Smash City: Sign ups. Interrupted.

[Vize Viper]

The bioroid had decided that Zero wasn't a threat, so as the red Reploid began his questioning, he's opened a compartment in his chest, and was directly patching up his systems... while still online.

From his slight winces of pain as he did so, this probably wasn't the safest course of action, but he seemed to know what he was doing.

And this task didn't keep him from hearing Zero's question for him... although he was confused about one thing.

"DLM 000, code named Protoman. And I've never heard of any 'X'."

[xenomina]

"I hate to inform you both, but you may be from separate eras from the same universe," Samus chimed in, looking over at Protoman's opened chest before grabbing a part out of the box and tinkering with it. "That's how we have both a Toon Link, and well as normal Link. They are both from the same universe, but they did not exist at the same time. Master Hand has been known to bring characters like this, it's very possible. My name is Samus Aran, by the way."

[Mage]

"I have no idea what you two are talking about, but my name is Ike. Leader of the Greil Mercenaries..." He looked over at the Scary Pig-Mask, and walked over to his trophy. "Now then, if you'll excuse me." He touched the trophy reawakening him.

The large piggie woke back up from his sleeping state. "Ngh...what happened...EH?!" The large man soon found himself against a wall of a building with a golden sword to his neck. "GAH!"

And the person who held the commanding officer to the wall was obviously Ike, he put the sword closer as he glared at him. "Now then, I want some answers from you. If you don't come out with them, im afraid I will not be held responsible for whats about to happen to you. Do you understand?"

"...fine fine, its not like you can stop him anyway." After his fight with Protoman, Scary Pig-Mask hardly had any strength left to deal with Ike. He had no choice but to cooperate.

"Master Hand?" He asked himself, sounds like this Master Hand was the big boss around here. The demon crossed his arms pondering. 'So, if I defeat this Master Hand, then ill bet his world's Overlord...heh, perfect!'

[Topaz Mutiny]

Pikachu nodded, and the angry glimmer disappeared from his eyes. He'd forgiven Zero, and was also pleased at how quickly he caught on that Pikachu could understand and communicate as well.

Of course, when May decided to come near him, Pikachu shied away, uncomfortable with a trainer being so close. Especially since she kept talking about wanting to capture him.

Despite Zero already knowing his name, Pikachu couldn't help but point at himself and proclaim happily, "Pikachu." the electric mouse simply loved meeting new friends.

[AnT]

Brendan pulled his female friend away from the yellow rodent, sensing his uncomfort around her. "I'm Brendan 'Seth' Birch, sometimes known as Ruby."

"Yeah, girly name for a girly guy." she muttered, who wasn't appreciated about being pulled.

"AHEM! And my manner-less friend here is May Maple, also known as Sapphire."

[Stoney]

Zero sighed as Samus let the metaphorical cat out of the bag. He wondered where he should even begin explaining himself; saying the wrong thing could still have disastrous effects on the timeline.

But then again, he'd said a fair amount already; if a paradox was going to happen, it would have already occurred.

"Screw subtlety," He muttered to himself.

"Samus is correct," he announced to Protoman in a louder voice, "I am a Reploid, a thinking machine without programming restraints." He tapped the crystal on his helmet; it suddenly lit up with a hundred tiny lights that swarmed and blinked like fireflies. "You could call me the next evolutionary step up from your design."

He paused for a second as he turned his attention inwards.

--NO MATCHES FOUND--

Darn it.

"I'm from a century after your time. Catastrophic wars wiped out most major human cities, so we have few records of your era." He looked up at Protoman then. "You'll have to pardon me for not finding any information on you after scanning my database."

A slight frown tugged at his mouth. "You probably wouldn't know about X. That is not surprising; he is from a century after your time period as well. He and I were partners in a Reploid police force together." He paused, lowering his gaze to the ground so the helmet shielded his eyes from view. "He was also the last creation of Dr. Thomas Xavier Light. That is the only reason I know of your creator, Protoman."

*flash*



Zero's head jerked about as a burst of light entered his vision from off to the side. A bomb? A laser blast? His gun was in his hands with inhuman speed as he pointed it at --

...A giant man...with a pig mask on.

What.

Zero slowly lowered his gun as he stared at the confrontation. The masked man looked familiar...in fact, as Zero brought up a video feed of the past few minutes in an inset on his vision, he discovered that there had been a trophy lying on the ground with an identical appearance.

That trophy was conspicuously absent as well.

...This world was very strange.



Zero nodded absently as Pikachu, Seth and May introduced themselves. He continued to stare at Ike and the Scary Pig Mask with slight interest before finally tearing himself away from the sight.

"Well then, "Seth", you mentioned that sign-ups for the tournament were in City Hall. Could you elaborate please?" He directed his attention to the Pokémon Trainers. "The location of City Hall would be most helpful."

[Vize Viper]

The android wasn't surprised that there weren't any records on him, since he'd always kept a low profile, but this about an "upgrade" to bioroids had piqued his interest. If Dr. Light was around, it was almost enough to make him want to ask his "father" about all this...

But Zero would have to do. Pausing his self-repairs to look up at Zero, the "boy" narrowed his eyes behind his visor.

"No programming restraints? So you don't have to follow the three Laws, then... handy."

[xenomina]

Samus winced as a piece she was adjusting popped straight out of the part and hit her in the face. "Needs adjusting..." She grumbled, picking the piece up from the ground and tinkering with it some more. "No wonder this thing was put in the junk box."

[Mage]

After interrogating the Pig-Mask commander, Ike's face grew grim. "What?! They're about to attack Crimea?!" Crimea, Ike's home and base of operations. Where princess Elincia and Mist were...its about to be under siege by the Pig-Mask army.

"If you hurry, you might be able to make it...but then again, by the time you get there the entire kingdom will be under our control!" He taunted, which caused Ike to punch him out.

Putting his sword away, he started walking away from the useless man. "I'd better hurry, before its too late..." Ike ended up leaving town as fast as possible.

After all the chaos, Laharl looked to Zero smirking. "Your entering the competition as well, eh? Just another fun enemy that will end up under my shoe on my path to the top!" He pointed in a direction. "Come, Pikachu! We're of to the glory of battle! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" With all these great enemies around, this really got Laharl's adrenaline rushing....only one problem. "Where the heck IS city hall?" He looked back at Pikachu, knowing he'd know.

[Topaz Mutiny]

Pikachu bounded up to Laharl when he heard he was being called, smiling excitedly (after all, that evil laugh was rather contagious). When Laharl stated that he still needed guidance to City Hall, the yellow mouse stood straight and saluted.

"Piiikachu!" he stated, then bounded off INTO THE SUNSET towards City Hall.

[AnT]

The young boy shrugged, waving Zero to follow as he walked down the sidewalk. "Seems that everyone is heading to City Hall. If you want, you can follow us."

The girl 'humphed', but mostly at Laharl as she followed her friend. "Yeah...maybe help us keep an eye on Bunny-Ears."

[Stoney]

Zero glanced at Protoman. "The Laws are obsolete. Reploids use their own moral codes to restrain their behavior, just like humans."

He paused. "Of course, reploids are just as prone to ignoring their consciences as humans are, which is why the Maverick Hunters existed; a police force of Reploids, designed to fight Reploid crime."

He gazed up at the sky. "I was a member of that organization once, though I do not remember much of it. X was my partner."



Zero focused on Seth as the boy spokee. "I would appreciate that." He turned to follow the Pokémon Trainers, but paused to glance back at Protoman one last time.

"You should return to Dr. Light's lab if you need repairs. It is no more than fifty miles from here, north by northwest -- an easy teleport distance." He nodded. "It was nice to meet you. Rest assured that I'll be back for both you and Dr. Light once I win the tournament."

Then he turned and began walking away.

[xenomina]

"Hmph," Samus responded under her breath. "Looks like a lot of hot shots this year." She looked to Protoman before passing off the part she was toying with. "As soon as you've made repairs, we should go and sign up ourselves."

[Vize Viper]

With a pointed glare at Zero's back at the mention of Dr. Light, Protoman glances down at his chest, and nudges one part into place, wincing once more, before closing his chest panel back up.

"So "Dad" is here too, huh? I'd rather die than go to him for repairs." The red android stood, glancing at Samus out of the corner of his eye.

"Then let's get going, Aran."

[xenomina]

Samus winced at Protoman calling her by her last name. No one called her by it unless it was following her first name. Samus was fine, Sammy was a little more annoying, but she still preferred it over...well, this. Nodding back to Protoman, she quickly gathered her things and placed them back in her ship.

It was not long before she reemerged in her power suit. She had just wanted to let it air out a bit before she'd have to hop back in for a eight or so hours. She hated to admit it, but even with the cooling unit, she had a tendency to sweat like a hog in more intense situations. She motioned to the bioroid to follow her as her ship flew off back to it's usual parking place in the docking port.