Road of the Warrior, Part Six
Part Six-From The Ashes

Vector detached himself from the pedistal Phaelin had allowed him to use. He looked outside, and realized more than a few hours had passed. Unusual, but then again he had allowed himself no recharge time since he'd come across the story of Break Man. He looked around for Phaelin, but she was nowhere to be seen. He walked over to the chair and turned on the TV. Treble crawled over and collapsed in his lap.
"Hey boy." he said, petting him. "Long night?"
Treble whimpered in the affirmative.
"Well, let's see what's on." he said, and turned on the television.
"To recap our top story, General Director Binary of the Maverick Hunter told the press today that he believes Mega Man X, the most decorated Reploid in the service, was destroyed in battle against the X-Hunters."
"WHAT?" Vector said.
"Good morning," Phaelin said, walking into the room, "Did you recharge well?"
"Phaelin," Vector said, panicked, "Mega Man X is dead, and all you can do is ask how I recharged?"
"Mega Man X?" Phaelin asked with a grin. "You mean that pile of metal over there?"
In what seemed like slow motion, Vector turned to see the heavily damaged and motionless remains of Mega Man X lying on the dining room table.
"Th...that's X...you didn't..."
"No, of course not!" Phaelin said, almost laughing. "Sigma and the Robot Masters took care of that quite well on their own. I'm going to help him."
"I can see that," Vector said, still dazed, "Lying on that table probably helped him a lot before he DIED!"
"Dying is the best thing to happen. X's body was such a substandard model that it couldn't even contain his full memory circuits. He had to back them up and compress them, making them utterly unusable."
"Yeah, good. But now who's going to stop Sigma? X was the greatest Hunter to ever live."
"First, you're under a misconception that robots can live and die. They can activate and deactivate, but not live and die. Only living machines can do that."
"I'm sorry," Vector said, "But I thought you said living machines."
"I did."
"There's no such thing."
"Of course there is." Phaelin said. "Living machines can think and feel independent of programming. In fact, it's quite a chore to reprogram a living machine at all. And living machines have many characteristics Dr. Light could never have imagined." "Yes, but he never understood them. It was an accident, really. But, after five hundred years, these living machines showed an interesting property. They were able to regenerate."
"Yeah, so?"
Phaelin pointed Vector to a door. She then opened it, and behind it stood an undamaged, yet smaller version of X. It was tiny, even compared to Vector. Yet the very presence seemed to exhude a sense of awe and power.
"Vector Phi," Phaelin said with pride, "This is the original Mega Man. And, after five hundred years, you and I are going to reintigrate him."

"Bass." Mega Man said, glaring at his hated enemy.
"Nice of you to join us, Mega Man." Bass shot back with a grin. "I assume you remember your sister and the daughter of Doctor Cossack, don't you?"
"Let them go, Bass. This is between you and me."
"I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that you would only blame yourself if something happened to them. And that would give me a decided edge."
"A tainted victory, Bass?"
"I'm not guided by your foolish sense of honor. I'm smart enough to accept any victory, not matter how it comes to me."
Bass smiled, then fired a shot at Mega Man. The blue robot dodged the blast, and quickly sent a series of commands to his animal companions. Rush jumped into the air and transformed into the Adept armor, while Tango rolled into a ball and launched himself at Bass. Bass dodged the attack, then merged with Treble. The two robots flew into the sky and traded blows with their jet fist weapons.
"It ends now, Mega Man."
"There's one thing we agree on." Mega said, then fired off another round at Bass. The blow smashed into his shoulder, denting the metal inward.
Meanwhile, below the two, Break Man had gained his opportunity. He ran forward to the controls, intent on helping his sister and Kalinka out of Bass's death trap. It was going to be easy. In fact, Break Man realized too late, too easy.
A blue boot kicked him backwards. He looked up to see Wily's clone of his brother standing over him, a wide grin on his face.
"Hey there big brother." the clone said, "Are you doing something you shouldn't?"
"I'm not," Break Man said, and trained his cannon on the robot, "Your brother!" He fired, and the robot flew back. It was only enough to daze him, but it would give him the time he needed. He turned to the controls, only in time to see his own clone smiling back at him.
"Pretty stupid, Proto." it said, mocking him.
"Don't call me that!" Break Man said, then jumped at him. It was too late, however-With ease, the clone threw the switch, and the energy beams holding Roll and Kalinka disappeared, sending them hurtling into the chasm below.
"Mega!" Break Man cried out. His brother turned away from Bass and flew as fast as he could. He had no choice-This was one time he had to succeed, at all costs.

"Wily?" Vile said, entering the lab Wily had already set up.
"Come in, Vile." Wily replied. From the clutter of parts and computers, Vile couldn't see the scientist. But he ventured further into the lab, trying to find him. He looked at all of the half finished robots and designs on the screen-Wily had obviously been busy. Finally, he came face to face with him.
Wily was hovering over the disconnected arm of Mega Man X, dissecting it and looking at each circuit in great detail. Much had been thrown onto the ground around a make shift waste basket, but some circuits were carefully laid aside.
"It's fascinating," Wily said, not even looking up, "Light seems to have made considerable advances after my...sebatical...began."
"You asked to see me?" he asked.
"Yes, sit down, please." Wily asked. Vile did as he requested. After throwing yet another jumble of gears and wires to the ground, he looked up at him. "Vile, I want you as my right hand."
"What?" Vile said in shock.
"I need a second in command. Guts Man is a fine soldier, but I need someone who knows this time. Sigma is unstable at best-something I assume you've known all along. You are the best choice."
"Why me? Why not Bit, or Byte, or Shocker?"
"Simple. You've survived encounters with Mega Man X and the Maverick Hunters, and you already have the faith of the other Mavericks. In addition, you yourself are constructed of the same advanced technology as some of my own robots." Wily smiled. "I see a little of my own ideas in the man who designed you."
"I'm honored, sir."
"Now, we must address the issue of my master plan." Wily said, then spun around one of the monitors next to him. "This is Break Man, a highly advanced robot from my own time. In fact, he is a living machine. He is the only one that truely stands in the way of my forces. We must draw him out into the open."
"What for?"
"Think about it, Vile." Wily said. "He's the most powerful robot on the planet. With your resources, what would you do?"
Vile thought for a moment, then it dawned on him. It was perfect.
"I'll begin immediately." Vile said, then left the room.
Wily smiled as he left. He liked that Reploid, though he couldn't fathom exactly why. He then looked at his monitor yet again. After waiting five hundred years, the few extra days of waiting for world domination wouldn't hurt at all.