Hi again, readers! This story is the sequel for The Power of LOVE, which takes place two years after it.

I'm doing the disclaimer once for all of the chapters: I don't own any of Megaman ZX and ZXA characters!

Enjoy!

Black and White Mega Men

Chapter 1 – The Hunters Are Back!

It had been two years since the defeat of Weil. The Guardians in Guardian Base were doing their jobs as it was the middle of the day. As for Hunters, there hadn't been any news about them since they left for their expedition. The Guardian couple, Vent and Aile, came out of the transerver room after they had been patrolling in the city.

"I guess that the city is a peaceful as it usually is, right Aile?" Vent turned to Aile.

"I agree. Without Weil or Omega around, nothing seems to be a threat. Prairie hadn't even given us any missions involving the Mavericks nowadays." Aile replied.

"Come on, let's report to Prairie in the Control Room." Vent offered a hand as Aile took it and they walked towards the Control Room.

They expected to see Prairie in the usually quiet Control Room, but they were startled by two different familiar faces.

"Hi there you two! You're still together, right?" Ashe asked cheerfully as Aile smiled.

"Yeah, we still are. How are you two doing?" Aile asked.

"We're doing great! I finally won a bet from Ashe!" Grey replied with a peace sign before he was elbowed hard by the astute Hunter.

"So anyway, do you guys want to hang out somewhere? I have a lot of stories to tell you!" Ashe turned to the Guardians as they looked at each other before nodding.

"Sure thing, but I hope that they don't involve you suddenly telling some embarrassing moments!" Vent commented.

"Don't worry about it! I'm not going to tell anyone about the time you were freaked out and climbed a tree when you saw a cockroach Mechaloid!" Ashe replied as Vent's jaw dropped while Grey and Aile laughed.

"H-Hey! I wasn't freaked out, I had allergies!" Vent protested as Aile and Grey stopped laughing.

"Oh, sure you were…" Ashe teased as Vent glared at her angrily. "By the way, you broke the fastest tree climbing record back then!"

"Okay, cut it out Ashe… I don't want to see my boyfriend being picked on." Aile held Vent's arm as he calmed down. "Come on, let's just go to the cafeteria!"

The silver haired Hunters nodded as they followed Vent and Aile out from the Control Room. As soon as they got out of the Control Room, they saw Prairie came out from Fleuve's lab. The blonde haired commander turned to them and smiled.

"I see that the Hunters had come back from the expedition. How was the expedition?" Prairie asked with a smile.

"It was a pretty great expedition, although we didn't find many new things…" Ashe replied before Vent suddenly stepped forward.

"Prairie, the city is fine. We've just come back from the city and was about to report to you, until the Hunters showed up in the Control Room instead." Vent reported as Aile nodded.

"Okay, that's good to hear. You may take your time and rest for now. I'll call you through the intercom if anything comes up." Prairie replied before she walked back towards the Control Room.

The four of them continued walking towards the elevator to go to the cafeteria. They went into the cafeteria, but there weren't many Guardians around inside although it was lunchtime already. They took a seat on a table not too far from the door. Grey was about to start a conversation, but Ashe grinned slyly and cut him off before he could even say anything.

"So… how's your relationship now?" Ashe asked with a sly grin.

"W-What's with the question? I said that you had a lot of stories to tell us!" Vent complained.

"Not if you don't answer that question!" Ashe replied. "So Vent, have you thought of proposing to Aile yet?" Hearing the silver haired Hunter's question, the Guardian couple paused for a moment before they blushed furiously.

"N-No… I think it's still too soon…" Aile replied quietly, still blushing madly.

"Aw, come on! You're 20 years old now, right?" Ashe asked as Aile slowly nodded. "Then you're old enough to get married now!" Ashe turned to Vent. "Come on, Vent… I know that you love her too, so why not propose to her?"

Vent curled up his fists before he stood up and slammed the table angrily. "Why do you keep interrupting with other people's personal lives! This is our decision to make, so you should just stay out of it!"

"Vent…" Aile looked up at her boyfriend who was glaring at the now freaked out Ashe. "Stop it, Vent! Ashe was just kidding!"

"Uh… yeah…" Ashe replied softly.

"I knew it would go this way…" Grey muttered, luckily wasn't heard by the other three.

Vent closed his eyes and sighed as he tried to calm himself down. "Sorry… but could you please stay out of this?" Vent opened his eyes back and sat down. He looked at his food in front of him and sighed. "I don't feel so hungry anymore…"

Aile looked at Vent sadly as he just played with his food instead. When she turned to Ashe, she was looking down sadly. Grey looked at the sad Hunter and sighed before he continued eating.

"It's pretty rare to see you so down, Ashe. I'll take it from here then…" Grey finished his food and turned to Vent and Aile.

This time, it was Grey's turn to tell them the story about the Hunters' expedition. Neither Vent nor Ashe commented, or even listening so it was just a friendly chat between Aile and Grey before they were suddenly called through the intercom.

"Vent, Aile, Ashe, and Grey, please come to the Control Room."

"It looks like we're done in here. Come on you two, cheer up!" Aile said as she held Vent's hand. Vent turned to her for a moment before he turned away and lowered his head.

The four of them left the cafeteria and headed towards the elevator. They went up to the Control Room and went in to see Prairie. The blonde haired commander noticed them came in and turned around.

"Okay, you're here. Vent and Aile, I want you two to check the forest area as we've got a sign of life coming from there. Ashe and Grey, I want you two to investigate Area L. We got a very strong reading coming from the end of the area." Prairie explained.

"Wait, Commander! Why are you sending us Hunters to Area L instead of the forest? Vent and Aile are better in battles than us so I think they should go to Area L instead." Grey commented.

"The forest area or Area A is big and they're more familiar with it. If I assign you two to the forest instead, I'm afraid that you might get lost." Prairie replied.

"Okay, we'll be on our way." Vent finally spoke up before the four of them went to the transerver room.

Prairie watched them as they left the room. 'Sis… Giro… please watch over them… I have a bad feeling about this…'

The next chapter will be available this weekend because of school, sorry! Anyways, please review!