Disclaimer: Don't own X, Capcom does.. yadda, yadda, yadda…. I'm so jealous. However, the basis of MoonStriker and Katana are mine! MINE I SAY!

In other news… wow…. I didn't expect the fic to get such a response. Though a few more reviews would be appreciated. For those that did…. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Here's a cookie.

Chapter One: Of Pranks and Reports

"AAAAXXXXXXXLLLLLLL!"

The orange haired reploid in question flinched slightly at just how LOUD the shout/scream had been. He knew there was going to be some yelling but never that loud. Besides, it's not like what he did was permanent. Though, X probrobly didn't know about that yet. Still, the young reploid didn't bother to get up from his lounging spot on the couch in front of the TV in the hunter lounge.

"Aren't you going to run," asked the reploid next him. His armor was mostly red and white and his long blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail. Zero looked over at the younger reploid. Axl had mentioned a prank but he hadn't told him what it was or who the victim was. Right now, the victim was very obvious.

"Nope," Axl replied. "He'd find me anyways."

Before Zero could respond the blue bomber had stormed into the room. But when Zero glanced over his shoulder and the back of the couch to look at the other Maverick Hunter he burst out into laughter.

"Zero," X scolded while putting his hands on his hips. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

But Zero couldn't stop laughing and by now even Axl was having trouble trying not to smirk, let alone laugh. He knew if he did X would probrobly haul off right there and kill him. Still, it was a funny sight.

Instead of X's normal head of dark blue/black hair there was a different color. It was now a rather interesting shade of purple. Said reploid narrowed his eyes and glared at the two, though it was mostly focused on Axl.

"Relax X," the younger hunter said in an attempt to calm the other down, "It's not permanent."

X opened his mouth to give a rather harsh verbal lashing but it was forestalled when all three of their radio's beeped.

'X, Zero, Axl. I need you three to come to my office immediately,' Signas's voice ordered before the link cut off.

X shot Axl a look that clearly said 'We'll talk later' before heading back out of the lounge. Zero and Axl quickly got up and followed. They exchanged a curious glance at one another, wondering what was up.

- - - - -

Now one had to give Signas credit when the three entered his office. All he did was blink in surprise but quickly shook it off while Alia stared openly at X's new hair color. The blue reploid's cheeks took on a small hint of red when he noticed the female navigator staring but quickly shook it off as he turned his attention to Signas.

The Commander of the Maverick Hunters coughed into his fist before flipping through a couple of papers and handing one to X. "The Japanese base sent us this a couple of hours ago," he explained as X showed the paper to Zero and Axl. "Apparently mavericks have been getting retired by an unknown reploid. Its official name is unknown but the native humans have been calling him 'Draco' and they believe he is a defender of the people. All attempts by the Japanese branch of the Maverick Hunters to locate this reploid have failed. They just sent us this request for help in the matter a few hours ago."

"But according to this the incidents have been happening for over a year and a half now," Zero pointed out. "Why did it take them so long to ask for help?"

Signas shook his head. "From what the base commander over there told me the rumors seemed unsubstantial since most of the mavericks taken out were very small time and didn't cause enough damage to be easily noticed. It was only recently that Draco seemed to have taken out a couple of high profile mavericks before the Japanese hunters could."

X nodded. While they tried to rid the world of all mavericks, there were some times when some got under the radar. There was only so much manpower the Maverick Hunter's had; especially with the most recent wars and the damage they caused. Sometimes it took months to track down and retire some of the more minor mavericks. It was even longer in rural areas like those the faxed report noted. "But how do we know this Draco even exists? It seems as if no one has seen the reploid besides a couple of quick glances of a cloaked figure in the area," he pointed out. It could very well be a trap set up by the mavericks to try and catch them off guard and send them on a wild goose chase.

"I too have gone over the possibility this could be a trap," Signas said before glancing over at Alia.

The navigator cleared her throat before speaking up. "I've gone over the data the Japanese branch has forwarded. The images and reports seem legit. Also, either way the mavericks in question really have been destroyed. The maverick hunters have recovered all of the remains after getting calls from a village or town near every location. Something is destroying mavericks in Japan and it is NOT a maverick hunter. That much I can defiantly conclude."

"And in the unlikely case that this is some trick by the mavericks," Signas interjected, "I am sending you three in to investigate. Each of you has different skills that will be very useful in figuring out this case. See what you can find and report back at regular intervals."

"Yes Sir," the three hunters replied while saluting. They turned and headed out once Signas gave a nod of dismissal.

Zero grinned and threw his arms over both Axl and X's shoulders. "Well boys pack you bags," he said, "We're goin' to Japan!"

- - - - -

Four hours later the three maverick hunters teleported to the Japanese base of the Maverick Hunters. There they met Command Rekka (whom looked remarkably like a red and gold themed Signas) and got the last details of their assignment before heading out. They were using a jeep and traveling in civilian clothes rather than teleporting around in full armor. From what they gathered, this mission was going to take some time before being completed.

Zero yawned in boredom as he watched the country side go by from the passenger seat. All three had recalled their armor and were now in civilian clothes. His consisted of a pair of baggy jeans, a white t-shirt with red trim, and black leather jacket. X was wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a dark blue t-shirt. Axl looked like an average teenager with black baggy pants with neon green trim and that had multiple belts and such hanging all over and a black t-shirt with a light blue design of a dragon. Zero glanced back at said teenager in silent wonder as to what he was up to.

Axl had been quiet so's not to test X's patience anymore and draw his wrath. He considered himself lucky that he got off as easily as he did. All X had done was yell at him a lot (though he normally got scolded for his pranks from X anyways so this wasn't really new) and make him carry some of the heavy radio equipment they were bringing along. As it was now, Axl was lightly dozing in the back seat in an attempt to relive his boredom.

Zero turned his gaze forward again and watched X drive for a few minuets before turning his gaze out the window again.

The latest reports/rumors had Draco in an area south of where they were currently heading. There had been a scuffle with a local maverick but no signs of its retirement. It was reported that the maverick might have fled north into the area they were currently heading to. If that was the case, then Draco would defiantly be hanging around the area. Though all this was speculation and a long shot on a single rumor. Draco's movements were very sporadic and seemed to follow a general loop except when rumors sent him elsewhere. Also, Draco's traveling times seemed to vary greatly. All this made it very hard to predict where the reploid might be. The town they were heading for was in an isolated area surrounded by small mountains and forests. It was called Korrin.

"We'll be at the town in less than half an hour," X said when he noticed Zero seemed bored. He didn't blame him; they'd been driving for a few hours now.

"Thank god," the blonde hunter muttered to himself but getting a chuckle out of X.

- - - - -

On a high cliff light blue eyes looked out across the landscape. They focused in on the long road and the vehicle moving along it. The wolf would have frowned if he could. Strangers were very rare in this area and he wondered just why they were here of all places. They couldn't be mavericks because they would be trying to hide their tracks better. Mavericks tended to keep an even lower profile than normal when Draco was rumored to be in the area. Still, he'd better let his charge know about this.

The wolf tilted his head back and let out a long howl that echoed across the distance.

- - - - -

Deep within the forests that surrounded the town of Korrin, two dark blue eyes with silver flecks snapped open and immediately looked to the sky when they picked up on the howl. Confusion and a little bit of worry flashed in the teenager's eyes as the message was translated. Immediately the teenager picked up their things before heading back towards the village. It was mid morning and about time they headed back anyways.

Still, these new comers were going to have to be watched in case they did turn out to be mavericks or anything else that might be a threat.

- - - - -

By the time X drove into the town of Korrin Axl was awake and fidgeting. Zero was barely managing to keep himself from fidgeting as well. They'd been driving for a long time and he was about as eager as Axl to get out of the jeep and just walk around. When they arrived X pulled over in front of a building marked as an inn and parked. The town was small and there was no parking lot for the inn that probrobly only housed a handful of rooms.

Once the car was stopped, Axl immediately jumped out with a shout of joy and began to hop around. He was so glad to be out of that car.

X smirked at Axl's antics and he looked over at Zero when he heard him chuckle. Their attention was brought across the small street when they heard a soft laugh. Across from the inn was a good sized general store. There was a pickup truck parked out front.

"Well you're obviously not from around here. Can I help you guys with anything," the female teenager asked as she picked up another box and set it in the back of the truck with a small clanking sound of glass bottles. Her body was lean but showed obvious muscles whenever she moved. Her skin was slightly tanned where ever it was exposed. Her demeanor and build showed she was a fighter at least on some level, probrobly a participant of martial arts. Her straight hair was a dark brown/black color and would have reached halfway down her thighs if it wasn't pulled back in a braid. There were two dark blue streaks in her hair, one on each side of her head, and two more in her bangs over each eye. Her bangs came down far enough where the tips barely brushed over the top of her eyes and also framed a rather pretty face. What seemed to be most startling about this girl was her eyes though. They were a very dark shade of blue with silver flecks in them, resembling the night sky almost.

Her clothes consisted of a pair of black stretch flare pants with dark blue lacings in little 'x's going all the way up the sides and some dark blue tread accents around the pockets and such and a dark blue leather belt. Her dark green shirt stopped about halfway down her stomach and was skin tight. The straps came together in the back and it came up rather high in the front. The back was open enough to show two angel wing tattoos in a silver-white color with dark green and blue accents/highlights. There was a black band of cloth tired around her upper left arm with the ends hanging down about 6 inches along the back-inner part of her arm. On the band an image of a silver star over a gold sun was stitched so it faced out. There was also a gold star locket hanging around her neck with a silver Chinese dragon design etched into the front.

For a minuet the three hunters just seemed to stare at the girl. From the unusual color of her hair and eyes and the way she easily lifted what were obviously heavy crates full of supplies and such; it was obvious this girl was a civilian reploid. She looked to be about a year older than Axl physically which probrobly put her looking to be around 17. X and Zero looked to be about 18 or 19 while Axl looked 16. But since she was a reploid, her technical age was probrobly no where near that. Also, judging by her height relative to the truck she looked to be about 5'8"; same height as Axl but about 2 inches shorter than X and a couple more shorter than Zero.

The girl leaned against the back of the truck as the three stared, trying not to laugh. "Well," she asked.

X seemed to be the first one to snap out of the mini trance. He shock his head a little to get his senses back in order before smiling and saying, "Yes actually. You see, we're Maverick Hunters sent here on a mission and since we we're probrobly going to be staying for a while we figured we'd look around before checking into the inn."

"Really," the girl commented while raising an eyebrow as she looked the three over. She pushed away from the truck so she was no longer leaning against it and moved to the last couple of crates she had to load. "Well once I'm done loading this truck up I can show you around if you'd like umm…"

X blinked when he heard her paused and realized he hadn't told her their names. "Oh. My name is Megaman X," he said while motioning to himself before motioning towards the blonde, "That's Zero and that's-"

"I'm Axl," the red head cheerfully shouted, earning a small glare from X for interrupting him.

The girl let out another laugh as she placed the last crate in the back of the truck. Axl's enthusiasm was amusing. "My name's Katana," she said as she turned to face them once again, "Though most people just call me Kai." (A/N: If you didn't see this coming I was better at hiding it than I thought. That, and my foreshadowing sucked -.)

"It's a pleasure to meet you," X said.

"Likewise," Katana replied before motioning for them to follow her as she headed inside the general store.