Hello to you all! I kept true to my word and got this part out as soon as I could. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Since you already know the drill by now, I'll just put some of my own "fun facts" here. Did you know that this one is my longest chapter to date?

Chapter 6

The reddish skies of the remnants of the Sky Lagoon were pierced by two beams of light: one a lighter shade of red than the other. When they hit the ground, they materialized into Zack and Zero. The former's shock had worn off by now, and he was about to chew his mentor out for dragging him out here. That is, until he took a good look around.

The ruins that surrounded him looked like those of a futuristic city. What looked like futuristic buses were in disrepair, strewn about the twisted roads and broken skyscrapers littered about the landscape. That was to say nothing of the crimson skies overhead that would probably be noxious to breathe in had he been human. Only one thought came to the impulsive Martin twin's mind: What happened here? He turned to the ponytailed swordsman with a look that was both questioning and stunned.

Zero sighed as he began, "This place used to be a floating metropolis known as the Sky Lagoon. Thousands of humans and Reploids lived here in relative peace."

"What happened?" Zack asked, unable to keep his rolling emotions from showing in his voice. "This place looks like a bomb went off on it!"

"A Maverick traitor by the name of Magma Dragoon sabotaged the Sky Lagoons engines so it would fall to the ground, killing most of the inhabitants in the process."

"Why? Why would anyone do this?" The darker red Reploid practically spat, truly horrified that one Maverick (whatever that was) could do something so cruel.

"That's the messed up thing. He did all that just to goad X and I into a fight."

"Where is this guy?" Zack growled angrily. "When I get my hands on him, I'll—"

Zero cut him off "Oh relax, Zack. Dragoon's long gone anyway. I made sure of that myself. Besides, I doubt you're ready for a fight like that."

Before his charge could respond, Zero perked up in suspicion at the noises coming from the charred remnants of the buildings. They were certainly not alone. Without warning, dozens of mechaniloids sprang from various parts of the wreckage and went after the duo. Some strange new instinct that Zack couldn't quite place kicked in and he started swinging at the rogue robots. To his surprise, not only did he knock the robots away, but he sent them flying. It was as if he was hitting pieces of Styrofoam as he took out one after another. Not to be outdone, Zero made very short work of his foes with his trusty Z-Saber.

With the last of the mechaniloids destroyed, the bowl-cut Hunter snapped out of his battle-induced stupor and took a good look at the damage he'd done. Whoa. Did I… Did I just do all that? He wondered as he surveyed the damage around him.

"Well, it looks like we're done here." Zero stated, only to be proven wrong when he heard a very familiar cackle.

"Wahahahahahaha!"

No. It couldn't be. Zero thought. It surely couldn't be him again, could it?

"Zero, is that you?" the voice asked in mock surprise. "It's been so long…"

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Zack called, putting on a brave face. In reality, he was more than a bit worried. Whoever this guy was, he sounded like he had more than a few screws loose.

Suddenly, a black blur bounded across the wreckage and stopped in a more humanoid form in front of the Hunters. The black Reploid appeared to be armed to the teeth and, at least to Zack, looked kind of like Boba Fett from Star Wars.

Zero unsheathed his to-this-point dormant saber and struck a fighting pose. "Vile. I can't say I wanted to see you again. Why don't you ever take the hint and stay dead? Your boss already is."

If he had a mouth to speak of, Vile would've surely had a demented smile on his face. "What, and miss this little reunion of ours? No way!" the Maverick then turned his attention to Zack, whose uneasiness grew. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Vile zipped around Zack, sizing up his new plaything.

"Dude, it's called personal space. Back off." Zack said, trying to hide his fear of this guy behind a mask of defiance. He was pretty sure this guy was what you would get if you gave The Joker access to an armory.

The black-dyed madman simply laughed in his face. "Oh… oh, good!" he paused to laugh some more before continuing. "You should be great fun… that is, until you die!"

With that, Vile hurled two bombs at the heroes. Zack barely got out of the way before one exploded, turning one of the crumbling buildings to ruins. He then fired his side-mounted Gatling gun, sending a spray of bullets the Hunters' way. Zero swatted said bullets out of the sky with his saber while Zack put his hands up instinctively to stop the bullets. To the latter's amazement, the projectiles simply ricocheted off his tough armor. Emboldened, Zack decided to go on the offensive. He ran at Vile with his fist reared back (which, unbeknownst to him, was glowing) for a punch, but Zero beat him to it, slashing the renegade in the shoulder. Vile staggered back, still laughing as he chucked a couple of grenades at Zack and Zero. Both never made it to their marks before they were either punched away or slashed to pieces.

"I'd love to catch up with you more, Zero, but I've got some business to take care of right now. Oh, and I'll see you real soon too…" Vile trailed off.

"Zack." Zack finished, now crossing his arms and glaring coldly at his new adversary.

Vile chuckled. "I'll remember that. Bye-bye, now!"

With that, Vile warped away. Zack wasn't the least bit interested in staying here any longer.

"Can we go now?" He asked.

Zero simply nodded, said something that Zack couldn't quite make out into what he guessed was a communicator of some sort on his right arm, and they both warped away.

Suggested BGM:

Opening Stage (Zero): "Awake Road Again" - Mega Man X7

Opening Stage (Zack): "Sky Lagoon (Zero)" - Mega Man X4

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