WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE VERY END OF MEGA MAN ZERO 3!

You have been warned!

Cannonball

The broken parts of what used to be an enormous robot lay scattered around a painfully familiar area, surrounding the red Reploid that stood there. The deafening noises of an exploding machine that had been hearable mere seconds ago were replaced by a tense but respectful silence, as the Reploid looked around with recognition dawning on his face.

The Reploid – Zero was his name – stood upright. "This is where I was sleeping…" he mumbled to himself.

"Hehehehehe!" a voice erupted from what seemed to be a communication device. "Excellent, Zero! Your power is extraordinary, for a mere fake."

"Fake!?" Zero called.

The owner of the voice – Dr. Weil – did not reply. Instead, a pillar of light suddenly emerged right in front of the red Reploid, briefly engulfing the area in a white glow before leaving as soon as it came.

When it was gone, Zero felt a shock go through his body.

It felt like looking into a mirror, with his reflection challengingly glaring back at him without any attempt to hide its arrogance. The blue crystal on its helmet gave a menacing glow, adding to what appeared to be an imitation of a god staring the red Reploid down with scornful supremacy.

"Hehehehe…You, the legendary Reploid? You fool!" Weil cackled. "Those Resistance losers just decided to call the Reploid they found here 'Zero' for some reason. You may be Zero, in a way, but you are still merely a copy. You're no legendary hero at all. You're just a reproduction!"

Zero looked at the figure in front of him, only barely having accepted what he just learned. He was a copy? But if Omega was the original…

"Hehehehe…You thought you were a hero all along, didn't you! Never suspecting that you were a mere copy. What a joke!" Weil scoffed. "Omega himself is the one and only, original Zero! You're just a copy of him!"

"The original Zero…" Zero spoke up. "Why is he your slave, then?"

"Hmph! He's a bloodthirsty god of destruction; all I did was upgrade him to draw out all his power!" He let out another chuckle. "All right, Omega…or should I say 'Original Zero'! Time to wake this pitiful fake from a century-long dream!"

Right when he said that, Omega swiftly drew and activated a purple beam saber before dashing towards Zero. Zero, however, was quick enough to activate his own Z-Saber, after which he blocked Omega's attack, only for the so-called god of destruction to continue his assault, hacking and slashing at his opponent with great proficiency and aggression.

Zero, who was only just able to defend himself from Omega's rampage, wasn't entirely surprised to see that the other robot rivaled his own combat skill. Since this was his original body, and Weil apparently upgraded it to its absolute limits, there was little room for victory. His opponent was so fast that Zero barely had time to attack.

Eventually, their sabers locked, with Omega once again having the upper hand: his power was definitely superior to Zero's, as the latter felt himself slide backwards over the ground despite his own strength.

He wasn't willing to give up just yet though, and with immense speed, he reached to one of the holsters on his hips, pulled out what seemed to be a handle for a beam saber and activated it, revealing his tertiary weapon – the Recoil Rod – before thrusting it forward and nearly stabbing Omega in the abdomen.

Omega, however, was not easily fooled and jumped backwards just before Zero's attack. Zero stood there with both weapons, waiting for the god of destruction to attack again – which he did, only not in the way Zero expected him to.

With a maniacal grin, Omega raised his saber high in the air before swinging it downwards, firing some kind of energy crescent from the blade, headed for Zero. The living legend didn't expect the attack and narrowly avoided it, but not without gaining a small scratch on his right arm.

Omega was smart: he knew that, since Zero had two bladed weapons, fighting him up close with only one sword at his disposal wouldn't be a good idea. As a result, he decided that using ranged attacks would give him another advantage.

He reached for his Buster, but didn't expect what happened next: Zero slashed his Z-saber horizontally, and a shockwave – similar to what Omega himself used moments ago, but in a pointed fold – escaped the blade, barely missing the destruction god.

Immediately after that, Omega grabbed his Buster and fired two powerful energy blasts at Zero, who dodged them with ease. He did not pay enough attention to his opponent however, allowing Omega to dash at him and perform a rising slash, sending himself skyward while scoring a direct hit on the fake Reploid.

When he got back on the ground, he turned around to face his defeated opponent, only to be met with a powerful stab from the Recoil Rod to the chest, sending him backwards and only barely keeping himself from falling to the ground. Stunned and surprised, he looked back up at Zero, who was aiming his own Buster Shot at the evil robot.

Omega was unable to fully avoid the energy blast that was sent his way, feeling it graze his shoulder before fully regaining his artificial senses. Incredulous at how terribly he underestimated the copy but furious at the insult it had thrown at him, he once again readied his O-Saber before running at Zero, who had replaced his Buster with the Recoil Rod once again.

When the destruction god got close to his enemy, he jumped into the air – effectively dodging an attack from the Z-Saber – where he performed a fast spinning slash, sending small crescent waves in several directions.

Zero was prepared for almost everything, however, and with the agility of an experienced warrior he dashed away and dived between two crescents, immediately dashing back to Omega after doing so.

With a decreased amount of courage but a determination he had never felt before, he furiously began to attack his opponent with his Z-Saber.

It was not effective: Omega's skill in combat once again proved itself to be matching Zero's, as every stab, hack and slash was deflected by the purple saber Omega held in his own hands.

It was only when Zero performed an upward slash with a fiery saber – somewhat similar to what Omega did moments ago – that the destruction god was hit, though with little effect.

Almost automatically, the evil Reploid brought his fist down on the ground, creating a group of beam pillars to surround him and score another direct hit on Zero, who was still in the air. Stunned, the copy fell to the ground before taking another powerful hit from Omega's saber.

The area shook as a response, and Zero was only just able to roll away to prevent being crushed by the rubble falling from the ceiling. He swiftly stood up and turned back to his opponent, who was running towards him once more.

Zero quickly grabbed the Shield Boomerang – another part of his arsenal – and threw it towards Omega, deliberately missing him. The so-called 'fake', however, proved to have more tricks up his sleeve, as he dashed forward as well while moving his Z-Saber in a quick but powerful stabbing motion.

The destruction god was met with the sword nearly piercing his shoulder as he jumped backwards once more, his leg grazed by the returning Shield Boomerang.

He growled, frustrated that he was somehow unable to kill this fake before punching the ground again, unleashing five energy projectiles in different directions. Zero was caught by surprise as one of the shots hit him square in the chest, causing him to stagger.

Omega saw his chance, leapt forward and began slashing away with great ferocity. Zero was barely able to block, and took severe damage as a result before finally smashing his saber into the ground. It was a slow move, though, and his opponent was easily able to dodge it.

Enraged, the copy sped towards the destruction god once more, his saber readied. Omega avoided the attack, but wasn't able to counter it as Zero swiftly grabbed his Buster Shot and fired another charged blast towards him, followed by another shockwave from his blade.

Both attacks narrowly hit the extremely fast opponent, causing only minor damage and finally giving Omega the chance to slam his own saber into the ground once more. More rubble fell down.

Zero remained undamaged, and immediately approached Omega again but was blocked by a group of beam pillars surrounding the destruction god. Once they were gone, two more charged shots were sent Zero's way, both of which missed.

What didn't miss were the crescent shockwaves that followed them, hitting the fake Reploid's hands, destroying the Z-Saber and the Recoil Rod in the process.

Zero quickly grabbed his Buster Shot again; the blasts that escaped it hit the holster on Omega's hip, where the O-Saber was stored.

Direct hit.

The beam saber itself remained intact but flew backwards, leaving the evil Reploid with only his O-Buster.

Said evil Reploid used said O-Buster, firing two more shots towards Zero before punching the ground, firing several more energy blasts in several directions, once again scoring a direct hit on his opponent, who fell to his knees.

Zero growled and glared up at Omega, who approached the fallen Reploid, still aiming the O-Buster at him.

Something in the corner of Zero's eye caught his attention: the intact handle of the O-Saber, lying on the ground a few meters behind Omega.

Time slowed down as the copy rolled past his adversary, stood up and dashed towards the weapon. With immense speed, he grabbed it, activated it and turned around to slash Omega's O-Buster to pieces before stabbing him through the chest.

A choking noise escaped Omega's artificial throat, before he too fell to the ground, defeated.

Zero backed up, relieved but cautious while looking at his downed and disarmed opponent. Had he won?

The answer to that question was given soon, as a dark glow suddenly surrounded Omega's body before disappearing, and a dark, purple sphere left the evil Reploid's body.

The sphere was the Dark Elf; the Cyber-elf Omega absorbed after his mission to obtain her, allowing him to control nearly every Reploid on Earth.

The Dark Elf was now floating a meter or so above Omega, her emotionless face gazing upon the two Reploids with closed eyes. Then, glimmers of purple light fell down from her 'body', and fell on the defeated robot below her.

Zero suddenly knew what was going on: he had seen it before, when he encountered the Dark Elf in one of his recent missions…and he guessed what was happening this time.

"You plan to…reactivate Omega?" he asked.

The Elf didn't answer, but Zero already knew that what he assumed was true. In an attempt to stop the process, he dashed towards Omega to deliver the killing blow…

…only to be thrown backwards and downed by the power of the Elf, protecting the destruction god from any kind of attack.

Weakened, the legendary Reploid fell to his knees once more.

"Hehehe…" Weil's voice rang. "Watch, but don't interfere. Don't forget…I hold the lives of all humans and Reploids in my hand!"

Zero growled, too weak to do anything but watch the Dark Elf restore Omega's former strength. It took mere seconds before the evil Reploid was able to stand again, the damage Zero inflicted on him before seemingly having been nullified.

Then, the legend suddenly heard a teleportation sound behind him, quickly followed by Sage Harpuia slashing away at Omega before being repelled by the Dark Elf's force field.

"Zero!" Harpuia called. "What are you doing!? Hurry, stand up!"

Another teleportation sound; three large fireballs were fired straight into Omega's chest.

"Hey!" Fighting Fefnir's voice sounded. "I'm here to get a little payback, Omega!"

A blue female Reploid appeared between Zero and the destruction god, the latter of which gained more damage at the hands of said blue Reploid before she, too, was pushed backwards.

"Time to straighten the record!" Fairy Leviathan challenged.

"You guys!" Zero realized.

The Guardians? What were they doing here? How did they know where to go? And why don't they seem surprised in the slightest that Omega shared Zero's appearance?

"Weil is trying to bluff you…" Harpuia clarified to Zero. "He can't do anything in his current state."

"Argh! Dark Elf!" Weil yelled. "Shut them up!"

Zero briefly froze, readying himself for the Dark Elf to attack…until it suddenly began to flash.

The Reploid immediately felt more energy surge through him as the Cyber-elf's dark color began to change and Dark Elf herself began to hesitate. The power it had been giving to Omega was no longer flowing, and Zero knew what this meant: the Dark Elf was on the verge of turning back into her normal self.

"Zeeeerroooo…" the Cyber-elf whispered, causing the once again downed destruction god to look up at her.

"What is it, Dark Elf?" he asked.

He didn't get a response.

"Her…" a familiar voice suddenly said. "The Dark Elf's curse is fading…"

"Who's that? X?!" Weil said.

"That's right, Weil," X said. "Just like a century ago…I worked with Zero to defeat this Omega then, and we saved the world from your greedy clutches."

Zero was surprised to hear that. "Just like…a century ago?"

"The defeated Omega is using your original body. That's all," the Reploid-turned-Cyber-elf said. "Your current body may be a copy, but your heart is the real thing

"All right, now's the time. While the Dark Elf's power is weak. Time to finish what you started a century ago, Zero!"

Those words made the red Reploid come back to his senses, urging him to stand up despite his damage. Once he had done that, Weil's voice rang out again.

"Zero, don't do it! That's your original body! Don't you feel any attachment?! Are you really prepared to spend the rest of your life in that cheap fake?!"

"You can do it," X said. "You know what's truly important."

Zero looked to his left to find the blue Reploid's transparent 'body' there. X looked back, and the red robot was surprised to see his old friend offering him an intact Z-Saber handle.

"Go on, Zero!"

Upon hearing those words, the legendary hero took the saber and activated it before turning back to Omega, who was now completely at his mercy.

He didn't look back at X and the Guardians as he walked towards his target, Z-Saber in hand.

When he reached the destruction god, he raised the weapon high above his head before bringing it down on the blue crystal on his opponent's helmet, destroying it.

From there, he didn't recall much of what happened.

X looked at his unconscious friend. He felt his energy fade, and knew that he had little time left before passing away.

"Can you hear me, Zero?" he called. "My energy is almost all spent.

"I can't…stay in this world…much longer.

"Zero…I want to leave this world in your care. The threat Weil represents has not left this world.

"I want you…to protect humans and Reploids.

"Ze…ro…

"You can do it…

"You…can…"

And then, X was no more.

…would you guys like to see a battle between Omega Zero and Sans from Undertale? Just a thought…