21XX:
One hundred years have passed since X and Zero have been deactivated. Dr. Light's command program still resides within the mechanical systems of his lab and the deepest layers of the subterranean portion of the city of Arcadia. X was found by archeologist Dr. Cain and reactivated in April, and by November, 'reploids' came into existence. These robots, based on Dr. Light's design notes for X, were actually translated into a new breed of machine that can think and make their own decisions, just as X could. However, these 'reploids' had a tendency to rebel against the society they were created in, becoming super-powered killing machines called Mavericks, and injuring many humans as a result. A group of Maverick Hunters was established to destroy any threat posed before anyone was hurt. Sigma, a very advanced reploid, was placed in control...
Part VI: Zero Lives!
Dr. Cain surveyed the land near the closed off mine shaft. This entire area was a labyrinth of caverns and underground rivers, with numerous mineral deposits and metal ores that had long since been exploited. His reasons for coming up to this forsaken piece of lost civilization were immediate-in conditions similar to the ones that he found X in, there could be other robots from the past, locked away in suspension, and able to give a first-hand source of history and other events that occurred years before the apocalyptic end to the Robot Wars of the last century. Dr. Light's other creations had been involved, and were assumed destroyed by some force, but that force was still unknown and Dr. Cain was determined to find it. Maybe if he could discover the forces that ended the Robot Wars, he could find the reason why reploids were going Maverick.
Looking into the scan display, Cain found nothing. There were massive amounts of unrefined metal in those mines, having been restored after a botched environmentalist revival, but no sort of distinct arrangement that would signal a robot, save for the reploid bases located miles away.
"Still nothing, Dr. Cain?" Sigma asked, eight foot stature shadowing the lanky scientist.
"No, Sigma, there's nothing here."
"Very well, Dr. Cain. May I take you back to your laboratory now?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
Deep within the caves, an ancient generator rumbled back to life. Electricity flowed through his circuits and wires, powering up the 47-grade plasma weapons array he was built with. A red glow emanated from his optical receptors, life restored to this once dilapidated robot. After his eyes returned to their white color, he stood up.
"Where am I? Oh, wait. I remember."
Unlatching the saber from his back, Zero sliced the rocks beside him, reopening the exit to the caved-in mine shaft. Walking out, he met he sun for the first time in one hundred years. It's glow shone off his now dull armor. The ore dust of the mine had settled on him, shielding him from any base scans. He detected a series of bases nearby, but it just so happened that they were subterranean.
"Why do I have all the luck?" he asked himself, putting a single hand to his head, returning back into the caves.
Two weeks later...
"And now, as reports of the mysterious red Maverick of the caves pile up, it leaves citizens of this fine city wondering 'Is it going to come after us?' and 'What can we do?' The answer, my good people is-"
Dr. Cain switched off the televideo set, looking down at his other creations from the balcony of his indoor laboratory. The lab had been turned into Maverick Hunter Headquarters, and X frequently chose to visit him there, although he himself had no desire to fight. Sigma had seen X's Maverick handling skills first-hand when a trusted member of the Hunters, a robot by the name of Guard, had turned and went on a spree. In a fatal move, Guard had attacked X, and in full self-defense, X was able to subdue his substantially weaker opponent by blasting him. The force of the explosion rocked the entire base and left Guard as nothing but pieces of nicely ground shrapnel. Sigma had suggested X join the Hunters, but the blue robot declined the offer. He wanted no part of it.
Suddenly, an alarm blared over the loudspeakers. It was another attack.
Dr. Cain looked to a subordinate reploid. "Where is it?"
The robot's eyes widened. "It's in the caves!"
Sigma stepped next to Dr. Cain. "Send Gamma. He's an excellent Hunter."
"Yes. Gamma, assemble the 14th and go to the caves."
The midnight blue robot walked past X on the way out, smirking pompously as he did so. The two bore quite a resemblance to each other. Because of that fact, Gamma had tried picking fights with X on several occasions, to no avail. X simply refused to fight(it was a moot point anyway, X had nearly twice the defense and firepower that Gamma had).
X shook his head. That arrogance will get him killed.
The South Base had been quiet for weeks. Sure, there were some mine detonations a couple days ago, but it was so uninteresting that Gamma didn't notice. His station was out at this base, only periodically reporting back to Dr. Cain. This time, however, it was different. This time, it was dangerous.
A third set of explosions rattled the base. Numbers upon numbers of reploid parts flew through the air, oil leaking everywhere. Gamma caught one disemboweled reploid mostly intact, save for the large gash across his front. Whatever this thing was, it had a sharp object of some sort.
Entering the base, hidden inside one of the caves in the outer regions of the desert beyond Arcadia, Gamma felt a blast of cold air rush past him.
That's funny, he thought. It's never cold down here.
A reploid scientist began bolting from the building. The 14th saw him, and was prepared to protect the researcher, but a second figure appeared behind him, shadowed from clear sight in the darkness of the hall. Gamma could tell one thing though-it had an arm cannon, raised and poised to fire.
The scientist hit the ground feet from the 14th, smoking from plasma burns. The blast had plowed through his internal generator.
"Show yourself!" Gamma yelled, readying himself for battle. Of course, the other reploids of the 14th jumped in front of him, trying in vain to protect the leader of their unit.
The figure spoke. "Do you ready think you want me to? Are you that stupid?"
"I will repeat myself as many times as I need. Now, show yourself!"
The figure grabbed something from his back. As he withdrew it from a sheath of some kind, it erupted in a flash. It was a plasma saber. The light from the weapon threw an eerie glow on the armor of the Maverick, but it was red, that was for sure.
Gamma swallowed hard. It was the one from the news reports. No reploid that had fought it had ever lived to tell.
In one motion, the robot jumped from the shadows, throwing the saber like a boomerang, decapitating every reploid in the 14th, save for Gamma. The lifeless robots dropped to the ground, sparking heavily.
"What are you going to do to me?" Gamma whimpered, as Zero approached him.
"That's kind of a dumb question, isn't it?" the red Maverick sneered. "You're the leader of a unit, and you can't figure out what someone who just destroyed every soldier under you is planning to do next."
Staring into Zero's remorseless eyes, Gamma became frozen in place. There was some sort of hypnotizing effect in those evil eyes, as if it were designed to immobilize enemies before it did away with them.
Raising the saber high above his head, Zero plunged it straight down, piercing Gamma's chest and rushing through his circuitry until it erupted from the reploid's back. The scream was heard by no one, and Zero turned back to work, demolishing the base with his blaster, saber still lodged in Gamma's chest.
Dr. Light, waiting around in the old circuit routines of the transportation capsule systems, began to sense that X, whom he'd been watching for quite some time now, would be forced to reveal his hand. That decision would be dire for the Mavericks whom X would be fighting against, but some of his internal body capabilities weren't up to par yet. Dr. Light knew that the Emergency Acceleration System, or Dash function, would be fully compatible with X's systems, and be permanently installed, but the other upgrades he'd prepared for the robot before the gravity chamber accident with Zero and some designed afterward he wasn't sure of. Another point was how he could get the upgrades to X.
Wait, he thought to himself. These transport capsules can be modified to do that! Of course, just a few internal adjustments, and...there! Alright X, whenever you can find these capsules of mine, you'll find a piece of yourself.
That Maverick is nearby. I can feel it..., Sigma thought, searching the warehouse/mine that he came to investigate. Some of the other reploids in the 17th had spotted him entering the cave and now Sigma had arrived to dispose of him. It was almost a month after Gamma and the entire 14th unit were obliterated, and he still held a grudge.
Looking into the darkness, Sigma caught a glimpse of red armor, and moved in for the kill.
A half an hour later, the doors to the warehouse opened again, startling the soldiers waiting outside.
"Look! It's Commander Sigma!" the first said.
"Incredible! Now I'm certain there is nothing that can defeat him," the second replied.
"Wha..." they responded in unison, as Sigma's came into range, arm severed and half of his facial covering ripped from its place.
"Take that red Maverick to the repair center, and call Dr. Cain," the commander struggled, breathless. "I wish to have that Maverick studied."
As he passed the two soldiers, the first expressed his concern. "Commander, are you okay?"
Sigma pushed him out of the way with his one remaining arm. "I'll live!"
Continuing on his way, Sigma began to feel somewhat different, as if a new sense of reality was dawning inside of him.
The two soldiers looked back at the cave in astonishment.
One hundred years have passed since X and Zero have been deactivated. Dr. Light's command program still resides within the mechanical systems of his lab and the deepest layers of the subterranean portion of the city of Arcadia. X was found by archeologist Dr. Cain and reactivated in April, and by November, 'reploids' came into existence. These robots, based on Dr. Light's design notes for X, were actually translated into a new breed of machine that can think and make their own decisions, just as X could. However, these 'reploids' had a tendency to rebel against the society they were created in, becoming super-powered killing machines called Mavericks, and injuring many humans as a result. A group of Maverick Hunters was established to destroy any threat posed before anyone was hurt. Sigma, a very advanced reploid, was placed in control...
Part VI: Zero Lives!
Dr. Cain surveyed the land near the closed off mine shaft. This entire area was a labyrinth of caverns and underground rivers, with numerous mineral deposits and metal ores that had long since been exploited. His reasons for coming up to this forsaken piece of lost civilization were immediate-in conditions similar to the ones that he found X in, there could be other robots from the past, locked away in suspension, and able to give a first-hand source of history and other events that occurred years before the apocalyptic end to the Robot Wars of the last century. Dr. Light's other creations had been involved, and were assumed destroyed by some force, but that force was still unknown and Dr. Cain was determined to find it. Maybe if he could discover the forces that ended the Robot Wars, he could find the reason why reploids were going Maverick.
Looking into the scan display, Cain found nothing. There were massive amounts of unrefined metal in those mines, having been restored after a botched environmentalist revival, but no sort of distinct arrangement that would signal a robot, save for the reploid bases located miles away.
"Still nothing, Dr. Cain?" Sigma asked, eight foot stature shadowing the lanky scientist.
"No, Sigma, there's nothing here."
"Very well, Dr. Cain. May I take you back to your laboratory now?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
Deep within the caves, an ancient generator rumbled back to life. Electricity flowed through his circuits and wires, powering up the 47-grade plasma weapons array he was built with. A red glow emanated from his optical receptors, life restored to this once dilapidated robot. After his eyes returned to their white color, he stood up.
"Where am I? Oh, wait. I remember."
Unlatching the saber from his back, Zero sliced the rocks beside him, reopening the exit to the caved-in mine shaft. Walking out, he met he sun for the first time in one hundred years. It's glow shone off his now dull armor. The ore dust of the mine had settled on him, shielding him from any base scans. He detected a series of bases nearby, but it just so happened that they were subterranean.
"Why do I have all the luck?" he asked himself, putting a single hand to his head, returning back into the caves.
Two weeks later...
"And now, as reports of the mysterious red Maverick of the caves pile up, it leaves citizens of this fine city wondering 'Is it going to come after us?' and 'What can we do?' The answer, my good people is-"
Dr. Cain switched off the televideo set, looking down at his other creations from the balcony of his indoor laboratory. The lab had been turned into Maverick Hunter Headquarters, and X frequently chose to visit him there, although he himself had no desire to fight. Sigma had seen X's Maverick handling skills first-hand when a trusted member of the Hunters, a robot by the name of Guard, had turned and went on a spree. In a fatal move, Guard had attacked X, and in full self-defense, X was able to subdue his substantially weaker opponent by blasting him. The force of the explosion rocked the entire base and left Guard as nothing but pieces of nicely ground shrapnel. Sigma had suggested X join the Hunters, but the blue robot declined the offer. He wanted no part of it.
Suddenly, an alarm blared over the loudspeakers. It was another attack.
Dr. Cain looked to a subordinate reploid. "Where is it?"
The robot's eyes widened. "It's in the caves!"
Sigma stepped next to Dr. Cain. "Send Gamma. He's an excellent Hunter."
"Yes. Gamma, assemble the 14th and go to the caves."
The midnight blue robot walked past X on the way out, smirking pompously as he did so. The two bore quite a resemblance to each other. Because of that fact, Gamma had tried picking fights with X on several occasions, to no avail. X simply refused to fight(it was a moot point anyway, X had nearly twice the defense and firepower that Gamma had).
X shook his head. That arrogance will get him killed.
The South Base had been quiet for weeks. Sure, there were some mine detonations a couple days ago, but it was so uninteresting that Gamma didn't notice. His station was out at this base, only periodically reporting back to Dr. Cain. This time, however, it was different. This time, it was dangerous.
A third set of explosions rattled the base. Numbers upon numbers of reploid parts flew through the air, oil leaking everywhere. Gamma caught one disemboweled reploid mostly intact, save for the large gash across his front. Whatever this thing was, it had a sharp object of some sort.
Entering the base, hidden inside one of the caves in the outer regions of the desert beyond Arcadia, Gamma felt a blast of cold air rush past him.
That's funny, he thought. It's never cold down here.
A reploid scientist began bolting from the building. The 14th saw him, and was prepared to protect the researcher, but a second figure appeared behind him, shadowed from clear sight in the darkness of the hall. Gamma could tell one thing though-it had an arm cannon, raised and poised to fire.
The scientist hit the ground feet from the 14th, smoking from plasma burns. The blast had plowed through his internal generator.
"Show yourself!" Gamma yelled, readying himself for battle. Of course, the other reploids of the 14th jumped in front of him, trying in vain to protect the leader of their unit.
The figure spoke. "Do you ready think you want me to? Are you that stupid?"
"I will repeat myself as many times as I need. Now, show yourself!"
The figure grabbed something from his back. As he withdrew it from a sheath of some kind, it erupted in a flash. It was a plasma saber. The light from the weapon threw an eerie glow on the armor of the Maverick, but it was red, that was for sure.
Gamma swallowed hard. It was the one from the news reports. No reploid that had fought it had ever lived to tell.
In one motion, the robot jumped from the shadows, throwing the saber like a boomerang, decapitating every reploid in the 14th, save for Gamma. The lifeless robots dropped to the ground, sparking heavily.
"What are you going to do to me?" Gamma whimpered, as Zero approached him.
"That's kind of a dumb question, isn't it?" the red Maverick sneered. "You're the leader of a unit, and you can't figure out what someone who just destroyed every soldier under you is planning to do next."
Staring into Zero's remorseless eyes, Gamma became frozen in place. There was some sort of hypnotizing effect in those evil eyes, as if it were designed to immobilize enemies before it did away with them.
Raising the saber high above his head, Zero plunged it straight down, piercing Gamma's chest and rushing through his circuitry until it erupted from the reploid's back. The scream was heard by no one, and Zero turned back to work, demolishing the base with his blaster, saber still lodged in Gamma's chest.
Dr. Light, waiting around in the old circuit routines of the transportation capsule systems, began to sense that X, whom he'd been watching for quite some time now, would be forced to reveal his hand. That decision would be dire for the Mavericks whom X would be fighting against, but some of his internal body capabilities weren't up to par yet. Dr. Light knew that the Emergency Acceleration System, or Dash function, would be fully compatible with X's systems, and be permanently installed, but the other upgrades he'd prepared for the robot before the gravity chamber accident with Zero and some designed afterward he wasn't sure of. Another point was how he could get the upgrades to X.
Wait, he thought to himself. These transport capsules can be modified to do that! Of course, just a few internal adjustments, and...there! Alright X, whenever you can find these capsules of mine, you'll find a piece of yourself.
That Maverick is nearby. I can feel it..., Sigma thought, searching the warehouse/mine that he came to investigate. Some of the other reploids in the 17th had spotted him entering the cave and now Sigma had arrived to dispose of him. It was almost a month after Gamma and the entire 14th unit were obliterated, and he still held a grudge.
Looking into the darkness, Sigma caught a glimpse of red armor, and moved in for the kill.
A half an hour later, the doors to the warehouse opened again, startling the soldiers waiting outside.
"Look! It's Commander Sigma!" the first said.
"Incredible! Now I'm certain there is nothing that can defeat him," the second replied.
"Wha..." they responded in unison, as Sigma's came into range, arm severed and half of his facial covering ripped from its place.
"Take that red Maverick to the repair center, and call Dr. Cain," the commander struggled, breathless. "I wish to have that Maverick studied."
As he passed the two soldiers, the first expressed his concern. "Commander, are you okay?"
Sigma pushed him out of the way with his one remaining arm. "I'll live!"
Continuing on his way, Sigma began to feel somewhat different, as if a new sense of reality was dawning inside of him.
The two soldiers looked back at the cave in astonishment.