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Default Mega Man: The Light of Will (Updates Tue/Fri/Sun)   #1  
Author's Notes:

The frame story is intended to be set in 22XX with the unearthing of the ruins of one of Dr. Wily's labs. My goal is to present this in a "found footage" style, primarily in the form of newsreels, experiment logs, and journal entries, possibly with some exposition by the archaeologists reflecting on what the new information adds to the known history. That said, given the constraints of NaNoWriMo I'm not going to waste time editing the material into that style during the contest; if it comes out in the right style, yay, but if it doesn't I'm just going to leave it and come back and fix it in editing.

I write very non-linearly. My habit is to write the scenes as I'm inspired for them and then go back and organize them and tie them together with segues and exposition. I intend to post a scene every day, but they probably won't be in order for people reading along. I'll be maintaining a parallel "story only" thread that I WILL keep in publication order.

Acknowledgements:

This story is heavily inspired by The Megas. It was originally conceived as a novelization of Get Equipped and History Repeating, trying to tie together the stories told in the lyrics with an original idea I had for Dr. Wily's underlying strategy. A lot of the characterization of the Robot Masters draws from how they're characterized in the songs.

I owe my knowledge of the Green Lantern setting to With This Ring by Mr Zoat. I'm not going to be sticking with any specific canon, but I've barely read/seen any of the source material, so basically everything I know is drawn from there. I don't currently intend to actually use any DC Comics characters or any of Mr Zoat's OCs, except possibly in passing.

Finally, I want to acknowledge The Infinite Loops. I don't believe I'm actually drawing anything from that setting (at least not consciously) but Fused Loops are what inspired me to consider writing about crossover AUs in an episodic format.

Word count: 166 (the Acknowledgements section is going in the final product)
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-01-2017, 05:22 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #2   Coda Coda is offline
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This is the updates / discussion thread. I'll be making a separate "story-only" thread for a linear readthrough without discussion posts getting in the way.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
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Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-01-2017, 06:06 PM Reply With Quote  
trystan830 trystan830 is online now
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Default   #3  
linear readthroughs are for wimps. XD



currently reading: Cold Curses by Chloe Neill (#20) | currently watching: Severance
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Old Posted 11-01-2017, 06:17 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #4   Coda Coda is offline
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SUBJECT: A new form of energy?!
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: February 18, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid


The blue-tinted, glowing hologram powers up to reveal Dr. Wily looking even more wild than usual. The infamous scientist is clearly excited about something, barely able to restrain himself.

"I have made the most astounding discovery," he exclaims breathlessly in his German-influenced accent. "It's revolutionary! Profound! I can't even begin to imagine all of the possibilities!"

He paces back and forth in front of the camera, catching his breath and trying to put on a more professional attitude for the sake of the recording. "I will start at the beginning." He gestures with both hands in the air, causing the computer to project a holographic window onto the air beside him. The window displays clips from footage of various fights between Mega Man and Dr. Wily's Robot Masters.

"Last year, six of my creations were destroyed by this so-called 'Mega Man.' This caused a setback in my experiment, but the logs of the encounters still yielded useful data. Based on its resemblance to DLN-001, the attacker was clearly one of Thomas's creations." When Wily says the model number, the computer projecting the archival holovid automatically opens windows displaying schematics and specifications for model DLN-001 "Rock".

"My hypothesis was that it WAS DLN-001 with a combat retrofit, so I started researching what changes Thomas must have made." Parts of schematics blink as the computer identifies the differences between the capabilities and construction of the original design and the evidence gathered from the footage. "The weapon system was surprising at first because Thomas was never good at making weapons, but it seems that he repurposed the Variable Tool System so that he could use MY weapons instead. I don't know whether to respect his resourcefulness or be ashamed that the old fool didn't have the talent to do better on his own."

The comparison window starts to highlight some errors in red as Wily continues. "But even taking that into account, my model still diverged from the behaviors that 'Mega Man' demonstrated, so I started an evolutionary search algorithm to try to reconstruct the changes to DLN-001's architecture. And that's when I made the discovery."

The schematics and archival footage disappear, replaced with a video showing a table full of small, identical-looking circuit boards. At first, the only motion is the blurred spin of cooling fans. Then one of the processors in the cluster starts to glow green and Dr. Wily rushes into the scene to disconnect the power, looking panicked.

"The old fool didn't know what he had stumbled upon! After verifying that the test apparatus was undamaged, I tuned the search algorithm to optimize for the effect. What I discovered is that this green energy is produced by -- and more importantly, INFLUENCED by -- a certain kind of INTELLIGENCE!"

The old scientist's expression is turning manic again as he approaches the conclusion, unable to contain his excitement any longer. "Imagine it, an energy field that can be manipulated just by thinking about it the right way! So many possibilities... A shortcut to neural interfaces! AI-driven remote manipulation! Maybe if I couple it with the right focusing apparatus... I have to investigate this in more depth!"

The holovid cuts off abruptly as Wily abandons the recording to dive into his mad science.

Word Count: 556
Total Words: 772
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-02-2017, 06:26 PM Reply With Quote  
Coda Coda is offline
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Default   #5  
SUBJECT: Re: A new form of energy?!
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: February 20, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


Further experimentation revealed multiple local maxima. So far discovered 7 distinct spectral peaks distributed unevenly across visual spectrum. (Investigate: Infrared? Ultraviolet? Non-photonic energy signatures?) Provisionally labeling peaks as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet based on nearest classical color names. (Investigate: Violet field has single distinct spectral line when analyzed but appears magenta (which would have two lines) to naked eye. Psychovisual effect? Retinal interference?)

Informal experiment: Attempt to manipulate energy fields with personal thought patterns. Green field demonstrated most visible results. Orange field also responded but more difficult to achieve specific response.

Difficult to analyze results. Genetic algorithm yielded highly optimized code with no obvious human-readable structure. Trying to reverse engineer. May need to use empirical methods instead. Will follow up with holovid.

To do: Write academic paper. Submit when governmental interference is no longer an issue. Peer review probably unlikely. Going to need to do real-world validation instead.



SUBJECT: Re (2): A new form of energy?!
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: February 20, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid


Dr. Wily's terse note-taking style is in distinct contrast to the verbosity of his holovid recordings. The attached video is taken from a hand-held camera, so his energetic pacing is only visible as a bobbing of the picture within the capsule. If he looked manic in the video two days prior, now he looks like he's fallen far into the madness of inspiration, with unkempt hair and wide eyes.

"I have no idea what I'm working with! As a scientist that's EXCITING! Truly remarkable, I'm the first to ever research this. What kinds of experiments can I run to learn more about this? As I said in my notes, I may need to use empirical methods, because looking over the data isn't telling me much of anything. There are clearly qualitative differences between the evolved AIs, but I can't pinpoint the distinction from this mess of numbers.

"I tried connecting a couple of the AIs to a chat terminal, but what do you ask an experimental program with no relationship to known phenomena? Hmm. Maybe I'll build some new Robot Masters and run one AI in each one. One more with my normal AI foundation as an experimental control. Set them up to interact with the world and see what personalities evolve. I don't know what to expect! It makes me giddy to think about it!

"I'm trying not to think about the philosophical implications of this discovery. Can't afford to get distracted when there's so much work to be done." He pauses as a thought strikes him. "I need to think about what to name it! I'm the rightful discoverer! Calling it 'The Glow' feels too unscientific. 'The Wily Effect'? Maybe. I do like the sound of 'the green Wily field'." He shakes his head, dismissing the thought as he realizes it's exactly the kind of off-topic train of thought he was trying to avoid. "Science first, Albert! Learn what it does, THEN name it."

The crazed grin on his face turns a little more wicked.

"Time to design some robots."

The holovid shuts off.


Word Count: 942
Total Words: 1714

Well, I'm caught up for day 1, right in time for midnight of day 3 to start.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-03-2017, 01:25 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #6   Coda Coda is offline
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SUBJECT: Mark II Robot Masters
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: February 27, 20XX
FORMAT: Rich Text with attachments


Serial numbers assigned in order of implementation, not design.

DWN-009 "Metal Man"
Primary weapon system: Metal Blade
Chassis type: Agility-Balanced
Spectral peak: N/A (control)

To minimize unpredictable variables in the control, I have derived DWN-009 from the design of DLN-003 "Cut Man". The code has been audited for backdoors and overrides that may have been inserted by Dr. Light during our collaboration. The underlying chassis has been demonstrated to exhibit flexible, precision movement in combat situations without excessively sacrificing robustness.

The Metal Blade uses the same ceramic titanium alloy as the Rolling Cutter with a profile more specifically optimized for use as a weapon instead of industrial logging. The returning function has been abandoned as collateral damage is not expected to be an operational priority. Instead, the Metal Blade is spin-stabilized and has higher linear velocity and a more effective cutting edge.

DWN-010 "Air Man"
Primary weapon system: Air Shooter
Chassis type: Integrated
Spectral peak: Red

DWN-010 is the prototype for my new "Integrated" chassis design. The number of mechanical weak points is reduced by removing the head as a distinct component and avoiding abdominal joints. While this reduces the Robot Master's flexibility, it provides a robust carriage for armor and large or heavy weapons.

In the case of DWN-010, the chassis carries a powerful turboprop engine. The primary weapon, Air Shooter, is a vortex generator that produces semisolid tornadoes that the turboprop can then propel. With luck, DLN-001's Variable Weapon System will be unable to replicate the full effect of the divided system.

DWN-011 "Bubble Man"
Primary weapon system: Bubble Lead
Chassis type: Aquatic
Spectral peak: Blue

In the interest of seeing how the algorithmically evolved AIs perform in varying environments, DWN-011 is optimized for aquatic locomotion. The chassis is equipped with control fins, ballast tanks, and a pair of propulsion turbines to provide full three-dimensional submarine mobility.

The weapon system is also designed for underwater use. The Bubble Lead creates bubbles with high surface tension that are drawn to solid surfaces, rapidly collapsing on impact to cause cavitation shock. The aquatic chassis incorporates defenses against this weapon to prevent collateral damage.

DWN-012 "Quick Man"
Primary weapon system: Quick Boomerang
Chassis type: Agility-Light
Spectral peak: Orange

DWN-012's chassis is the lightest robot body I have ever constructed. This will provide the Robot Master with superior ground speed, jumping ability, and maneuverability. While this required sacrificing defensive armor, the gain in evasion is expected to overcome the lack of durability.

The Quick Boomerang is intended to capitalize further on this design. It does not need to be fired directly at a target as each projectile is able to reorient its trajectory in flight. It is also a very efficient weapon, intended to be launched in salvos to make evasion more difficult. Projectiles that do not impact a target may be captured for reuse, extending the weapon's ability to sustain salvo operations.

DWN-013 "Crash Man"
Primary weapon system: Crash Bomber
Chassis type: Heavy
Spectral peak: Green

DWN-013 is built using the same power plant and drive motors as DLN-004 "Guts Man" and the same armor as DLN-006 "Bomb Man" on a smaller chassis. The improved power-to-weight ratio and blast resistance should solve the problems exhibited by the original DLN-004 design.

Instead of using the same ordnance as DLN-006, the Crash Bomber is a multiple warhead payload attached to an armor-piercing housing. While this is less useful than the Hyper Bomb for clearing large areas it should be much more effective against armored targets.

DWN-014 "Flash Man"
Primary weapon system: Time Stopper
Chassis type: Balanced
Spectral peak: Violet

Just in case Thomas has had an unexpected insight about combat robot design, DWN-014 is built around the same chassis and armor design as the modified DLN-001 and similar to its predecessor DLN-000 "Proto Man". While the design lacks any specialized advantages, this is a versatile configuration that can deal with most environments.

Instead of an offensive weapon system, DWN-014's Time Stopper is a tactical device enabling localized time manipulation. This is derived from research undertaken during my collaboration with Dr. Light, but I was able to solve the problems that had resulted in the project being shelved before. At full power, this device should allow DWN-014 to stop events around it to allow time to gain a tactical advantage.

DWN-015 "Heat Man"
Primary weapon system: Atomic Fire
Chassis type: Custom
Spectral peak: Yellow

This chassis had to be designed from the ground up to accommodate the extreme temperatures of the weapon systems integrated into it. It includes additional shielding that can be lowered to enclose the head, which is otherwise the only unshielded part of the body for the purposes of sensor installation.

The Atomic Fire uses an energy condensation technology similar to standard military plasma cannons, but it is powered by a high-output nuclear reactor. With the head shielding lowered, the weapon is even capable of encapsulating DWN-015 inside a semisolid fireball, which should be overwhelming in close-quarters combat.

(Let's just see DLN-001 try to copy this weapon without any shielding!)

DWN-016 "Wood Man"
Primary weapon system: Leaf Shield
Chassis type: Custom
Spectral peak: Indigo

This is one of my earlier chassis designs. That old fool Thomas ridiculed it because it's made of hardwood. However, this construction makes it resistant to many common forms of attack, including electric, magnetic, low-yield explosive, and blunt force. It includes a small amount of nonferrous metallic plating for additional structural integrity.

To cover its weaknesses, I have paired the chassis with the Leaf Shield, a set of ceramic titanium plates that can be manipulated magnetically for both defensive and offensive purposes. These are particularly effective against condensed energy weapons, and DWN-016 should be nearly invulnerable when deploying the Leaf Shield defensively.

AI Design Notes:

All of the Mark II Robot Masters are running a standard set of control and monitoring programs. The monitoring programs will allow me to maintain remote telemetry, observe the behavior of the Robot Masters, and keep experiment logs to record as much data as possible. The control programs are intended to provide a failsafe, as the algorithmically evolved AI programs will not have behavior that I can predict based on existing data.

Word Count: 1087
Total Words: 2801
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-03-2017, 04:11 AM Reply With Quote  
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Default   #7  
SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-013
AUTHOR: DWN-013 "Crash Man"
DATE: June 11, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


The holovid starts off showing Crash Man pacing restlessly. Little else is visible aside from a sealed blast door set into the metal walls. The walls are pockmarked and scorched from cluster bomb detonations. Various windows open alongside the recording, displaying logs and readouts as well as a copy of Dr. Wily's notes about the encounter.

A few seconds into playback, the blast door grinds open far enough for Mega Man to slip inside before it slams closed again. Crash Man stands still, turning to face the hero but not raising his weapon. Mega Man hesitates, uncertain if he should engage, but then green light starts to shine through the seams and joints in Crash Man's armor and the Robot Master jumps back across the room, launching a salvo of bombs that clamp onto surfaces around the room for a couple seconds before bursting in a series of explosions. Mega Man avoids the brunt of the attack, but the scatter effect of the cluster bombs leaves him damaged even from the indirect hit.

Crash Man lands heavily on the ground and seizes up, not moving at all as Mega Man returns fire with a barrage of shots from his arm cannon. But as soon as Mega Man hesitates again, he jumps into the air. Mega Man doesn't give him a chance to fire the Crash Bomber again, his armor changing to blue and white to intercept the jump with a rising tornado from the Air Shooter.

The two robots exchange a few more similar volleys before suddenly Crash Man goes completely dark, the green light completely extinguished and the spinning drills of his weapon slowing to a halt. Mega Man has already launched another flurry of tornadoes in anticipation of another strike, and they batter Crash Man's unresisting chassis across the room, smashing it into the reinforced wall.

The holovid ends while Mega Man is walking over to his fallen opponent.



SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log: DWN-013
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: June 11, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


DWN-013 proved to be difficult to work with. While its ability to manipulate the green light met expectations, its personality developed to be stubborn and oppositional. I had hoped to direct these traits in a productive direction but DWN-013 appeared to resent being given orders.

Fortunately, the AI does not seem to have evolved an understanding of reverse psychology, and I was able to make DWN-013 lure DLN-001 into the prepared combat zone by highlighting a series of targets that I claimed to want defended. DWN-013 attacked the facilities as predicted, but I did not anticipate that it would attempt to engage DLN-001 in dialogue. I was forced to engage the control failsafe and manually direct it to the combat zone. This caused a surge in green energy density, so I sealed the blast door to keep it contained and disabled the control program.

DWN-013 did not voluntarily engage DLN-001 after the blast door was breached. I reengaged the control program at this point. The recording shows what happened after that, but at the end, DWN-013 voluntarily forced a shutdown instead of allowing the control program to remain active.

The telemetry from the algorithmically evolved AIs has been frustratingly difficult to make sense of even in the best cases so far, but this log is even more inscrutable than the rest. Did DWN-013 intentionally obfuscate it?

Further investigation into the green light will need to be conducted more carefully.




SUBJECT: Robot Master Attacks Ongoing
AUTHOR: Plum, CPS Television Network
DATE: June 11, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


"Explosions rocked the Cliffside industrial district today in the wake of yet another Robot Master attack. Information from Light Labs identifies the Robot Master's name as 'Crash Man.' Witnesses fleeing the scene described the attacker as exhibiting erratic behavior, even lowering his weapons to talk to Mega Man when he arrived. Security footage shows Crash Man suddenly freezing in place during this conversation, then glowing bright green and launching explosives before fleeing the scene. Not much else is known as Crash Man sealed the building behind him and did not come back out before Mega Man gained entry.

"Light Labs declined to answer questions, but we were able to contact Mega Man himself briefly. He expressed concern about Crash Man's behavior and wondered if he might have been compelled to act as he did, perhaps related to the green glow. Mega Man didn't go into further detail, leading us to wonder how a Robot Master built by Dr. Wily would have to be compelled to fight.

"This marks the seventh Robot Master attack in the last month, exceeding last year's rash of six attacks."

Word Count: 808
Total Words: 3609
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-04-2017, 01:40 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #8   Coda Coda is offline
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SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-009
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 12, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


The holovid is lit up with night-vision contrast amplification, showing Metal Man firing off a series of Metal Blades to slice open an entrance in the middle of a wall. Once through the new opening, Metal Man goes to work methodically cutting through the various fabrication systems, leaving a trail of wreckage behind him.

The familiar blip of teleportation announces Mega Man's arrival on the scene. Action potentials in the telemetry spike as Metal Man recognizes the threat and switches to combat priority, surprising Mega Man with a high-speed opening shot that grinds against the hero's hastily-raised gauntlet before deflecting off and embedding itself in the ceiling. Only then does Metal Man taunt, "The Doctor sends his regards!"

Mega Man doesn't respond, concentrating on sidestepping the follow-up attack, and he returns fire with his Mega Buster, but Metal Man jumps over the plasma fire and throws three Metal Blades down from above. Mega Man isn't agile enough to dodge all three of them and takes a hit to the helmet that leaves a deep gouge in the metal. The aggressive attacks have put Mega Man on his back foot, and Metal Man takes the opportunity to taunt again, "Is that the best you can do? Dr. Light really doesn't know how to build a super fighting robot."

"You won't beat me that easily," his opponent responds, dodging another set of blades and firing off three quick shots meant more to force Metal Man to defend than to deal actual damage. The Robot Master jumps over the attack again and returns fire from the air. This time, Mega Man is more prepared and he only takes a glancing hit to the upper arm -- though the razor teeth of the Metal Blade still manages to rip an ugly, sparking hole in his armor.

The tempo of the battle shifts after that, and Mega Man's past experience fighting Dr. Wily's first batch of repurposed Robot Masters starts to show in how fluid and precise his movements become as he observes Metal Man's fighting style. Metal Man isn't able to land another hit for the rest of the battle, and Mega Man starts leading with his attacks, making sure there's a spray of attacks for Metal Man to land in after each jump.

Eventually, the damage wears Metal Man down, punching a hole through his chest armor and overloading his control circuits. The holovid shuts down in a burst of static as telemetry is lost.


SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log: DWN-009
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 12, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


As expected from the control test, DWN-009 followed all of the instructions assigned to it. DLN-001 appeared as predicted and engaged DWN-009 in combat, resulting in the destruction of the test subject.

The Metal Blade's performance exceeded expectations. The weapon has proved to be very accurate, scoring several hits against DLN-001's armor, providing useful data about the limits of Light's armor technology.

DWN-009's combat programming suffers from the same limitations as the Mark I Robot Masters. The limitations in the pattern recognition subsystem can be exploited to bait the Robot Master into predictable reactions. This is consistent with previous observations and provides a baseline for the remaining Robot Master tests.


SUBJECT: The Return of Dr. Wily?
AUTHOR: CPS Television Network
DATE: May 13, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


A robotic newscaster with wraparound glasses and a tall blue cylindrical helmet in place of hair is sitting at the news desk, looking briefly at his notes before addressing the camera. "According to a press release by Light Labs, the Fujioka Industrial Complex was attacked last night by a Robot Master called Metal Man. The report says that the Robot Master entered shortly before nightfall. Metal Man was spotted by security staff, who called for help. We've sent a field reporter to the site to investigate. Over to you, Plum."

The camera cuts over to a pink-haired robot wearing a white cap and headset and an orange and yellow jacket. "Thank you, Chest. According to an eyewitness report, the Robot Master named Metal Man arrived at the scene around 7:45 PM and began using what was described as oversized buzzsaw blades to destroy the equipment at the fabrication plant. After the call for help went out, Mega Man arrived about two minutes later and evacuated the remaining security staff from the premises before going back in to stop the attack. A Fujioka representative confirms that there were no human casualties and that the property damage is covered by insurance. Back to you, Chest."

The camera cuts back. "Thank you. This attack comes as a surprise after several months of peace and quiet. Light Labs believes that the Robot Master was in fact built by the fugitive scientist Dr. Wily, but no motive for the attack is yet known. We'll bring you more as information arrives."

Word Count: 837
Total Words: 4446
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-04-2017, 11:24 PM Reply With Quote  
Coda Coda is offline
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Default   #9  
SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-014
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 28, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


The chamber visible in the background of the holovid is encrusted with brilliant purple crystal growths. The door has been left wide open. Flash Man is standing on top of the tallest crystal in the center of the room, staring at the door, quietly murmuring, "Come on, Mega Man. Come to me. I'm waiting for you..."

Eventually, Mega Man cautiously enters the room. Flash Man smiles with excitement. "There you are, Mega Man! I've been waiting for you for so long."

Mega Man scowls and brings his Mega Buster to bear. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" the Robot Master replies, jumping down from his perch to land right in front of the other robot. He activates the Time Stopper, and the video jumps ahead. The next thing it shows is Flash Man holding Mega Man's helmet under his arm for a moment before casting it to the side and jumping back.

Mega Man springs into action, running after Flash Man and opening fire. Flash Man jumps again, only taking one hit out of the entire series of shots, spraying back with his own rapid-fire buster and peppering the hero with condensed plasma.

"If that's what you want, then why attack me?" Mega Man asks as he futilely tries to dodge, switching to the Air Shooter in hopes that the upward-rising attack can intercept Flash Man mid-jump.

Flash Man manifests a shield of purple crystal in front of him, and the tornados splash off of it with no visible effect. The crystal falls to the ground and shatters, and Flash Man takes the moment of distraction as an opportunity to trigger the Time Stopper again.

When the video resumes, Mega Man's blue and white armor has been pockmarked all over by buster fire, and chunks of his hair have been scorched off. His armor changes color again, copper and yellow now as he equips the Metal Blade. Flash Man is all the way on the other side of the room, keeping the central crystal pillar interposed between the two combatants.

Mega Man tries jumping on top of the crystals himself to gain the high ground and a clearer line of fire, but he has to fall back to avoid another spray from Flash Man's buster. He protests, "This doesn't even make sense, Flash Man!"

"It's too late now, Mega Man." Flash Man's voice sounds dejected, even though the Robot Master appears to have the advantage in the fight -- he's only taken a single hit. He jumps up to the top of the pillar that Mega Man just retreated from. Mega Man was clearly waiting for that, and he hurls a Metal Blade at Flash Man right as the Robot Master touches down, but another activation of the Time Stopper interrupts the video again.

Flash Man isn't there anymore when the playback continues, and the Metal Blade whizzes across the room and embeds itself in the crystal on the far wall. Instead, Flash Man is behind where Mega Man was standing, with a pair of Metal Blades embedded in his chest. Mega Man himself is turned around to face him, his buster trained on the Robot Master, and he fires one last Metal Blade before the video cuts out in a burst of static.


SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log: DWN-014
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 28, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


DWN-014 is the first of the Mark II Robot Masters to exhibit Wily-effect energy manipulation at scale. It demonstrated the ability to create solid crystals that persist without energy expenditure. This suggests many promising avenues of research for further application of these energy fields.

As for the Time Stopper itself, it appears to work as designed, but the temporal distortions caused a loss of telemetry data. The desynchronization between DWN-014's chronometer and a reference clock indicates how long the effect was active from the user's perspective, but otherwise I have no information about what happened during the weapon's effect period. I should have anticipated this problem and programmed the transponder to record during the weapon effect and transmit the recording afterward. If I can recover DWN-014's memory data from the wreckage I may be able to reconstruct the missing data from that. I will also need to investigate why the effect failed on the third usage.

However, DWN-014 also seems to have developed an obsession with DLN-001. If it hadn't TOYED with that accursed robot of Thomas's it would have been by far the most successful experiment of this set. I wish I understood its thought processes, but as yet I have had minimal progress in analyzing the generated personality routines. Hopefully, recovering the memory data will provide some insight into this as well.


Meanwhile, in 21XX:


X looks up from the archive with a frown on his face and turns to Dr. Cain. "This is two Robot Masters where it looks like we're missing some really important data. Do we have anything else on this from Dr. Light's archives? Maybe Rock himself had some clues."

"I don't know." The elderly scientist shakes his head. "But we can try to find out. It shouldn't be hard to cross-reference."

X nods at this. "Let's go, then." He points at two junior-rank Maverick Hunters nearby who quickly snap to attention. "You're on monitoring duty. Report to us if anything happens here or if any Mavericks come within the perimeter."

"Yes, sir!" The two Hunters salute in unison. X waves them at ease as Dr. Cain adjusts the tele-harness on his wrist, and the two of them vanish in parallel beams of light.

They touch down in the ancient laboratory that once contained X's ethical testing capsule. This was once buried ruins, but X had insisted on restoring it back into serviceable condition. Of course, the facility had been upgraded with modern equipment, and the repairs on the antique computer systems had been especially difficult, but he had wanted to hold onto the only tie he had to his past. And in the end, it had proved to be worth it -- the restored systems contained a wealth of first-hand historical knowledge that had been otherwise lost to the passage of time.

It only takes a few minutes at a terminal for Dr. Cain to find what they were looking for.


SUBJECT: Flash Man - Encounter Log
AUTHOR: Rock [DLN-001]
DATE: May 28, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry + Annotations


In contrast to Dr. Wily's holovids that were assembled from multiple cameras and sensor arrays to build a full three-dimensional reconstruction of the entire room, Mega Man's own recordings only show what he himself could perceive. To be fair, that's a lot of data, and it takes several heads-up displays to show it all: in addition to the main visual feed, windows show directional proximity sensors, directional audio, a 3D model of Mega Man's body reflecting the positioning of his body and the status of his major systems, and a log of annotations that Mega Man himself thought were worth commenting on at the time.

The recording shows Mega Man navigating through what used to be a large warehouse. It appears that Flash Man has renovated it, coating everything in purple crystals. Mega Man ducks behind cover for a moment, then jumps out to blast a sentry turret, and an annotation pops up: "The Robot Master has been here long enough to have called in support."

He drops down through a hole that had been blasted into the floor into the smaller storage rooms below the main warehouse, switching to the Air Shooter in order to knock a Sniper Joe out of its walker mecha before finishing it off with a burst of shots from the Mega Buster. Finally, he sees the doorway into the room Flash Man has prepared as his lair. He takes a moment to mentally gird his loins before guardedly walking inside.

"There you are, Mega Man! I've been waiting for you for so long," pines the Robot Master, visibly starting to radiate violet light.

Mega Man levels his buster at him. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Flash Man jumps down from the pillar of crystals to stand right in front of Mega Man. He suddenly opens up the shutters on his buster and a flash of blinding white light explodes from the emitters inside.

The holovid glitches out and skips forward, showing Flash Man holding Mega Man's helmet under one arm for a fraction of a second before a "TELEMETRY CORRUPTED" error message appears and the whole display freezes. But then another window formatted like an annotation panel appears overlaid on top of the holovid. It contains a fuzzy green video, still from Mega Man's perspective. The audio is muffled and distorted, but Flash Man's voice can still be made out.

"You. Forever." Flash Man gets in close and removes Mega Man's helmet, tucking it under his buster arm before reaching out to run his hand through Rock's thick black hair. "I want time to stop right now, just you and me. Mega Man and Flash Man."

A status light on Flash Man's buster blinks a few times and the Robot Master curses. The annotation window disappears and the holovid resumes with Flash Man throwing the helmet to the ground and jumping away. Mega Man gives chase and lets loose a few buster shots, but he only lands one before he has to fall back in the face of a barrage of counterattacks. He asks, "If that's what you want, then why attack me?"

Flash Man jumps into the air again. Mega Man changes weapons and fires off three Air Shooters to try to intercept, but Flash Man blocks them with a crystal shield. Mega Man glances down to keep track of the shield as it falls, but Flash Man freezes time again at that moment.

"TELEMETRY CORRUPTED"

The green video is slightly clearer this time.

"Because I can't have you," Flash Man spits bitterly as he unleashes a storm of attacks against the helpless blue robot. He jumps back across the room, taking cover behind the pillar before the Time Stopper effect ends and the main video continues.

Mega Man switches to the Metal Blade and tries to take the most direct route across the room, jumping up on the pillars, but Flash Man immediately opens fire as soon as he comes clear of the cover, forcing him to back off.

"This doesn't even make sense, Flash Man!"

From behind the crystals, Flash Man replies, "It's too late now, Mega Man."

Mega Man trains his buster on the crystal summit, preparing for Flash Man's next attack, and when he's not disappointed he lets a Metal Blade fly, but before it can strike home --

"TELEMETRY CORRUPTED"

The green video shows the blade freeze in the air and Flash Man easily leaps over it, taking a wide arc through the air out of Mega Man's field of vision.

"Just give me this last moment here together with you."

Suddenly, the video becomes perfectly clear, the window enlarging to show more of the picture as Mega Man flares bright green and spins around, firing off two Metal Blades that cleanly strike central mass.

The Time Stopper effect switches off abruptly and the main holovid takes over as Flash Man only has enough time to look down at the impact before Mega Man finishes the job with a third shot.

The victor kneels down to touch the fallen Robot Master, briefly turning purple as his Variable Weapon System copies the Time Stopper, and then he teleports away.


SUBJECT: Warehouse Covered in Crystal! Another Robot Master Attack?
AUTHOR: Ripot, CPS Television Network
DATE: May 28, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


"Ripot here, on scene at what appears to be the site of the latest Robot Master attack. Mega Man entered a few minutes ago, and I can hear weapons fire coming from inside. I'm confident that everything is going to be okay here!

"But the big mystery is the purple crystals all over the building." There's a burst of static as Ripot's video feed is briefly disrupted. "Huh. That was weird. I've never seen anything like it, and Light Labs hasn't had a chance to respond to our questions yet."

Another burst of static. "There seems to be some sort of interference in the area, so this reporter is going to fall back for now. We'll bring you more on this story when we hear from Mega Man or Light Labs. This is Ripot, signing off."

Word Count: 2117
Total Words: 6563
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-07-2017, 02:19 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #10   Coda Coda is offline
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Meanwhile, in 21XX:

Dr. Cain seems unsettled by the parts of the story filled in by Rock's perspective. X seems more thoughtful.

"What about Crash Man?" X asks. "There's missing parts of that one, too."

"I'll see if I can pull that up." Dr. Cain scrolls through the archives and selects the appropriate file.


SUBJECT: Crash Man - Encounter Log
AUTHOR: Rock [DLN-001]
DATE: June 11, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry + Annotations


The first part of the holovid shows Mega Man working his way through the industrial district. There are a lot of damaged buildings, and Crash Man has a lot of robots patrolling the area. Mega Man makes liberal use of the Leaf Shield to fend them off, especially when he needs his hands to climb over barriers and fallen machinery.

Finally, he reaches a closed blast door, and one of the telemetry windows indicates a Robot Master energy signature on the other side. With no apparent way to open the door properly, he resorts to forcing it open by pulling up on it with both hands, slipping inside before it slams closed again from its own weight. The telemetry signal strength indicator suddenly drops very low, and an annotation indicates that the recording was reconstructed offline from Mega Man's memory data.

Crash Man turns around to face the door, but he doesn't approach or attack or even raise his weapon. Instead, he only says, "I don't want to have to fight you, Mega Man."

Mega Man lowers his buster slightly, but quickly raises it again when Crash Man shines green, jumping and showering the room with Crash Bombs. The spread of exploding bomblets covers so much space that even moving as far away from the bombs as possible the scattering explosions still scores his armor.

The green light vanishes even before the Robot Master finishes his jump, and he smashes feet-first hard onto the ground, staying completely still. Mega Man doesn't give him the opportunity for another feint like the last one and lets loose a stream of buster shots, but Crash Man doesn't dodge at all. "It doesn't have to be like this," he says, and Mega Man hesitates again.

As soon as that happens, Crash Man glows again and jumps. Mega Man interrupts the attack, switching to the Air Shooter and intercepting the Robot Master in the air. Crash Man fires back after touching the ground, still glowing green instead of stopping like before, and he goes on the offensive. The two robots exchange fire repeatedly, but unexpectedly Crash Man goes completely dark in midair. The telemetry shows Crash Man's systems send one last message and then stop transmitting -- he's forced his own system to shut down. Mega Man's Air Shooter, already in flight, collides with his unresisting chassis to throw him across the room.

An annotation appears, containing the private message from Crash Man: "I can't help you directly, but I can do this for you. Take my weapon. You'll need it to break into Dr. Wily's Skull Fortress."

Word Count: 504
Total Words: 7067
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-09-2017, 02:06 AM Reply With Quote  
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Default   #11  
Epilogue, part 1

(I did say I was going to write nonlinearly! This goes all the way at the end of the story. It doesn't spoil any of the good parts, and I've already shared the contents with the thread anyway. I'll threadmark it as Informational so it doesn't mess with the flow in reader mode.)

SUBJECT: The only thing left to do
AUTHOR: Thomas X. Light
DATE: January 3, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid


Dr. Light appears in a cylindrical hologram above the projector. X finds the sight familiar from the upgrade capsules the elderly doctor had left for him to unearth over the years. But looking at the date and comparing it to his studies of history, he realizes that this must in fact be the first of its kind, as it predates Dr. Wily's creation of Bass.

"My sons have shown me the promise of emotional light technology, but Albert has reiterated the dangers of it time and time again. I still believe with all my heart that it is the key to advancing artificial intelligence.

"I see in the world around me that my Robot Master intelligence core has been a tremendous success because, despite the horrors that Albert has twisted our work into, robots have joined human society at all levels. I was honored when CPS pioneered the use of robots as newscasters; it showed the world that humanoid robots could exist for peaceful, helpful purposes instead of just for fighting. And meeting younger scientists such as the Cossack family that have chosen to work with my technology has brought joy to this old heart.

"But you only have to compare these robots to Rock, my younger son, to see the difference that emotional light technology makes. Those robots may be able to think for themselves and grow beyond their programming, but they settle into routines and patterns, rarely growing beyond their personality matrices.

"But Rock... I did not give him that fire in his heart. I could never have programmed him to have that willpower that he has chosen to embrace. As sorrowed as I was that I had to turn my own son into a weapon of war, I could not have been more proud of his desire to do what was right. And he only has the green light, and that wasn't even intentional. But with that will, he chose to embrace the rest. He has grown to show love and compassion, hopes and fears, desires of his own, and even righteous anger.

"But he is unique. Albert saw that as a failing and spent his efforts trying to overcome the individuality that the emotional lights create. The other scientists have been too afraid to pursue the technology after the atrocities that my former colleague committed with it. And none of my other creations have exhibited Rock's stability and growth.

"I'm an old man. I'm not going to be able to see this through myself. But if I die without doing anything, I fear that this technology will never be refined. I fear that robot evolution will reach a dead end, and humanity will be alone on this planet.

"So I will leave a legacy for those who come after me. I will build a machine to continue my work, one that can find a solution to the problems.

"And so this video represents the beginning of Project X.

"I'm going to make the most ambitious evolutionary search algorithm that I have ever conceived. It will test over forty million different combinations of the seven emotional lights, evaluating each one in a simulated environment to judge it for safety, stability, and ethical behavior. I've calculated that it will take approximately thirty years for the algorithm to identify the optimal balance.

"The fittest personality matrix will be installed in the best robot body I can build. I'll model it after Rock, my most successful creation. I don't want to build another war machine, but at the same time I don't know what the world will be like in thirty years' time, so I'm going to give Project X armor and a buster.

"Once I have the systems built, I'm going to seal it all in a capsule so it can run undisturbed until some future scientist opens it. I pray that the son I will never meet will find himself in a world that welcomes him."

Word Count: 675
Total Words: 7742
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-09-2017, 10:37 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #12   Coda Coda is offline
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Epilogue, part 2

The year is 22XX.

Decades ago, Dr. Cain discovered X. The development of the Reploid race was the direct fruit of Cain's reverse-engineering of X's emotional matrix. Reploids were marvelous, exhibiting the individuality, personality, and emotion that Dr. Light had dreamed of. Unfortunately, it was difficult to understand the artificially evolved details of X's design, so Reploids had to start from incomplete data.

Now, artificial intelligence has come so far that it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between humans and Reploids outside of the body type.

Emotional light technology has advanced to the point where artificial intelligences can live in forms of pure energy, free from the restrictions of physical bodies. These beings came to be known as "Cyber Elves" and have the ability to manipulate the material world in unprecedented ways.

This developed from further research into the Maverick Virus, which was discovered to be an emotional light construct weaponized by Dr. Wily near the end of his career. Fully understanding the Virus involved the discovery of the black light as a distinct phenomenon. Mavericks were found to be Reploids whose emotional lights slipped too far out of equilibrium, and the Maverick Virus could induce this destabilization by interference.

X retired from his role in the Maverick Hunters years ago after his pivotal role in ending the Maverick Wars, sacrificing his physical body to seal away the Dark Elf that was capable of rewriting a Reploid's mind. He lived on as a Cyber Elf, but to fill his shoes, a scientist named Ciel built a Reploid built on X's design with a copy of all of his memories.

Unfortunately, while X had unknowingly developed internalized the white light of life during his hundred years of testing, Copy X was built without this perfect balance or the power of life itself. This led Copy X on a campaign of merciless justice, stomping out any Reploid that showed any sign of potential Maverickism, all in the name of protecting humans.

No one yet knows what the future will bring, but a robot named Zero -- an ancient war machine built by Dr. Wily himself, yet a friend of X himself -- has stepped up to try to bring peace where Copy X has failed.

Word Count: 375
Total Words: 8117
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-11-2017, 01:06 AM Reply With Quote  
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Default   #13  
SUBJECT: Robot Master Spotted Over Monsteropolis!
AUTHOR: Ripot, CPS Television Network
DATE: May 22, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


"Ripot here, on site in Monsteropolis where dozens of aerial robots are swarming high in the air. They appear to be constructing a flying fortress of some sort! This reporter tried to fly in for a closer look, but I was chased off by a flock of Copipis deployed by one of the Pipis patrolling the perimeter."

A grainy picture of Air Man taken at an awkward angle is overlaid on the video. "I was able to capture this picture before being forced to retreat. It looks like a Robot Master, but it's not any kind of design this reporter has ever seen before! I hope Mega Man gets here soon!"

The flying field reporter looks down at the sprawling city below, his camera panning around to show the panorama. "It looks like there's chaos in the city as residents near the fortress construction hurry to evacuate in case the Robot Master chooses to start a bombardment campaign on the citizens. This reporter will stay in the field to keep you informed of developments. This is Ripot, signing off."


SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-010
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 22, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


Air Man slowly turns his propeller as he tracks Mega Man's progress through the fortress. He snarls in suppressed fury as his guards and construction workers are systematically destroyed, and it's not long until the invader is barging into his inner chamber.

"You're finally here, Mega Man!" Air Man growls. "And I'm going to destroy you for what you've done!"

"I'm not the one building a flying battle station over Monsteropolis!"

"Do you know WHY I'm building it?"

That gives Mega Man pause, and he hesitates for a moment. "... No, why?"

Air Man flings his arms open wide, gesturing out to the world around them. "Because it's the only place I have to call my own! Thanks to you, Robot Masters aren't welcome among humans! Never mind the fact that YOU'RE as much of a Robot Master as the nine you've destroyed so far -- built by the same scientists using the same design!"

"They don't judge you because you're Robot Masters! They judge you because you build weapons and destroy things!" Mega Man raises his buster in preparation, expecting Air Man to launch an attack at any moment.

Air Man flares with a red aura. "I'm not responsible for what the others did! And now you're threatening ME with a weapon! So I'm not welcome anywhere, not even in my own home? I'll destroy you!"

Word Count: 439
Total Words: 8556

Another day of not having as much time to write as I wanted. It's hard to stay focused on writing with all the noise that comes with visiting my inlaws. This is only half of this section, obviously, and I've gotten a little bit more written besides what I posted here, but if I cut the post here I don't have to edit it tomorrow. :p
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-12-2017, 12:09 AM Reply With Quote  
Default   #14   Coda Coda is offline
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SUBJECT: Robot Master Spotted Over Monsteropolis!
AUTHOR: Ripot, CPS Television Network
DATE: May 22, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


"Ripot here, on site in Monsteropolis where dozens of aerial robots are swarming high in the air. They appear to be constructing a flying fortress of some sort! This reporter tried to fly in for a closer look, but I was chased off by a flock of Copipis deployed by one of the Pipis patrolling the perimeter."

A grainy picture of Air Man taken at an awkward angle is overlaid on the video. "I was able to capture this picture before being forced to retreat. It looks like a Robot Master, but it's not any kind of design this reporter has ever seen before! I hope Mega Man gets here soon!"

The flying field reporter looks down at the sprawling city below, his camera panning around to show the panorama. "It looks like there's chaos in the city as residents near the fortress construction hurry to evacuate in case the Robot Master chooses to start a bombardment campaign on the citizens. This reporter will stay in the field to keep you informed of developments. This is Ripot, signing off."


SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-010
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 22, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


Air Man slowly turns his propeller as he tracks Mega Man's progress through the fortress. He snarls in suppressed fury as his guards and construction workers are systematically destroyed, and it's not long until the invader is barging into his inner chamber.

"You're finally here, Mega Man!" Air Man growls. "And I'm going to destroy you for what you've done!"

"I'm not the one building a flying battle station over Monsteropolis!"

"Do you know WHY I'm building it?"

That gives Mega Man pause, and he hesitates for a moment. "... No, why?"

Air Man flings his arms open wide, gesturing out to the world around them. "Because it's the only place I have to call my own! Thanks to you, Robot Masters aren't welcome among humans! Never mind the fact that YOU'RE as much of a Robot Master as the nine you've destroyed so far -- built by the same scientists using the same design!"

"They don't judge you because you're Robot Masters! They judge you because you build weapons and destroy things!" Mega Man raises his buster in preparation, expecting Air Man to launch an attack at any moment.

Air Man flares with a red aura. "I'm not responsible for what the others did! And now you're threatening ME with a weapon! So I'm not welcome anywhere, not even in my own home? I'll destroy you!"

The following scene should be read with this soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opADNvgeZYY

His fan whirs to maximum, shoving Mega Man back as he produces a set of vortices from his arm cannon. The twisters catch the wind and race across the room, violently buffeting Mega Man against the wall. The Light robot turns green and white when he equips the Leaf Shield, taking the next available opportunity to raising one to defend against the attack.

Air Man leaps, tilting his body so that his propeller pushes him farther into the air, and he slams down where Mega Man would have been standing if the hero hadn't run underneath the Robot Master. Mega Man hurls the Leaf Shield at the back of the giant fan, and to his surprise the ceramic titanium plates are sucked into the intake, banging noisily.

Then suddenly the leaves disintegrate in a flare of red.

A small amount of dust belches out of the front of the fan as the remains of the Leaf Shield are sucked through the intake.

It's enough to make Mega Man hesitate in fear. Air Man pivots around, his eyes glowing with the same red light. The Robot Master produces another flurry of tornadoes, and they too begin to glow red as they set out across the room. Mega Man is set fully on the defensive, and only quick maneuvering and sacrificial use of the Leaf Shield allows the hero to escape without getting vaporized.

Between volleys of the Air Shooter, Mega Man switches to his other ceramic titanium weapon, the Metal Blade, in hopes that the more streamlined direct attack can penetrate Air Man's defenses. To his dismay, however, the teeth of the blade can't find any purchase off of Air Man's reinforced, smoothly rounded armor, skidding off and ricocheting away.

The Metal Blade DOES work as point defense, and its greater precision and higher rate of fire compared to the Leaf Shield allows Mega Man to push his way through the next barrage of weaponized air. Air Man's eyes furiously flare red again and he spins his propeller to maximum, trying to force Mega Man away again, but Mega Man again switches weapons, equipping the Quick Boomerang and letting loose with as many as he can shoot while in range.

The boomerangs arc around the Robot Master's body. Mega Man continues firing even when his attacks can't reach in order to hold Air Man's attention, and the first shots strike true against Air Man's back intake. The fan blades seize against the boomerangs, and with the propeller already spinning at full speed, the sudden stop causes the engine to tear itself apart, and Air Man's eyes go dark as his armor concentrates the shrapnel inside his housing.


SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log: DWN-010
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 22, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


DWN-010 has surprised me! Its program demonstrated a far richer personality than any other AI that I have seen to date. It may even be more sophisticated than DLN-001's! It's a shame that it was destroyed, but as an experiment this was GLORIOUS!

Whatever it is that DWN-010 did was able to casually vaporize one of the most resilient alloys I know of. In the past I have been able to crack it, buckle it, or pierce it with enough force, but reducing it to ash like that is unprecedented! Such power! I must learn how to harness it!

This was also a successful test of the integrated chassis design. As predicted, the design's single armor cell is more resilient than a more flexible segmented structure. This superior defense to weight ratio will be valuable to some future Robot Masters that I have in mind.

Having collected this data, the experiment is now half over. Overall, I am pleased with the results. DLN-001 is more dangerous than I expected, but this new technology has made a good showing against it. With refinement, my Robot Masters could be unstoppable!


SUBJECT: Re: Air Man - Encounter Log
AUTHOR: Thomas X. Light
DATE: May 23, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text with attachments


Rock,

I have finished analyzing the encounter data from your battle with Air Man.

Please be very careful against Wily's other Robot Masters. Any force that could destroy the Leaf Shield so easily would overwhelm your armor instantly. I know you know this already, but please tolerate this old man's worrying for his only remaining son.

Attached to this message is the Variable Tool System data for Item-2. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get this to you sooner. I know that an airfoil would have been helpful during your last encounter.

I hope we can achieve peace soon.

With love,
Dr. Light

Word Count: 1232
Total Words: 9349
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-13-2017, 10:23 AM Reply With Quote  
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Default   #15  
SUBJECT: Experiment Log: DWN-016
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 14, 20XX
FORMAT: Holovid + Telemetry with attachments


When the holovid focuses on Wood Man, the Robot Master is installing a machine on the trunk of a tree in the forest. The other trees in the area have already been equipped in this way, and wires and conduits are spreading out over the bark.

When Mega Man inevitably arrives, Wood Man narrows his eyes at the interloper. "Are you going to fight me? Are you going to destroy these trees? Each one of them is decades old, but those Metal Blades of yours could fell any of them in seconds. So tell me, hero, what does it mean to save the world?"

Mega Man's armor changes back to its normal blue scheme as he de-equips the Metal Blade with a scowl on his face. "And what are those?" He points accusingly at the machines on the trees. "Aren't you destroying the trees as well?"

"Destroying them? I'm reinforcing them! These trees would never survive the future of war ahead of them without help."

"There doesn't have to be a future of war! I want peace!"

"I want peace too, but that can never happen with a war machine like you destroying anyone that opposes you! I will grant you a swift death so that you can't continue prolonging the suffering!"

And with that, the trees themselves turn on Mega Man, launching metal-reinforced leaves down from above. Wood Man himself is protected from the attack by his Leaf Shield. Mega Man does his best to avoid the worst of it, but with so many leaves in the air he can't avoid a few cuts to his armor.

Mega Man's counterattack splashes harmlessly off of the ceramic titanium plates orbiting the Robot Master. Those plates suddenly come spinning back at him as Wood Man hurls the Leaf Shield before jumping into the air to land behind Mega Man. It's all the blue robot can do to narrowly jump over the attack, leaving him open to another salvo of leaves from the trees above.

"Lower your weapon, Mega Man! You're only bringing yourself more pain!" Wood Man raises another Leaf Shield, and Mega Man changes his weapon back to the Metal Blade. "And more to the world around you as well!"

Mega Man doesn't fall for the bait, holding his fire instead of throwing an attack that would be deflected into the trees. Instead, he stands his ground, watching the Robot Master. He's ready the next time Wood Man throws the Leaf Shield, sidestepping it, and when Wood Man jumps, Mega Man launches three Metal Blades, angled and timed so that Wood Man collides with them during the arc of his leap.

The holovid is only able to stay coherent long enough to show Wood Man crashing into the ground, splintering around the rents in his wooden armor.


SUBJECT: Re: Experiment Log: DWN-016
AUTHOR: Dr. Albert Wily
DATE: May 14, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


Perhaps it was hubris of me to expect any outcome beyond this. DWN-016 is something I've wanted to build for years. I worked the design out a long time ago, and I was pleased to see how well it worked, but I suppose just because I CAN do it doesn't necessarily mean I SHOULD. Still, that's what experiments are for. I may have to revisit this design later; it might still prove useful for the right mission.

The Leaf Shield performed up to expectations. It's too bad that I didn't get to observe its interactions with the Metal Blade; that's one of the few weapons that might be able to overcome its defense. And I should have equipped DWN-016 with a secondary weapon instead of having a defensive weapon also serve offensive purposes.

There were certainly qualitative differences between DWN-016's behavior and the standard Robot Master intelligence core. It seemed to have motivations beyond those that I had given it in its mission profile. It almost seemed like it was going to persuade DLN-001 to stop fighting, which would have been a great result. I may need to set up a new experiment in that direction. Beyond that, the effect of evolving to support the exotic energy so far is subtle, though, and I will need to collect more information.


SUBJECT: National Park Overgrown With Machines?!
AUTHOR: Plum, CPS Television Network
DATE: May 15, 20XX
FORMAT: Video


"According to a briefing packet from Light Labs, this was the site of a battle between Mega Man and another Robot Master. You can see machines attached to many of the trees around here. It's unclear what they do at this time, but Light Labs has said that they will be studying them to recommend a course of action in the upcoming days.

"Aside from the machines, there's surprisingly little damage to the forest. You wouldn't know there was a fight between powerful robots here just yesterday.

"The strangest part of this story is that the Robot Master, called Wood Man, was made primarily of wood." A picture of Wood Man's wreckage appears in the corner of the screen. "It seems like a very unusual choice. Perhaps Dr. Wily was trying to show off? A robot made of wood definitely seems like it would be very hard to make.

"Whatever the truth may be, CPS News will be here to bring you more as we learn of it. This is Plum, signing off."
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-13-2017, 11:46 PM Reply With Quote  
Default   #16   Coda Coda is offline
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SUBJECT: Re: Encounter Log - Wood Man
AUTHOR: Rock [DLN-001]
DATE: May 14, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


Dr. Light,

You've already seen the encounter log from my battle with Wood Man. The fight itself felt pretty normal for going up against a Wily bot, but I'm really confused about what Wood Man said before it.

Why would one of Dr. Wily's machines care about the forest? Why would one of Dr. Wily's machines care about PEACE? Or about saving the world?

If I didn't know Dr. Wily was behind this, I would have thought twice about fighting him. But I've never seen a Robot Master act this way before.

Rock


SUBJECT: Re (2): Encounter Log - Wood Man
AUTHOR: Thomas X. Light
DATE: May 14, 20XX
FORMAT: Plain Text


Rock,

I agree that there was something strange about Wood Man. I'm still studying the telemetry from the encounter log, but there's an unusual energy signature that doesn't match anything I've seen from any of Dr. Wily's past creations. This could be a sign of a new technology that Wily has invented.

Be careful, son.

Dr. Light

Word Count: 186
Total Words: 10452

Just a quick bit of follow-up to the previous encounter before I get started at work.
Games by Coda (updated 10/1/2023 - New game: Adrift)
Art by Coda (updated 8/25/2022 - beatBitten and All-Nighter Simulator)

Mega Man: The Light of Will (Mega Man / Green Lantern crossover: In the lead-up to the events of Mega Man 2, Dr. Wily has discovered emotional light technology. How will his creations change how humankind thinks about artificial intelligence? Sadly abandoned. Sufficient Velocity x-post)
Old Posted 11-14-2017, 11:44 AM Reply With Quote  
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