Disclaimer: Mega Man Zero and all of its characters are property of Capcom. All right reserved.

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Outside Neo Arcadia

The quiet forests on the outskirts of Neo Arcadia were disturbed by the sounds of gunfire and screams. A group of Reploids (all dressed in green and black uniforms and carrying assault rifles) and a young girl (pale skin, cobalt blue eyes, long thick blonde hair with three angular bangs, dressed in a pink outfit consisting of a helmet with a hole for her ponytail, a sleeveless dress, a vest, plated high heels and white gloves, with a black body suit underneath) running from attacking foes; a squadron of blue and white armored, mechanical soldiers with a singular red eye protruding from their helmets. The Reploids do their best to hold the soldiers off, but are picked off one by one.

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Military outpost

The alarms blare as large machines (brown and blue mechs with three vertical lines on their chests, square featureless faces, large fists that extend to punch adversaries from afar and hover thrusters in place of legs) are deployed to join the assault. From a control room nearby, a high ranking Reploid (green and white body with gold accents, thrusters on his back and green wing like apparatus's on his head) oversees the deployment as one of the soldiers calls him from the radio. "Master Harpuia, Sir."

"Report." The Reploid, Harpuia, commands in a serious tone.

"Sir, the resistance numbers have dwindled."

"Then by all means, let's finish it; destroy all of them."

"There is one other thing that requires your attention, Sir."

"What is it?"

"There is a human among them; a young girl."

"And? She knows that entering Neo Arcadia's outskirts is forbidden." Harpuia coldly answers.

"Then, should we apprehend her?"

"Your orders were to eliminate ALL of the resistance troopers; do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir. Over and out."

Harpuia then turns his attention to the mechs out in the hanger. "Golems; destroy all of the enemies; give them NO quarter."

With this, the golems exit the hanger to attack their foes.

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"What the hell are those?! We can't hold them off!" One of the resistance Reploids shouts in alarm as the golems arrive. While they put up a valiant effort, the golem lays waste to them immediately with its face mounted laser before continuing towards the rest.

Finally reaching a metallic structure, the three surviving members (the girl included) enter it and see that it's an ancient lab. Going further inside, they reach what appears to be a dead end and just then, a small fairy like being (a pink body with white above where the collar bone would be, a pink headdress that separates a blonde bang from the rest of its short hair, blue eyes, a white face and green wing like devices on its back) emerges from the girl. "Ciel, I can sense him; this is it!"

"Passy, are you sure?" The girl, Ciel, asks and Passy simply nods.

"Alright, then let me handle this." One of the resistance Reploids moves Ciel away before setting on explosive device on the door. "Stand back!" Detonating the device, the door gives way and allows the three to enter. "Alright, you two hurry up and check the inside quickly; I'll stand watch!"

Ciel, Passy and the third Reploid enter the chamber and discover what they believe they were looking for; a damaged capsule with a humanoid figure inside.

"Milan, are you seeing this?" Ciel asks in bewilderment.

"Yes." The Reploid, Milan, answers in the same tone. "I think we found him..." Milan walks over to the console nearby and uses his on board computer to check the vitals. "I don't believe it; he's alive! Just barely though."

"The Legendary Reploid; Zero." Ciel walks up and clears the dust on a part of the capsules glass, showing Zero's sleeping face. "We found you at long last."

"Ok, let's not waste any time; bring the energy cells, we need him wide awake-" Milan is cut off by the sounds of his compatriot screaming as he's pelted with gunfire from the soldiers; they have caught up with them.

"Ciel, quick; hide!" Milan shouts as he opens fire on the soldiers. Ciel and Passy acknowledge his order and they hide behind some rubble. Despite his efforts, Milan is unfortunately gunned down and the energy cells are immediately confiscated, much to Ciel's quieted screams.

"Civilian! Show yourself now!" One of the soldiers calls out, stepping over Milan's body. "Come out now; we know you're in here!"

Cornered, Ciel slowly walks out (having ordered Passy previously to stay behind) with her hands up. Several of the soldiers walk up and apprehend her.

"Civilian, you have violated the laws that forbid you from entering Neo Arcadia's outskirts. The sentence for this offense is death; do you have anything to say for your defense?"

At these charges, Ciel only remains quiet. From the rubble, Passy breathes heavily as she weighs her options; Ciel is on the verge of being executed and Zero is in need of repairs before he can do anything. Finally coming to a decision, Passy comes out of hiding and faces the soldiers; waving bye to Ciel with a smile before flying into the capsule and merging her essence with Zero's damaged body and Ciel can only choke her tears back at Passy's final action. The capsule begins to glow, gradually getting brighter.

"Take that down!" The soldiers open fire on the capsule and Ciel ducks down while covering her ears from the gunfire. After a moment, they stop to check the now bullet hole filled capsule...only for it to explode and catch several of the soldiers with its fragments. From the dust, a Reploid (a dark grey body, red vest, arms, boots and helmet, white waist and spines on the sides of the helmet and fingers, yellow ankles and wrists, an upside down triangular crystal on his forehead and long blonde hair) drops to his knees and breathes heavily.

"Zero..." Ciel comments quietly. "You're awake..."

Before Zero can react at all, one of the soldiers points his gun at his head. "Don't move." As if on instinct, Zero immediately seizes the gun and punches it in half, much to the surviving soldier's shock, before he twists and tears the soldiers head off. The others open fire on Zero and he swiftly dodges the shots, before pulling out the blaster he didn't realize was on him and he takes them all down with pinpoint accuracy. Now cleared, Zero takes in his surroundings and realizes that he doesn't know where he is.

"You...you defeated those units like they were nothing." Ciel, coming out from her hiding spot, comments in astonishment.

Startled, Zero points his blaster at a now stunned Ciel. "Who are you? What is this place?" Zero asks, clearly shaken up by everything.

"Wait Zero, please. My name is Ciel. I and many others have been searching for you. Zero, we desperately need your help."

"Why do you keep calling me that? Is that my name?"

"You don't remember? Wait; is there anything you can recall? You seem to know how to fight, but what else?" Ciel asks.

"I think I understand that I'm some kind of soldier, but I can't...remember anything else." Zero answers in uncertainty.

"Ok, that's fair." Just then, more gunfire sounds from behind them, much to Ciel's shock. "Alright, perhaps we can help you; come back to base with me and we can probably figure something out from there. Zero, will you help me?"

At that moment, those words ring in Zero's head; "Help me". Even though he doesn't understand why, he feels this need to protect this girl that he just met, like it should be second nature to him. Saying nothing more, Zero simply nods at Ciel's request.

"Thank you, Zero." Ciel smiles at Zero's acceptance. "Now, follow me." With that settled, Ciel leads Zero down the hallway, until they are intercepted by more mechanical soldiers.

"Get your head down!" Zero hurries Ciel behind cover as the soldiers open fire on the hall. After making sure that she's safe, Zero leaves Ciel to face the soldiers, once again dodging the shots before using one like a shield and hitting the rest with his blaster. Destroying his captive, Zero looks down the hall to see a soldier rushing him with a yellow energy blade. The soldier slashes and thrusts at Zero, who simply dodges all of the attacks before pinning the soldier to the wall, ripping off his blade arm and jamming it into his head, ending the threat. With the coast clear, Zero whistles to Ciel, who quickly catches up to him and leads the way again. Leading him down the hall she came through, Ciel immediately relents upon seeing the sheer number of soldiers running through it and leads Zero to a different direction. This proved to be a mistake, however, as it led to a wall.

"No! What should we do-" Before Ciel can question her next move, the ground beneath her gives way and she plummets down a shaft. Not even thinking twice, Zero dives in after Ciel, grabs her and lands on his feet without a scratch after falling down several meters. Setting Ciel down, she breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you..."

"Are you alright?' Zero asks.

"Yes, that was too close." Ciel states before looking down the new hallway. "Since this is some kind of prehistoric laboratory, there may be a Trans-Server we can use to return to the base. Come on, let's have a look." The two walk down the hall and discover the way has been blocked. "How nice; the passage has collapsed...No matter, we should find another way-" Unexpectedly, a large robot hand emerges from collapsed passage, clearing it and snatches Ciel, much to her horror.

"Ciel!" Zero exclaims before giving chase, coming face to face with one of the golems in an old computer room. "Whoa..."

"Zero, run! You can't fight this thing!" Ciel says from her place in the golems grasp.

"And I can't just leave you there!" Zero retorts before shooting at the golems head, barely damaging it. The golem responds by shooting its face laser at Zero, who quickly dodges it and continues firing at it. Seeing that his blaster isn't strong enough, Zero avoids the lasers again and clings onto its arm in an attempt to pry Ciel off, only for the golem to grab Zero with its other arm and slam him into the wall with its fist.

"Zero!"

Getting back on his feet, Zero shakily tries to balance himself. "Not yet, I can still fight..."

At that moment, one of the computers unexpectedly activates and drops some sort of device at Zero's feet. "...Use this...Zero..."

"Who are you?!" Zero asks in alarm.

"Hurry...You have to...save her...Don't waste time..." The strange voice then disappears as the computer deactivates itself. Deciding that questioning further would be pointless, Zero grabs the device and a long, green triangular blade emerges from it, revealing itself as some kind of saber. Strangely, Zero feels familiar with it and wields it with ease. The golem punches at Zero and he jumps on its fist before slashing down on its head and body, splitting it in half. The golem drops Ciel and Zero quickly covers her from its exploding body. Once clear, Zero gets Ciel back on her feet and she stares into his eyes.

"You destroyed that golem...You are Zero; the Legendary Reploid!" Ciel exclaims in excitement.

"Ciel, wait." Zero holds his hand up as he deactivates the saber. "How do you know I'm the one you're looking for? I don't even remember my name."

"I know you're the Zero. No Reploid has skills that match the Maverick Hunter of the old age. It really is you and you've returned to us." Ciel states in confidence. "Also, I'm sorry for waking up and making you do all of this. But, like I said earlier, we really need your help."

"With what exactly?" Zero crosses his arms and asks the most obvious of questions.

"I will explain everything back at the base. Just understand that much has changed in your absence. Please, follow me." Finishing, Ciel enters the nearby door and Zero reluctantly follows her into the next room. "We're in luck; the Trans-Server is still functional." Ciel steps on the Trans-Server and offers a hand to Zero. "Come, everyone is waiting to meet you."

Though still apprehensive, Zero slowly takes Ciel's hand and joins her in the Trans-Server, which now teleports them to the resistance base.

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Neo Arcadia throne room.

Thirty minutes later, Harpuia enters the throne room and kneels in front of the mysterious person obscured in shadows seated there.

"Master, we have information that requires your attention; an unknown Reploid has decimated a large squad of soldiers sent to the outskirts." Harpuia reports before bring up several recordings from the red gem on his forehead; all of Zero and his combat prowess. "We believe this Reploid has joined the resistance as well."

The mysterious figures eyes glow bright red in the shadows as he observes all of the footage before saying his part.

"He's back...Zero."

To be continued...

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Author's Note: Whoo! I honestly didn't think I'd ever do something like this, but I've been a fan of the Megaman Zero series for as long as I can remember and I felt like I should do my own take on it with this novelization of the first game and later on the rest. I'm updating Zero's personality in this to be less brooding and I'm changing up a few things here and there to fit my style. There's a few things in the game series that I did not like how they did and I've decided to put my own spin on things for the sake of the story and I hope y'all like what I'll dish out in it. Alright guys/girls, take care. :)