InsaneJournal

Current mood:	cold
Current music:	the wind

Glad You Came--(X Drabble)
Glad You Came

Rating:PG

Author's Notes:I was going to post this up on Friday, but whatever. So, remember the mini-boss in Spark Mandrill's fortress in X1? I had the sudden inspiration to write a story about him. The plot is okay. I mean, there's not much you can with Thunder Slime. I like to point out two things, though. First, I hate the starting paragraph. First sentence is fine, but the rest sucks. Second, towards the middle of the battle scene, there's a sentence I hate. Try to guess which one. It'll be kinda fun. Not really...

I noticed this: I write my drabbles better than I do my MMX1 short stories. Why?



For an abandoned power plant, Spark Mandrill’s fortress was surprisingly clean. The other Maverick fortresses had spare parts of reploids and debris littering the grounds, a sign of their destructive philosophy. But in exchange for the cleanliness, Spark Mandrill’s fortress had a confusing maze of ladders and ledges leading to dead ends or bottomless pits.

Flickering lights welcomed X into Spark Mandrill’s domain. An annoyance, but it didn’t bother X who adapted to the atmosphere the moment his boots stepped into the fortress. He traversed the place, determined to correct the wrongs of the Mavericks. As the lights turned off, navigation became difficult. No robots stood in his way, an unusual circumstance, as X began his mission to foil Spark Mandrill’s plans.

A section of the fortress consisted of a seemly never-ending long hallway, pitch black at its end. X walked cautiously, his X buster by his side, ready to fire. The sounds of his footsteps resonated like a symphony hall as his eyes focused solely on the black end of the hallway. Guiding trails of light were along side the walls, turning on and off at random durations. X wrinkled his brow. He placed his X-buster close to his chest waiting for a prime opportunity for something to strike.

An empty room was at the end of the hallway. X carefully walked into the room as his body and eyes adjusted to the room’s darkness. He stopped in the middle of the room, listening for any sign of enemy robots. He then walked silently over to the opposite side only to find the door, leading to the rest of the fortress, locked. X’s hand felt the door as one finger traced the outline of the lock. X looked above him, squinting his eyes as he tried to detect movement. He waited for a noise. He lowered his head as he tried to figure out how to unlock the door.

He felt a heavy thump on his helmet. A strange colloid substance slid down the side of his helmet landing on his shoulders while some fell on his nose. His fingers scooped the substance from his nose, and felt its sticky texture between his fingers. The substance had the consistently and viscosity of silicone gel.

“What is this?” X whispered as the lights turned on. A low humming noise emanated behind him.

He slowly turned around. A large circular robot with horns was encased in the same translucent white goop on X’s shoulders. The milky white gelatin formed a tight seal around the robot’s structure protecting it from any outside disturbance. X’s jaw dropped in amazement, thinking if he knew about such a robot existing. The white gel from X’s shoulders dripped along the side his arm and landed beside his feet.

Then, X remembered:

Thunder Slime: a top secret experimental prototype. Is he working for Spark Mandrill?

He looked at the robot in question. As he was in a state of confusion, two balls of the white gel flung towards him. The force of the throw pushed X against the wall, cracking it. Looking down, he saw that his lower body was covered in the goop. He tried to dash away, but he was stuck in place. As X struggled to free himself, flashes of electricity lit the room. Thunder Slime’s electric attacks shocked X; he screamed at its force. The heat from the electricity burned the gel from his boots as the burnt smell filled the room. Able to regain composure, X dashed towards the middle of the room.

X fired three plasma shots at the gel encasing. One shot broke through the gel as the other shots hit Thunder Slime’s body. In response, Thunder Slime body slammed on X. X groaned at the weight of Thunder Slime’s body. Thunder Slime lifted himself from X’s body, and climbed up the walls using its sticky outer body. X looked at his entire body covered with more white substance.

I’m not going to get shocked again, X thought.

He looked up at Thunder Slime as it was ready to strike. X tore himself from the white goop, and fired his X-buster shots. Thunder Slime attacked with his electric attack. X dashed to places where the electricity already struck. He fired two shots at the robot only to have shots making holes in the gel encasing and not touching Thunder Slime itself.

X clenched his teeth in frustration. This isn’t working. X looked at one of the walls. He then looked at Thunder Slime. X made the connection. Looks like I’m going to have to get inside of him.

He ran towards the wall, and did a couple of triangular kicks. Seeing his target, he landed on top of Thunder Slime, the gel covering his boots. He charged his X-buster as he pushed it into the white gel, aiming directly at Thunder Slime’s center. After a few seconds of charging, he fired, damaging parts of Thunder Slime’s body. X recharged his X-buster again. With a grunt, he fired.

Suddenly, Thunder Slime’s body exploded. The white goop painted the room, sliding down the walls. X fell to the floor, hitting his head against the wall with his entire body covered in gel. He moaned softly. The bump was so strong that X’s body went limp, his body gradually slid from a sitting position to a lying position. He faintly felt Thunder Slime’s remains hit his body. He was too weak to stand or even look out at the results of his X-buster blast.

He blacked out.




“X….” the voice echoed in X’s mind, “Are you okay?”

“Ugh. What?” X whispered.

X slowly opened his eyes. His eyes met with a familiar set of blue eyes looking down on him with obvious concern.

“Zero?” X said.

X’s body laid supine on the ground. Zero had his legs on either side of X’s body. One of Zero’s boots made a sticky noise as it lightly tapped on the ground. One hand rested on his hip. His blonde hair swayed to the air conditioned breeze. He stared at his friend, confused.

“Your signal faded. I was worried so I traced your last known whereabouts, and found you were at the abandoned power plant. I looked around, and I found you here all covered in some interesting substance.” Zero said raising one eyebrow.

X struggled to sit up.

“Let me help you.” Zero said extending his hand towards X.

X clutched Zero’s hand as he tried to lift X up from the ground, but the gooey substance resisted. After a few tough tugs, X stood up with the goop slipping from his lower body. Zero’s finger gently collected some of the substance from X’s cheek. Zero felt the texture of the substance between his fingers.

“What the hell is this stuff?” Zero said smelling the goop.

X’s eyes dashed all over the room until he caught what he was looking for. “It’s from that.” He pointed to Thunder Slime’s parts.

Zero looked at the destroyed robot, “I see…”

“I must’ve blacked out.” X said shyly looking at the ground.

“I’m impressed.” Zero looked around the room. He coughed, “Anyway, I’m going back to scout for Sigma’s fortress location. I trust you’ll be okay.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Zero smiled, “I don’t think anyone is going to take you seriously with that ‘outfit’ you’re wearing.”

X looked down at his body, “It’s sliding off.”

“It has a high viscosity.”

“I’ll manage.” X smiled.

Zero responded in kind, “Go.”

X dashed to the door which opened immediately. He took one look back at his friend and gave a warm smile. Zero pointed to the doorway signaling him continue the mission. As X exited the room, Zero teleported out of the power plant.