Prequel to "System Error". If you don't understand the pairing in this fic, please refer to that fanfic, please. I wrote out a rather lengthy explanation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman / Megaman or any of the characters used in this fic.

When Phantom opened his eyes, and found himself in a Maintenance Bed, he knew that obviously something had happened after Shadow knocked him out. Though why Shadow would put him in a Maintenance Bed is a mystery, unless... it wasn't Shadow?

He squirmed around a bit, trying to get some feeling back into his limbs, accidentally knocking against the walls of the Bed. He heard a pair of footfalls, and a the face of a young female Reploid suddenly appeared over the transparent glass dome. Her green eyes lit up.

"Hello! You're awake!" she said, her cheerful voice muffled by the glass. She pushed a button on the side of the Bed, and the glass retracted. "How are you feeling, Phantom?"

The Reploid boy stared at her as he slowly sat up. "Who... Who are you? How do you know my name?" Was she with the Rebellion forces?

"Oh!" She smiled at him, placing her hands behind her back. "My name is Cinnamon. We rescued you from Shadow, and X and I brought you back here. X went back to help the others while I stayed back and repaired you." Cinnamon beamed at him, her blonde hair fluttering behind her. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Father? He's alive?" Phantom's eyes widened. His father was alive!

"Mmhmm, he is!" After a bit of a pause, she continued. "X is really nice! He helped Marino save me from some Rebellion soldiers, and... I can tell. It's part of my ability. I can tell that he's a really good person. And I can also tell that you are too, which is why I stayed behind to help you."

For some reason, that last statement caused heat to rise to Phantom's cheeks. "Th-thanks..." He looked around the bed. "Can I get out?"

"Oh! Yes, you can!" Cinnamon stepped back as Phantom swung his legs over the bed, running his fingers through his black hair in an effort to tidy it up. The boy's blue eyes gazed curiosly around the room before he stood up.

"Where's my helmet?" he asked her, noting that she was wearing hers.

"It's over there," she said, pointing to a console. Phantom's helmet was sitting on top of it. "It was pretty badly damaged, and I'm still repairing it, since I used my power on you first and then started the Maintenance Bed to finish fixing you. The Professor would be helping me if Chief R didn't want him for something..."

"Um... about Father..."

"He's fine! He's chasing one of the Rebellion Army people in the mines with Zero, Axl, Massimo, Marino, and Spider." Her face took on a worried expression. "I hope Spider will be okay, he was hurt badly by Shadow but he wouldn't come back for repairs. I did use my power on his arm so that it felt a little better, but..."

"I'm... sure he will be okay," he reassured her. He had absolutely no idea who Spider was, but he wanted to get the sad face off of her. She had a cute smile, and looked much better smiling.

"Thank you!" she beamed, hugging him.

Phantom's cheeks turned red as she smiled again. What was wrong with him? Why was he feeling so nervous all of a sudden?

The blonde nurse let go of him, and clapped her hands together. "I don't think X and the others will be back for some time, so... do you want me to show you around Central Tower?" she asked.

"Sure!"

"Great!" She grabbed his hand and led him out of the room, showing him around and introducing him to various people.

Phantom, for his part, managed to absorb everything that she was saying, but kept wondering why, when Cinnamon had grabbed his hand, he felt his system's temperature skyrocket, and his stomach kept doing flip-flops.

Was there something still wrong with his systems that Cinnamon hadn't been able to fix?