One
A Megaman X fanfic
Written by Phil Smith (metallica_woodstock@msn.com)
Prologue
Dr. Light searched frantically through his notes.
"This isn't possible…"
He finally found what he was looking for.
"How could they have gotten in?"
He skimmed over the papers, his eyes dancing like fireflies on a full moon.
"This isn't possible…"
He ran frantically over to a cylinder-type machine with a control pad in front of it.
"9, 4, 6, 11, 3, 2, 6…"
The keypad beeped at every number inserted.
At the press of six, steam hissed out from under the cylinder. It lowered into the ground, as if an arm from the depths of Hell had grabbed it and pulled it down.
Dr. Light stood there.
Bam, bam, bam.
Dr. Light could hear the sounds of war all around him, even locked in his lab.
He could hear the barking of machineguns, and the replying sound of an explosion and an unearthly scream. Such was the ways of the enemy. Torture. Dr. Wily made sure his enemies suffered the most pain possible before their death.
Bam, bam, bam.
He could hear it. Like death knocking on his beating heart, knocking.
He could hear it like a call to the other side. A call to the plane of the dead.
Pow, POW… BAM!
The titanium-reinforced door to Dr. Light's lab burst open. Mechanical angels of death roared in, laughing at what was to befall Dr. Light. They were created to serve Dr. Wily. Their purpose could not be altered. Nobody could get close enough to re-program them.
That is what was lowered into the depths of the fortress.
A mechanical being, with true artificial intelligence. A mechanical, robotic, metallic being, with the ability to decide his fate. With the ability to decide whom he loves, who he hates, whom he works with, who he kills. With the ability to decide what he does. With the ability to learn. Like a human. Except not a human. He was a robot. A mechanical shell with a spirit.
His surrogate son would not be destroyed by these robotic demons.
"Ready to die, old man?"
With that last comment, a hulking robot that looked like it weighed at least seven tons ripped out a piece of the wall and smashed Dr. Light. His screams of agony echoed through the halls of his laboratory fortress. Blood ran from under the metal that had been, a few minutes ago, Dr. Light's only protection, which had instantly turned into his grave. Underneath the chaos, the surrogate son of Dr. Light slept in a cold sleep, breathing arithmetically, his blue chest plate rising and falling with each breath of cold, processed air, and then being sifted through for oxygen particles to run his battery that kept him alive, and then, the mechanical lungs ejected the excess gasses, the same way a human exhales. The new breed of intelligent beings was upon the world. The Reploids would take the Earth and its outlying space colonies by storm, nearly four hundred years later…
1 Chapter One
The archeologists looked out upon the landscape that was to be their next digging site.
"What are we looking for again?"
Edward covered his eyes against the hot sun. "And why are we even bothering to dig on Earth? This place was ripped to shreds during the 25 Year War."
Fargo turned to his questioning colleague. "Haven't you heard the rumors of Dr. Light's fortress?"
"Dr. Light is a mythical being."
"Not from recent discoveries. An excavation site about 100 kilometers from here found the remnants of Dr. Wily's laboratory fortress. They found science notes, a journal, and a junkyard of monstrous proportions. He must have been a satanic worshipper, because they also found massive skulls made of steel mounted all over the exterior of his fortress. They found massive libraries of books full of legends, blueprints, and techniques. If Dr. Wily was a real person, then Dr. Light must have been as well. And maybe those rumors of 'X' are true too…"
They all smiled at the thought of a robot with the ability to think like a man.
"Let's go, troops."
Deep inside a cold, damp cavity in the earth, the cylinder stood. The humming of its cryogenic processors whispered through the ground like a baby's breath.
But then that breath was interrupted.
A high-pitched hiss gave way, and cold steam poured out from the bottom of the cylinder. The green glass rose, leaving half of it to cover the back of the cylinder. The mechanical body stood, black hair frozen, solemnly, in the midst of the carbon steam. Little green numbers and letters skittered across the LCD screen of the keypad like little green digital ants, carrying their bit of food, of information, to the colony. A cold, mechanical voice uttered the words of mechanical life: "Entity: 'X' Initialized."
The blue machine fell out of the cylinder, and landed face-first on the rocks of the cave.
A hack, then a cough.
"How… when… Damn, that hurt…"
"Century: 22nd. Date: March 4th. Year: Unknown."
"22nd century? Jesus…"
"Jesus: A man in Christian teachings hailed as the begotten Son of Man. Also, a common name for Hispanics, pronounced Hey-zues."
"Shut up"
"Quiet mode activated. Say, 'Activate,' to re-activate."
'Damn machine"
No reply.
"Where am I?"
No reply.
"Dammit! Oh, I remember…Wait…"
1.1 How can I remember anything? I'm a robot…
"Activate"
"X-Capsule activated."
The front half of the capsule closed.
"Location, please."
"North America, Old Earth."
"Nearest civilized area?"
"None for 2,000 miles."
"Any settlements or anything like that?"
"There is an archeologist camp right above us."
"Is there a way to get to the surface?"
No reply.
"Hey. Computer thing?"
"X-capsule power has been depleted. No more information can be given. Shutting down…"
"No…"
A power-down sound rumbled through the caves.
"God dammit!"
X started walking. He walked in no particular direction. He bumped into stalactites, rocks, and limestone. After what seemed like hours of walking and running into things, X finally saw a dim light. "What… what is that? Is that the archeologist party?" He started in that direction. The light got brighter and brighter, and also larger. When finally he could see outside, he saw that the light wasn't as bright as it seemed. He was horrified by what he saw outside.
The ground was barren dirt, and skeletons littered the horizon. The sky was cloudy, filled with red clouds. Red, swirling clouds, as if they were a hurricane. Wind blasted X. He covered is already drying eyes and, instinctively, a black and blue facemask came down to shield his face from the harsh nuclear wind. Pulling his hand away, he looked through the black, tinted view. A HUD (Heads-Up Display) came up, colored green. Letters skittered across the screen. They read:
"Welcome to X-Control v1.0.6.1. Please select an option."
X was stunned. Not at the HUD, but at his own behavior. The wind was harsh and had dried his eyes; and what had happened? A facemask had been pulled over. He didn't even know it.
There were latitude-longitude coordinates, distance to location calculations, blaster supply meters… Everything. "What is a blaster?"
The HUD displayed the answer:
"A blaster, or X-Blaster, is your primary weapon. It fires spheres of plasma, which is superheated molocueles. It can disintegrate unprotected human flesh at the touch. Most materials on war machines are protected against plasma by a hard fiber armor called plasma-plate. That is what you're exoskeleton is made of. Your X-Blaster can be upgraded to different types of weapons, depending on the host you get the weapon from."
X nodded. That was interesting.
"Back to finding civilization…"
He looked around. He made use of his HUD binoculars, and zoomed in on what seemed to be metal tents.
A Megaman X fanfic
Written by Phil Smith (metallica_woodstock@msn.com)
Prologue
Dr. Light searched frantically through his notes.
"This isn't possible…"
He finally found what he was looking for.
"How could they have gotten in?"
He skimmed over the papers, his eyes dancing like fireflies on a full moon.
"This isn't possible…"
He ran frantically over to a cylinder-type machine with a control pad in front of it.
"9, 4, 6, 11, 3, 2, 6…"
The keypad beeped at every number inserted.
At the press of six, steam hissed out from under the cylinder. It lowered into the ground, as if an arm from the depths of Hell had grabbed it and pulled it down.
Dr. Light stood there.
Bam, bam, bam.
Dr. Light could hear the sounds of war all around him, even locked in his lab.
He could hear the barking of machineguns, and the replying sound of an explosion and an unearthly scream. Such was the ways of the enemy. Torture. Dr. Wily made sure his enemies suffered the most pain possible before their death.
Bam, bam, bam.
He could hear it. Like death knocking on his beating heart, knocking.
He could hear it like a call to the other side. A call to the plane of the dead.
Pow, POW… BAM!
The titanium-reinforced door to Dr. Light's lab burst open. Mechanical angels of death roared in, laughing at what was to befall Dr. Light. They were created to serve Dr. Wily. Their purpose could not be altered. Nobody could get close enough to re-program them.
That is what was lowered into the depths of the fortress.
A mechanical being, with true artificial intelligence. A mechanical, robotic, metallic being, with the ability to decide his fate. With the ability to decide whom he loves, who he hates, whom he works with, who he kills. With the ability to decide what he does. With the ability to learn. Like a human. Except not a human. He was a robot. A mechanical shell with a spirit.
His surrogate son would not be destroyed by these robotic demons.
"Ready to die, old man?"
With that last comment, a hulking robot that looked like it weighed at least seven tons ripped out a piece of the wall and smashed Dr. Light. His screams of agony echoed through the halls of his laboratory fortress. Blood ran from under the metal that had been, a few minutes ago, Dr. Light's only protection, which had instantly turned into his grave. Underneath the chaos, the surrogate son of Dr. Light slept in a cold sleep, breathing arithmetically, his blue chest plate rising and falling with each breath of cold, processed air, and then being sifted through for oxygen particles to run his battery that kept him alive, and then, the mechanical lungs ejected the excess gasses, the same way a human exhales. The new breed of intelligent beings was upon the world. The Reploids would take the Earth and its outlying space colonies by storm, nearly four hundred years later…
1 Chapter One
The archeologists looked out upon the landscape that was to be their next digging site.
"What are we looking for again?"
Edward covered his eyes against the hot sun. "And why are we even bothering to dig on Earth? This place was ripped to shreds during the 25 Year War."
Fargo turned to his questioning colleague. "Haven't you heard the rumors of Dr. Light's fortress?"
"Dr. Light is a mythical being."
"Not from recent discoveries. An excavation site about 100 kilometers from here found the remnants of Dr. Wily's laboratory fortress. They found science notes, a journal, and a junkyard of monstrous proportions. He must have been a satanic worshipper, because they also found massive skulls made of steel mounted all over the exterior of his fortress. They found massive libraries of books full of legends, blueprints, and techniques. If Dr. Wily was a real person, then Dr. Light must have been as well. And maybe those rumors of 'X' are true too…"
They all smiled at the thought of a robot with the ability to think like a man.
"Let's go, troops."
Deep inside a cold, damp cavity in the earth, the cylinder stood. The humming of its cryogenic processors whispered through the ground like a baby's breath.
But then that breath was interrupted.
A high-pitched hiss gave way, and cold steam poured out from the bottom of the cylinder. The green glass rose, leaving half of it to cover the back of the cylinder. The mechanical body stood, black hair frozen, solemnly, in the midst of the carbon steam. Little green numbers and letters skittered across the LCD screen of the keypad like little green digital ants, carrying their bit of food, of information, to the colony. A cold, mechanical voice uttered the words of mechanical life: "Entity: 'X' Initialized."
The blue machine fell out of the cylinder, and landed face-first on the rocks of the cave.
A hack, then a cough.
"How… when… Damn, that hurt…"
"Century: 22nd. Date: March 4th. Year: Unknown."
"22nd century? Jesus…"
"Jesus: A man in Christian teachings hailed as the begotten Son of Man. Also, a common name for Hispanics, pronounced Hey-zues."
"Shut up"
"Quiet mode activated. Say, 'Activate,' to re-activate."
'Damn machine"
No reply.
"Where am I?"
No reply.
"Dammit! Oh, I remember…Wait…"
1.1 How can I remember anything? I'm a robot…
"Activate"
"X-Capsule activated."
The front half of the capsule closed.
"Location, please."
"North America, Old Earth."
"Nearest civilized area?"
"None for 2,000 miles."
"Any settlements or anything like that?"
"There is an archeologist camp right above us."
"Is there a way to get to the surface?"
No reply.
"Hey. Computer thing?"
"X-capsule power has been depleted. No more information can be given. Shutting down…"
"No…"
A power-down sound rumbled through the caves.
"God dammit!"
X started walking. He walked in no particular direction. He bumped into stalactites, rocks, and limestone. After what seemed like hours of walking and running into things, X finally saw a dim light. "What… what is that? Is that the archeologist party?" He started in that direction. The light got brighter and brighter, and also larger. When finally he could see outside, he saw that the light wasn't as bright as it seemed. He was horrified by what he saw outside.
The ground was barren dirt, and skeletons littered the horizon. The sky was cloudy, filled with red clouds. Red, swirling clouds, as if they were a hurricane. Wind blasted X. He covered is already drying eyes and, instinctively, a black and blue facemask came down to shield his face from the harsh nuclear wind. Pulling his hand away, he looked through the black, tinted view. A HUD (Heads-Up Display) came up, colored green. Letters skittered across the screen. They read:
"Welcome to X-Control v1.0.6.1. Please select an option."
X was stunned. Not at the HUD, but at his own behavior. The wind was harsh and had dried his eyes; and what had happened? A facemask had been pulled over. He didn't even know it.
There were latitude-longitude coordinates, distance to location calculations, blaster supply meters… Everything. "What is a blaster?"
The HUD displayed the answer:
"A blaster, or X-Blaster, is your primary weapon. It fires spheres of plasma, which is superheated molocueles. It can disintegrate unprotected human flesh at the touch. Most materials on war machines are protected against plasma by a hard fiber armor called plasma-plate. That is what you're exoskeleton is made of. Your X-Blaster can be upgraded to different types of weapons, depending on the host you get the weapon from."
X nodded. That was interesting.
"Back to finding civilization…"
He looked around. He made use of his HUD binoculars, and zoomed in on what seemed to be metal tents.
