(Hey everybody and welcome to Chapter 5 of Final Fantasy VII-X 2!)

Chapter 5

The Downfall of Deep Roller

X, Tifa and Vincent retired to their quarters some time ago aboard the Hunter Base, but as X dreamed in his capsule-shaped bed, in his dream, he dreamed that he had done things much more differently than the path he had already chosen. The dream quickly became a nightmare, culminating into an image of the Earth, only completely destroyed. He also saw the image of Sigma standing over his and Zero's destroyed bodies, laughing in their faces as he proclaimed himself ruler of the now destroyed Earth.

This disturbing nightmare immediately ended just as swiftly as it began as X woke up with a start, his eyes flying open instantly and him sitting up in bed. He then reached over to the right side of his bed and extracted a recorder device, which he held up to his mouth and spoke into.

"I've had this recurring nightmare for a long time now. I don't think this nightmare will stop until Zero and I destroy Sigma for good. The nightmares keep getting worse now that he combined with Sephiroth. This nightmare just reassured me of the path I'm taking. This is Maverick Hunter Megaman X with nightmare entry log 10/27/21XX."

He then tried to go back to sleep, and succeeded.

The next morning, X woke up, checked his vitals, then headed out into the briefing room, where everyone else was waiting. Cloud, Aeris, and Zero were about ready to head on another mission when they saw X enter the room. Cloud immediately sensed the feeling that X hadn't slept well, if a robot could ever sleep.

X did his regular duties as if nothing was wrong. Cloud then turned to nod at Aeris and Zero, and teleported to their next destination on Earth.

Immediately they materialized at what looked like a perfect spot on the beach for a picnic...until Cloud spotted some pipes sticking out of the water itself that is. Zero then said, "Hmm. An underwater reactor, huh? Things are going to get interesting. Oh! Almost forgot!" He then reached behind and pulled out what looked to be rebreathers, one for Cloud and one for Aeris, and held them out in offering. Cloud and Aeris both took one, put them on, then nodded at Zero and walked into the water, which quickly got over their heads, at that point they walked towards the huge underwater reactor.

The underwater reactor looked immense on the outside, but as the three Hunters reached the reactor and went inside, things went from bad to worse. Some sections of the reactor were littered with deadly spikes as well as enemies! Fish enemies, octopus enemies, you name it, there it was! Gravity in water was reduced, allowing everyone to jump twice as high, as Cloud and Aeris both found out.

There was a corridor that the three Maverick Hunters in Team Zero had to wall-jump to navigate, but it wasn't too difficult for Zero. Cloud and Aeris both had a bit of a hassle timing their jumps properly, but finally nailed it after the third try. There was a room up ahead that didn't have a Sephiro-Sigma sigil above it, but Zero expected the unexpected and went in, with Cloud and Aeris both following behind.

They were met by a multi-tentacled robot that fired lightning bolts down from where it swam! It could also pick up someone and drain them of their energy to replenish its own. Zero knew only one thing to do: chop its tentacles off first!

He quickly went to work, slicing off its tentacles one by one, one tried to grab him, but he double-jumped out of the way and SHING off it came as his Z-Saber sliced through it! Then, he nodded to Cloud and Aeris, signaling both of them to start attacking the head. 2 coordinated attacks later and the robo-beastie blew up as it died and the three moved on.

After making their way through the central part of the underwater reactor itself, they finally reached a door with the Sephiro-Sigma logo above it, and entered.

The three Maverick Hunters known as Team Zero entered into what was a water-filled room, the ceiling and back wall filled to the gills with spikes! On top of that, a female Reploid resembling a mermaid but had webbed feet instead of a tail fin, swam down to meet the Hunters of Team Zero.

"Well well well! What do we have here? The infamous Zero, and two friends of his! Too bad not one of you is leaving here alive! Ha ha ha ha haaaa!" she cackled as she materialized a dual staff-sword out of thin air and got ready to battle. Zero, Cloud and Aeris got the drop on Deep Roller as Zero immediately timed a jump and hit her with his flame sword ability, which caused her to shriek and recoil in pain as she dropped to the floor of the room. That allowed Cloud to run up to her and perform his Cross-Slash Limit Break, which weakened her even further.

Aeris then finished her off by casting a Bolt3 spell. Even though the spell didn't electrify the water, the spell still hit Deep Roller, which caused her to lie flat in the water-filled room and start blowing up.

When Deep Roller was gone, the energy balls that coalesced from her remains, three of them absorbed themselves into the three Maverick Hunters from Team Zero. Cloud then demonstrated his Blade Beam Limit Break as he regained it, Aeris did her Breath of the Earth Limit Break as she regained that, Zero gained an air dash attack, then all three of them teleported back to the Hunter Base, where Tifa regained her Waterkick Limit Break, Vincent regained half of his Death Gigas Limit Break, and X got a water-tornado shot attack.

(Yup, the battle was that short. I'm going by what is called a "weakness order". That's how they're goig to be from here on out. Stay tuned for Chapter 6!)