And there she was. Waking up from her sleep-mode slumber, where she was in nothing but an empty green room. Her surroundings were… vague, to say the least. Regaining her consciousness, she beamed towards the open door, hearing a few whirs and burns just short from the doors distance.

Noticing that her body is in sparkling condition, she makes a break for it by dashing out of the door. She views a mechanic, barely reminiscent of the first (and only) one she knew. Someone more dull colored and coated, someone with a blank expression, someone less cold and weak compared to her. 

The mechanic is carrying two grey metal sheets, the exact same color as her armor. Putting two and two together on her physical state, she spares the mechanic's life, blasting through the door and into the sky, desperate to find her heroic doppelganger to end this archaic rivalry once and for all.

Minutes and minutes go by, with barely any sight of the doppelganger. She notices that this place is all sorts of different from what she used to see. The world is much brighter and more saturated than the one she envisioned. With some optic scanning and heat signature detection, she sees that her doppelganger isn't far from where she is at, which is strange considering their previous battle. Could her memory be failing her? She did have a rough landing, and her creator seems to be nowhere from the signs of it…

Shortly arriving at her coordinated location, she meets her fated doppelganger. Quick on the action, she lunges and attacks the hero with many energy blasts, attempting to get a single jab at them. The hero is confused throughout the whole ordeal: “I’ve never met this robot before!”

Which greatly confuses the mechanical She knows they were destined to fight, yet cannot grasp on why the hero does not remember them. Their last battle was surely something they would both never forget, right…?

The fight continues on for minutes, with the hero’s friends chiming in on the action, showing off moves never yet perceived by the mechanical rival. This doesn't make sense, the hero was never around these people. They shouldn't be helping her.

She continues to battle the hero after many tactical retreats, until the final phrase is heard. “I. Don't. Know. You!” The hero yells, shattering the mind of the mechanical copy.

She cannot compute this, they have fought before, yet the hero convincingly has no trace of memory. This could not be another person, they have all of the same details from their previous major battle. Nothing makes sense. Nothing. Makes. Sense.

In a rage of fury, she releases punches directly towards the hero, shattering walls and rocks of many varieties. With what was supposed to be a last ditch effort ending up as a failure, she zooms off into the skies, confused and angered to no end. What kind of “rival” is just forgotten so easily after a major battle…

.

.

.

And all of that was simply years ago.

.

.

.

Once again. Staring at the mirror. The cold, sharp broken mirror.

What others may see is nothing more than a simple robot, made like most others to mimic another design akin to the glorious hero. Yet, she sees herself as something more than just a copy. She sees herself as the superior being, the one intended to prevail in the doppelganger rivalry. She is powerful, she had might. She should outshine every aspect the “doppelganger” has. And yet, she still underperforms and fails in the very same aspects she was meant to outshine.

What did she fail to understand? Was this an endless struggle? A losing battle?

What she failed to understand was that she now serves a new purpose instead of a simpleton “rival”.

As a rival, she is simply fodder to this world. She may not have the superior light in terms of strength and prowess But she knows she is superior in showing a new identity. She no longer fights in the shadows, but as one. She may have been a copy before, but now she sees herself as more.

She is the new darkness to the world's light.

Thanks for reading this short story i made! This was primarily made for the Writers Jam 2024 competition! The prompts i used were: Glass and Legacy