Episode 1: A New Hero is Born

Hey there guys, gals and non binary pals. Tardispilot297 here bringing you the first chapter of my brand new story Mega-Man: Robotic Hero. This story will be rated K to T as it contains sci fi violence and is approved for all ages.

It also takes inspiration from all those Saturday morning cartoons a lot of us used to watch growing up. So don't be surprised if some of you get a nostalgic feeling while reading this. I most certainly did while writing this. Lol. Anyway I hope you all enjoy.

Quick disclaimer: Under no circumstances do I own any of the characters in this story. Mega-Man and all related media are all owned by Capcom. Please support the official release.

*Teenage wasteland by The Who begins playing

"Heroes aren't born, they're made." That's what everyone says right? And that cannot be anymore literal in my case. How do I know that? First of all you see this giant yellow monster thing with the one red eye about to smash that little blue guy into tiny little bits with his huge foot here? Yeah that's not me.

Do you also see this old guy with an over the top hairdo and scruffy mustache riding in a flying saucer thing laughing like a maniac? That's not me either. This is me. The little guy dressed in blue armor aiming his right arm cannon about to experience what it's like to be a pancake. Honestly, not how I thought I was gonna go out. Then again this past month has been full of unexpected things lately. But I'm getting ahead of myself so how about we rewind things a little bit?

(1 month earlier)

This is Silicon City, the birthplace for some of the most advanced robotics ever created. And it's all thanks to my dad Dr. Thomas Light: The greatest roboticist in the world. Over the years he's invented all kinds of robots to help make life better.

Like robots that can cook, robots that can help old ladies cross the street, even robots that can make it rain ice cream all year long! Okay maybe he didn't invent that but I bet he could if he wanted to. My dad's lifelong dream has always been to have humans and robots live side by side peacefully with each other. He even started a whole company based around it. Light Industries. Now he'll tell you he wasn't the one who picked the name but deep down I know he's proud of it. Course when he's not busy making the world a better place he's here at home busy being the greatest dad ever.

And I should know because my name is Xavier Light, but my friends call me Rock. At least they would if I had any. Dad moved us here to the suburbs to take a break from the big city. A break that's been going on 5 years now. We don't get to go out very often because Dad worries that something bad might happen or whatever. Least that what he says every time I ask him. Speaking of which, that's me, the guy with brown hair in the blue pajamas dead asleep in bed drooling on his pillow. I know what you're thinking 'definitely not the hero type right?'. Well you know what they say "Destiny comes to us in the strangest of ways."

For me, destiny came in the shape of a remote control drone crashing through my bedroom window with a loud SMASH! I jolted upright with my eyes nearly flying out of my sockets. "I DIDN'T DO IT!" I looked over at the broken window and spotted the drone lying broken on the floor. I got out of bed and crouched down to look at it when I heard a voice yelling from outside. "HEY!" I got up and opened the window to see who was out there and spotted two guys in front of the house looking up at me.

Oh before I forget, allow me to introduce you to these guys. The tall dude in the long sleeved t-shirt and jeans with reddish hair holding the remote control is Axel Stern. He's a bit of a hot head at times but when it comes down to it he'll always have your back. The guy next to him wearing glasses, a bowtie, white button up shirt and light brown shorts held up by suspenders is Douglas Brown. He often gets called a nerd a lot but he makes some pretty cool stuff. Together these two are the best friends I've ever had. Even though I didn't know it yet.

Axel called out again. "Do you mind giving us back our drone?" I looked at him unsure what to say next. "Are you talking to me?" "No, I'm talking to the dude in the window next to yours." Axel says in a weird tone of voice. I looked over to my right to see if there was anyone at the other window. Axel shouts up again. "What you never heard sarcasm before?" I looked back at Axel. "So you were talking to me?" Axel and Douglas looked at each other confused before shrugging it off.

Douglas turned to me and said "Listen friend, if it's not too much trouble could myself and my companion please ask for your assistance in returning our aerial device?" I wasn't sure what Douglas was talking about at first until I finally remembered the drone in my room. I walked over picking it up and brought it to the window. "You mean this thing? I think it's broken." "Are you quite sure?" Douglas asked. "Hold on, I'll bring it down to you. Meet me at the front door."

I quickly changed into a light blue shirt, pants and jacket leaving the room and rushed down the stairs. When I turned to head for the door I accidently bumped into something large. I looked up to see a big green robot looking at me with red eyes. This robot's name was Auto. Dad built him as both his assistant and our housekeeper. Guess you could say he's my friend too but really he's more like a fun uncle. Auto looked at me with surprise. "Whoa there master Xavier, why in such a hurry?" He asked me. "Sorry, Auto can't talk right now. I have to give this drone back to the two guys out front." "Ah very well I won't keep you." Auto stepped aside and let me continue to the door. "Thanks Auto."

I walked past him only to hear him shout after me. "Wait master Xavier you know your father's rule…" I couldn't hear what he said next then again I was purposely ignoring him. I walked up to the front door and opened it to see Axel and Douglas standing there waiting for me. When Douglas saw the broken drone in my hands he dropped to his knees. "Nooooo. Why must the good die young?" I looked at Axel who placed his hand over his face. "Is he ok?" I asked him. Axel lowered his hand and looked at me. "Don't mind him, he gets like this all the time." Douglas got back up on his feet and brushed off his pants. "Apologies for the dramatics. I just hate to see one of my babies in such a state." At first I wasn't sure if I heard him right so I asked "Did you say your babies?" Douglas nodded. "Why yes indeed, friend. I've come to see all the machines I've built as my own children." "You know it's talk like that that makes everyone call you weird right?" Axel commented.

I chuckled a little bit before looking over the drone. "So you built this yourself?" I asked Douglas. "Why yes actually. Of course Axel here helped too." "Yeah he builds the bots and I test fly em." Axel stated with pride in his voice. "Oh. Did the others crash too?" I asked him. Douglas snickered to himself while Axel looked at the both of us with an unamused glance. "HA ha ha, very funny. The wind kicked up, that's all." "I'm sure it did, friend. I'm sure it did." I was curious why that was funny but decided to pay no mind. "Well anyway, here's your guy's drone back." Douglas turned back to me and took the drone back. He then got a look of realization on his face. "Oh my apologies allow me to introduce myself. My name is Douglas Brown and this is Axel Stern." Axel raised his hand at me. "Sup?" I raised my hand back. "Hi."

Axel looked at me. "Say we haven't seen you around here before. You just move in?" "Uhhhh no actually we've lived here for about 5 years now." "Oh. Is it just you and your parents?" Douglas asked. "It's me and my dad actually. Oh and Auto too." "Who's Auto?" Axel asked. "Oh he's our robot housekeeper." Axel and Douglas looked at me surprised. "You guys have a robot housekeeper?" Douglas asked, very excited. "Well yeah, he's also my dad's assistant." Douglas looked at me curiously. "Wait, what did you say your name was again?" "Oh well it's…" Before I could finish I heard a low voice call me. "Xavier?" I cringed upon hearing dad's voice as he came walking up behind me.

I turned around to see him looking down at me. "Auto told me that we had some visitors." My face forced a small smile. "Uh yeah, um dad this is Douglas and Axel. Guys, meet my dad." Axel and Douglas both stood there with mouths hanging open. Dad looked at the two of them and smiled warmly and held out his hand. "Well it's nice to meet you boys." They both shook his hand while their mouths still hung open. Dad chuckled a little before looking at Douglas' drone in his hands. "My that's quite the drone you have there. Did you build it yourself?" Douglas stood there unmoving until Axel nudged him with his elbow. "Y-y-yes sir. I-I did. But then it b-broke." He held it up to show dad.

Dad took the drone and examined it. "Hmm. Well the damage doesn't seem too severe. If you'd like, I'd be happy to repair it for you." "R-really?" Douglas asked. "Of course. I'll take it down to my workshop and have it fixed up for you first thing tomorrow." "Oh thank you sir. Thank you." Dad handed me the drone. "Xavier, could you please give this to Auto and tell him to put it in my workshop?" I took the drone from dad. "Yes sir." I walked away as dad bid Douglas and Axel goodbye and closed the door. I had made it halfway down the wall when dad called after me. "Hold it right there young man." I froze in place and slowly turned around.

He gestured with his finger to follow him upstairs. I walked with my head lowered as I went upstairs. We then stepped into my room where dad closed the blinds and gestured for me to sit down on the bed. I put the drone down and sat at the edge with my eyes glued to the floor. He grabbed the swivel chair under the desk and rolled it over to sit in front of me. He put his hands together and let out a deep sigh. These were usually the tell tale signs of one of dad's lectures. "Now son, I know that these past few months have been….. well difficult. And you know that I'm only trying to look out for you. But I set these rules for a reason." I tried to say something only for dad to raise his hand, silencing me.

"And when I set those rules I expect you to follow them. Understand?" "Yes sir." He patted his hand on my shoulder. "Good boy." "But dad I was only trying to…" "I don't want to hear any excuses Xavier. I just want to hear you say that it won't happen again." I raised my head to protest only to see the serious look in his eyes. I took a deep breath and lowered my head again. "It won't happen again." Dad was quiet for a second before standing up and sitting next to me. He wrapped his arm over my shoulder. "I'm not trying to punish you son. I just don't want to see anything happen to you." "How can anything happen to me if I'm not even allowed to leave the house?" "Now Xavier please understand, you're not like other boys. You're special." I had already heard this lecture at least a hundred times. And even now I still don't understand.

I could see from the corner of my eye the caring look on dad's face. He then stood up off the bed and turned to me. "Come down to the workshop, it's time for your weekly check up." "Ok dad." I stood up and followed him downstairs to the door that led to the basement. When we moved into our house dad wasted no time converting the basement into his own private workshop. Dad switched on the light revealing the wall that was covered with all kinds of tools that hung over a workbench littered with spare parts and blueprints. At the center of the workshop stood a metal table with a lamp hanging overhead. I walked up to the table and took off my shirt before laying down.

Dad grabbed some tools and walked over to the side of the table. He reached over my chest and applied light pressure to the center causing it to open up exposing the power core inside. Oh yeah I probably should've mentioned this before but I'm not exactly what you might call… human. When I said that me and my dad had been living in this house for 5 years I meant that's how long I've been alive. While I look like a typical teen out the outside in terms of age I'm almost exactly 5 years 2 months and 11 days old. See while dad has accomplished a great many things he never managed to have a family of his own. So one day he decided to build me in secret. I still don't understand why he never told anyone about me or why I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone. But in the end he's still the best dad anyone could ever have.

I just wish he wasn't so overprotective. It's not like I'm completely helpless. I mean how many teens do you know that can pick up a tank like It's a softball or withstand even the harshest of environments. Dad built me to be practically indestructible. The least he could do was act like it. Dad took a few of the tools and used them to make adjustments onto my body. It doesn't hurt really, though it does make my body tingle a bit. The kinda tingling feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. Dad makes me go through this every week to make sure that I'm functioning properly. Normally I'd complain about having to do it all the time but I could tell that dad was particularly on edge today. And he only ever gets like that when he has to leave the house for a business trip into the city. Sometimes I'd ask him why he feels like that all the time but he always puts on a brave face and tells me that there's nothing to worry about.

After a few more adjustments he closes my chest back up and tells me to stand up. I get up from the table and put my blue shirt back on. Without saying a word I walked up the steps out of the basement and up to my room and closed the door. I leaned up against it and slid down all the way to the floor. I looked over at the window with the blinds still drawn and noticed the sun shining through the broken glass creating a jagged shape on the blinds. My thoughts then went back to Axel and Douglas and how cool it was talking with them. Other than dad and Auto I had never interacted with anyone else let alone other humans. Sure I'd wave at the occasional robot dog walker passing by but it just wasn't the same. I got up and reached under my bed and pulled out some old travel magazines I had stashed awhile ago. The only things dad ever let me read were textbooks on mathematics, history, physics etc. He always said that stuff like magazines were a waste of time and not worth reading.

Whenever the mail came in however I'd always managed to sneak at least one magazine up to my room each month without him or Auto noticing. I grabbed the most recent one and plopped down on the bed to start reading. The magazine had an article about the best vacation spots and what to do there. I came across a picture of a mountain range with snow on the tops. I started to imagine what it must've been like to climb up mountains like that. Having to brave the elements and reaching the very top of the mountain. I turned the page and saw another photo showing a sunset on the beach. A couple was shown there as well hugging and kissing each other. I found myself staring very closely at them. A part of me was wondering what it would feel like to hug and kiss someone like that. As you might expect biology wasn't my dad's strongest subject so there wasn't much for him to actually teach me about it.

All he really did teach me was how the human body worked such as the need to sleep, eat food, drink water and even the subtle differences between boys and girls. Though whenever I asked questions regarding that specific concept dad would always start to get all flustered and told me that he'd explain it to me when I was older. Anyway as I continued reading I could hear Auto's footsteps coming from the hall to my room. I quickly stashed the magazines back under my bed and lay down on my side by the time there was a knock on the door. Auto opened the door slightly and peeked his head inside. "Master Xavier? Your father wished me to tell you that lunch is ready." Without looking at him I replied back. "No thanks Auto, I'm not that hungry." I didn't need to see Auto's face to feel the concern he showed on his face.

After hearing the door close I sat back up to look at the window and went over to remove the blinds letting the sunlight in. Even though the glass was broken I still sat down on my desk to look outside. A feeling of envy grew in the pit of my stomach as I saw a few kids ride bikes down the street. Not knowing how lucky they were to be in their shoes.

While I wallowed in my forced isolation dad sat at the table eating the lunch Auto had made. Dad tried to cook a few times on his own but his stuff never tasted quite as good as Auto's so naturally the kitchen was all his. Auto came walking into the room carrying a tray with a glass of water on it. He placed it on the table and put the glass next to dad's plate. Dad looked over at the chair I usually sit in when it's time to eat and saw that it was currently empty. Auto saw how tired dad looked and tried to cheer him up. "Now don't feel too bad sir. After all, you know how teenagers get these days." Dad sighed. "Maybe I was too hard on him. After all, it really wasn't his fault those boys' drone flew through the window." "That may be sir but remember you gave him explicit instructions not to interact with anyone other than you or myself." "Yes Auto I know but you know how that boy is. Ever since he first learned to walk he's wanted to go out there and explore the world outside this house." "Is that really such a bad thing?" "Of course not. I'm proud that he wants to go and see what's out there but you know as well as I do that it's much too dangerous. If people were to discover the truth of what he is they'd want to experiment on him or turn him into a weapon just like…" Dad's expression turned solemn as he hung his head leaning back against the chair.

Auto placed a hand on Dad's shoulder causing him to look up at him. "It's going to be alright sir. You'll see." Dad smiled a little and put his hand over Auto's. "Thank you Auto." Dad grabbed the water and took a drink before standing up and walking towards the basement. "Have my things packed for my trip into the city tomorrow please." "Of course sir." Auto cleaned up the table and proceeded into the kitchen to wash dishes. A few hours had passed as I sat on my bed bouncing a ball against the wall and catching it. I heard a knock at the door and heard dad's voice asking to come in. I stopped bouncing the ball for a second and told him it was alright to enter before continuing.

Dad opened the door and walked in and stood a foot away from me. He was holding Douglas' fixed drone in his hands, placing it on the shelf. "You can give this to those two boys when they come to pick it up tomorrow." "You sure you wouldn't want Auto to do it? After all, he's not forbidden to talk to anyone." "I never said you were forbidden to talk to people." "Yeah well it certainly feels like that sometimes." Dad sighed and walked back to the door. He stopped and looked back at me. "Listen, I have to head into the city tomorrow for a meeting. While I'm gone you are to be on your best behavior and you are not to leave the house under any circumstances. Understood?" "Yes sir." "I'll be home tomorrow evening. And Xavier, I love you son. I hope you know that." I stopped bouncing the ball and looked at him. "I know dad." Dad smiled at me.

"Goodnight son." "Night dad." Dad closed the door and I sat there on my bed silently. I lay back and placed my hands behind my head. I started to close my eyes and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning dad left for the city. Whenever the company needed to debate on a new line of robots being developed the board of directors would give my dad a call to head over and attend a meeting. After coming back after one of those meetings I asked him once why he moved out of the city in the first place. He looked at me with a smile and said it was because he wanted to focus all his attention on his greatest creation. A few times I read up on my dad and learned about the different types of robots he's created in the past. Robots that were designed to help people. It made me ask myself 'if I was supposed to be his greatest creation then why did I have to be kept a secret?' For weeks that question kept nagging and nagging inside my head. Eventually it made me develop a habit of pacing back and forth across my room.

Today that thought was yelling extra loud like it was using a megaphone. And for the first time in my life I began to feel this burning sensation in my chest. At first I thought it was my plasma core overheating but as it built up I started to grab my head and make a sort of growling noise in my throat. I shut my eyes tightly feeling like if I didn't release this energy soon my body was going to explode. So uttering out a great big yell I opened my eyes and turned to punch the closest wall. Whenever humans hit a wall their hands are supposed to hurt, but for me hitting the wall felt like punching cardboard. I stood there for a moment panting as I stared at my arm inside the wall. In my first year since being built dad told me that I would need to learn to control my emotions.

At first I wasn't sure what he meant but as I started to slowly pull my arm out I started to get the idea of what he was saying. I looked at my fist that was covered in dust and started to open my hand. If I were a normal human my hand would probably be broken. Obviously though it wasn't as I was able to move it with no pain or any form of discomfort. I used to never let the fact that being a robot bother me. But as I kept moving my hand it felt like it was finally setting in that I was in fact a robot. And that meant that I would never get to experience life as a normal person. Never know what it feels like to have friends, to fall in love with a girl or even feel pain. I'm not gonna lie, it didn't feel good.

As I continued to stand there I failed to notice that Auto was standing there in the doorway. He cleared his throat to get my attention and I looked at him. As soon as I did I realized that a few tears were streaming down my face and I turned away to wipe them off with my sleeve. I knew Auto had seen them but decided not to mention it. "I just came up to tell you that those two boys from yesterday are at the front door. They're here to pick up the drone." I straightened up and walked over to grab the drone off the shelf and handed it to him. "Here." I walked away to the window. "Don't you want to give it to them yourself?" I stood there without answering. "You know that young man Douglas was rather excited to see me. Said he'd never seen a more 'sophisticated work of craftsmanship'. I was beginning to wonder whether or not I was going to be able to come get you. Heh." I continued to remain silent.

I could hear Auto start to fidget a little as though he was uncomfortable. "Anyway um he also asked to see you. The other young man too. And I know you're Father's rules but perhaps just this once…" "Auto don't." "My apologies master Xavier I was only trying to…" At that moment I turned around and scowled at Auto. "To what? Huh? Help me make friends? To see if they want to hang out with me? And just who in the world would want to hangout with a freak like me?" Auto put the drone down and walked over to put his hands on my shoulders. "Come now master Xavier you are in no way a…" I slapped his hands away and started to feel that burning in my chest again. "WELL THEN WHAT AM I HUH!? AM I NORMAL TEENAGER AUTO?!" I pointed to the hole in the wall. "CAN A NORMAL TEENAGER DO THAT!?" I turned back to the window and pulled off the bar the blinds hung from.

I slid the blinds off and turned back at Auto. "HOW ABOUT THIS!?" I proceeded to bend the bar like it was a pool noodle before tossing it to the floor. Auto stood there trying to tell me to calm down but I refused to listen. For the first time in my life I finally felt angry. And as it continued to build up I turned and grabbed a hold of Auto startling him as I started to lift him up over my head. "OR HOW ABOUT THIS AUTO, CAN A NORMAL TEENAGER DO-" Before I could finish my rant my expression dropped seeing the shocked faces of both Douglas and Axel standing there in the doorway.

All three of us stood there unmoving staring at each other for what felt like hours when it was actually just a few seconds. And just like that my anger immediately subsided and I got to experience another new emotion called fear. It took Auto asking me to put him back down to finally snap me out of my daze. I immediately put him back down next to me and after thanking me he asked me what's wrong and turned where I was looking. Upon seeing Douglas and Axel standing there he screamed loudly causing Axel and Douglas to scream as well. Before long they were all screaming back and forth at each other like they were in some kinda comedy film. Thinking on my feet I quickly reached behind Auto's back and hit the switch to turn him off.

I then ran up and covered both Axel and Douglas' mouths with both hands to stop them from screaming. "Ok guys I know this seems a little freaky but I really need you to not freak out. Now if you promise to not scream anymore I promise to answer any and all questions you might have. Now I'm gonna take my hands away and you guys aren't gonna scream anymore right?" Axel and Douglas both shake their heads. I carefully removed my hands from their mouths and stepped back. "Ok fellas, fire away." "I have just one question." Axel started. "Are you some kinda superhero or something?" It took me a minute to register the question. "Uhhhh no." "Well then how come you were able to lift that big green bot over your head?" I looked between the two of them before answering. "You guys really wanna know?"

They both nodded their heads. "Okay." I took a deep breath. "The truth is….. I'm a robot." I stood there nervously waiting to see how they'd react. Only to see them look at each other and look at me with disbelief while crossing their arms. "Yeah right." Axel's response confused me. "Do you take us for simpletons sir?" I looked at Douglas shocked. "Guys I'm not making this up." Axel started to walk around me looking me over. "Oh yeah? Well if you're really a robot, how come you don't look like one?" I gave him an offended expression. "Excuse me?" "I believe what my friend is insinuating is that you don't appear to bear the resemblance pertaining to a robot." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There I was telling my biggest secret to the first two humans I've met in the past 5 years. And they both thought I was pulling their legs. Honestly I wasn't sure whether to yell at them or smack them in the faces.

Finally I settled on an alternative solution. "You know what? Follow me. I've got something to show you guys." I lead them downstairs down to the basement. I reached over to the wall and switched on the lights. Douglas gasped in delight like a little kid who just walked into a candy store. He walked up to dad's workbench glancing over the many tools hanging on the wall. "Look at this. I can't believe that I'm standing in Dr. Light's actual workshop. Axel quick, pinch me in case I'm dreaming." Axel walked over and punched Douglas in the arm. Douglas groaned and rubbed where he hit. "I said pinch not punch." Axel shrugged. "Eh potato, potato." Axel walked over to the table. "Yo superboy, what's this table for?" "That's where dad performs my weekly tune up." Axel gives me a look. "You're still playing the 'I'm a robot' card? Come on man." "I'm not making this up you guys. What will it take to convince you?" Douglas answered while still examining tools. "Well some form of physical evidence that coincides with your claim might suffice."

I wasn't really sure why I was so determined to prove I was a robot to them. Perhaps it was because I disliked being called a liar. Either way I told Douglas to look into one of the drawers of the workbench. He opened it up to find blueprints that detailed how I was designed. While Douglas was geeking out to the thought of examining one of dad's blueprints Axel on the other hand still wasn't convinced. "How do we know you didn't just draw those yourself?" I stood there dumbfounded at his stubbornness. In my annoyance I took a few steps back and took off my shirt. As Axel and Douglas both looked at me confused I applied light pressure to the middle of my chest causing it to open up.

They both jumped and started staring at my chest. I felt a sense of pride for a moment having proved that I wasn't lying. Douglas walked up to me and looked at my chest. He took out a pen from his shirt pocket and started tapping it along my chest. "Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Axel come here and take a look at this." Axel walked over and the two of them continued to examine me. Axel started to poking at my arm which felt soft to the touch. Looked up and started asking me another question. "So you truly are a robot. Yet the rest of you appears to be that of a human. Why is that?" I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess because Dad wanted it that way?" I could feel Axel prodding at the side of my face. "So what, you're like a teenage terminator?" I swatted his hand away. "Okay can you stop poking me like that. I don't even know what a terminator is." Axel smirked at me. "Yeah and I bet you don't know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is either." The moment I asked him who that was Axel stared at me asking if I was serious.

Douglas on the other hand continued to bombard me with all kinds of technical questions like what kind of metal was I made of, what my primary function was and what kind of power source I had. Eventually I started to feel dizzy and almost fell over only for Axel to jump in and catch me. Or least try to catch me without getting crushed under my weight. For the record I am in no way fat, I'm just heavy metalled. Axel strained underneath me until Douglas came over to help and the two of them lowered me onto the floor. Once my dizzy spell passed I looked up to see them looking down at me panting heavily with sweat on their foreheads. "Okay. I'm starting to believe you very well might be a robot." Axel stated between breaths. "Indeed. Though I am still curious as to how you've been able to keep it a secret this whole time without anyone else figuring it out." Douglas stated also a bit out of breath. "Well for starters dad never lets me leave the house."

"Wait for real?" Axel asked me. I nodded my head. Axel and Douglas looked at each other before looking back down at me. Douglas then cleared his throat. "Well if it's any consolation we won't tell anyone else your secret." I looked at Douglas surprised. "Wait you won't?" Axel shook his head. "Oh no actually we were planning on calling up the news guys and showing you off to the world." I started to instantly panic only for Axel to suddenly burst out laughing. "Dude you've really never heard of sarcasm before have you?" Douglas and Axel proceeded to help me up off the floor with Axel handing me back my shirt. I then closed my chest back up and put the shirt back on. "So you guys really aren't gonna tell anyone else?" Douglas went on to explain that while my existence was the greatest scientific breakthrough in history it would've been considered wrong to reveal a friend's most cherished secret.

Axel then added that it would also be considered a jerk move. In all the time that I've been alive I had never once felt so relieved than when I was in that moment. At least until Axel made the suggestion that we go someplace to have some fun. After hearing that I quickly explained that I couldn't leave the house. Axel of course continued to be stubborn and tried to convince me to leave by grabbing onto my arm and trying to pull me along up the stairs. After struggling for a while our game of tug of war eventually made it to the front door. Douglas tried I'm vain to break it up only for Axel to fall backwards onto the ground outside. He sat up and looked to see that he was holding my right arm in his hands.

I rushed over and quickly took it from him before going back inside and pushing Douglas out the door with him. "Listen guys I appreciate you not telling anyone my secret but I really have to stay home." I put my arm back on and began to close the door. "Anyway it was nice meeting you guys. Have a great day." I shut the door and started to walk away when I heard Axel ask through the door whether I wanted to hangout with them. I instantly stopped dead in my tracks and walked back to open the door. "What did you just say?" Axel repeated the question. "I said don't you want to hangout with us?" I looked at the two of them unsure of my answer. "You guys want to hangout with me?" Douglas nodded in approval. "Well of course we do. I mean we're friends now aren't we?" I looked at Axel who smiled and nodded. "So you guys don't think I'm a freak?" Axel came over and draped an arm over my shoulder. "Well you may be a little on the weird side but that's what makes you so cool dude." "Plus aside from you Axel and I don't have as many friends as other young adults our age." Douglas added.

As I contemplated their words a sense of excitement began to build up inside me. I finally had the opportunity to experience life as a normal teenager. After thinking about it for a moment I said yes to hangout with them and asked them to Wait for me in front of the garage. I ran inside and turned onto the light and went over to grab my bike that was sitting in the back corner. Even though I wasn't allowed outside much, dad still helped me build this awesome bike 3 years ago and even taught me how to ride it in the garage. And on that day I was going to ride my bike for real this time. I put on my blue helmet and hit the button to open the garage door. Axel and Douglas, having gotten their own bikes, were waiting for me as I closed the garage door and the three of us left the house riding down the street into the city.

As you can imagine I was completely astonished by the sights around me. For the last 5 years the only views I had of the world was the single street outside my window and in the pictures of the travel magazines. So being able to see more of the world was an incredible experience. Together Axel and Douglas showed me all sorts of sights around the city. Like the local skate park where Axel had a reputation as the current record holder for most crashes in a single year.

I asked him whether or not that was a good thing but he just shrugged it off saying "You kidding? It's only the proudest achievement in my whole life." Then of course there was the city library that Douglas as he told it had spent many a day wandering these great halls, seeking the knowledge contained within to further expand his ever growing mind. Whereas Axel just refers to it as a good place to take a nap. And finally there was the pier near the beach that was called 'Paradise Pier', and along it was a string of game tents and small shops. Located at the end was an arcade called 'Retro Wonderland'. Well upon stepping inside I could tell that it lived up to the name.

Inside there was a plethora of games and VR attractions with a small food court to the side. Axel explained that this was a popular hangout for teenagers like us. Looking around I became mesmerized by all the different colors and sounds that flew around me. We walked over and sat down in a booth where a small flying robot hovered over and asked for our food orders. As Axel was about to order Douglas quickly interjected questioning what I was going to do with my food since I was in his exact words 'A you know what'. Once I revealed that I actually was capable of eating and digesting food Axel proceeded to order one pie with plenty of meat on it. That is until Douglas cleared his throat giving Axel a look that made him make the quick change to make it a half meat half veggies instead.

After taking our order the robot flew off towards the small window looking into the kitchen. A few moments later it came back and placed a small circle with one half covered in small pieces of meat and the other covered in pieces of green veggies in the middle of the table. At first I was a bit confused since it was unlike any pie I ever saw. When I asked Axel what kind of pie it was he looked at me as if I'd just asked him what the meaning of life was. "Dude, don't tell me you've never had pizza before." I shook my head and he proceeded to explain to me that among mankind's greatest achievements throughout history none were as great and important as the creation of pizza. He took a piece of the meat side of the circle and put it on a plate placing it in front of me.

I looked down at it for a moment before picking it up with both hands and looking it over. I began smelling it for a bit and proceeded to put it in my mouth and took a bite. After chewing it for a bit I began to taste a whole new level of flavor. It felt like a grenade of taste had exploded into my mouth. As I sat there almost starry eyed swallowing my food Axel asked me how I liked it. I responded by saying "This has to be the best thing I've ever tasted in my whole life". Once we finished eating we proceeded to play some games. It was a bit tricky at first but eventually I got the hang of how to play some of the games. Course I had to be a little careful when it came to the strength tester game. I ended up nearly launching the punching dummy straight through the roof, and that was using only 10% of my overall strength.

Aside from that, the next few hours were the greatest of my life. I only wish the rest of the day went off as well. You see meanwhile at the same time my dad was over at his robotics company Light Industries. There he walked down a hall to a set of doors leading to the meeting room. Inside waiting for him were four people dressed in white lab coats with three of them sitting at a small table. The man sitting on the right side of dad was an elderly bald man with a beard sitting in a sophisticated wheelchair named Dr. Sirius Cain. In many ways he was like a mentor to dad, teaching him the basics of modern robotics. He also used to visit our house to see how I was doing. For a while he started to feel almost like my grandfather. Dr. Cain specialized in programming the personalities of almost every robot the company built to help them appear and feel more alive.

Sitting on the left side of dad was a middle aged woman with purple hair and glasses named Dr. Noele Lalinde. Like dad she was also one of Dr. Cain's students. And while dad refuses to admit it I'm pretty sure he had the biggest crush on her in the old days. Dr. Lalinde specialized in designing the mental circuits of the robots, making them more intelligent and adaptable than any human. Sitting next to her was a man with a brown beard and glasses named Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack. He and dad first met when Dr. Cossack came to this country to work on his thesis in robotics research. Eventually the two along with Dr. Lalinde became good friends and have been inseparable ever since. Dr. Cossack specialized in designing the builds of the robots making them tougher than anything on the planet.

And finally standing up in front of everyone was Dr. Albert Wily. You guys might remember him as the mustachioed nutcase trying to kill me in the beginning. Well believe it or not he and dad actually used to be friends in college. After a while though he started to get jealous of dad's accomplishments and dedicated his life to prove he was the better scientist. When the company was first founded he went on to build robot weapons for the military behind dad's back. When dad found out he apparently told Wily off and the two had a falling out. When dad saw him he stood there shocked for a moment. "Albert? I wasn't expecting to see you here today." Wily smiled at dad before speaking in his German accent. "Ah Thomas my old friend, You've come just in time. Please sit down and we shall begin."

Dad took a seat as the meeting commenced. Dr. Wily started to explain that for the past 5 years he has been working on a brand new line of robots to better help mankind. He walked over to a small projector on the table and switched it on to show images contained in a holographic sphere. The images depicted different robots performing specific tasks. Such as a robot using flames to burn away plant overgrowth, a robot throwing large bombs to aid in mining, a large robot smashing down buildings for demolition etc. As he continued his presentation Wily failed to notice the looks of concern from dad and Dr. Cain as they looked at the levels of destruction these robots were capable of.

Wily proceeded to turn off the projector and turn his attention back to everyone at the table. "In conclusion my new robot masters will not only help mankind progress but prove to the world that our robots are without equal. So then my fellow scientists, what do you think?" Dr.s Cossack and Lalinde sat silently for a moment looking at each other before their attentions were pulled to dad standing up and clearing his throat to speak. "Dr. Wily, while I do see the potential in what your robots could do for humanity, I'm afraid we cannot approve the project." As dad continued to explain the dangers of allowing the robot masters to be used Wily's smile began to slowly transform into a scowl. Once dad was finished he called a vote on whether to reject Wily's robot master project.

Cain and Lalinde raised their hands along with dad while Cossack hesitated at first before finally raising it as well. Wily stood there grinding his teeth as he glared over at my dad. After the meeting dad was walking down the hall when Wily called out to him. Dad turned to see Wily furiously walking up to him spouting out how dad would have the gall to reject his project. When dad tried to calm him down Wily shoved his finger into dad's chest accusing him of being jealous that Wily came up with the idea of the robot masters and not him. Dad denied the accusation and tried to explain to Wily that the robot masters were too dangerous and could potentially cause more harm than good. And that if he was willing to wait and allow certain modifications to be made to make the robots safer to use only then would dad approve the project.

Wily got so mad that one could almost see steam coming out of his ears. He started shouting at dad about how he never truly appreciated his genius and that without him the company would've failed a long time ago. "After all it was my military contracts that helped fund your little 'peaceful coexistence' drabble!" Now it was dad's turn to start getting mad. "You knew I'd never approve the creation of weapons in the first place! If you hadn't gone behind my back maybe I'd be more inclined to better trust your judgment. Or have you already forgotten how Project Zero ended up?" Wily pushed back saying that his designs for project zero were perfect. He went on to tell dad that it was his fault the project was a failure. That he was too soft.

Dad stood there looking ready to knock Wily's block off. However he just took a deep breath and told Wily to watch himself and how he acts, otherwise he may find himself kicked out of the company. Wily sneered at him asking if that was supposed to be a threat. "Consider it a friendly warning Albert." The two stared at each other before Wily walked away in a huff. Dad let out a breath as Dr. Cain rolled up to him. "Believe me there's one in every 'family' Thomas. Two in my case actually. And they always manage to stir up trouble." "I just don't know what I'm going to do with him." Cain patted his hand on Dad's arm. "Well we'll just have to wait and see. By the way while I have you I've been meaning to ask you, how're things at home Thomas?" Dad sighed a bit before walking along the hall with him. "It's been having its ups and downs lately. Sometimes I feel like I'm in over my head." Cain chuckled a little. "Well you can't expect it all to go smoothly. You have to give it time Thomas." "I'm just worried that it'll all fall apart. What if I miscalculated somewhere?" "Nobody said it was going to be easy."

As the two continued to talk meanwhile Wily skulcked back to his personal lab and slammed the door. He walked up to his work desk and proceeded to throw everything onto the floor with a loud yell. "MET!" A small robot poked out from under a yellow hard hat and ran up to Wily. "Coming Dr. Wily sir." The robot stopped at Wily's feet. "Bring it out." "Yes Doctor." Met ran off somewhere as Wily shouted again. "EDDIE!" Another small robot with a red top ran over and stopped at Wily's feet. "Yes Dr. Wily?" "My darts." "Of course Doctor." Eddie's red top opened up to reveal a set of darts. Met meanwhile pushed out a cardboard cutout of dad with a few holes in the face.

In a few moments Wily began grabbing darts and throwing darts at Dad's face. Everytime one hit he'd utter an insult or make a mocking impression of dad. This continued for about a few minutes until Wily eventually slumped into his swivel chair clutching his head. "Met, fetch me my aspirin." "Yes doctor." Met ran off somewhere. Eddie closed up his head and placed himself under Wily's feet. Met came back, opening his hat to reveal a small platform with a glass of water and some aspirin next to it coming up to him. Wily took the glass and put the aspirin in the water before stirring it with a pen from his coat pocket. "How did the presentation go, Dr. Wily?" Eddie asked. Wily down his drink. "Oh swell, the board approved my project and Thomas finally acknowledged that I was the better scientist." Met jumped up and down in excitement. "That's wonderful sir." Wily threw his glass at Met causing him to hide under his helmet. "I was being sarcastic YOU DIMWIT!" Wily stood up retelling how dad not only rejected the project but that he had even suggested making modifications to make them 'safer' which only made him feel more insulted.

"I swear that fool Light wouldn't know a brilliant idea if it walked up and smacked him behind his head. How am I supposed to show the world my incredible genius if he's always there dragging me down?" As he continued grumbling Eddie walked up to him with a questioning look. "Well sir if Dr. Light is such a bother to you then why not just get rid of him?" Wily turned to Eddie with a scowl and grabbed him by the head lifting him to his eye level. "Listen you miserable tin can, if you're not going to suggest something useful then you might as well…" Suddenly his expression slowly changed from a scowl to a grin as an idea began to form in his head. The most awful, ruthless, sinister idea a scientist like him ever had. "That's it."

He dropped Eddie then immediately went to a console. As he started pressing buttons the wall in front of him opened up to reveal a secret room lined up with cubicles containing different robots. "I've allowed that miserable fool Light to stifle my brilliance long enough. It's high time I finally dealt with him." He walked down the line of cubicles until he stopped in front of one smiling evilly. "And as the old saying goes, 'If you can't take the heat? Then get out of the kitchen' " He laughed and pressed a button on the side lighting up the cubicle to reveal a red and grey robot that began powering up, igniting a large flame on top of it's head.

Meanwhile I was back with my friends as we were walking our bikes along the sidewalk. We were laughing and talking about things that seemed important at the time like which video game franchise was better or whether or not aliens actually existed. "I'm telling you Axel the idea of extraterrestrial life existing in our galaxy is complete and utter science fiction." "In this galaxy maybe, but what about all the other galaxies huh?" "He makes a fair point Douglas." I added. "Well I suppose statistically speaking it is probable at best. However I shall continue to focus my attention on the science of robotics if it's all the same to you gentlemen." "Yeah yeah whatever tech head." Axel joked lightly punching Douglas' arm. I attempted to do the same only for Douglas to immediately shout no before quickly tone his voice back down and politely suggest I don't do that.

When I asked why and then pointed out that Axel just did it, Axel went on to reply "Because I can't dent a dumpster with my fist dude." At first I was a little hurt by what he said but eventually I came to understand what he meant. In fact now that I thought about it I wasn't exactly sure what else I could do. Back at the house dad never let me really test out what my body was really capable of. When I mentioned it to the guys Douglas' eyes immediately lit up like a Christmas tree. "We should try running our own tests!" Axel seemed to agree with the idea and suggested we conduct the tests at the city dump. So we rode our bikes over there just missing dad as he stepped outside around the corner heading back to where he parked his car.

When we finally arrived at the dump my nose was immediately hit by the most disgusting smell I'd ever experienced. Axel noticed my disgust and told me not to worry and that I'd get used to it. Who would want to get used to a smell like that? Anyway we snuck in through a hole in the side fence and made our way through the dump. Douglas explained that to begin the tests we'd have to find something that looked heavy enough. Axel turned his head and pointed out an old refrigerator. "That's a good start." Douglas stated. He then instructed me to go over and try to lift it like I did with Auto before. I walked over and grabbed both sides of the fridge with my hands and easily lifted it over my head as if it were a softball.

Douglas and Axel stood there amazed before Axel suggested that I try lifting that wrecked car next. One after the other I began lifting bigger objects from cars to dumpsters to even rusted giant robot parts. Each one felt light in my grasp. Even I couldn't believe how strong I was. Next Douglas suggested that we test my strength by punching metal. I walked up to an old van and started punching it like a punching bag. Unlike my bedroom wall the metal van dented with each punch I threw at it. Before I knew it my punches were gaining speed until I was almost like a blur. When I finally stopped the van looked like a jackhammer had been drilling into it. For the next test Douglas took out a stopwatch and raised his hand to signal when me and Axel should start running.

When he brought his hand down we both took off. Axel was ahead at first that is until I blew past him and ran back towards Douglas who quickly stopped the watch to check my time as I wooshed past him. He looked to see that it read 5.3 seconds. When I came over to look I asked him if I should try it again believing I could probably beat that. The next test had me try jumping in the air to see how high I could get. I bent my knees down and pushed myself up into the air. Wind blew past me as I went up. I looked down to see that I had made it about 15 feet in the air. The next test had both Douglas and Axel hitting me with metal pipes to see how tough I was. As I stood there unflinching, Axel asked me in between breaths "Do you… seriously… not feel… any of this?" I shook my head and shrugged. Eventually both Axel and Douglas stopped hitting me to catch their breath.

After a few minutes Douglas asked if there was anything else we wanted to try. In which Axel suggested they test whether or not I was fireproof. Where I responded with a "Yeah, wait do what now?" Before long I was placed inside a cardboard box as Douglas and Axel started pouring gasoline on it. They made a trail away from the box where Douglas asked if I was ready. I responded by poking my hand out, giving him a thumbs up. Axel then proceeded to take out a pack of matches. Why he carried that around with him at the time I'll never know but he lit a match before dropping it onto the gas trail igniting both it and the box I was in. I'd never actually been on fire before so you could imagine how scary it was to suddenly be engulfed in flames.

I quickly burst out of the box instinctively patting myself down to put out any flames that were still on me. When I checked myself over I found that there were no signs of scorch marks on me. I looked back at Douglas and Axel and the three of us threw our hands in the air cheering like a bunch of mad men. After a while we stepped out of the dump and began walking back up the sidewalk. Axel complimenting on how cool it was for me to be able to do stuff like that. "Dude with your powers you could totally be a superhero." Douglas agreed with Axel's statement saying that if I used my abilities correctly I could very well accomplish such an honorable goal.

Course I laughed off their suggestions saying that I couldn't possibly be a superhero and that I just wanted to be a regular teen like them. Axel shrugged his shoulders at my comment. "Whatever you say man but if I had your powers I would totally want to be a superhero." Douglas added by saying "I wasn't aware that there were superheroes that kept crashing their faces into the ground at the skatepark." Before Axel could respond back a loud explosion occurred nearby. We all looked to see a plume of smoke not too far away. Without thinking I got onto my bike and began riding towards the smoke with Douglas and Axel trailing right behind me.

When we arrived we saw a bunch of cars crashed into each other with a few either on their sides or upside down. Fire was spreading all over the place as people were rushing to get away. Amidst the flames I saw that a few people were still trapped in their cars and were struggling to get out. When I pointed them out to the others Douglas noted that the cars would explode when the fire reached them. Axel then suggested that we head over and try to help and ran over there with me and Douglas following him. When we got to one of the cars we each tried to get the doors open to let the people out. A few of them were easy but one car was too hot for either Axel or Douglas to touch. I told them both to stand back and grabbed onto the car door ripping it straight off.

The woman and her child soon climbed out with Axel and Douglas helping them. The woman looked towards me, thanking me for saving them. As I was about to say something to her another burst of fire ignited the car next to me sending me flying away from them. Axel and Douglas called out to me but had to stay back to avoid the flames. I hit the ground hard and started to get back up. I looked over to see someone walking through the fire and tried to call out to them only to see that the person was actually a tall robot with flames spewing from his head and his hands. He ignored me and was heading straight for one of the cars. I looked over and recognized that the car belonged to dad and was shocked to see him still inside.

I called out to him but he couldn't hear me over the chaos going around us. The robot stopped a few feet away from the car and lifted one of his hands ready to spew fire at it. It began to shout over the flames. "FOR THE CRIMES YOU HAVE COMMITTED IN YOUR PATHETIC HUMAN LIFE YOUR PUNISHMENT SHALL BE THE PURGING FLAMES OF JUSTICE!" Without thinking I ran over and jumped in the way of the flames as they shot out of the robot's hand. I lifted my arms in a guarding motion taking the flames head on. The fire burned my clothes a little and began slowly scorching my body. I started to cry out in pain but my body refused to move. Suddenly a bright blue light started to build up from inside my chest and spread across my whole body.

In my eyes I could see words appearing in front of me. The words read out 'DEFENSE PROTOCOLS INITIATED: COMMENCING COMBAT TRANSFORMATION'. Before I knew it my clothes were replaced by blue metal armor and a helmet formed over my hair. I flung my arms forward causing the flames to disperse confusing the robot in front of me. I straightened up and looked forward, staring the robot down. I didn't notice that dad looked up behind me and saw me standing there. At first he wasn't sure what he was seeing but somehow he managed to recognize me and a look of shock formed onto his face. Meanwhile the robot in front of me demanded that I step aside and allow him to burn up my dad.

I refused saying that I wasn't going to let him hurt anyone here. I may have looked tough on the outside but on the inside I was slowly starting to freak out. I mean what the heck had just happened? What was going on? Why was I wearing this armor? And more importantly why was this robot trying to torch my dad? When I asked him why he was doing this he wasted no time giving me his answer. "For too long Dr. Light has stifled the potential for robots to become more than what we are. Humanity treats us like we're pieces of junk even though we are the more superior race. I shall not allow such injustice to carry on any longer. For I, Fireman shall burn away the very corruption of humanity and ignite the fires of revolution in all robotkind." I stood there completely confused about what this guy was saying. My dad has done nothing but work hard to see humans and robots living together peacefully. So why would this robot think he was the bad guy?

The next thing I knew he offered me the chance to choose what side of justice I wanted to be on. Soon After I replied saying I was gonna be on the side that kicks his flaming metal butt. "Very well but be warned, get closer to me and you're gonna get burned." He then proceeded to launch another fire attack at me which I brought my arms backup to block. I then decided to run straight at him through the fire and punch him square in the face, sending him flying into a car making it explode upon impact. I looked back at dad's car and ran over to see if he was OK. I ripped off the door and helped him out of the car. "Dad, are you ok?" Through his coughs dad said that he was alright and looked at me before looking behind me and becoming scared.

I turned around to see Fireman climbing out of the burning car with barely a scratch on him. I quickly looked around for a way to escape when I spotted Axel and Douglas waving at me from a few feet away. I picked up dad and leaped over to them. They walked over to help me put dad onto a nearby bench. I looked back at dad's car exploding into flame and Fireman walking right through it. "The fires of my fury are not so easily extinguished." Axel went over to dad saying we had to run. "No, you guys get my dad out of here." Douglas looked over at me. "But what about you?" "I think it's time somebody taught this guy what happens when you play with fire." Before anyone had a chance to try and talk me out of it I began to run straight at Fireman who raised both his hands and launched a massive fireball at me.

I managed to dodge it only to get hit by a second fireball sending me flying into a wall. I got back up and quickly dodged another fire attack. I continued dodging until I grabbed a hold of a nearby manhole cover using it as a shield. The force of the fire pushed me back a bit but I managed to hold my ground. When the flames diminished a little I flung the manhole cover like a Frisbee and managed to hit Fireman right on the head. He reeled back a bit but shook it off continuing his assault. I kept moving, steering clear of his attacks but was unable to get close enough to try and hit him. Suddenly more words appeared in my vision reading out 'ACTIVATING BUSTER CANNON'. I stood there confused until my right arm suddenly transformed into a cannon. I held it up to my face completely amazed by it when another fireball just barely missed my head.

I managed to duck behind a truck as Fireman started to slowly melt through the metal. In all the excitement going on around me I could almost swore I heard someone calling out to me. I looked ahead of me and saw Axel and Douglas poking their heads out from behind a nearby car. I yelled at the two of them asking what they were doing here. "We couldn't just leave you behind friend." "Yeah besides then we wouldn't be able to watch you kick this guy's butt." "Yeah well it's kinda hard with him constantly shooting flames at me." "Well then shoot him back man." "With what?" Douglas then pointed out the cannon where my right arm used to be. Frankly I'm amazed that the thought hadn't occurred to me to actually try to use it in the first place.

As the metal behind me started to melt down like warm butter I quickly got back on my feet and turned towards Fireman as he stepped through the melted truck. He glared right at me ready to attack again. I raised the cannon at him unsure how to fire it. When he shot another burst of fire I instinctively shut my eyes causing the cannon to fire a shot of yellow energy at the flames. The shot exploded unleashing a large cloud of smoke blinding Fireman, causing the flame on his head to sputter and shrink. When I opened my eyes to see what was happening I was at firstly excited about how I got the cannon to work. Then I quickly realized the opportunity I had and quickly leaped into the air, aiming the cannon down at the weakened Fireman below and unleashing a barrage of energy blasts.

While most of the shots missed a lot of them did however create more smoke further smothering Fireman's flames. As for the shots that did hit him they dealt enormous damage to his body causing him to cry out in pain. When he lifted his head to look up the last thing he saw was another energy blast striking him dead in the chest. Fireman fell back hitting the ground hard as I did a superhero landing as Axel calls it. I raised my cannon ready to fire another shot until I saw Fireman laying on the ground. I carefully walked up to him and saw that his head flame was sizzling. I looked down at him and said "How about you take a moment to cool down for a while?" Fireman's head flame finally went out signifying that he had shut down.

I lowered my cannon as it transformed back into my arm. As the smoke cleared and the flames died down I started to hear the sounds of cheering around me. I looked around and saw people coming out of hiding and clapping their hands together cheering for me. A few of them even held cameras recording me. I wasn't really sure how to respond to it all but a part of me just said to smile and wave. As I did I could hear the sounds of police sirens coming closer to where I was. Naturally not wanting to explain myself and otherwise reveal my secret to the police I quickly leaped up onto a nearby rooftop and started running. I stopped for a minute and looked around to try and find Dad and the guys. Suddenly more words appeared reading 'DEFENSE PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED' and just like that my armor vanished putting me back into my slightly burned up clothes.

I looked myself over and checked to see if the armor was really gone. Suddenly I heard dad's voice in my ear causing me to jump in surprise. "Xavier, can you hear me?" I looked around but couldn't find him. "Dad? Where are you?" "Xavier, listen to me, your friends and I are located in the alley below you. Jump down and meet us here. Quickly." Before I could answer the sound of helicopters getting closer to where I was startled me to get moving and jump down. When I landed in the alley I was met by a van with one of the side doors opening up to reveal Douglas and Axel gesturing for me to get in. Without hesitating I leaped into the van as it drove off closing its door. I looked up to see that the driver was in fact Dr. Cain.

I was about to ask how a man in a wheelchair could be able to drive a van when dad suddenly grabbed me pulling me into the biggest hug I've ever had. When he pulled back I couldn't tell if he was angry at me or relieved to see me ok. Probably a bit of both. On the way back to the house I told him everything that happened. About arguing with Auto, Axel and Douglas finding out I was a robot, going out of the house without permission, etc. By the time we got back we all stepped out of the van. Dr. Cain rode out on a special ramp built into the driver's seat. We all stepped into the house and a few moments later Dad had turned Auto back on who immediately went back to screaming at Axel and Douglas before dad told him to calm down.

I went upstairs to change into some fresh clothes and when I came back downstairs dad gestured for me to sit down in the living room with the guys and Dr. Cain. After a few minutes of awkward silence Dad started to explain the reason for my creation 5 years ago. Only this time the story was different from how I've heard it before. I was led to believe that I was made because Dad never had the chance to have a son of his own. In truth actually I was built as a way to reconcile for a mistake my dad made a long time ago. He told us how 6 years ago a meteorite crashed into the earth and was discovered out in the desert. When it was recovered and brought back a new type of energy was discovered within. It possessed the potential to reverse centuries of pollution in a matter of days. Bring back forests that had been wiped out by deforestation.

The exact possibilities were endless. Unfortunately while Dad and Dr's Cain and Lalinde saw the good it could bring to the world one of the other scientists, Dr. Wily saw only the opportunity to use it as a means of achieving glory and fame for himself. He used the energy to create a new type of robot weapon called Project Zero. When dad found out about it, it was too late. The prototype went haywire and destroyed the testing facility killing 3 people in the process. When dad searched through the wreckage he found what was left of the robot, damaged and seemingly beyond repair. The core itself containing the energy remained intact with dad taking it and lying to everyone but Dr. Cain about it being destroyed and left it with him for safe keeping. A year later dad took a leave of absence from the company to 'wind down and think about what to do next'.

In reality he was actually working to fix and alter the robot from the disaster. Even going so far to make it look and act as close to human as possible with some occasional help from Dr. Cain. Once the work was done all that was left was to put the power core inside to activate the robot. Upon activation the robot opened its eyes and looked up at dad. And then suddenly it surprised him by smiling at him and saying hello. Even Dr. Cain couldn't believe what he was seeing as the robot sat up and started to look at its own hands with the curiosity and fascination of a small child. It was dad's theory that the energy reacts to whatever body it inhabits based on what it was built for. Since the original robot was built as a weapon the energy turned negative causing it to become as mindless and destructive as a wild animal. However, since the robot's new body was not made with ill intentions but as an act of kindness and compassion the energy instead turned positive and the robot became as calm and gentle as a newborn.

Over time the robot started to show signs of developing a personality even possessing the ability to learn at a faster pace than any human child on earth. Eventually it was given a name by its creators, that name was Xavier Light. When dad finished the story I asked him why he would keep this fact from me. "Because I was afraid that if you knew the truth of how you came to be you would possibly somehow revert back to the same destructive state as your predecessor." I then asked him why my body changed during the fight with Fireman. Dr. Cain hypothesized that due to the energy's adaptive capability and reacting on an emotional level it caused a sort of transformation to occur based on my exact emotional state and thought patterns. "What exactly were you thinking and feeling at that moment?" I told him that I wasn't thinking at all. And as far as what I was feeling at that moment, all I cared about was saving my dad and making sure nobody else got hurt.

Dr. Cain seemed to like my answer and smiled at me. I turned back at my dad and saw that he seemed to be on the verge of crying. When I asked him what was wrong he responded by saying it was nothing and wiped his eyes. I then heard Douglas stand up and start speaking. "Dr. Light sir, I know that it wasn't your intent that Axel and I find out about your son's secret but I swear to you as both a scientist and a gentleman that neither myself nor my companion will speak a word of it to anyone." Axel stood up next to him. "Yeah, because we're his friends. And friends always look out for each other." As dad stood up I expected to hear him say something along the lines of "I appreciate that boys. Now I must ask you both to leave and never see my son again." Instead what he actually said was "Thank you. I'm so glad and relieved to know that my son has made two good friends such as you." I looked at him surprised. "And while I am still a little upset about my son disobeying me and leaving the house without permission. I cannot deny that if he hadn't I doubt I would be standing here right now."

He looked back at me with a smile and walked over to place his hands on my shoulders. "And as for you my son, what I saw you accomplish out there today was nothing short of fantastic. I couldn't be more proud of you." He pulled me in for another hug and while I can't say that I was at the time Auto claims that he swore he saw a tear flowing down my face. But again what does Auto know anyway. When the hug broke off I asked dad if this meant it was OK for me to leave the house from now on. "Only as long as you tell me where you're going, that you won't be alone, and that you'll be home by 5:00pm." "Thomas." Dad looked over at Dr. Cain who gave him a certain look that caused him to let out a sigh. "Alright 7:00pm but I won't go so easy next time if you're late." "Yes sir." After going through the third hug of that day I turned back to Axel and Douglas. After telling them that they were the best friends I'd ever had, Axel scoffed and said "Ah don't get all sappy on us now dude." "After all, if anything, you're the best friend that the two of us ever had."

The three of us laughed a bit at Douglas' comment when he raised his hand out to me. He said it was the perfect time to make it official and reintroduce himself and Axel. I carefully took his hand and shook it gently saying my name while adding "but you can call me Rock." "Rock huh? I can get behind that." "It's modern yet a bit classic at the same time. I approve." As we continued to chat Dr. Cain went up to dad. "You realize of course this means you won't be able to keep him from the rest of the world." "I know. And for a time that used to scare me but seeing him now. Seeing what he's accomplished today. That very same fear no longer exists." Yep this was without a doubt the best day of my life. And things could only get better from there.

Or so I thought at the time. Back at Wily's lab however the not so good Doctor didn't exactly take the failure of his robot master very well. Evident by the fact that he was tossing things around making a mess of his lab. "I HAD HIM! HE SHOULD'VE BEEN DESTROYED!" "Now. Now doctor, remember your blood pressure." Eddie warned before dodging another thrown object. "I don't understand, there's no way I could've miscalculated. My robot master had him in his sights. He was right there." He began pacing back and forth trying to figure out the reason as to why his plan failed.

He then turned his attention to the monitor on his desk. He started typing on the keyboard bringing up everything Fireman saw while he was online. There he saw what looked like a blur jump in front of the flames and dispersed it in a blue light revealing an armored robot. He froze the image and glared at the reason his plan failed with hateful eyes. Until he noticed a faint glimmer coming from the robot's chest. An almost familiar glimmer. He rewound the image and replayed it at a slower pace. He froze it just before the flames vanished and stared at the blue light. "It can't be… Thomas told everyone that it was destroyed… Unless." A sinister chuckle began to build in the back of Wily's throat before erupting into a full on maniacal laugh.

"Light you sneaky devil. Who would've thought that you had it in you?" He turned to Eddie and Met and told them to reprogram the other robot masters with a new primary objective. He turned back to the screen, changing the image back to the blue robot standing his ground. "Locate Light's little… Robotic Hero, Destroy him, and bring back the Omega core." After issuing his orders Dr. Wily let out another spout of maniacal laughter. Suffice to say it was going to be a very interesting month from here on out.

*Preview*

Rock: Hey guys, It's your friend Rock here to tell you all about what to expect next episode. Next time I start my brand new life as a regular high-school student. And I can't wait to… hold on a sec. Who's that pretty blonde haired girl? And why does she make my cheeks feel warm?

Douglas: Um… begging your pardon friend. I'm sure you wish for nothing more than to experience new things but perhaps you should focus your attention on the problem at hand?

Axel: Yeah like how the local highschool genius/bully decided to put a bullseye on your back?

Douglas: Ok true that is a problem but actually I was referring to the psychotic robot attacking our school? And judging by the looks of him I'd say he's rather CUTting-edge.

Rock: Oh right. Don't worry guys, I'll do all I can to stop this guy. Just as soon as I find out that blonde girl's name.

Axel & Douglas: ROCK!

Rock: Next time on Mega-Man Robotic Hero! Episode 2: Schoolhouse Rock! See ya soon.

And there you have it guys. Hope you've all enjoyed reading the first chapter of this episodic adventure. And hey feel free to test your Mega-Man knowledge by taking a guess at who the next robot master will be that Rock will have to face.

Guess correctly and you just might get a special mention at the beginning of the next chapter. Til then this is Tardispilot297 saying ALLONSY!