MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ A Robot's Soul ❯ Chapter Four: Metal Evolution ( Chapter 4 )

A Robots Soul

By Firehedgehog

Chapter Four: Metal Evolution

Henry sighed; it had been hours since his captivity in the lab. He was once again in the small room, looking at his watch he sighed.

"Lunchtime," he sighed, his stomach rumbled in hunger.

He made a slight face, from what he knew of DR. Wily who didn't like other humans much. He probably wouldn't be fed anytime soon.

As he sat there his thoughts went to Protoman; the red and gray robot wasn't much a mystery now. Many people didn't know much about Megamans rival other then he was created by Wily, yet now he knew more then anyone else in the world about Protoman... minus Wily.

Five years ago Takato had died, and in the way his friend had been reborn.

Reborn as Protoman rival to Megaman.

It had been a shock; to find out his childhood friend still lived, well in a way he did. His only clue had been a yellow scarf he had given to Takato years ago, and that was all he needed once he got to chance to talk to the robot.

In his mind he compared Takato's human face and the one he wore now, he still looked the same yet older. His friend looked the age he would have been if he had lived; yet no one saw it thanks to the fact Protoman always wore his helmet.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, startled he looked up.

Standing there at the door casually was Protoman, a tray of food in his arms.

"Dinner, is served," the robot said dramatically, Henry sweatdropped... his neo robot friend was a little weird. But that was to be expected, who wouldn't after being transferred into the body of a robot.

"Actually, its lunch time," he pointed out, Protoman smirked and closed the door behind him.

Henry guessed there was probably some system in the door that let Protoman open it from either side without a key.

"Ruin my fun why don't you," Protoman said with a sniff, he placed the tray on the small table in the room.

"Thanks, you going to stay?" Henry asked, Protoman shrugged and sat on the bed. Surprisingly he didn't cause the bed to groan from all the metal he was made off, apparently the robotic body was lighter then it seemed.

As he watched Protoman pulled off his helmet, soon messy brown hair and startling crimson eyes were revealed.

"How you doing?" Protoman asked, Henry sighed as he started eating.

"Okay I guess, do you know why Wily wanted me?" he asked between bites, the robot frowned.

"I have no idea Henry, as it is he's being weirder then usual... most of his free time he'd been locked up in one of his labs," Protoman said, Henry sighed.

"Damn, by the way... do you know what happened to Terriermon after the fight. I know you didn't want to hurt him, but I'm worried about him?" Henry asked; Protoman actually smiled.

"Megaman took him home to get him patched up, by now he's probably running them up the walls driving them crazy with his lame jokes," Protoman said, Henry laughed.

"That's him alright," he laughed, Protoman smirked.

"It's good to see you smile, by the way... Wily says he has something planned for both of us this afternoon. Once your done eating I'm suppose to take you to the lab he holed up in earlier," Protoman said; Henry felt a cold lump form in his stomach.

"Do you know what he has planned" Henry asked, he felt fear prickle against his spine.

"None, I just wish I had a clue," Protoman said.

"I'm sure it'll be okay Takato," Henry said softly, Protoman sighed.

"I really hope so," the robot whispered, a few minutes later Henry finished his lunch.

Soon the two of them were heading down the metal hallways, Henry looked around nervously... he really hoped he wouldn't run into other robots then his friend.

He looked sideways as Protoman, with his helmet hiding most of his face and with that nasty smirk (which he now knew was fake) the robot beside him seemed totally different then the person he had just been talking to.

***

Protoman looked about the lab with interest, it had been weeks since anyone but Dr. Wily had been allowed in there.

In the center of the room was a slim metal table, he felt a small chill go through him when he saw that. He had nightmares about it; it was the table he had woken up on for the first Time as Protoman. The beginning; of his nightmare.

He noticed that there were tools on a smaller table; also a small device of some type.

Whatever it was he didn't recognize it.

"We're here as ordered sir," he said, he said it politely but he knew his grandfather could hear the continual anger in it. That anger has kept him from going insane; anger at a grandfather who'd enslave his only grandchild.

"Good, lay in the table Protoman," Wily ordered; Protoman did as ordered hiding his fear, after all he was forced too by his programs.

Soon he lay there on the cold surface, but because he was made of metal and other substances he couldn't feel its coldness.

"Put yourself into shutdown mode, you'll be down for at least three hours," Wily ordered, Protoman hid his fear. If he was shut down who would protect Henry, but he couldn't stop the programming from forcing him to comply.

"Sure Doc," he said, he initiated shutdown procedures... and fell into the nothingness that overcame him in this mode.

***

Henry wanted to cry, Protoman was shutdown and any protection he had against this madman was gone.

"Sir, what is going on... why are you doing this?" he asked confused, to his surprise Wily gave a very sad and grief filled laughed.

"Fixing a mistake I made long ago boy, by now you know who Protoman really is... even in this body," Wily said, Henry nodded. As he watched the old man took Protoman's helmet off, with a surprisingly sad expression he ran a hand across the heart shaped face.

"Why did you do this to him Dr. Wily, he never wanted to be a robot," Henry whispered, Wily gave a self-hatred laugh.

"I had lost all my family over the years boy, my daughter married and hated me because I couldn't save her mother from an incurable illness. Then word came to me when I had almost finished Protoman; all I had to do was program his personality in. My daughter was dead along with her husband, my only grandchild was millimeters from death," Wily said, Henry frowned hearing this from the mad man... he had never heard so much self loathing and sadness in his life.

"With my research I could save him, I kidnapped him from the hospital and in his remaining time transferred, mind, soul and memories to this body. But I still needed to destroy DR. Light, get my revenge on everyone... I made him my slave. Takato hated all the violence he had to do and hid it behind sarcastic remarks and his helmet, he actually rather likes megaman like the sibling he never had," Wily said, this all came to a surprise to Henry.

"That's all nice and all, but what does this all have to do with capturing me and whatever your about to do?" he asked, Wily smirked.

"I need you to help my grandchild, help him break into freedom and to regain some of the humanity he lost. He can never be human again, but I can at least make him look human some of the time," Wily said.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"I have a device I can install to update Protoman, he can look as human as anyone. He could eat, sleep drink and convert that to energy to run him. I have to actually hack into his systems to update him, it's pretty hard to get past the protections his systems have. While I do that, you'll be placing this device inside him under my instructions," Wily said holding up a small device, Henry frowned but nodded.

"All this because you feel guilty, why didn't you choose someone else to break him free and help you?" Henry asked confused, Wily smirked.

"You were his closest friend when he was twelve and he trusted you the most, also your good with computers... which his other friends aren't. Now do you want to begin or not," Wily said dryly, Henry nodded.

"I guess," Henry said.

"Good, and by the way you cannot tell Protoman the reason you are here is to help free him" Wily said, Henry wanted to be surprised but found he really wasn't.

"Why now?" he asked simply.

"Because, DR. Light and Megaman would think it was a trap of some type if they found out I set him free. Also Takato wouldn't believe it either, this way he will be free and everyone will think I had no part in freeing him," Wily explained.

"Now lets begin," the gray haired scientist said.

***

The clicking of fingers on a keyboard was the only sound Henry could hear over the beating of his heart; it almost seemed to be laughing at him. In front of him lay the robotic body of his friend, a friend he hoped he could help.

With a nod from Wily he pressed a certain area on Protoman's armor, with a hiss of releasing air it opened.

He blinked in surprise at the advanced circuitry inside; he had never seen such an amazing sight before... this had to be the most advanced robot in the world. Bu he couldn't be too sure of that, there was still Megaman to consider.

Following Wilys instructions more e located a small area covered up, to his surprise Takato's Hazard symbol was on it... like the one that was on Guilmon's chest wherever the rookie digimon was.

Quickly he used a strange device and scanned it along one edge, he watched with interest as the compartment slid open.

What he saw he hadn't expected, after all what could one expect.

A D-Arc, Takato's D-arc was inside there connected to quite a few wires... he had a sneaking suspicion that the D-Arc had been one of the reason Takato had been able to transfer from his real body to this robotic one.

"Connect it to the gold and silver wires, it will then fit under a slot under his D-Ark," Wily said, Henry nodded.

He sweated as he did this; this was hard to do because he could damage other circuitry if he wasn't careful.

He bit his lip nervously as each wire connected, once he slid it into the slot he breathed a sigh of relief as it clicked safely into place.

"What now?" he asked, Wily looked up briefly from the computer he worked at. He was still hacking Takato's systems; without him hacking they wouldn't have been able to do this incredible upgrade.

"Close the hatch and seal it wit the device you opened it with," Wily said, sweating still Henry did as he was told and watched in relief as the hatch closed hiding the D-ark and the strange device from sight.

"Next?" he asked; Wily smirked and turned off the computer.

"Close his armor up, we'll boot him up and try the upgrade," Wily said, Henry nodded. Quickly he closed it, soon it looked as if no hatch had been open on the armor moment before.

"Now for the final test," Wily said, with that he pressed certain areas on Protoman's temples.

"..." The robot in question said, crimson eyes opened and blinked.

"What the hell was that all about?" Protoman said, Wily then smirked.

Protoman quickly got up, Henry noticed that his robotic friend looked quite confused... probably whatever programs the device had installed into him.

"Protoman, access your new 'Civilian program' and activate it," Wily ordered, Protomn looked at the man strangely for a moment then did so.

Henry gasped as something suddenly began to happen, as he watched silver light gently covered the armor... even the helmet that was on a table a few feet away.

Then as suddenly as the glow began it was gone, and so was the armor and helmet.

Standing there was a very human looking Protoman, he still stood the same height but now he was slim, his hands weren't metal looking, and he wore normal clothing. The only thing that hadn't vanished that he had been wearing was his scarf; at least that was the same.

Protoman/Takato was wearing a navy blue sweatshirt with a whit hazard symbol on it; he wore tight form fitting black jeans and simple white sneakers. The final touch was black fingerless gloves; all of this Protoman looked on with awe.

"Wha..." Protoman said shocked, Henry smiled... looked like Protoman would have girls chasing him when he took to the streets now. That is, if Rika didn't find out first.

He knew Rika had taken Takato's death the most, he wondered how long it would take her to find out the once gogglehead was back.

<><><TBC><><>

FH: Wow, it took me forever to write the first three chapters before I posted them. It actually took me months to write the first three. But with so many good reviews this just had to be typed right away. Hope the chapter didn't Confused you, but if you want to know I was half asleep when I wrote this.

R.Calumon: Blah blah blah... whatever. Send good reviews; see you all next time.

Ja Ne