MegaMan Generation, Chapter 1: The child who would not cry…

"WHAT? SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MY BABY?"

In the clinic, an angry woman's voice rang through the hospital. Everyone in the waiting room flinched at the loud voice, which was quite shrill. Inside the office where the cry originated, there was the woman who made the cry, a man, who seemed quite embarrassed, and a doctor, trying to get the woman's hands off of his throat.

"I'm sorry...but yes...your unborn child has a very rare increase in brain size. It's called Light Syndrome, and it is a genetic ailment. Most infants with it do not survive childbirth...but yours can."

The woman let go of his color, wondering what he could possibly mean.

"Normally, no one knows until the child is born and the enlarged brain is damaged when the skull shifts into the normal childbirth configuration. However, now that we've identified it, purely by chance since it is so hard to detect, we can avoid it by Caesarian section. After that, his condition can actually be a benefit."

The woman had gotten back to her seat.

"What do you mean by that?" The man was talking now, the voice of reason for the wife.

"Well, it's called Light's Syndrome because one of the smartest living humans, Dr. Thomas Light, was the first to have survived his birth the syndrome, and he became one of the world's foremost scientists, along with others with his disease. Along with the baby girl I delivered about seven months ago, he will, if brought up correctly, become one of the great minds of the next era." The woman and man's faces lit up.

"Imagine, Susuke! When we're old, he'll be so rich that we will be able to travel the world! He can take care of us!"

The man's face got depressed again, and the doctor gave the woman an odd look.

"Keiko, he's the baby, WE'RE the parents, remember? Hey, how did you identify the other case?" Susuke asked the doctor, confused.

"Oh, well, her father had it to begin with, so we knew to look for it, since she was second generation. She seems as smart as her father from what we've seen, maybe even smarter. Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Yuki, your child should be fine." They got up and left, the woman grimacing slightly at the prospect o a C-section, but living the easy life in her old age seemed to be worth it.

"…I don't think she'll be the type of mother that boy needs…"

---Five months pass---

"AAAGGH!" Keiko was wheeled into Maternity for her C-section, and her unborn child was getting quite impatient. The prospective father was pacing outside, a robot trying to calm him down, as was its simple programming. Eventually, however, they called him in, and his wife was holding a baby boy…

"…They say he didn't cry…not even while his cord was cut…I was worried, but they said that babies with his condition rarely cried when they are born…" She smiled, holding the baby boy in her arms, who was fast asleep. Eventually, he was placed with other babies, crying for their parents, but he was silent. While some of them had their eyes closed and were simply crying out for attention, the silent Toshiro, as he was named, looked around his new world with bright emerald eyes.

"ALBERT!" The voice of Dr. Thomas Light could be heard throughout the lab, attracting the attention of a brown-haired scientist, whose hairline was just starting to recede. He rushed to a television room, where a scientist with jet black hair sat, fixated on the television with bright blue eyes.

"What is it, Thomas?" Dr. Wily seemed irritated that Dr. Light would interrupt his work on the Metool prototype.

"Albert...another child with Light Syndrome has been born." The news was all about Toshiro, who was born without any complications. Albert's face turned to one of interest.

"For those just turning in, a child with Light Syndrome was just born in Tokyo without any problems this morning. This follows the birth of a girl with the same condition by a year to the day. He seems like a normal infant, save that he has not cried, even as his cord was cut, and seems extra attentive to his environment. Mere hours after his birth, he was already seen moving his mouth in certain patterns which indicate a conscious effort at imitating speech. The girl from last year followed a similar system, and within a month had begun to speak simple sentences." Just then, Toshiro could be seen looking at the camera, intently. He then smiled, and something which couldn't possibly be anticipated happened.

"…Eye!" The camera crew saw him staring and pointing at the camera lens, specifically the focusing mechanism, which was similar to the iris of a human eye. The camera crew didn't say anything for several seconds, though the shocked psychologists in the room suddenly started writing on their notepads vigorously.

"…As you can see, the child has just spoken his first word, not even a half day after his birth. My sources have just told me that he seems to have observed the similarity between the camera and the human eye in its focusing movements."

Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed, a human speaking his first clear word at the age of eleven hours, thirty-six minutes.

"Remarkable…even faster development than we had. I didn't speak for three days…" Dr. Light sat in thought, quite impressed. "I guess it is true about each new generation gaining a little more intelligence than the last…"

This time, Albert spoke. "Not just that, Thomas…but his brain developed to the point where he can consciously determine physical similarities between different objects! The advanced logical capacity that this indicates is far more impressive than the early speech…I think he might be among those to carry on our work, one day…"

In Russia, a little girl sat on her father's lap, watching the entire event on television with her father watching, who was also shocked. The girl was still wearing a birthday hat from her birthday party earlier that day, and took her eyes off the television to look at her father.

"Papa…is he like me?"

The man looks down to his daughter, and smiles.

"…Yes Kalinka, he's just like you."