Alright! My second story and third submission! Enjoy.

What True Power Really Is!

"Give up yet, X?" Sigma taunted his damaged opponent, standing less than twenty feet away, heavily damaged.

X snarled and charged Sigma. Less than a foot away, X jumped up to meet him, but Sigma backhanded the blue bomber with a giant fist, sending him flying into the building next to him. X plowed through the drywall and cement of the wall, and finally crashed to a tiled floor. Another hole in the wall was made with a loud explosion. Sigma stepped through the hole casually and approached his nemesis whom was sprawled out on the floor. Several cuts and many cracks in X's azure armor, a lightly cracked head gem, and a trickle of oil out of the corner of his mouth indicated that X was in bad shape.

Warning! Warning! Systems damage critical! Auto-repair systems unable to repair systems efficiently!

X's internal systems were screaming warnings into his ear.

I know, I know! X subconsciously told his internal systems. Just give me a quick overview of my primary combat systems!

Neural circuits: Operating normally

Fusion reactor: Overheating! Further energy usage is not advised

X-buster: All systems overheated. Buster damaged and not usable

Armor: Warning! Armor integrity failing! Several breaks and lacerations detected! Further strain may result in complete collapse of armor!

Dash systems: Operating within acceptable parameters. Armor damage may result in problems while accelerating.

This meant that if X took many more hits, he was a goner. His energy was nearly depleted, his buster was cooked, and his dash systems could go at any time. X was in some hot water if he kept fighting. Unfortunately, backing down was not an option when it came to fighting Sigma. If X backed down or was destroyed, nobody would be able to stop Sigma. Zero had been put into stasis a month ago, and Axl didn't have enough experience with this sort of thing.

X grunted in pain as he rolled over into his stomach, and struggled into a kneeling position. He stood up for a mere few second, and then collapsed onto his knees in pain.

Damn! This is not good! I've got to do something! X thought as he continued to attempt to stand up, but failed again.

Sigma saw X's feeble attempts to stand, and laughed sinisterly. "What's the matter X? Your old circuits finally giving out? You should have known that you'd lose to me someday! I'm going to crush you in my fist for your arrogance! For all the times you've humiliated me!" Sigma roared as he slowly walked toward the blue maverick hunter.

"I might lose someday Sigma…" X finally managed to stay standing "But it won't be today! I'll do whatever it takes to defeat you!"

Warning! Further combat may result in extreme damage to internal systems!

I know! Now shut up! Xbarked at his systems in his head. They complied.

X shook off the warnings of his internal systems, and ran at Sigma with a loud war cry. Big mistake. Sigma merely grabbed X at the throat, lifted him into the air, and began to crush his neck in his grasp.

X made one last attempt to fight back. He withdrew his hand into his arm, replacing it with a buster barrel, and pointed it at Sigma's face. Sigma didn't seem fazed by this at all, and they both knew why.

Sure enough, when X attempted to fire, the arm cannon backfired, blowing several holes in X's forearm. X screamed in pain, but was stopped abruptly as Sigma tightened his grip around the blue bombers throat. With his hand that wasn't destroyed, he attempted to pry sigma's grip away, but Sigma only tightened his grip even more. Sigma smiled evilly at X's near demise.

X knew he had lost now. X had finally lost against Sigma. He had failed everyone, all because he wasn't strong enough. With the last of his strength, he rasped out three final words.

…

"Computer… end s-simulation."

Sigma disappeared, and X fell to the floor with a resounding clank. The ruined building they were in also disappeared and was replaced with the inside of the Hunter Base's training simulation room.

The last thing X heard was a familiar voice calling out his name.

"X! X!"

Then everything went black.

…

Why am I still fighting? If I'm just going to fail and people get hurt anyway, then what's the point?

X was floating in nowhere, completely surrounded by darkness. The only things that he could hear were his own thoughts, and the only thing he could see was his own nose when he looked down.

"I'm so weak… If I ever blew it like that like that in the battlefield, it would be all over. Sigma could easily crush the world in his hand. I've become too weak to stop him… What do I do? If I can't even keep the

ones I love safe… then what reason is there to go on?" X thought out loud. He was about to give up on the life he knew was barely hanging onto, when he heard a very faint voice behind him.

"x… X…"

"Huh? Who's there?" X called out to the voice.

"X. I'm very disappointed in you." Said the gentle, elderly voice as a glowing silhouette of Dr. Thomas Light appeared a few feet from X.

"Dr. Light! ...you're right to be disappointed in me. I know it was just a simulation, but it was set to real life statistics of Sigma. If that had been a real life situation-"

"X!" The elderly doctor interrupted.

"Doctor?"

"That's not why I'm disappointed."

"I-it's not!" X stammered.

"No. I'm disappointed because you would so willingly give up on life after one defeat."

"But doctor, I was weak! If I'm weak, then how-"

"You are not weak, X."

"Then why couldn't I beat Sigma?"

"X… I designed you to have limitless potential. Of course you're not weak. You couldn't defeat Sigma because you lack resolve."

"Resolve? What does that have to do with my supposed limitless potential?"

"When you began to think that you had to stop fighting in order to attain peace, your fighting resolve crumbled. When you lack resolve, you can't fight nearly as well."

"So, in order to unlock my limitless potential, I need to keep fighting? I need to believe that fighting will solve all the world's problems? But Doctor, you and I both know that fighting is wrong! We should look for peaceful solutions as opposed to just blindly charging out and tearing people's lives apart!"

The doctor clutched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "There was a time when I thought the same way, X. But then I learned the hard way that violent actions cannot be solved with peaceful solutions. Those who fight all have a cause they fight for, and that gives them resolve. It gives them the determination to fight for their own cause. Even Sigma has a cause he fights for. It may be twisted and corrupted, but it still gives him the motivation to keep coming back again and again."

X took a moment to take in what the Doctor had just told him. He thought hard about what he was going to say next, and came up with what little he thought he could say.

"You're right Doctor Light. I need to pick myself up and face the fact that mavericks can't be negotiated with. I don't want to believe it, but it's the sad truth. I'll tell you again what I told you before. I'll use this limitless power to fight for justice! To fight for hope!"

Dr. Light closed his eyes and smiled. "And I still believe it to be so. But I'm afraid It's not that simple. Your potential won't unlock itself that easily."

"Wha! Then how do I do it!"

"The answer will come to you soon enough, X, but it is something you must figure out on your own."

The doctor slowly began to fade out of existence.

"Doctor!" X cried hoping to keep him there.

"X… you are the world's one true hope. Always remember that. Now, I think it's time for you to wake up…"

The doctor faded completely.

"DOCTOR!" X cried as a bright light enveloped him.

…

"I think he's coming to!" a voice said as X found himself lying on a soft bed. From a soft beeping beside him, he guessed that he was in the Med. Lab, and Lifesaver had repaired him, or was in the repair process. X slowly managed to open his eyes to blurred vision. He blinked a couple times and his vision focused to see a black and red armored reploid with a cross-shaped scar on his face hovering over him.

"Axl?" X managed to croak weakly. He looked down to see that his armor had been removed, and he wore only the light blue jumpsuit that was worn under his armor and fit tightly to his synthetic skin.

He looked back up to see Axl still standing over him with a smile on his young face.

"Welcome back X. How do ya feel?" The new-generation prototype asked

"Ow." X stated simply.

"I see. Kinda figures. You were nearly scrapped after that simulation. What were you thinking, putting yourself in that kind of danger?"

"Ask me later when my head's not so sore." X said groggily.

"Heh, alright then." Axl said as he sat down in the chair next to X's bed.

"Well, it looks like you're finally up." said Lifesaver as he walked over to the bed.

"Yeah… How long have I been out?" X asked.

"Eight days. You gave us quite a scare, X. You really should be thanking Axl here. He single-handedly carried your unconscious body all the way up here from the training room, and refused to leave your side even for a second. I had to force him down to the mess hall to keep him fed, and he was called for missions which he had no choice but to accept, but other than that he stayed right in that chair. He even came back from a mission badly damaged, and the first thing he asked upon arriving here was 'how's X?'. You've got a true friend in him, X."

X looked over to Axl in disbelief. "Axl, you…you really did that for me?"

Axl smiled and said "Of course, X. What else're friends for?"

X smiled and rested his brown-haired head back on the pillow.

"Thank you, Axl. You really are a true friend."

Axl's smile only widened at that. Even lifesaver was touched at this display of friendship, but then said

"X, you should get some rest. Some of your minor systems need to heal."

"I'll still be here when you wake up, X. Don't worry." added Axl.

X nodded and closed his eyes. He pondered what Dr. Light had told him. Would he be able to awaken his true power? He had to if he was going to be able to protect his friends. I'm going to find a way to unlock my potential no matter what! X thought as he drifted to sleep.

Whew! Took me three hours to type this up. Man I'm slow. Oh, well. Please review!