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Anyhow, history lesson aside, let us return to the present. It was 5:00
A.M. at Maverick Hunter Headquarters, which stood in the middle of the city of Enlitia (the city named after Dr. Light) and always had been the facility for training, teaching, and housing Maverick Hunters, and it had been almost a month since the destruction of Repliforce and the 4th defeat of Sigma. Zero, who still feels responsible for the death of Iris and Colonel, laid asleep in a hyperlock chamber, energizing and remaining ever ready for the next battle with the Mavericks.
As Zero laid sound asleep, a bright, blinding flash of light suddenly appeared in the doorway of the chamber room. Zero awakens to this light, opens his hyperlock chamber, and stares at the shadowy figure of a man dressed in a lab coat.
"Zero........my masterpiece." the man said.
"No! Not you again! Who are you! Why are you doing this to me?!!", screamed Zero, having seen the man before, but not his face.
The man continued, "You are now equal to him in power. You are now stronger, faster, and more powerful than you were before. You are now ready to proceed with my master plan!"
"What do you MEAN "master plan"?! I don't even know you! WHO ARE YOU!?", yelled Zero, his head starting to hurt.
The man ignored Zero's retort and continued, "Take the secret weapon with
you and take them over. If you see our enemy.....destroy him........that's an order!!" With that, the strange man disappeared without a trace.
"WHAT secret weapon?! WHAT enemy?! Come back!!" Zero lunged forward to where the man was, and was suddenly thrown back by some unseen force. Feeling dazed and confused, Zero looked up to see another shadowy figure appearing before him. This time it seemed to be a robot. Tall, dark, gaunt, sporting a cape and glowing red eyes, the robot raised a finger at Zero.
"Who are YOU!?" said Zero.
The dark robot said in a low voice, "Our conversion is complete, brother. It is time!"
Zero face began to cringe in anger, "Time for WHA-AAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH!!!!"
Zero clutched both sides of his head in pain. His ears ringing, he heard the robot saying the same thing over and over again.
It's time, Zero! It's time!
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Zero suddenly woke up on the floor of the chamber room. Apparently he opened the hyperlock chamber in his sleep and fell out. Zero breathed a sigh of relief, feeling sweat on his forehead.
What do these dreams mean? Who were they? Zero thought to himself as he looked at the sunrise out the windows.
"What's wrong, Zero?", Mega Man X said in a concerned voice, "You haven't said much to me since we left the barracks, and you look like you've seen a ghost."
Zero looked in his friend X's eyes as they were walking across MHHQ in the afternoon. Zero knew he had to be straight with him since X knows him well.
"I.....I had that dream again......last night.", Zero said nervously.
"The one about the old man in the lab coat?", X said.
"No! The one about the pink elephants and the gingerbread house! YES, it's the one with the old man!" Zero retorted with a tinge of anger and sarcasm.
"Okay! Okay! You don't have to be so testy!"
Zero rubbed his eyes, "I'm sorry X. It's just that last night's dream was a lot worse than the others."
X continued, "Tell me all about it. I'm here, pal."
"Okay, X. Well, after the old man disappeared, I was suddenly thrown back, and then this other shadow appeared. This time it looked like a robot. He kept telling me it was time, and my head started hurting. That was when I woke up on the floor of the chamber." Zero turned to see X was looking at something.
"X! Are you listening?" Zero said
X was looking at two Reploids standing forty feet away, one wearing a visor, the other having long, flowing blonde hair, "Who are those two Reploids over there."
Zero answered him, "Oh them? That's Scorch and Royaltie. They joined the 17th unit about a week ago. They really did great in both hand-to-hand combat and weapon firing techniques.
"Oh. I see." X looked a little puzzled. "I asked because I had a feeling of dejavu, like I saw them from somewhere before." X put his thoughts aside and turned his attention to Zero. "So Zero, about that robot in your dream?"
"Oh yeah. Anyway, I didn't know whether it was a Reploid or wha-what are you doing now!" Zero was stopped to see X hiding in back of him.
"Shhhh....Don't move. It's Aurie!" X whispered.
Zero turned his head to see Auroran Flash skipping merrily down the corner.
"Oh! I see!", Zero said with a sly smirk.
Auroran Flash is a tall, white and purple, very attractive girl Reploid (Okay, flattering remark! Sorry, couldn't help myself) who is highly revered across the HQ as a great Maverick Hunter next to X and Zero. And nearly half of the HQ knows that Aurie has a crush on X, always calling him "Meggy" *heehee*. Aurie approached Zero and happily said, "Hey Zero! Whassup?"
"Oh! Not much, Aurie! Not much!" Zero said sarcastically. "Ya know, X was looking for you!" Zero moved aside to reveal X to Aurie. X gave Zero a dirty look.
"MEGGY!!!!!", Auroran chirped, running towards X. She jumped in X's arms and said with a giggle, "Were you REALLY looking for me!?"
"Well, actually....I...uh....erggg." X lost his footing and fell to the ground with a thud , with Aurie still in his arms.
"Oof! We gotta stop meeting like this.", Aurie said as she sat on top of X.
X responded, "Yeah, I know! Could you please get off me!"
"Oh! Okay!", with that, Aurie gave X a big smooch on the lips and got up off of him. Zero silently chuckled at the scene before him.
"Well, I gotta go! See ya Zero!" Aurie then turned to X, "Bye, Meggy!" She then winked at him, giggled lightly, and happily skipped down to the nearby complex.
X got up and said, "I really wish she wouldn't do that! It's embarrassing!" X turned to see Zero laughing to himself.
"This is the best dang entertainment I have seen all day!" said Zero laughingly.
"Aw shut up, Zero! Let's just get to the training facility before 3:00 rolls around, okay!?"
"Okay!" Zero paused before saying "Meggy!" and was really laughing hysterically. X gave him a swift kick in the can and said "SHADDUP!"
As X and Zero entered the large training facility, they noticed sounds of gunfire and clanging metal coming from inside of the arena.
"Looks like someone got here before us." said X.
"Take THAT!!! You overgrown bucket of bolts!" yelled out a voice in the arena.
Zero added sarcastically, "Yep! Sounds like the "righteous" one is having a good day!"
X could tell that he was talking about Buzzsaw. A high ranking hunter next to X, Zero, and Aurie, Buzzsaw is a tall, brown haired Reploid complete with green and white armor. Buzzsaw is an incredible fighter and always manages to pull through for his unit, especially for a Reploid who has a humongous ego and always calls himself "Buzzsaw the Righteous".
As X and Zero entered the arena, they watched Buzzsaw take on a giant, simulated War Mech. The War Mech fired a series of bursts at Buzzsaw, but Buzzsaw did a backflip and avoided the converging blasts.
Buzzsaw retorted, "Nice try, big boy! Now have a taste of my Enchanted Blade!" With that, he carefully aimed his weapon at the Mech and fired four energy blades at it. The War Mech reacted too late. The blades cut off his arms and shoulder cannons as if they cut through paper. It reeled back in simulated pain, oil pumping out of its severed limbs.
X was impressed as he watched from afar, "Not bad! In fact he's really good!"
"Yeah! But not as good as me!", responded Zero.
"Alright! Time for the coup de gracy!", said Buzzsaw, drawing out his Beam Sabre. He ran towards the limbless monster, made a Herculean leap, and uttered out a battle cry as he drove his Sabre into the giant's head. He then took it out and made several successful slashes, causing the Mech to fall with a loud "CLANG!!!" and shut down completely. Within seconds, the simulated monster disappeared.
"You were saying, Zero?", said X with a sly grin.
"Ha HAA!!!", yelled Buzzsaw as he victoriously held his Beam Sabre in the air, "Another enemy brought down by the mighty hand of Buzzsaaaaaaaaaw the Righteous!!!!!!"
Zero rolled his eyes, "Aw geez! That guy is so full of himself!"
Buzzsaw turned around to see X and Zero watching him from afar.
"X! Zero! Compadres! What's happening!" Buzzsaw heartily yelled.
X responded, "Hey Buzz! Take down another virtual army this morning?"
"Yeah!", Buzzsaw said boastfully, "In fact, I just might beat my old record next time!"
Zero butted in front of X and said, "And that makes what? The ten-millionth time you broke your so-called old record?"
Buzzsaw remarked, "Hey, come on, Zero! I can't help that I'm so good at what I do!"
"Oh yeah! I bet a free Meredith Brooks CD that you can't beat TWO times your current record!"
"You're on!!", said Buzzsaw. They both smirked slyly as they shook hands. Even though they were both good friends, they were both fiercely competitive, always betting on who would be better at a training simulation.
X turned to his friend and said, "Geez, Zero! Must you two always bet against each other?"
"Aw, come on, X! You know were just having a little-"
Zero and the others stopped to hear alarms ringing out from all areas of the HQ. That was a sure sign that Mavericks were attacking somewhere in the world.
A voice boomed out over a loudspeaker, "Maverick Hunters Mega Man X, Zero, Auroran Flash, and Buzzsaw!! Report to the Command Center immediately for mission briefing!"
X responded to the call, "Sounds like Mavericks are on the move somewhere!"
Zero said, "Well, what are we waiting for?"
Buzzsaw said, "Nothing! Let's go and blast those Mavericks into submission!" Buzzsaw could never resist the thrill of the fight.
With that, the three Hunters ran out of the training center towards the Command Center as the sirens continued to blare.
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