Rockman X3 (manga)

Rockman X3 (ロックマンX3) is a manga by Iwamoto Yoshihiro based on the game of same name. It was originally serialized in Comic BomBom from March 1996 to June 1997 in 16 chapters, and later compiled in four volumes between 1996-1997 and in two volumes in 2005.

Story
The story continues from the Rockman X2 manga.

Malfunction
Malfunction (故障) is the first chapter from the manga, originally published on March 1996.

Dopple Town Dr. Cain Dr. Doppler X Zero Mac Maoh the Giant

Snowman
Snowman (雪だるま) is the second chapter from the manga, originally published on April 1996.

Blizzard Buffalo

Cocoon
Cocoon (繭) is the third chapter from the manga, originally published on May 1996.

X and Zero fights against Tunnel Rhino. After his defeat, Doppler creates a wire cocoon around Tunnel Rhino to act as shield, but they manage to defeat him.

Strength
Strength (強さ) is the fourth chapter from the manga, originally published on June 1996.

Zero fights against Blast Hornet.

Conscience
Conscience (良心) is the fifth chapter from the manga, originally published on July 1996.

Neon Tiger

Peace
Peace (平和) is the sixth chapter from the manga, originally published on August 1996.

Dr. Cain analyzes Blizzard Buffalo, Tunnel Rhino, Blast Hornet and Neon Tiger to discover why they went out of control, and a worm-like machine jumps from them to other Reploids, including X, making them go out of control. The Maverick Hunter base is attacked by Bit and Byte, and Zero tries to stop them, later having the help of other Hunters. X recovers from the accident and helps them.

Sniper
Sniper (狙撃者) is the seventh chapter from the manga, originally published on September 1996.

Crush Crawfish

Big Bang
Big Bang (ビッグ・バン) is the eighth chapter from the manga, originally published on October 1996.

Volt Catfish

Remain
"It was then when X remembered. Seahorse had called his dam his "holy ground" and he had said that "he was already dead"... But there was no way X could have understood the true meaning of those words. The honorable dam recovered its original function again. The ruins fell into silent sleep. And Seahorse too became unknown... The metal liquid gently embracing the Reploid who stands still."

- Narrator

Remain (遺跡) is the ninth chapter from the manga, originally published on November 1996.

The Monaaku Dam is one of the largest in the world, but for some reason has stopped dispensing water, which has caused humans in nearby towns to be cut off from the water supply with some of them even losing their lives. X and Zero go to investigate, and venture out to dam and blast a hole through it to check out the problem. Strangely, they discover an entire town has been drowned inside of it while still being well-preserved. Suddenly, Zero and X are ambushed by a Maverick named Toxic Seahorse who is revealed to be the culprit behind the drowning. Seahorse poetically proclaims that the town he drowned is "holy ground", upon which X and Zero should stay away, since it is his "sanctuary". He also ominously says that he is "already dead". They do battle across the town, and eventually come out victorious, forcing Seahorse to flee. When X and Zero follow him, they see he has escaped to the top of a tree, and is quietly hugging the corpse of a frozen, female Reploid who appeared to have been his girlfriend. Seahorse is also about to liquefy his programming, which would kill him. X wants to stop him and take him into custody, but Zero convinces him not to, saying they have finished their task of defeating Seahorse and fixing the dam he ruined. Seahorse then perishes, together in death with his beloved.

Vengeance
Vengeance (復讐) is the tenth chapter from the manga, originally published on December 1996.

Gravity Beetle wants to avenge Boomer Kuwanger and attacks the city with a giant beetle-like machine.

Funeral
Funeral (葬儀) is the eleventh chapter from the manga, originally published on January 1997.

Bit and Byte defeat X and Zero.

Comrade
Comrade (同士) is the twelfth chapter from the manga, originally published on February 1997.

With X and Zero imprisoned, Bit makes an announcement in Doppler Town saying they will be killed by a drill, and a Maverick outbreak happens in the town. Marty appears in the Maverick Hunter's base and Cain asks her to take four chips to X, freeing him.

Hatred
Hatred (憎悪) is the thirteenth chapter from the manga, originally published on March 1997.

After X defeats Bit and Byte, Dr. Doppler merges them into Godkarmachine O Inary, but X defeats their combined form and Dr. Doppler without effort.

Wrath
Wrath (激怒) is the fourteenth chapter from the manga, originally published on April 1997.

Dr. Cain tries to repair Dr. Doppler while X protects them from Doppler's army. As Sigma starts to regain control over Doppler, Doppler decides to destroy himself to prevent going out of control and harming his friend Cain. X enters Sigma's fortress.

Oni
Oni (鬼) is the fifteenth chapter from the manga, originally published on May 1997.

X fights against Vile in Sigma's fortress.

Shine
Shine (輝き) is the final chapter from the manga. It was originally published on June 1997.

X fights against Sigma in his most powerful body, and is nearly destroyed, but his body regenerates and his armor becomes shiny, defeating Sigma. X disappears after the battle. Dr. Cain starts repairing Zero.

Rockman X Zero
Rockman X Zero (ロックマンX ZERO) is a two chapter story between the Rockman X3 and Rockman X4 manga with Zero as the main character. The two chapters were included with the Rockman X3 compilations.

Mars
Mars (赤き闘神) is the first chapter, originally published on July 1997. The Japanese title literally means "Red Fighting God", referring to the god of war named after the red planet, and to Zero, the red Maverick Hunter who has amazing power and is considered one of the strongest Hunters.

Zero has a nightmare where he imagines himself fighting Sigma, and then witnesses Sigma's face slowly transform into Zero's, shocking him. He then awakens from this nightmare after two months of being asleep, his repairs finally being completed by Dr. Cain in the laboratory. Cain informs Zero that X is still missing months after he defeated Sigma and the tower exploded. Zero and Cain both talk it over and reason that X is probably fine and will return sooner or later. Suddenly, Cain gets an urgent call in his laboratory notifying him of 37 Mavericks running roughshod in a nearby area. Zero decides to go there himself and fight the rampaging Mavericks.

After arriving at the scene, Zero manages to destroy 36 of the Mavericks by himself. The last one is the strongest, and he attempts to convert his arm into the Zero Buster cannon but there is a malfunction and it fails, his arm remaining the same. Before the Maverick can harm Zero, it is attacked by Colonel of the Repliforce military, who strikes it with his beam saber and has his squad of Reploid soldiers finish the job by blasting the Maverick to smithereens. Zero and Colonel are old friends, and the Colonel welcomes Zero back to his position, as he had been asleep for two months. Zero is surprised Colonel came with his army and thanks him for the rescue, but Colonel refuses to tell him why he arrived on the scene, and says that it is a military secret. Colonel then slyly insults Zero by telling him that the security situation in the area cannot be left to an incapable person, so Colonel and his soldiers would be taking command of the scene. He also tells Zero that the day will come when they fight together, and flashes a grin.

After leaving the area in Repliforce's hands, Zero returns to Dr. Cain's laboratory. He tinkers with his right arm, intent on fixing the Zero Buster so that it will not malfunction on him again during a mission, but his efforts are to no avail. Zero fondly remembers X and his fighting spirit while conversing with Dr. Cain, who tells him that he will only make his Buster more useless with his efforts. Suddenly, Blast Hornet appears on the screen, and informs Cain and Zero that a series of volcanic islands have appeared out of the sea suddenly. Zero states his intention to investigate it.

Ikaros
Ikaros (イカロス) is the second chapter, originally published on August 1997. The title of this chapter is a reference to Icarus, the son of Daedalus who escaped from Crete using artificial wings and then flew so close to the sun that the heat melted his wings and made him fall into the sea. In this chapter, X also gets close to a sun, albeit an artificial one, and manages to destroy it and come out alive.

The volcanic islands that mysteriously arose from the sea have also captured the attention of the Repliforce, as several flying Mavericks appeared from the islands and started attacking cities. The Repliforce fought back, and the result was heavy casualties on both sides with the battle not yet being over. To make matters worse, Repliforce's heat sensors have detected an unknown energy source emanating from the main island which could be dangerous. Zero contacts the Colonel and asks to meet him for help dealing with the Maverick threat. During the meeting, Colonel agrees to give Zero a Repliforce task force to command so Zero can effectively attack the Mavericks.

Zero and the Repliforce squad launch an effective attack against the Mavericks using flying battle vehicles, destroying several. Colonel observes the battle in an underwater Repliforce submarine, satisfied with Zero's progress. He decides to head out and attack the forces on the ground and brings his Repliforce subordinates Frost Walrus, Slash Beast and Storm Owl to participate in the assault, along with some foot soldiers. Since the Mavericks are busy fighting Zero and his team in the air, Colonel is able to launch a devastating artillery attack against the enemies' factories on the island. He then leads his squad forward and destroy more enemies, while Walrus, Beast and Owl have their own squads and effectively take down some Mavericks as well. All the Mavericks in the local vicinity are destroyed on both air and the ground.

However, just as they believe that the battle has been won, the ground under them explodes with volcanic ash, with a large, spherical thermal device rising from the ground and into the sky. Zero recognizes it as the AX-10 artificial sun, a project to provide the Earth with more energy due to shortages that were negatively affecting the population. The project was eventually scrapped due to difficulties getting it to work properly. Zero horrifically realizes that if it is allowed to stay in the atmosphere, the entire Earth will be burned and completely destroyed. The artificial sun must be destroyed if the Earth is to be saved.

As Colonel starts giving orders to his squad who are wearing heat-resistant insulation suits, one of the soldiers starts to run off on his own. Colonel orders the soldier to stay put and wait for further instructions, but the soldier runs off anyway. When Colonel stabs the ground with lightning from his saber to stop the soldier, he is able to leap high and dodge it and continue onward. Colonel is amazed than an ordinary soldier could have the ability to perform such a jump that only skilled Maverick Hunters usually can. When he sees that the soldier is running toward the AX-10, Colonel wonders whether the soldier is trying to be the Icarus* of today, and believes such bravery is admirable.

Meanwhile, Zero and his squad blast at the AX-10, but their attacks prove ineffective and Zero nevertheless decides to press forward still, ignoring the Colonel's frantic calls to return to the submarine. As Zero flies near the sun, he notices a Reploid standing in front of it, who is the same soldier who previously departed from Colonel's squad in order to try and destroy the AX-10 alone. Zero notices the soldier bears a striking similarity to X, and wonders whether it is really him. Not wanting X to fight the battle alone, Zero leaps from his aerial vehicle directly toward the sun, intent on landing a direct hit to it. Over the com device, Zero tells Colonel of his discovery, who in turn is baffled as he believes X died fighting Sigma. Zero tells the Colonel he saw him with his own eyes but obscured in insulation clothing, which causes the latter to realize that the brave, Icarus-like soldier who left to attack the AX-10 is X himself, disguised as a common soldier.

Zero proclaims that only X could challenge the artificial sun, as X himself is the "sun" that shines on the Earth. Zero lands a serious blow to the AX-10, piercing it with his arm and then launching a point-blank blast with his Zero Buster embedded inside which destroys his arm in the process and creates a hole right in the AX-10. As the explosion knocks Zero back and makes him fall toward the sea, Colonel has the submarine emerge from the water and personally catches Zero at the top of it to save him.

The soldier is able to use the hole Zero created to infiltrate the AX-10 and reach the main area. A Maverick tries to attack him but the soldier easily destroys it with one blast. After reaching the main area, he discovers the mechanical "heart" of the sun, and prepares to destroy it. He charges up his energy, destroying his insulation armor and revealing that he is indeed X after all, and destroys it with a powerful blast. The mission is over, and the threat has been ended.

Colonel thanks Zero for his cooperation and leaves to report the situation to his superiors, and the Maverick Hunters on the scene celebrate X's return. Zero thinks to himself that X is a modern-day Icarus*, given that he just destroyed an artificial sun.

Elsewhere, in an undisclosed, dark location with foggy skies, a mysterious Reploid in a cloak sits idly in a tower. He ominously remarks that with the Repliforce and the Maverick Hunters, things are becoming more and more interesting, and then laughs maniacally.