Teleporter Troubles and New Faces

"Alright, so a couple more tweaks and you should be on your way, Synchron, Shadow," J said, currently seated behind the controls of the teleporter. It had been three days since Synchron and Shadow had fallen through a portal and J and Will had managed to zero in on his specific Zone energy.

"Thanks for the hospitality, guys," Synchron said, standing on the pad, Shadow beside him.

"No problem. You ever wanna visit, just call us with that communicator we gave you, 'k?"

"Sure thing. See you fellas later." Synchron waved as he and Shadow began to fade out, soon gone.

"So, you fixed the flash problem?" Max asked.

"Yep."

"'Bout damn time." Max was about to walk out with Will when he saw J fidget. "Uh-oh. I know what that fidget means. Where's it gonna come out?"

"Just above the pad." As if on cue, a portal appeared above the pad, depositing a reploid with red armor. His long blonde hair fell around his body, a black jumpsuit covering him, pieces of red armor over the suit. J sighed, standing up. "I'll start getting energy readings while there's still some residual effects."

"I'll go prep a capsule," Will said, walking out of the room.

"…." Max continued to stand there. "Thanks guys. Leave me to carry him. Fucking jerks," he grumbled, moving over to the reploid and hoisting him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He followed Will out of the room as J started typing on another console, small green and red bars on a screen fluctuating.

A week later, their unannounced guest came to in the capsule, the top lifting up to let him out. "Well, look who's up," Max said, walking in. He stuck his head out the door to call to Zero and Axl. "Zero, Axl, he's awake!"

"I'm right here," the reploid said, groaning and holding his head. "Where's my helmet?"

"Uh….Zero, Axl, you might wanna get in here."

"Would you quit talking like that? I'm already in here, damn it." The reploid shook his head a bit, his hair following the movement of his head. "Where the fuck am I?"

"Uh, would you believe me if I said another zone? Or dimension? Or however you wanna interpret that." Zero and Axl-R walked in, Zero doing a double take.

"Max….please tell me this guy's name isn't Zero…" he said, dumbfounded.

"I think it is."

"FUCK!" Zero left the room and they could hear crashes and thuds.

"Training room?"

"Training room," Axl-R confirmed. "I think he's thankful for that hole Blademan put in the wall right now."

"I would assume so," Max replied. "Now then." He turned to the other Zero. "Perhaps you'd like to get home?"

"Uh, sure…uh…"

"Right. Maxwell Escal. Just call me Max."

"Max. That would be great." A few hours later, they were standing in the teleporter room, Will and J with the two. "So, just another couple of minutes and I can go?"

"Yep," J began before fidgeting. "Oh, come on! Another one?" His eyes then went wide. "Zero, when I tell you, jump at the center of the pad." J waited a bit before yelling, "JUMP!" Zero did so, a portal suddenly appearing in front of him, Zero disappearing through it.

"What the hell just happened?" Max asked.

"Portal with the exact same energy reading. This doesn't really sound good to me." J was about to turn off the system when another portal appeared over the pad, a green reploid coming through. He activated some type of jets in his boots, descending to the ground slowly. A female blue reploid followed, the green one catching her, stopping her descent.

"Ugh…where's Fefnir?" the blue reploid asked before they heard a scream coming from the portal. The green one sidestepped to the left, a reploid in red and white armor falling and hitting face first. "Never mind."

"You okay, Leviathan?" the green one asked, putting her down on her feet.

"Yeah, just fine, Harpuia. Just fine." J gave another fidget, another portal popping over Fefnir. Zero fell through this time, landing on his feet, but on Fefnir's back, Fefnir's red eyes bugging out a bit.

"Zero, what the hell happened?" Max asked.

"Well….I came out of the portal in mid jump….and fell into another one…" Zero answered.

"Why the fuck are there so many portals?" J gave another fidget, Max throwing his hands up. "Oh, for the luvvva!" This time, a human girl in a black jumpsuit and a pink vest and skirt fell through, a young female reploid in all pink in her arms. Zero looked up in time to catch them, but both had their eyes closed, still screaming. "Anymore?" J gave one more fidget before Max noticed that each time the portals were appearing, the consoles were spiking. "The teleporter. We need to turn the teleporter off. Now!" A final portal appeared over Zero as J and Will started to shut down the system, a helmet falling through and landing on Zero's head at an angle, covering his left eye.

"Huh. Wondered where this thing got to," he said. "Uh, Ciel? Could you stop screaming? You're not falling anymore." The human, Ciel, opened her eyes to see Zero, her mouth still dropped, but everyone else was just thankful she had stopped screaming. Zero looked over at Leviathan and Harpuia and frowned. "Uh….where's Fefnir?"

"Get. The fuck. Off. Of my back. You fucking. Bastard," Fefnir said from under Zero, his head propped on his hand.

"Oh, my bad." He stepped off, looking over at Will and J. "Uh…I don't suppose…."

"Nope. Not like this," J said. "Looks like it's time to give Wily a call." An hour later, Wily was at the front door, Kassie opening the door.

"Oh, Mr. Wily," she said. "Uh, did you need something?"

"Quite frankly, dear, I'm not sure," he said. "I was just told by J to come down. Something about a malfunctioning teleporter, I believe."

"Oh, boy." Kassie sighed, stepping aside to give Wily room to walk through. "I'm sure you remember where it's at?"

"Oh, yes. I remember quite well," he said, walking down the hallway. He walked into the room, the only occupants now Will and J, who were both in a hole in the console each, various wires protruding from other holes. "Well, fellas, what seems to be the problem?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. When we sent Synchron and Shadow home, we got another Zero," J began, before clarifying that he meant another reploid named Zero. "Well, he just woke up today. A few hours ago, we try to send him home. Well, instead of fixing that little problem, it opens even more portals to his Zone. Which means that we have one major problem. If it continues to do this, we could end up breaking the barriers between the two Zones. Now, I know we've had fusions in the past, at least twice, but those were natural."

"And we don't want to find out just what a forced one looks like," Will finished, coming out from his hole, covered in oils. "Explain to me why we have hydraulics in here again."

"We had to get some sort of way to keep power pumping in," Wily said. "Relying on a couple of motors and generators is a good way to burn this stuff out quickly."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Well…we could have gone green and just used all electricity."

"…and you didn't tell us this because…?"

"Hey, you guys just told me how you wanted it adjusted. Not what kind of power source you wanted."

"That's it. As soon as we get these people home, we're going to fix that," J said.

"Now, hang on a second. Do you have any idea how long that would take?"

"Two weeks, at most. If we have Sasuke and Love working with us, then we can cut it down to ten days."

"Oh…well, I guess I'd better make sure I can find someone to run the arcade while I'm gone."


"Max," the team's Zero said, walking into the room. "Where's my double at?"

"He's in the main living room with the people who fell through. Apparently, they thought he was dead for the past week. I think he managed to tell them all what happened up until he ended up here, unconscious," Max answered, reclining on a chair. "Zero, I would be careful about how much you tell him about yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if what J told me is correct, their Zone energy is the exact same as yours. That means they're either from your Zone's past or future. Either way, if you aren't careful about what you say, you may end up messing the time line in your Zone."

"Oh, great. Now I have to avoid messing up my Zone's timeline. You already told X and Axl-R?" Max nodded. Zero pinched the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. "Alright. So, avoid revealing too much of myself and my partners. Yeah, how hard can that be?" Zero walked out of the room, leaving Max to continue his interrupted nap when he heard an explosion.

"Damn it." He stood up, stretching out. "Better make sure Sasuke didn't set off anything radioactive this time."


The other Zero was indeed in the main living room, sitting with Ciel and the little reploid, Alouette, who was holding onto a little doll. "So, what's happened since I left our Zone?" he asked, looking over at Harpuia for an answer.

"Well, we ended up working with the Resistance to look for you," he answered, reluctant in answering.

"Wow. That must have been embarrassing," Zero said.

"Yeah, well. There was no longer any reason for Neo Arcadia and the Resistance to continue fighting. In fact, we let them back into the city. Some decided to leave to head to Area Zero, but without the threat of Weil's iron fisted rule, we let them go. There's no reason to keep people somewhere they aren't comfortable in."

"It's too peaceful," Fefnir said, earning a hit to the head from Leviathan. He glared at her, rubbing the spot.

"Be thankful," she said. "Ever since Zero awoke, all we've done is fight battles that have been uncomfortably close to being a death match. I'm rather surprised it never actually ended up like that." She looked at Zero. "Although, it was fun fighting you."

"Then you can use one of the training rooms," the team's Zero said, walking in. "We've got plenty." He looked at the other Zero, his eyes running over him. There's no way that's me. Armor's way too thin, his build is much smaller than mine, and his helmet…well, okay, I'll give J the helmet. But his saber is way too different from mine, he thought to himself. "You guys are gonna be stuck here for a couple of days, so I would suggest you get comfortable. Find an empty room and make it like home." He walked out, leaving the group to just look at the spot he had been.

"Does that guy seem….familiar, in any way?" Harpuia asked.

"He looks like Zero," Ciel said, speaking for the first time. She had finally gotten over her initial shock of seeing Zero again, but was still a little hesitant about believing it.

"That's what I thought, too," Fefnir said. "But…he's a thicker build, his armor is much bigger, and his saber….well, his saber is nothing like the one you have," he finished, turning to their Zero.

"Eh. Doesn't matter to me," he said. "So, shall we look around?" He turned to Alouette, still holding the doll. "I know it isn't exactly Area Zero, but we do have free time. After we get back, I'll find the time to explore Area Zero with you two. Alright?" Alouette nodded, smiling, Zero returning the smile.

"Wow," Leviathan said as Zero, Ciel, and Alouette left the room. "Who'd have thought Zero could be so relaxed?"

"He's been fighting almost constantly," Harpuia said. "But he can actually make himself settle down. I find more reasons to be surprised by that reploid every time we cross paths."

"Hey, I'm hungry," Fefnir said, eliciting surprised looks from Leviathan and Harpuia before realizing what he just said. "I'm hungry? How the hell can I be hungry?"

"The rules of the Prime Zone allow every being hunger," Max said, walking in. His clothes were a little torn. Fefnir was about to ask about it, but Max held up a hand. "I'd rather not talk about it. Anyways, while you're all here, your bodies are going to work a little like humans. You're gonna experience hunger and thirst, but that's about it. Other than that, I don't really know." Max left the room, leaving the three reploids to continue sitting there. They started talking a bit after he left, while the other Zero, Ciel, and Alouette explored the HQ.


"OW!" J rocketed out of the panel he was in, holding his hand. "Damn it, I thought we turned off all the power!"

"Sorry," Wily said, switching his attention to the circuit breaker box. "Alright, let's see…oops, look like we missed one switch." He hit the switch and J went back to work, cautiously of course. "Better?"

"Yep."

"Hey, can someone toss me the ratchet?" Love asked, looking out from her panel. Sasuke tossed one to her, turning back to his panel. She continued to sit there, one knee up, her arm resting on the knee. "Who put all the hydraulic lines in here? Electricity would have been much better." J and Will pointed at Wily.

"Blame him," Will said.

"Jeez, I said sorry," Wily said. "Be thankful I'm even willing to switch this stuff out after we fix it. Which, now that I think about it, defeats the purpose of fixing the hydraulics right now. Why don't we just rip the guts out now? Replace everything with the proper wiring and we can still get them back home." Everyone stopped working.

"Why the hell didn't we think of that before?"


For a couple of geniuses, they can be pretty stupid sometimes, no? You know who belongs to whom. Please Review.