Loved and Lost
Chapter 3
"Road to Recovery?"
By MEGAMANX411

Zero shook his head in disbelief. There was no way this could be happening. There just wasn't a rational explanation for it at all. He looked around the training room with a cautious gaze. Nothing appeared to be out of order. Whatever had happened must have been some sort of twisted prank from someone…but the thing was, no one else at Hunter HQ knew about all that. No one besides X, that is.

"Could X…?" Zero thought aloud. "No. There's no way he'd do that…"

Zero removed his helmet and scratched his head. It just wasn't logical at all. Could he have imagined it, like when he dreamed about Dr. Wily? But this didn't seem like a dream at all. It felt too real. Someone had to be pulling something here, and Zero didn't like it at all. If he found out someone was trying to mess with him, there'd be hell to pay. Zero sighed angrily and stormed off, trying to figure out what really could have happened. Before he got too far off though, X intercepted him.

"Zero!" X called out. "Are you ok? I heard some screaming from the training room."

"Did you see anyone mess with the training A.I.?" Zero questioned, almost instantly.

X looked a little thrown off from the question. He didn't see anyone go around the base, and there certainly wasn't an intruder—the alarm would've sounded if that were the case. As far as X knew, Zero was the only person even relatively close to the training center. Besides, only a licensed Hunter or Navigator/Programmer could even change the settings.

"No, not that I know of," X answered. "Did something go wrong?"

Zero shook his head and massaged his forehead. It looked like he was having a terrible headache.

"I just saw something in there I didn't want to see. I think there might be something wrong with me…" Zero responded, his voice trailing off.

X gave Zero a confused look. He had never seen him so confused or hurt. Zero had always been tough and confident, so this sudden display of weakness was really unnerving. Whatever happened in the training room must have really gotten to him.

"Hey Zero, do you want to go out and get a drink with me or something? You don't look well," X offered, giving his friend a concerned gaze.

Zero shook his head slowly. X's idea sounded good. Maybe relaxing would put him at ease. Zero reasoned that maybe he was just working himself too hard; the stress was getting to him. That had to be it; it was all just a bizarre series of coincidences. Worse things have happened in the past, so he knew he could get through it.

"Yeah, I think I'll join you. Maybe it'll help clear my head," Zero answered. "What about Alia though?"

"She told me she's busy at the moment. Commander Signas is new too, so he's working closely with Alia to get all the Maverick Hunter computer systems up to date and updating records. We'll have lots of free time while they're working," X responded, looking a little more cheerful now.

With that, X and Zero decided to step out of Maverick Hunter HQ for a well-deserved break. Before heading out, they removed their fighting gear and got into some casual clothing. Zero put on a nice white button shirt and some casual khaki pants. Even when he was relaxing Zero always made an effort to look his best. X, on the other hand, just slipped into a blue t-shirt and some jeans. They headed out to a new bar in the area that was only a few blocks from Hunter HQ.

The building was clean and looked really fashionable. Zero recognized a few of his off-duty co-workers there, as well as dozens of fan-girls who enjoyed mobbing him on a pretty regular basis. Slowly, he started to forget about the weird happenings that were going on and instead starting thinking that he was going to have a good time. Zero motioned to X to follow him, and they grabbed seats at the bar. Zero turned to his buddy X.

"Thanks for heading out with me X, this is a nice place," Zero stated casually.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. I noticed they finished building it a few days ago, and I remembered you haven't gone out in awhile. A lot of girls kept telling me that they missed you," X answered, chuckling.

Zero smiled in response. He looked around the bar. A few tables down there were some girls looking at him, waving. Zero smiled and waved back, flashing his typical charm. He actually forgot about Iris for a minute and just was concerned about having a good time. X noticed this and smiled. He was happy to see his friend not moping around all the time, he wanted him to be his usual self. Zero looked back at X and gave him an arrogant smirk.

"Take some notes X," said Zero, rising from his seat.

Zero walked over to the table he waved at earlier. His appearance was, in short, just about perfect. His clothes were stylish, his hair was great, and he had beautiful eyes and a lady-killer smile. He took a nearby empty chair and sat down by them. There were three girls at the table, all Reploids. There were some human girls at the next table that were eyeing him too though.

"So how are you girls doing on this fine evening?" Zero asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Good…" one of the girls said shyly, blushing in response.

"What are your names?" Zero asked, his charm showing its full power.

"I'm Lilith," answered the first girl. She had light skin, short blue hair, hazel eyes, pierced ears, and was wearing a black t-shirt (with a popular clothing company logo design on the front), and some Capri pants.

"My name's Ayame," answered the girl next to Lilith. She had long, shoulder-length black hair with deep blue eyes. She was wearing a green sweater and some jeans.

"I-I'm Katsumi," responded the third girl. She had brown hair and brown eyes, pierced ears, and was wearing a striped shirt with black jeans.

All three of the girls were very cute, and obviously knew about Zero. Maverick Hunters were practically celebrities, with Zero being prime among them. While Zero was having some idle chitchat with the three girls, X just smiled at him and was sipping at his drink. He'd accomplished his goal. Zero asked the girls about how they were doing, if they liked the bar, etc. They didn't ask him too much back because they all seemed pretty shy, but were clearly pleased that he was talking to them.

Just then, a waitress went up to the table Zero was at. Zero noticed her coming, and decided to order for the girls in one fell swoop.

"Hey there, we'll have…" Zero started, stopping once he saw the waitress.

She looked EXACTLY like Iris. Zero's jaw hung open for a minute. There was an awkward silence. In the back of Zero's head, he could hear Iris' voice. She didn't sound pleased.

Having fun cheating on me Zero? whispered a voice in his head.

Zero swore he heard Iris in his head. Everything stayed quiet for a little bit, and everyone there seemed a little confused. After a few moments of tension, Zero reasoned that this girl only looked like her…it wasn't another weird mind trick. There was no way Iris was speaking to him. It was probably jsut his conscious reprimanding him for being back on the prowl. He sighed lightly and smiled again. That's one victory for logic!

"You all right?" asked the waitress.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You just reminded me of someone I knew, that's all. Anyway, could you bring these cute girls some drinks? It's on me," Zero answered slyly.

With that out of the way, Zero went on to enjoy Lilith's, Ayame's, and Katsumi's company for about another hour or so. He told the girls he'd see them again, but they each insisted on giving him their numbers anyway. He smiled and accepted them. X, in the meantime, chatted it up with some co-workers. He rejoined Zero once again.

"You had this planned out, didn't you?" Zero asked.

"Maybe," X answered, giving Zero a sly look. "The girls are nice though, aren't they? They're applicants for the upcoming computer assistants at Maverick Hunter HQ, and I remembered that they told me they really wanted to meet you. Who knows, you might see them hanging around work sometime!"

"I had a feeling you were going to do something like this," Zero responded, patting his friend on the back. "Thanks X. This really made me feel better."

That night Zero caught up on some quick briefings from work, and after another short (but thankfully normal) training session, he was ready to hit the sack. He slipped into his bed attire once more, got into bed, floating off into his own dream world. Little did he know what was waiting for him there.