((Author's Note: this is intended to be a stand-alone story. While it could take place at any point, it most likely occurs sometime before MegaMan Legends. And of course, I don't own any of these characters.))
In the distant future humankind has built a scattered society atop the few pieces of dry land that remain on the flooded planet Earth. With the world's supply of natural resources completely exhausted people have come to rely upon relics known as Quantum Refractors to supply them with their energy needs. These Refractors can only be found in the mysterious ruins that dot the islands. Guarding the ruins are equally mysterious robots known as Reaverbots. No one knows who constructed the Reaverbots or why, but they will attack anyone who stumbles into their lairs. However, in order to ensure that the world's power supply will last, brave adventurers travel into the depths of these ruins to obtain the Refractors contained within. These people are known as Diggers. This story follows the adventure of one particular Digger: Rock Volnutt.
In the middle of the vast ocean lies a small, inconsequential little island. It has few distinguishing features besides several rock outcroppings and a few scrawny trees which cling to the loose soil; it is not even large enough to build a town on. Despite these facts, this is the island where the crew of a small, red airship has decided to set down.
"Are you sure there are ruins here?" a teenaged boy asked into his radio headset.
"Well, no," a girl's voice replied through faint static, "But the map looks authentic and it's the best lead we've had lately."
"Alright. Let's see, the entrance should be further north along this ridge, I think," the boy said. The boy stood about average height in his blue-colored armor which was specially equipped for him to survive underground at length; on his left arm he wore a powerful Buster cannon. His medium-length brown hair was messy; it rarely met a comb. Reaverbots generally do not care much about one's hairstyle. His green eyes were focused and determined. Stamping across the rocky ground, the Digger searched along the low cliff wall for an entrance to the underground ruins that were supposedly located on this island. Fortune was with him today for it only took him a short time to find what he was looking for.
"Roll! It's here!" he exclaimed excitedly, "I can see doors in the cliff's side and it doesn't look like anyone's opened them before."
"That's great news, Rock!" Roll shouted back enthusiastically. "Go ahead and open it up and I'll see what my instruments can tell me."
"Roger." Rock searched the rock wall a moment before he found the activation panel for the doors. He pressed it and a moment later heard a rumbling from within the walls. The doors ground open loudly as if in protest at having been disturbed after so long. Visible within was a small room and a ladder leading deeper into the dim underground. Without hesitation, Rock plunged into the depths as he had countless times before and left the sun behind him.
When the ladder finally met solid ground daylight was a small window far above. Down here small luminescent strips provided dim illumination, just enough to see by. An experienced Digger relied on more than just his sight, however, and Rock took a moment to listen and, hearing nothing, was satisfied that no imminent threats lurked in the darkness.
"Rock? Can you hear me? Is the signal clear?" Roll's voice filtered through the radio.
"Roger, Roll. I can hear you just fine. What can you tell me about this ruin?"
"Well, according to my scanners, it looks like pretty typical fare. I'm getting some scattered energy readings about sixteen meters ahead: probably Reaverbots. Be careful."
"Gotcha. I'll take care of 'em." There was only one door leading out of the entry room, so Rock cautiously opened it and proceeded into the dim hall beyond and soon came to a second door. As he was about to open it, he paused. Thinking he had heard some motion beyond, he pressed his ear to the door. Sure enough, a faint clanking sound could be heard on the other side. "Those must be the Reaverbots Roll warned me about." Keeping his finger tight on the trigger of his Buster gun, Rock opened the doors and stepped into the next room, gun ready.
The room was large and roughly square-shaped with four wide pillars supporting the ceiling. Near the center of the room Rock spotted the Reaverbots, two of them. Resembling a trashcan on four stubby legs, the green Zakobon was one of the most commonly encountered Reaverbot. With their glowing red eyes fixed on Rock, the two Zakobon approached slowly, clanking with each step. Having fought and defeated more Reaverbots than he could remember, Rock didn't even think as he leapt into battle. He fired short bursts from his Buster gun as he strafed to the side making certain to stay out of the Reaverbot's attack range. The high-intensity plasma rounds from the Buster gun splashed against the Zakobons' armor, searing the metal and blowing chunks of plating away. Rock ducked behind one of the pillars for momentary cover and then ran into the center of the room again, Buster gun blazing.
As Rock approached, one of the Zakobon reared back and disgorged a small bomb from the launcher on its underside. The gray sphere bounced and rattled towards Rock who leapt away as the bomb exploded and completely avoided harm. Retaliating in kind, Rock fired several bursts at the offending Reaverbot. His shots burned holes through its outer armor casing and dissolved the circuitry within. The Zakobon slumped to the floor as its main systems went offline and its Refractor power core became unstable. Moments later, the Zakobon exploded, sending pieces of Reaverbot debris and Refractor Shards across the room. Not deterred by the death of its brother, the second Zakobon resolutely plodded towards the intruder. Several well-placed shots from Rock ended the Reaverbot's vigil in a semi-spectacular explosion. Stepping into the center of the room, Rock scanned the area one last time for hidden traps. Seeing nothing, he lingered long enough to collect the most valuable looking Refractor Shards before looking for the next exit.
Two doors led out of this room: one straight ahead and one to the right. After a moment of deliberation he contacted Roll to solicit her opinion.
"My screens show a high energy reading further ahead; I thiHisnk that might be the Refractor. There doesn't seem to be much to the right; my monitors are blank."
"Alright, thanks Roll." Rock proceeded cautiously towards the far door and proceeded through. He followed a long passage that seemed to slope even further downward. Eventually it split to the left and to the right. Again, Rock decided to consult Roll.
"Roll, which way leads to the Refractor?"
Roll scrutinized her instruments, attempting to interpret the scarce data the Flutter's scanners could pick up from that depth.
"Left. I think you want to go left," she said through thicker static. "Rock? Do you read me? I think there's some interference."
"I'm probably just a little deeper than I thought I'd be. The radio is probably fine," he laughed. "Just make sure Gramps doesn't tamper with it, OK?"
Roll laughed back, "Right, I'll make sure. Be careful, though. I'm sure there's still plenty of Reaverbots down there."
Rock stepped forward and stopped at the intersection, listening carefully for any tell-tale sign of a Reaverbot. He looked left; he looked right. Once he was certain that the immediate area was Reaverbot-free, Rock took the left fork and traveled further into the depths of the ruins.
Down here, in the ruins, it seemed as if Time had taken a reprieve; the walls were surely untouched by human hands or the elements. The only ones to travel these halls were the ruin's silent guardians, the Reaverbots, who themselves supposedly remained dormant and still unless disturbed. Rock found the thought that he was the first person to enter these dark places in an unfathomable number of years to be fascinating. Another thought nagged at him as well. Every time he entered a ruin there was a strange familiarity he felt, sort of like déjà vu, but he was sure it must be due to the number of digs he'd been on now.
A door at the end of the passage broke Rock's train of thoughts. Opening the door revealed a short passage and a second door. He heard nothing but silence on the other side so he opened the door and passed through. He seemed to be in the lower half of the room. A stone ramp led from his level up to the raised section of the room. Rock could not see beyond that so he began to ascend the ramp. As he neared the top he noticed something and stopped suddenly. Scattered about the floor were what appeared to be small metal cylinders whose top narrowed to a point. A novice digger might have just walked right past, but Rock was a veteran: he knew these were Shekuten: small Reaverbots that activated when an intruded got too close. They would then get up on short legs and attempt to remove the intruder by self destructing. Their yellow-orange armor was made from some strange, nearly impenetrable material and the only way to damage them was to hit them in their eye—which remained shut while inactive.
Cautiously, Rock stepped forward. When nothing happened, he took another step forward. As he set his foot down on the old stone the nearest Shekuten woke up, turned towards him, and slowly scuttled forward. Rock raised his Buster, taking careful aim as the Reaverbot neared and, just as the Shekuten was entering its threat radius, fired a plasma bullet into the robot's red eye, shattering the crystal and causing the small Reaverbot to explode from within. Its small Refractor was completely destroyed by the explosion and was reduced to nothing more than dust; destroying these robots was not profitable, but it was necessary. The destruction of the first Shekuten awakened its two closest kin who set upon Rock themselves. It took only a moment for the Digger to dispatch the Reaverbots as he made his way to the door on the other side of the room. He quickly blasted the remaining Shekuten as they became active and, once the room was clear, passed through the door without further incident.
Rock found himself in a long, dim hallway. There were odd, ceiling-high rectangular carvings on the walls all the way down the hall. Noticing minor designs within the rectangles, Rock stopped to look at them and tried to see if he could make any sense of them. They didn't seem like anything but odd designs so he continued down the hallway, his footsteps ringing hollow on the stone floor. At last he came to a door at the end of the hall.
"My scanners are picking up high energy levels in the next room," Roll's voice came over the radio, breaking the silence, "I'm guessing it's the Refractor. Watch out for traps."
"I know, I know," Rock replied, "Just watch my back, alright?"
When Rock opened the door he had to shield his eyes from the bright light they were suddenly exposed to. Held in suspension and spinning slowly was a bright blue Refractor: the treasure he had come all this way for. He stepped up to the containment unit and reached out with his hand, pulling on the Refractor crystal once he had a good grip. He easily pulled it free and, once he was sure no new threat was about to manifest, examined it. When he took a good look at it, he sighed in dismay.
"Roll, it's just a small blue one. It probably won't even cover the energy cost of flying all the way out here."
"Don't worry about it; the Flutter doesn't use up that much energy. It'll cover the cost and we'll have more left over. We can all have a nice dinner out." Rock could hear Roll's grin over the radio, "Just don't drop it on the way ou-. . . ." Roll's voice faded for a moment and then returned in panic. "Rock! Get out of there, now! I'm reading numerous Reaverbot signatures becoming active! If you don't hurry, you'll be cut off!"
"Understood! Don't worry; I'll be back on the surface in no time." Without another word, Rock signed off and headed back the way he came, Refractor in arm. As he stepped out into the long hallway he heard some kind of mechanical, grinding noise coming from the walls. Before he could move, the rectangular sections—hatches—on the walls swung open to reveal rows and rows of Zakobons all the way down the hall. Rock quietly cursed at himself for not noticing the hatch's true nature on the way in and then brought his Buster gun to bear, readying himself for a long, grueling fight.
Innumerable mechanical footsteps echoed up and down the hallway as the Zakobon began to climb out of their alcoves. Immediately, Rock fired upon the closest Reaverbots on his left and right, turning them into nothing more than piles of scrapped metal. Unfortunately for him, the next pair of Zakobon had already approached within firing range and each launched a bomb his way. Rock stumbled backwards just in time to escape a direct hit but the explosive force knocked him onto his back and sent the Refractor crystal skidding across the floor. Not wasting any time with the crystal, Rock got to his feet just as the Zakobon reared back to fire more bombs. Rock quickly aimed his buster at the bomb chute on their undersides and squeezed off a shot; he dead-eyed the first—the bombs inside were ignited which blew the Reaverbot apart from within. Now with some breathing space, Rock neatly dodged the explosive attack from the second and blew it away at close range with several shots to its body. Four down and plenty to go.
As Rock watched the innumerable Reaverbots approach he realized that if he tried to stand his ground and fight he would eventually be overcome by sheer numbers; he decided to trust his luck and try to make a break for it. Doubling back to reclaim the dropped Refractor, Rock spun about and sprinted for the other side of the hall. The closest pair of Zakobon prepared to spit out bombs as he got close, just as he expected they would. While they were temporarily immobile Rock pushed himself off the ground with all the force he could muster and leaped over the Reaverbots. He landed heavily on the stone floor behind the Reaverbots and took off running immediately, the ringing of his boots on the stone floor echoing in the passageway.
The rest of the Reaverbots didn't seem to catch on to his plan at all and it was child's play to jump over, weave around or simply dash past the robots intent on his destruction. As Rock closed the gap to the exit he saw one of the Zakobon blocking his path. He took a mighty leap over the penultimate defender and swung his buster around at his final obstacle and let loose a flurry of plasma bullets. By the time Rock hit the ground the Reaverbot was little more than rubble. Rock slammed his fist against the door's control and dashed through the doorway before it had even finished opening. As the doors closed behind him he pressed his back against them and slumped down. His breathing was heavy and his head spun as the adrenaline surging through him began to fade.
"Are you ok, Rock?"
Rock gave a start, nearly dropping the Refractor in the process. He fumbled with it a moment before activating his radio.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a little . . . little out of breath." A pout crept into his tone, "And don't startle me, next time."
"I'm sorry, Rock. I didn't mean to . . . . Hold on! If I'm seeing this right, more Reaverbot signals are activating at your current location! Get out of there!"
"What? Damn!" Rock grimaced.
Before Rock's eyes, small hatches opened in the ceiling of the room. Floating gently down were small, gold-colored Reaverbots with an orb-like body surrounded by half disk that made them look something like a floating fan. Rock instantly recognized them as Foo-roo: Reaverbots that attacked intruders by floating close and self-destructing. Although a lot of them were dropping out of the hatches, Foo-roo are both fragile and slow, so Rock leapt down from the high ledge and made a run for the room's exit, popping any Foo-roo that got too close with a single shot. He slipped out the door before a single Reaverbot could touch him.
Rock's breath came heavy as he ran through the hallways. He only had to make it through one more room before he could return to the surface. He hoped that whoever built this ruin didn't feel the need to add any more security measures. What puzzled him the most was why there were so many Reaverbots guarding a small little ruin like this, one that only contained a common blue Refractor. Rock briefly thought about the other passages he hadn't explored, but knew this wasn't the time to do any more sight-seeing here. At last he reached the intersection and the door that lead into the first room. As he opened the door, he thought he heard something moving on the other side.
Stepping into the large, dimly lit room nothing seemed out of the ordinary—for a ruin, that is—just the four pillars and the small scrap heaps that were the room's original guardians. Rock had just crossed the center of the room when a massive Reaverbot stepped out from behind one of the pillars. It was vaguely humanoid in shape, broad-shouldered, long arms that ended with mean looking pincers, and was colored a deep shade of green. These Reaverbots—known as Sharukurusu—were a less common type of Reaverbot but were both vicious and quick. This particular one proved the point by charging straight for Rock and stabbing at him with one of its pincers.
Rock dived out of the way just in time to avoid being skewered. Using his momentum, he rolled back onto his feet and spun around, letting loose with his buster gun. The Sharukurusu's armor seemed to absorb the shots and the towering Reaverbot turned on Rock once more, blindly charging forward. Rock sidestepped the oncoming robot and shot at it from behind. The force of Rock's plasma bullets added to the Reaverbot's momentum sent it toppling over with a crash. As it lay prone, Rock took the opportunity to blast at it with impunity. Unfortunately, the Reaverbot sprang to its feet with surprising agility, and turned to face Rock again, seemingly undamaged from the Digger's assault. It hunched over, holding one of its mighty pincers out like a lance, and came stomping for Rock once more. The Digger backpedaled furiously all the while blasting the massive Reaverbot for all his Buster gun was worth.
Suddenly Rock couldn't back up any further; he realized he had walked himself right into one of the room's large pillars; the Sharukurusu was just a few moments away. Without thinking he dropped flat onto the floor. The Reaverbot thrust at the spot he was just a moment ago and its pointed claw cut deep into the stone pillar. Seeing that its prey was just beneath it, the Reaverbot pulled back its arm to deliver the death blow . . . but found that its arm was stuck in the stone. It furiously began to try and wrench its arm free. Rock saw his chance and crawled out from under it clutching the Refractor that he had somehow managed to hold onto during the fight. He scampered away from the struggling Reaverbot darting his eyes about the room until he identified the door that would lead him outside. As he made his way towards freedom, the Sharukurusu finally pulled its claw free of the pillar. Its head turned left and right, searching for its target. The gleaming red eye spotted the intruder, the Reaverbot turned slowly to align itself, the pincer was set at the ready, and once more it charged with lethal intent.
Rock, halfway through the door, saw it coming. Without hesitating another moment he crossed the threshold and turned towards the oncoming Reaverbot.
"Goodbye! Hope you won't mind if I don't come to visit again," he said as the doors closed. The walls shuddered when the Reaverbot slammed into the closed portal. Although Reaverbots didn't seem to know how to operate the doors, Rock decided he didn't want to stick around long enough to see if they could tear one down. He darted down the short passage into the entry room, a grin spread across his face as his eyes found the long-sought ladder to the surface. Refractor crystal in arm, he clambered up the rungs until he finally emerged on the surface. Taking a few shuffling steps out of the ruin's entrance he allowed himself to collapse to the ground. "I've got the Refractor," he said into the radio, "I made it." When he looked up at the sky he noticed it was shaded in violet with bands of orange and red. "Evening already?" he wondered aloud, "I was down there longer than I thought."
"I'm glad that you're ok," Roll said over the radio, "Can you make it back to the Flutter alright?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. I'm just enjoying the view."
"Well, if you make it back in time, you can watch the sunset from the observation deck. You'll get a much better view from up there."
"Heh. Thanks for the advice, Roll," Rock said with a grin. "Alright, I'm on my way." He rose to his feet, prize in hand, and took an easy pace back to the airship: another successful dig. Again, Rock wondered what else lay down in the unexplored sections of that ruin. Maybe Roll would let him check it out tomorrow. Or maybe not. He chuckled to himself.
"Hey, Roll? What's for dinner?"