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Mega Man X - The Final Conflict

Chapter One - Return of Evil

Cold wind blew past the abandoned mountain research facility. Years back, before the beginning of the Maverick Wars, this facility was used to research the abilities of robots for their safe use. It was also used to watch over the natural elements of the mountain, and test the robots' durability in such harsh conditions. Humans were running this facility, as was the usual with such places. It now had deteriorated a slight bit, though it was sturdy enough to continue surviving in the harsh elements. Through the long abandoned halls, there was the faint sound of footsteps echoing throughout the building. The lights flicked out as a cloaked form walked through the hall, to the control room.

Meanwhile...

Maverick Hunter HQ had been quiet as of late. Axl had left a week ago to investigate a small uprising of Mavericks in a nearby human living quadrant, Gamma City. Seeing as it was easy enough for Axl to handle on his own, the two main hunters, Zero and Mega Man X, (known as X for short) stayed behind to keep watch on HQ. X was down in the main hallway of the establishment, which connected the command center of the base with the weapon, armor, and energy containment facilities, as well as the development center, which was constantly at work building new kinds of weapons for the hunters to try out. Here, in this hallway, we find X lost deep in thought.

X sighed lightly, leaning back against the wall. (All these battles...they always come at great prices...horrible tragedies...the deaths of our closest friends...why does it always end up like this?!) X 's buster on his arm started to pull in ions from the air, charging them up into a strong energy blast in reaction to his current mood. (If only I could end it all...Then...Then—!)

"X!" X's thoughts were interrupted, as he turned his head to his long-time partner, Zero, as he spoke, "You're doing it again!" X blinked in confusion for a moment, then it dawned upon him what Zero was talking about, as he deactivated his X-buster, his hand coming free from the barrel. "I'm sorry, Zero..." X said, bowing his head in shame.

Zero sighed, "X, don't get so worked up...you're just doing this because of all the stress. Douglas said it was just your weapon systems reacting to your emotions. So chill out a bit, I don't want another hole blown in the wall. Especially after how mad Alia got." X glanced away, to the floor, blushing as he then spoke, "I didn't mean to blow the wall away, especially when she was changing her armor like that."

Zero laughed, patting X on the back, managing to speak between laughs, "Ah, stop worrying about it! Just go and get some rest, I doubt there will be any attacks for a while!" X smiled as he spoke to his red armored comrade, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Zero." As his blue friend walked off, Zero said, "What are friends for?"

Zero started to walk off, but heard X's voice again, "Zero, why do we keep on fighting?" Zero looked to X, blinking as he spoke, "What do you mean?" X looked to the ground. "Well, Zero...We always get stuck fighting all the time, no matter what dangers it may present, to protect humans and reploids, but...we've lost so many important friends. Doppler, Double, and Iris..." As X said the last name, Zero's eyes widened. He turned away abruptly. "X, don't worry about it...just go get some rest...we'll talk later." Zero walked off, his eyes closed as he thought. (I can't let my emotions get the best of me when X is like this...I need to chill out...)

As X watched his friend walk off, realizing what he said. (Iris...I forgot how much Zero had cared about her...He took so long to get over it...now I reminded him all over again. I'm sorry, Zero...I know how much you suffer.) X walked off into the regeneration room, sighing as he went.

A few hours later, the alarm started to blare throughout the Hunter base, as Zero ran to the command room. Skidding to a halt, he looked to Alia, speaking to her questioningly, "What's up, Alia?" Alia typed furiously at the control panel, a large image appearing onscreen. It showed a small human establishment, a town, that was in the Omega quadrant, being classified as Omega Town to Hunter HQ. Alia then described the situation, "Some of the reploid workers have gone Maverick in Omega town, and we need You and X to—Zero, where's X?" Zero shook his head as he spoke, "He's taking a break to calm himself down. I can probably handle this situation without assistance...As far as you had described it, I think I can handle this alone. Let X regain his state of mind again, I'll take care of all of the problem. I just have to take out the leader, and the rest will fall, right?"

Alia nodded to this. "I guess you're right. Shouldn't have to worry with you on the job, right Zero?" She said, smiling, though not very assured as to this. Zero smirked. "Send me there, and I'll finish it quickly." As Zero said this, Alia nodded, then typed in the coordinates. "Good luck, Zero." Alia then pushed one last button, as Zero changed to a thin red beam of light, and flew off into the sky. Alia watched, her expression currently filled with worry, apparently having something hanging in the depths of her mind.

A bright light emanated from the screen in the research center, the cloaked figure being seen as a silhouette to the light in the otherwise dark room. The screen displayed the activities of the mavericks in Omega Town and Gamma City, as the figure, in a relaxed fashion, watched over the events unfolding before his eyes. A smirk on a face mostly shadowed by its hood was visible within the light, silent.