Capcom holds the copyright for any Zero, 1, 2, and 3 that appear in this fic. The only characters belonging to me are Iris and Aniyu Canina.

Super Elf

?--

"Ciel? Where was Mother Elf last sighted," Zero asked through the two-way intercom in his helmet. Ciel relayed the coordinates to the red Reploid as he checked his Holo-map at his wrist. The coordinates were right, but no sign of Mother Elf.

"She must be there, Zero. The scanner can't be malfunctioning," Ciel said as she busily typed at her keyboard, looking for the problem. After a few minutes, she discovered nothing wrong with the scanner. "There. She's definitely in that temple, Zero. We don't want those awful robots to attack her," she said, remembering these strange robots that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Though each were different from size, weapons, attack methods, armor and agility, they all shared two vital characteristics; to attack anything in their path, and a rather eerie red eye in the center of the head… Ciel simply shivered just thinking about one.

Zero continued to walk around the room he wandered into and took a look around. As he looked, a flash of red light appeared from the corner. The sound of robotic movement was heard and he suspected the cause. "Reaverbot…" He drew his saber and pointed it at the alleged 'Reaverbot,' ready for combat. Suddenly, behind the first red eye, several more came from behind it. "Damn…" He started charging his Z-Buster as he stepped back, away from the hoard of Reaverbots entering the light. "Come on…" The Reaverbots barreled at him and started spinning with blades coming from their legs. He jumped over two of them, fired a fully charged shot at the second two, destroying them. He landed, turned around to face the two he jumped over and fired an even larger blast at them. As the third set of two dashed at him, he slashed upward, slicing them in half. From the slash came an energy wave that sliced the last two.

After dispatching the 8 blade Reaverbots, Zero looked in the corner and saw a flickering light. "Mother Elf," he concluded and started walking towards the light. The closer he got, he started hearing the elf calling to him weakly.

"Zee-eee-e-rrr-ooo…" It sounded like her program was being corrupted, making it more difficult to speak.

"Zero? Did you find Mother Elf," Ciel asked him, curiously.

"Yeah, but I think she's damaged," he stated as he looked at the dimming elf in the corner. "Come on. We can have Ciel fix you up, and you can be off again, minding your own business," he persuaded as he stepped slowly to the elf.

"You don't think Weil's curse is returning, do you?"

"I highly doubt that." He watched as she began to drop several sparkles onto the floor, causing something to create in the center of the spot she made. "Mother Elf? What's the matter," he asked as her light flickered on and off more violently. The elf began to shrink as another elf seemed to be created underneath it.

Zero could swear that with her last breaths, she looked to Zero and gave him one final call. "Zeeerrrooo…" With that the mother of all Cyber Elves disappeared into thin air, leaving a little brightly shining little Cyber Elf. The tiny Elf looked up at Zero with large, curious eyes.

"A… Baby Elf?"

"What was that, Zero," the scientist asked through the intercom.

"I think… Mother Elf… gave birth? To a Baby Elf," Zero responded, not sure as to what happened.

"Baby Elf? Crea and Prea had similar readings to Mother Elf. If you found a Baby Elf, I should have a weaker reading of Mother Elf, but she's nowhere on the monitor."

"That's because she… disappeared. Mother Elf's no longer here, just this little cat-like Elf."

"But I only have your coordinates on the monitor; no Mother Elf readings, no Baby Elf readings, and no Reaverbot readings. Not picking up Pantheons either…" Ciel had to admit, this was a tough situation. Zero said he found, what he thinks is, a Baby Elf, which usually had a weaker energy level as Mother Elf. However, she doesn't read anything besides Zero. As far as she knows, he's the only one there. "Zero? Bring the Elf back. We'll run a scan on her. But I don't think she's a Baby Elf."

"Rodger. I'm bringing the little Elf back to the base now," he said as he knelt beside the Elf. He looked at it, it looked at him. It smiled cutely at Zero and cocked its head to the right in curious fashion. "Hmm hmm," Zero chuckled a bit. He had to admit: it was adorable. "Here, kitty kitty," he called as he made a motion with his hand. "Here, kitty," he said with a little more feeling in his voice. That made the Elf's tail swish left to right as it trotted to Zero quickly and leaping into his arms with a soft 'mew.' "Mission complete, transfer me back," he said as he stood in the center of the room. In a flash of light, Zero was transported back to the Resistance base.

Resistance base--

Zero was transferred into the command room and was greeted by Ciel. "Welcome back Zero. Where's that little Elf you said Mother Elf 'gave birth' to," she asked, looking into his eyes. "Every time I look into his eyes, I feel like I'm in a world of happiness," she thought, fighting to hide the daydreaming, schoolgirl grin and blush on her face.

"It's somewhere," he replied and looked around himself, thinking she's still clinging to him. A small, timid 'mew' came from behind him and he reached behind his back. "Ah! There it is," he said as he pulled it from behind him and showed it to Ciel. It quickly ran up his arm and clung to his shoulder, peering over it to Ciel, quaking with fear. "Heh… I think it's scared."

Ciel looked to the Elf looking over Zero's shoulder then looked back to Zero with a confused look. "Why are you calling the Elf 'it?'"

Zero shrugged. "I'm no Elf expert. The way I see it, she's an Animal. Most Animal Elves are male. But given that Gibber, Atti and Maya are female, that throws my theory off and I can't make a decision. I don't want to offend the Elf by assuming its female."

Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Why would it be offended if you called it a girl?"

"Well, you'd hate it if I called you a male, now would you," he responded with a smirk and a chuckle.

"I guess you're right," she conceded with a nod. "Well, let's get that Elf scanned," Ciel suggested and lead Zero to Cerveau's lab where the Elf scanner had been installed recently. "I'm glad he's picked up a sense of humor somewhere. I liked him when he was completely serious, but I think I like him more with a sense of humor," she thought with a little blush on her face.

They entered Cerveau's lab and looked around the walls to see constant flashes of light with a shadow being cast. "Whoever it is, I don't have time!"

"Yes, please exit the lab. We're working on Zero's new weapon and cannot be disturbed," Doigt said after Cerveau.

"Cerveau? Can I use the Elf scanner," Ciel asked through the sparks of the suturing tool.

The device stopped and Cerveau lifted his protective mask and looked to Ciel and Zero standing at the door. "Oh, I thought it was another soldier. You won't believe how many soldiers came by, disturbing me and Doigt," he said with a slight smirk. "The Elf scanner is through that door," he explained, pointing to a closed door leading to an annex room. "Use it to your heat's content, but please don't disturb us. This is very important; this weapon is going to be more useful and more powerful than the Recoil Rod." With that, he lowered the protective mask over his face and continued working on the new weapon.

Ciel, Zero and the little Elf walked through the door into the room with the scanner. The scientist looked back at Zero and the cat-like elf following him and gestured to the machine. "Since the elf seems to only like you, you'll have to put her in, Zero." Zero shrugged, lightly grabbed the Elf and carried it past Ciel to the machine. He gently placed the green cat in the center of the device and pressed a green button. A red line ran up and down the Elf's small form as the screen read 'READING.' After a few seconds, it gave out the Elf's information: a name, the ability, the number of crystals needed to make it grow; but what came out was a mess of numbers, letters and symbols. "1-r!5? Is that it's name," Ciel asked with a strange look on her face.

Zero stepped forward and looked at the name for himself. It was indeed 1-r!5. "What the?" He looked to the left of it and it had a female symbol next to it. "Well, that's pretty clear. Looks like 1-r!5 is a girl's name," he chuckled with a shrug.

Ciel shook her head with a slight smile and stepped beside the red armored Reploid. "Well, maybe we can make out what the ability is." With that she looked below the name and found nothing but random numbers, lower and capital letters in a random order, and more symbols. Ciel stared blankly at the illegible computer lingo and straightened out a bit. "Uh… perhaps we can see what type it is, at least," she said and looked to the left of the description and saw a combination of the Nurse, Hacker and Animal symbols: a pink heart with a green circle in the center and a green outline, a blue 'T' shaped box within the circle and two little squares on either side of the heart. "This… can't be…"

Zero scratched his head and looked at the symbol. "So… This is saying that this Elf is of all three types of Cyber Elves?" Ciel only responded with a shrug. Zero looked beneath that and looked at the number of crystals needed and simply blinked. "It says 6.777998 crystals and then it has several other marks. What do you think this means, Ciel," he asked and held his arm out for the Elf to climb up. Without hesitation, she nimbly ran up his arm and perched on his shoulder.

"I have no idea… All we know is she's female, that she's, possibly, all three types, and that she came from the Mother Elf… And I call myself an expert on Cyber Elves…"

"Ciel, don't be like that. The machine must have a bug in it or something," Zero said as he pat her shoulder. "You can't possibly look at an Elf and guess what it does. Like a penguin, for example-"

"-A penguin might enhance speed when underwater, since they swim incredibly fast."

Zero blinked and straightened his back out. "Makes sense… but what about a… kangaroo?"

"A kangaroo might give you the ability to jump higher. Or maybe even boost strength."

The Reploid looked at the scientist and twitched an eye. "Alright… platypus! What would a platypus elf do," he asked, sounding confident as if he'd prove his point to the scientist.

Ciel couldn't think of anything a platypus would do if it were an Elf. "Platypus… egg-laying, duckbilled mammal with webbed feet and poisonous claws…" After a few moments of thinking, she sighed and looked to Zero with a look of graceful defeat. "Okay, so I can't guess what every Elf can do without a machine." She placed her arms behind her back. Zero did nothing but smile. The elf looked to Ciel and scuttled behind Zero's shoulder and peaked over to see the scientist. "But… a cat should enhance your movement; more graceful, more agile, and more fluid. If not that, as a Satellite Elf, they could roll along the ground and bowl down enemies." She looked up and thought for a second before coming up with an idea to see just what this Elf does. "Take her on a mission or two as a Satellite Elf! If that doesn't work, feed her until she matures and try it again until something happens."

"Great idea, Ciel. By then, something will have to happen. No doubt about it." Zero smiled at Ciel and stepped closer to her. "You're such a smart girl, Ciel. You're the brain of the Resistance and I'm simply the brawn. You can't win with one or the other. Reminds me of my partnership with X." He stopped within an inch of Ciel and gently lifter her face to meet his. "We're also the best partners."

Ciel blushed brightly as she felt Zero lifting her chin up. "Z… Zero…" She felt him move closer to her and wrap his other arm around her waist and bring her face closer to his. "I… I don't think-" He cut her off by shushing her. He took his helmet off after moving his hand from under her chin, showing off his spiky golden hair. Ciel felt herself trembling in his grasp as he opened his mouth slightly and inched closer to hers. Her face began to heat up as she did the same as him and moved closer to him, closing her eyes slightly…

"Ciel? Ciel?" Ciel opened her eyes to see Zero holding her chin up so she was facing him. "Are you okay?" She blinked a few times and looked into his blue eyes.

"Y-yes," she responded, looking slightly confused. "Was that just a daydream," she thought and looked up at his helmeted head. "Yeah… just a daydream…" She turned away from Zero and held her blushing face as her eyes widened. Zero only looked at her with a very confused expression. "Oh, why couldn't it be real," she thought as more blush spread across her face.

"Are you feeling okay, Ciel? You're scaring me."

"Yes, I'm fine Zero," she responded, still not facing him. "I'm just a little… uh… um…" Her broad smile broadened further as her face became beet red. "Why can't I get that image out of my head? Wait… Why would I want to," she thought as a small girlish giggle escaped her.

Zero stood at the door, looking at Ciel who is acting rather odd. "Are you sure you're okay? You're not acting like yourself."

"Yes! Yes! I'm fine, Zero! I j-just need some me time to myself is all."

He shrugged and attempted to leave the scanner room with the strange Cyber Elf, leaving the oddly behaving Ciel alone. "I can walk you back to your room if you like," he suggested, opening the door.

"N-no. No thanks, Zero. I'll see you again later," she answered, still not facing Zero. "I have to stop blushing!" Zero stepped out of the room with the Elf following close behind. As soon as the door was shut, Ciel sighed loudly and held her hands close to her breast. "Zero…"

Neo Arcadian Base--

Harpuia sat in his room at his computer, playing a boring game of solitaire. Meanwhile, Fefnir marched around behind him, bored out of his small mind. Leviathan was also bored, lying on Harpuia's bed. "Sage? What's there to do today," Fairy asked, flatly and for the hundredth time.

"For the hundredth time, Fairy, I don't know. If you stop asking, I'll let you play Hard Hat 2," he responded and continued playing solitaire.

"Oh, that game is so boring now," she shouted and rolled onto her stomach with her face on the pillow. "I've beaten Baseball Man so many times, the game's lost all meaning," she continued in a muffled voice.

"You've only beaten Baseball Man, Fairly Stupid! Try beating Samurai Man, Wire Man and all the other bosses," Fefnir barked at Fairy and turned to face her. "After beating the game seven times, it loses all meaning."

"Oh? How many times have you beaten Sonic Zone," she asked, sitting up, facing Fefnir.

"… I hate that dumb game!"

"AHA! You hate it because you can't beat it! That's something I've beaten more times than I can count! And being a Reploid, I can count pretty high!"

"So? I can count high too!"

"Eleventy-six is not a number…"

"Aw, shut up!"

Harpuia's eye twitched. "With nothing to do, they're at each others throats over the most trivial things," he thought and finished his game. He got up from his computer chair and glared at both childish Reploids. "If you have nothing to do, why don't the two of you spar," he suggested.

Both Generals looked to Harpuia, to themselves, back to Harpuia and to themselves again. "YOU'RE MINE," they yelled in unison and dashed out of the room.

With a sigh, Harpuia shut off his computer and decided to fly around for a bit. "They're both so childish! It makes me sick!" He just about started his jet boosters and growled to himself, "Damn you, Phantom." The General of wind and thunder took off with a loud boom. "If you were still here, I'd have less to baby-sit!" He flew around the desert, thinking about the departed General of the dark with a sense of malice. "He didn't need to sacrifice himself… though it was noble…" He sighed and thrust forward even faster. "I shouldn't be speaking of him like this. It's showing disrespect…" He continued his flight until sunset before deciding to return to the base. "I hope Leviathan and Fefnir haven't demolished the training room…"

Sage opened the door to the training facility to see several training droids either engulf in flames or skewered with icicles. Leviathan dashed passed Sage and was followed by a huge wave of fire. Fefnir was heard laughing like a maniac as he chased her with flames spouting from his flamethrower arm. Harpuia couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "It's pretty funny once you think about it. How childish they are."

The two Guardians stopped in their tracks and saw Harpuia watching them with a slight smirk visible on his face. "Hey, hey Sage! Care to join us," Fefnir laughed and gestured to Leviathan. He mouthed the words 'double team' as he continued his gesture.

"Yeah! A free-for-all is just what we need," Fairy suggested and did the same as Fefnir, pointing to him mouthing 'double team.'

"No thanks. I'm not in the mood to fight right now. You two knock each others teeth out; I'll be in the command room checking up on things. Later." With that, Harpuia left, closing the door behind him and leaving the two Guardians alone to do battle. They looked to each other and carried on from where they left off.

Resistance base--

Zero walked into his room with the Elf at his side. "Well, little mystery Elf. This is my room," he explained to her. "Feel free to use the bed however you may please, and the nightstand for… uh… nothing but that lamp… And… That's basically the room. Not much here." The Elf fluttered to his bed and sat on his pillow. With a yawn, she curled herself in a little ball and fell asleep. Zero turned to see her snoozing peacefully. He smirked and sat beside the cat-like Elf and gently rubbed her fur back. A purr escaped her as his hands made contact with her. "She seems like a normal housecat. It's hard to believe she's a Cyber Elf," he thought and continued to pet the said Elf.

She continued to purr louder and louder. "Seems she really likes me." She opened her eyes and looked up at Zero innocently. They looked into each other's eyes as her tail swished back and forth slowly. She made a cute little mew sound as she stretched her back and strode onto his lap. She stepped in a circle, digging her claws into his knee trying to make her seat comfortable. Used to constant stabs from Leviathan, Fefnir's trouncing and Harpuia's slashes, this merely tickled him. When she finally curled into a ball and slept on his lap, Zero resumed petting her. "Let's see what we can name you… You're going to need a name, since we can't call you 1-r!5, now can we?" She continued to purr as his hand glided down her back. A light knocking came to his door, and he didn't want to make the cat move. "Door's open, Alouette."

The door opened and the little Reploid girl walked in with a cute face. "How did you know it was me, Zero?"

"You're the only one that knocks so meekly," he chuckled and looked to the girl.

"Ciel told me you found a Cyber Elf on you mission to the old ruins," she asked as she approached Zero. He nodded and gestured to the green cat on his lap. "Oh, a kitty! It's so cute," she squealed and dropped her doll on the floor. Alouette gasped and quickly picked the doll up. "I'm sorry, little guy."

The red Reploid couldn't help but laugh. "Alouette, you're cute yourself. That little guy means a lot to you doesn't it?" She blushed, held it closer and nodded. "But isn't he falling apart?"

"Yes… I've had him since I came to the resistance. I've held onto him since Ciel gave him to me." She held it even closer. At this point, the head had folded over her arms and Zero saw the stuffing falling out of the missing eye.

"Weren't you going to ask Ciel to fix him up?" The Elf perked her head up and looked at Alouette. Their eyes met and she yawned before laying her head down on Zero's leg.

"Does she have a name, Zero," she asked, pointing to the cat. Zero shrugged and pet her some more. "Doesn't that Elf scanner tell you the name?"

"Yeah, but this time, it came out jumbled. It read 1-r!5. Perhaps you can think up a name; you're creative," he answered and pointed to a picture she drew with crayon. It was a picture of Zero, Ciel and herself standing side-by-side in front of a building labeled 'resistance.' "Besides, you named Crea and Prea. Those were great names."

Alouette thought for a few seconds. "1-r!5… Hmm…" "Iris! We'll call her Iris! 1 looks like an 'I', the r is obviously an 'R', the explanation point also looks like an 'I' and the 5 slightly resembles an 'S'. I-R-I-S; Iris." Zero's eyes widened at the little Reploid girl. She started to cry and looked down. "You don't like it, do you?..."

"No, I like it Alouette. Now that you mention it, 1-r!5 looks like Iris in a sense," he corrected and smiled at her. "You're so advanced for your age. Just wait a few more years, and you'll be on par with Ciel in intelligence!" Alouette looked up to Zero again and smiled.

"Can I play with Iris, Zero?"

The Elf, now Iris, perked up her head again and looked over to Alouette. With a mew, she leaped off Zero's lap and walked to her, tail swishing playfully. "I guess that's a yes. Have fun, okay. But be careful, Alouette; those claws are sharp." He stood up, dusted himself off and stepped out for a bit. "I'm just going to see if anyone wants to spar. I'm bored."

Alouette nodded and started playing with Iris as he stepped out. "Iris is a good name, isn't it Iris," she asked the green cat dangled her small hand over the cat's head.. Iris simply mewed as she rolled onto her back and batted at Alouette's hand happily. "You like that name? Iris?" Again, Iris mewed. "I thought you would…"

Though Zero paid it no mind, he couldn't help but wonder. Why did his head hurt slightly when he heard the name Iris? Does the name Iris mean anything to him? Perhaps something from his past? Usually, these head throbbing pains bring something back into his forgotten memories. Like the other day when he performed a new attack: prepared to slash the saber normally, the weapon became a flaming wave of energy rather than the normal attack. Afterwards, his head hurt like no one's business as he heard the word 'Shoenzan' over and over again. Perhaps Shoenzan was the name of the attack and that attack was learned over a century ago. Just like his old techniques, the name Iris must be important to him… but how? He continued walking to the training hall, hoping that new Reploid would be there training already…

End of Chapter I

Mother Elf, Disappeared?

Worenx Co. Corner

Worenx: Wow! So much better than Chachi ever did!

Chcahi: Liar!

Aya: Chachi! We're on Review Duty! No interrupting in the Worenx Company Corner! Drags Chachi away, violently

Shade: Yeah. And I thought I'd incorporate a whole new character in this version.

Worenx: Who? WHO?

Shade: You'll see. Oh, you'll see soon enough.

Worenx: NOOOOOOO! I wanna know now! NOW!

Shade: That may have worked on Chachi, but it don't work on me. Smirks devilishly

Worenx: Damn… Oh well… Keep this going. And work on that Outlaw Star one, would ya? And a Breath of Fire while you're at it.

Shade: … Slave driver…