A New Dawn

Chapter 1: A Step Into the Past

"A peace bought by terror, and terror brought by peace. Things had changed much less then I first thought…"

In a torn and battered laboratory, two armored men fight a desperate battle. It raged in a shadowed room, its sounds echoing all over the quiet building. Dust swirled as sharp bursts of light punch through it, each shot a closer call then the last. A blast of energy rings out, barely stopped by an upheld shield. A deadly charged shot sails wide, slamming into an already weakened pillar. The brutal exchange, while only the work of mere minutes, seems to go on for an eternity.

Suddenly, however, the winds of battle change, and fate smiles upon her chosen. One man goes down, his wounded leg finally giving out on him. His opponent, sensing the end of the fight, draws a glowing blade of light from his side. Raising it high, he goes to end it all with a single final strike. A shield shoots out at the last moment, diverting the killing blow from its master.

The wild strike flew wide, directly into a nearby column. Stressed to the limit, the concrete slowly collapsed with a groan of pain. The sword wielder dived away; he did not intend to die here. With a quick jab to his belt he had teleported away, reappearing on a torn hill just outside.

Watching the tortured building collapse on itself, he returned his glowing blade. He chuckled to himself a little, which quickly turned into a full hearty laugh. He laughed at a job well done. He laughed at the trials he had to face to get him here. He laughed as he remembered the sight of his opponent attempt to bring his shield up in a pitiful attempt to protect himself from untold tons of concrete. He laughed at revenge, finally served.

The man slumped to his knees, feeling his power running low. The battle had taken a lot out of him, but it was all worth it in the end. His thoughts turned to his plans once he had been repaired; there was a lot to do now that the fighting was over. His injuries caught up to him, and he slumped into safe mode, shutting down.

In the background, the shaking had slowed to a stop, and things had almost gone peaceful again. As the moonlight shined down on the torn remains of a black armored robot, the world would know peace for a time to come…

The world had come a long way since days of old. Peace and prosperity had come to the world and many a technological achievements had advanced human kinds way of life. Not the least of which were the Reploids; a race of robots, designed to be partners with humans on their journey through life. Originally a race of servants, a series of spectacular battles had taken place in which certain Reploids had declared their independence, and showed the world that these machines were anything but unthinking automatons.

Called Mavericks by humans, or Irregulars by their robotic brethren, the defiant Reploids challenged the established order. A Reploid stopped them, however, by the name of X; he knew the way of peace could not be through hate and war. Assisted by his friend Zero, the two of them fought countless battles, quelling the Maverick Revolt by defeating its villainous leader.

Now the world is in a quiet peace. Following the lead of their two heroes, various groups came together to form a force collectively called the Maverick Hunters. In this project of both humans and Reploids, they could watch the world and stop any Maverick outbreaks before they could gain momentum.

It is in this world that an excavation site sits, nestled on the edge of a warm desert. Miles away from any cities, it was once the site of a great laboratory. It was destroyed, however, and later buried by the sands of the years. Found later by a traveler, it was turned into a site when artifacts of the past were found. Under the eye of the great Dr. Cain, famed creator of the Reploids, the site is one of many strewn about the world. In one of them Dr. Cain hopes to find a way to end the curse of the Mavericks once and for all…

Chipping away at the hardened concrete underneath him, the excavator Reploid chatted away with the man next to him. The Irregulars had been quiet of late, which he thought meant that they were up to no good. The man shushed him however; the last he had heard, the Maverick Hunters themselves had just put out an announcement along those lines. They had said that except for isolated incidents, there was no need to worry.

As the two argued their traditional sides in their traditional argument, a low clang suddenly rang out. The Reploid looked down to see that his pick had actually stumbled onto something. His friend crouched down to brush dirt off the object, telling his partner in no uncertain terms what would happen to him if he had damaged the find.

It was a grey piece of metal. Rolling his eyes, the man sat back on his heels as he realized they probably had found a piece of a floor or something. He looked up to the squat Reploid next to him, telling him to move on a few paces. Kicking at the dirt, he glared at the metal shard. As his foot ran over the smooth surface, it hit upon a bump on it, clearly showing a red-lined opening on the grey metal.

Eyes wide, he started pushing dirt around with a new zeal. Finding what looked to be an eye-slit, the Reploid crouched down to help. Between the two of them, they dug out a long, oval shaped object. Pale grey in color, it was lined with red along its outer edge. With its small red slot in the middle, it was quite clear that the object was some sort of shield.

The Reploid turned to his human companion and pointed, telling him to go get the supervisor. The man nodded then popped up, rushing over to the main tent. While he was gone, the robot kept working, digging away at the nearby area. By the time his friend came back with the others, he had dug out a small trench around the shield. With everyone's help, the group managed to pry the object from the ground.

Underneath was a man. Or to be more precise, it was a Reploid. He wore a heavily cracked red and white helmet with burn marks on his cheek. His body was torn and burned, and his right arm bore the remains of some sort of mounted cannon; sticking out from under the protective shield was his utterly crushed legs. From his condition it was obvious that he was in a heated battle, most likely what brought the entire place down.

With care, the group's technician and doctor started directing people to pull him from the ground. They slowly carried him back to the tent while the excavation director talked to the Reploid who had found him. Their animated conversation held everyone's attention as they debated where he had come from.

Back at the site where they found him, the first man sat, staring into the hole. Noticing an odd color in the dirt, he reached down and pulled out a tattered yellow scarf. Looking back at the Reploid who had just come out of the hole, he followed, sure that he would want it back if he was ever revived…

Not much now, but expect more in a little bit. Questions, Comments, Concerns?