"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Colonel Price

Suzaku's search of the uninhabited island continued fruitlessly. The damp humidity and heat of the island was starting to wear down on him. As a result, he was becoming rather thirsty, and it was only further inflamed by the island's atmosphere.

"There's no way to contact anyone without an incom." Suzaku muttered to himself. "The important thing now is to secure a source of drinkable water and shelter."

He continued to travel through the dense foliage and fauna, following the sight of a waterfall. A waterfall would have been the best for acquiring water, which would secure one of his more immediate needs at the moment.

As he peered through the foliage, he noticed someone was there. It was a girl with pink hair, naked, and bathing in the lake. Under normal circumstances, Suzaku would have recoiled immediately on the fact she was nude; but his attention was put to more immediate fact when he recognized the individual.

"Is that…Kallen?" He asked. "Excuse me!"

Kallen heard the voice of Suzaku and turned to see him. Like Suzaku, she would have been immediately more concerned on the fact she was naked, but her attention was focused on the fact a Britannian knight was right in front of her.

"Su…zaku?" She asked. Upon realizing that it was indeed him, she immediately sprang for her black knight garments. At this point, modesty wasn't the reason, but more or less to conceal her knife behind them.

"Kallen; is that you!?" Suzaku asked as she charged him. "Kallen…I…I don't believe…"

Suzaku stopped muttering to himself when he saw the knife. Quicker than he ever did before, he grabbed her arm and hurled her onto the ground. Before she could get up, he pressed himself on top of her. Neither one even considered the fact Kallen was naked as both were too focused at their sense of duty.

"Kallen!" He shouted. "Kallen Stadfeld; I don't believe it! You're one of…"

"Don't call me by that name!" She shouted. "Kallen Kozuki is my real name; I'm Japanese!"

"You're kidding!?" Suzaku shouted, a bit surprised. "Then you're…"

"Yes!" She shouted back. "I'm a black knight, I'm not going to hide that anymore!"

"Well then Kallen, I'm placing you under arrest." He shouted. "For conspiracy and rebellion against Britannia!"

For an undetermined amount of time, Zero lay in darkness. All he could see was the same pattern of binary code in his head. Eventually however, through sheer force of will, Zero was able to pull himself out of the daze. There, he lay in what looked like a exceptionally small island in the middle of a endless sea. Zero sprang up and looked around. He couldn't see or recognize anything. But he was able to remember the same series of events that transpired prior before he fell offline.

"Where am I?" He asked.

He decided to run a diagnostic, but he realized he couldn't. For some reason, he wasn't able to access the onboard chipsets in his system. He tried numerous times to access this system, but was unable to. And as he tried, he couldn't help but feel that he was seeing strange symbols and numbers from time to time as he wandered to try and open the menu.

And then it hit him.

Zero ran over to a nearby rock and smashed it. Sure enough, it was smashed. However, seconds later, the rocks fizzled out, 0s and 1s appearing as it did.

"Oh no…" he muttered. "My mind's been uploaded to a remote system."

Sure enough, Zero was right. Outside of where Zero's mind was a large computer room. This building was deep underground, in a very dark terminal room. Numerous machines and computers adorned all of the walls and surfaces, all of which was attached towards a single computer in the center. There, Bass in his new body sat, his legs across the table, watching on a holo screen all of the data pouring through, along with the other rebuilt Robot Masters. Zero and X's bodies were placed in capsules, repaired under orders from Wily via sub-tanks, and then separated from their material bodies.

"Immobilizing that Zero twerp was easier than I expected!" Guts man shouted. "Doctor Wily's sure bound to be impressed with this station."

"And those Britannians and Black Knights are…cut off…from they're precious soldiers." Cut man sneered. "There's no way they'll find us."

"God your puns are more annoying than your actual voice." Bass said. "We've got to analyze these ancient pieces of scrap metal before either organization finds us."

"Hey boss; are you technically older than either of the two?" Bomb man said.

Bass didn't answer. Instead he drew his Beam saber, stabbed Bomb man in the leg. Bomb Man recoiled in pain before receiving a swift kick in the face from Bass, knocking him in the ground.

"I may be older, but I'm far stronger than any of those junkyard machines." He shouted. "As soon as Wily arrives, and we finish what we have to do here, that girly looking robot is mine for the scrapping. After all; once he's analyzed, I'll have access to more power than I can even fathom. That creator better get his old ass over here…I might just scrap both of them while he takes his sweet time."

Bass turned his attention towards where X was, and pointed his arm cannon at him. He kept it aimed at him for a few minutes, before lowering it.

"Especially that one…" he muttered. "He looks way too much like him."

Zero sat Indian style on the ground, in a sort of meditative stance. He had a basic idea of where he was at, being a machine and studying the flashes of data when they were spotted; and from data he still had from being a hunter. The island he was on was basically a prison of sorts. Reploids who were believed to be going maverick would sometimes be either retired in advance, or (if they held importance) placed in this island to allow researchers to finish purifying their bodies of the virus via the antibodies at the time, while saving their mind from further corruption by separating it from them. It had all the basic physics within it, weather simulations, everything one would need to allow the mind to remain stimulated, but ultimately one wouldn't be able to leave.

He eventually got up and began to roam a bit. In this state, his ability to jump and blitz through areas was heavily limited; as he basically only held the physics of a normal human in this location. If this system was anything like the ones he was familiar with, what he would need would be there. And eventually he found it! There was a series of rocks that formed a little gateway on the edge of the island. This gateway would act as where the subconscious of the Reploid would walk through in order to return to their body.

"All right." Zero muttered as he faced the gateway. "Looks like someone left the pathway online. Good…whatever they're doing to me, they're in a rush. I can do this myself since the pathway isn't locked down, but without guidance, it's risky."

In most cases, an administrator would usually give the command to enter, stabilizing the pathway in the circuits themselves to the port connected to the mind of the Reploid. There were risks in attempting it himself; and any damage right now could be serious or irreparable. He need he had a backup for his memories and data based on what Lelouch said when he was first found, but he was also aware that Lelouch had yet to access everything.

But…he also knew he was captured, so either escaping the prison or die trying seemed like his best options. As a warrior, Zero would never allow himself to be captured.

"So…I'm going to jump through here and escape, take the wrong node and damage myself or be ejected, or be destroyed." Zero said. "The safest option right now would be to assess what version of this prison is…sampling the data in the circuits is a wise course of action."

Zero stretched his legs of a second, and then assumed a track position to sprint forward.

Lelouch stood there on the top of the island. Whatever Suzaku did in the last few hours was a real bother to him, and presumably to himself. Now Lelouch was in the middle of nowhere on the island, and the Zero costume was beginning to wear on him, considering it was not the best of outfits for humid islands. He kind of missed the AC in his Knightmare.

"Contacting Ohgi and the others is going to be a chore." Lelouch thought to himself. "On the other hand, I could pose myself off as an ordinary citizen and ask the Britannian forces to rescue me."

Something caught his eye as he was in deep thoughts to himself. He turned in the direction to see Euphemia looking at him.

"YYAAHHH!" Zero shouted as data in the form of electricity electrocuted him and sent him back on the island. While passing through the gateway, he touched the sides of the electronic pathway. He knew he'd be injured in doing so, but this way he could sample the system's defenses. He grabbed his arm as he pulled himself up, the pain electrocuting him, but eventually passing.

"Let's see…" He muttered. "Based on that pulse, probably roughly model RCSUA2, model 7600, 7700…7800! There we go. I remember that hardware when we got our rejuvenation capsules upgraded. So it's using a rejuvenation capsule's restraint system on the 7800. Okay…I know what I'm up against…but now I also know how difficult this going to be. Not only is this capsule a very high end one, but there is a ton of modifications to it. The security pulse had a lot more power behind it than the capsules should have. This is risky regardless of what I do."

Zero again, assumed his track position, and then sprinted forward once he felt ready. He then charged into the pathway of green 0s and 1s continuing down it, running through each node he knew was safe. He was doing this entirely on memory from previous experiences when his body was being repaired and he had to transfer to the fake body during the Elf wars. As he advanced, the security system reacted and attempted to bind him and push him back to towards the island. Zero refused to give in and continued his advance. He got so close to a specific node.

As he did, the world turned white for a moment. He opened his eyes to look around, only to see that his vision was blurry. But he was awake.

Or…for a few moments.

The energy bindings grabbed hold of him and hurled him back with an extreme force, throwing him onto the island again. He laid there, recoiling from the pain of the energy binders as they dissipated out, pulling himself to his feet.

"Damn." He muttered. "I was there..I was awake. Guess I couldn't react fast enough to do anything."

"It won't work that way." A voice said.

Zero turned around to see X there. X walked towards him and faced him.

"Believe me…I already tried." He said.

"How long have you been awake?" Zero asked.

"If I am correct, probably about an hour." X said. "And believe me…escape was my first idea too. The capsule system is heavily modified…I don't think we would be able to fully get our minds back into our own bodies before we'd be sent back."

"So I'm stuck here with the guy whose trying to murder me?" He asked. "What a weird way fate arranged for us."

"Yeah." X said.

"So…where do we go from here?" Zero asked. "Are we to be fighting each other?"

"Destroying you would be an impossible task at the moment." X said. "Our bodies are currently constructs of data, and the weapons on us have been disabled. I have no methods of retiring you. Even breaking your neck would probably accomplish nothing."

"Cyberspace always was weird…having its own rules and all." Zero said. "Sad…I wouldn't mind continuing where we left off."

"I see." Suzaku said, tying her hands together. It was only after Suzaku secured her that the whole Kallen being naked thing came to his mind, but he barely paid it any mind. "When the explosion happened, you had no idea what happened either. When you came to, you found yourself stranded on this island, is that right?"

"Yeah." Kallen said. "So you're stranded here too huh?"

"It would seem that way." Suzaku said.

"Lucky for me then." Kallen sneered. "When my people come here, you'll be the prisoner."

"You mean Zero will come to rescue you?" He asked.

"Without a doubt." She replied.

"All right then." Suzaku said. "But tell me one thing before he does; who is Zero?"

"Why don't you go find out for yourself?" Kallen asked.

Suzaku could only get a glimpse in her eye, but he was already quite good when it came to reading people. That glimpse was all he needed to confirm she had no idea either.

"You have no idea do you?" Suzaku asked.

"How…" Kallen asked, completely stunned from Suzaku's immediate call on her bluff. "Did you trick me?"

"Easier than you think." He said. "Isn't masking one's identity a bigger fraud? Tell me, why do all of you Black Knights follow him anyway?"

"I don't know." Kallen muttered. "Figure out for yourself."

"So you're attacking humans because of they are doing?" X asked.

"Right now, Britannia is no different than when Neo Arcadia was doing to Reploids; and any humans that spoke out back where we come from." Zero said. "I saw those soldiers moving through the streets, murdering women and children. I'm a warrior, sworn to defend people like those. What am I supposed to do; stand there and watch?"

"You'd be no better than a maverick then." X said.

"I don't go around killing indiscriminately." Zero said.

"There's no guarantee that what you will do now for what you believe to be justice will be simply to impose tyranny later on." X said.

"What do you mean by that?" Zero asked.

"Think about it." X said. "When we use our minds to think and process our judgments, our judgments are determined not by emotions, intelligence, and/or wisdom, but through just intellect and raw numbers. Right now your attacking the Brtiannians because you know those people are committing murder…I won't defend my countries atrocities because your right; it is wrong what they are doing. But how do you know once the war is over it'll end there? Sooner or later, it might be someone who would commit a petty crime you might execute someone over, simply on the grounds that the man would be a menace to society. Using your Z-Buster to end him you could conclude would be better for the society. Sooner or later, you would only process your judgments based on stopping humans whom have major faults; and every human has a fault to a degree. It'd be Armageddon all over again."

"I see where you're getting at." Zero said. "You're saying I would judge them based on what is both good and beneficial for the people. Since my brain can articulate and process things hundreds of times faster than them, I would be able to make the right calls not only based on what I know as good, and raw data that I can process. I remember that being a scenario Doctor Cain discussed with us at one point. But you're missing a point here X."

"And what would that be?" X asked.

"That we are different than most machines." Zero said.

X looked at him confused.

"You and I are both very different compared to robots in the past." Zero said. "From all the androids, to the computers, to the Mister handies by General Atomics, they all had specific programming they had to follow. If they became self aware, the scenario you proposed would probably occur. But Doctor Light gave you a gift no other unit had…free will and true emotion. He programmed every little detail about being human into you. While we are physically machines, our hearts and minds are just like them. We have the ability to make those calls. Even if we did succumb to raw programming, we could still be reasoned with. In a way, we are all human and free thinking…just the same."

X didn't say anything. Zero did bring up some good points.

"I used to think humans were all pure and innocent at heart." Zero said. "Looking back at the human government back in the day, sending us to fight while they did nothing, I think I may have to recant my position on them. Yeah the majority of them were good people, but there was a lot of evil among the good as well. I realized this when we both had to fight Doctor Weil. That humans are not as pure as both of them made them out to be. We Reploids, as per your dream, were supposed to be equal alongside them. If we are equal alongside them, then if we are to run into a situation where the only way out despite any other attempts is if a human dies, then I think we should be allowed to take that risk."

"But how do you know you won't go maverick after that?" X asked.

"Even though humans aren't machines, taking a life even with their minds is sometimes enough for them to go crazy." Zero said. "I don't see that as any different to the risks with our minds."

"If we continue to rely only on violence to solve our problems, the only thing we'll soon know is that." X said. "I don't want that kind of risk to be out there. Otherwise, humans will never trust Reploids, and we'll never reach that level."

"Sometimes peace has road blocks." Zero said. "Violence shouldn't always be the answer, but sometimes other options are not feasible. We're not the government X…we can't just go and say no more war. That decision is made by others. Even if we refused to fight, others still will. It's not because your dream for Reploids and humans living side by side is wrong. But you need to accept the fact that you have the same mindset as them; as well as all your brothers and sisters who you helped birth. They have the same thinking ability…if they want to fight against people who are oppressing others, they should be able to without fear of a riposte."

X again stayed quiet. Was he thinking too much on what Zero was doing? Was his quest for justice only an ideal, a mere dream? Or was he thinking too much like a robot when it came to what Zero was doing, and less what like Doctor Light would have hoped he became?

"Look…we don't have time right now to debate on what the right choice is in this war." Zero said. "Right now we have to find a way to get our minds uploaded back into our bodies. Unless we do that, neither of our goals will be accomplished. I propose a cease fire…we work with each other until we have found a way to get our bodies back. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

X stood in front of Zero for a moment, and then nodded.

"Agreed." X said. "I can handle a cease fire…until we get clear of the area and our captors, I'll work with you."

Zero smiled, and then turned in front of the entrance.

"All right…so what's our first move?" He asked.

"The security level on the datapath is highly encrypted." X said. "It would be unlikely we would be able to return to our bodies…and even if we did; the damage to our minds would be extensive. That electronic pathway could easily cause more than enough syntax errors within our electronic bodies to cause our minds to collapse. Without external aid, we would not be able to escape unscathed. And even we do, we have no knowledge if our bodies have been repaired or not."

Zero's eyebrows raised. He had forgotten about that…and he nearly kicked himself for doing so. Someone had shot him in his back with a high powered energy round. He had remembered being hit by something; and at first he thought X had used Soul Body. But it would be very unlikely considering the damage both of them had taken…and the fact X was here. If X had him captured, he would have probably left by now…but he hasn't. And even if he did try to coax him out, it wouldn't make sense. Britannia probably wanted him alive for study…or scrap metal.

"Is something wrong?" X asked.

"Yeah…" Zero said. "Who shot me…and I guess you?"

"…I don't know." X said. "I never got a good look at him…or her."

After what seemed like an hour of swimming, Leviathan crawled up to the shore. She shook her head to get the water out of her hair and began to look around. The island she was on was quite a ways away from where the battle between Britannia and the Black Knights had taken place, so she had no problems with wandering around the shoreline. The odds of being spotted were minuscule.

But…this island was also one of the many locations both Zeros could be on.

"Guess this is a good a start as any." She mumbled.

Leviathan drew her spear and continued forward, into the jungle.

Without the ability to use any form of scanning technology (short or long ranged), Leviathan had no idea that she was being spyed on. While Bass reclined in one of the chairs as a Met was fixing Bomb Man, he happened to look at one of the cameras. As he turned, he saw Leviathan exploring the island they were on.

"Hmm…" He mumbled. "Fire Man…bring to full screen camera C14."

"Got it." He said.

The screen came up with a full screen of Leviathan checking around the area.

"Scan that unit Guts Man." He said.

"Scanning…" He said. After a few seconds of the database querying itself, a window came up on Guts Man screen, stating "Fairy Leviathan." "The gal's name is Leviathan. She's supposed to be some robo broad in the future who worked alongside X."

"She's even more advanced than Zero then." Bass said. "What's her confirmed allegiance?"

"She's working for the Black Knights." Guts man.

"Shall we go and…cut…her down?" Cuts man asked, snapping his pincers.

"Doubtful you plebeians will be able to handle her." Bass said, leaping out of his seat, and picking up his beam saber. "She's a Pseudo-bio reploid…they're the generation of reploids above Zero's era. Doubtful you can handle her; considering you couldn't handle Mega…or Zero when you ganged up on him, or Proto man. I'll take her…you fools stay here."

Bass exited the room.

"I don't like the fact Doctor Wily only upgraded him. " Cut man said. "Now we're stuck listening to his every word; or he'll…cut us down."

"Yeah." Guts man said got up as fast as he could. "I don't like that Bass Guy one bit. Can't believe Doctor Wily only trusts him to do things around here."

"Guts man!" Bomb Man shouted. "You just ripped out the keyboard straight out of the console!"

Guts Man then remembered he still had his hand on the keyboard. He turned to see a sparking keyboard in his hand. He frantically began to try and put it back, which did nothing but cause more damage to it, causing the Met to walk over to begin doing repairs. As it did, Bomb man turned to Cuts Man.

"Despite that…Guts Man has a point; and you as well." He said. "I don't like that we're basically switchboard operators at this point."

"Not to mention that Doctor Wily has been acting very weird these days." Fire man said. "His desire to conquer the world…it's almost maddening. Frightening."

Leviathan was walking around the island. So far she had nothing she could go on to figure out where Zero was.

At least for the first hour.

When she arrived at a clearing in the forest, her sensors started to pick up something. It was mostly coming in scrambled, but it still showed that there was energy readings directly below her; as she was close enough for the waves to not be completely suppressed. She looked at her feet, seeing a piece of red metal on it.

"That's not something from a Knightmare." She said, picking it up. "There's some major carbon scoring on this piece of debris. Probably from a high grade plasma round, or buster shot. Is this…"

She turned it over. It was there that a wave of horror hit her; as she saw Zero's insignia on it. This came from Zero's pauldron he had on his side.

"Oh god; it's Zero's!" She gasped. The recoiling from the shock she had from that caused her to start moving backwards. Was Zero destroyed!?...No that couldn't be it! Zero couldn't be destroyed…right? He defeated her and the others…how could he honestly lose?

As she moved backwards from this revelation, she bumped into something in the back of her head. Quickly realizing it was metallic, she then knew a energy pistol was being pointed at her. She looked down, knowing the sun was behind her to see a shadow; yet no shadow was cast.

"Don't move." A familiar voice said.

"Huh…" She began. The pistol pushed into her farther.

"Don't make any motion to turn around." The voice said. "Don't speak either. Stay still and listen to me. It's me…Axl."

"Axl…" She began, but the felt the pistol again.

"Do what I say." He began. "Don't look at me. I'm using my stealth unit right now to stay hidden. You've been spotted."

Leviathan didn't know what he meant by that, but she obeyed Axl this time with motion and noise. She knew she could easily take Axl with the hundred years of advanced tech he had, as he wasn't as unique as Zero…but even at this ranged, Axl still could take her down here.

"I was following you since you left the ship." He began. "As soon as I surfaced, I noticed a number of electronic cameras in the area. I didn't see them at first without my visual HUD and localized scanner available; but the ocular implants in my eyes; and my training as a stealth unit led me to realize that this whole island is wired."

The whole island? Leviathan thought. How could Axl discover this before her…her…a whole generation ahead of Axl.

"I can recognize devices, along with how camera lens look." Axl said. "The bird over there, around 20,000 feet above us. It's eyes are strangely glossy, and have a silver ring around it. Not to mention the eye is black completely. Very unnatural looking. I saw you walk other things similar as I trailed you. I thought you would have spotted them by now…but you're probably blind without your scanning technology. I bet you became so over reliant on it that you never trained your eyes to pick out details and focusing with what the implants in your eyes can see. There's someone on this island watching us right now."

"Right now?" Leviathan asked. She was knocked forward as Axl pressed his gun further into her.

"Yeah." He said. He then lowered the pistol and began to back off. "But this is a good thing. More than likely, whoever is watching us probably doesn't want people here. The scrambling interference will help us…I can keep myself hidden in the shadows. Odds are they can't pick up my signal because of the signal interference. Blocking communications and scanning is good; but it can act as a double edge sword. Odds are if this person went to lengths to keep everything from being heard, he's going to send someone here to capture you. We'll use him to find where their hiding…and maybe…" Axl stayed silent for a few minutes, before gulping down air. "Maybe we'll find Zero…alive and well."

He then lowered his pistol and moved away from Leviathan. The Reploid girl looked around hoping to find him, but no avail.

I'm back bitches!

Well probably not...I wrote this on a spur of the moment. Don't know if uploading this means I have returned, or this is just a one time thing. Who knows at this point...I'm not even sure 80% of the original fans are still here for it. I guess the big problem is real life got in the way, and this was just one of the many breaks I had from it.

Well either way, here's another chapter after a 2+ year hiatus. Hopefully I will keep this going; but that can easily change. Thanks real life! Sucks getting older.

I based the digital island on the Animus Island from Assassins Creed, and I'm sure you can plainly see the Fallout Reference. I actually just started playing the series (started with Fallout 4; might as well...it is the newest). I hope you enjoyed the little references to the Mega Man Cartoon as well.