Smash City: Charge It!

[Vize Viper]

Needing to respond to a conversation partially directed at him, and a reploid that was damaged wouldn't be a problem, since he could put off the reploid for the moment... until he realized something when he looked down at the koopa.

That... was not coolant. So first, Zero turned to X.

"Past that med kit over here, would ya?" He asked, although a moment later he'd SWIPED it, and was getting out some gauze to make into a bandage.

While he did this, he glanced up at Link, having taken in the conversation between the two of them.

"So he belong to you or something?"

Roll just nodded in response to X, wondering why he seemed to... startled? No... He looked like someone'd walked on his grave.

"Yeah, Roll Light." The girl glanced at Shelly and Zero, and finally confirmed what the Koopa no doubt had REALLY suspected earlier.

"DLN-002, Roll. I'm one of Dr. Thomas' Light's creations. I'm a little surprised you haven't heard a little about me."

Of course, there WAS the fact that half the papers that saw her claimed she HAD to be human. She didn't act robotic enough.

But that'd been the idea.

[Sortie]

She...hadn't just said that. There was no possible way she could be who she said she was. None. It just couldn't... be... She wasn't...my... He didn't have a...sister...

In the jumbled mess that now only vaguely resembled a functioning CPU, another thought fought its way to the surface--how does she not know who I am? X was not just famous. Saving the world eight times and helping to create an entirely new species doesn't make you known by a lot of people--it makes you known by everyone. Out of all the things that had happened so far that day, this is the one thing that managed to make the least sense. Someone claiming to be related to him but acting like he didn't exist. He had to be hallucinating, or....something.

His blank gaze morphed into an intense stare. "No...no, you can't be. I don't...I don't have a sister."

[SHM 128 III]

Shelly remained quiet as Zero prepared to patch up her wound, listening as Roll confirmed once and for all her... not-quite-human condition.

"... ... ..."

[Stoney]

“Hmm?” Link looked up at Zero for a moment in surprise, before waving his arms in a dismissive gesture. “Oh, no no no, he's not my pet or anything. We're just...” He paused for a second before chuckling nervously. “I want to say that we're just friends, but I think he might consider me as more of a potential meal than anything else.”

---

"PARU!" Kirby spokee up suddenly as if to agree, as he gave Link a happy smile and went back to playing with his Z-Saber.

---

Link watched in amazement as the Dreamlander swing his laser sword around. THAT must be what the hilt on Zero's back was for. Imagine, a sword made of light...it must be some form of really advanced magic.

He turned to the Reploid and pointed a single gauntleted finger straight up. “All I really know about him is that his name is Kirby, and he comes from up there; beyond the sky, in the region where the stars dwell. I met him last year during a war that engulfed most of this area.”

He patted the little puffball on the head, being careful to avoid the sword. Kirby responded by snuggling against his leg. “He's mostly harmless; not a mean bone in his body or any bones for that matter, he just sometimes gets confused about what is and isn't edible. See that replica of your hat he's wearing? It's some sort of copying ability he uses that lets him mimic people's abilities.” And what abilities they are, he added mentally.

He blinked as Roll announced that she was...a creation? What an odd way to refer to her father...

Link coughed into a fist in an attempt to get everyone's attention once again. “Anyway...I'm not one-hundred-percent sure where we are right now, but it kinda reminds me of Smash City...I haven't ever seen this many stores together anywhere else.” He gave X and Zero a couple of swift appraising looks, his eyes scanning them up and down. “I dunno what kind of law enforcement the city is hiring these days, but you guys sure seem to fit the bill with that weird armor. So...” He inclined his head in the direction of the wounded shoppers. “There you go, lots of civilians to save. We can ask each other questions afterwards.”

He began to walk towards the nearest of the injured people, pulling another of his bottles out. He frowned at the tiny container; he didn't have many full bottles left, and the ingredients for potions were hard to come by. He'd have to make due with what he had.

“I dunno what that attack was just now,” He spokee to the others over his shoulder as he bent down to examine the injured person. “It looked familiar, though...like I've seen it elsewhere before.”

Actually, it kinda reminded him of Samus. That was silly, though...he wouldn't claim to be an expert on her mind, but he at least knew the bounty hunter well enough to understand that she'd never use such powerful weapons outside of a battle unless she was attacked, and even then she'd refrain from civilian casualties at all costs...besides, he'd seen her just earlier that day, and she was nowhere near the city at the time.

Link narrowed his eyes. No...this was the work of something else, something new, and it made him uneasy.

[Vize Viper]

X's reaction caught the girl a little off guard. What was he talking about, a sister? For him to think that, he'd have to be...

"Are you... were you built by my Dad too?" Roll asked, almost hesitantly. It was... at least slightly possible, he DID look like Mega Man, and she suspected his hair would be similar too under that helmet... But she'd NEVER seen him before, and she would've known if her father was building another android...

He wouldn't hide a sibling from them, would he?

Then again... he hadn't brought up Blues until Rock met him... With this thought, the girl walked slowly towards X, smiling slightly.

"If you WERE built by Dr. Light, then I'm... I guess I'm your older sister, right? ... And you don't know who I am?" This information saddened her a little, the emotion glancing across her face for a brief moment. Although to some small degree she was... a little jealous.

Dad had claimed he didn't have the expertise to make an android look like a fully grown human. Yet here was this... X guy, who looked about 18.

If she could find her way home, she was having a talk with the good doctor.

And the doctor in question had a sudden sense of foreboding.
___________________________________

The red reploid had listened while Link spokee, finishing bandaging up Shelly's head. While it seemed odd that he was so calm about her NOT being a reploid...

He was convinced he was nuts right now, ANYWAY, so he was just going with it till he had more information.

The comments about a war, and being some kind of law enforcement caught his attention though. He'd have to find out more about that war later.

"Actually, we just got here. We're not law enforcement, we're Maverick Hunters. ... Close, but not quite the same." Zero then took a step back from Shelly, giving his bandaging work an appraising eye.

"And you should be set to go." That done, he then turned his attention to the civilians. X could deal with the girl claiming to be a relative.

... Wait, hadn't she had some kind of bird mechaniloid?

And, as if on cue, Beat, who'd gotten flung to the OTHER end of the mall by the shockwaves from that laser, came fluttering back, and landed on Zero's helmet, nestled neatly between his horns.

"KWEE!" He chirped, seeming pleased with his new perch.

His perch, on the other hand, was not amused.

"Someone... get this stupid bird offa me."

[Sortie]

X's eyes never left the girl as she walked toward him.

"I--no, he never said anything about...anyone else..." But how much did those holograms really know? How much were they not telling him? And who was this girl, really? He couldn't just accept that she was who she claimed to be, the approach was too...audacious. Absurd, even. She had acted surprised when he didn't recognize her--and he found the opposite just as strange. Constant recognition was something he'd learned to live with, as long as he was in armor, anyway... Then suddenly, this...it was just... utterly bizarre.

He didn't know what to make of it. He didn't know what to say. She...Roll...was so sincere, even though nothing she said could possibly be true. And even though it couldn't possibly be true...something was scrambling his circuits, keeping him rooted to the spot.

He didn't want to call it hope.

[SHM 128 III]

"Thank you, Zero," Shelly replied before turning to Link, "and yeah, this is Smash City. Me and Roll were going shopping when all Hell broke loose, first with that crocidile and then... well..."

The koopa figured that what happened next didn't need to be described. Instead she walked over and joined Roll in on her conversation with X.

"Okay, let me get this straight... Besides Link, Kirby, and me, is anyone here organic?"

[Stoney]

Link tuned most of the conversation out as he removed a small cloth from his pouch. Uncorking the potion bottle with his teeth, he pressed the cloth over the bottle's opening and upended it in a quick motion. Setting the bottle right-side-up on the floor, Link then took the potion-dampened cloth and applied it to the smaller cuts and bruises he could find on the victim lying in front of him.

There was no way he could heal the larger wounds in a superficial manner like this...the person would need to imbibe the potion for that. He couldn't afford to waste the precious liquid, though...

Damn it. Things had been so much easier when all he had to worry about was himself and Midna.

Link frowned a bit as he thought of that name. She was probably out there right now, looking for him; she'd been terrified when they'd met back at the forest, and unless he missed his mark completely she still would be now.

Link's free hand clenched together as he rested in on one knee. What was he still doing here? He had to find Midna. Those knights could handle things here. Why wasn't he out looking for his partner right now?

He stared into the agonized expression of the person below him. It was a woman, middle-aged, still clutching a pair of shopping bags close to her. Her clothes were burnt and torn; soot and scorch marks covered her like the spots on a fungus. A large bloody wound gaped at him from her side; blood was steadily oozing from it onto the ground around her. She was unconscious, but her face still clearly showed the pain she felt.

Link looked at her, REALLY looked at her, and for a moment he didn't see some random victim of circumstance...what he saw was the mother of his best friend Ilia, in pain and begging for help. But then the image projected by his mind faded away, and he was left staring at a stranger.

He could no more abandon these people than he could abandon his own village, the family that had raised him. But...he couldn't help this person without sacrificing his supplies. He needed his supplies to continue his journey. He had to continue his journey to return home. If he couldn't return home, he'd be abandoning his village.

Link's fists clenched tighter. They trembled.

Din sear it all.

“Here,” He murmured to the woman, lifting the bottle to her lips. “Drink this.”

She probably couldn't hear him, but he tilted the bottle up anyway and let the liquid pour into her mouth. He gently massaged the outside of her throat at the same time, forcing her to swallow. After two gulps he removed the bottle and recorked it, examining the smaller amount of potion inside with dismay.

As he stood up to move on to the next victim, the woman's blood reversed course and fled back into her body as the wound magically sealed itself shut; the only damage left was to her clothing. All of this happened in plain view of the robots and Koopa; Link didn't bother to hide it.

“Maverick Hunters, huh?” The Hylian repeated the one tidbit of info he'd caught from the conversation. “Never heard of 'em. Is it some secret order of knights?”

[Vize Viper]

Zero just sighed, deciding to just try shooing Beat off his head, which to his surprise worked, before he moved towards one of the other victims nearby... and paused, staring as he watched a woman basically pull herself back together after she drank... something Link gave her.

Some kind of nanotechnology? The red reploid then glanced up at Link himself as the Hylian asked about the Maverick Hunters.

No... just LOOKING at him made it obvious he wouldn't have any sort of technology like that... But that would mean that that was some kind of... magic potion?

Riiiiiight. Deciding to leave that question unanswered, the blonde finished patching up some of the more vital wounds the man in front of him was sporting, surprised to not find any broken bones.

"Knights? ... No, not really.We fight Mavericks, rogue Reploids like us who try to hurt humans. We prefer bringing them in alive." Or at least X does. "But more often than not we have to 'retire' them." The way he said it, though... made it sound like putting down a wild animal.

____________________

Roll, meanwhile, only glanced towards Shelly, before returning her attention to X.

"I--no, he never said anything about...anyone else..." Who was "He"? Could he mean Dr. Light? ... But that brought the question back to why Dr. Light wouldn't tell THEM, Her and Rock, about this X. This was... very odd, and it was getting Roll's CPU heated up just trying to work it out.

"X, I don't know what your story is, but... maybe if I can find my way back home to Dad, I can take you with me? Maybe you took some sort of damage to your memory that was never repaired."

Of course, Beat took that moment to land on X's head, and peck his helmet once.

Very. Hard. The reason why was known only to Beat. But the sound was VERY loud.

Causing Roll to yell at the bird, trying to call him down off X's helmet.

"BEAT! Bad bird! You come here right now!"

_______________________

Of course, while this was happening, Zero had moved onto a second victim, before a crazy thought struck him, one that HAD to be addressed. So, he turned, pausing in his administration of first aid, to call to Roll.

"Hey... Roll, right? What year is it?" Zero had a feeling he was just being stupid, but if nothing else he could blame it on heat damage. Or his twisted sense of humor.

So imagine his surprise when Roll, without missing a beat (except the one she was trying to get off Zero's partner), glanced over.

"2026, why?"

Cue the blank stare from Zero... followed shortly by denial.

"No it's not... It's 2176... unless." The red swordsman then groaned softly as he realized he was stuck (or so he thought) in his LEAST favorite "plotline" EVER.

"Oh god how I hate time travel..."

[Sortie]

X frowned a little at Roll's insinuation that his memory was faulty. True, he couldn't remember anything prior to being activated in Light's abandoned lab, but he had just assumed he'd never been awake before that. Maybe--wait. Find him? She meant one of his capsules, right? The real Doctor Light was dead. There was no way around that.

Before he could come up with any theories, or answer, a deafening, metallic ping reverberated through his skull for the second or third time that day. He could almost swear he felt something rattling around in there. With a wince, X reflexively grabbed his helmet to stop the vibrations and--suddenly, the dreamlike qualities of the situation evaporated. Whatever was going on, it was real enough, and he had been neglecting people in need. Inwardly he cursed himself, feeling for a moment like a complete rookie.

It was at this point that he realized he no longer had any medkits. He looked over to Zero, who had apparently taken one of them and begun treating victims. And Zero asked his question.

And Roll answered him.

And even though things started to seem really crazy again, X just gave up and said, "We're going to need more medical supplies. Anyone volunteer to raid the first aid station?"

[SHM 128 III]

Cue a pause from Shelly as she looked between Roll and Zero.

"2026? 2176?... That isn't possible... This World has only been around for four years now!"

She just couldn't figure it out. Whenever someone was brought into This World, they usually still had the culture and quirks of whatever time and place they came from, but they were often well aware of what things were like around here. The Master Hand made sure of it. But Roll and these two guys acted very confused, as though they weren't even aware of where they were. That just wasn't possible. Unless...

... Unless they were like Solid Snake and Sonic the Hedgehog.

"None of you are... Actually from This World, are you?" the koopa finally asked.

[Stoney]

“Not knights or law enforcement?” Link muttered to himself. “Reploids? Retire? What?” The cryptic code words made little sense to him. He sighed, bending down to administer potion to another injured man as he questioned the wisdom of having gotten out of bed that morning.

He opened his ears up to the conversation again...the results were puzzling at best. Roll sounded like she knew the blue guy, go figure. The confusion over what year it was made him blink, since as Shelly mentioned, This World was still quite young.

Something wasn't adding up about these people. A slow suspicion was dawning in his mind as he began putting the puzzle pieces together. Shelly's question all but confirmed it.

Link stood back up again and turned to stare at the armored men and Roll in surprise. “You guys...you're Newcomers?”

He suddenly began to laugh. “THAT explains it! Oh man, and here I was really confused for a second.”

He grinned at Zero. “You guys must come from a really crazy world if you dress like that. I'm guessing the Reploids are your substitute for humans? Kinda like the Hylians on my world.” He walked over to the red-armored robot and gave him a friendly slap on the back, ignoring the sting in his hand that resulted. “I'm gonna save you a whole lot of headache right now and tell you that you're not on your own world anymore. In fact, nobody here is. We've all been kidnapped from our own worlds and brought here by a couple of demigods.”

He looked at X and Roll...letting his gaze linger on the latter for a second longer than necessary. “Time Travel of a sort isn't unheard of here; people have been kidnapped from different time lines on their own worlds and all brought here at once. Apparently one of my ancestors was walking around here up 'til recently...” He winked at X and Roll. “You guys might be long-lost relatives too, for all I know.”

His grin became lopsided as he thumped a fist against his chest. “I've been trying to find a way off this place and back to my own world for about a year now. You're all welcome to join me if you like, since you'll probably be needing a guide anyway.”

A moan from behind him earned his attention again; he coughed, turning back to the injured people. “But, uh, first we take care of the people here. I've only got a little potion on me though.”

He was in the process of walking over to the man he'd been examining when an idea struck him like a thunderbolt. “Um...Miss Koopa?” Link turned to Shelly. “Could you see if there's a phone nearby? The Smash Inn should be able to help us out.” He paused, looking at the number of injured and trying to do a headcount. "Tell them...uh, tell them to bring A LOT of healers."

[Vize Viper]

Zero took in everything Link told him, hiking an eyebrow as the explanation continued, talking about "Newcomers", Demigods, future and past timelines, and long-lost relatives. And in fact, he barely registered the slap on the back from the Hylian, but his offer to travel with them seemed like a good idea.

But X had wondered about his family for most of his life... And if they split up, they could cover more ground... Bingo.

"Hey, X! Why don't you go with Roll and Shelly, and I'll go with Link here once we're done patching these people up. We can cover more ground that way."

_______________________________

Roll nodded to X as he asked about someone raiding the first aid station, and was about to take off to do so as Zero made his suggestion, and turned back towards X, almost looking hopeful. If he WAS some kind of long-lost relative, or one from the future, she'd like to see her DAD'S reaction to meeting him... and besides, this guy seemed more like Rock than Blues. ... And she could stand a lot more people being like Rock.

And as for Beat... he was quite happy fluttering above Roll, before he landed on her shoulder, as if he HADN'T just assaulted the blue armored man in front of the girl.

"Kwee!"

[Sortie]

X's mind took a moment to process the new information, re-organizing itself seamlessly to deal with the deluge of apparent nonsense. He wouldn't believe any of it without further proof...but he wanted to believe Roll was telling the truth. If she was, it made everything else seem more likely, somehow. If he could have a sister, why not time travel? Alternate worlds? Demigods? Sure it was terrible logic, but at the moment, he didn't care.

So yes, okay, fine. Those were all things that could be safely ignored for the moment. Help the injured first, headache later.

He nodded at Zero's suggestion. "Good idea. Roll, Shelly," he looked to each of them, " we need to get more supplies. The first aid station should have a phone as well, so we can call for backup when we get there." As he spokee, X had been scanning the area for a mall map, and sure enough, there was one just a few paces behind him. A quick examination revealed two such stations on their level, each at either end of the building.

"Link, Zero, head down head down that way," he pointed, indicating the direction from which he'd recently returned. "There's a station near the end. We'll be going this way," he started walking, and gestured for the two girls to follow.

[SHM 128 III]

Shelly nodded.

"Sure thing, X. We don't have to wait there to call for help, though."

The koopa reached into her hammerspace shell and pulled out... what looked like another, smaller koopa shell. However, she quickly began pressing what looked like buttons on the underside and put it against her head.

... Shell phone. Of course.

"Hello? Yes? 911 Emergency? Yeah, you're probably getting phone calls all over the place right now, but..."

And Shelly began explaining the situation over the phone as best she could while she followed X.