MMX Intro

Introduction

The story “Terrornova” takes place in the Megaman X universe, copyright Capcom Entertainment Ltd., and to understand most of the story you’ll have to know a bit about both the world in which the story takes place and what has happened in that world up to the point the story takes place. This “history section” provides you with the background knowledge you’ll need to know. Bolded names or terms mean that these characters, events, or things play a role in the story itself. Names typed in regular print may be mentioned in the story, but their characters do not actually appear. Please note that some of this is not official, and is just my way of explaining what happened.

Following the history is, for disclaimer purposes, a list of the characters featured in the book that were created by Capcom, followed by a list of characters that I myself invented. There are a sizable amount of characters that appear in the story. Mostly they are needed only for a chapter, and so forgetting who they are won’t hurt your understanding of the rest of the story. If they are needed again, they are generally reintroduced to refresh your memory. If you’re still confused the short descriptions in this list should help you out.

The Robot Age

The whole Megaman saga starts far in the future. Two scientists named Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily were partners in a special technological project. Their goal was to create a better form of the robots already in use around the world. By giving robots humanoid shapes and creating “cyborgs” with advanced minds, they would revolutionize the way robots were built and begin the Robot Age. Robots that could communicate vocally with humans, perform tasks humans couldn’t, and be specialized for specific work such as marine projects, working in hot areas, etc. were in high need across the world.

All robots at this point were called mechaniloids—robots that did only as they were programmed to do. They could only process information one way, and as such they could not adapt to circumstances. The first “advance-mechaniloid”, or "Robot Master" created by Dr. Light and Dr. Wily was called Protoman, because he was the prototype for the breed of robots the doctors were planning to create. Protoman could “think”, so to speak, meaning he could process information in a number of different ways and so make decisions that would make the best of each situation he was in, rather than following programmed orders to a T. In addition, he had a personality of sorts, meaning he reacted to individual people differently and responded to their actions accordingly with how a human would act—it was a step towards the future, but still it was only a simulated personality.

Protoman, unfortunately, suffered from several unbalances in his mind, and broke free from the doctors’ control. He lived on his own until, in the future, Dr. Light found him and restored his stability, but much had happened by then. After the loss of Protoman, Light and Wily activated Rock, a humanoid who soon became their star creation. Rock did not have any specific talents, but his personality was something Light and Wily had never expected. Somehow, they’d stumbled upon the programming and computer chips necessary to make a very humanlike creation. Rock had the mentality of a teenager, fittingly enough, and a polite one at that. Immediately the doctors hoped that they had started down the road to “mechanical humans”.

But Rock’s programming had been an accident, and both of them knew it. Together they created six other advance-mechaniloids: Cutman, Gutsman, Bombman, Elecman, Iceman, and Fireman. None of them possessed even a fragment of Rock’s personality, but they were specialized for certain areas, fulfilling the goals of both scientists.

Almost. For while Light and Wily had been partners for years, Dr. Wily had always harbored a poisonous jealousy towards Light. Light was the one who always got the praise and accolades, and Wily was merely his underling. Wily was every bit as intelligent as Light, and he wanted to prove it. To make matters worse, he had a secret desire for power, and he saw the advance-mechaniloids he and Light created as things other than the specialized workers they had been intended to be—he saw them as military weapons.

Dr. Wily captured six advance-mechaniloids and reprogrammed them to be faithfully disposed to him. Rock, however, escaped and remained with Dr. Light. Dr. Wily used the robots he’d stolen to take over various “pressure points” of the cities around him, and before long it looked like he’d soon have a power base for his rather mad global conquest plans.

Knowing he alone could stop Wily, Dr. Light upgraded Rock into a soldier. Rock acquired a plasma cannon, or buster. He used it to fire plasma-laced fireballs at his opponents, and to acquire data from his defeated opponents to produce new weapons for his use. Rock was now known as Megaman, and he defeated all of Wily’s mechaniloid soldiers, freeing the world from the scientist’s clutches.

But Wily refused to be beat. He quickly became the world’s greatest terrorist, creating squads of new mechaniloid generals and repeatedly sending them out to do his bidding. Megaman stopped Wily six times before he finally managed to capture the scientist. Even then, however, Wily had a card up his sleeve. Four of his most powerful robots yet awoke and broke him out of jail. This time, when Megaman met up with the scientist again, he nearly killed the man. Wily was an evil person, but Megaman was still a robot, and to break the first law of robotics—a robot must never harm a human being—would be a death sentence for him. Wily used Megaman’s hesitancy to escape again.

The eighth time Megaman and Wily met was far more complicated. Wily had discovered an alien power source, known only as Dark Energy. A mysterious robot named Duo, whose only mission was to destroy all the Dark Energy that existed, joined Megaman in battle and helped him eradicate Wily’s eight newest mechaniloids.

At this point in time, both Light and Wily were experimenting with a more advanced form of robotics. Dr. Light had finally figured out what he’d done to give Megaman such a human-like mindset, and in addition he realized that he had the capability to enhance that program. He immediately began work on a “replicate android”, also called a Reploid. A Reploid would be a robot that could think, feel, and truly make its own decisions. It would finally be the “mechanical human” that Light and Wily had originally tried to create.

Dr. Wily, however, managed to steal the plans for Light’s Reploid. The mad scientist used the plans to design the world’s first true Reploid—a crimson killing machine that he named Zero. Despite his eighth defeat at Megaman’s hands, and the destruction of his Dark Energy machines by Duo, Wily still had a bit of Dark Energy left to dabble with, and had realized enough of the alien substance’s capabilities to use it to create a powerful living computer virus. He installed it in Zero’s body, and sealed his Reploid away. There was no way to be sure of Zero’s loyalty to Wily, and so Wily set Zero to awaken in the future, when Wily would most certainly be dead. The virus Zero was infected with would cause him to be an insane butcher, and he would serve as Wily’s final revenge upon the world.

Fortunately, Dr. Light expected Wily to do this. The good doctor remembered enough of his design notes to build a Reploid of his own. His Reploid was named Mega Man X, and it possessed most of the combat capabilities of the original Megaman and more. It is debatable who X really is. Some say that he is actually the original Megaman, upgraded to Reploid form. The other option is that X is a totally different Reploid that was merely built based on Megaman’s schematics. X’s personality was influenced by Light’s programming. Light wanted him to be a pacifist, and to lead the world to peace, not war. Unfortunately, Light knew that X’s systems would never be fully reliable until after a very long period of testing. Unwilling to chance activating X now and having him go berserk, Light sealed his final creation in a capsule and hid him away. The capsule was programmed to seal X for 30 years…a time well beyond what Light had left to live. Light installed a warning in the capsule, but that was all he could do. Light’s laboratory was destroyed shortly after X was sealed. Why it was destroyed, and what eventually became of Light, is still unknown—Capcom has yet to fill in that plot-hole.

The Rise of Reploids

The Capcom game series says that the year is now 21XX. The “Wily Wars” have been over for almost 30 years, and advance-mecahniloids have taken a sort of backseat.

One day, an archaeologist named Dr. Cain (Capcom never gave him a first name, and I do not try to either) discovered the ruins of Dr. Light’s lab while digging for plant fossils. After exploring the lab, Cain came across the capsule containing X. He read Light’s warning, and realized what X was—a Reploid, a robot who could think and make his own decisions. Cain released X, who proved to be a stable, friendly unit. He acted like a pacifist, but he clearly had the capability to fight if need be. His weapon systems were something greater than anything the research team had ever seen. He was a force to be reckoned with, but he refused to take part in any violence.

Dr. Cain realized that he had stumbled unwittingly on something that could and would revolutionize the future. He quickly copyrighted the rights to Reploid production and began to mass-produce them. Cain paid careful attention to Light’s design notes and warnings. He did not want to create a race of unstable war machines, and he did his job well. Corporations across the globe, however, were less vigilant. The careful attention Cain put into his own Reploids required too much time to be profitable, and the companies mass-producing Reploids made a few mistakes. As a result, some Reploids suffered from mental glitches, some of which turned them violent. Reploids who suddenly went out of control were labeled “mavericks” and deactivated by security and law enforcement troops.

Reploids were machines, but they still had the ability to think and feel, and they were virtually human in every aspect except their body composition. They were created in the image of humans, but they were still machines, and had to abide by the laws of robotics. Therefore they were forbidden to harm their human creators, and at first they really had no desire to do so. However, humans predictably viewed the Reploids as no more than laborers, and imposed harsh restrictions on their freedom, never really thinking twice about it. After all, they were just machines. Who ever heard of hurting a machine’s feelings?

Of course, the Reploids did not stand for this for long. They desired freedom as much as any human would, and began to protest. Most of the time they merely voiced their opinions, but some groups of Reploids acted violently. These Reploids, like the ones who went berserk because of a computer error, were called Mavericks. As the amount of Mavericks increased, damage increased also. It was hard for the law enforcement agencies to take down the Maverick rebels, and before long they were in over their heads.

Dr. Cain realized the threat of the Mavericks and knew that there had to be some concentrated resistance force to deal specifically with renegade Reploids. To accomplish this, Cain used his wealth, which was by now very vast, to establish the Maverick Hunter organization. The Hunters hunted down Maverick Reploids and stopped them before they could do too much damage. As the number of Mavericks continued to increase, the Hunter organization drew government funding and increased its might. Humans and Reploids alike joined up with the Hunters, and it inadvertently provided most Reploids involved with a lifestyle other than serving humans or working as laborers. In effect, the Maverick Hunters contained Mavericks in two ways: destroying the Reploids who were already Maverick and preventing new Mavericks from appearing by providing Reploids with a decent paycheck and more liberties. Cain couldn’t change the world, but he knew that if he made the effort, he could at least begin the process of equal relations between Reploids and humans.

After a while, the Hunters were a big enough force that they needed a commanding officer. Dr. Cain personally constructed the Reploid who would lead the army. His name was Sigma, and he was considered to be an incredible fighting machine with a CPU as stable as even X’s. Sigma was a stern, strict officer, and he was big on building morale with his Reploid soldiers. Sigma didn’t care much for humans. He respected them for creating his people, but he didn’t like the way that the Reploids were all treated. He used his position to give the Reploids in his control the most liberties he could, and quickly became a hero among his entire race. Sigma commanded the 17th Unit, the Hunter elite. His unit consisted of Chill Penguin, Spark Mandrill, Launch Octopus, Sting Chameleon, Storm Eagle, Armored Armadillo, Flame Mammoth, and Boomer Kuwangner. When they attacked together, they were all but invincible. They soon became the idols of Reploids everywhere, and together they quelled all the Maverick attacks that threatened the collective security of Megacity 5, the metropolis where Maverick Hunter Headquarters was located. The human government was pleased, too. As they saw what Sigma and his Hunters were accomplishing to protect humans, their paranoia about the Reploids began to dim somewhat.

The Megacity System

Capcom never invented a “megacity system”. It is my own creation, designed to organize city and government structure. It is probably best to explain it right now to avoid further confusion.

As cities grew too large to exist next to each other, clusters of large cities were combined into one “Megacity”. Most of the prosperous nations of the world, such as the USA, Britain, Japan, etc. united under one “Megacity System”. Each Megacity has its own army, which includes infantry, air force, and navy. One main governing body leads the Megacity Army in regards to international affairs, but aid to the Maverick Hunters and the armies based in each Megacity handle intercity conflicts.

Megacity 5 is what used to be New York City and the surrounding areas. It is in this city that most of “Terrornova” takes place. Areas during the few segments in Brazil are not a part of the Megacity System.

The Turning Point

Sigma and his Maverick Hunters successfully contained the Maverick threats. Mega Man X watched from the sidelines. He refused to get in on the fighting, firmly believing that conflict would lead only to more conflict.

The turning point in the world’s stability came when a distress signal reached Hunter HQ. A mysterious crimson Maverick had holed himself up in a warehouse and had single-handedly butchered the entire Hunter unit sent to intercept him. Sigma himself went to the site, refusing to allow any more of his soldiers to die fighting the “red devil”. The Maverick turned out to be Dr. Wily’s masterpiece…the fighting machine called Zero.

Zero was more ferocious in combat than anything Sigma had ever come across in his life. The two battled each other nearly to the deaths, and just as Zero was about to send Sigma to the great beyond, the Hunter took advantage of a sudden opportunity and delivered a severe blow to Zero. At this moment, Sigma shattered the part of Zero’s internal structure that contained the virus Dr. Wily implanted into his creation at the last moment. The virus left Zero, and the insanity that clouded the crimson Hunter’s mind vanished instantaneously. Sigma, however, had just been infected with the most dangerous virus in history.

The thing that came to be called the Sigma Virus did not fully emerge until the third uprising, but this was where its evil began. The virus, by nature, infects a body and fights the body’s mind for control. Eventually they reach a sort of “agreement”—the body remains under the mind’s control, but the mind is negatively influenced by the Sigma Virus…and this only occurs in the host body. Every other Reploid Sigma infected with the Sigma Virus would come under the indirect control of the main host body, which would be Sigma in this case. Eventually Sigma would wield the virus to corrupt legions of soldiers to his cause, but not yet. When he acquired the virus from Zero, Sigma did not even know about it. The virus should have taken effect immediately, but Sigma’s CPU firewalls were more advanced than anything Wily could have planned for. The virus was forced to nestle itself away and wait. Only when Sigma’s body was demolished and his CPU defenses fell could the virus take effect. Sigma left the warehouse with the unconscious Zero in tow, and no one ever knew that a thing was wrong.

Dr. Cain himself examined Zero when he was returned to the HQ. The Reploid did not remember anything at all about himself or his brief past. It was as if he had just been activated. Sigma, knowing how well Zero could fight, urged Cain to let the crimson Reploid be trained as a Maverick Hunter under Sigma’s supervision. Zero soon proved himself as one of the stronger Reploids in the forces, and he never had any relapses of the insanity that had plagued him in the first few months of his life. Sigma and Cain kept the whole thing quiet, reporting that the “red devil” that had destroyed a whole Hunter unit had been killed back at the warehouse.

While all this was happening, secret maneuvers by the government and increasing crackdowns on Reploid freedoms were angering activist groups. The world had suddenly become a very tense place indeed.

The First Uprising—Sigma’s War

It was not Dr. Wily’s virus that caused Commander Sigma to defect to the Maverick Army. Sigma went Maverick of his own free will. He had finally grown disillusioned with the way his race was being treated, and no longer saw diplomacy as a viable option. He feared another massive crackdown on Reploids and the damage that it would do, and decided that enough was enough. The idealistic Reploid staged a coup, doing major damage to Hunter HQ. His 17th Unit defected with him along with a vicious Hunter named Vile. Vile was both a brutally efficient fighter and a genius tactician. He soon became Sigma’s right hand man.

The entire world order had just been shaken. Reploids around the globe looked to Sigma and the 17th Unit as role models. They were the heroes of the Reploid people. Soldiers flocked to Sigma’s side, and the new leader of the Maverick Army surged forth to create a new world where Reploids ruled humans, rather than the other way around. This plan involved the rather hateful genocide of all humans in Megacity 5 and eventually the world. The Maverick Hunter force was but a shell of its former self, and the Megacity Army was powerless against Sigma’s eight unit members, who were far too skilled at their jobs. Reploids around the world turned violent all at once. Humans everywhere were marked. They had to hide, they had to evacuate their homes, and they were now the ones being hunted. Many joined the Maverick Hunters, but the undisciplined mobs were not enough to even dent Sigma’s mighty war machine.

Dr. Cain was horrified. As soon as Sigma went Maverick, he named Zero as the new leader of the Maverick Hunters. During Sigma’s actual defection, his unit escaped the HQ using Storm Eagle’s airship, the Death Rogumer. Zero took the remaining Hunters and pursued the Mavericks as they flew away from the HQ. Joining him was Mega Man X. X was no longer content to just sit around and watch. The Reploids existed because of him, he reasoned, and he was responsible for whatever destruction Sigma caused. X chased the Death Rogumer far down the Megacity highways, destroying sentry after sentry until Vile himself decided to stop the blue Reploid. Vile was a master pilot of ride armors, also called “mechas”. Ride armors are more or less small tanks in human form. The pilot sits in a massive chassis and commands the bipedal tank to do what they want. Vile’s personal ride armor—the mighty “Goliath”—made short work of X. Just as Vile was preparing the finishing blow, Zero arrived at the site with reinforcements. Vile’s Goliath received serious damage and Vile was forced to retreat. Death Rogumer pulled out shortly after.

The war had begun, and the Hunters had very few assets. Many Reploids who didn’t buy into Sigma’s genocidal ideals threw in their lot with Dr. Cain and the Maverick Hunters, but it seemed unlikely that they’d have any real success. Zero sent X alone into the mountains where Chill Penguin was planning to create an avalanche with which to dump on the city below. X encountered the first of several capsules here that had been planted decades earlier by Dr. Light. These capsules contained special enhancements meant only for X, and they enhanced his combat capabilities beyond anything any other Reploid could match. X surprised his comrades by vanquishing Chill Penguin with relative ease. Knowing a good thing when he saw it, Zero began to send X into the lairs of Sigma’s individual generals. X eventually assassinated all eight of Sigma’s unit members and drastically reduced the Maverick Commander’s military muscle.

Finally, it was time for the attack on Sigma’s floating fortress, a massive complex that used hover jets to float over the sea. Zero and X were the only two Hunters who made it safely inside. Zero went to disrupt the base’s main security systems while X slipped in quietly. The covert insertion worked, but before the two got far Vile reappeared. The crafty Maverick lured Zero into combat with the upgraded Goliath ride armor. Zero was no match, and Vile imprisoned him in an energy cage to use him as cruel bait to lure X into a death match. X did meet Vile in battle, but the Goliath once again proved to be too much for him. Zero, however, wasn’t done just yet. He used all his remaining strength to escape from his cage and jump onto the Goliath’s back. Zero activated his self-destruct mechanism, and the resulting explosion obliterated the Goliath and damaged Vile. X finished Vile off just in time to see Zero die. Filled with rage, X successfully infiltrated Sigma’s inner sanctum and confronted the leader of Reploids. Sigma accused X of treason, and moved to pass sentence. The resulting battle was terrific, but X came out on top. Sigma was destroyed and his floating complex fell into the ocean. X teleported out of the complex in time, and returned to the Hunter HQ as a hero. The remaining Maverick bases fell quickly. The loss of their leader was a huge morale killer, and the Maverick forces soon dwindled down to a non threatening level. The damage had been done, however. The humans would never again trust the Reploids, and another crackdown quickly began. Humans have never been quick to learn from their mistakes.

Sigma, however, did not die in the battle. His body was destroyed, but his spirit remained…so to speak. If you’ll remember, Wily’s virus stayed hidden inside of him, waiting for his body to be destroyed so his mental defenses would fall. In that split second when X overloaded his circuits, the virus exploded into Sigma’s mind, absorbing everything and transferring itself out of the dying body via the base’s electrical terminal. From there it was merely a matter of shooting through the Internet to another computer, and from there to a new host body. The virus copied all of Sigma’s mental files. The only thing that was different was that now the virus had twisted Sigma’s mind. He was now concerned with one thing only—revenge.

The Second Uprising—The X-Hunters’ Coercion

Six months after the destruction of Sigma, little had changed. The pockets of Mavericks left over from the first uprising and those created by recent human crackdowns on Reploids were still active, and were causing a lot more damage than usual. Then, quite suddenly, 8 new Maverick generals spread out through the Megacity, occupying pressure points and creating a lot of trouble for the Hunters. However, their demands were unclear. The terrorists, for that was what they were considered to be, weren’t making any requests of the government or the Hunter organization. They merely had orders, and were carrying them out.

Once more, X was sent to lead the attack against the terrorists. Bubble Crab, Flame Stag, Wheel Gator, Morph Moth, Overdrive Ostrich, Wire Sponge, Magna Centipede, and Crystal Snail had each occupied different areas suited to their skills, but X was able to invade the lairs and assassinate the terrorists.

At this point, the masters of the new Maverick conspiracy contacted X at Hunter HQ. They called themselves the X-Hunters. Serges, their leader, was a brilliant Reploid who, while not combat optimized, was an effective tactician. Agile was a tall, speedy swordsman who commanded most of the actual terrorist operations. Violen was the behemoth, the strong man. He handled special scenarios. These three X-Hunters had a rather interesting challenge for X.
A Reploid’s control chip is the most important part of their body. If a Reploid is “killed”, they can be revived by reconstructing their body and reinstalling their intact control chip. When Zero died in Sigma’s fortress, X had thought to recover his control chip. The X-Hunters, however, had collected the dead Hunter’s remaining parts. The X-Hunters invited X to meet them in combat. If he beat an X-Hunter, he would receive one of Zero’s parts. X could not refuse the offer. He fought the X-Hunters and recovered all three of Zero’s pieces. However, the whole thing was just a way to stall for time. The X-Hunters had been producing a dangerous weapon inside their base at the North Pole, and it had been completed while they kept X busy.

X traveled to the North Pole while Dr. Cain reassembled Zero. He successfully infiltrated the X-Hunters’ fortress and destroyed Violen, Serges, and Agile. When he reached the core of the base, he learned to his surprise that the weapon the X-Hunters had been building wasn’t even operational yet. It had all been a trap set by the vengeful mastermind of the entire conspiracy…Sigma.

Sigma confronted X with a clone of Zero. Sigma said that Zero was always meant to be a Maverick anyway, but the real Zero arrived on the scene. He destroyed the clone and spited Sigma, saying that even if he were created to be a Maverick, he’d never follow Sigma. Another battle began between X and Sigma, while Zero snuck off to destroy the base’s power source. X defeated Sigma again, and the Maverick King merely insisted that each defeat only made him stronger. He escaped again via Wily’s virus, activating the fortress’s self-destruct mechanism, hoping to bring down X and Zero before they could escape. The two Hunters escaped intact, however, thwarting Sigma a second time.

The second uprising did not have terrible destructive costs. Mistrust of Reploids grew, but by now the Hunter organization was large enough that it had become a sort of sanctuary. Any Reploid fighting against the Mavericks could more or less be trusted around humans, after all.

The Third Uprising—The Doppler Effect

Despite mistrust of Reploids, the humans were determined this time not to repeat earlier mistakes and tried to normalize relations with Reploids. This paved the way for Doppler Town—a supposed Utopia where Reploids and humans could live together in peace. The town was named after its founder and leader, a Reploid scientist named Doppler. Dr. Doppler had come to power when he presented a vaccine for what he called the “Sigma Virus”, the virus that caused Reploids to go Maverick. For a while, it seemed that the chaos of the Maverick uprisings would finally come to an end.

However, the vaccine was a placebo. Just when the world lowered its guard, Dr. Doppler suddenly launched a massive attack against Hunter organizations around the world using Doppler Town as his base. He sent his air force to attack Hunter HQ. X and Zero led units against them, fighting off the attacking units long enough to save the HQ. The placebo vaccine contained samples of the Sigma Virus, and the infected units around the world came to Doppler’s aid.

In order to stop the Maverick scientist, Dr. Cain sent X and Zero alone into Doppler Town, believing that two single agents invading quietly stood a better chance than an invasion force. While the other Hunters dealt with Doppler’s forces elsewhere in the world, X and Zero infiltrated Doppler Town to try and assassinate Doppler and thus end the uprising from the inside. The two Hunters did battle with the security officers of Doppler Town—Blizzard Buffalo, Blast Hornet, Crush Crawfish, Volt Catfish, Toxic Seahorse, Tunnel Rhino, Gravity Beetle, and Neon Tiger.

When Dr. Doppler realized that his stronghold had been invaded, he summoned his security masters—the brother Reploids Bit and Byte. The two were instructed to find and destroy X before he got too much farther. At the same time, another Reploid made contact with Doppler. It was Vile—he’d been resurrected by Doppler to assassinate the leaders of the Hunters. Now that two of them were inside Doppler Town, the temptation was too much for Vile. The Maverick, insane with his burning desire for revenge, was too much for Doppler to control. He went off to settle the score on his own.

X beat Bit and Byte individually, and the two fled the scene when they realized that they were no match. He stumbled into a trap set by Vile, and was teleported to a warehouse about to explode. Vile fought him in a new ride armor to try and keep him busy until the factory exploded. X defeated Vile’s ride armor and the Maverick fled. X followed him out of the factory just in time. He reinserted himself into Doppler town with Zero’s help and went after the big boss himself.

Dr. Doppler’s secret laboratory was heavily fortified. Dr. Cain sent reinforcements when he learned that his two agents had penetrated Doppler’s defenses. During a briefing with Cain, the scientist revealed that data the Hunters had analyzed indicated that Doppler was constructing a giant new battle body. However, reports on Doppler’s schematics indicated that Doppler would be unable to use the body for himself. He must be building it for someone else…

X and Zero, aided by their reinforcements, penetrated far into Doppler’s lab. They encountered Bit and Byte again on the first level. The two Reploids merged into Doppler’s masterpiece…the so-called Godkarmachine O Nary. The Hunters destroyed this monstrosity and proceeded forward. Vile was the next obstacle they encountered. He had returned in an absolutely monstrous form of the Goliath ride armor, and was bound and determined to beat both Hunters into the ground. Especially X. The battle was arguably the fiercest one X had ever fought, even compared to one against Sigma. When the battle was over, Vile lay dying, and warned X that he would haunt the Hunter until the day he died. The words still torture X to this day.

Zero located Doppler’s power generator and with the Hunters in his Special Unit 0 he destroyed the laboratory’s power supply. In the meantime, X confronted Doppler. The scientist revealed his plans—he was building the battle body for Sigma, who again was back from the dead. Sigma had corrupted Doppler with the Sigma Virus a long time ago, and used the doctor’s vaccine as a means to spread the virus to as many Reploids as was possible. Doppler intended to rip X to shreds and reassemble him as part of Sigma’s new body. He proved to be rather powerful in combat for a scientist, but X came out on top, and the virus left the doctor’s mind. Horrified at what he had done, Doppler told X where Sigma was lurking. He said that he didn’t think Sigma had occupied the battle body yet, but it was only a matter of time.

X entered the core of the lab and encountered Sigma for the third time. The Maverick boasted that there would indeed be a Utopia—a Utopia where only Reploids existed, and he would lead it. The eternal struggle began once more, and X defeated Sigma’s first form. The Maverick leader occupied Doppler’s battle body, and an incredibly destructive battle began. Just as X was about to be terminated, Dr. Doppler entered the arena. He explained that his body contained the true anti virus, and destroyed himself to release it. Sigma lost control of the body, and X struck at its power core. The body ripped itself apart with internal explosions, but Sigma escaped from its confines. Finally, X was face-to-face with the viral form of Sigma, which took the shape of a wire-frame model of Sigma’s head. It followed X as he tried to escape the collapsing laboratory, catching him at the exit. Sigma planned to infect X’s body and conquer the Hunters using the power of the organization’s ultimate champion, but Zero came to his friend’s rescue again. He had equipped his beam saber—a lightsaber, more or less—with the anti virus program Doppler had given him earlier and used it to scatter the viral Sigma. X was free and uninfected, and Sigma appeared to have dissipated forever. In fact, traces of the Maverick leader had escaped through the networks of the laboratory, though his mind would never be the same.

The Fourth Uprising—Repliforce’s Revolution

Realizing how effective the Maverick Hunters were in providing combat orientated Reploids with an outlet for their skills, the humans authorized the creation of Repliforce. Repliforce was an army composed entirely of Reploids. Led by General, a giant gold Reploid who possessed as much honor as he did intelligence, Repliforce gave Reploids something to be proud of, and promoted achievement and morale among the Reploid community. Maverick activity decreased rapidly with Repliforce around to quell uprisings. General and his right hand man, Colonel, were totally loyal to Reploids—not Mavericks, Reploids. To better the lives of Reploids, they had to stop Maverick attacks so humans and Reploids could begin to coexist in peace.

Repliforce cooperated well with the Maverick Hunters for a long time. Commander Zero was a close friend of Colonel. He became even closer to Colonel’s sister, Iris. Aside from X, they were his two best friends. There were even hints of romance between Zero and Iris—something rather odd in a mechanical race. Meanwhile, a new Hunter named Double joined the ranks, and soon became Commander X’s personal advisor.

However, there was a dangerous element wandering around in the world: Sigma. The Maverick was a king without a kingdom. He had no soldiers, no funds, and no allies. He was consumed with fury, and the Sigma Virus was rapidly eating away at what mental control he had left. He wanted nothing more than revenge against the humans who’d oppressed him, the Reploids who’d betrayed him, and the Hunters who’d killed him. He was ready to bring everybody down at once, and he knew one way to do it. A collective effort by the Hunters, Repliforce, and the Megacity Army was underway to construct a weapon in space. This weapon could be used to destroy Maverick occupied areas without risking the lives of Hunters and Army soldiers. The space cannon, called Final Weapon, was currently under Repliforce jurisdiction, and to gain access to it Sigma knew what he had to do.

Relations between the Hunters and the Repliforce were beginning to get sticky. Hunter managers were getting tired of Repliforce encroaching on their territory, and mistrust was beginning to rise over the concept of an army composed only of Reploids. Sigma took advantage of the deteriorating relations by meeting privately with General. He urged General to attack the Hunters before they betrayed him and his fellow Reploids. He claimed that the Hunters existed only to serve the humans, and that General should take steps to ensure that the Repliforce would never suffer the same fate. General saw right through Sigma, though, and simply said that he would not betray the humans.

At this time, Megacity technology included a floating sector of the city. Called the Sky Lagoon, it was powered by a core fed by energen crystal—a powerful element that supplied energy for most giant machines of the current day. Sigma obtained the help of a unit commander in the Hunter army, a fiery martial artist named Magma Dragoon. Maverick units led by a giant mechaniloid dragon attacked Sky Lagoon under Sigma’s command. Sigma leaked misinformation to the Hunters, saying that the attacking army was really the Repliforce. At the same time he sent a message to Repliforce that lured Colonel to the scene. Sigma had set up the confrontation that began the fourth uprising…the most devastating war in history.

Magma Dragoon destroyed the Sky Lagoon’s core. The Hunters sent in to investigate managed to escape, but the Sky Lagoon came crashing down on the city below, destroying everything in its wake. X’s Unit 17 and Zero’s Unit 0 moved in from the ground. Zero found Iris laying injured nearby, and protected her from the dragon mechaniloid. After the battle Colonel arrived on the scene. He thanked Zero for saving his sister, and Zero asked if it was really the Repliforce that had attacked this place. X came shortly after. Everyone was flustered, irritable, confused, and didn’t know what to make of the situation. Zero asked Colonel to disarm and return to Hunter HQ to explain things to the humans. Colonel, annoyed, refused to do so. X told him that he’d be regarded as a Maverick, but Colonel was now angry. He stated that the Repliforce would not kowtow to the Hunters, and left the area. Sigma then fed further misinformation to the Hunters, convincing them that the entire Repliforce had gone Maverick. When war was declared, X and Zero were powerless to do anything but fight. General and Colonel declared a war not to kill humans or to defeat the Hunters, but rather to achieve the creation of an independent state for Reploids. Colonel led the troops on the ground and General commanded the operation while he oversaw the completion of Final Weapon in space.

X was advised by Double during the combat, and Iris came to be with Zero. She repeatedly pleaded with Zero to stop the fighting. She didn’t want her friend or her brother to be killed in the chaos, but Colonel was too far in love with the idea of a revolution and Zero knew it. With no other choice, Zero persisted in combat. He and X worked together with the other Hunter units to shut down the operations of the Repliforce captains—Slash Beast, Web Spider, Storm Owl, Frost Walrus, and Jet Stingray. They also did battle against the traitor Magma Dragoon and his Maverick counterparts Split Mushroom and Cyber Peacock, who were accomplishing specific missions assigned to them by Sigma.

Colonel met X in combat at Memorial Hall, the former Repliforce command center. Zero joined his partner after a while, but Iris broke up the combat, begging Zero and Colonel to stop the fighting before one of them wound up dead. Colonel had his orders but retreated, allowing his sister some comfort. Zero wanted to stop here and now, but he had his own orders. The war went on until it became obvious what the Repliforce was up to—they were planning to evacuate all their soldiers to space and build their utopia around Final Weapon. X and Zero and a small platoon of the most elite Maverick Hunters rushed to the Megacity Spaceport to stop Colonel. Neither Zero nor Colonel wanted to fight each other, but both knew that there was no other option. They fought well, and Zero came out on top. Colonel told Zero to tell Iris that her brother had died happily—Repliforce had escaped to space.

Iris, however, was no longer at Hunter HQ. X and Zero left to infiltrate Final Weapon, leaving Double in charge. Double, however, had a secret. When X’s unit least expected it, Double transformed into an extremely agile killing machine and slaughtered as much of the unit as he could find. He caught a transport up to Final Weapon where he met with X. He revealed that he had been sent as a spy from the very beginning. However, his arrogance made him easy for X to defeat in combat. X proceeded forward to enter General’s chambers. Both commanders exploded at each other for the foolish behavior of their separate organizations, and fought for control of Final Weapon. X wounded General, and the still-honorable Reploid ended the battle without further bloodshed. However, the Final Weapon began to activate seemingly of its own accord…someone else was controlling it.

During all this time, Zero had been busy. He encountered Iris while on his way through the space station. Iris had taken her brother’s death badly, and was determined to make Zero pay for it. Zero reluctantly fought her off and the battle ended with Iris fatally wounded. Zero was devastated. He had killed two of his best friends, and his entire way of life fell into question. What was he fighting for? His mental state was not helped by what followed. He snuck through the ship to the Final Weapon’s control center, where Sigma was waiting. While X fought General, Sigma told Zero all about his bloody past—back when Zero had vanquished an entire Hunter unit, and Sigma had barely defeated him. The realization that he had once been a Maverick again threw off Zero’s mind, and the collective events were all too much for him to bear. He managed to turn his despair into anger, however, and used it to defeat Sigma, who took on several other more powerful forms. X caught up with him eventually and together they destroyed Sigma for the fourth time. The Maverick commander was happy as he was deactivated, though—Final Weapon was set to fire randomly upon the earth. Sigma would have his revenge.

When things looked hopeless, the heavily damaged General came to the rescue. He used his body to destroy Final Weapon’s core while X and Zero got themselves and what soldiers they’d brought with them out of the space station. X was suddenly afraid of what would happen if he ever became a Maverick, and made Zero promise to “take care of him” if things went awry. Zero had his own problems. He would never get over his killing of Colonel and Iris, and the revelation of his past scared him more than a little. His subconscious mind was plagued with dreams about his creator, Dr. Wily, who wanted him to serve the destructive purposes Wily had created him for.

Capcom created two more games, but “Terrornova” takes place shortly after the end of the fourth uprising. Zero is the main character, and the issues left over after the fourth uprising regarding his dead friends and his past have not yet been resolved.

Capcom’s Hunters
Maverick Hunters featured in Terrornova that are Capcom’s property.

Zero—The Commander of Unit 0 Special Forces.

Mega Man X—The Commander of Unit 17 Elite Forces, and Zero’s best friend.

Signas—Grand Commander of the Maverick Hunters. He is in charge of all Hunter combat operations.

Dr. Cain—Technically, Cain is in charge of the Hunter organization, but he has been passing a lot of power to Signas lately. He is the one who began the mass-production of Reploids, and feels that it is his responsibility to help resist the Maverick Reploids.

Douglas—Chief of the Hunter Research & Development department.

Alia—A member of X’s 17th Unit.

Lifesaver—A member of the Hunter medical ward.

Squid Adler—An interrogator working for Caligula.

Original Hunters
Maverick Hunters who appear in Terrornova who are my own original creations.

Vulcan—A rookie Hunter in Unit 5, under Commander Archer. An all around good soldier, Vulcan will be presented with a number of unusual challenges.

Rykov and Krysta—Vulcan’s two best friends.

Archer—Commander of Unit 5, Maverick Hunters.

Mason—Commander of Unit 3, Maverick Hunters.

Alec Tremont—A member of the Hunter Air Force under Commander Taggart. Pilots a Raven combat jet.

Erich Zegmann—Commander of Unit 15, Maverick Hunters

Damia—Commander of Unit 8, Maverick Hunters.

James Taggart—Commander of the Hunter Air Force.

Caligula and Kevin Seitz—The chief and deputy chief of the Hunter Intelligence department. Caligula and Seitz command the agents that they have dubbed the “Invisible Men”.

Tiberius—Chief of the Hunter Medical department.

Zion—Commander of Unit 20, Maverick Hunters.

Scythe—A powerful rookie Hunter in Unit 3.

Harrier—A cocky Unit 3 soldier.

Nightchaser—Vulcan’s rival within the Hunter HQ.

Delates, Sol, Cort, Seamus, Tyclammel, Riposte, Feldspar, and Lyon—Soldiers in Unit 0 under Commander Zero.

Jasper, Shadin, Lariat, and Scylla—Soldiers in Unit 17 under Commander X.

Don’t worry. Most of these characters only appear in specific chapters. You won’t need to remember who they all are all the time.

Capcom’s Mavericks
Mavericks featured in Terrornova that are Capcom’s property.

Sigma—Grand Commander of the Maverick Forces.

Bit and Byte—Security chiefs of the new Maverick base.

Cyber Peacock, Storm Eagle, Gravity Beetle, and Boomer Kuwangner—High ranking Mavericks.

Split Mushroom—Maverick stationed in Brazil.

Blast Hornet—Maverick with damaged mental program.

Original Mavericks
Mavericks featured in Terrornova that are my own original creations.

Gredam—Survivor of a cruel anti-Reploid program. A skilled commander who wants revenge on the humans.

Malevex—Survivor of the same program as Gredam. He is a former spy and is a skilled swordsman and sniper.

Teytha—Another survivor of the anti-Reploid program, she cares only about protecting herself and her comrades.

Mortar—The final survivor of the program. He lives in the slums and when his old friends contact him, he is more than willing to lend a hand.

Diavus—He used to work for Malevex’s old spy network, and is now Malevex’s chief intelligence officer.

Revolver, Greenback, and Chuck—Engineers working on a devastating new weapon.

Capcom’s Unaligned Characters
Characters without allegiance in Terrornova who are Capcom’s property.

Dynamo—A mercenary who cares only about enjoying life to the fullest.

Gate and Isoc—Gate is a Reploid scientist who is well respected for his efforts to end the Maverick Wars entirely. He and his assistant Isoc assist the Hunters with their team of Investigators, who look into jobs that might be too tricky or politically damaging for the Hunters to get involved in.

Blaze Heatnix, Blizzard Wolfang, Ground Scarabich, and Commander Yammark—Members of Gate’s Investigator team.

Grizzly Slash—A weapons dealer.

Original Unaligned Characters
Characters without allegiance in Terrornova who are my own original creations.

Cartwright—A manager of a railroad station in Megacity 5’s industrial district. He tends to side with the Mavericks in most things.

Pierre and Ludwig—Two drunks who are, oddly enough, prime sources of information.

Boris and Leonid—Two thugs in the slums near Mortar’s dwellings.

Guyver—A top adviser to the Gold Serpent.

Kou Cao the Gold Serpent—The undisputed master of the underworld black market in Megacity 5. He came to power shortly after the Doppler uprising. No one knows who or what he really is, or just how much power he has to wield.

The Government
All government characters are my own original creations.

General Klementi Virdelko—A very high ranking army official who oversaw the anti-Reploid program for which Gredam, Malevex, and Teytha want revenge.

Colonel Alan Kitao—The man mostly responsible for the anti-Reploid program.

General Thornton and Major Komanov—Anti-Reploid enthusiasts.

Chartreuse—Kitao’s Reploid adviser. Chartreuse is a cold-blooded murderer at heart, but has managed to keep his killer ambitions a secret from his human superiors. No one really knows why Kitao keeps Chartreuse around.