Chapter 6: Year C. 110XX, Two weeks ago...

Zero entered the large metal building. There were quite a few people inside, all huddled in the middle of the large room that made up most of the building. They all seemed to be focused on something on the floor. He thought he recognized some of them, but others were twisted versions of the people he remembered. "What's going on?" he asked himself: about the mumbling mob in the center of the room and also all these strange events. A familiar figure looked up and locked eyes with Zero. "X! What's going on?" Everyone else looked up and gasped at the newcomer. A surprised and confused look came upon X's face. He lifted his buster threateningly even with Zero's head. "Don't come any closer... Whoever you are." "X. It's me, Zero." X hesitated. "Then who's that?" X nodded his head to the figure on the ground. Zero looked down. He was shocked to see himself, lying there, chained on the ground with a crazed look of evil in his eyes. "What the..." The figure began to laugh maniacally. Everyone stood silently, not knowing what to think as Zero watched himself fall into hysterity. Zero drew his saber. X began charging his buster. "X, give me a chance to prove to you who the real Zero is." X lowered his buster. A young human in blue armor that looked somewhat similar to X said, "What are you doing? It took all our strength to pin him down and now your just going to let this guy set him free? I don't think so." As the youth raised the cannon on his arm a calm voice came from one corner of the room. "Trigger, give the newcomer a shot." Trigger lowered his arm discontentedly. Everyone stepped back. It took Zero no time to cut the captive loose. Zero sheathed his sword, and then the two began to fight.

The fight went back and forth. First Zero would have the upper hand, soon after he would find himself slipping behind whomever it was he was fighting against. When all seemed lost and his opponent was about to deal the final blow, Zero whipped out his buster and fired right into the core of his enemy. The mostly lifeless body dropped to the floor. Zero walked over and grabbed the figure by the neck. "Who are you?" As their eyes locked a deluge of forgotten memories surged into his mind. He saw a black figure arguing with an old man. He saw himself on a table, being created. He saw himself being sealed away. His memory then jumped to the time when he awoke from his sleep. He saw himself as a maverick, destroying everything in sight. This is the "Imposter" he had just fought: an earlier incarnation of himself. The rest of the vision was blurred in shades of red. He finally snapped out of it. The pieces of what was left of his earlier self began to evaporate; leaving only the jewel that had adorned his forehead.

"Nice job." The voice came out of the shadowy recesses of the room and began clapping. "I was just beginning to doubt that you could actually beat him. Welcome to the madhouse." "What's happening here?" "I'll fill you in on the details." X came over and put his arm around his friend. "Roll, bring me one of those E-Tanks. My friend here looks like he could use one."

Chapter 7: C. 110XX, Two weeks ago

After a night's rest, X told Zero about how each of their allies had come to this place. He also remarked that, apparently, there are more than one Mega Man. Here's the short version:

X had been the first to arrive at the building. He gave a short account of his fight with Vile and the red flash of light that transported him here.

Next to arrive were Mega Man Trigger, his friend Roll Casket and their pet robo-monkey, Data. They had arrived from a time thousands of years after X and Zero had lived, apparently a few thousand years before the current time. They had been flying their airship, the Flutter, when they too were blinded by a red flash of light and transported here.

After them, the next to arrive were Roll.EXE, Proto Man.EXE and Guts Man.EXE. Though they were quite familiar, they came here from another dimension. X couldn't really comprehend the terminology they used, so he wasn't sure exactly what had happened (they said something about a computer network and how they used to be programs, but were somehow humanized), but they had also been transported here by a blinding red light. Proto.EXE was somehow badly injured in the process. He was being rested in one of the other rooms of the building.

Soon after came Omega-Xis (another professed "Mega Man") and Lyra; weird, ghost-like creatures they were. They seemed to have come from the same dimension as Roll.EXE and them, but from a later time. Their speech was also riddled with jargon, but again, they were transported by a bright red light.

Most recently, Proto Man, Roll, a robo-dog named Rush and a robo-bird named Beat had shown up. They had come from the time of Thomas Light and the original Mega Man. Roll told X the whole story about the note, storming Wily's Castle, Mega's death and the mysterious voice and the blinding red light. "I asked her what the note said, but she said she never read it." X relayed to Zero.

But these hadn't been the only ones transported here; bad guys familiar to one group or another had also arrived. From some recon they had compiled a list of their foes:

Guts Man, Heat Man, Snake Man, Wave Man, Tengu Man and Shade Man were taking orders from Dr. Wily.

Storm Eagle, Bubble Crab, Magma Dragoon, Dark Dizzy, Blizzard Wolfang and Violen were under Sigma. Vile also joined them once they had agreed upon a payment.

Bubble Man.EXE, Slash Man.EXE, Napalm Man.EXE, Magic Man.EXE and TornadoMan.EXE from the other dimension were working with Wily and Sigma.

Also working with them from the other dimension were more ghastly creatures who called themselves Ophiuca, Taurus, Gemini and Cygnus. There were also a few others that had appeared, but were not aligned to either group: Bass and a giant robot named Duo.EXE. Though a few battles between the two camps, so far there were no casualties on either side.

When X had finished his story he said, "So now we have 3 completely different people claiming the title of Mega Man and..." "Make that 4." Proto Man walked into the building just behind a young human boy. "This one says he's one too. Or at least that he used to be. Has a similar story to the other guys." The newcomer reunited with his old friends. "What now?" Zero asked. "I don't know, Zero." X answered. "I guess we just keep it up." "But we can't do this forever. Not all of us are robots. We have humans to feed." "Unless some kind of breakthrough comes, the plan is to keep doing what we've been doing. We thought maybe we'd get a break with that crazed intruder..." That made Zero think. He pondered the gemstone in his hand; all that was left of the imposter. "Maybe we did," He finally said. "Though some of the visions I saw I am sure were the imposter's, the gemstone was also able to evoke some of my forgotten memories. When I met Thomas Light when he was repairing me, and when he told me 'don't give up,' he sounded like he wanted to say more, but vanished too quickly to do so." "Where are you going with that thought?" X asked. "It might be nothing, but we may be able to use this to find out what the Doctor was talking about if we use it on one of his robots." "That could be dangerous, Zero," X said in a serious tone, "plus, we don't know how to use it." "Still, it might be worth a shot. It could be the deciding factor of the war!"

The whole group gathered in the large room and Zero stated his idea. Some nodded their heads, some looked doubtful, and still others showed no expression at all. "I say we take it to a vote," Omega-Xis was very impatient and figured that if they were going to do something that it should be done before the enemy could act, and if they decided not to that they get on to thinking of a new plan. Proto Man spoke up: "All those for, raise your hand." 9 hands went up. "All those opposed." 1 hand went up. "I still don't think it's worth the risk," X said, "But I suppose it's ultimately up to Roll." "Yeah. You didn't vote, Roll. What do you think?" She was in deep thought. "I think... I think that if almost everyone thinks it's the best thing to do, I'm willing to do it." Zero handed over the artifact. "What now?" They all waited motionless. Nothing. Even Zero began to have doubts. "Maybe it was just a wild Ostrich chase." Then Roll began to feel it.

They all felt the surge of power released from the gem. They stared with a hypnotized look in their faces as their past lives all flashed before them: great victories as well as crushing defeats. Some of their greatest memories as well as deep, dark secrets they'd been trying to forget. Zero snapped awake. He could see a subconscious smile on some of his friends' faces and worried looks of despair on others. The gem was taking control of their minds. Maybe all of this was a mistake. He was about to slash it into pieces, but then he remembered what happened last time. Instead, he reached and grabbed it from Roll's hand.

He made a break toward the entrance to the building and bashed the door open. The stone was now searing his hand, as if it didn't like what he was doing and wanted him to stop. But he did not. He ran as far as he could until he could hardly bear the pain. He was on a beach. He thought for a split second as hard as he could. He then began to mach towards the sea and into it. He crawled his way outwards, steam rising from his hand. He could not stand it any longer. He jammed it into the sea sand. One of the memories he had seen moments before was that of a funny old painting he had seen years ago. What were the words inscribed in the corner... he thought. I'll give it a shot. I was willing to risk another's life. I must be willing to risk my own. I could never live with myself if someone was hurt because I was unwilling to sacrifice. He plunged his hand into the sand.

Back on the shores, X had snapped out of his coma and followed his trail to the edge of the water. "What the..." A deafening BOOM hit his ears. Then he could see a larger-than-normal wave approaching from a distance. It got bigger and bigger the closer it got to shore. By the time it reached him it was a full tsunami. He braced himself before the wave struck. The last thing he saw was a red body carried by the wave just in front of him. The body crashed into him with the wave. After the wave retreated, he saw that it was a quite damaged Zero. He stood over his friend. "Zero! Would you stop trying to blow yourself up?" Zero looked up at his companion. "Only when it stops becoming necessary. Oh, and don't look up." Zero fell back unconscious. X was puzzled. A shadow befell him. He dared disobey. What he saw was a large, ugly, mutated fish falling toward him. FLOP-FLOP-FLOP-FLOP-FLOP-FLOP! The sound of fish carcasses slapping the beach was deafening. The largest one had just happened to fall on X.