ROCKMAN X4 - THE SAGA CONTINUES

( a continuation from RMX3 - The Fight for Everlasting Peace )

PRELUDE For millions of years, dinosaurs roamed round the earth. They were
highly successful lizards that managed to live on earth for such a long
period of time without much trouble. Then one day, they all disappeared. No
one knows why and there'll probably never be an answer. After which came in
the mammals. Man, being the most intelligent creature to ever exist,
naturally became king over all creatures. However lust, greed, envy and all
sorts of evil desires soon stepped into his mind and so took over one's
sanity. Murder, torture, rape, arson and such became part and parcel of his
lifestyle. Yet there too are those who try to live a good and proper life.
As man slowly destorys his own home Earth, there too came a new breed of
life-the reploids. Robots with the will to act and behave exactly like man.

They too soon inherited the evil lust of man and many fell prey to the
riches of the world. As time passed, the war between human and reploid was
inevitable. Will man now disappear just like the dinosaurs? Only time will
tell.

                      CHAPTER ONE - THE WARRIOR IN RED

Two distinctive flashes of light flashed across the dark sky. The lights
clashed into each other's paths over and over again. Then the lights struck
downwards towards solid ground and two figures were formed. Maverick Zero
and Commander Sigma stood face to face with each other. Then Sigma started
to grow. As Zero slowly became covered in Sigma's shadow, he noticed
Sigma's face slowly peeling off. Yes. His features were peeling off.
Sigma's face started to change. Hair and skin were slowly formed. Zero
looked on in horror. Sigma was slowly turning into...into..ZERO! Zero
wanted to scream but he could'nt. Somehow, he could'nt make a single noise
as he stared at his own twin. " No, it can't be! " he thought.

" It can't be. NOOOOOOO! " His eyes flashed open. Sweating and panting,
Zero moved his eyeballs only to see mechanical devices of all sorts. He was
in a room and on some kinda metal bed designed specially for reploids. " It
was just a bad dream " he consoled himself and sat up. Then he looked
around and instantly recognized his surroundings as Dr Cain's laboratory.
Zero went into a frown and thought hard. " During the battle with Bit and
Byte, I escaped halfway and confronted Sigma. I can still remember him
giving me the final blow. I should have been dead. How is it that I am
here? " His thoughts were rudely disturbed by a voice.

" Wait! You should still be resting. "

Zero spun round to see Dr Cain walking forward.

" Doc " asked Zero. " How long have I stayed like this condition and
where's Yakasa? " Dr

Cain calmly pulled over a chair and sat down. " Zero " he said. " It is a
fortunate that you are alive and well. You have been unconscious for two
months. Yakasa however was'nt so fortunate. Until today, there's still no
news of him whatsoever after his battle with Sigma. When rescue troopers
reached the scene of the battle, all that they could find were fragments of
Yakasa's body armour as well as a damaged tilt of a beam saber. "

Zero on hearing this, wanted to ask more but was interrupted once more.

"EMERGENCY EMERGENCY! 37 MAVERICKS SPOTTED AT POINT AZ-3451. ALL HUNTERS
PROCEED TO ARENA AT ONCE. "

" Only 37? I can handle them myself " bragged the high and mighty Zero. "
No wait! " shouted the professor. " You've just recovered. You must'nt
exert your strength yet. Let the other Hunters..." He railed on and on but
Zero had by then dashed off towards the battle field.

One by one they charged yet no one succeeded in even touching him. The
Mavericks were class A reploids but to him, they looked more like tortises.
His beam saber traces through the air and sliences them even before they
had a chance to scream. " Just 37? " mumbled Commander Zero.

" Why, I can take out a whole group of class A elites myself. Let alone
this sort of useless junk! " With that, Zero once more attacked the group
and with great agility and speed, he dodged their blows and returned them
with saber flashes that led to the death of the Mavericks. After a good 15
minutes, all that remained were pieces and fragments of useless metal and
internal circuits. Some still flicking their last bit of live spark. Zero
looked around. " That wasn't so bad. " he muttered. " A good exercise after
laying in coma for so long. When I return to base, I better retrain those
junior hunters. My, they should have been here by now. "

Zero sheathe his saber and was getting ready to return to base when the
ground started to shake violently. " What the...? " The ground below Zero
gave way and out jumped a huge skeleton-like figure. The new enemy loomed
over Zero who was midget sized when compared to the enemy that was five
storeys high, had a skeleton like body built but at the same time, had a
devilish sort of grin. It was a new proto-type, not a reploid at all. It
had been programmed to destory all interference and now, its target was
Zero.

Zero smiled. " Now this is more of my kind of standard when it comes to
battle." He concentrated and channelled his energy to his left arm. This in
turn would trigger a nervous system that would be able to transform his
right arm to an arm cannon. But something was wrong...very wrong! Zero
raised his right arm but somehow, it remained as such. He tried again but
somehow, there seemed to be totally no response from his nervous systems.
The proto type robot released two gigantic blades towards Zero who managed
to jumped over two of them. However, the blades had a homing system built
in and thus, pursuited Zero like crazy. Zero jumped and dodged. The blades,
spinning at incredible speed hovered round the proto-type thus preventing
Zero from striking the main robot itself. The proto type made a high pitch
scream and realised two more homing blades towards Zero. Zero was starting
to feel fractic. He could get nowhere near the robot and now, even his very
own arm cannon is'nt working. Zero ducked. Just in time when a blade passed
over his head. Two more were heading for him. He jumped as both blades went
over him. But just as he did that, one came spinning towards him. Still in
mid-air, Zero was unable to dodge that one. But suprisingly, the blade fell
towards the ground when it was just inches away from Zero. And so did the
other three blades. " The proto type! Something has happened to it! "

Zero landed from his jump and turned around. Someone was on the proto type
and had a yellow beam saber stabbed into its neck. There was a huge
contrast of sparks. Whoever that person was, the extreme outburst of sparks
prevented Zero from getting a close look at him. The newcomer lept off and
with that, he shouted " Fire at once! " From nowhere came jolts of energy
that aimed straight at the proto type. Since its CPU that was located on
its neck was already destoryed by the newcomer, the proto type was unable
to defend itself and it took only a few seconds before it finally exploded
in flames. " Cease fire! " came a shout.

Zero dashed through the flames and headed to the other side of the arena. "
Whoa! " he gasped. Right in front of him laid fifty well lined-up military
elites who were headed by a leader. The leader was clanned in a white
armour and resembled a human cop. He was a head taller than Zero and in his
hand laid a yellow beam saber. " Were you guys supposed to head this
operation? " asked Zero.

The leader of the group replied " Yes. We were acting under orders from the
Defence Ministry to stop any unrest here and I am indeed suprised to have
been able to rescue you. " This statement made Zero embrassed but he
quickly covered up by replying " Yeah. I actually goofed up huh. On by the
way. I know that you guys are from the Military Elites but who exactly are
you and why is this so important to you that you all have to actually come
down in person? After all, the Maverick Hunters have been known to deal
with these sort of problems for years! "

There was a brief silence. Finally, the leader spoke up. " I am Colonel
Kanissa and these are my troopers. What are we doing here and why, is all
top secret. " Zero looked at the Colonel and signed. " Well if that's the
case, then let's part here. " " Very well " replied the Colonel " but
first, let me warn you... No doubt you are the Commander of the Maverick
Hunters but you should never act on your own in future. The Defence
Ministry will never trust an impulsive reploid like you! " Zero was taken
back at this and glared at the Colonel. The Colonel turned away and
together with his troops, marched away from the battle scene. " One of
these days " he muttered. " There will be a duel between us. "

END OF CHAPTER ONE

The story you've just read is translated by Redflute from the manga comics.
Redflute has absolutely no part in creating the original concept and idea.
The translation was done because Redflute wants others out there to know
what's going on in the RMX manga world and also for those who have the
comic but can't understand Japanese nor Mandarin. Original comic and story
is done by YOSHIHIRO IWAMOTO.

Comments or suggestions? E-Mail me at chrisjvs@hotmail.com

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