Dr. Light glanced up from his work as he noticed Rock walking by. "Did you need something, Rock?" he asked curiously, having become a bit protective of Rock since the revelation of the alteration Duo had given him. Not only were there concerns about long-term side effects or unexpected problems in how his systems interacted, a robot not bound by the Three Laws was still technically illegal, and if word got out that Rock was no longer bound to his Three Laws programming, he could be terminated. After all, as far as the government was concerned, Rock was property, not a person.
Rock smiled readily. "Just heading out," he replied easily. "Gonna catch a movie, and test out my completed digestive system at a restaurant while I'm at it."
Dr. Light smiled softly. "Another date with Kalinka?" he asked teasingly.
Rock chuckled in response. "Is it that obvious?"
"You've taken extra pains to look nice," Dr. Light replied. "Kalinka's the only one you do that for." As Rock continued to chuckle, Dr. Light asked a question he'd been wondering about for a while. "Have you managed to put a name to the errors you experience when you're with her?"
Rock lowered his gaze. "The errors were because my programming core was trying - and failing - to override the impulses my personality core were triggering," he explained. "Now that my Persona is in charge, they aren't errors anymore." He rubbed hi cheek with one finger. "In hindsight, it's pretty obvious I'm smitten."
Dr. Light smiled widely at that. "Well, good luck to you Rock. I hope everything works out well for you two."
Rock smiled warmly. "Me too."
Dr. Light hesitated for a moment. "...Rock..."
"Yeah, Dad?"
Dr. Light sighed softly as he gathered his thoughts. "I...know I haven't exactly been the...best of fathers to you. Despite my best intentions, I treated you more like a project than a son...and I didn't think things through before sending you off to battle. Trying to do things right was a trial and error process that you suffered for..."
"It's okay, Dad," Rock replied softly. "I've moved past most of it. Besides, all parents make mistakes." He turned away. "We can't change the past, so dwelling on it isn't going to fix anything. We just have to keep moving towards the future."
Dr. Light nodded. "I suppose you're right, Rock. I just...wish I could still do right by you. It's...not too late, is it?"
Rock smirked back at him. "I still call you Dad, don't I?" Stepping forward, he pulled Dr. Light into a warm embrace, startling him. "We'll do better in the future. And you'll know better with my little brother." Releasing Dr. Light from the embrace, he stepped forward to the robot skeleton being worked on on the table. "How's he coming along, anyway?"
Dr. Light smiled softly. "He's doing alright so far," he explained. "The main superstructure is complete, and the basic power core design is intact...and I think I've developed a good energy core design for him, one that will keep him functional indefinitely."
"Oh?" Rock asked curiously.
"In addition to the primary plasma core, I've incorporated a few extra cores with energy derived in nature form Justice Energy and Evil Energy," Dr. Light explained. "It's not as powerful or effective as that Ether that Vinyl's working with, but it should prove most effective. It can feed on any emotional state to amplify itself...and I don't know if there will be a limit to how far it will let X push himself."
"X?" Rock asked in surprise. "That's what you're calling him?"
"Yes," Dr. Light confirmed. "For the variable absolute of his existence, and his infinite potential. And he will develop his own personality program as he lives, and write his own programming. Prometheus, as Protoman, was LWN-000. As the first work I did all on my own, you - as Mega Man - became DLN-001. And following the chain of robots going above and beyond what could ever be expected of their capabilities, and coming ever closer to perfecting as an artificial man, this is DLN-002, X."
"Wow," Rock murmured, marveling at what Dr. Light had created, and the goals he was seeking. "That's...amazing. But..."
"But?" Dr. Light asked worriedly.
"Well, you just said he has the potential for truly infinite power, right?" Rock clarified. "And that he's going to develop his own personality and programming?"
"Yes," Dr. Light confirmed. "That is the purpose behind his creation, that he truly choose his own path. You...have concerns about this?"
"A couple," Rock confirmed. "First off, isn't the whole reason we're keeping my ability to ignore the Laws secret because it's illegal?"
"Well, I wasn't planning on announcing his existence until it was legal," Dr. Light responded, his tone somewhat joking. "At the rate it's taking me to perfect his systems, I probably won't be finished until then."
"Okay...but what if he goes rogue?" Rock asked. "What if he goes all Skynet or something and decides to exterminate all life. If his potential is limitless...what's to stop him from becoming a nightmare?"
"Nothing," Dr. Light answered easily. "He will have before him the choice to be a protector, a destroyer, a savior, a demon, or simply live a normal, peaceful life. The world will not define his role, he will."
Rock hesitated for a bit. "Don't you think it's...a little reckless to release something like that on the world without any safeguards? It seems...a little too 'mad scientist' for you."
"Well, I never claimed to be a paragon of sanity," Dr. Light joked. His chuckles trailed off as he quailed under Rock's glare. "You...think I should take some precautions?"
"Yes, you should," Rock stated firmly. "Vinyl's not even 15 yet, so she has an excuse for building and unleashing uncontrollable monstrosities on the world, but she still makes sure to put safeguards of some sort in. You're older and should be more responsible than her. What's your excuse?"
"...senility?" Dr. Light offered weakly. At the continued glare, he sighed. "I'll figure something out. Maybe some ethics tests or something..."
"Good," Rock confirmed. "I don't want my date with Kalinka to be ruined by worrying about you unleashing Armageddon on an unsuspecting world."
ok, that was that...
And First I guess...
Hmm... so it was trying to prevent Kalinka from "coming into harm", eh?... Mega Man, you sly dog.
Not to mention, there's 30+ years worth of simulations to teach him the difference between right and wrong. I wonder if leaving a note behind about that would've changed anything.
There's a side of Light I'd never thought I'd see. Then again, most geniuses can be morally ambiguous at times, if not entirely eccentric in their practices.
..... anyone else get a bad feeling from this.... might be a false alarm but this concerns me
I'll be honest, I sincerely thought that Rock with now functioning uhh... organs, combined with Kalinka would err.... produce a different result.
Still would be interesting either way.
7431126 You are not alone on that.
7431126 Not me!
7431126 It should but Light's not the one at fault for that Armageddon thing. He's pretty much dead by the time this would come into play canonically since it's guys like Weil, Serpent and Albert who cause those sorts of disasters all because they're either racist genocidal madmen who want humanity itself to burn if they do not become their slaves or having a god complex so bad their main motive for being evil and causing so much misery and chaos is so they can become a god...
So that's why X can go dark...evil energy in his systems. Damn Light my bad.
Hold on... when does X get his "Freak Out Chip" installed? And why did Vinyl stop producing the dangerous yet OP suckers? Did she have a spare lying around or Dr. Light confused it for another chip?
Morally grey for the win.
7431313 Actually I think it's making a reference to the Zero/ZX series which in 1 of them X gets rebuild and is the main evil character for most of the series
7432230 While that might be true that's not Light's fault. It's whoever thought it would be a good idea to create a copy of X without understanding what made X, "X" in the the first place's fault. Then guys like Weil and such managed to mess him up so bad he only became the main villain for the first game. Weil's the one who's actually the main villain of the series as he took over Neo Arcadia after turning Copy X who was rebuilt and not the enemy, into his slave and made him announce Weil as his successor if he died which then happens like the guy planned. Weil also started all the wars in those games by his influence which is where the racist genocidal madmen part comes in plus his punishment was banishment from Earth til he came back in Zero 3.
7432463 Thank you for the reminder it's been a good while since I played the game I knew the X copy wasn't behind everything but for most of the story he was presented as the big evil till you defeated him, also find it kinda funny that Zero in those games was actually a copy like X even though it basically seems his original personality was removed from his original body to be put in the copy
7432951 Ya light and Wily perfect examples of both sides of the terrible but awesome spectrum
7432963 Indeed, Zero is a copy with the original's memory and mind occupying it while his original body was stolen by Weil and turned into Omega, the God of Destruction in the classic timeline universe oppose to Bass.exe the God of Destruction of the BN timeline universe which also has a Zero.
Wow, this chapter is so close to being over. I'm going to miss the updates that it gets when that happens.
7431184 What's he gonna call the child?
Kalinka+Rock= Astro Boy?
7431313 The problem with that statement is that there is still "The Cataclysm" yet to come, the event that DESTROYS the world of 20XX and helps to usher in the 21XX era. Remember that X was found BURIED for MUCH longer than 30 years, and the lab he was in, Dr. Lights main laboratory, was nothing but a buried ruin. Whatever The Cataclysm is, it's named that for a reason. And NOBODY but Keiji Inafune knows what the canon cause of it, and as he's left Capcom entirely we may never know what the original cause was supposed to be. And despite it being Zero who was the one made by the 'madman', X is just as capable of being the Harbinger of Oblivion as Zero is. Both are so far beyond the abilities of the 20XX cast that it's not even funny. Yes, even X at the start of MMX1 would crush Rock with barely any effort.
That being said, I do NOT suspect X myself, for reasons I won't go into as I feel they might be too spoilery IF I am right. At the moment, I will say that I feel it might be Zero that causes it, but NOT because of a 'mindless rampage'. As with the X thing, I'm not going into my reasons as IF I am right they would ruin things for others.
7434188
Will you PM me what you think the cause of 'The Cataclysm' is in this timeline? I'm always interested to hear.
7434205 Done. Got a bit wordy but I tend to do that.
7433397 when did zero show up in BN never ran into him in any of the games
7434566
Network Transmission, the one made for Gamecube.
7434566 Zero.EXE as Tatsurou stated appeared in Megaman Network Transmission which was basically BN 1.5 as it happen during the time between the first 2 BN games, setting things up as it were. Zero.EXE was a virus til Megaman finds a special file or something in a spike ridden area that like all MM platformers are instant death or deletion in this case. It changes Zero's fate if you get it as it allows him to be spared permanent deletion from Protoman by becoming a netnavi and may have changed the ending too since he fights the final boss in a cutscene.
7434188 True though you could use the spoilers thing to hide it plus it's what you THINK caused it, a theory, not really spoilers if it's not actually canon unless a lot of evidence points towards that conclusion. Though PM me what you think happened. As for me, From what I heard Zero was said to not be responsible by Keiji himself and it couldn't be X as didn't Cain find X still in the capsule asleep before X1? If X was responsible why was he still in the capsule instead of outside it, awake and destroying stuff when Cain found him? That alone contradicts any theory X was the cause. Especially if whatever caused the event also ended up messing with the settings on the capsule thus adding to the sleep timer so X would wake up far later than he was suppose to. Like Futurama with the time freeze thing in the first EP.
Btw if Keiji is the only one who knows, why not simply ask him? Someone has to know of where to get in touch with him like email, twitter, tumblr, ect., especially if he appears at a convention, not to mention that he's gonna work on Mighty No. 9 2 at some point and would be giving updates on it like the first one while trying to avoid what caused the first one to bomb as it did.
7434711 The evidence for THIS story is already in place, and if you look closely shows a clear picture of what is going to happen next. As for canon, Keiji has gone out of his way to be DELIBERATELY vague on that question. And last I heard was under a gag order or something when he left Capcom. The only solid thing he's ever said was "Zero didn't kill everyone in the Cataclysm" Beyond that, he's done everything up to and including outright ignoring the question. Of course given that Zero was SUPPOSED TO BE NEW MEGA MAN, that could just be the creator not wanting to give his creation any more crap after the execs forced him to make Zero play 2nd fiddle to X. However given that the most people go Zero > X anyway... who knows.
7433682 Dynamo
7434973 Interesting.
Amen! Jesus Christ, what the hell was this guy drinking when he decided to give 100% free will to a robot with potentially limitless power and eternal life with no safeguards!? And this is supposed to be the GOOD SCIENTIST! God damn it man.....
And so here is the base for MotF. I guess that means Octavia is gonna end up in this world at some point before Light dies, given she was in the stasis chamber with X when he was activated...
at least he admits to it.
x is being built, the world is nearing it's climax... and one question looms overhead... how will the end come...