Rockman Zero: Rise to Honor

[Core]

Rockman Zero: Rise to Honor

By: Core Belote

Disclaimer: The following is a story of the past of Milan, the resistant soldier that discovered Zero along with Ciel. None of the event talked about here are official from Capcom, except those officially released in the story of the games.

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Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
Chapter 2: The Resistance
Chapter 3: Milan
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Chapter 1: “Humble Beginnings”

Milan walks through the corridors of the research lab, deep in the heart of Neo Arcadia, pushing a cleaning cart before him as he looks at the various offices of human scientists and reploid ones alike. He pauses as he comes to one of the laboratory doors left open and peeks inside cautiously. The dark haired reploid looks around and steps into the lab timidly as he looks for any reason why the lights would be on.

“What are you doing in here?” Asks a young woman’s voice from behind him.

Milan turns around quickly to see the form of the loveliest scientists he had ever seen, his friend Doctor Ciel.

“I’m sorry, Doctor.” Milan stutters, “I was curious as to why this area was still lit up, I was just doing my job and see if it was alright to shut the light off. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Ciel smiles warmly and pats the young reploid on the shoulder. “Its alright,” she says, “I know you were doing your job Milan, I just didn’t recognize you without your hat.”

Milan blushes as he runs his fingers through his dark blue hair, spiked in the back and hanging down in front in three rows.

“I- I lost my hat to tell the truth” , Milan stammers. “I ran into the head of security, Commander Beta and he tossed my hat into the incineration cart before I could get to it.”

“That’s awful!” Ciel exclaims, “That guy is nothing but a bully, he treats you like you’re just a hunk of junk. You should stand up for yourself Milan.”

Milan looks at his feet, “I can’t do that. . . He’ll have me labeled as an Irregular, besides he’s a military reploid and I’m just a janitor service reploid.”

“You can be more then that!” Ciel snaps, “All reploids have the ability to become more then just what they are programmed or built to do! You just have to trust and believe in yourself Milan.”

Milan looks up at her, his eyes filled with hope and renewed inner strength. “I’ll stand up to him Ciel. I promise that I will, and I’ll be more then just a janitor.”

As Milan left the room he sees Commander Beta walking towards him with three Pantheon’s following close behind him. The commander wore a white armor that seemed to meld with his pale skin and blue eyes. Milan moves to the side quickly as the group passes him and enters the room, he creeps to the side of the door and listens in curious to see what was going on.

“Doctor Ciel! I have an order from X to place you under arrest for supporting the Irregulars attempting to destroy the very foundation of this society.” The Commander says as he looks at Ciel and the Pantheon’s surround her with their gun arms.

Ciel backs up against one of the consoles in the lab, removing a disk from it. “Look, I’m sure that X would understand if I can give him the data that I collected. Take me to him so that I can inform him of what I have found out.”

Commander Beta shakes his head as he chuckles, “You don’t seem to understand Doctor, your aren’t going any where near X. You are to be taken to the disposal facility and retired along with the other Irregulars.”

“You wouldn’t!” Ciel yells as she clutches the disks, “If you kill me then you condemn yourselves to the same fate as Irregulars!”

“Not really, you see Doctor since you have aided in the escape of several hundred Irregulars you are classified not only as a sympathizer but also as an Irregular yourself.” The Commander says as he draws a pistol and aims it at Ciel, “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kill one of you humans. I think I’ll find out.”

Milan growls with anger as he hears Beta burst out into laughter, he grabs the closest thing to him and pulls the metal handle of the janitorial cart from its welds. The young reploid steps out from around the corner and into the doorway, looking at the scene.

“Excuse me sir, but I think… I think you had better lower that weapon.” Milan states as he looks at Beta, his blue eyes shining with anger as he grips the broken metal in his hand.

Beta turns around and starts to laugh harder as he sees Milan, “For a second there I thought that there would be trouble. But its only you, the cleaning bot, but I guess it’s a good thing you’re here. We’ll need someone to clean up after I retire this Irregular.”

“You’re not retiring anyone tonight or any other night Commander.” Milan states as he steps forward into the lab.

The Pantheons turn around and aim their guns at the reploid, ready to fire. Milan throws the handle into the large red cycloptic eye of the closest one, shattering and blinding the poor attack drone. He grabs hold of the gun arm and sweeps it around the room as the Pantheon opens fire on instinct. Ciel ducks as the energy bullets spray around the room, taking out the two other Pantheon’s in the room and barely missing Commander Beta as he ducks behind a computer station. Milan turns the gun arm of the Pantheon he has hold up on the drone itself, blasting its head from its own body. As the body fell twitchingly to the ground Milan stood in shock of the actions that he had just taken, and looks up at his friend as she looks back at him with an equally shocked expression.

Milan extends his hand to her, “Come on! We have to get out of here quickly!”

Ciel nods and takes the reploids hand, running with him out of the lab. Commander Beta comes out of his hiding spot, fear and rage showing on his face before he gives chase after the pair, calling into his communicator for backup and putting a bulletin out on Ciel and Milan. The pair runs quickly through the halls, ducking down side passages as they avoid the Neo Arcadian soldiers. Milan pulls Ciel into a room as he hears the footsteps of several soldiers and shuts the door, using his security code to lock the door in hopes of tricking the troops to thinking it has been locked all night.

Ciel gasps as the lights in the room activate, illuminating rows of weapons set on racks attached to the wall. On the center table lay different pistols and buster guns that were stripped down for use by humans incase of an Irregular attack in the research lab. Ciel moves over to one of the rows of weapons and takes up a pair of buster guns, putting them in her belt as she takes two rifles and slings them onto her back to form an x with the straps. Milan moves to one of the other racks and timidly picks up a compact buster rifle, checking the charge of the weapon before placing it down. He looks around and finds some light body armor made for humans and sees Ciel taking it up, putting it on her small body.

Milan takes up the body armor as well and places it over his work uniform, knowing that it would offer better protection then what he was made to have. Taking up the weapons again he starts outfitting himself with different kinds of weaponry, ranging from a buster rifle with a collapsible stock and several grenades. He slings a rifle over his shoulder checks the belts to make sure the other weapons are secure, attaching the handle to an energy knife to his hip before turning to look at Ciel. Two buster pistols were at her hips to either side of her skirt, the look offset by her gentle features.

Ciel smiles as she sees Milan and walks up to him quietly. “Looks like you’re planning to stick with me for a while. I know that we’ve been friends for a long time Milan, but there is something that I haven’t told you about myself.”

Milan blinks confused as he looks at his friend, “What is it Ciel?”

“I… I have been helping the Irregulars.” Ciel admits, “But they’re not really Irregulars at all! Their innocent reploids just like yourself that have only broken one law, the law of consuming energy and existing.”

“You mean that Neo Arcadia is retiring reploids just for being alive?” the young reploid says as the news sinks in, “I had no idea that was what was happening.”

Ciel nods, “We’re under an energy crisis and any reploids take energy to live, so that gave rise to the executions of ‘irregulars’. The soldiers round up reploids at random to cut down the numbers so that there will be more energy for humans like myself. But I couldn’t just sit and watch them execute innocent young reploids like you… so I helped the last list slotted for execution escape. Their hiding in the ruins of the ancient cities outside of Neo Arcadia.”

Milan falls to his knees, his body racked with guilt and sickness from his human emotions in his robotic body. Ciel kneels next to him and hugs him as she sees the pain in his eyes, the news of such actions by the place he called home and the people sworn to protect it to much for his young mind to take in. He rests his head against Ciels chest as she holds him and strokes his hair, his sensitive hearing picking up the steady beat of her heart. She sooths him with a mothers touch, kissing his forehead and looking into his eyes. He looks into her blue eyes and finds the courage in them that he had lacked for so long to see the truth, to see what he had written off as nothing in the past, and to finally see what he has to do now.

Milan stands up and takes one of the rifles from his back, turning the safety off on the weapon and moves towards the door. He keys the code for the door and unlocks it, stepping out into the hall way behind the Pantheons and aims the rifle at them. Milan fires the gun, sending a series of three bullets into the group. The simply programmed drones explode as they are caught by surprise by Milan.

The janitor reploid raises the rifle as he looks into the room and Ceil comes out, taking a grenade and tossing it into the room. The pair runs down the hall way and the room and its cache of weapons explodes, blasting a large hole in the interior of the building and setting fires deep in the complex. The various guards and other reploids all run to put out the fire, leaving the corridors unaffected clear for the pair of escapees. Milan leads the way down to the basement level of the labs to his car, opening the door for Ciel, as she gets in as a pair of Pantheons step in front of the exit and fire at the small car. Ciel out from around Milan and fires her pistols rapidly, forcing the mindless drones to fall back to a safer place.

Milan takes the opportunity to toss a grenade into the exit and quickly get in the car, putting it into gear and charges for the exit at full speed. The small gate explodes as the grenades go off, blasting a hole through the security field and sending the two drones flying. Milan drives through the city streets like a mad man, blasting through intersections and past stoplights in a mad dash to the city limits. He drives it up a ramped roadway leading to a raised highway near the edge of the city and guns the engine, taking the car airborne as it flies off of the road and starts to fall. Ciel screams as she sees the wall of the city rushing up at them quickly, and is bounced around as the car hit the top of it before falling off and landing on the ruins of a building fallen on its side against the wall.

Milan steers the car down the side of the ruined building and onto the broken streets, making a straight course for the outer ruins far from the city.

“Looks like we made it.” Ciel says as she settles back into her seat. “It doesn’t looks like we’ll be able to go back either.”

Milan pulls the car into the ruins of an old warehouse and turns the car off, “It looks that way doesn’t it Ciel.” He looks at her kindly, “But we’ll go back some day, and we’ll free the others from where they’re being held. I won’t turn a blind eye anymore, I… I’m going to fight. I’m going to free them.”

Ciel looks at the young reploid, “You’re going to fight?”

Milan nods. “I’ll do what ever it takes to free the others and make a world where humans and reploids can live in peace. Where there isn’t an energy shortage.”

The young blond puts her hands on Milan’s and squeezes them softly. “I know some people that can help then. Come with me Milan, please.”



Chapter 2: “The Resistance”


Ciel picks her way through the rubble of the many fallen buildings as Milan follows closely. His blue eyes wonder about as he takes in the sights of this long past civilization, seeing many burns and holes in the aging building caused by some forgotten war many years past. The young reploids eye catches on a glittering shape and finds him drawn to it, Milan walks the few steps to the object and looks down on it. His eyes widen as he discovers the object was the remains of a reploid of ancient design lying crushed under a large slap of twisted metal. The skin of the reploid had long since vanished from years of exposure, showing the bare metal structure and empty eyes look back at him.

Milan stares at the black armor of the ancient reploid, a light white color rounded its neck and down what was left of its chest. He looks closer, seeing the broken helmet was shaped in what looked like green headlights coming off of it and a few strands of silver hair. The mouth of the old reploid hung open as if in some silent scream that it had been trying to make since before Milan’s plans were even drawn. Milan’s head jerks around as he hears the sound of loose rocks give way, seeing Ciel brushing herself off and heading towards him.

“I see you found one of the ancients.” Ciel says as she steps up next to Milan and looks down at the remains, “From his design he’s at least a hundred years old, most likely one of the reploids that got caught up in the war that destroyed this city.”

Milan kneels down and touches the reploids armor, his fingers tracing the long cuts and buster marks in it.

“It looks like he was a warrior. I wonder what kind of stories he could have told if he was still alive today.” Milan says as he stands and looks solemnly at the departed reploid.

Ciel holds Milan’s hand and tugs him away from the site, “Come on, we don’t have much time to go sight seeing right now. I think we should go find the shelter.”

“Is that what you wanted to show me?” Milan asks as he follows the scientists.

“Yes.” Ciel nods as she reaches a manhole cover just on the other side of a raised bit of road. She lifts the cover to reveal a long ladder going down into the depths of the ruins. “This is the way to it, hiding underground is the only option that we have since the patrols sometimes come this far out. Less of a chance that we’ll be spotted.”

She starts down the ladder and Milan follows a bit hesitant to be going into a dark place in the bowels of a ruined city. They descend down below street level, into some kind of ancient warehouse storage facility. Milan looks at the conditions of the wall, the metal of the walls were wore and torn from age and the battle that had raged on the surface for a long time. He steps forward ahead of Ciel, his eyes adjusting to the light faster then her human ones. The reploid could see a figure standing in the distance aiming a small rifle at them.

“Halt! Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot!” Yells a female as she throws on a light switch, bathing the hall with a florescent glow from the ceiling.

Ciel raises her hands and steps in front of Milan, “Its alright Sophie, its me Ciel.”

The female reploid lowers her weapon, her long red hair braided and falling over her shoulder. Her clothing was that of a street vender and she bore a brown leather coat with a burn on its front. She looks at the pair with deep ruby eyes as a smile crosses her face and she lowers her rifle.

“Dr. Ciel, what brings you here and bearing gifts?” Sophie asks as she walks up them.

“I have been slotted to be retired as well.” Ciel says as she lowers her hands, “Milan saved me and we stocked up on weapons as he make our escape.”

“Well, welcome home I guess.” The female reploid says as she steps aside. “Cerveau has been able to get some generators working so we have some power and have found an old Trans Server as well. The elevator is taking a bit of time, but right now it’s at the bottom and we have to use ladders to get to the different levels.”

Ciel leads the way as Sophie returns to her guard duty, exchanging looks with Milan as he walks past. The two descend further into the depths of the hidden base till they reach a floor that was marked as having a mess hall, and they step off the ladder on the level. Milan touches the wall and could feel dents in it and some scaring from some past events, his mind wondered what kind of place this was now. It was now clear that it wasn’t a warehouse storage bay. As if reading his thoughts Ciel looks at him as she opens the door to the mess hall.

“This place dates back to before the Dark Elf Wars.” She tells him, walking into the room. “I found it when I was looking for some data in the ruins for anything we could use to help with the energy crisis.”

“Ciel, why do you and everyone call it being retired?” Milan asks as he enters the room.

Ciel pauses for a moment before turning to look at him, “Because the word death and destroyed has been burned into the minds of humans for many years and still causes much fear and panic. Retire on the other hand doesn’t sound as bad, I guess that I’ve fallen into the habit of calling it that. I was born when it was in heavy use and it’s become part of my speech now.”

Milan looks at the tables in the small mess hall, they had seen better days and he could tell that they were in need of a good wipe down. “I can understand that, but it is hard to believe that all this time they have been killing reploids. How did it all start?”

Ciel sits down in one of the cleaner spots facing Milan as she sets her weapons down on the tabletop.

“When the energy crisis started it was determined by the human leaders that spoke with X that the older less vital reploids that are outdated and were close to retiring from their jobs to join the civilian population be terminated.” The young doctor informs Milan, “Soon after the crisis grew worse and X assumed full command of Neo Arcadia by commission of the human counsel to solve the problem. I started working on a way to find an alternate power source while at the same time X expanded on the rules for ‘retiring’ reploids. Soon it wasn’t just the ones that were outdated, but those that went past the curfew or took in more then the allotted energy for the day to operate. Since they broke the rule they were called Irregulars and hunted or rounded up by the Pantheons.”

She looks at Milan sadly, “I saw them do it once, and a number of reploids were grouped together and executed on the spot. Commander Beta was the one that over saw it all, he is in charge of not only security of the Research Lab, but also re- killing reploids. That night I went to the holding area and set free a number of the ‘irregulars’ there. I just wish I could have done more then I have been able to. Right now there are only ten of us here in this place counting you and myself.”

The former janitor kneels down in front his friend, and takes her hand in his. “Ciel, there is something we can do. You told me to fight back, and that is what I’m going to do. Only not just against those that bully me, but also against Neo Arcadia. I’m going to go back and free reploids from that Research Center.”

“But they’ll kill you!” Ciel yells as she holds onto Milans hands tightly.

Milan pats her hands lightly, “Only if they catch me, and besides. We’ve all got to go sometime, why not go fighting for what we believe in.”

He stands up and heads for the door, looking over his shoulder at Ciel. “I won’t die, not today so don’t worry Ciel. I promise that I’ll be back.”

As he starts to leave he feels a hand grip his wrist and he halts to find Ciel holding him. She looks into his blue eyes and the reploid knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth, and that there was no way to talk her out of it.

“Alright, lets go.” Milan says as he pulls Ciel along, “I don’t think they will be expecting us to come back so it should be easy to get into the city. Getting out… that might be a tough one.”

***

The Pantheon guards patrol the halls of the Research Center methodically, their eyes shining in the darkened halls. Four of them come together at an intersection in the building and convey messages in a series of beeps that they had found nothing out of the ordinary apart from a rat eating some crumbs left by a messy human. The sound of a metal object hitting the floor causes them to look down to find a spinning orb. Curious the Pantheons watch as the object slows its spin in the middle of their group, not noticing before it was to late and the grenade explodes. The guards fly against the walls in pieces, the head of one rolls to a stop in front of Milan as he stands at the far end of the hall.

He bolts down the hallway, his rifle ready as he hears the footsteps of more Pantheons running towards the location. As they reach the intersection he opens fire, taking out one of the reinforcements and drives the butt of his rifle into the signal eye of another as he draws a pistol from his belt and fires down the left hall at three others coming up to help. The Pantheons duck behind cover as Milan fires at them, he hurls another grenade down the hall and hides behind the closest wall as the device explodes. He looks down the hall and could see a large section of wall had fallen in as well as the ceiling. A pang of guilt hit him as he realizes that the janitorial crew would have a large mess to clean up from his actions. Milan runs down the other hall way and hopes that his plan works.

Elsewhere in the lower levels of the building Ciel ducks behind a wall as she sees Pantheons running past in a high state of alert. She could hear the explosions caused by Milan in the floors above, and knew that those blue drones would be heading right for her friend. She shakes her head, trying to keep focused on her task as she moves on down the hall towards the holding cells. Ciel could see that there weren’t any guards in the area so she simply shot the lock open with her pistol and pulls the door open, grunting as the heavy door slides enough to let her get through. The sound of a child catches her ear as she steps into the holding area, and she looked at the closest cell, peering through the barred window at the person occupying the cell.

Inside was a small reploid, a child model that was holding the stuffed animal of a white cat tightly as she sings to herself in a lovely voice. Ciel knocks on the door to get the girls attention, making the child jump.

“Who… who’s there?” the girl asks.

“I’m Doctor Ciel, and I’m here to get you out of here.” She aims her pistol at the door and fires, blasting the lock and the door opens automatically.

The doctor blinks for a moment at the door, wondering why this one opened so easily when the other one was so hard to force open. She ushers the girl out of the cell and she stands behind Ciel as the older female aims her pistol at the other doors locks. Ciel fires and her expert marksmanship pays off as the locks explode. The reploids mill out of their cells, each dressed in different service or civilian clothes, confused as to what was happening.

“Alright everyone.” Ciel announces, “We have to get out of here quickly before they realize what is going on.”

***

Above them Milan runs down a hallway, the Pantheons chasing after him with they’re buster gun arms blazing. The young reploid presses himself against a small wall in an alcove for a lab. He grits his teeth as the drones close on his position, their fire chipping away at the wall. Milan takes two grenades from his belt and pulls the pins, hurling them both with one hand into the enemy group. The Pantheons halt their fire as they look down at the shiny metal objects, their expressions if they had any was one of “Oh, hell” as the explosion rips through the hallway and takes out a number of the blue psudo-reploids. Milan doesn’t wait for the smoke to clear as he steps out into the hallway and fires into the cloud at the rows of red eyes filing towards him, as the eyes start firing back he breaks into a sprint down the hallway again, firing over his shoulder as he does.

Milan reaches the end of the hall and his eyes widen in horror as he realizes it’s a dead end. He looks around him and sees a doorway leading to another lab, Milan shoots the lock off and the door opens as the Pantheons round the corner. One of the shots tears into his shoulder, causing the young reploid to yell in pain as his body signals that it has been damaged. He tosses his last grenade down the hall as the door closes behind him and the explosion causes the wall to buckle. Milan limps across the lab, holding his shoulder as he looks for another way out of the death trap he had set himself in.

“Great… just great Milan.” He rebukes himself, “You know the layout of this place better then anyone and you manage to get yourself trapped. What now genius.”

He takes one of the other rifles from his back and holds it in his other hand, looking at the two weapons. “I was never made for combat, or fighting… but I’m not going to let that stop me from doing the right thing. Even if it means I die.”

The screen next to him flashes, catching the reploids attention for a moment. Milan looks at the screen as it flickers, and for a moment shows an orb with rainbow colored rings around it forming an X. The image vanishes after showing clearly for two seconds, leaving Milan in the dark as the lights go out as well. Milan blinks as the door opens and he steps out to see the Pantheons looking around confused in the sudden darkness. The young reploid smiles at the turn of events and sweeps his rifles at the soldiers of Neo Arcadia, mowing them down before they could gather their senses. He runs down the hallway firing down the halls at the different Pantheons as he goes, leaving a trail of destruction and dead mechanical bodies in his wake.

Milan runs into an elevator and hits the button to go to the level planned for, he fires as the doors start to close at the Pantheons running towards him. As the doors close finally and seal themselves before allowing the elevator to move, Milan leans heavily against the wall and looks at his stained green janitorial uniform. He looks up at the digital display of numbers, hoping that he’ll reach the next level without any problems now and that Ciel had the others to safety.

***

Ciel opens one of the last doors to the small delivery hanger for cargo and looks out over the cityscape of Neo Arcadia. The city looked so beautiful in the rising sun of the day, hiding the dark terror within its porcelain walls. She rushes back to the group of former prisoners of Neo Arcadia and ushers them into a small cargo transport meant to send equipment from one location to another before getting in her self, amazed that the ship had unlocked itself for her it seemed with a flash of an orb and a rainbow X on it. She gets behind the controls of the insectoid looking cockpit of the craft and starts to power up the turbines mounted in its wings. Ciel looks ahead of her at the doorway, waiting for Milan to appear.

Her breath catches in her throat as she sees her friend slide through the doorway of the hanger. She watches as the young reploid rolls to his feet quickly and starts walking backwards, firing both weapons through the doorway in quick succession. Sparks fly from the Pantheons coming into view as they try to enter the hanger only to fall victim to the rifle fire. Ciel could see that his shoulder was burned and sparking and his clothes were covered with the red fluid that served as the reploids blood. She watches as Milan backs up to the hatch to the transport, and looks over her shoulder at the cargo bay as the green clad reploid jumps into the craft.

She guns the turbines, lifting the craft up and backing it out of the hanger quickly, turning it fast enough to put everyone off balance and sprawling onto the floor. Ciel hits the boosters and the ship jets off away from the building towards the limits of the city and the safety of the ruins. The reploids cheer as they realize that they are free, some of them thanking Milan and Ciel as the young reploid makes his way to the cockpit. He plops down next to Ciel and leans back, his energy level down a great deal.

“Are you okay?” Ciel asks as she looks at her friend, “That shoulder wound looks like it might be serious.”

Milan stares ahead of him, breathing heavily as his body takes in air to cool some of his systems. “I’ll be fine till we get back home, I’m just a little tired is all.”

Ciel looks her friend over and then at the others behind her, noticing that they were all in the same condition. She looks back ahead of her and bites her lower lip in thought.

“We have to get all of you to a place where you can recharge your energy cells.” She says quietly, “I’ll see what I can do when we get back to help everyone.”

Milan smiles at his friend as he sits back, enjoying the feel of the seat against his artificial skin and causing him to relax. His relaxation ends as the ship rocks from an explosion, and he grips the sides of his seat. He looks at the radar screen to see several blips coming up around them. Milan looks at the controls, trying to figure them out as best he can, hitting a button labeled “3D Display” to show the formation coming up around them.

“This isn’t good…” Milan says as he looks at the fighter craft. “Does this thing have weapons?”

Ciel shakes her head as she fights with the controls. “It’s only meant as a transport for equipment, not for fighting.”

“We have some here!” Calls a voice from the back, causing the pair in the cockpit to turn around.

A pair of the reploids they had rescued stood next to an open crate, that had broken when the ship rocked earlier, and inside were small shoulder launched missiles. Milan smiles and shakes his head, his mind amazed at the amount of good fortune that they were having. He gets up and makes his way to the crate, taking one of the missile launchers out and opening the hatch to the craft. The air whips through the ship, blowing around bits of paper from the floor and causing the collar of Milan’s shirt to dance. He braces himself as he aims the weapon at the closest fighter coming up on them, a transparent green sight coming out to cover his eye with an electronic display. The crosshairs flash for a moment on the Neo Arcadian fighter craft right across from them before turning a solid red.

“Lets see how you like to be shot at!” Milan yells as he pulls the trigger and sends the missile flying.

The missile burns forward and strikes the enemy craft dead center of the bug-eyed cockpit. A fireball explodes out of the craft as it descends down into the ruins below. Milan felt the wind pick up and looks over his shoulder to see that some of the other reploids were following his lead, and firing the missiles at the Neo Arcadian forces. A smile crosses his face as he realizes that he isn’t the only fighter now in this struggle.

***

Commander Beta growls with anger as he looks at the screen showing the view of the dogfight going on above the ruins. He watches as the fleeing yellow craft pull away from his best pilots, taking them out one at a time with small missile fire.

“How can they be doing this?” He yells as he throws a data pad of information across the room and barely misses the figure stepping into the room.

“I trust that you weren’t directing that at me.” The young voice says as it approaches, causing Beta to jump.

“Sage Harpuia! I had no idea that you were here sir!” The Commander stammers as he looks at the green clad leader of the air forces of Neo Arcadia, and one of the Guardian Generals of X.

Harpuia glares side long at Beta as he looks at the losses for their forces in the dogfight with just one ship. “This is unacceptable. You waste our fighters on just one ship, call them back now.”

“But sir!” Beta argues, “They attacked this lab and have made off with a number of prisoners!”

“I know.” The green General says.

“They have captured the weapons meant for the humans working in this lab!” Beta continues.

Harpuia glares into Beta’s eyes, “I already told you that I know, and I gave you an order. Now I expect you to follow it or do I have to get someone that will to replace you?”

Beta swallows hard, “No sir. I’ll call back the forces at once.”

“Good. Then when they get back you can lead them in a search of the ruins by foot to get those prisoners back.” Harpuia says as he makes his way for the exit, “And Commander, if you fail… don’t bother coming back.”

***

Milan locks his sights onto another of the fighters, only to watch it as it turns and heads the way it came. He stands for a while looking at it in amazement before lowering his weapon.

“Did we scare them off?” Asks the child reploid still holding her stuffed kitty toy.

Milan looks down at her and pats her head softly, “It looks like it. Now go take your seat young one.”

The girl nods and smiles as she trots back to her spot and fasten herself into one of the few chairs in the crafts cargo bay. Milan moves to the front of the cockpit, getting slaps on the back from some of the reploids while others cheer their victory. He leans in to look at Ciel and the landscape in front of them.

“I think we should set this thing down as far from the base as possible, that way they won’t be able to find us as easily.” He says to his friend piloting the craft.

Ciel nods, “I was thinking the same thing. You’re getting pretty good at this leadership thing Milan.”

Milan blushes as he takes his seat once more. “I’m not that good… without you this wouldn’t even be possible. You’re the true leader Ciel, and it looks like we have a resistance started.”

The woman smiles as she thinks, “I guess that’s what we are now, The Resistance.”



Chapter 3: “Milan”


The days pass quickly as the Resistance grows daily, the number of missions to rescue condemned reploids grow less frequent as the forces of Neo Arcadia enhance their defenses to the point where no one could get into the city and a large shield was set up to prevent such access. Milan looks out over the ruins of the city, his new green uniform and armor stained with dirt as his blue goggles enhance his vision to that of a combat grade reploid. His hands clutch the compact buster rifle as he sees a troop transport head out of the city to reinforce the Pantheon Hunter squads commanded by Beta in his never ending effort to quash the rebel fighters. His mind wonders how many more of the simple minded reploids he would have to kill in order to obtain true freedom and a world where there can be peace for reploids and humans alike.

“Milan?” Ciel's voice calls from behind him, drawing his attention away from the scene.

“Yes Ciel, what is it?” He asks as he jumps from the toppled truck that served as his look out station.

Ciel clutches a data pad to her chest as the cyber elf Passy hovers over her right shoulder. “I found out some interesting data… actually its something that I have been holding on to for a very long time.”

Milan moves to his friends’ side and looks at her quizzically; his blue eyes a bit darker from behind the goggles. “What data?”

“When I was doing research on the past and how energy was used, I found some information on the prior wars. In it was tales of a legendary warrior that fought along side X during the Irregular Wars and Sigma Wars.” Ciel states as she looks at the pad, “I… I think I found the location of Zero.”

The young reploids eyes widen with hope as he hears the news. “Zero, you know where we can find him?”

Ciel nods, “I think so… but the problem is that the location is deep inside Neo Arcadian territory, the forbidden area. Where Beta has set up his base of operations.”

Milan lowers his gaze, looking at his weapon and the modifications that Ciel had made to his body as well as the others that had joined the resistance. He looks behind him at the forest that had over taken parts of the ruins and the direction the transport was heading.

“Well, looks like we have only one choice then. The only match for a legend is another legend.” Milan turns around and faces the direction of their only recourse, “Lets go find Zero.”


Commander Beta sits warily into his chair as he looks at the daily reports, for several long months he has been cursed with the duty of hunting down the resistance forces in the ruins of the abandoned cities. Slowly chipping away at their forces as they wage a guerilla war, while at the same time taking heavy losses to his own forces. His only saving grace was that the manufacturing plant in Neo Arcadia could make the Pantheon quickly and in enough numbers to out match the resistance, as of late they had turned the tide once more to Neo Arcadia’s favor and cut the resistance down my more then 80 percent. The pale commander of the hunting squadron lets out a heavy growl as he thinks of one of the commanders of the resistance, a former janitor that he himself had bullied for years.

“Milan…” Beta hisses as he clenches his fists, “How could you have learned so many tactics to have lasted this long. You’re nothing but a civil service reploid!”

“Commander, we have a report coming in from our advance guard.” Calls a Pantheon with a red shade to his chest armor. “They have spotted a small group of Resistance members coming through the lines.”

“How many?” Beta barks as he jumps to his feet.

“One female human, and fifteen reploids.” The Pantheon says, “We have confirmed that the human is Doctor Ciel, and that Commander Milan is with them as well.”

Upon hearing the name of his rival Beta runs from his small command room, taking his weapon with him. “Ready the forces, I intend to end this Resistance once and for all.”


Milan picks his way through the foliage, clearing a path for Ciel as they tramp through the forest in a loose formation. His blue eyes dart about as he keeps his senses alert for trouble, picking up only the sound of wildlife as they scurry about on their way from the intruders. He looks behind him at Ciel and holds her hand as she steps over a fallen pillar covered with vines.

“Looks like we might be drawing closer.” She says as she looks at a clearing ahead that seemed to be an old roadway.

“I hope so.” Milan says, as he looks down the road, suddenly aware that the wildlife had seemed to vanish.

He steps out into the road, motioning for the others to stay back while he checks it out. Milan looks down both sides of the road and was about to signal for the others when the roar of an engine erupts from above. He looks up and sees the canopy of trees explode downward as a small transport drops down in front of him. The insectoid look of the cockpit showed the pilot of the craft, a familiar pale white reploid.

“It’s been a long time Milan!” Beta’s voice yells from the crafts amplifier, “I have been looking forward to this for a long time.”

Milan takes a step back as he sees droves of Pantheon Hunters jump from the transport and form up behind it. Some were equipped with electric shock swords while the rest were equipped with the arm rifles that was standard for their design.

“I hope you don’t mind that I brought some friends along with me. I was afraid that our little reunion might be a bit stale.” The pale commander says with a low chuckle.

“More like you’re to much of a coward to face me alone.” Milan says as he raises his compact rifle and aims it at the cockpit, centering his aim on Beta’s head.

Beta laughs as he raises the transport, two cannons lowering from the underside of the cockpit, making it look like the mandibles of a large bug.

“No, I just wanted witnesses to your death. No die Resistance scum!” Beta yells as he pulls the trigger and sends a volley of fire towards Milan.

The younger reploid rolls to his left, coming up on one knee as he fires at the craft, hitting the cockpit and putting dents into the protective covering. Milan hears the clicking of rifles and leaps into the tree line as the Pantheons open fire at his last location. He looks across from him and could see Ciel and the others looking on. The resistance members rush along the forest line, their green uniforms blending in with the forest as they flank the enemy reploids, unleashing their rifles into the hordes.

Milan smiles as he runs out of the cover he had taken and dashes up to the transport firing as he goes. His shots blast dents and holes into the armor of the craft as he runs, a series hitting the left cannon and causing it to explode. The violent explosion rocks the craft, causing an audible curse from Beta as he fights the controls. Milan jumps up into the craft and slides across the floor, planting his feet against the second doorframe and aiming into the cockpit. Beta’s eyes widen as he grits his teeth and dives out of the way, shoving his co-pilot out of his seat and into a torrent of fire from Milan. The innocent Pantheon dances in the air as the plasma bullets riddle its body.

Beta uses his fallen comrade as a shield as he leaps from the cockpit and into the main area of the transport. Milan raises his gun, using it to block the searing hot rod that Beta had drawn. The blue eyes of the reploid looks at the pale ones of his opponent, the rifle keeping a charged rod like sword from cutting into him. Sparks fly from the weapon as they struggle to gain some ground on the other, finally Milan gets his foot up and kicks Beta in the gut. The older reploid falls back into the cockpit, his back hitting the controls and diving the craft into the ground.

Milan flies forward as the craft breaks apart, slamming into the wall that closed off part of the cockpit. He shakes his head and ducks as his hearing picks up the hum of a blade, barely avoiding Beta’s rod sword. Milan swings around and catches the reploid with the butt of his rifle just under the jaw, knocking the commander back and through the cockpit window. Beta rolls across the forest floor, clutching onto his sword and burning the soil with it as he tries to stop. He comes to a stop near the forest line and props himself up with the aide of a tree, his eyes burn with hatred as he looks at Milan through the shattered cockpit window.

“I will not lose to such a pathetic waste like you!” Beta spats as he runs forward, his eyes suddenly catch a flash of pink and he grins evilly as he changes course.

Milan watches as Beta changes direction and runs right at Ciel, his mechanical heart jumps into his chest as he leaps out of the craft with his rifle blazing. The shots burn into the forest as Milan’s blue eyes open wide. Beta grabs hold of Ciel and pulls her to him, using her as a human shield, and putting the energy rod up to her throat.

“Call off your dogs Milan!” Beta barks with a sinister smile, “Or this little human shall die horribly.”

Milan growls as he lowers his weapon, and looks at the others. Only eight resistance members were left, lowering their weapons and coming out from the midst of the Neo Arcadian forces. The Pantheons line up to form a blue wall in the forest, keeping the Resistance members from running one way.

Beta smiles as he looks at Ciel, “Looks like you’re special to this reploid Doctor. Come to think of it you’re the reason that he turned on us. What power do you hold over him… I wonder…”

Ciel squirms as she tries to escape, pulling at the arm around her chest. “I don’t have any power over him! Milan is my friend!”

“A friend that allowed you to escape retirement, something that I think I should correct.” The sinister commander says as he readies himself to draw the blade through Ciel’s fragile neck.

The doctor’s hands drop to her sides as she squirms, her skirt rising a bit. Milan growls at Beta’s words before his eyes focus on want Ciel was doing. He could see her hands moving along her thighs under her skirt, she looks at Milan and gives him a wink with her blue eyes. Milan raises his rifle as Ciel pulls two small pistols from her thighs and fire down into Beta’s feet, the pain causing the white reploid to release her. As Beta reels back in pain Ciel dives to the ground, Milan taking aim and firing into the reploids chest. The white armor ripples and tears as the energy blasts slam into it, shredding down to the bare skin and finally to the metal framework of Beta.

The reploid screams in pain, red fluid spews from his mouth as Ciel crawls away quickly. Beta falls to his knees and looks at Milan, his eyes slowly dimming as his body sparks and whines from the damage.

“You- you’re nothing but a civilian…” Beta says as he looks up at Milan, “Kill them… kill them aaaaaaaa….”

The white reploid falls over on the ground, his armor stained red with his own bodily fluids as his voice fades to nothing. The Pantheon’s start forward firing their weapons and the remaining members of Milan’s team breaks into a run, firing as they go. Milan helps Ciel to her feet quickly and they run after their friends, quickly taking the lead as a number of them stop to hold of the advancing forces.

Ciel pants as she runs, the cyber elf Passy keeping up with her as they flee. She could hear the sounds of a large machine crash through the forest.

“Wha- What kind of monsters are these!?” One of the resistance members yells, and catches her attention.

Ciel looks over her shoulder and her eyes widen with fear. “A Golem!” She thinks to herself, “They actually made them! They were just plans when I left, nothing was approved yet!”

She keeps running as she hears the screams of the Resistance members that had stopped to hold off the advance of the Golem. Ciel closes her eyes for a second only to open them as she comes to an abrupt stop. Her eyes widen with horror as she looks at the large door in front of her.

“A dead end!?” She pants, holding her chest as she tries to catch her breath.

Passy flies up to the door and stares at it for a moment, “No. I feel a strong energy inside. This must be the place.”

“Okay. Leave this to me. Stay back Ciel.” Milan instructs as he steps forward and places a block of high explosive on the door.

Ciel stands behind Milan as Passy flies behind her, the young reploid triggers the explosives and the door blows off its hinges in pieces. Milan motions for the others to follow and the remaining soldier with them places himself in the doorway with his rifle at the ready.

“You should go!” The soldier says as he starts firing at the advancing Pantheon Hunters, “I’ll take care of them!”

Milan nods as he and Ciel enter the room beyond the door and run across a flooded floor. The green water reflected what little light came from the ceiling, illuminating broken and ruined equipment. The two moved cautiously through the rubble, as they search the room. Finally they see a red warrior crouched on the floor with a large energy pack holding him in place. His body was badly damaged and in need of repairs, the golden blond locks of hair fell over his shoulder in waves.

Milan grimaces as he sees the condition of the reploid. “This must be…”

“… This… must be Zero…” Ciel finishes for him as she looks at the condition of the legendary warrior of the past. She could feel her heart sink along with her hopes as she sees the dismantled and broken parts scattered around the crimson hero. “It will take a while to get him working again…” She thinks to herself.

“We found him at last!” Milan says as he steps forward, his enthusiasm rewarded by a strong electrical shock that pushes him back.

“It’s protected.” Passy yells as Ciel catches Milan and helps him right himself.

Milan shakes his head before looking at Passy and Ciel, “What should I do…”

The sudden scream from the door catches every ones attention, causing them to turn around. The resistance soldier that had been standing there now lay dead on the floor, several gaping holes in his armor and red fluid draining from his body into the water. Milan runs in front of Ciel, aiming his rifle and opening fire at the red eyes coming towards them.

“Watch out!” He yells as several shot hit him. “ We are corner. We have to evacuate now!”

Milan grits his teeth as he feels his body grow heavy, the shots from the Neo Arcadian troops stain his armor as his body leaks blood into the water at his feet. He levels his gun and returns fire, taking out a dozen of the enemy soldiers advancing towards them.

Ciel steps back and looks at Zero’s body, protected by a barrier and then at Milan. She sees the blood of her friend and then at the smoke rising from his body. “But…”

“We don’t have time to argue!” Milan shouts as he fires.

“But… you can’t move can you Milan…” Ciel thinks, a tear rolling down her cheek as she looks at her friend. His body was smoking heavily and she could identify the smell of burning circuits and servo joints coming from her friend. She knew that he couldn’t move from his spot, and what when we was saying ‘we’ he meant her alone.
Milan shouts as he fires into the doorway, mowing down line after line of the Pantheon’s. One of them jumps over his comrades and fires, his shots sailing towards Ciel. Milan’s eyes widen as he sees the energy racing towards his friend, his breath catches in his throat as he uses the last of his energy to shift his weight. His leg servos scream as they are forced to move in one last effort, and Milan could feel the joints freeze as he falls to his right. He screams as he falls and takes trio of blasts into his chest, opening his armor and sending a spray of blood out into the air. The force sends him flying back and Ciel watches as her friend makes an arc in the air before landing with a splash on the floor.

“Milan!!” The young blond yells as he kneels next to her friend. She looks down at his smoking chest as tears fill her eyes, and chase down her cheeks to drip down onto the exposed chest of her friend. Ciel takes his hand as she looks at his blue eyes, the eyes that had once held such determination and fire of a free soul now were empty and looking up at her.

Passy looks at the scene and then at the soldiers advancing through the doorway, then at Zero. The young cyber elf was fully grown thanks to some crystals she had eaten in the ruins before being found and raised by Ciel. She knew what her power and ability was and knew that the day would come when she would have to use it.

“Ciel.” They elf calls as she flies next to her companion, floating in the air. She could see that Ciel wasn’t responding and that the soldiers were getting closer. “Ciel!!!”

“Huh?” The young doctor says as she looks up at the elf.

“You should use my power!!” Passy yells as at Ciel and looks at Zero, “You have no choice!”

“What!?” Ciel yells as she stands up and looks at the elf with sad eyes, “Passy… if I do, you’ll be…”

Passy smiles, “Don’t worry about me. Remember, everyone is waiting for your safe return!”

Ciel lowers her eyes to look at her fallen friend, “You gave everything for me Milan. You gave up your life in Neo Arcadia to save me, and you fought so hard for everyone to free them all. I won’t let your fight end, not like this.”

She raises her head and looks at the young elf, “Okay. Thank you.”

“No.” Passy says as she hovers up to Ciel and give her a hug, “I should thank you, Ciel. Good bye…”

“Passssyyyyyy!” Ciel yells as she reaches for her friend one last time.

Passy slams into the barrier at full speed, she shuts her eyes as she forces her way through, shattering the energy field and slamming into Zero. She melds into the crimson warriors body, vanishing from sight for a moment and Ciel watches silently wondering if it had worked. Suddenly a light erupts from Zero and he rises from the floor, the attachments on his back fall away as the parts around him re-combine and connect to his body. The young doctor watches in awe as she fully realizes the power of her elf friend, the power of resurrection. The light fades and before her she could see the powerful figure of a warrior of long ago. His eyes were still closed as he stands with his hands clenched into tight fists, his hear dances in the light breeze from the resurrection of his being.

His blue eyes open and the gem on his helmet flashes as he reawakens fully. He looks around him and sees the dead reploids around him, and a single human female.

Ciel steps forward timidly, “Zero… has been resurrected…”

Zero remains motionless as he takes in his surroundings, his brain processing the information and reviewing the very basics of his body to try and figure out how everything worked.

“Zero?” The young doctor calls, taking another step forward. “Help me. Please.”

“Zero… that’s my name?” The crimson warrior thinks, he looks forward and can see the faceless drones advancing into the room. “These guys look like they mean business. I’m not going to let them kill this human. I CAN NOT ALLOW IT!”

Zero reaches down and grips the weapon from the dead reploid, the stock folding back into the buster. Aiming a highly powerful buster pistol at the Pantheon’s, the simple programmed drones look on in shock at the appearance of the new comer, trying to figure him out. Zero squeezes the trigger and fires the first shot of his new existence, the first step onto a new path.

***

Milan opens his eyes to find himself surrounded by a field of light so intense that it blocks out all things beyond it. The reploid slowly stands from his laying position, his hands tracing over his body to find his armor still showing the signs of the fatal injuries that had killed him.

“Where am I?” Milan asks no one in particular, more to say something to break the silence around him if nothing else.

“You are where all those that fall go to when their time comes.” A voice replies from the light surrounding him.

The reploids eyes track around him till they lock onto a floating ball of light with a rainbow like pattern forming an X around it. The ball moved down from its perch in mid-air above him to hover before the damaged reploid.

“You, you’re the source of that icon that I saw at the Neo Arcadian base aren’t you?” Milan asks looking at the floating orb.

“I am, you seemed to need a little help and I had enough strength to do so at the time.”

“Who are you?”

The ball of light transforms into a robed figure with small fins on his helmet and a rainbow like halo of data around his head, his body transparent but showing some shades of color.

“You ask a great deal of questions. But I’ll try to answer them.” The figure says, “First of all you are in the place where the DNA souls of dead reploids goes do when they are retired or die such as you have. The data has to go somewhere so it goes here and keeps the identity and form of its original body, only on a digital median. Your body is gone, but the rest of your soul and memories lives on here. As to who I am, that I can’t tell you, just that I’m a friend.”

“So I’m dead… does that mean that Ceil is-!” Milan looks at the ghostly image before him in horror, only to be met with a calming face and expression.

“She’s safe, they’re all safe now that he has awakened.” The figure says, “Now you can rest in piece Milan, you did good as a true Maverick Hunter. As for me, I have some things I have to attend to.”

The ghostly image transforms back into a ball and flies away, leaving Milan alone in the vast empty white light. The green clad reploid takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly and contently.

“Zero is back, the world will be safe now.” He says as he turns and sees a vast number of other reploids, each baring the insignia of the Hunters of old. “Looks like this is all over.”


~ The End

[Core]

Rockman Zero: Rise to Honor

By: Core Belote

Disclaimer: The following is a story of the past of Milan, the resistant soldier that discovered Zero along with Ciel. None of the event talked about here are official from Capcom, except those officially released in the story of the games.

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Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
Chapter 2: The Resistance
Chapter 3: Milan
________________________________________________________________________


Chapter 1: “Humble Beginnings”

Milan walks through the corridors of the research lab, deep in the heart of Neo Arcadia, pushing a cleaning cart before him as he looks at the various offices of human scientists and reploid ones alike. He pauses as he comes to one of the laboratory doors left open and peeks inside cautiously. The dark haired reploid looks around and steps into the lab timidly as he looks for any reason why the lights would be on.

“What are you doing in here?” Asks a young woman’s voice from behind him.

Milan turns around quickly to see the form of the loveliest scientists he had ever seen, his friend Doctor Ciel.

“I’m sorry, Doctor.” Milan stutters, “I was curious as to why this area was still lit up, I was just doing my job and see if it was alright to shut the light off. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Ciel smiles warmly and pats the young reploid on the shoulder. “Its alright,” she says, “I know you were doing your job Milan, I just didn’t recognize you without your hat.”

Milan blushes as he runs his fingers through his dark blue hair, spiked in the back and hanging down in front in three rows.

“I- I lost my hat to tell the truth” , Milan stammers. “I ran into the head of security, Commander Beta and he tossed my hat into the incineration cart before I could get to it.”

“That’s awful!” Ciel exclaims, “That guy is nothing but a bully, he treats you like you’re just a hunk of junk. You should stand up for yourself Milan.”

Milan looks at his feet, “I can’t do that. . . He’ll have me labeled as an Irregular, besides he’s a military reploid and I’m just a janitor service reploid.”

“You can be more then that!” Ciel snaps, “All reploids have the ability to become more then just what they are programmed or built to do! You just have to trust and believe in yourself Milan.”

Milan looks up at her, his eyes filled with hope and renewed inner strength. “I’ll stand up to him Ciel. I promise that I will, and I’ll be more then just a janitor.”

As Milan left the room he sees Commander Beta walking towards him with three Pantheon’s following close behind him. The commander wore a white armor that seemed to meld with his pale skin and blue eyes. Milan moves to the side quickly as the group passes him and enters the room, he creeps to the side of the door and listens in curious to see what was going on.

“Doctor Ciel! I have an order from X to place you under arrest for supporting the Irregulars attempting to destroy the very foundation of this society.” The Commander says as he looks at Ciel and the Pantheon’s surround her with their gun arms.

Ciel backs up against one of the consoles in the lab, removing a disk from it. “Look, I’m sure that X would understand if I can give him the data that I collected. Take me to him so that I can inform him of what I have found out.”

Commander Beta shakes his head as he chuckles, “You don’t seem to understand Doctor, your aren’t going any where near X. You are to be taken to the disposal facility and retired along with the other Irregulars.”

“You wouldn’t!” Ciel yells as she clutches the disks, “If you kill me then you condemn yourselves to the same fate as Irregulars!”

“Not really, you see Doctor since you have aided in the escape of several hundred Irregulars you are classified not only as a sympathizer but also as an Irregular yourself.” The Commander says as he draws a pistol and aims it at Ciel, “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kill one of you humans. I think I’ll find out.”

Milan growls with anger as he hears Beta burst out into laughter, he grabs the closest thing to him and pulls the metal handle of the janitorial cart from its welds. The young reploid steps out from around the corner and into the doorway, looking at the scene.

“Excuse me sir, but I think… I think you had better lower that weapon.” Milan states as he looks at Beta, his blue eyes shining with anger as he grips the broken metal in his hand.

Beta turns around and starts to laugh harder as he sees Milan, “For a second there I thought that there would be trouble. But its only you, the cleaning bot, but I guess it’s a good thing you’re here. We’ll need someone to clean up after I retire this Irregular.”

“You’re not retiring anyone tonight or any other night Commander.” Milan states as he steps forward into the lab.

The Pantheons turn around and aim their guns at the reploid, ready to fire. Milan throws the handle into the large red cycloptic eye of the closest one, shattering and blinding the poor attack drone. He grabs hold of the gun arm and sweeps it around the room as the Pantheon opens fire on instinct. Ciel ducks as the energy bullets spray around the room, taking out the two other Pantheon’s in the room and barely missing Commander Beta as he ducks behind a computer station. Milan turns the gun arm of the Pantheon he has hold up on the drone itself, blasting its head from its own body. As the body fell twitchingly to the ground Milan stood in shock of the actions that he had just taken, and looks up at his friend as she looks back at him with an equally shocked expression.

Milan extends his hand to her, “Come on! We have to get out of here quickly!”

Ciel nods and takes the reploids hand, running with him out of the lab. Commander Beta comes out of his hiding spot, fear and rage showing on his face before he gives chase after the pair, calling into his communicator for backup and putting a bulletin out on Ciel and Milan. The pair runs quickly through the halls, ducking down side passages as they avoid the Neo Arcadian soldiers. Milan pulls Ciel into a room as he hears the footsteps of several soldiers and shuts the door, using his security code to lock the door in hopes of tricking the troops to thinking it has been locked all night.

Ciel gasps as the lights in the room activate, illuminating rows of weapons set on racks attached to the wall. On the center table lay different pistols and buster guns that were stripped down for use by humans incase of an Irregular attack in the research lab. Ciel moves over to one of the rows of weapons and takes up a pair of buster guns, putting them in her belt as she takes two rifles and slings them onto her back to form an x with the straps. Milan moves to one of the other racks and timidly picks up a compact buster rifle, checking the charge of the weapon before placing it down. He looks around and finds some light body armor made for humans and sees Ciel taking it up, putting it on her small body.

Milan takes up the body armor as well and places it over his work uniform, knowing that it would offer better protection then what he was made to have. Taking up the weapons again he starts outfitting himself with different kinds of weaponry, ranging from a buster rifle with a collapsible stock and several grenades. He slings a rifle over his shoulder checks the belts to make sure the other weapons are secure, attaching the handle to an energy knife to his hip before turning to look at Ciel. Two buster pistols were at her hips to either side of her skirt, the look offset by her gentle features.

Ciel smiles as she sees Milan and walks up to him quietly. “Looks like you’re planning to stick with me for a while. I know that we’ve been friends for a long time Milan, but there is something that I haven’t told you about myself.”

Milan blinks confused as he looks at his friend, “What is it Ciel?”

“I… I have been helping the Irregulars.” Ciel admits, “But they’re not really Irregulars at all! Their innocent reploids just like yourself that have only broken one law, the law of consuming energy and existing.”

“You mean that Neo Arcadia is retiring reploids just for being alive?” the young reploid says as the news sinks in, “I had no idea that was what was happening.”

Ciel nods, “We’re under an energy crisis and any reploids take energy to live, so that gave rise to the executions of ‘irregulars’. The soldiers round up reploids at random to cut down the numbers so that there will be more energy for humans like myself. But I couldn’t just sit and watch them execute innocent young reploids like you… so I helped the last list slotted for execution escape. Their hiding in the ruins of the ancient cities outside of Neo Arcadia.”

Milan falls to his knees, his body racked with guilt and sickness from his human emotions in his robotic body. Ciel kneels next to him and hugs him as she sees the pain in his eyes, the news of such actions by the place he called home and the people sworn to protect it to much for his young mind to take in. He rests his head against Ciels chest as she holds him and strokes his hair, his sensitive hearing picking up the steady beat of her heart. She sooths him with a mothers touch, kissing his forehead and looking into his eyes. He looks into her blue eyes and finds the courage in them that he had lacked for so long to see the truth, to see what he had written off as nothing in the past, and to finally see what he has to do now.

Milan stands up and takes one of the rifles from his back, turning the safety off on the weapon and moves towards the door. He keys the code for the door and unlocks it, stepping out into the hall way behind the Pantheons and aims the rifle at them. Milan fires the gun, sending a series of three bullets into the group. The simply programmed drones explode as they are caught by surprise by Milan.

The janitor reploid raises the rifle as he looks into the room and Ceil comes out, taking a grenade and tossing it into the room. The pair runs down the hall way and the room and its cache of weapons explodes, blasting a large hole in the interior of the building and setting fires deep in the complex. The various guards and other reploids all run to put out the fire, leaving the corridors unaffected clear for the pair of escapees. Milan leads the way down to the basement level of the labs to his car, opening the door for Ciel, as she gets in as a pair of Pantheons step in front of the exit and fire at the small car. Ciel out from around Milan and fires her pistols rapidly, forcing the mindless drones to fall back to a safer place.

Milan takes the opportunity to toss a grenade into the exit and quickly get in the car, putting it into gear and charges for the exit at full speed. The small gate explodes as the grenades go off, blasting a hole through the security field and sending the two drones flying. Milan drives through the city streets like a mad man, blasting through intersections and past stoplights in a mad dash to the city limits. He drives it up a ramped roadway leading to a raised highway near the edge of the city and guns the engine, taking the car airborne as it flies off of the road and starts to fall. Ciel screams as she sees the wall of the city rushing up at them quickly, and is bounced around as the car hit the top of it before falling off and landing on the ruins of a building fallen on its side against the wall.

Milan steers the car down the side of the ruined building and onto the broken streets, making a straight course for the outer ruins far from the city.

“Looks like we made it.” Ciel says as she settles back into her seat. “It doesn’t looks like we’ll be able to go back either.”

Milan pulls the car into the ruins of an old warehouse and turns the car off, “It looks that way doesn’t it Ciel.” He looks at her kindly, “But we’ll go back some day, and we’ll free the others from where they’re being held. I won’t turn a blind eye anymore, I… I’m going to fight. I’m going to free them.”

Ciel looks at the young reploid, “You’re going to fight?”

Milan nods. “I’ll do what ever it takes to free the others and make a world where humans and reploids can live in peace. Where there isn’t an energy shortage.”

The young blond puts her hands on Milan’s and squeezes them softly. “I know some people that can help then. Come with me Milan, please.”



Chapter 2: “The Resistance”


Ciel picks her way through the rubble of the many fallen buildings as Milan follows closely. His blue eyes wonder about as he takes in the sights of this long past civilization, seeing many burns and holes in the aging building caused by some forgotten war many years past. The young reploids eye catches on a glittering shape and finds him drawn to it, Milan walks the few steps to the object and looks down on it. His eyes widen as he discovers the object was the remains of a reploid of ancient design lying crushed under a large slap of twisted metal. The skin of the reploid had long since vanished from years of exposure, showing the bare metal structure and empty eyes look back at him.

Milan stares at the black armor of the ancient reploid, a light white color rounded its neck and down what was left of its chest. He looks closer, seeing the broken helmet was shaped in what looked like green headlights coming off of it and a few strands of silver hair. The mouth of the old reploid hung open as if in some silent scream that it had been trying to make since before Milan’s plans were even drawn. Milan’s head jerks around as he hears the sound of loose rocks give way, seeing Ciel brushing herself off and heading towards him.

“I see you found one of the ancients.” Ciel says as she steps up next to Milan and looks down at the remains, “From his design he’s at least a hundred years old, most likely one of the reploids that got caught up in the war that destroyed this city.”

Milan kneels down and touches the reploids armor, his fingers tracing the long cuts and buster marks in it.

“It looks like he was a warrior. I wonder what kind of stories he could have told if he was still alive today.” Milan says as he stands and looks solemnly at the departed reploid.

Ciel holds Milan’s hand and tugs him away from the site, “Come on, we don’t have much time to go sight seeing right now. I think we should go find the shelter.”

“Is that what you wanted to show me?” Milan asks as he follows the scientists.

“Yes.” Ciel nods as she reaches a manhole cover just on the other side of a raised bit of road. She lifts the cover to reveal a long ladder going down into the depths of the ruins. “This is the way to it, hiding underground is the only option that we have since the patrols sometimes come this far out. Less of a chance that we’ll be spotted.”

She starts down the ladder and Milan follows a bit hesitant to be going into a dark place in the bowels of a ruined city. They descend down below street level, into some kind of ancient warehouse storage facility. Milan looks at the conditions of the wall, the metal of the walls were wore and torn from age and the battle that had raged on the surface for a long time. He steps forward ahead of Ciel, his eyes adjusting to the light faster then her human ones. The reploid could see a figure standing in the distance aiming a small rifle at them.

“Halt! Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot!” Yells a female as she throws on a light switch, bathing the hall with a florescent glow from the ceiling.

Ciel raises her hands and steps in front of Milan, “Its alright Sophie, its me Ciel.”

The female reploid lowers her weapon, her long red hair braided and falling over her shoulder. Her clothing was that of a street vender and she bore a brown leather coat with a burn on its front. She looks at the pair with deep ruby eyes as a smile crosses her face and she lowers her rifle.

“Dr. Ciel, what brings you here and bearing gifts?” Sophie asks as she walks up them.

“I have been slotted to be retired as well.” Ciel says as she lowers her hands, “Milan saved me and we stocked up on weapons as he make our escape.”

“Well, welcome home I guess.” The female reploid says as she steps aside. “Cerveau has been able to get some generators working so we have some power and have found an old Trans Server as well. The elevator is taking a bit of time, but right now it’s at the bottom and we have to use ladders to get to the different levels.”

Ciel leads the way as Sophie returns to her guard duty, exchanging looks with Milan as he walks past. The two descend further into the depths of the hidden base till they reach a floor that was marked as having a mess hall, and they step off the ladder on the level. Milan touches the wall and could feel dents in it and some scaring from some past events, his mind wondered what kind of place this was now. It was now clear that it wasn’t a warehouse storage bay. As if reading his thoughts Ciel looks at him as she opens the door to the mess hall.

“This place dates back to before the Dark Elf Wars.” She tells him, walking into the room. “I found it when I was looking for some data in the ruins for anything we could use to help with the energy crisis.”

“Ciel, why do you and everyone call it being retired?” Milan asks as he enters the room.

Ciel pauses for a moment before turning to look at him, “Because the word death and destroyed has been burned into the minds of humans for many years and still causes much fear and panic. Retire on the other hand doesn’t sound as bad, I guess that I’ve fallen into the habit of calling it that. I was born when it was in heavy use and it’s become part of my speech now.”

Milan looks at the tables in the small mess hall, they had seen better days and he could tell that they were in need of a good wipe down. “I can understand that, but it is hard to believe that all this time they have been killing reploids. How did it all start?”

Ciel sits down in one of the cleaner spots facing Milan as she sets her weapons down on the tabletop.

“When the energy crisis started it was determined by the human leaders that spoke with X that the older less vital reploids that are outdated and were close to retiring from their jobs to join the civilian population be terminated.” The young doctor informs Milan, “Soon after the crisis grew worse and X assumed full command of Neo Arcadia by commission of the human counsel to solve the problem. I started working on a way to find an alternate power source while at the same time X expanded on the rules for ‘retiring’ reploids. Soon it wasn’t just the ones that were outdated, but those that went past the curfew or took in more then the allotted energy for the day to operate. Since they broke the rule they were called Irregulars and hunted or rounded up by the Pantheons.”

She looks at Milan sadly, “I saw them do it once, and a number of reploids were grouped together and executed on the spot. Commander Beta was the one that over saw it all, he is in charge of not only security of the Research Lab, but also re- killing reploids. That night I went to the holding area and set free a number of the ‘irregulars’ there. I just wish I could have done more then I have been able to. Right now there are only ten of us here in this place counting you and myself.”

The former janitor kneels down in front his friend, and takes her hand in his. “Ciel, there is something we can do. You told me to fight back, and that is what I’m going to do. Only not just against those that bully me, but also against Neo Arcadia. I’m going to go back and free reploids from that Research Center.”

“But they’ll kill you!” Ciel yells as she holds onto Milans hands tightly.

Milan pats her hands lightly, “Only if they catch me, and besides. We’ve all got to go sometime, why not go fighting for what we believe in.”

He stands up and heads for the door, looking over his shoulder at Ciel. “I won’t die, not today so don’t worry Ciel. I promise that I’ll be back.”

As he starts to leave he feels a hand grip his wrist and he halts to find Ciel holding him. She looks into his blue eyes and the reploid knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth, and that there was no way to talk her out of it.

“Alright, lets go.” Milan says as he pulls Ciel along, “I don’t think they will be expecting us to come back so it should be easy to get into the city. Getting out… that might be a tough one.”

***

The Pantheon guards patrol the halls of the Research Center methodically, their eyes shining in the darkened halls. Four of them come together at an intersection in the building and convey messages in a series of beeps that they had found nothing out of the ordinary apart from a rat eating some crumbs left by a messy human. The sound of a metal object hitting the floor causes them to look down to find a spinning orb. Curious the Pantheons watch as the object slows its spin in the middle of their group, not noticing before it was to late and the grenade explodes. The guards fly against the walls in pieces, the head of one rolls to a stop in front of Milan as he stands at the far end of the hall.

He bolts down the hallway, his rifle ready as he hears the footsteps of more Pantheons running towards the location. As they reach the intersection he opens fire, taking out one of the reinforcements and drives the butt of his rifle into the signal eye of another as he draws a pistol from his belt and fires down the left hall at three others coming up to help. The Pantheons duck behind cover as Milan fires at them, he hurls another grenade down the hall and hides behind the closest wall as the device explodes. He looks down the hall and could see a large section of wall had fallen in as well as the ceiling. A pang of guilt hit him as he realizes that the janitorial crew would have a large mess to clean up from his actions. Milan runs down the other hall way and hopes that his plan works.

Elsewhere in the lower levels of the building Ciel ducks behind a wall as she sees Pantheons running past in a high state of alert. She could hear the explosions caused by Milan in the floors above, and knew that those blue drones would be heading right for her friend. She shakes her head, trying to keep focused on her task as she moves on down the hall towards the holding cells. Ciel could see that there weren’t any guards in the area so she simply shot the lock open with her pistol and pulls the door open, grunting as the heavy door slides enough to let her get through. The sound of a child catches her ear as she steps into the holding area, and she looked at the closest cell, peering through the barred window at the person occupying the cell.

Inside was a small reploid, a child model that was holding the stuffed animal of a white cat tightly as she sings to herself in a lovely voice. Ciel knocks on the door to get the girls attention, making the child jump.

“Who… who’s there?” the girl asks.

“I’m Doctor Ciel, and I’m here to get you out of here.” She aims her pistol at the door and fires, blasting the lock and the door opens automatically.

The doctor blinks for a moment at the door, wondering why this one opened so easily when the other one was so hard to force open. She ushers the girl out of the cell and she stands behind Ciel as the older female aims her pistol at the other doors locks. Ciel fires and her expert marksmanship pays off as the locks explode. The reploids mill out of their cells, each dressed in different service or civilian clothes, confused as to what was happening.

“Alright everyone.” Ciel announces, “We have to get out of here quickly before they realize what is going on.”

***

Above them Milan runs down a hallway, the Pantheons chasing after him with they’re buster gun arms blazing. The young reploid presses himself against a small wall in an alcove for a lab. He grits his teeth as the drones close on his position, their fire chipping away at the wall. Milan takes two grenades from his belt and pulls the pins, hurling them both with one hand into the enemy group. The Pantheons halt their fire as they look down at the shiny metal objects, their expressions if they had any was one of “Oh, hell” as the explosion rips through the hallway and takes out a number of the blue psudo-reploids. Milan doesn’t wait for the smoke to clear as he steps out into the hallway and fires into the cloud at the rows of red eyes filing towards him, as the eyes start firing back he breaks into a sprint down the hallway again, firing over his shoulder as he does.

Milan reaches the end of the hall and his eyes widen in horror as he realizes it’s a dead end. He looks around him and sees a doorway leading to another lab, Milan shoots the lock off and the door opens as the Pantheons round the corner. One of the shots tears into his shoulder, causing the young reploid to yell in pain as his body signals that it has been damaged. He tosses his last grenade down the hall as the door closes behind him and the explosion causes the wall to buckle. Milan limps across the lab, holding his shoulder as he looks for another way out of the death trap he had set himself in.

“Great… just great Milan.” He rebukes himself, “You know the layout of this place better then anyone and you manage to get yourself trapped. What now genius.”

He takes one of the other rifles from his back and holds it in his other hand, looking at the two weapons. “I was never made for combat, or fighting… but I’m not going to let that stop me from doing the right thing. Even if it means I die.”

The screen next to him flashes, catching the reploids attention for a moment. Milan looks at the screen as it flickers, and for a moment shows an orb with rainbow colored rings around it forming an X. The image vanishes after showing clearly for two seconds, leaving Milan in the dark as the lights go out as well. Milan blinks as the door opens and he steps out to see the Pantheons looking around confused in the sudden darkness. The young reploid smiles at the turn of events and sweeps his rifles at the soldiers of Neo Arcadia, mowing them down before they could gather their senses. He runs down the hallway firing down the halls at the different Pantheons as he goes, leaving a trail of destruction and dead mechanical bodies in his wake.

Milan runs into an elevator and hits the button to go to the level planned for, he fires as the doors start to close at the Pantheons running towards him. As the doors close finally and seal themselves before allowing the elevator to move, Milan leans heavily against the wall and looks at his stained green janitorial uniform. He looks up at the digital display of numbers, hoping that he’ll reach the next level without any problems now and that Ciel had the others to safety.

***

Ciel opens one of the last doors to the small delivery hanger for cargo and looks out over the cityscape of Neo Arcadia. The city looked so beautiful in the rising sun of the day, hiding the dark terror within its porcelain walls. She rushes back to the group of former prisoners of Neo Arcadia and ushers them into a small cargo transport meant to send equipment from one location to another before getting in her self, amazed that the ship had unlocked itself for her it seemed with a flash of an orb and a rainbow X on it. She gets behind the controls of the insectoid looking cockpit of the craft and starts to power up the turbines mounted in its wings. Ciel looks ahead of her at the doorway, waiting for Milan to appear.

Her breath catches in her throat as she sees her friend slide through the doorway of the hanger. She watches as the young reploid rolls to his feet quickly and starts walking backwards, firing both weapons through the doorway in quick succession. Sparks fly from the Pantheons coming into view as they try to enter the hanger only to fall victim to the rifle fire. Ciel could see that his shoulder was burned and sparking and his clothes were covered with the red fluid that served as the reploids blood. She watches as Milan backs up to the hatch to the transport, and looks over her shoulder at the cargo bay as the green clad reploid jumps into the craft.

She guns the turbines, lifting the craft up and backing it out of the hanger quickly, turning it fast enough to put everyone off balance and sprawling onto the floor. Ciel hits the boosters and the ship jets off away from the building towards the limits of the city and the safety of the ruins. The reploids cheer as they realize that they are free, some of them thanking Milan and Ciel as the young reploid makes his way to the cockpit. He plops down next to Ciel and leans back, his energy level down a great deal.

“Are you okay?” Ciel asks as she looks at her friend, “That shoulder wound looks like it might be serious.”

Milan stares ahead of him, breathing heavily as his body takes in air to cool some of his systems. “I’ll be fine till we get back home, I’m just a little tired is all.”

Ciel looks her friend over and then at the others behind her, noticing that they were all in the same condition. She looks back ahead of her and bites her lower lip in thought.

“We have to get all of you to a place where you can recharge your energy cells.” She says quietly, “I’ll see what I can do when we get back to help everyone.”

Milan smiles at his friend as he sits back, enjoying the feel of the seat against his artificial skin and causing him to relax. His relaxation ends as the ship rocks from an explosion, and he grips the sides of his seat. He looks at the radar screen to see several blips coming up around them. Milan looks at the controls, trying to figure them out as best he can, hitting a button labeled “3D Display” to show the formation coming up around them.

“This isn’t good…” Milan says as he looks at the fighter craft. “Does this thing have weapons?”

Ciel shakes her head as she fights with the controls. “It’s only meant as a transport for equipment, not for fighting.”

“We have some here!” Calls a voice from the back, causing the pair in the cockpit to turn around.

A pair of the reploids they had rescued stood next to an open crate, that had broken when the ship rocked earlier, and inside were small shoulder launched missiles. Milan smiles and shakes his head, his mind amazed at the amount of good fortune that they were having. He gets up and makes his way to the crate, taking one of the missile launchers out and opening the hatch to the craft. The air whips through the ship, blowing around bits of paper from the floor and causing the collar of Milan’s shirt to dance. He braces himself as he aims the weapon at the closest fighter coming up on them, a transparent green sight coming out to cover his eye with an electronic display. The crosshairs flash for a moment on the Neo Arcadian fighter craft right across from them before turning a solid red.

“Lets see how you like to be shot at!” Milan yells as he pulls the trigger and sends the missile flying.

The missile burns forward and strikes the enemy craft dead center of the bug-eyed cockpit. A fireball explodes out of the craft as it descends down into the ruins below. Milan felt the wind pick up and looks over his shoulder to see that some of the other reploids were following his lead, and firing the missiles at the Neo Arcadian forces. A smile crosses his face as he realizes that he isn’t the only fighter now in this struggle.

***

Commander Beta growls with anger as he looks at the screen showing the view of the dogfight going on above the ruins. He watches as the fleeing yellow craft pull away from his best pilots, taking them out one at a time with small missile fire.

“How can they be doing this?” He yells as he throws a data pad of information across the room and barely misses the figure stepping into the room.

“I trust that you weren’t directing that at me.” The young voice says as it approaches, causing Beta to jump.

“Sage Harpuia! I had no idea that you were here sir!” The Commander stammers as he looks at the green clad leader of the air forces of Neo Arcadia, and one of the Guardian Generals of X.

Harpuia glares side long at Beta as he looks at the losses for their forces in the dogfight with just one ship. “This is unacceptable. You waste our fighters on just one ship, call them back now.”

“But sir!” Beta argues, “They attacked this lab and have made off with a number of prisoners!”

“I know.” The green General says.

“They have captured the weapons meant for the humans working in this lab!” Beta continues.

Harpuia glares into Beta’s eyes, “I already told you that I know, and I gave you an order. Now I expect you to follow it or do I have to get someone that will to replace you?”

Beta swallows hard, “No sir. I’ll call back the forces at once.”

“Good. Then when they get back you can lead them in a search of the ruins by foot to get those prisoners back.” Harpuia says as he makes his way for the exit, “And Commander, if you fail… don’t bother coming back.”

***

Milan locks his sights onto another of the fighters, only to watch it as it turns and heads the way it came. He stands for a while looking at it in amazement before lowering his weapon.

“Did we scare them off?” Asks the child reploid still holding her stuffed kitty toy.

Milan looks down at her and pats her head softly, “It looks like it. Now go take your seat young one.”

The girl nods and smiles as she trots back to her spot and fasten herself into one of the few chairs in the crafts cargo bay. Milan moves to the front of the cockpit, getting slaps on the back from some of the reploids while others cheer their victory. He leans in to look at Ciel and the landscape in front of them.

“I think we should set this thing down as far from the base as possible, that way they won’t be able to find us as easily.” He says to his friend piloting the craft.

Ciel nods, “I was thinking the same thing. You’re getting pretty good at this leadership thing Milan.”

Milan blushes as he takes his seat once more. “I’m not that good… without you this wouldn’t even be possible. You’re the true leader Ciel, and it looks like we have a resistance started.”

The woman smiles as she thinks, “I guess that’s what we are now, The Resistance.”



Chapter 3: “Milan”


The days pass quickly as the Resistance grows daily, the number of missions to rescue condemned reploids grow less frequent as the forces of Neo Arcadia enhance their defenses to the point where no one could get into the city and a large shield was set up to prevent such access. Milan looks out over the ruins of the city, his new green uniform and armor stained with dirt as his blue goggles enhance his vision to that of a combat grade reploid. His hands clutch the compact buster rifle as he sees a troop transport head out of the city to reinforce the Pantheon Hunter squads commanded by Beta in his never ending effort to quash the rebel fighters. His mind wonders how many more of the simple minded reploids he would have to kill in order to obtain true freedom and a world where there can be peace for reploids and humans alike.

“Milan?” Ciel's voice calls from behind him, drawing his attention away from the scene.

“Yes Ciel, what is it?” He asks as he jumps from the toppled truck that served as his look out station.

Ciel clutches a data pad to her chest as the cyber elf Passy hovers over her right shoulder. “I found out some interesting data… actually its something that I have been holding on to for a very long time.”

Milan moves to his friends’ side and looks at her quizzically; his blue eyes a bit darker from behind the goggles. “What data?”

“When I was doing research on the past and how energy was used, I found some information on the prior wars. In it was tales of a legendary warrior that fought along side X during the Irregular Wars and Sigma Wars.” Ciel states as she looks at the pad, “I… I think I found the location of Zero.”

The young reploids eyes widen with hope as he hears the news. “Zero, you know where we can find him?”

Ciel nods, “I think so… but the problem is that the location is deep inside Neo Arcadian territory, the forbidden area. Where Beta has set up his base of operations.”

Milan lowers his gaze, looking at his weapon and the modifications that Ciel had made to his body as well as the others that had joined the resistance. He looks behind him at the forest that had over taken parts of the ruins and the direction the transport was heading.

“Well, looks like we have only one choice then. The only match for a legend is another legend.” Milan turns around and faces the direction of their only recourse, “Lets go find Zero.”


Commander Beta sits warily into his chair as he looks at the daily reports, for several long months he has been cursed with the duty of hunting down the resistance forces in the ruins of the abandoned cities. Slowly chipping away at their forces as they wage a guerilla war, while at the same time taking heavy losses to his own forces. His only saving grace was that the manufacturing plant in Neo Arcadia could make the Pantheon quickly and in enough numbers to out match the resistance, as of late they had turned the tide once more to Neo Arcadia’s favor and cut the resistance down my more then 80 percent. The pale commander of the hunting squadron lets out a heavy growl as he thinks of one of the commanders of the resistance, a former janitor that he himself had bullied for years.

“Milan…” Beta hisses as he clenches his fists, “How could you have learned so many tactics to have lasted this long. You’re nothing but a civil service reploid!”

“Commander, we have a report coming in from our advance guard.” Calls a Pantheon with a red shade to his chest armor. “They have spotted a small group of Resistance members coming through the lines.”

“How many?” Beta barks as he jumps to his feet.

“One female human, and fifteen reploids.” The Pantheon says, “We have confirmed that the human is Doctor Ciel, and that Commander Milan is with them as well.”

Upon hearing the name of his rival Beta runs from his small command room, taking his weapon with him. “Ready the forces, I intend to end this Resistance once and for all.”


Milan picks his way through the foliage, clearing a path for Ciel as they tramp through the forest in a loose formation. His blue eyes dart about as he keeps his senses alert for trouble, picking up only the sound of wildlife as they scurry about on their way from the intruders. He looks behind him at Ciel and holds her hand as she steps over a fallen pillar covered with vines.

“Looks like we might be drawing closer.” She says as she looks at a clearing ahead that seemed to be an old roadway.

“I hope so.” Milan says, as he looks down the road, suddenly aware that the wildlife had seemed to vanish.

He steps out into the road, motioning for the others to stay back while he checks it out. Milan looks down both sides of the road and was about to signal for the others when the roar of an engine erupts from above. He looks up and sees the canopy of trees explode downward as a small transport drops down in front of him. The insectoid look of the cockpit showed the pilot of the craft, a familiar pale white reploid.

“It’s been a long time Milan!” Beta’s voice yells from the crafts amplifier, “I have been looking forward to this for a long time.”

Milan takes a step back as he sees droves of Pantheon Hunters jump from the transport and form up behind it. Some were equipped with electric shock swords while the rest were equipped with the arm rifles that was standard for their design.

“I hope you don’t mind that I brought some friends along with me. I was afraid that our little reunion might be a bit stale.” The pale commander says with a low chuckle.

“More like you’re to much of a coward to face me alone.” Milan says as he raises his compact rifle and aims it at the cockpit, centering his aim on Beta’s head.

Beta laughs as he raises the transport, two cannons lowering from the underside of the cockpit, making it look like the mandibles of a large bug.

“No, I just wanted witnesses to your death. No die Resistance scum!” Beta yells as he pulls the trigger and sends a volley of fire towards Milan.

The younger reploid rolls to his left, coming up on one knee as he fires at the craft, hitting the cockpit and putting dents into the protective covering. Milan hears the clicking of rifles and leaps into the tree line as the Pantheons open fire at his last location. He looks across from him and could see Ciel and the others looking on. The resistance members rush along the forest line, their green uniforms blending in with the forest as they flank the enemy reploids, unleashing their rifles into the hordes.

Milan smiles as he runs out of the cover he had taken and dashes up to the transport firing as he goes. His shots blast dents and holes into the armor of the craft as he runs, a series hitting the left cannon and causing it to explode. The violent explosion rocks the craft, causing an audible curse from Beta as he fights the controls. Milan jumps up into the craft and slides across the floor, planting his feet against the second doorframe and aiming into the cockpit. Beta’s eyes widen as he grits his teeth and dives out of the way, shoving his co-pilot out of his seat and into a torrent of fire from Milan. The innocent Pantheon dances in the air as the plasma bullets riddle its body.

Beta uses his fallen comrade as a shield as he leaps from the cockpit and into the main area of the transport. Milan raises his gun, using it to block the searing hot rod that Beta had drawn. The blue eyes of the reploid looks at the pale ones of his opponent, the rifle keeping a charged rod like sword from cutting into him. Sparks fly from the weapon as they struggle to gain some ground on the other, finally Milan gets his foot up and kicks Beta in the gut. The older reploid falls back into the cockpit, his back hitting the controls and diving the craft into the ground.

Milan flies forward as the craft breaks apart, slamming into the wall that closed off part of the cockpit. He shakes his head and ducks as his hearing picks up the hum of a blade, barely avoiding Beta’s rod sword. Milan swings around and catches the reploid with the butt of his rifle just under the jaw, knocking the commander back and through the cockpit window. Beta rolls across the forest floor, clutching onto his sword and burning the soil with it as he tries to stop. He comes to a stop near the forest line and props himself up with the aide of a tree, his eyes burn with hatred as he looks at Milan through the shattered cockpit window.

“I will not lose to such a pathetic waste like you!” Beta spats as he runs forward, his eyes suddenly catch a flash of pink and he grins evilly as he changes course.

Milan watches as Beta changes direction and runs right at Ciel, his mechanical heart jumps into his chest as he leaps out of the craft with his rifle blazing. The shots burn into the forest as Milan’s blue eyes open wide. Beta grabs hold of Ciel and pulls her to him, using her as a human shield, and putting the energy rod up to her throat.

“Call off your dogs Milan!” Beta barks with a sinister smile, “Or this little human shall die horribly.”

Milan growls as he lowers his weapon, and looks at the others. Only eight resistance members were left, lowering their weapons and coming out from the midst of the Neo Arcadian forces. The Pantheons line up to form a blue wall in the forest, keeping the Resistance members from running one way.

Beta smiles as he looks at Ciel, “Looks like you’re special to this reploid Doctor. Come to think of it you’re the reason that he turned on us. What power do you hold over him… I wonder…”

Ciel squirms as she tries to escape, pulling at the arm around her chest. “I don’t have any power over him! Milan is my friend!”

“A friend that allowed you to escape retirement, something that I think I should correct.” The sinister commander says as he readies himself to draw the blade through Ciel’s fragile neck.

The doctor’s hands drop to her sides as she squirms, her skirt rising a bit. Milan growls at Beta’s words before his eyes focus on want Ciel was doing. He could see her hands moving along her thighs under her skirt, she looks at Milan and gives him a wink with her blue eyes. Milan raises his rifle as Ciel pulls two small pistols from her thighs and fire down into Beta’s feet, the pain causing the white reploid to release her. As Beta reels back in pain Ciel dives to the ground, Milan taking aim and firing into the reploids chest. The white armor ripples and tears as the energy blasts slam into it, shredding down to the bare skin and finally to the metal framework of Beta.

The reploid screams in pain, red fluid spews from his mouth as Ciel crawls away quickly. Beta falls to his knees and looks at Milan, his eyes slowly dimming as his body sparks and whines from the damage.

“You- you’re nothing but a civilian…” Beta says as he looks up at Milan, “Kill them… kill them aaaaaaaa….”

The white reploid falls over on the ground, his armor stained red with his own bodily fluids as his voice fades to nothing. The Pantheon’s start forward firing their weapons and the remaining members of Milan’s team breaks into a run, firing as they go. Milan helps Ciel to her feet quickly and they run after their friends, quickly taking the lead as a number of them stop to hold of the advancing forces.

Ciel pants as she runs, the cyber elf Passy keeping up with her as they flee. She could hear the sounds of a large machine crash through the forest.

“Wha- What kind of monsters are these!?” One of the resistance members yells, and catches her attention.

Ciel looks over her shoulder and her eyes widen with fear. “A Golem!” She thinks to herself, “They actually made them! They were just plans when I left, nothing was approved yet!”

She keeps running as she hears the screams of the Resistance members that had stopped to hold off the advance of the Golem. Ciel closes her eyes for a second only to open them as she comes to an abrupt stop. Her eyes widen with horror as she looks at the large door in front of her.

“A dead end!?” She pants, holding her chest as she tries to catch her breath.

Passy flies up to the door and stares at it for a moment, “No. I feel a strong energy inside. This must be the place.”

“Okay. Leave this to me. Stay back Ciel.” Milan instructs as he steps forward and places a block of high explosive on the door.

Ciel stands behind Milan as Passy flies behind her, the young reploid triggers the explosives and the door blows off its hinges in pieces. Milan motions for the others to follow and the remaining soldier with them places himself in the doorway with his rifle at the ready.

“You should go!” The soldier says as he starts firing at the advancing Pantheon Hunters, “I’ll take care of them!”

Milan nods as he and Ciel enter the room beyond the door and run across a flooded floor. The green water reflected what little light came from the ceiling, illuminating broken and ruined equipment. The two moved cautiously through the rubble, as they search the room. Finally they see a red warrior crouched on the floor with a large energy pack holding him in place. His body was badly damaged and in need of repairs, the golden blond locks of hair fell over his shoulder in waves.

Milan grimaces as he sees the condition of the reploid. “This must be…”

“… This… must be Zero…” Ciel finishes for him as she looks at the condition of the legendary warrior of the past. She could feel her heart sink along with her hopes as she sees the dismantled and broken parts scattered around the crimson hero. “It will take a while to get him working again…” She thinks to herself.

“We found him at last!” Milan says as he steps forward, his enthusiasm rewarded by a strong electrical shock that pushes him back.

“It’s protected.” Passy yells as Ciel catches Milan and helps him right himself.

Milan shakes his head before looking at Passy and Ciel, “What should I do…”

The sudden scream from the door catches every ones attention, causing them to turn around. The resistance soldier that had been standing there now lay dead on the floor, several gaping holes in his armor and red fluid draining from his body into the water. Milan runs in front of Ciel, aiming his rifle and opening fire at the red eyes coming towards them.

“Watch out!” He yells as several shot hit him. “ We are corner. We have to evacuate now!”

Milan grits his teeth as he feels his body grow heavy, the shots from the Neo Arcadian troops stain his armor as his body leaks blood into the water at his feet. He levels his gun and returns fire, taking out a dozen of the enemy soldiers advancing towards them.

Ciel steps back and looks at Zero’s body, protected by a barrier and then at Milan. She sees the blood of her friend and then at the smoke rising from his body. “But…”

“We don’t have time to argue!” Milan shouts as he fires.

“But… you can’t move can you Milan…” Ciel thinks, a tear rolling down her cheek as she looks at her friend. His body was smoking heavily and she could identify the smell of burning circuits and servo joints coming from her friend. She knew that he couldn’t move from his spot, and what when we was saying ‘we’ he meant her alone.
Milan shouts as he fires into the doorway, mowing down line after line of the Pantheon’s. One of them jumps over his comrades and fires, his shots sailing towards Ciel. Milan’s eyes widen as he sees the energy racing towards his friend, his breath catches in his throat as he uses the last of his energy to shift his weight. His leg servos scream as they are forced to move in one last effort, and Milan could feel the joints freeze as he falls to his right. He screams as he falls and takes trio of blasts into his chest, opening his armor and sending a spray of blood out into the air. The force sends him flying back and Ciel watches as her friend makes an arc in the air before landing with a splash on the floor.

“Milan!!” The young blond yells as he kneels next to her friend. She looks down at his smoking chest as tears fill her eyes, and chase down her cheeks to drip down onto the exposed chest of her friend. Ciel takes his hand as she looks at his blue eyes, the eyes that had once held such determination and fire of a free soul now were empty and looking up at her.

Passy looks at the scene and then at the soldiers advancing through the doorway, then at Zero. The young cyber elf was fully grown thanks to some crystals she had eaten in the ruins before being found and raised by Ciel. She knew what her power and ability was and knew that the day would come when she would have to use it.

“Ciel.” They elf calls as she flies next to her companion, floating in the air. She could see that Ciel wasn’t responding and that the soldiers were getting closer. “Ciel!!!”

“Huh?” The young doctor says as she looks up at the elf.

“You should use my power!!” Passy yells as at Ciel and looks at Zero, “You have no choice!”

“What!?” Ciel yells as she stands up and looks at the elf with sad eyes, “Passy… if I do, you’ll be…”

Passy smiles, “Don’t worry about me. Remember, everyone is waiting for your safe return!”

Ciel lowers her eyes to look at her fallen friend, “You gave everything for me Milan. You gave up your life in Neo Arcadia to save me, and you fought so hard for everyone to free them all. I won’t let your fight end, not like this.”

She raises her head and looks at the young elf, “Okay. Thank you.”

“No.” Passy says as she hovers up to Ciel and give her a hug, “I should thank you, Ciel. Good bye…”

“Passssyyyyyy!” Ciel yells as she reaches for her friend one last time.

Passy slams into the barrier at full speed, she shuts her eyes as she forces her way through, shattering the energy field and slamming into Zero. She melds into the crimson warriors body, vanishing from sight for a moment and Ciel watches silently wondering if it had worked. Suddenly a light erupts from Zero and he rises from the floor, the attachments on his back fall away as the parts around him re-combine and connect to his body. The young doctor watches in awe as she fully realizes the power of her elf friend, the power of resurrection. The light fades and before her she could see the powerful figure of a warrior of long ago. His eyes were still closed as he stands with his hands clenched into tight fists, his hear dances in the light breeze from the resurrection of his being.

His blue eyes open and the gem on his helmet flashes as he reawakens fully. He looks around him and sees the dead reploids around him, and a single human female.

Ciel steps forward timidly, “Zero… has been resurrected…”

Zero remains motionless as he takes in his surroundings, his brain processing the information and reviewing the very basics of his body to try and figure out how everything worked.

“Zero?” The young doctor calls, taking another step forward. “Help me. Please.”

“Zero… that’s my name?” The crimson warrior thinks, he looks forward and can see the faceless drones advancing into the room. “These guys look like they mean business. I’m not going to let them kill this human. I CAN NOT ALLOW IT!”

Zero reaches down and grips the weapon from the dead reploid, the stock folding back into the buster. Aiming a highly powerful buster pistol at the Pantheon’s, the simple programmed drones look on in shock at the appearance of the new comer, trying to figure him out. Zero squeezes the trigger and fires the first shot of his new existence, the first step onto a new path.

***

Milan opens his eyes to find himself surrounded by a field of light so intense that it blocks out all things beyond it. The reploid slowly stands from his laying position, his hands tracing over his body to find his armor still showing the signs of the fatal injuries that had killed him.

“Where am I?” Milan asks no one in particular, more to say something to break the silence around him if nothing else.

“You are where all those that fall go to when their time comes.” A voice replies from the light surrounding him.

The reploids eyes track around him till they lock onto a floating ball of light with a rainbow like pattern forming an X around it. The ball moved down from its perch in mid-air above him to hover before the damaged reploid.

“You, you’re the source of that icon that I saw at the Neo Arcadian base aren’t you?” Milan asks looking at the floating orb.

“I am, you seemed to need a little help and I had enough strength to do so at the time.”

“Who are you?”

The ball of light transforms into a robed figure with small fins on his helmet and a rainbow like halo of data around his head, his body transparent but showing some shades of color.

“You ask a great deal of questions. But I’ll try to answer them.” The figure says, “First of all you are in the place where the DNA souls of dead reploids goes do when they are retired or die such as you have. The data has to go somewhere so it goes here and keeps the identity and form of its original body, only on a digital median. Your body is gone, but the rest of your soul and memories lives on here. As to who I am, that I can’t tell you, just that I’m a friend.”

“So I’m dead… does that mean that Ceil is-!” Milan looks at the ghostly image before him in horror, only to be met with a calming face and expression.

“She’s safe, they’re all safe now that he has awakened.” The figure says, “Now you can rest in piece Milan, you did good as a true Maverick Hunter. As for me, I have some things I have to attend to.”

The ghostly image transforms back into a ball and flies away, leaving Milan alone in the vast empty white light. The green clad reploid takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly and contently.

“Zero is back, the world will be safe now.” He says as he turns and sees a vast number of other reploids, each baring the insignia of the Hunters of old. “Looks like this is all over.”


~ The End

[Sigma.exe]

Overall, an excellent, well-written story. Milan...the JANITOR...saving the world? Man, that's priceless. Only in MMZ, I suppose.

Keep up the good work!

Also, even for a Cyber Elf, Passy is a weird official name. (Curses, Capcom...)
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I know the guy who lives next to me. He is a useless, good-for-nothing freeloader who sits in front of his computer all day and does nothing but eat, sleep, and ponder his mundane existence.

...Now why on earth would my neighbor say that about me?!

[Megawoman.EXE]

This one made me feel sad at the end. You really know how to portray emotion Core. I look foward to reading more if you plan on making more for this fict. Keep up the good work.
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Megawoman (Lyne)

Avatar made by Serenade.exe

And feel free to post here too artists if inspired
Lan and Lyne Art Thread

[Core]

[Core]

[Zodiac]

Yeah, that was an excellent storyline. It must have been a headache trying to do it in present tense though. Watch out about switching into past tense accidently, which is why I'll avoid writing in present tense. So, there isn't any more story to write? Well, if you do write more, be sure to post it as a seperate chapter so everyone will know.
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Church: Are you following any of this?
Caboose: I think so. That guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. So that makes you... a gay robot.
Church: ... That's right... I'm a gay robot.

Red Vs. Blue

[Core]

It can be hard when reading it to check for errors, but actually my brain kind of works in that way when I think of a storyline. I can see the action as it unfolds similar to a movie in my mind and I just write it out as it happens. Why my brain does this I have no idea. ^@_@^()

There won't be any more to Milan's story, but I am working on another Zero fanficcy at the moment.

[Core]

It can be hard when reading it to check for errors, but actually my brain kind of works in that way when I think of a storyline. I can see the action as it unfolds similar to a movie in my mind and I just write it out as it happens. Why my brain does this I have no idea. ^@_@^()

There won't be any more to Milan's story, but I am working on another Zero fanficcy at the moment.