Author's Note: I am getting around to fixing the tense problems of the previous chapters so I can relieve most of you of the brain cramps suffered when trying to understand what I was saying so far (I could've done it sooner, but at the time, I didn't really know I had tense problems). Anyway, don't let this minor grammar error keep you from enjoying the next chapter.
2 - Emotional Wreck
While ProtoX's death had shaken up most of the volunteers who had grown to like him, despite his stuck up and mostly silent attitude, his courage to face something so dangerous as the glowing source that brought dead machines to life had inspired the President and some of his promoted associates to organize an On-Field Rescue Squad.
The On-Field Rescue Squad sends brave volunteers to the battlefield and help fight off mavericks while escorting wounded Maverick Hunters back to Robot Rescue for repairs. At first, X didn't approve of this because not only were there going to be human volunteers trying to fight off mavericks, but since he was still grieving over ProtoX's death, he didn't want it to be some sort of inspiration towards increasing the amount of casualties caused in a war. But after losing the vote by show of hands of the other Hunters and the lack of recruits remaining in Hunter Base, he was forced to deal with it.
There was only one problem with the On-Field idea. Most of those "brave and daring volunteers" were nothing more than chicken wusses who couldn't hold a stick to save their lives. It was the President's dumb idea to hire Hunters to spend some of their off-duty time to teach them how to fight like true warrior in battle. Very few took this offer seriously. Others, including X, were having a ball scaring the volunteers shitless just by yelling and glaring at them. New Robot Rescuers stuck to fixing reploid civilians instead of facing the evil grin of the Hunters who needed something to brag about during leisure times.
The volunteers swore that one of these days, one of them, possibly a newbie, was going to turn the tables around and make the Hunters the laughing stalks. The Hunters, believing that would never happen, just laughed it off. No one would suspect just how right the volunteer's threat was going to be....
When Rock and Treble arrived at Robot Rescue, they noticed that most of the area was covered in dents and burnt manikins littering the floor in one piece or a pile of plastic. Although a bit nervous about the mess, the two sighed and walked towards the front desk where a female reploid with red hair and dressed in a traditional, old-fashion nurse outfit sat behind the counter, talking up a storm on her cell phone.
"Ugh! I cannot wait for this day to end, you hear me!?" she complained, "If I have to put up with this any longer, I'm afraid I'll go maverick!" Long pause, "It's a figure of speech dummy! Anyway, whatever those sorry excuse for mentors are doing back there is hectic!" Long pause, "I'm not kidding! They're treating us like it was Happy Hour for Maverick Hunters!" she didn't bother to look up when Rock arrived at the front desk. She just slapped the resume strapped clipboard in front of him along with a ballpoint pen and continued talking, "Can you believe that?" Rock looks at Treble, who looks back at him, and picks up the pen to fill out the form, "I swear, if another person comes in here wanting to become an On- Field Rescuer, he had better have balls of titanium, or so help me, I will rip his fuckin'...." she trails off when she took the resume and turns it around to see "On-Field" with a checkmark next to it. She sighed, "Could you hold on a second?" she lowers the cell phone and puts her hand to the side of her mouth, "Oh, Mr. President!" A chubby reploid in a business suit zooms up to the nurse and stops behind her.
"Yes, Marah?" he said. His smile was so wide, he looked like he could hardly see trough his cheeks.
"Another one for the training room," Marah grumbles, pointing to Rock.
The President's smile grew even wider as he walked over to Rock, "Welcome to Robot Rescue, my friend!" he backed Rock up towards one of the chairs near the windowed walls of Robot Rescue and sat him down. He reached into his coat, pulled out a schedule book and hands it to Rock, "Now, I need you to look through this book and tell me which session you want to train in."
"S-Session?" Rock stuttered, "Actually, I don't need to train for anything. I've had plenty of experience in battle." The President laughed and slapped his back, almost knocking him off the chair.
"Sure, sure. I know you do," he said. He then stuck the book closer to Rock's face, "Now seriously, if you can just circle the session you want to train in, I will...." he didn't get a chance to finish when Rock shoved the book in his face.
"Are you're hearing sensors offline!?" he growled, "I said I don't...." an explosion shook the room. Rock looks up to see a burning manikin fly towards them. He grits his teeth, increases his grip on the book as well as the President's face and leaps out of the chair, "GET DOWN!!!" he drops to the floor, throws the President against the wall and covers his head as the manikin flies over him and Treble, also on the floor, covering his head, shatters the window and skids across the street, scaring civilians and forcing cars to come to a screeching halt, some nearly crashing into each other.
"I'm fine," Marah said through an earphone connected to her cell phone, reading a yuri manga without the slightest care in the world, "That ditsy volunteer just blew another manikin out of the training room."
From the training room, X, hand over his face, stood behind a green haired, pink reploid who's shakily holding a white buster gun towards a burning rope that used to hold the manikin now laying in the streets, melting from the fire surrounding it.
"How many times do we have to go through this?" he grumbled, "You press the trigger repeatedly to fire rapid shots, you hold the trigger down for three seconds and THEN release it to fire a charged blast."
"I...." the reploid squeaked, shaking everywhere, her eyes shut and her mouth compressed nervously, "It's just that...I...I'm uncomfortable holding a gun."
X sighed, "If you're afraid of holding a gun, why did you sign up for target practice?" the reploid drops to her knees and cries as if her eyes were fountains.
"I HAVE TO! MY LITTLE BROTHER KEEPS TEASING ME ABOUT MY FEAR OF GUNS, AND I WANT TO PROVE HIM WRONG!"
"OH, THIS IS JUST HORRIBLE!!! HORRIBLE, I TELL YOU!!!" the President wailed in the same manner as the green haired reploid, "EVERY TIME WE HIRE A HUNTER TO TRAIN OUR VOLUNTEER, HE'LL TREAT US LIKE LAUGHING STOCKS UNTIL HE RETURNS TO HUNTER BASE IN A GURNEY!!! AND WE'RE LOSING VOLUNTEERS EVERYDAY!!! WE'VE EVEN TRIED TO ENLIST X AND ZERO TO HELP US AND THEY'RE ONLY MAKING THE SITUATION WORSE!!! WE'RE DOOMED!!!"
Rock grinned, 'X is here, is he?'
X grabbed the reploid and placed her in front of another manikin, "Look. Instead of just firing like a mad girl, why not try AIMING first?"
"B-But...this won't do me any good," the reploid whimpered, "What if the manikin decides to come at me?" X grabbed her head and turned it to the ceiling.
"Do you see any tracks or remote controlled ropes on the ceiling?" he lets go of her head, "There is nothing in this room that is going to make this thing come at you."
As if on cue, a spit wad hits the back of the manikin's head and causes it to shake a bit. To the reploid, it was coming at her. She began screaming and firing everywhere, "Keep it away! KEEP IT AWAY!!!" everyone screamed as well and ran around while ducking and dodging the wild blasts flying everywhere. Some of the blasts nailed the volunteers, causing them to scream even louder and continue to run around and cry for help. X snarled and eyed Zero who tried to hide a torn piece of paper and a plastic straw in front of him, acting like he didn't do anything.
"DAMMIT, ZERO!!!" he yelled, "THAT'S THE FIFTH TIME YOU SCARED EVERYONE BY HITTING THEIR MANIKINS WITH YOUR STUPID SPIT WADS!!! IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!" Zero just turned his back on him, snickering.
"Oh, yes it is," he mumbles, then suddenly jolts.
The whole training room stopped as if someone had hit the pause button on a VCR remote. All eyes focused on Zero who moaned before he jumped into the air, hands behind his burnt, torn and smoking rump. Once he landed, he began running all over the training room, yelling, "IT BURNS!!! IT BURNS!!! SOMEONE GET A BUCKET OF WATER BEFORE MY HAIR CATCHES ON FIRE!!!"
The reploid who fired at Zero heard a mixture of snorts and snickers and looked at X who had his lips compressed to keep a smile from fighting its way to the surface, "Um...I don't see what's so funny, Sensei...."
"It's...snort...it's not. It's just that...I...." X interrupts himself and moans, his lips quivering the more he compressed them. He finally lost control and bursts out laughing like a hyena, "I...I found out who Zero's true love is...! HIS HAIR!!!"
Zero came to a screeching halt and turns his head towards X, his eyes glowing red. Those standing behind the now hunched over reploid went wide- eyed and split in multi-colored streaks as a shadow loomed over him.
"MAKE FUN OF ME, WILL YA!?" Zero roared. X looked up with a dumbfound smile before a white clad fist slammed into his face, throwing him to the far end of the room and slamming against the wall, leaving a life size crater, X's laugh slowed to a weak and dazed chuckle. Retracting his fist, Zero eyes the reploids standing behind him, "Anyone else wanna comment?" he seethed. The reploids shuttered and shook their heads while babbling like idiots.
"Seriously, I'm fine! It's that ditsy volunteer again," Marah said, this time reading a "Play-Bot" magazine, "Oh, and one of the hunters punched another against the wall. I don't know who, and, to be honest, I don't care. They're all idiots." Long pause, "I agree, they really need to expel her for being an idiot. In fact, I'd like to see just one volunteer in this center sit through one session without crying for his mommy."
"Oh whoa is me," the President cried poetically, "If we do not shape up, I'm afraid we'll have to...." Rock snatched the book from his hand.
"Gimme that!" he slammed his back against the wall and flipped through every page until he came across a "Sword Practicing" session and grinned, "You know? On second thought, I think I will take that training session," he walks over to the President and bends down to him, slapping the book in his dumbstruck hand, rolled up, "IF they don't expel me for my good moves," he pats the President on the shoulder, "I'm taking Treble to the cafeteria." Treble jumped up and down with excitement as he followed him into the hallway to the RR labs.
"Great...." Marah grumbled, "Just what we need. Another hotheaded volunteer turned nervous wreck...."
An hour later....
"Ugh! It felt like five minutes instead of an hour," X grumbled as he and Zero headed back to the doors of the training room, "Those guys are idiots! I wished we didn't have to go back in there."
"No kidding," Zero said, "Stick those wimps in front of Sigma and he'll be running off like a screaming little girl." He reached for the doorknob only to ram it into X's. Both glared at each other.
"They haven't finished their buster training," X said.
"You read the schedule," Zero said, "It's my turn to scare these guys!" the two continued to glare at each other and began shoving at each other, their hands still on the doorknob.
"Screw the schedule!" X grunted, pushing Zero back, "It's your fault! You were the one who kept shooting those stupid spit wads at everyone!"
"My fault!?" Zero grunted, pushing back, "I wasn't the one who let a ditz-for-brain blow 12 manikins out the center! Be thankful none of them actually killed anyone!"
X pushed back, "At least I'm not the one who had to sit on a pillow during lunch with a bandage strapped to my butt!" the two lost grip of the door and stumbled back a couple of meters, taking up fighting stances.
"Oh yeah!? You wanna settle this now!?" Zero seethed.
"Bring it on!" X seethed. Both stood there for a while before throwing their fists out, X opening his hand while Zero stuck out his index and middle finger. X's jaw nearly hit the ground. Zero snickered and pulled his arm back, opening and closing his two fingers.
"I just made snowflakes out of your hand," Zero said, seeing X slump over, groaning. He turns to the door, "Too bad you'll have to sit in the 'loser' chair while I give these wimps something to cry about."
Zero opens the door and walks in with X dragging himself in a second later. The volunteers for the On-Field Rescue Squad were too busy talking about their new arrivals to realize they were there.
"Okay, everyone, if I can just have your...." Zero began with his eyes closed.
"Do you think he'll last in this session?" said a volunteer
"Ha! As if! I'll give him half an second before he's on the floor, crying for help!" said another.
"I still think he's...."
Zero's eyebrow twitched, "I said... SHADDUP!!!" his scream was loud enough to send everyone screaming to the floor in a fetal position. Rock and Treble, the ones responsible for everyone's gossip, were the only ones who didn't drop like everyone else. Finally getting everyone's attention, Zero exhaled, "That's better." He placed his hands behind his back and moved to the right side of the room, "Now, today I'm going to teach you saps how to use a beam saber. I'm sure you all know that a beam saber is different from a buster gun...." he stops near the pink reploid and sticks his face in hers, snarling, "Because unlike a beam saber! You're not shooting your mentors 3ft away with quivering hands!"
Rock watches as the reploid drops to her knees, crying and babbling apologies, "Whoa, wonder what happened earlier?" one of the reploids, a chubby orange and white one, managed to get up and look at him.
"Well...you see that giant bandage taped to his butt?" he asked, pointing Zero's rear end where a cross-shaped bandage barely appeared behind his ankle-long hair, "That volunteer is so afraid of guns that she accidentally shot him in the rear end. I've never seen someone so serious run around and scream like a moron with his hands behind his ass." Zero's eyes turned towards him and Rock, "That's not the worst of it." The volunteers cringed and back away some as they watched Zero walk toward the two, "The other day, a Hunter tried to teach us how to program a dog to retrieve stuff and one volunteer accidentally programmed it to explode when he sneezed."
"So, feeling free to talk about our accidents?" Rock and the reploid jumped startled and turned to see Zero stand in front of them with his arms crossed.
"Uh...." the reploid waved his hands in front of him, "N-No! Of course not! I was just...uh...recapping what happened earlier...well...not in full detail, but...." Zero stuck his head in his face, growling. He bent back, sticking his hands over his mouth, "Shutting up...."
Zero snorts, turning his eyes towards Rock, "So, you must be that new kid everyone's been bragging about." He continued to eye Rock some more before moving them to Treble. He turns his head towards them, a grin slowly growing onto his face, "I remember you now. You're that unusual reploid Sigma brought in. Rock, isn't it?"
X raised an eyebrow upon seeing Zero's grin, "Zero...you know this kid?"
Zero stood up, his eyes never leaving Rock, "In a matter of speaking." He placed a hand on Rock's shoulder, "So, decided to become an On-Field Rescuer, have you? What makes you think that you even have the nerves to consider joining a group that risk their sorry necks to save Hunters like us from being killed by mavericks? You could very well die in the process." Rock frowned slightly in annoyance, "Then again, remember that feeling I had that said you can't be trusted? It's also telling me you're an unmatched fighter." He moves his hand down to Rock's back, "There's only one way I can trust my feelings." His grin widened, showing his teeth. The next thing he did shocked everyone. Without warning, Zero stepped aside and shoved Rock out of the group.
Before he hit the ground, Rock bent his upper body forward, causing him to roll to the center of the room, then throws his hands to the ground and flips into the air until he was in a side-crouching position, facing Zero. X nearly fell out of his chair, more in shock of Zero's action than the raven-haired reploid's skillful ability to flip to his feet after a roll.
"Z-Zero! What're you doing?" X cried out, watching as Zero walked to the center of the room, standing a few inches from Rock.
"I just thought I'd use him as a guinea pig for this session," Zero said, reaching for his beam saber, "Don't worry, I've set the beam saber so it'll shock him with each strike. He'll still be functioning when I'm done with him."
"Holy shit!" one of the Rescuers shouted, "Did you see how Zero just shoved him out there?"
"Yeah," another said, "I'd hate to be that kid if Sigma ever brought me in for whatever reason!"
"So, how's the training going?" Dr. Cain asked as he and Fig walked along the halls of Robot Rescue.
"Gramps...I don't even wanna look," Fig said, hunched so low, he nearly dragged his dangling arms along the floor, "Those idiots think they're so tough, but when they face a Hunter for training, they're nothing but a can of jumping beans nailed to the ground. I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for the new kid that walked in."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?" Dr. Cain shouts out of excitement, almost knocking Fig further to the floor, "X and Zero ARE tutoring them. Knowing Zero, he just LOVES to scare newbies shitless!" he jogs in place, fists under his chin like a schoolgirl trapped in an old man's body, "This I gotta see!" and with that, he zooms off, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Fig watches him go and sighs.
"I thought I told Comp not to put so much caffeine in his coffee!" he groaned.
Dr. Cain burst the double doors of the training room open, ran inside and jumps on a massive reploid for height support as he watches the center of the training room.
"It's been a while since I've been used for demonstration," Rock said as he turned to Zero with his hands behind his back, "I hope my dodging skills haven't gotten rusty."
"You're real funny kid," Zero said, pulling his Z-Saber out, "But, you won't be joking so much when I'm through with you." He swung his Z- Saber at Rock and finds himself facing the opposite direction of his "guinea pig". He looks behind him to see him bent back before getting up.
Snarling, Zero whips around, swinging his Z-Saber towards Rock only to see him jump straight into the air, once again allowing the Z-Saber pass over him harmlessly. He tries again by swinging the Z-Saber towards his head only to see him turn around, missing him by an inch of his back, and finally tries swinging his Z-Saber horizontally, seeing him bend forward, barely getting the tip of his brown streaked, black hair singed.
'I knew it!' Zero thought to himself, 'I knew he wasn't just some run of the mill reploid!' he caught Rock's expression turn from normal to a mocking grin.
"You little brat!" he seethed, eyes twitching, "You're actually enjoying this, aren't you!?" Zero swings his Z-Saber arm across his neck in the form of a one-handed baseball bat, "That does it! I'm going to do more than wipe that snotty grin off your face!" he swings his Z-Saber towards the ground and grins when he saw Rock jump into the air. He stops the Z- Saber below him and brings it upward.
Rock saw the Z-Saber coming towards him. The bottom of his feet spat out a bit of fire, pushing him back into the air as he flips over Zero and lands behind him, a bluish version of the Z-Buster, the dark blue part made of thick glass that showed his hand wrapped around a trigger handle, appearing over his hand and sleeves and aims it at the back of his head, shocking everyone in the room.
Zero turns around to see the buster an inch from his face and yelps, stumbling back a few inches and holding his Z-Saber in front of him for protection. Rock grins and pulls the buster back.
"I guess you just found out why I didn't sign up for target practice," he said, then throws his fist and the nozzle of his Shield Buster to his side, "But I would've loved to see how you embarrassed yourself by being shot by a scared little girl." Zero was too shocked at his swift agility to take the comment personally.
"How did...!?" Zero squeaked, "You've dodged every move as if you were reading me like a book!"
"Now I remember you! You're X's second older brother!" came a voice that nearly knocked Rock to the ground, startled. Dr. Cain walked over the group's head and shoulders until he reached to the front, ran up to Rock, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, "Oh, Rock, my boy! I see you've finally decided to show yourself after all this time!"
Rock threw his arms up, knocking Dr. Cain's hands off him, "Geez, doc! Did you have to announce it to the whole room!?"
"B-Brother!?" Zero blurted out, "What makes you think this kid is X's brother!?"
"There was something familiar about this reploid's design," Dr. Cain began, slapping Rock on the shoulder, "So I started comparing them to the other blueprints from Dr. Light's lab and I came to the conclusion that he is another one of Light's creations!" he the laughed, "Oh, man! If ProtoX were alive, he would've been overjoyed to see that he has two brothers!" Rock eyed the floor remorse, "So, you're going to become an On-Field Rescuer, are ya? This'll be great! The world's strongest Maverick Hunters being rescued by the world's fastest Rescuer!"
The volunteers, on the other hand, couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"Th-That's X's brother!?"
"No way! If he was, why didn't he show himself sooner!?"
"Forget that, why would someone like him want to become a Rescuer? With his skills, he should've just become a Maverick Hunter like X!" X frowned when he heard that.
"Well, that's...." Rock was about to say, but Dr. Cain grabbed the back of his shoulders and shook him a bit.
"Don't be ridiculous!" he said, laughing, "Of course he'll make a great On-Field rescuer! You wimps might need someone who's cunning, who's agile, who's...."
"Expelled!" Everyone turned to X who glared at Rock in anger.
"E-Expelled!?" Dr. Cain muttered, "But X...."
"I don't care how skillful he is, if he's going to be a Rescuer, he should be indoors fixing damaged reploids!"
"You can't be serious, X!" Rock yelled.
"I can't!?" X's frown tightened, "Our brother wasn't even supposed to get involved in something that has nothing to do with him, and yet he takes the liberty of going out there himself and gets himself killed! Or were you so caught up in wanting to end this war that you completely forgot!?"
"Forgot!?" Rock snapped, throttling his busterless fist, "You think I showed up just to piss you off by fighting in my own way for the good of mankind!? In case you weren't listening, an On-Field Rescuer doesn't fully get involve in a battle. They just go out there and fend off mavericks while trying to haul your beaten carcass back to Robot Rescue for repairs!"
"You don't care, do you?" Rock's face turned from anger to confusion when X popped the question, "That's it, isn't it? You think that with our brother dead, you could just show up and take his place!" Rock bared his teeth, growling, "Here's a reality check, bro! Just because our brother's gone doesn't mean you have a right to take his place and expect everyone to like you like they liked him! Think about it the next time you decide to act like the world revolves around you!" with that, he turns and leaves. Rock's growl turned into a snarl.
"If you'd at least stuck around a while longer, you would've known exactly how I felt and why I really wanted to help end this stupid war!" he yelled just before X slammed the door of the training room. Zero looked at the group crowding the dead silent room.
"I...guess it's time for a break," he said, laughing nervously, "I'll...see you in a couple of hours?" the group looked at one another before walking out of the training room. Dr. Cain looked at the door X stormed out of.
"I've never seen X this upset before," Dr. Cain mumbled, "He's really taking this loss personally."
Treble walked up to Rock as he looked at him, the Shield Buster vanishing from his left arm, "Come on, Treble. Let's go." And both walked out of the room.
Zero ran out after X and grabbed his shoulder, "Hey! Wait a minute, X!"
"Leave me alone!" X snarled, knocking Zero's hand off.
"Don't you think you're being too hard on him? I'm sure he's just as torn up over ProtoX's death as you are!"
"Torn up!?" X turned to Zero, tears spilling down his face, "You think that coming in here without a care in the world is your term for being torn up!? I don't know who that kid thinks he is, coming in here and acting like he can make a difference in someone's life! But I swear to god, I don't want him near me if he thinks that he can try to cheer me up with his thirst for war!" he turns his back on Zero and attempts to leave.
"Well, yeah. I admit he's a stuck up little brat, but that doesn't mean he has to spend everyday of his life dwelling on the death of his brother." X stops after two steps, "What if he joined that On-Field Rescue Squad just to get revenge on the Chimera for what he did to ProtoX?" X started to tense up, "You won't know what he's up to unless you calm down and hear him out."
"Sh...SHUT UP!" He turns around and shoves Zero onto his back with his knees in the air. X was shocked at what he did, but didn't want to apologize. Instead, he points at Zero, seething, "You stay the hell out of this! This is my family business, I'll handle it my way!"
Zero propped himself on his hands, "I was just...."
"You're just going to make this worse!" X pulled his finger back, "You don't have a brother! You don't know what it feels like to lose him, so just back off!"
"That's not...." X tensed up some more and turned to leave, "W-Wait a minute, X!" Zero got up and reached out towards him, but stopped, seeing him walk away, feeling too left out to do anything.
Zero walked along the sidewalks of New Tokyo, looking at his crossed arms. He felt as though he was stuck in the biggest emotional family feud in history and he has no idea how he was going to get himself out of it. Rock and Treble never returned to Robot Rescue and X was somewhere in Hunter Base, crying until his eyes rusted shut. Fig, while still just as torn up over ProtoX's death, had managed to fill in for X for the remainder of the day. Despite his lack of sword techniques, he was able to keep the volunteers from swinging their wooden swords like frightened cavemen.
"Saber installment operating at 50%," came a computerized voice. Zero stopped and looked towards the park where the sound came from, "Whip installment also operating at 50%. More resource is needed in order to raise both installment to maximum power." Curious, he walked into the park to see Rock sitting on a bench with a laptop on his lap, Treble laying by his feet, asleep.
On the screen of the laptop had a display of the hilt of a beam saber. On either side of it with lines pointing towards the top of the hilt were two kinds of beams, one shaped like a blade while the other looked like a glowing "S". Both structures had percentage numbers flashing next to them.
Zero wasn't about to let someone this skillful just walk around with a buster that was too powerful to be seen in public. He decides that if Rock was going to learn to use a beam saber, he would at least learn how to use it in self-defense. A feeling inside him told him not to do it, but he shakes it off, knowing that feeling came from how X would have felt if he found out how they were going to train and where.
X, after finally calming down from his ordeal, decides to take a walk around the city to clear his mind. It was bad enough that he was forced to deal with ProtoX's death but what's even worse is the fact that he not only found out he had another brother, but how he cared more about fighting than about the welfare of his brothers.
As he was heading to the door of Hunter Base, he noticed three of his troops surrounding something, one of them looking like he was trying to pull an object out of the ground.
"Wow! For an antique, he sure is strong," the Hunter pulling the object said.
"Yeah, I wonder if the reploid who owns him must have upgraded him to be this strong!" the second said.
"No kidding," said the third, "if he hadn't decided to become a Robot Rescuer, he would've made a great Hunter next to X." X's eyes widened slightly when he heard that and walks towards the group, looking over the third Hunter's shoulder to see Treble playing tug-o-war with a rusted pipe the first Hunter held until he yanked it out, tail wagging.
"That dog...." X mumbled. The first Hunter looked up to see him and stumbled to his feet.
"C-Commander!" he shouted. The other two turned around and also stumbled to their feet. Treble gulped and ran off.
"Where's reploid who owns this dog?" X asked.
"Reploid?" the third asked, confused.
"He's talking about his older brother," the second whispered.
"Oh, you mean the one Zero's training in the holo-simulator!"
X's face twisted into an angry snarl, "He's WHAT!?"
The third Hunter clobbered the second on the head, "You idiot! Zero ordered us not to mention that!" X's frown grew tighter as his fist began to throttle.
"Damn him!" he seethed. The three Hunters watched him turn and run.
"This...won't be pretty...." the third Hunter mumbled.
Zero stood in a desert area, head tilted towards the floor, his eyes shut. The wind blowing through the desert played with his hair and the sand created clouds of dust around his feet. From the distance, a figure came towards him with a beam saber held behind it with two hands. He soon opens his eyes and turns around to see Rock close in on him, attempting to swing his beam saber towards him and jumps back, letting the blade hit the ground, creating more clouds of dust than the wind blowing around them.
Rock charges at Zero, swinging his beam saber, seeing him dodge the swings just as swiftly as himself before pulling his own saber out and retaliating. Both sent blades clashing into each other as the pressure between them went back and forth, Zero coming at Rock with Z-Saber swinging only to have Rock fight back with his own beam saber. The fight temporarily ended with them connecting their blades together, struggling to push one another to the ground until the sparks of the saber knocked them back a couple of feet. Through all this, they neither panted, nor took their eyes off each other.
The wind increased, causing the clouds of sandy dust to rise over them, Rock and Zero continuing to stand in their fighting position, staring each other until the clouds rose over their chests. The two came at each other letting out a battle cry so loud, it echoed throughout the entire desert as the clouds washed over their heads. The streaks of their blades were the only things visible in the sandy scene.
Rock held his beam saber beside him like a baseball bat and swings it towards Zero only to slice a portion of the dust cloud he disappeared into. He looks around frantically until he felt someone standing behind him. He turned his head around in time to get swatted across the desert by a neon blade. He lands on his face a few feet from the silhouette that attacked him, his beam saber stabs the ground in front of him before the beam vanishes, dropping the hilt to the ground.
The wind decreases, causing the clouds to sink, revealing Zero, slightly crouched, his sword-wielding arm stretched behind him. He sighs and stands up, walking towards Rock.
"That's no good," he said, "You keep holding the beam saber like it was a two-handed sword. It may increase the strength of your blows, but unless you're really desperate, you need to focus on the speed of your swing rather than its strength."
Rock pushed himself to his hands and knees, picking up his beam saber, "That's easy for you to say." He gets up and turns to Zero, "The only short range weapon I had was destroyed a long time ago."
Zero sheaths his Z-Saber, "Maybe we should try a different simulation. The way you're moving, it's hard to find something in a place this windy and sandy." He looks up, "Computer...."
"End simulation!" barked a voice. Zero flinched as the area turned from desert into a wide, black room covered with yellow, graph-like patterns.
"W-Wait a minute! I didn't...." Zero exasperated. Rock looks behind him and dropped his shoulders.
"Oh no...." he groaned, "My 'conscience' is here...." Zero blinks before turning around to see X standing in front of the sliding doors to the holo-simulator, teeth bared in a snarl, his fists shaking even faster.
"Have you lost your mind!?" X snapped, walking over to Rock and snatching the beam saber from his hand, "I thought I made it clear to everyone that HE...." he adds by thrusting his finger towards Rock, "...isn't getting involved in this war!"
"I'm just teaching him self-defense!" Zero protested, "Do you know how many mavericks wander this city everyday. If anything, he should at least learn to fight off any mavericks that try to jump him while trying to escape!"
"Do you have any idea what you're doing to him!?" Zero blinked, confused, "It's bad enough that he all of a sudden shows up, wanting to end this war through violence. I don't need you to make it worse!"
"Worse!? For god's sakes, X! It's not like I'm encouraging him to become a Maverick Hunter!"
"It's not!?" X threw his fists to his waist in frustration, "I don't recall fighting my brother in the middle of a desert simulation an act of non-encouragement! I will not have him doing the same thing ProtoX did when he decided to volunteer for something that he didn't even want to get involved in and get himself killed!" Rock snarled.
"Do you know why Sigma used Zero as a pawn in the previous war!?" Rock snapped, "It's because he knows just how upset you were and took advantage of it when he had his X-Hunters force you to play scavenger hunt to retrieve his parts!"X tensed up, growling, "At least I was smart enough to hide my true feelings when ProtoX died! If you don't control your emotions, Sigma's going to take advantage of it and turn you into so much of a nervous wreck, you wouldn't even take one step into a battlefield without worrying about someone dying in front of you're eyes!" X whipped around and slaps him across the face, knocking it to the side and forcing him to shut his eyes from the shock. Zero's mouth dropped when he saw that and took a step back.
"How dare you use my family and friends for your twisted excuse!" X seethed as Rock placed a hand across the cheek that got slapped, "You don't even know what I've been going through the past three months, having to go out and retrieve Zero's parts and then having to get over our brother's death! You're the most cold-hearted brother I've ever met!" with that, he slams the hilt to the ground, startling Zero, and walks out. He watches him go before looking at Rock who's rubbing his cheek before realizing he was being stared at and eyes the floor.
"Sorry...." he mumbles. Zero blinks and looks towards the double doors as they slid shut.
"Don't worry about it," he said, "Let's take a break."
The two moved to an open-field park in New Tokyo with a wide lake surrounding the center area. Rock sat, chin on his hand as the elbow connected to it rested on his standing knee, next to Treble who's laying on his stomach. Zero laid on his back on the other side of the two with one knee standing, his hands behind his head.
"Maybe X was better off if he didn't know I was his brother until after the war," Rock said, taking a pebble and tossing it into the lake.
"What can we do?" Zero asked, "Sigma was the one who didn't trust your condition. Even if Dr. Cain had decided not to reveal who you are, X would have eventually found out long before this war could end. Then he'd have more of a reason to think you were some hot-headed reploid who'd jump at the chance to get into any fight you saw." He continued to stare at the sky before he looked at Rock, seeing him eye the grass, tears spilling down his face, "You really are upset about ProtoX, aren't you?" he looks at the sky again, "I wouldn't be surprised. When X saw how the Chimera killed ProtoX, he swore he'd track him down and destroy him." Rock mentally gasped, "I've never seen him like that before." Rock closes his eyes, trembling everywhere, more tears spilling down his face, "After a while, he went to his quarters and cried the rest of the day. No one bothered to go in and talk to him. I figured this is the reason you're trying to become an On-Field Rescuer. You probably want to get your revenge on the Chimera if you ever run into him again."
Rock opened his eyes, frowning furiously, "I'd tear him apart without having to join anything!" Zero looks at him to see his face turn from furious to a mixture of sorrow and fear, 'If only I had the dignity to tell you why I never tried....'
Zero stared at Rock some more. Since the first time he saw him, he had this feeling inside of him that says he couldn't be trusted. Seeing him now, he knew that the strange feeling was wrong. He only wished he knew how he was going to get X to understand that his second older brother isn't as hotheaded in the inside as he was on the outside. But he never got a chance to think when an all too familiar voice got their attention.
"Aw, such a sad story!" both turned to see a giant, chained spike ball fly towards them, forcing them to split as it hit the ground, digging deep until it stopped just an inch from the shores of the lake and rips out, taking bits of grass and mud with it. Rock and Zero followed the mace until it reconnected with its holder. Zero's eyes widened when he saw who it was.
"Poor little X will never be the same again," Violen laughs when he lands a few feet from his crouching targets.
"You!" Zero growled, "X destroyed you three weeks ago!"
"Did he?" Violen checks himself, then shrugs mockingly, "I don't see any plasma burns on me, do you?" he puts his arms down and looks around, "Where is that little blue twit, anyway? I would have thought he'd be out here getting chubby-chubby with his surviving brother."
Zero reached for the hilt of his Z-Saber, "Why do you care?" he asked through clenched teeth. Violen threw his hand against his check, giving him a fake pout.
"Aw, is it that much trouble to have a few words with my arch- nemesis?" Rock frowned and got up.
"My brother's trying to unwind right now!" Rock yelled, "So why don't you bother him some other time!?" Violen muffled a growl and swung his head, causing his chained mace to do a 180°, slamming into the right side of Rock's head.
"Rock!" Zero yelled as he saw his pupil hit the ground, belly-flat, in front of him, fluid spilling down the right side of his head. Violen snort and walk up to the unconscious reploid.
"Little brat! Should've learned to keep his big mouth shut!" Treble snarled and jumped towards him only to get nailed on his back by the same weapon that got Rock. Violen grinned, "Him and his flea-bitten mutt!"
Zero snarled and shot up, yanking his Z-Saber out of its holster, "Bastard!" He attempted to move, but stopped when Violen waved his finger side to side, his fist on his round waist.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, lifting his foot and placing it onto Rock's head, "Unless you want to explain how his brother ended up on Robot Rescue's construction table without a head." Zero's snarl grew louder, keeping his Z-Saber to his side.
"What the hell do you want?"
"Give X this message...if he isn't still moping over his recent loss," Rock groaned and opened his eyes slightly. He slowly reached into his lab coat and pulled out a pin with his Chimera symbol on it, "He should be happy to know that we have managed to retrieve all of ProtoX's parts. And I'm sure you at least remember what we did when we recovered your parts."
"You spineless pug!" Zero growled, unaware of Rock sticking the pin in the slot between Violen's ankle before slipping back into unconsciousness, "It's bad enough that you forced him to recover my parts, but if you do the same with his brother's, you'll be praying he goes easy on you!"
"Ah, but the odds are even this time, granted the Chimera gets involved in this. But since we haven't seen him around for the past three weeks, I'd say the news about his murderous intentions has driven him away. However...." Violen eyes Rock, "I could take X's other brother just to rile him up some more."
Zero eyes Rock, then turns them back to Violen, "Leave him out of this! He's done nothing to you!"
"Aw, but what's the fun of fighting him when he's not at the peak of his rage?" Violen laughs and takes his foot of Rock's head, "But if you insist, I'll spare him this time. You wouldn't want X to blame you for the loss of another brother."
"What!?" wind kicked up around them as a giant mother ship landed two feet from their heads. Zero watched as Violen jumped onto the flat, triangle-shaped roof.
"Remember, if X wants to see his brother's good side again," Violen said, "He had better get his act together and come hunt us down!" he laughs and walks away from the edge of the roof.
"Not if I have a say in this!" Zero yells, jumping onto the roof of the mother ship as it rose into the sky and flew off, leaving Rock and Treble unconscious on the ground.
OOC: For those of you who are probably thinking I'm bashing X in this chapter, you've got it all wrong. I like X...no, really, I do! I like him just as much as I like most of the characters both in the game, made up or recreated for this fanfic. So don't take it too seriously that I treat X like a pacifist (As my sister keeps referring him to). There are a few volumes where X actually acts like a hotheaded reploid at times.
Next Chapter: With ProtoX's life once again in jeopardy, Rock is forced to don the Chimera armor in hopes of getting his parts back before anyone finds out he came out of hiding. But due to the damage Treble received from Violen's attack, getting those parts back without having his identity blown in front of Zero and the X-Hunters was no walk in the park. Having this fatal flaw slowing him down, how will Rock be able to save ProtoX and what is the X-Hunter's real plan when they decide to use Zero's demise as evidence that the Chimera was at fault?