Ch. 21 Frozen Past
"Well then," Dr. Light was saying as Zero rematerialized in the center of the room, Crystal quickly moving to his side. "It appears that despite their enhancements, we're still a step ahead of the Mavericks."
"We won't be for long at this rate, Doc," Zero said quickly. "Slash Beast was never quite that strong before, nor was he as fast. And his speed was nothing compared to Overdrive's. I'm not sure how much you have or possibly could boost the abilities of everyone in this room, but Overdrive even gave me a run for my money without my saber boosting my systems. We have to find a way to balance things out, or else they're gonna overrun us one way or another."
"You may be right, Zero. I've been meaning to upgrade X at the least. The best I can do for Zenton and Toronto is an upgrade to Zenton's armor, and to get some armor for Toronto that could possibly bring his speed up a few notches. Alia, I may have to just keep here in the base for back-up. There's not much I can maximize in her system without having to rework all of her positronics. I'm not sure how she feels about that idea, but I for one am aware that it will more than likely not be a pleasant process. As for Signas, his system has nearly been maximized already. His design is one that was designed for maximum efficiency in the first place."
"Then we'll have to make due with what we've got until you can upgrade X, Tor, and Zen's armor." Zero commented, shifting out of his armor to bring himself down to where Crystal's head was actually at his chest level instead of closer to his stomach. "I'm just gonna have to up the training schedule a bit for the rest of us in the meantime, see if I can find a way to surpass our system limits."
"Also, Zero, if I could, I'd like to take your saber off your hands for a short while." Dr. Light asked.
"What for?" Zero asked, somewhat nervous about being without his main weapon.
"I've done multiple tests on it before, but there are still a few things in it's design that I haven't been able to quite figure out just yet. If it's alright with you, I'd like to see if I can finish that research so that I can possibly increase either it's capabilities, or the abilities of your suit to feed off of the saber itself."
"Alright," Zero replied as he shifted back into his armor and set the saber on a small pedestal that Light brought out of the floor. "Though I'm curious as to how you re-created it when you don't know how it works yet."
"Oh, I didn't recreate it. This is the original Z-saber, as the pack on your back is the same pack that Zero stored it in, just with a few modifications."
"I thought you told me when you first converted me that you'd just changed my sword into the saber."
"Well, uhm...I somewhat bent the truth on that matter." Light stated, a small amount of shame seeming to extend through the digitized voice. X merely smirked from where he was at next to Alia's station.
"Sounds to me like someone just got caught red-handed, Doc." X commented, Alia beginning to giggle furiously from her seat.
"Alright children, enough poking fun at the doctor, all of you find something constructive to do with your time." Light said, chuckling in spite of himself. "Except for you, X. I'll have to get a start now on those upgrades in order to get them finished in time for the next estimated Maverick attack."
"Alright, Doc, not like I haven't been put back in hibernation before." X said, stopping to give Alia a short kiss before she went out the door, then continuing his way up to the capsule that extended out from the wall next to Dr. Light's main screen.
"Alia, I'd appreciate it if you could stick around for a small while as well. I need to speak with you on a few matters as well." Dr. Light said, as the capsule with X slid back into the wall.
"Very well, " she said, turning around before she went out the door, letting the others continue on their way.
Zero and the others were already headed for their main playground, Light's Training Room. As they went in, they found Toronto already in the middle of the room. Zero watched, the others stopping a second later, as Toronto began to move through a few movements, going through what seemed to be a kata of sorts. His eyes were closed as he moved purposefully, his movements giving off signals to the amount of control he exerted. A small flash was seen as his broadsword suddenly appeared in his hands, the movements speeding up to a tempo twice the speed he'd moved at before. Zero could only watch in appreciation as Toronto moved to a stop once more, the swings of the sword seeming to slow down. Just as everyone was about to move once more, they saw Toronto begin to move again, a second sword appearing in his other hand. He began to swing them around in patterns that only Zero's eye could follow as the light refracted off the quickly spinning blades. Just as suddenly as they'd appeared, they vanished, leaving Toronto to himself as he finished where he'd been when they came in. Zero was the first to move again.
"Now Tor, that was an exquisite performance, but I've only got one question to ask after seeing that, " Zero commented, a grin lighting up his face as he moved.
"Oh? And just what question would that be, O great red leader?" Tor responded, an amused tone present in his usual rumble.
"When the hell did you learn to use two of those damned things? Cuz that would've been really helpful at some point earlier in time, I'm sure." Zero asked, shaking his head as he did so.
"Ahh, simple, I've always been able to call forth two at one time. But I've never had a need for two of them. In any situation I've been in that I needed my blade, I've only needed the one. Besides, in a real fight, a lot of times, only having the one blade is preferrable to having two. Rarely do I ever need a second edge to block with. Given the...enhancement, that I've received here lately, I'm not even sure if I would need that against an ordinary blade. However, since most of our foes seem to be more fond of the energy blades, I'm usually in need of my sword."
"That's an awful long-winded explanation for something that could've been awful short, Tor," Zenton said, taking a small jab at his brother.
"That's alright, I always was a bit long-winded, much preferrable to being full of hot air as someone else I know," Tor replied, returning the shot at Zenton.
"Alright, that's it, bring it you oversized troll! " Zen shouted, as he dove at his brother from the edge of the room, warping himself to close the distance. Toronto merely caught him and threw him to the nearest wall, both of them grinning from ear to ear.
"Hoo boy, sibling rivalry at it's best," Zero said as he and Crystal made their way to the control booth from doorway. Signas merely chuckled as he waited near the door itself. "I wonder what happened to X and Alia. They were with us before we left the main room."
"Actually," Crystal started as they entered the booth. "You weren't paying attention when Light asked X to stay behind so he could start X's upgrades, and I heard him ask Alia to stay there for a few minutes as we were all headed out the doorway."
"Well then, I can expect them to be a while. X's upgrades sound like they're gonna take a while for Light to finish, and heaven only knows what he's kept Alia for. If it's something the Doc's cooked up though, chances are that it'll be for the best. I feel really damned naked without my saber though."
"Hmm, that's odd, you look fully clothed to me, which is a pity." Crytal commented archly.
"Your opinion on that matter doesn't quite count, babe." Zero replied, through he couldn't keep himself from grinning as Crystal snaked herself under his arm again.
"Well, tell ya what, you keep these guys entertained for a while, I'm gonna go take a nap. All that stress this afternoon wore me out." She said, pulling herself out from under Zero's arm, and shaking her hair loose as she walked out of the booth. Zero hit the switch to bring up the wall seperating the area just in front of the booth from the rest of the chamber, a counter-measure he'd put up the first time a stray shot had almost hit Crystal. As she walked out of the chamber, Signas finally made his way in towards the center of the room, and began to assault the brothers as well. As the three of them continued to fight, the chamber itself began to change around them, the floors becoming grassy and the walls seeming to expand outward. Zero suddenly leapt down from above all three, causing them to each scatter a different direction.
"Alright, fellas, I've got the system set to alter the landscape every few minutes, so let's try and get some quality time in. And I suggest you get your weapons ready. I may not have my saber, but I've still got my busters. I'm not gonna take it easy, since we're gonna have to step it up a notch to keep up with the Mavericks. It's time to really see what you've learned in the past couple months." Zero comented as his arms formed into the Z-busters.
He aimed one to each side of himself at Signas and Zenton, releasing the blasts only to find himself a target as they were deflected, Signas using his saber and Zenton using a spell. He backflipped out of the way only to get charged by Toronto and the broadsword. Ducking under the blade he kicked out with his massive Reploid feet, easily knocking Tor's leg out from under him, only to turn and find Zenton and Signas already engaged in a lockdown between the saber and the massive axe. He could only grin and charge his busters as they seemed intent upon shoving each other the other direction, before Zenton reversed his direction and sent Signas flying over him. As Zero stood he realized a moment too late that he had already forgotten about Tor, who had managed to grab him and begin to crush him, much as he'd done to Wheel Gator. As he tried to wriggle free, he realized with a start that he couldn't so much as budge with the grip that Tor was applying.
"Well damn, this is new. When was the last time someone actually got the drop on me? Oh, yeah, not since I got my latest ego-boost. Just goes to show that even I'm not completely invincible." He thought to himself as searched for a way to break the hold. Getting an idea, he let the charge on the cannons run up to their maximum, quickly transforming them the moment he had the full limit. He began to twist with a new fervor, throwing Tor's balance off slightly, firing the cannons the moment he got the momentum going the way he needed, sending both of them flying off to the side, the landing throwing them apart. As Zero rolled to his feet, stopping in a low slung three-point stance, the other hand instinctively going for his missing saber. He looked up to find Tor already back up to hands and feet, the skid marks extending for several feet between them.
"Ya know...Tor...you seem...to be the one...who is always...catching me off guard, "Zero said in between breaths. "Why is that?"
"Probably...because you keep forgetting...that even a slow opponent can move...with enough speed...if you're already distracted." Tor replied, standing up fully now, a grin on his face matching the one on his opponent's.
"Good point. Now, let's see what happens if I'm paying attention."
"By all means, let's."
Toronto once again charged at Zero, the column of his arm swinging back for another haymaker. As he swung, Zero slid sideways under the punch, repeating the maneuver from before, already starting into the foot sweep that had caught Tor the last time. Zero could only continue to spin as his adversary jumped over the oversized boot, coming down with both hands clasped for a hammer strike to Zero's head. The crimson reploid quickly jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the massive strike, leaving the ground to absorb the damage. As Toronto landed and struck, the ground split with a new force leading in a line straight for Zero who jumped quickly to the side, having seen techniques similar before. The ground continued to explode on the line, heading straight for Zenton and Signas who both jumped backwards quickly to avoid the devastating path. The wall exploded where the floor finally ended.
"Holy shit bro," Zenton muttered, barely loud enough for everyone to hear. "I don't know where the hell that came from, but it's definitely new." He turned to grin at the now slightly winded giant.
"Well," Toronto finally rumbled. "I didn't know I could do that before."
Crystal walked past the doors of the main room, and couldn't help but stop to listen for a moment as Dr. Light and Alia were talking. It seemed Light was talking to Alia about something that they'd discussed once before.
"I know you mentioned before Alia that you'd like to see her. While I've got X on standby being upgraded, I thought I'd offer you a chance to do so."
"Really?" Alia excitedly responded. Crystal hadn't heard her sound so excited since she'd finally accepted that X was alive. "I'd love that Doctor Light. I don't wanna distract you from your work on X though. Would be kinda bad if you were to screw up a circuit or something because you're busy showing her to me."
"Nonsense my dear. If you'll head over to that platform over there. And if you'll pardon me for just a moment, I need to take care of something right quick."
Crystal realized a moment too late that Dr. Light knew she was in the hall. As she turned to try and quietly sneak away a monitor came sliding down out of the ceiling in front of her.
"You, my dear, are invited to see her as well." Dr. Light could only smirk as he calmly spoke to her.
"EEP!" was the only response the redhead could get out since Light had spoke right as he slid down in front of her. She regained her composure a moment later and quickly became agitated. "Don't do that to me! It's not good for me!" She yelled at the monitor, causing yet another smirk from Light, and a small but very audible giggle from Alia on the other side of the doorway.
As Crystal walked around the doorway, she found Alia holding both hands over her mouth.
"It's alright, you can laugh if you want," Crystal muttered, her face red with embarassment over getting caught and then surprised so easily by the doctor. "I suppose I really should've known better than to try and be sneaky around you, eh Doc?" She asked as she stepped onto the small circular platform that Alia was already standing on. As she stepped on it, it began to slide down into the floor.
"That's strange," Alia commented. "I don't remember seeing a lower level in the floor plans for the main base."
"That's because there isn't actually a lower level in the main base, Alia." Dr. Light told her as the lift continued on it's downward path through what seemed to be nothingness. "It happens to be though that we're over where my lab was originally. I've moved it several times over the years. Since we're here, I need to check on her systems anyway. If the tests have all passed finally, then perhaps I can thaw her out and give us someone else to help out. It would also allow me to activate your systems fully Alia, giving you access to the more emotionally based side of your capabilities."
Alia's face brightened at that notion, while Crystal's went from slightly lost to outright confused.
"I'm sorry, but I have no clue what the hell we're talking about," The petite redhead finally blurted out. She quickly put both hands on her mouth as she realized exactly what she had said, her face quickly matching her hair color once again. "Whoops! Sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but I'm completely lost. What are you two talking about?"
"X's sister." Dr. Light responded quickly.
"X has a sister?" Crystal quickly did a goldfish impression as the concept caught on. As she was thinking the lift finally came to a stop in a room that was slightly lit. Both Alia and Crystal stepped off of the lift only to have it sink into the floor. "You mean you created a female Reploid as well!"
"Of course I did. You surely don't think I'd create a male Reploid without adding a counterpart to him. To do so would be somewhat disastrous. I had to have something for future Reploid builders to base female designs off of. If I hadn't designed at least one, they would've all decided to either alter the basic programming on their own, which mind you would have been disastrous on the smallest possible level, or they'd have left the programming competely alone. Can you just imagine numerous female reploids with severe, overly violent mood swings all running around at one time? All because their creators were too simple to do more than slightly modify mostly male patterned thinking, or even worse, leaving it completely intact? Believe me, the idea in itself is monstrous. So I had to design a female counterpart to X's basic setup. In doing so, I made sure there was a way for the female Reploids to be true to their human ideology that they were designed to emulate." Dr. Light began to ramble on, obviously proud of his own handiwork.
"Alright then, Doc," Crystal interrupted him. "I have a few questions then," She stated as her and Alia began to follow the small path of light that were leading them away from the lift.
"First off, why haven't we seen her before now? And second, what's so important that you had to check her systems even longer than X's? Zero told me about the thirty year wait you had to have for X's systems. Or were you just holding her back until it seemed to be a choice of activate her or leave her in hibernation permanently?"
"All perfectly valid questions. As to why you haven't seen her before, I have been keeping her out of sight, hoping to keep from interrupting the tests, and to hopefully have the world brought to peace before she was activated. Making sure it was peaceful was supposed to fall to X, either through peaceful means or otherwise." Dr. Light seemed to sigh in desperation at the way his plans had all seemed to lead to only more war. "As to having to check her systems for so much longer than X's, it comes down to several very important factors, one being the impact a certain system had upon the mental programming. First off, you have to realize that a Reploid, unlike the robots that they're based off of, are what I refer to as Bio-noids."
"Bio-noids?" Crystal quickly echoed as she and Alia finally came to a pink human sized capsule that looked as if it had just been put together earlier that day. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, your ordinary robot is merely a mechaniloid, android, construct, whatever you wish to call them. They're completely mechanical. There's nothing even remotely resembling anything organic within them." Dr. Light quickly powered up all the equipment around them, bringing the lab into full light once more. The walls were the only part of the facility that showed their age, a small crack appearing in several spots. "A humanoid is a human, basically. They're purely organic, nothing resembling machinery in their bodies, at least not initially. But a Reploid is designed to be somewhat different from both. A Reploid may seem to be a robot through and through, but the only ones that are truly so are those designed outside of Cain's labs, and even then, they aren't always completely mechanic. Some of the other designers were actually smart enough to leave everything intact and just redesign the outside specs of their Reploids. But the Reploids that I designed, and therefore, that Cain designed, aren't merely robots with a different mind. The only things that are robotic are the muscles, skeletal structure, brain, and the power generator, and on some of them, the self-regenerating ability."
"Where's this leading, Doc?" Crystal asked as Alia walked over to the capsule and began to press in commands. Apparently Light had told her ahead of time what would need to be done. Either that or he was wiring commands straight into her comms.
"Where it's leading my dear, is that I designed Reploids, true Reploids, with the ability to be completely human, other than getting older. They can love, they can hurt, they can be everything a human can be, and some other things that humans can't be. And, since the tests are finally complete, and have all checked out to be positive, I can now activate the one system inside of Alia that has always lain dormant till now." Crystal gasped in shock as Dr. Light's words began to make sense. " The reproductive system that was installed in her can finally be activated, truly making her as close a replica of humankind as can be managed. As soon as I can finish the slight modifications to her emotional programming that will be necessary to deal with it, she'll be a whole new woman. And this should awaken her inherent capabilities."
"You surprise me, Doctor Light," Crystal said slowly as Alia continued to punch commands into the console, causing small pockets of air to shoot out occasionally as the capsule was slowly depressurized. "I wouldn't expect anyone to really think of adding a system like that to Reploids. And don't take this the wrong way, but I really didn't expect it from a man."
"I'm not entirely sure what made me decide that this was a system that just had to be included. But it's probably just as well. It's a way of adding a perfect imperfection to the Reploid equation."
"Perfect imperfection? Isn't that a bit of an oxymoron, Doc?" Crystal said quizzically.
"Not at all. What's one of the main problems that humans have with Reploids?" Light asked her in return.
"Well, other than their apparently infinite lifespan, I'd say probably their apparrent physical perfection. A Reploid never seems to just get sick, or have something go wrong that can't just be immediately repaired. They don't bleed, or at least they don't seem to, and they're always so strong."
"All correct. Reploids don't get sick because the portions of the biological system that most diseases attack aren't present. As to nothing ever seeming to go wrong, if you pay attention, you'll notice that actually Reploids will display moments of weakness, of unreasonable pains. Watch Zenton and Toronto sometime. They're the most recent Reploids to come into existence. The way they were created isn't really much different from Zero and X, they just happen to have biological beginnings instead of mechanical. X and Zero are both entirely different stories all to them selves. Both have been running the longest of any Reploids in existence, and both have either regenerated every part of them, or been completely regenerated to the point that they've run out of things that haven't already been repaired. Their bodies are nearly perfect now."
"That doesn't make any sense. If it can go wrong once, it can go wrong again, or so I would think," Alia commented as she looked up from the console. She glanced over at Crystal. "I've gotta let her thaw out the rest of the way naturally, so I've got some time to join the conversation." She grinned as Crystal smiled widely.
"It may not seem right, Alia," Light continued. "But that's the way it seems to be going. The self-regeneration capability is actually a small system of nano-machines that act in accordance with preprogrammed signals in Zero and X's bodies. It's actually a function of all Reploids, but because of their constant use, the system seems to have gotten somewhat of an upgrade in X and Zero. They can even regenerate the organic portions of themselves."
"You mean X has an organic portion to himself?" Alia quickly asked and then tried to hide her face behind her hands as she blushed. "Oh hell, that was a straight out slip of the tongue."
Crystal could do nothing other than laugh as the blonde Reploid uncovered her face and continued to blush.
"Looks like I'm not the only one with slightly naughty tendencies," Crystal commented.
"Shush you, not a word to the boys, they might start to get ideas." Alia quickly retorted.
"Don't make me regret this ladies," Dr. Light interjected. "And yes, Alia, there is a completely organic portion to X, but I'm not even sure if he realizes it. His system is somewhat like Zero's, only I've yet to give him the ability to change fully out of his armor. It's part of the upgrade that I intend to give him. This way you'll actually be able to take advantage of the activation of that other system of yours."
Alia began to blush a darker shade of red as Crystal started to giggle furiously, Alia finally giving in and laughing as well. As they sat there for a few minutes, the laughter renewing occasionally, the capsule seemed to finish thawing out, moving up to rest at a near standing angle. Crystal and Alia both stood to watch as it finally unsealed, revealing it's contents.
The boots were nearly identical to X's, though pink and red were the main colorations everywhere. As the lid continued to move up, they found themselves quickly comparing X's main armor to this, though there were obvious differences in the physical design, leaving no questions to the gender of this armor's owner. As it moved up, the ends of straight blonde hair could be seen, red, blue, and pink striped strands also appearing near the front. Her face was finally revealed, though she hadn't woke up yet. The different colored stripes all met at one point just above her right eye. As she woke up, she quickly reached up to the edge of the capsule and pulled herself out, the confusion quickly becoming evident in her piercing blue eyes. She stood up straight, flashing out of her armor, leaving a much slimmer version of her standing there momentarily before she toppled forward to be caught by Alia and Crystal.
"Alia, Crystal," Dr. Light said simply. "Meet Roll."