Okay, this is the first Fan-Fic Story I've ever made, but I'd like to give a bit of a backstory first.

So, one night a few weeks ago, I had a dream that I was playing some New Megaman Zero Game. It's title was something like "Megaman Zero 5/Legends," (Guess MMZ5 or MMZL would work, or I'm not remembering it correctly) but I thought it was a bit of a cool story, so I decided to post it here. I fill in some blanks for myself, like some people having numbers as an ID or something like that, I would make up the numbers because I never remember that stuff.

The Game Starts as normal, with the Title Screen displaying Megaman Zero 5/Legends (Again, I don't remember if that was the actual title or not). I only have two options: "New Game" and "Options."

I pressed New Game and I was introduced to some weird opening cutscene. I see spaceships all around, flying casually as if that was a normal thing in the universe. I was shocked by this because throughout the Megaman X and Zero series, seeing anything man-made in space was quite rare, so for ships to be flying around normally must mean this must take centuries, even a millennium after MMZXA... then I saw two characters, both resembling X and Zero.

Then some character who looked like an improved version of the Resistance fighters from the MMZ series walks up saying the dialogue, "X! Zero! We've a new mission for you! A distress call is coming Space Colony 5684!" Zero then replied, "Colony 5684... that's an Alien Colony! We don't own that! We don't even have jurisdiction to go there..."

The reply from this "soldier" was, "Well, now we do. An Agent was kidnapped by the Aliens and we need to get him back. Don't expect kind treatment from the Aliens when you get there. They always use powerful robots to defend themselves, as they don't know how to make handheld weapons, only big ones. Get him back, guys. Please."

I don't know how these X and Zero are alive if this takes place in the future, but they are. They looked like a mix of their MMZ designs and MMX designs. Zero had the same face as in MMZ, but the rest of his body was gruff. Same for X. I should also point out that Zero's arms, hands, and chest were all black (not in the racist way, but ACTUAL black, like a shadow)! His right arm was insanely large, and was clearly meant for throwing punches. X, on the other hand, had a dark blue helmet with his normal face, but his arms, legs, and chests were a pale green, and his legs were light blue. He resembled more of his MMZ design then MMX in contrast to Zero, who resembled his MMX design more. I didn't understand the new color schemes and designs of these characters, but I went with it.

Once X and Zero make it on the colony, I see someone who looked just like the "resistance soldier" from earlier, but was blue instead of dark green. He runs for X and Zero, crying help countless times along the way. Lasers are constantly flying past him. He was a few yards away from X's and Zero's ship when he was shot in the back and fell lifelessly to the floor.

X and Zero then try to escape back to their ship, but a laser that had missed the soldier had hit the engine, leaving them with no way out. They decided to fight back at these robots. I was then brought into the first level, where I played as Zero, and X was a CPU. I felt uneasy when playing, but dismissed it as me not liking their new character designs (This uneasiness gets worse throughout the game). Eventually, but easily, X and Zero kill most of them, leaving only about 3 left, who resembled the soldiers who looked like X from the MMZ series, the melee ones, but they were dark grey, and looked sturdier than before. Zero cuts one in half while X shoots the other two, a red sword that resembles Elpizo's from MMZ2 comes flying out of nowhere and hits X straight in the chest.

Zero cried, "No!" and tried to dash over to X to pull the sword out, but X blew up before Zero reached him. At this point I started wondering why X seems to killed by a sword a lot, but quickly forgot about it, as Zero all of a sudden went ruthless on the guy who threw it. The person who threw it never is seen, as Zero just goes offscreen, and bloodcurdling screams can be heard and then I heard an explosion. The camera moves to Zero, where in front of him lays a grey arm. I don't remember Zero being that ruthless in the previous games. He was more civilized, at least in the Megaman Zero series.

At this point I'm greeted with a world map, which has Zero surrounded by 10 paths where he can go to try to get out. I went through all of the levels pretty easily, but the bosses were a bit of a challenge, because of reasons I'm about the explain. After playing through all the levels, I first thought that this game was pretty easy, except for the facts that bosses attacked slower, were motionless most of the time, but were much, MUCH more powerful. 3 Hits at most and Zero would be gone. I then realized that all the paths lead to dead-ends with bosses. It still wanted me to select an area on the map, but I had completed all of them and it wouldn't let me go to a previous level. I then randomly selected the center area, where Zero goes after every level. A cutscene played out. A wall next to the center area opened up, and Zero dashed through, where I was then given the option to save. Obviously, I saved my data, and then went into a level filled with enemies spinning around, flying everywhere, blowing up. They were all fighting each other. Very few went for me, but they were... off. They kept missing and taking random turns and blowing up despite already heading for me.

I then found a dark grey Sigma, holding a large white sword that looked as if it had been covered with blood. Zero went into battle against him. No dialogue was shared, which is unlike Zero, as the dialogue he said before boss-fights in this game was much smaller than in other games, but WAS there. It was then that I noticed why I was uneasy while playing. It was Zero! He looked drained of emotion, as if he couldn't feel emotion even if he tried, as if all sense had been knocked out of him. He didn't think, he just killed. That also explained why he would randomly kill innocents in cutscenes. That's why I was uneasy at the beginning! It had been getting worse throughout the game, as he slowly went from a Reploid who helped others into a serial killer. I was distracted by this and Sigma landed a hit on me, and I was brought from full health to 3 HP left. I then refocused myself on the fight, wearing through his health until the point that I only needed 3-4 hits to win. He swung at me, but my saber partially blocked it, and it left me with 1 HP. Then something amazing happened.

Zero and Sigma started DUELING. It looked a bit like something from Star Wars. It was more realistic than the rest of the game, although this game was more realistic (in terms of physics) than the others. That explains why lasers and swords do more damage, and a stronger metal, like Zero's new Right Hand, hitting the wall does massive damage to the wall, as it's not as sturdy, and leaves the weak metal undamaged. Anyways, back to the duel. I was so amazed by it, I didn't even realize I was controlling Zero's every move in it. I thought it was a cutscene at first. Zero cut off Sigma's head, and Sigma blew up. Zero went into his injured stance, gripping one arm with other like in Megaman Zero. Zero, other than his stance, showed no signs of pain, shock, or any emotion. Did feeling even exist to him anymore?

Zero then has a flashback in which he was on Ragnarok at the end of MMZ4. The footage went blank while entering Earth's atmosphere. Then some text appeared saying pieces of the four guardians, plus X and Zero were found, and turned into "Models" in which others could use their power. Then we're greeted with some scenes from MMZX and MMZXA. The image went blank again. Some text appeared saying that the "Model" program was terminated, and X and Zero were rebuilt in a similar fashion to how the others thought they were, but with limited pieces, they had to use their own materials for most of the rebuilding. There wasn't enough of the original material to recreate Phantom, Harpuia, Leviathan, or Fefnir, as they had know idea how they were meant to look. Then it shows Zero getting upgrades, like his huge right arm, as a last resort weapon. X was given a function in his buster that he didn't only have to shoot much more powerful shots now, but now he had a saber. It was a very small version from MMX4-6, and was very weak. Although, if hit by the tip, this new saber could give devastating damage. The cutscene then ended.

Then a robotic voice was heard. It said, "SELF DESTRUCT MODE ACTIVATED!" Zero looked at an electronic map of the space colony to his left. Parts of the space colony were quickly disappearing. It started from the side where he had first landed his ship with X. He was on the other side now, close to the edge, actually. The explosion was moving quickly, he had to move. He dashes away, and that brings us into the final level, but I was given the option to save first, which I took. This game didn't really have a final boss, as the final level has a lot of mini-bosses you need to fight, but the last one you fight is an exact replica of the Golem you fight at the start of the first Megaman Zero, just tanker, and favoring melee attacks over lasers.

Eventually after destroying tons of enemies with his saber and buster in the level, you are greeted with a cutscene of Zero commanding some robots that he had reprogrammed to destroy the robots chasing him. For some reason, this scene played out multiple times in my dream and each time, it played out differently. The first time showed the three robots Zero reprogrammed attacking the three powerful robots chasing him. (Just for size comparison, all of the robots in this cutscene are about the same height as Zero, slightly taller) All six of the robots there were damaged equally, and shut down due to damages. The second one showed Zero's robots getting completely destroyed by the other three, with Zero finishing them off. The third time was Zero's robots getting the victory, but one still standing. It then shuts down due to damages. The only one meant to be there is the one where his robots get the victory, but the last one being shut down. That's the "canon" one.

Anyways, no matter what, Zero lives here. He then dashes away and brings us into the second half of the final level, which gives us the option to save, which once again, I take. This is when I realized that going through this course fast is KEY. For some random reason, Zero realized why the robots were being weird here. They had the Maverick Virus in them! A computer (shown on the electronic maps) is in a room close to the exit he was heading for, which activates the Maverick Virus, manually put into these robots, and the self-destruct had made robots with it in close range basically the equivalent of humans with an IQ of 50. The virus was going to spread. This is when decision making and speed through the final level come into play. You can either go run to the exit and fly away in the last ship, go into the room with the computer, reprogram it to stop the Maverick Virus from being activated in Robots on other Space Colonies and die, be too slow and die, or Reprogram the computer and barely make it out. Also, he is hit by a really large laser shot from an unknown off-screen weapon right before the final cutscenes. This launches off his huge arm, revealing a second arm, a smaller one that is the same size as his other one.

If you get out normally without stopping the virus, then when he arrives back on Earth, everyone sees the changes he's been through, the lack of emotion, the urge to kill, and decided to deactivate him and put his body into an old storage where it will never be found. The Maverick Virus will spread and bring robots to destroy Earth along with the last of these near-extinct Aliens (it is unknown why they are near extinction). All earthlings die, and Zero eventually wakes up. He then sees what is happening, and realizes everything he knows is gone. He sends a message to humans on other planets saying, "Earth is gone." He then takes out his saber and leaps into action. This took me into a short level, where I had to kill everybody before going to the final cutscene, as I was blocked by an invisible wall if enemies were still alive. Anyways, the final cutscene shows Zero seeing all of them have made headquarters in a military base, and all remaining aliens and robots who didn't die were there. He dashes to the middle of the base, stabs himself in the chest, and blows up, killing everyone inside.

The next ending where he lives can only happen if you complete the final level flawlessly at a very high speed. He shuts down the computer and gets out alive. The explosion knocks the ship off course, though. Zero is knocked into an asteroid field, and has to navigate his way through. If you hit an asteroid you die. If you make it until a certain point, a cutscene is shown. The ship stops moving, and Zero realizes the explosion nearly emptied the fuel tank. Now, it was empty. Now he was stuck in space with no way to move, while slowly becoming more and more insane. He finally realized his insanity at this point, and decides to put an end to it. He breaks the top of the ship, and jumps out. He launches himself into an asteroid, and died. And as tiny fragments of Zero can be seen, we see the ship get hit by the very same asteroid that killed him.

The True Ending is the ending in which Zero shuts off the computer and dies. In this cutscene we see him stand up straight, wanting his insanity to end, while facing the explosion. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, bracing himself. Sad Music starts to play as the Colony blows up with Zero still inside of it.

The last cutscene occurs if the player is too slow throughout the level. Zero doesn't deactivate the computer and doesn't get out in time. The last scene shows the explosion gaining on a running Zero. His face is still lacking any expression. In fact, he looks lifeless in this scene. Then we get a view of his back, and then the explosion blocks the camera, and the colony explodes.

In this ending though, we get a bonus cutscene, explaining Zero's condition. It was two soldiers discussing something. "The Insanity Effect is when an old reploid is repaired with our modern techniques. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes, the old wiring and programming disagree with our modern ways, causing the reploid's programming to turn against itself, getting rid of any human-like features about them. We did some calculations after X and Zero left. They both would get it. X died before getting any effect. Zero had just reached the peak when he died." The other soldier said, "It's tragic, really. A reploid who's done nothing but good is brought back from the dead only to be driven into insanity by the exact same people who revived him." The only reply was "Yeah…" The Camera then moves up leaving me with an image of the night sky, and the credits start playing, along with the saddest song I've ever heard.

I swear, in the dream, I was choking up a bit, and I don't easily cry, although music easily gets me. It's just hard to see your favorite video game character who has always fought for good and stopped evil before slowly sinking into insanity. I should also point out that I was the only one to witness it! Nobody else knew: not on Earth, (except for the Non-Canon endings), not on the Colony, not Anybody! It's just hard, that's all.

That's all for this story! I hope you guys enjoyed hearing about my dream! XD

Peace!