Chapter Ten: Memories
I saw Bass fighting, and I was proud that my creation was faring so well against the other two robots. Despite my joy, however, something tugged at the back of my mind... as if I knew the red and blue enemies.
"Doctor..." I asked of Wily, who was still standing beside me. "Who are they?"
"Don't worry yourself about it, my dear," he responded in that crazed voice that often unnerved me, especially while I was working. "They are of no importance. You don't know them."
But something was screaming that he was wrong. As much as I tried to suppress this feeling it kept getting louder and louder. The red one... I gathered his name was Zero... had looked at me with... loss? Longing? He had seemed so happy to see me, but where had I met him before?
Then the blue one, Mega Man, had yelled at me that I was letting Zero die. First of all, how in the world had he known my name? Secondly, why should I care that the worthless scrap metal was being sent to the junkyard? He was just an obsolete pile of wires...
Nevertheless, a kind of nausea seemed to flow through me, and as I saw the crimson-armored Zero lie unconscious on the ground I felt a dull ache ram against my heart over and over. Why? Why?
I wanted Bass to kill them both... I wanted to be rid of these weird senses of déjà vu. Yes... once they were gone I could return to my work. I liked to work, and to build new robots for Doctor Wily. Often, while I worked in my cramped but comfortable room he would check on my progress, and praise my brilliance. Of course I was brilliant... I had built Bass, hadn't I?
But an even more common visitor I had had was Protoman. As I thought about it, I realized that the discomfort I had felt around him was somewhat similar to that I felt for the two robots fighting Bass now. So I was happy when my beautiful robot turned against the arrogant Protoman, who had apparently been brainwashed by Mega Man's romanticism. He was a fool from the beginning. He deserved to be scrapped.
I continued to view the battle with happiness as Bass prepared to finish off the trash, but then something happened that was too fast to see... Protoman had launched himself at Bass... and then...
"NO!" I screamed as a huge explosion shook the hangar. "BASS!" I didn't want to lose my creation, for he had become a sort of family... family.... Family... Why did that strike a chord within me...? I looked at Wily, who had that weird grin plastered on his face, the crazed look in his oversized eyes...
Wait... this had happened before... flashes of some forgotten memory hit my mind hard... Wily, with some robots... old ones, but deadly... two people, a man and woman... could they be... The man had short blond hair and clear blue eyes behind thin glasses that couldn't hide his fear... the woman was a bit shorter than him but still tall, with long brown hair and grey eyes that sparkled in defiance as she stood between me and Wily...
I saw in my mind's eye Wily yelling at these people who looked like me... me, who at that time must have been very young for I was looking upwards as these events unfolded... I saw Wily threaten them, moving his arms about wildly. The people... yes... they were my parents! They had to be! They were... shaking their heads... they looked angry and frightened.
Then Wily gestured to the robots... and they whirred forward on shaky feet, raising their crude energy weapons... bright light filled the room and I had to cover my eyes... When I could see again, my parents were both on the floor... my father was dead... but my mother was only barely alive...
"MAMA!" I had screamed as I tried to run to her, to help her... but a robot saw me and restrained me with cold, metal hands that cut into my skin as I struggled in vain. More energy fire erupted... the smell of ozone and burning flesh... bright light... and they were gone. My parents both gone without a trace... their bodies vaporized by Wily... Wily... Wily... Wily's laughter... Wily's sneer... my crying... my screaming... that monster had left me to die... he had set a fire to the laboratory, locking me in a closet as he took my father's experimental robot...
Blue. That's what I had wanted to name him... green eyes, reddish-brown hair... his face had looked so sad when I saw him being built... so I had called him Blue... he was going to be activated that very day... I had even helped in some of his design and construction... as a little girl I was considered brilliant... but Wily destroyed it all... all gone...
"AAAHHHH!!!" I screamed as the memories came flooding back into me. I clutched at my head, which felt as if it were on fire and fell to my knees on the cold metal tiling of the hangar. But then everything around me was being blacked out... a forgotten stage set in which the actors have forever left... as I plunged into my own mind to see what I was missing... I could barely hear Wily's voice as he tried to bring me back to my senses; trying to figure out what was wrong with me...
The river of Time washed over me as I saw everything from behind my own self, like a window looking out from my own body. I relived growing up in a few seconds... going to school... learning robotics with Grandfather Light... creating the brain chips... activating Rock and Zero. Zero... who was dying... and I was letting it happen... Zero was dying... Rock was dying... Protoman was dying...
I tried to open my eyes, but became half-blinded by the harsh lights above me. I barely saw Zero's lifeless body... Rock lying on the ground, paralyzed... Bass some feet away, dazed but beginning to come to... and Protoman... without his helmet on he looked so much like...
Like Blue. I focused on the robot as best I could, and amidst the haze in front of my vision I finally recognized my father's creation... even in the disassembled state he was in. The auburn hair... were his eyes the green I remembered...? Yes. They had to be! It was Blue!
"BLUE!" I screamed. Bass was now to his feet and charging his plasma cannon as it was pointed a foot away from the red and grey robot's chest.
"BASS! STOP!"
I saw Bass fighting, and I was proud that my creation was faring so well against the other two robots. Despite my joy, however, something tugged at the back of my mind... as if I knew the red and blue enemies.
"Doctor..." I asked of Wily, who was still standing beside me. "Who are they?"
"Don't worry yourself about it, my dear," he responded in that crazed voice that often unnerved me, especially while I was working. "They are of no importance. You don't know them."
But something was screaming that he was wrong. As much as I tried to suppress this feeling it kept getting louder and louder. The red one... I gathered his name was Zero... had looked at me with... loss? Longing? He had seemed so happy to see me, but where had I met him before?
Then the blue one, Mega Man, had yelled at me that I was letting Zero die. First of all, how in the world had he known my name? Secondly, why should I care that the worthless scrap metal was being sent to the junkyard? He was just an obsolete pile of wires...
Nevertheless, a kind of nausea seemed to flow through me, and as I saw the crimson-armored Zero lie unconscious on the ground I felt a dull ache ram against my heart over and over. Why? Why?
I wanted Bass to kill them both... I wanted to be rid of these weird senses of déjà vu. Yes... once they were gone I could return to my work. I liked to work, and to build new robots for Doctor Wily. Often, while I worked in my cramped but comfortable room he would check on my progress, and praise my brilliance. Of course I was brilliant... I had built Bass, hadn't I?
But an even more common visitor I had had was Protoman. As I thought about it, I realized that the discomfort I had felt around him was somewhat similar to that I felt for the two robots fighting Bass now. So I was happy when my beautiful robot turned against the arrogant Protoman, who had apparently been brainwashed by Mega Man's romanticism. He was a fool from the beginning. He deserved to be scrapped.
I continued to view the battle with happiness as Bass prepared to finish off the trash, but then something happened that was too fast to see... Protoman had launched himself at Bass... and then...
"NO!" I screamed as a huge explosion shook the hangar. "BASS!" I didn't want to lose my creation, for he had become a sort of family... family.... Family... Why did that strike a chord within me...? I looked at Wily, who had that weird grin plastered on his face, the crazed look in his oversized eyes...
Wait... this had happened before... flashes of some forgotten memory hit my mind hard... Wily, with some robots... old ones, but deadly... two people, a man and woman... could they be... The man had short blond hair and clear blue eyes behind thin glasses that couldn't hide his fear... the woman was a bit shorter than him but still tall, with long brown hair and grey eyes that sparkled in defiance as she stood between me and Wily...
I saw in my mind's eye Wily yelling at these people who looked like me... me, who at that time must have been very young for I was looking upwards as these events unfolded... I saw Wily threaten them, moving his arms about wildly. The people... yes... they were my parents! They had to be! They were... shaking their heads... they looked angry and frightened.
Then Wily gestured to the robots... and they whirred forward on shaky feet, raising their crude energy weapons... bright light filled the room and I had to cover my eyes... When I could see again, my parents were both on the floor... my father was dead... but my mother was only barely alive...
"MAMA!" I had screamed as I tried to run to her, to help her... but a robot saw me and restrained me with cold, metal hands that cut into my skin as I struggled in vain. More energy fire erupted... the smell of ozone and burning flesh... bright light... and they were gone. My parents both gone without a trace... their bodies vaporized by Wily... Wily... Wily... Wily's laughter... Wily's sneer... my crying... my screaming... that monster had left me to die... he had set a fire to the laboratory, locking me in a closet as he took my father's experimental robot...
Blue. That's what I had wanted to name him... green eyes, reddish-brown hair... his face had looked so sad when I saw him being built... so I had called him Blue... he was going to be activated that very day... I had even helped in some of his design and construction... as a little girl I was considered brilliant... but Wily destroyed it all... all gone...
"AAAHHHH!!!" I screamed as the memories came flooding back into me. I clutched at my head, which felt as if it were on fire and fell to my knees on the cold metal tiling of the hangar. But then everything around me was being blacked out... a forgotten stage set in which the actors have forever left... as I plunged into my own mind to see what I was missing... I could barely hear Wily's voice as he tried to bring me back to my senses; trying to figure out what was wrong with me...
The river of Time washed over me as I saw everything from behind my own self, like a window looking out from my own body. I relived growing up in a few seconds... going to school... learning robotics with Grandfather Light... creating the brain chips... activating Rock and Zero. Zero... who was dying... and I was letting it happen... Zero was dying... Rock was dying... Protoman was dying...
I tried to open my eyes, but became half-blinded by the harsh lights above me. I barely saw Zero's lifeless body... Rock lying on the ground, paralyzed... Bass some feet away, dazed but beginning to come to... and Protoman... without his helmet on he looked so much like...
Like Blue. I focused on the robot as best I could, and amidst the haze in front of my vision I finally recognized my father's creation... even in the disassembled state he was in. The auburn hair... were his eyes the green I remembered...? Yes. They had to be! It was Blue!
"BLUE!" I screamed. Bass was now to his feet and charging his plasma cannon as it was pointed a foot away from the red and grey robot's chest.
"BASS! STOP!"