Zero

**Zero** is Dr. Wily's greatest creation, but a programming error caused him to believe he should destroy the world. He leads the Mavericks in order to ensure that this goal is completed.

## Appearance

Zero is a humanoid robot with red and white armor. His armor also has a yellow trim. He has blue eyes and a ponytail of blond hair. There are green gems on his chest and feet, as well as a "Z" on his left shoulder. There is a blue gem on his head.

## Personality

Due to Zero's programming error, he believes his goal is to destroy the world. It is shown that he will do so through any means necessary, even using others' robots to add to his army of Mavericks.

## History

### Creation

Zero was created by Dr. Wily in Wily Castle to defeat Mega Man and Bass, but there was a flaw in his programming, making him believe his purpose was to destroy the world. He then killed Wily and fought Mega Man and Bass. After killing Bass, Zero attempted to kill Mega Man, who activated his Double Gear and used his Mega Buster to fire his Final Charge Shot. Zero was sent flying all the way to Mars, but he recovered and began flying back to Earth.

### First Return

Zero eventually made it back to Earth and began his quest to destroy it. He went on a rampage, causing mass destruction. He eventually broke into a government building to cut off the city's power supply. After a few hours, he built a navigation system with access to all of the city's locations. After reading through some government files, he learned about Dr. Light and his Robot Masters, who he thought would be perfect additions to the Mavericks, so he teleported there.

After breaking into Light's lab, he learned that Mega Man was dead and that Mega Man X was meant to be Mega Man's successor. Zero attempted to convince Light to turn over the Robot Masters, but Light refused. The Robot Masters eventually arrived and attacked Zero, who easily defeated them. Zero then used Bakuenjin to destroy Light's lab, killing Light, Roll, and most of the Robot Masters. The remaining Robot Masters were infected with the Zero Virus. Zero realized that X had escaped and attempted to chase him. However, X proved to be too fast, leaving Zero alone. Zero then continued his mass destruction, infecting more robots with the Zero Virus.

Eventually, Zero noticed X flying up into the air and chased him using his Emergency Acceleration System. Even though it took a few days, he followed X into space and began fighting him. However, X managed to escape, so Zero simply travelled back to Earth and continued infecting others with the Zero Virus, eventually launching an attack on Central Highway that was led by the Robot Masters.

His actions allowed him to terrorize the country, which he watched from atop a skyscraper. He failed to notice X landing behind him. X attempted to test Zero's skill by firing a Plasma Charge Shot at him, before quickly running away. Zero never saw X, but he did manage to deflect the Plasma Charge Shot using the Z-Saber.

Zero later travelled to Central Highway upon finding out the the Robot Masters had been killed by X. He confronted X, viewing him as an obstacle that needed to be removed. X attempted to fight Zero, but Zero proved too powerful and maimed X. Believing X had died, Zero then teleported to a different part of Central Highway.

Zero observed the destruction caused by the Robot Masters, before eventually returning to where he killed X and realizing he wasn't there, concluding that he survived. He began thinking about how to draw X out of hiding, before noticing a boy, who was actually Vent, that seemed to have survived the attack caused by the Mavericks. Zero thought that if he killed Vent, X would notice and come out of hiding. He then decided to find a building to fight in so that he could set up a trap.

Zero eventually found a three-story building, where he set up a trap on the ground floor that consisted of a tripwire and a bomb. He then left the building and attacked Vent, wounding his arm and stomach before retreating back to the building. Coincidentally, X was passing by, flying with his newly-created Ultimate Armor.

Zero waited in the building's top floor, before being attacked by X. The two got into a fight, but before Zero could kill X, Vent arrived. Zero transformed into Awakened Zero, revealing what the Zero Virus did and fighting X and Vent. He easily defeated Vent by knocking him down to the second floor with a Shingetsurin before focusing on X. He activated Dark Hold and charged his Z-Buster, firing it and blowing up X. Concluding that X was dead for real and that Vent would be killed by his trap if he attempted to leave, which he turned out to be correct about, he left Central Highway. However, after leaving, X regenerated.

### Attack on the Maverick Hunters

Two days later, Zero and the Mavericks attacked Maverick Hunter Base. A massive fight ensued, where Zero discovered that X was alive. He fought against the 0th Unit and Aile. However, Aile, using Model OX, was able to defeat him, sending him flying away to a random city block while the Mavericks were all destroyed. Zero's attack wasn't a complete failure, though, as several Maverick Hunters were either killed or infected with the Zero Virus. In fact, the next day, the Maverick Hunters discovered that Magma Dragoon, Flame Stag, and Storm Eagle were infected with the Zero Virus, as well as many others, which resulted in several Maverick Hunters being sent to neutralize them.

### Second Return

Thanks to hiding out in an abandoned building on the outskirts of a city and having infected so many Maverick Hunters, Zero was able to continue his attempts to destroy the world. He infected the 10th Unit and sent them out to wreak havoc across the world. However, while doing so, Sonic figured out where he was hiding and confronted him alongside Mario, Luigi, and Shadow. During the ensuing battle, Zero managed to defeat them and infected Shadow with the Zero Virus, before teleporting away.

The 10th Unit was later neutralized, and Zero sends four robots known as OVER-R, OVER-B, OVER-Z, and OVER-D after Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Shadow. However, they're also defeated. Zero was then confronted by X, Axl, Aile, Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Shadow. Despite his best efforts, he is killed, ending the Mavericks' attacks.

## Skills

Zero was made with all of Wily's combat data, and thus should be as skilled as Bass at fighting.

### Zero Virus

The **Zero Virus** is a virus program created by Wily and installed inside Zero. Zero uses it to infect others and make them work for the Mavericks. It is by far Zero's most notable program.

The Zero Virus has never been visibly shown, as it has only ever been seen infecting others off-screen. Due to being a virus, it is possible that it simply has no appearance. It does, however, manifest as a purple energy whenever it's about to transform Zero into Awakened Zero, before turning into the red field that is seen around Awakened Zero's body.

The Zero Virus is used to summon Nightmare Zeros.

#### Infection

The Zero Virus' primary ability is to infect others with it. It was used on the Robot Masters, 9th Unit, and 10th Unit, as well as Storm Eagle, in order to turn them into Zero's subordinates. It is unknown how the infection is carried out, due to almost always being off-screen. Zero is capable of transmitting the infection using Genmu Zero, which was the one time he infected someone on-screen..

The Maverick Hunters managed to create a cure for the Zero Virus' infection.

#### Awakened Zero

Zero can use the Zero Virus to transform himself into **Awakened Zero**. This creates a red aura around him and turns his eyes red, signaling his transformation. It increases his strength, speed, and defense, allowing him to keep up with Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Shadow at the same time.

Zero can now punch the ground to perform **Shin Messenkou**, which causes several blue energy blasts to come out of the ground. He can perform an overhead slash with the Z-Saber known as the **Saber Bullet**, which creates a green energy wave that flies at enemies. However, unlike with Hadangeki, the Saber Bullet can be fired in directions besides straight ahead of Zero. He can also use the Z-Buster to fire **Shingetsurins**, homing blue energy circles.

However, Awakened Zero is primarily known for giving Zero his most powerful attack, **Genmu Zero**. It involves Zero increases the size of the Z-Saber's blade, before performing an overhead slash. This fires a pair of giant green energy waves, which could easily knock out Mario, Sonic, and Shadow. Additionally, it can infect robots with the Zero Virus.

### Z-Saber

The **Z-Saber** is a sword created by Wily to serve as Zero's signature weapon. It is a yellow hilt carried on Zero's back. It can create a cylindrical, green energy blade. The Z-Saber is capable of reflecting projectiles that hit it, which Zero uses often to block attacks.

Zero has several techniques he can perform with the Z-Saber. It is unknown if these techniques are part of his programming or if he invented them extremely quickly, although given that he was capable of perfectly using them moments after he was released from his capsule, it is likely the former.

Zero is skilled at using the Z-Saber, being able to fight against people such as Mega Man X and Aile.

### Z-Buster

The **Zero Buster**, better known as the **Z-Buster**, is Zero's secondary weapon and was created by Wily. It is a red arm canon with a white barrel and yellow trim. It can be retracted into Zero's arm to form a regular hand, and appear on either of Zero's arms. Its barrel has a red gem inside it.

The Z-Buster is an arm cannon that fires blue blasts of solar energy. In addition, it is capable of charging itself to fire larger energy blasts. It can also be charged to its fullest extent to fire an even bigger energy blast.

It is never confirmed if firing it drains Zero's energy supply. It should also be noted that unlike with Mega Man's Mega Buster and Bass' Bass Buster, Zero is never shown putting a strain on himself when firing fully-charged shots. However, the Z-Buster only has two charge levels, while the Mega Buster and Bass Buster have three, but since Zero is still firing fully-charged shots, it is possible that he simply doesn't put a strain on himself.

### Other Equipment

#### Emergency Acceleration System

The **Emergency Acceleration System**, also known as **Hienkyaku**, is the world's fastest speed device. With it, Zero is able to travel faster than the human eye using dashes. It can even allow Zero to fly, although they can only go in one direction while doing so. It has been proven that it can function in space, as Zero used it to fight X while in space.

#### Ultima Chip

The **Ultima Chip** is a chip that depicts an image of a red foot that has a black sole. It has green energy surrounding it on a grey background. The foot also has a yellow trim. It is seen by virtually nobody due to being implanted in Zero's body. It was created by Wily.

The Ultima Chip is implanted inside Zero's body and causes him to become more agile. This allows him to maintain his balance on slippery surfaces, perform a triple jump, cling to walls in order to slowly slide down them, and jump on water as if it's a solid surface.

#### Variable Weapon System

The **Variable Weapon System** is a learning system that allows Bass to copy the abilities of robots he defeated in order to obtain their weapons. These weapons are, in some way, based on what their users originally did with them. These new weapons are called **Special Weapons**. Each special weapon has a limited amount of energy, however.

Zero only has two Special Weapons. The first of these is the **Yammar Option** When used, three robotic dragonflies appear around Zero. These dragonflies can fire green energy blasts. The second Special Weapon is **Guard Shell**, which creates an orange barrier in front of Zero. This barrier can absorb energy blasts and reflect them. However, once an energy blast is absorbed, it will be temporarily disabled before it reflects the energy blast.

### Durability

He is also shown to be very durable, having been able to survive several explosions, including one from Mega Man's Astro Crush, which destroyed a chunk of one of Wily Castle's towers. Most impressively, though, he survived Mega Man's Final Charge Shot, which sent him all the way to the Moon.

### Abilities

Zero has shown that he can teleport.

Zero also a large number of skills he can use in battle. By punching the ground, he can perform **Messenkou** to create several purple energy blasts that fly outward, **Rekkoha** to cause several beams of light to fall from the sky, which are powerful enough to tear up a lot of Wily Castle,, or **Bakuenjin** to create a fiery explosion, which was strong enough to destroy Dr. Light's lab..

He can stop time for a few seconds with **Dark Hold**. When time is stopped, only he can move. Additionally, he can perform **W-Shredder** to summon a clone of himself that flies forward and performs Shippuuga.

## Trivia

* Bulborb channel 3, while writing Super X, failed to remember that Wily created Zero to destroy the world, but did not bother to correct it.
* Originally, Zero was supposed to be launched to the Moon after Mega Man defeated him in Prologue. However, in the AO3 version, he was instead launched to Mars.
* It is never explained how Zero was born with their Special Weapons, as he didn't defeat anyone in order to acquire them. However, it could merely just be a result of programming.
* Zero's Guard Shell is different from X's. While Zero can summon Guard Shell without the use of any other weapons and can reflect energy projectiles with it, X's Guard Shell creates a barrier using the X-Buster and can be charged to provide more barriers.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Zero's Return
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Implied in Zero's Return.
3. ↑ Misspelled as "Hadengki" in Prologue.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Prologue
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Destruction Through the World
6. ↑ Misspelled as "Yammer Option" in Prologue.
7. ↑ The Final Battle
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The history of his page.