Duo remained in his place, laying back on the recharge and repair table, as Roll continued working on him. She had already removed all the encrustations from his chassis and restored the exterior coloration to full luster, and his core was fully recharged...but once that had finished she'd insisted on checking the wiring of his replacement parts to his main body, to ensure there weren't any errors that might cause a limb to explode or fall off mid-battle. While he knew internally that wasn't the case, she had insisted on giving his circuits an optical check, in case he was getting a false positive. As his self-preservation protocols dictated he agree with anything a female told him that didn't directly interfere with his mission, he was forced to comply.
She talked almost constantly as she worked on him, wandering from one topic to another without once missing a solder or link in the circuits. He couldn't follow most of what she talked about, as his grasp of the native language far outstripped any grasp of the native culture. Instead, he simply fell back on his self-preservation protocol and smiled and nodded a lot.
Duo's program was very simple. He had only two missions. The first was to eliminate any and all sources of Evil Energy. The second was to preserve his own survival, so long as doing so didn't interfere with his primary mission. Beyond that, his system was designed to self-write code to adapt to any given situation as it arose. This enabled him to be supremely adaptable, both in terms of programming and bodily structures. Given that most of his actual Persona Core - the part that carried his program and personality - was stored in his Justice Energy projection rather than any specific physical component, he wasn't even sure if any part of his original construction was still part of his present body, so frequently had he patched himself up with whatever was handy along his journey.
While his native knowledge may have been limited, his perception was not. It was relatively easy for him to see why Roll talked so much with him. While far simpler in core design, she too was designed to develop her own personality core as she lived, in essence becoming her own person. Unfortunately, situations had left her pushed into the background as events all focused around her brother and others. Quite often, it seemed as though the world had forgotten about her, leaving her desperately lonely. Though he had long ago steeled himself against depression from such a thing given the solo nature of his journey, it was regrettably easy for him to empathize with Roll's plight. As such, he'd found himself doing something he'd never considered doing before...opening up.
He talked to her about all the things he'd seen as he'd journeyed through the cosmos. He described the beauty of a nebula spinning in the darkness, of the feel of its dust clouds on his chassis as he passed through. He spoke of the sight of a star being born, the destructive conflagration unlocking the truest beauty of creation. He spoke of staring up at the sky on worlds that had no moons, many moons, and even rings, and of how different days were on life supporting moons that orbited gas giants. He told her of the many different creatures he had seen out amongst the stars, the many different forms of life, and all the different civilizations. Some had even began traversing the stars on their own, with their own rules for not interfering with developing worlds. They'd likely have been very upset if they knew he was speaking about them on a 'developing world', but any notion of a 'Prime Directive' was a direct violation of his Primary Mission, and had been discarded. He didn't know if the world he had been built on had such a thing, since he couldn't even remember it, but he gave that little thought.
Roll had listened with rapt attention, asking intelligent questions and marveling at the depth of his experience. When he got to discussion of the various races he'd encountered, however, Roll began to get active in the conversation again. "Did you ever encounter any unicorns on your journey?" she asked eagerly.
Duo frowned. "Unicorns?" he asked, a trifle perturbed. "I am fairly certain, even out amongst the stars, such creatures are fancy more than fact."
"But Vinyl's one," Roll pointed out firmly. On a nearby computer, she called up an image of a small white-coated equine with blue mane and tail, wearing purple shades, a music note on her rump, and a horn spiraling out from her forehead. "See?"
Duo stared at the image for a time. "I have encountered many creatures in my journeys," he admitted, "but never one such as that before. Admittedly, that is what I have said each time I've encountered a new variety of terrestrial life form as I arrive on new worlds."
"Then you haven't encountered anything like her in your journeys?" Roll asked sorrowfully. "Not even close?"
"I'm afraid not," Duo confirmed. "Why do you ask? And why does my answer upset you? Is not this Vinyl a native of your world?"
"No, she's not," Roll explained. "We don't know where she comes from...and neither does she. And if you've never seen anything like her, then the one possibility she had to look along is an empty hope."
"How so?" Duo asked curiously.
"She's convinced she comes from somewhere out amongst the stars," Roll continued. "I think that might be why she wants to colonize Mars. I think she thinks if she broadcasts enough of her magic into the cosmos, someone will come and find her..." She hung her head sadly as she closed up Duo's arm, sealing it shut.
"Magic?" Duo asked curiously.
"It's something she can do," Roll explained. "We're not sure how it works. Heck, even she's not sure how it works. That's why she got so excited about Justice and Evil Energy. She managed to isolate a wavelength in them that's common to her magic-"
"What?" Duo demanded, leaping from the table as his protocols realigned. "This 'Vinyl' uses Evil Energy?"
"That's not what I-"
Before Roll could finish her sentence, Duo's form was covered with the blue fire of Justice Energy as he leapt through the roof.
Roll stared up at the hole he left behind. "Oh...fuck," she muttered under her breath. She quickly raced to the comms. "Dr. Light? Rock? Dr. Wily? Anyone? It's an emergency!"
"I read you Roll," Rock replied quickly. "What happened?"
"I think Duo's going to try to kill Vinyl!" Roll gasped out, afraid.
Rock was silent for a time. "Roll...what did you do?"
"What makes you think it's something I did?" Roll demanded defensively.
"How did Duo find out about Vinyl?" Rock countered logically.
Roll whimpered contritely.
I thinks he thinks if she broadcasts
1. Think she.
Dangit, and you were on such a Roll too. Better call big bro bot and BB.
Well. . .fuck.
[youtube=OGp9P6QvMjY]
*Remembers previous comment*
DO YOUR WORST!
Meanwhile, in another reality.
Lies, I've been
whiningvalidly expressing complaints about this since day 1!So wait... you mean, among the countless world's he's encountered, throughout the ambiguous amount of time he's journeyed for, there hasn't been one with equines that have keratin jammed into their foreheads?... I find that somewhat hard to believe.
"He"? There are no dudes in MLP, those are just constructs of the imagination trying to lure you into thinking you're not watching a show for little girls. CONSPIRACIES!!!
Darn it, Roll, haven't you ever watched Wall-E before? Now we've got a Man of Steel scenario on our hands... ABANDON SHIP, ALL HOPE IS LOST, THE RED CAPES ARE COMING, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES (or not)... eh, I don't know where I'm going with this anym-
...Duo, you're a fucking moron. First, Roll was very clear that the commonality was with both forms of energy, so Vinyl is clearly not using evil energy. Second, you still don't know where she is.
I saw the Trek reference in there.
Duo...Is going to have a bad time.
It was at this moment that Roll knew... She ****ed up.
I'd post a YouTube compilation video here, but I'm on a tablet and all efforts to copy the url from the app have failed.
Dammit, Roll!! Duo's still a robot with directives burnt into his circuits!
I love how you make a chapter that's mostly exposition work so greatly Those kinds of chapters possess their own beauty (And depending on the premise/circumstances, hilarity.).
Looks like Duo will get to test the auto lock feature of the Bass cannon.
"Since Bass aim sucks, the Bass cannon has been modified to only fire in a straight line. While normally that would make it easy to dodge, unlocking the cannon also unlocks an auto lock paralysis beam that hits the target before the Bass Cannon main shot. Due to this being an experimental weapon, the Bass Cannon is set to only damage the target down to their last energy bar then stop. This only works right in Robot Masters and similar robots as any robot that's too weak will just explode before the prediction algorithms of the Bass Cannon calculate when to stop shooting. Oh and just in case it cannot destroy Roll or any other civilian robots, any attempt and it will shut down."
"So will you-"
"No, unfortunately sonic based weapons suck in space. So the plans for the orbital defense version were scrapped. I was able however to create a orbital detection grid that can detect enemies by scanning all sound frequencies that exist, and some that theoricaly cannot exist, and also detect different radiations and energy signatures. So we can figure out if something is coming ages before we know what the heck it is. The orbital telescope Light Labs put into space actually fixes the problem to know what's comming even if it only has defensive systems to avoid being used as an orbital death ray of doom. The giant Robot Gigas Man is the orbital defense weapon but it only works if both Megaman and Bass pilot it together."
"Is that so it won't be used for evil?"
"No is because Bass would never forgive me if he missed piloting a giant robot into space!"
7350685 All I got out of that is we're going to put Rock and Bass in a Jaeger and that makes me all kinds of happy.
7350738
Think more like Doctor Light and Willy building their own version of Mazimer Z
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
...Wonder if Trio will somehow activate....
no matter how strong Duo is I kinda doubt he will be able to take on MegaMan should he be sent to protect Vinyl or even Vinyl herself as she is quite strong herself magically and then there's protoman aswell.
And so Roll discovers one of the pitfalls of interacting with the Lawful Stupid.
7351127 ... And Bass, the Current Robot Masters, The Surviving Masters, Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, Sky Lagoon, All of Earth, Roll...
7351308 yeah I know just couldn't remember all of them names so just put the big 3
Find a zealot, KILL THE FU...screw-up. Now, granted they DO have SOME uses but most of the time they're are to blasted brainless to be worth the risk of them being around.
7351278 it's people like him that make lawful good people look like rigid idiots. A truly lawful good person is good over lawful.
Don't worry, Bass will avenge her! ...because he can't even hit Duo. I bet he's the one that accidentally kills Vinyl while trying to save her.
B: "Vinyl, I'm here to save you!"
V: "Thanks, call for help!"
B: "I am the help."
V: "Somebotty save me, already!"
Duo: "I am confused."
B: "I seriously have him in my sights!"
V: "Lower your buster, buster! Call Treble!"
B: "He's really looking for Treble."
Skull: "I heard a pun and... I don't find this humerus tibia honest."
B: "Skull Man, I have this covered!"
Treb: <Do you, now? Also, I'm going by Gospel during our peaceful moments.>
B: "Can you make up your mind on your name?!"
Duo: "My name is Duo."
B: "Put down my little sister!"
Duo: "But I thought you wanted to keep her alive?"
Skull: "Bass, you suck at this."
Shit! Mechanical Shirou Emiya on the lose!
Quick!! Somebody stop Duo before it is too late!!!
7351109 Mister negotiator may not like that outcome
Welp, Duo is about to get a triple lazer beam up his ass from blues, rock and bass. In short, he dun goofed.
So... it's going to be Rock, Blues, and Bass vs Duo for sure, probably the Robot Masters joining in as well.
THIS IS GONNA ROCK!!!
7352043 *Inactivates Duo with Cryolock software* Done.
Does Duo wanna hear an overused quote? Cause if he keeps going the way he's going, that's exactly what he's gonna hear.
Looks like the bass canon may be needed
and duo is about to do something stupid, well makes sense with his knight templar attitude...
7350764
Jaegers require two pilots.