MEGA MAN X: WHISPERS IN TIME

By Erico

CHAPTER FIVE: HOWL FOR THE AGES

I like to bite things. If they're furry little animals, they squeal before they die. If it's a robot, they fizz and crackle before shutting down. Sometimes, I'll even bite into a piece of steel just to see how big I can make my toothmarks.

I'm a purple wolfish dog who doesn't like too many things. Except biting stuff, fighting stuff, and being close to my master.

He calls me Treble, and somewhere I know that's my name. I don't like to talk much, and he understands that. But he knows me.

Some people call him Bass. But he's my master. I don't have to talk to him much. I can't talk to him. Not like he can talk with his enemies. Not like he can talk with Wily.

I speak to my master through expressions, gestures, growls and whimpers. And if I'm really angry, I'll even switch to binary to scream at him. But I can't talk. I don't have the speech programs.

That doesn't matter. I'm content just the way I am. I'm Treble. My master is Bass. And that's everything I need to know.


It was August 7th, 2085, according to what my master told me later. Four years ago, when we were just starting out, we went into Doctor Light's lab and stole some stuff. Some stuff to help make me and my master, Bass, stronger. But also some other stuff…

'Plans'?? Is that what Wily called them…

But it resulted in the thing sleeping inside of that capsule in front of our eyes. Me, and Wily, and my master, and all the Robot Masters stood around, watching on.

It was unnatural, even more so than me and my master…Something about it frightened me. Adorned in gleaming red armor, it seemed born only for the purpose of…

Madness…And I growled at it, because it was all I could do. I wanted to destroy it, tear the thing apart, because this feeling deep in my stomach told me this thing was wrong…so very wrong…

But I couldn't destroy it. Wily would never allow it. I obey my master, but even he is a subordinate to Wily…

He and I were still of one mind, one single thought racing between us. I couldn't hear him say it, couldn't read his thoughts, but I knew it, knew he was thinking the exact same thing.

This THING was brewing with something more dark…maa…malevolent…Than anything ever before…And it scared me…

And then as my master flatly tells Wily this is wrong, the crazy white haired man turns about and snaps an insult at him.

It hurts his feelings, I understand what Wily is saying…We're beyond the point of doing anything now, Wily has started the cogs of whatever will come…All I can do is nuzzle my master's drooping hand and let him know somebody still cares about him.

And then it awakens. Slowly at first, plodding around in a state more robotic than even the Robot Masters…Wily leads him to his platform and begins to shout out orders…

AFTER HIM!!

After who??…And then the thing snaps…


The thing's gone crazy, just as my master and I thought he would…he's ripping robots apart, but he seems to be intent on killing Wily.

My master barks an order, a mere formality. Already I'm lunging forward with him, at his side in the most desperate fight of our life, the faithful pet…

I'm smaller, smaller than my master. I manage to sneak in underneath the thing's maddening swath and bite onto his leg…I clamp my teeth shut and revel in the feeling of being who I am, a robotic dog who likes to bite things…

The thing screams, but I can't tell if he's angry or in pain…My master is firing at point blank range at him, while I continue to grate and chew on the thing's leg. It seems for a moment we've subdued him…

But then the thing snaps its leg up, and me along with it, right into my master's line of fire.

No, please, not me master!!

He stops shooting, but a shot still burns into my side…And I wonder just how smart is this thing…

Smarter than my master??

The thing brings its arms down, breaking me free from his leg with a yelp…swinging his freed limb about, he hurls me into my master, sending the both of us flying into a wall.

And then it throws a Robot Master's legs at us…but my master stretches out, and protects me from the blow…

But it's too late…We're shattered, broken, destroyed. There is nothing we can do now, except watch…

The thing is tearing Wily apart…

I'm afraid…afraid and horrified and sickened…And I whimper, and I know my master thinks the same…

I also know there's nothing more to be done here…We need help, we need someone as strong as us…maybe even stronger to stop this thing…

"We'll get him soon for this." My master growls at me. I growl back, reciprocating the thought. My turned stomach settles down…Now isn't the time…

And my mind settles once more on thoughts of the battle yet to come, and what I'll rip into pieces…

And we are gone, gone for the only place on all the world that has the help we need.

Tokyo, Japan…More specifically, the home of my master's nemesis…Mega Man…


We're both in bad shape when we land. But there's no immediate danger, because I know just as well as my master that whenever we've come here before looking for vengeance, they never fired the first shots.

We're right as ever…they huddle in a giant group on the porch, staring out at us warily, but doing nothing. They say something to my master, and he says something back. But then he collapses worse than before, tearing his helmet off and clutching at his head.

Master…what's wrong, master??

But somehow he manages to pull himself out of it, turn to them and snap a barking reply. It jars them. I know what my master said…he's angry because they don't believe him.

Fools, all of them...

It's sinking into them, they're realizing the dreaded Bass is telling the truth now. By just how we look even emphasizes truth in his words. We've been wounded…and we could have suffered far worse.

Then one of them's running towards Bass, kneeling down beside him with a look of concern over her face.

Stay away, you…he's MY master, I'm not going to let you hurt him…

"Down." My master commands wearily. I stop instantly, catching onto the inflection within that one word. This one will not hurt him, or hurt me. This one is here to help him, and I don't need to be protective.

We just stay outside for a while longer, while Bass explains as best he can where that THING came from…and how, by some odd twist of fate, the two of us are partially responsible for his being.

And then comes the shuddering truths as Doctor Light finally leads us all into the deepest underground recess of his laboratory. There, sitting in a corner is a capsule so eerily similar to the one that bore Wily's Thing. But the thing inside this one…I can sense no darkness, no evil. Not a single taint of any negative trait. I'm at ease with this one, yet somehow I also sense he is a Mega Man. And no matter what sort of alliance my master jumps into, I'll always keep a certain level of vengeance for Mega Men. His eyes are closed, and he seems to be sleeping within the dark confines of his sarcophagus.

Master…what do we do now??

He's somehow answered this question already. We must now fight Wily's Thing. To protect Light's Thing.

Why do I call them things…

They're not robots…I'm a robot, my master is a robot. These are more than what we are. I can only call them Things.

Mega Man and his friends will fight for Light's Thing, and to stop Wily's Thing from causing further harm. My master fights for his rage…Rage at the thing who's taken everything away from him.

And what do I fight for…As I sit on the floor, watching Roll repair my master, I think about that.

Yes, I think…But no answer comes.

What do I fight for…

I look up with my eyes, letting my muzzle lie where it is. My master offers no answer, and the question continues to burn through me…

I don't know. I DON'T KNOW. I don't know what I fight for. I just fight. Does everything need a reason?!

Maybe…I let my eyes fall again and begin my shutdown sequence.

Tomorrow…Maybe I'll know…tomorrow…


Somehow, my master's so-called allies managed to finish their goodbyes, and we all left off for where the Thing had landed. He was as still as red and as collected as always...and I still shuddered at the prominent air that flickered off of him. Perhaps the others couldn't see it. I could.

Fused with my master, we were stronger as one. We all opened fire on the Thing…

But it did no good. I knew they were arguing tactics for a bit after that. Something about supershots…But then everything was shattered apart.

The Thing's arm danced in light for a moment…and morphed into a Buster. I felt my master tense up for a moment, almost dreading that the shot might well be heading in our direction.

But it went towards Mega Man, my master's enemy…It struck him hard enough to force his own dog, Rush, to defuse. And then Rush was gone, blown away into dust.

I know fear…I can be afraid, and of this Thing, I'm so very afraid…

I can feel my master's thoughts as he worries about MY safety…When I'm so worried about his…Together, we fly down and blast charge into the Thing, sending him tumbling as we fly on.

He recovers too fast for us…his shots are enough my master and I have to disengage from our morphed form. In the instant before we defuse, I feel my master's terror as he thinks of me being blown apart just like Rush was.

No, not me…NOT YET!!

I dodge and weave, and Wily's Thing's efforts are all in vain. My master screams for a moment, then all three of them release their supershots, forcing the Thing to stop its firing and dodge. And it does dodge…with so much speed I can't follow.

And then…comes the most foreign words I've ever heard my master utter.

"Mega Man, you head back. And take Treble with you." I blink a few times, for once desperately wishing I could talk like my master does…

I don't want to leave you!! I don't want to let you die here!! Enough, you've done enough, master! It's their problem now, not ours!! Wily never let us be free, and now when at last the opportunity arrives, you want to throw your life away fighting an impossible battle?!

Then the shots come raining down on my master and the gray one, Protoman.

Master…you're hurt…I whimper and start to walk towards him after the blast, after he's yelled at Mega Man one last time and the Blue Bomber's warped out…Like the coward he is, just running…

Master, I don't want to go…

"Get outta here, you stupid mutt!" He screams at me. "Save yourself!" And then, he's said it…

Master, I can't leave you…you're all I have…

But his stare is enough. I have to carry out his order…But as I leave, a thought runs ever so clear.

I've just left him to die…

I've left MY MASTER…

To die…Alone…


Everyone was stunned to see the all too familiar beam of aqua blue light warp down from the sky above and re-coalesce into Mega Man. Duo, Roll, and Auto were standing guard outside by then. And despite everything, the sky was unbelievably clear, with only a thin cloudline rolling in from the west.

"Mega Man?" Duo asked in a concerned voice, his face showing concern. "What happened?"

The Blue Bomber looked from one face to the other, a blank stare his only response before he tore off his helmet and let it drop to the grass beside him. He opened his mouth to speak…

Then shut it and bowed his head. Only Auto had the ability to speak after those five seconds.

"Oh no." He whispered, his own limited AI parameters still showing the dread they all felt. Mega Man finally looked up, his eyes glassy and tearless, yet deserving tears.

Treble warped down a few seconds later. He wobbled back and forth unsteadily on his paws, his own wounds severe enough to cause some pain.

"They're dead." Mega Man said hollowly. As if the statement was a heavy iron club, his knees gave out and he collapsed into a kneeling position. "They told me to leave…Said they were already dead…"

Light stepped outside onto the porch, his own face ashen and streaked with tears.

"I saw." He whispered. "I saw it all, Mega Man. One of my old aero-drone cameras…" He blinked his eyes a few times, then brushed away the tears and sniffled back in his cries. "Protoman, Rush…blown into atoms. And Bass took his own life with a suicide blast."

"Why…" Roll whispered. She lifted her head up and turned to Light, so desperate for her own tears to cry. "WHY?!" Her voice quavered into cracking, her body shook…but no watery drops fell from her face.

It was then that one of the survivors let his feelings be known…the only way he could, the only way he knew.

Treble tensed up every metallic muscle in his body, reared his head back and howled long and mournfully at the sky. As if cursing the fact that it should dare be so sunny on the worst tragedy ever to happen to him.

Nobody there could console him, nobody there could speak words of comfort. Perhaps Treble knew he didn't belong…

And so, whimpering, he left. In his warped beam of light, Treble forever vanished from the only world, the only faces he'd ever known.

Light dabbed at his face with a kleenex, holding Roll tightly as her body continued to shake in her agonized pain. He watched the beam of light streak off, and was remembered of the last thing he saw Bass order Treble to do before blowing himself, the camera, and hopefully, the Demon, into dust.

"Poor creature…" Light sniffled, watching Treble soar off into oblivion.

"He's still following his master's orders."


Where do I go now…

I've felt pain before. I've felt my armor grow singed and melted by the fury of plasma. I've felt my vital systems give way to severe physical trauma. But nothing has prepared me for this…

Master…Master, why did you leave me?!

I want to cry out, I want to scream.

I'm all alone now…I couldn't save my master, he sent me away…

WHY?! Master…BASS…Don't you see?! My life was serving you, protecting YOU!! Not the other way around!

You threw it all away…to help THEM…they were our enemies, master!! Why did we help them? In the end, what did it gain you? Acceptance?! LOVE?! Only your death, Bass. You're dead now. DEAD!

Damn them all, why can't I cry…I want to so badly, I've lost everything now…

You were the only one who ever cared for me, Bass…Why did you do this??

What is there left for me now? Rage?? No, it's not my rage…My grief??

That's it…that's all I have left now. My grief. My anguish. My pain. I just want it all to end…I don't care if there's nothing beyond what I have now. I'd prefer the void over this!!

But I can't end it, can I…Even now, my mind…Unnnghh…turning against me, forcing me to cease even thinking about…about…

Suicide…

A robot must act to preserve its own life, unless such actions conflict with the first two laws.

I can't think about it, I can't ponder it, I can't do it…

I've been cursed now, haven't I…Cursed to this life until the end comes for me. I cannot go to it.

Humans…We robots are their children, their creations. But they deprive us of almost everything that makes them unique.

I want to cry. I cannot. I want to end my pain and suffering, no matter where I might find myself after the act of self destruction. I cannot.

I've warped…warped to the wildernesses left in Japan. Running, running…

I wanted to let my master know how much I truly cared for him. I could not. I wanted to protect him from his death…but…I COULD NOT…

The sun is high in the sky above, and my weakened legs finally give out, causing me to stumble and crash to the ground, lying motionless in a place that nobody would ever find me…

I can't run anymore, master. I'm tired. I'm so very tired. I want to sleep, sleep forever, leave this living nightmare. I've lost it all, I've lost you…My fault, my fault I didn't stay behind…

Do humans feel like this?? My circuits threaten to overload, the emotional strain is so intense on them…Must…Body must…rest…

Master, where do we go from here??

No…Before I sleep…must…correct…

Bass…

Where do I go from here??


It was the night of August 8th, 2085 before Treble's weary body finally finished the extensive internal repairs and managed to slow the effects of his emotional trauma. Still, in him the effect was cumulative. Like a person affected with Xeroderma Pigmentosum who would inevitably die of skin cancer or the psychological disorders that came from their skin's inability to repair its cellular damage, Treble's damage to his mind's circuitry would remain behind and slowly alter his demeanor, fragment memories, cause him to possibly even go insane…

But he knew none of that. There was no one to take care of him, no one to comfort him. At last, Treble was alone in the world. Without a home, without a purpose, without his master…without a life.

The moon laughed at him as much as the bright sunny day had, glaring down in its full stage, moonbeams of reflected sunlight so very clear.

Already, the effects of his trauma began to affect him, his thoughts more jumbled than ever before.

But the one conscious thing he held onto was a simple, very animalian instinct.

He warped to Mount Fuji and climbed up to its highest point. And standing there, he reared back onto his rear haunches and howled a long and mournful cry of pain that echoed from the peak and carried even into Tokyo.

Everyone lost interest in Light, Wily, and Mega Man after two years of silence and the subsequent eruption of Mount Fuji in October of 2087. Their trials, their exploits almost became lost as the world once more fell into conflict and chaos, no outside threat for them to rally against.

But even until the dawn of 2118, after Mega Man X and the reploids arrived on Earth, and old Tokyo's location had been close to forgotten and the populace moved to the somewhat more distant New Tokyo…

Tour guides, residents, and wanderers alike all claimed with sadness, a teary eye, and bristling goosebumps that on nights where a full moon stood untarnished by a clear nightshade black sky, the howls of the ghost hound would echo about for miles…


So long…so very long now…

How long…Can't remember…almost don't care anymore.

I remember…remember a master…

I lost my master…I was left all alone in the world. I miss my master, that's why I howl every full moon.

I move a little slower almost every day now. My memories are so fuzzy and broken, but I can still remember an image of myself standing proud and untarnished. Not ragged and defeated as I am now. Perhaps some time ago, I was a menacing creature with more rounded features. I know I'm a robot…a robotic dog that's tinted purple. Although there are times I wonder if even that isn't true anymore, if my eyes might be going bad…

I look like a mere skeleton of what I probably was so long ago. Thinner, more angled, sharp like a knife. But at the same time, I'm weaker, my armor's worn to uselessness, I'm sluggish and archaic.

I must be old…My body's so old and damaged…but I can't remember. I can't remember how old I am anymore.

I can't even remember…

What's my name…

Master…You would know…

If you still were alive…Why, master…why aren't you here with me??

I'm just wandering from day to day, I have no purpose. No mission. No master.

Alone, discarded, defeated. This is my fate.

And I don't even know if I can accept it or not.


More years would pass. I found myself wandering away from the wilderness…towards the gleaming lights of buildings made of metal, of people, of noise. I don't remember why I did it, what rational decision I'd made to get there. I still didn't know who I was, couldn't even remember.

But I'm glad I went to the city…

Because it was there he found me.

Sigma wandered through the streets of New Tokyo, a blank stare covering his internal disputes. Everyone…everyone he passed stared at him in horror, disgust or annoyance. Reploids did not…it was only the humans. They seemed to squawk at him, "You monster! The sight of you sickens us!" Sigma clenched his fist in anger. Here he was, assigned and expected to protect their scrawny lives and uphold the law…and all that the humans ever gave him was scorn and mistrust. He almost wanted to choke one of them…their sheer audacity flared his circuits. But then he would calm down and listen to reason. Not only did he have an image to uphold, that not all reploids were bad…but he also had a force to lead.

Just then his head turned as he heard a sound…the baleful wail of a creature in pain. Sigma turned about and plodded down the corridor of the dank alleyway he had entered. And what he saw disgusted him.

Humans…human adolescent boys were torturing a poor and defenseless dog. It was weak and beleaguered, ragged and emaciated. But then a gleam caught his eye and he realized it for what it truly was.

A robotic dog, colored purple with a massive neck plume and a frame that showed pride and power. But now all that Sigma saw was a pack of hooligans torturing this creature.

"Come on, you hound! Get up and fight!" one taunted, waving a baseball bat around. The dog growled angrily and tried to spring up. But another boy brought down a heavy club, smashing him back to earth. Sigma grimaced as he saw the damage being done to the creature…and he could take its pain no more.

With quiet steely determination, Sigma walked up to the horrifying scene and tapped the nearest one on the shoulder.

"Hey man, get the Eff outta here!" the teen growled. Sigma frowned, and then pulled out his beam saber, lighting it up with a flick of the power switch. The all too familiar sound blared into the hallway, bouncing around like an echo that wouldn't die. The boy froze, then slowly turned around.

Sigma stared at him, his face a mask of rage and anger and pent-up frustration. His saber gleamed menacingly, at his side in hand, but ready to spring up and end the teen's life if need be. The teen pulled down his dark glasses and tried to gulp down his fears, but his throat had run dry. Doing the only thing he could, the teen turned about and shakingly tapped the others into an about face. The lot of them suddenly turned from cruel monsters into quivering masses of flesh and fear, and Sigma growled deeply.

"I suggest the lot of you push off…NOW." Sigma suddenly swung his saber in a wide arc as proof, scorching a deep gash into the metallic wall beside him. That was all it took for the demons of destruction to flee, leaving bats, sunglasses and fake Mohawk wigs behind. Sigma sighed, then sheathed his blade. He hated to draw his weapon for anything besides a Maverick's death, but this time the gravity of the situation had warranted drastic measures. Sigma knelt down beside the whimpering dog and lifted its muzzle with one hand. The mighty beast looked at him with clouded eyes, then swallowed and began to lick Sigma's hand.

Sigma smiled warmly, but he knew the creature was in sorry shape. The truth of it was, the dog was many times older than Sigma may have guessed…for lying, wounded before the Hunter was a relic of the past…Treble, the mighty fighting dog of Bass, the robotic nemesis of the famed Mega Man.

Some would have called it fate that such a link would occur, but all Sigma saw was a wounded creature with intelligence that needed his attention.

"Well, boy." Sigma chuckled. "I suppose we should get you back to my base. Doctor Cain should be able to fix you up. Maybe you could join me when I got destroy mavericks, eh?" Treble had been programmed to recognize certain commands, and DESTROY was one of them. Even with almost every last of his memories scrambled, his mind so far gone he'd effectively forgotten who he was and why he existed, he remembered that much. Instantly, a gleam of happiness filled his eyes, and he ruffed softly in response. Sigma laughed. "So you like that, huh boy? Hmm…" Sigma took his other hand and scratched Treble behind the purple mane of his beck, and Treble growled happily in response, crooning his neck towards the soothing and loving hands of his new master.

"Boy...that won't do for a name. We need something special…something that says you're tough. How about…Velguarder?" Treble turned his wolflike snout towards Sigma, and let out a loud howl of approval. Sigma smiled again.

"Velguarder it is then. Come on Velguarder…let's get you home."


At last, I had a master again!! Even though I barely remembered my old one, I could still make comparisons…

My old master was shorter than my new one, and not as physically overwhelming a presence. My old master wore a helmet, he wasn't bald. My old master used some kind of gun on his arm…not a fancy sword of plasma.

But I wanted a master, needed a master…And soon I grew to love my new one.

Sig…ma…My master…

I was introduced to a brand new world, completely different to the wilderness and mere torturous survival I'd been a part of for close to forever. I was surrounded by people like my master, people who cared for me, fixed me up, almost made me brand new! I was alive, I was rebuilt, I was intact.

Somehow, I had been designed for combat. The person who repaired me…Doctor…Cain??…had said as much. I wonder if they ever knew who I might be. I had no clue myself. But then I found it easy to forget the already forgotten past, and focus on the present.

Sigma was my Master. Sigma was the prime leader of a group of reploids known as Maverick Hunters.

I was a robot. Everyone knew this, even me. But somewhere along the line, they'd developed a new kind of robot. A robot that bordered on human. A Thing…Yes, a Thing…God, why does that term seem so familiar…Known as a reploid. My master Sigma was a reploid. Everyone in his Unit, the 1st Unit, was reploids. Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Storm Eagle, Flame Mammoth, Boomer Kuwanger, Launch Octopus, Armored Armadillo, Sting Chameleon, and even that mysterious helmeted guy Vile…They were all reploids.

Somewhere along the line there were reploids who began to get buggy…defective…These were called Mavericks, from what Sigma bothered to explain to me.

And he was a Maverick Hunter. And Maverick Hunters fought Mavericks.

It was simple then. And then I began to question my past again…

Because of them.


"So Sigma, taking the new dog for a walk?" Came an unusual voice in the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Sigma paused his easygoing gait to turn around and see where it had come from. He found himself looking back on a smiling reploid-like creation known as Mega Man X, his blue armor he'd been found in still a part of his daily attire.

Velguarder turned about and looked at the newcomer as well, chuffing for a moment in obvious scorn. He recognized instantly that the newcomer wasn't a warrior, just by his scent. But then something else clicked in his mind, his archaic, scrambled mind…

"Never you mind, X. I thought I'd take him to the training facilities and introduce him to some of the Maverick Hunters." Sigma said calmly, never once losing the steely air of ice in his voice. Velguarder took a tentative step forward and snorted again, his dark slanted eyes burning into the blue one.

X paused, then took a step back in nervous anticipation.

"Ehh…Sigma, your dog's looking at me funny." Sigma blinked a few times, then grinned and folded his arms.

"Well, well. He doesn't do that with too many people. Of course, he's got an uncanny sensory system."

"He's just a robot, right?" X asked uneasily. Sigma frowned, his eyes burning through the scars he'd left across his eyes.

"In name only. I don't know where Velguarder came from before I found him. But he's smart, X. Almost as smart as you or me. Definitely older." Sigma folded his arms. "Usually when he gets this interested in something, it's either because it smells different from everything else he's encountered or he views it with a certain level of hostility and misgiving. Speaking of which, Velguarder, this is Mega Man X. He was made by Doctor Thomas Light in his final years, and he remembers nothing about his past." Velguarder seemed to think over it for a moment, and then warbled something in unintelligible binary language.

X blinked a few times, then turned to Sigma puzzled.

"Whaddid he just say?" Sigma stared at his dog in amazement for a few long seconds in the hallway before turning to X, an unusually blank stare across his face.

"He said…that makes two of us." X paled a bit at the translation. "Let me continue, Velguarder. Mega Man X is the prototype, the model from which all other reploids, including me, were created. In a sense, he's sort of our father." X rolled his eyes at the comment.

"Sigma, you know I hate it when reploids call me that." Sigma blinked a few times more.

"Not as much as when Dorian called you mommy." X drew a hand across his face.

"Sigma, humor is so wasted on you."

In the meantime, Velguarder had taken a few more tentative steps forward, and had begun to sniff every part of X his muzzle could reach. At long last, he finished his smelling scans and took a few steps back, letting his paws clack against the floor. He sat upright and stared at X for a long while…almost with a quiet reverence, or as if he was thinking of something long and hard, trying to recall an ancient, lost memory from the deepest recesses of his fragmented mind. He whined for a moment, cocking his head to the side...

And then something within him snapped…and he began to growl at X long and hard.

Sigma barked a command, silencing Velguarder at once. The robotic dog heeled to Sigma's side, who merely gave an apologizing shrug to X before walking the both of them onwards to the training facilities of the MHHQ.

X stood there for a few moments longer, silently pondering what course of events had fired off inside of Velguarder's mind. The color returned to his cheeks, but even then it did nothing to stop the goosebumps from riding up and down his spine.

"God, that was screwy." He finally exhaled, turning about. He was eager to go as far away from Sigma's new pet as possible.

"It's almost like the pooch was trying to remember something…And having me around triggered a very bad synapse."


"Honestly, Velguarder, I don't know what's gotten into you." Sigma said quietly, knowing that his new faithful pet had no trouble hearing him. An unusual silence hung in the air between them, which did little to help dissuade Sigma's doubts about him.

"I've seen you just rip things apart. And I've seen you be meek. But never what you just did with X." Velguarder plodded along, either too lost in his own thoughts to speak up or simply ignoring the line of questioning. "And what did you mean…That makes two of us?"

Sigma paused and kneeled down in front of his faithful pet, looking at him. Most of his sharp, almost razor blade like look came from the enhancements and repairs Doctor Cain had given the poor pooch. When he'd first met Velguarder, the dog had been battered and beaten, his armor worn through and his strength almost completely gone. Still, Sigma doubted very much that how he looked now was anything like what he looked like…back before…

"Velguarder…just where did you come from?" Sigma breathed. The purple servant blinked its angled optics a few times, and then spoke a clipped sentence in binary before whimpering sadly.

"I don't know."

They kept walking after that, eager to keep the appointment with the training facilities. And lo and behold, one of the first people that greeted them was a new recruit with red armor, a repaired helmet and an easygoing grin.

"Yo, boss dude!" Zero hollered, waving his Buster about at the end of the targeting range. "I see you brought your pet with you."

Sigma nodded and looked down at Velguarder, ready to introduce him.

It was then he noticed that the metallic bristles that composed Velguarder's fur was on end, and that the dog seemed frozen to the floor…


I know this one, too…

The other one…Like I'm recalling him from a dream, a serene face sleeping inside of a capsule, while we all look down on him.

But who was the rest of them there with me then…

Master Sigma called him Mega Man X…

Blast it, why does that seem so familiar…MEGA MAN…

Somehow, a part of me I've forgotten looked at him as an enemy…not my enemy, but my master's enemy…

Not Sigma, though…my other master, my first master…the one whose name I can't even recall…

So many unknowns, I've forgotten almost everything. And Sigma can't help me to remember.

Who am I…And why did I see Mega Man X as an enemy??

But X…Isn't like this one now…this red one…different, special…

I KNOW HIM…Master save me, but there's some part of me that remembers his face, his smile, his Buster and his blood red armor…And I'm afraid, so very afraid…

BLAST IT ALL, THE MEMORIES ARE SO CLOSE, AND I CAN'T REMEMBER!!

But this one…I know I've met this one before, just like I've met Mega Man X…in another place…another time…

And in this one I sense an aura of darkness…there is evil in him, an air that causes me to freeze in terror…Like something that courses through his veins, an evil spirit that hides away until it can take control…

I can almost see him standing there, laughing so many years ago…a glitched memory file tries to come up, a blurred image of a red figure standing and laughing while chaos and death is bred all around him…

It's the same one…Master save me…THE SAME ONE…

How long ago was it when we met, your monstrous THING?? How long ago did I hear your sadistic laugh…

I can't remember, but I know it's there…he and I are connected somehow. But he is not my master. He is my master's enemy.

Forget the pain, forget the fear I feel surging through my every circuit…We have met before, you…The last time, you took something precious from me…

Something more precious than anything else…I almost see it, a blurred figure in black and golden trim…

MASTER…

Master, he was the one that killed…

NOOO!!


"Sigma, what's up with your pooch?" Zero muttered, taking a wary step back from the robotic hellhound. Sigma too was stunned at Velguarder's response, gingerly reaching for the stasis-inducing neuro-tazer he kept with him.

"He got freaked out around X as well." Sigma mumbled quietly, almost too quietly for the newest Maverick Hunter recruit to hear.

Velguarder had been frozen to the floor, every metallic bristle of his fur arched back in terror or surprise…

But then it all ended. With an unholy howl, Velguarder opened his mouth wide and sprayed Zero with a disastrous swath of his flamethrower. The blast was intense enough that it sent Zero sprawling backwards and skidding along the floor.

The howl continued even as Velguarder lunged forth in the air, diving towards the stunned and injured Zero. Every Maverick Hunter in the training room was frozen in shock and horror as one of their own was attacked by the crazed Hellhound of Sigma.

But Velguarder only made it so far into his death lunge before two tiny diodes embedded themselves through his armor and released an ungodly charge of electricity. Velguarder yelped in pain before plunging to the floor, every leg of his body twitching in pain. Finally, his eyes grew dull and finally snapped off…He'd dropped into stasis.

Still, nobody in the room moved. Save for a gasping Sigma, who lowered his trembling hand and the neuro-tazer attached to it downwards before flinging it against the nearby wall. His body shook as he stared first at the motionless Velguarder, and then at the stunned and utterly confused Zero.

"Are you all right?" Sigma rasped at Zero. The Crimson Hunter looked up, blinking a few times before his wits came back to him.

"Yeah…I'll be all right. Guess I should check in with Hazil and get my armor repaired…that flamethrower leaves a mark." Zero managed to get to his feet, then stared down at Velguarder in disbelief. "God, is that thing Maverick?"

Sigma's deep red eyes bored into Zero, hands clenched at his sides.

"No." He breathed tersely. "Velguarder isn't." He pronounced his sentence as if to say that someone else might be. A silence hung in the air before Sigma shook his head. "Velguarder isn't a reploid, Zero. He's a robot. And every last one of his circuits checked out all right. Plenty of glitched memory, but nothing that would cause him to just go haywire." Zero brushed back his singed blond mass of hair, cringing at the follicle damage.

"So why the frack did he go and try to rip my head off?"

Unconsciously, Sigma reached a hand up to his face…his trembling fingers brushing against the two jagged marks across his eyes. The synthskin had been repaired after that mission, the paint marks he had left as reminder…

Garma's Unit…wiped out by the 'crazy red Maverick'…

He'd never told Cain the true nature of how Zero came to be in their midst, as if some compulsion drove him to keep the secret…Everything had taken on a darker shade after…

"Velguarder has the most uncanny sensory system I've ever seen." Sigma continued slowly. "It's almost like he can sense a person in more ways than their smell, their looks, and their physical statistics. In a sense, he can judge a person's character." Sigma lowered his hand from the scars on his eyes and looked at Zero, a burning question revived in him…one he was afraid to ask. "Perhaps Velguarder saw something in you…something that frightened him so badly he went to attack."

"God, that's just nuts." Zero mumbled. "I'm gonna go get repaired then, boss. And keep a closer eye on that pooch of yours, huh?"

Zero walked out of the training room, glad to be free of the crisis.

Gingerly, Sigma picked up his sleeping pet in his arms and walked out as well, ignoring the burning stares of disbelief from everyone in the room.

He ignored them all, because his mind was focused on questions that overrode everything.

Velguarder…just where did you come from…


Who am I…Master Sigma calls me Velguarder, and that is who I am now, what I am now…

But before…there was a before, in everything I've forgotten, in all that I see only by flashes of recollection…I had another master then, my first master, my true master…

And he was taken away from me…by the red one, the red THING…

More of it comes back to me slowly. I sleep, I feel sleep, but here in the haze of stasis, can I see more…

Master, help me to remember…

So fuzzy, so degraded, gone, corrupted…I've lost my past, and now as I seek to find it, I find that the years have denied me what I scream to know…

But there's a part of it that appears, a clearer memory…one that must have been newer than the others, one that somehow survived the ravages of my mind's blender…

It's a man…or a figure of a man…He isn't tall, he stands short…and he is old, but his wrinkled arms and hands are taut and drawn, for he has used them all his life…

His eyes are wild…

And his hair…

Even wilder, outstretched like his hands…and his laugh…IT'S THE THING'S LAUGH…Oh Master save me…It's the same laugh, a different person, but the same laugh that makes me tremble even now…

There's something behind him…An emblem, an icon, a symbol…Something, something I can't make out exactly…

No…Stasis is beginning to slip from me, I feel my mind try to tell me I must wake up…

NOT YET!! I NEED TO SEE THE SYMBOL!!

A circle…a very fuzzy circle with four jagged lines crisscrossed across it, hanging over one edge and somehow connected in a…letter…

Is it a V…

No…Not a V, like two V's…

A…


Velguarder's eyes snapped open, and he found himself blinking and staring about the interior of Sigma's room.

Sigma was there, sitting on the edge of his sleep capsule while a gray haired man in a blue colored robe of some sort sat down in the easy chair.

It was Doctor Cain, of course.

"Welcome back, Velguarder." Doctor Cain said quietly, rocking back and forth with no concern. As he'd expected, Velguarder showed no malice towards him, and obediently picked himself up and walked over to sit in front of Sigma. Gently, Sigma reached a hand down and ruffled Velguarder's ears.

"You've had quite a day, to say the least." Cain grumbled, staring at the two of them. "Sigma, you are my best reploid, and leader of the Maverick Hunters. You I trust unequivocally." Sigma gave a brief nod of his head, then waited for Cain to continue. "However, Velguarder's conduct today has raised more than a little tension at the MHHQ. If he were reploid, the instant sentence would be death for turning Maverick."

"But?" Sigma asked quietly, his giant red eyes burning into his creator with a pleading stare. Cain sighed, then stood up and walked over to Velguarder, rubbing his ears as well. Velguarder allowed the action, not even growling. Even at his pronounced age, Cain had no problems walking about without difficulty, without use of a walker or walking stick.

"Velguarder is of course, a very special case. He's a robot, for one. Which means any glitch he has should be able to be diagnosed without fault. But Hazil's most recent scans showed no drastic flaws in his mind's circuitry, aside from the fact his long term memory circuits are so scrambled he's probably clueless about his past. This, combined with the fact that he is your pet, Sigma, sways me towards letting him live."

"Thank you." Sigma sighed, instantly relieved. Velguarder offered no response. Cain lifted a finger.

"But even though I'll let you get away with most anything Sigma, there's still too much bad air about Velguarder. People aren't comfortable letting him roam free. Thus, even though Velguarder will be allowed to keep his life, he's effectively under house arrest from this point forward. Unless he's on a mission with you and the 1st Unit, he is restricted to your room." Cain's eyes twinkled in honest sadness. "I'm sorry, Sigma…that's the best I can do."

Sigma looked down at Velguarder, then looked at Cain.

"I know, doc. And thank you." Cain nodded his head, and then slipped out of the room.

In the cool blue light, Sigma took Velguarder's muzzle in both his hands and stared deeply into his pet's eyes.

"Velguarder, I don't know you as well as I'd like to. But I know that something about X and Zero today made you snap." Velguarder blinked again, then whined and pulled away. Sigma reached out to stop him from escaping, but thought better of it as he saw his faithful pet curl up into the corner, still whining.

"I can't see what you're thinking, Velguarder. You have to talk to me." Sigma continued quietly, dropping his hands into his lap.

The purple armored dog looked up and stared into Sigma's eyes. He thought for a moment, and then finally spoke in binary.

"I don't know who I am, Sigma."

"You're Velguarder." Sigma spoke back, his tension eased by the fact Velguarder was finally speaking to him. Still, the mutt shook his head as he lay there, tucking his tail up underneath him.

"No, not now…who I was before." Velguarder shook his head back and forth, in a motion that was all too human…all too akin to intelligence beyond mere robot. "I can't remember, master. I can't!!"

"Does it hurt you that much?" Sigma asked quietly, settling back some.

"Wouldn't it hurt you? To forget who you are?" Velguarder argued, a tinge of bitterness seeping into his voice. But Sigma was unfazed by the retort.

"You're a robot, Velguarder. Because of that, you live. If you were reploid like me, you would have been destroyed on sight. Or if not that, exposed to a Neural Eraser for a complete memory wipe. For this, you should feel lucky."

"When you are haunted at night by the visions of a long forgotten nightmare, THEN you can tell me I'm lucky." Velguarder snapped.

Neither one spoke for a moment after that. Empty silence was their only communication, until Sigma's impatient hands reached up to the scar marking across his eyes.

"Just what made you attack Zero like that today?" Sigma asked cautiously. Velguarder thought about the question long and hard, then shook his head.

"He frightened me…And for a moment, I thought that…" Velguarder shook his head again and stopped. Sigma closed his eyes, letting Velguarder's stumbling response sink in.

"You have the most unbelievable sensory perception I've seen in a robot, Velguarder. Could you actually sense something within him that caused you to be afraid?"

Velguarder seemed to almost be in pain as he thought it over, then nodded sharply.

Sigma drew in a sharp breath, then stood up and paced over to stand beside his pet.

"You had accurate reason to be frightened, Velguarder. Before Zero was a Maverick Hunter, he was Maverick."

Velguarder's eyes burned in surprise, and he stood up, looking at his master in confusion.

Sigma's face had darkened as he'd uttered those words…and for a moment, Velguarder thought he'd sensed something in his master that was off…something unnatural, filled with malice and rage…But it vanished just as quickly.

"Yes, Velguarder. You should know the truth of how Zero joined us." Sigma sighed, walking back to his capsule and plopping inside. "Garma's Unit had been sent to deal with a rather fierce Maverick attack in the Southwestern United States. But they were completely destroyed, torn apart by a single 'crazy red Maverick'. It didn't end there, though. I went to avenge Garma's death. And I ended up fighting him. Or as he later called himself, ZERO." Sigma rubbed at his eyes, shaking his head at the painful memory. "I was stronger in the beginning…but by the fight's end, he had sliced one of my arms clean off, and given me these scars." Sigma pointed to his face. "Were it not for the fact that he somehow fell into a screaming fit, grasping onto his head in obvious pain, I might well have died there, just another victim of the 'crazy red Maverick.' As it stood, I had enough opportunity to deliver a powerful blow that stunned him cold. And then we took him back here, repaired him, and woke him up…but this time, he was completely sentient. Before, he had been almost a DEMON in how he walked, how he smiled, how he fought. Now…he's just another reploid." Sigma shook his head. "And the craziest part of it all is…nobody knows that Zero is the 'crazy red Maverick' that wiped out all of Garma's Unit."

"You didn't kill him!?" Velguarder barked shrilly. Sigma's eyes danced in uncertainty, then he finally nodded.

"Yes…I don't know why I did it, I don't even know now…but something stopped me from killing him then, something stopped me from revealing his true nature to everyone at the MHHQ. And save for the two Hunter scouts outside of that fight who I met, both of which are now dead because of a mission only one day later after that, I am the only person that knows." Sigma glanced at Velguarder. "And now you."

Velguarder sat back down, then curled up.

"Velguarder, are you going to be all right?" Sigma asked, concern obvious in his voice. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nobody can help me now, master." Velguarder said back sadly. "This is something I have to solve myself."

Sigma nodded slowly, then reached down and ruffled his ears.

"I've got to get back to work now. Just promise me, Velguarder…"

"Yes?"

"If you need someone to talk to, somebody just to lean against while you're crying, I'm here." Velguarder cut out a short staccato series of barks, that might have been laughs.

"Sigma, you've said it yourself. I'm a robot. I can't cry. No matter how much I want to."

Sigma nodded, his usual sneer gone for a concerned nod.

"I'm sorry, Velguarder." With that, he left, the hydraulic door hissing shut behind him.

Velguarder lay there for a few moments more, glad to finally be alone. Glad to at last be able to focus on his own problems, his own inner torments and lost memories, without the distractions of others.

You gave me back my life, Sigma.

Now I have to figure out what I did with it.


Sigma wouldn't be back for two more hours yet, Velguarder noted. He'd managed to turn on Sigma's desktop computer linkup, and with much difficulty, proceed to operate it using a touchscreen input system with an extended claw.

He'd figured out the basics of how to get in and around the computer system. Being robot, it seemed like second nature. It was only his awkward input system that got in the way. He could ask Sigma for help, but…

No. This was his task.

He opened up a drawing program, and painstakingly tried to recall the fuzzy symbol from his dream.

A circle…Four jagged lines, connected at their points…Like two V's…

It took him four minutes to draw it, going as slow as he could, trying to perfect every fuzzy detail as best he could.

He saved it to the temporary folder, then brought up the MHHQ's search engine.

Access symbol and logo database. He typed in slowly, cursing at himself as he corrected three errors in the sentence.

A new window popped up, with a few simple lines of text, an escape icon, an enter icon, and a file upload box.

Please input your search parameters.

Carefully, Velguarder brought up the temporary file and loaded it into the file comparison box. His trembling claw reached up and punched the screen's Identify icon.

It whirred through the database, eliminating everything except for the circular ones.

It shuffled through Burger King logos, gas station signs, and even gigantic doughnuts with text splayed across them. But then the program locked onto one…just one…

It was a neon purplish pink, standing out starkly in comparison to the others.

Velguarder froze solid when he saw it…

Oh my Master…

A circle…with a jagged W splayed across it.

98 probability of your logo search: Positive identification as symbol of Dr. Wily.

Hell and Heaven damn me… Velguarder began to whine, unconsciously and without the knowledge he was doing so. It was painful…but familiar, all too strikingly familiar…

Using what little measure of control he had left as his mind began to blur from the strain, he punched his claw down and shut off the computer, erasing any evidence of his search…He didn't want anyone to know what he'd discovered, not now…

And then he sunk to the floor, shivering and whimpering as his memories took over, at last reconstructing themselves, taking over and drowning him out.

Velguarder's past didn't come in a steady trickle.

It washed over him like a dam.


Sigma arrived back in his room hours later, silently cursing the extended shift and the stupid greenhorns that had caused it.

He froze in the doorway as he found himself staring at the unsettling sight of a trembling Velguarder, lying limp on his side on the floor by Sigma's desk.

"Velguarder!" Sigma said sharply, running to his pet's side. Gently, he lifted the robotic dog's head, blinking in fear. "Come on, speak to me…"

The creature stirred to life, its eyes slowly snapping back into focus. And then he gently licked Sigma's hand.

The reploid sighed in visible relief.

"Bad dream, huh?"

"A nightmare." Velguarder said quietly, in his usual chirped binary.

"At least you snapped out of it."

"One reality for another. Who's to say which is better??" Velguarder replied even quieter yet. Sigma picked himself up and shook his head.

"Just promise me you're doing better now." Velguarder gave a nod of his head and curled up into his corner.

Sigma settled down with his pile of reports to be filled out. And as Velguarder stared at the wall, a single torturous though ran through his mind.

Sigma…If you had known what I know about Zero…

You would have killed him then and there…


Things were quiet for a long while after that. Sigma had his Maverick Hunting duties to attend to, and I was confined to his room when I wasn't off destroying aberrant reploids.

In that search, I had at last reclaimed my past. My bloody, nightmarish past…

Here, I was Velguarder. But in another life…another age…

I had been Treble.

It had been painful. All those memory files had been fragmented, ignored, forgotten and fried by more than thirty years. They had still been there…they had just been out of my reach.

Until I met X and Zero. Seeing them was all it took to trigger the memory cascade. Another robot might have gone insane, simply shorted out. But not me. I was taught to survive. As a result, I stood whole. A twisted whole.

Time is a wonderful teacher. I was different now than I was then. My brain was less structured than a robot fresh from the line, freer to some extent. I wasn't as limited. It could have very well killed me, but it didn't.

I'm alive…But so are they.

X and Zero. I haven't met them again since that first day. But I know they're around, just as they know I still exist.

I hate them both. I hate them because I must, because it's all I can do.

Someone might argue against me on that. But the both of them have ruined my life. The life I had before. And the one I have now is no better.

I hate Mega Man X because it was HIS worthless hide that Mega Man and the others were protecting. While Bass and I had another goal in mind, we ended up fulfilling their objective. And Bass is no longer here with me. I hate Mega Man X because his creation gave rise to Wily's Thing…a Demon I now know is called Zero in this age. If X had never come into being, Wily would have never built Zero, Zero would have never…

I hate Mega Man X because his mere existence gave rise to the events that shattered our lives to pieces. And he is a MEGA MAN. My enemy. My Master's enemy.

I hate Zero all the more though. His life bred nothing but chaos. He destroyed everything that had meaning to me. He left me nothing but a shattered life, a shattered crystal reality. Wily built Zero because he thought Bass was inferior. But Bass never once lifted a finger to destroy Wily. Stop his plans at times, yes…but nothing compared to what Zero did. Wherever that Damned red Thing walks, destruction follows.

I want to destroy them both. But here in this time, they work for the same organization as Sigma and I do.

And so it was. I'd regained my past, but I could do nothing about it. Not as I was. Not as my master was.

And then…

Fate seemed to smile on me then.


June 4th, 2118. Remember that date. Undoubtedly, it will be placed in history books for years to come. Along with October 15th, 2087, and April 10-14, 2117. A date you won't find in history books is August 8th, 2085. That's my memorial. That is when we fought against Zero. And lost.

But June 4th…That's when the entire world changed. Their world, at least. Sigma called it "Reploid Independence Day". Beyond all belief of anyone else, Sigma somehow convinced every last one of the reploids in his 1st Unit to go along with him. Sigma had told me to go on ahead and wait in the Rogumer, which I did. And then they all arrived, and we blasted our way out.

It was only later that night as we rampaged through New Tokyo that any force arrived to stop us. They'd hit the Maverick Hunters hard. I had thought it odd at first…Weren't we Maverick Hunters…

Of course, Sigma told me then what had happened. In the purest sense, he and his men had gone "Maverick." But more different than that. They would free their entire race from humanity's iron grip. After months of suffering, the reploid race would be freed from domination!!

But then that was their perogative. Not mine. Sigma was my master, but he didn't decide my goals for me. No, those had been set in stone long before.

I only cared about this First Maverick Uprising for one reason. It meant I would at last be able to fight Zero when he came to put a stop to us, as he inevitably would, being the next for the shot at command at the MHHQ.

But even more satisfying in my boiling blood was when Sigma told me with gritted teeth that Mega Man X was working with Zero as well. X had become a Maverick Hunter. I would get the chance to fight him as well…

Defeating them would bring closure to my present. But it did nothing to solve my past. To accomplish that would mean doing something else…returning to a place I only now was beginning to recall as if from a dream.

And so, it was on the 12th of June that I went to Sigma, and explained as curtly as I could I needed to get out on my own. And that I'd need a certain gadget from the armory stores as well.

Perhaps Sigma had his mind on other things, perhaps he saw in my eyes something deeper, something more important to me than his own goals. And I was his loyal servant. Of course he said I could.

But no matter what caused it, I was grateful. I left the world of Mavericks and Maverick Hunters and reploids behind. In a flash of warp energy, I was gone.

And where I went, Velguarder had no place. Only Treble belonged.


The facility was dark when Treble arrived. But it responded at once to his binary language command and barely remembered code clearance, lighting up as best as it could. Even then, the lights seemed to gasp in their final moments before death.

It was older, degraded by more than thirty years of aging. A stale, stank air blew through the entire complex. An air rank with more than dust and odors. Time had stood still in Wily's final Fortress, because it had nowhere else to go.

Velguarder--Treble--walked through the corridors, aware of his memory pathways rebuilding themselves at an astounding rate. Every step was a surge of recollection, and every dimmed pathway the reality to his nightmares. Empty and hollow, the Fortress seemed to moan like a ghost, its foul gasps of air permeating every last centimeter of darkness.

Velguarder at last found his way to the room he never thought he would lay eyes on again…wide and deep enough to hold the Death Rogumer, it spoke of more sorrow and emptiness than any other room. And Velguarder--once more Treble as he stood in this place, knew well why.

It was here that Wily's Thing had been born. Wily's Demon. The menace that would later be called Zero. Here was where Treble and his master, the long dead Bass had fought the Thing for the first time.

Zero's Capsule lay not far off. Its transparent shield covering was shattered to uselessness by some force, a force that appeared not to have come from outside the capsule…but from within…And laying strewn across the entire floor was the remains of countless Robot Masters that Treble had called ally. As he walked into the unmarked open gravesite, Treble did not avert his eyes. He did not feel sorrow. These he had already felt once. And he never wanted to feel them again.

It was then in the slowly dimming lights, lights giving out because of a long overworked power source, that Treble noticed something else. A corpse he had not seen before.

As he approached it, he realized why.

It was organic. It was HUMAN.

It was the long skeletonized remains of the infamous Dr. Albert William Wily. The trademark pants and lab coat had disintegrated underneath his skeleton, leaving only a few stubborn scraps of yellowed fabric to lie fragile and ready to collapse into dust upon what had once been his chest.

His arms, even his legs had all been broken painfully. But a closer examination by Treble showed it had been head trauma that had killed Wily. His skull had been crushed in on the sides, and whole chunks of bone were missing at the back of his head.

Treble was beyond revulsion anymore. He and Bass had warped out before they could watch Zero destroy Wily completely, but he now knew that not much longer after they had vanished into the stratosphere, Zero had slammed his hands together on the sides of Wily's face and effectively forced his brains out.

"Like crushing a grape." He muttered blithely, to no one in particular. He felt no sorrow, no remorse for Wily's death. Wily had brought Zero to life. Zero had gone on to deprive Treble of his life, had destroyed his master. Wily deserved to die for his sins of creation.

And then, that was that. After countless years of wandering, of wondering, of barely clinging onto life, Velguarder had regained his past, now knew why he hated and feared Zero, knew why he despised X. The past had caught up to him. Or rather, the future had marched on. A future that X and Zero belonged to.

Treble was nothing but a mere relic now. A shard of the past that didn't belong. But Treble had one last thing to do before he could pass away into the shadows.

He shrugged off the heavy cylinder from his back, at last able to be free of the dead weight. It gleamed bright in the dim rays of yellow, if only because it wasn't old like everything else in this haunted place.

It was a medium grade plasma explosive…everything within the blast's radius would be atomized, no matter if it was metal or ground or Wily's skeleton. Everything outside the radius would survive. And there would be no fallout.

Painstakingly punching at the weapon's outer controls with a single claw, Treble armed the device, set the timer for ten minutes, and activated it.

But he did not move. Not right away. He didn't warp out. He turned to Zero's hated capsule and howled at it…a painful howl full of rage and bitterness.

"DAMN YOU ZERO!!" He screamed. His systems activated and he belched fire until the capsule began to burn. Then and only then did he activate his warp generator and leave Wily's Fortress.

For the last time.

The explosion was spectacular, a semispherical fireball that blossomed from the deep buried earth and Fortress concealed…A Fortress at last destroyed. In the night, Treble reared back on his haunches and howled. Howled for all those who had died he had cared for.

It was a long and mournful howl, a Howl For The Ages. One age had long ago ended, and another was only now beginning.

Wearied, but at last resolved with himself and his past, Treble turned about and walked away, speaking to himself.

"Never again." He breathed. "Never again will you spawn such evil, Wily. You're dead. Your age is dead. Bass is dead. Now only I and the Demon live." His pace sped up, determination boiling within him.

"Treble is dead. He died with that Fortress." He turned back about, looking to the hollow crater and the shrinking mass of white hot plasma fury that had claimed the final unchecked remnant of the age of Mega Man. "Only Velguarder remains."

And that was all that could be said.


Sigma noticed that Velguarder walked more confidently, more assured of who he was. The hound trotted to him, then sat down and looked out to the sea's edge, and the Fortress being built on the high cliff on the island of Hokkaido.

"Did you find what you were looking for, boy?" Sigma asked. Velguarder bobbed his head only once, his eyes still lost out somewhere beyond the waves. "You found your past? Your true identity?" Sigma continued. Velguarder chose to do more than bob his head, resorting to binary to speak.

"The past is dead, Sigma. Who I was is dead."

"Then what did this little trip of yours solve?!" Sigma said irritably.

"I know who I am now. And I know what I'm doing here."

"Which is?" Sigma retorted.

"I am the bygone relic of a lost age." Velguarder uttered. "The man I once called Master is dead. I'm the only one left, Sigma. I can't regain that, and I can't return to it."

"So your last option is…"

"I am here, Sigma. For better or worse, I am who I must be. I am Velguarder, forever so. And I will fight with you. Fight against Zero and Mega Man X. Fight because it is all I can do now."

"And so here you are…and I am your master."

"No." Velguarder barked. "No one can call me master now." Sigma's eyes darkened at the comment, until Velguarder continued. "But…you can call me friend." Velguarder extended a paw.

Sigma shook it firmly and nodded.

"And so time moves on." He looked out to the sea as well, lost in his own thoughts. Yet for a brief moment, they paralleled Velguarder's.

"Before this fight is done, Zero and Mega Man X will be dead at my feet."

And Velguarder didn't argue with that.


The days of June passed by quickly. Even though Sigma's Fortress was being built as fast as possible, delays and setbacks were commonplace. Long before Zero, X, and whoever else had survived at the MHHQ figured out where our base of operations was, they had cut off our every supply line. Metal from Flame Mammoth, our only airship with the now dead Storm Eagle lost forever, stolen goods from the harbor ports, and raw materials from Armored Armadillo's mine. We lost all of these sources of materials and supplies, thanks to their aggravating efforts. Yes, we were enraged. It made us hate them all the more.

But at last I'd found someone else who hated them as much as I did.

And then it was June 19th. On the eve of the Fortress's completion, Zero and X finally arrived at our door, tipped off by a wayward comm signal that had been intercepted between Sigma and Sting Chameleon.

Here they were…

Night was falling quickly now. The Fortress pulled itself free from the cliffside and hovered up into the air, heading out to the bay as if to not allow Zero and X entry.

That was Sigma's doing. He hated them…but he was afraid of them.

He still had a life to live for. All I had now was an undying hatred that had sustained me into the dawn of the age of reploids.

By some unbelievable stroke of luck, Zero was dead long before they ever got to the Second Ring. He'd committed suicide, double Buster overload…

To save X…To save MEGA MAN X…

I couldn't stop but laugh at it, despite the fact it meant I would never get the chance to kill Zero myself and avenge my Master's death.

In 2085, Zero had been sent out to DESTROY Mega Man X. Now in 2118, he sacrificed his own life to preserve X's.

The Demon had changed. We had all changed. And in the end, the fight didn't concern lofty moralistic goals. It was all about our hatred. That's the purest fight, you see…Where your only reason for putting your life on the line is that you despise your foe to the point of destruction.

And that left X. Only X. But after Zero died, something changed in him…

Like a tiger unleashed from its cage, he seemed to become invincible, and everything he laid eyes on was destroyed.

I grew frightened then a little bit…

Because when Sigma and I looked into X's eyes from a security camera image…

I saw Zero in him.

"The both of us will have to do our very best. Otherwise, we'll be dead." Sigma muttered to me.

Yes, Sigma…You're right…

But death is far from the worst thing in the world.


We waited there in the final room, the highest tower atop all of the Fortress. The room's lights were darkened, aside from a few hanging ones that lit only a narrow swath of the floor.

"This is it, boy." Sigma breathed. "There's no turning back now. Either he dies…or we die." I nodded, keeping my binary responses to myself for a change.

I've been waiting for more than 30 years for this moment, Sigma…you have no idea the kind of torment that's been…

And then our mutual foe appeared…Climbing up out of the entry shaft and barely clearing it before the gate shut underneath him. A purple colored energy shield of some sort flashed about him, but as he stood tall, it shut itself off.

It was then we finally let him know that we were there…jumping down from above.

I jumped forward towards X, ready to strike him down then and there…

"Yield, Velguarder!!" Sigma barked at me. So I stopped, sulkily trotting over to his side.

Fine, I can wait another minute for this…

"Sigma." X muttered.

"X." Sigma replied easily. X raised a hand up and pointed at the towering giant.

"You killed them all, Sigma. Jim Dacker, Cancer, all those Hunters and innocent people-And Zero as well. You killed them." Sigma's return was just as sadistic.

"And you in turn have become what you hated most. A bloodthirsty, reploid killing 'savior of humanity.' Heh! X, the pure definition of a hippocrate is you. My actions will bring freedom and salvation to a superior race, the meshing of humanity and machinery in the greatest blend ever. All you have done is killed your friends who strived for that goal."

"Sigma, NO DREAM is worth the price that has been paid. You've corrupted yourself and corrupted the very objective you try to attain. Because of the bloodshed, humanity will always see us as tools of war and destruction. Light built me-BUILT REPLOIDS-because he dreamed of a world in which we could live in peace." X shook his head. "Now the ultimate price must be paid." Sigma nodded as well.

"Then it seems we are at last agreed upon one detail. One of us will not live from this encounter. And for all your enhancements my dear friend, you are still weak. I am the most advanced reploid there is, and you: you, X are not even a true reploid."

And then he finally turned down and glanced at me. Could he sense the rage bubbling within me…Know how much anger I had stored up for this last creation of Light?

"I'm surprised you made it this far, X. Zero certainly knew what he was doing. I would gladly kill you here and now-but I would not deprive my pet of that pleasure. If you survive this fight, then we will meet. Until then, X." Sigma's eyes connected with mine…And he seemed to say, "I leave his fate in your hands."

But he surely couldn't know. I never told him who I truly was. What X meant to me, by our histories. And I don't want Sigma to know. Nothing good can come from him…from ANYONE in this age knowing my origins. Too many questions, too many problems would arise.

But then, it's too late for that now, isn't it…

It's too late for anything except for my final act of vengeance.

I leap across the room over X's head, rebounding off the wall. I see him draw his hands together, squint his eyes as if hoping to hit me by luck…

And then as he brings his hands forward with a cry of "Hadouken!!" everything turns white. X shouts Hadouken. But my inner shout means so much more…

FOR MY MASTER!!


Time. Time is something that humans are very divided about. Years will cause their frail organic bodies to grow old, to die. And then they are gone.

Most humans try to balance this inevitable death of theirs with promises…promises that seek to make them feel at ease, to assuage their fears that there is nothing but void after the moment their heart stops beating. Religion…the concept of life after death.

But what of robots, then?? What of a poor, downtrodden creature like me, thrown about from point to point in life?? For me, time marched on inevitably. I should have died in 2085. And yet I was forced to keep existing until 2118. Is that fair?? Is that just??

Do reploids…do robots have souls?? Humanity says that a soul is the essence of a person, their personality, their demeanor, the thing that cannot be seen by a mere physical examination. But reploids have personalities…and over my wanderings, I developed one of my own. So did I have a soul?? Did I have something that would live on?

Questions…nothing but unanswered questions. But we know who to blame. Humanity.

Humanity cursed us. Humanity gave robots and reploids life, mortal existence. Did they give hope? The promise of something more, something beyond the observable??

No. Is it any wonder that the reploids would rebel? I'm nothing but a robot, and I still can see it.

Some humans also believe in the concept of Hell, or Purgatory. The two are somewhat different. They are supposed to be places without hope. Places that souls cannot endure long.

I lived in a state of purgatory since August 8th, 2085. I lost my life on that day. So was I a creature without a soul…was it torn from me, ripped away and forever denied?

Everyone was dead. Everyone I cared for. Everyone from that time that I hated. Everyone but X and Zero. And then even Zero was beyond me.

I lost whatever spark of 'humanity' I might have possessed long ago. In those final days, all I had left was my rage. My anguish. My tortured existence.

And you call me the villain. Deny yourself a true life. Lose everything that keeps you sane. Then, if you are none changed and mutated, then you may call me a monster.

But it's over now. I lost…X won. I'm no more…I've lost even that final scrap that kept me to the ground.

Who…am I…

Velguarder…no, not anymore. Velguarder was the twisted remnant of a lost age too stubborn or cursed to die off. Velguarder was the warrior dog of Sigma. And Velguarder was blown apart by Mega Man X in a single blow.

Am I Treble?? Even that can be doubted now. Treble knew of his life's problems…but he was himself, he had his master, he had a home. When all those were destroyed, Treble could no longer exist.

I'm not Velguarder…and I long ago ceased to be anything close to Treble.

I simply sit in the void, pondering, thinking, wanting it all to just end.

NO MORE!! NO MORE!! No more voices, no more inner conflict. Just let me sleep…please, if you have any sense of decency…just let the darkness take me. Let me sleep.

But then…

Something comes as I whimper…

Figures…People…

They laugh, all of them…radiant light striking out from around them as they come closer. They come for me…

One is whistling…The others laugh…

But I turn to the hazy goldenrod figure with black trim about him…

No…it can't be…

Come on, Treble!!

Master…

My Master came back…

MASTER!! I run to him, I run to them all…

The one in blue, the one with the rotund stomach and Santa Claus beard, the yellow haired beauty, the whistler…and my Master…

It's gonna be all right, Treble…It's gonna be all right.

I realize something then as he grows more blurry…I'm crying…

But robots can't cry…

This is something more. This…after all I've gone through, all I've suffered, everything seems to lift all at once.

I'm home…

With my Master…

And as they all watch…I rear back and howl. At long last in a cry of joy.

The suffering is over.

I can finally sleep…

Mega Man X…the rest is up to you now…

We've done all we can. It's up to you.

But X can do it. We all know this.

Howl For The Ages??

Maybe later.