In the beginning, there was nothing but a tiny ball floating in an expansive nothingness. Concentrated within this ball was the energy of a thousand galaxies, one that waited to burst into the void and replace it with endless swirls of light. When that day came, it was known as...

Wait, wrong monologue. Let's fast forward a bit.

I don't think there's a lot I can say about my life. In the nineties, I was just your average kid, going to school and playing video games on his down time. Both my parents got along decently, and my grades were pretty good. Whenever I got the highest ones, my mom would take me to the store to get a game for the Super Nintendo we used to own. One of these games was my first video game love, Mega Man X. Countless hours were spent sitting in front of the TV, graph paper in hand to memorize those passwords every time I beat a stage. Each time I tried to beat the Sigma stages, mom sat on the sofa above to root for me as I played. She would get so excited whenever she saw-

Ping!

Hold on a second, I got something on my phone.

On my lock screen, there's a message that reads "GET TO THE POINT JACKASS" with the sender simply called "ZIP" in a notification bubble.

My bruised ego makes me move back, one hand covering my heart protectively as I keel over. This feeble "other hand" struggles to grip my desk, where I can feel my pride slipping away from me. I've never been more emasculated in my life than I've been now. Quickly, I go to my chromebook and open my antivirus window. Maybe if I do what they say, my masculinity will still be in tact by the time my software finishes its process.

I have a bit of a problem on my computer. It's in the shape of this weird file I downloaded while trying to emulate my favourite childhood game. Look, I know it sounds like I spent way too much of my time scouring the internet for emulation support for my system, but trust me! This is the only thing I could find! Honest to god! None of my coworkers would be laughing at me if there was more to do with that sort of thing, but nooo, instead I have this thing called "mmxdo_chromebook_ ".

The name of the website I found it on is lost on me, but it hosted free versions of games that would normally cost me a fortune. I checked to see if there was any Mega Man games to download, but this is all they had. Speaking of, the antivirus says that it's done scanning the software. Relief pours back into me as I feel that my ego is mostly unscathed.

Masculinity crisis aside, I'm really bored, and work's been really slow recently. While I don't consider myself a "gamer" nowadays, I feel like I shouldn't be left out of the action, y'know? Without further adieu, I drag the file out of the scanner, then click on it twice.

After the Capcom logo appears, I see an admittedly cool opening where this guy looks like he's getting sucked into his computer. Blue rings are moving behind the game's logo in a slightly darker vortex while this techno song plays. Did his room really have to be so dark? Talk about patronizing...

Despite my hardware, it didn't take long for the game to get to the title screen. Feels a little too fast if you ask me.

Okay...what kind of mess did I get myself into? For starters, why is there another guy that looks like Zero? Who are any of these chucklefucks around X and...I guess the real Zero? Why does the X on the far right look like some evil bumblebee? Why are there random anime characters sandwiched between my guys?! If there's one silver lining, the nostalgia's kickin' in pretty good with that music. I almost want to stay and jam out, but normally I'm a busy man, so I hit "Start Game".

Huh? There's already a save file in the game? That's strange. On the bottom left it says "Level 44" with the date being August 1st to the right. Three hours of gameplay? Must be pretty good, then. I think what's above the time and date is the name of the stage? When I try to click on any of the empty files, nothing happens. Closing out of the file select is an option, but there's not much else I can do beyond the three buttons on the title. Oh well.

I click on the save file, and the first thing I see after a loading screen is my boy Zero beside another set of options. There's screenshots from past Mega Man X games moving slowly in this digital world. Hitting the "Story" option leads me to a stage tree. Some stages had three stars below them, minus the last one. Hey, game, I haven't played a Mega Man game in at least a decade and a half, and the first thing you do is make me kill a boss? Oh, fine. I click it again and get presented with two rows of some characters I know. Two weapons are beside Zero's portrait, the main one being the "Replisaber", and my secondary being the "Scarlet Tyrant". These weapons look good, even if the characters seem pretty weak. Only one caught my attention, and that was Iris, who had all of these stars filled out under her portrait. She seems pretty strong, so I click on her and-

Everything on the screen comes to a complete halt, and the music is stuttering. Iris hasn't even showed up on screen. I can't click on anything no matter what I do. I'm gonna go ahead and press every key...nope, still nothing.

Well, fuck. I should've saw this coming. Don't know if it's my computer or if it's a sketchy copy that's the problem. Either way, I can't act surprised. I try going to my task manager so that I can close the game. Without a fuss, the game screen fades into my desktop, and I'm left here feeling like the dumbest person in the world. I lean back into my chair and let myself slump into its cushion.

Does that website have some sort of customer service? If so, I'm gonna go down there and e-mail them a piece of my mind, because I expect my games to work without any suspicious crashes happening. Before that happens, I extend my right arm so that my hand meets the touchpad and open the game again.

As its jingle plays, the Capcom logo shows up...for a split second. My screen flashes white for a second to reveal a new logo; "FÏR Corporation". How do you even pronounce this blood covered drivel? Fire? Fur? Pretty pointless to advertise your company when you can't say it properly. The F and R have a slant on each side, and the Ï stood tall in the middle. Accompanying the star-like logo was a thunderclap and ominous laughter that boomed out of my speakers. You're lucky I'm the only one at home, game.

A blue text box slides up to the screen when the logo disappears. There was only an ellipses at first, but then the following text appears as I sift through each sentence:

"Hello?

Can anyone hear me? Hello? Whoever can pick this up, please respond.

No signals within my range. I knew it.

It's no use trying to contact any players.

How long have I been doing this? Why do I keep trying? Should I just give in and submit to-"

At the same time the text goes away, I hear a soft radar beep. This is all it says when it comes back:

"...Hold on.

I'm picking up a faint signal nearby. Could it be?"

When the text box fades out, a reploid in yellow armor shows up. He has these red and blue accents here and there, like on his arms and parts of their head. Three question marks showed up as his name, and he said the following:

"You there! This may seem rather sudden, but I need your help.

Something has a hold on the Deep Log and it mass deleted certain Hunter Programs. There's only a handful of them left in the game, myself being one of them.
My name is Bit, and I've been trying to find a reason behind this sudden data shift. I've spent my time running communications to others in hopes that they would lend a hand, since no other Hunter Program would take charge of this role." Bit's name in the smaller window replaces the question marks. He disappears to make way for a group of silhouettes circling a map. Its seas started to turn red while these mysterious reploids tower over the dying land. Bit continues to explain the situation the best he could:

"The source of this shift leads back to a megacorporation that also replaced several parts of the Deep Log. Some of the remaining Hunter Programs have turned their allegiance to this corporation, either for survival, free will, or from being contacted by them. However..."

When I go to the next line of dialogue, the text box vanishes. This image scrolls down to reveal a far smaller group of figures that have their heads high, glaring above. "There is another group of Programs who have decided to rebel against this force. I have joined this group myself, but we see no luck in our efforts alone. This is where you come in." Bit said as the image kept scrolling. Once the image settles in place, all the reploids face me wearing the same glare as the past silhouettes I've seen.

"Our group only has so many Programs, and we've done everything we can to try and correct errors within the Deep Log.

Without the strength of another, we are doomed to be crushed under this establishment's heel." Bit extends a hand to the screen, standing beside the tallest figure.

"So...What will it be? Will you join our force?"

His words linger in its box when two smaller ones show up. One has "Yes" in it while the other has "No". Good question, yet I don't feel sold on Bit's offer. Compared to the last time I booted this game up, I guess I'll do it. I click "Yes", and Bit puts his arm down.

"I am relieved to know that is your answer. You will not regret this." Bit says before two alarm sounds play.

"Two emergency alerts detected! Quickly, get to the main base!" Bit exclaims as everyone starts to run past the right of the screen, then the game shows an image of Bit in front of five monitors. One of them has two red, flashing dots with exclamation marks inside them while another has two people in front of some TV static. Below these monitors is a long keyboard that revolves around the table Bit's sitting at.

"Bit! What's the status of the signal?" Another person with question marks for a name asks.

"We are just in time, but we need to act fast. Switching to monitor number two." Bit replies as my ears pick up some frantic typing noises. My screen then cuts to black, stopping any prior sound.

Oh, you better not crash this time.

Shortly after, the character select screen from X4 showed up, only now there's portraits of two women in place of X and Zero. Instead of X, I see a purple haired reploid with tan skin named "Layer", and on the right there's a blond girl in pink named "Ciel". Crimson windows surround their portraits while a creepy sounding remix of the same game's music plays. Bit leaves me with one last set of dialogue before the game stops shoving text boxes in my face:

"Forgive me for this harsh display, something must have tampered with our interface. We have just made progress in locating two Hunter Programs that are being targeted by this corporation.

Strangely, the signal is jamming our transporter systems, forcing you to select one of these Programs instead of us.

We don't know if this is a trap, so I suggest you make your next decision carefully."

To make sure the "company" at the start was fake, I unlock my phone and type "capcom" in my explorer's search bar. They're still a thing, so why should I care about some bad joke at the start? When I tap the search button, I immediately get another text from this "ZIP" person that says "JUST IGNORE THAT". Following a sudden headache, I squint my eyes, put my phone back on my desk and focus on the screen. I could block this guy, but I have better things to do.

Now, who should I pick...?