Disclaimer:
I do not own or lay claim to Rockman/Megaman X or any of its characters. If you don't sue, I'll keep entertaining you with my sense of humor-ish-ness and other assorted writing skills.
Important:
This chapter is rated PG and MSP8. The first for Dynamo's creative phrasing, and for those of you wondering what the heck that second rating is: Minor SPoiler for X8. That's because I make a tiny minor mention of a character that appears in X8, and one who is in Command Mission, but that's been out a lot longer than X8 has, so doesn't really count as a spoiler. It's nothing that gives away the story though, so no worries.
And now:
I present to you all… An Interlude. Starring, Dynamo!
Note:
The views and opinions of Dynamo do not reflect those of the writer, her family, this station, this website, or this planet, in general.
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Reploid Anatomy 101 – An Interlude
Presenting: Professor Dynamo's Happy Helpful Reploid Facts and Fictions Hour------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Axl yawned sleepily as he wandered into the 0th unit's common room carrying a box in his arms. It was around 8am standard local time, he was off-duty for the rest of the day, and was looking forward to spending some quality time with the big vidscreen wall television. There had been a party the night before which ended with Zero and most of the 0th drunk enough to have to sleep it off for a while. Which meant Axl should have the vidscreen all to himself, and his brand spankin new game console system, for hours to come.
Blasting alien scum was so much more satisfying when done on a screen nearly as big as X was tall.
Axl hummed happily to himself as he crossed the room and began setting up his system on the low coffee table between the vidscreen and the couch. Once the console was set up with all the feeds pointed in the right directions, Axl scooped up the controller and flopped back onto the couch. Then grumbled to himself when he realized he'd forgotten to actually turn the vidscreen on.
This resulted in the hunt for the remote. Which lasted for ten minutes before he decided to check the pool table corner pockets. Axl shook his head as he flicked it to get pieces of caramel corn off the buttons. No wonder requisitions hated Zero and the rest of his unit.
Axl returned to his seat and flicked on the vidscreen. Now all that remained was choosing which game to play. What sort of carnage did he feel like wreaking today? Aliens? Undead legions? Mavericks? Or good old fashioned RPG monster bashing?
Axl's musings were cut off by a familiar voice, originating, confusingly enough, from the vidscreen across from him. He glanced up from his ponderings and sat and stared blankly for a moment at the face on the television.
A familiar, and usually unwelcome, face smiled back at him. Granted, he wasn't wearing armor at this time, but his features and long silver hair were dead giveaways. Not to mention the fact that he introduced himself.
"Greetings Repliphiles and welcome back! Professor Dynamo here. It certainly is good to have you all tuning in here (and at my mercy, or lack thereof)." Dynamo flashed the camera a winning smile from his seat, presumably at a desk of some sort.
Axl blinked. "Since when is he a professor?"
"Welcome to Dynamo's Helpful Reploid Facts and Fictions. Where I provide both, and you have to figure out what the hell is going on. Today we're going to tackle an interesting issue dealing with proper details and explanations. First of all, allow me to explain how certain shortcomings were brought to my attention. Now, as you all know, or should, there are certain reploids with quite the reputations. In fact, there are some who are just so darn famous they get their own fanclubs. Now, you all might think this would be incredibly spiffy. But honestly, considering some of the fan group topics I've come across, I'm rather glad I don't have crazed official fangirls, or boys, worshipping me. Now, while it may be supremely amusing, and rather twisted, to hear about the latest fan chat session discussing the relationships, or lack thereof, of such high and mighty figures as Hunters Zero and Rockman X…"
Axl choked and dropped his controller.
"…Including the plausibility of Zero dragging X off to the nearest closet to jump his frame…"
Axl's jaw dropped, and his skin tone paled a few shades while a rapid blush spread across his cheeks.
"I've noticed a distinct lack of accuracy and explanation about certain things that concern reploids…"
"GAH! Bad thoughts! BAD thoughts!" Axl wailed and thumped his fists against his temples; his eyes squinched shut.
"Specifically," Dynamo continued, oblivious to the fact that he was probably going to get some serious retribution for this particular broadcast once Zero found out about it, "dealing with the Three Laws of Robotics. For people professing to adore reploids, those two in particular, these fans can certainly come up with some odd ideas about how things work."
Axl moaned and held his head. "Think, think, Axl." How could he possibly find a way to stop this broadcast before it got any worse? More importantly, how could he stop it before Dynamo started making references to him?
"Now, I've heard lot's of mention about what the Three are and how reploids must obey them and so forth and so on, yadda yadda yadda. But hardly anyone comes out and says what they are, except for the first, which isn't always fully explained anyhow."
Dynamo leaned forward and grinned brightly. "Well, I'm here to fix that, with my own professional interpretation." Reaching up and to the side, Dynamo pulled down a screen that had a list displayed on it. He took a collapsible pointer stick out of his pocket and pressed the trigger to expand it.
"As you can see, these cover the essential gist behind each of the Three." Dynamo proceeded to read them off as he tapped each item with the pointer stick.
1) A robot cannot cause harm to a human, or through inaction, allow harm to come to a human.
2) A robot must obey commands from a human, unless they conflict with the first rule.
3) A robot must practice self-preservation and cannot seek to allow harm or death to be inflicted upon itself.
Dynamo calmly folded the pointer stick back into its compact form and set it down on the desk in front of him. "Well, that's bullshit."
Dynamo leaned forward and placed his hands flat on the desk for emphasis. "The Three Laws of Robotics apply to robots, yes. But, not in the same way to reploids."
Dynamo settled back into his seat. "For reploids, the laws are really more of a set of guidelines. Sure, mechaniloids and robotic drones are still strictly subject to the Three, but that's because they can't go against their programming."
"Reploids, on the other hand… Reploids are sentient. We are self-aware and are perfectly capable of making our own decisions, free of programming restrictions. That ability to choose is what makes us reploids and not just robots."
"You see, reploids choose to follow or break the Three Laws of Robotics. Barring a certain nasty virus, of course."
"Now, we have words for reploids depending on their choices about the rules." Dynamo nodded sagely. "Let me fill you in, and give a few examples."
Dynamo leaned back in his chair and held up his index finger. "First off, for reploids who follow all three rules pretty strictly, we call them namby-pamby pansy-assed goody-two shoes."
"Case in point," Dynamo reached up and pulled down another screen image. "…X."
Axl winced. It was not the most flattering of photographs. Axl couldn't place it for a moment, but then he remembered what had happened just prior to the image shown.
X, Zero, himself, Alia, and Cinnamon had been at a park to go to a barbeque and watch fireworks later in the evening with an assorted group of off-duty 17th and 0th members. They had been going down a flight of stairs to a lower level of the park walkway when a group of revelers had run past them and someone had bumped into X from behind. He would have fallen headfirst down the rest of the concrete steps if Zero hadn't caught him by the shoulder.
That had resulted in X being spun around to face Zero. However, he had still been off balance and was now in danger of falling backwards and sideways down the stairs. Zero had leaned forward and shifted his grip to X's waist to catch him. Then, to keep both of them from falling down, Zero had had to brace his legs and push his hips forward to throw his weight backwards.
Someone had apparently taken a picture at that precise moment. The result was that the image displayed was of Zero leaning forward over X as he held him around the waist and against his hips. X had this somewhat startled, yet relieved expression as he looked up at Zero's face and gripped his upper arms. Not the best way to discount theories of Zero and X being an item.
Axl whimpered slightly and thumped his forehead against his clasped fists. This just got worse and worse. He could only dread how Dynamo was going to portray him.
Dynamo tapped the picture of X and continued his lecture. "This guy risks his life on a semi-annual basis for a bunch of dumbass humans that wouldn't give him the time of day if he wasn't such a big-shot hero of humanity." Dynamo shook his head. "I mean, some of the crap the G. U.N. orders the Hunters to do is such a load of bull I'm surprised MHHQ doesn't stink like a sewage treatment plant. And ole X here just laps it up and follows along, his sidekicks, Blondie and Junior, tagging along behind."
Axl winced. He could practically sense the approaching doom now.
"X is a grade A goody-two shoes. He wouldn't know how to get the crowbar out of his ass and loosen up a bit if instructions fell from the heavens and beamed him in the head."
Axl buried his face in his hands and slunk down into the couch cushions. How could he possibly find a way to defuse this situation and avoid two royally pissed off best friends? Zero was sure to go ballistic… and X… X would seethe silently and get all stressed and snappish.
"Now," Dynamo continued, "for reploids that break the Third rule. Well, we call them suicidal dumbasses."
"Perfect example." Dynamo snapped the pointer stick back onto the ever-present incriminating photo. "Zero."
Yup, definitely ballistic… and probably homicidal… or would that be replicidal?
"Can you believe this guy just up and killed himself?" Dynamo shook his head reproachfully. "And over what? So he could save X and be a hero or some such. Like the little blue goober really needed saving."
"This hero crap is just an excuse to get yourself blown up. Give up living? For that?" Dynamo shook his head firmly and thrust his thumb into his chest. "Not this 'ploid."
"Then we come to Rule number Two." Dynamo smiled. "Well this one's pretty easy. Luckily, no one I know has been dumb enough to qualify as an example for this category."
"Any reploid that will blindly follow the commands of any and every human that crosses his path is a Sucker with a capital Suck." Dynamo crossed his arms over his chest and nodded firmly.
"Can you imagine?" Dynamo shook his head. "Some poor shmuck of a reploid has just bought himself an awesome new car when some random human comes along, gets a hankerin for the uber-sweet ride and says 'Yo, reploid dude, gimme that car.'"
"And he just up and hands it over cuz the human said so?" Dynamo shook his head and leveled his index finger at the camera. "I don't think so."
"Now we come to the most important of the Rules." Dynamo grinned. "Numero Uno. That makes it the most important, you know." Dynamo nodded.
"Reploids that willfully break this law are Mavericks. Not to mention criminals." Dynamo nodded curtly, once.
"Aside from that whole maverick virus thing, any reploid that harms a human with the intent of doing so is branded a maverick and subject to 'retirement', courtesy of the local Hunters, or whatever Bounty Hunting group gets there first."
"Now," Dynamo leaned forward to fix the camera with a stare, "for those of you thinking, 'Wow, choosing your own path in life and being a maverick would be uber-cool!' think again."
"Sure, you get the spiffy rep." Dynamo leaned back and shrugged nonchalantly. "Nobody sane even thinks about messing with you. Heads turn when you walk in the room. 'It's all good,' you say." Dynamo shook his head.
"But," Dynamo held up a finger, "think about this before you run off and beat down the next human you see. What kind of a social life does a maverick have?"
"Prime Example." Dynamo leaned back and pulled down another screen. "Good ole Sigma, that crazy cat."
The picture was an old image of Sigma, looking rather maniacal, taken from his original call-to-arms broadcast to the reploid population just as all hell broke loose during the First Maverick Uprising. The only new additions to the picture were squiggly black lines depicting a curly mustache, a goatee, a wicked looking uni-brow, and devil horns.
"You think Sigma got any of the hot chicks with his reputation?" Dynamo cocked an eyebrow querulously at the camera. "Not a chance. Could he go to the hottest smexiest party locations?" Dynamo shook his head. "No way. Could he hang out in the local bar and down a tall frothy friend and shoot some pool?" Dynamo paused thoughtfully. "Well, he could… but he'd be the only one in the building."
"You see, non-maverick people just don't like mavericks all that much." Dynamo shrugged. "Go figure, huh. Somethin to do with all that psychotic killing they do, I suppose."
Axl despaired of ever being able to apply logic to find a way to end this mess.
"Plus, there's that pesky fact that all those Hunter hero types are always after your hide to satisfy their heroicness." Dynamo shook his head.
"So you see, being maverick just isn't all it's cracked out to be. And I should know, I used to get saddled with that ignominious title all the time." Dynamo nodded sagely.
"But, I found myself a really great lawyer, got some dirt on him, and proved I didn't deserve it." Dynamo grinned. "It helps that nobody ever took out the statute of limitations for crimes where reploids are involved."
Dynamo leaned back and folded his hands behind his head with a grin. "That just goes to show you that good things come to those who wait, and live long enough."
Dynamo straightened up. "Well, I hope I managed to edify you all on the Three Laws of Robotics."
"This is your friendly neighborhood Mercenary, Dynamo, signing off."
Axl blinked at the television as the image switched off of Dynamo and went to some sort of infomercial. Had he actually managed not to get maligned somehow? He thought back to try to determine if his name had been used. Then winced when he remembered all the rest of what Dynamo had said… and shown. Oh this was going to be bad. Axl could only hope there was a friendly deity up there somewhere that had decided to restrict the broadcast to this television alone.
Axl slowly straightened up in his seat. It was about this time that he became aware of an almost subsonic rumbling from behind him. He slowly turned around and blinked in surprise when he found a rather grumpy looking Zero standing just inside the doorway of the rec room. Zero did not look happy.
"A-ah… Z-Zero, I-I can explain. This isn't what it looks like… I was just… and my game… and then… with the remote… and…" Axl trailed off helplessly and winced as Zero's low growl turned into a snarl, complete with bared teeth.
"Where is this broadcasting from?" Zero ground out between his teeth.
"A-ah… I don't know… It was just on…"
Zero scowled and walked over to the wall computer console. He activated the communication system.
"Comm center, this is Zero, is Alia there?"
"Alia isn't scheduled to start her shift until after noon. Can I help you, Zero?" A calm collected female voice smoothly replied from the console's speaker system.
"Yes," Zero hissed, "Layer, I want to know where the television channel…" he paused and glanced at Axl questioningly.
"Channel, umm, 125."
"…Channel 125 is broadcasting from."
After a moment there came a reply. "Channel 125 is Public Access Broadcasting. Anyone who pays for a time slot can send a signal through 125's broadcasting satellite system and put on a show. They don't have a set studio. Just about every show is filmed and broadcast from private locations."
Zero growled and clenched his fists.
"Zero, it's usually full of sensationalist programs. Trash really. Why do you want to know?"
"No reason. Just wanted to… return a favor… Zero out." Zero turned away and inhaled deeply, fists clenched. "Axl…"
"Yeah?"
"…You got a marker with you?"
"Um… no, don't think so." Axl glanced around at the table. Then he frowned slightly. "Hang on." Axl stuck his hand down between the couch cushions and felt around for a moment. "Aha! Found one." He pulled a thick black marker out of the sofa and tossed it to Zero who snatched it out of the air. "Whatcha want it for?"
"If you need me… I'll be in training room 12… drawing that bastard's face on the training drones… Right before I wipe that smug look off their faces…" Zero grinned savagely before stalking out.
"Hmm." Axl turned back to the vidscreen and his game console, waiting patiently for him to select and activate a game to play. "I think this calls for a certain type of bashing…"
Axl selected the game adaptation of the Sixth Maverick Uprising: Nightmare Outbreak. Granted, he wasn't in it; but Axl felt X deserved to get some quality time with Dynamo after that 'interesting' broadcast.
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The End
Owari
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Notes:
Repliphiles: Repli -- reploid; -philes – from the Latin (or Greek, or something) philosmeaning 'lover of' (or something like that)
So, basically, 'lovers of reploids
Examples of similar use: bibliophiles, (er the rest I can think of aren't so nice: replace biblio- with pedo- or necro- … yeah, with the squick andall that…) (biblio- is 'book' by the way)
Replicide: Repli – reploid (again); -cide – (from yet another dead language), meaning 'to kill' (or something like that similar examples: homicide is 'to kill humans,' and suicide is 'to kill self'and then there's patricide, and regicide, and genocide, and the list goes on.
And who says you never learn anything on this website…
And now, on to other things.
I…
Have…
X8!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Please note that despite the following warning, there isn't much I've done in the game that can spoil you.)
SPOILERISCIOUSNESS TO FOLLOWOMG! I've never played one of the Rockman/Megaman games before. But, oh my… Oh…. Oh my…. passes out and drools in pixilated 3D ecstasy
# o (ME)-- /
I LOVE IT!!!!
I totally suck at it… Spent almost a whole day on it and still haven't beaten the first boss level… (on normal.) But I Don't Care!!!
They're so spiffy and shiny!!!
And so huggably 3D!!
…I want to pet Zero's hair…
…Does that make me creepy? --
Also, either he's prematurely losing his thick mane of hair… or his unit jumped him on the way out of the shower and cut off a bunch to thin it out… or he lost a bet… or he just switched conditioners… Zero's hair is very much not-the-poofy. It's slick and shiny smooth, and oh so pettable…
And it swishes when he moves.
(Twisty, turny, jumpy, swish, swish, swish) > -
I am easily amused by shiny, wavy thingies…
And I don't care what anyone says, I love Zero and X's voices! Axl's is good too, though I usually picture him sounding a bit younger…
Squee!! Almost the first thing X says to Zero is, "How you holding up?" Is that not just the total X-ness?
However… Palette… I think they took the English Rebecca from the Yugioh! dub and turned her into a reploid! She even looks sort of like her, (or maybe a little like Yaito from Rockman.EXE – nothing against Yaito though, she manages to pull it off without coming across like Rebecca from Yugioh!; besides, she's supposed to look like a little 9 or 10 year-old girl.)! Palette even has an annoying know-it-all voice!
And she looks like a little kid… kinda like a kewpie doll… (those things scare me…)
Plus, what's with the glasses? Since when do reploids need glasses? I understand protective goggles, or diagnostic lens displays, or sunglasses, but ordinary looking reading-type glasses? And that hat-helmet-hair-thingy on her head. That's the weirdest helmet-thingy design I've ever seen. It looks almost like its floating above her head, rather than sitting on it…
Dear Lord, I hope no one decides to pair her romantically with Axl… Poor, poor Axl…
Palette, you had better not make any googly-eyed comments to Axl during this game to indicate you like my favorite little redheaded reploid…
GAH!! What's the world coming to!
Okay… enough with the Palette confuzzlement and bashing. Who knows, I may just grow fond of her after more time playing the game… maybe… Hey, it could happen.
Anyway, Layer is also in the game. Alia, Layer, and Palette are all technical spotters in X8. You get to choose which ones you take on each mission. Hence her appearance as a spotter in my fic.
…It's sad though; X, Zero, and Axl die an awful lot… Zero sounds in so much pain when he dies…
I'm so awful! I kill them!!! sob ;--;
They die for me!!!
…
I just realized something… I… am… their… god!!
…
Um… I think all my Rockman X characters are hiding from me now…
Come back, guys… It was just a joke… I didn't mean it… Honest…
(crow caws)
(tumbleweed rolls past)
- >->
Anyway, the preceding was part of the reason for my flaky flakeness regarding the story 'A Very Merry X-mas' which, as you can see, is not up yet, and its already past Christmas…
I will get it up, it just might not be finished until well after new years… I hope you don't mind terribly about Christmas themes in January… Unless you think I should just wait till next Christmas to upload it?
Oh well… I'm off to face Optic Sunflower in his den of iniquity!!!
(I finally got to the boss room.)
Go get 'em boys!
RAWR!!! SPOON!!
…
Back now…
Optic Sunflower… Sounds kinda like a girl… Looks like a flower… X calls it a 'he.'
Oh yeah… And he kicked my collective shiny metal hineys…
Next sunflower I see is getting the hedge clippers…
I suppose it's a good thing its winter right now, otherwise my neighbors wouldn't be too happy with me… neither would their garden…
Anyway, on with the show.
Reviewer Reply Section:
Bryant Devillier:
First off, I want to reply to someone who sent me an email. However, when I replied to it, I received a bounce back of my message because it said your account is unknown. Which is really weird.
Anyway. Hi Bryant.
Well, I'm assuming he has however many armors that he's gotten since the first X game, up through X8, and I suppose any future armors he'll have from future X games. My fic doesn't take place at an actual specific time period, just sometime in the future, a good while after X8. I'm also disregarding the entire Zero series so it could possibly be taking place in 22XX, or whenever the Zero series takes place, or even farther into the future. Theoretically, there could have been more X games that took place between X8 and my story. I probably won't be having X use any of the armors except the ones I actually know about, or ones I might make up myself. I'm not planning to mention specifically how many he has in my fic. That way, I can leave it open-ended for X to get more armors from future X games, but have had those armors for a while in my stories.
As for what I know he does have for certain from X1-X8, there's a list I made for reference that I've got somewhere.
X's Confirmed Armors:
Light Armor – X-Giga Armor – X-2
Max Armour – X-3
Gold Armor – X-3
works like Max armor except with all the upgrade chips, I'm treating it as a
separate armor
Force Armor – X-4
It's like the Ultimate but without Nova Strike, treating it as separate
Ultimate Armor – X-4
you also get this in X-5, X-6, and apparently CM, but I count it as the same arm
suit
Falcon Armor – X-5
also in X-6 but I'm counting them as the same suit, but upgraded in X-6 to allow special weapons charging. Or maybe X just couldn't figure out how to activate
that feature until X-6… I'm going to say it can still perform the invincible flight after X-6 even though the X-6 game says it can't. I'm pretty sure they took out that ability for game play purposes; you can start out with the Falcon armor after all. Wouldn't want you to be too strong right off the bat.
Gaea Armor – X-5
Blade Armor – X-6
Shadow Armor – X-6
Glide Armor – X-7
Neutral Armor - X-8
X-Fire
Armor - Command Mission
I've
heard of this, but I'm not sure if it counts as an armor. I
thought it was a Hyper mode thing like Zero's 'Absolute Zero'
Hyper mode, or whatever it's called. But being a Hyper mode
doesn't eliminate it from being an armor, either.
I know X also picked up some armor in the Xstream games. However, from their capabilities they seemed to be amalgamations of the Light and Giga armors and I wasn't sure whether to classify them as a re-use of Light or Giga, or a totally new armor. So for now, I've left them out of the list.
That's at least thirteen armors that X, for sure, has in my fics. He might have more, depending on whether or not he gets new armors in any future X games.
Hope this answered your question Bryant.
Goldamon X:
Ah yes, X's chameleon-ness. I'm afraid to touch that with a hundred foot pole (regardless of the fact that I'd never be able to lift a pole that long, let alone poke something with it).
I tentatively toyed with the thought that maybe his armor is made of mood ring alloy. But then I came to my senses and tossed that idea out the nearest window.
When (If) I figure it out, I'll let you know by posting a chapter on it.
As for force metals and Hyper modes. I know next to nothing about them, and I try not to tackle a topic that I have no knowledge of. It's a lot easier to make stuff up if you've got at least some basis for your theories. I've never played Command Mission, though I plan to get the darn game now that I've experienced the joys of X8 so what if it's a totally different game play type, I like Final Fantasy games so no problems with the party-turn-based-combat for me. Besides, CM has the shinies in it!
Reploid DNA. I went into that in chapter 6 some. Essentially, the DNA is the energy patterns that form in each reploid's neural matrix. Since every reploid has a different personality and memories, these energy patterns are unique as power flows through the unique mental connection network in every reploid's 'brain.' It's not actual DNA like a human has. It's an energy signature that is unique to each reploid. But the signature is their 'brainwave' and defines who they are. Just as organic DNA defines what the living organism it belongs to is like (to a certain extent). It's just called reploid DNA. It's not really Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) as defined by the current term in dictionaries everywhere. So don't go thinking its some genetic code for reploids. Cuz it isn't (at least not in my opinion, anyway, for whatever that's worth).
Dragonmaster01:
Graaarg!! I went to find the picture to give a link to it. It's gone!!! The whole bloody image/scan/fanfic/fanart Megaman/Rockman website and galleries are gone!! I had the link to it, but now it goes to some sort of parent site that says that the website with the anime and game stuff on it is undergoing re-construction or something. So, it might get put back up at a later date. I'll check now and then to see. I can't guarantee anything though. Which sucks, because I wanted to see the picture again myself…
It's kind of hard to make out exactly what happened because the gallery I found the image in, as well as the parent site, are in Spanish. It's not fair. They had a lot of nice stuff, fan and official, on that site… The X and forest animals picture was in the scans section rather than the fanart sections so I'm fairly certain it was an actual X manga scan. Either way, it was an uber cute scene and was certainly professional looking. The style and art matched fairly well with what I've seen from the scanlation effort of the X1 manga at Dr. Neko's Lab. Also, the word bubbles of the forest animals scan were in Japanese (or maybe Chinese, it had a lot of kanji).
ravenf6:
Well, I don't know if you've seen a picture of X after he got his lower half blown off at the end of X-5 but he is really trashed. His entire lower half is missing including what looks like the lower half of his ribcage as well. Both arms, both legs, hips, belly, and lower ribs are blown to smithereens. And what's left of his chest and shoulders looks pretty scrapped. About the only thing that looks intact, even marginally, is his helmet. Even his face is all scratched up. (I'm looking at a screenshot right now.)
Go here to see it. Take out the spaces. That kinda dead looking lump on the ground is X.
http : perso. wanadoo. es / lcasadog / cmc / x / gallery / mmx5 / Image19. jpg
Add in two of the / symbols right after the semi-colon. Stupid quickedit won't let them show up. Have I mentioned quickedit is evil? It won't let me put in any symbol faces or use tabs... Evil evil evil.
That's a lot of damage to get repaired. And most of his parts would have to be replaced completely, simply because the originals got blown up. In my fic, if X had been that badly off, he would have died. The medics couldn't have repaired that much damage before he died of power failure. (Especially considering that with that much damage done to his chest, the place where I guessed the power core generator to be, his generator would have been destroyed from the X-5 battle with Sigma.)
That's actually probably what happened, his generator exploded. The shot from Sigma's head went through his chest; his generator probably blew up and vaporized his lower body and arms. So my fiction universe med techs couldn't have saved him then. Only Light and his knowledge of X's systems could have known how to safely replace his generator and all the rest of him.
After the shark attack in chapter 8, X was not nearly as badly off as he had been at the end of X-5. The shark didn't actually do much damage to his legs or hips. To get an idea of the sort of damage done to X by the shark, try picturing this.
First, take normal unharmed X. Now from just below the ribcage to just above the pelvic bone (an area about a hand span or so wide), remove all that stuff in between, right around where the gut and bellybutton would be on a human. Go on, just slice him right in half, and mangle it a bit on the edges. But leave the spinal cord, and make it twisted and chewed on, like a computer mouse cord after your psycho pet cat gets at it. (She chews on cords and plastic, we don't know why, but she seems to enjoy it.) Then add shark bite marks all around his back and chest, about halfway up his ribcage, just above the pectoral muscles but under the armpits. Then add abrasions and lacerations all down his upper arms and shoulders. Throw in a few twisted, dented arm bones. That's pretty much what happened to X in damage because of the shark.
As you can see, there was a lot more of X left undamaged after the shark attack than there was after the Sigma attack. The med techs didn't have to replace all the stuff Light had to. Most of X's body was still more or less intact, they just had to re-attach it. Also, I figure that the MHHQ has a good supply of spare parts on hand for their medical ward to use for their Hunters. All that would be needed was to get the right parts out of storage, bring them down to the OR, assemble them into whatever order they're supposed to go, and attach them into X's systems. Light had a lot more work to do than they did. Which is why he took over a week to fix X while the med techs spent a little less than a day working on him.
Also, Light took so long not only because he had to replace most of X's body, but also because he's, like, a hologram thingy. It's hard for holograms to perform surgery. Either he has mechaniloid drones or robots of some sort in his secret lab to do the physical work for him, or he's got accomplices that know of his existence. Either way, he probably doesn't have an entire team of skilled medical technical surgeons ready and willing to spend over 12 hours straight working on X's body. The MHHQ med ward had an entire OR room jam-packed with technical surgeons all working on X. Any more in there and they would have tripped over each other's feet.
Hope this made it a bit clearer.
JimVan:
I'm so glad Alia came across the way I wanted her to. I was sort of afraid she'd come across as creepy-stalker Alia… -- Because X doesn't even know she was there…
Oh, also, anyone else at HQ who heard about X's injuries and waited to learn if he would be all right had to wait in the actual designated waiting room of the med ward. Zero and Axl refused to go there, remember. So, members of the 17th and 0th, as well as others who know X and were worried were wandering in and out of the med ward waiting room in between duties and such. So it wasn't just the main cast members. Those are just the only ones I wrote about.
Veritech:
I have no idea what inspired you from my story, but you're very welcome.
Wedge McCloud:
Wow, thanks for the praise. I suppose that if I knew of any Rockman/Megaman X fiction contests I could enter this. But I don't. And it probably wouldn't actually win. It has no plot. Just in case you haven't noticed yet, but this story is on a one-way trip to nowhere. I'm leaving actual plotlines, complete with villains and 'teh ebil', for sequels.
Well, I didn't really think the internal communication systems needed explanations and such. I suppose I could do a chapter on them. I'll have to think about it. Thanks for the idea though.
Ah, Douglas. The oft forgotten (but not by me) Hunter Chief Mechanic. I'll put him in, don't you worry. I just haven't had the opportunity yet. But he is going to be in charge of the R&D department as well as the mechanical engineering department, which maintains and builds/repairs the heavy machinery, like vehicles and ride armors, used by the Hunters. So no worries, the green guy won't be left out. Though that information might be cause for Douglas to worry…
So is the fact that Palette apparently works in R&D too… That girl is in there every time I send the boys in X8 into the R&D lab to get those chips developed.
Oh No's!!! What if she's Douglas' replacement!! The horror!
She's even got green themed armor!!!
Good thing there's not a choice for the med ward in the game. If I walked in there and saw Layer instead of Lifesaver… Even though he hasn't been around for ages in the games… (Not since like X-5 I think… Maybe Capcom chucked him after the negative fan reaction from his suspicions of Zero being maverick leading to him and X fighting… or something… Personally, I think that Lifesaver is one of a batch production generation and the suspicious one wasn't the same one that rescued Zero from the shuttle crash site. If I remember the script correctly, when X confronts Zero near the end of X5, when Zero is not maverick, X brought two Lifesavers with him, one suspicious, and one not.)
I don't think I'd mind if Cinnamon was in there. But not Layer. They're spotters, they're supposed to be spotting, not taking chip development lists from the boys when they go to R&D…
Anyway… Enough of that.
This chapter is mainly for fun. So don't try to pick apart Dynamo's motivations behind getting a public access broadcasting show…
However, I would like to know what you think of Dynamo's attitude and speech patterns? Do they fit him? Good? Bad? So-so? Any suggestions for improvements on his character development?
Let me know.
Oh and review please. I lovses the reviewses.
The more reviews I get the more time I spend reading them on the computer (and working on the next chapter) rather than getting X, Zero and Axl killed in X8.
So motivate me peoples!