Woo-hoo! Another scene in the desert! (Note the sarcasm.) I own nothing. Metroid Prime 2 and MegaMan X8 rock.

The desert sands were calm, unmoving in the heat of the day. There was no wind, but soon enough there would be. A blazing sun always heats the air, which causes the hot air to rise and be replaced by cooler air. Thus we have wind, and sandstorms in this case. These facts went unnoticed by the caravan of traders as they continued their almost silent walk across the desert. Seventeen camels and enough humans to take care of them walked through the sands, preserving an ancient tradition that their family had upheld for several decades, if not centuries. It was a small clan that had marched across the desert countless times in trade routes. Adults, teens, even the children who couldn't walk yet were taken on the journey. Happy families, content with roaming the sands and selling their goods to who ever wished to buy them. Unfortunately, everything that theycared about was going to be ripped away from them in a mere matter of moments…

Issen walked calmly in the desert heat. Cloaked wrapped tightly around his damaged parts, he counted down the time until his teleporter module could recharge. He had relaxed now from his battle mode, letting his coolant stained hair dry out in the sun. The leak itself wasn't critical, but a few days without repairs would render him useless from his hard drives overheating. Slowly, as the monotonous deserts continued to pass by, he thought back to his experience in the market. It had only been a few days, yet his memories were crystal clear. The little girl had smiled for him, for no other reason than the return of her dropped ball. Would she have still smiled if he had not picked it up and given it to her? What would her reaction have been if he had kicked the ball down the street?

'It's all too complicated.' he thought, 'I'm not meant to be… I don't even know what I'm meant to be, so why should I rule anything out? For all I know, that voice in the Pyramid could have been right. I could have been created to make chaos, but… Somehow, I just don't buy that. It doesn't fit in with my design specifications in the least, and I have never wanted to destroy anything other than the things which endangered other people. I guess I just need to go back to the beginning. I was born five miles outside of Sendai, Japan in a JSSDF bunker buried a mile underground. I was tested for several qualities, including my maximum strength, speed, and energy absorbing qualities. And after that I don't remember anything until I woke up and got attacked… Why did they attack me anyway? Was it something I did? There are too many questions and not enough answers…'

The caravan was entering a small valley between a series of sand dunes. Upon one of the nearby dunes, a group of mechanical beings prepared themselves for the attack. Several Sniper Joes, a few Scorpion attack drones, and their leader watched and waited as the small, almost defenseless caravan trudged into their trap…

Issen's musing was interrupted by an explosion. It was small, but it was still enough to shake the desert sands a little bit. Issen immediately leapt to the top of the nearest dune to examine the disturbance. About a mile away, he could see several small bursts of light. Guessing that someone was under attack, he charged his busters and activated his Boost. He dashed madly across the desert, taking off his poncho and folding it up as he went. As he finally reached the sight of the attack, he found himself beholding a massacre. Bodies were lying everywhere, holes blasted through them by energy weapons. Apparently, no one had been spared. Men, women and children had been slaughtered. From the looks of it the group hadn't even had time to counter attack, if they had any weapons at all.

'What the?! They were… humans? Who could have done this? No robot could have. All robots, with the exception of Dr. Wily's,are programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics in them. Could a group of humans accomplish this? No, humans here wouldn't have access to high energy weapons. The only kind of energy attacks that humans can use are plasma cannons attached to Ride Armors. So… what could have done it?'

Issen was answered by foot-steps approaching him. He turned to see a desert camouflaged Sniper Joe approaching him with it's buster at the ready. It was unprepared for Issen's dash however, and was slammed to the ground as he crushed its head and drained its energy. More Sniper Joes appeared on the sides of the dune, all centered on the still black robot. He also 'heard' something underneath the sands using his sonar, most likely a group of Scorpion Attack robots. Issen sensed that he was outnumbered by a margin of twenty to one. He tried to activate his armor and blades, but a warning message appeared when the armor activation command failed.

WARNING! ARMOR IS DAMAGED AND CANNOT BE ACTIVATED. REPAIRS ARE NECCECARY BEFORE ENTERING COMBAT.

'This is not good.'

Issen's silver blades slowly unfurled as he took a defensive stance. Several Sniper Joes took the initiative and fired off several rounds. Thinking quickly, Issen ducked low as the volley came at him and dashed underneath it. The Sniper Joes had little time to defend themselves as Issen zipped around them and cut them apart from behind. Several buster shots passed over his head, alerting him to the presence of several Scorpion robots. Using the last of his boost, he jumped down the sand dune and grabbed one of the approaching Sniper Joes, using its body as a shield as the others fired on him again. As he slid down he cut into the sand with one of his blades, destroying several of the Scorpions that were hiding there. When he reached the valley, he started charging his busters as he made a run for the ruined caravan. Once he had a full charge, Issen spun around and released the energy at the sand at the base of the dune. The resulting explosion caused the dune to partially collapse, sending the robots in and on it rolling into the open. The rain of buster shots Issen released afterwards destroyed the remaining enemies, leaving him alone in the remains of the caravan.

'So it was a group of robots… but how? Unless they were built without the three laws programmed into them, they couldn't have killed these people. And who would have done such a thing…?'

"Oh, so you're the punk who destroyed my men…"

Issen whirled around, facing the voice that had spoken to him. Upon the nearby dune stood a Ride Armor, with a gold armored robot behind the controls. His helmet had a single brown fin jutting out of it, and his shoulders had similar augmentations. Issen stared at him, considering his firepower and strength. The Ride Armor was armed with a plasma cannon and a set of twin chain guns on the opposite shoulder.

"Yeah, they killed the caravan, so I destroyed them. I assume you're they're leader?"

"Yup! I'm GaiaMan! Dr. Wily built me, so it's my duty to destroy!"

'Dr. Wily built him?!' Issen grimaced. This wasn't turning out to be the greatest day of his life. "If all you want to do is destroy, then you must understand what it is that you're doing. Flash Bang!!"

Issen dropped the weapon on the ground and charged headlong at the Ride Armor as it exploded in a brilliant flash. GaiaMan covered his eyes as it exploded and fired his chain guns randomly, further destroying the remains of the caravan but missing Issen completely. The blade bearing robot came at the ride armor with a rising slash that took off one of its arms and damaged one of the chain guns.

"Oh no you didn't!!"

GaiaMan, looking very pissed off, pulled back and fired the plasma cannon him. Issen jumped high, but caught some of the blast with his blade to absorb its energy. Noting a rise to thirty eight percent energy, the black and silver robot decided to go for broke and came down on the Ride Armor in downward slash that almost halved it. Noticing his armor's extreme damage, GaiaMan yelled a battle cry as he set the self-destruct and jumped away from the damaged machine. Issen was hot on his heels, firing buster shots to try and slow him down. Unfortunately, he wasn't far enough away from the Ride Armor when it exploded, which subsequently threw him to the ground as the heat tore through his back.

WARNING!! ENERGY LEVELS HAVE REACHED SIXTEEN PERCENT! RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION FROM BATTLE. TELEPORTATION MODULE IS ATEIGHTY PERCENT OF FULLCHARGE.

"Hah! Now let's see you try and destroy me!"

GaiaMan slowly approached Issen's abused form. Using his powers, he summoned a large slab of stone which hovered precariously over Issen. With a wave of his hand, the stone slammed into his opponent's broken form. The golden armored robot let out a mocking laugh as he pointed at his foe's supposed defeat. Unfortunately for GaiaMan, our red headed hero didn't plan on dying just yet. The cold and menacing voice of Issen was heard by GaiaMan as he turned to leave.

"For those people you killed without remorse, likewise, I shall have none for you."

The sound of metal being ripped apart filled the air as Issen's blades plunged into GaiaMan's back. The Wily bot's body went slack as he fell to the ground, two holes in his chest. The winner staggered away from his opponent, exhausted by his use of a Phantom Mirage.

GAIA SHIELD ACQUIRED. ALLOWS USER TO CREATE A WALL OF ROCK THAT WILL BLOCK ATTACKS. TELEPORTER IS FULLY CHARGED.

"Finally…" Issen breathed the word out as he turned to face the ruined caravan. The burnt bodies and goods would eventually be buried by the sands, and there was noting Issen could do to bring them back. "This wasn't right… Nothing done here was correct in the least. I'm sorry I couldn't help you… I hope you all find rest, wherever you are."

Tired of the depressing scene, Issen disappeared in a beam of light, only to reappear right next to the Great Wall of China. Exhausted from the short battle, he sat down against the wall and shut down as he waited for the Transporter module to recharge. Hopefully, he wouldn't be bothered by anyone…

It was happening again. The dream from the Jumper transport had returned to him, but with some major changes. This time, he was entering an ancient shrine as the blood rain poured down. He walked though the shrine, uncertain of where he was going or why he was there. Rice paper doors were a dead giveaway as to his general location, as were the Kanji that had been written on several sheets of paper. Issen stopped when he heard something move in the room next to him. Slowly, he opened the rice paper door and looked into the room. A woman was sleeping on the floor. Her aqua marine hair was a mess, and she was tossing and turning violently. Slowly, Issen walked over to the woman with his blades in his hands. His left blade swung up, returning to its position behind his arm. Slowly, he reached out and brushed her hair out of her face. The woman calmed at his touch, no longer experiencing a nightmare. Slowly, one of her eyes opened.

"Hmmm…? Go away… it's not even morning yet…"

Raising an eyebrow at her ignorance, Issen rose to his feet to leave the room when he heard a scream from behind him. Turning to see what it was Issen inadvertently shoved his blade into the poor woman's neck. Luckily, the gash was merely a flesh wound, but it was still enough to make the poor woman scream. Issen covered his ears in an attempt to block out the noise, but it was a futile effort. Something hit knocked to the ground, which caused the world go blank after a moment...

Issen woke up in a fit. His cloak was roughly thrown about as he thrashed, but soon he calmed himself. The sun was shining down on him, which was almost an exact opposite of what his dream had presented him with. While Issen wasn't one to believe in premonitions, this one had him worried. He was headed to Japan, to an old Shinto shrine no less. He breathed out a sigh as he looked around, running a black gloved hand through his messy red hair to settle it. Within moments, Issen's transporter module reached its full charge and notified the rest of his system.

"Well, I guess I'll see if my dreams meant anything at all."

In an instant, Issen disappeared into the sky in a beam of light…

Ugh… It feel's like it's been forever since I updated this story. Hopefully you people haven't forgotten me just yet. My long hiatus of updates can be contributed to school, games, and trips but that wouldn't be entirely truthful. I've been lazy, and I admit it. I just hope that this hasn't been forgotten by anyone other than me.