Legendary Motivations

Chapter 1 - The Zetsabre

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Author's note: I recently came up with a small mini-series of Legends fics. None of them will be more than a few pages in length, but hopefully they'll provide a measure of entertainment for you, the reader.

It had been a long day.

Fifteen-year-old Rock Volnutt slowly trudged his way back to the Flutter. His Megabuster gently swung to and fro on his hip, held securely by a few magnetic clips. His newfound helmet already was scuffed and pockmarked from his battle with the guardian reaverbot in the Pokté Island ruins. His blue colored armor was in need of some maintenance, evident by the several gashes caused by the pirate Bola. His face had a few cuts and bruises on it from the various fights he had been in with the normal reaverbots. But the acquisition of the first key to the Mother Lode had been worth it.

However, the one object that held his special attention was the box held tightly in his right hand. Inside was something called the Zetsabre, a supposedly legendary item that he had won after answering Pokté Village's Mayor's one hundred-question quiz. The questions had been tough, a few of them he had only gotten tight from blind guessing, but the reward more than made up for it (plus, he managed to catch a few glimpses down the front of the Mayor's dress).

Climbing up the ladder of the Flutter, Rock opened the main hatch and jumped in.

"I'm back, he called out. Almost at once, Roll's room door opened. Roll came walking out, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Hi, Rock. Did you get the key?"

"Yep, it's in my backpack."

"Great! I'll set a course for the Sulphur Bottom so we can get it to Von Bluecher."

Roll took a few steps towards the Flutter's bridge when she noticed the case in Rock's hand.

"Hey, what's that, Rock," she asked, pointing towards the case.

"Oh, this? I got it from the Mayor after completing a quiz of hers."

"What kind of quiz?"

"One-hundred questions about every single kind of topic you can think of."

"Wow. What is it?"

"Something called a Zetsabre. The Mayor said it was a legendary weapon, but I've never heard of it before."

"That's strange. What are you going to do with it?"

"Well, it seems like some kind of weapon, so I was hoping you could do something with it."

"I'll take a look at it later, okay?"

"Sure, thanks, Roll."

Roll nodded and continued on her way to the bridge. Rock was about to go into his room when Roll came to a stop.

"Phew! You stink, Rock," she said, scrunching up her face in disgust. "You'd better take a shower soon, or else you're eating that pizza on the top deck!"

Rock laughed and idly scratched the back of his head.

"Sure thing, Roll."

Without any more words, the two continued on their way.

= = = = = = = = = =

An hour later, Rock and Roll were sitting in the Flutter's living room, a pie of homemade pepperoni pizza sitting on the table in front of them. Rock had a set of cleans clothes on now, his armor resting in his room, and was freshly showered. Normally, the two would be passing the time by watching TV. However, thanks to Data's fire accident two days ago, the TV, along with a few other things on the main floor of the ship, were destroyed. Their old TV was now resting the junkyard of Calinca.

"What island do you think we'll be heading to next," Roll asked as she reached for another slice of pizza.

"Well, Gramps and Von Bluecher are studying the nearby islands for any sign of pirate activity."

"Oh, yeah, about that," Roll said, her voice dropping to a more serious tone. "What was going on this morning between you and Tron?"

The question surprised Rock, nearly causing him to choke on his bite of pizza.

"Er, nothing really. She attacked the island with one of her machines and I had to protect the villagers. Why?"

"She did jam my transmission and you said a few weird things when I got through again."

"Oh, is that what you're worried about," Rock replied, an uneasy laugh coming out after. Roll put on a puzzled look and cocked her head slightly.

"Well, yeah."

"I was just happy to hear you again, that's all. Believe it or not, I get nervous when we get cut off."

"Oh! So that's it?"

"Yep! That's all! Nothing else to it!"

Rock grinned widely at Roll, who gave him one of her reassuring smiles in return. Inwardly, Rock sighed in relief. He wasn't too sure how Roll would react if he had told her that Tron had masked her voice as Roll's in an attempt to win him over to her side.

"So, why don't you go and show me that Zetsabre you won," Roll suggested, changing the subject.

"Sure, just give me a sec."

Rock rose from the couch, quickly made the trip to his room, and fetched the box with the Zetsabre inside. Bringing it back to Roll, he sat on the couch again and opened up the box.

The Zetsabre itself looked very old. It was around eight inches long and seemed like it was to be held in the hand. There was a metal hilt, a ribbed handle, and a small, red spike on the bottom. However, it was encrusted with dirt and rust, exposing the circuitry inside.

"Wow..." Roll commented, picking up the object like it was as delicate as a newborn.

"So what do you think," Rock asked, leaning forward a bit, his head turned towards Roll.

"It looks like an energy sword from the Ancient's time."

"Do you think you can fix it?"

"Well, I can try my best, but I don't know much about how blades work. I'd probably need a book on them first, before I'd even consider taking it apart."

Roll handed the Zetsabre over to Rock. He held it in his right hand, his fingers reflexively wrapping around the handle.

"Hey, it fits me perfectly," he commented.

"I guess that means you were meant to have it, right, 'Megaman'?"

Rock gave Roll a sheepish smile. "Megaman" was a nickname she had stuck him with after he had accidentally destroyed her games bearing the same title. It was her way to forever remind him that he needed to replace them.

However, there was the exception with Data and Juno. Data had always referred to Rock as Megaman. For the longest time, he had never known why. But ever since the incident that had happened last year on Kattlelox Island, he knew that it had to do with the same reason the Juno had called him "Megaman Trigger".

Putting it out of his mind, Rock placed the Zetsabre back in it case. He would leave it safe in his room until Roll could repair it.

= = = = = = = = = =

That night on the Sulphur Bottom, Rock was twisting and turning in sleep. His dark, brown hair was matted with sweat has his face bore the expression of confusion and fear. Images flashed through his mind, nearly too fast for him to comprehend. One second he was standing on a road, a giant, walking machine in front of him, its right arm lying on the ground, smoldering metal and wires where it should've joined the bottom. The next second, he was walking side by side another person, who was wearing blue armor and had a red gem on his head. Another image came, this time of another man, this one taller than Rock, strange red scars running vertically on his eyes and a sadistic grin on his face. The scene changed again, this time he was looking at group of men in green uniforms and berets, each one holding a rifle of some sorts, looking at him like he was some sort of savior.

The images continued. At last, Rock squeezed his eyes shut tight and screamed out for them to stop.

And they did.

Opening his eyes again, Rock found himself in a black void. He couldn't move or talk. He wondered what was going on.

"So... you're the one who's got my beam saber now, huh?"

A mysterious voice sounded from within the darkness. Rock couldn't place the accent, but it had a cocky tone to it and a hint of weariness.

"Honestly, I couldn't think of someone else better. It's a shame that you have to walk down this road, though." The voice paused for a moment to chuckle to itself.

"I guess that after all these years, some of X's attitude rubbed off on me. Then again, I had to bear the title in order to understand, too."

The voice sighed audibly.

"You've got a rough life ahead of you, kid. When you're one of us, that's all you ever have. But you've got that spark that makes people like us so special. Just make sure to never lose sight of what's right and you'll do just fine."

Rock suddenly bolted up in his bed, his breathing heavy. The room had a dim glow to it, courtesy the nighttime mode that Von Bluecher had included in the Sulphur Bottom's design. Swallowing, he put a hand up to his drenched head and pulled his hair back. That dream... it seemed so real, like those images weren't so much figments of his subconscious but memories.

And then, his hand dropped and he looked up, a name coming to his mind.

"Zero?"

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