" Mega Man X, how can you still care about him?" a voice whispered. X opened his eyes. He was standing on the roof of a building. Stars shown brightly in the night sky. X peered around him, unsure of what has happening. He heard a scream and whirled around. Below, he saw Met ( or at least he thought it was Met) attacking a small blue robot. The blue robot looked almost exactly like X. It was Mega Man. X jerked back in surprise when he realized this.

" But, why is Met...," X whispered. He peered around and gasped. Dr. Wily and Bass were watching the scene from a building across from him. Treble growled with satisfaction as Met tore at Mega Man. Questions roared through X's head.

" What is going on?" he whispered. Mega Man screamed as Met slashed him. Met leaped, claws extended, at Mega Man. X wanted to cry out for Met to stop. Met landed on Mega Man. Mega Man screamed in pain. Met leaned close to Mega Man and growled something. Mega Man's eyes grew wide with surprise, terror, and confusion. Met brought up his claw and scratched Mega Man across the face. Met then leaped back from Mega Man. Mega Man jumped to his feet and aimed at Met. Then, after saying something X couldn't hear, Mega Man blasted Met. Met took the blast head on. Met shuttered in pain, then blew up with a bright flash. Dr. Wily and Bass stared in absolute confusion. X's jaw dropped as he saw what was left of Met fall to the ground. Dr. Wily and Bass ran off, leaving the seriously wounded victor and Met in the alley.

" How can you still trust him after THAT??" a voice said. Then, the alley and buildings disappeared into nothing.

X slowly woke out of his deep sleep. He was sweating fiercely. X breathed heavily and forced himself to calm down.

" Was it all just a dream? Did it really happen? Maybe I was over strained yesterday...," X mumbled. X snuggled in the sleeping bag, trying to forget the dream.. According to his internal clock, he had been asleep for an hour and a half. Suddenly, he realized there was something on him. Something had moved. X opened one eye and saw that it was an arm. In the sleeping bag next to his, Zero was snoring, stretched out. His arm was on X. X closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep. He couldn't. He slowly moved Zero's arm and got up. He walked out of the tent. Proto Man was on guard, leaning against a tree. Proto Man looked up and watched X approach him. " Couldn't sleep, bro," X explained. He plopped down next to his big brother.

" You remember everything?" Proto Man asked.

" No, not everything.... I don't remember what happened that week or so before I was put in the capsule...," X said. Proto Man nodded.

" It's best you DON'T remember...," he said. X peered at him.

" Why?" X asked, surprised.

" It wasn't exactly the highlight of your life," Proto Man said as he stretched. X could see that the conversation was over.

" Okay.... I was wondering.... Why isn't Met thrashing around or anything like other reploids do when they are infected?" X said. Proto Man laughed.

" Met's not a normal reploid! Met won't thrash around... he'll suffer in silence. That's his way. He's stubborn, that's what he is. It's not a weakness to cry out in pain!" Proto Man snorted. X laughed quietly. Proto Man and X then looked at the fire as it burned silently. After a while, X grew sleepy. He leaned up against the tree. Few minutes later, X was asleep.

X woke again. He was by the tree. Proto Man wasn't there. Bo was on guard now. Bo was sitting on a rock on the opposite side of the camp. Bo was looking off, lost in thought. The fire wasn't burning very brightly any more. X didn't know why he had waken. He shrugged and curled up again. Bo stood up and stretched. X slowly drifted off. All of a sudden hands reached out, grabbed him around his neck, and began to choke him. X tried to scream. One thought rushed through his mind. Met was Maverick! X struggled and kicked and squirmed. X tried to scream. Nothing.

" Where is Bo?!!" X thought frantically. The hands squeezed harder and X began to gag. He felt his attacker begin to kick him and punch him. X winced in pain with each kick and punch. He desperately tried to escape. He looked up and saw two glowing red eyes staring cruelly at him. X struggled as hard as he could, trying to scream. His breathing grew labored and heavy. He began to lose his vision. His body started to stop responding. In a final attempt, X weakly kicked out. It caught his attacker by surprise. X screamed loudly for help. X could hear Zero mumble something then go back to sleep. A blow to the chest by the attacker caused X to lose what little breath he had left. The attacker raised his fist, about to bash in X's head. X knew then that his friends would be too late. Too drained to even move, he braced himself for the fatal blow. Suddenly, vital fluid dripped on X. X peered up, groggily. The attacker stood before him, his fist high in the air. In the glowing eyes, there was pain and fear. X's eyes managed to focus. To his great surprise, he saw who his attacker was. GIG! X looked to see who had saved him. To his absolute shock, he saw Met standing behind Gig, his fist shoved right through Gig's body. Met's eyes were full of hate and rage as he stared at Gig. He yanked his arm out of Gig's body. Gig gagged, then collapsed on X. Met grabbed Gig's body and threw it away. X smiled thankfully. Met was staggering on his feet. X felt Met pick him up, as if he was a baby. Met walked the tent and gently laid X down next to Zero. " M... e.. t?" X asked, weakly. Met looked at him and smiled.

" Everythin' is okay, X. Just go to sleep," Met whispered. He winced in pain and grabbed his arm. Right where the virus had been injected.

" But I got watch next...," X mumbled, though he was drifting off.

" I think they'll understand. Get some rest," Met answered. Then, Met turned to leave.

" Met... don't go... please stay....," X whispered, drifting in and out of consciousness. Met stopped.

" I'm not going far X. I'm going to lay down..... I am so tired..... X, I can feel the virus coursing through my body. Growing. It may take over... again..," he whispered. Before X could ask any questions, Met hurriedly continued. " I used up the energy I had left saving you. I heard you scream and I forced myself, despite the virus, out of my coma and went to save you. Those idiots didn't even wake up. I won't be able to do it again," Met said.

" Don't worry.... Dr. Cain will... fix you...," X mumbled. Zero rolled over in his sleep and plopped his arm on X again. The last thing X saw before he fell asleep was Met smiling fondly at him.

In the morning, X woke to find Zero's arm on him. X laid there for a while, trying to remember what happened. It dawned on him and his hand shot to his throat. It was sore. Zero, for some strange reason, smacked X in his sleep. X winced and bit back a cry of pain. Zero had hit him in one of the places Gig had kicked him. Zero seemed to notice it and groggily woke up.

" X? What's wrong?" he asked, sleepily.

" You hit me hard!" X said, not wanting to tell Zero what had happened. He himself didn't entirely believe it had happened. He grabbed his sleeping bag and wrapped it around his body. " Perhaps I'm sore because of sleeping in the wrong position...," X thought. He heard Zero sit up and could feel him staring at him. X forced himself to a sitting position. Bo walked in to the tent.

" Hey, X! I wasn't able to wake you up last night for your watch!" Bo said. He walked up and patted X on the back. X cried out in pain. Bo had hit one of the places Gig had kicked him. Bo leaped backwards, surprised. Zero and Bo stared at him. X shuttered and forced himself to smile. He clenched the sleeping bag and pulled it tighter around him.

" I guess I am a lazy good-for-nothing, huh?" he managed to mumble through gritted teeth. Proto Man rushed in the tent.

" X? What's wrong?" he demanded.

" N... n.. nothing...," X muttered. Zero reached over and slid the sleeping bag down so they could see his chest. A gasp rose from X's friends. Covering X's body were dents. He looked like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on him. They stared at him, dumbfounded. Finally, Zero spoke.

" X.... is that why you wouldn't wake up?" he asked. X slowly nodded.

" I didn't realize how much damage I took at the Maverick base. I'm fine!" X answered. He could tell they didn't believe him, but, thankfully they didn't push the subject. X cleared his throat and painfully stood up. " I want to check on Met!" X explained. Zero got to his feet and they all followed X out of the sleeping tent and in to the tent Met and Chip were in. Chip groggily looked at them.

" What am I doing here?" Chip asked. " All I remember was Gig turning on me an' Vile blasting me in the back...," he mumbled. X felt his heart leap. Gig WAS a traitor! He turned to look at Met. He walked up to the unmoving form and stared. A mask of pain was on Met's face.

" He's still in a coma!" Zero said. " No different from yesterday," X knew differently. He remembered everything Met had said.

" I really hope Dr. Cain can help him...," X mumbled. Then, he turned to those present. " Are we heading for the Headquarters now? I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed," X said. Proto Man nodded.

" We can't, yet. We have to head to the Rebel Base. The Hunter's HQ will not be completed at the moment. It won't be thorough protection and we NEED that. Don't worry... I'm sure they're working as fast as they can!" Proto Man said. X sighed.

" Allright.... the Rebel Base...," he mumbled.

" Can you make the trip?" Zero asked. X nodded.

" I'm not THAT bad off!" X said. He and his friends packed up the tents and sleeping bags and returned them to the cabin they had borrowed them from. Before they left the cabin, Zero searched for a map and looked for the right direction to take. Thankfully, the owners of the map had marked where the cabin was.

" We were traveling in the wrong direction this whole time!" Zero growled, embarrassed at the mistake they had made. Then, he exited the cabin, locked the door, and pointed them in the RIGHT direction. Then, they set off. Bo was carrying Met this time, they would not allow X to do so. " Maybe it won't take quite as long to rebuild the HQ as Kip said!" Zero said, hopefully.

" I just wish we were going home," X said as they