AN: Written by the combined forces of the D' Kidz. This is the prologue for 'Rising Darkness'. X and Zero won't arrive until Chapter One. First you got to know about the three humans… Read and review!!

Disclaimer: D' Kidz do not own Megaman, Capcom does.



{~~(***)~~}

1 Prologue

A Battle Ends

{~~(***)~~}



Running footsteps rang and everything seemed still except for the figures skirting across the deserted plains covered in wreckages.

A figure jumped across an obstacle in the path as two other ran behind. There was a gasp as one of them tripped and fell facefirst onto the dusty ground.

The other two skidded to stops. "Hurry, get up!" muttered one, grabbing the fallen one's arm. "We don't have much time…"

"I don't think anybody's coming," panted the other one who stood. "We're the last ones."

The one who fell leapt to her feet and said, "Even so, we still have to keep going. Or else we'll end up like everyone else."

The second who spoke stood on a boulder, looking over the distance. "This is awful…it's a total massacre… This is what you get when you don't contact other bases."

"Well, we're the last," said the first who spoke. "We're supposed to be the best and we proved it by living through this."

"We're not here to prove anything," snapped the second. "We're here to survive."

"Come on, we shouldn't bicker in the middle of this wasteland with no help for miles," said the third.

"Fine, let's go," replied the first.

The threesome resumed running, trying to avoid the obstacles they were having difficulty seeing in the dark. Though their armors were pretty much of high technology, they were heavily damaged by the onslaught that came over their base.

"How…how much farther to the nearest Hunter sector?" asked the first.

"Bad news…" muttered the third, looking at something on her wrist. "The nearest one is about seven miles from here."

"Seven miles of nonstop running?" demanded the first, skidding to a stop and causing the others to do so as well. "I don't think our damaged systems can handle that far…"

"We can't," replied the second. "It's not possible. Our systems are about to crash, our energies are badly depleted and we barely have enough strength to keep running so defending ourselves is out of the question."

"So what do we do?" asked the third.

The first opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a sudden rumbling sound.

"Tell me someone's hungry…" said the second, looking around warily. "We cannot be in trouble now…"

"Well…" said the third slowly, "we are."

The earth shook beneath their feet and the rumbling sound got louder. They jumped back just in time as what looked like a large drill broke out of the ground seconds after they'd gone from the position they'd previously been in. A last Maverick had avoided the chaos by seeking refuge underground, and now it has come up and spotted the three.

"Oh no…" groaned the boy.

"Anybody up for another battle?" asked the eldest girl warily.

"Do we have a choice?" replied the younger girl.

The Maverick suddenly sent plasma balls their way and the three scattered. The boy stopped and said, "Seems like we don't."

The eldest girl brandished her weapon: a beam whip, and leapt to the air. With a crack, it straightened out and turned into something like a thin saber. In her descend to the ground, she came slashing at the Maverick's head. Unfortunately, due to her weakening energy, it had no effect.

The Maverick, taking the opportunity as she hit the ground, blasted her with a plasma ball and she was sent flying several feet from her position. Reacting quickly, she pushed out with her hand and flipped over as the other two came running to the Maverick, weapons all drawn as well.

The boy then lifted up his buster and fired his plama shot at the Maverick's cannons. Seeing an opportunity, he leapt up to the cannons and attempted to slash on the Maverick's torso. But, like the girl, he was weakened, and that too had not very much effect. The Maverick's drill went into action and the boy found it hitting him at the chest armor with a powerful force. Before he hit the ground, however, his impact was pretty much cushioned by the younger girl's indigo barrier. Unfortunately, he was knocked unconscious.

The youngest girl, glancing at the older one who was struggling to get up, then went into fighting stance, branshing her indigo glaive. Using her dash boots to shoot upwards, she sent the blade of her glaive crashing down at the Maverick, and its impact caused the Maverick to topple over. The girl landed, and the eldest girl ran into the fray, slashing the whip-turned- saber in the air and sending a disc of purple energy at the Maverick. It had impact, and did enough damage.

Panting, she looked at the younger girl and said, "Wake him up! We need him!"

"For what?" asked the younger girl. Realization dawned on her. "You mean…"

"No choice, girl. Let's do this."

The younger girl, covered by a flickering indigo dome, ran to the unconscious boy and tried to get him to wake up as the eldest girl batted away at the Maverick's shots in attempt to protect them.

"Wake up! Come on!" the younger girl said, shaking the older boy. "Don't make me have to slap you!"

The boy, with his mind still rather shaken, came to his senses. "Wh-what? What's going on?"

"Hurry, get up!" said the younger girl, thrusting the boy's dropped saber at him. "We have one last option to beat this thing."

"Even if we go into coma for…weeks even, if no help arrives?" gasped the boy.

"Either that or just die!" snapped the younger girl. "Now come on!"

The two of them jumped up and ran to help the elder girl who was taking quite a beating. Panting, she slid to a stop after a blow at her companions' feet. "I don't think we've done pretty much damage, but if we use our final blow we'll destroy it."

"Right," they nodded, and the three separated to three different sides.

"On three!" yelled the boy.

"Three!" they all yelled, and ran, charging right at the Maverick, weapons all drawn and filled with the remaining energy that they had.

With a powerful impact, each weapon slammed into the Maverick, each nearly going right through the metal, and the energies combined suddenly emitted a blinding white light that could be visible from miles away in the plain. The explosion that followed rocked the ground, and when everything cleared, the Maverick was reduced to a smoldering ruin, and the three figures all lay apart, and all unconscious, unmoving.



From a Maverick Hunter base several miles away, sensors picked up the large energy emission just miliseconds before the flash of white light was seen.

Alia blinked and looked up. What was that? I better go send X and Zero to investigate tomorrow morning.



AN: That's it for the prologue. Please review!!