Guardian Roommates: Chapter 3: Go with the Flow

I suppose I'll take the time to explain some things. About Harpuia, well, there's still some people who think he's a girl, so I decided to humor everyone with that, as well as some other strange accusations in the MMZ world, another which you'll see in this chapter. I'm glad you guys enjoy this stuff. If I continue to get ideas, I'll keep writing. Maybe ten chapters max. Thanks all! As always, everyone here belongs to Capcom, except for the Star Wars reference.

The guardian's apartment was dark and empty, with Harpuia snoring loudly in his sleep. Fefnir opened the door with Leviathan quietly, knowing there would be hell to pay if they woke him up. They creep closer to him to take a look at his face, his mouth and eyes twitching every three seconds.

Fefnir was curious. "I wonder what he's dreaming about."

Leviathan observed Harp's facial movements. "It looks like he's having that nightmare again."

"The one he never talks about?"

"You got it."

Leviathan nailed it. Harpuia had been having the same nightmare ever since they all fought Zero for the first time. It was the same place as Harpuia and Zero's first fight. Harpuia had been defeated, and was breathing heavily. "I must admit, I underestimated you."

Zero was a bit exhausted, but not hurt too badly. "For a chick, you've got style."

Harpuia's eyes widened. "'For a chick?' Are you mocking me?"

Zero scratched his head. "No, I mean, I've fought a few girls, don't know how I remember, but you're a girl, right?"

Harpuia gave Zero the most sinister stare anyone could give another, and with that Zero came to a realization. "Oh hell."

Harpuia was slowly getting up. "Well, for your information Mr.-I-Don't-Know-If-My-Hair's-A-Cape, I'm a guy. Leviathan is the only female of all the guardians. Why on earth do you think I'm a female?"

Zero had an embarrassed smile on his face. "Ever heard your battle cries? They aren't exactly, well, deep."

Harpuia rose his head. "They sound fine. Hih, hih, Huh! Oh dammit, I do sound like a girl! You may have won this round, but we will meet again and I will destroy you! Farewell!" And with that, he teleported away.

Zero grabbed the end of his hair. "'Mr.-I-Don't-Know-If-My-Hair's-A-Cape,' huh? It's freaking hair. Oh well."

Ciel's voice came through. "You thought Harpuia was a girl? I never thought of it that way. Oh, your cape's dirty! I'll prepare the washer."

Zero's eyebrows just lowered. "It's freaking hair."

Fefnir looked surprised. "Did he just say all of that out loud?"

It all made sense to Leviathan, now. "So that's how this whole thing started. I can't believe people think he sounds like a female. Even if he was, I'm still the cute one!"

Harpuia had actually spoken the entire dialogue out loud in his sleep. Fefnir and Leviathan never realized why Harpuia had problems with guys and was haunted by it. Fefnir just assumed it was some kind of reverse effect since he has problems with girls. It would only make sense, to him at least.

Fefnir's temptations were running wild. "You think we should wake him?"

"No, I wanna hear more."

Harpuia barely made any sense through his drool. "...I can't believe it... A woman? ... Never... Leviathan is the only female of the guardians... Do you see me bring home seven different guys at once..."

Leviathan's face turned blue. "Wake him!"

Fefnir had a huge smile on his face. "No way, I'm listening to this."

Leviathan whacked both Harpuia and Fefnir with her scythe in complete embarrassment.

Harpuia woke up slowly, unaware that he was whacked by Lev's scythe. "Was I having that nightmare again?"

Leviathan looked all nervous. "I don't know, tell me what it's about and I'll tell you."

Harpuia shook his head. "No way. I guess it was."

Fefnir was cracking up. "Seven different guys?"

Harpuia sweatdropped. "Oh hell, Don't tell me... I didn't..."

Leviathan just had an annoyed look on her face. "Um, Fefnir, FYI, I was once a GENERAL. Meaning I have troops to command? Hello?"

Fefnir crossed his arms and smiled. "Sure..."

Leviathan was just frustrated out of her mind. "You know what? Just... argh!"

She stormed off into her room. Fefnir couldn't hold from laughing any more. Harpuia just shook his head and went back to sleep.

Ciel walked into the room where Cerveau and Zero were sitting, both asleep on the couch. She looked at the monitors.

"Since when did we install cameras at various apartment complexes? Is that... Fefnir? Leviathan? Harpuia? They're living in an apartment as roommates? That's so cute! Wait, cute? No, that's not the word. But living together alone away from everyone? Hmm, that gives me an idea..."

Next Morning

Leviathan walked to the kitchen to make herself breakfast. It was early, but she couldn't sleep well. She had spent the night in her room writing down her ultimate plot against Zero. She was hoping her comrades/brothers/roommates wouldn't wake up, since she had moisturizer all over her face. The last time she wore moisturizer and the others found out, Fefnir took a picture and uploaded it on the internet, showing the still shot on various monitors throughout Neo Arcadia. She swore she would get revenge.

"Lost in your thoughts again? Talk about obsession."

Before she knew it, Harpuia and Fefnir were wide awake and making themselves breakfast, too. They didn't seem to care about her moisturizer-filled face, seeing as they had no camera, no computer to upload things, and weren't in the capital to show everybody. She already forgot about why she was scared to be near them in that position.

She gasped. "It's Friday! I can plot against Zero again!"

Harpuia quickly responded. "No you can't. Received this transmission earlier." He took out a cell phone with a video feed through. 'Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hop-' Harpuia gave it a good whack. "Wrong one. Here we go."

Zero's face showed on the hologram. "You gotta help me. Someone! Ciel wants to move into an apartment with me all alone! Make the pain stop!"

Ciel could be heard in the background. "Zero, are you done using the bathroom yet? I need to do my hair!"

Zero's eyes got all puppylike. "Please...!"

A loud scream is heard as the hologram disappears. They all sat there for a few seconds, when Leviathan realized. "That's perfect!" In an instant she ran off into the bathroom. The sound of a hair dryer goes off.

Harpuia shook his head and drank his coffee. "Her hair is made of metal."

Fefnir spoke with cereal in his mouth. "Correction, our hair is made of metal. See, females are different. They actually have hair, but it's not real hair hair, but something to look and act similar to human hair. Now male hair, that's metal."

Harpuia raised an eyebrow. "Fefnir, we don't have hair. These helmets are built in."

Fefnir looked at the ceiling. "Actually, I'm bald and you have a mo-hawk."

"Like I said, we don't have hair!"

Resistance Base. Zero is hiding under a bed in one of the soldier's rooms.

Ciel could faintly be heard outside. "Zero! Where are you at? I can't pay rent alone! Who is going to help me pack and unpack? Zero!"

Suddenly, the Operator's voice was heard on the intercom. "Zero, please report to the mission room. You have mail!"

Zero's sweat quickly disappeared. "Saved!"

It takes Zero ten minutes to reach the mission room, trying to avoid Ciel at all costs using stealth. Hanging from the ceiling, using a box, the ventilation system, dressing up as Bigfoot, and taking off his helmet. No one recognized him without his helmet, to his surprise.

Ciel approached the unfamiliar. "Hi! Have you seen Zero?"

The blonde-haired reploid wore a smirk on his face. "I think he was hiding in the energy room."

Ciel jumped. "He's going in there to flirt with that Angel girl! That Zero! Hmph!"

Whistling with delight, Zero put his helmet back on as he entered the mission room. "So, what's up? Omega returns? Dr. Weil's new plot consists of resurrecting Dr. Wily?" He paused for a brief second. "Ciel set me up?"

"No, sir. You have received a message. Play it."

On the monitor appears a girl with really stylish blue hair, a light blue dress, sparkling jewelry, and high heels. "Hi, Zero, it's me. Listen, I know we had a rough start, but since Dr. Weil came in, we never did get to settle that Power Invention that Ciel invented."

Ciel overheard from outside. "Did someone call?"

Zero muffled his voice. "Negative, ma'am!"

The girl on the monitor continued to speak. "So let's talk about it, shall we? Just meet me near the place where we fought the second time in thirteen minutes. You know you want to come. See you there! And don't disappoint me!"

"Transmission End."

Zero thought to himself. "Three minutes left..." It had taken him ten to reach the mission room. There was dead silence in the room for a minute. "Um, who the hell was that?"

"You did not recognize her, sir? That was Leviathan."

Zero was surprised. "Leviathan? Holy shit, what did she do to herself?"

"Sir, it appears she removed her armor and replaced it with a dress, curled her hair, added jewelry to her appearance and wore high heel shoes, sir."

Zero only meant to ask that question in rhetoric. "... I can see that, thank you."

Ciel thought she heard Zero. "Zero? Is that you in there?"

Zero's face turned urgent. "Take me there, now!"

Ready to transfer to the proper coordinates.

Zero got impatient. "Just get on with it! I have a minute to go!"

A minute later...

Transfer!

Ciel finally walked in as Zero disappeared. "Zero? Zero! Operator, have you seen Zero?"

"He was in here a second ago."

"Rats! Zero!" Ciel leaves, not knowing Zero teleported on another mission.

Zero appears at his destination, and it looks nothing like it did before. Instead of a dark aquarium filling with water, there are fancy decorations all around, like a really expensive restaurant, but still extremely dark. The only thing visible is a spotlight, shining upon a table, two chairs, one taken, and a candle in between. Zero sees Leviathan waving at him with glee, with her huge blue shiny eyes sparkling and her smile as big as ever.

The only thing he can do in response is look down and shake his head. "I should've known this was a trap."

The girl on the other side waves desperately with a huge smile on her face. "Zero-chan! Hi!" Caught off guard, she clears her throat. "I mean um... Zero, so you came. Please, let's talk."

Zero sat down. "What did you do to yourself?"

"That's not important right now. You came here for a reason, yes?"

"You said you wanted to talk about the power struggle."

"Yes. So..."

There was dead silence.

Both grew impatient. "Well?"

Zero leaned back in his chair. "You invited me here not having a clue on what to say?"

Leviathan did the same. "You came here not having a clue on what to say? Wait, I mean, sorry, my mind was distracted. I apologize."

Zero sighed. "So..."

Leviathan was screwed. She had gone this far with her plan but forgot what to do next. It was bad enough she had to pretend to be serious. But she just let it go. "Zero, the real reason I invited you here..."

"Was some sort of trap to get me to go on a date with you, hence the reason you made yourself look all pretty and shiny, but while you thought I would be shocked and surprised from your new appearance, which I am, that I would lower my guard, giving you the opportunity to play a love song and ask me to dance, but I can't dance and you know that, but you would use the moment when I step on your foot as the perfect excuse to beat my can, or if I tripped you would chain my legs to huge metal balls and try to make me your manslave, and with that happening, you could say to everyone how you defeated the so-called legendary reploid known as Zero even though he defeated you three times in battle, but this wouldn't be a battle because it's a dance and no weapons were used unless I did step on your foot and you beat my can using your scythe, which would probably happen since I can't dance even if my long hundred or so years of life depended on it, which I wind up sacrificing almost every day for a crazy human blonde girl. Am I right?"

Leviathan froze dead in her seat, while Zero took a leg of chicken and took a huge bite. "You and Ciel think very much alike."

Back at the apartment, Fefnir and Harpuia were playing Poker. "Five bucks says Leviathan's plan doesn't work, Harp."

"Please. We all know too well what will happen."

Zero finished off the chicken and was ready to leave. "Operator, we're done here. I think."

"What became of Leviathan, sir?"

Zero looked back at the motionless girl at the table. "Owned. Well, I figured out her plan and she hasn't moved since. I suppose you can transfer me back."

"Please wait."

Zero transferred back to the resistance base, only to find someone waiting for him. "ZERO-CHAN!"

Cerveau could hear Zero scream for dear life, but shrugged and got back to work. Ciel wore a giant smile on her face, dragging Zero across the floor and what appears to be anti-depressant medication in her other hand.

"Wait until you see what kind of place we got, Zero! It's a cute little place with one bedroom, unfortunately two beds, but I can manage. So you're going to help me move in because I need a break and the doctor said I was too stressed out, but this stuff makes me all giddly and full of joy! I can't do anything without you Zero! So will you come, please please please please please?"

Zero didn't even know what was going on. "Uh..."

"Oh, Zero, you are so sweet! Who ever thought a hundred-year old reploid could be so nice and cuuuuuute? Did I say that out loud? Oh well! Joy joy joy, I'm going to get my own place! You'll watch over me, right Zero? I mean, we can't trust Neo Arcadia to leave me alone, it's always me they're after! Well, you too, but I'm the brains behind everything! But enough of that, I need to get all my clothes packed, take all my work with me, and you'll help me because you're so sweet and kind, and the kitchen! Oh, Zero, this is what I've needed for so long! You can use a break, too, since you go on all those dangerous missions which get me so worried!"

Zero could only whimper as Ciel continued to drag him throughout the base yapping her mouth off.

Leviathan walked through the door in complete silence.

Fefnir snickered. "Figured you out again, did he?"

Harpuia just observed his cards. "Did you honestly think he would fall for it the tenth time?"

Leviathan went into her room. "Maybe. Maybe not. I think I finally found his weakness."

Harpuia and Fefnir were actually curious.

"It's that Ciel! She's as crazy as I am when it comes to him! So that means, I must destroy Ciel!"

The boys groaned and turned away in disappointment.

Fefnir got up. "We should just go over there and fight him!"

Harpuia raised an eyebrow. "In the resistance base? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Uh, yeah, I set off the security system and almost got blown to bits from the security guns and resistance force. What's your point?"

Harpuia only shook his head.

Fefnir tried to stand up for himself. "But I stole some cookies! Ain't that worth something?"

Leviathan yelled from her room. "It was cooked by Ciel. You were sick for a month, remember?"

Fefnir's pride dropped like an anvil. "Oh yeah. Well, can't we go anyway?"

Leviathan and Harpuia yelled at him. "NO!"

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"... Now we are!"

Zero, holding at least a story's height of luggage, looks dumbfounded as there's absolutely nothing in front of them. "Um, you know, Ciel, when you said you were forcing me to live with you in an apartment, I was thinking of, you know, an apartment apartment."

Ciel waved her finger at her bag boy. "Oh, silly Zero! The apartment's in a secret place!"

Zero had a bad feeling about this. "Secret?"

Ciel lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yeah!" She takes out some remote control, eagerly awaiting to explain her plan to Zero. "You see, this remote, which I call the Cielmote, pretty clever, isn't it?"

"Uh..."

"Anyway, with the push of a button, it creates a door to cyberspace! I know there have been no sightings of doors to cyberspace ever since Omega was destroyed, so I made this thing so I could go into cyberspace whenever I want! Those guys in Neo-Arcadia won't ever suspect us of being there!"

Zero had some memories that conflicted with that. "Oh, I dunno about that..."

Ciel wasn't paying attention. "C'mon! It'll be fun."

Ciel's remote creates a door to cyberspace, which looks different this time than before. Instead of everything appearing green, it just looks like someone changed the hue on their TV. Unlike the previous cyberspace, there are things that don't appear in the normal world and vice versa. Ciel quickly walks through, not able to wait a second longer to reach their destination, Zero rolls his eyes and shrugs, knowing his options at this point.

Zero was seconds away from dropping the luggage on Ciel. "When we get there, can I sleep? I haven't had a good morning."

"Okay. I'll tell you when we get there."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Leviathan was back in her normal armor. "Okay guys, I'm going out!"

Fefnir and Harpuia weren't paying much attention. Fefnir was playing a classic Megaman game and Harpuia was doing a crossword puzzle.

Leviathan got annoyed. "Aren't you going to ask me where I'm going?"

Harpuia didn't even look at her. "You're going to create some new ice dragon that flies for you and doesn't melt so quickly in an attempt to find Zero to fulfill some scary fantasy."

Leviathan sighed. "You take the fun out of everything, Harp. Actually, I was going to get some professional help."

Harpuia raised an eyebrow.

Leviathan pointed at him. "Psyche! No, seriously, I'm doing what you said earlier. Off to find Zero! Wanna come? We can burn some things down on the way over..."

Fefnir looked at her for a second, then turned back to his game.

"We can kill some pigeons on the way over."

Harpuia just shrugged. "Fine!" Leviathan slammed the door as she walked out.

Harpuia turned the page. "It still don't understand how it's possible we're related."

Leviathan burst back in, impatiently waiting for her brothers. "You guys are coming whether you want to or not!" She pulled out a straw and blew two darts out of it, knocking Harpuia and Fefnir out. "Wow, I'm surprised that actually worked. I didn't think a tranquilizer would work on a reploid. Hah!"

Two of Lev's ice dragons came into the room and carried Fef and Harp's unconscious bodies.

"We're going to pay Zero a little visit!"

"What do you mean he's not here?"

The operator spoke on the other line. "He's not in the base. I think he went out."

Leviathan was baffled. "Well, where to?"

"That information was not given to us."

"Well, what am I supposed to do, now? Hello?"

There was no response from the front gate of the resistance base.

Harpuia was sitting on a nearby rock. "Well, now what?"

Fefnir was walking back and forth to kill time. "We could go hunting for them." He noticed a green glow coming nearby. "Hey, what's that?"

Leviathan poked her head past Fefnir. "A door to cyberspace? But I thought these things disappeared after the Omega battle?"

Harpuia just walked into the door without saying a word, leaving Fef and Lev confused. He poked his head back out. "You got anything else better to do?"

Fef and Lev just looked at each other and shrugged. They had only been in cyberspace once during the Omega battle and came out with seizures. Maybe this time would be different?

This chapter didn't come out as good as I hoped, but the next one's interesting. Will Ciel's vacation plan work out? Will she and Zero be able to hide from the Guardians? What or who awaits them in cyberspace? Is Leviathan actually serious about destroying Ciel? Will Zero ever escape Ciel and Leviathan? What will happen to the trio in Cyberspace? Find out next chapter!