20XX AD, Tokyo Japan. A robot has mysteriously, to coin a phrase, "gone Maverick". What does this terminology mean? We turn to the Ministry of Science to find out. "Maverick is the terminology for 'lawless'. It is a person who does not abide by rules. Such terms applying to robots is impossible!" Doctor O'Shay said. "That's where you're wrong, doc!" A mysterious blue robot said. "My name is Mega Man X, and I can tell you how Maverick applies to robots as well. In the future, all robots; Reploids, as they're called, will be given the ability to act on their own, just like the Kokoro technology you have today. However, that technology will be infected with a virus: Sigma. If any robot is infected with the Sigma Virus, they will stray from their programming, and go Maverick." "That's where we, the Maverick Hunters, come in." A red robot said. "Our job is to shut down or destroy Mavericks." Then the two saw a kid like robot approach. "X, right?" The kid like robot said. "And you must be Zero." How did the childlike robot know the two Reploids? Here's what happened. The childlike robot, Atom, was on guard duty for a time machine. In the other time line, 21XX, a Reploid named Vile was being chased. His latest creation was also a time machine. "Hand it over, Vile! History must not be changed!" X said. But he just kept running. Soon, Vile was cornered. "Nowhere to run, scum!" Zero said. Instead of accepting arrest and handing over the time machine, Vile opened up a portal across time and went through it. X and Zero gave chase. We now return to Atom guarding the Science Ministry's time machine. "Outta my way, kid!" Vile said, running over Atom. "What was that for?" Atom said. X apologized when he ran into Atom. Zero apologized for getting Atom involved. "What was that about?" Atom said, not knowing anything about what was happening. And there you have the beginning of this story. "X, Zero, I think I understand what's going on. We have the same issues here, in this time, but the robots aren't called Mavericks. Not yet, anyway." No one from the press knew what Atom was talking about, so they let Atom and X speak together. "This blue robot, X, is from the future. I was guarding a time machine when I saw a vortex open." Atom said. "This childlike robot, Atom, is right. We were chasing a Maverick named Vile when he opened the vortex to this time line. Now that this time is involved, Zero and I would like Atom to help us find every Maverick that's attacking it." X said. Atom nodded in acceptance, and shook hands with X and Zero. The search began!