This is a story I have posted on the REO forums. It received positive reviews from those who read it, so I decided to submit it here. Enjoy.

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Title: The Link Between Past and Present

Author: Crossword (aka ComicX6)

Category: Heavy AU/ Action

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman.exe or Megaman.exe, Capcom does. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are liars.

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For decades men had relied on network technology, perhaps too much. While computers could make things easier to do, they were as vulnerable to viruses and bugs as they ever were...

In the early 21st century, a virus outbreak of cataclysmic proportions occurred. With it, ended the glorious age that men had known...

After several chaotic and war filled years passed, the mega corporation Technology Incorporated, more commonly known as T-Inc or T-Corp, offered a solution: it would use its advanced technology to drive the viruses to extinction. The war weary world eagerly agreed.

But it was a lie.

While the viruses were in fact reduced, they were not completely eradicated, and then T-Corp took over.

The weak remains of world governments were swept aside, replaced by T-Corp executives. The upper class lived in comfort, while everyone else was all but forgotten. Ghettos, destitute towns, and refugee camps sprung up everywhere, often in the shadow of a gleaming city. This way of life continued into the year 21XX.

Over time, small resistance groups sprung up, usually consisting of several people and their navis. They were all independent of each other. T-Corp barely bothered with them, since they were scattered and unorganized.

This story is about one such group, and what they discovered...
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Chapter 1: The Lost Boy
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A small boy wandered into Kyotoro. His eyes were brown, and his mussy hair was deep red. All he wore was a filthy, tattered T-shirt and an equally forlorn pair of shorts. His bare feet were dirty and the soles encrusted with dried blood.

In one hand he clutched an old photograph, in the other, a beat up, blue, empty Progress PET. Its screen was cracked and some of its paint was chipped off. These two tokens were all he had left to remind himself that he had once had a home...

On either side of the street, if the dirt road he was walking on deserved to be called that, were shacks barely fit for human habitation. A little further on, there were slightly more desirable places to live: manmade houses and ancient barracks, all in a state of disrepair.

It was early morning, so there were not many people on the street, but there was a small group of men talking to each other. The boy hurried over to them.

''Uh, misters?'' he said timidly. One of them men turned around. He had a beard and a grizzly stock of hair. He looked down at the boy, who could not have been older than 9. ''What do you want kid?'' he growled.

The boy gulped, intimidated by the man's size and appearance. He held out the photo in a shaking hand.

''Have you seen my Mama?''

Instead of a kind answer, the man growled, '' I don't have time for games, no be gone, or you'll be sorry.''

Tears filled the boy's large, round eyes, but he did not cry. Instead, he ran in the opposite direction, as the men let out a hearty laugh.

All day he wandered the town, asking people the same question. '' Sir, have you seen my Mama?'' ''Have you ma'am?'' '' Please, she looks like this...'' But all he got were cool stares or threats.

By the end of the day he was lost, cold, and hungry. He crawled into an alley and plopped himself down next to an overflowing trash can. There, all the tears he had been holding in burst forth. Great sobs shook him, and he slowly cried himself to sleep.
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I should have more chapters up soon. I don't think the writing is as good towards the beginning, but it gets better later on. Reviews are welcome.