Vile: Sometimes inspiration sends you down a wild goose chase, giving you ideas for dormant stuff. Anyway, enjoy the 25th (26th, technically, but there was a prologue) chapter of MMZX3!

MMZX3: Mega Man ZX Enforcers

Chapter 25: Rumble Under the Jungle

On the screen, Prairie finished wiping the tears from her eyes at Giro's sacrifice. Even though he said he wouldn't be, she felt like he was gone for good, but she had to believe in his power. Steeling herself, she went back to the communicator. "Everyone, head back to where you found the Cyber-Gate so you can head back here." She said.

"Right, Prairie." Vent said. The screen with her face then shrunk and vanished.

"Are you guys just gonna stand there?" Ashe said. The group turned around to already see her walking away. "Let's get back to the real world ASAP!" Out of nowhere, an odd plant-like cage sprouted out from the ground and ensnared Ashe. "What the?!" The plant then receded into the ground, leaving a huge hole.

"Ashe!" Grey cried, rushing to the hole and looking down.

"Looks like we have to take a detour!" Model A said. Grey jumped down the hole after the plant. "Banzai!"

"Wait for us, Grey!" Aile called, the other Mega Men jumping in after him. The plant-cage was surprisingly fast, turning to tunnel sideways before the Mega Men could drop on it. The Mega Men landed on the floor of the tunnel and chased after the cage, Grey leading the charge.

Ashe wasn't going to stand by and be a damsel in distress, though. She whipped out one of her pistols and tried to get a good shot on the plant's petals, which appeared to be linked to her prison. Unfortunately, the plant's tunneling made it very difficult to get a good shot. "Gah! Hold… still, darn it!"

"Man, that thing's fast!" Taylor cried.

"Dash, everyone!" Grey said. The Mega Men picked up speed through dash maneuvers, but the plant almost seemed to speed up as well.

Eventually, the plant tunneled into a large clearing that resembled an underground version of the jungle above, the plant receding into a hole in the ground, docking itself, and sprouting six petals that began to slowly spin. Ashe looked at the petals, then at her comrades. "Shoot the petals! They've gotta be important!"

Grey didn't ask any questions and pulled out his own guns, blasting away at the petals. Some damage was dealt, but only one out of six petals was destroyed. "Cease fire, Grey! I'm goin' in!" Vent said, dashing forward. When he was close enough, he started slashing away with the Z-Saber. Thanks to Grey's earlier damage, two of the petals were slashed clean off. An odd gurgling groan seemed to come from the plant as it shook in an odd way.

"It's working! Keep attacking it!" Ashe told them.

"Plants don't like fire, so let's see if it likes this!" Atlas shouted, shooting a charged fireball forward that demolished one of the petals in one hit.

"It's on the ropes now! Dragon!" Thetis launched Freezing Dragon forward, which chomped into one of the remaining two petals, not doing enough to fully destroy it.

"My turn!" Aeolus said, launching two Plasma Cyclones. One of them fully took out the damaged petal, while the other damaged the last one.

"The coup de grace!" Siarnaq threw a Cross Star that sliced clean through the final petal. The plant then let out a loud gurgling groan as the bars started to corrode like a wilting plant. Due to their weakness, Ashe was able to break through with ease, jumping out of the plant. However, the place where she stood started to bulge and glow.

"Time for some payback!" Ashe turned right around and charged her pistols, with Aile charging energy right behind her. Noting her comrade, Ashe fired off her Charge Shot before quickly moving to the side, out of the line of fire from Aile's own Charge Shot, which absorbed Ashe's and barreled onward, tearing through the tunnel plant's core and causing powerful explosions throughout it. With its loud gurgling, the plant quickly keeled over and exploded without incident.

"…That was too easy." Aeolus said. "It didn't even try to fight back."

"Maybe Ashe just stepped on a less-threatening virus. You know, and it just reacted like she was dangerous?" Thetis wondered.

"Hurngh?! What's all that racket down there?!" A very ticked-off female voice growled. All of a sudden, an odd figure dropped down, snagging hold of a tree branch and swinging off of it, then a few canopy vines, then slamming onto the ground. The figure appeared to be some sort of robotic sloth covered in lavender fur, with an angry-looking pink face (with green eyes) and three purple claws on each hand and foot. "Some people are trying to SLEEP here!"

"Snoozloth?!" Siarnaq gasped. "What's a Pseudoroid doing in Cyberspace?"

"I could ask you the same question!" Snoozloth snarked. "I thought Cyberspace was the perfect place to get some rest! But I guess I was dead wrong!"

Ashe pointed one of her pistols at the Pseudoroid. "Emphasis on dead! You're the only Pseudoroid left, so it's time you went to sleep forever!"

Snoozloth growled menacingly. "Oh… YOU'RE the ones who destroyed the others?! My sleep will be well-deserved once I RIP YOU ALL TO PIECES!" She slammed the ground with her arms twice.

WARNING

WARNING

BOSS BATTLE

ENEMY: SNOOZLOTH THE FOLIVOROID

"RAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Snoozloth abandoned all subtlety and just charged forward, flailing her clawed arms like a madman (or madwoman, if you prefer). It wasn't hard for the Mega Men to simply move out of her way, but she was smart enough to know to turn to catch her targets. "HOLD STILL!" Through her lashing, Snoozloth managed to slash Grey in the back.

"Aah!" He groaned. However, he used the force to spin around and aim at her for an attack, pelting her with pistol shots. However, despite the visible damage, it barely seemed to even slow down her rage.

"Hey Aeolus, think you can slow her down?" Siarnaq called.

"Anything's worth a shot!" Aeolus replied, activating OIS Mode and charging toward Snoozloth.

"HURNGH?!" Said Pseudoroid screeched to a halt to turn around.

"HAH!" Aeolus slashed out a Plasma Sphere that Snoozloth tried to mad dash through… and succeeded, ignoring the paralyzing effect and punching Aeolus square in his face, sending him flying. Luckily, the Wind Mega Man righted himself with his wings. "She's too resilient!"

"I'll give her resilient!" Vent cried, shooting forward. "Hey, ugly!" Snoozloth turned around only to get a saber slash across the face, taking out one of Snoozloth's eyes.

"GRAAAAAHHHH!" The Pseudoroid roared, lashing her arms around and knocking Vent away, who caught himself and backflipped.

'Where'd all that energy come from?' Aile wondered about Vent.

"Rrrrrrgh… Now you've made me REALLY mad!" Snoozloth yelled, her eye snapped shut from the injury. She gave a powerful backflip and latched onto a vine above, moving across the canopy toward a tree. She jumped behind a part of a tree to where the Mega Men couldn't see her. "DIE!" All of a sudden, Snoozloth coconuts started being lobbed over the side of the treetop toward the ground. One was way off, but the minute it hit the ground, it gave off a big explosion.

"Everybody move!" Vent cried, triggering a mass dash of the Mega Men to avoid the green fruit bombs.

After a while of the rain, the bombs subsided. Oddly, Snoozloth didn't re-emerge from behind the treetop. An eerie calm swept over the area. "Did… she run away?" Thetis wondered.

Vent's eyes narrowed before he jumped toward a branch, flipping up on top of it. "What are you doing, Vent?" Aile called.

"Not falling for a trick!" He called back, somehow managing a second jump in the air doing some of his jumps for extra air time. 'That's new.' He thought. When he reached the treetop, Vent stopped and listened. Snoring. Giving an unimpressed face, Vent moved to where Snoozloth had retreated to and found the sloth robot doing what sloths do best: Sleeping. The Model Z Mega Man grabbed hold of Snoozloth's fur. "WAKE-UP CALL!"

"HURNGH?!" Snoozloth growled, her eyes shooting open. With a mighty heave, Vent lifted and threw the Folivoroid clean over the edge of the treetop, sending her careening toward the ground.

"Blast her, guys!" Vent shouted down to them. Grey, Ashe, Aile, Taylor, Atlas, and Siarnaq took the cue and started unloading energy shots, fireballs, and kunai, pelting Snoozloth with shot after shot before she slammed into the ground, hard. Vent then drew the Z-Saber and leapt off the side of the treetop, aiming toward the downed Pseudoroid. "HAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He raised his Saber to impale her.

Snoozloth, however, snapped her head up, glared at Vent, and leapt clean out of the way, causing the Z-Saber to plant into the ground. "I won't die so easily… That little nap recovered all the strength you took from me earlier!" Her body slowly began to change to a bright red color, and she snapped open her damaged eye, which had been repaired since the earlier attack. "Now it's your turn to be slammed into the dirt!" She suddenly started slamming her hands into the rock, causing the area to start shaking.

Rocks were dislodged from above, which were easily dealt with, but that wasn't what they were worried about in the first place. "If she keeps this up, this whole cave is gonna collapse!" Ashe cried, blasting away at rocks.

"That's only a bonus to me!" Snoozloth yelled. "If I can't beat you normally, I'll just have this cave crush you!" As rocks started falling near her, Snoozloth started swinging her arms again, knocking rocks toward the Mega Men. In her rage, she didn't notice how easily they had dealt with the earlier rocks, so it only made her angrier when the rocks were merely blasted and slashed away. "GRRRRRRR…! I'm SO MAD… COME HERE!" She lunged forward with an angry yell.

Vent glared and charged at her, clashing his Saber with her claws. "This time, when I break your body… STAY BROKEN!" He yelled, slicing Snoozloth's claws clean off her hands and slashing her numerous times with a look of fury on his face.

"Good lord. Is he always like this in battle?" Aeolus asked. Aile merely shook her head.

"Hey Vent, are you gonna hog all the action?" Taylor called.

Vent heard him, stopping his rampage and shooting a smile at the others. "Sorry, guys! Have at her!" He quickly picked the Pseudoroid up and chucked her at the others.

'Jerk…' Snoozloth though as she hurtled through the air, eventually slamming face-first into one of Atlas's Knuckle Busters and being uppercutted into the air. Aeolus followed up by flying in her path and knocking her right back down, being triple-shoulder-struck by Thetis, Taylor, and Siarnaq, getting pelted by pistol fire from the two Model A Mega Men, then getting blasted by a Charge Shot from Aile, leaving the Pseudoroid as a mangled mess on the underground floor.

Despite so much damage, Snoozloth was still alive, managing to open her eyes to see Vent walking toward her. He drew the Z-Saber once more. "Any last words?" He asked. His reply was the Pseudoroid swinging her arm at his legs, knocking him to the ground. "Whaa-OOF!"

"…May Model D devour your soul and make your body into a soldier. I wish that on all of you." Snoozloth choked. "At least… I don't have to look at your faces again." She closed her eyes one last time. "Maybe now… I can get some actual sleep."

Vent raised an eyebrow at her. "…I'll never understand you Pseudoroids." He said, energy charging within him. Standing right in front of Snoozloth's head, his energy grew the Z-Saber to a huge size before he slammed it down, slicing Snoozloth clean in half. He jumped backwards to the others as her body began to glow and spark before finally being obliterated in a powerful explosion.

A DNA Core floated from the remains, being absorbed into Ashe's helmet. "That's… number eight." Grey mused.

"Then that means we've destroyed all the Pseudoroids!" Model A chirped.

"Then let's get out of here before this place decides to cave in!" Ashe said.

"But how do we get out of here without taking the long way?" Taylor asked, pointing at the tunnel that brought them down there in the first place.

Grey looked up to the treetop that Snoozloth was using. "Hmm…" He rushed toward the tree. "A-TRANS!" Transforming into Snoozloth, Grey quickly climbed up the branches, using Snoozloth's unique arms to quickly scale the vines.

While this was happening, Vent walked up behind Aile. Much to her shock, Vent grabbed her shoulder, spun her around, and immediately kissed her. Something seemed… different to Aile. While she and Vent had, in fact, been together for a time (two months, to be precise) and had kissed, Vent was never this forward. In fact, he was usually the passive one, being easily embarrassed when it came to intimacy. She was wondering here all this energy and confidence came from… and apparently, so was Vent, as he quickly backed up, his eyes back to how she remembered, his face having lit up like a Christmas tree. "What the heck… got into me?"

"…Good question…" Aile breathed, her face red as well.

"Eh heh heh… sorry, Vent. That was me." Model Z said. "I guess all that energy from Giro must've spilled into you. Good thing we had a Pseudoroid to deal with, or things might've gotten ugly."

"Yeah. That was pretty cool, though." Vent admitted with a bit of a goofy smile. Aile giggled.

All of a sudden, the odd tunnel plant that had led them down there started shaking before whirring to life, re-growing its petals. "Huh? I thought we destroyed that thing." Taylor wondered.

"You're welcome!" Prairie's voice chirped through their communicators. A screen of her appeared in the air. "I managed to hack my way into the code of the area and repair that tunnel plant's data. Hop onto it, and I can get you out of there!"

Ashe shuddered. "Just don't make it trap me again, please."

Grey then jumped down from the treetop. "Well, I didn't find anything up there. At least I got practice with Snoozloth's body."

"No worries. Let's go." Vent said. The Mega Men slowly (and in some cases, hesitantly) climbed onto the center of the tunnel plant, and when everyone was on, the leaves closed around them like a hatch.

"Hang on!" Prairie told them. The leaves began to spin, slowly getting faster, before the plant shot straight up, the leaves boring through the cyberspace ground like a drill. Luckily for the Mega Men, the center of the plant WASN'T spinning, so they didn't have to worry about getting dizzy or being flung around.

Eventually, the plant smashed its way to the surface, slowly sinking back down and opening its leaves to be level with the ground. "Top floor: Veggie viruses, weird skies, Cyber-Gates back to the real world!" Thetis joked, hopping off the plant. The Cyber-Gate was right near them.

"Let's go. I've had enough experience as a computer for one lifetime." Siarnaq said, quickly jumping off the plant, hopping across the ground and leaping through the Cyber-Gate first. The other Mega Men followed, ending up back on Smidge Island.

As some of the Mega Men warped out through the transerver, Model Z piped up. "Hey Vent, check out that capsule now. Maybe now that my M.E.G.A. System is repaired, I can handle whatever it does."

"It's worth a shot." Vent said, walking up to the capsule. Aile stayed with him, following him.

When Vent picked up the Upgrade Capsule, the blue core began to glow, projecting a red hologram. This hologram was not of Dr. Ciel, but of an armored male who also had a helmet coming out of his helmet. Notably, he looked very similar to Vent in his current Model Z(X) armor. "Who's that guy?" Aile wondered.

"Got me. He might look similar, but I don't know him." Model Z admitted.

"I don't recognize him either." Model X said.

"If this device has activated and you're hearing this, then you're the one chosen to wield Biometal Model Z. My name is Zero, and I'm the one that Model Z is based on." The hologram said. "In the event that I meet my maker for real, Ciel created this Biometal modeled after me. When Ciel created it, there were four alternate weapons integrated, but they were placed in these Capsules in case someone bad got ahold of Model Z. The one you're holding right now holds the Shield Boomerang, a weapon that can protect you from damage, yet still slice through enemies while returning to you. It certainly helped me a lot." The hologram chuckled. "Place Model Z within the slot, and the Capsule will let you use the Shield Boomerang next time you Megamerge. Keep fighting for those who believe in you, Biomatch." The hologram of Zero gave a thumbs-up before vanishing.

"Zero… So that's where the Z comes from." Model Z mused. "Well, if you're giving me your power, I'll gladly take all of it. Hook me up, Vent."

"Right." Vent said with a nod. De-Megamerging, he took a hold of Model Z and placed him into the slot on the Capsule. Model Z's eyes began to glow, as did the protrusions and core as a swirling effect occurred within them. The Capsule glowed and Model Z's eyes glowed brighter, then bolts of lightning from the protrusions struck the core, combined, and struck Model Z without damage. While his actual form wasn't changed, something was added: A small orangish-yellow line was drawn on the green crystal.

"You all right, Model Z?" Model X asked as Vent removed Model Z.

"Not a bit worse." Model Z replied. "I actually feel better than before!" Vent smiled. "Let's head back to the Camp. I wanna test out this new weapon Zero gave me."

"Good idea." Aile piped up. "Maybe Prairie can shed some more light on these weird Capsules." Vent nodded, and the two of them got on the transerver, warping out.

*Meanwhile* *Model D's Castle*

'So… all of my Pseudoroids have been defeated…' Model D mentally mused, tapping its fingers on the chair. It made Thomas's face twist into a creepy smirk. 'All according to plan…'

Vile: The Pseudoroids are finished, and now Model Z has an upgrade! But Model D seems to have expected this. Stay tuned to see what happens next! If you guys liked this chapter, leave a review for me! Ja ne for now!

Computer Voice: Vile, logging out.