Marianne's p.o.v.

I was running almost all over the town, and I couldn't find Mega Man or the dog that was chasing the boys.

"Damn it," I mumbled, "where are they?"

"Bark bark!"

"Huh?" That bark was so familiar... "Rush...? Rush!" I picked the dog next to my ankels up. "Oh, I missed you, puppy! I thought you were back in my Universe!"

"Oh, is this dog yours, miss?"

"Huh? Mega Man!"

"Hmm? How do you know my-"

I picked him up and gagged him.

"Layer! Alia! Pallete! I found the small robot!"

"Mmmfffmmmffmffmfff!"

Mother's p.o.v.

I was hesitant playing as Axl. But there was already a woman who reminded me of Marianne even more than he did in this game, so I decided to give him a go.

The Maverick's name popped up. 'Suicide Salmon.'

It was an under water stage with fish robots as enemies. There were also these weird clam enemies that would open up their shells and shoot perals at you. That caught me off guard at first.

And Axl was actually really fun to play. He could only shoot while standing still, and could shoot in all directions. He also had a unique ability like X and Zero; hovering. He had a second unique ability; he could transform into another robot at will; and he even had a storage for the copy chips so you could use any one any time you wanted.

Eventually, we got to Suicide Salmon and another anime cut scene triggered.

"Hey! Looks like I'm having sea food tonight!"

"Who the fuck are you? Are you a Maverick Hunter?"

"You bet I am! Now you'd better give me a good fight, or I won't ever forgive you."

"Tell me... Do you know of a project called the Mega Project?"

"Huh? No. What does that have to do with anything? Is that something I should know about?"

"Heh heh. Didn't you come here for a fight?"

So the fight started. Suicide Salamon was pretty simple. His only moves were that he would sometimes use his tail as a whip, and he would also try to bite you with his large fangs.

Both were pretty hard to dodge, actually. It took me nearly thirty minutes, and Axl was down to one pelet of HP. By the end of the fight, his text box popped up.

"Why is the room spinning...?"

X's p.o.v.

"AXL!" He was on the ground with a bump over his left eye, twitching and moaning. "AXL!" I slapped him across the face. "Stay with me!" Slap. "Axl!" Slap. "Wake up, or Marianne'll kill me!" Slap.

"I uh, don't think that'll help, X."

"Boys!" Marianne called through the comunicator. "I found Classic Mega Man!"

"You did? Great!"

"SOMEBODY FREAKIN' HELP ME! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"But... what am I supposed to do with him now?"

"You could let me go."

"Hmm... Well, for starters you could ask him who deactivated him, or why he was being guarded by a Maverick."

"I don't-"

"Good idea. You three take care of the Mavericks, okay?"

"Alright. We'll meet up with you soon." I hung up. "I'll keep an eye on Axl, you take on the next Maverick."

"K, I'll be right back."

After he left, I looked up towards the cave ceiling in thought. Why was that, err, 'robot' a mini version of myself? Who built him? I thought maybe I should've been interrogating him instead of Marianne.

I held the hole in my chest, which didn't hurt anymore.

There was something about that 'robot' Mega Man's shot that made me feel... a bit nostalgic and proud. I thought it was because you don't usually see small Reploids anymore, and not all Reploids (that aren't Mavericks, that is) are strong enough to put a hole in my armor. But, it felt more than just pride in someone else, it felt... more than that... Like he meant something to me.

Axl moaned and reached towards the ceiling of the cave, his arm twitching.

"I can see the light..."

"Axl? Axl!?"

"What pretty flowers..."

I grabbed him and slapped him again.

"No, seriously! Do not die! Nothing a Maverick has ever done to me could compare to what Marianne'll do to me if she found out you died!"

I felt somebody's breath on my neck.

"I've finally found you, Mega Man X. And it looks like this time you're alone."

"Huh-"

They grabbed me by my face, covering up my mouth. My vision started to fade, and my strength began to seece. Right before I passed out, they said one more thing;

"I finally found his gift to me."

Marianne's p.o.v.

I was in a small room with him with an interrogating light.

"Okay, now you wanna tell me why you were being guarded by a Maverick?"

"I don't. Know," he growled angrily.

"Well, tell me what you do know," I said as I sat down across from him. "Tell me who deactivated you and why."

He frowned, as if trying to remember.

"... I was... playing with my dog... Then everything went all black. The last thing I remember were the muttered words... You've been replaced, Mega Man." He dropped his head. "That's all I know. I don't remember a thing past or a minute before that."

"Hmm... Well, it looks like this is quite a mute point. It looks like whoever had deactivated you put that Maverick in charge of guarding you. Either that, or they stole you after you were deactivated. The latter is honestly more plausible, really. You seem to be telling the truth, so I'll leave you alone for now."

"W-wait!" He took my hand. "What year is it?"

"... 21XX."

His grip loosened and his eyes widened.

"One hundred years," he breathed.

He let go of my hand and fell on his knees.

"H-hey, calm down."

"I've been gone for a century...!"

I rubbed his back.

"Calm down. Everything's okay."

"No it's not...! Or it could be, I don't know! Roll... Rush... Dr. Light... Proto Man... What happened to them...?"

"I-I... can't answer that."

I didn't know what else to say to him. I actually forgot Roll existed, not gonna lie... Then I thought of something that might've cheered him up.

"H-hey, I have a- HE'S GONE! Fuck, he must've gone through the window. Damn it...! Now I've gotta find him again!"

Zero's p.o.v.

Okay, putting my pride aside, I got the living shit beat out of me.

"Geez, whoever's controlling me now must really suck. I miss the days where I could move on my own..."

I slowly walked through the portal, and saw Axl directly in front of me, grinning nervously.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey."

"... Hey. What?"

"Ha ha. Okay, Zero, uh, just out of context... what would you do to the guy who told you your best friend was kidnapped, and all that's left of him is his blood and a note with blood on it saying 'We've taken him for ourselves'?"

"I'd murder him in his sleep in the most brutally way possible."

"Oh. Well uh, I guess it's a good thing I'm not telling you that then. Ha ha ha..."

"Ha ha ha! Would you like to take a nap?"

"No... I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Y-yeah. I'm sure."

Author's note: I came up with a plot! ^.^