Family Friend: Timeline! PART 1
While I'm including small details here and there, I'll have to cut back on mentioning the bosses too much as individuals.
A little detail I wanted to include here is that X's interactions with them are a lot more personable, but that'll have to be a separate post entirely. Talking about each boss and how X might be able to connect with them is fun, but this is supposed to strictly focus on the events in the timeline, so the deep dive with all the character development will have to come way later.
X1: Sigma's Revolt?
It's less of a revolution and more so Sigma choosing to leave the Hunters and start "A New Age of Robotics," convincing the more difficult reploids to join him. Though it was phrased as Sigma wanting to progress Reploid evolution, there was another reason he left. See, Sigma was the commander for a reason and knew that not every maverick hunter had the right motive or dedication to be one. His choice to leave was made because he knew that the people in charge of the Hunters at the time were difficult and by convincing reploids to leave of their own accord, Sigma was able to prevent his comrades from inevitably being labeled Mavericks. The only X1 boss that remained a Hunter was Storm Eagle as he saw through Sigma's actions and assured the former commander that he would not lose his way. Especially since he and Teal were still looking out for Zero and X as their seniors.
(When I say that humans were "difficult," I mean that they were strict on reploids and treated them as lesser than. Constantly talking down to reploids, reprimanding Sigma for not labeling angry reploids as mavericks, refusing to consider more preventative measures to reduce the number of mavericks. Dr. Cain did what he could, but he's just one person and his word only had so much sway. I know I made the higher ups sound unreasonable, but that's because they were of the mindset that reploids are like the robots from 100 years ago.)
That said though, in the context of the au, events play out a little differently than what happened on the game, with the bosses challenging X on their own and Vile spearheading the operation. Either due to their own hang-ups or because they don't see the value X's world view brings. They don't understand why Sigma favors X specifically, Zero they get since he's a good fighter, but a medic? It just doesn't click for them. Storm Eagle would also challenge X but it's way more friendly and is born out of a desire to ensure X won't falter on his journey. The bosses also don't explode once X beats them, they just fall to the floor. X patches them up, which earns him more respect since it takes more effort to fix others than it is to destroy them. X also garners more of a reputation for being more of a healer than an outright fighter. Zero also doesn't die at the end, has more supportive dialogue, and spends most of his time gathering intel on the bosses to help X. He still gets captured by Vile but instead of being used to taunt X, Vile just wants to get Zero to see things from his point of view before being interrupted. This is where we really get to see Vile's personal grudge/jealousy against X and he lashes out by using his ride armor, once that's broken by the Hadouken Vile books it out of there. Zero manages to get out but is weakened since the cage drained his energy significantly, he teleports out but not before handing X one final upgrade for his X-Buster.
Sigma is still fought as the final boss but like Storm Eagle, Sigma doesn't actually want to fight X. He sees X as a new hope for reploids, but he also wants X to realize that more often than not, reploids are being persecuted on the orders of humans. X's wish to see real harmony between humans and reploids is a great ideal, but that world just can't happen if X only prioritizes the needs of one. Sigma wants to be the voice for every reploid that suffered discrimination by humanity and does still believe that the Maverick Hunters can be the shield for both sides, but not if their ranks are filled with reploids that reinforce humanity's worse view on reploids. This final fight is the clashing of beliefs and teaches X the pain that laid just beneath the surface, giving him a better understanding and sense of compassion for reploids labeled as "Maverick." Once the fight is over and Sigma is blamed for the "Maverick Uprising," X and Cain manages to lessen his and his followers sentence to extensive community service. They all make it out and once Sigma is through with his hours, he starts a new system that reinforces reploid rights and taking in reploids that may present a risk to others. He may sit as the leader, but even now, Sigma still sets aside some time to spend with Dr. Cain and his brothers like they used to so long ago.
X2: The X-Hunters
Just because Sigma isn't the overarching big bad anymore doesn't mean that there aren't others willing to fill in the role. While the previous debacle only had X and Zero face the power vacuum Sigma left behind, this is the adventure that's more like the actual game. The X-Hunters form bc Serges heard stories of X floating around, though he disregards the medic aspect, he compares X to a "legendary blue robot" from the past. He recruited reploids to do his bidding to see if X lived up to the legend and crafted a plan to stamp out his enemy once and for all. Most of the bosses were convinced to join bc they wanted a chance to fight X himself, but not all of them went willingly. Wire Sponge had been kidnapped from Sigma's ranks and tricked, but at least he wasn't tortured like Magna Centipede was. Centipede's encounter was especially devastating for X, but it was what gave him an idea that changed everything.
While X goes to defeat and recover the Mavericks, Zero finds that there's something familiar about the X-Hunters and goes off on his own to do some detective work. In place of X finding Zero's parts in the original game, X will instead meet up with Zero to figure out what Serges has cooking up. It's during these talks where they notice the similarities between Serges and Dr. Wily and Zero shares his suspicions that Serges might want to finish one of the late doctors prototypes. Basically, instead of X facing a fake Zero or real Zero, he faces a completed X-Kai that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to Bass.
After X defeats Kai and patches him up he asks Zero to watch him and make sure he doesn't do anything while at Dr. Cain's Lab. This leaves X to fight the mad doctor and his teammates alone, but he does manage to beat them. Though Agile and Violen were arrested, Serges' body appeared completely lifeless despite X not landing the killing blow. What makes things worse is that Kai managed to escape during the ordeal, even managing to steal the Hadouken power-up X had left behind from the last adventure for safe keeping. X believes that Serges is still at play, but recognizes that he can't pursue him at the moment since there was a lot going on and the state of Reploids and Human relations were only going to get more complicated moving forward.
When the dust settled and the bosses were apprehended, they were set to do community service under Sigma, though Centipede and Sponge were excluded since they were victims of the whole ordeal. X worked with Teal to establish a reploid recovery program which is meant to help reploids dealing with mental struggles or trauma that makes it harder for them to function normally. This is also where Teal officially resigns from the Maverick Hunters, instead choosing to focus on this program instead as it's lead director. X remains a part of Zero's squad as their medic, but still works with Teal when he has the time, mostly gathering info from certified therapists and recruiting them if possible.
That's the first 2 games covered, only 6 to go. Wish me luck yall!
