Dr. Light's Lab: PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER (Mega)MAN!

[Mage]

Krystal nodded at Light. "Thank you, sir. I don't believe we've been formerly introduced." She set Met down on the floor for a bit, and bent back up. "My name is Krystal, member of Star Fox. It's an honor to meet Rock's father."

After hearing Theo, Nell walked past Rush and inside the Flutter. "Theo, how's it going in there? Is there anything you need?" The commander asked.

[Vize Viper]

The doctor just smiled, nodding. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Krystal. I only wish it was under better circumstances." Thomas turned, seeing Mario, and his smile widened.

"And thank you for helping bring my son home."

The capsule, meanwhile, was starting to reach the end of its repair cycle, Mega Man already looking as good as new, except for a bit of restoration to his armor.

"I still would like to know what happened to him..."

[SHM 128 III]

"... ... !!!"

It took Mario a moment to register the fact that Dr. Light was talking to him. He still wasn't in the mood to talk, but he didn't want to come off as rude, either.

"Don't-a thank me, I was just doing what was right," he finally replied, "besides, I promised I'd get-a him home safe and sound, not like-a... this."

He motioned towards Mega Man in the repair capsle.

"Star Fox recieved a distress call from-a Lightfoot Village. I decided to come with-a them and bring Rock along to show him what This-a World is-a like. But then... We were attacked and... Well... You can probably guess what-a happened."

He let out another sad sigh.

"... I guess you could say it-a was my fault he got-a hurt..."

And with that, Mario went silent again.

[AnT]

With the woman by, Theo zipped up to her with a charming smile. "Oh, nothing much, my dear. Just need to adjust some ... monkey wrenches."

"Kee-Kee!" Data hopped back on top of the radio, leaning forward to twist the knobs on front. Getting some static, high-pitched voices could be heard.

"*krrtz*....Help!...*krrtz* ... are you okay?... *krrtz* ...that's the wrong frequency, dummy!... *krrtz* ... it's not Miss Tron!"

"KEE!!!" Leaping off, Data screamed to the speaker. "KEE KEE!!!"

"Is that the monkey? YAY!!"

Dropping his face, Theo adjusted his glasses. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle..."

[Stoney]

For the second time that day, a single beam of red light appeared above Thomas Light's house. The difference was that this time, the beam was descending.

It landed silently on the front lawn, materializing into two figures; one being held carefully in the other's arms.





Zero paused upon noticing what appeared to be an advanced spacecraft now sitting on the lawn next to him. Clearly, the doctor had received new visitors during his absence.

It was of little import, though. Protoman -- Zero glanced down at the broken and unconscious robot in his arms -- had the highest priority at the moment. He only hoped that the good Doctor was in a charitable enough mood to fix up random strange robots.

Shoving aside all pretenses of diplomacy, Zero marched through the doorway and into the house. "DOCTOR LIGHT!" He called out at 150% volume. "WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!"

He looked around as he walked through the living quarters, which were oddly empty. "Dr. Light?" He called out again, checking the room where he and the doctor had last conversed. Nobody was there.

Frowning slightly, Zero walked further into the house. He nudged open an ajar door with one of his feet and strode into the lab.

Zero blinked, momentarily startled at the abrupt change of atmosphere from cozy bungalow to sterile laboratory. Florescent lights lit up everything with cold precision, and machines of various types surrounded him on all sides.

This was less important than the people in the room, however. A female Fox-type Reploid? And there was Roll, from his previous visit...

"Dr. Light," Zero greeted the white-haired scientist, finally spotting him standing next to a human-sized capsule with a sizable window. He strode forward, holding out his arms in offering. "We need your assistance," He repeated.

[Mage]

Krystal was surprised to see Zero appear, he looked a little like Rock...only more advanced looking. "Who are you?" She asked, a little worried about the robot in his arms.

--------------------------

Nell crawled up to the radio, curiously. "Oh, who was that?" She took it. "This is Nell, commander of Orange Star, may I ask who I am speaking to?" She didn't think the cute little voices could be dangerous.

[Vize Viper]

Thomas shook his head at Mario blaming himself. "I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Rock... most likely threw himself into danger to protect you all, like he always-" The doctor was interrupted at that point by Zero entering the room, bearing a familiar looking (to him, at least) android.

And at the sight of him, Dr. Light went silent, looking down at the unresponsive boy, who he honestly hadn't seen on better than tolerant terms in years...

"Blues..." Snapping out of his reverie, Thomas motioned towards the currently unoccupied maintenance table that took up the middle of the lab.

"Hurry, put him here. ... What happened to him?" Outwardly, Thomas seemed... almost clinically calm, but inwardly, he was now truly frightened for the safety of his children... How soon would it be before someone brought ROLL through his doors to be put back together? The thought was definitely sobering to the usually jovial man... and he really didn't need much more sobering up at the moment.

[Stoney]

Zero raised a single eyebrow at the name Light let slip (which he had of course heard, what with his audio sensors and all) as he walked over to the table and gently set the boy down on it.

"My name is Zero," He addressed the blue-furred Reploid behind him without turning around. (Fur? Zero did a mental double-take. Was it fake?) "I am a WRM00 model Reploid from 200 years in Doctor Light's future." He glanced over at the doctor as he spokee. "I am seeking a way back to my homeworld, but I have been...delayed."

He sighed, turning to address Dr. light fully as he explained himself. "The city Commander Sami directed me to, 'Smash City', has been hit by disaster. A veteran of the fighting tournament she mentioned was present, named 'Samus Aran'. She discharged a fatally powerful laser weapon within city limits and caused mass destruction."

He glanced down at Protoman somberly. "Protoman and I were at the City Hall at the time, preparing to sign up for the tournament. The laser was not aimed at us, but we were hit by the backlash behind it. He...was previously injured when I first met him, and he said he knew you." Zero looked directly at Light. "It was my hope that you could stabilize his systems and coordinate repairs. I do not know how long he will last otherwise."

[SHM 128 III]

While Dr. Light's encouragement wasn't enough to break Mario out of his slump, Zero suddenly appearing while carrying (another) badly broken robot was. He quickly did a double take as he watched him set Protoman down on the table and simply listened in stunned silence as Zero explained what happened, completely forgetting his guilt for a few moments. Upon hearing his story, Mario let out another sigh... not one of sadness, though, but one of mild annoyance.

"Let-a me guess... Reporter set her off?" Mario asked, rolling his eyes. It was hard to tell if he was more frustrated at Samus or at the reporter he assumed got her mad.

[AnT]

Roll blinked, seeing another familiar face here again. She never expected to see Zero again, but she never paid attention to that Reploid part the last time she seen him. Based on the information Data gave her back in Terra, Reploids were extinct...in a way. She wondered if Zero really was from her world. But questioning will have to wait; the crisis of ... Mega Man was still happening, and now they have another.


"EEEEE! Can you help us? Miss Tron is in trouble! There's Reaverbots everywhere!!!" The Servbots in the radio cried like little babies.

[Mage]

"Zero, huh?" She seemed pretty curious at this whole situation, who was this Zero really, why did he have a damaged robot in his arms? Dr Light probably had an idea, but she didn't think now would be the best time to disturb him about it.

An Orange Star Soldier, who was just outside the door overheard what Zero said about Sami, and started talking to his fellow comrades about it.

---------------------------

Meanwhile, Nell was on the radio with her little buddies. She tapped her head a little. "That voice...AH!" She smiled at the microphone. "You must be those little cute things from the main HQ, and I'm guessing that girl in pink was Tron?" Nell remembered Andy brought her back for recovery, and that her exit was quite a bang. But back to the situation, Tron was in trouble? Last time she heard, she was the one who was threatening the city. Come to think of it, she hasn't heard from Andy and Sami in a long while. "...Servbot, was it? Could you please explain the situation to me?"

[Vize Viper]

The vixen's assumption would be correct, as Light's face could pass for a study in stoicism as he pulled on a pair of sturdy gloves, specially designed to protect him from electrical charges. He knew that even in shutdown mode, Blues would have several systems running in the background, that would need to be deactivated before he could safely begin repairs... He couldn't very well ask the android to shut himself completely down, which meant he would have to use a command he... didn't enjoy admitting he'd put in place more for his own protection if he needed it.

"I'm sorry about this, Blues. ..." The human's voice then took on a commanding edge as he next spokee. "DLN 000. Deactivate all nonvital systems, authorization Light-Alpha."

And as if a switch had been flicked inside the android, a slight tenseness, that hadn't been evident until it was gone, left the boy robot, leaving him looking like a puppet with it's strings cut...

Or a corpse.

Imagery that didn't escape Thomas as he turned to the others in the room.

"He'll be upset enough that I'll have done any repairs on him.... he'll be even angrier if a crowd was allowed to watch... So I'll have to take him to another section of my lab."

With that, the doctor pressed a few buttons on some controls attached to the table, which began moving to follow the doctor as he left the room through a set of doors leading farther into the lab.

[Stoney]

Zero watched impassively as Doctor Light moved Protoman out of the room, making no move to stop him -- he strongly suspected that those two knew each other better than Protoman had let on, what with secret backdoor commands being built into the latter that only the former knew about. When the door behind the doctor sealed shut, he finally concluded that Protoman's welfare was being addressed and allowed himself to satisfy his curiosity about the rest of the room's occupants.

"Greetings, Ms. Caskett," Zero bowed his head politely towards the one person in the room that he knew. "I hope my re-appearance did not startle you. Are you well?"

Hearing a question directed at him, Zero turned to blink down at Mario. What an oddly-shaped little man. Perhaps this was one of those "midgets" he'd read about in history books; the physical condition had been all but eradicated through DNA manipulation in Zero's time period.

"Actually...yes," He confirmed Mario's surprisingly-accurate guess as he dove briefly into his memory files for details. "One Samantha Bee of the Smashionista News agency initiated an unsolicited interview and asked questions of a personal nature." Zero looked a tad grim. "She was directly hit by the laser beam and is presumed dead."

He stared at the door Light had exited through. "I find the use of such weapons around civilian installments appalling. Why the city had not imposed a ban on such things, I will never know." He looked over at Mario again, curious despite himself. "I take it from your hypothesis that you are an acquaintance of Ms. Aran?"

His eyes then traveled from Mario to Krystal. Yes, that was indeed fur, and if it was fake then it concealed that fact well.

Perhaps...perhaps she wasn't a Reploid? It was a possibility, though not one that Zero's logical mind was very familiar with. Non-human organics were unheard of on his world after a series of brutal wars left 99% of the planet's life extinct. Even the plants were only able to survive due to being half-mechanical.

But, he had to once again remind himself, this was not his world...

"Pardon me for asking," He addressed Krystal suddenly, "But...what species are you? You bear a strong resemblance to Vulpes vulpes, but I have never met a variety with blue fur, speech capabilities, and humanoid characteristics. Are you a robot?"

[SHM 128 III]

Mario shrugged.

"You could-a say that... Samus is a bit of a loner, but since she, like-a I, was one of the 'Original Eight' in This-a World, we know about-a each other a lot. She... doesn't like interviews."

Scratching the back of his head, Mario suddenly recalled Zero's mentioning of 'death.'

"Oh, and don't-a worry about Samantha. They'll probably just-a recover her trophy on-a Icicle Mountain or something."

[AnT]

A sheepish and nervous look, Roll 'put on', as she clasped her hands together. "Oh, n-not at all. Um, I..." She felt hesitant asking her question, pretty much because she doesn't like upsetting people over anything. But Zero seems to be asking questions of his own to the others, so she'll just wait.

Many commotions were heard in the radio. "Um...bug Reaverbots."

"Yeah! Lots of them!!"

"They're eating the city! And ate Miss Tron *cries*"

"And J-JUNO IS HERE!! HE'S MEAN!!!"

"I want my teddy bear!!"

*FACEPALM* .... Yeah, the monkey just smacked his face. Being child robots, they're not good information boxes to rely on.