Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman, etc. Capcom Ltd. Does.
A/N: This A/N is at the top of the page instead of the bottom because I feel I need to explain things a little before you, the reader, dive into this story. This introductory chapter does not reflect the thone of the overall story; I mean to detraction from any religions, and I know that I've taken liberties with Nietzsche's statement –these are for purposes of introducing my new idea only, and I ask that you understand the former and not nitpick about the latter. In the Year 24XX is a sequel to Tale of the Zero Clones, but only loosely; that is, you do not have to have read TZC to understand 24XX, but there may be some points that make more sense if you have. From now on, A/N's will be chapter footers and most likely considerably shorter. Please do enjoy, and remember that the best way to let an author know your thoughts is through a review.
In the Year 24XX
Prologue: Götter Sind Tot
There was once a man who claimed humans had killed God. The greatest creation of the greatest Creator had slain the Creator, and made themselves the greatest of greats. Among those most murderous of murderers, there came the feeling that they should take up the mantel that they had stolen, and become, themselves, the Creators. At length, their struggles over the universe that contained them yielded results. What had once been the Creator's greatest achievement was now Man's: life. These new gods were made in Man's own image, and given the potential to do as they pleased. These new creatures were different from their predecessors, however; where Man had sinew and bone, these creatures had hydraulics and metal. Where Man had weakness, these creatures had strength.
Man had come to understand that life needs only six things: organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli, and reproduction. Man toiled endlessly to make his creations as perfect as possible, endowing them with the abilities to fuel themselves, repair themselves, improve themselves, prepare themselves, and make more of themselves. Man had already given his chimera a voice, but Man damned himself when he gave this new life the ability to do only as Man and Man's Creator had done before: the ability to choose. These elements coalesced to create the creature called Reploid. Man called them copies of life, but he had fooled even himself, and his arrogance left him to die at the hands of his creations, just as Man's Creator had died at those of His.
Through these means, it is seen that the only thing certain to happen is history's repetition of itself. The smallest of all living organisms feed off the largest. Their prey seek ever more complex methods to eradicate them, but ultimately fail --no matter how near the goal they are. The ability to adapt to change and cope with new threats has been the distinguishing trait between those creatures that failed, and those that succeeded. Some creatures that come to the brink of extinction come back right away; others, like the mysterious coelacanth, spend eons in hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal themselves once more. As long as there is a chance of survival, all creatures, no matter how large or how small, will take that chance, hoping against hope that some day they will return to the life they once had with even greater vitality.
Man had created both the Reploids and the Maverick Virus, but it was Reploid hands that made the Sigma Virus. The wars fought against this menace had been long and difficult --but, it seems they had not been long enough. When the heroes of an age long forgotten had thought their enemy vanquished, they retired to their deaths thinking safe the world they left behind. Without threat, the Evil recuperated; it grew in strength and adapted to the changes made around it --had a hand in the changes, even. Its metamorphosis complete, the evil is prepared to emerge from its chrysalis and unleash its terror upon a world vastly different from the one it left behind.