Nexus Necromancies: Well that was an interesting first act eh guys?

Metal Sonic: I've seen worse, though you did just copy all that from Maverick hunter X.

Nexus Necromancies: True, but it had to be done for the intro.

Bass: Hey shut up and lets get this over with! Nexus Necromancies does not own any Mega Man series or their characters!

Nexus Necromancies: I do however own every character who will be shown in this chapter! Except Vile of course. Now ON WITH THE SHOW!

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"The soul is a strange thing. It is undefinable by religious and scientific standards. However without it, Reploids are nothing more than machines. The debate rages on about Reploid Souls but I am a firm believer in their existence." - Dr J.Cain: The Reploid Soul

First there was darkness...

Then a blinding light...

And slwoly, the light faded and Vile finally opened his eyes. He winced, expecting to feel the intense pain of X's charge-shot induced hole, but there was nothing. Hesitantly, he looked down, then reached for his chest, feeling around the solid armour there, finding it hard to believe what his own senses were telling him. That he wasn't even scratched despite the battles he had fought only moments prior. It made no sense, that is what he kept telling himself. It was impossible for him to be whole again after that. He should at least have his chest parts replaced.

His head jerked up. He had heard something. It was only now that he noticed where he was. An endless field of green grass, a clear blue sky above. There was no sun to be seen but there was sunlight everywhere. He stood up, looking all around him, unable to see where the noise had come from. It came again, this time he knew it was behind him. It was laughter. Pure, innocent, children's laughter. He whirled around, spotting the source.

Two child-model reploids were chasing one another in a circle. One looked like a girl, maybe 7 years old, with short brown hair and blue eyes, who was chasing after a boy that looked to be 10, with black hair and brown eyes. Both wearing white clothing, the girl in a sun dress and the boy in shorts and a t-shirt. Vile simply watched, surprised by their presence but whirled around quickly when he felt another being there with them.

Standing there was a tall male reploid, he was a humanoid model and while he had some reptilian traits on his armour his body was just like any normal human-type reploid. The armour he wore was tan brown, with black lines running over it, almost like scars. It covered his chest, shins and forearms. The lesser armoured parts were a deep black. Looking at the helmet he wore, which had the same pattern, it came out past his face, looking like the head of a lizard, with fangs running down the inside of the two parellel jaw-like parts which came out past his face. The armour was modelled after an ancient predator, one of the most intelligent species of its time: The Velociraptor.

Vile tensed, glad to find that his shoulder-mounted cannon still worked. He took aim and prepared to fire as he stood stock still. However, the reploid walked right through him, like he was a ghost. He stopped, stunned, eyes widening behind the helmet. He jerked himself out of his reverie, turning around to watch as the warrior stood, talking with the child-model reploids. He could see their mouths moving but could hear nothing.

"Alright, enough of this 'Twilight Zone' crap." Vile growled, clenching his fists. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

His voice echoed around the whole area, but the figures in front of him showed no indication that they had heard him. Finally his anger took hold. He stretched out his arm, hand pointed out, the concealed gun barrel's in the fingers opening up, the tips swinging up and away. Vile waited for a moment, giving them a chance to speak, then fired, blasting away with his vulcan gun, the shots flew, the small but powerful energy bolts flying straight and true, right up until they passed through them, just like the warrior had passed through Vile.

As the purple armoured reploid's temper burned all the hotter, he let loose with his shoulder-cannon, although it did nothing but tear up the ground. His napalm had the same effect, setting the green grass aflame. Finally he stopped, having let off enough steam.

They figures vanished, the ground shimmered and returned to normal. Now Vile understood.

"This whole thing...its one big hologram."

He raised a foot, slamming it back onto the ground hard, hearing the scream of metal on metal as the grass pixelated, then vanished, that spot becoming cold, broken steel, mixed in with shards of glass.

"Most impressive Vile." A deep, low bass voice echoed around, loudest from behind him.

He raised his head, turning around slowly to see, standing behind him, was a robed figure carrying a beam scythe in one hand. Its entire body except for the one arm which was stretched out, the hand of it holding the scythe, was obscured from view by a black cloak and cowl. The arm was armoured in black, a solid black, no change in the colour of the joints like with most reploids.

Vile chuckled to himself. "And exactly who're you supposed to be, the Grim Reaper?"

It didnt move, didnt give any indication of hearing him. Just before Vile shouted at him to answer, it spoke again.

"No. Though I was modeled after him." Its other hand slipped from beneath the cloak, reaching up to pull back the cowl, revelaing long straight black hair that came down past its shoulders, its face chalk white, eyes ice blue. "I am Reaper, gaurdian of this place of memories."

Vile looked around, confused. "Memories? This place is a memory? Of what?"

"Of a time before The Cataclysm." The figure replied.

Now Vile was intrigued. He had been forced to sit through world histroy, like all Maverick Hunter trainees and had never heard of this before. "And this 'Catacylsm'. What exactly is it?"

The figure shrugged, or at least it looked like it did. The cloak made it hard to tell. "I do not know. I was brought into this world after it ocurred and was not told the details. I only know this: It is why little history from the year 20XX survived."

Vile was about to respond when the entire area began pixelating and breaking up, revealing the true form of the place. It was nowhere near as large as it had seemed, but from all the doors set into the walls it was obvious it was not the only one of its kind. What stood behind the figure was what gave Vile a shock.

Sitting in stasis capsules, lined up together, were seven reploids. He recognised three instantly, as they were the ones he had seen in the hologram. The other four he did not know. Three female models. One was designed to look older than the others: taller, with flowing green hair and armour. The others were the same height and had blonde and brown hair, the brunettes was shortest, only coming down to the shoulders. The blonde was in blue armour, designed with ocean accents, fins on the arms and legs, the other had yellow armour, with huge gauntlets in the shape of the paws of a big cat, obviously meant to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat. The only other male was in red armour, with a shock of flaming red hair, it wouldn't have suprised him of he was designed to be fire-based. "Okay...and I'm here because?"

The one before him finally showed some emotion as he smirked. A door on the left and a door on the right opened. "Before I answer that question, you have a choice to make. Take the right door, you go back to sleep, never to be troubled for all eternity. Take the left door, and the truth will be revealed, but you may be torn apart by it."

The capsules were drawn into the floor, the ground sealing over once they were gone. Vile was looking over at the door on the left, shocked when he turned back to find that all the capsules and the robed figure had vanished.

Few things had survived 20XX, that was what he had said. Well it was true, but of the few things that had, most were old movies, and Vile rembered a situation like this in one of those films.

"Heh, so guess I'm taking the red pill then huh?"

Vile ran for the door on the left, engulfed by light as he headed through, looking back when it faded. The door was gone. "Okay, enough with the smoke and mirrors already." This room was simlar to the one he was just in, but better lit, with a huge ring of metal at one end. The figure was standing there, it had rid itself of the cloak and now that it could be seen properly, it was definite that he was a reploid.

"So, you chose the truth. I expected as much from one like you, Vile."

He clenched his fists again, clenchig his teeth. How dare he talk like he knew him? He knew nothing about his life! "And just how did you come to 'expect' it?" he growled.

"Simple, your pride would never let you stop before you finished." The black reploid replied. Vile didnt speak, thinking, he knew he was right. His pride was important, it was part of what made him what he was. "As for how things stand...you Vile, are not exactly in your right place. Welcome to 40XX, Earths Moon."

He looked up, stunned. How? Did he say 40XX! Two thousand years out of place? Not even on the right planet? "How! How the hell did I wind up here?!"

"All records from 21XX and readings taken upon your arrival indicate that you were being teleported and something went wrong. Your signal was lost in the aether, until arrving here. The sheer fact that you survived is a million to one shot." The reploid gestured to the ring behind him. "I am the gaurdian of this place, the last human construction in this solar system, The Archive, containing the memories of reploids and humans alike. And the only functioning time and space warp device in existence."

Vile tried to take all this in. It was difficult, but he couldnt deny what he had seen was far more advanced than what he knew. "So...why am I here?"

The reploid grinned, his first sign of emotion. "Because you interest me, and I am offering you a propisition. I think you should have a chance to be all you can be, prove your real power. But..."

Vile clenched a fist, this guy talked too much, and he sounded like that fool Bomerang Kuwanger. If he even mentioned the name 'X' he would start blowing things up. He didnt though, a wise move.

"That anger, your pride...I can tell its holding you back. You cant find your real strength with such a clouded mind." The ring behind him began to hum, shifting as many different lights and symbols flowed over it. "So, to paraphrase Louis Caroll, time to take a trip down the rabit hole."

Light came from the ring, the air within it shimmering, like a heat haze. Vile walked towards it. "So, what is this? Some stupid, spiritual enlightenment crap?"

He was standing on the ramp which led to the ring. Reaper grinned again. "This place holds many memories Vile, of many places. I will send you to places far from here, in time and space, so that you can find your own answers and your own potential. Maybe then, you can decide..."

Vile was almost at the shimmering air, his form blurring. "Are you Maverick, or a Hunter?" He stepped through, his body jerked, like he was being pulled along by the shoulders, multi-coloured lights blazed past his vision, stinging his synthetic eyes.

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He finally stopped, stone and steel under his feet, vision blurry. "Man, that had a real kick to it." He checked to make sure he was in one piece, then looked around. The sky above was black and brown, blocking out all sunlight. The ground was steel and concrete paving and stretching off left, right and centre were huge buldings, most belching out more smoke and toxins into the air. His sensors said the air was breatheable (barely), but that those clouds contained enough chemicals to eat through steel. He looked over his shoulder. It was just as bad that way, but eventually the clouds thinned and the sky cleared to a normal blue. A rolling plain of green and brown grasses between this 'city' (for lack of a better word to describe such a mess), and a huge forest which stretched as far as he could see.

"Alright, now where the hell am I?" He took a few steps into the city, figuring if anything was happening, it would be there. Then loud klaxon alarms sounded, robots pouring out from the factories. They were bipedal, with long limbs and thin chest armor, sqaut heads, looking like a half of a sphere, with a thin red visor, the head sat on a thick neck, they had minimal armour on the joints and limbs, obviously built for quantity not quality. They surrounded him in the dozens, guns springing out of their left arms, old fashioned laser rifles, which were not as bad as plasma but still damaging.

From under the helmet, Vile grinned madly. He did not even notice what they were saying, something about surrender. It was obvious they did not know just who he was. His shoulder-cannon hummed as it charged, the napalm launcher in his leg locking into place, his whole arsenal prepped and ready. "You guys wanna play then? Fine, its been a while since I had a good fight! Lets rumble!" The thrusters in his foot kicked into life, sending him headfirst into the first row of robots.

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Nexus Necromancies: Well peeps, this is as good a place as any to leave off, I would like to give great thanks to my very first reviewer Dracozombie!

Bass: Your first and only most likely.

Nexus Necromancies: Want me to stick magnets on those fish-fins Bass?

Bass: Come over here and say that to my face! 'Leaps on Nexus'

Metal Sonic: 'Looks at dust cloud as they fight' Oookay, looks like the boss is pre-occupied, so everyone, review, no flames or you will be hunted down and fed to Treble.

Treble: Groar!