a flight when the fighting is over as thanks for keeping him from doing something stupid.
6394234 When he get his wings reattached, else it would be hard to fly at all.
6393138 That continues to be the best thing ever. xD
Also, Storm Eagle's stage theme has always been my favorite.
6394776 Huh, always been more of a fan of the X2 intro theme myself.
Not just because it's catchy, but... it was the first and last appearance of the most essential character of the entire franchise.
orig08.deviantart.net/ff05/f/2010/198/b/b/ride_on_green_biker_dude_by_neo_kirby_and_watch.png
Rest in Peace, Green Biker Dude.
6392895 Shotgun Ice actually negates one of his attacks, so its not uncommon to go after him second (if only for the ease of access for the subtank and not needing to dodge the rocks in the the middle of Sting Chameleon's stage.)
6395430
My usual boss order is Chill Penguin, Storm Eagle, Flame Mammoth, Spark Mandrill, Armored Armadillo, Boomer Kuwanger, Sting Chameleon, Launch Octopus.
Rolling Shield actually does bonus damage against Boomer Kuwanger, and it bouncing off one wall helps hit him when he zips back and forth. And Boomerang Cutter cuts Launch Octopus' tentacles off, so all he can do is jump and shoot missiles, making him very predictable and easy to kill.
And I've always found it easier to kill Storm Eagle with the Buster - even in Sigma's Fortress - than use Chameleon Sting.
6393078
Sweetness! I am so looking forward to Celestia's interactions with (Dis)Q(ord).
Also, for some reason I had no idea that the Dragon General thing was one of yours. Now I want to read that, too.
6395430 Wow. so he's weak against two things?
6395557 not really. it only deals about as much damage as a charge shot on full. and thas only if the ice ball hits him, not the shards when it hits something.
6395557 Yeah, the X series added a bit of redundancy to shake things up, as well as varying degrees of weaknesses. Makes it a little bit more freeform and up to the player to decide how to do things.
6396591 in suppose that if they were going by pure logic at least 3 bosses would be trumped by fire.
6397064
Pure logic... pure logic is very dangerous. It's very predictable: It eats through plotlines with a speed varied by the resilience of said plotline; but, it will always eat through the plot eventually.
6397305 okay, now you're just thinking too hard.
6397626
And, you, Chrome, are too sane.
6397878
6397626
and you both missed the same thing.
While the logistics eats throuh plotlines it can be altered by adding a new element, I.e. octavia melody, to a situation involving new possible outcomes and options.
123450012345123450012345
234512345001234512345001
500123451234500123451234
Violin Phase
301010030131301010030131
503050050335503050050335
I'm done with all the chapters already? WHAT THE HELL!?!
Does that actually work for X in the game? I always had to come back for that heart tank once I beat Flame Mammoth …
Also wonder if this works. I know some Mavericks have a secondary weakness that can change their attack patterns, like using Boomerang Cutter to chop off Launch Octopus's tentacles when his primary weakness is to Rolling Shield.
6427448
Neither of those actually work in the games.
As for the tunnels, however, Octavia is much smaller than X.
Nice! Two for two on the Mavericks
Aaaaaand I think of Bass again. Then again, he probably didn't do angled shots while moving.
6393078 The Shining Armor idea makes too much sense.
In all your stories i had read so far, there is always one part i had to describe my feelings, like this:
Ex: How stupidly easy they persuaded chill penguin, or like how pinkie becomes the tamer of gods by her pastries.
Bees.
6525956
The Megaman X wiki lists that enemy as "Bomb Beens". It's not a typo, as established back in the first X1 chapter.
6470372 I have to agree. This chapter went by WAY too fast. I understand that you're trying to establish that the first two robot masters returned to the good side, but it happened WAY too easily. And with Storm Eagle especially, the way that Octavia just happened to come up with the brilliant solution strikes me as a bit Mary Sue-ish. Hopefully the upcoming conflicts end up being a bit more meatier than "X and Tavi appeared. They collected stuff. Then they won against the boss. The end."
6393078 What about Starlight Glimmer?
6525982 You're writing all of those? All of a sudden, I can see the resemblance...Unfortunately, the negative is sticking out to me.
You're going along with the exact gameplay rather than the story. Essentially, it's has a bit of a walkthrough feel to it.
In video games, those are an integral part of the enjoyment. However, that doesn't translate very well into writing. It can be done, as Halo: Flood illustrated, but it has to be approached in different manner than with a gameplay POV. Rather than just describing it from a 2D perspective (a comic might be able to pull that off, but not in a literary novel), redesign the levels to more recapture the actual feel of the them in a written perspective.
For a frozen level, games can use ice-esc music, light and reflective blue colors, and game mechanics to generate that cold feel. In written works, you have to use description that we can identify with our own five senses; the crunch of the snow beneath our boots, the flurries of the wind, and even the uncontrollable slipperiness of the ice. That's just one example of the different ways the two mediums are able to communicate the same feel for a level.
For fights, simple game mechanics are enough to create a whole experience for gamers. For readers, however, much more creativity has to be put into these scenes. While you don't have to do a full play-by-play of the combat (which you can do if you wish to, and you can keep it engaging), it has to be enough so that the readers can envision the fight in their own heads, and can feel and witness the whole struggle.
It's all tough to do, but it is possible.
I hope this was more helpful than annoying. While I do try to leave constructive criticism, I recognize that sometimes I can explain things either in over-complicated ways, or in ways that make absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Eh, even if it was kinda staged, that beatdown was a tad fasf.