Chapter 02: meeting once again
The horses stopped in front of the base, the count got out of his carriage and the Spanish soldiers got down from their horses and went in with their master. Meanwhile, inside the base everything was ready and everyone was there, well, everyone except Zero, "Armadrillomon, where's Zero?", asked X in a whisper.
Armadrillomon: Still asleep, I think he didn't sleep well last night.
Axl: No, he's just avoiding the guest and that's not a good thing for a hunter to do.
Ben: Haa! Armadrillomon, be a nice cute digimon and wake your partner UP!
Armadrillomon(sweat drop): O…OK!
Armadrillomon went to the room and there was Zero in his bed, pretending to be asleep:
Armadrillomon(Sighs): Hey! Zero! Come on, wake up! Our friends are waiting down stairs!
Zero: Leave me alone, Armadrillomon, I'm so tired you know.
Armadrillomon: But…I…
Just then, a sudden earthquake was shaking the place, it appeared that it was Kanjer followed by Gin:
Kanjer: HEY! YOU IDIOT! GET OFF OF THE BED OR YOU'LL SEE MY HUMMER IN YOUR FACE!
Gin: Zero, be a good maverick hunter and get out from the bed!
Demidevimon: The boss is right, everybody else are down there, and you're acting selfishly!
Zero: Leave me alone…I'm tired! So please, Kanjer, Aniki, I wanna get back to sleep.
Kanjer and Gin: If that's the way you want it, so be it!
The three of Gin, Demidevimon and Armadrillomon have dropped Zero from his bed and then Kanjer smashed him with the hummer-Ow, that hurts- Zero was in pain from the hummer, Kanjer and Gin were leaving the room along with the two digimons.
Kanjer: Listen, get ready and get down the stairs or I won't be very nice next time!
Then when they left Zero muttered "fine, I'm coming!", he wore his helmet and breathed deeply before he gets out of the room. Meanwhile, the Count has entered the base and greeted everyone , the first of them all was Ben.
The Count: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! I…Am the Count of Monte Cristo.
Colonel: We are all having the pleasure of your visit, Count.
The Count: This is very kind of you, Colonel.
Colonel(pointing to Iris): I want to introduce you to my sister Iris.
Iris(bowing politely): It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.
The Count(taking Iris' hand): The pleasure is all mine, mademoiselle Iris.
The Count kissed Iris' hand which made her blush, and she took it away with her face as red as a rose:
Iris: Why, thank you Count.
The Count: You're welcome…Oh, pardon me I almost forgot to introduce you to my own soldiers(he points to the two soldiers behind him). Gentlemen, I want you to meet Commander Raymond and Lieutenant Gabriel, my best and most loyal soldiers.
The two soldiers bowed before them, Gin and the lieutenant looked at each other in a disliking look. To describe them, the commander had a brown hair and light-colored skin while the lieutenant had a blond hair and dark-colored skin, both of them are from the Spanish army:
Raymond: Nice to meet you all, hunters.
Gabriel: It's a pleasure for us to meet such well trained soldiers as you.
X: It's a pleasure to meet you and your master, Commander, Lieutenant.
The Count: Say, didn't you notice that there's a missing member here, Commander?!
Raymond: You're right, Excellency, there IS something missing in here.
Iris: Oh, you must mean my fiancée, Zero.
Gabriel: Zero? Yes, he's the one we want to meet.
Colonel: Oh, you'll be surprised by his abilities, even though he's still young but he's the best soldier in the base.
The Count: Sounds impressive, isn't it lieutenant?
Here comes Double T to the scene and starts the blaming:
Double T: HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU FOOLS DOING HERE?!
The Count: My, my, isn't that the high and mighty Double T?
Double T: Are you making a joke out of me?! Grrrr.
Tripple: Woah! Double T, stop! Stop, stop, stop!
Ben: That's enough, Double T! Leave them alone!
Double T was upset because he really wanted to blow up the Count's head:
The Count: Well, back to our subject, I really want to meet your fiancée in person, if that was possible.
Iris: Oh…Um…Actually, he is…
Zero: Right here!
Everyone turned their sights to up stairs to see Zero getting down and heading right to the Count, the Count's hand stretched to Zero's direction, he was waiting for Zero to shake his hand:
Signas: Zero, this is the Count of Monte Cristo and his soldiers, Commander Raymond and Lieutenant Gabriel.
The Count: You must be the famous Zero, it's a pleasure for me to meet the strongest warrior of the maverick hunters.
Zero: HANDS OFF! You're not expecting me to shake hands with this…This… This MONSTER!
Everyone looked at him in surprise, especially Iris, she went to him and slammed his face:
Iris(with anger in her voice): Zero! That's not a good way to treat our guest! You must give him an apology, NOW!
Zero: Me? Giving 'him' an apology? Ask him what had he done to me and then blame me!
Iris was shocked by his words, the Count looked surprised from the young hunter's reaction:
The Count: My apology, I did not expect that to happen because of me.
Iris: No! it's OK, Zero is just a little nervous 'cause he didn't sleep good that's all.
Zero: NO! THAT'S NOT ALL! (turning his head to the Count) LISTEN YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL SAY THIS JUST FOR ONCE! YOU'D BETTER LEAVE THE BASE BEFORE SUNSET, OR I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU'VE NEVER BORN! I'm going to get some training.
X: Zero, you have to pull back what you said, this is not the way to treat a guest-
Zero: He's a guest for you, for me he's not! "kimi no devil koreta demo ano demon ka hirai demon no".
Zero leaves with that and they all were surprised from that because they didn't understand anything:
Vermouth: What did Dragon mean with that?!
Gin: He said that…
The Count:"The devil may speak sweet but a demon will always remain a demon"!
Ben: Wow! How did you know that?!
The Count: I'm travelling a lot.
Colonel: Now, now, let's not make the matter bigger than this, OK?
Kanjer: Well, I was waiting for you to give me something!
The Count: I beg your pardon?!
Kanjer: That's a thing you should figure out by yourself!
Meanwhile, Zero was in training room number 06 and he was really angry:
Zero: Why that little…? He's acting so calm like nothing happened, "it's a pleasure for me to meet the strongest warrior of the maverick hunters", err, he's making me sick!
Computer: Mr. Zero, are you OK, sir?!
Zero: I'm fine! Start the training program, computer!
Computer: In which level sir?
Zero: The highest one!
Computer: The highest?! Sir, this level fits only Mr. Double T and I must warn you that it's more than your energy level can take!
Zero: I DON'T CARE! JUST…START IT! AND WHATEVER HAPPENED DON'T STOP IT!
Computer: Fine, but don't say he didn't warn me.
The training program started on level 27, Zero didn't care about what would happen to him, he just wants to outburst his anger on something.
Ben pointveiw:
We were all with my friend Cristo listening to his stories about his travels in space, anyhow, Gabriel was still angry from what Zero said, for me it was really rude but if my friend Cristo have done something bad to Zero, he would really deserve all the curses that he had received from him. Anyway, while we were talking we heard a cry of pain coming from the training room number 06, and it was familiar we all recognized that it was Zero and without anything else to say we all went to see what was wrong. "What the hell is he doing?!", I heard Double T saying in anger, I turned around but I didn't expect to see the Count and his two soldiers following after!
When the maverick hunters and the three men arrived, they saw Zero seriously injured and still trying to stand up, everyone was afraid but Double T was just angry:
Double T: Computer! What's going on in here?!
Computer: Well, Mr. Zero wanted to train himself so he asked me to start the training program.
Double T: I know! What I meant is which level is THIS?!
Computer: Um…Level 27 sir.
Iris: What?!
Ben: Is he crazy?! He's going to kill himself!
Jeice: Computer, stop it now!
Double T: It's useless! Even if we wanted to stop it we can't! Because this level won't stop until he finishes it.
Computer: And in addition, he ordered me not to stop the program under any condition.
The Count just stood there with Raymond and Gabriel watching silently, and Ben noticed that his friend was looking maliciously at Zero who is really in a very bad condition. Everyone else were confused, they didn't know what to do about this situation while the three men were talking about it-unfortunately, in a calm tone too!- :
Raymond: The poor kid, he'll hurt himself.
Gabriel: Yeah, how sad.
The Count: Unless if I got in there…(holding his scepter in front of his face)…Chaos…Control!
The scepter glowed and the Count transported inside, everyone were amazed except Ben who knew how he got in there:
Axl: Wow! That's cool! How did he do that?
Impmon: I say that both of them are going to die.
Laquia: Impmon!
Impmon: What?! I was just saying my opinion!
Kanjer: They're done for.
Vegeta: Kanjer! Stop saying that!
Iris looked in concern to the injured Zero inside, just in few seconds the Count was slicing the training robots as if he was slicing fruits! He was destroying them easily one by one, when Double T saw this he felt that he wanted to explode, this is HIS training level how did that handicap just got through it that easily?! Well, for the rest of the hunters saw that it was cool especially Matt and Axl:
Matt: That's really awesome! Did you see that Nolegs?!
Nolegs: Meow!
Double: I have to admit he's even better than Double T.
Double T looked at him in an angry look, and then he turned his head to the Count to see where did he reached:
Double T: What the…?! HOW DID HE FINISH THE LEVEL THIS EASILY?!
Tripple: Hey, looks like the handicap has stolen your spotlight right, Double T?
Double T got even madder and threw Tripple to the wall! Meanwhile, Zero was barely able to stand up, the Count got close to him and lent him a hand:
The Count: Are you OK kid?
Zero(slamming the Count's hand away): GET AWAY FROM ME! I…didn't…ask…for…your help! Ah.
Zero has fainted and fell down, lucky for him the Count got him in his arms and went out from the room, the others were in front of the door and they were so worried:
Iris: Oh my god! Is he alright?!
Dark Dizzy: Of course he is, he's just been hit over here, and here, and here… OW!
Zero slammed Dark Dizzy on his face and then he turned to see who is holding him:
Zero(seeing an image of a young man before he faints): Whoa?! Who…are…you?!
Zero suddenly knocked out and the Count looked at him with hopeful eyes, he followed Iris to Zero's room and put him in his bed, "You're our hope kid, I'm sure you'll understand this. Sooner or later, you will", the Count whispered in Zero's ear, and then left the room with Raymond and Gabriel, the maverick hunters followed them except the Ginyu force. They stayed there to make sure that their friend is alright, all that while they heard him saying things like: 'No!…What are you doing to him?!...Let go of him!...He's not a traitor! He's innocent!', and then he woke up, scared and confused but then he put himself together when he saw all of the Ginyu force looking at him:
Burter: Zero, who's the guy you were talking about while you're unconscious?!
Goldu: Yeah, Zero! Who were you talking about?!
Zero: Believe me when I say I don't know him, either! But I heard a name.
Ginyu: And what was that name?!
Zero: Dantes!…Edmond Dantes!
He got up from his bed and went to see the others after the Ginyu force left before him, he stood behind the door and looked inside to see the Count talking to the others. 'So he just ignored my warning, huh?', he thought, he used his speed to get away and walk in the forest a little time. Unknown to him, Gabriel saw him and followed him to the forest, the lieutenant wanted to teach Zero a lesson for what he said earlier this day, and so went after him waiting the right time to give him the shot.