Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, I own nothing Megaman, you know the frickin' drill by now. I doubt anyone reads the disclaimer anyway. Like the credits to a movie at the theater: NO ONE CARES!

Also, for the sake of this chapter, I also don't own anything Gundam SEED or Love Hina.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It had been several hours since Vent had left for the power plant. Not that anyone was worried. They were annoyed more than anything. Aile growled.

"He'd better get his ass back here soon or so help me I'll--"

Prairie sighed. Aile was getting a little to hot-headed for her taste.

"Relax, girl! I'm sure that he's on his way."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"THIS ROCKS!!!"

Vent was on his way back. However, the air dash functions of Model Hx were a little distracting.

"I could probably fly back to the airship!"

Model H's voice was in his head.

"You'd suffocate before reaching that altitude."

"Awww...maaaaan...fine, we'll use a trans-server like every other human on the fucking planet."

This time it was Model X's voice."

"That's more like it. And watch your mouth, mister."

"Yes, mother!"

Model Z found it appropriate to pip in.

"Good. I reserve all rights to use foul language!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Vent warped into Guardian HQ. Unlike his last few times, there was no welcoming party.

"Aw, I feel so unloved now!"

The door opened. Aile and Prairie stepped in.

"Oh get over it."

"Hey, up your's, Aile!"

"What did you just say to me!?"

Vent could only squeak.

"Nothing..."

"That's what I though."

Prairie held her head in her hand.

"Ugh, remind me to hose you two off later. Did you get the biometal?"

"Yup! Model H! Problems have arisen though."

Prairie sighed.

"I feel a headache coming on. What is it?"

"Model H says that he doesn't have the whole password and that--"

"Of course he doesn't! You need the other--"

"Will you let me finish!? He says that Serpent split his data in two and he needs the other half."

Prairie moaned and left for the command deck. Vent blinked.

"She's taking that rather well."

Aile shrugged.

"Whatever."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few hours had passed and Vent had retired to his room, which, due to space issues, he was forced to share with Aile. He didn't mind this all that much. It passed through the 'I'm-a-guy-and-don't-really-care filter.' Aile was, on the other hand, not as pleased. She had to deal with Vent's pirated anime music and random manga everywhere. She must have tripped over the same copy of Love Hina four times that day. Aile had tried reading it, but found that Vent had too much of a taste for guy's manga. Then again, she was reading volume 3. She considered starting from the beginning sometime. She did, however, enjoy watching his box set of Gundam SEED. Vent lay on his bed, throwing darts at a new dartboard. Luckly, the walls of Guardian HQ were metal, so whenever he missed, the dart would harmlessly fall to the floor. Prairie walked in to the room to see Vent on the top bunk. Aile was in the corner reading. They both looked like zombies. Prairie sighed at the sight.

"Jesus, Aile. And you say that Vent is lazy. You're no better!"

Vent looked up.

"Eh? You two talk about me?"

Aile threw something that felt like a dart at Vent. It missed, but she made her point.

"Okay! Sorry I asked. So what's going on, Prairie? New biometal to hunt down?"

"No. I was just wondering why I wasn't hearing anything in here. You usually are talking, or killing each other, or something."

Aile sighed.

"I do the killing. Not Vent."

"She's right."

"Well why don't you two do something useful? Vent, couldn't you be training or something?"

"I suppose. I did just get a new biometal after all."

"Aile! Couldn't you help him with...I don't know, practice dodging something? You have a bigger knack for that blaster than some of the better Guardians!"

"She does?"

"I've...been passing the time..."

"See? You two could do something."

"But I wanna stay here and hang with Aile. Just relax for awhile!"

Prairie looked at Vent then smiled at Aile. She could almost hear Prairie's thoughts.

"Awwww, I think he likes you!"

Aile, not wanting to put up with much more at the moment, sighed and put the manga she was reading down.

"Fine, fine, fine. Come on Vent. Let's just do it."

"Eh?"

"Now, Mister."

"Okay, okay. Jeeeeez."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Vent was hiding behind a column in the training room hiding from Aile. She was a disgustingly good shot.

"Aile? Could you tone it down a little! You're gonna kill me!"

"In battle, you don't get freebies!"

Aile charged her gun and fired. She missed Vent completely for the first time that day. Models X and Z were getting rather annoyed. Model Z snarled.

"Vent, you're taking it easy on her, I can tell. You're acting weird!"

Model X sighed.

"He probably just doesn't want to be here. He'd rather be in his room reading Love Hina."

Model Z scoffed.

"I'll bet he just dosen't wanna hurt his little girlfriend on accident! No one said training was risk free. I'll bet she's holding back too!"

"What!?"

"What!? Vent! I'm ashamed of you!"

"Model Z is putting words in my mouth!"

"I'll bet they're true though! I should have seen it. You share a room, you're social lives revolve around one another, you basically work together! I wouldn't be surprised if you have sex when I'm not looking! That's not going to happen now though! Oh, no. Not on my watch!"

Model Z sighed.

"Oh lord, here he goes..."

"What do you mean, here he goes!?"

"Well, you see, X here has a morals so high, it would disgust a saint."

"Up yours, Zero! You could use some morals!"

"...Zero?"

"What, did you not think we have real names? Course we do! The name is Zero. Model X is well...Megaman X. "X" for short. And Model H is..."

"...Harpuia."

"Oh. Well, I guess its better than calling you Model Z, X, or H."

"Hello, Vent."

Vent looked up to notice that Aile had snuck up on him while he was taking with X and Zero. She had her gun pointed at him.

"It's almost too easy!"

Vent squeaked before pulling out his Z-Saber. He swung at the gun and cut it in two. Aile yelped and dropped it before the small explosion. Vent laid down and sighed.

"At least that's over."

"No its not."

Vent felt Aile reach to his holdster and pulled out his blaster. The only one that he couldn't cut in two without lowering his arsenal. Vent scrambled away.

"Will it never end!?"

If Zero had a mouth, he would be smiling.

"Something tells me that I'm going to enjoy working with these two."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

About an hour later, Vent was on the floor gasping for breath as Aile gave him his gun back.

"If I'm tiring you out like that, then I'm scared to find out what would happen if I actually tried."

"Ah ha! See!? SEE!? They won't go all out against each other!"

"X, chill out."

Aile blinked and pointed at X.

"What's his problem?"

"Nothing, I'll explain later. Let's go find Prairie. Maybe something has come up."

When the two reached the command deck, Prairie was nowhere to be found. The stuffed animal wasn't in its chair either.

"Is she...out?"

"No, Vent. She's invisible. Yes, she's out."

Vent sighed and walked off toward the direction of the elevator. Aile sat down and sighed. X, Zero, and Harpuia floated there in the corner. Zero was smirking on the inside.

"You watch. She'll go after him."

"Probably."

"You two are having way to much fun with this."

"Lighten up, X! Have a little fun every so often. It's no wonder you're always so worked up."

Aile sighed and left, in the direction of the elevator.

"Told you. They like each other."

Harpuia started after her.

"Perhaps, yes. Vent doesn't seem to worried about that right now."

"Well, better her than the one doing the fighting."

"Give it a rest, X."

When Aile found Vent he was on the outside deck. It was dark out, so the ship was just floating in place instead of moving. Vent had his right sleeve rolled up and was looking his arm over. He rolled it down when he saw Aile coming.

"Vent, what were you doing?"

"Eh? Nothing."

"You're lying to me."

"No I'm not! I'm-- Hey!?"

Aile pulled up his sleeve and winced slightly, There was a long laceration on his arm and it looked deep.

"You got this out at the power plant...didn't you?"

"...Hivolt got me once when I wasn't looking."

"...What's it like out there? Fighting Mavericks? Having everything that moves wanting you dead?"

"Its...kinda scary really. Knowing you're the only one there fighting for your side. Being shot at, slashed at, chased around. Yet at the same time, I don't care, because I know why I'm out there. Fighting to prevent Model W from being awoken. To stop Serpent. To not let anyone else end up like Mom, or Boss."

Aile was seeing it again. Vent changing. A few days ago, he wouldn't have been like this. He would be living life the way he wanted with she and Giro. While she missed the old Vent, something about the new Vent excited her. Knowing that he was going through some changes for the better. The two sat down.

"How close do you come to death out there?"

"Today? I'm not sure. I've been almost smashed, nearly fallen into pits, and fought an oversized green eagle-like pseudoroid. I really lost count."

X and Zero hovered nearby. Harpuia was off who knew where.

"See, X? They're...shy. Besides, they do care about each other. Maybe its not such a bad thing? Who knows? Maybe some good will come of this."

"...Maybe, Zero. Maybe not. Only time will tell."

Aile started nodding off. She leaned up against Vent.

"V...Vent...don't...end up like...Boss..."

Aile fell asleep. Vent nodded.

"Heh heh...wouldn't dream of it."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Another chapter. Sorry that this one was late. This was kind of a hard chapter to write. I got writter's block I don't know how many times, and I'm still not sure that his one came out so well. Still, I can't just throw stage after stage after stage out without character development between them, right? In the future, maybe these 'down-time' chapters will get better and longer. This was more of an experiment for me. I'm used to writting with my own characters, not ones that already exist. Quite frankly, I think the training session was on the border of being a parody. Then again, all fics are parodies if you think about it.

Anyway, I guess I'll shoot for next this incoming Friday for the next chapter. Until then, I guess.