Disclaimer: Mega Man X and all referenced characters are copyrighted trademarks of Capcom.

Notice: This story is rated Fiction T for Language, and Mild Descriptive Violence. Minimum recommended reading age is 13.

Extra Notice: Neither this story nor it's author (myself) are associated or affiliated with the Mega Man X: Corrupted fangame.

========Prologue: Something's Different========

In Zero's dream, a memory of the past;

X, Zero, & Axl returned to Maverick Hunter HQ after successfully defeating Sigma once again. This time, however, instead of killing him, since it would only allow him to download himself to his next body. They imprisoned him in the highest security, isolated far, far from Earth on Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Everything was great, the three shared a small celebration, X, Zero and Axl received the newly created "Thomas Light Peace Prize" for their incredible effort. Later in R&D after the three talked to Alia, Layer, & Palette, Zero turned to X & Axl.

Zero: "We did good today."

Axl(chuckles): "Damn good."

X: "Yeah, we did the impossible."

Zero: "We stopped Sigma."

Axl: "And this time..."

All three: "He's not coming back!"

Then, Zero saw a ominous dark red glow from the window. Confused and paralyzed, he said nothing.

X: "Zero?"

Axl: "What's wrong?"

Zero: "I... can't... move...!"

Suddenly, the dark red glow turned into a bright white flash, an explosion, the dream began melting into a nightmare.

X: "What the hell is that!?"

Axl: "Oh no...!"

The bright light engulfed the city, and was coming for the HQ.

Axl: "OH MY GOD NO!"

X: "Zero!? ZEEEEERRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo..."

X's voice faded as Zero watched him and Axl get engulfed by the light.

Zero: "X!"

The light began to engulf Zero too.

Zero: "Ah... AH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Then, Zero snapped awake, still suprised and in shock of what he just saw.

Zero: "It... it was-... a dream?"

Abruptly, Zero realized that he awoke where he did not sleep, he was still in a recharge capsule, but it was all rusted and destroyed. He then realized that he was in some sort of rundown building in the middle of the night. Immediately knowing something must be wrong, he cautiously pushed the capsule's door open, but the door, being very worn and rusted, broke off it's hinges and fell to the floor with a loud clatter and thud.

Zero(talking to himself): "What happened here?"

His mind again raced with thoughts of what he was seeing, but the shock was cut short when he heard approaching footsteps, multiple footsteps. Realizing he didn't have his Z-Sabre, Zero immediately tried to find a place to hide. After finding a pile of scraps to hide under, he observe the bodies whom the footsteps belonged to, maverick soldiers, 12 of them. They were armed with High-Focus Energy Combat Rifles and stun pistols. He also saw a familiar symbol on their shoulders, Sigma! He could just barely hear what they, and a mysterious dark voice on their radio were saying.

Soldier 1: "You're sure he's here, sir?"

Radio: "Yes, I know he's there. He's probably hiding."

Soldier 1: "If you say so..."

Radio: "Search this and the surrounding areas. I want this thorn to be removed from my side permanently!"

Soldier 2: "But... wait, why're we in this room?"

Soldier 3: "I heard something fall in here. I thought it might 'him'."

Soldier 4: "You sure?"

Soldier 3: "Yes I'm sure-"

The four soldiers' conversation was stopped by the voice on the radio.

Radio: "Shut the hell up and search the area! Do NOT let him leave here alive!"

Soldiers: "Sir yes, sir!"

They checked everywhere, except for where he was hiding, and they almost left the room until one of them pointed out that the rubble where Zero was had shifted ever slightly. Four stayed behind. When one of the soldiers approached the pile to investigate, Zero immediately had him in a chokehold, grabbed his gun and shot at the other soldiers. Afterwards, Zero heard the footsteps return, quickly he ran out the other door, unfortunately, Zero didn't kill all four that were there, as one of them shot and disabled his left arm.

Soldier 1: "You hear that just now? Those footsteps aren't our own!"

Zero immediately found another spot to hide in until the soldiers went by. What he didn't know, is that someone was already in the spot. He felt a pistol barrel press against his helmet as it charged and readied to be fired. Then, he heard a whisper.

?: "Don't move."

He turned and saw a hooded reploid, his face covered by a cloak.

========Author's Notes========

So Zero awoke into destroyed city (or maybe world?) and turns out Sigma controls this ruined world, but why?

"Good god, man! What're you doing!? One story at a time!" I know I know, but hear me out. I've been TRYING to write the second chapter of "The History of Nokinoki" and I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas because my mind has been going in like seven different directions at once. So my hope is that if I write these down and start them I'll be able to focus more on "The History of Nokinoki"... least... that's the idea.

That aside, what do you think of this? I sense cliche' all over this somehow, but whatever.

Next time!

-Ed