ROCKMAN vs. MEGAMAN
Rockman groaned and picked himself up off of the floor. Something had hit him hard. Something bad.
There was a beeping in the back of his mind. A phone call? At this time of night?
He poked a spot in the air and a screen popped into the air. There was the worried face of his father.
"Dad?" Rockman asked, startled. "What's going on? Is something wrong? Do you want me to wake up Netto-kun?"
"NO!" Dr. Hikari barked. Rockman was stunned. His father never spoke like that. "Don't wake Netto. I only just heard the news. What happened to you?"
Rockman held his head. "Uh, I think . . . You sent an upgrade program, but when I installed it . . . Oww . . ."
"Where's the upgrade?" Dr. Hikari sounded worried.
"Uh . . . let me check." Rockman ran a quick diagnosis. What he found surprised him. "What the . . .! They're all gone! Everything's gone!"
"What?"
"All of the upgrades! The Styles, Saito.bat, the HP memories, the expanded memory . . . even some of my Humor subroutines are missing!"
Dr. Hikari looked absolutely stunned. Rockman simply stared ahead in amazement. How could this have happened? What had happened to him?
"Saito, please, calm down. It won't help to make Netto panic at this point." He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts.
"What's going on dad?" Rockman asked. "What WAS that program you sent?"
"Er . . . Well, you know how you've had to save the world a few times?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I noticed that often Netto has to perform tasks in the real world to allow you access to some areas of the Net, and he isn't always around to help you..."
"So? I manage all right."
"Yes but I had an idea one day. What if I could make it easier on both of you? I could make you less dependant on an operator and give Netto more leeway in the real world."
"But why?"
"Just hear me out. I decided to package a lesser version of the 'Get Ability' program with your latest upgrades. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to have gone very well."
"'Get Ability'? Isn't that what makes Forte so dangerous?"
"Yes, but I thought that in your hands it could be used the right way. Unfortunately," Dr. Hikari sighed, "things seemed to have gone on to the worst case scenario."
"How?"
"To decrease the learning curve of the 'Get Ability' system, I decided to add an automatic feature that gave the program itself a rudimentary intelligence. But unfortunately, it seems the program copied what it could to improve ITSELF rather than the user. It completely copied you at your strongest, and then formatted you. It's the most terrible bug I've ever created."
Rockman stayed silent while this all sank in. Now there was a faulty program that had copied him and was running around free on the net? If it had copied all of Rockman's intelligence, it was sure to have the access codes to some of the most protected areas of the net, as well as the most dangerous.
Rockman's eyes widened in horror as he fully realized what was going to happen next.
This was bad.
Rockman groaned and picked himself up off of the floor. Something had hit him hard. Something bad.
There was a beeping in the back of his mind. A phone call? At this time of night?
He poked a spot in the air and a screen popped into the air. There was the worried face of his father.
"Dad?" Rockman asked, startled. "What's going on? Is something wrong? Do you want me to wake up Netto-kun?"
"NO!" Dr. Hikari barked. Rockman was stunned. His father never spoke like that. "Don't wake Netto. I only just heard the news. What happened to you?"
Rockman held his head. "Uh, I think . . . You sent an upgrade program, but when I installed it . . . Oww . . ."
"Where's the upgrade?" Dr. Hikari sounded worried.
"Uh . . . let me check." Rockman ran a quick diagnosis. What he found surprised him. "What the . . .! They're all gone! Everything's gone!"
"What?"
"All of the upgrades! The Styles, Saito.bat, the HP memories, the expanded memory . . . even some of my Humor subroutines are missing!"
Dr. Hikari looked absolutely stunned. Rockman simply stared ahead in amazement. How could this have happened? What had happened to him?
"Saito, please, calm down. It won't help to make Netto panic at this point." He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts.
"What's going on dad?" Rockman asked. "What WAS that program you sent?"
"Er . . . Well, you know how you've had to save the world a few times?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I noticed that often Netto has to perform tasks in the real world to allow you access to some areas of the Net, and he isn't always around to help you..."
"So? I manage all right."
"Yes but I had an idea one day. What if I could make it easier on both of you? I could make you less dependant on an operator and give Netto more leeway in the real world."
"But why?"
"Just hear me out. I decided to package a lesser version of the 'Get Ability' program with your latest upgrades. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to have gone very well."
"'Get Ability'? Isn't that what makes Forte so dangerous?"
"Yes, but I thought that in your hands it could be used the right way. Unfortunately," Dr. Hikari sighed, "things seemed to have gone on to the worst case scenario."
"How?"
"To decrease the learning curve of the 'Get Ability' system, I decided to add an automatic feature that gave the program itself a rudimentary intelligence. But unfortunately, it seems the program copied what it could to improve ITSELF rather than the user. It completely copied you at your strongest, and then formatted you. It's the most terrible bug I've ever created."
Rockman stayed silent while this all sank in. Now there was a faulty program that had copied him and was running around free on the net? If it had copied all of Rockman's intelligence, it was sure to have the access codes to some of the most protected areas of the net, as well as the most dangerous.
Rockman's eyes widened in horror as he fully realized what was going to happen next.
This was bad.