AREA: FINAL DESTINATION CITY

[awakeningwill]

Out-of-Character Information

Name: Toni
Are you over 15?: yes
Time Zone: Greenwich Mean
Personal Journal: zedlast
Reliable Method of Contact: punchpolygons
Other characters in the game: punchtheflowers, travelingdarkness, caincarnate

In-Character Information

Name: Zero
Game/Series: Mega Man Zero
Teacher/Student/Other: Faculty
Canon Point: Post-MMZ4
Age: about 300+
Grade Level/Class Taught/Job: Security, eventually
Dorm or Living Arrangement: Dorm

Personality:

Zero, at his utmost, is a soldier. As a combat reploid, he was designed to wage war as destructively and efficiently as possible. As a hunter, he was tasked with eliminating those who endanger the innocent. As a comrade, he is willing to put his life on the line and sacrifice himself for the sake of others. And as a friend, he needs no words to understand the implicit bond of trust between the legacy of their hopes and dreams, and his blade. He may have questioned what he fought for in the past, but by 22XX, he's found that answer. There's no longer any hesitation in him when it comes to cutting down his enemies.

The military professionalism that he carries about him at all times is difficult to read, and even more difficult to pierce through. It would actually be pretty easy to write him off as just another a cold, unfeeling robot - but in truth, the tight grip he has over his emotions is an attitude forged by experience, adversity, acceptance, and a bit of lingering amnesia. Socially, there will always be a gulf between his existence and that of an ordinary civilian. He does what they cannot in order to ensure that they won't have to, and as such he inhabits a space that has no place in times of peace. It's difficult for him to carve out where he belongs in normal, everyday life because so much of him is single mindedly dedicated to one sole area of expertise. It can make him rather frustrating to deal with when he can't turn off his mission-oriented thought process and just relax, even among friends. Zero is much more frequently an audience to other people, even if he has very little to offer back. It's not his style to waste words, or speak at length on things that he either doesn't understand, or do not require his opinion. He only says as much as he needs to, and always with a terse, deadpan tone. When necessary, he will be very blunt in pointing out hypocrisy and other hard truths where he sees it, as well as standing up for himself and his allies. However, there are some things that can't be resolved with words alone, and some who simply won't be swayed. It's not his job to correct everyone's misplaced beliefs - but it is his job to act if those beliefs take the on harmful forms.

Ultimately, it is the field of battle where is the most comfortable. There, he only needs to understand one thing: how to overcome each obstacle set in front of him with whatever skills and tools he has in his possession. In that respect, as a combat intellect, he is incredibly formidable. Very little is able to faze or intimidate him, and he has an uncanny ability to keep cool under pressure. However, that veneer can threaten to crack when innocent bystanders or the people he cares about are threatened or hurt, and he will fight with his very all to protect them. This is why generally he prefers to work missions alone - he's already very comfortable with his own level of ability, and won't be distracted in order to look out for everyone else. Plus, he tends to take a lot of risks that he wouldn't try to subject anyone else to. If someone inexperienced does tag along, he tends to treat them the same way he would another soldier - which usually ends up with him snapping at them for risky conduct. When he has a mission objective, it is his sole goal to see it accomplished, no matter what. As a fighter, Zero is both highly adept and reckless at the same time, often times prone to disobeying commands in order to see things through. Unfortunately, when you're a hammer, all your problems tend to look like nails. He doesn't always think through the consequences of his actions. This was the flawless logic that decided wandering in a desert for a full year destroying everything that moved was a solution to a totalitarianism regime; that decided he could stop an already launched missile by jumping on board. As a result he's often made things much worse than when they started out.

Despite his mistakes, however, Zero is not a creature of regret. That's not to say he won't feel responsible, but he sees very little point in languishing on something that's already been said and done. Wallowing in angst helps no one, and neither will coddling anyone in empty reassurances. In all frankness, Zero's very existence as the origin of the Maverick Virus has pretty much been the sole source of every conflict for the past 200 years - he would be completely incapacitated if he had to feel sorry for every single death. No, if anything, he's had to solidify that loss into a resolve - a resolve that would be willing to do anything and everything to ensure that the future would be someplace better. Even if he doesn't necessary remember all the details of his past, the most important part is continuing to move forward despite what's happened. This attitude also helps him forgive others with relatively little bitterness, provided they are also willing to change. If they're doing more good than harm, then he's usually willing to coexist. Luckily, he doesn't take too much stock in what most other people think of him - the world may call him a hero or a monster, but he'll forge on. There's nothing he really feels he needs to prove to them.

Then there are others - there are those whom Zero considers friends. It may seem contradictory considering how stiff and insensitive he acts outwardly, but when Zero trusts, he trusts absolutely and unfailingly. In a way, he's always admired the kind of people who could hold onto hope for the future, who believed in peace and cooperation and worked towards that goal. Perhaps they were naive or idealistic to a fault, and maybe those concepts didn't belong in the reality of their war torn world, but to be able to hold onto that sense of good without being corrupted by cynicism or apathy was a rare thing - one Zero didn't possess. He struggled to find meaning in conflict - where reploids were forced to kill one another, where all the good he did was undone by his role in the destruction of the world - and ultimately found one.

It wasn't any nebulous concept like justice or freedom. It wasn't any government authority or inherent beliefs he held. Instead, he places his complete trust in the his friendship with X. That X believes in harmony and humankind is enough of a reason for Zero to fight for them, even if he himself sometimes considers them complacent, cowering, and misled. Whatever his personal opinion, he's able to put them aside in order to preserve that dream. Even when one of them is no longer around, their understanding of each other is so unshakable that they are both able and willing to carry the burden on alone. In a similar way, Zero also holds faith in Ciel, and the potential that her research held in solving the conflict between human and reploid. The two of them, however, were never as close as true partners - her role as a scientist was to illuminate a path to the future, and in turn, his role as a soldier was to protect her and her dreams until they could reach fruition. They both fought for a common goal, but neither of them could fully step into the other's shoes.

He also has a healthy amount of respect for his opponents who fight for the sake of their own convictions. The path each individual soldier takes towards finding meaning is different, and even if they don't agree, that is a distinction better debated out on the battlefield instead of with rhetoric. Unlike some of his returning foes, however, Zero isn't particularly invested in rivalry - he's really just too strait-laced. What he really cannot abide by, however, are the megalomaniacs and tyrants - the power-hungry, those who would oppress and control people for the sake of their own ego and thirst for retribution - as far as he's concerned, regardless of whether they are human or not, are on the same level as any virus-infected maverick. As a Wily Number, Zero was never built with the three laws of robotics in mind. That he follows them at all is a compulsion of his own free will, of his conscience.

Because regardless of how he holds himself, and of his artificial nature, Zero is very much as capable of thinking for himself as any human. He's one of the most advanced A.I.s to come into existence up to this point, after all. Though he was never intended to have a conscience, the drive to protect others has been so deeply ingrained into his core that even complete amnesia couldn't wipe it out. That is what it means to be a soldier - continuing to strive to do good, even if it means fighting and killing so no one else has to; putting yourself in the hands of someone else's convictions; working towards a goal that will make yourself obsolete. It was already complete, ironic chance that he would be able to defy his purpose and befriend the reploid that should've been his nemesis. Throughout the course of his life, he has consistently shrugged off the destiny that was meant for him, and made selfless sacrifices to ensure that no one else would have to suffer. Even though his original body had to be destroyed at his own hands, and his memory of the past hundred years continues to be hazy, Zero has emerged completely himself.

Backstory:

Look at all that history. (And he's, like, not even gonna be able to remember any of the MMX stuff, unless something jogs his memory.) We pick up after the final boss battle of MMZ4, with Dr. Weil.

The space station Ragnarok was falling. Its trajectory: Area 0, the last remaining bit of natural life in the desolate wasteland of Earth, 22XX. Despite Ciel's desperate pleas for Zero teleport out of the satellite as it began to burn up on re-entry, he saw a different solution. Dr. Weil's horrific, regenerative cyborg body had fused with the core of the ship in a bid to destroy Zero and the last human settlement once and for all. If that core was destroyed, the explosion would be large enough to break Ragnarok apart so that it no longer posed a threat to the Earth below. It would be enough to kill Dr. Weil for good. And it would mean the velocity would be too great for Zero to escape burning up on re-entry.

So of course, he did exactly what he did best. He fought.

The heat was incredible - it was impossible to distinguish whether it was the core explosion or simply the speed of descent the atmosphere that was disintegrating through his armour shell. At any rate, it didn't last long. Zero's thoughts disappeared into bright, burning white as everything he was made of melted away into nothing more than a streak of light across the evening sky.

Then he woke up, severely damaged, in an open dumpster in an FDC alleyway.

Anything Else?:

- He's going to be intro'd under some fun circumstances, of which I have cleared with Jeff and Kat (which may or may not involve being arrested by Eggman and temporarily re-programmed.)
- Zero is equipped with the Z-sabre, buster, Z-knuckle, and shield boomerang.
- The Z-Knuckle is able to steal abilities from robot enemies that he fights. Despite its name, it's actually on his palm.
- Also his sabre abilities from MMZ4 are here
- Physically he looks really young, somewhere in his late teens. He's 5'3" tall.
- Being submerged doesn't damage him, but he can't swim.
- Zero's body is copy of the original, so it's also got all the seams and nonhuman roboty bits that Copy X does.
- I'm just gonna say there's a full head of hair under that helmet, for no reason other than I want to draw it.
- His hair IS ALWAYS PERFECT. Robot science did it.
- Won't have any amnesia from the MMZ games, but his MMX memories are definitely super hazy.
- Survives off energy crystals, don't feed him your people food.
- Snark.exe broke somewhere his hibernation periods. He is the very worst at it.
- I apologize in advance for how many ellipses I'm going to need to use.
- Arrived with a Cyber-elf, Croire, but they got separated somehow?!
- It's too bad human eyes can't detect Cyber-elves.

In-Character 1st person sample:

[SOUND ONLY TRANSMISSION]

...

Ugh. I'm alive... somehow.

Ciel? This is Zero. I've sustained heavy damage. Respond.

Ciel, respond.

. . . No Resistance channels. No available transmission circuits.

This isn't Neo Arcadia. Where am I? How long... have I been unconscious?

...

Did... I complete the mission?

Ciel . . .

[TRANSMISSION END]

In-Character 3rd person sample:

It didn't feel like there was a single panel of his armour that been unscorched by the intense explosion over the Earth's atmosphere. Cracks lined his whole body, discharging licks of electricity every time Zero tried to move. The diagnostics check was... less optimistic than he would've liked. And that new Cyber-elf he'd been taking care of was missing. Considering that final battle though, it was really more surprising that he survived at all. Maybe she didn't.

Or maybe he survived because she didn't. Wasn't it the sacrifice of a Cyber-elf that unsealed him in the first place?

Maybe it was the case and maybe it wasn't. Regardless, there was no helping it - he had to get up. He would not allow himself to shut down while lying in this dumpster. With his joints stiff and burnt out, he had to pour all his willpower into forcing them to function again. Zero pushed himself up and grabbed the edge of the filth-stained container to steady himself as he stood. His body felt like lead. But, at least for now, it was moving.

He half-jumped, half-toppled out of the dumpster, managing at least to land on his feet, however shakily. The shock of impact alone felt like it was dislodging his circuitry for a moment there, but once he started walking, the momentum of putting one foot in front of the other was getting less and less excruciating as he went. Just keep moving. Eventually, he had to run into someone.

Unfortunately, that someone was an Eggbot. It was several Eggbots.

It was curfew.

Zero narrowed his eyes as they began advancing on him, muttering a low, "Damn." These mechs might not have been any make that he was familiar with, but he recognized an enemy when he saw one. He didn't know why they were targeting him, but he didn't need to. Ignoring the grave extent of his injuries, he drew his buster gun and loaded the hilt of his sabre into the magazine slot. At the very least, he'd take out as many of them as possible before his body gave out.