Chapter 12
Revelations of X and Zero

It was the following day after the attack by Machinedramon and everyone was so tired of the constant monster attacks. The cyborg pegasus Swift Shot would end up taking a long time to heal since had to go through surgery all over again. He was grounded from flight for the next several weeks and even then he would have to take it easy after that. The half dragon guard, Jack Hunt, had been patrolling endlessly it seemed fighting off smaller monsters as well as a few large ones. But even he couldn't defeat the mechanical monstrosities that had appeared recently or any of the other inter-dimensional villains. Suffice it to say that he was feeling really put out by it all and rather helpless that he couldn't do anything about it.

Shattered Souls was relaxing on the bed in his room at the castle. After he had transported the cyborg pegasus to the hospital, he had quickly teleported to where Rainbow Dash was after getting a lock on her. He had appeared about 50 feet away from her in the midst of a cafe. She had been looking into a cup of tea sullenly not really doing anything. He had placed a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention and there had been an electric shock that had run through them. He had quickly told her that she was needed at the hospital and teleported away right after that before she could get a word in edge wise.

He had ended up teleporting right into his room in the castle using the red beam of light he was transported in. From there Zero took over and halted the transformation as he took all the damage upon himself. Or at least that was his intention when he stopped the internal flow of magic. Instead Zero had ended up taking most of the damage onto himself but still left Souls with a long thin cut on his right side. It luckily wasn't deep or anything but it was still an annoyance that he had to keep bandaged to make sure it didn't get infected.

Twilight had laid into him verbally after she discovered the cut. She had lectured him about being careful with his magic and being in combat. The other day with the whole pizza place had scared her rather badly and she didn't want Souls to be going out into battle like that without help from someone else. He'd had a bad concussion when he came to her after the pizza place went up in flames. So she was equally scared upon discovering the bandaged cut on his side. He had calmed her down after about an hour of talking to her using logic. But she was still very upset and angry with him. She had forbidden him from going out of the castle the following day which was today.

So here he was just lounging around on his bed wondering just what it was he could do today. He pulled his satchel up onto the bed with him and nosed open the flap to look inside of it. Scanning over the different chips, his eyes widened a bit as he noticed a new soul chip with Rainbow Dash's image on it. It must have happened when he touched Rainbow Dash the other day. That meant the only ones he didn't have yet were Fluttershy and Applejack. There was no telling when he'd meet the two of them although he hoped that it was soon.

He looked over at the clock on the wall to see it was about 10:30 in the morning. Souls sighed to himself,"What the heck am I going to do today? Twilight isn't letting me out of the castle and there's not much to do. Sure I could just read but even that gets tiring after a while."

A few of the chips in his satchel glowed brightly before rising up into the air out of the satchel. The chips belonged to none other than Megaman X and the Megaman Zero version of Zero the Reploid. The two chips shined brightly before moving off to the left of his bed and glowing brighter. Soon enough their brightness increased and the chips disappeared as the transluscent images of X and Zero appeared.

Souls looked at them with surprise,"Huh? What are you two doing? Zero I'm rather surprised that your trying to talk to me. After all that damage you took in the battle yesterday I thought you would be resting to repair your systems. Don't those cracks hurt?"

Zero's image bore small cracks all over his armor with sparks coming out of the cracks. The cracks were slowly closing over time and it was a wonder that Zero was even functioning right now enough to talk. Zero waved his hand dismissively,"There is no need to worry about me Shattered Souls. My system's are repairing themselves as we speak.

Souls frowned,"Ok. Then what the heck are you both doing using your energy to talk to me?"

X chuckled,"Well you did say that you were bored and wanted something to do and we needed to talk with you anyway. We have a couple of important topics to talk with you about. The first of which is over your concern of being an adquate Soul Warrior."

Souls cringed at that last statement,"I can't help it. With all the damage I keep taking in battle when you all aren't in charge I can't help but feel bad. I mean come on, you are all legendary warriors that can keep getting back up to fight. I'm just a regular mortal who blacks out after one big hit."

X sighed as she frowned and shook his head,"That's why your learning and practicing. These battles are good experience for you whether you believe it or not. Only true combat experience can help you get better in combat. Book learning and formal education can only get you so far out in the field. Its actually experiencing things that helps add to your knoweldge and gives you a base to work from."

Zero spoke up,"I started out not knowing who I was or what I could be. But throughout my journey I learned more and that life experience helped make me into the being I was when I fought original Zero. I stood up for what was right to help all the people and reploids that were remaining in the world at that time.

Souls sighed,"That still doesn't help explain anything about how I'm an adequate Soul Warrior."

X gave him a small smile,"Think about it like this. Your just starting out. Its a new beginning for you both as a pony here in Equestria and as a Soul Warrior protecting the land. You already have knowledge of Equestria because you watched and studied it in your previous life as a human. You have been gaining knowledge of what a Soul Warrior is and what a Soul Warrior does by talking to the souls that inhabit the chips you use. And you are gaining real battle experience by actually participating in battle and not just playing a video game. So you are just learning the ropes per say right now. There is no being adequate right now there is just learning to be what you need to be."

Souls contemplated this for a moment before nodding,"I guess that makes sense. But what else is it that you needed to talk with me about?"

Zero sighed as he frowned,"You may just be learning the ropes of being a Soul Warrior but that doesn't stop our enemy. Lately you've been fighting enemies that are far to strong for you at your current level of ability. You've had to let us take over in order to survive your battles and destroy your enemies. This last battle we were lucky that we had an ally that could provide us with aid. "

X nodded his head,"That's why we want to give you the information on how you can help other people become Souls Warriors. You need the allies and the threats are only going to grow as time goes on. Keldeo did not believe you were ready for this information and maybe he was right but things are different at the moment. We perceive that things will go downhill rapidly if you don't get backup that can really help you. That pegasus was able to help you but look at the state he was in afterwards.

Zero spoke calmly as he continued in X's place,"Thus why we have decided to give you the information you've been seeking. There is already one candidate that will most likely be able to become a Soul Warrior like yourself. The main difference is that he will have a specilization instead of being a general user."

Souls frowned in a confused manner,"Huh? What do you mean by having a specilization? I get that I use all sorts of different soul chips. Do you mean he'd only use a certain type of soul chip?"

Zero nodded his head,"That is correct. The way you determine if someone is eligible to be a new Soul Warrior is by having a Soul Archiver near them along with different kinds of soul chips. The Archiver will secretly scan the individual and determine if their magic pool could be efficiently used to power a transformation. It would also determine many other things like if they would be able to remain good while using a Soul Archiver."

X continued,"As for the soul chips. Certain types of soul chips will start reacting in the presence of the potential candidate if the Archiver determines they could become a Soul Warrior. The archiver calculates which certain type or types of soul chips they could synchronize with best and then sends the data to the souls in the chips directly and lets them decide if the candidate should become a Soul Warrior. The soul chips that glow indicate physically to the candidate which soul chip type or types they'd best be able to synch with. It also helps the candidate see which souls actually want to help him start his journey as a Soul Warrior. The ones that glow are the ones that want to help the candidate out once he gets his own Soul Archiver."

Souls nodded his head,"Ok. So how does a new Soul Archiver come into existence?"

X smiled,"A new Soul Archiver comes into existence when the candidate has been determined worthy to become a Soul Warrior. The Soul Archiver already present will send a beam of light out to the candidate's arm. The beam of light is actually a spell which draw's upon the candidate's magic pool to create the new Soul Archiver magically. The user's own magic create's the Soul Archiver and optimizes as well as customizes it just for the new user. The new Soul Archiver will be specialized to only use the chip type that glowed in the new user's presence. Furthermore the new Soul Archiver will not be able to seek out new Soul Warrior's. Only a general user with no specialization such as yourself is able to find new Soul Warriors. And there can only be one general user at a time. So you are the only one capable of finding new Soul Warriors."

Soul's head spun a bit with all the new information,"Ok. I'm a little dizzy now but I think that I get it."

Zero nodded his head,"Good. We know you can't leave the castle today so you won't be able to go actively look for the candidate today. But we have a feeling that somehow that candidate will show up here today anyway. The candidate already knows that you are able to transform into things you should not be able to. So that person already knows your secret."

Souls looked out the window in thought,"So I can gain new allies by seeking them out with the Soul Archiver. But what if they don't want to be a Soul Warrior? Do the people get a choice or not?"

X chuckled,"No need to worry about that. The person will get a choice in the mater. When the red beam hits their arm they will get a feeling. This feeling will help them to question if they really want to be a Soul Warrior or not. If they don't then the beam of light from the Soul Archiver will fade and the person won't become a soul Warrior and they'll be able to go on their merry way."

Souls chuckled a bit himself,"Good. I don't want to take away people's freedom of choice. That would be just wrong. Thank you for all of the information."

X and Zero nodded and Zero continued,"No problem. Although there is one more matter that we should speak to you about. Its in regards to that Mega Charizard soul that managed to make its way to you. That Charizard's name is Cinder. He had a rather hard life when he was still alive. We think you should talk to him about it. If you can talk with him about it you can raise your synchronization rate as you come to understand him and his thoughts.

Nodding softly at them, Souls replied,"I guess I can. The two of you should return to your chips before your completely out of energy."

They nodded their heads,"Right." With flashes of light they returned to their chips and the chips floated back into the bag.

Souls sighed for a moment as he looked back at the bag full of blank chips as well as the ones with images. He moved his hoof over to the one bearing the image of the charizard. He pulled it up and tapped it with his hoof before throwing it up into the air. The chip glowed with light before the translucent image of the charizard appeared to the right of his bed. The charizard looked rather irritated at the moment as his wings hung limply at his sides still not having been repaired by the Soul Archiver. It would take more time before he was fully recovered,"What do you want? Can't you seem I'm trying to rest and heal?"

Souls winced,"Yeah but a few of the others wanted me to talk to you so I am. I know you'd rather be resting at the moment and I'm sorry for disturbing you."

Cinder grumbled as he glared at Souls,"You better be. I was having a perfectly good dream before you woke me up. What did you want to talk with me about?"

Souls winced again,"Um. I wanted to talk with you about your past. How exactly did you die?"

Cinder's eyes widened for a moment at the question before they narrowed considerably in anger,"Wouldn't you like to know you nosy little jerk."

Souls held up a hoof in a peaceful manner,"Please calm down. Getting worked up won't do anything for you. Please I'm just asking how you died."

Cinder growled,"I'd rather not talk about how I died. Besides it not like the information would do you any good."

Souls sighed,"Ok. Then why not tell me what your life was like back in its hay day?"

Cinder grumbled for a moment as he calmed down. He finally replied,"I guess I could do that."

Souls nodded his head slowly,"Ok. Then please go ahead. What was it like early on in your life?"

Cinder grumbled as he took a moment to compose himself,"Back when I was alive before I had a trainer things were great. I grew up in this nice little area called Dragon's Roost. A nice little place for us pokemon of the charizard line. I wasn't like the other charmanders after I had hatched. Where all of them followed the rules and took their parents teachings to heart I was more of a rebel. I did things that charmanders shouldn't do like go outside of Dragon's Roost. Heh. I was nearly caught by a trainer when I did that. If it hadn't been for the human lady who took care of Dragon's Roost I would have been a trainer's pokemon right off."

Souls smiled a bit,"Sounds cool."

Cinder nodded,"You bet. I did listen to my father but not really my mother. I felt my mother was way to soft about things. She was a more timid charizard even though she was one of the strongest in the whole group. Father was the pokemon of some famous trainer named Ash. Apparently this Ash was a pokemon master or something of the like. Never really did care about that part all that much. Dad taught me things that were useful as a charmander. Survival skills along with other skills like how to cook meat that tastes so delicious smoked or otherwise."

He smiled a bit to himself,"Those were the days when I could lounge around as I wished and just take it easy alongside my pops. We had the greatest times just sunbathing on a good rock. Sadly those days came to an end when I had to test myself against all the other charmanders in the Roost. The pack is more or less very strict when it comes to hierarchy and I had to prove my place. I had to fight about 20 other charmanders and I managed to come out near the top. Fighting all those battles gave me enough battle experience that I was able to evolve into a charmeleon along with a couple of others."

Souls frowned a bit,"Huh. Guess I should have figured that. What was it like once you became a Charmeleon?"

Cinder started grumbling,"It wasn't the greatest. The whole pack hierarchy thing chafed at me. I didn't like all the rules and other things that came with it. Even told my Dad straight off that I hated it. He said I'd just have to get used to it if I was going to live there. So I tried to fit in as best I could. For our generation of Charmeleons and charmanders I was pretty much the second in command. But man the guy who was in charge of all of us was a jerk. Always making me run petty errands just because he didn't like who my parents were. Still I did my best to stick with it all. Then finally the day came that changed everything."

Cinder sat down as best he could as he continued with a wistful expression,"One day when I was 5 years old and had been a charmeleon for a year things changed. I was out running one of my numerous errands outside of the Roost when a strange trainer happened to cross my path. His name was Brandon and he worked for some group of humans called Team Rocket. He ended up defeating me in battle fairly and captured me. He was kind enough to let me say goodbye to my family although he was hiding his Team Rocket disguise. I left with him as one of his pokemon but things started to go down hill from there."

Cinder sighed as he looked out a window,"As one of his pokemon I was made to do terrible things to other pokemon and humans. We stole pokemon from their companion trainers and various other things. My trainer was sickened by all this but was forced to comply with orders due to some blackmail material they had on him. They were basically holding one of his family members hostage and if he didn't do as they said then they would kill that family member. We both grew to greatly hate Team Rocket. But still we were forced to comply with their orders. This continued on for several years until they finally did something that neither of us forgave them for. They attacked Dragon's Roost. "

Cinder's expression darkened,"They hurt so many pokemon there and captured a few. My father was able to drive them off even though he was getting on in years but he was still badly injured thanks to the attack. He lived and healed in time but that still didn't change the fact that it was the last straw for us. Me and my trainer then took it upon ourselves to eradicate Team Rocket once and for all. It took us about a year but we nearly toppled the organization and got rid of it. However the leader who's name was Giovanni was getting desperate. He challenged my trainer to a battle which he accepted. Things were going well for us against him until he became so enraged he had his pokemon partner attack my trainer instead. I wasn't able to react fast enough and the pokemon's attack ended up killing my trainer."

Cinder's expression turned very angry and pained at the same time,"He had been my best friend for years and he was just gone. Stolen away by the man and his pokemon partner right in front of me. My gaze turned blood red and I couldn't think of anything other than getting revenge for my trainer. I felt a strong burst of energy well up within me and everything went white. When everything cleared I had somehow evolved past a normal charizard all the way to a Mega Form and it was permanent. With this newfound energy I was able to defeat Giovanni's pokemon partner. But right as I was about to go for him he slipped through a door and got away. I was unable to follow and my rage left me. "

He started to cry,"I sat there by my trainer's body for over 3 hours as it cooled. Then finally the police arrived on the scene. They didn't realize that it wasn't me who had killed my trainer but Giovanni. They thought I was responsible and it was only through the actions of my family and the lady who ran Dragon's Roost that I got off free. I was cleared of the murder charge but the damage was still done. I was an outcast unable to freely move about in my home. So I decided I would stay away from Dragon's Roost and travel the land to help those in need."

Soul's nodded his head,"I'm sorry you had to go through all that hardship. You don't have to talk about it anymore right now. I just hope that talking about it has helped you in someway."

Cinder turned to him for a second before looking back out the window,"A bit maybe. Its hard to say. It does feel better having talked about it but there is still a lot weighing on me. I'm going to go back to resting if you don't mind." Tears were still streaming down his face to disappear into fragments as they fell off his face.

Soul's sighed,"Yeah its fine. Go ahead and rest." Cinder nodded and he glowed before his soul chip reappeared and drifted back into the satchel.

Souls' stomach growled to signal his hunger a moment later. He sighed and got up to get himself something to eat. He glanced at his clock on the way out to see that it read 12:30 in the afternoon. So he went off to get something to eat.

An hour later, Souls was now lounging around in one of the rooms of the library with a book in his hooves. It was a pony fiction book on humans that just made him laugh. It was written by Lyra of all ponies and her thoughts on humans were hilarious. Its a good thing it was just a fiction book. He was reading a very interesting part when his ears twitched in response to the sound of multiple pairs of hooves coming his way.

He lowered his book as the hoof steps got even closer then before. He blinked in surprise when he realized that Twilight was coming towards him leading that unicorn stallion he had met with a few times back at the hospital.

He looked up at Twilight,"What's up Twilight?"

Twilight looked flustered,"This is Jack Hunt but you already know that. He says he's come here to see you about something. He wants to talk to you privately."

Rolling his eyes, Souls put a hoof on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes,"Calm down Twilight. Its not a big deal. I'm feeling well enough for it and I'm not leaving the castle. Especially with all the spells you've put up. So just go back to your studies for now."

Twilight took a deep calming breath and calmed down in the manner that Princess Cadance had taught her. "Ok. But holler for me if anything big happens."

He nodded his head,"Can do Twilight. Now go on back to your books." He smiled warmly at her and pushed her a bit to go.

She frowned but left anyway still feeling a bit flustered and at the same time suspicious of Souls.

Souls looked up at the bigger unicorn stallion,"So...You wanted to see me Mr. Hunt?"

Jack Hunt eyed him for a moment before subtly nodding,"Yes. I know about your secret of transformations and the foes that you have been fighting."

Souls just shrugged,"I kinda figured that due to a couple of people I know telling me."

Jack grunted,"Well I'd like to be able to help out. Ponyville is my home and I need to be able to defend it. I'm one of the few guards for the town after all. I can deal with regular monsters big or small but the things that have been appearing lately have been way out of my league. I've seen you fighting them with ease and destroying or defeating them. Sure you get knocked around but you always seem to be around for the next fight. So I want to know how I can do those transformations like you can."

Souls tilted his head as he looked at Jack,"Yes it is true that I can beat them using those transformations but there is far more to it then just magic. My magic is a new special type called Soul magic. I work with the souls of warriors who have passed on to complete transformations that can defeat the foes that have been appearing. Its not exactly an easy thing to do considering my magic kind of just does it on its own so I can't exactly teach you a spell or anything."

Jack sighed,"I see. But surely there is something you can do to show me?"

Souls frowned,"Yeah I can do something. It has to do with this device you see on my arm. This is the thing that lets me spark my transformations and hold them steady. Its the thing that holds the spell inside of it. It has a neat little trick to see if you could do the transformations yourself.

Jack thoughtfully looked at the device,"So if I had such a device I could do these transformations myself? How would I get my hooves on such a device?"

Souls responded calmly,"Yes you would be able to do the transformations yourself. As for how I can't exactly explain it at the moment. I know how it works but I don't think the information is relevent at the moment. Now let me tell you something. I'm known as something called a Soul Warrior. Because as I said I work with the souls of past warriors to power these transformations to fight off the threats that have been appearing. Those threats are from different dimensions or worlds and they come through those portals that have been appearing. Its also my duty to fight against any evil that's native to this world although there has yet to be any sign of such an evil. The device on my fore leg is called a Soul Archiver. It scans and archives these small chips known as Soul chips. The Soul chips are what contain the souls of warriors who have come back from the afterlife to help out. You got all this?"

Jack's head was reeling from all the information he was absorbing but he still nodded,"Yes. What else?"

Souls grinned a bit,"My Soul Archiver will determine if you have the potential to become a Soul Warrior. If you do then certain soul chips will light up to show just which kind or kinds you can use in battle to spark transformations. Now do you wish to proceed to see if you can be a Soul Warrior?"

Jack nodded his head instant,"Yes I do."

Souls nodded solemnly,"Very well. Now let us begin." He held his fore hoof out in front of him lengthwise to bring the Soul Archiver out in front of Jack. The machine started to hum with noise as a nonvisable scanning spell was cast on Jack Hunt. The machine ran through so many calculations in seconds as it calculated things like synchronization rates and other things. But it finally came to a halt as it beeped and a message displayed onscreen for Souls.

Souls looked down at the message,"Jack Hunt is a prime candidate for becoming a Soul Warrior. Synchronization rates are high. Candidate's alignment is within the correct parameters. Do you wish to continue with the process to make him a Soul Warrior? Yes or No?" Souls quickly tapped the yes button as he looked at Jack. He sat down on his haunches and used his free hoof to bring the satchel forwards.

He opened the flap of the satchel to reveal all the blank soul chips along with the occupied ones. A beam of light was admitted from Souls' Soul Archiver. It was red in color, very small, and targeted at Jack's own left foreleg. Jack's eyes widened in surprise a bit but let things proceed as they should. A couple of the soul chips within the satchel started to glow brightly. The ones that glowed were all of the MegaMan Soul chips along with one of the Zero Soul chips.

A calm feeling overcame Jack Hunt as he closed his eyes. The feeling spread all throughout him as it nudged his thoughts in a new direction. It had him thinking about whether he was really sure about all this and what his motivations for doing it all were. He thought to himself that yes he was sure about becoming a Soul Warrior and he was doing this to protect all the townspeople and the one he secretly loved. He would do anything protect them and see justice done.

The beam pointed at his foreleg intensified as he felt his mana pools being drawn upon heavily. Slowly a glowing white shape started to form on his foreleg. the beam of energy from Souls' Soul Archiver cut off at the shape continued to take form on Jack's foreleg. Then with a bright flash of light the new device finished taking form. It was a far sleeker model with a nice black coloring on the main parts and a red coloring on the other parts. There were 6 buttons total in the circle of 6 slots on the device. The screen was larger and seemed to have a stronger computer to it. Furthermore Jack's cutie mark was featured on the front of the device right after the circle of slots and was featured on the underside of his hoof too.

There was a flash of light as another new object appeared draped across Jack's side on top of the saddle bags that he was currently wearing. It was a new satchel filled with blank soul chips. The MegaMan soul chips along with the Zero soul chip all floated into the new satchel to take their place as his helpers.

Jack examined the new device on his foreleg with intense curiosity before looking back up at the grinning Souls. Souls grin threatened to split his face,"This is great. I finally have a new ally to help me out with these fights. Welcome to the Soul Warriors Mr. Hunt."

Jack nodded his head,"I'll do what I can to help out. I want to figure out how to do these transformations on my own so please don't tell me how to do them."

Souls looked uncertain but responded,"Um okay if your sure about that. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions though."

Jack nodded his head,"Thank you. I'll see you around sometime." He turned with a wave and left Souls alone as he left the castle. It was off to his home on the outskirts for now to try and practice.

So thus we see the revelations brought to us by X and Zero to Shattered Souls as well as the birth of a new Soul Warrior.

Author's Note

Hey Everyone. Here's yet another new chapter. This took me a bit to work on because I had to consult with the different user's who are letting me use their OCs. But I think It turned out rather well. I'm good on people sending in any more OCs as I have all that I can work with right now. However if anyone wants to suggest a character for a Soul Chip be my guest. Go ahead and leave a comment on what you liked or something like that. I hope you all have a good day. See ya next time.