Note: Hello, everyone!
More of an exposition chapter, but it does serve a purpose, as the story is going to get into the later parts of the game's narrative.
As for the side story that ties in with this, I think I'm going to essentially summarize it here in a series of flashbacks, but said flashbacks will be at an appropriate time and with reason.
I'm actually getting to how, in theory, a Reploid's core works, as well as how it is different from that of a robot.
With that said, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy it!
Little Details
The density of the rushing, flowing water running off the side of the mountain made him wonder just how he was going to pass through, yet upon taking a few more steps, X witnessed the seemingly impenetrable clear barrier part down the center, spreading akin to a pair of drawn curtains welcoming an esteemed guest inside. Of course, given the sudden burst of bright, overpowering sunlight immediately hitting his topics, X found that he had missed the outside world since first arriving at the mine.
And, indeed, the sight that lay before him was a stark contrast to the almost neverending, confined corridors sparsely lit and hidden away in the depths of the Earth. The small area that lay beyond what was essentially a battle chamber served to be the complete antithesis of the area, the mainly blue Reploid taken aback by what he was greeted with, the sensation of ultraviolet rays hitting his metallic form and absorbing the radiating heat served as a momentary distraction for the green-eyed Hunter, along with the light but gentle chill and touch of the slight breeze of the high-altitude location. Unlike the Polar Region, the world outside the Zalts Mine was free of the intense icy cold and potentially adverse effects to a machine's systems if there was prolonged exposure to the elements. True, the land in itself wasn't exactly teeming with life or was some sort of hidden away paradise of flora and fauna, yet there was a distinct presence of some sense of life here, small patches of vegetation sprouting near the waterfall, and a rather picturesque view of the midday sun over the mountainside was a bonus.
Still, X knew he couldn't stay.
"Hm?"
A small pressure on the side of his boot indicated that he wasn't alone, yet, whatever was making contact, was far from anything dangerous.
On the contrary, upon realizing just what had approached him, X realized that the smaller machine had indeed recognized him. The Met that had patched him up before his subsequent duel with Armadillo looked up at him with large, wide eyes of blue, its face circular and dark, contrasting with its bright yellow hard hat.
X was about to speak, yet the miniature Reploid-like android suddenly took on a golden glow, a beam of electrified energy shooting out from its prominent yellow lips, hitting the taller machine directly at the core. Although, while producing a prominent tingling sensation, X found the sensation to be anything but painful. If anything, it somewhat tickled. After a few moments, the light died down and the Reploid found his outer form to be completely repaired.
"Oh, so that's what you're out here for," X realized aloud, directing his attention from himself to the Met. "Armadillo…" he paused, biting his lip, eyes shifting for a moment. "Thank you."
The Met seemed to not even acknowledge the other's thanks, as it gestured ahead, indicating that what was of true interest to X was further up ahead. A small pathway lay before him of hardened rock, touched and lightly brushed with a few strokes of green via flowering plants or soft moss, and a distant shape that had just been spotted was at the very end of it.
It did not take on the appearance it held upon revealing itself fully, yet X still recognized what the "prize" indeed was. And, even more, that it was just sitting there, practically waiting for him, the Met leading the way to the subject of interest whether X needed direction or not.
Even with its alignment, its function was ultimately for the benefit of surrounding units, whether they be human or mechanical.
Abel City Outskirts
From where he stood, the ends of his torn coat and the brim of his hat lightly surrendered to the whims of the light breeze blowing through the empty landscape. He had long gone past the borders of the ruins of Abel City, yet, even here, the heavily clothed figure felt the consequences of the missile strike.
Even in places where the explosions couldn't reach, the entirety of the island felt like dangerous, uncharted territory. Indeed, Sigma seemed to have left nothing untouched, his influence and those that carried it out quite literally everywhere.
"Are you all right, now?" a feminine voice questioned him, the figure in question climbing atop a small hill of scrap, finally able to see over the towering, nearly destroyed structures of the metropolis a short distance away. "According to Ai, the connection was momentarily lost when you reached Section B-3."
He didn't answer.
"Sir?"
The shrouded android remained silent, her voice, that voice, just one of many that he had once believed would never grace anyone's ears again.
"Mr. Ray B?"
And yet…it was not the same as hers. It was hers, but…not the one she possessed before. Nothing was as it was before. Or, perhaps, once again, the world around him changed without him even realizing it until it happened. Much like everything else he could remember throughout his existence. Still, of all people, of all…well, beings, she was the last one he would've ever expected to still be here.
No, not be here. She wasn't here before. Not like him. Or the others that…
"I'm fine," he answered her, finally. As difficult as it was to swallow, he couldn't focus on the hundreds of possibilities coming to him at that very moment. Of how she, of everyone, was here. And, if she was, then…maybe there were…? No, he wrenched himself from his thoughts again. He had to concentrate on what was in front of him, what was his present reality, what had been for the last few years. "It seems that there are some blind zones in the city," Ray B. told his "Navigator" over the com-link. "So they warrant some investigating to see if you can get them back in touch with your base of operations."
The effects of the missile landing had repercussions even here.
Indeed, Sigma left nothing untouched. Not that it surprised him. No, none of this was new.
"See anything new?" Roll asked, her voice bringing him out of his musing.
It was her voice. And yet, at the same time, it wasn't. He wasn't sure whether or not he liked it; he did and didn't. Another reminder of just how much time has passed, how long he had been walking the earth.
How long it had truly been since nearly everyone else was gone.
"At the moment, no," Ray B. answered. "Although, I can see the area of interest."
Indeed, for, while his eyesight hadn't been as it was, even with the thickened shades, he could spot the far-off location he had seen movement from the night prior. Although, he had seen such from far away and frankly got little time to investigate for himself. On the contrary, right after spotting the sudden shifting of shadows and misshapen forms moving among the dense shadows of the already-darkened landscape, he then became aware that those same shadows were heading toward the very city he had barely escaped from!
But now, in the sun, the daylight still reigning over the horizon, Ray B. could truly see just what lay beyond the borders of the ruins behind him.
However, instead of yet another set of decimated living structures and establishments, he almost swore he had stepped right into a graveyard. There were no signs of life anywhere in sight, yet the inner parts of himself were stricken with a nauseating dread. Even if it had been a long time ago, he had made a vow that he would never willingly go to a place such as this again, for, in the case of many others like himself, when they entered such a place as this, they rarely came back out.
And, if they did just so happen to emerge, they never were as they were before.
"At the moment, you're currently standing near Point Z-O-R-X, around fifty or seventy miles away from the Air Base," Roll paused for a moment, Ray B. sensing her hesitation. "From what I've heard…it's one of the least damaged areas of the city."
The heavily clothed figure adjusted his shades and pulled his protective cover tighter over his metal form, the cloth was ragged and torn, but it served its purpose enough. Besides, quite frankly, even if it had been some time, he had grown used to hiding.
Ironic, considering that, in a sense, he had always been hiding.
"Do your superiors believe he intends on using the location?" Ray B. questioned Roll.
"There's been some discussion of that, yes," Roll answered. "Ai's outright said the only way anyone can get out of here is if they learn how to swim or fly."
Another pause, Ray B. noting that it occurred after the last particular word spoken.
"...ironically enough, there's only a couple of humans that are dead," Ray B. muttered. He then looked back at the distant ruins of Abel City. "...it's at least somewhat comforting that you can still use electricity here."
"Hm? What was that?"
"O-Oh, nothing," Ray B. answered.
"What?" Roll asked.
"Oh, nothing," Ray B. answered. "Just…thinking out loud. Sorry."
He heard her chuckle. "That's something the men in my family are good at," she then paused again. "...it seems X's inherited that trait too."
Ray B. thought though he didn't openly articulate it. He's just like his brother. Yet, at the same time, not.
"While I don't want to give Sigma any praise, if anything, at least the majority of the human population is accounted for," Roll added. "Still…do you believe he'll retaliate for the lighthouse stunt?"
He continued walking, inching closer and closer to the sector of interest, yet the enigmatic machine still answered the Reploid's questions. "Maybe," he confessed. "However, I don't believe that it'll be in the way many will expect."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't get me wrong," Ray B. clarified for her. "Any death, human or robot-"
"Robot?"
"...Reploid, excuse me," the heavily-clothed figure coughed. "Whichever, the loss of life is just that, regardless of who or what's life it was," he said. "It all means the same. They're gone. Forever," Neither spoke for a few moments, Ray B. wincing from underneath his thick shades. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean to bring up anything painful."
"Oh no, it's fine. It's not something I like, but…it just…is," Roll answered. "At the moment, present matters take priority."
"Agreed," Ray B. replied. Honestly, he let out an inward sigh of relief at having to not discuss things any further. "Still, if I may ask…?"
"Go ahead,"
"Have there been any developments on X's end?"
"Unfortunately no," Roll confessed. "But we've just received word from Zero," she answered.
Ray B. was silent for a moment. "...that'll do," he answered. "Are they together?"
"From what I've overheard, one of the former leaders of the Hunter Units ambushed and forcibly separated the two," the feminine, familiar, and yet completely different voice told him. "But, for the time being, communication has been restored on his end, and there are forces dispatched to attend to the rescued hostages and regain control over the mine."
Ray B. again went quiet. "...well, at least you were able to save some," he finally answered. "But, in that case, does he know anything of what happened to X?"
"...currently, we know as much as Zero does, which is nothing," Roll said. "Yet, he says that Armored Armadillo is no liar," she said. "So, if there were those left to be rescued, maybe X has a chance against him."
"X will be fine," Ray B. told her. "He's more than capable of taking care of himself," he then sighed. "He just has the same problem as both of Light's previous sons."
"Sons?"
"Yeah, Rock and-" Ray B. paused. "...permit me to be frank, Miss?"
"Well, you certainly have better manners than Bomb or Oil Man," Roll replied. "But, sure. What is it?"
"...you…know of someone by the name of…Blues?"
"Blues?" Roll asked, and then she went silent. "Blues…he was…somebody," she answered. "Someone…I…think I knew," she confessed. "He was certainly someone to Dr. Light, even if I didn't understand at the time."
Indeed, in that second, it came to her, the first time that Rock, her brother, the newly reformatted Mega Man, had gone into the fortress Wily had set up, the eight areas of interest that the reprogrammed DLNs had attacked secured and safely guarded.
However, those areas had to be secured via the termination of the respective robot in those specific locations. Every one of them. Suffice it to say, neither she nor Light was in the best state when Mega Man had to combat the scientist's children yet again. True, Rock twisting Wily's words on himself worked out in the end, and, thankfully, everyone from Cut Man to even Oil Man was restored, yet during his trek through the base of the madman set to rule the world, the blue robot came across a rather peculiar figure.
One that, in contrast to the actual "Blues" Ray B. spoke of, this machine was a vibrant green and bore no article of human clothing on its metallic form. Yet, regardless, there was enough of a resemblance to garner a reaction from her creator. He practically shot up out of his chair and she swore she saw the beginnings of relieved tears in his eyes.
Only to see that shining hope fade away into quiet disappointment.
"But…after Kalinka was rescued, I think he disappeared," Roll continued. "After that..."
If anything, while unexpected, she was quite thankful for his sudden intervention, even if he turned out to be her kidnapper, albeit, the circumstances didn't exactly leave him with much choice. True, while he had come to put a stop to Dr. Cossack's misguided act of desperation of rendering Mega Man to scrap, it was only when the Russian/Ukranian man's child threw herself onto the blue robot that he even thought of stopping.
It was an act that, quite frankly, no one was prepared to see.
It was then that the blonde nine-year-old relayed to her only living parent what had happened, from her abduction after school to Wily imprisoning her deep underground, to how Blues and another robot had assisted in her escape, although the name of the other escaped Roll at the moment. His title might have been gone, yet her memory banks could at least somewhat decipher the image of some sort of face.
Or rather, a skull.
She did this all the while shielding Roll's brother from her own father's massive machine, Mega Man's damaged form heavy on her small form, yet she still kept him close, supporting his head on her lap, all the while using her own coat and clothes to wipe away the fluids leaking from open places in where oil was allowed to seep through.
Something of which Roll would've never believed herself had she not seen it, the Russian/Ukranian/Swedish (mother's side) quite protective of her garments. The blonde robot, or rather, Reploid technically, remembered another incident where she wholeheartedly thought the human would crush Oil Man into a tin can for getting one drop on her new scarf.
"...and…what about afterward?" Ray B. asked. "Regarding the…other…incident?"
"What other…" Roll went quiet for a short few moments, then it dawned on her. "Yes, I think I know now. Sorry, this memory core is still not exactly in the best condition, but…" again, she paused.
"But what?"
"Well…it's a little ridiculous, but…I…don't exactly want to get rid of it," she confessed. "It's not as if I was counting on Dr. Fujiwara to replace it, seeing as my body is still as it was when it was first built, yet…I'm fine with the exterior being changed, but…"
"The inside is what you consider you," Ray B. finished for her. "Right?" regardless of the following silence, Ray B. went on. "It's fine. I totally get it."
"Ai says it doesn't make sense, seeing as memories and, well, anything can be transferred when it comes to us, yet, even if it's not in the best of shape, what I have is…"
"It's something that's yours," Ray B. finished for her. "Even if it's not the best," he stopped. "...it could maybe be something that'll kill you eventually, but, it's still yours," he then gave out a light chuckle. "It's something Blues knew all too well."
"You're asking me questions, yet it seems you have a bit of knowledge on that particular robot yourself," Roll mentioned. "It's a bit of a stretch, but, did you…know him?"
Ray B. stopped in his tracks, hallway there in his journey to the entrance of the seemingly abandoned factory, surrounded by an even more desolate graveyard of scrapped mechaniloids.
"Mister Ray B?"
More silence. Until finally, an answer. Albeit, brief.
"I saw him once or twice," he told her. "And…" he paused. "Wait," he then said. "Before we go on, I'm fine with answering whatever questions you have, but, before that, do you mind answering something for me?"
"Sure. What?"
"Blues…who is he to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, what do you consider him?" Ray B. clarified. "Do you consider him…or, did you consider him something of a friend?" he questioned. "...family maybe?"
Family.
For some reason, that term stopped Roll in her tracks, every individual circuity piece and component of her processor halting at that exact moment.
Family.
"Rock! I figured it out!"
She saw herself running toward a podium in the middle of the city, the populous celebrating her brother's second victory over Wily, along with what was, at the time, his second line of Robot Masters. She had news to tell him. Important news.
"I know who Blues is!"
She had to tell him, but she had to hurry.
"He's our…?!"
But…just what did she have to say that was so important?
"Ms. Roll?"
Stillness overtook the area again, the clothed machine wondering whether or not the other robot (Reploid) was even still there.
After a few moments, however, she spoke again. "...I'm sorry, but…it seems I don't have any record of such a thing."
More silence.
"...ok," the clothed figure finally answered. "That's fine. It's not important right now, anyway," he concluded. "There are more pressing matters at the moment."
"Well…all right, if you say so," Roll said, albeit with slight hesitance. "But still, with that, may I ask something?"
"Like what?"
"Did you happen to know Blues?" she questioned. "Do you know what happened to him?" she bit her lip, although the one she was guiding couldn't see it. "What happened to…the others?"
Ray B. let his eyelids close, even if his own vision wasn't much different than navigating through the dark.
"...the Recall," he muttered. "Just that."
"And what exactly is that?"
Ray B. said nothing. And soon, he began walking again, Roll hearing his steps through the comlink.
She was tempted to say something but ultimately decided against it. While not entirely understanding, she wasn't going to bring up anything painful to discuss.
Indeed, while she still wasn't too certain of what had occurred before her previous demise, let alone how it even occurred, yet, from what this mysterious yet helpful stranger had to say, it appeared that she had missed something rather huge.
Something that had a far larger reach than the one who ended her existence before.
Zalts Mine
Damn, he's still on me!
This thought and the desperation to get to his belongings as soon as possible served as more than effective methods to get Goldminer on the move. Indeed, while he had a scanned-in schematic detailing the layout of the Zalts Mine, the former criminal and now Maverick found that he was more clumsily stumbling forward than outright running.
No, stop it! He then thought, regaining himself when he stopped and allowed his processor to slow down, the wave of panic and intense strain on the emotional circuitry steadily smoothing themselves out, his ventilation slowly cooling his heated body down. You can't let yourself get all worked up like this, Goldminer chastised himself. You're not one of those accursed humans!
No, he was far from anything as pathetic as they were. He was above losing himself to instinctual fears and anxieties that plagued the underdeveloped animal brains of those primates. He wasn't a creature sorted as prey by the precise yet unforgiving order of nature, a being such as him had no origin in anything organic.
Goldminer was none of these things…and yet, he was afraid.
He may not have been human, but, ironically enough, he didn't need to be to know of just what, or who, he was now dealing with.
Zero, the Red Hunter, the Red Devil, the one who left nothing, and no one standing when he left the fray. And considering the state of the Mole Borer, Goldminer didn't think his chances were too high in successfully holding his own against the fiery-red Reploid with golden hair. Come to think of it, blowing those diggers up probably wasn't that good of an idea. True, no humans were taken out (Aramdillo's orders, stickler for rules, even those that didn't apply to them anymore), yet given Zero and the other one (blue guy, but the name escaped Goldminer at the moment, and he frankly didn't care to look it up) were here on behalf of the hostages, it certainly wouldn't look good if more than half of them were suddenly gone.
Then again, perhaps he didn't have to worry. After all, it wasn't as if any of the humans got caught in the blast of the Mole Borer's missiles.
Humans. Yeah, that was what this was all about.
Oh, the humans, the precious humans, the fragile humans, the helpless humans, the oh-so-delicate and meek primates, the filth! If anything, he wasn't guilty of anything! The stupid monkeys brought this disaster on themselves! It was only a matter of time before they would become too arrogant to withstand the raw potential they had tapped into with the creation of the mechanical race!
What "he" tapped into, the one, the, ironically enough, human, who, in a sense, conjured up beings such as himself.
"Your buddy was right, old man," Goldminer hissed under his breath, the human's image coming to his mind from a demonstration he had seen years ago. Everyone knew who "he" was, yet no one seemed to bother addressing him by name. As if there was still a good amount of both reverence and disdain for it. "You may have put together a living thing that just so happened to not be made of flesh," he huffed. "But, aside from that, you were essentially going to cripple him."
He spoke not of the man who created the first robot, Thomas Light, the sentimental fool, but the one he made with his own hands. The first robot. The first of them all.
…the first…no.
No, impossible, Goldminer thought. He couldn't have been. The first of machines that lived as their flesh-based creators, yes (he hated those primates), but not one of them. Not a Reploid. No, that one, the first, he came far before the blue one was dug up by Dr. Cain, he was not like them.
True, even with what little data the humans, and, in turn, Sigma and Fujiwara gathered on him, there was still so much that was never known. He was an enigma then and passed into such even in death.
At least, assumedly, given the faultiness of the core-
"...?!"
The Maverick yelped upon believing he heard something, whirling around only to crash head-first into a nearby rock. Granted, it was a rather sizable boulder around the same shape as himself, but still, it was just a rock.
As he was about to make another step, however, Goldminer spotted, from behind the very rock he had stumbled into, a figure cloaked in shadow, unidentifiable at first, yet, after a few moments, the Maverick realized with horror just who he had alerted of his presence. Or maybe the guy was there all along, Goldminer wasn't sure. What he was certain of, however, was that, despite the stoic expression on his smooth features, the blackened edges on the ends of his long ponytail indicated he was anything BUT calm.
"Good sir," Zero began, lip trembling with burning rage. "If I may be so bold, I believe you've just singed my hair."
Outskirts of Abel City
"Still, if I may go back to a previous topic, I don't entirely understand it."
"What?"
"Why Sigma did what he did."
"In that, he essentially deems humans as meaningless and as fodder made of flesh?" Ray B. questioned. "I could give you more than a few reasons, yet that would probably take some time to list everything."
"That's not necessary, thank you," Roll answered. "Whatever his reasons, I couldn't care less. This can't go on any further, and he has to be stopped," she clarified, her ire not directed to the one she was guiding. "But still, even with his declaration against humanity, and…Dr. Fujiwara…" she winced, although Ray B. couldn't see it. "Why would he give everyone the opportunity to seek shelter? I dare not put such a thought in his head, yet, if his…actions against Fujiwara are any indication, why…do what he did in public, yet seemingly leave everyone else? Isn't his mission to go against all mankind?"
"Oh, it still is," Ray B. answered. "Yet, I don't think he wants them to die too quickly."
"What do you mean?"
Ray B. paused. Asimov, he thought. So many things that he had never spoken of in so long were coming out all at once. And, quite frankly, time hadn't made any of it any easier to swallow. "Even if you don't exactly remember much," he began. "...are you aware of an incident called 'The Blackout'?"
Blackout…
"...you mean what occurred before the Gamma incident?" Roll questioned, her charge's silence an indication of his answer. "I don't believe I was present for that, but…there are a few details that I remember hearing of it," she confessed. "Mostly testimonies from others, yet the few robots that weren't affected or managed to bypass the electric wave were said to have combated the source of the phenomenon itself."
"Well, the ones responsible, they essentially shut off all power on the planet," Ray B. relayed to her. "All three of them."
"Three?"
"Never mind," Ray B. said. "The point is, the one who initiated it, neither Wily nor the newest member of his army at the time, a supercomputer buried deep underneath a temple in South America, sought to eliminate all organic life on Earth to recreate it as he saw fit," the machine explained. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if that's essentially what Sigma has in mind for the humans," he added. "However," he went on. "There are a significant amount of differences between his methods and that of the one called Ra Moon," he stopped for a moment, letting out a sigh. "And it has to do with more than just the presence of electricity. No," he shook his head. "I think he's got an entirely different set of plans for you all. I don't know entirely what," he confessed. "But…the ideas I've got aren't anything that would benefit you."
"I'd imagine, yet I think it's a little late for that now," Roll said, then she released a despondent sigh. "It's no use dwelling on it, but…"
"But what?"
Roll was quiet for a short time before replying. "I wish Dr. Light was still here," she said. "He'd know what to do."
Ray B. went silent. The girl and the boy. "True, but I don't know if it's entirely a good thing. To stay here too long."
Roll asked. "You don't think Sigma will retaliate?"
Ray B. shook his head. "No," he said. "He wants the humans alive. Unlike the Blackout."
Roll chuckled. "Something the men in my family are good at," she said. Then paused. We're good at it, but she didn't say that. Instead, she went to another topic. "Still, given the circumstances, things could've been worse."
Ray B. nodded. "Still, you can't stay here," he said. "None of you can. You need to at least get the humans off this island as soon as possible."
"Why?" Roll asked. "If anything, while I don't plan on praising Sigma, at least the human population is alive."
Ray B. went silent. The girl and the boy. "True, but I don't know if it's entirely a good thing. To stay here too long."
Roll asked. "You don't think Sigma will retaliate?"
Ray B. shook his head. "No," he said. "He wants the humans alive. Unlike the Blackout."
"And why do you believe that is?"
The figure closed his eyes, darkness overtaking his environment, even if his eyesight in itself wasn't what it used to be. "...let's just say, while Sigma needs to be dealt with," he said. "For your sake, and the sake of everyone else here, you need to get off this island as soon as possible."
"Why?"
Ray B. stopped, biting his lip until the synthetic skin was near the point of breaking. Not that his "flesh" was in the best condition anyway. "So the humans can kill you."
Outside Armadillo's Chamber
It was true, Armadillo had been no liar.
At the very end of the pathway rested a disc-like object protruding from the ground, ready for the one it was constructed for to approach. Indeed, in some bizarre yet somewhat humorous sense, the capsule was located in what X considered to be something of a miniature paradise. The capsule's top protruded from the rocky ground, a circular formation of plantlife and sparse samples of fungi surrounding its metallic, buried form as if it had been purposefully placed here in this small haven, away from the confines of the mine. The singular set of falls that blocked the entrance to this small, hidden-off section of the area was surrounded by roaring, cascading waves of water, the sensation of slight moisture developing on his cheeks indicated to X that this was quite literally as high up as one could get in the entire vicinity.
Still, given what he was here for, the Hunter didn't have time to sit around and take in all that was in front of him.
Before the Met could urge him on, X stepped up to the capsule itself, the large and enigmatic device emerged from a hidden compartment built into the ground, all without disturbing the forms of life surrounding it. The two halves separated from each other, the top rising until it reached a little past X's height, and, as expected, a figure manifested before him in the form of a recording.
However, a part of him couldn't help but feel that there was more to the message than just a collection of data input long ago.
"Greetings, X," the image of the late Dr. Light told the blue Reploid. "Indeed, if you have found this capsule, then I can no longer deny that the path of the warrior awaits you."
X had switched from his slightly enhanced state to one that was fully azure. The components of the upgrades still existed very much in his legs, yet X found he would rather have such a thing not shown when it wasn't necessary. It may have been armor, and taking damage was its purpose, but it was still something of Light's.
Something he left behind.
"The contents of this particular capsule are admittedly different compared to the others," Dr. Light said. No, his image. "For it contains not a mechanical component, but it will be vital for you to have. And, even more, understand."
"Understand what?" the machine questioned aloud, yet quickly chastised himself for such foolishness. What was he doing, even entertaining the thought that a holographic projection would actually respond-
"Indeed, I'm getting to that."
…wait, did that just happen? From the looks of it, yes, seeing as the image of the bearded scientist appeared amused at the machine's bafflement. Before X could respond, although what he would exactly say was up in the air, Dr. Light's projection went on.
It was just a projection, right?
"In this capsule lies the abilities and skills of an individual that once walked the Earth many years ago," Light continued. "One who completely devoted himself to the way and spirit of battle and fighting," he said. "However," the image added, seemingly sensing a twinge of disappointment from X. "The path of the true warrior depends on more than just the skill of the body and sharpness of the mind," he continued. "There were two candidates for this particular capsule," Light admitted. "And, yes, the other was ultimately a stronger fighter in his own right, surpassing his fellow student in strength and ability, I chose his companion for another reason, one that I believe will ultimately decide everything."
X tilted his head slightly to the side, analyzing the hologram's expression. It was most likely in his mind with a mix of wishful thinking, but the Hunter could've sworn that it was as if Dr. Light was waiting for him to respond.
"And what would that reason be?"
Light's shape then seemed to slowly alter itself, taking on a different appearance than before. Instead of a lab coat, his body appeared to have gravitated from that of an older man to one that was well-bodied and muscular, garbed in what was a torn and ragged, but still functional gi, and a headband wrapped around his forehead. Still, the image portrayed the face of X's creator.
"Now then, step inside and receive this new feature," Dr. Light urged, vanishing from view. Yet still, his voice was able to be heard. "Learn to use your spirit as a means of defense for the world."
X did so, albeit with a slight pause, given how different this particular capsule was compared to the previous. As before, however, the energy contained within the device activated, latching onto X's form, armor enveloped in light, yet, instead of consuming his entire body, the energy migrated to the center of his chest, directly where his core lay.
"Learn the way of the Surging Fist…"
"Learn the Hadouken…"
Note: Roll is indeed DLN-002. I always get confused because there's Blues, Rock, AND Roll, so I always assume it goes 1, 2, 3, but DLN-003 actually belongs to Cut Man.
Anyhow, thank you for reading! Alert me of any errors I potentially missed, and I hope to hear what you think!