Author: Welcome readers! It's another brand new installment of Whispers of a War. One thing I noticed though. MMZ3 is coming to the States soon, and I think they potentially had the same idea for the last boss battle. Either way, I am going through with my story. So if MMZ3 looks a tad bit similar at the last chapter, then don't mind of it. Thank you people who took the time out of your lives and actually read my fanfic. And those who read and reviewed, thanks! Best regards go to Uzi-Chan, Zindakku and Doug. XD.
Disclaimer: I do not own Capcom. I do not own MMZ2 or the Mega Man Zero series. I wish I did, but those rights belong to Capcom.
Headstrong: Part 1
"Rep…lo…force?" He remembered. Reploforce had been the organization he fought over 100 years ago. The ones who joined thought they could create a world only for reploids. However, Zero and X stopped them from doing so a long time ago. So how could they resurface after all of these years? What was their goal?
"Ugh…" A moan came from behind Zero. It was Fefnir, struggling to get up.
"What just happened?" Leviathan seemed awake now, but she was leaning on her trident.
Both of the Neo Arcadian guardians took quite a beating from Cyber Dragoon. Thankfully, Zero beat him, but he took damage as well. His left shoulder was practically blown off, and his left arm was still attached to his body, perhaps by a miracle. Zero's armor was also melted, so he only had armor with enough toughness as tissue paper, even in his Defense form.
A glimmering little light flew out of his armor and hovered around Zero. It was a cyber-elf. "I have the power to heal you!" The cyber elf said with glee.
"No!" Zero shouted. He didn't want to sacrifice an elf. He always tried to conserve them, but now if the guardians were to attack Zero, he would be finished.
The cyber elf looked at Zero's shoulder with a concerned look on its face. "But you are so damaged…I should heal you!"
Zero did not want to do this, but he had no way of recovering, and he couldn't leave without making sure Ciel's friend was okay. "Fine. Heal me!" Zero said with a hesitant voice.
"I will do my best!" The elf said with a bold voice. It flew around Zero, sprinkling some kind glittering dust around Zero. Then it disappeared into Zero's left shoulder. Both the shoulder and the entire body regained armor, and Zero was able to move now. He felt sad for having to use an elf like that, but he had to.
Zero noticed something out of the ordinary. There were only two guardians. Harpuia was missing. "Where's Harpuia?" Zero asked.
"How the hell should I know? He's been gone for a while now." Fefnir explained. "Get the hell out of our city, or else I'll…" Fefnir stopped in mid-sentence after feeling a pain on his stomach. "Ugh…" He groaned.
Leviathan wasn't hurt as bad as Fefnir was, but she couldn't walk because her right leg was damaged. Her face was decorated with blue bruises. They matched her hair. "What are you doing here anyways? It's unusual of you to come to the aid of a Neo Arcadian city. And I don't think you came to help us, either."
"Not like we needed your help!" Fefnir yelled. "If I paid attention I could have…" Another stomach pain. "Ugh…"
"I just wanted to stroll around." Zero joked. With that said, he turned away and walked the other direction, looking for Ciel's friend.
"Hey come back here! I ain't finished with you! Damn bas…Ugh…" Fefnir decided to stay down.
Zero looked for Ciel's friend. Before he left, Ciel said she had brown hair and always wore a sunflower hat. He hoped he wasn't too late, although he missed most of the action when the guardians fought Cyber Dragoon. The guardians weren't as strong as Zero was, but he found it odd that Dragoon single-handedly beat both guardians at the same time. Then he figured it wasn't really that hard.
"Leviathan doesn't fight well on land, so it was pretty much just Fefnir." Zero thought aloud. Dragoon was pretty strong, though. If that were only a small piece of what Reploforce had to offer, then Zero would have to fight stronger enemies.
A girl ran into him. She wore a sunflower hat and had brown hair. She looked up at Zero, and then she started to try to run away.
"Wait!" Zero said. "I'm here to help you!" The girl kept running. Her house wasn't too far away, so she ran into the house. "Damn…" Zero muttered, as he stood right outside the house. The house itself seemed to be one of the few still intact. It wasn't punctured with holes, and it was still standing.
Zero thought if she was alive, then she was okay. He felt his job was done here. As he turned the other direction, the door opened. The girl had opened the door for him. "Come in…" she said in a meek voice. Zero wondered why all of the sudden Ciel's friend would let him in, but he wanted to make sure Ciel's friend was safe. He took a step inside the house as the girl closed the door behind her.
Zero looked around the house. The inside was dark, and the only light source were a few candles placed around an old woman. Zero had never seen an old human before. Probably the closest was Old Andrew back at the Resistance. The old woman didn't differ much from Andrew, although instead of leaning on a cane, she was sitting down properly. Her eyes looked as if they were closed, but like Andrew, Zero was sure she could see him. She still had hair, but the wrinkles on her forehead and face were abundant.
"Welcome, guest. Please sit down." The old woman said. Her voice wasn't implying a sense of caution or anger. If fact, she seemed as if she knew Zero as a friend before. Her voice was neighborly.
Zero was curious on what the old woman wanted, but in a mannerly way, he sat himself down before the old woman. He couldn't think of what to say, or anything to say at all. He thought it would be best to hear what the old woman had to say first. Zero didn't know why, but he felt nervous. Not even fighting Elpizo or Copy X made him this nervous.
"So, has the attacker stopped yet?" The old woman asked.
"Yes." Zero said promptly. He didn't tell the old woman who he was or that he was the one who stopped the attacker.
"Oh, I see." The old woman raised her hand and motion for the girl to come toward her. "This is my granddaughter, Lesa," the old woman said. "She says you came to help her. You were sent by Ciel, were you not?"
"Yes." Zero said. All he thought of doing was responding to the old woman.
" I see. Well, I'm sure you are a fine lad, taking on an attacker single-handedly like that." She smiled a wrinkled smile.
"I…yes. I did." Zero couldn't believe it. How could the old woman have known that he defeated Cyber Dragoon?
"Even for a blind woman, I can still sense a good person." She turned to Lesa. "You see? Not all reploids are bad. Even the legendary maverick hunter Zero can be gentle!" She exclaimed, still wearing that wrinkled smile.
Lesa turned away, embarrassed that her grandmother was proving her wrong in front of company. "I guess they aren't all bad. I see why Ciel helps them now." There was still some fear in her voice.
Zero was very curious how. "How do you know who I am?"
"Women's intuition." The old woman tapped her forehead with her index finger. "Being blind makes a woman strong. The determination in your voice sets you apart, Zero. My mother told me about your adventures and such. You were a hero."
"What else do you know about me?" Zero asked. He was trying to get some answers from this old woman.
"My mother stopped telling me these stories after you supposedly disappeared. That blue reploid defeated all the mavericks at least. Why did you disappear and come back again, Zero?" The old woman asked.
"I thought it would be the best. I guess that didn't work." Zero stood upright. "Well, thanks for your hospitality. Take care." Then he started walking towards the door.
"A war is inevitable." The old woman said. Her smile disappeared.
Zero turned back. "What?"
"It would seem there has been an uprising with the reploids. The Neo Arcadia will not ignore this attack. Lesa has told me all about your cause, Zero. Unfortunately, I doubt peace is within reach at this time. I don't know if even you can stop this war from happening." The old woman's neighborly voice vanished.
"It looks like the Resistance isn't the only rat running this race. A third party seems to be running as well." Zero said. He knew now that Reploforce had the same intentions a century ago. "I won't let this continue. One way or another, peace will be obtained."
"It is going to take everything you can do in your power to stop this war. You might even need to end it." The old woman said.
"I'll keep that in mind." Zero walked to the door and waved good-bye to Lesa and her grandmother. Before he left, he saw a picture of a middle-aged man holding a rifle and saluting. There were three candles lit around this picture.
"Stop this war Zero. Reploids can't bear to lose another in combat. Humans can't bear to live in pain and fear." The old woman said with a sense of departure in her voice.
When he went outside, he wondered when the first battle would begin. He hoped it would be the last to begin as well.
Change of scene
Fefnir and Leviathan were back inside the Neo Arcadia building. Some medic-drones were able to send them for repairs. Although their vitality was able to regenerate, the armor wasn't fully restored. So Fefnir and Leviathan had to take their armor off to get it fixed.
"I didn't think my armor would melt so fast. He just swept me away like a fly…" Leviathan said. She was ashamed of losing to Cyber Dragoon so easily. Losing in front of Zero made it even worse. Watching Zero beat Cyber Dragoon was the worst.
'I could have beaten that bastard if he wasn't so damn fast!" Fefnir yelled. He too, was angry that he lost. All was not lost for Fefnir, however. He did ogle at Leviathan not wearing any armor. He had never seen Leviathan without armor, and now he was noticing her body. His stare wasn't furtive, so Leviathan could tell a mile away that Fefnir was trying to undress her further with his eyes.
Leviathan screamed, "Damn pervert!" She thrust the bottom of her trident into Fefnir's stomach. Since he wasn't wearing any armor, he certainly felt the blow. He coughed and collapsed to the ground on his knees. While he was looking at the ground, Leviathan finished things with a golf swing, knocking Fefnir's head and lights out. Leviathan scoffed and walked away.
Change of scene
Zero was back in the Resistance Base. Ciel walked up to him with the usual greeting.
"Are you alright?"
"No. I had to use a Cyber-elf…"
"As long as you are okay…I guess." Ciel didn't like using Cyber-elves as much as Zero did.
"By the way, while you were gone a search team came back with results."
"What search team?"
"A couple of scouts found an underground base full of weapons, and they brought back some. There was a bunch of rifles and such, but there was this one odd weapon in particular."
Ciel handed him a pistol.
Zero took it and looked at it carefully. He never thought Ciel would be one to talk about weapons, since she always tried to solve things without violence. He noticed some words were printed on the hilt of the pistol.
"Ciel, what's Red Alert?"
Author: Not much of an action-packed chapter. Oh well. The next one will be a boss-battle chapter, so be patient. I haven't been updating recently. I have finished a book. Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp by C.D. Payne. Funny book. Read and review please. And for the romance genre, I'll add some tidbits of romance between Zero and…someone. You won't know which couple makes it all the way until the end! Stay tuned!