Answers to Reviews
To The Wallflower: You are right, I do need to include more day-to-day things, and I actually planned to do so after the creation of Rock and Roll and the First Wily War. Maybe I should try it a little before that though. I do have enough characters… Also, more implications of the Light Syndrome will appear, especially once the Wily Wars place more strain on the children.
To Rose Kitsune.EXE: Thank you for your compliment, and to answer your question, Blues will remain a core part of the story, all the way through until his reappearance in the third Wily War. Even after that his importance will remain, though now the Lights and Cossacks will be more aware of it. He may have a small vacation until the Teleporter Mk-II is completed, and he is able to teleport across the world freely without routing through Tokyo…and risking recapture.
MegaMan Generation, Chapter 5: The Runaway
Blues and Dou had been in their new bodies for ten months. These ten months were spent bonding with their respective creators, while Dr. Wily continued to work on his Robot Masters concept, not caring as much about such things. To help himself with his transition into complete sentience, Blues upgraded himself with various programs, one of which would have an unforeseen effect…
Blues came out of his charge cycle with a start. His optical sensors adjusted to the dark, focusing to reveal that he was still in his room. His internal chronometer told him that it was two in the morning, and that his recharge cycle was completed. Dr. Light was unaware that he'd been updating his own systems and programming, allowing him to recharge much faster than before, in four hours rather than the standard eight. He turned on his night vision, another upgrade, and the room brightened. He felt odd though…odd enough to check his internal systems. What he discovered disturbed him.
During the night, his programming optimizer, a program made to help his programming grow to a more efficient level, had decided that he had reached a level of awareness and experience where the pre-fabricated laws of robotics could contain his development. He found that though the laws were still there, they were now only suggestions. He was no longer programmed to follow the laws of Asimov unless he wished to. Like a human, his programming was fully governed by experience and his own wishes. At first he was happy, but he then realized that Dr. Light and Dr. Wily would likely try to reprogram him to his original state, and now that he had complete free will, he could not return to his previous state. Not after he finally knew why humans were so adamant about keeping their ability to make their own choices in life. After that realization, Blues' computerized brain made his decision in less than ten nanoseconds. Run away.
Blues snuck down to the lab and copied all the files that he could just incase he needed them, and then went into the construction area. In the pods were eight robots, DRN 001-008. Blues said goodbye to all of them, though he knew they weren't aware of his presence. After that, he activated the teleportation system he'd obtained in secret from Dou for emergencies. He vanished in a flash of light; too late realizing that Dr. Light had followed him.
"He had Toshiro's teleportation module! He must have gotten it from Dou…" Dr. Light stood there, stunned.
Blues appeared in the new teleportation chamber in Toshiro's basement. He knew this was where he'd end up. It couldn't be helped, since the routing satellites that regulated the teleportation signals weren't up yet. It wasn't easy for a child to get enough resources to put something into orbit. Because of this, Toshiro was still relying on an upgraded first-generation teleporter, rather than the second generation one he had finished designing. The location was, thus, still fixed on one end, a disadvantage in the Mk-I which the Mk-II was intended to do away with. Blues had hoped that Toshiro was asleep, and that Dou was in sleep mode, but they were working late, extending the range of the Mk-I teleporter to a global unit in preparation for the Mk-II tests, and were shocked when Blues had beamed in.
"Blues! Why did you teleport here? What happened?" Toshiro was immediately in emergency mode, since Blues wasn't supposed to leave his home without at least one of the scientists with him. Blues grimaced, and then realized that he had no choice but to tell the story. He hoped Toshiro and Dou would understand, and was surprised when Toshiro smiled brightly.
"That's great! You finally got enough experience to transcend the boundaries of programmed response into the realm of free will! I can understand why you left though…Dr. Wily won't be happy…and though Dr. Light wanted a robot with full awareness, he would think it is too soon for society to have a robot which can act on it's own…don't worry though. You can stay here if you have to, okay?" Blues didn't expect this, but knew that he was lucky. He didn't plan to stay all the time, but it'd be nice to have a "safe house", so to speak.
"I won't stay all the time…but I guess I can drop by every now and then to visit…" Toshiro smiled, and then the look on his face indicated that he'd realized something. He hurriedly went to the teleporter and accessed it, deleting the teleporter usage record of Blues' access. He then opened up the teleporter, disassembled key components, and laid tools and devices out strategically. Blues and Dou both recognized what he was doing. Since one end of the first generation teleportation system was always fixed, Dr. Light would know to come here. If Toshiro could make him believe he was working on the records system at the time it was used, then Dr. Light wouldn't be able to access the records, and wouldn't be able to tell if Blues had ever come, or where he may have cone if he'd routed to another location.
"Blues, Dr. Light only lives about fifteen minutes away, even less by car. He knows you'll have to have come through here, so this will likely be the first place he comes to. You need to either hide or to go to the teleporter again and teleport somewhere else. You can come back when the heat's off, okay?" Blues nodded, understanding, and soon beamed away again, in a flash of light. In much less than the aforementioned fifteen minutes, there was a knock at the door. Dr. Light came rushing in, panicked, and Toshiro tried his best to calm him down. Toshiro realized he must have had the pedal to the floor almost the entire time.
"Toshiro…it's Blues! He teleported away! He has to have been here! Where is he?" Dr. Light was hoping that Blues was still here.
"I'm sorry Dr. Light…but he re-routed. Right after he teleported here, he teleported somewhere else. And since I was working on the teleportation system to upgrade it to a global system, I have no record of where he went…" Dr. Light was saddened, but understood. After all, with Toshiro's satellite teleporter idea, Dr. Light knew that extensive upgrades were being done with the teleporter to ensure full compatibility. Toshiro didn't like tricking Dr. Light, but he felt that he had little choice. Once free will is given, no one has the right to take it away.
"I see…I overheard him talking to his siblings, saying goodbye. It seems his system has upgraded itself to have complete free will…Asimov's laws are no longer mandatory for him…I just hope I've raised him well enough to know right from wrong…good from evil…" Toshiro tried to comfort Dr. Light.
"You did. He probably ran away because he knew that his free will had to be protected. Once he realized what it meant, and determined that no one else had the right to take it away, he left to defend it. Though you'd likely accept his freedom, Wily most certainly would want to reprogram him. He made the most human choice." Dr. Light nodded and stood up.
"Sorry to bother you so late. Good Night, Toshiro. Dou." Dr. Light walked off, more determined from this to finish DRN 001 and DRN 002, or as he'd named them, Rock and Roll. After all, if Blues could attain free will, maybe they could as well…he could finally have the children he always wanted. He knew Toshiro had tampered with the teleporter after Blues appeared, and was protecting his free will, for which Dr. Light was thankful. The biggest clue was the placement of the tools and the apparent rush with which that particular panel was taken apart, compared to the others, which were orderly. Now Blues could live how he wanted, and Dr. Wily might not force Dr. Light to look for him and reprogram him. This act may have been a lie, but it still cemented Dr. Light's trust of Toshiro, since he proved that he had valued and cared for the robot's life and rights as a sentient being.
Blues beamed into a completely new world to him. There were no buildings, no people, simply a jungle and its inhabitants. After looking at the constellations, as his internal GPS system had been deactivated to be untraceable; he determined that he was on the African continent. He had read about the jungle in the library at Dr. Light's home, but never expected to see it with his own optics. Soon, a tiger came close to him, attracted by the odd smell of charged air particles from the teleportation, and attacked him in a flash. Blues, detecting the animal, whipped around, lifted the animal as it charged, and body slammed it back to the ground with a display of speed and force that ended with the tiger running away. With displays of such physical power, Blues had nothing to fear. He wasn't exactly edible anyway. He smiled to himself and explored the jungle, deciding that it would be his home for a little while, at least until the teleporter was upgraded into the Mk-II design. Then, to teleport, he wouldn't need to be routed through to Toshiro's home in Tokyo, where he could be discovered. Any location in the world could be brought to him with a single thought and a flash of red and grey light.