Chapter 12: The Red Demon
After they're battle with Vile, X (back in his Normal Armor), Blues, Roll and the other robots gathered around.
"So," X said to Blues. "I guess this is all of my family?"
Blues replied, "Well, there's still a couple of others for you to meet, but yeah, this is your family. All of us were built by Dr. Light. And though you did fight a good bit of these robots in the past, Dr. Light reprogrammed them back to their old selves."
"So, you mind introducing each of them to me," asked X.
"Sure," replied Blues and as he called out each of their names, the robot nodded to X. "We have Guts Man... Cut Man... Ice Man... Bomb Man... Fire Man... Elec Man... Tornado Man... Magma Man... Hornet Man... Concrete Man... Jewel Man... Plug Man... Galaxy Man... and Splash Woman."
X nodded back to each one of the robots, and said, "It's great to know I have quite the family. It's good to know that I'm not alone in this world. I had many friends in the Maverick Hunters who I guess I could consider family to some degree, but never true family. I can't wait to introduce all of you to each other."
"Yeah," said Blues. "And hopefully, we can find some way to awaken the memories from your old life."
"Speaking about that," X started to say. "When you said I had to fight certain members of my family, what did you mean by that?"
"Oh yeah, I should have revealed something to you about your old life, you see..." Blues started to say.
Just then, though he was interrupted by two more robots, which was a big green one that looked pretty chubby, and a red one that looked like a walking trash can. The big green robot said, "Oh, hey, is the fighting over? Man, I wish I had my bazooka, then I would have blown any ne'er-do-wells to kingdom come."
Blues chuckled and said, "Maybe next time, Auto."
"More of my family, I assume," asked X.
"Yeah, the big green one is Auto, and the little red one is Eddie," said Blues. "Auto is the head mechanic and Eddie is a carrying unit that brings in energy or ammunition onto the field."
"Well, it's good to meet you all," X said to them.
"Wow," said Auto when he saw X. "It really is Rock! I can't believe it!" Auto then runs up to X, and gives him a huge and crushing hug, then says, "Aw man, it's been so long! I've really missed you!"
"Thanks, um... Auto," said X while trying to talk through the strain of being hugged by Auto. "No offense, but I'm going to need by body intact."
"Oh, right," said Auto before letting go of X. "Sorry for getting so emotional, but ever since we were sealed away, I thought we'd never get to know the new Mega Man that constructed ever since your old body got destroyed. Curse that Dr. Wily and his abomination that almost destroyed the world!"
"Dr. Wily," asked X. "Who is that?"
"He was the man you always fought against to keep from trying to conquer the world," answered Roll. "You always foiled him in the past, but the last robot he made... was the one that... destroyed you."
"Dr. Albert Wolfgang Wily used to be an assistant to Dr. Thomas Xavier Light," said Protoman. "But, one day, he up and betrayed us, and brainwashed Guts Man, Cut Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Bomb Man and Ice Man. Because of that, you wanted to go from being a normal maintenance robot to being a crime-fighting robot, and that's how you became Mega Man. After putting a stop to Dr. Wily's plans, he went on other forms of revenge by creating his own robots, but you crushed each and every one of them... that is until he created 'The Red Demon.'"
"And who is this Red Demon," asked X again.
Blues, Roll and the robots looked both nervous and sad to talk about such a thing.
"It was a long time ago, Rock," said Blues to start off as a series of flashbacks play to accompany his dialogue. "It was back in the year of 2087 when the incident happened. You had just foiled Dr. Wily again. And this time, the government made sure that he would never again cause problems. Dr. Wily's accounts were frozen, and his stocks had crashed. We thought Wily was finished. That turned out to be false, though when a new robot emerged. When we arrived, it took less than 2 hours to destroy our city. It was terrifying. You were informed of the attack by Dr. Light, and you went out to try and stop him, but the results were... less than satisfactory. In fact, it was brutal. Your body had been damaged beyond repair. Only your core remained intact. I decided to go out there and fight him. I managed to do a little better, but only because I tried to play it a little smarter, learning from where you had failed. When nothing else worked, I used my Big Bang Attack to try and stop him, but that attack puts a massive strain on my systems, and after that I fell unconscious. I don't remember what happened afterwards."
The flashbacks end.
"So, that's what happened to me," asked X. "I went up against this 'Red Demon,' and he destroyed me?"
"That's right," said Roll. "It was horrible. That monster covered the whole world in flames in only a month. He was just that powerful."
"The rest of us didn't fight, because we were too scared," said Cut Man. "We knew Dr. Wily could be demented, but never homicidal."
Bomb Man chimed in and said, "I guess losing to Mega Man so much made Wily so mad, he just snapped and created something that just shared his rage and hatred."
"I don't know what we'll do if he comes back to finish his job," replied Jewel Man.
Suddenly, a couple of Ride Chasers came up to the group, and on them were Zero and Axl. Everyone looked to see them, though everyone by X and Blues was frightened by Zero's appearance (althought Blues didn't look happy to see him like X did).
"Hey, X," Zero said.
"Zero, Axl," said X. "What are you guys doing here? I told you I'd be back this evening or nighttime."
Zero and Axl got off their Ride Chasers and headed towards X.
Axl then said, "Yeah, we know you said that, but we were told of a Maverick attack that occurred here."
"Yeah, about that," X said before giving a long pause. "Vile is back."
"Shit, you gotta' be kidding me," Zero said.
Axl replied, "Not him again. He was enough trouble during the Jakob incident."
"And it gets worse," X said. "High Max is also back."
"Great," Zero responded. "That's going to make some bigger problems."
"Who's High Max," asked Axl.
X responded, "High Max was a powerful Reploid that Gate built during the Nightmare Crisis using Zero's DNA."
"We barely managed to put a dent in that asshole's armor," Zero added. "But what's High Max doing back? Gate's working for us, and Isoc should be out of commission."
"Who knows," said X with a grim face.
"Say," Axl said taking notice of the other robots. "What's with those Reploids over there?"
"Oh them, that's my..." X says before he turns around to see how frightened Roll and the robots are. "Hey, you guys, what's the problem? These are my friends, Zero and Axl."
Roll points to Zero and says, "It's him... it's the 'Red Demon.'"
"Red Demon," asked X. "You mean Zero? Zero's no Red Demon. He's a top-class Maverick Hunter. One of our best."
"Rock," said Blues. "I'm afraid Roll is right. Zero IS the 'Red Demon.'"
Zero just put on a solemn look.
"No," said X. "You're wrong! Zero is no world destroyer! Zero would never do anything like that!"
"So," Zero started to say to Blues. "You know about what I am, don't you?"
X turns to face Zero.
"It's true, X," Zero started to say again. "I'm a monster. I know the truth about myself. Ever since our fight with Sigma during the Eurasia Crisis, when I was broken and battered, I had visions of my past life. My creation. I realized what I was, and... I wanted to die, for I knew what I was."
"No. No, that's impossible," shouted X. "Zero, you could never do such a thing."
"X, do you remember watching the news about a mysterious Maverick that destroyed Garma's unit of the Maverick Hunters," asked Zero.
"Yeah, I remember that," answered X. "What about it?"
"X..." Zero said as he brought his head up to look at X in the face. "That Maverick... was me."
To Be Concluded in Chapter 13.
