"Humph." Sigma examined his new equipment. The other reploids looked on, hoping to get some sign of approval from their master. "Humph." Sigma repeated, and that was the best they got.

"Master Sigma." Cyber Peacock stepped up to the Maverick leader. "How are you?"

"Not well." Sigma grumbled. "That blue dream wrecker and his little friend Zero are both alive and well!" Cyber Peacock cowered back. He knew better than try to provoke Sigma when he was in one of his moods. To his surprise, Sigma began laughing.

"Mas.. Master Sigma?" Cyber Peacock asked lightly.

"I'm about to be doing much better." Sigma declared. "Zero finally found out about Dr. Wily and I'm pretty sure that it won't be long before Zero becomes one of our friends." He cackled evilly. "On top of that, Vile is almost rebuilt."

"In that case, sir." Cyber Peacock said, trembling. "This new development shouldn't hinder our plans much."

"Humph." Sigma stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes to slits. "What new development?"

"Dr. Cain and the other Hunters have discovered two pods at the excavation site. Apparently there are three reploids inside."

"Reploids? What kind of reploids?"

"We don't know yet."

"Well, get on it!" Sigma barked. "And as soon as Vile is ready, we'll go give Zero some encouragement on his progress." Sigma grinned. Zero would soon be on their side, and that means the Blue Bomber would be his to crush. To top it off, it would be Zero who brings X right where Sigma wants him.

As Zero and X walked into Dr. Cain's lab, they noticed two new reploids already sitting. One was the girl they saw in the pod, the other was a complete stranger. He was clad in gray and red armor, wearing dark shads over his eyes and a yellow scarf around his neck. While the Grey Reploid remained sitting, the other stranger leaped up as X entered the room.

"Mega Man! It's you!" The girl exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around X. "You're alive. It's good to see you after all these years."

"Wha, what?" X stammered. "Who are you?"

A look of betrayal crossed the girl's face. "You mean... you don't remember me?"

"Maybe we'd better all sit down and let me try to explain what is going on." Dr. Cain cut in. They all complied.

X studied the two new reploids. The girl looked harmless enough, she wasn't even armed with a weapon. X turned his attention to the other reploid, who might be more of a threat. He had an X-Type Buster, just like himself. Is this a coincidence?

"X, I'd like you to meet your siblings: Roll and Protoman."

X stared at Dr. Cain, to see if this was some kind of a mistake. Then he looked at the new reploids again.

"After we moved the two pods into my lab, I discovered that there was a message on them." Dr. Cain pressed some buttons on the pad. "Please watch this." On the monitor, a bearded man with a lab coat appeared. "Hello," The bearded man said, "My name is Dr. Light. If you're seeing this message, then you must have found the stasis pods, which hold Roll, Protoman and Rush. I hope it's you Mega Man." The man's face softened at the mention of the name. "If you are Mega Man, this is you sister, Roll, your older brother Protoman and your dog Rush. I hope you remember. Although there is a good chance you might not.

"You see," Dr. light continued, "Mega Man, you were the first to be changed to a reploid, a robot with the same feelings as any human being. We weren't sure if you were going to turn out fine, so I had to seal you in that capsule, for thirty years, to ensure you wouldn't rebel against the humans. I knew I probably wouldn't live to see you when you come out of the pod...but it didn't matter. I had to make sure that you wouldn't malfunction.

"Then Dr. Wily, an evil scientist trying to take over the world, attacked. He stole a large bomb and held the world at ransom. So I decided to make Roll, Protoman and Rush into reploids as well, in hopes that they could help fight Wily when they woke up from their capsule. I reinforced their capsule against the blast of the bomb, so they wouldn't be damaged. But I never hand a chance to reinforce Mega Man's capsule, because it was already buried and there was no time to dig it up. Then Wily dropped the bomb." The Doctor's voice trailed off. "I don't even know if Mega Man's capsule survived the blast. "Wily killed a lot of people that day, so I pressed on. Right now, as I am recording this message, I am building more reploids against Dr. Wily. I hope you saw this Mega Man, Roll, Protoman. I hope you all turn out fine." The screen went black.

X stared at the screen in disbelief. "I have a brother? A sister?"

"Mega Man?" Roll asked. "You still don't remember us?"

X turned to Roll and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I don't."

"It's no problem, bro." Protoman finally said. "You're still our brother, even if that whack by the bomb took out your memory."

"Yes." Dr. Cain joined in. "That must have been what happened. Because your capsule wasn't reinforced with the shield, you were affected by the blast. And because the schematics between you and Protoman are almost identical, I have to conclude that the same scientist created you two. So in most sense of the word, you two are brothers."

"I can't believe it..." X mumbled as he tried to soak in the news.

"The even more disturbing part is yet to come X." Dr. Cain said. "It appears that this Dr. Wily person is also responsible for the creation of Vile, and Sigma."

Protoman nodded. "Before Roll an I were sealed in the capsules, there was already news that Dr. Wily had crated reploids of his own, by the name of Sigma and Vile. From what Dr. Cain has told us about this time period, it seems that your Vile and Sigma are the very ones created by Dr. Wily."

"Dr. Wily." X said. "He isn't still here, is he?"

"No," Dr. Cain replied, "Records show that Dr. Wily died when the police and army raided their Fortress."

"And what happened to Dr. Light?" X asked eagerly. "Is he still alive?"

"I'm sorry X." Dr. Cain said. "Dr. Light worked hard at creating a force of reploids to fight Dr. Wily. Wily knew about his and blew up light's lab, which is the excavation site today."

X slumped back into his chair. "So Dr. Wily is the source of all their troubles. Sigma, Vile, who knows what else? And my siblings Roll and Protoman, they're my new allies. So much, so fast! Why can't I remember anything?"

"Zero," X turned to where Zero was sitting, "What do you-" Then X realized that Zero was gone.

Zero quietly sneaked out of Dr. Cain's lab and took a motorcycle to the roads. He couldn't stand to be inside any place right now. Everything was so... out of control, out of his control. He felt like his brain might explode with all his thoughts bouncing around inside.

"So there was a Dr. Wily." Zero said as he drove further from the Maverick Hunters HQ. "And he is X's enemy. Does this mean that I am his enemy?"

"Yes, Zero." Dr. Wily's voice range in his head. "You are X's enemy. You must destroy him when the time is right."

"Stop saying that!" Zero yelled as he clutched his head with one hand. "I won't kill X. He is my friend."

"You were programmed to be his friend." Dr. Wily's voice echoed in his head. "You were to gain his trust and dispose of him when he would least suspect it. Don't you remember, Zero? That was the plan."

"No..." Zero accelerated the motorcycle, trying to out run the voice.

"You and X were always on different roads. You were created to destroy him. That is the prophecy. It is coming."

"No!" Zero ripped across the road. He needed to get away, go somewhere! Anywhere!

"You are X's enemy."

Zero moaned as the voice tortured his mind and ripped his head apart. He was torn between obeying is creator and being loyal to his friend.

"X only pretended to be your friend because it was convenient, Zero. You were a good Hunter. They needed you. Why else would he have been so nice to you?"

"You're wrong!" Zero declared. At that moment, Zero felt that the voice was gone. He slowed the motor cycle to a stop. "I beat him. This time." He said as he breathed heavily. Then he looked around him. "Where was I going?"

"Zero!" X called to the Maverick Hunter. "Where have you been? We were all worried about you."Zero bitterly looked at X

"I didn't want to interrupt your family gathering X."

"What are you talking about? You sound mad."

"Mad?" Zero said sarcastically. "Me? Mad? No way. Why should I be mad at you, X? It's not like I just realized now that you've got your brother, sister and even the family pet together again, you don't need little old me anymore!"

"Zero. You know that's not true."

Zero blinked several times, shook his head and started to giggle."Zero?"

"Oh, X, I think I had one drink too many at the party. I'm completely beat. It's two in the morning already. I think I'll hit the sack." Without another word, Zero walked away, leaving X sanding in the corridor, dumbfounded."Zero..."

"Zero..." It was that voice again. Dr. Wily. "Zero?"

"Shut up." Zero commanded as he walked down the corridor.

"Is that any way to talk to your creator?" Around the corner turn, Dr. Wily appeared before Zero's eyes.

"You're here!" Zero shouted.

"I had to see you, Zero." Dr. Wily took a step towards Zero. "I had to come and tell you where to go next."

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm Zero, head of the-"

"Yes, yes, we all know your rank." Dr. Wily said impatiently. "But

you needto know where you are going next." Dr. Wily grabbed Zero's arm and, with incredible strength, dragged Zero unwillingly down the corridor.

"How?" Zero exclaimed. He continued to struggle to get of Wily's grip. To his surprise, Wily had no trouble holding on.

"Zero." Wily said gravely. "We're here." The Maverick Hunter got up from the ground and stood in front of the door.

"But this is X's room." Zero said.

"Precisely." Wily said. "Go inside." Zero found himself turning the doorknob and walking into the dark room. He saw X, asleep on the bed, unaware of Zero or Wily.

"What am I doing here?" Zero thought.

"What do you think?" Wily said.

Zero walked towards the sleeping X. He stared down at the Blue Hunter and studied his face. "X, my friend." Somehow the Z-Saber ended up in his hands, humming and ready to use. "Where to go." Zero repeated. "Where to go." Without another word, he brought the Z-Saber crashing down on to X. There was a bright flash, and then the room was dark again.

Zero bolted upright on his bed, face contorted with horror and hair a big mess. Zero looked around him in fright, searching for any sign of what went on. Then he remembered X, and his Z-Saber. He hopped out of bed and tore down the hallways of the Maverick Hunter HQ, towards X's room. When Zero got there, he held his breath, almost afraid to look at what's behind the wood door.

Zero knocked gently on the door, and waited. No one answered.

"What have I done?" Zero whispered.

Just then, a groggy looking X opened the door. X scratched his brown hair and yawned. "Zero?" X asked. "What's going on? What time is it?"

Zero let out a breath. "It was all a dream." He thought as he leaned against the doorframe. "I didn't kill X."

"Nothing X." Zero said. "Just up for an early morning jog and thought I'd stop by."

X gave Zero a strange look, mumbled a groggy "good night" and closed the door. Zero slowly made his way back, cursing Dr. Wily's name as he went along.

He was terrified when he thought he had killed X. Even if it was in a dream, how could he destroy his partner? "No," Zero thought, "Dr. Wily can only put voices and dreams into my head. But he could never make me kill X."

Protoman found himself dragged to the practicing hall, by X, for an afternoon workout. "It has been awhile since I practiced with Mega Man-er X." Protoman thought to himself. "Might as well take this time to catch up."

"What's that you're setting up?" Protoman asked as X fixed the equipment around the room. The training hall was a long room with many traps hidden for the trainee to dodge. Protoman could see that X was checking the traps again.

"Just things to make this session more interesting." X said mysteriously. "You are my brother, so you should be able to handle this stuff with no problems." X finally turned back towards Protoman and smirked.

"Okay, the object of this game is to get to the other end of the room, unharmed, or in this case, unmarked by the red paint on the traps."

"Sounds easy." Protoman said. "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that we fight each other along the way. Only one of us can successfully make it to the end. May the best reploid win." The two brothers each took a fighting stance.

"Whenever you're ready, Protoman."

"Women and children first, little brother." Protoman challenged. With that, X leaped out in to the center of the room giving him space to fire a shot at Protoman. The Scarfed reploid easily sidestepped the shot, and followed his brother into the center of the room. Something was triggered off, and a set of arrows from the wall shoots towards Protoman. He turned and fired his arm cannon to stop the arrows, but X uppercuts Protoman while he is distracted.

Protoman staggered back, surprised and amused by his opponent's attack. Protoman sized up the room and fired a shot past X, which sets off another booby trap. A big sack of cement falls down towards X. The Blue Hunter leaps forward to dodge the cement, only to find a swift roundhouse from Protoman connecting with this side.

"Tell me, Protoman." Mega Man X said as he fired shots at his brother. "Did we ever train like this back then?"

"Yep." Protoman replied as he dodged the shots. "And I always whooped you." Protoman launched his own assault of plasma.

"Ha! Now I know you're lying." X ducked under Protoman's shots and tried to trip Protoman with a low kick. The Scarfed reploid jumped before the kick landed and leaped to the end of the hall.

"Looks like I win again, little brother."

"Looks like." Mega Man X pointed to Protoman's leg, which was splattered with some red paint. It was then when Protoman realized the low kick was meant to be dodged, so that X could hit him with one of the arrow's paint.

"Not bad, X." Protoman admitted. "Seems like you've brushed up while I was away."

"Fighting Sigma four times does take considerable practice to perfect." X said. "That and lots of training with Zero."

"What ever happened to Zero last night?" Protoman asked. "He left before we got to talk to him."

"I don't know." X lowered his eyebrows in thought. "Zero was beyond strange. First he disappears, comes back and acts mad at the fact that I've got my family, then shows up at my door at four in the morning with the most surprised look I've ever seen."

"How long has this been going on?" "Ever since he defeated Sigma on Final Weapon. Something is up, and he's not telling me. Typical Zero."

Protoman was about to say something else when the red alert alarm blared. The two reploids quickly dashed to the window and saw that a big army of Mavericks was storming the HQ. Without another word, the two raced down to the battle.