Back on the battlefield, the sparring match was hitting its climax as Zero caught the latest of Zack's blows (this one being a charged punch he was proving a little too eager to try out) and, not content with tossing him away this time, kneed him a few times before sending him flying with a vicious uppercut this time. Zero looked guardedly at his opponent, only to relax once it was clear he wasn't getting back up.

He turned his attention to his watchers. "He'll be fine. I've seen all I need to from him." He headed to X. "Wanna get a real spar in quickly before we go?"

The blue reploid looked back at the twins, with Zero answering his unasked question.

"Let 'em sort each other out. We should be back before long. Before you ask, we'll simply call them on comms when we're done. I don't imagine they'll be doing too much before then, anyway."

With that, they walked out of the arena, glancing at Cody as he ran past them in the other direction, brotherly instinct compelling him to act.

-000-

Meanwhile, Bailey and Alia were watching the proceedings from back in the Navigation Room.

"That was…something else," the former mumbled, put off by Zero's coldness.

"Well, that's just kind of the way Zero is," the pro navigator said, picking up on her mood. "At least, that's how it's been for as long as I've known him..."

She looked on in thought for a second before making her next statement.

"You know, your friends are adjusting to things in this world surprisingly well…"

"How…?"

"It was pretty obvious, actually. To name one example, London's outburst when she woke up makes absolutely no sense otherwise. That, and when you four first met up, well, you guys seemed a bit too chummy to be off-the-lot reploids, to say the least…"

"Point taken," Bailey conceded. "But how are you so calm about this?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you everything, but suffice it to say, this isn't our first rodeo with this sort of thing."

Any response to that would have to wait, unfortunately.

"Do you mind if I butt in, Alia?"

A blue-eyed and blue-haired reploid appearing to be in her late teens with a cream-colored body with blue highlights to it was the speaker. Her lighter aesthetic contrasted with her tanned complexion that she shared with the smaller reploid girl next to her. That one had a similar cream color scheme, just with red highlights in a pixie cut hairstyle that contrasted with the other's long blue braided look. She looked to be around 10 by appearance.

"No problem, Sapphira. We aren't really doing anything right now anyway. This is Bailey, by the way."

"I see," she said, turning to the gray reploid and shaking her hand. "I'll be handling some of the navigational duties here."

"You'll be helping each other out," Alia interjected, trying to put a stop to any confusion before it started. "Our usual Navigators, Layer and Palette, were recently temporarily reassigned anyhow, so we could use the extra hands. There was someone else who was supposed to be here, too, but I haven't seen him yet…"

"Who's your little shadow there?" Bailey asked Sapphira, changing the subject.

"Ruby here, she's my sister."

The redhead waved wordlessly.

"Were you the one that opened my pod?" The brunette asked, to which she nodded the affirmative before running off…

"Sorry. She's shy,"

Bailey watched her go. Considering all her past adventures (and this one), this wasn't the strangest thing she'd ever seen by far…

-000-

Meanwhile, Zack was busy coming to, with his concerned brother kneeling over him.

"Ugh… Codes? How long was I…?"

"About ten minutes," said brother supplied. "Give or take, anyway."

"I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"Well, being knee'd several times and uppercutted as if from a pro boxer will do that to you."

"Guy's a force of nature," the darker red reploid grumbled as he was finally let up. "He threw me around like a ragdoll and looked bored the whole time."

"He pretty much said as much before he left…"

"Uh, guys…"

They turned around to see London carrying a catatonic Axl, whose only acts were a couple of involuntary twitches. "I think I broke him."

Cody chuckled a bit. "Somehow, I doubt that."

"Hold on, I wanna try something…"

Zack walked up to the unconscious reploid and, with a touch of a smirk on his face, he clapped his hands loudly once, sending Axl scrambling out of London's grip and aiming freshly materialized pistols at the three.

Everyone backed away as the elder twin panicked, putting his hands up. "Easy, easy. We come in peace!"

Dropping his guard back down, he sighed. "What happened?"

London explained things to the best of her ability (with the twins filling in obvious gaps). Axl was quickly in her face.

"Just so you know, you outshooting me on the range was a fluke."

"Nuh-uh," The girl rebutted in a childish tone of voice. "I won fair and square. You're welcome for me saving your life, by the way!"

The two began a strange stare-down and growling match while the twins exchanged looks.

"This should be interesting."

"Yup."

A warning siren got everyone's attention before long with Axl having to take the pupils back to the Navigation Room (with a certain one being unreasonably stubborn about it).

-000-

The returning hunters were greeted by the grave looks of X, Zero, Alia, Bailey, and two faces they didn't recognize. After the necessary greetings, the seasoned Navigator got to the matter at hand.

"We've just received reports of more Maverick attacks at various locations. It's like they just popped up out of nowhere…"

"When?" X asked.

The answer came from Bailey. "Just a few minutes ago!"

"That's not even the most troubling part. Take a look."

X, Zero, and Axl's faces lit up in recognition as eight familiar faces took up the previously blank view screen, being those of Boomer Kuwanger, Crystal Snail, Tunnel Rhino, Magma Dragoon, Tidal Whale, Commander Yammark, Wind Crowrang, and Gigavolt Man -O- War.

"How are they back? Just who's rebuilding all of them?!" X wondered aloud with frustration.

Zack was barely listening, being much more focused on a certain Maverick out of the pack.

"I thought you said you dealt with Dragoon!" he pointed out, glaring at Zero who just hissed and shook his head. He continued to level a glare at his mentor until an…idea began forming in his mind...

"Wouldn't be the first time somebody tried this. I'd personally blame whoever brought back Vile."

Alia interrupted the chatter. "Whatever the case may be, we all need to get moving. I'd suggest going in teams of two. Sapphira, and Bailey, and I can provide support from here if you want. All you need to do, rookies is pick a Mav—"

Her sentence was cut off midway by a certain someone showing exactly what she was going to say: picking a Maverick (in this case, Magma Dragoon) on the console to plot a course for its coordinates.

"Are you crazy? What do you think you're doing?!"

"Fixing this," the boy said simply with a hard, determined look as he was teleported away.

The remaining twin shook his head. "I really should've seen this coming…" He took a step to go after him when Zero barred his way.

"I'll handle this," was all the red robot said. "I know the terrain thousands of times better than you do."

"Well, I think I know my own brother about a thousand times better than you do!"

"I know what I'm doing. Trust me," was what Zero left him with before taking off in pursuit.

Cody let slip a defeated sigh.

"He really does know what he's doing," X threw in upon walking up to his charge. "He's even saved me on more than one occasion…"

"I hope you're right…"

-TBC-

On your way out the door, be sure to ask questions, comment, review and show your support in any way available if you liked what you've read here. Also, keep tabs on this story and profile for more. Goodbye until next time!