MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ The Road Not Shown ❯ New Beginnings ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer:I do not own Rockman/Megaman. It belongs to Capcom. I do own Vanessa Wily-Shingure, Agito Shingure, Ryu Shingure. This story takes place several years before the Rockman.EXE series.

The Road Not Shown
By David Knight

Chapter One: New Beginnings

Shinjuku Cemetery. A place where people come to mourn and lament for the ones that have left them alone in this mortal coil of life. It knows nothing else but sadness, as that is what a cemetery is: A place were people weep.

A lone figure walks up to a pair of graves, a bouquet of red roses under his right arm. Dressed in a black vest and pants with a red t-shirt under said vest. Lastly, he wore a blue, half orb pendant wore around his neck. His eyes closed as he walked to a place that had been committed to memory. He could walk here with both eyes shut now. He opened his eyes only when he reached his destination.

Two tombstones. They both read Agito Shingure and Vanessa Wily-Shingure. The young boy opened his eyes as he looked down at the graves.

"Mama. Papa." Twelve-year-old Ryu Shingure said softly, "It's been five years now... I know because my birthday is only a week later. The days... they feel so empty without you here with me and Gramps." He sighed, thinking about his Grandfather Albert Wily. "Grandfather's always working in the labs. He's paid for nurses and caretakers to help raise me since he's so busy. Even still, he comes to me when he can and helps me out."

A memory that struck out fondly to Ryu was a night where he had a nightmare a few months after the death of his parents. His grandfather had come right there and held him tight. Ryu had thought the monsters had come to kill him like they killed his parents. But his Grandfather said there were no monsters. The little boy had protested but his grandfather swore that as long as he was in this room no monsters would ever take him.

Ryu remembered staying up for quite some time, seeing his grandfather stay there and be there for him in the room. He felt safe and trusted in his grandfather and fell asleep. For as long as he could remember, his grandfather was always there for him.

"Mama. Papa. I wish you were still here with us. Wish you could be here to help me like Grandfather." Ryu said softly as he placed the flowers down the graves. Half for his mother and half for his father. He just stood there in front of the graves, in silence for several more moments before speaking once more. "Mama. Papa. ... I'll be back again later to put flowers on your graves." Without saying anything else he turned around and started to walk away.

_Some days, I wonder if its possible to even forget them? What they looked like? Sounded like? Could I ever really forget that?_ Ryu asked himself as he was occasionally plagued by such doubts, especially when he saw his own classmates embrace their parents. It was a constant and painful reminder that his parents were dead.

After since the accident, he had become somewhat withdrawn. He knew he wasn't the same extremely cheerful boy. How could anyone who lost their mother and father remain as such? The answer was no one could. The number of friends he had was few indeed but they were ones that matter to him. As long as he had people that he could count on, that respected him, his life was that much easier to go through.

He passed the park on the way back to his home and decided to stop there, just to sit down on the ground and think things over. He had nothing better to do as since Gendo and Kaede already told him they were going out with their families for the weekend to Kyoto and Mt Fuji respectively. It left him alone for the weekend, save for his grandfather, who was in the lab below the house, and the caretakers, which he thought he was getting a bit too old for.

He thought about how the world worked, about the Net Society that they all had. _Gramps seems to think the Net has flaws. I tend to agree a little. I mean I find it really aggravating when some people just go on and on about how flawless the Net is._ Ryu mused. _Those that think perfection is attainable are nothing more than fools looking for their own demise._

Before his parent's death, he had not been so much into technological things, save for video games. He remembered how after their death he went through a phase where he would just be playing games after he got home from school, as if using it as a way to escape from reality.

Though that phase was long since over, it had gotten him into the cyber world. He had been asking Yuriko-sensei for tutoring after hours to learn more on the Net, more on his own level as his grandfather was way above him. He knew more than the average child his age did about the Net and Cyber Matrix. Also playing with Gendo in his Role Playing Games on his various systems had given him ideas into programming systems, just by seeing how the characters of the heroes and the villains were set up. He was going to try to take a shot at designing a few small programs himself sometime, if only to show his grandfather.

_I wonder though... what does Gramps do in the lab anyway?_ Ryu mused, _He doesn't work for any corporations or companies... I wonder..._ Getting up from where he was sitting, he decided to go home.

And see what his grandfather was doing in his lab.

* * *

"Worthless!" Wily screamed as he swatted folders and disks off his table. Holding papers in his hands he ripped them apart, "All worthless!!!" He fell into his chair and looked up at his main monitor, it showed a... well it looked like a large green blob which suddenly blew apart into a million different pieces.

_And once again my attempt at creating a super virus ends up in failure._ Wily sighed as he put his hand over his face. He felt like pulling out what hair he had left if this was what was going to keep on happening.

Four years of working and preparing and he still couldn't come up with a super virus. Sure he had been able map out much of the world network path ways, find holes in their security grids to allow unauthorized and undetected entry, but none of that mattered if he didn't have a virus to infect and take over the system to do what he wanted.

_Why is it so hard for what I want to become a reality?_ Wily asked himself, _Vanessa, Miranda, be patient with me and give me your strength. I needed it more than ever if I am going to find a way to..._

"Hiya Gramps."

Wily cringed when he heard that voice, "How many times must I tell you not to call me Gramps?"

"Sorry Grandfather," Ryu shrugged as he walked toward him.

"What are you doing down here?"

"What do you do down here grandfather?" Ryu returned, "I am just wondering what you do down here in the lab."

"Just a lot of work that you wouldn't understand," Wily said gruffly. _I love the dear boy but knowing how Vanessa was, he would not have the gift to understanding or wanting to learn more about the field of the Net._ However caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Ryu at the computer console until he was starting to pull up files, "What are you doing!?"

"Sensitive aren't you?" Ryu blinked, surprised at the tone of his grandfather's voice, "Don't worry Grandfather. I'm not going to crash your data. I'm not a toddler. I'm just inputting a return command set to see what you were working on without disturbing your work."

_... come again?_ Wily stared hard at his grandson, as if he hadn't heard that right. _Have I missed something about my grandson over these last few years?_ Up on the monitor appeared a simulation of what Wily had been trying to do. First came several regular Net Navis from PETs, all of which were encircling this large giant creature, cloaked in darkness but even then it gave a fearsome image.

Till it degraded into what could only be described as a pile of slime.

"Gotta say Gramps, you are really making mess of things," Ryu said without really knowing what the program really was supposed to be.

"And just what does that mean?" Wily asked, feeling a bit annoyed by that comment.

"Well as far as I can see you've been trying to make this one giant program be able to adapt itself to any environment, any situation, have just about every capability known to man." Ryu listed, "In short, a perfect program."

"That is the dream," Wily said wistfully.

"It's a flawed and stupid dream. You should stop wasting your time."

Wily's eyes whirled right at his grandson, and it took every ounce of love for the youth not to slap him, though he was glaring right at him. _Wasting my time?! I've been wasting my time with this program he says?! How dare he! It has taken me so long to get this far._

"After all don't you always say people think the Net is perfect when it's really flawed?"

"Wha..." Wily was broken out of his anger by his grandson repeating words he had often said aloud, by himself and in Ryu's own presence.

"I've come to the realization that there is no such thing as a perfect anything. Anyone who strives for perfection is only wishing for their own demise and could possibly take the people around them with them into the abyss." Ryu said solemnly.

"... when did you learn to act so mature?" Albert Wily breathed after a minute of silence.

"Comes with circumstances I guess," Ryu sighed.

_He misses them as much as I do,_ Wily closed his eyes for a moment, reflecting on the past but also began to look at his grandson in a newer light. Never before had he ever come into the lab to talk to him about his work. This was the first time and now he was seeing a side of Ryu that he had never seen before: a side interested in technology.

Rubbing his chin, the doctor asked his grandson, "Well then, how would you suggest that I fix the problem?"

Ryu's face showed surprise, "Grandfather... you are asking me for advice?"

"Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to see things in a new light. I am old and you are young," Wily said, a small smile forming on his face, "Care to see if you can teach this old dog some new tricks young pup?"

Ryu matched the smile and started typing into the computer some commands, careful though not to affect his grandfather's current work. "I consider this problem like the RPG games I've played with Gendo. The Final Fantasy Series if you want to be technical but anyway, you wanna start off small; creating simple programs with a unique ability or just one way to attack but there are many of them, think of them like drones. Then think up drone programs that are specifically tailored for a certain aspect. Like a bird flies more than it walks so have a program that only flies instead of walks. One that can handle heat or use it to its advantage."

"Once you got that settled you can work on creating some more complex characters or programs, smaller in number from the drones but have must greater capacity and powers. Those are like the bosses but not the main ones. Main ones you construct after you've done all the rest and they are supposed to take into account everything else that has happened in the game. Plus in RPGs I've discovered that final bosses have very cheep moves. One that can instantly kill a player or reduce life points to just one or zero. It's a big unwritten rule. So anything else?" Ryu turned to his grandfather, who was just staring at him, "... grandfather?"

"... how would you like to work with me in the lab?"

Ryu's eyes lit up at that, "Are you serious? I'd be working with you?"

"Not just working with me Ryu," Wily said with a smile, "I can clearly see you have a lot of potential in understanding the mechanics and specifics of my field. If you really want to know it, I can teach it to you."

Ryu didn't say anything, he just hugged his grandfather, "I want to know Grandfather. I really do. I don't want to be perfect, but I want to learn as much as I can and I want to work with you."

For a moment Albert Wily wasn't sure if he would return the hug, it was hard to believe how his opinion of his own grandson a few minutes ago had been. From naïve child, to arrogant whelp, to promising genius and heir.

He hugged the child back, not only because he might finally find the way to get everything that he ever wanted.

But because he loved him.

* * *

Nine months later...

Wily was sitting behind his desk, looking at the program set up that he and Ryu had been working on but also at a part that Ryu hadn't seen nor would he see. What Wily saw made a smile come to his face.

_Yes. All three versions of the Mettaura Virus are working and fully functional and they breed even faster than rabbits._ he mused. Though very small creatures... well alright they were just a black ball with a helmet over it, two feet and a pickax, but still they did their job. By sheer number they could infect a system and cause much damage to the matrix inside of it before anyone could do anything.

Ryu had been instrumental in their creation even though he had no idea of their existence. His speaking in making programs simple with only one attack but having so many was very illuminating. After all Wily didn't expect to get the job done on the first try. What was the point in creating an ultimate creation only for it to fail and have to spend that much time trying recreate a new one.

No, no it was better to create smaller, simpler viruses, ones that could be used as cannon fodder and could be replaced very easily. _He is quite the strategist whether he realizes it or not._ He had to admit to that because his grandson had gotten him to actually try one of those confounded games.

He hated to admit it but he actually found playing it to be somewhat... relaxing. He was actually now playing it at night when no one was awake. He had a matter of personal pride after all.

"Hmm?" Wily blinked when he saw one of the Mettaura, a Version Three type come running with a file tagged up on its helmet. By the look on its face... "Damn it! Download file into anti virus set now!"

The Ver. 3 didn't even argue with its creator as it deleted itself but sent its contents to Wily's side system. The doctor then quickly logged off all of his programs and backed up all of his work before deleting all of the viruses on that sector. He didn't know if anyone would have been able to follow his virus back to his computer, but still better not to take any chances.

Sure enough, Wily's security system found a Net Navi rush right through it, holding an SSS Rank Net Agent License. He realized he had to let him search the sector or it would arouse suspicion. The Net Navi went about searching that sector of his system before it left, not even telling him why he had come in to his system.

_Seems my Mettaura took something very sensitive to them._ Wily smiled as he opened up the file that his virus had taken, _...Cossack Labs? Isn't that run by Doctor Mikhail Sergeivich Cossack? Didn't he leave SciLabs around the time that Tadashi died? It was around that time that he started an independent navi development company. It ended up becoming one of the most successful in the world. This is definitely interesting. What is it that Cassock wanted to find that he would ask for a SSS Class Net Agent to come get one simple file?_

The answer blew Wily's mind away. About nine years ago, when Cossack had been with SciLabs, he had lead a project called the auto program navi. Its aim was to create the world's first automatic navi. This Navi could carry all its own chips, access networks without human help, but what intrigued Wily the most was the 'Get Ability' program. It was a special program designed by Cossack himself, a program that would allow the navi copy any chip or program and adapt it to himself. The Navi was dubbed Forte.

_Incredible!_ Wily breathed, finding very admiration for younger doctor. _All my years and I never heard of such a navi ever... so then why hasn't the world heard about it?_ As Wily read down, he learned the file was corrupted from this point on but did learn that something happened that made the Net Officials declare Forte too dangerous and sent their best Navis to delete him. It was unclear if they actually succeeded.

_Such a Navi on my side would be incredible... if I could find this Forte... hmm?_ Wily looked down into the file and saw an attachment. Something that was not corrupted, at least not as badly as the rest though Wily knew if he used it, it wouldn't be copyable. It would be a unique file.

When he opened it, and saw the file name, absolute disbelief was etched all over his face, _I can't... I can't believe it!!!_

The file name was GetAbil.bat.

"… hehe..hahahaha… mwaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Gramps... I thought we said you'd stop laughing aloud like Dr. Frankenstein."

Wily blinked as he saw his grandson yawning as he came down the stairs of the lab, dressed only in red pants and a black shirt.

"I mean I could hear you all the way from upstairs on the couch." Ryu rubbed his eyes as if to wake up, "And its Sunday. I like to sleep in on my only free day of the week from school."

"You've taken to sleeping on that couch ever since I got rid the caretakers." Wily said with a wiry smile.

"One, I'm nearly fourteen and I don't need a caretaker. Two, with them gone, I don't really have a curfew so I spend a good part of my nights with you down here gramps," Ryu yawned.

"So what are you doing down here if you want to go to sleep?" Wily asked.

"Its noon, I just thought I'd tell you I'm going out with Gendo and Kaede for the day. I'll be back in time for dinner." Ryu told him.

"Alright. I'll see you then." Wily said expecting his grandson to be leaving to play with his friends but he didn't hear footsteps.

"Grandfather Albert... when can I get a PET?"

That surprised the doctor as he turned around to see his grandson. "I feel almost totally alone having to use just a labtop when every other kid around me is using PETs."

"Ryu... I thought we said you wouldn't get some cheap PET with a regular Net Navi. You're too good for that."

"You also told me that when I was eleven, twelve and thirteen. I'm going to be fourteen in three months." Ryu returned. "I know enough about the net now and I've also been able to get Battle Chips with my allowance and with what you've shown me. Gramps I want to net battle."

"You'll get one when I tell you so and if you buy one of those terrible pieces of junk that I see in stores you'll be grounded to your room and out of the lab," Wily said firmly. "Am I clear?"

Ryu just glared at his grandfather, for the first time ever, he felt angry with him, "... I'm going to get changed and then I'm going to play with my friends... who do have PETs and Custom Net Navis to boot." He added that last bit with a touch of anger as he left the lab.

Wily sighed, as he knew that his grandson wanted to test his skills. He had played with simulations but he hadn't allowed him to have a PET, as he thought it would have been a short cut to his training and tutelage. Wily himself didn't have a PET until he was in his late 30's, he was the only one in his family that had ever had one and yet he didn't even use it now, preferring to use his own computers and their interfaces.

But Ryu was not him. He was still a teenager, regardless of how gifted he was. There was still the spark of wanting to have fun with in him, except now Wily could see where it was directed: in battling. He saw it in his eyes whenever Ryu played those games of his, it was as if he could zone out reality and could put himself there able to actually be a part of it.

_Perhaps it is time he had a PET... but I can't give him an ordinary one or a common Net Navi..._ Wily knew as he looked down at his desk and there saw under a stack of disks and files a folder.

A folder filled with drawings.

_Ryu's,_ Wily knew, seeing the art work that was done. There were three passions his grandson had. Technology, role-playing-games, and the arts. He refused to draw with a computer and instead drew with pencils of different colors. Some were of landscapes, where he would draw a moonlight setting over a pond...

_...what?_ Wily blinked as he took a look the fourth drawing in the folder. He looked back to his computer, to the drawing again... and then finally smiled. "Well, well, well... I think I have work to do." Taking the picture with him, Wily returned to his station and then proceeded to scan the image into the computer's memory.

_I have a birthday present to work on._

* * *

The next three months came and went very fast for Ryu. The day that he went to his parents' graves once again was the same as every other day that he went there. He didn't say much, but his heart always ached from missing them. It was always the worst on the anniversary of their deaths.

And now today was yet another reminder of his loss. His birthday. A day where he would be reminded of exactly how long it had been since he lost them.

And to make matters worse he would have to go to school to boot. _I hate going to school on my birthday. Why can't they just let me stay home._

"Wake up or you are going to be late for class."

"Just give me five more minutes..." Ryu muttered as he tried to stay asleep, not really wanting to get up from his bed. "Okay Gramps?"

"Do I sound like your grandfather?"

Ryu's eyes went wide as he realized that was in fact not his grandfather's voice. He twirled around trying to find the source, "Who are you? Where are you? More importantly, what in the world are you doing in my room?"

"I'm on your desk."

"My desk?" Ryu blinked in confusion as he looked toward his desk, where his labtop computer was. Only today there was something else there as well.

A black PET with red highlights ... and it was active. That much was obvious by the screen that was being displayed and seeing a Navi, a Custom Navi was there in the middle of the screen. He was wearing a black bodysuit with red highlights down his boots and across his forearms. His hands were white with silver-gray color around the wrists while his shoulders had small yellow pads on top. On the center of his chest was a clear blue half orb, looking just like the half blue orb pendant Ryu wore around his neck. That same symbol was on the red and black helmet that he wore. Short brown hair came from the back of the helmet and reached the small of his back. His face looked like that of a teenager's, and his green eyes looked on at the human boy, as if assessing Ryu.

As for Ryu himself, he couldn't believe what he was seeing... because he was seeing one of his own drawings, his favorite one, now brought to life. After several moments he finally spoke, "Who are you?"

"I think you know that already. After all you are the one that designed me outer appearance." The Net Navi said with a half smirk.

"Then you are really...?"

"You got it Ryu. The name is Axl and I'm your Custom Made Net Navi, programmed by your Grandfather."

To Be Continued...