Post by Stoney on Jul 2, 2008 1:11:18 GMT -5
Name:
Zero
Game of Origin:
Mega Man Zero (GBA)
Note: Technically, Zero’s first game was Mega Man X, but MMZ1 was the debut of his new design, and his new character.
Nicknames:
Negatory, Nada, Zip, Zilch, Big Fat Goose Egg
Age:
Over 200 years old. Exact age unknown due to Zero’s memory loss.
Species:
Reploid (robot subspecies). Reploids are special types of robots which are capable of emotions, learning, and making their own decisions, unhindered by programming restraints. Due to this freedom of thought, some reploids choose to turn against their human masters; these are called “Mavericks”. In the Mega Man X universe, Reploids were a new race of beings with a population rivaling that of humans; their numbers have been drastically reduced by the time the Mega Man Zero series begins.
Gender:
Assumed Male
Alignment:
Good
Type:
Middleweight
Residence:
None – Zero is a wanderer with no set place of residence.
Personal Relationships:
NOTE: These relationships do not come with combo attacks. I'm just describing people important to Zero's history, here.
X
A reploid and former Maverick Hunter who served as Zero’s partner over a century ago. X’s body was lost during a massive war and he exists now only as a Cyber-Elf; a being of pure energy with a consciousness driving it.
Ciel
A human scientist who found and reawakened Zero after he fell into an uninterrupted sleep cycle that lasted over a century. She’s a modern-day genius with robotics and developed a perfect copy of X’s body at age nine. Now age 14, Ciel spends her time researching alternate forms of energy for Reploids, in hopes of overcoming a worldwide energy shortage.
Copy X
The copy of X that Ciel created at age nine developed a mind of its own over time, turning away from the pacifistic ideals the original X once held. He took control of the major military forces of the world and created a dictatorial government in the city-state Neo Arcadia, which lavished humans with comfort and luxury at the reploids’ expense.
The Resistance
Ciel leads a group of reploid freedom fighters struggling to win back the reploids’ civil rights in Neo Arcadia.
The Four X Guardians: Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan, Phantom
The original X built these four to help him fight against Mavericks near the end of the Maverick Wars. They later served as commanders of the united Human/Reploid Army during the Elf Wars. After X vanished at the end of the wars, the four X Guardians came to serve under his replacement, Copy X.
Dr. Weil
Pronounced “Doctor Vile”, this man was a brilliant scientist who lived during the years immediately following the Mega Man X series. While researching Cyber-Elves, he created the “Dark Elf” -- a Cyber Elf that contained unimaginable destructive power. After the Dark Elf went out of control and began what came to be known as the Elf Wars, Dr. Weil was held accountable for the ensuing worldwide destruction. A tribunal was held, and Weil was sentenced to live out the rest of his days not only in prison, but also in a regenerating robotic body that could not die. He wound up going a little crazy as a result, and a century later, broke free of prison and took control of Neo Arcadia after gaining Copy X’s loyalty and servitude.
Omega
Zero’s current robot body is not his original one, but a mere copy. His original body was destroyed during the Elf Wars, and his consciousness was transferred into the copy body he now uses. Dr. Weil managed to recover the parts of Zero’s original body and rebuild it. He then placed an A.I. of his own design, called “Omega”, into Zero’s rebuilt body.
Omega would later side with the Dark Elf during the Elf Wars and cause untold destruction; when it was finally caught and restrained at the end of the wars, the Neo Arcadian government exiled Omega into outer space in a stable orbit around the planet, where it could do no harm to anyone.
Unfortunately, the orbit eventually degraded and Omega crash-landed back on the planet. Since only Zero knew all his own weak points, he was the one who wound up having to destroy the A.I. -- and his original body with it.
Occupation:
Mercenary and Former Resistance Member
Moveset:
PROPERTIES
-Zero is a robot; as such, he will never get tired, or feel sleepy, or need to eat. Food does not work on him; neither does Jigglypuff’s Sing attack.
-Zero cannot swim at all. He sinks through water like he’s falling through air.
-Zero falls quite fast, being made of heavy metals that make him weigh several hundred pounds more than his appearance would suggest.
-Despite his weight, Zero’s legs are more than adequate at jumping; his average vertical distance is twice his height.
<Dash>
Instead of running, Zero performs quick bursts across the ground using jets installed in the bottoms of his feet. This allows him to move much faster than he could while running, and lets him jump higher and farther than would otherwise be possible.
<Wall Jump>
Like Squirtle, Lucario, and others, Zero is capable of clinging to walls and leaping off of them. He can alter his trajectory in the air with his dash-boots to aim him back at the wall so he can jump off of it again; using this method, Zero is capable of climbing any vertical surface.
SPECIALS
<Neutral Special: Buster Shot>
Every Mega Man since the first has been able to use this attack. Zero can shoot plasma projectiles from a handgun he carries on his person at all times. The gun is capable of charging energy for more powerful shots, but the charging process takes time (3 turns).
-Uncharged shots have no recoil, but a charged one sure does.
-Plasma shots cannot move through solid objects, and vanish if they hit a wall.
-Plasma shots can be reflected and/or absorbed.
<Up Special: Chain Rod>
This special melee weapon can be used as Zero’s recovery move. It consists of a rod that separates into individual segments, linked together by plasma blades to form a flexible chain. The chain is extendable and retractable, and the speared tip of the weapon can embed itself in all manner of surfaces (and opponents).
-This move is a Tether Recovery. It works by grabbing the edge of a stage and pulling Zero over to it.
-On the ground, Zero lifts the Chain Rod above his head at a 45-degree angle and extends it; if there are surfaces above for it to latch onto, he will be pulled up to them and hang from beneath them by the chain.
-While hanging, Zero can swing from side to side or kick with his feet for an attack.
-In the air, Zero will snap the chain out to the side like a whip. Again, if there are any solid objects there, Zero will be pulled over to them by the chain.
-Any opponents that the Chain Rod’s head hits will be stunned and pulled over to Zero’s current position.
-This move is an excellent anti-air tactic to use against jumping enemies, setting them up for bigger combos on the ground.
-While Zero is trying to get back onto a platform, enemies can get between the Chain Rod and the platform it is aiming for to cancel Zero’s recovery move, dooming him to a K.O. (but taking the enemy down with him).
<Side Special: Triple Rod>
This is the default appearance of the rod Zero uses for the Chain Rod special move. Originally, this weapon’s only function was the ability to extend itself into three segments for a combo spear attack; Zero uses this function as his side special move.
-Zero lunges forward with his dash jets and thrusts the spear out in front of him; the player can press the B button repeatedly to extend the spear for combo hits and a wider hit range.
-Zero’s front half is surrounded by a damaging hitbox during this move; his back half remains vulnerable.
<Down Special: Shield Boomerang>
This peculiar weapon doubles as Zero’s main form of defense. Its only solid part is a small circular disc three inches in diameter, which is attached to Zero’s wrist; when he activates the shield, a circular plasma screen is projected from the disc. This screen reflects projectiles.
Zero can turn the shield into an attack by charging it with energy and then flicking his wrist forward in a sharp throwing motion. This will jettison the plasma screen, allowing it to travel forward in a wide arc before returning to Zero’s wrist for a recharge.
MELEE WEAPONS
All of Zero’s attacks beyond his special moves make use of three weapons.
<The Z-Saber>
The Z-Saber is Zero’s weapon of choice. It was given to him by Cyber-Elf X shortly after Ciel re-awakened him, and packs a mean punch when charged up.
-Charged smash attacks that use this weapon produce short-range shockwaves. These can hit opponents for piddling damage.
-Zero can utilize various attack techniques with this weapon, most of them having been learned during the Maverick Wars and gradually remembered by Zero over time.
<The Recoil Rod>
This is the third and final function of the Triple Rod; the ability to separate into two halves that project short plasma blades out to both sides. Zero can use these for rapid combo attacks.
<The Z-Knuckle>
In Mega Man Zero 4 The Z-Knuckle was used to steal weapons from enemies. Here, it takes on a different function, becoming a set of brass knuckles that emit harmful short-range plasma bursts from the front of the fist.
SMASH ATTACKS
<Up Smash>
Zero ducks, then swings his saber upwards.
-The Z-Saber’s blade gets larger depending on how long this move is charged.
<Side Smash>
Zero punches forward with the Z-Knuckle. At the end of his punch, a blast of plasma energy that pierces opponents is projected from his fist.
-The plasma blast grows larger if this move is charged up.
-In close range, this attack is a two-hit combo; Zero’s fist connects first, then the plasma blast does additional damage.
<Down Smash>
Zero performs a wide roundhouse swing at a low angle with his saber.
-The Z-Saber’s blade gets larger depending on how long this move is charged.
-The swing hits enemies at close range behind Zero, but it hits high; short enemies can duck under it.
Final Smash:
CYBER-ELF RUSH
Cyber-Elves have other uses beyond being the manifestation of a Reploid’s spirit (as is the case with X). They can be programmed to serve special functions ranging from stopping time, to absorbing hits for Zero, to increasing his movement and attack capabilities. Normally, Cyber-Elves die once they are used, since their functions use up the energy they require to maintain their existence. With the energy of a Smash Ball, however, they can be used repeatedly without fear of death.
For this Final Smash, Zero releases all the Cyber-Elves in his arsenal. Their effects are randomized and determined by die roll. Up to a maximum of five Cyber-Elves (and thus, five die rolls) can be used per Smash Ball.
1-9: Time Stop. All opponents, items, and stage hazards stop moving for a limited period of time.
10-19: Health Boost. Zero’s damage is reset to 0%.
20-29: Agility Boost. Zero can jump twice as high and run twice as fast for a limited period of time.
30-39: Attack Boost. Zero does triple damage with all weapons for a limited period of time.
40-49: Defense Boost. Zero becomes invulnerable to damage for a limited period of time.
50-59: Data Edit. Stage Hazards become inactive until the end of the battle.
60-69: Sub-Tank. Zero gains an equippable health item he can use at will to reduce his damage by 25%.
70-79: Heart Tank. Zero’s weight is increased, allowing him to last longer on the battlefield before accumulating enough damage to get KOed. Effects last until the end of the battle.
80-89: Shield Absorb. A Cyber-Elf revolves around Zero for a limited amount of time and absorbs all projectile attacks, turning them into Health Energy for Zero. The Cyber-Elf cannot be harmed.
90-99: Attack Assist. A Cyber-Elf revolves around Zero for a limited period of time and sends out small rapid-fire laser attacks that home in on other characters for piddling damage. The Cyber-Elf cannot be harmed.
100: Omega Elf. All Cyber-Elf effects are used simultaneously. Note: If this elf is used, there will be no need for further die rolls.
Weaknesses:
-Being a robot, Zero cannot eat. Food items do not restore his health.
-Zero is too heavy to swim. Stages such as Pirate Ship and Delfino Plaza are very hazardous for him.
-Zero is cold and distant to everyone he meets. He is not good at making friends.
-Zero has relapsing/remitting amnesia; he cannot remember a great deal of his past, and tends to occasionally forget techniques that he mastered during the Mega Man Zero games.
-Although Smash Balls allow Zero to use his Cyber-Elves infinitely, they will die permanently if he uses them at any other time. Seeing how he has a finite number of Elves, this makes him extremely reluctant to ever use them without a Smash Ball.
-Electricity is especially damaging to Zero’s systems. (He hates Pikachu.)
-Electro-Magnetic Pulses instantly K.O. Zero, forcing his system into immediate shutdown.
-Zero’s processors and CPU slow down at high temperatures, making his movements more lethargic.
Personality:
Zero used to be charismatic, charming, and quite the ladies’ man, with a devil-may-care attitude and great enthusiasm for life.
Time has changed him.
When Ciel woke him up during the 2360’s, Zero discovered that most of his memories were missing; a side-effect of the hibernation he’d just gone through. But the implications of this are much more dire for Zero than they’d be for a human, since Reploid minds are constructed in such a way that normally, they cannot forget anything. Only a complete mind-wipe would create the types of symptoms Zero displayed, and such wipes tend to erase the robot’s personality as well.
Zero is no exception. His former self is mostly gone now, and a new personality has replaced it.
This new Zero is cold, silent, and brooding; almost a polar opposite of the outgoing Maverick Hunter from 100 years ago. He is merciless to his enemies, distant to his friends, and completely indifferent to strangers. He cares little for recreation or amusement, spending most of his free time in combat training, and is pragmatic and to-the-point when dealing with any sort of problem. He is not very emotive and has approximately three different facial expressions, all in varying states of passiveness.
However, Zero is a good guy at heart. He helps those in need, offers his allegiance to the underprivileged, and will rescue your kitten from a tree if you ask him very nicely. Just don’t expect him to give you a smile when you thank him.
Likes:
-Cyber-Elves
-Ciel
-X
-Ellipses (“. . .”)
-Energy Crystals (usually referred to by their abbreviation, “E.C.”)
-Improving his aim
-The Oppressed
Dislikes:
-Pantheons
-Mavericks
-Copy X
-The X Guardians
-Dr. Weil
-Omega
-Electric surges
-EMPs
-Water
-Frivolity
-The Oppressors
Appearance:
History:
20XX
Once upon a time, there lived a man named Dr. Albert Wily.
He was a brilliant man, a robotics engineer with astounding skill…but he was also obsessed with the idea of world domination. Time after time, he built war machines to help him take over the globe…and time after time, his plans were foiled by a little blue robot. A robot built by Wily’s former partner in the robotics field…a robot named Mega Man.
After six attempts, Wily’s entire focus had turned from taking over the world’s nations to destroying that infuriating blue bomber. He experimented with a new mineral element called Bassnium, and whether by luck or accident, created the robot Bass out of it.
Bass couldn’t beat Mega Man in a fight either, but Wily learned from the experience. He built another robot, a superior one, with all of Bass’s abilities and then some. He gave it the ability to think for itself, to reason and calculate like an actual human. He named it Zero.
Bass had managed to steal important plans from Mega Man’s house…it seemed that Wily’s old partner, Dr. Light, was planning to build a self-sufficient robot able to think and make decisions on its own, and would be placing this robot into a stasis sleep that would last 50 years.
Wily was furious. Light was trying to beat him at his own game, by creating a new Mega Man for the future. Even if he, Wily, destroyed the first Blue Bomber, another one would appear after he was dead! The thought was maddening.
Wily refused to let this come to pass. He would ensure that his legacy lived on as well, through Zero. He created a special computer virus, the Wily Virus, and planted it inside of a crystal on Zero’s forehead. The virus overrode a robot’s programming and replaced it with three simple directives: Survive. Infect. Destroy.
There was a reason why Dr. Light was putting his robot into a 50-year sleep, to ensure the robot would have time to build a conscience and a moral code of ethics before he woke up. Wily didn’t care about this, and activated Zero immediately.
He was promptly murdered.
Zero destroyed Wily’s lab and started to run amok. Bass managed to escape the carnage and ran off to warn Mega Man of the trouble. The Blue Bomber, along with his sister, brother, pets, rivals, and friends from outer space, all fought against Zero together.
None of them survived, but their efforts brought Zero to a standstill. The Red Demon lost consciousness, and a broken-hearted Dr. Light placed him into a 50-year stasis sleep as well.
21XX
Dr. Light’s robot, named X, was eventually dug up by an archeological team led by Dr. Cain. Cain was fascinated by the discovery of such a robot, with emotions and feelings like an actual human’s. He saw potential in X, the potential for a symbiotic relationship between “thinking robots” and humans. He decided to copy X’s blueprints to create more of his kind.
Though confused about where he was and why he was here, X was nonetheless willing to help. Soon a production line of “reploids” had begun, replicants of X’s design with slight modifications for variety.
Unfortunately, problems soon arose; some Reploids were dissatisfied with their lack of basic civil rights in comparison to humans. They began to protest…and when peaceful methods failed, the protests turned violent.
The human law enforcement agencies quickly came to realize that robots were far tougher than humans, and far more capable of dealing out damage. Simple police were not enough to squelch the uprisings. A new agency was needed to deal with the problem…and Cain stepped up to create one, forming the Maverick Hunters, a new reploid police force.
Cain asked X to join the organization, but the blue robot politely refused, citing pacifism as his reason. So instead, Cain built a new commander of the Maverick Hunters, with a super-advanced A.I. and technological abilities leaps and bounds beyond those of a typical Reploid. Cain named him Sigma.
For a time, all was well. Sigma commanded the Hunters with amazing efficiency, and what Maverick outbursts there were became quickly silenced.
Then word came of a “Crazy Red Maverick” which had been dug up in the Arizona region of the United States. An entire regiment of Maverick Hunters had been destroyed by it already, and the U.S. arm of the Hunters was requesting re-enforcements from MHHQ. Sigma decided to deal with the threat personally, and faced the Maverick himself.
The maverick turned out to be Zero, still under the effects of the Wily Virus. He was like a demon, with lightning-fast reflexes and a seeming indifference to pain. In short order he’d torn one of Sigma’s arms off and was about to do the same to the Hunter commander’s head. But then something odd happened; the virus interfered with Zero’s thought processes, making him stop and hesitate. This gave Sigma the chance he needed, and he sucker-punched Zero in the face. Zero’s forehead crystal shattered, and his virus was transferred to Sigma.
The effects were not felt immediately; Zero lost consciousness and Sigma ordered him transported back to MHHQ for detainment and questioning. Unfortunately, they would learn nothing of use, for Zero without the virus was merely a newborn reploid with no real memories to speak of.
After a few months, the Maverick Hunters saw no more need to imprison Zero and let him free. He immediately joined the organization afterwards. Meanwhile, the virus in Sigma’s system bonded itself to his A.I. and slowly corrupted him.
Eventually, on July 4th of that year, Sigma himself went Maverick. He took the top generals in the Maverick Hunters with him and destroyed most of MHHQ in the process. The only remaining soldiers left to defeat his forces were X and Zero.
And yet somehow, they pulled it off.
X destroyed Sigma’s generals and stole their weapons for his own use; Zero sacrificed himself to destroy Sigma’s right-hand man, Vile, and open the way for X to fight Sigma himself. X did so, and killed Sigma.
But it wasn’t the end…
Sigma’s A.I. had become so intertwined with the Wily Virus that they were now one and the same; a new virus, the Sigma Virus, was created. It could travel across communication lines, enter new robotic bodies, and infect others in the future to create servants.
Time after time, X wound up facing Sigma in one form or another. Zero’s parts were recovered and he was rebuilt, so he could join in on the fun.
During the course of these battles, these wars stacked on top of one another, Zero pieced together his partial memory fragments of what had happened before he woke up in MHHQ. Sigma himself gave the final confirmation; Zero was once Maverick. Zero was the cause of it all.
Eventually, Sigma himself was destroyed, but the wars did not end. The Maverick Virus lived on, passing from Reploid to Reploid like an exceedingly violent strain of the Flu. X and Zero continued to fight a futile battle against it…
22XX
During the busy decade of the 2230s, a lot of stuff happened.
-Dr. Weil was born.
-X created the X Guardians to help him battle Mavericks.
-Cyber-Elf technology was invented, for the sole purpose of ending the Maverick Wars. Their creators designed them to amplify the power of Reploids and to combat the effects of the Maverick Virus. Key in this development was the creation of the Mother Elf, which X used in order to permanently destroy the effects of the Maverick Virus and thus end the Maverick Wars for good.
During the 2240’s and 2250’s, Neo Arcadia was built; a new city-state where humans, Reploids and Cyber-Elves could live in peace.
During the 2260’s, the Mother Elf was stolen by Dr. Weil, who turned it into the Dark Elf and instigated the Elf Wars. This four-year period was so violent that it destroyed 90% of the planet's Reploids and killed 60% of the planet's humans. During this time Zero's original body was destroyed (though not completely) and his "soul" (Reploid DNA and A.I.) was transferred into a "copy" body. Dr. Weil used his "remains" (the original body) to construct Omega, which sided with the Dark Elf during the war. The Dark Elf and its baby elves attempted to mind-control the world’s remaining Reploids; X and Zero fought against them, and in the end, went up against the powerful Omega. Together, they defeated it with the Final Strike attack.
Dr. Weil was punished and banished afterwards; he was given regenerative armor before his exile so that he would survive and suffer psychologically (his crimes were downloaded into his body as data so that he wouldn't forget them). Omega, too, was banished, and exiled into a space capsule in a stable orbit above the planet.
But still, Zero was troubled. Despite X’s assurances that the Maverick Wars were over, he’d been plagued by doubts ever since learning he had been the cause behind the virus. Could he cause such a disaster again?
In the end, Zero concluded that time was the only solution to his worries. He sealed himself into a time-locked sleep cycle for a period of 102 years in order to cleanse his body and his A.I. of any possible remaining traces of the Maverick/Wily Virus.
While Zero slept, X continued to fight against the Dark Elf and her forces. Eventually X came to realize that the Dark Elf was too powerful to be destroyed, so instead he decided to seal it away, using his own Reploid body as the seal. The ceremony took place at a massive tree in the northern reaches of the planet, called Yggdrasil; there X left his body behind and became a Cyber-Elf.
Unfortunately, in his rush to do what needed to be done before the Dark Elf escaped, X had no time to inform anyone of his plan. To everyone else, he simply disappeared without a trace.
23XX
In the 23rd century, a human girl named Ciel was born, and quickly became renowned as a child prodigy. At age nine, she built a perfect copy of Mega Man X to rally the ailing morale of the Neo Arcadian population and provide a leader for the city-state’s government. Unfortunately, Ciel was unable to duplicate X’s mind as well as his body, and Copy X went on to become a dictator of unparalleled ruthlessness, labeling innocent reploids as “Maverick” at a whim and “retiring” them (i.e. destroying them) in order to cut down on the reploids’ consumption of Neo Arcadia’s dwindling energy supply.
Overcome with guilt at what she’d helped create, Ciel later founded Neo Arcadia’s underground Resistance movement which struggled to gain back Reploid civil rights in the city through hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Ciel also began researching alternate forms of energy for Reploids, in the hopes of removing Copy X’s justification for his actions.
Unfortunately, their security was not the best, and time after time Neo Arcadia located the Resistance’s bases and drove them out. Eventually Ciel concluded that they were not strong enough to stop Copy X on their own. They needed a warrior, someone with strength equal to Copy X’s…
And Ciel knew of only one such person.
It was by mere chance that they found the legendary Zero’s resting place; Ciel had acted on information given to her anonymously by Cyber-Elf X, which clued her in to the coordinates of Zero’s sleeping copy body. Ciel constructed a Cyber-Elf named Passy, which she used to wake Zero up and restore him to an operative state; Zero then had to promptly rescue Ciel from Neo-Arcadian soldiers, which had followed her to the hidden lab.
From that moment on, Zero and Ciel were allies; she being his guide in an alien and unfamiliar world, and he being her champion, her warrior and her protector. They fought many battles together, with Ciel watching via videophone from the Resistance base, as Zero rampaged through the Neo Arcadian defenses, repelled the Four X Guardians (and killed Phantom), and faced off against Copy X himself. Zero promptly showed the copy that there ain’t nothing like the real thing, and left Copy X to self-destruct from fatal injuries as he tried to escape.
Unfortunately Zero wasn’t quite clear of the explosion when it went off, and would have also been destroyed if Cyber-Elf X hadn’t stepped in. X teleported himself and Zero outside of Neo Arcadia into the desert surrounding it, and then X bid Zero farewell, since the action had used up a great deal of his energy and he needed to go rest and recharge.
Zero was left alone in the desert, as Neo Arcadia’s army tracked him down. For one year, he fought off the city-state’s robotic soldiers while wandering the desert in disrepair, until he finally found the Resistance again -- or rather, they found him.
During that year, the remaining three X Guardians had secretly assumed control of Neo Arcadia, deceiving the populace into believing that Copy X was still alive so as to retain high morale among the humans. Ciel continued her efforts to resolve the planet’s energy crisis, but encountered many roadblocks and made little headway. Eventually, at around the time Zero was relocated, the Resistance’s new Commander – a reploid named Elpizo – decided Ciel’s efforts were futile, and that Neo Arcadia’s problems would only be resolved through force. He led an assault on the Neo Arcadian HQ, but did not expect the fury of Harpuia, Fefnir and Leviathan, who slaughtered the Resistance forces and left Elpizo as the only survivor.
Elpizo did not take the loss well. Driven by a mixture of grief, guilt, and rage, he tracked down Yggdrasil and destroyed X’s original body, in the hopes of using the Dark Elf’s power to destroy Neo Arcadia. Zero managed to stop him in just the nick of time, and Elpizo was turned into a Cyber-Elf.
Unfortunately, the Dark Elf was now free, and X no longer had a body to seal it with. It floated away, and Zero was forced to let it go, not yet equipped to deal with it.
A few months later, Omega’s space capsule crash-landed in the cold northern regions of the planet. Harpuia, Leviathan, Ciel, Zero, and a few Resistance soldiers all converged on the crash site to investigate, but none of them were prepared to deal with Omega, who damaged the two X Guardians severely and forced everyone to retreat.
Omega promptly broke Dr. Weil out of the prison he’d been trapped in for the last century, and Weil rebuilt Copy X from the parts that survived the massive explosion in Neo Arcadia. Copy X thusly became Weil’s servant, and retook control of Neo Arcadia under Weil’s direction. Weil distracted the Resistance forces by launching a missile at a densely-populated area of Neo Arcadia, and used the time to have Omega capture the Dark Elf without trouble. Copy X and Zero had a second battle, but in the end, Copy X was betrayed by Weil, who detonated a bomb that he planted inside of Copy X’s rebuilt body. Weil then seized leadership of Neo Arcadia, and uses the combination of Omega and the Dark Elf to take control of the city’s reploids.
Luckily, Zero remained immune from the mind control; he fought his way into Weil’s inner sanctum and battled against Omega, who had been enhanced by the Dark Elf’s power to create a mechanical colossus.
Somehow, Zero prevailed in the battle, and sliced apart the colossus’ body to reveal Omega’s true form, that of Zero’s original body. They had an epic battle wherein Zero revealed that despite having an inferior copy body, his spirit and consciousness were the real deal. The three remaining X Guardians arrived near the end of the battle to assist Zero, and together the four of them made short work of both Omega and the Dark Elf. Zero struck the final blow, destroying his original body, and the resulting explosion killed the X Guardians. The Dark Elf, turned back into the Mother Elf through Zero’s efforts, teleported him back to the Resistance base before he was destroyed as well.
Not long after Zero's battle with Omega, humans began to leave Neo Arcadia, which was under the dictatorship of Dr. Weil. Humans who opposed Weil's rule were labeled as “Human Mavericks” and were killed. A caravan of humans departed Neo Arcadia under the guidance of a journalist named Neige, and it encountered the Resistance, who took up traveling in a mobile base of trucks and hovercrafts. The caravan was attacked by Variants (of the Neo Arcadian Foot Soldiers) and Ciel and Zero came to their rescue. The caravan explained that they are heading to Area Zero, the last known inhabitable area outside of Neo Arcadia (Area Zero was the remains of the Eurasia Space Colony that fell to Earth in Mega Man X5, in this case leaving behind a climate control center that made a region of vegetation). Soon after this, Zero learned of a plot from Kraft, Weil's second-in-command, to destroy Area Zero. Known as Operation Ragnarok, Weil was going to use various Maverick generals to undermine the environmental controls that kept Area Zero thriving, and force humans to live under his rule due to lack of alternatives. Thus, Zero set out to defeat the Mavericks.
However, it all turned out to be a distraction; the true purpose behind Operation Ragnarok was to create an orbital space station named Ragnarok, which could nuke anything on the planet from it’s lofty position above the atmosphere. Weil put Kraft in charge of Ragnarok’s operation, and ordered that the station’s first target be Area Zero. All seemed lost at first…but then Zero discovered that Kraft was actually in love with Neige, and the two had a long and complicated history with each other. In the end, Kraft was unable to sentence Neige to death by destroying Area Zero; instead he turned on Weil, and fired the Ragnarok’s lasers of death at Neo Arcadia, erasing the city entirely.
Despite the fact that Kraft was now an enemy of Weil, that did not excuse the destruction of Neo Arcadia, which killed millions of humans and Reploids alike. Zero fought Kraft and killed him over Neige’s strong protests as the Resistance dealt with any possible survivors of Neo Arcadia’s destruction.
But shock and horror, Weil was still alive; his regenerative armor had protected him even as Neo Arcadia burned to ashes. He teleported to the Ragnarok and discovered its batteries were drained; it could not fire again for some time. Instead, Weil decided to crash the Ragnarok into Area Zero and destroy it that way.
Zero arrived to stop Weil, and the madman explained his origins, about how he was placed into a regenerating suit so he would remember his crimes for all eternity. He pointed out that Zero would become a Maverick if he destroyed Weil, a human. Zero refused to care.
Weil fused himself with the Ragnarok’s power core to create a mechanical monstrosity; and it was against this that Zero fought, and triumphed. The Ragnarok exploded with Zero still aboard, and its pieces fell to the earth in a star shower.
By all rights, Zero should have died then.
But it was not the end for him…for Zero has now woken up in an entirely new world, filled with people who are not people, but trophies…
Anything else? (Optional)
During the process of being redesigned for the first MMZ game, Zero almost wound up being a girl. Here’s a pic of the designs that were proposed:
Zero
Game of Origin:
Mega Man Zero (GBA)
Note: Technically, Zero’s first game was Mega Man X, but MMZ1 was the debut of his new design, and his new character.
Nicknames:
Negatory, Nada, Zip, Zilch, Big Fat Goose Egg
Age:
Over 200 years old. Exact age unknown due to Zero’s memory loss.
Species:
Reploid (robot subspecies). Reploids are special types of robots which are capable of emotions, learning, and making their own decisions, unhindered by programming restraints. Due to this freedom of thought, some reploids choose to turn against their human masters; these are called “Mavericks”. In the Mega Man X universe, Reploids were a new race of beings with a population rivaling that of humans; their numbers have been drastically reduced by the time the Mega Man Zero series begins.
Gender:
Assumed Male
Alignment:
Good
Type:
Middleweight
Residence:
None – Zero is a wanderer with no set place of residence.
Personal Relationships:
NOTE: These relationships do not come with combo attacks. I'm just describing people important to Zero's history, here.
X
A reploid and former Maverick Hunter who served as Zero’s partner over a century ago. X’s body was lost during a massive war and he exists now only as a Cyber-Elf; a being of pure energy with a consciousness driving it.
Ciel
A human scientist who found and reawakened Zero after he fell into an uninterrupted sleep cycle that lasted over a century. She’s a modern-day genius with robotics and developed a perfect copy of X’s body at age nine. Now age 14, Ciel spends her time researching alternate forms of energy for Reploids, in hopes of overcoming a worldwide energy shortage.
Copy X
The copy of X that Ciel created at age nine developed a mind of its own over time, turning away from the pacifistic ideals the original X once held. He took control of the major military forces of the world and created a dictatorial government in the city-state Neo Arcadia, which lavished humans with comfort and luxury at the reploids’ expense.
The Resistance
Ciel leads a group of reploid freedom fighters struggling to win back the reploids’ civil rights in Neo Arcadia.
The Four X Guardians: Harpuia, Fefnir, Leviathan, Phantom
The original X built these four to help him fight against Mavericks near the end of the Maverick Wars. They later served as commanders of the united Human/Reploid Army during the Elf Wars. After X vanished at the end of the wars, the four X Guardians came to serve under his replacement, Copy X.
Dr. Weil
Pronounced “Doctor Vile”, this man was a brilliant scientist who lived during the years immediately following the Mega Man X series. While researching Cyber-Elves, he created the “Dark Elf” -- a Cyber Elf that contained unimaginable destructive power. After the Dark Elf went out of control and began what came to be known as the Elf Wars, Dr. Weil was held accountable for the ensuing worldwide destruction. A tribunal was held, and Weil was sentenced to live out the rest of his days not only in prison, but also in a regenerating robotic body that could not die. He wound up going a little crazy as a result, and a century later, broke free of prison and took control of Neo Arcadia after gaining Copy X’s loyalty and servitude.
Omega
Zero’s current robot body is not his original one, but a mere copy. His original body was destroyed during the Elf Wars, and his consciousness was transferred into the copy body he now uses. Dr. Weil managed to recover the parts of Zero’s original body and rebuild it. He then placed an A.I. of his own design, called “Omega”, into Zero’s rebuilt body.
Omega would later side with the Dark Elf during the Elf Wars and cause untold destruction; when it was finally caught and restrained at the end of the wars, the Neo Arcadian government exiled Omega into outer space in a stable orbit around the planet, where it could do no harm to anyone.
Unfortunately, the orbit eventually degraded and Omega crash-landed back on the planet. Since only Zero knew all his own weak points, he was the one who wound up having to destroy the A.I. -- and his original body with it.
Occupation:
Mercenary and Former Resistance Member
Moveset:
PROPERTIES
-Zero is a robot; as such, he will never get tired, or feel sleepy, or need to eat. Food does not work on him; neither does Jigglypuff’s Sing attack.
-Zero cannot swim at all. He sinks through water like he’s falling through air.
-Zero falls quite fast, being made of heavy metals that make him weigh several hundred pounds more than his appearance would suggest.
-Despite his weight, Zero’s legs are more than adequate at jumping; his average vertical distance is twice his height.
<Dash>
Instead of running, Zero performs quick bursts across the ground using jets installed in the bottoms of his feet. This allows him to move much faster than he could while running, and lets him jump higher and farther than would otherwise be possible.
<Wall Jump>
Like Squirtle, Lucario, and others, Zero is capable of clinging to walls and leaping off of them. He can alter his trajectory in the air with his dash-boots to aim him back at the wall so he can jump off of it again; using this method, Zero is capable of climbing any vertical surface.
SPECIALS
<Neutral Special: Buster Shot>
Every Mega Man since the first has been able to use this attack. Zero can shoot plasma projectiles from a handgun he carries on his person at all times. The gun is capable of charging energy for more powerful shots, but the charging process takes time (3 turns).
-Uncharged shots have no recoil, but a charged one sure does.
-Plasma shots cannot move through solid objects, and vanish if they hit a wall.
-Plasma shots can be reflected and/or absorbed.
<Up Special: Chain Rod>
This special melee weapon can be used as Zero’s recovery move. It consists of a rod that separates into individual segments, linked together by plasma blades to form a flexible chain. The chain is extendable and retractable, and the speared tip of the weapon can embed itself in all manner of surfaces (and opponents).
-This move is a Tether Recovery. It works by grabbing the edge of a stage and pulling Zero over to it.
-On the ground, Zero lifts the Chain Rod above his head at a 45-degree angle and extends it; if there are surfaces above for it to latch onto, he will be pulled up to them and hang from beneath them by the chain.
-While hanging, Zero can swing from side to side or kick with his feet for an attack.
-In the air, Zero will snap the chain out to the side like a whip. Again, if there are any solid objects there, Zero will be pulled over to them by the chain.
-Any opponents that the Chain Rod’s head hits will be stunned and pulled over to Zero’s current position.
-This move is an excellent anti-air tactic to use against jumping enemies, setting them up for bigger combos on the ground.
-While Zero is trying to get back onto a platform, enemies can get between the Chain Rod and the platform it is aiming for to cancel Zero’s recovery move, dooming him to a K.O. (but taking the enemy down with him).
<Side Special: Triple Rod>
This is the default appearance of the rod Zero uses for the Chain Rod special move. Originally, this weapon’s only function was the ability to extend itself into three segments for a combo spear attack; Zero uses this function as his side special move.
-Zero lunges forward with his dash jets and thrusts the spear out in front of him; the player can press the B button repeatedly to extend the spear for combo hits and a wider hit range.
-Zero’s front half is surrounded by a damaging hitbox during this move; his back half remains vulnerable.
<Down Special: Shield Boomerang>
This peculiar weapon doubles as Zero’s main form of defense. Its only solid part is a small circular disc three inches in diameter, which is attached to Zero’s wrist; when he activates the shield, a circular plasma screen is projected from the disc. This screen reflects projectiles.
Zero can turn the shield into an attack by charging it with energy and then flicking his wrist forward in a sharp throwing motion. This will jettison the plasma screen, allowing it to travel forward in a wide arc before returning to Zero’s wrist for a recharge.
MELEE WEAPONS
All of Zero’s attacks beyond his special moves make use of three weapons.
<The Z-Saber>
The Z-Saber is Zero’s weapon of choice. It was given to him by Cyber-Elf X shortly after Ciel re-awakened him, and packs a mean punch when charged up.
-Charged smash attacks that use this weapon produce short-range shockwaves. These can hit opponents for piddling damage.
-Zero can utilize various attack techniques with this weapon, most of them having been learned during the Maverick Wars and gradually remembered by Zero over time.
<The Recoil Rod>
This is the third and final function of the Triple Rod; the ability to separate into two halves that project short plasma blades out to both sides. Zero can use these for rapid combo attacks.
<The Z-Knuckle>
In Mega Man Zero 4 The Z-Knuckle was used to steal weapons from enemies. Here, it takes on a different function, becoming a set of brass knuckles that emit harmful short-range plasma bursts from the front of the fist.
SMASH ATTACKS
<Up Smash>
Zero ducks, then swings his saber upwards.
-The Z-Saber’s blade gets larger depending on how long this move is charged.
<Side Smash>
Zero punches forward with the Z-Knuckle. At the end of his punch, a blast of plasma energy that pierces opponents is projected from his fist.
-The plasma blast grows larger if this move is charged up.
-In close range, this attack is a two-hit combo; Zero’s fist connects first, then the plasma blast does additional damage.
<Down Smash>
Zero performs a wide roundhouse swing at a low angle with his saber.
-The Z-Saber’s blade gets larger depending on how long this move is charged.
-The swing hits enemies at close range behind Zero, but it hits high; short enemies can duck under it.
Final Smash:
CYBER-ELF RUSH
Cyber-Elves have other uses beyond being the manifestation of a Reploid’s spirit (as is the case with X). They can be programmed to serve special functions ranging from stopping time, to absorbing hits for Zero, to increasing his movement and attack capabilities. Normally, Cyber-Elves die once they are used, since their functions use up the energy they require to maintain their existence. With the energy of a Smash Ball, however, they can be used repeatedly without fear of death.
For this Final Smash, Zero releases all the Cyber-Elves in his arsenal. Their effects are randomized and determined by die roll. Up to a maximum of five Cyber-Elves (and thus, five die rolls) can be used per Smash Ball.
1-9: Time Stop. All opponents, items, and stage hazards stop moving for a limited period of time.
10-19: Health Boost. Zero’s damage is reset to 0%.
20-29: Agility Boost. Zero can jump twice as high and run twice as fast for a limited period of time.
30-39: Attack Boost. Zero does triple damage with all weapons for a limited period of time.
40-49: Defense Boost. Zero becomes invulnerable to damage for a limited period of time.
50-59: Data Edit. Stage Hazards become inactive until the end of the battle.
60-69: Sub-Tank. Zero gains an equippable health item he can use at will to reduce his damage by 25%.
70-79: Heart Tank. Zero’s weight is increased, allowing him to last longer on the battlefield before accumulating enough damage to get KOed. Effects last until the end of the battle.
80-89: Shield Absorb. A Cyber-Elf revolves around Zero for a limited amount of time and absorbs all projectile attacks, turning them into Health Energy for Zero. The Cyber-Elf cannot be harmed.
90-99: Attack Assist. A Cyber-Elf revolves around Zero for a limited period of time and sends out small rapid-fire laser attacks that home in on other characters for piddling damage. The Cyber-Elf cannot be harmed.
100: Omega Elf. All Cyber-Elf effects are used simultaneously. Note: If this elf is used, there will be no need for further die rolls.
Weaknesses:
-Being a robot, Zero cannot eat. Food items do not restore his health.
-Zero is too heavy to swim. Stages such as Pirate Ship and Delfino Plaza are very hazardous for him.
-Zero is cold and distant to everyone he meets. He is not good at making friends.
-Zero has relapsing/remitting amnesia; he cannot remember a great deal of his past, and tends to occasionally forget techniques that he mastered during the Mega Man Zero games.
-Although Smash Balls allow Zero to use his Cyber-Elves infinitely, they will die permanently if he uses them at any other time. Seeing how he has a finite number of Elves, this makes him extremely reluctant to ever use them without a Smash Ball.
-Electricity is especially damaging to Zero’s systems. (He hates Pikachu.)
-Electro-Magnetic Pulses instantly K.O. Zero, forcing his system into immediate shutdown.
-Zero’s processors and CPU slow down at high temperatures, making his movements more lethargic.
Personality:
Zero used to be charismatic, charming, and quite the ladies’ man, with a devil-may-care attitude and great enthusiasm for life.
Time has changed him.
When Ciel woke him up during the 2360’s, Zero discovered that most of his memories were missing; a side-effect of the hibernation he’d just gone through. But the implications of this are much more dire for Zero than they’d be for a human, since Reploid minds are constructed in such a way that normally, they cannot forget anything. Only a complete mind-wipe would create the types of symptoms Zero displayed, and such wipes tend to erase the robot’s personality as well.
Zero is no exception. His former self is mostly gone now, and a new personality has replaced it.
This new Zero is cold, silent, and brooding; almost a polar opposite of the outgoing Maverick Hunter from 100 years ago. He is merciless to his enemies, distant to his friends, and completely indifferent to strangers. He cares little for recreation or amusement, spending most of his free time in combat training, and is pragmatic and to-the-point when dealing with any sort of problem. He is not very emotive and has approximately three different facial expressions, all in varying states of passiveness.
However, Zero is a good guy at heart. He helps those in need, offers his allegiance to the underprivileged, and will rescue your kitten from a tree if you ask him very nicely. Just don’t expect him to give you a smile when you thank him.
Likes:
-Cyber-Elves
-Ciel
-X
-Ellipses (“. . .”)
-Energy Crystals (usually referred to by their abbreviation, “E.C.”)
-Improving his aim
-The Oppressed
Dislikes:
-Pantheons
-Mavericks
-Copy X
-The X Guardians
-Dr. Weil
-Omega
-Electric surges
-EMPs
-Water
-Frivolity
-The Oppressors
Appearance:
History:
20XX
Once upon a time, there lived a man named Dr. Albert Wily.
He was a brilliant man, a robotics engineer with astounding skill…but he was also obsessed with the idea of world domination. Time after time, he built war machines to help him take over the globe…and time after time, his plans were foiled by a little blue robot. A robot built by Wily’s former partner in the robotics field…a robot named Mega Man.
After six attempts, Wily’s entire focus had turned from taking over the world’s nations to destroying that infuriating blue bomber. He experimented with a new mineral element called Bassnium, and whether by luck or accident, created the robot Bass out of it.
Bass couldn’t beat Mega Man in a fight either, but Wily learned from the experience. He built another robot, a superior one, with all of Bass’s abilities and then some. He gave it the ability to think for itself, to reason and calculate like an actual human. He named it Zero.
Bass had managed to steal important plans from Mega Man’s house…it seemed that Wily’s old partner, Dr. Light, was planning to build a self-sufficient robot able to think and make decisions on its own, and would be placing this robot into a stasis sleep that would last 50 years.
Wily was furious. Light was trying to beat him at his own game, by creating a new Mega Man for the future. Even if he, Wily, destroyed the first Blue Bomber, another one would appear after he was dead! The thought was maddening.
Wily refused to let this come to pass. He would ensure that his legacy lived on as well, through Zero. He created a special computer virus, the Wily Virus, and planted it inside of a crystal on Zero’s forehead. The virus overrode a robot’s programming and replaced it with three simple directives: Survive. Infect. Destroy.
There was a reason why Dr. Light was putting his robot into a 50-year sleep, to ensure the robot would have time to build a conscience and a moral code of ethics before he woke up. Wily didn’t care about this, and activated Zero immediately.
He was promptly murdered.
Zero destroyed Wily’s lab and started to run amok. Bass managed to escape the carnage and ran off to warn Mega Man of the trouble. The Blue Bomber, along with his sister, brother, pets, rivals, and friends from outer space, all fought against Zero together.
None of them survived, but their efforts brought Zero to a standstill. The Red Demon lost consciousness, and a broken-hearted Dr. Light placed him into a 50-year stasis sleep as well.
21XX
Dr. Light’s robot, named X, was eventually dug up by an archeological team led by Dr. Cain. Cain was fascinated by the discovery of such a robot, with emotions and feelings like an actual human’s. He saw potential in X, the potential for a symbiotic relationship between “thinking robots” and humans. He decided to copy X’s blueprints to create more of his kind.
Though confused about where he was and why he was here, X was nonetheless willing to help. Soon a production line of “reploids” had begun, replicants of X’s design with slight modifications for variety.
Unfortunately, problems soon arose; some Reploids were dissatisfied with their lack of basic civil rights in comparison to humans. They began to protest…and when peaceful methods failed, the protests turned violent.
The human law enforcement agencies quickly came to realize that robots were far tougher than humans, and far more capable of dealing out damage. Simple police were not enough to squelch the uprisings. A new agency was needed to deal with the problem…and Cain stepped up to create one, forming the Maverick Hunters, a new reploid police force.
Cain asked X to join the organization, but the blue robot politely refused, citing pacifism as his reason. So instead, Cain built a new commander of the Maverick Hunters, with a super-advanced A.I. and technological abilities leaps and bounds beyond those of a typical Reploid. Cain named him Sigma.
For a time, all was well. Sigma commanded the Hunters with amazing efficiency, and what Maverick outbursts there were became quickly silenced.
Then word came of a “Crazy Red Maverick” which had been dug up in the Arizona region of the United States. An entire regiment of Maverick Hunters had been destroyed by it already, and the U.S. arm of the Hunters was requesting re-enforcements from MHHQ. Sigma decided to deal with the threat personally, and faced the Maverick himself.
The maverick turned out to be Zero, still under the effects of the Wily Virus. He was like a demon, with lightning-fast reflexes and a seeming indifference to pain. In short order he’d torn one of Sigma’s arms off and was about to do the same to the Hunter commander’s head. But then something odd happened; the virus interfered with Zero’s thought processes, making him stop and hesitate. This gave Sigma the chance he needed, and he sucker-punched Zero in the face. Zero’s forehead crystal shattered, and his virus was transferred to Sigma.
The effects were not felt immediately; Zero lost consciousness and Sigma ordered him transported back to MHHQ for detainment and questioning. Unfortunately, they would learn nothing of use, for Zero without the virus was merely a newborn reploid with no real memories to speak of.
After a few months, the Maverick Hunters saw no more need to imprison Zero and let him free. He immediately joined the organization afterwards. Meanwhile, the virus in Sigma’s system bonded itself to his A.I. and slowly corrupted him.
Eventually, on July 4th of that year, Sigma himself went Maverick. He took the top generals in the Maverick Hunters with him and destroyed most of MHHQ in the process. The only remaining soldiers left to defeat his forces were X and Zero.
And yet somehow, they pulled it off.
X destroyed Sigma’s generals and stole their weapons for his own use; Zero sacrificed himself to destroy Sigma’s right-hand man, Vile, and open the way for X to fight Sigma himself. X did so, and killed Sigma.
But it wasn’t the end…
Sigma’s A.I. had become so intertwined with the Wily Virus that they were now one and the same; a new virus, the Sigma Virus, was created. It could travel across communication lines, enter new robotic bodies, and infect others in the future to create servants.
Time after time, X wound up facing Sigma in one form or another. Zero’s parts were recovered and he was rebuilt, so he could join in on the fun.
During the course of these battles, these wars stacked on top of one another, Zero pieced together his partial memory fragments of what had happened before he woke up in MHHQ. Sigma himself gave the final confirmation; Zero was once Maverick. Zero was the cause of it all.
Eventually, Sigma himself was destroyed, but the wars did not end. The Maverick Virus lived on, passing from Reploid to Reploid like an exceedingly violent strain of the Flu. X and Zero continued to fight a futile battle against it…
22XX
During the busy decade of the 2230s, a lot of stuff happened.
-Dr. Weil was born.
-X created the X Guardians to help him battle Mavericks.
-Cyber-Elf technology was invented, for the sole purpose of ending the Maverick Wars. Their creators designed them to amplify the power of Reploids and to combat the effects of the Maverick Virus. Key in this development was the creation of the Mother Elf, which X used in order to permanently destroy the effects of the Maverick Virus and thus end the Maverick Wars for good.
During the 2240’s and 2250’s, Neo Arcadia was built; a new city-state where humans, Reploids and Cyber-Elves could live in peace.
During the 2260’s, the Mother Elf was stolen by Dr. Weil, who turned it into the Dark Elf and instigated the Elf Wars. This four-year period was so violent that it destroyed 90% of the planet's Reploids and killed 60% of the planet's humans. During this time Zero's original body was destroyed (though not completely) and his "soul" (Reploid DNA and A.I.) was transferred into a "copy" body. Dr. Weil used his "remains" (the original body) to construct Omega, which sided with the Dark Elf during the war. The Dark Elf and its baby elves attempted to mind-control the world’s remaining Reploids; X and Zero fought against them, and in the end, went up against the powerful Omega. Together, they defeated it with the Final Strike attack.
Dr. Weil was punished and banished afterwards; he was given regenerative armor before his exile so that he would survive and suffer psychologically (his crimes were downloaded into his body as data so that he wouldn't forget them). Omega, too, was banished, and exiled into a space capsule in a stable orbit above the planet.
But still, Zero was troubled. Despite X’s assurances that the Maverick Wars were over, he’d been plagued by doubts ever since learning he had been the cause behind the virus. Could he cause such a disaster again?
In the end, Zero concluded that time was the only solution to his worries. He sealed himself into a time-locked sleep cycle for a period of 102 years in order to cleanse his body and his A.I. of any possible remaining traces of the Maverick/Wily Virus.
While Zero slept, X continued to fight against the Dark Elf and her forces. Eventually X came to realize that the Dark Elf was too powerful to be destroyed, so instead he decided to seal it away, using his own Reploid body as the seal. The ceremony took place at a massive tree in the northern reaches of the planet, called Yggdrasil; there X left his body behind and became a Cyber-Elf.
Unfortunately, in his rush to do what needed to be done before the Dark Elf escaped, X had no time to inform anyone of his plan. To everyone else, he simply disappeared without a trace.
23XX
In the 23rd century, a human girl named Ciel was born, and quickly became renowned as a child prodigy. At age nine, she built a perfect copy of Mega Man X to rally the ailing morale of the Neo Arcadian population and provide a leader for the city-state’s government. Unfortunately, Ciel was unable to duplicate X’s mind as well as his body, and Copy X went on to become a dictator of unparalleled ruthlessness, labeling innocent reploids as “Maverick” at a whim and “retiring” them (i.e. destroying them) in order to cut down on the reploids’ consumption of Neo Arcadia’s dwindling energy supply.
Overcome with guilt at what she’d helped create, Ciel later founded Neo Arcadia’s underground Resistance movement which struggled to gain back Reploid civil rights in the city through hit-and-run guerilla tactics. Ciel also began researching alternate forms of energy for Reploids, in the hopes of removing Copy X’s justification for his actions.
Unfortunately, their security was not the best, and time after time Neo Arcadia located the Resistance’s bases and drove them out. Eventually Ciel concluded that they were not strong enough to stop Copy X on their own. They needed a warrior, someone with strength equal to Copy X’s…
And Ciel knew of only one such person.
It was by mere chance that they found the legendary Zero’s resting place; Ciel had acted on information given to her anonymously by Cyber-Elf X, which clued her in to the coordinates of Zero’s sleeping copy body. Ciel constructed a Cyber-Elf named Passy, which she used to wake Zero up and restore him to an operative state; Zero then had to promptly rescue Ciel from Neo-Arcadian soldiers, which had followed her to the hidden lab.
From that moment on, Zero and Ciel were allies; she being his guide in an alien and unfamiliar world, and he being her champion, her warrior and her protector. They fought many battles together, with Ciel watching via videophone from the Resistance base, as Zero rampaged through the Neo Arcadian defenses, repelled the Four X Guardians (and killed Phantom), and faced off against Copy X himself. Zero promptly showed the copy that there ain’t nothing like the real thing, and left Copy X to self-destruct from fatal injuries as he tried to escape.
Unfortunately Zero wasn’t quite clear of the explosion when it went off, and would have also been destroyed if Cyber-Elf X hadn’t stepped in. X teleported himself and Zero outside of Neo Arcadia into the desert surrounding it, and then X bid Zero farewell, since the action had used up a great deal of his energy and he needed to go rest and recharge.
Zero was left alone in the desert, as Neo Arcadia’s army tracked him down. For one year, he fought off the city-state’s robotic soldiers while wandering the desert in disrepair, until he finally found the Resistance again -- or rather, they found him.
During that year, the remaining three X Guardians had secretly assumed control of Neo Arcadia, deceiving the populace into believing that Copy X was still alive so as to retain high morale among the humans. Ciel continued her efforts to resolve the planet’s energy crisis, but encountered many roadblocks and made little headway. Eventually, at around the time Zero was relocated, the Resistance’s new Commander – a reploid named Elpizo – decided Ciel’s efforts were futile, and that Neo Arcadia’s problems would only be resolved through force. He led an assault on the Neo Arcadian HQ, but did not expect the fury of Harpuia, Fefnir and Leviathan, who slaughtered the Resistance forces and left Elpizo as the only survivor.
Elpizo did not take the loss well. Driven by a mixture of grief, guilt, and rage, he tracked down Yggdrasil and destroyed X’s original body, in the hopes of using the Dark Elf’s power to destroy Neo Arcadia. Zero managed to stop him in just the nick of time, and Elpizo was turned into a Cyber-Elf.
Unfortunately, the Dark Elf was now free, and X no longer had a body to seal it with. It floated away, and Zero was forced to let it go, not yet equipped to deal with it.
A few months later, Omega’s space capsule crash-landed in the cold northern regions of the planet. Harpuia, Leviathan, Ciel, Zero, and a few Resistance soldiers all converged on the crash site to investigate, but none of them were prepared to deal with Omega, who damaged the two X Guardians severely and forced everyone to retreat.
Omega promptly broke Dr. Weil out of the prison he’d been trapped in for the last century, and Weil rebuilt Copy X from the parts that survived the massive explosion in Neo Arcadia. Copy X thusly became Weil’s servant, and retook control of Neo Arcadia under Weil’s direction. Weil distracted the Resistance forces by launching a missile at a densely-populated area of Neo Arcadia, and used the time to have Omega capture the Dark Elf without trouble. Copy X and Zero had a second battle, but in the end, Copy X was betrayed by Weil, who detonated a bomb that he planted inside of Copy X’s rebuilt body. Weil then seized leadership of Neo Arcadia, and uses the combination of Omega and the Dark Elf to take control of the city’s reploids.
Luckily, Zero remained immune from the mind control; he fought his way into Weil’s inner sanctum and battled against Omega, who had been enhanced by the Dark Elf’s power to create a mechanical colossus.
Somehow, Zero prevailed in the battle, and sliced apart the colossus’ body to reveal Omega’s true form, that of Zero’s original body. They had an epic battle wherein Zero revealed that despite having an inferior copy body, his spirit and consciousness were the real deal. The three remaining X Guardians arrived near the end of the battle to assist Zero, and together the four of them made short work of both Omega and the Dark Elf. Zero struck the final blow, destroying his original body, and the resulting explosion killed the X Guardians. The Dark Elf, turned back into the Mother Elf through Zero’s efforts, teleported him back to the Resistance base before he was destroyed as well.
Not long after Zero's battle with Omega, humans began to leave Neo Arcadia, which was under the dictatorship of Dr. Weil. Humans who opposed Weil's rule were labeled as “Human Mavericks” and were killed. A caravan of humans departed Neo Arcadia under the guidance of a journalist named Neige, and it encountered the Resistance, who took up traveling in a mobile base of trucks and hovercrafts. The caravan was attacked by Variants (of the Neo Arcadian Foot Soldiers) and Ciel and Zero came to their rescue. The caravan explained that they are heading to Area Zero, the last known inhabitable area outside of Neo Arcadia (Area Zero was the remains of the Eurasia Space Colony that fell to Earth in Mega Man X5, in this case leaving behind a climate control center that made a region of vegetation). Soon after this, Zero learned of a plot from Kraft, Weil's second-in-command, to destroy Area Zero. Known as Operation Ragnarok, Weil was going to use various Maverick generals to undermine the environmental controls that kept Area Zero thriving, and force humans to live under his rule due to lack of alternatives. Thus, Zero set out to defeat the Mavericks.
However, it all turned out to be a distraction; the true purpose behind Operation Ragnarok was to create an orbital space station named Ragnarok, which could nuke anything on the planet from it’s lofty position above the atmosphere. Weil put Kraft in charge of Ragnarok’s operation, and ordered that the station’s first target be Area Zero. All seemed lost at first…but then Zero discovered that Kraft was actually in love with Neige, and the two had a long and complicated history with each other. In the end, Kraft was unable to sentence Neige to death by destroying Area Zero; instead he turned on Weil, and fired the Ragnarok’s lasers of death at Neo Arcadia, erasing the city entirely.
Despite the fact that Kraft was now an enemy of Weil, that did not excuse the destruction of Neo Arcadia, which killed millions of humans and Reploids alike. Zero fought Kraft and killed him over Neige’s strong protests as the Resistance dealt with any possible survivors of Neo Arcadia’s destruction.
But shock and horror, Weil was still alive; his regenerative armor had protected him even as Neo Arcadia burned to ashes. He teleported to the Ragnarok and discovered its batteries were drained; it could not fire again for some time. Instead, Weil decided to crash the Ragnarok into Area Zero and destroy it that way.
Zero arrived to stop Weil, and the madman explained his origins, about how he was placed into a regenerating suit so he would remember his crimes for all eternity. He pointed out that Zero would become a Maverick if he destroyed Weil, a human. Zero refused to care.
Weil fused himself with the Ragnarok’s power core to create a mechanical monstrosity; and it was against this that Zero fought, and triumphed. The Ragnarok exploded with Zero still aboard, and its pieces fell to the earth in a star shower.
By all rights, Zero should have died then.
But it was not the end for him…for Zero has now woken up in an entirely new world, filled with people who are not people, but trophies…
Anything else? (Optional)
During the process of being redesigned for the first MMZ game, Zero almost wound up being a girl. Here’s a pic of the designs that were proposed:
