Hello Megaman fans. The MAD-MAN is back with another fic for you. Hard to say what this is, I wondered what ever happened to the first 'robot' megaman before the 'reploid' megamanX was built. The first half of the story is clear at the end of the original series. The second half of the story is set after X2 but before the start of X3. Warning! Character death, a surprising amount of it.
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A blaster from the past
Dr. Light was in his laboratory, working on his next project. He was growing tired of these long nights in the lab. Tired of planning devices meant to improve the world, only to toss them aside to build weapons of destruction. He didn't mind saving the world, far from it, it made him feel wonderful. He just wanted to stop fighting Wily and start making the world better.
His current project was hopefully a way to let him spend his last years the way he wanted without worrying about the world falling to Wily's plains. He was building a neural pathway recorder and replicatior. He wasn't sure this would work; so much of the technology was still experimental.
Rock and Roll spent the days doing chores around the house and worried over Dr. Light's failing health. Wily had disappeared months ago; Rock thought he would be back with another plot for world domination soon. Roll had finally convinced Rock to remove his weapons and armor, but only after Dr. Light had refined the transfer system.
Normally Rock would be helping the Dr. work on his projects but the Dr. refused to let him see what work he was doing. Rush simply lay around the house waiting for something to do. Countless other robots wandered in and out at will, many had even once been fought by Rock as Megaman.
Dr. Light only came out of his lab to eat and rest, locking the lab to anyone else. He only told Rock and Roll that his project was almost complete before disappearing back into his lab. Rock begin repairing his Mega armors and old weapons, over the years of battling Wily's robots he had worn out many different powerful weapons.
One day Rock was playing ball with Rush and Roll in the yard when there was an explosion back at the house. Rock didn't miss a step as he transported his armor and leapt onto Rush's back. They flew back into the house with Roll running along behind. Inside the house everything was blackened and charred.
The door had been thrown from the lab doorway, shattered against the opposite wall. Megaman dropped from Rush's back and crept in the door with his buster charged and ready. Inside the lab nothing was damaged except the door and a strange device near the center of the room.
Megaman walked forward carefully looking for Dr. Light, he stopped before the device and looked down inside the pod-like cavity. Inside was the blackened body of Dr. Light, Megaman checked for a pulse but couldn't find any sign of life. Roll came in the Darkened lab and called for Dr. Light.
Megaman just stood there and tried to get his processors to comprehend what he would do without Light. Roll stopped beside him and froze in shock as she begin trying to understand why this happened. Megaman reached into the pod and withdrew Light's body. He turned without a word and left the house with rush following him.
Roll came out of the house later to find Megaman using his buster to burn Light's name into a tree over where he had burred Light. The next few days Rock and Roll spent doing what they always did, they couldn't comprehend what to do without light. Finally one day as Rock was repairing the door to the lab he heard a beeping behind him.
The strange device was giving of a genital glow as it began to reactivate. Rock came over to it and studied it in detail, the damage was almost gone and several small screens where running vast strands of code. The machine was repairing itself and running whatever programs Dr. Light had made it for.
Rock picked up a muti-tool and began repair the worst damage. He worked late into the night and most the next day, not caring about Roll's call for him to recharge or Rush attempting to get him to play ball. His processors had decided he would Finish whatever Light had started.
Days later he was only awake because of his sub tanks energy and the urge to finish the device. He worked from the plans he found in Light's computer and worked hard to keep the data that the device repeated endlessly from becoming corrupt. Finally as Roll and Rush broke thru the repaired door Rock had finally finished the device.
Rock brushed off Roll's attempts to drag him out of the lab and activated the device. With a slight hum the device shot a beam of light into the air where it developed into the form of Dr. Light. Roll fell silent as her processors refused what she was seeing, Rock merely slumped down in a chair.
The hologram flicked and blinked as Light looked down at them. His form blinked twice and started to speak, "Rock, Roll, if you are hearing this my project was not a success. This device was meant to copy my mental abilities and memories into a holographic form. The corporal Dr. light was meant to live but I, or rather he, knew that the device had many risks. That is why he recorded this message, this message hold instructions on what I need you two to do."
The hologram flickered again and the face of Dr. light dropped into a frown, "it appears that I was incorrect. The device has apparently a complete recreation of Dr. lights memories and thought processes, however the device never had a chance to complete the composition of the final neural replication because of missing data."
Roll clasped her hands and stared up at the image of Light, "what dose that mean Dr.?"
Dr. Light flickered again as he looked down at her, "it appears that I am Dr. Light but at the same time I am only an attempt by the device to complete its purpose. The device has combined my last message with the incomplete neural replication. I am in essence I thinking message."
Rock stood up from his chair, "Dr. light. What should I do?" that was all it took for the hologram to began acting like Light. Life for the small household returned to a somewhat normal fashion. Roll cleaned the house while Rush chased around mets, Rock spent most his time in the lab. He was now Light's hands; the hologram of light would lead Rock thru every step of a project.
Years began to slide away from the house and its rather strange family. Rock and Roll never left the home anymore and Dr. Lights discoveries and inventions where sent out by transfer device. The world began to forget Megaman because Wily had disappeared without a trace and Megaman was never seen anymore.
One day Rock was interpreted from his recharge by Light, Light had had a stroke of pure inspiration. The next days where spent with Light and Rock locked in the lab, Rock only left to recharge and then only if he could wait no longer. Roll became concerned, the last time this had happened Light had had a serous accident.
Finally Rock stopped coming out of the lab, he had begun recharging his system even as he worked. Roll had nothing better to do so she went about her daily chores. Rush spent his time tearing at the door but Rock had made the door invulnerable after the last time Roll and Rush had torn it down.
The first month passed and then the second and Roll and Rush still hadn't heard from Rock or Light. After the fifth month Roll abandoned her housework and just sat outside the door, waiting. She and rush began spending days at a time there before dragging themselves off to recharge.
The eleven months after the door first closed the house and everything in it was covered in dust and cobwebs. Even Roll and Rush where covered in dust as they sat before the door. Rush had stopped moving at all several months back and Roll only dragged herself back to recharge because she couldn't bring herself to abandon Rock and Light. She didn't even know if he or Light where still active but she couldn't do anything else.
Six months after Rush had stopped functioning Roll was walking from her recharge chamber back to her seat by the lab door. She was just sitting down when the wall of the house exploded inward. Roll was knocked back against the lab door as a large form walked into the destroyed room.
Roll looked up in horror as a Robot walked in carrying a small tank. The robot was covered in guns and spikes, looking like the worst weapons of war blended into one giant machine. What was truly disconcerting was what was in the tank. In the tank floated Wily's head, connected to many different cables and small devices.
Roll couldn't even scream as the robot raised its arm and unleashed its full power on the lab door. Roll was instantly vaporized but the door refused to give in to the constant stream of power. The door began to glow and the wall peeled away until only the armor underneath showed.
Wily's head uttered a long stem of profanities and shouted another command to his robot. The robot placed the tank in the ground and walked forward, still firing, when it was only a foot from the door it drew back the hand that had been carrying the tank and swung it down.
The door began to dent with every strike but still refused to give. Finally as the robot's armor had begun to melt from its own destructive power the door shattered. Shards of white hot metal flew in every direction piercing the robot and destroying the walls around it.
The smoke cleared and the robot still stood, it was melted and severely damaged but it still stood. It turned back and picked up the tank containing Wily's head. The robot carried the tank into the lab. Everything inside was damaged from the violent entry. Only one thing stood in the room unharmed, Light's hologram pod.
The robot stepped forward and places the tank on the ground. The tank rose up on four thin robotic legs and approached the pod. As it reached the field protecting the pod it simply walked thru it as if it wasn't there. It reached the pod and Wily began examine the device.
After a few moments the pod activated and Light's hologram flickered into the air above Wily in his tank. Light looked down at Wily and gave a small grin, "hello Wily. I expected you would come back soon enough. However you're to late. I sent Megaman away with my research the moment you tried to enter the lab. And because of this you have nothing to steal."
Wily laughed and used a robotic arm to begin removing panels on the side of the pod. He looked up at Light as he clamped wires from his own tank into the pod, "no doctor I have everything I want right here. I want you, or more accurately I want your mind and every idea it could come up with."
Wily began downloading Dr. Light's many files, starting with his most recent projects. He looked up the data screen when Light began to laugh. "You wont find my mind Wily. This pod will self-destruct in a few seconds and everything in it will be lost."
Wily said nothing as he looked back at the Data screen. He grinned and simply continued to work, already done stealing Light's current projects. He looked up at the hologram and grinned, "you could never bluff Light. You wouldn't destroy yourself just to stop me. You have no desire to see death anymore than I do. That is why you made this pod."
Light's face took on a dire expression, "Wily I can't bluff because I never have. This pod will self-destruct but I already have hundreds spread around the world hidden from everything. This one pod will self-destruct as will any pod that you tamper with. I can simply transfer myself to another pod before this one self-destructs. I suggest you step outside the field before it dose. Goodbye Wily. I hope you find peace before your end."
The hologram shutdown and the pod began humming loudly. Wily's tank scrambled back, ripping the wires from the pod. He just made it past the field as the pod began to melt. The pod glowed white-hot and sank down into the floor, the puddle of metal stopped at the field and ate down into the floor.
Wily began swearing but stopped as he looked at the plains on his screen. He grinned as his robot cared his tank away. He may not have gotten all of Light's plains but he did get the pains for the most complex robot he had ever seen.
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Megaman stood up beside the last pod; it had only taken a few days to place the pods. He was tired and he missed Roll and Rush, he knew they where dead now but he couldn't believe he had abandoned them, not only to the robot but also before that. He had forgotten them and now he couldn't make it up to them or himself.
Dr. Light spent most his time programming the pods to begin building several new devices. Megaman slid down in the snow beside the pod and starred out at the dark sky. Light's hologram flickered to life beside him, "Megaman. I have one last task for you. I want you to guard our last project, the one we left in the pod buried down under the lab. I know you want to rest, rest from the fighting and destruction but you need to protect the world. The best way for you to do that is to sleep now."
Light looked down at Megaman and smiled, "you are the son I never had. This pod is for you. Climb inside and rest now, if you are needed I will wake you. Rest now and hope you wont need to return to the fight." Megaman didn't say a single word as he climbed inside the pod.
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Centuries later Megaman X walked along a snowy landscape, he had found a few pods from Dr. Light. Every one had helped him save the world and now he was searching for another. He had heard rumors from a few reploids that worked on artic recon of a strange device that was bared deep under the ice. The device only showed on high frequency scanners when the recon droids had found a strange bubble of air under the ice.
The device was left where it was because it was a single device of unknown quality and most of the resources where spent a few miles away excavating a large laboratory base that was much closer to the surface. X had wanted to get away from hunting for a while so he decided to travel the world. He had been near Greenland when he heard of the strange device.
So here he was trudging across miles of ice following a GPS signal. Finally he stopped above the signal, he looked down at the ground and then checked his X-buster. He pointed his X-buster at the ice and began firing a stream of fire.
Hours later and a few hundred few down X stopped and sat down on the floor of the tunnel he had been melting. He had turned slowly making a spiraling path down into the ice. He hoped that the pod, if that was what it was, was worth this. His helmet beeped that he had a message.
He ignored the message because it wasn't labeled emergency, he didn't what anything to do with the world right now. He stood up and began working on the tunnel again. Soon he was only a few feet from the signal, he stopped as his weapon ran out of energy. He kicked the ice in frustration; he hadn't thought that it would take so much energy to get so deep.
He sat down on the ice again and began digging thru the pack he had brought with him. He found a small red and blue orb near the bottom and quickly swallowed it. He looked at his weapon meter as it raised a few notches. He didn't want to use the teleporter because it wouldn't be the first time someone traced his signal and come to drag X back.
He only had his current weapons because he had transferred back to the base under a different identity code. He had slipped thru the base under a ragged cape and an ancient black and gold fined helmet. He had slunk into his storage locker and physically pulled on his current armor and weapons.
He grinned as he thought of passing Zero in the halls and Zero didn't give him a second glance. X decided to keep the helmet and cape if only because it would let him escape Zero occasionally. His grin spread even wider as his fire finally revealed a slightly shimmering field.
X focused his beam and began melting himself a hole in the ice. He could pass thru the field easily; he had done so often enough in the past. He knew this was a pod from Dr. Light because he could now see it thru the mist of evaporating water.
X stopped his beam and climbed thru the small hole and looked at this newest pod. He knew it would contain a weapon or armor or something that Light thought he might need but he didn't care about that. He wouldn't have cared if the pods where empty, he would much rather talk to Dr. Light. He knew the pods only had a recording but it was enough to hear anything from this man who wanted peace and was more than willing to fight to keep it. X respected Light because even though he wanted and hoped for the best he made sure to be ready for the worst.
X stepped up to the pod and pressed the single glowing button. After a moment he pressed it again but still nothing happened. He learned forward and tried rubbing the frost from the cover but the inside was dark and X couldn't see what was inside. Suddenly the familiar hologram of Light snapped on, half of it inside the ice.
Light looked down at X and gave that gentle smile that he always did, "X. I didn't know if you would find this pod. I put it here because it was vital that it wasn't found by anyone. I wasn't even sure if you should open it. Inside this pod is your fate, when you open this pod what inside of it will study you."
X was shocked to say the least but just listened as Light kept speaking, "I wasn't sure if you would be able to make the right decisions. That is why I put you in that stasis pod but I needed to be sure that you where stable after that. You where the only one who could pass thru the fields but just to be sure this pod scanned to make sure it was you. I wanted you to be safe in the world but I also wanted the world to be safe from you. I made the weapons and armors to protect you from the world, I have in this pod something to protect the world from you if you hadn't turned out the way I hoped."
X backed up to the ice around the pod wondering if Dr. Light had some kind of weapon inside ready to destroy him if he wasn't perfect. Light hologram flickered and his smile widened a bit, "don't worry X, I don't think you would want to harm the world. I had to be ready because you could have chosen to do whatever you wanted, even destroy everything. This was my only solution to that, inside this pod is probably the only thing that could ever match your full potential. The only thing that I could trust to do exactly what needed done without emotional consequences. I hope you pass the test X, I really do."
The hologram faded and the pod began to creak open. A light mist raised out of it obscuring whatever was within. X stepped back to the opening in the ice, he was honestly scared. If this thing was a match for his full potential then this would be one of the toughest battles of his life.
The mist cleared and a small figure was sitting up within the pod. X stepped forward without realizing it. The small figure looked up, it was nothing more than a boy perhaps a teenager. He had tousled brown hair and was well muscled under his t-shirt and shorts. The boy was looking at X with a pair of large blue eyes; X looked into those eyes and saw nothing. X stood still as the boy climbed from the pod, the boy didn't seam to notice the chill. That was when it finally occurred to X that this wasn't a boy, it was a drone.
The drone was simply staring at X, and X was wondering what it would do. After a few minutes X decided to leave the icy cave and get back somewhere he could warm up. The drone followed him back up the tunnel and out into the snow and wind. X began walking off towards the outstation he had come from earlier. He turned back and looked at the drone, it may only be a stupid machine but cold probably wasn't good for it.
X stopped and spent a few moments studying the drone, most drones he knew had little or no intellect except for the task they where made to do. But most drones where built by Dr. Light, or made to judge X and if necessary destroy him. X held his chin in thought while the drone stood there and studied him. X found those blank staring eyes very unnerving.
He was worried that the drone would decide he wasn't however Light had meant him to be. If that was the case than X was responsible for every maverick in the world, even sigma. X shuddered with the thought that he could be the reason for so much destruction and pain. He decided he should find somewhere and talk to the drone before returning to head quarters.
Before he started walking again he pulled thru his pack and handed the tattered cape to the drone and started walking again. His peripheral sensors told him the drone had put the cape on and was still following him. He decided that maybe the cold wasn't so bad if the drone wasn't having any trouble with it. It was only one hundred and thirty below freezing.
X walked thru the snow and debated whether or not he should call for a transfer or even if the drone had a transfer device. He could see the small outstation ahead and again checked again to see if the drone was still behind him. It didn't seam to have any trouble keeping up with the stiff pace that X set.
X stepped inside the small outstation, it wasn't anymore than a satellite monitoring station but it was heated and had a treasurer booster pad. The only reploid on call spent most his time playing games and letting the drones do everything.
X sank down in a chair near a heating unit and so did the drone. The drone removed the cape and handed it back to X. X hung the damp cape over a chair and sat there wondering what to say.
The reploid at the base came into the room and saw X, "hi again stranger. I didn't expect to see you again so soon. I see you found a drone somewhere. Dang man, it looks just like you." The reploid left the room and X looked over the drone again. It did look a lot like him, except it looked so much younger.
The reploid came back again and offered X a cup of energy fluid. X took it and drank it down in a gulp. He thanked the reploid and turned to the droid, "do you need a drink?" the droid titled its head to the side and looked past X's head. It seamed to be listening to something. The reploid left saying something about typical drones.
X had settled back into his chair as the drone sat and listened to what X assumed was an analogy algorithms. The drone finally turned back to face X, "no. I do not require liquefied energy crystals. I gather energy from any direct power conduit the matches my internal signature. I presume that could be modified to use an internal fusion generator that primarily uses liquefied energy crystals."
X hadn't heard many drones speak but those he had usually only spouted reported data. This drone actually spoke as if it possessed intelligent thought; this was past anything X had meet. He looked down at his hands and wondered what else this drone could do. Light had said it could possibly match X's potential, if that was true it had to be more than the drones that worked everywhere.
He picked up his empty glass and rolled it in his hands and thought about the hunter base. He didn't really want to go back and fight but it would be nice to see what Zero and the others thoughts of this. He stood and heads back into a small room where a simple glowing platform waits.
The drone follows him in carrying X's cape, the drone stands beside X on the platform. X presses the coordinates in on the wall panel and waits for the system to warm. He turned and regarded the drone again, "do you have a name?"
The drone looked away from X for the first time, he seamed to be deciding something. He looked back at X and spoke, "my name was Rock. I have also been called MegaMan." X's jaw fell in shock, Light had named this drone after him or rather he was named after this drone. Before X could question Rock the air around them shimmered and they disappeared.
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Well what do you think? I have had limited exposure to the original megaman and megamanX, I'm sure it shows. I have only recently gotten megamanX1 and I never liked the nes games. I first meant this as a oneshot but it doesn't look like it will be now. I may write more I may not.
I could use some help. I need screenshots from the games. Any of the games on any system. If have any or know a URL for a site with them please let me know.
And I say this here and now. X and Zero have the same bodies in the X series as they do in the Zero series. What little differences they have are only because the different artists and the different quality of image (and screen size) between the SNES (and play station) and the Game boy advance.