Some Author's Notes: Welcome to the final chapter of Lost in Time, Found By War. Note that this is currently the longest chapter I've ever written…EVER. Note that some of this you'll appreciate…while some of it might convince you to stab me. Stabbing me is fine as long as you do it with a D'k tahg. If you don't know what one of those is (And it does exist), then you obviously have no business stabbing me.

On another note, I would call this my most successful story, though granted, I never branched some of the others I started…due to this one being…a bigger idea in my head. That being said, I do have other stories with this one's potential, check 'em out.

Thanks to all my reviewers, reviews are the second greatest thing, next to actually finishing a chapter.

I'd like to dedicate this story…for no reason in particular…to my little sis, Holix, who isn't actually my sister, but I'll freakin' shank the first person that points this out with my shiv! I'm not crazy...

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Bass or any Megaman related characters, that's all Capcom.

Pesky Disclaimer: I don't own Super Robot Taisen characters, that's all Banpresto.

On with the show!

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I call him Bass. He's currently my most powerful creation. Those fools in the robotics community think I built him as a carbon copy of Megaman, hah, what fools! Why would I completely base my greatest creation solely after that blue twerp!? Sure, Bass shares his roots with Megaman, but then again, so too does he share his roots with Protoman, Roll, and every other Robot Master built in the past years! I built Bass…special. He didn't have the choice that Megaman entertained, to choose to fight. Rather, he was built solely for fighting. Sure, all my minions can fight, but they were always built for another purpose and only after their initial directive was defeated, only then would they fight. Bass is different. His purpose, his specialty, it IS fighting and I made sure he reveled in it. It pushes him, it drives him, it forces him to be the best. That is his greatest strength and weakness, as well as a pain for me. It's his will to succeed through battle that makes him fight Megaman and at the same time, it's his will to succeed that isolates him and prevents me from controlling him. He betrays me more times than even Quickman! Perhaps that is why he'll defeat Megaman. As he pushes himself, he pushes the little, blue twerp, and in time, he'll push him to his limits. Unfortunately for Megaman, Bass will eventually push past those limits and send the blue bomber straight to hell in a hand basket! Still, Bass is taking far too long with this task. Perhaps this is why I have decided to…improve on his design and create a new Robot Master capable of fulfilling my dreams of world domination and a world without Megaman. Yes, all my hopes will rest in him, my dormant creation, sleeping in my lab. It won't be long now. Soon, you'll be in the spotlight, Zero.

-From the memoirs of Doctor Albert Wily

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A lone outpost in the middle of the endless sea of sand housed a few reploids belonging to the volunteer defense force. It wasn't a glamorous life, but the pay was good and you received much better benefits than a standard civilian. Perhaps, best of all, you were safe. The biggest threat to Neo Arcadia was the Resistance, and luckily, all of their attacks seemed focused directly at Neo Arcadia, making small outposts like these seem incredibly foolish, but somehow helped the feeling of security, nonetheless.

One reploid in particular, so basic in his design, but big on his boasting, was talking to two others, who were mildly interested in what he had to say. "I tell you, the Resistance is taking hits every day! My only regret is I'm not there to give them a good piece of what I've got packing!" His companions groaned, one a tall, slender female, the other short, stout, and male. The male spoke up, a brisk, heavy accent as he said, "Sure Mikhail, because we ALL know you and that pea-shooter you call a gun would do some major damage!"

As Mikhail tried to sigh a retort, the female, a far gentler voice in the group, said, "Do we need to be outside like this? All this wind kicking up is going to be murder if it blows sand in my joints." "Yeah, let's go in," the short one replied, "It's not like anything ever happens, and if it does, we'll get it on radar."

Mikhail shrugged and went to enter the outpost with his friends when his eye caught something small in the distance. "What is…" he never got to finish his line. The object was moving far too fast and blew straight past him. The flurry of dust kicked up as the low-flying object whizzed by wasn't what got to him and his friends. It was the resulting sonic boom that threw him and his companions off their feet and had them covering their ears.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Yelled Mikhail before the female yelled, "STOP YELLING! IT HURTS MY EARS!" "I'M NOT YELLING," Mikhail shot back. "WE'RE ALL YELLING!" The stout one shouted, "NOW WHAT IN BLAZES WAS THAT!?"

A few moments gone by and they were inside, checking radar, but whatever it was didn't show up. "Must have been some new Resistance weapon," Mikhail figured. "Shame I didn't get to do anything. If it had been slower, I would have taken it down."

"Really, now?"

The trio looked back. In their haste to get inside and check the radar, they'd left the door opened. Now, they were greeted with the brimstone glare of Bass, a look of discontent on his face as he said, "I'm taking it you have a direct line to the dweeb." They stared at him blankly and he sighed, pressed for time as he palmed his hand to his head. "X…Megaman, the blue loser, come on, work with me here."

"Listen here, you," Mikhail started as he pointed an offensive finger to Bass, who had closed the distance between them. "If you think you can just barge in here and—ow, ow, ow, OW!" Weapons offline aside, Bass had enough strength to move several tons, a trait not shared by the majority of present day reploids and sure enough, Mikhail was bending under Bass's grip as it slowly crushed his hand. "I'd like to talk to the dweeb," Bass calmly said as he released his grip and the trio saw Mikhail's hand, crumpled into uselessness, "I won't say it nicely a second time."

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X, the fake one, was currently meeting with his three remaining guardians when the screen behind him lit up and revealed the full anger of Bass's face. "Fake dweeb, hope I wasn't interrupting anything…wait…yes I do." "Bass," X exclaimed, surprised, "How did you…why are you…" X was at a loss for words, but on the other side, Mikhail wasn't. "Why did you crush my hand!?" An eyebrow perked, Bass whirled around and barked, "HEY! STOP COMPLAINING! You still have the rest of the arm! Now dweeb, listen up and listen good. If it were just me, I wouldn't even be telling you this, but as it stands, there's a lot of innocent people that stand to get hurt in this and if I DIDN'T issue fair warning, some of my acquaintances might get sappy and sad on me."

"What are you talking about?" A curious X asked. "You," Bass started while pointing at him. "I'm coming for you. I'm coming for Weil. While I'm at it, I'm coming for anyone stupid enough to get in my way! It'd be best to clear the streets because I'm not holding back."

Before X could respond, Bass cut communication. "What do you want to do?" Harpuia asked. X stood silent for a moment before straightening and ordering, "Phantom, alert Weil to the development. Fefnir, ready our ground forces. We'll be using the Mark II model. Harpuia, take care of the air division." "All this for one out of date robot?" Harpuia asked with a curious eyebrow perked. "How many times have we underestimated Zero and met with disaster?" Harpuia silently nodded and the three guardians went on their way.

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Treble barked a few times at Bass, the duo airborne once more, flying low to the ground with steadily increasing speed. "I know it wasn't smart to let him know we're coming, but can you imagine how long we'd have Roll griping at us if we wasted a whole city block? Worse, how long Ciel would bawl if we killed a few dozen civilians…"

Bass didn't mind conversing with his companion at the moment. It took his mind off of other things. Things like all his combat functions currently being in a cooldown cycle and the best he had going for him was his little brother's old z-saber. Things like risking his life for yet ANOTHER person and this time, his old nemesis' sister, no less, a girl he was admitting feelings to. Things like the best he had for sword combat being Swordman's old combat data. That had to take the cake on things. For such a light weapon he was carrying, the best data he had was on a Robot Master with a sword so heavy that his top half had to be separated from his bottom half, and at best, all he could do was barely swing that sword of his.

Oh joy.

At least if he flew this low, it'd be too hard for radar to accurately track him. He was wondering how long that particular advantage would serve him when he noticed the sand rise and part, revealing a large, double-barreled cannon. "Well that didn't take long," he murmured as it let loose a dual burst of plasma along a stream. It was easy enough for Treble to dodge, but to their dismay, more were rising out of the sand. Cannons and rocket launchers littered the scene, but in the distance, Bass spotted the outer wall of Neo Arcadia. "Just a bit more," he said, "Let's go, Treble!"

The wolf howled in agreement as its thrusters shot it forward, straight through the barrage of fire, expertly dodging weaponry better suited for MUCH larger targets than a single Robot Master riding his companion.

"He's insane," Harpuia muttered as he thrust his fist in the direction of a quickly approaching Bass. "All hands, ATTACK!" Aerial reploids and their less sophisticated counterparts, mechaniloids, began their attack.

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Neo Arcadia could be controlled effortlessly from its command hub. With more than twenty reploids on constant computer surveillance over Neo Arcadia's streets and airspace, they could effectively maintain order throughout the city, or so they thought.

Radio was pouring in. "Unit 12! Stay in formation!" "He's on my tail! AH! AUGH!" an explosion. "We can't stop him!" "Where's our reinforceme-AUGH!" another explosion. "He's fast! Too fast!" "Damn it, where's Fefnir?!"

The last comment coming from Harpuia, reploid operators flinched as they watched visuals of Bass, armed with a saber, tearing his way through their efforts to stop him, made all the more real with the audio backing it up. It hardly seemed fair. Sure, some were managing to lay a blow or two on Bass, but it was hardly slowing him down, like he was sincerely pissed about something and it kept pushing him forward.

Their attention was diverted when X and Weil entered the room, an entourage of Omega, Axl, Thurisuz, and Zero behind them. "What's the situation?" X asked. "Bad, sir," an operator replied. "Bass has already cleared the defense line. Remaining troops are falling back to the outer wall for a final stand." "What?" X asked, thoroughly confused. "He's doing that much damage?" "It's not just him," The operator replied, "He's causing a lot of confusion and we're losing members to friendly fire."

"Fefnir here, we're in position, Mark II models ready for the attack." "It's about time," Harpuia barked over the comm.. "Where the heck were you!?" "HEY! Sorry, I'm here now, okay? These stupid MK II models were all offline! Do you have any idea how much clearance you have to go through just to put them in start-up?"

"Fefnir, Harpuia," X began, "Bass is enemy enough, don't go at each other's throats." "Yes sir!" they cried in unison. "Phantom here, observing the battle. Something's wrong here." "Hmm, yes, I see it too," Harpuia replied, but for Fefnir, such things were beyond him. "What are you two talking about!?" "He's doing this completely melee," Harpuia said. "Melee?" X asked, "That doesn't sound right."

"It's definitely a Mark I Prototype Energy Saber, thing must be as old as him or Zero," Harpuia commented. "Yes," Phantom added, "His combat style is also decidedly unusual. He's exerting extra force on the handle, almost like he's compensating for extra weight in the blade." "Huh?" Fefnir shot, lost as ever, "Come on guys, that's gotta weight what, two pounds, tops? Why swing like that?"

Butting in, Axl mentioned, "That kind of move would leave him wide open for counterattack. There can't be any logic behind it." "Not necessarily," said Zero, "For someone who lacks the grace and style to effectively attack weak points in the enemy's armor, the tactic is sound. Sure, he's exerting extra force and energy on the blade, but at the same time, he's more likely to destroy his enemy in a single blow. It's the same principle behind my charged saber slash."

"Well," drawled Weil, "I don't think you need me for swordplay commentary. As distressing as this…little assault is, I have other things I could be doing. Master X, if you'll excuse me." X nodded. "Thurisuz, Omega, come with me. Zero, perhaps you'd like to spend some time with your old allies." "Yeah!" Axl added with glee, "Just like old times!" "I doubt it," Zero solemnly replied as Weil, Omega, and Thurisuz left.

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Making their way to the detention block, they passed Elpizo's cell. They had to admit, the Baby Elves had powers almost as great as their mother's, but they were a long way from being the same. Their influence on Elpizo and refusal to leave his body was beginning to have a negative effect on the reploid. He was talking to himself, constantly speaking to 'Momma' as if the Dark Elf was right next to him. Furthermore, with three personalities in his head, two with vastly different goals than the other, he was referring to himself as 'We'. To make matters worse, he didn't just look feral, he was indeed prone to outrageous fits of violence.

Still, he wasn't the intended target, no, that was a few cells down. "You mind filling me in on your plan?" Omega asked. "Bass is forcing me to…accelerate things," Weil explained, "So, we'll have to step up my plan and upload the Dark Elf's data to the transceiver. Don't give me that look, you'll be immune to it, as will Thurisuz. Still, with Bass, things might still get hairy, so I'm going to take an extra precaution."

They arrived at their destination as Thurisuz said, "All this taking it safe…bah! We should just kill all of them and be done with it! Uruz wanted to take care of Harpuia…I'll get to do it now." "Patience, my boy," Weil calmly said as he opened the cell to a panicked Roll.

She glared angrily at him, refusing to shrink back, even when Omega and Thurisuz openly made their presence known. "Ah, my dear, this must be so frustrating for you, this time period, the circumstances, not to mention the predicament. Not to worry, your…rather questionable knight in black is already fighting his way through to rescue you. Heh, must make you feel like…some useless…damsel in distress."

Roll, beginning to fume, was about to puff her cheeks in annoyance, but she decided that was a move she'd save for Bass and Bass alone, regardless, Weil chuckled a little before saying, "Worry not, my dear relic. I have a role for everyone in this little play of mine, even you." He motioned to his followers as he said, "Now you can cooperate with us…or I can have them drag you against your will. Which will it be?"

Silence was the reply as she crossed her arms and looked off in a huff. "So be it," Weil replied with a cruel smile as he snapped his fingers and said, "Gentlemen, get to it." The duo nodded, but Omega gave a visible sigh as they advanced on her, grabbing hold of the kicking and screaming girl.

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"Why won't this stupid cooldown cycle end already?"

Growling, Bass was grounded, littered with the remains of numerous grunts that had never stood a chance. To his side, Treble spat wires free from his maw as he growled to the opening gates of Neo Arcadia.

Stoic and emotionless, they emerged. Dozens of them, the Mark II line was imposing. At least a head taller than their Pantheon ancestors, the Mark II's sported larger, more angular shoulder armor, ending in a pronounced spike. A rabbit-ear antennae on the side of the head gave improved communication and radar capabilities. Dual, back-mounted cannons gave improved firepower, complementing their advanced beam machineguns, one issued to each unit.

Sporting a striking dark blue and black color scheme, they marched without hesitation on the battlefield, with Fefnir in the back, soon greeted by Harpuia. In the front, the army was led by two familiar faces.

"Tch, I thought I scrapped you two," Bass commented as Thrudgelmir and Galgua stopped at the head of the army. "Figures," Bass said to no one in particular, "Wily did the same stupid thing…wasting time to rebuild designs that have already proven to be failures. Doesn't matter," he flexed his arms as Treble bared his fangs. "Sorry boy," Bass told his companion, who quickly tilted its head in confusion. "This is taking too long, and you've got the better sense of direction. Go get the dweeb, just…keep heading down, I guess. Try not to take too long."

Reluctantly, Treble began to walk away before rushing his way through enemies, weaving his way past resistance until he made it inside the walls of Neo Arcadia. "Stop right there, mutt!" Fefnir yelled as he charged for Treble, the wolf simply ramming into him, clawing at his face until he noticed Harpuia making a stabbing lunge for him. Quickly hopping off Fefnir, he dashed into the city.

"Stupid mongrel," Fefnir said as he rubbed his face. He growled, clenching his fist as he said, "You handle Bass, I'll take the stupid dog." "Leave the dog," Harpuia commanded, "Bass is the real target. Security can take care of the beast later." Grumbling, Fefnir rubbed his face a second time before yelling, "Hey! What the heck do you think you're doing, just standing there!?" The Mark II's hopped into action as he shouted, "MOW BASS INTO THE DIRT!"

The first row of MK II's dropped to their knees, the second row barely above it, just so that the back-mounted cannons could aim at Bass freely. Rows followed this succession and unleashed a powerful torrent of swirling energy at him, simultaneously. The best he could do was to throw himself to the ground, wincing as he felt the searing heat from the blasts. Grunting as he got up, Bass touched the impact wound Uruz had made in his armor earlier. Sure, it hadn't gone far, but it had gone past the armor and into his artificial flesh. It was getting agitated and becoming worse as time went by. Maybe he actually should have gotten repaired and waited for his cooldown cycle to complete itself.

Oh well.

He made his move, rushing the center of the formation before they could fire again, not bothering to dodge the heavy repeating fire of beam machineguns, but rather, throwing himself at them. He tackled the front, starting a quickly resolved chain reaction, but he didn't care. What he did care about was that he finally had something at his disposal that was more his style.

Sure, the z-saber was fine for someone who used it, but as he hefted the beam machinegun, he felt more at home. Squeezing the trigger with eager glee, he sent a spray of small pellets of yellow beam energy that tore into the densely clumped enemy, rendering far more damage to them than it would have been to him, but to his surprise, most of them simply took the punishment as they retaliated with their full arsenal, something that Bass HAD to avoid.

As he rolled to the side, he was tackled by the titanic girth of the reptilian Galgua, who didn't hesitate to swipe a mighty claw at Bass, scraping into his armor before rearing his head back and letting loose fearsome flames, but Bass had already been caught off-guard with that once before. It was very unlikely to work a second time.

"Same old moveset," Bass replied calmly as he shoved the barrel of the machinegun into Galgua's mouth, "Just like a Sniper Joe…" Galgua's eyes opened wide with hysteria as Bass pulled the trigger, reducing his enemy's head to slag in mere moments. "You'll pay for that, fool!" Thrudgelmir shouted as the trio of spikes broke free from his shoulder, extending a handle on one end before brimming electricity brought forth his massive blade.

"Bring it on," Bass growled as Thrudgelmir charged. Quickly discovering his machinegun was useless against the giant's armor, he tossed it aside and rolled away from a destructive volley from the MK II's before tripping his opponent. As Thrudgelmir got to his feet once more, Bass grabbed him and used momentum already in the works to roll over and take his opponent tumbling with him before tossing him into the next volley of blasts.

Smiling at the accomplishment, Bass took pleasure in watching Thrudgelmir fly several feet in the air before landing with a deafening thud. He could bet the back of Thrudgelmir's armor was soft from the heat, and upon their next clash, he found his z-saber sank nicely into his enemy. Ripping the blade upwards and out of Thrudgelmir, Bass turned to the MK II's, still emotionless as their mammoth commander teetered over.

Bass acquiesced; fighting was natural for him, it was fun, it was easy. That being said, he understood that at this moment, even with Roll in the clutches of the enemy, he was having the time of his life. He dodged enemy fire before being tackled by a hopping mad Fefnir, nimbly avoided the dual daggers of Harpuia, and maneuvered around the oversized shuriken of Phantom and sighed on the inside. It was a pity that Roll would never be able to understand the joy that came with a life of battle, but what could you do?

"Stand aside, Bass is mine."

The three guardians stopped and acknowledged Zero's presence, but Harpuia said, "It would be better if we defeated him together. After all, we'd have a much greater chance of success." "No," Zero stated, "I'm doing this my way." Disgruntled, Harpuia replied, "You may hold favor with Master X, being his longtime friend, but you must still follow orders. We fight together."

Fefnir looked over the situation and finally said, "Let 'em duke it out." Cocking an eyebrow, Harpuia said, "You can't be serious." Normally quiet, Phantom replied, "Perhaps it is best. Two creations from the same creator, one meant to surpass the other. This might be their only chance to discover the other's potential." A few moments of pondering went by before Harpuia simply nodded and stepped back, the other two guardians following suit.

Bass raised his z-saber in his left hand, brought close to his chest, the tip barely centimeters from his outstretched right hand. Zero perked an eye at the maneuver. Based on his sword styling, Bass had made a good move. He'd be using the same overexertion as before, but the angle wouldn't necessarily be straight down like usual. If they weren't about to kill each other, Zero would have inquired as to where Bass knew his peculiar fighting style, but as he raised his own saber, he understood that you just weren't going to figure out some things.

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Treble jetted along the ground, a benefit of being able to transform into a multitude of vehicles. Considering he was becoming increasingly pressed for time, Treble had opted for jet mode, even if it wasn't the best at turning on a dime.

He'd gone underground, opting for the silence of the sewer, which seemed naturally inclined to heading deeper below Neo Arcadia's surface. As Bass had stated, Treble was endowed with a highly advanced sensor package, much greater than anything Bass could boast. As of such, Treble occasionally stopped to sniff and paw at the ground, getting his bearings again before taking off in the correct direction once again.

After a seemingly endless search, the hound came upon a service elevator, and after careful inspection, entered. It reared on its hind legs and awkwardly pawed at the buttons, indicating his desire to head to the lowest level in Neo Arcadia.

ACCESS DENIED

Treble growled and pawed it again.

ACCESS DENIED

In a fervent anger surpassed only by his master, Treble slashed through the panel underneath the buttons, swiping into wires in a ferocious growl.

ACCESS APPROVED

The wolf sat, satisfied as the elevator put him on a descent, ever-deeper into Neo Arcadia. Realizing that his success was due to being just that ticked, Treble realized that he'd just perfectly emulated his owner. The thought made him wag his tail in pleasure, but at the same time, it brought the fact that Bass was fighting impossible odds. Such a thought made the robotic canine whimper a moment as the elevator came to a halt.

The doors gave way to a long hallway, ending at an ornate door. In all directions spread an immaculate white that sparkled brightly. As Treble walked along the corridor, its highly finished walls reflected him, all the way down to the door. Here, he halted, soaking in the reverence of his location before realizing the door wouldn't open for him.

Treble heaved something akin to a sigh as he began to work his way through the door, first by digging his claws in through the crease and working his body in. It was a lot easier than trying to get an elevator to work, but the canine hated to have to ruin such a nice door.

It didn't take long to get past the door, but if the hallway alone held reverence, the room beyond it was absolute authority. Pillars raised to the ceiling with images carved in them were littered everywhere. If Treble were to ever describe these images, he'd call them the battles of champions.

It trotted in the perfectly polished room, soaking in the atmosphere before realizing that the sky was perfectly simulated on the ceiling, casting rays on the center of the room. In this center lay a single capsule, glowing a fierce blue. As Treble closed the distance, he laid eyes on a figure, as blue as his glow. He didn't look as streamlined as Copy X, what with the bulkier gauntlets and boots, but then again, Zero and Omega didn't look identical either, it would make sense that Copy X and the original bore some differences.

He looked at the figure, sleeping, and a giant, gaping hole in his chest. Treble remembered that Bass had told him of how X used to be the prison for the Dark Elf until Weil somehow got his hands on it. Apparently, he'd simply ripped the thing free. This didn't look good to the canine. How do you bring a robot online when it has a hole in its chest?

As if Fate were answering the question, a tiny orb of gold light was flying about inside the shell of X. Presumably the Cyber Elf X, it was repairing the damage before it seemed to settle in the red gem on X's head, so finally, Treble nudged the capsule door with his nose until it finally opened with a slow hiss.

Slowly, the glow in X's gem died down as he opened his eyes. He quickly exited his capsule and looked around before settling eyes on Treble. "Bass couldn't make it, huh?" Treble shook his head. "Well," X said, "Let's go, after all, this isn't really his fight."

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Sabers clashed, shrieking each time they made contact. As their owners jumped back, the one held by Bass fizzled a little. "Your saber has a disadvantage against mine," Zero stated. "I recognize it, it's my first one. The grooves I worked in with my fingers are still there. It's a dependable weapon, but it lacks the output to go against a saber like mine. You're going to blow it out soon."

"So what?" Snapped Bass. "I'd hate to win the fight because an exploding saber rendered you unconscious," Zero calmly replied. "Oh don't worry about winning," Bass said, "Worry about surviving."

Bass swung at his younger brother, spinning on his heel and quickly shifted to a fencing position and thrust his thin blade only to have it expertly parried at every turn. It was annoying to have to do this on Zero's terms, rather than his own. Sure, as time went by, he was supplementing Swordman's combat data with his own experience, but that did little to help the fact that his opponent had been using a sword for untold years.

Finally, with another shrieking clash of their blades, electricity crackled from his weapon and Bass barely tossed his z-saber away before it exploded on him. Due to quick reflexes, he'd avoided the brunt of the blow, but was still knocked off his feet. This was an opportunity that Zero intended to use. "I have you," he shouted as he leapt. Saber pointed downward, he dropped on his target.

"Stupid…exploding…" Bass mumbled as he opened his eyes and saw Zero's attack. Everything seemed to slow down for him as he understood his body didn't have it in it to move at the moment. He found it hilarious; the day he decided to live by the sword, he was to die by it. Then another thought kicked in: If he were painted blue, he would have won by now. Then again. His earlier hallucination's words burned in his skull.

"Ya know," Megaman said, "I'm glad Zero came along. You know, I'm betting he's the one who took me out in the end, considering you'd never be able to do it."

The concept had enraged him earlier, but it looked like a viable theory. Consequently, being built with computational speeds that rivaled the unparalleled Elecman's, Bass was cursing how long Zero's final blow was taking, along with his continued chain of lightning quick thoughts.

COOLDOWN CYCLE COMPLETE. ALL COMBAT FUNCTIONS RESTORED.

"Hah, it's about damn time," Bass thought, but he shouted, "THRUSTERS!" In response, the emergency dash function built into him by Wily kicked in, throwing him a distance away from Zero's strike. He flipped up with his momentum and rewarded Zero's efforts to eliminate him with an unexpected buster shot to the face. Rubbing his face, Zero perked an eyebrow. "So, you had no combat functions and you charged Neo Arcadia? I knew you were reckless, but stupid?"

"Stupid? Oh, I'll show you stupid. STUPID WAS EVER THINKING YOU HAD A CHANCE AGAINST ME! I don't care if you toasted the dweeb! ALL I CARE ABOUT IS STAMPING YOU INTO THE DIRT!"

As Bass charged his buster, he acquiesced that beating the tar out of Zero wasn't his only reason for being here. After all, it not for wanting Roll, odds are he wouldn't even be here. Still, that was his personality, punch first, worry about everything else second. As he released his searing hot plasma towards Zero, he felt almost relieved to be back in his own abilities, but now his ego was getting to him.

"Okay, little brother," he began, "Let me show you just how powerful I really am."

Only the ever-observant Phantom noticed them in the sky, tiny now, but soon to grow in size. "We should seek shelter," he declared to his comrades. "What for?" Fefnir asked, "This is getting really good!" "What do you see?" Harpuia asked. Phantom calmly pointed to the sky and replied, "That."

Dozens of blazing meteors littered the sky, and only Bass and Phantom knew of their destructive potential. To make it more frightening for Phantom, he'd only seen the move when Bass was so damaged he could barely fight. One-by-one, the flaming messengers from heaven impacted with the ground, and the only one immune to their damage was the one who called them.

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"What are you doing, Doctor?"

Weil looked over to Omega and explained. "Now that we we've partitioned her memory to a backup drive, we have space in that head of hers for our guest of honor. From there, we connect her to the transmitter and I can finish the plan I started nearly a century ago."

"Cute, Papa," Thurisuz commented, "But being stuck here is driving me nuts. Isn't there something else I could be doing? I mean, what about Anthuz? I'd love to see my younger brother in action." "Anthuz isn't ready yet," Weil stated, "Besides, you need to be here in case something goes wrong." Thurisuz, although loyal to Weil, replied, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Unknown to the young Thurisuz, Fate was…kind of active today. As Bass's blazing Astro Crush assault met the ground, it shook with tremendous fervor, bringing the occupants of the room to their knees.

"What was that?" Thurisuz shouted. "Something with a lot of power," Omega snarled. "It seems time's getting short on us, gentlemen," Weil declared, "So Omega, give me a hand. Thurisuz, delay our…guests.."

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Elevator doors parted, and X, the true X, stepped out and into the command hub of Neo Arcadia, while Treble whimpered a little. "Go help Bass," X commanded with a smile. Treble didn't have to be told twice, he bounded for the window and leapt through, dashing past the Copy X, who looked on, shocked, as a mechanical canine broke his window and took off, flying.

"What in blue blazes…" Copy X trailed off as the real one stepped forward. "I think we're the only blue, blazing things in the room." Every operator in the room halted as they realized they were dealing with two X's. "The Resistance…copied me?" Copy X asked, confused. "Actually," X said, "The Resistance copied ME…well…she wasn't part of the Resistance when she did that, but what can you do?"

"Wait, you're saying…I'm the copy?" Copy X asked, bewildered. "I'm afraid so," X replied. "I won't believe that lie!" Copy X shouted as he revealed his buster. Panicked murmurs from his operators could be heard as he aimed at X. "I would have liked to have done this without a fight," X calmly stated, but Copy X wouldn't hear it.

Quickly switching to his angelic Ultimate Armor, Copy X began to charge his buster. The true X put up his hands and said, "Hey now, don't be so hasty. You don't want this to come to a battle of Ultimate Armors." Adding force to his statement, X shifted to his familiar ultimate armor, with him since the 4th Maverick War…even if he somehow managed to misplace it almost immediately after each conflict.

(Author's Midnote: Anyone else besides me find losing entire suits of ARMOR from the progression of one game to the next even more unbelievable than not having the powers you gained in your last war?)

(Author's Midrant: And don't get me started on X6! You start out in the Falcon Armor from X5! Alia said she 'FIXED' it. Ya know what? It doesn't even FLY anymore! How does FIXING something break it?)

Before they could exchange fire, blazing meteors hit the ground, causing an impact that threw everyone down.

Operators screamed amidst the chaotic rumbling, as two Megaman X's got to their feet and began to exchange fire in their enclosed environment. Back and forth, rapid fire scorched the walls and destroyed equipment as the two agile fighters dodged enemy attacks.

Enraged and confused, Copy X leapt to the sky and shot multiple, thin streams of plasma at X, who retaliated with the full force of his Ultimate Armor's charged shot. The thin beams did nothing to slow down X's assault and it smashed into Copy X, sending him careening into a wall.

"It's over," X said, "We don't need to resort to violence any longer." "Shut up!" Copy X shouted, "I won't listen to some second-rate copy! I'm the real X! I'm the hero! I won't lose to you!" Copy X pulled himself free and rushed X, who sighed. Apparently, some people couldn't understand when the fighting was over. X hopped a little into the air before foot-mounted rockets took over. The shining yellow wings on his back unfolded and he charged Copy X with dazzling speed, ramming his opponent while charged with golden energy.

Copy X couldn't withstand such an assault and he crashed into the wall once more, this time, through it, and fell countless feet before he harshly impacted the ground. X looked over the hole and shook his head. "It didn't have to be this way."

----------

Not too far underground housed the prison section. Seeing as the ground absorbed the impact, most of the energy was transferred to the underground structure. Seeing their place as criminals, the prisoners would see rescue eventually, but for now, they were all trapped underneath rubble, some to lose their lives soon. All but one, one feral reploid who'd tried so hard to prove his worth and lost himself. As Elpizo pulled himself free of the wreckage, he called out, "Momma? Momma? Where are you, Momma?" He began to walk down the corridor, uncaring of the situation or the cries of help from buried reploids. "I'm coming, Momma…"

----------

Dust settled outside Neo Arcadia's outer wall…well, what used to be Neo Arcadia's outer wall. Most of it had been blown away by an Astro Crush of monumental proportions. Wide-eyed, Harpuia and Fefnir looked on, only surviving because the Mark II's had shielded them from the attack. Bass was a walking, wanton disaster that had to be dealt with, no matter the cost.

Still, even as they prepared to attack, Zero's voice harshly called out, "Hold it! Bass is still mine." He was holding his arm in pain, but for the most part, Zero was okay. "How'd you manage to live through that," Bass inquired. Zero motioned to his black and white armor and replied, "The Dark Elf's power is quite amazing. Perhaps it's time you felt it for yourself."

Zero may not have had the Dark Elf on his person, but he did have the energy signature, and while his copy data function didn't quite work the same as the one in Bass, it worked, nonetheless. He dashed, taking Bass by surprise. Unfortunately, with his injuries, especially the one in his chest, he didn't have it in him to move after the last assault, so all he could do was grunt in annoyance as Zero grabbed him. Quickly, Zero's arm swirled over with black mist that seeped into Bass, who could only yell in pain as an imprint of the Dark Elf was transferred into him, and Zero let him go, satisfied.

"Is it over?" Fefnir asked, but the other two guardians couldn't give an answer. "Relax," Zero stated, "This is over, there's nothing to worry about, in a moment, Bass will…huh?" Bass slowly got to his feet, glowing, but not undergoing the change he was supposed to be experiencing. Instead, his body was flowing over with purple energy that seemingly forced the black mist out of him with a faint scream. "What the heck?" Zero asked.

Bass chuckled, "So, it doesn't like that, does it? Looks like your Dark Elf doesn't like the Evil Energy in my body." "Evil Energy?" Zero repeated. "Yeah, Wily kinda sucked at naming things. He managed to copy it from some android that crashed into the planet and it sparked the Eighth Wily War. It was only natural that I took that power into myself to make me stronger. Who would have guessed it would turn out to be completely incompatible with your stupid Dark Elf?"

"Incompatible?" Harpuia repeated with confusion. It would be the perfect edge against Weil if used properly, but could Bass even manage to do that? "Hey, Zero," Bass casually called, "Let's test something." Focusing, a swirling orb of the purple energy formed in Bass's hand. "Let's see how you take a bit of your own medicine." Rivaling Zero's speed, Bass tackled him, shoving the orb into Zero.

Bass backed off, waiting, hopefully, it wouldn't be long. "What did you do to me?" Zero asked, but the answer soon presented itself and he roared in pain as the purple aura flared up in his body. Almost sympathetically, Bass leaned over to Zero and softly said, "Easy, it hurts, I know it does. It hurt my first time, too."

In a dazzling display of power, the black mist was forced out of Zero's body and his armor returned to normal. He collapsed, panting as the pain died down. Finally, he looked to Bass, speechless for a moment before finally saying, "So, you never actually planned on killing me?" Bass laughed a little before replying, "Well that was the plan, but this was an agreeable Plan B."

Bass offered his hand to Zero and helped him up as the red robot asked, "What do we do with them?" Referring to Fefnir, Harpuia, and Phantom. "Want to smash them into the dirt?" Bass offered. "I suppose," Zero answered, "But I think our damage is a bit extensive, we might have to actually try." Bass shrugged in agreement, prompting an angry response from Fefnir. "You think you two can take the three of us!? HAH!"

A trans-server signal shooting through changed the odds. Protoman and Leviathan soon appeared. "What the heck happened to you!?" Bass shouted to Protoman, upon seeing his form. Protoman was bulkier now, sporting heavy chest armor. His boots were slightly larger, raised a bit in the back, revealing powerful vernier thrusters. His back sported a single cannon to the right while his shield was larger, attached to the left arm. Right below the cannon were more external boosters, connected to large, external, cylindrical propellant tanks.

"It's just some external armor," said Protoman, "We call it R-series." "What does that stand for?" Bass inquired. "We don't know yet," Protoman casually replied, "SOMEONE decided to charge Neo Arcadia by himself and we didn't have enough time to figure out a name before you got scrapped!"

"Yeah," Leviathan added, "What kind of deathwish do you have, anyways?" "Hey," Bass said defensively, "I've been doing rather well, if I do say so myself." "You haven't even made it through the wall yet!" Leviathan declared. With a grin, Bass replied, "What wall?"

Treble in the horizon, Leviathan gasped, "You…the wall…oh my goodness, how did you…how?" As Treble settled down next to his master, growling fiercely at the guardians, Bass said, "I was determined." "You know," Protoman said, "When Ciel said you'd gone nuts when they nabbed Roll, I thought she was only trying to justify you going insane…but all because of Roll?" Silent at first, Bass replied, "Yeah…look, Leviathan, I know it's not the best time, but…"

She shook her head. "It's fine. So another guy falls through my fingers, oh well, the story of my life. What are you going to do now?" "Get her back," Bass declared, "And these clowns aren't going to stop me!" "Then let us help," Leviathan said, shocking her fellow guardians. "You intend to stand against us?" inquired Harpuia. "Yes," Leviathan said, "Because you aren't fighting for the right side. X…our X…he's a fake, I learned this. He's just a puppet for Weil to pull the strings. As long as you stand by him, you're the enemy."

"I don't want to fight with Leviathan," Fefnir said. "Yes," Phantom agreed, "It would be…disheartening." "To stand alone in the minority," Harpuia said, "Very well. We shall stand aside. Perhaps things were meant to play out this way."

Bass offered his hand to Harpuia, saying, "You're not so bad after all." Shaking his hand, Harpuia replied, "Perhaps you aren't either…huh?" Harpuia glowed, before Bass did, the Robot Master in question smirking. "You jerk! You just copied my powers, didn't you!?" "Relax," Bass said, "It was only a matter of time, besides, I probably won't ever use them, seeing as how I've got Treble."

Harpuia grumbled while Protoman and Leviathan encouraged Zero and Bass to go on ahead. Almost on their way, they stopped when the reunited guardians gripped their heads in pain. "What the heck?" muttered Bass as the screams came, not just from them, but from inside the city as well.

"No, it's happening again…"

The three Robot Masters, seemingly immune to this pain, looked to a frightened Axl, who looked to Zero and said, "This happened before! Eighty years ago, reploids started going berserk! They…blamed my kind, second generation reploids. They said that due to our…special abilities, we were spreading the Maverick virus all over again, I was shut down, but it can't be that, not now!"

"Weil and the Dark Elf," Zero said, "It can control others, we've seen it with Elpizo and myself…he must have figured out a way to use that power on a wide scale." Almost sympathetically, Zero reasoned, "I'm sorry, Axl. They probably didn't know what was going on and wanted a scapegoat. It must have been you." "Why aren't you freaking out on us?" Protoman inquired to Axl. "Well my generation was…special. We were designed to be able to avoid numerous corruptions…this has to be Weil's work."

"What will you do?" Zero asked Axl. "I…don't know…I follow him, right?" Bass huffed as he replied, "Weren't you the one who said he doesn't get corrupted? Weil seems corrupt to me. Are you really intent on stopping us from stopping him?" A few moments passed before Axl put his arms behind his head and calmly said, "Nah."

Ignoring the screams behind them, Protoman said, "You were never under Weil's control, were you?" "Not really," Axl said. "Then why'd you help Weil corrupt Zero?" "Well…" Axl looked off, "I thought that since Weil was with X, things were different…X carries a lot of trustworthiness, you know." "Copy X," Bass, Protoman, and Zero replied, simultaneously.

"Whatever," Axl replied as he shrugged. "Look, Zero, you go on ahead, things are gonna get nasty when they stop screaming, but they'll have to deal with me." "Oh I'll at least want two of my own," Protoman nonchalantly replied, "Let me have a go at them with you."

"You two sure?" Zero asked. "Actually," Axl boasted, "It's been a while, let me take care of them." Adding flair to his statement, he twirled his pistols and added, "Besides, you two are a bit messed up, your armored friend here should watch your back." "Seriously?" Bass inquired. "All in a day's work for a Maverick Hunter as awesome as I am," Axl replied with a grin. "Fine," Bass said with crossed arms, "You'd better not be dead when we come back."

Not wasting anymore time, Protoman, Zero, Bass, and Treble ran through the wreckage that once was the grand wall of Neo Arcadia. They ignored screams, but took note as they died down. Most notable was hearing a feral yell from the guardians. As they stopped to look back, they saw the ever-speedy Axl dodge a charge from Fefnir, gripping the reploid and sending him into his companions.

Evasion being his specialty, Phantom dodged and threw his shuriken at Axl, who's pinpoint shooting knocked it out of the sky. "You're making this too easy," a cheerful Axl shouted as he shot Harpuia in the knee, effectively disabling him for the moment. It was then that Leviathan made a dive for him. "Whoops, forgot about her," Axl said to himself as he took flight and dodged her animalistic charge.

"They're…like animals," Protoman stated. "Yeah, like Axl said, Weil's taking control, we need to hurry up," Zero said. "Bah," Bass said, "We can take any of these throwaway reploids." "Sure, WE can," said Zero, "But what about the humans?" "Oh right," Bass replied, "They're totally doomed." "Which is why we hurry up," Zero stated, praying that Ciel was okay. After all, the majority of the Resistance Base were reploids.

They ran, fighting their way through under-equipped reploids that went into a rage upon seeing them. The hardest part was trying NOT to kill them, after all, it wasn't their fault that they'd suddenly gone crazy.

----------

"EEEEEEK!" Ciel screamed as she jumped out of the way of a soldier, reaching for her. She couldn't understand what was going on, just that everyone had suddenly gone insane. Why did this have to happen when everyone who could fight had already left? Well…what if Bass and the others had gone insane too?

Ciel slinked in her lab and locked the door before sliding against it and heaving a heavy sigh. It was then that she heard raspy breathing that wasn't her own. "Who-who's there?" She shakily called out.

No reply, only a nasty growl as Alouette came charging from the darkness of Ciel's lab and tackled her. She had to fight to get the physically superior reploid off of her before she could scramble to her feet and scurry away, shutting the door on Alouette before she got up.

Out in the open again, more reploids turned to her and the closest shelter was Elpizo's old office. Knowing it was locked, Ciel frantically searched for her keys and bolted inside, locking the door behind her. Finally, the girl fell to her knees and began to cry. All she wanted now, more than anything, was Zero by her side.

----------

"Hey guys," Protoman said as they ran arrived at Neo Arcadia's central building. The two others looked to him and he said, "Go on, I've got something I need to finish out here, it'll just slow you guys down."

Annoyed at this development so close to the objective, Bass merely huffed as he ran on ahead, soon followed by Zero and Treble. "Good, they didn't gripe," Protoman said to himself before adding, "You can come out now, Mr. Crazy."

"You're good," Thurisuz said, fully clad in Bergelmir as he stepped from the shadowed side of the building. "The dog didn't even notice me, you must have keen senses…or want to die that badly. You remember what I said, right? I'm going to kill you."

Protoman revealed his buster and fired a burst while saying, "Put up or shut up." With glee, Thurisuz dodged before pointing to Protoman. The semi-circles on his back formed a ring and launched their six projectiles as he shouted, "Six Plagues! GRIND HIM INTO DUST!"

This time, as verniers on Protoman's external armor hummed to life, it was easy to dodge the speedy projectiles. Adding insult to his opponent, sensitive targeting scanners in Protoman's visor lined up the projectiles and he fired a burst from his back-mounted cannon. If his face were visible, Thurisuz would have looked shocked as his Six Plagues attack was literally shot down.

"It won't change your fate! You have zero chance of survival!" Thurisuz shouted as he fell back on his secondary, rarely seen weapon, a small laser called the machine rifle. Despite his lack of use when it came to the weapon, its spiraling torrent of red and blue energy was enough to bore holes through nearby buildings, but as Thurisuz soon learned, it wasn't strong enough to make it through Protoman's shield.

As Protoman closed the distance between them, blocking Thurisuz's wild attempts with his weapon, the Bergelmir clad warrior shouted, "NO! You're supposed to die! It can't happen this way! I won't lose to a worthless inferior model like you!" As Protoman reached his proper distance, multiple hatches gave way on his shield as he replied, "I don't think you have a choice!"

At such close range, and against an opponent with such thin armor, Protoman's claymores were practically lethal. He felt no real remorse as they riddled Thurisuz full of holes, though he supposed he felt some degree of pity. He got up to go help Bass and Zero, but fell back down. Now that everything was over, Protoman felt incredibly dizzy and drained, a product of his new acceleration. The others would just have to wait, he just hoped they weren't in any big trouble.

----------

"I'd say you're in just a bit of trouble," Omega mocked as he stood in the path of Zero and Bass. "Of all the times to have to deal with this moron," Bass spat, but Omega smirked. "You want to go on ahead? Want to be the hero and save the girl? Be my guest. I want Zero, not you. Besides, it'll be more entertaining if you actually get to her." Omega's smirk grew as he added, "You'll see." Growling, Bass declared, "If you did ANYTHING to her, I'll—" "You won't even be able to make it back to do anything to me," Omega said, cutting him off.

"Go on," Zero said, "I'll fight Omega, you go stop the Dark Elf and rescue Roll! Oh, and do us all a favor and take care of Weil." Bass smirked, bigger than Omega as he and Treble calmly walked passed him. His only words as he passed Omega were, "With pleasure."

"Good, good," Omega said as it was just him and Zero, "We have each other all to ourselves." "Why are you so intent on killing me, anyways?" Zero asked. Omega answered with, "Call it an…identity crisis."

They drew their sabers, ready to clash, when they heard steps followed by raspy breathing. "Oh come on," Omega snarled, "Not more of the Doctor's zombie-bots…" "No," Zero said as he narrowed his eyes. "It's…great, now I wish I hadn't sent Bass off. Oh well."

Slowly, Elpizo walked into view, a wild look on his face as he eyed Zero and Omega. "Zero…and…Zero…heh, heh, heh, how wonderful. You're out to hurt Momma, aren't you? Just like last time, eh? Well not until you get through me!" "Oh great," Omega drawled, "He thinks I'm you…" "You ARE using my body," Zero pointed out. "Details, details," Omega replied, "So, three-way battle?"

Zero was about to agree when a tremendous burst of plasma rammed into Elpizo. Whirling around, Zero and Omega eyed X, buster smoking. "Zero, good to see you." Gawking, Omega replied, "That is the most realistic Copy X I've ever seen…" Zero sighed and replied, "It's the REAL X, Omega." "Well, well, well," Omega began with his arms crossed, "Poor, little X decided to stop floating about like a cute little fairy and decided to do something besides get Zero to fight for him. Oh this is rich, this is fantastic."

Omega walked a little ways from Zero, now intrigued with X's appearance. "Omega," X started, "I made a mistake, not destroying you. I won't make the same mistake twice." "Oh please," Omega scoffed, "You couldn't hold a candle to me before, what makes you think this is going to be any different?"

Out of the corner of their eyes, they noticed Elpizo getting to his feet as X coldly replied, "I wasn't fighting you as hard as I could have. I was trying to save Zero's body. I hope he'll forgive the fact that I won't give you that courtesy this time." Zero shrugged as he said, "I was going to kill him too."

"X, Zero, and Zero," Elpizo said, not caring about the concept of two Zeros, "I'll destroy you all! No one's ever going to hurt my Momma again!" A flash of light and Elpizo's saber appeared in his hand. He pointed the blade in the direction of his enemies and said, "I'm going to make this messy."

Zero and Omega readied their sabers as X began to charge his buster. This was going to be a complicated fight.

Four sets of thrusters went off at once as they all charged for each other. X leapt over Zero, firing his buster into Omega, who dodged, only to be tackled by Elpizo. "Kill one of THEM!" Omega shouted as he ripped the crazed reploid off him and locked sabers with Zero.

"I'll kill all of you!" Elpizo shouted with a wild laugh as he swung at X, grazing his armor before getting a charged shot of plasma to the face. "I can't see! My eyes! They burn!" He shouted as he thrashed about. "What a fool," Omega muttered as he fired his z-buster, striking Elpizo in the back of the head.

"You're one to talk!" Zero shouted as his charged saber connected with Omega's backside. Gripping the region in pain, Omega slammed a glowing fist to the ground, sending a massive shockwave that threw Zero back, but there was no time for rest as the distinctive, jetlike sound of X's Nova Strike paved the warning before ramming Omega with golden energy. "You can't beat both of us," X stated as his buster began to charge. Likewise, Zero began to charge his saber before saying, "Omega, say your prayers."

Omega's eyes widened as he remembered his climactic clash with the duo, all those years ago. He knew X was right. As much as he could take on one, both was out of the question. Zero ran for him and he readied himself, determined to fight until the end, but Zero rolled out of the way, revealing a powerful burst of plasma from X. As the buster shot hit its mark, Zero swung in with his charged saber and the force was too much.

Omega impacted the wall, mere inches from Elpizo's downed body, groaning as he got to his feet. Electricity was crackling all over his body as he muttered, "No, not like this." He felt something and looked down, Elpizo's weak body was reaching for him, whispering, "You feel like Momma…she's touched you…"

"Let go of me, you miserable little…what are you doing!?" Elpizo gripped Omega's leg and with the last of his strength, pulled him to the ground, dragging him towards him as the Baby Elves exited his body. They giggled as they encircled the two, casting them in an orb of blinding light.

"What's going on?" Zero asked. "Cyber Elves are just full of surprises, aren't they?" X replied as the light died down. In the place of two enemies and two misguided elves was a single figure, almost stuck in the hallway before it howled, sending an aura that ate away at the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and everything else around it, giving it enough berth to move.

One could see the influence of Omega and Elpizo in it, but the transformation was still shocking. No legs, rather, a single spike. Four sets of three spiked wings each adorned its back; two from the shoulders, two from the lower back. Long hands, ending in vicious claws sprouted from its shoulders as plating sprouted over the shoulders and lower torso. Elpizo's single bang was exposed while Omega's flowing golden hair shot from the back of its head, adorned with a crown of batwings.

"Wonderful," Zero muttered as X stifled a laugh. "Just what's so funny about this?" X smiled as he said, "I think you're developing Bass's biting sarcasm."

----------

Now much higher in the building, Bass felt tremors from down below. "Just what kind of crazy party are they having down there?" He put the thought aside as he finally arrived to a door, boldly announcing itself as Weil's lab. "Good," Bass declared, "Just as bold and stupid as Wily."

Blowing the door down, Bass stepped in with Treble, fangs bared. "Weil, I've come for two things! One's Roll, the other's your head!" Calmly standing near a console with his hands behind his back, Weil smirked. "I don't think I can give you my head, but if it's the girl you're after…well…" He flipped a switch on the console and a capsule slowly lowered from the ceiling.

"What the hell?"

It was Roll, outfit replaced with a black mesh, leading to wires connected to her body. Her hair was standing on end with a single black streak in it. She opened lifeless eyes and softly sighed as a black aura rose around her body.

"What the hell did you do to her!?" Bass barked as he pointed his charging buster at Weil. "Don't blame me," Weil slyly said, "blame the Dark Elf. After all, I merely partitioned your little girlfriend's programming onto a backup drive so that the Dark Elf would be able to take full control of her body. Marvelous, isn't it? She's free to do what she wants now…and she chose to serve me, to bring an end to this world of frightened humans and foolish reploids, so quick to serve their human masters like lapdogs."

A low growl building in Bass, he barked, "Why the hell would you do this!?" Weil shrugged as he answered, "You have to admit…you haven't shot her yet." "Tch, this was all so I wouldn't ruin your plan?" "Simple, but brilliant, wouldn't you agree?" "I wouldn't," Bass coldly replied. "Oh come now, don't be such a stick in the mud," Weil said before bursting into a cackle.

"I think it's time I killed you," Bass declared, but Weil sighed, merely asking, "Why?" A puzzled look on Bass's face told him to continue, "So I'm evil, am I? I'm sick and twisted and deserve to die, eh? What makes me anymore damned to hell than any other human? Did I destroy this world? No, that was done long before I decided to help! Humans destroy and cause chaos and suffering, that's all we're good for! Guns, missiles, nukes, Robot Masters, and even reploids! All we do is head for one single destination: destruction. Ask yourself, would we even be in this situation if Ciel had never made the original Copy X? How about if the Dark Elf never existed? What if Wily had never made you or Zero? Where would humanity be? On the same course of self-destruction!"

"Stuff I don't care about," Bass declared as he fired his buster, striking Weil in the chest. "Oh-ho, good one, my boy, good one!" Bewildered, Bass looked on as Weil got to his feet and the hole in his chest healed. "I like it, that killer instinct of yours. We're so much alike, you and I. Did you know that?" "Like hell, we are," Bass replied.

"It's true. I watched you, I've been watching you. You fought on par with Omega and wrecked an entire battalion of Pantheons faster than I'd ever seen before. You fought against the Guardians and Copy X, all while under fire from even more. Then you go on to fight to disable a satellite, you go in to steal medical supplies and nearly get scrapped. The data doesn't add up, especially when you go on to defeat my first Bio-Reploid in your initial encounter. Then you do this, you bring the walls of Neo Arcadia tumbling down as you reduce an army to scrap. You lead a one-man assault on a fortress of a city and look at the damage you've caused, all because you were mad. Then it hit me. You performed so poorly in other things, but this, wide-spread destruction, THAT'S where you excel! Don't fight me, Bass."

Bass fired more shots into Weil, but Weil got up, his body healing. "Why the hell won't you die!?" Bass shouted. "It's called Machine Cell," Weil stated. "Eighty years ago, after X and Zero defeated me, they decided…death was too good for me. They figured I deserved…eternal punishment. So, using experimental technology, they forged an armor and fused my body to it. Thus, no matter how much damage my body incurs, it never lasts. Even the damage of age is reversed, thus, I never age. Eighty years, Bass. Eighty years of perpetual suffering and self-destruction to no avail. I embody the true form of humanity, which is why I understand it, I know why it wants to die so badly. It can't help itself, thus, I must help it. I must help humanity reach the finale and taste oblivion. It won't take much more. Reploids are so suited to killing humans. Maybe a week or two at best before all these miserable humans are wiped out, but so much faster if you'd help."

"Killing all humans, no thanks," Bass said, "I'd rather just kill you and take Roll back." "You want her so badly," Weil began, "Then take her." The capsule opened and the Dark Elf-possessed Roll stepped out. "R-Roll," Bass said softly, but she opened her palm and shot a stream of dark energy at him. As he dodged, Treble whimpered.

"It's okay, boy," Bass said, "I'm fine, her, not so much. After all, she wasn't built for combat like we were. I bet her body can only take so much. We'd better figure out something or…or we're going to have to toast her to save everyone." Treble barked a bit as they dodged another stream of black energy. "Talk to her? Buddy, I don't think my social skills work that well." They dodged again and electricity shot through her body, so he winced and replied, "Fine, let's…talk."

Swallowing his pride, Bass stood tall, not bothering to dodge the next blast, but accepting it as he shouted, "Roll! I know you're in there, somewhere! Listen, I don't care what that moron, Weil says! I've figured I'm not all about the destruction, there's something else in my life that makes me keep going now! It…it's you! It sounds sappy, coming from me, but this whole raid on Neo Arcadia, it wasn't just because I was pissed! It was because I wanted you back! I don't care what Weil thinks he's done to you! I don't care if the Dark Elf thinks it's in charge of your body! They can't control you if you don't let them! Do you know how many times Wily tried to alter my programming? I just overrode it and you can fight back, too, I know you can, you're just as strong as I am! You might not have a buster, but you've got a will that rivals my own, even if you don't see it! Roll! Wake up!"

Bass grunted as he accepted another blast. Treble barked at him and he replied, "No, not yet," as he turned to Roll, "Let's just go home, okay Roll? No more fighting, no more destruction, just us. Just the two of us, alright? Weil is finished and the Dark Elf has no purpose, don't let the Dark Elf rule you."

"Bark all you want, you useless machine," Weil said with malicious glee, "It won't do you any good! The Dark Elf has her body. If you want to fix everything, you're going to have to destroy her, but you can't, can you?"

"Shut it!" Bass barked, before shouting, "Treble, let's do it! Howling Gospel Cannon!" The duo fused, Treble becoming his buster as he locked into position. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to do this, but if it means saving everyone, even you, Roll, then I'll do it. I told it to Leviathan, too. If you get reprogrammed, you aren't the same person I knew, I won't hesitate to destroy you. So answer me, Roll! Are you in there!? Is the same, cute girl that always puffs her cheeks in there, somewhere!?" Treble began to charge tremendous energy, accompanied with the faint, growling noise. Soon, the purple of Bass's Evil Energy was added to the onslaught as he shouted, "ANSWER ME!"

"B-Bass," Roll stuttered, gaining Weil's bewildered, "That's impossible! I should have just deleted all of your programming!" As Roll's body rejected the Dark Elf, Bass smirked, saying, "You evil genius types never think this far ahead, do you? Always underestimating the weaker ones in the group, just because they don't fight! Well you know what that gets you!? Howling Gospel, FIRE!"

Treble howled as he unleashed a torrent of energy that enveloped the Dark Elf and the close by Weil. The beam streaked out of the building and into the heavens before dissipating. Gaining the command that his combat functions were locked again, Bass fought the urge to collapse as Treble defused with him. Instead, he rushed to Roll, losing her own balance, and caught her.

"You're so much trouble, did you know that?" Bass asked as he smiled down on her. "B-Bass? You…came for me?" "Of course I did, kidnapping's so lame, anyways." He tried to smirk, but all the damage he'd incurred coupled with his most powerful attack sent ripples of pain through his body. "You're hurt!" she said, stating the obvious. "No problem, seeing as how everything's over now."

Fate was dealing out a hand to everyone. As he said those words, the floor beneath them crumbled and they went tumbling down, only saved by Treble's jet mode. As they landed, they realized the entire building was coming down. "Everyone outside!" the now spotted Zero shouted. Seeing X with him, Bass scooped Roll up and rushed outside with Treble at his heels.

"Trying to kill us!?" Bass snarled. "Sorry," X said as he helped Roll and Bass to their feet. "We had some trouble to deal with." "DID you deal with it?" Bass inquired. "I certainly hope so," Zero said as he gripped his shoulder in pain. "I don't think I could handle a second round of that."

A claw burst free from the rubble of the still collapsing building and the fused form of Omega and Elpizo worked itself free. "Destroy, destroy, destroy!" It repeated as it threw a ball of energy at the group. The explosion sent them all flying and they stayed down, so drained from constant fighting. "This looks bad," Zero calmly said.

"I keep telling you people that I'm a hero, I guess I'll prove it!"

They whirled to see a barely functioning Copy X making his way to the fusion. "You all inherit my world, now," Copy X said as he latched onto the fusion. "What are you doing!?" X asked as Copy X burst into blue light. Copy X looked to the original and gave a gentle smile. "It doesn't matter which one of us is the real one, as long as we fight for the same thing."

Copy X self-destructed in an explosion that consumed the fusion of Elpizo and Omega. Even the Baby Elves were heard screaming in the blast, and soon, nothing remained. "What do ya know," Bass said, "He did something useful."

Cries from around the city died down as Bass fell over, laughing. "The Dark Elf is toast, Weil's gone, Baby Elves vaporized, and the reploids apparently aren't going nuts anymore, life is good," Bass said. "You said it," Roll replied as she gently laid next to him. Slowly, their lips pressed and the rest of the group laughed, but quickly stopped as Bass's eyes flared open during the kiss.

Arriving on the scene, Protoman limped to the group and said, "Boy, you guys brought the house dow-is Bass kissing my sister?" The group laughed again, this time, to something Bass accepted and focused his attention on other things.

----------

A few weeks had passed since everything had come to a head. The true X assumed his role as leader of Neo Arcadia with all four of his guardians accepting the explanation of him and Copy X and humbly accepting employ under his regime.

Axl decided to join as the fifth of X's guardians and was welcomed among the others.

Zero finally took a much-needed break, spending what buzzed around the Resistance Base as 'quality time' with Ciel.

In their absence, Protoman took command of the Resistance Base, effectively renaming it the fitting ' Ciel City'.

Bass and Roll began a relationship that most speculated was only possible due to their conflicting personalities.

Still, despite the happy ending, something seemed off.

"Confirmed reaction inside Wily Castle ruins," the operator said to a now sighing Protoman. "Get everyone together," he ordered.

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They were all standing outside the ruins of Wily Castle: Bass, Protoman, Zero, X, Axl, Harpuia, Fefnir, Phantom, and Leviathan.

"And I'm back where I started," Bass drawled as they entered the building. It wasn't like before, now, everything was active and they were easily led by Bass to the heart of the building where, in a spotlight, sat Weil.

"No way!" Bass barked as he rushed to Weil and lifted him off his feet. "There's no way you lived through that blast!" "Well," X said, "Machine Cells are incredibly advanced, even today, he might have pulled through."

To their surprise, Weil's body slumped in Bass's grip and soon spilled to dust. "What's going on!?" Axl shouted, shocked.

"Let me answer that."

The entire group turned to a new figure. His hair was like Thurisuz and Uruz, one half black, the other teal. He smirked as he said, "I was wondering how long it would take you to find me." "Who the heck are you?" Bass asked as he raised his buster.

"Forgot me already, I'm hurt, Bass. It's me, Weil. This body was going to go to my third Bio Reploid, Anthuz, but you and your friends forced me to change everything. It wasn't too hard to put my mind in here. After all, it was so similar to what I did for Omega. So, now you're here and intent on killing me, once and for all, eh?"

"Sounds about right," Bass said, "After all, I hate to leave a job half-done." "You think it'll be that easy," Weil asked, "After all, I've have time to learn. I have data on you and Zero, not to mention my earlier Bio-Reploids. I even have the Ciel System, providing my body with unlimited power. But you aren't convinced, are you? No. It'll take a demonstration, I see. Very well. May Granzon be the last thing you lay eyes on in this realm."

They shielded their eyes as Weil's body erupted into sheer energy. From it, two large, dark blue, well armored arms sprouted, followed by legs. Soon, the entire dark-blue form was revealed, the singular paint-scheme taking away from the sheer imposing nature of the body, in essence, a demon.

"It doesn't matter what form you take!" Bass shouted, "I'll take you down!" The others in agreement, they all charged Weil in his new form as he merely opened his hand and said, "Bow." A wave of intense gravity hit them all and pressed them into the ground before X and Bass fired charged shots at him. While the Granzon armor certainly didn't look harmed, Weil stopped the attack.

Now, he opened his palm, letting loose a stream of energy. As they dodged, Protoman shouted, "Split up, he can't get all of us if we keep away from each other!" "Oh, really?" Weil asked, amused as his armored chest opened up. A literal hole formed in front of him as he released a massive burst of energy into said hole before nothing.

Paranoia was getting to the group as nothing happened. Suddenly, holes opened in front of all of them and a beam nearly destroyed each of them. "Fools!" Weil shouted as they steadied themselves, "My Granzon is perfect! Imagine the power to target hundreds of enemies an annihilate them at once! You're only prolonging your own suffering with all your resistance!"

He repeated his attack, shooting into a hole and they waited, ready, expecting an attack from any direction. Leviathan spied the hole to her side and dodged, but couldn't have predicted the other six. She didn't even have the chance to scream as she was enveloped and soon, only her silent body was revealing, smoking from burns over her unconscious body.

"LEVIATHA-AUGH!" Fefnir shouted as he fell prey to the same move. "Worry about yourself, fool!" Weil said with a laugh as Fefnir collapsed. In a blink of an eye, X summoned the Ultimate Armor and charged Weil with his Nova Strike, but the ever-confident Weil snapped his fingers as he once again displayed his control of gravity and smashed X into the ground.

Phantom and Harpuia rounded Weil and tackled him. "That's more like it," Bass shouted as he charged, but Harpuia and Phantom were easily swatted aside. "You, who made this possible, Bass! Let me thank you!" Weil's chest opened again, charging a ball of energy before flinging it to Bass. The massive ball of swirling, black energy seemed to track Bass, even slowly pulling him in, before Phantom intercepted and took the blast.

"Get out of here!" Harpuia shouted to the remainder. "I'll hold Weil off as long as I can." "We can't abandon you!" X shouted as Bass snarled, "There's no way I'd leave and let someone like Weil win!"

"Weil's GOING to win if you don't back off and come up with a plan! Please, as a guardian of Master X, it's my duty to do this." Silence reigned, Weil enjoying the soap opera as Zero nodded. "X, Axl, Bass, Protoman, let's get out of here." "Right," X solemnly said. "You guys sure?" Axl asked, and they nodded.

"Forget the whole lot of you!" Bass shouted, fuming. He might have admitted feelings for Roll, but that didn't mean he didn't care about the more-than-likely dead Leviathan on the ground. In his anger, the evil energy in his system took over, cascading him in purple light as the ground began to shake.

"We don't have time for this," Zero said as he slammed his fist into Bass's chest, the force just enough to knock him off-line. "GO!" Harpuia shouted as he nimbly dodged fire from Weil. "This isn't over," Protoman told Weil as X tapped his buster. In a flash, they were grabbed by a trans-server.

"Oh no," Weil said with glee, "this is far from over."

----------

"Why the hell'd you run away!?" a frantic, now conscious Bass yelled to the group. "Weil was too powerful to beat in some frontal assault," Zero explained, "We needed to regroup." "HAH!" Bass said as he grumpily crossed his arms.

"Bass, there was nothing we could have done," X said, as calm as possible as he laid a hand on Bass's shoulder. "Save the sympathy talk for someone it'll work on," Bass said as he swatted X's hand away. "Look, I didn't like it either," Protoman began, "But we were talking about a lot of power, what could we have done?"

"If I'd have brought Treble with me…" Bass trailed off, but Ciel spoke up. "I don't know how much of a difference it would have made. If Weil's running on my Ciel System, then he's got a power source unlike any other. The Dark Elf doesn't compare. I…had to make a system that would work. One that would provide enough clean energy for everyone…so it's essentially a miniature black hole."

"That sounds way too dangerous," Axl replied. "Well, a black hole is remarkably stable," Ciel said, "For as much power as it would produce, odds are, it would never go critical. So, until I can find an effective canceller, we're stuck waiting for Weil to make his move."

"I don't freaking believe this," Bass snarled. "I INVADE A CITY AND GO THROUGH AN ARMY, DESTROY THE DARK ELF, AND GET BEATEN BY SOME OLD COOT THAT SHOVES HIS BRAIN IN A ROBOT BODY!? THEN WE RUN FROM HIM BECAUSE WE THINK WE'RE TOO WEAK!?"

Roll put a hand on Bass, but he turned and walked away. "The guardians are probably dead because we screwed up. Ya know, I learned something when I did invade Neo Arcadia." "What's that?" X softly asked.

"I work better alone. I'm out of here."

"He needs the air, we should let him go, things will be easier when he gets back," X said, but Zero replied, "You missed his meaning. He's not coming back." "What?" The group gasped as Treble snapped his fingers, summoning his canine companion.

"Bass, wait!" Roll ran to him, "I won't let you leave, not without me." "No, you stay here," Bass said, "Who knows where I'm ending up." "That's why I'm coming with you. Someone has to take care of 'The Most Powerful Robot Master' and that someone's me."

It had been a taxing day, one that none of them would forget, but as Bass and Roll left for the unknown, they knew one thing was for sure; the adventure was just beginning.

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Ending Notes: …28…pages…fingers burn. Meh, I wrote half of this at work and the other half during sleep deprived nights. I hope you enjoyed it. Look out for Part Two…once I figure out what I'm going to call it. Expect some wild things in that.

Machine cells are a piece of Super Robot Taisen...incredibly annoying. They allowed certain enemy mechs to repair themselves, thus making one-on-one boss battles impossible. It would take the entire group to defeat some enemies, no matter how high your attack or evasion. I just threw that in, since Weil's supposedly got an armored body that regenerates damage.

Oh…as far as Granzon went…I totally toned it DOWN. We're talking about a mech so advanced that it took 2/3rds of a military budget to produce, capable of engaging 65,000 targets simultaneously and absorb everything through an energy field. We're lucky that it was JUST the guardians that Weil wasted. Honestly, I had this ending planned from the start.

Now that this chapter is done, I'm going to party with a hard drink of gi…er…No sis, if you're reading this, I don't drink, I meant party with…teddy bears…yeah.

Seriously though, I appreciate each and every one of you that read this story and I'll have part two up soon enough…after I dabble in some other things. Most importantly, I have a podcast script to write for the library I work at and I JUST got my hands on Super Robot Taisen R…which consequently is entirely in Japanese, so…this will be time-consuming.

Thanks for reading!

"Fight, Bass, for ever-lasting peace!"

"…Wrong Robot Master, doc."