Wow, scary. Already posting chapter 2. Well, I had this written when I posted the first chapter, but I didn't wanna post it just yet. We're now getting into the main story. It's alot better than the first chapter, IMO. The first one seemed sort of awkward, as I haven't written in a while. I'm trying to write the third but summer homework is attempting to murder meeee. ;-; Anyways, enjoy.
Megaman ZX and all the characters belong to Capcom, ect.

'Mom!"

"Mom! Where are you?' A small Vent ran through the crowds of people, or at least attempted. Every one step he took, the panicking crowds knocked him back two. He screamed again, but the screaming of others drowned him out. His cheeks were warm and tears were streaming down them. Something smacked into his head and he fell tumbling to the ground.

"...ent…"

The flurry of feet that whizzed by his head paralyzed him. All he could hear was the rumble of feet and the shrieking of those who were too slow. Vent curled into a ball on the ground, sobbing and trying to block everything out. "Mom… Mom..." he muttered between his sobs.

'...Vent.."

The stampede of humanoids turned into a stampede of Mavericks. Some were enormous, creating earthquakes as them stomped by him; some were like humans, like the reploids of the old days. Vent still sobbed quieter, afraid they would see him. The Mavericks, seeing an unmoving body, took him for dead, and trekked by him as though he didn't exist. Vent peeked out, spotting a mammoth sized creature stomping towards him. He watched the lumbering feet come closer and closer until they hung over his small fragile body. He was to afraid to move… too stunned to do anything but watch the feet come plunging—

'VENT!" came a shrill voice. Vent squawked and sat upright in his sleeping bag. He was panting and his mouth tasted like salty tears. His blurry vision focused slowly to see Aile sitting on the ground next to him.

"Ah, jeeze, Vent. You were crying in your sleep. Again." Aile rubbed her eyes. "Muttering 'Mom' over and over. Loud enough to wake me up…" She yawned and rolled sideways onto her own sleeping bag. "The dream."

Vent grumbled. "The dream." He slipped out from under the covers and sat on top of them. Giro, Aile, and him had set up camp in the forest sector outside of town. 'But no one lives out here!' Aile had said. Boss had replied, 'Exactly.' Both had noticed how tense he had been since yesterday; Vent had a feeling it wasn't about the prank.

He looked up; it was still dark. "What time is it, anyways?" Vent asked, staring up at the stars.

'About five-thirty…" Aile replied and looked up along with him. "Wow, that a lot of stars. We normally don't see so many in town.'

Vent replied with a "yeah" absentmindedly. He could recognize a few of the constellations in the sky. His mom used to take him out as a child and point them out. Without thinking, he lifted his finger and began to name them.

"The Sage… The Fighter… The Fairy…"

'The Phantom… The Swordsman… And the Peacekeeper!" Aile finished listing the famous constellations for him and giggled. They were quiet for a moment. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah… it is." Vent muttered and looked over at Aile. He found it rather odd they had the same pajamas, both light blue with little rockets. Boss had apparently bought them on sale a few years back, and they were starting to get a little small (most noticeably on Aile, not that Vent noticed.). He watched her for a moment before noticing something odd past her.

"Aile?"

"Yes?'

"Where's Boss?" Aile blinked then turned around. Giro's red sleeping bag was rolled up, with no sign of Giro anywhere.

"… That's a good question." Aile got up. "His motorcycle's gone too. Maybe he went for a ride."

"To where? We're up on a cliff. It was a pain to get up here the first time. We had to drag them up the hill." Vent scanned the area of their camp. He was about to give up hope when he spotted a note lying on Aile's motorcycle.

Aile noticed it too and snatched it up before vent could say anything. "Hmm… 'I'll be back by sunrise. Don't worry and protect the cargo. That's an order' Yeah, disappear in the middle of the night and tell us not to worry. Genius, ain't he?"

Vent snickered. "Well, we have our orders." He was worried, but Giro could take care of himself.

For the next hour, the cleaned the camp up: rolled up their sleeping bags, took turns dressing behind a huge clump of bushes ('No peeking Vent" "Sh-shut up, like I would), and packing up everything into the motorcycles. Like promised, had driven back to camp by sunrise, just as they had finished up.

"Boss, what's in that package?" Vent asked when he had returned. Giro had a small item wrapped up like the cargo they normally delivered.

"One of the two packages we are transporting." He replied calmly.

Aile asked curiously, 'But, there was only one package."

"This one had special instructions. I packed it myself." He replied in a way that meant not to press further. They were silent for a while; Giro sat on his motorcycle, the mysterious package in his lap and his hands gripping it protectively, and Vent and Aile finished packing everything now that Giro's motorcycle was back.

The silence was broken by a beeping sound: Giro's commphone. He flipped it open and used his cheerful voice (the one for his clients) that conflicted with the solemn face he had been wearing for some time. "Hello! Thank you for calling Giro Express Transporters! We can take anything anywhere!"

The voice answered was scratchy, but clearly feminine. " Giro? Is that you?" Giro's face went serious once more.

"Ah, the Guardian… or should I say client?" He said, the fake cheerfulness completely gone.

"Did you receive the package from the archeological recon unit?" Package? Didn't Giro say the man gave him two?

"Yes, I got it." Giro lifted the package in his hands for emphasis, though the woman on the line could not see.

"My unit is heading for the agreed upon rendezvous point. It's a little sooner than expected, but let's meet up there.

"Alright." Giro agreed, and ended the call. "Aile, you ready?" He turned to Aile, who had been trying to get a look at who Giro was talking to. She nodded. "Hey, Vent! You ready as well?" Vent had wandered towards the cliff and was leaning against a tree. He heard the words, but didn't comprehend them. He hadn't noticed before, but this cliff had a clear view of the flower-like building of Slither Inc. Vent clenched his fists.

"Vent! Did you hear me?" Vent was silent and gripped the tree enough to crush form bark off. Giro was silent as well, understanding for a moment what Vent was thinking. "You can see the Slither Inc. building from here. This country sure has grown and prospered thanks to them"

Vent practically snarled and turned his head to Giro. "Bigger's not always better!" he snapped, "If… if… their security forces had come sooner ten years ago…" 'Mom!' A woman being beaten by three Mavericks screamed then fell silent. " My mom might still be alive."

Giro sighed. "I'm sorry that she had to die in the Maverick raids. I understand how you feel, but you can't act like this in town. The company has helped us in all the energy and maverick problems we have had."

Aile had followed Giro up to where Vent was. "But of course, thanks to all of this, everyone thinks the fabulous and grand Serpent's a genuine hero." She stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. Vent snickered; Aile was good at making him feel better about stuff like this. She had been in the same attacks and agreed with him about Slither Inc.

Giro smiled too, maybe even laughed under his breathe at that comment. Vent couldn't tell. "Anyways, you two, we better get going. Our clients are already on their way." Giro turned and headed back towards the motorcycles.

"Yo, Boss. These Guardians, I'm guessing we took this request from them, right?" Aile asked and Giro nodded.

"Who are they?" Vent asked as well as they followed. "They didn't even tell us what we're transporting."

"The Guardians are a defense force that banded together to fight the Mavericks." Giro explained, "Right now, they're investigating the cause of the Maverick outbreaks. And I believe I made myself clear on the packages. I'm sure it's very important and very dangerous. Best we—" Vwam Vwam! Two shots whizzed pass Aile's head.

"Eek!" She screamed. Vent grabbed her wrist and jerked her behind his motorcycle and they both ducked.

"What? Mavericks here?" Giro growled from behind his own motorcycle. The sound of more shots and a few small explosions gave the hint of one of the motorcycles being damaged: most likely Giro's.

Giro yelled out in a panic. "Vent! Aile! RU—" ZWAM ZWAM ZWAM! Vent peeked over enough to see a flurry of shots whizz past Giro's motorcycle and come straight for their own hiding stop. He didn't have enough time to react. The shots connected with the bike's engine and exploded.

Vent shut his eyes and shielded his face from the explosion. He screamed as the force knocked him back into Aile and sent them tumbling into a freefall off the cliff.

"VENT! AILE!" Giro called over the screaming of the two, but there was nothing he could do but watch them plunge into dark forest below.

"Unngh" The first thing he felt was pain. Pain was good. Pain meant he wasn't dead. At least not yet. He lifted one arm slowly and felt the ground. It was grassy and soft, probably what saved him in the end. He tried to open his eyes, but when he did, a pain exploded in his forehead; he shut them immediately.

He wondered where he was. Probably the forest sector still. He wondered how long he had been out. Had Giro defeated the Mavericks? Was he looking for him and Aile right—? …Aile?

"AILE!" Vent shot up and sat wide opened. The pain blurred his vision, but he tried to stand anyways. Aile! He didn't know where Aile was! Was she okay? Was she… no, he wouldn't think about that. His legs wobbled underneath him, and he grabbed a nearby tree for support.

"AILE! AILE! Where are you?" He screamed, shutting his eyes to block out the pain he felt.

"Vent?" came a voice, though not the one he was looking for. "Can you hear me?" It was Giro's voice, coming from his commphone. "The package! Can you see it? It fell down there with you!" Vent squinted his eyes, trying to see through the blurriness. He saw blue and brown spot out in the green and he stumbled towards it.

"I... I have it." He kneeled down and picked up the package. The packaging had almost all ripped away, revealing the small blue device, though he couldn't see the details.

"Good! Take the package and take it to the rendezvous point! The Guardian... kssh…zwam zwam zwam…—lp you… kssh. Beep. Beep. Beep." The commphone lost connection.

"Boss…" Vent muttered and clenched his fists. Damn those Mavericks. The pain and his anger swirled his mind up to the point where he couldn't think straight. He sat there, wallowing, until he heard the faint sound of machine gun fire and some shouts. One of them was female.

'AILE!" Vent shook his head, clearing the blurriness and began to sprint as well as he could with his wobbly legs. He ran and ran, still holding tight to the package. The shooting and the screams got louder. He heard something big. Really big. Something that was cracking trees.

Suddenly all he saw was purple metal, and he skidded to a halt. The machine gun sound was much louder now, like it was aimed at whatever was slithering past him. The enormous creature circled around its attackers, so now vent could see it clearly. It was a mammoth-sized purple snake. It hissed at its attackers, who were still out of Vent's view, but suddenly stopped and slithered away.

Some of the victims came forward, towards where the snake had slithered away. The had red goggles over there eyes and wore green, just like the man who had delivered the package to them to be delivered. Perhaps these were the Guardians? Vent opened his mouth to shout out, only to be drowned out by machinegun fire and the swoosh of the serpent's tail come crashing down on the me in green

Vent gasped: the attack had crushed almost all the men and killed them. The snake's tail retreated back into the trees, hidden. Nearly paralyzed with fear, he shakily walked towards the bodies.

'HEY! Who are you?" a man called from the side. Vent's head snapped up. The remaining men had their guns aimed at him.

"Ahhh! I'm just here to deliver something!" Vent backed up a bit. He scanned the area. There were only five men left, lined up in a semi-circle. Behind them was girl in all pink, who was staring right at him. No sign of Aile.

"You are from the Giro Express?" She said, coming forward through the troops.

"Y-y-yeah." He stumbled; all the gun's pointing at him weren't making him feel any less nervous.

"Focus on the snake, it's the threat." She said to the men, and then turned to him again. "We came to meet up with the Giro Express, but we heard an explosion and came to investigate. Then this snake came ou—"

"Vent!" a voice called. Next thing he knew, he was being choked by a pair of hugging arms. The voice sped up excitedly. "Oh my god your okay Giro said you weren't answering and I was worried and—'

"Aile… can't breathe…" Vent choked out, but Aile just hugged him tighter. 'AILE!" She let go.

"Soooorry!" Aile giggled. Vent looked up at her; besides a few cuts and bruises, she looked fine, and in good spirits. "When I fell the Guardian's found me and—"

"Look out!" called one of the men and shoved the pink girl out of the way. The snake's tail smashed where she had been, crushing the soldier.

"Noo!" She called seeing the remaining soldiers being knocked back by the massive tail. A few of the soldiers were alive, but barely conscious. The girl ran to one of the soldiers it was muttering to her to run but she wouldn't/

"We should leave the package here if it wants it so bad!!" Vent said, showing the half-opened cargo to her. She turned around.

"It's too important! We can't just leave the Biometal! Sis… she…" The girl's eyes watered again. Ssssss. The girl turned towards the sound. The snake had slithered into the clearing once more, without the threat of guns against him any longer. The snake slithered slowly in the direction of the barely alive soldiers and the girl. It was going to kill them.

Screams. 'Run Vent, run!" Zwim zwim zwim! Running people… No! He wasn't going to let more people die because of these Mavericks! He didn't know what he was doing; his body was moving on his own. He threw the blue cargo at the girl and grabbed one of the intact guns on the ground in one motion.

"Run!" He yelled as he rushed between the soldiers and the snake, but heard a voice next to him yell the same thing. Vent turned to see Aile, in the same stance as him, also with one of the machine guns. She looked over to him, giving him a cocky grin, and aimed the gun at the advancing snake.

Vent aimed his gun, his hands shaking. The gun was heavy and fear was rushing through his body. The snake lifted its head off the ground, hissing, and preparing to strike. The sound of firing came to his right, and began to shoot too. The shots bounced off its metal plating, without it so much as flinching. This wasn't going to work! They couldn't do this alone! You are not alone. What was that? I will help.

Something blue flew in front of him and Aile, startling the snake back from his lunge. Floating, it turned towards them both. It was the item they had been transporting! It glowed for a moment before letting of an incredible flash of light.

"Agggggghhhh!" he screamed. It felt as though a train had crashed into his chest. Had the snake attacked? Biolink Established. What? His hands loosened; the gun dropped to the ground. His hand drew forward on its own accord, and he felt another hand behind it. M.E.G.A. System Online. His hand gripped around it, whatever it was. He opened his eyes to see the Biometal there and glowing brightly in his and Aile's hands. The light dimmed for a moment before exploding again. They both screamed. Suddenly his feet became heavier, then his arms, his chest, his head.

What the hell was going on?

Suddenly the heaviness vanished completely, and he felt lighter than a feather. His arm lifted, like he was being controlled. The end of his hand felt incredibly hot, like there was a blue fire blazing from it… "Auuugh!" the heat left him all at once. Two balls of blue spiraled forward. The snake screeched in surprise as they connected, swinging his head back in forth and flailing. It screamed, knocking its head into a few trees. It was in a daze and, unable to fight, turned and charged into the forest once more.

Vent grabbed his arm, panting. Where had those shots come from? He suddenly took notice of his arm and hand. There was a huge cannon where his hand was supposed to be! "What the…?!" Vent gasped in surprised and was shocked further when the cannon morphed back into a hand. His other arm was covered in the same armor, as where his feet, his chest. His hand went to his head, or at least the helmet that sat on it.

'Do not be a afraid"

"Vent, do you hear that?" Aile said in a very low voice. His eyes darted over to her. She was covered in the same exact armor. His eyes widened and he nodded, still too shocked to speak.

"I know who you are, Vent, Aile. I am Biometal X."

That's it for now. The constellation thing was kind of a neat idea, I think. It uses the titles of three of the Generals, but since Phantom didn't have one, I jsut used his name. The swordman is an obvious one, but the peacekeeper was a last second name, but I suppose it's okay. I had lots of fun writing the first half for some reason P The scene where vent comes across the Guardians was irritating and I had a hard time with it for some reason. Mostly because instead of one character, we have both Vent and Aile, and that made it sort of difficult. The Rock On part was hard to describe too. But I'm pretty satisfied with that too.

Well, i hope you enjoyed the second chapter. Expect the third one soon!