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To Chapter [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] "Humph." Sigma examined his new equipment. The other reploids stood several paces away and meekly looked on, hoping to get some sign of approval from their master. "Humph." Sigma repeated, and that was the best they got. "Master Sigma." Cyber Peacock stepped up to the Maverick leader. "How are you?" "Not well." Sigma grumbled. "That blue dream wrecker and his little friend Zero are both alive and well!" Cyber Peacock cowered back as Sigma made more unhappy noises. He knew better than try to provoke Sigma when he was in one of his moods. To his surprise, Sigma began laughing. "Mas.. Master Sigma?" Cyber Peacock asked lightly. "I'm about to be doing much better." Sigma declared. "Zero finally found out about Dr. Wily and I'm pretty sure that it won't be long before Zero becomes one of our friends." He cackled evilly. "On top of that, Vile is almost rebuilt." "In that case, sir." Cyber Peacock said, trembling, and chuclked nervously. "This new development shouldn't hinder our plans much." "Humph." Sigma stopped laughing and narrowed his eyes to slits. "What new development?" "Dr. Cain and the other Hunters have discovered two pods at the excavation site. Apparently there are three reploids inside." "Reploids? What kind of reploids?" "We don't know yet." "Well, get on it!" Sigma barked. "And as soon as Vile is ready, we'll go give Zero some encouragement on his progress." Sigma grinned. Zero would soon be on their side, and that means the Blue Bomber would be his to crush. To top it off, it would be Zero who brings X right where Sigma wants him. ************************************************************************ As Zero and X walked into Dr. Cain's lab, they noticed two new reploids already sitting. One was the girl they saw in the pod, the other was a complete stranger. He was clad in gray and red armor, wearing dark shades over his eyes and a yellow scarf around his neck. While the Grey Reploid remained sitting, the other stranger leaped up as X entered the room. "Mega Man! It's you!" The girl exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around X. "You're alive. It's good to see you after all these years." "Wha, what?" X stammered. "Who are you?" A look of betrayal crossed the girl's face, and she let go of X. Her initial happiness now mostly dampened. "You mean... you don't remember me?" "Maybe we'd better all sit down and let me try to explain what is going on." Dr. Cain cut in. They all complied. Everyone sat facing the doctor, who stood in front of a viewing screen. X studied the two new reploids. The girl looked harmless enough, she wasn't even armed with a weapon. X turned his attention to the other reploid, who might be more of a threat. He had an X-Type Buster, just like himself. Is this a coincidence? "X, I'd like you to meet your siblings: Roll and Protoman." X stared at Dr. Cain, to see if this was some kind of a mistake. Then he looked at the new reploids again with amazement. The girl reploid looked hopefully at X again, probably mentally willing X to remember a detail, any detail, about them. X took in a couple of breaths. No new memory surfaced. "After we moved the two pods into my lab, I discovered that there was a message on them." Dr. Cain pressed some buttons on the pad. "Please watch this." On the monitor, a bearded man with a lab coat appeared. X recognized the figure as Dr. Light, the man he's seen several times in the past as a hologram. "Hello," The bearded man said, "My name is Dr. Light. If you're seeing this message, then you must have found the stasis pods, which contains Roll, Protoman and Rush. I hope it's you, Mega Man." The man's face softened at the mention of the name. "If you are Mega Man, this is you sister, Roll, your older brother Protoman and your dog Rush. I hope you remember. Although there is a good chance you might not. "You see," Dr. Light continued, "Mega Man, you were the first to be changed to a reploid, a robot with the same feelings as any human being. We weren't sure if you were going to turn out fine, so I had to seal you in that capsule, for thirty years, to ensure you wouldn't rebel against the humans. I knew I probably wouldn't live to see you when you come out of the pod...but it didn't matter. I had to make sure that you wouldn't malfunction. "Then Dr. Wily, an evil scientist trying to take over the world, attacked. He stole a large bomb and held the world at ransom. So I decided to make Roll, Protoman and Rush into reploids as well, in hopes that they could help fight Wily when they woke up from their capsule. I reinforced their capsule against the blast of the bomb, so they wouldn't be damaged. But I never had a chance to reinforce Mega Man's capsule, because it was already buried and there was no time to dig it up. Then Wily dropped the bomb." The Doctor's voice trailed off. "I don't even know if Mega Man's capsule survived the blast. "Wily killed a lot of people that day, so I pressed on. Right now, as I am recording this message, I am building more robots against Dr. Wily. Megaman couldn't fight for us anymore, so I'm afraid it's a downhill battle. However, all hope is not gone. I will fight Dr. Wily to my last breath." A pause. "I hope you see this Mega Man, Roll, and Protoman. I hope you all turn out fine." The screen went black. X stared at the screen in disbelief. "I have a brother? A sister?" "Mega Man?" Roll asked. "You still don't remember us?" X turned to Roll and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I don't." "It's no problem, bro." Protoman finally said something. "You're still our brother, even if that whack by the bomb took out your memory." "Yes." Dr. Cain joined in. "That must have been what happened. Because your capsule wasn't reinforced with the shield, you were affected by the blast. And because the schematics between you and Protoman are almost identical, I have to conclude that the same scientist created you two. So in most sense of the word, you two are brothers." "I can't believe it..." X mumbled as he tried to soak in the news. He seemed to sink deeper in his chair in thought. "The even more disturbing part is yet to come X." Dr. Cain said. "It appears that this Dr. Wily person is also responsible for the creation of Vile, and Sigma." Protoman nodded. "Before Roll and I were sealed in the capsules, there was already news that Dr. Wily had created reploids of his own. We're not sure exactly what these reploids are, but since Sigma and Vile are the ones creating the most trouble, we can only guess Wily's responsible." "Dr. Wily." X said the name slowly, thoughtfully. "He isn't still here, is he?" "No," Dr. Cain replied, "Records show that Dr. Wily died when the police and army raided their Fortress." "And what happened to Dr. Light?" X popped out of his chair and asked eagerly. "Is he still alive?" "I'm sorry X." Dr. Cain said. "Dr. Light worked hard at creating a force of reploids to fight Dr. Wily. Wily knew about this and eventually got to Dr. Light. Without Megaman to protect him..." X slumped back into his chair. "So Dr. Wily is the source of all their troubles. Sigma, Vile, who knows what else? And my siblings Roll and Protoman, they're my new allies. So much, so fast! Why can't I remember anything?" "Zero," X turned to where Zero was sitting, "What do you-" Then X realized that Zero was gone. ************************************************************************ Zero quietly sneaked out of Dr. Cain's lab and took a motorcycle to the roads. He couldn't stand to be inside any place right now. Everything was so... out of control; out of his control. He felt like his brain might explode with all his thoughts bouncing around inside. "So there was a Dr. Wily." Zero said as he drove further from the Maverick Hunters HQ. "And he is X's enemy. Does this mean that I am his enemy?" "Yes, Zero." Dr. Wily's voice rang in his head. "You are X's enemy. You must destroy him when the time is right." "Stop saying that!" Zero yelled as he clutched his head with one hand. "I won't kill X. He is my friend." "You were programmed to be his friend." Dr. Wily's voice echoed in his head. "You were to gain his trust and dispose of him when he would least suspect it. Don't you remember, Zero? That was the plan." "No..." Zero accelerated the motorcycle, trying to out run the voice. "You and X were always on different roads. You were created to destroy him. That is the prophecy. It is coming." "No!" Zero ripped across the road. He needed to get away, go somewhere! Anywhere! "You are X's enemy." Zero moaned as the voice tortured his mind and ripped his head apart. He was torn between obeying his creator and being loyal to his friend. Nothing he said or thought seemed to change the loyalty to his owner programmed in him. However, he felt just as much friendship for X. The ambivalence was killing him. "X only pretended to be your friend because it was convenient, Zero. You were a good Hunter. They needed you. Why else would he have been so nice to you?" Dr. Wily's laughter continued to roar in Zero's head. "You're wrong!" Zero declared. At that moment, Zero felt that the voice was gone. He slowed the motor cycle to a stop. "I beat him. This time." He said as he breathed heavily. Then he looked around him. "Where was I going?" *********************************************************************** "Zero!" X called to the Maverick Hunter as Zero walked down the hallway at HQ. "Where have you been? We were all worried about you." There was X again, a concerned little houswife. For some reason, Zero felt very negativly about everything X did right now. Zero bitterly looked at X "I didn't want to interrupt your family gathering X." He declared. "What are you talking about? You sound mad." X kept walking with Zero. "Mad?" Zero said sarcastically. "Me? Mad? No way. Why should I be mad at you, X? It's not like I just realized now that you've got your brother, sister and even the family pet together again, you don't need little old me anymore!" "Zero. Are you okay? Why are you saying things like this?" Zero stopped walking, blinked several times, shook his head and started to giggle. "Zero?" X asked carefully. "Oh, X, I think I had one drink too many at the party. I'm completely beat. It's two in the morning already. I think I'll hit the sack." Without another word, Zero walked away, leaving X standing in the corridor, dumbfounded. "Zero..." X stared after his friend, more confused and worried. Zero usually got emotional. Sure, Zero got mad, but he'd never seen Zero edgy this way before. ********************************************************************* Zero left X behind, but someone else joined him. "Zero..." It was that voice again. Dr. Wily. "Zero?" "Shut up." Zero commanded as he walked down the corridor. "Is that any way to talk to your creator?" Around the corner, Dr. Wily appeared before Zero's eyes. Dr. Wily appeared in front of him, just as he looked in his dreams. Wild hair, evil smile, and that look of smugness in his eyes. "You're here!" Zero shouted, and backed up several steps. "That's impossible!" Zero doesn't scare easy, but this was one of those rare occasions. The man that's owned a part of his thoughts and an uninvited guest in his dreams was standing before him. It was bad enough Zero had to deal with him in his mind, but he wasn't sure what to do with Wily physically right in front of him. "I had to see you, Zero." Dr. Wily took a step towards Zero. "I had to come and tell you where to go next." Dr. Wily's smile got even more psycho than usual. "You can't tell me what to do. I'm Zero, head of the-" "Yes, yes, we all know your rank." Dr. Wily said impatiently. "But you need to know where you are going next." Dr. Wily grabbed Zero's arm and, with incredible strength, dragged Zero unwillingly down the corridor. "How?" Zero exclaimed. He continued to struggle to get off Wily's grip. To his surprise, Wily had no trouble holding on. Was this because he couldn't use force again his creator? This was going to be problematic. "Zero." Wily said gravely. "We're here." The Maverick Hunter got up from the ground and stood in front of the door. "But this is X's room." Zero said nervously. "Precisely." Wily said. "Go inside." Zero found himself activating the silding doors and walking into the dark room. He saw X, asleep on the bed, unaware of Zero or Wily. "What am I doing here?" Zero thought. "What do you think?" Wily said. Zero walked towards the sleeping X. He stared down at the Blue Hunter and studied his face. "X, my friend." Somehow the Z-Saber ended up in his hands, humming and ready to use. "Where to go." Zero repeated. "Where to go." Without another word, he brought the Z-Saber crashing down on to X. There was a bright flash, and then the room was dark again. Zero bolted upright on his bed, face contorted with horror and hair a big mess. Zero looked around him in fright, searching for any sign of what went on. Then he remembered X, and his Z-Saber. He hopped out of bed and tore down the hallways of the Maverick Hunter HQ, towards X's room. When Zero got there, he stood studying the door. He was afraid to see what was inside. Zero rang the bell on the door, and waited. No one answered. "What have I done?" Zero whispered. Just then, a groggy looking X opened the door. X scratched his brown hair and yawned. "Zero?" X asked. "What's going on? What time is it?" Zero let out a breath. "It was all a dream." He thought as he leaned against the doorframe. "I didn't kill X." "Nothing X." Zero said. "Just up for an early morning jog and thought I'd stop by." X gave Zero a strange look, mumbled a groggy "good night" and closed the door. Zero slowly made his way back, cursing Dr. Wily's name as he went along. He was terrified when he thought he had killed X. Even if it was in a dream, how could he destroy his partner? "No," Zero thought, "Dr. Wily can only put voices and dreams into my head. But he could never make me kill X." ********************************************************************** [HOME] |
