Disclaimer: I do not own SNK, Maxima, Rocky, Zero, Master Nests, N.E.S.T.S., or any of its characters.

July 21, 1986 - A semi-crowded street in Toronto. A young boy, Max, no older than 14, is walking down the street. Passing by a narrow but long alleyway, he hears some odd noises. Curious, he walks down the alley, to find two kids, 15 and 16, talking. Max quickly recognizes them as kids from his orphanage, and tries to walk away. The older boy grabs him by the collar, and pulls him in.

"So, Max, ya finally ran away from that damn orphanage, huh?"

Max was a little uneasy around the older boy. "Y-yeah, so what Steve? You ran away too!"

The older boy punches Max in the stomach as the younger one watched him. He wanted to do something to help Max, but Steve would just beat him up too. "Ya know something Max? I don't like that attitude. It's what got ya in trouble at the orphanage, and it's gonna get ya killed out here! Ya were better off in that place anyway! Hell, if I were ya, I would go back right now."

"Screw you! And that orphanage! I'll never go back there! Ever!," Max screamed, as he tried to break free of Steve's grip. Steve, however, was stronger than Max, and held him still. He then kneed him in the stomach, and threw him towards the younger boy, Rocky.

"Here Rocky, your turn to have a little fun with the smart-ass!"

Rocky ran over to Max to see if he was ok. Rocky and Max first met when they were little at the orphanage, but things changed, and Steve came to the orphanage. Steve's parents were killed in a car accident, but Steve wasn't the kind of kid to be crying about it. Instead, he became very hateful, and often took it out on the kids at the orphanage. Rocky, being the nice one, befriended Steve, but Steve seemed to be the "dominant" one out of the two. Max and Rocky were still very good friends, even though Steve pushed Rocky around and made Rocky run away with him a short while after. Max was depressed that his only friend left, so he went in search of him.

"Max! Max! Are you ok?"

Steve got a little annoyed. "Rocky, don't act like his friend. Kick his punk ass!"

Rocky stood up. "Steve, I cant. He's my friend."

Steve was a bit shocked, and said, "What did you just say?"

Rocky raised his voice a little, and said, "I wont do it! He's my friend!"

Steve was angry. His whole face turned red as he slowly reached for his pocket. Rocky circled around Steve, so that he could distract him so that Max wouldn't get hurt. Steve pulled a switchblade out of his pocket, and said to Rocky, "I can't believe you! You didn't do what I said! You didn't beat Max up with me! Looks like I'm gonna have ta kill you along with your friend!

Before Steve could move a foot, Max pulled out a switchblade also. He wanted to make sure that he was properly equipped before he went out into Toronto in case anybody tried to harm him. He flipped it open and plunged it into Steve's head, shouting, "You're not gonna hurt my friend asshole!" Max thought to himself, "I can't believe I said that." Max usually didn't like to let his feelings show. Rocky, on the other hand, was the emotional one.

Rocky saw Steve's mouth and eyes get real wide, and then his body slumped to the ground. He saw the knife in Steve's head, and stepped back in shock a little. He then slowly said to Max, "Thanks for saving my life. I thought I was done for."

Max, a little shaken up also, not quite realizing what he just did, said, "N-No problem."

Neither of them knowing what to do with Steve's lifeless body, they both casually walked out of the alleyway. Rocky and Max were silent for a little while, then Max spoke.

"Ok. What the hell do we do now?

"Relax, Max. You did it in self-defense, right?"

Max sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. Your friend tried ta kill you. Some friend."

" But he didn't kill me. I'm still here."

"Yeah, that's good. So, Rocky, did you really wanna run away?"

Rocky hesitated. "Actually, I didn't. Steve said that if I didn't go with him, he would kill me. He'd always say that, and I stopped believing him after a while. That is, until today, when he pulled the switchblade on me. But you saved me. Thanks."

Max was quiet for a little while, and then responded, "Eh, it was nothing..."

The two friends talked for a little bit, seeing what the other one did for the past couple years. They eventually walked to the suburbs of Toronto, where there were few people. Little did the two know, there was a black car following them. The people in the car belonged to a secret organization that has ties to Max and Rocky's orphanage. What the boys didn't know was that when the boys ran away, the orphanage purposely did not file a missing persons report for the boys because they had made a deal with N.E.S.T.S., the secret organization. The deal was that N.E.S.T.S. gave the orphanage a large sum of money, in return for some "guinea pigs" for their latest project. The orphanage decided that the first two people who ran away would be the guinea pigs for N.E.S.T.S., although N.E.S.T.S. would have to keep track of them itself. The driver of the black car was a newly appointed errand boy for N.E.S.T.S. codenamed Zero, and the leader of N.E.S.T.S., Master Nests, was the passenger.

"Zero, these are our two boys. Pull up near them, and I shall seize them. Request back-up just in case something happens."

"At once master."

After Zero called for back-up, he let Master Nests out of the car, who walked up behind the boys. The boys didn't know he was behind them, and they kept on walking. It didn't matter where they went, they just wanted to get away from that damn city. Master Nests made his move. He snatched up Rocky, who screamed, "Get off me! Max, help me!"

Master Nests attempted to seize Max, but he dodged the leader's hand and yelled, "Let go of Rocky damnit! Let go of him now!"

Master Nests laughed and said, "Foolish young man. I am Master Nests, leader of N.E.S.T.S. organization. Your orphanage allowed us to capture you two runaways and use you in our experiments. It would be wise to cooperate with us. We can make you stronger! After the testing on you two, N.E.S.T.S. will have the ultimate army! The Robo Army!

Master N.E.S.T.S., in the blink of an eye, ran back to the car, screaming, "You shall be joining your friend soon. Until then, Maxima, farewell!" The car sped off. Max wondered to himself, "Maxima? Is that what he called me? But-"

Almost on cue, the back-up arrived, and chased Max. He ran for his life, screaming at N.E.S.T.S., "Screw you! Screw this whole damn organization! I'll have my revenge! Rockyyyyyyy!!"