Zero and company are owned by Capcom, not me.
The Newcomer
Date:2134 A.D. Subject:Zero2 Security level: Classified
The young man walked down the hall as if he knew where he was going. Truth was, he didn't even know where he was at the immediate moment.
"Isn't it wonderful?" he mused to himself. "You try to help some people out and they decide that since you're here to help, you can do all the work. Stuck exploring a cave. Ha. I came to help with the fighting. Not explore some stupid cave that might have some sort of hidden ancient building in it. Sheesh." He was a tall person, a little over six feet, but still taller than most people in this day and age. He had long blond hair that came down to his ankles. He also had a sword strapped across his back.
He continued to walk down the hall until he came to what appeared to be a dead end.
"Dead end at that. Great. See Seero. You told yourself not to get into this mess. You were happy right where you were, but noooo. You had to go help the people who were at war with the Reploids that have taken over the world. Not that you really had a choice, seeing as you were taken with all the other kids whose parents decided that they were tired of being stuck with the Reploids." He turned to go and as he did so he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A piece of metal seemed to gleam in the corner of the cave. "What have we here?" He began to rub at the spot trying to see if there was lettering on it of if it was just dirt that seemed to be spelling something out. As he did so a section of the wall swung away. "Well now, what do we have here?" He walked past the door and into the middle of the room. There was virtually no light except for a little green one that appeared to be blinking on the other side of the room. As he walked in the door shut of it's own accord. "Great. Either it opens back up when I want out or I die of starvation and asphyxiation."
Suddenly the lights in the room came on. A feminine metallic voice seemed to come from somewhere above him. "Lights activated. Booting up system."
"System? There's a computer in here somewhere? I thought all of them had been taken when the Human-Reploid war started."
"Apparently not ,young man. This one can't be moved any ways," an older, masculine voice sounded out.
Seero turned and pulled the sword out at the same time. He didn't find anyone there, though. "Who are you?"
"I doubt if you would know who I am but I will tell you anyway. I was known as Dr.Light. Now, though, I am just a program that takes up residence in this computer. I do, however, have all of Dr.Light's memories and knowledge so I refer to myself as Dr. Light. It simplifies matters. What kind of turmoil is Sigma creating now?"
"How did you know it was Sigma? Who's Sigma?" Seero looked surprised. He lowered his sword and relaxed. "Can't you show yourself somehow?"
"I suppose I could work my way around to that. Watch the wall behind you." Seero turned around to face the indicated wall. Part it began to turn so that the keyboard and monitor of a very large system came into view. "You do know how to work one of these don't you?" Dr. Light asked.
"Of course." He began to approach the keyboard. "Was there something you specifically wanted me to do?" He looked up at the monitor and noticed the face that had appeared there. "Thank you. It's much more comforting to at least have a face to talk to even if it is part of a computer program."
"I figured as much. You don't need to look up anything at all. I am going to show you some of the destruction that Sigma caused the last five times he caused trouble." Dr. Light then began to show him a series of small clips of the terror that had been Sigma's wars.
"It appears he was stopped all six times. Who stopped him?"
"Two creations."
"Creations?"
"You're interrupting. It's rude. One of these was mine. He was called Mega Man X. I created him before my death. I was forced to put him into a capsule to check all of his systems due to the fact that I would not live to see the completion of the checks. Dr. Cain, who managed to find my lab as well, then unearthed X. He was a great colleague. I managed to get him to do the same thing so that I did so that I would be able to access his knowledge of the Reploids. We also did not tell X of my computerized existence, at least not until we deemed it necessary. Well, anyway, to continue the story. He resurrected my lab and uncovered X. X was then activated. I gave him the ability to think and decide for himself, therefore making him nearly human. I did, however, install a system that would allow him to fight should he decide to. Cain then began to look at his systems and began making replicas of X, although he didn't include the weapons system that I gave X. Then he ran into a problem. Some of the Reploids began to think that they were better than humans and didn't need humans to hinder their progress. They went Maverick as it was called. Cain then began to assemble Reploids that were designed, or had decided, to fight the Mavericks. These became the Maverick hunters. X felt that the Maverick movement was his fault and could not be stopped from helping. During this time Sigma became leader of the Maverick Hunters."
"Then he was originally a good guy?"
"Yes. Carrying on. They seemed to be having problems with one particular Maverick. Sigma finally went after it one day. They trapped him in an old mine shaft and Sigma went in to take it on in a one-on-one battle. Sigma eventually smashed the Maverick's solar panel. He did lose an arm in the fight but it was later reattached. He, however, went Maverick several months later. The Maverick that he had defeated was reprogrammed and put in charge of the Maverick Hunters. He was known by the name Zero. He and X eventually defeated all of Sigma's plans."
"You said two creations but you only claimed to create one. Who was the other creation?"
"Zero was. He was, unfortunately, created by my archenemy Dr. Wily. He was also however created, somehow, with the same logic system that X had. He then worked his way around to our side."
"So what's the point of the history lesson?"
"I am willing to help you defeat Sigma. It did have something to do with the history lesson. After the wars with Sigma I began to secretly create a battle suit designed after Zero but made to be used with a human." A section of the wall slid away and revealed a case that appeared to be fronted by glass. Seero knew that it couldn't have been glass since glass would have broken in all the earthquakes between when it was created and now. A suit of armor stood in the case. The helmet was white with two red wings going up the sides and ending in points near the back. The chest armor had massive shoulder protection and had two green jewels set in it. The arms and legs seemed to be massive in comparison to the rest of the body. Red and white seemed to be the theme of the armor with some gold trim.
"That's very nice but what does it have to do with our war?"
"I was thinking that since you found my lab I would give you the opportunity to become the defender of your people."
"Defender?!"
"The suit that you see in front of you, designed after Zero's original specifications, is designed to be worn by a human who has been converted into a Reploid of sorts. It isn't tried but it is safe. I designed it myself."
"I'll do it."
"You don't seem to have thought about it at all."
"I don't need to. If I had to think about it I wouldn't be a fighter."
"True. Very true. If it is your wish then I will need to put you into a bit of a coma." A section of the floor popped up and turned into a table of sorts. "This will only make you comatose so that I can convert you into what you need to be in order to use the suit. And I warn you, the procedure does take some time."
"So what exactly will you be doing to me?" Seero asked as he headed toward the table.
"I will, to put it simply, be turning you into a machine with human emotions, a human mind, and a human's view of life. You will be a Reploid but you will not be able to think of humans as inferior since you will essentially be human except in body. This will allow you to make better decisions and will make it so that you cannot be affected by the Sigma virus."
"Sigma Virus?"
"You can't go Maverick."
"Okay. Let's get on with it. But I do have a few more questions."
"Ask away, dear boy."
"What'll happen to my hair? And do I get to keep my own identity?"
"As for your hair, that is something that will throw Sigma for an absolute loop. If you put on that armor you will look exactly like Zero did. Sigma could never understand Zero. Zero was the last of Wily's creations and Wily hated the rest of humanity. He figured that giving Zero the ability to think on his own would give him a greater combat ability than Wily's other robots had. He didn't think that Zero would eventually figure out that what he was doing was wrong. But Zero did and that brought him to our side. Sigma couldn't figure out what went wrong with Zero and it eventually drove him nuts. And as for keeping your identity, that will not be a problem. You will be known as Zero in the field. That will keep Sigma nuts for a little longer than if he thought you were originally human. You will keep your own thought processes but I will give you access to Zero's memories as well."
Seero was lying on the table now. "Well then, as I said. Let's get this over with."
X stands a distance away, madness glaring in his eyes. His arm cannon is also glowing. "X. Don't do this. You've fought against the Mavericks all your life. Why would you want to become one of them? You don't need to go through with this." Zero also stands at the ready with his saber in one hand. "I think you're wrong Z. I think this has been coming to the humans for a long time. I have fought their battle against Sigma long enough. It's about time I got something in return. "You've been getting their thanks for as long as we've been battling X. You should know. It was you who took out Sigma the first time. It was you who took him out four times versus the once that I took him out. You got all of their thanks X. You got their gratitude." "Gratitude? Why would I care about their gratitude? Gratitude is nothing. I was never once thanked personally by any human. They were all too scared of Reploids to come near me. All except for the human Hunters." X raised his arm cannon toward the building that Zero stood in front of. "This is their repayment for the gratitude that they showed me." X fired a fully powered up shot at the building, intending to destroy it. Zero dashed in front of the building and took the shot in the chest. It blew him backwards but he recovered his feet before touching the ground. The plating on his chest armor was gone. X grinned. "Well Z. I should have known that I would have to take you out in order to carry on. Let's have it then."
"No, X. I don't wanna do this."
"Then you will die."
Zero brought his wrist communicator online. "All hunter units. Evacuate this vicinity immediately. I don't care if you have to grab humans and teleport them out. Just get them out immediately."
"Roger sir. All units moving out."
X still grinned. "So you think that moving the humans out of this area will save them. Nice try Z."
"I'm sorry it had to come to this X." Zero brought his saber up again. And charged. X had not anticipated Zero to act so quickly. Zero ran his saber straight through X's chest armor just as X managed to fire one last shot into his chest. Zero held on to his sword though and managed to pull it out as he flew away from X. He stood back up and came up to X who was still trying to recover from the saber attack. "I am truly sorry." As X fell to the ground Zero was surprised. He had figured it would have taken more to take out X. He brought his communicator back up.
"Area secured. Return the humans and bring in a crew to retrieve X."
"Roger sir. Executing orders."
"Really. Zero. You. would think. that. I am. gone. that easily?"
Zero had already put his saber up. As he turned he realized that he was too late to save himself. He could, however, save the humans who lived in this area. His face showed no emotion. He could see and hear X's cannon charging. When X tried to dash at him and fire he slipped around X and held him from behind.
"My power generator is far too damaged for repair X. It doesn't really matter though. I took out Vile's ride armor and you're probably not too much more powerful, even if you have gone Maverick. I'm sorry X, but this is the way it will have to be."
X didn't realize what Zero was talking about until he heard the energy being gathered and saw Zero's arms start to glow. He then realized what was going on and gave up.
The fireball engulfed the entire street.
Seero sat up on the table. His face was sweaty and his breathing was hard.
"What was that?"
"That unfortunately, is one of Zero's memories. Also his last."
"His last?"
"Yes. He did not survive the explosion. He had performed the same feat once before while taking out one of Sigma's Reploids." Dr. Light seemed willing to explain almost anything sometimes. "Oh, and by the way, I noticed your sword and I made a few adjustment to it."
Seero reached beck over his shoulder and pulled the blade free from its case. It was still metal but the edges glowed green and there seemed to be a bit of a hum in the air.
"That's neat."
"It actually is all energy but I gave it the look of being there so that it would confuse enemies."
"Good idea. If you don't mind telling me what kind of upgrades and abilities do I have?"
"For starts you don't have to run if you don't want to. You have jets on the bottom of your feet. I've upgraded that from the original Zero so that you also have jets on your back that can allow you to fly. But you won't have to worry about your hair. I've created the jets so that they use energy instead of fire. You also have the ability to teleport just by thinking about it. You can cling to walls giving you the ability to even stand straight out from them. You can also cling to ceilings, although that one has a limit."
"A limit?"
"Stay there long enough and you fall on your head. Probably break your neck in the process considering the wings on your helmet. You can also change your blade to pure energy. It will be stronger that way." An alarm went off as the room went a little red in the corners. "Looks like you'll get the chance to try everything out here soon. Sigma apparently has discovered your friends' hiding place. If you need to contact me just talk. I have a connection with your helmet."
"Thanks Doc. I'm outta here." And Zero quite promptly teleported out. Doctor Light sighed.
"Well, at least I know the teleporter works."
The cave seemed to be a bit darker as Zero walked through it. There seemed to be something missing, although he couldn't put his finger on it. Then he realized that he couldn't hear anything either. A Reploid dropped down in front of him. As he stepped backwards he made no sound. The Reploid looked at him as if trying to figure out who he was. Zero was, in turn, irritated.
"Is there problem here, pal?" Zero said with an edge.
"You are not authorized to be in this section." The Reploid seemed to be just a common war machine. That made Zero feel a little better. If it wasn't important then it probably wasn't intelligent either. Zero began charging his arm cannon. The robot didn't seem to notice. It decided that Zero needed to hear that he wasn't authorized again. It then realized that half of itself wasn't there anymore. It cursed as it fell and then went silent.
Zero began walking towards the barracks where he and his friends had been when they got the chance to sit down from exploring the stupid caves. He looked in to find that none of them were there.
"Well, either they were all carted off or they all died in battle. I'll either find them or avenge them," he thought to himself. He began to walk further, toward the barracks where all the non-fighting humans had stayed. As he walked he noticed that there was almost no activity. "This is odd," he said aloud.
"What is odd, friend?" Zero turned to find a Reploid whose armor was pure black except for the helmet, which had lines of gold running along the sides. Zero scanned his old memories in order to see if there was anything about this particular Reploid. A clear visor slid down over his eyes from inside the helmet. The tactical readout told him that this robot turned Reploid's name was Bass. It also showed that he was usually accompanied by a dog named Treble.
"Bass, huh? Maybe I'll turn you into a speaker when I'm done." Zero deliberately brought his arm cannon up to the level of Bass's face. He then just as deliberately let a level 3 shot go. Bass's head flew back and took the rest of him with it. He landed with a great clang on the ground some 10 yards or so away. As he stood up he began mumbling under his breath.
"OUCH! I hate it when I get careless."
"You're apparently forgetful as well, Bass."
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't tell me that you don't recognize me yet."
"Whatta ya mean?" Bass stood up and glared at Zero. His eyes went wide. "It can't be. You can't be him. Him and X killed each other. Sigma said so."
"Sigma can't figure out which end of himself is which."
"What? What do you mean?" Bass was thoroughly outraged.
"What I'm saying is that Sigma is an idiot and always has been. And yes, I am alive."
"Then I'll solve that part of history."
"Try it." Zero reached back and slowly pulled his blade free of its case. He heard Bass let out a rather shrill whistle. "What in blazes is he trying to do? Shatter my eardrums?"
Zero noticed that something seemed to be coming out of the darkness of the cavern. Treble slid to a stop next to his master. He took one look at Zero and began to growl. Bass brought his arm up and let a level 3 blast go. Zero disappeared.
"Where'd he go? Treble, track him." Bass felt something sting his arm. He looked down and saw the cut that went across his upper arm. Zero stood behind him.
"Want to try again?"
"Why you. I oughtta-"
"What you gonna do? Sick your dog on me, Bass?"
"Treble. Attack." Treble, being the good dog that he was, did try. Zero teleported behind him every time. After using the subterfuge a few times it got boring. Zero reappeared beside Treble and quite promptly picked him up by the scruff of the neck.
"This is out of your league, mutt. Go back to your master." Zero threw the dog at Bass's feet and began to walk in the direction that he had originally been heading. He heard the charging sound and turned around. "You wanna try again, Bass. Fine. I'll even go easy on you." He put the sword back in it's case. Bass was outraged.
"You dare to insult me? You.will.PAY! TREBLE! FLIGHT MODE!"
Zero watched as the dog morphed into an armor of some sort and flew to Bass. Bass put on the armor and began flying upwards. "Deal with this, traitor."
Zero tilted his head upwards. As he watched Bass he thought of something. "Jets on."
Bass's face was one of minor fear mixed in with a lot of rage. The two conflicting emotions froze him in place. Zero flew up to hover in front of Bass. He reached out and grabbed Bass by the front of his armor and threw him against the nearest wall. Bass slumped to the floor with a groan. A low whimper seemed to be coming from that direction as well.
"Oh well. I warned him." Zero turned and began heading for his destination once again.
"You seem to have grown soft, Zero."
"Computer. Analyze voice pattern." The visor slid down and began creating the readout. When the analysis was complete Zero almost moved his arm for his sword. "Okay, Sigma. You wanna show yourself so we can finish this now and I don't have to hunt you down later. I'm actually a little surprised that you remember me. I figured you'd be doing your best to forget me."
"I have nothing to fear from you," Sigma began to materialize in the air in front of Zero. "You were a Maverick once and I can make you one again. Not that I need to. I found someone who was a little bit more powerful."
"Oh really. Is that so? I didn't think you would ever come up with a new idea."
"Such weak insults are below you, Zero." As the two bantered they slowly landed back on the ground.
"You're right. Maybe I should have gone straight into cussing your butt out."
"But didn't you want to meet my new friend? I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine. After all, you're old friends." Sigma laughed as he disappeared. Another Reploid appeared where Sigma had been standing. A Reploid who seemed hauntingly familiar. As Zero looked at the Reploid his visor slid down to begin working on figuring out the newcomer was. As the display came up finally he heard Dr. Light let out a gasp of surprise.
"Get out of there, Zero! You can't face him yet!"
"Got it, Doc." Zero didn't know what Light was so afraid of but as he obeyed and began to teleport out he saw a huge blast fly through the spot where he had just been standing. He saw the lab begin to take shape once more.
"Who was that?"
"Someone that I never thought would turn to Sigma's side. It was done before he died and apparently Sigma has done it again. That, my friend, was Mega Man X."
This is my first Fanfic, although I've had it in the works for several years. Comments and critique are appreciated. I might at some point begin to go back and edit this story some, but fo now, I'll leave it up as is.
The Newcomer
Date:2134 A.D. Subject:Zero2 Security level: Classified
The young man walked down the hall as if he knew where he was going. Truth was, he didn't even know where he was at the immediate moment.
"Isn't it wonderful?" he mused to himself. "You try to help some people out and they decide that since you're here to help, you can do all the work. Stuck exploring a cave. Ha. I came to help with the fighting. Not explore some stupid cave that might have some sort of hidden ancient building in it. Sheesh." He was a tall person, a little over six feet, but still taller than most people in this day and age. He had long blond hair that came down to his ankles. He also had a sword strapped across his back.
He continued to walk down the hall until he came to what appeared to be a dead end.
"Dead end at that. Great. See Seero. You told yourself not to get into this mess. You were happy right where you were, but noooo. You had to go help the people who were at war with the Reploids that have taken over the world. Not that you really had a choice, seeing as you were taken with all the other kids whose parents decided that they were tired of being stuck with the Reploids." He turned to go and as he did so he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A piece of metal seemed to gleam in the corner of the cave. "What have we here?" He began to rub at the spot trying to see if there was lettering on it of if it was just dirt that seemed to be spelling something out. As he did so a section of the wall swung away. "Well now, what do we have here?" He walked past the door and into the middle of the room. There was virtually no light except for a little green one that appeared to be blinking on the other side of the room. As he walked in the door shut of it's own accord. "Great. Either it opens back up when I want out or I die of starvation and asphyxiation."
Suddenly the lights in the room came on. A feminine metallic voice seemed to come from somewhere above him. "Lights activated. Booting up system."
"System? There's a computer in here somewhere? I thought all of them had been taken when the Human-Reploid war started."
"Apparently not ,young man. This one can't be moved any ways," an older, masculine voice sounded out.
Seero turned and pulled the sword out at the same time. He didn't find anyone there, though. "Who are you?"
"I doubt if you would know who I am but I will tell you anyway. I was known as Dr.Light. Now, though, I am just a program that takes up residence in this computer. I do, however, have all of Dr.Light's memories and knowledge so I refer to myself as Dr. Light. It simplifies matters. What kind of turmoil is Sigma creating now?"
"How did you know it was Sigma? Who's Sigma?" Seero looked surprised. He lowered his sword and relaxed. "Can't you show yourself somehow?"
"I suppose I could work my way around to that. Watch the wall behind you." Seero turned around to face the indicated wall. Part it began to turn so that the keyboard and monitor of a very large system came into view. "You do know how to work one of these don't you?" Dr. Light asked.
"Of course." He began to approach the keyboard. "Was there something you specifically wanted me to do?" He looked up at the monitor and noticed the face that had appeared there. "Thank you. It's much more comforting to at least have a face to talk to even if it is part of a computer program."
"I figured as much. You don't need to look up anything at all. I am going to show you some of the destruction that Sigma caused the last five times he caused trouble." Dr. Light then began to show him a series of small clips of the terror that had been Sigma's wars.
"It appears he was stopped all six times. Who stopped him?"
"Two creations."
"Creations?"
"You're interrupting. It's rude. One of these was mine. He was called Mega Man X. I created him before my death. I was forced to put him into a capsule to check all of his systems due to the fact that I would not live to see the completion of the checks. Dr. Cain, who managed to find my lab as well, then unearthed X. He was a great colleague. I managed to get him to do the same thing so that I did so that I would be able to access his knowledge of the Reploids. We also did not tell X of my computerized existence, at least not until we deemed it necessary. Well, anyway, to continue the story. He resurrected my lab and uncovered X. X was then activated. I gave him the ability to think and decide for himself, therefore making him nearly human. I did, however, install a system that would allow him to fight should he decide to. Cain then began to look at his systems and began making replicas of X, although he didn't include the weapons system that I gave X. Then he ran into a problem. Some of the Reploids began to think that they were better than humans and didn't need humans to hinder their progress. They went Maverick as it was called. Cain then began to assemble Reploids that were designed, or had decided, to fight the Mavericks. These became the Maverick hunters. X felt that the Maverick movement was his fault and could not be stopped from helping. During this time Sigma became leader of the Maverick Hunters."
"Then he was originally a good guy?"
"Yes. Carrying on. They seemed to be having problems with one particular Maverick. Sigma finally went after it one day. They trapped him in an old mine shaft and Sigma went in to take it on in a one-on-one battle. Sigma eventually smashed the Maverick's solar panel. He did lose an arm in the fight but it was later reattached. He, however, went Maverick several months later. The Maverick that he had defeated was reprogrammed and put in charge of the Maverick Hunters. He was known by the name Zero. He and X eventually defeated all of Sigma's plans."
"You said two creations but you only claimed to create one. Who was the other creation?"
"Zero was. He was, unfortunately, created by my archenemy Dr. Wily. He was also however created, somehow, with the same logic system that X had. He then worked his way around to our side."
"So what's the point of the history lesson?"
"I am willing to help you defeat Sigma. It did have something to do with the history lesson. After the wars with Sigma I began to secretly create a battle suit designed after Zero but made to be used with a human." A section of the wall slid away and revealed a case that appeared to be fronted by glass. Seero knew that it couldn't have been glass since glass would have broken in all the earthquakes between when it was created and now. A suit of armor stood in the case. The helmet was white with two red wings going up the sides and ending in points near the back. The chest armor had massive shoulder protection and had two green jewels set in it. The arms and legs seemed to be massive in comparison to the rest of the body. Red and white seemed to be the theme of the armor with some gold trim.
"That's very nice but what does it have to do with our war?"
"I was thinking that since you found my lab I would give you the opportunity to become the defender of your people."
"Defender?!"
"The suit that you see in front of you, designed after Zero's original specifications, is designed to be worn by a human who has been converted into a Reploid of sorts. It isn't tried but it is safe. I designed it myself."
"I'll do it."
"You don't seem to have thought about it at all."
"I don't need to. If I had to think about it I wouldn't be a fighter."
"True. Very true. If it is your wish then I will need to put you into a bit of a coma." A section of the floor popped up and turned into a table of sorts. "This will only make you comatose so that I can convert you into what you need to be in order to use the suit. And I warn you, the procedure does take some time."
"So what exactly will you be doing to me?" Seero asked as he headed toward the table.
"I will, to put it simply, be turning you into a machine with human emotions, a human mind, and a human's view of life. You will be a Reploid but you will not be able to think of humans as inferior since you will essentially be human except in body. This will allow you to make better decisions and will make it so that you cannot be affected by the Sigma virus."
"Sigma Virus?"
"You can't go Maverick."
"Okay. Let's get on with it. But I do have a few more questions."
"Ask away, dear boy."
"What'll happen to my hair? And do I get to keep my own identity?"
"As for your hair, that is something that will throw Sigma for an absolute loop. If you put on that armor you will look exactly like Zero did. Sigma could never understand Zero. Zero was the last of Wily's creations and Wily hated the rest of humanity. He figured that giving Zero the ability to think on his own would give him a greater combat ability than Wily's other robots had. He didn't think that Zero would eventually figure out that what he was doing was wrong. But Zero did and that brought him to our side. Sigma couldn't figure out what went wrong with Zero and it eventually drove him nuts. And as for keeping your identity, that will not be a problem. You will be known as Zero in the field. That will keep Sigma nuts for a little longer than if he thought you were originally human. You will keep your own thought processes but I will give you access to Zero's memories as well."
Seero was lying on the table now. "Well then, as I said. Let's get this over with."
X stands a distance away, madness glaring in his eyes. His arm cannon is also glowing. "X. Don't do this. You've fought against the Mavericks all your life. Why would you want to become one of them? You don't need to go through with this." Zero also stands at the ready with his saber in one hand. "I think you're wrong Z. I think this has been coming to the humans for a long time. I have fought their battle against Sigma long enough. It's about time I got something in return. "You've been getting their thanks for as long as we've been battling X. You should know. It was you who took out Sigma the first time. It was you who took him out four times versus the once that I took him out. You got all of their thanks X. You got their gratitude." "Gratitude? Why would I care about their gratitude? Gratitude is nothing. I was never once thanked personally by any human. They were all too scared of Reploids to come near me. All except for the human Hunters." X raised his arm cannon toward the building that Zero stood in front of. "This is their repayment for the gratitude that they showed me." X fired a fully powered up shot at the building, intending to destroy it. Zero dashed in front of the building and took the shot in the chest. It blew him backwards but he recovered his feet before touching the ground. The plating on his chest armor was gone. X grinned. "Well Z. I should have known that I would have to take you out in order to carry on. Let's have it then."
"No, X. I don't wanna do this."
"Then you will die."
Zero brought his wrist communicator online. "All hunter units. Evacuate this vicinity immediately. I don't care if you have to grab humans and teleport them out. Just get them out immediately."
"Roger sir. All units moving out."
X still grinned. "So you think that moving the humans out of this area will save them. Nice try Z."
"I'm sorry it had to come to this X." Zero brought his saber up again. And charged. X had not anticipated Zero to act so quickly. Zero ran his saber straight through X's chest armor just as X managed to fire one last shot into his chest. Zero held on to his sword though and managed to pull it out as he flew away from X. He stood back up and came up to X who was still trying to recover from the saber attack. "I am truly sorry." As X fell to the ground Zero was surprised. He had figured it would have taken more to take out X. He brought his communicator back up.
"Area secured. Return the humans and bring in a crew to retrieve X."
"Roger sir. Executing orders."
"Really. Zero. You. would think. that. I am. gone. that easily?"
Zero had already put his saber up. As he turned he realized that he was too late to save himself. He could, however, save the humans who lived in this area. His face showed no emotion. He could see and hear X's cannon charging. When X tried to dash at him and fire he slipped around X and held him from behind.
"My power generator is far too damaged for repair X. It doesn't really matter though. I took out Vile's ride armor and you're probably not too much more powerful, even if you have gone Maverick. I'm sorry X, but this is the way it will have to be."
X didn't realize what Zero was talking about until he heard the energy being gathered and saw Zero's arms start to glow. He then realized what was going on and gave up.
The fireball engulfed the entire street.
Seero sat up on the table. His face was sweaty and his breathing was hard.
"What was that?"
"That unfortunately, is one of Zero's memories. Also his last."
"His last?"
"Yes. He did not survive the explosion. He had performed the same feat once before while taking out one of Sigma's Reploids." Dr. Light seemed willing to explain almost anything sometimes. "Oh, and by the way, I noticed your sword and I made a few adjustment to it."
Seero reached beck over his shoulder and pulled the blade free from its case. It was still metal but the edges glowed green and there seemed to be a bit of a hum in the air.
"That's neat."
"It actually is all energy but I gave it the look of being there so that it would confuse enemies."
"Good idea. If you don't mind telling me what kind of upgrades and abilities do I have?"
"For starts you don't have to run if you don't want to. You have jets on the bottom of your feet. I've upgraded that from the original Zero so that you also have jets on your back that can allow you to fly. But you won't have to worry about your hair. I've created the jets so that they use energy instead of fire. You also have the ability to teleport just by thinking about it. You can cling to walls giving you the ability to even stand straight out from them. You can also cling to ceilings, although that one has a limit."
"A limit?"
"Stay there long enough and you fall on your head. Probably break your neck in the process considering the wings on your helmet. You can also change your blade to pure energy. It will be stronger that way." An alarm went off as the room went a little red in the corners. "Looks like you'll get the chance to try everything out here soon. Sigma apparently has discovered your friends' hiding place. If you need to contact me just talk. I have a connection with your helmet."
"Thanks Doc. I'm outta here." And Zero quite promptly teleported out. Doctor Light sighed.
"Well, at least I know the teleporter works."
The cave seemed to be a bit darker as Zero walked through it. There seemed to be something missing, although he couldn't put his finger on it. Then he realized that he couldn't hear anything either. A Reploid dropped down in front of him. As he stepped backwards he made no sound. The Reploid looked at him as if trying to figure out who he was. Zero was, in turn, irritated.
"Is there problem here, pal?" Zero said with an edge.
"You are not authorized to be in this section." The Reploid seemed to be just a common war machine. That made Zero feel a little better. If it wasn't important then it probably wasn't intelligent either. Zero began charging his arm cannon. The robot didn't seem to notice. It decided that Zero needed to hear that he wasn't authorized again. It then realized that half of itself wasn't there anymore. It cursed as it fell and then went silent.
Zero began walking towards the barracks where he and his friends had been when they got the chance to sit down from exploring the stupid caves. He looked in to find that none of them were there.
"Well, either they were all carted off or they all died in battle. I'll either find them or avenge them," he thought to himself. He began to walk further, toward the barracks where all the non-fighting humans had stayed. As he walked he noticed that there was almost no activity. "This is odd," he said aloud.
"What is odd, friend?" Zero turned to find a Reploid whose armor was pure black except for the helmet, which had lines of gold running along the sides. Zero scanned his old memories in order to see if there was anything about this particular Reploid. A clear visor slid down over his eyes from inside the helmet. The tactical readout told him that this robot turned Reploid's name was Bass. It also showed that he was usually accompanied by a dog named Treble.
"Bass, huh? Maybe I'll turn you into a speaker when I'm done." Zero deliberately brought his arm cannon up to the level of Bass's face. He then just as deliberately let a level 3 shot go. Bass's head flew back and took the rest of him with it. He landed with a great clang on the ground some 10 yards or so away. As he stood up he began mumbling under his breath.
"OUCH! I hate it when I get careless."
"You're apparently forgetful as well, Bass."
"What makes you say that?"
"Don't tell me that you don't recognize me yet."
"Whatta ya mean?" Bass stood up and glared at Zero. His eyes went wide. "It can't be. You can't be him. Him and X killed each other. Sigma said so."
"Sigma can't figure out which end of himself is which."
"What? What do you mean?" Bass was thoroughly outraged.
"What I'm saying is that Sigma is an idiot and always has been. And yes, I am alive."
"Then I'll solve that part of history."
"Try it." Zero reached back and slowly pulled his blade free of its case. He heard Bass let out a rather shrill whistle. "What in blazes is he trying to do? Shatter my eardrums?"
Zero noticed that something seemed to be coming out of the darkness of the cavern. Treble slid to a stop next to his master. He took one look at Zero and began to growl. Bass brought his arm up and let a level 3 blast go. Zero disappeared.
"Where'd he go? Treble, track him." Bass felt something sting his arm. He looked down and saw the cut that went across his upper arm. Zero stood behind him.
"Want to try again?"
"Why you. I oughtta-"
"What you gonna do? Sick your dog on me, Bass?"
"Treble. Attack." Treble, being the good dog that he was, did try. Zero teleported behind him every time. After using the subterfuge a few times it got boring. Zero reappeared beside Treble and quite promptly picked him up by the scruff of the neck.
"This is out of your league, mutt. Go back to your master." Zero threw the dog at Bass's feet and began to walk in the direction that he had originally been heading. He heard the charging sound and turned around. "You wanna try again, Bass. Fine. I'll even go easy on you." He put the sword back in it's case. Bass was outraged.
"You dare to insult me? You.will.PAY! TREBLE! FLIGHT MODE!"
Zero watched as the dog morphed into an armor of some sort and flew to Bass. Bass put on the armor and began flying upwards. "Deal with this, traitor."
Zero tilted his head upwards. As he watched Bass he thought of something. "Jets on."
Bass's face was one of minor fear mixed in with a lot of rage. The two conflicting emotions froze him in place. Zero flew up to hover in front of Bass. He reached out and grabbed Bass by the front of his armor and threw him against the nearest wall. Bass slumped to the floor with a groan. A low whimper seemed to be coming from that direction as well.
"Oh well. I warned him." Zero turned and began heading for his destination once again.
"You seem to have grown soft, Zero."
"Computer. Analyze voice pattern." The visor slid down and began creating the readout. When the analysis was complete Zero almost moved his arm for his sword. "Okay, Sigma. You wanna show yourself so we can finish this now and I don't have to hunt you down later. I'm actually a little surprised that you remember me. I figured you'd be doing your best to forget me."
"I have nothing to fear from you," Sigma began to materialize in the air in front of Zero. "You were a Maverick once and I can make you one again. Not that I need to. I found someone who was a little bit more powerful."
"Oh really. Is that so? I didn't think you would ever come up with a new idea."
"Such weak insults are below you, Zero." As the two bantered they slowly landed back on the ground.
"You're right. Maybe I should have gone straight into cussing your butt out."
"But didn't you want to meet my new friend? I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine. After all, you're old friends." Sigma laughed as he disappeared. Another Reploid appeared where Sigma had been standing. A Reploid who seemed hauntingly familiar. As Zero looked at the Reploid his visor slid down to begin working on figuring out the newcomer was. As the display came up finally he heard Dr. Light let out a gasp of surprise.
"Get out of there, Zero! You can't face him yet!"
"Got it, Doc." Zero didn't know what Light was so afraid of but as he obeyed and began to teleport out he saw a huge blast fly through the spot where he had just been standing. He saw the lab begin to take shape once more.
"Who was that?"
"Someone that I never thought would turn to Sigma's side. It was done before he died and apparently Sigma has done it again. That, my friend, was Mega Man X."
This is my first Fanfic, although I've had it in the works for several years. Comments and critique are appreciated. I might at some point begin to go back and edit this story some, but fo now, I'll leave it up as is.