PRIVATE, shall do. This one is written in advance, so the updates will be consistent.
L. Wulf, I before E,
Except after C;
TheWebbuilder can't spell
Anything very well! ;)
Jill, Huh? (Does double-take) You've seen the MMZ series? That surprises me.
Begin Chapter.
"They're back!" The Trans Server operator announced as the three figures materialized before them.
"Thank goodness." Ceil breathed a small sigh of relief; she didn't like asking Zero to place his life on the line for them.
"Ah, it was nothing to worry about, we were well on our way back when Zero found us, right mate?" Red announced as he stepped off of the Trans Server.
"Actually-" Hess' dissent was cut off as the other Reploid launched into a completely fictitious account of the adventure, one that conveniently placed Red as the main protagonist.
For some unfathomable reason, Zero didn't stop to correct the falsehoods pouring out of Red's mouth, but instead quietly slipped away from the gathering crowd.
Quickly he headed through the corridors of the Resistance Base, making his way to Cerveau's Lab. He'd have to get his Buster fixed, and fixed soon, of all the times for his Buster to give out on him...
Once he had the proper room, he slid the door open and entered.
And as usual, Cerveau immediately noticed him.
"Zero? What brings-" The Reploid scientist broke off as he caught sight of the Reploid's battered condition. "Which one did you destroy this time?"
"Just the Buster, shouldn't be anything too severe." Zero produced the defective blaster and offered the said weapon to his friend.
The researcher accepted the weapon and headed back to his workstation. With practiced care he began disassembling the device and started examining it, trying to find out just what the problem was. "Honestly, how can you burn out your weapons like this?"
"It's fairly easy actually." The red Reploid permitted himself a small grin; "You just fire wildly at anything that moves-"
Zero stopped his explanation as Cerveau shook his head in disbelief.
Minutes passed as the Reploid researcher worked over the pistol. Finally, he gave a nod of satisfaction to indicate that it was done.
"There." The scientist made one last tweak and then proceeded to offer the weapon back to its owner. "You just drained the power cell, nothing too severe."
"Thanks, Cerveau." The Red Hunter made a few low power shots with his Buster. Nodding his approval at the pistol's reaction and power, he quickly holstered the weapon.
His work here finished, Zero turned to leave.
Abruptly, his footsteps came to a stop as he hesitated at the doorway.
"Cerveau," Zero's face turned grave as he half-turned to face his companion. "Have… never mind… its nothing of importance."
"What?" The scientist looked absolutely bewildered as the Reploid hustled out of the room.
The Hunter left the scientist's lab and headed outside, a quick walk to burn off the last of this nervous energy was just what he needed.
In a few moments he had exited the complex, and was free once again.
"Hello there."
Zero turned to see a familiar Reploid standing behind him, the robot had been modified to look and act like an older human for his own private reasons.
"Andrew." The Hunter identified his friend, and he could tell that the older Reploid was in one of his talkative moods. He usually humored Andrew, since very few others would.
"Ah, our soon-to-be-hero." Andrew commented in complete obliviousness to his companion's status, "Are you still earning your keep?"
"I try." Zero moved closer to the Reploid, he knew from past experience that this story was going to be a long one. Andrew was in one of his 'talkative' moods. "Which part of your life story am I going to hear today?"
"I suppose that I do talk about myself a lot… but when a body gets as old as I am, you hope you're life interests others." The Reploid sighed, "But there are lessons to be learned from us elders' lives."
"My apologies, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."
"I know you didn't, but you make a good point," Andrew settled himself in for a long yarn, "Have you ever heard the Mega Man legends?"
"…"
'Mega Man', that name rang a bell with Zero for some reason that he couldn't place… "N- no, I don't believe that I have."
"Ah, then! I know you'll enjoy this," If Andrew recognized the hesitation in the Reploid's voice, he gave no indication of it. "Over 300 years ago, before Reploids even existed, there was a brilliant scientist named Dr. Light, now he and his lab assistant, a Dr. Wily- are you alright?"
The older Reploid cut his story off as he noticed his companion give a sharp start.
"I… I-" A strange vision of a shadowy old man had filled Zero's mind, and then, almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. "I am."
"Oh, you're not bored with me are you?"
"Hardly, this sounds interesting."
"Well then, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were working together to research robotics. Now at that time it was fairly easy to create a robot that could move, but not one that could actually think. Then Dr. Light made an amazing breakthrough, and created the first robot that contained actual artificial intelligence, a robot that he named Break Man, and using that design he created six other Robot Masters to assist humans in their tasks. But his assistant, Dr. Wily, grew so jealous of the doctor's fame that he drove himself mad, so he stole the original six robots and reprogrammed them to help him take over the world."
"And what happened to Break Man?"
"He vanished in an accidental explosion," Andrew explained, "So there wasn't anything on Earth that could stand up against the might of the Robot Masters, nothing that is, except for one robot named Rock. Rock was one of two lab assistants that Dr. Light had created to help him, the other was named Roll. Anyway, Rock was horrified with the destruction that his counterparts were doing and volunteered to put a stop to it, Dr. Light then outfitted him for battle. It seemed like a waste of time, after all, what could a blue four-foot robot do against six large Robot Masters? But amazingly, Rock defeated all of them and stopped Dr. Wily's plans, people were so amazed at his victory that they started calling him 'Mega Man', and he became Earth's protector for a good many years…"
"Amazing."
"It goes to show you that even the most useless looking creatures have their purpose." Andrew finished his tale. "There's more to the legend, but I'll save that for another day… I'll see you around."
"Thanks for the story, Andrew." Zero turned and headed away, he felt extremely alone for some reason and couldn't figure out why... or even why that story had sounded familiar to him… He had very few memories of who he was, and most of them were about Original X, and some other Reploid who he felt a strong attraction to.
"Iris…" The name came across the Hunter's mind as he stared out across the desert. That was her name… if he did have feelings for her in his past, what had happened to her? Or did he want to know?
"Zero."
The Hunter spun around to find the speaker of that familiar voice, even as his hand flashed towards his saber.
"I found you at last." Zero caught sight of Harpuia dropping down to the ground. "We need to talk. Now."
"So what brings you out here?" Zero folded his arms across his chest, waiting the Thunder Guardian to explain his presence.
"You." Harpuia was all business as he faced the other Reploid. "We of Neo Arcadia aren't pleased right now-"
"Just get to the point."
"Fine then, where did the Resistance get the technology to build war machines? This is something Neo Arcadia cannot ignore, if you have these capabilities, then we must shut you down before you endanger the citizen's lives."
"What capabilities?" In spite of himself, Zero couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in bewilderment. "We don't have the means or the time to build war machines, even if we did, Ceil would never allow it."
"Then you deny that that… thing… came from the resistance." Harpuia clarified his understanding.
"It would help if I knew what 'thing' you were talking about."
"Neon Tiger." The thunder Guardian replied, stone-faced. "That beast that destroyed three-fourths of the Gamma unit at the South Pole. It was based on a Maverick that existed over 150 years ago."
"You mean that tiger that I demolished?" The Hunter tried to puzzle out Harpuia's riddle.
"I mean a tall nasty looking thing with sharp claws and a tail that looks like a humanoid tiger."
"Harpuia, that thing wasn't ours." Zero shook his head, "I had to destroy it or it would have destroyed me. At the time, I thought that it was yours."
"It wasn't." Harpuia dissented, "And I'm still not convinced that it wasn't yours-"
"Then why would I destroy it?" The swordsman countered the idea.
"Because you couldn't control it." The thunder Guardian countered the counter. "And so you were forced to destroy it to save yourself, which would mean that there's still time for you to abandon this idea of building such machines."
Zero shook his head, "For the last time, we don't have that kind of capability."
"Our intelligence has uncovered… indications… that there is more going on at that base than meets the eye. Mark my words, if the Resistance is building those machines, then we won't look the other way, we'll destroy them to protect our citizens."
"Then you'll have to go through me first." Zero unfolded his arms, and held one hand over his sheathed Saber to illustrate his point.
"I'll remember, but it will have no effect on my decisions." With that final remark, the Thunder Guardian vanished in a beam of light.
"Well, that was interesting." The swordsman dashed off, heading back to the base. As he ran he turned over the strange conversation in his mind. What made Harpuia think that that tiger had been his? And what had made him so… coarse? He'd always suspected that they had a hidden ally in the Thunder Guardian, but now that assessment was beginning to crumble.
End Chapter!
Next: The Lion VI strikes!
