Digital Souls 1

By Wanderer D
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The usual Disclaimers Apply.
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Things to take into account,

This is a possibility of the time Matt deserted the group after
talking to Cherrymon and the fight with Tai.

We are assuming that the Digiworld is not only linked with the
Digidestined world.

We are also assuming that time passes faster in X's universe.
(48 hours Digiworld = 302400 hours aprox. X's universe)

This was supposed to be a spamfic, however I think I'll make it a
oneshot.

We are *also* assuming that more than one generation of robots passes
between each of the Megaman X manga and games.

(1) Matt's Theme. Nice piece to listen, actually.
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End Rant
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A strange looking creature ran after a blonde kid, calling his name.
Whatever could be seen of it, except for a few areas where yellow
skin could be seen, was protected by a wolf pelt covering its body and
face with a horn sticking out of the forehead. It also had a reptile's
tail instead of a dog's and it walked on it's two back feet.

Matt! Wait!"  Gabumon yelled at his friend.

"What?"

"You can't leave ME behind!"

Matt stumbled to a stop and Gabumon immediately regretted his words.

"Matt, I- I'm going to be with you all the time. No matter what. You
are my friend!"

Matt smiled slightly at Gabumon. "Thank you, Gabumon. I don't know
what I'd do without you!"

Both walked all afternoon deeper into the forest, not really paying
attention to their surroundings, and stopped only when they were
tired.

After making a small campfire, Matt sat back-to-back with Gabumon and
pulled out his harmonica.

Gabumon drifted to sleep with the soothing sound of Matt's music.
Matt, after a few more minutes playing, also drifted of to sleep.
***

Dr. Wily tapped at his computer furiously. His latest, meanest, best
and downright masterpiece was lacking... a soul, so to speak. What
Wily needed was a computerized soul for Project Zero.

There had been some developers working on that, most prominent among
them his nemesis, Dr. Light.

Almost everything else was finished, the armor itself was strong
enough to whistand the combined fire power of all his previous
inventions, yet it was also very thin, and weighed almost nothing.
Project Zero would also have a strength that would put to shame
heavy duty construction units for generations to come. It was faster
too, and he had loaded practically every weapons program he could
manage to find. The only problem would be a versatile 'soul'.

So, Wily was, for lack of a better word, hacking into the cyberworld
where he would be able to access the database from the...

"What the?!" Wily exclaimed as he ran a program to check what he had
found. "Can it be? It IS!"

Wily jumped up and down, dancing around the room before stopping and
doing a victory sign towards his PC.

"A whole human mentality, attitude, personality, skills and...
if what I'm reading is correct, this program will allow my masterpiece
to be almost human! Pity about the soul, though." Wily smiled, it would
have been great to have a human's soul transferred into Project Zero,
but the scientists wouldn't hear about it and he didn't have the
knowledge to do it himself.

He looked a little deeper into the program and noticed that it came
complete with a face! Hmm... a little young looking, but it was to be
expected from the genius who had made it. He would have to agree that
a kid would be easier to handle. He would have to make it age a little.

He experimented with the face for a while. "There. Now, looks done,
let's start with the serious stuff!"

Smiling in joy he started downloading and erasing the program so
that his enemies wouldn't get their hands on it.

He found a protective program, but that was easily bypassed.

***
"Arghh!"

Gabumon woke up with Matt's scream of pain.

"Matt?!" Gabumon looked in horror as Matt fell to the ground,
slowly fading from view. He started becoming transparent, then his
hands disappeared, followed up by every other part of his body.

Gabumon jumped and tried to grab Matt, but some kind of invisible wall
prevented him from reaching his friend. The last thing he was able
to see was the confusion and pain in Matt's eyes as his body faded
from view completely.

"MATT! MATT!" Gabumon wailed looking around for his friend. When he
finally discovered Matt's Digivice and harmonica lying on the ground,
he fell to his knees and hands crying openly for his friend.

After a few minutes he stood up and cleaned his eyes with the back
of his arm, then turned around walking towards Puppetmon's house,
and back to the other Digidestined.

He could find Matt with his Digivice, but he would need the other's
help.

***

"I don't want to fight anymore," Mimi told the others. "I'm gonna
stay here."

"But we have to go to the other Dark masters!" Tai complained.

"You are not going anywhere!"

Everyone stopped discussing as Gabumon walked into their midst, weary
and teary-eyed. The Digimon had seen better days. The obvious absence
of Matt immediately worried the others.

"Gabumon! Where's Matt!?" Tai asked worried.

Gabumon was a little surprised at the very real fear in Tai's eyes.
He had supposed that Tai just put up with Matt, but it was obvious it
went much farther.

Matt was his friend too.

After explaining what had happened Gabumon stood up and faced the
others.

"I don't know what happened, but I know Matt is alive, and you have to
help me get to him!"

Everyone's faces turned grim and they all nodded as one.

"Let's go!" Tai ordered as he pulled out his Digivice, followed by the
others.

"No!"

"What? Gabumon..."

"Listen, you guys have to stay here and help out. I'll help Matt. Just
help me get there!"

"But..."

"No, Mimi! You guys have a responsibility towards the Digiworld! I'm
going to get Matt back, and then we'll all free this world!"

The others didn't like the idea but it was the simple truth. And they
all believed in Matt.

T.K. hugged Gabumon. "Please bring my brother back."

Gabumon returned the hug and nodded solemnly.

"And you guys take care of Puppetmon."
***

Wily uploaded the program into Project Zero's body, carefully
suppressing those parts he didn't like.
Loyalty... Good, he would be loyal to HIM.
Hmmm... Independence? As long as it didn't interfere with his
mission... He didn't want another Protoman...

And so, Wily worked hard into the night and the next morning,
finally filtering the whole program. He found out that this program
would be destroyed if he removed anything. HE himself couldn't
understand much of it, and he didn't dare touch this program.
Curiously the program auto-erased itself when it was transferred and
he couldn't make any more copies.

Now to check how much time it would take for the program, energy
devices and weapons to become 100% effective...

***

34 years into X's Future:

Zero walked through the Maverick Hunter's HQ, thinking.

"X," Zero greeted, noticing his friend already standing before the
computers.

"Hi, Zero!"

Zero nodded back and sat down, putting his feet on the table.

"There's a Maverick raid again, this time on the city. The difference
is that it seems to be an organized raid." Dr. Cain's voice informed
them.

"That means..." X started

"That something or rather someone -we know who it probably is- is
controlling them." Zero finished grimly. "Well," he muttered as he
stood up, "there's only one way to find out."

***

Both fighters materialized in the middle of the city. The Mavericks
had gone outwards destroying everything and everyone that stood in
their way.

"I'll go South-East, you go North-West!" He told X, who nodded and
left.

***

X blasted through both Mavericks, their spiked balls falling around
in a mess. He suddenly noticed a monitor glowing softly. As he
approached, a sixth sense warned him and he immediately ducked and
rolled, turning around with his Mega Blaster pointing at the general
direction of the blast.

"Well, if it isn't the famous X," A voice remarked with evident
boredom.

"Come on out!" X shouted angrily.

The figure that crossed the door looked like a mixture of a human-like
Reploid and a rat, with impressive incisors and a tail pointed by some
kind of gun.

"I'm Spray Rat! And you are mine!"

Spray Rat shouted and fired a stream of acid that X was almost unable
to evade.

X dashed under the stream and charged his Mega Blaster. When he was
just infront of Spray Rat, he let loose, sending the later flying and
crashing into a console.
Spray Rat got up.

"Teethclasp!"

The Maverick jumped at X and just as he was about to sink his teeth
at the surprised Hunter, the computer monitor X had noticed glowing
gave off a flash of light and something materialized infront of it.

X ignored the strange dog-like creature and blasted Spray Rat to
pieces, blowing it's head right off.

X turned around when he heard a gasp and was just able to see the
strange creature disappear around a corner.

As he was about to check it out, he heard his radio channel opening.

"X, our work here is done! Let's go back to base and see what we
got!"

"Roger!"

Before leaving he absorbed SprayRat's spray gun into his weaponry,
but, as he did it, he noticed something shining on the ground.

Walking towards it, he picked the small metal object and looked at
it for a moment. Shrugging, he threw it into the air and caught it
before teleporting back to base.

***

"And then, just before leaving, I found this on the ground," X
finished.

Cain looked at the harmonica on the table. "Do you know what that
is, X?"

"A... harmonica?" Zero asked as he picked it up.

Cain nodded, then turned his attention to X. "Indeed. I hadn't seen
one in more than 40 years! Ever since computers started playing all
instruments there haven't been people who bothered to master its
play-"

The Dr. was interrupted by Zero, as he played a soft tune that sounded
sorrowful and hopeful. It was a beautiful little piece, and both he and
X waited until Zero was finished before clapping appreciatively.

"Zero! I didn't know you could play so proficiently!" The good doctor
applauded. X merely nodded in surprise.

"I didn't know, either," Zero confessed as he looked down at the small
instrument as if it had the fault.

***

Under the city, Gabumon finally stopped running blindly. It seemed
that creature (he somehow didn't think it was human even if it looked
the part!) wouldn't be following him.

Sighing in relief at avoiding a fight with someone who would blow
their enemies head without a second thought he took stock.
Matt's Digivice... check.
Matt's tag... check.
Matt's harmonica...
...
Oh, damn.

"Matt is gonna kill me!"

Gabumon quickly returned to normal. "Ok, first things first; I have to
find Matt. And that means you." He took out the Digivice.

"Please, oh, please let me find Matt!"

***

"Sheesh! One would think that at the rate they're making weapons they
would've done something to keep the sewers clean!" Muttered a human
looking reploid with a yellow helmet.

"You don't know the half of it, partner! At least you don't have to
smell it like I do!" responded the man standing next to it. "Good thing
I left my lunch outside."

The two climbed up a metal stair out of the sewers. They cleaned
themselves and took off their overall uniforms.

The human sat down on the sidewalk and opened his launch box, taking out
a huge subway-style sandwich. As he was about to dig in, he heard a kid's
voice next to him.

"Wow! That's a big sandwich! I bet it tastes delicious!"

"Beat it, kid. This is not for you!"

"Not even a tiny bite?" The voice insisted.

"No. Look here," The man turned around to face the little pest. Only to
find himself staring at a dog-lizard-mix creature with the meanest fangs
he had seen in his life.

Letting the sandwich drop, the man screamed and ran away.

"Wait! Don't you want your sandwich? Guess not."

When his stomach grumbled, Gabumon dropped all pretense and dug in.
***

X opened the door to the roof of HQ where Zero sat, back against the
wall, and playing that harmonica.
The music echoed through the street as the melody unfurled.

Zero had appropriated the harmonica and spent almost every minute of
his free time playing it.

Ever since that last attack, there hadn't been any more raids for almost
two weeks, and Dr. Cain believed that Spray Rat had probably been a left
over from the war with the Reploid Army.

X waited until his friend had finished before walking up to him. When
he was near enough, he noticed Zero had a lost look on his face and
was just finishing one of his latest sighs.

"Hey, Zero!"

Zero looked up a little surprised, then nodded. "Hey, X. How's it
going?"

"Couldn't be any better!" X answered cheerfully. He crossed his arms
and reclined on the wall looking down at the city below.

"You seem awfully cheerful today."

X nodded before answering. "Yeah! It seems we won't need to fight!
We haven't heard anything from the Mavericks other than that raid
two weeks ago!"

"Geez! You sound like Mimi!" Zero blurted out.

"Who?"

"I... I don't know..."

X looked at his friend worriedly. Zero had told him about those
nightmares he had had about the weird Doctor, and he hoped his friend
was okay.

***

Gabumon ran around the city trying to avoid people. The Digivice had
pointed to this building, and just a few minutes ago, he had heard
Matt's harmonica! It couldn't be any doubt that it was Matt who was
playing it. It was his feelings that could be heard, lonely but
hopeful.

"Matt..."

Gabumon couldn't fail to be relieved. He hadn't seen Matt in two
weeks, and his link to his friend had only strengthened this last
few days.

Gabumon looked around the building for a good way in. It was a
fortress, and, when he was about to give up, he found a small
window.

With a little pushing and struggling, he was able to get inside.
Once inside, he found himself in a broom closet. Opening the door
a crack, he spied through it, then eased his way out, carefully
closing the door after him.

***

Their silent alarms went off suddenly.

X and Zero looked at each other in surprise before running to command
center, followed by a few other hunters.

"What is it?!" Zero demanded once everyone quieted down.

"We have found an operating Maverick base, and it's full of Nukes!"
Dr. Cain informed them.

This aroused a few murmurs through the ranks, but nobody panicked.
They were here to protect this world, and it's inhabitants, and that's
what they would do.

"We attack tonight, it is my belief that they haven't found out that
we know about them. You are the only ones who know about this, don't
tell the other units. We don't need panic if some people happen to
hear about it."

Everyone present nodded.

As they left Zero was stopped by one of his fellow Hunters, a black
armored hawk-helmed female Reploid known as Black Peregrin, a recent
addition to the team, along with Ice Lynx, a Lynx-human Reploid.

"Hey, Zero. The guys asked me to tell you that they would like
to hear you play that harmonica of yours, if you don't mind."

Zero nodded, smiling lightly.

***
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Gabumon hid behind another door as two more robots ran past him.

"Did you hear what Peregrin said? Zero's gonna play the harmonica!"

Gabumon stiffened at that, and listened closely.

"He did? Cool! He's a superb player! Let's go! Where is it?"

"Follow me!"

Gabumon marked the two robots' smell and after a few seconds ran out
the door following them.

Either this Zero played the harmonica just like Matt, or he knew
where Matt was, or it was a nickname for his friend.
***

Zero scratched the back of his head absently, as he looked at his
harmonica.

Leaving his helmet behind, and pushing his hair back in a ponytail,
he left his room and walked towards the general conference room, where
he had agreed with Peregrin to play.

When he opened the door for the podium, a large sweatdrop formed on the
back of his head as he noticed the amount of people. It was probably the
whole base!

He briefly wondered who was keeping watch. 

Looking around he noticed the grinning X and Peregrin, making him
signals to bow to the audience and play.

Muttering to himself, he walked up the podium, and to his irritation
was the victim of a series of applause. He was going to kill both
Peregrin and X for this!

Still, he felt a little happy about all the attention for his music.
He put the harmonica to his lips and played a cheery melody that he
knew, somehow, by heart. It was a little strange, since he hadn't
practiced, but he soon found himself swaying with the music.(1)

He finished abruptly when there was a commotion from the back of the
room. His concentration broken, he looked up, seeing saw a doglike
creature, that was strikingly familiar running down towards him.

A beam of light suddenly shot out from the creature and hit him.

Zero clasped his head and cried out in pain as memory came back to
him through the Digivice.

Memories buried by Dr. Wily's programming came back in a flood, feelings
and fears and a lost life invaded his mind so suddenly that he was
unable to stay standing.

X, seeing his friend fall down, ran towards him as Peregrin shouted
commands.

"Get that creature! We have to know what it did to Zero!"

Gabumon had thrown the Digivice to Matt, but he hadn't expected it to
become a ray! He saw Zero fall down after being hit, and the robot
who had destroyed the Rat running towards him. He was going to
protect Matt when he became aware of every gun pointed at him.

He began to evade and shoot his enemies, not causing much damage
against the titanium armor the troops used.

However, his attacks weren't shrugged off either. His blue fire
could break trees in half easily, and those unfortunate soldiers that
were hit were sent sprawling or flying by the impact.

As the battle raged in the background, X kneeled next to his friend
and picked up the strange device that was next to him, glowing
slightly.

Gabumon shouted as someone's plasma bolt hit him, and at that moment,
Zero's eyes snapped open.

He grabbed the Digivice from a bewildered X and stood up. Gabumon
was in trouble; he was wounded and many of the soldiers jumped
towards him.

Zero grabbed the Digivice and shouted.

"Garurumon!"

From under the pile of struggling reploids, Gabumon's voice could
be heard clearly.

"Gabumon Digivolve!" To be replaced by Garurumon's voice. "GARURUMON!"

All the reploids flew back as the digivolved Gabumon grew into the
giant blue wolf. Wicked fangs shined white as the wolf the size of
a small car growled threateningly.

To the sides, Peregrin, unaware of Zero's shout, cursed and began
charging her booster.

Zero noticed her however. "STOP!"

Everyone stopped as Zero walked down the podium and calmly hung the
Digivice on his belt and his tag from his neck.

Garurumon, noticing this stopped, too, and unevolved back into
Gabumon.

Zero stood a few feet from Gabumon and they regarded each other
for a few, tense seconds. Everyone awaited Zero's claim to end
this fight by himself.

"Gabumon..."

"Matt..." The creature answered.

Zero smiled slightly. "I'm called Zero now, my friend."

"But, it is you, isn't it?"

Zero's smile evolved into a grin as he nodded.

Gabumon and Zero both jumped forward and embraced in a hug,
Zero falling to his knees as he held Gabumon closely.

Everyone facefaulted.

Zero looked up from over Gabumon's shoulder and jerked his
head to the door, looking at his friends.

X and Peregrin shared a look and evacuated the room, leaving
the two friends together.

"Are you going to be okay, Zero?" Peregrin asked standing next
to the door.

Zero nodded at her reassuringly. She nodded back doubtfully but
stepped outside too.

"How's T.K.? Has he married yet? How's everybody? Did we win?"

Gabumon blink-blinked. "What do you mean? I came here the next day
with the help of the others! I've been looking for you this last
two weeks!"

"What?! But, that's impossible! You couldn't have! I've been
here the last 36 years!"

Gabumon looked quizzically at his friend. "Well, you look a little
taller, but still look pretty much the same to me to be 47 years
old!"

Zero shook his head and grabbed Gabumon's paw, putting it against
his chest.

"What do you feel, Gabumon?"

Gabumon closed his eyes, then opened them and stared at his friend.

"Oh, Matt! What have they done to you?!"

Tears flowed down Gabumon's cheeks as he pressed his ear to Zero's
chest trying to hear what he now knew wasn't there.

"They haven't," Zero answered. "A crazy doctor did this to me. He
also erased most of my memories and feelings, leaving only what he
wanted."

Gabumon didn't react, and Zero pulled him back looking into his eyes.

"But somehow, I was still myself! I couldn't remember much, true, but
the real me, Matt, has always existed, and always will! The Digivice
gave me back my life, and it brought with it one of the most important
pieces of my life I have had. You."

Gabumon nodded, hugging Zero yet again. "I knew, deep inside, that you
wouldn't leave me. Ever."

Zero  Gabumon's head softly.

Gabumon looked up at him. "We have to go back! It's possible that time
here is even faster than in Digiworld! That would explain why it took
me only a few hours while years passed here! We have to help the others
with the Dark Masters."

Zero stood up slowly and nodded. "But first I have a mission to
accomplish."

"Mission? But, Matt, we have to help our friends!"

Zero sighed and walked to the door, inviting X in.

"X, this Gabumon a friend from a life long forgotten... until now."

X looked down at Gabumon doubtfully.

"Gabumon, this is X. He's the best friend I've had since I came to
this world. Together we have fought Mega Champion level Monsters and
won."

Gabumon, still confused, looked at him.

"Mega Level? Like Metalgarurumon?"

Zero nodded. "Think of me as a Mega Level Digimon, although I don't
unevolve after battle. Both X and I get stronger every time we fight
Mavericks."

Gabumon backed off a little. This was Matt, no doubt, but what had
the time in this world done to him that he would fight constantly?

"Matt, why do you fight?"

"We have to protect the world and the people we know. This is our
job."

Gabumon nodded. For a moment he had feared that his friend had
turned into a fighting machine.

"So you still fight to protect?"

X decided to get into the discussion.

"Still fight? What does he mean Zero?"

"His name's Matt! MATT!" Gabumon interrupted.

Zero ignored the Digimon and looked at X.

"Once upon a time, I was an 11 year old boy named Matt, I left my
home along with my brother and six other friends to save both, my
world and the Digiworld. 36 years ago I was transformed into Zero,
without my memories and knowledge of my previous life."

X looked incredulous at Zero.

"When Gabumon came looking for me, he brought my Digivice. It's a
digital device attuned exclusively to me. When it was close enough,
the Digivice made contact with me, and overrode the programming that
was keeping my memories locked."

Zero showed his Digivice to X, who took a careful look at it.

"What did you mean that you had another mission, Matt?" Gabumon asked.

X shot a warning glance at Zero, to which Zero nodded. "I'll tell you
later Gabumon, but we have to be somewhere else."

Zero brightened somewhat. "Hey, we'll even tell you our stories!"

***

Black Peregrin paced outside the conference room keeping an eye out
for anyone who tried to get inside. By now everyone in the base knew
about the strange creature they had encountered and that apparently
Zero had a connection to it.

Finally the door opened and X, Zero and Gabumon walked out. Peregrin
met them just outside.

"What happened? Why did you take so long?"

"It's okay. I was just remembering the good ol' days with my friends.
We'll see you later, BP."

Peregrin nodded and walked up to Zero and X, whispering something.
Despite the whispering, Gabumon's keen ears were able to her words.

"I have just received confirmation. We go at 11:30. We've got three
hours."

Zero and X both nodded.

"Okay, you two, come with me." Zero instructed.

X and Gabumon followed him to his room, where they all sat down.
Zero started explaining his story from the point when he woke up
and fought Sigma for the first time.

Gabumon was horrified at Matt's actions, but he was relieved when
Sigma brought him to HQ and healed him.

Then, both X and Zero took turns explaining the battle against
the transformed Sigma. Gabumon could see the pain in X as he
described the battle with Vile and how Matt had sacrificed himself
to save him.

He then was furious with Sigma for trying to turn Matt into X's enemy.
He heard interested at their third battle against that same Reploid.

Matt explained that he had loaded an antivirus into his sword that
did extra damage to Sigma, and had given his sword to the golden X as
he fought his way to the monster.

Then came the battle with Repliforce. Matt told him about Iris and his
brother, the times they had worked together and when they fought.

Gabumon couldn't help to hug Matt when his voice cracked as he retold
Iris's death. It was an incredible story, full of dangers and adventures.

Gabumon could now understand what Matt had said about having a mission,
as Matt told him about the apparent return of the Mavericks, and that
they would fight them that same night.

"I will go with you."

Zero sighed. "Listen, Gabumon..."

"No, Matt. You listen. We once made a promise to be together through
thick and thin. Now you're asking me to leave you! I'm sorry but I
won't!"

"Gabumon..." Zero whispered, then brightened up. "If you turn into
Weregarurumon, you might be able to accompany us."

"Weregarurumon?" X asked confused.

It was now Matt's and Gabumon's turn to tell their story.

X paid rapt attention to their words, cheering for their victories
and mourning for the loss of Wizardmon and the others that had died.

Gabumon understood why Matt cared for his younger friend.
Well, younger in attitude. He was seeing T.K. in X, and equally, X
treated him more like a big brother than a normal friend.

When they had finished, it was almost time for them to go.

X and Gabumon liked and respected each other, and Zero thanked
whatever Kami had allowed him to have such good friends.

------
End Part 1

Well, I hope you liked it, responses and critiques, flames, hate letters,
love letters, bomb mails and such please send to wandererd@yahoo.com