Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman.EXE or Rockman Zero sadly.
Authors Note: This is an SI fic.
Zero: A Legend Reborn
Thoughts "blah"
Chapter 1
In our universe a young brunette named Jesse O'Neil sits at a table in a local college waiting for a friend to show up. He is of average height, eighteen years old, and has green eyes. Finally after two hours of waiting the girl finally shows up.
Her name is Hinata Hoshi. She has brown eyes and short brown hair. She's shorter than her college buddy even though she's older and she wears mostly dark colored clothing.
"Hey Hinata. What took so long?", greeted O'Neil.
The nineteen-year-old looked at her friend and replied, "I got tied up in traffic again. Some crazy old hag cut me off." This had been happening to her for the last few weeks and she was really getting sick of such occurrences. She looked at Jesse's GameBoy SP and asked, "Have you managed to beat Megaman Zero 4 yet?"
Jesse glared at the offending cartridge and replied, "Yes. I hate Capcom for ending it like that. I mean sure killing X was all fine and everything, but doing the same to Zero was crossing the line."
Hinata smirked and stated, "You're still pissed because they just made Axl vanish too aren't you."
The brunette refused to meet Hinata's eyes. "Maybe just a little. Still why did they have to kill Zero?"
"Well I wouldn't sweat it too much. Capcom is a greedy corporation and too many fans would be royally pissed for permanently removing Zero. They'll find some weird way of bringing him back." said Hinata. She got up and went to the Pepsi machine to purchase a drink and quickly returned downing half of the Pepsi in one swig. She sees the smirk on Jesse's face and says, "What? I need my caffeine to function. It's either that or I turn into a real pain."
The brunette smiles and mutters, "Ya got that right."
"What was that?", she asked even though she knew what he'd said. When he replied 'Nothing' she smiled and replied, "Better be."
Jesse pulls out a small carrying case and opens it. Inside is the entire Megaman Zero collection and two backup batteries for the GameBoy SP. "I always come prepared.", he said.
"Obviously. Now let's see that ending again.", she said. Hinata had seen it before, but she wanted to see how many tries that it would take Jesse to get it.
When the small black box was turned on it immediately shocked the teen. "Oh crap that hurt!", he said placing the throbbing finger in his mouth. The worst of the shock had hit the index finger, but had numbed most of his hand for a few brief moments.
"Well ya should be more careful.", said Hinata enjoying the spectacle. She had since pulled out her own SP and Megaman Zero games setting them to the side. "Ah the freedom of being so far from home.", she said enjoying being hundreds of miles away from her psychotic parents.
"Yeah, Florida's nice this time of year. Scotching heat, rude tourists, and cranky old people at every turn.", said Jesse sarcastically.
Both had come to Florida to escape their parents and enjoy finishing their college degrees. Jesse was going for computer programming while Hinata was finishing her degree in business management. She really loved bossing people around and did a good job getting everything in order. Many times the instructors were taking instructions from her.
A dull red light caught Hinata's attention and she glanced from her cola to the source of the light. In front of her and Jesse were two glowing GameBoy SPs and the glow was extending around the game cartridges. "Um….Jess…I don't mean to alarm you, but our games are being devoured by a funny red light."
"Huh….What the…", said Jesse trying to grab the games. Unfortunately as soon as his hand reached his games and system he felt a much stronger shock and caused him to lose all feeling throughout his body. He then fell towards the floor and was thankfully caught by Hinata.
"Don't do that again.", said the teen. Realizing how it would look to others she glared at her brown haired friend and said, "Tell anyone about this and you'll die."
The two had merely been friends for several years through MSN Messenger and always refused to risk that friendship by trying to become something more….well that and they were just not interested in each other like that. "Believe me I won't."
When they turned their attention back to their systems and the lights they found two glowing creatures hovering over the table. Thankfully everyone was out at lunch or else there would be questions that neither person would or could answer. They both tried to examine the glowing creatures closer, but could make out few of their psychical traits due to the intensity of their glow. One creature was engulfed in a red orb of light while the other was consumed by a soft blue.
"They look like Cyber-Elves.", commented Jesse.
"That's what we are.", the red one answered.
Both teens looked at each other doubtfully and then back to the creatures. "So you're Cyber-Elves?" Hinata asked not really knowing what else to say.
"Yes we are.", said the blue one. It flew over to the girl and seemed to be waiting for any more signs of disbelief.
"I call dibs on the red one. I've always favored that particular color.", said Jesse.
The red orb chuckled and said, "I would hope so since I came from your PS."
"SP. GameBoy SP.", corrected Hinata. She looked back to the blue orb that she'd claimed as her partner and asked, "Is that one always like that?"
The blue Cyber-Elf shrugged and said, "Probably. I haven't really spent much time with that one. I'll give you a word of advice though….never follow him anywhere. He always runs head first into trouble."
"I warned you.", said the red Cyber-Elf.
Jesse moved next to Hinata and whispered, "These guys can grant wishes or something like that, right?"
The red Cyber-Elf sat down on Jesse's should and said, "Not wishes per say, but we can do some things. What did you have in mind?"
Jesse hesitates for a few minutes and exchanges looks with Hinata. She clearly has no idea what to do either. "Well I'd like to have the 'Megaman Zero' as my NetNavi."
"NetNavi?" both Cyber-Elves question having never heard that word before.
Hinata starts explaining, "NetNavis are computer programs with their own souls and personalities. For computers in this day and age it's impossible for such a creation to exist. Not just because of the technology, but because the programming expertise necessary to create them just doesn't exist….yet." She placed a hand on Jesse's shoulder and continued, "He's capable of programming some AI's, but they a extremely limited in capabilities. They have no personality and lack any emotion."
Both Cyber-Elves seem to think for a minute before smiling. "We can fix that.", they both said. The light flares up brighter than before and forces both teens to look away. When the light dies down there are two Link PET's sitting on the table.
One is red with the a Z filled with green in the center as the logo and the other
Hinata smirks and points her finger at the red one. "You are Zero aren't you? The same Zero that took down Dr. Weil."
Appearing in holographic form Zero smiles and says, "Yes I am. After Dr. Weil was defeated the Mother Elf turned me into a Cyber-Elf to save my life. But when Ragnarok crashed the transport system on board opened a tear between universes and we ended up here." The red navi turns to Jesse. "Thanks for wishing me back into this form even if I'm not a Reploid anymore. Being a Cyber-Elf is just too creepy for me. I don't know how X stood it for so long."
Hinata's new PET projects a hologram, but it's of the blue Cyber-Elf from before. "Why didn't you change?", she asked.
The Elf taps it's foot and says, "Because you didn't specify what you want me to look like and you forgot to name me. I need a name ya know."
Jesse smirks knowing that if he laughs Hinata would have his ass. "Never piss a girl off when she knows any form of martial arts.", Jess thought. He picks up Zero's PET and uses the armband and clip on the side to attach around his arm. The strap is softer than he'd expect since it was on his bare upper arm.
"So how about it? Name and other specs please.", said the impatient Cyber-Elf.
Hinata reaches into her bag and pulled out a small sketchbook. She turned to the sketch on the last page and pointed it out to the Elf. On that page was a detailed drawing of a navi and Hinata's desired capabilities for it. "So you want to name me Blaze, huh? I like that name.", said the blue orb spotting the name written at the top of the page. In seconds the Elf becomes the very navi from the drawing.
"Nice.", comment Zero and Jesse.
"You wouldn't expect anything less from me would ya?" Hinata smiles at her masterpiece brought to life. Now all she had to do was work on the newborn navi's personality.
"Why did you choose to create a Link PET?", asked the brunette.
Zero looks up to his new NetOp and replies, "It was the most advanced one I saw in your laptop. I've been stuck between it and your GameBoy SP since I fell into this world. Blaze moved into the other one when you connected it to your PC to download cheats into it."
Hinata and Blaze laugh at the speechless Jess. He looks at Zero and says, "You mean to tell me that you have known every time I cheated on Megaman Zero 1-4?"
"Yep and I didn't like it. I see I've got my work cut out for me as a NetNavi.", says Zero smiling wickedly. "First we'll have to start by adjusting your body from that of a geek to a swordsman."
"Hey!", shouts Jess insulted. "I'm no geek. I may not be an athlete, but I'm no geek."
"Yeah right. I've had access to your web cam and I know that you've got very little life outside of computers. That classifies you as a geek in my book…but don't worry I'm gonna change all of that.", says Zero. He moves to lean in closer to his NetOp's ear and says, "You might have been a fan before, but…..when this is over you're gonna hate me."
Jess gulps while the other two exchange pleased smiles that they are not the one stuck with Zero.
"Always be careful what you wish for Jesse….because you just might get it. Surely you remember that old saying.", says a smirking Hinata.
Nearly eight months after the meeting with the Cyber-Elves Hinata and Jess have made considerable progress forming a strong bond with their navis.
True to his word Jesse absolutely hated when Zero decided that he had to train. He didn't really hate his navi, but he did hate hearing the red navi call out 'time for training'. It usually turned into an all our hunt for the NetOp and it was usually resolved when Blaze and Hinata dragged him into the room where the former Hunter would be waiting. When Zero was in one of his moods he'd have his NetOp train for several hours straight before allowing the human to relax and many times the NetOp was too stiff to move afterwards for several days. It was one of the reasons why he was glad that this semester his courses were all online.
Jess now had a toned body and was quick on his feet. He could handle a sword better than anyone he'd seen except for Zero and despite the rough start the two quickly became close friends.
Blaze and Hinata took to each other very quickly after they discovered just how alike they were in terms of personality. Hinata and Blaze had trained with each other after the first week being together and could easily beat anyone that pissed them off.
Hinata's body had been toned for years as she'd trained with her mother's brother-in-law since she was just six years old.
Zero sent an email to Hinata and Blaze telling them to be in their dorm room in twenty minutes. When they got there the duo found mechanical parts and circuit boards everywhere. "What the hell is this mess!", the girl demanded seeing as her friend had made such a huge mess in her room of all places.
"Give me a minute. I'm almost finished here.", said Jesse. Once finished with what he was doing he turned to the other duo and smiled. "With a lot of help from Zero I built something that I think that you're going to really like."
"A maid?", asked the other student cracking her knuckles. "Because that's what you are going to be cleaning this mess up otherwise."
"No…it's something even better than that. I also apologize for using your room, but I unfortunately have a roommate and you don't.", said the brunette as he flipped a switch. The lights in the room dimmed and a familiar multi-color glow surrounded the room.
"Is that what I think is?", asked Hinata.
"Yep. It's a Dimensional Area.", said Zero appearing over his NetOp's shoulder. "Jess told me about them and I remembered enough of Ceil's research to make them. It took the last five months because of us having to substitute parts. You should also know that I couldn't make you any Synchro-chips."
"Why not?", asked Hinata.
"Because we don't have rare metal.", answered her old friend watching as Zero and Blaze materialized in the room. Both NetOps walked to their navis and placed a hand on them. It was such an incredible feeling being able to touch a computer program. Neither person could describe it and they certainly didn't know where to begin.
The moment of joy was short-lived as the generator overheated and burned out several of the main components. The worst part occurred when the lights went out.
"I guess…I kinda…shorted out the entire neighborhood.", said Jesse. Walking over to the window both students saw that that was exactly what had happened.
Thankfully when the investigation was finished the authorities attributed it to old transformers that were poorly maintained. Zero and Blaze were just happy to be out of the computer and back in their PET's.
After four more months of hard work the Hunter had worked out most of the kinks in the generators and successfully created a stable Dimensional Area without blowing any more transformers. When the time came to test the generator again something went wrong and the generator created an enormous hole in the middle of Jesse's room. Both NetOps and NetNavis were sucked into the hole.
Jesse had gotten the worst of it when he was pulled it. Both of Hinata's shoes had come off and collided with his face which happened to be steal-toed boots.
When the two humans awoke they found themselves in the Rockman.EXE universe. They were watching the N1 match between Netto and Enzan. They wanted to help, but knew that they would never get there on time.
The two navis informed their operators that there had been another problem. Somehow both had been turned into twelve-year-olds. Hinata took it rather well, but her friend complained about 'going through puberty again'.
They were eventually found on the streets without any ID and sent to a foster home until their parents could be located. Thankfully with tears on the part of Hinata they were put in the same home.
"Suckers. Gullible is an understatement.", she said after her superb performance. Even Blaze had believed that the waterworks was real.
The authorities believed that both twelve-year-olds had lost their parents to Dr. Wily and World Three. Neither disputed that because the truth would have given them permanent residency in the local loony bin.
Keeping Zero and Blaze carefully hidden the two played the parts of two confused, parent less children very well. Over time they were forced to develop a life here in this world after Zero discovered that he couldn't try to send them back to their home and even if he could they'd be returned there as they were now.
Their foster parents were named Ayame and Sasuke. Both tried to indulge their new children as much as possible. The reason for that was later discovered to be that Sasuke was unable to get Ayame pregnant after cancer had claimed that ability. The cancer was in remission, but it could easily return at any time and finish what it had started.
When the time came Zero and Blaze were revealed to their parents. Ayame and Sasuke believed that their 'children' had bought them with the money they were given as allowance.
Hinata and Jesse easily became excellent netbattlers thanks to their own training. The part both hated was that they couldn't fight directly against their opponents. Zero and Blaze didn't mind fighting since they were both friends with their NetOps. The NetNavis were also very eager to fight someone other than each other and Jesse was glad that Zero was sparring with other people rather than taking him down in less than ten seconds every time.