Believe in me Chapter 26: Days Long Past Final Part, a mega man fanfic

At long last... after many obstacles and constant delaying, i've finally gotten the next chapter out to you guys. But! Since it would hardly be fair to release a normal length chapter after such a long time, i decided to delay just a little longer so that i could throw this all together for you.

Yep! I have four chapters molded into one below, making this my largest and probably best chapter yet! I figured it would be the better thing to do since i've kept my readers in the dark for so long. hopefully i will be able to get back on track.

anywho...

This is the twenty-sixth installment of Believe in Me. And the final part of Zero's story of his past pains.

story

"talking"

thinking

Emphasis

(Me talking)

Enjoy!

Believe in me

By: Flashgunner

Ch. 26 Days long past final part

From that day forward I worked alone on my missions. I confronted the other three outpost generals of the Repliforce army and took each of them down. Storm Owl, Slash Beast, and Jet Stingray were all formidable foes, but these enemies were different from the usual mindless Maverick. Each one of them gave me their own speech on equality and oppression. They were serious and were beginning to drive a valid point, but as long as they threatened humanity I would not allow them to continue at their present pace. I will admit I had often thought of the current place for reploids in societies myself. Even though they are going about it the wrong way, Repliforce was laying down the facts for everybody to see. It was confusing and somewhat demoralizing to me at times, but I had my own reasons for fighting beyond protection of humanity as Repliforce had for fighting against humanity. In the end neither the Maverick Hunters nor Repliforce could truly claim that their current goals ranked over the other in reason. One thing still had the whole Maverick Hunter team confused, was this war the result of Repliforce being infected by the Maverick Virus? There was absolutely no sign of it. This was an actual war. Sure, there was some Maverick activity, but there never wasn't Maverick trouble to begin with, they were always active. X was taking care of that. All in all, this was the first time most of the Maverick Hunters had fought non-Maverick enemies. It was tough, but they had to deal with it.

As I returned to the base after defeating Jet Stingray I received a message from Alia.

"Zero! Good to see you've returned unharmed, a message has arrived for you on holo-disk." She handed me the disk and went about her typical work without another word. I quickly filed a report of my mission before excusing myself to the dormitories. Upon entering my room I locked the door and played the message. It was from Colonel. A challenge no doubt.

"Zero… The memorial monument Eight o'clock… Be there." Just like when we always dueled. The only words spoken in the challenge was the others name, the location, and the time. Nothing else had to be said. I looked up at the clock mounted on the wall above my door. Seven twenty. I still had time. I sat and wondered; wondered about the many events that had taken place in the past few days. I met Iris, I got to know her, Repliforce rebelled, my teammates were slaughtered, I took down the core soldiers of Repliforce, but now what? That was the main question that had been on my mind for a while only it had taken different forms. Before it was what will happen if, then it was what will happen after, now it's what will happen now? It was one of the questions that hadn't been answered yet it was the one that plagued me beyond any of the others. How long had I sat here thinking about this? I wasn't sure myself, but I decided to leave early. I didn't bother to look at the clock; I just got up to leave and began to ponder my possible strategies for handling this situation. I would talk first of course, but if that didn't work I would take him down by force. Even if I had to restrain him, I promised Iris I would bring him back. If I could accomplish that then it was highly possible that Iris would be able to reason him out of this madness. Being wary that nobody saw me, I walked down the hall and around a corner before teleporting to the memorial's coordinates.

…

As I landed at the memorial I eyed my surroundings; the memorial was basically a wide open area placed on an island that was connected to the mainland by a bridge. The island was no more than seven acres long and the memorial grounds covered its entirety; in the middle of the grounds stood a large stage with an enormous spire in stages center. A giant clock was attached to the spire about half way up, it read seven fifty. I was early, but I paid no mind. I walked up to the spire and waited there for my rival to show.

He was right on schedule, eight o'clock sharp. He entered the memorial slowly and glanced around before continuing towards the spire. I could hear his footsteps draw closer to the stage, but not upon. He was walking around the large area and eventually he had his back to me. I stepped forward and drew my blade, the soft crackle of its activation made Colonel jump as he began to look for the source of the noise. I saved him the trouble.

"Colonel!" He spun around and faced me. "I'm disappointed in you Colonel!" I leapt from the platform towards my target, swinging my saber down violently. "HYAAAAAA!!!!" He stepped out of range swiftly, but I pressed him further. Taking two more swings before circling around him.

"What do you think your doing?!" He questioned as he faced to me. I scoffed at his petty excuse for a façade of innocence.

"It's not too late… Stop the coup now!" As I anticipated, my words did not reach him. He merely closed his eyes and gave a straight forward reply.

"Never." I tightened the grip on my sword. It was time for plan B, and for how I wanted to do it in the first place.

"If that's your decision…" I saw colonels hand slowly reaching for his saber. I smirked knowing we were about to duel, but this time it meant life or death for me. The feeling was almost………exhilarating. "…THEN PREPARE YOURSELF!!!" Colonel drew his saber and we lunged at each other, locking our sabers together. We both struggled against the others strength for mere seconds before breaking apart and exchanging attacks back and forth. Again we clashed head on, sparks flying from our sabers as the beams pressed together. We broke apart once more, readying ourselves for another charge, but…

"Stop please!!!" We both came to a halt and looked towards the sound of the voice. It was Iris! "Brother please, don't you remember? Zero saved my life…" There was a long silence before colonel lowered his sword.

"Very well…" He fixed his eyes on me. "I'll spare your life for now…" He turned his back to me and started walking away, "… but next time… there will be no mercy." Iris and I watched him until he disappeared from sight. Why did she come? I could have put an end to it there. "Zero, please don't fight with my brother. If you do I'm afraid that one of you may end up…" I put away my saber and jumped down with my back turned to her. She shouldn't have stepped in.

"Someone… must stop Repliforce!" I clenched my fist with the anger I wasn't allowed to release due to our battle being cut short. I began walking away.

"Zero!" Iris called after me, but I was already on a fixed path.

…

Two days went by with no action or calls to duty. I spent my time dispelling my anger in the training room. People would stand aside as I came and went in fear of the death glare that had been plastered on my face since the incident with Colonel and Iris. I also hadn't seen Iris for those past too days. The night of the second day rolled around and I emerged from the training room for the third time that day. Some of the stress had been lifted over the course of forty-eight hours, but I still felt anger. Why wouldn't it go away? Better yet where was Iris? Since this morning I had begun to feel guilty for walking away from her at the Memorial. I wanted to clear things up with her, but she hadn't been around. I trudged back to my room and tossed my helmet onto the bed upon entering, sitting down next to its resting place. I sat for about ten minutes thinking until I heard a knock at my door. I rose from the bed and made my way to the door. The door slid open and I was completely surprised to see who stood before me.

"Iris." Indeed it was her. She was staring at the ground as if she was afraid to look at me. We stood like that, across from each other for five minutes that seemed like five hours. Eventually she lifted her gaze from the floor and our eyes met. She spoke in a light almost quivering tone,

"Can I… come in…Zero? I want… I want to talk to you." There was absolutely no reason that would have rejected her, so I moved aside and motioned her to come into my room. She moved in slowly as I closed the door behind me. She made her way over to my window and stared outside as I came in behind her, sitting myself down in a chair. "I know you're probably angry at me…" I was confused at first, but then I remembered the other day with Colonel.

"Iris I…"

"No you don't need to tell me… I shouldn't have stepped in. I saw you leave unexpectedly and got this bad feeling that something was going to happen to you, so I followed." I quickly rose from my seat and walked over to her.

"Iris… I'm sorry if I made you believe that I was angry at you." She turned to me.

"I still shouldn't have stepped in…" I didn't know what else I could say and it was killing me. "…You may have been able to put an end to everything right there, but I ruined your opportunity… I'm sorry…" I brought up a hand to put on her shoulder, but before I could I noticed tears forming in her eyes. "I… I just couldn't stop myself when I saw you two fighting…" She clamped her hands together and tilted her head down. "I couldn't stop because both of you… mean more to me than anything else, and when I saw both of you fighting I just… I just had to stop it……" I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out, it was either my loss for words or the shock that she held me in as high regards as her brother that was keeping me from uttering a single syllable. "I'm so afraid that one of you might end up……" I couldn't take it anymore. I reached out and brought her towards me in a gentle embrace. I don't know what caused me to do this, perhaps not wanting to hear her so sad anymore, or maybe it was the only way I believed I could comfort her. The question of which reason was true was not on my mind right now. I was in a position that felt so far away mere weeks ago. I was holding the girl in my arms that had drawn out my first real feelings of love. We stayed like this until Iris' tears stopped, then I slowly let up, but I kept my arms around her waist.

"Iris… I will find a way through this… I will bring back Colonel. When we meet again it will be a fierce battle, but I will bring him back alive… I don't know how I'm going to do it yet, but I will bring him back…" Iris watched me as the words left my lips and it was as though each word brought hope back to her little by little. It had been really hard for her, being torn between her family and what she believed was right. She looked into my eyes and I stared back into hers. Then, suddenly, she reached her arms around my neck and brought her face to mine, kissing me. I had never been more surprised than I was now at this sudden display of affection, but I fell right in. I returned the embrace and the kiss. I had never done it before, but my body seemed to move as though it was guided by a force, perhaps the bond we shared. Neither of us wanted to stop, but nothing that good lasts forever, and we eventually parted staring into each others passion filled eyes once more. The rest of the world was gone for those few moments, gone were the Mavericks, gone was Repliforce, and gone was Colonel, for a little while we felt as though we were the only ones in the entire world. But as I said… nothing that good lasts forever.

"Zero…" Iris broke the silence, "…it's as if you're and angle sent down from heaven to make things right… without you I might not even be alive right now… the war would be worse than it is… and I wouldn't be here now feeling safe within the arms of a hero…"

"And these arms will protect you…" I began, "…and not just now, but for as long as we are together. These arms will set everything right… they will see to it personally."

She hugged me tightly as I said this, then looked into my eyes once more. "Zero… I love you…" She then rested her head on my chest before letting out a quiet, but joyful sigh.

I put my hand lightly on the back of her head. "Iris… I love you too……" It was ironic… very much so… Only a few weeks ago I was a cocky, arrogant fool who would soak up the attention the ladies gave him. When I met Iris everything changed, as if all of it was all destined to happen. I found my way through confusing emotions and unexplained feelings to a girl who truly meant the world to me.

Nothing could describe what I was feeling during those fervent moments, but it sure as hell lifted my spirit. I had not experienced a single moment of sheer happiness since my team was slaughtered so this was almost more than I could handle. There was no way we'd be able to part ways for the night, so I invited Iris to stay the night. She happily agreed.

…

A month past and the Maverick Hunters were bewildered. Why hadn't Repliforce been active? Our scouts lost track and our spies were stuck turning up every stone to find any information at all. As confusing as it was, I hardly cared. Iris and I had grown extremely close over the time and the last thing we wanted was more conflict. There were still small bits of random maverick activity, but X was on that job. I was left on standby for any Repliforce movement.

"Maybe they gave up?" Signas shook his head.

"I wish it were that easy to discern Iris… but we have no proof on any theory right now."

"Mabye there was internal fighting within Repliforce…" I began, "… It's highly possible that some of the members don't agree with General…"

"…then they haven't moved because they don't want the internal disagreement to go public." X finished for me.

"But that's still only a possibility…" Alia commented from her terminal. "… our best bet is to keep waiting and see what happens…" Her terminal began to beep. "X! we have more maverick activity!"

"Alright I'm on it."

"Wait don't you find this strange?" X stopped as Signas continued. "The Maverick activity is slowly rising… X you are the only hunter left on Maverick duty… all the others are out on missions."

"I guess we'll have to add more hunters if this continue… we'll discuss this later I have Mavericks to take care of." X beamed out. Almost immediately after X left, Alia's terminal began beeping again.

"What? Oh… Great! More Mavericks… and we just ran out of hunters…"

"I'll go…" I stepped forward.

"Are sure Zero? It's pretty isolated… I don't know if we want to risk having you away in case of a Repliforce attack."

"Let him go Alia." Signas stepped forward. "Zero's been held here at the base for too long. I'm sure he's eager for a little exercise." I cracked my knuckles and grinned.

"Yeah I think a little workout is just what I need."

"Alright then here are the coordinates." I copied them into my memory from Alia's computer then stepped back.

"Be careful Zero…" Iris gave my hand a squeeze.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." After returning the squeeze and giving a reassuring smile I transported to my destination.

…

I could feel the heat even before my teleport beam dissipated. I had landed inside a volcano.

"Yikes! Maverick activity in here?!" I looked around and began moving about the humungous cavern, encountering the typical maverick grunts. It was like a walk in the park, only I'd hardly call the inside of a volcano a park. I found myself dodging columns of flames and burning rocks. I began to find it difficult to navigate, but what came next was unexpected.

I flipped over a giant wall in the cavern and landed in what seemed to be an arena carved out by unnatural causes.

"What? What is this?"

"Welcome Zero." I knew that voice.

"You… show yourself Dragoon!" Magma Dragoon rose from the lava engulfed in flames that seemed top circle around his body, brimming with power. "I knew something was strange the day the colony crashed… it was you."

"Heh that's right… I was in command of those mavericks that attacked the Sky Lagoon."

"Why Dragoon?! Why give in to the Maverick virus?"

"Why else? I wanted power! I wanted to burn with power! I was sick of always being in your shadow and X's shadow! The fourteenth unit was seen as the third team to go to if the zero or seventeenth units were already busy in a crisis. We were treated like trash and my commander was so naïve not to care."

"You've got to be kidding me… that's the reason you defected?! You speak of your commander as being naïve, and I don't really care if he really is or not, but if he is, you out-class him in that aspect on all levels!"

"You would never understand Zero! How could you know what it feels like to want power if you don't even truly remember who you are!?" That caught my attention, up until now I had always cast aside any questions about my past. All I had ever cared about was protecting civilization from any threat, but this could wait. Right now, I had a threat to take care of. I drew my saber and pointed it at Dragoon.

"Dragoon, I don't know how you know anything about my past, but right now that's not what's important… Right now you are going to feel the pain of the billions of lives you took that day, and don't think I'll miss a SINGLE life."

"Heh… that is if you can beat me… I've grown more powerful than you can ever imagine."

"Less cliché, more action… traitor." Dragoon immediately cupped his hands behind him. I recognized the form as one of his techniques, the Hadoken, and already began to move. He thrust his hands forward and a wave of fire burst from his hands, colliding to the sport that had just leapt from.

"I know your moves Dragoon… you can't beat me." He didn't listen. He kept firing more Hadokens at me. I easily dodged them. I could remember back during the tournaments we had at the Maverick Hunter base. He defeated Swift with the same moves I saw here. When he used them against me I merely kept striding until he fired too many. The explosions left enough clouds of dust that it impaired his vision. I don't know what is was, perhaps because I was so enraged at how many people he killed, but I decided to do the same thing to him, to rub it in a little as well as avenge billions. Dust had collected in the air, and I made my move. I came up behind him, saber back and ready to strike.

"You really thought I would fall for that again Zero?" It was a brash, cocky move to begin with, and I let my thirst for revenge get the better of my battle instincts. Of course he wouldn't fall for it again, and now I paid for it.

"SHOYUKEN!" His fist collided with my chest and we were soon airborne. The pressure from the attack was so immense that I couldn't move my arms or legs. He grabbed me by the neck and threw me towards the ground. Flying towards me his foot lit on fire and crashed into my back, After yelling in pain I turned around and rocketed back towards him. As I turned I could hear, "HADOKEN!" A wave of fire collided with me and exploded, sending me to the ground. There was a loud crash at my back. I looked back at my enemy and a ball of heat energy was forming over a finger he held in the air. He whipped his hand downward and the ball flew towards me, with not time to react the ball hit me and exploded sending me about ten feet into the rock. I could hear Dragoon at the end of the tunnel. "What's wrong Zero? Surprised that somebody can beat around so easily?" The next instant I had him against the wall opposite of the one I had tunneled into with my saber at his throat.

"I've had worse you bastard."

"Heh… good… I guess that means I'll have to show you more pain!"

"Too bad you are about to die." I was about to slice off his head, but right before I could his eyes suddenly released a blast of fire that exploded in my face.

"Gah!" I fell back and clutched my face. Dragoon came at me and punched me in the stomach; I coughed up some fluids and hung there on his fist. He spun around and threw me at the ground and punched me into the ground, then picked me up and flung me next to a pit of lava.

"I hope you've prepared yourself Zero. For this is the end of the Great Hero of the Zero unit!" He crossed his hands in front of his face and began building up power. I was trying to get to my feet. I was more damaged than I had expected. I suddenly realized the source of all this power. Not only was he using the power of the Maverick virus, but he was also drawing massive amounts of energy from the volcano. I had to find a way to counter it, but how? I had dropped my saber halfway between me and Dragoon, but there was no way I could pick it up in time to counter this next attack. I managed to get to my feet just as Dragoon launched an enormous, continuous blast of fire from his mouth. With no other option I threw up my arms, crossing them to form a makeshift guard. The blast hit and I stood my ground, but the heat was unbearable. I was relying on willpower alone to survive. Suddenly, I saw an opportunity to attack. This blast was harsh, but I could probably move into it. I decided to gamble it and dashed forward with my booster rockets. I grabbed my saber off the ground and wound up for a strike. Dragoon never knew what hit him. I sliced his body into two pieces across his chest with a diagonal slash. The two parts fell to the ground and Dragoon let out a cry of pain. I stood over him glaring down at him.

"That's that…" I pointed my saber at him. "Looks like I didn't quite satisfy a billion lives… I guess I need to finish the deal."

"Ahh… Haha… Zero… even towards the end you beat me… this power was not enough… but you will never defeat the Mavericks…"

"What are the Maverick's planning?"

"Ha! Like… like I would tell you that… I will tell you though… that you and your petty band of Maverick Hunters… were foolish to treat the Mavericks like the smaller threat of this conflict!"

"What?! Speak hell hound!"

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!" I thrust my saber through his head. And he stopped moving. That's all there was to it. He went insane at the very end and my mission was now complete. Without looking back I turned and teleported back to base.

…

I arrived at the base shortly after and Iris, when she heard me beam in, immediately turned to face me. "Welcome back Ze…………Zero! Oh my…… Are you alright!?" I had sustained some heavy damage; it was only natural for her to be concerned.

"I'm all right… Don't worry yourself. One trip to a Life Saver and I'll be good as new by tomorrow."

"Still…"

"Zero!" I looked towards Signas. "What the devil happened in that volcano?"

So I told him. I told him and everybody else what had happened. The easy entranced, followed by a fierce yet short battle, then the warning. The warning is what really got everybody worried.

"So it's highly possible that the Mavericks have been working up a devious plot underneath our noses while we were busy confronting Repliforce…" Alia suggested.

"No matter what theory is correct, we must keep a closer eye on the Maverick activity now. If you hadn't brought us this information Zero, there could have been some major problems. Good work, now go see a Life Saver, you look like you're about to fall apart." I nodded my head and received my mission report from Alia before heading out the door.

…

"Ok that should do it." The life saver disconnected the power cord from my arm. "Your energy is completely refilled, now you just have to rest."

"How long do you think?" The Life Saver began typing at a console.

"With your current injuries, I'd have to say two days maybe a little less."

"Alright I'll begin right away." I walked over to auto repair capsule and opened the hatch. I was about to step in when I heard the Life Saver exiting the room followed by an innocent voice.

"Oh! Excuse me…" I turned around and saw Iris walk in.

"Iris…"

"Zero are you really okay? When you came back all battered I was afraid…" I stepped away from the capsule and went towards her.

"Believe me I've had much worse, don't worry yourself… As I told you before Iris, you needn't worry about the crisis or me; I will always return to you and I will put an end to this entire mess so we may life together peacefully…" She smiled her beautiful smile at me. That smile always brought warmth to my heart.

"I know you will succeed Zero… Right now I believe that if anybody can put an end to this it would be you…" I moved closer to her.

"I need to rest now; it may take a day or two…"

"Alright… then I'll be waiting." We leaned in and shared a brief, small kiss. Then she turned to leave but kept facing me. "Sweet dreams Zero…" She turned her head around, her hair whipped around gently as she made the motion and left the room. It was incredible. Just… Her. I loved her so much there wasn't a way to explain it. Every time I saw her I felt like I could endure an endless amount of Maverick attacks if it were just to protect her. I sighed, and kept her in my thoughts as I entered the capsule and closed the hatch. My last thoughts before I put myself on stand by were of Iris and only Iris.

…

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! ALL MAVERICK HUNTERS REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER IMMEDIATELY!

I activated in an instant and punched the hatch off of the capsule. I didn't spend time wondering what was wrong; I would find that out soon enough. An emergency now? What could it be? I burst into the command center.

"What's going on?!" Signas, X, and Alia turned to me immediately.

"I giant space vessel has suddenly appeared at Repliforce's central command." Alia shouted towards me.

"The minute we began focusing on the Mavericks, Repliforce went ahead and continued their plan! Zero get over there now! I want you to infiltrate the launch site while X leads a frontal assault!" I heard what he said, but I wasn't facing him. In fact I was looking back and forth frantically.

Where…? Where…?

…

"Where is Iris?"

…

"What?!" X questioned me. "Where is who Zero?"

"WHERE IS IRIS!!!???" I yelled at him furiously and he almost fell backward.

"Yikes! I don't know Zero1 I haven't seen her since……… oh no……" To this day I'm still surprised that I didn't snap right there and go crazy.

"I'm going now!" I began imputing the coordinates.

"Zero you can't teleport there they put up a shield with a five mile radius, go with X on the transport ship." Alia explained. I grunted violently and pushed past X.

"Hey! Zero where are you going?!" I didn't answer. I dashed down the hallway as fast as my legs could take me heading outside. Four hover bikes were locked onto a security unit. I thrust my hand into the system and if shorted out; grabbing the bike closest to me, I sped off at top speed towards the Repliforce command.

There is no way she would leave me… Colonel… Colonel must have taken her by force… he will pay!!!

After riding for twenty minutes, the center came into view. Twisting the handle bar, I pushed the bike to its limits and sped towards the main gate. As I came into range I activated the downward thrusters on the bike and raised high into the air, over the walls and leapt off as the bike crashed into a nearby building of the command center. No later did I touch down upon a roof did I encounter blaster fire. I wasted no time and cut through the ranks of soldiers and headed straight for the ship priming for take off. Anyone and everyone who was foolish enough to stand in my way when anger was at its peak was removed from my path swiftly and efficiently. The launch site grew nearer, the grip on my saber tightened as I continued clearing myself a path. The Maverick Hunter assault ships began passing overhead and dropping Hunters to designated locations the draft caused by the ships began kicking up dust which I used to my advantage as a smoke screen. Slipping past soldier after soldier, I found myself standing on the launch pad, but I was not alone.

"So you've finally come……Zero." It was him, and my limbs began to stiffen, eager to release all the anger bottled up not only from the current situation, but also that of which could not be released last time we met and were interrupted.

"Colonel……" A brutal stare down began. Neither of us moved an inch for a long while as battles raged on all around us throughout the base. Colonel seemed to grow tired of the silence as he began to talk.

"Zero I will give you one last chance, leave us be or you will be destroyed."

"You know that option is out of the question. I know Repliforce wants to create their own world, but the way they went about achieving this goal was inexcusable. You will be brought to justice along with the rest."

"So be it." Colonel reached for his sword. Then something important came to mind. I stuck out my hand,

"Wait, Colonel, before we fight… what have you done with Iris?"

"Iris? What are you talking about? Iris has been with the Hunters since we started this process." He may actually have not known of Iris' location, but at the time I was so furious about her missing that I took it as a lie.

"If you want to bullshit me go ahead! But I WILL take back Iris."

"Think what you want, but I have no knowledge on the location of my sister." No more words were said. The rest of the talking would be done with our swords. No longer than ten seconds had passed before were already locked together, sabers crackling under the force output. We broke apart and began bouncing off one another as we came forward again and again with attacks. Colonel jumped back and yelled "Sonic Boom!" and began slashing his saber in the air. Caught off guard by this sudden special move, I barely managed to dodge as the cuts of energy rushed past. Colonel had never shown a move like that before. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Colonel to my side and barely managed to block his next attack by reaching my saber over my head to guard my left side. He jumped back again, but predicting his movements I quickly moved forward towards him before he could unleash another wave of sonic booms. He too noticed my maneuver and disappeared from sight before I could reach him. I looked around, puzzled to his new location.

"Show yourself!" There was no response, but I held my guard firm. Sensing a presence, I spun around to see Colonel about ten meters away with his saber above his head.

"Lightning Crash!" Lightning struck Colonels sword. He turned the sword downward and thrust it into the grounds. The ground below me suddenly ignited and a blast of lightning struck me below the chin, sending me upward. What was this? Had colonel been holding back all these moves on purpose? I landed hard and picked myself back up quickly.

"Surprised Zero?"

"Where in the world did you pull these techniques from?"

"Please Zero, you should know by now… These are my battle techniques; I don't use them in petty duels." So he no longer saw it as a contest for who is strongest. This was a battle for our lives, our first true battle. This only brought a smirk to my face.

"Fine then… I'll show you some of my moves."

"Do what you will."

"Here I come!" I charged at Colonel full force, saber out in front. I began attacking, but in a normal fashion. Colonel was bewildered; perhaps he believed I was bluffing. He spun around and hacked sideways at me. I bent backward and the blade passed over, he spent no time in changing the angle of the blade's path and immediately swung downward, I rolled out of the way and sprung up continuing my attack.

"Enough of this!" Colonel backed up for another Sonic Boom attack.

"Now! Hienkyaku!" My dash jets fired instantly and sent me forward at an extremely high speed. I was in Colonel's face before he could raise his sword.

"What?! Super speed?!" I rammed him, making him lose his balance, before crouching again.

"Shippuuga!" My blade turned a fuchsia color and I swept the blade under colonel's feet, tripping him up. "Ryuenjein!" The Z-saber burst into flames and I thrust my saber upward into Colonel. I caught Colonel on the burning blade, thrusting him into the air as I jumped. When the flames dispersed I used the Hienkyaku again to appear above him. "Hyouretsuzan!" The blade incased itself in ice and I thrust it downward into Colonel. I rode the tip of the hilt until we crashed into the ground. I jumped back and waited for the dust to clear. Colonel suddenly burst from the ground underneath me and caught me by the throat. He was badly damaged and evidently furious. He put his saber to my neck and was about to kill me when I activated the Hienkyaku again to slip from his grip. No sooner did I stop did he fire sonic booms towards me. "Tenkuuha!" My saber turned purple and I put up a guard. The sonic booms reflected back to Colonel as they collided with my blade. Colonel wasn't ready for such an action and one of the sonic booms glanced off of his left shoulder.

"Where did you get all these techniques?!" Colonel yelled towards me.

"I already knew these techniques; in fact I've used most of them against you. Only, these elements were downloaded from weapons data collected from Mavericks. The Shippuuga however, was downloaded directly from Slash Beast."

"So I had seen that move before… How did you send back my attack?"

"The Tenkuuha switches my saber's defense functions from deflect to reflect, any energy projectile you send my way will be coming right back to you."

"Enough talk… Time to end this; how about we go for one last strike, you against me. No fancy techniques, only saber to saber."

"I'm all for that." I took a forward stance and readied for a sprint. Colonel did the same.

"Here is the starting marker." Colonel held up a small piece of debris and tossed it into the air. All time seemed to stop as the debris fell to the ground in what seemed to be hours that took up seconds. All my past battles with Colonel were playing back through my head, but I could not find a decent strategy for this next moment. The only option was to charge in and attack without regrets and without sympathy. The debris touched the ground.

…

It was over in an instant. Colonel lay on his back with a giant gash had almost completely split his armor in two. In the end I proved to be a little faster, but that small margin was enough to tip the odds in my favor. Once again no words were said. I merely put away my saber and began walking towards the rocket. I suddenly heard what sounded like an arm cannon. I turned around to see that Colonel had somehow called an arm cannon and fired a giant energy blast that was only milliseconds away from hitting me. I pulled out my saber and guarded against the blast. But…

Oh no!!!!! The Tenkuuha is still activated!!!!!! The blast reflected… and exploded on Colonel, engulfing him in a massive explosion. I covered my face with my arms as debris and dust flew at me. We know now that I did not kill him, but at that moment I believed that I had. His energy reading was gone from my scanner and I stood staring at the cloud of dust. What am I going to do now? How will I break this to Iris? I was caught in a bad scenario with little to no options. I turned my back to the battle grounds and began to walk towards the enormous vessel once more. How to break the news to Iris was important, but right now I had to more important things to think about. Priority one was Iris' safety, and priority two was to stop Repliforce all together.

…

I finally made it to the base of the ship with little to no resistance. I rocketed up the side until I found an emergency hatch. I tore it off and entered the massive craft. I soon realized the reason for the little resistance I encountered due to the massive number of soldiers on board. Using stealth and discretion, I gingerly made my way about the ship, avoiding any conflict. I slipped from cover to cover and eventually found myself in a large room with power cords littered all over the floor. The door suddenly closed behind me and I began to wonder if I had stumbled into a trap. My hand went to my saber hilt and held it steady as I walked forward. My eyes continually scanned the area, waiting for an ambush to appear…

"Zero……" I spun around…

That voice……could it be?!

"Zero……" There was no doubt about it. I turned around once again and I saw her.

"Iris!!!" I was about to run forward to hug her, but she had a distraught look on her beautiful face. "Iris?" She lifted her eyes and looked into mine. I could tell something wasn't right here.

"Zero… you fought with my brother… and killed him." A fierce pain went through my heart. How did she know? All words left me. I was only able to say,

"Iris, I…" She suddenly glared at me.

"Zero, I told you it would happen eventually, but you didn't listen…" I was beginning to panic. What had come over Iris? I was scared and confused.

"Iris! It was…"

"No! Not another word Zero!" She put her hand in the air and a purple ball of energy floated down to her. I froze.

No… No it couldn't be… Not Iris! Iris! The ball was raging with dark energy or Maverick energy as it was called at the time. "Say it isn't so Iris!"

"Yes Zero… it is… this is for my Brother!" The ball floated over her and began to glow fiercely. I was speechless, lost with no way to turn. There had to be an explanation for this. All possible reasons for this occurrence were shuffling through my head. I shielded my eyes as a bright flash illuminated the entire room. When the light died down, in Iris' place was a large, purple, floating, battle mech with a crystal floating around it. It really was Iris and she was really about to attack me. How was I going to defend myself? How could I attack the one I love? These thoughts came to mind as I began dodging volleys of plasma blasts hurling towards me. I hadn't even drawn my saber yet because I was too busy thinking.

I have to defeat her without causing any damage to her… She is not a battle reploid, so any direct damage could kill her easily… Wait! The only reason she would attack me is because she is under the control of the Maverick energy! If I can find the source of the dark power and dissipate the flow somehow…… it might just work! But… where is the energy coming from…… I dodged again and again. The realized that the crystal around her head began to break off and fire its own attacks at me. I found myself dodging twice as much now. I was beginning to run out of hope, when some stray debris suddenly collided with the crystal and Iris stumbled as if dizzy. That was all I needed to see. The crystal was the source. Apparently she had noticed too and began guarding the source of her power. However, I still had one trick up my sleeve.

"Hienkyaku!" In an instant I was behind her and I drew my saber. Before she could react I stuck my saber through the crystal, making her freeze. The crystal cracked and then shattered and the mech fell to the ground helplessly. I breathed a sigh of relief and began pondering on how to remove her from the mech. The pieces of the crystal startled me because they began to glow. I quickly moved away from the sudden energy output. What was going on? I had no clue. Waves of energy rushed from the pieces and went towards Iris. What!? NO! The Maverick energy… it's… it's backfiring into the mech! It will……

…

A large explosion rocked the room and I was thrown back by the shockwave. I didn't even wait for the dust to clear. The instant I regained my balance I rushed into the cloud and found that Iris wasn't at the spot of the explosion. I began looking around in case the explosion had thrown her too. My scanner picked up a low energy reading that was slowly going down. I panicked and ran towards the reading……… only to find Iris laying flat on her back. She wasn't badly damaged, but her energy was still dropping. I rushed to her as quickly as I could.

"Iris! Iris!" I stopped over her. She wasn't moving. "Iris…" Her eyes opened slowly and she turned her head to face me.

"Zero…" I got down on one knee to get closer to her.

"Hang in there Iris!"

"Please… Don't fight with Repliforce… if you come with us… we can live forever… in a world where only reploids exist." From this I learned that this was what she wanted… could she have attacked me… only to subdue me and bring me along?

"Iris… there will never be a world only for reploids… it's an intangible fantasy…"

"Yes… I know… But… I wanted to believe it…" She reached a hand towards me. "I wanted to live in a world meant only for reploids……… With you……" I clasped my hands around hers.

"Iris……" She then smiled at me… with the same beautiful smile I had fallen in love with from the moment I had met her by chance during a simple clean up mission.

"Zero… I love you……" I wanted to say it back, but before I could, her eyes closed, her head slumped away from me, and her smile disappeared. My scanner began to beep as it lost sight of her energy. Which meant only one thing, but I did not want to acknowledge it. I began to call to her, with a hopeless faith that made me believe my voice could reach her and pull her back to me.

"Iris!!! Iris!!!" I began to shake her gently. "Iris! ………" That was it… she was gone… For the first time in my life I felt the pain of loss… it kicked and scratched at my heart, causing an unbearable pain that began running down my spine. "No… this… this wasn't supposed to happen… this wasn't meant to happen… this shouldn't have happened……… why… why did you have to die……… why………" Then the pain hit its peak… and changed me forever… I picked her up in my arms and yelled as loud as I could. My voice echoed throughout the entire ship, filled with pain, grief, and misery. I kept yelling… releasing all the agony, anger, and sorrow………… until there was nothing left. I merely stood there holding her in my arms, tears streaming down my face.

When I finally built up the courage to set her down and let go, I noticed a blue hair band roll out of her hand and onto the floor.

--To be continued--

No matter how many times I see the scene of Iris' death, it always has the same impact on me. I believe it to be the saddest moment in any megaman game, even though the dialouge could be better, it is still really sad.

To tell you the truth i was getting a little tired of writing in the X universe. Yeah it was supposed to be a big part of this story line, but i prefer to write in the Zero universe. Next time we go back to the Zero universe and events begin to unfold little by little.

For those who have been waiting patiently, thank you for putting up with my lateness, to make up for it i made this long chapter for you.

Please read and review!

Flashgunner over and out!