The Suite Life X

27 - Facing Fears

During Zack and London's Mission...

X watched his protégé, not quite sure what to tell him, as he ran him through a few of the Armory's simulations. When it came to teaching him, there was surprisingly little he needed to in terms of the basics. Cody had quickly copied X's form and footwork in terms of platforming. It was certainly basic, but otherwise fine.

It was only when he got to the challenges involving sentient beings such as reploid hostages or Mavericks that things got...for lack of a better term, sticky.

For example, in one where he had to rescue a worker from a giant mechaniloid, he froze, unwilling to take a shot that would damage the victim as well as the enemy. Another one was fired up involving a pretty normal training course for the Hunters as a whole: a simulation of Dragoon.

Needless to say, as with Kuwanger a while back, he fought scared, though to his credit, he did attempt to go in offensively at first...

With each and every failure, though, his frustration seemed to build.

That is, until he decided to make the executive decision of going up and cutting the program off.

Once that happened, Cody, upon sight of X, glared at him in frustration...with a hint of desperation.

"Hey, I almost had that one! I almost..."

The legendary Hunter sighed heavily before staring at the blonde-haired boy intently. "This isn't you, is it?"

"I...what...?"

His soul-searing stare never wavered, filled with equal parts authority and concern.

"This isn't the real you, is it?"

Cody didn't look at him, which was confirmation enough, but said allowed. "It doesn't matter. Here, I'm a Hunter. I have to suck it up."

"You say that, but..."

Cody crumpled to a seated position, his arms cradling his knees. "I'm a massive hypocrite, right?"

He chose not to answer that, instead taking a different tact. "I've been watching you. You keep trying to put on this 'tough guy' persona which breaks like clockwork when you face a person."

"I have to be strong. Zero said back at that underwater base that I had to fight to protect my friends and that Zack won't always be around to fight my battles for me."

"Understandable," X started, "But you're clearly scared and it's showing in your actions."

The boy stood up, fists balled. "I don't know how to stop it."

X feared that it might take personal experience to overcome that hurdle, but didn't dare say that aloud. Instead...

"I've been scared too, you know..."

The smart twin looked at him incredulously. "Really?"

"Yes..." The reploid's next words were carefully chosen. "Once, I had to save a friend that was...captured in pieces by a trio of Mavericks. The whole time, I was afraid, of course. Actually, scared to death is more like it, that they'd rebuild him as a Maverick."

Cody shivered. "That...can actually happen?"

"Yes," X answered, but tried not to dwell there. "I used that fear as a tool. I struck down their forces with those emotions coloring my every blast, but I had to contain them because I had a job to do."

"Did you get them back?"

"Yes, I did, but there have been many times where I wasn't so lucky..."

X forced away the thoughts of the many friends he had to "retire". The last thing the boy needed was to know about that side of him.

"You...you don't seem like your afraid of anything now, especially considering you had to bail me out twice now." Cody was clearly still caught up on Scorpio and Kuwanger. The pro Hunter put a hand on his protege's shoulder.

"Just fall back on your training, and you'll pull through. Try putting examining your fears to one side. Focus on doing what you need to for the people you care about rather than the enemy in front of you. Then--"

Sapphira's voice on the intercom interrupted X's reassurances. "Cody and X, report to the navigation room...you need to see this."

Why did her tone of voice make his metaphorical stomach drop? Unfortunately, one look at the boy told him that the feeling was mutual.

Reluctantly, the two went over, one of them in particular woefully unprepared for what he would see...