Trance
Written by Tawny Kat
October 17, 2004
Dr. Albert Wily had finally had enough. He'd been defeated once again by his worst enemy, Megaman. As was sometimes the case, Megaman's older brother, Protoman, had also taken part in this last defeat. Since the evil roboticist only had Bass to try and match both robots, he decided to build a new Robot Master yet again. One to match Protoman as Bass could match the blue wonder on his own. This new robot, however, would be different than what the evil genius normally built. That difference would hopefully tip the scales in the evil scientist's favor.
Bass stood off in the shadowed corner, glaring angrily, as his creator built this new Robot Master. This particular one would be able to reprogram any robot Dr. Wily desired, the ULTIMATE Robot Master. What would also distinct this robot the most would be its gender. While all the previous Robot Masters had been male in design, this new Robot Master would be female. The perfect gender for the reprogramming ability, after all, women had been "reprogramming" men from the dawn of time.
What was worse, Bass had been told he would have to work with this one as an equal, a sister. "Trance" would be to him like Roll would be to Mega Man if she had been built to fight.
The scientist then cackled, alerting Bass of the project's completion. He walked up as his creator activated the new robot.
"I expect she'll match Protoman as a rival easily!" Dr. Wily mused. "I've programmed her with the same solitary personality, same agility, and excellent tracking capabilities once you get me that system I want. She admittedly does not have the same physical strength but she makes up for it in speed."
"Yeah, Doc, whatever." At that moment Bass jumped as Trance's gabbro colored eyes suddenly flashed open. Her systems had finished booting up.
"Why don't we announce the arrival of your sister, eh Bass?" Dr. Wily nearly skipped in anticipation of the event. "I'm sure Dr. Light's boys would love to see this."
"Hey, Rock!"
The black-haired, blue-eyed robot turned at the sound of his name. He was dressed in his orange shirt and black pants and had been walking down the street to check up on a few of the people from the town. Roll raced up to him from the direction of the lab, waving. "Roll!" Mega Man smiled at seeing his sister. He then noticed the urgent expression on her face. "What's wrong?"
Roll grabbed his hand as she reached him and tried to pull him back towards their lab-home. "Doctor Wily claims he's got new robots! He's going to use them if we don't give in to his demands!"
Mega Man turned and ran back to Dr. Light's lab.
The newly activated indigo robot watched as her creator danced around the room. Dr. Wily was now finishing lesser, faster-to-build robots which he was going to use against Mega Man.
Beside the female was her "big brother", Bass, who glowered disdainfully at Wily's other creations. "I'm still the only robot you need. I don't see why you would want to create more of these inferior junk heaps." the black robot pouted.
Trance stuck her nose in the air and pretended not to care that he'd meant her as well. "At least I don't think it's worthless. I'd like to know the capabilities of any upgrades made to Blue-boy."
She earned a glare from Bass. The black robot wanted to destroy her right then for her comment, but Dr. Wily had been very specific in his instructions. The two must work together, as a team, just like Dr. Light's two Robot Masters. That meant no 'friendly fire', Bass grumbled to himself. Ignoring the glare, Trance walked out of the room.
"What is it this time, Doctor Light?" Mega Man asked as he walked into his creator's main lab. Protoman was already there, waiting.
"Doctor Wily's threatening annihilation if we don't give in to his demands." Dr. Light explained.
"So? What else is new?" Protoman shrugged.
"He's calling for a duel between both of you and two of his robots." Dr. Light answered.
"Both of us? Why?" Mega Man asked.
Dr. Light shook his head. "I don't know."
"Proto Man!" Roll suddenly exclaimed as soon as she saw the trail of mud leading to Protoman's feet. "Where have you been!"
"Getting information to Mega Man," her red brother replied as he folded his arms. "I heard Wily advertise he's going to battle with us. That'll mean we're gonna have people expect us to fight ... and win."
"That certainly adds pressure," Mega Man responded. "Well, c'mon, we don't want to disappoint them, do we?"
"So where's the other robot?" Protoman asked as he glanced around. Bass was grinning madly but hadn't fired a shot.
"Yeah, and why is Bass not firing yet." Mega Man added.
"Think he's actually obeying Wily for once?" Protoman responded.
Suddenly Dr. Wily exclaimed, "Now!" A wave of his robots ran into the street as Bass fired on Proto Man and Mega Man.
The brothers threw themselves sideways to escape Bass' fire. "It was a trap!" Mega Man exclaimed.
"Yeah, and we fell for it." Protoman agreed.
"Mega Man, you're mine!" Bass called as he raced for the blue robot. Mega Man took aim as Proto Man took on the other robots. The two then dodged each other's shots as they battled almost one on one.
Trance watched from her shadowed place near the battleground. "Not yet," She whispered to herself and Treble as she watched the other robots fight. Treble sat beside her, giving her a low growl to let her know Bass still didn't like her and that the wolf wanted to be out there with his master.
She stiffened as Protoman passed by her. He turned around just in time to fire a super shot at an unusually large Joe, then turned back around and kept running. Trance wondered if he'd seen her while he had been just standing there.
One of the shots Bass dodged hit one of Wily's other robots, destroying it. Protoman then jumped away just in time to miss being hit by another shot by Bass. The shot instead hit the robot Protoman had been trying to finish himself.
"Hey, thanks, Bass!" Mega Man teased.
Bass simply growled and, merging with Treble, leaped into the air.
Mega Man was suddenly distracted from his battle. In front of him, where Bass had stood earlier, was a dark purple robot with a golden ponytail thing.
"Who are you?"
The robot, rather than answering, jumped up and away from Mega Man.
"Hey!" He exclaimed as it escaped. He chased after it, hoping to catch up to this mysterious robot.
The robot, for its part, maneuvered around like a cat. It climbed up to the roofs of the city by bounding between two buildings. At the top of the building it waited, watching down at Mega Man as if in challenge.
Mega Man took a moment to calculate his jump for least damage to the building, then bounded up after the mysterious robot. When he reached the top, however, the other robot had disappeared.
Bass, on the other hand, had not and was flying over to catch Mega Man. "Come back here Mega Man!" Bass yelled before tackling the blue robot.
Mega Man forgot the other robot in favor of defending himself against the black one. Mega Man fired his buster on Bass, making the black robot jump away. At that point, Mega Man continued his earlier battle with the wily-bot.
Protoman watched as the mysterious indigo robot flipped off the other side of the building. He almost chased after it but was stopped by another attacking robot. He jumped back and turned his attention to the attacking robot. When it was destroyed, he looked back to find that there was no sign of "Indigo".
Mega Man was able to escape Bass long enough to destroy another of the robots before Bass was back. Mega Man called and jumped on Rush just as Bass dove for him. The black robot pummeled through the concrete to the pavement instead. Bass stood up again almost as fast and chased after Mega Man as the Blue Bomber's Rush Jet flew the blue robot up into the air.
Bass began firing his bass buster again, however, Mega Man managed to outfly the shots and fired a super shot back. Bass dodged it just as easily. "Stop running, you coward!"
Bass received a hit from the ground and he surveyed the area it came from to find who it was. He couldn't differentiate who shot the blast, however, and assumed it to be a stray. When he looked back to Mega Man, however, he realized too late that it may have been a distraction. He was hit by another super shot, more powerful than the last one.
Mega Man took down another enemy robot with a super shot before Bass shot at him again. With the last robot destroyed, Protoman picked up its weapon and called up to the blue robot, "Here, Catch!" The red robot then threw the weapons in the air for his brother to catch.
Both Mega Man and Bass dove to catch them. "No, you don't!" Bass yelled as he reached for the weapons. Mega Man, however, swiped the little parts before the bigger robot could close his fists. "NO!" Bass exclaimed as he glared to the blue robot.
Mega Man promptly used the weapons on Bass, just as Proto joined in from the ground.
Critically damaged, Bass flew away. "I'll beat you next time!" He yelled as he escaped with Wily behind him.
"And we'll be ready to make sure you don't, Bass," Mega Man answered, though he knew Bass couldn't hear him anymore.
Dr. Wily stormed into his main lab, fuming at Trance's lack of fighting and the subsequent defeat. He then began searching for his missing robot on the displayed map of the land.
"Where is Trance!" Wily screamed as he turned from his screen.
Trance dropped through a high window to stand behind her brother.
"What do you think you were doing, attacking Bass!" Wily yelled at Trance.
Bass sneered, about time someone else got yelled at besides him.
Trance didn't even flinch. "I have my reasons," She answered in a low, disgruntled voice. She then watched, amused, as the scientist started walking off in exasperation. She also noticed from the corner of her eye that Bass was glaring at her. She smiled at his reaction to her getting their creator tired of them. Dr. Wily continued to rant about insolent creations, and Bass suppressed a chuckle as the indigo robot then left the room.
Roll met Mega Man & Protoman at the door to the lab. "Hey! You guys won!" Roll then noticed that Mega Man seemed melancholy as he walked up. "What's wrong? You look like it was a loss."
"Preoccupied," Protoman answered simply. He and Roll followed Mega Man inside.
"With what?" Roll asked.
"There was another robot," Protoman explained. "A mysterious one that wasn't involved in the battle much."
"But why would Mega Man be worried?"
"No one's seen her before. She's marked like Bass and a few other Wily-bots so she might be one."
"Another robot made by Doctor Wily?"
Protoman remained silent, implying he wasn't about to risk judging falsely.
Roll left it at that.
Trance gazed beyond the fortress door. A bunch of grassy hills covered the landscape. Trance walked onto the hilly plains. She hadn't explored much the first days after she was activated and was surprised to find a desire to do so now. As she stepped farther away from Dr. Wily's fortress, she found the sounds far more calming, almost enchanting, than the clicking, humming, and other mechanical sounds that came from in and around the "castle".
She hardly knew she'd relaxed and laid down until her body jarred upon impacting with the grass covered ground. The realization made her almost consider getting back up, instead, she settled to watch the clouds pass by above. She smiled contentedly and soon was napping.
Trance awoke to the sun shining high over her and covered her eyes from it. At that moment the motion made her notice a line of forest vegetation just a couple kilometers away. She decided to explore it next. When Trance arrived at the mountainside forest, she was amazed at its beauty and more complex scenery. "How could he want to destroy this?" She asked herself about her creator.
She took a few steps down to another elevation. There she found the root system of several pine trees providing a trellis for small vines. As she knelt down in front of one tree, she found a family of rabbits holed up under the tree's roots, the vines, and some bushes that were surrounding the hiding place.
She then looked out toward the view of the mountain beyond, also filled with forestry. "He's wrong for sure," she decided. "There's more to existence than fighting."
Suddenly, the mulch under her feet gave way and she started slipping down the mountain. She exclaimed in surprise as she tried to reposition her footing so she wouldn't fall. Instead, she only ended up pulling more dirt and debris with her. Eventually, she settled on letting the landslide carry her down the slope.
It carried her surprisingly gently to the edge of a cliff where she finally simply rolled out of the current and against the stationary trunk of a nearby tree. When the landslide finally halted, she peeked over the cliff to see where she could have ended up. "Ouch," Trance quietly spoke as she noted the drop. She then crawled away from the cliffside and walked carefully along the safety zone until she found a firm boulder to teleport away.
She reappeared in Dr. Wily's lab, in a nearly dark room. In the center, Trance could see, from the only light, that Dr. Wily was in the middle of building another robot. She watched from her position as Dr. Wily secured a blue, triangular access cover on the blonde haired, red and white robot. She knew Dr. Wily had worked on this thing longer than her but the scientist wanted to be sure he was perfect. "I'll make sure he'll destroy them ALL!" She overheard him say.
Trance, feeling that Bass was right after all, walked out of the room to find out how she could prove her worth.
Dr. Wily heard the door close behind him but didn't bother to take notice as he continued to finish his own red robot. When he finally took time to check on his other creations he found Trance missing.
Dr. Wily sighed as he again entered his computer room. "Where has she gone now? For once I honestly did not intend for her to be this much of a recluse." He accessed her tracking device and located her whereabouts, at which point his brow furrowed at what was displayed. "Doctor Light's Lab? How'd she get there!" He thought out loud to himself as he then began making a connection to Trance's visual sensors. "Perhaps she'll prove herself yet." Dr. Wily immediately mused as he watched the scene from the newly made connection.
Trance sat on a large tree limb, in front of a lab window. Her translucent vizor was lifted, revealing her dark green eyes, as she looked from the sky to the window. Inside, a familiar blue robot walked into view, without his helmet, and got the attention of the roboticist at the large computer. She couldn't hear what was going on but she found it amusing to see their motions. Little did she know Dr. Wily was equally amused at the scenario.
"I still wonder who that purple robot was," Mega Man said as Dr. Light walked back to his computer. "And where he came from."
"It was indigo," Protoman spoke up from beside the door, helmet still on. Mega Man turned around as Protoman clarified, "Her color."
"You saw him?" Megaman asked, not fully comprehending the significance of his brother's statement.
Proto nodded. "She jumped off the building as you reached the top," Protoman again clarified.
"That explains why you didn't see the robot when you reached the roof," Dr. Light spoke up as he continued to work from his great computer. He looked back again when he heard Mega Man's exclamation.
"She?" Mega Man appeared startled. His brother nodded again.
Dr. Light chuckled at the blue robot's reaction as he went back to the screen.
"So what are you doing Doctor Light?" Mega Man asked.
"I'm wondering if we can track her." The scientist explained. "I've run an energy signature check to find this robot. I'm glad I recorded your battle with Wily's robots or this wouldn't be possible."
Mega Man put his helmet back on, hiding his black-brown hair, ready for battle. Mega Man then walked up to the monitor to watch the tracker move around the screen in its scan of the map. No one noticed Protoman leave on his own search.
Trance noticed Mega Man walk out of view and decided it was time to leave. She then merely twisted and slid off the tree limb, landed on her feet and simply walked away. Next thing she knew she was bombarded by a bunch of buster shots. She stepped back and turned around, her own buster at the ready and her vizor now lowered, to find there was no one around that could have fired on her.
Or so it seemed. Protoman had noticed her as he had walked outside and had hidden in the shade tree next to the door as she left. Now he watched her as she scanned for the origins of those shots, his shots. He grinned when he noticed she couldn't see him in the tree she had vacated earlier.
Her pause gave enough time for Mega Man to come running out to find out what had been the commotion. He was quick to notice the indigo robot, as she turned back around, and decided he wasn't about to let this mysterious robot leave yet. Mega Man shot ahead of her path and stopped her before she could escape. Again she turned back toward the group; again she raised her own buster; again she didn't fire. Instead, she waited for Mega Man to fire first.
Mega Man cautiously walked up to get a better look at the intruder. Trance started to step back slightly, unsure whether the blue robot would blast her or not. Mega Man recognized her at that moment, "Hey, you're that robot from the battle," he noted as he lowered his Mega Buster slightly. "You never answered my question."
The indigo robot noticeably stepped back and paused a second before answering. "Trance."
Dr. Light walked up from behind the blue robot. "Trance? Charming name."
"More like Tramp," Roll muttered from the door. The two robotic pets, however, walked right up to the new visitor. Trance glanced down at them scornfully. Rush started barking at Trance while Tango jumped right up into the surprised indigo robot's arms and purred.
As Mega Man pulled back the red dog, he asked Rush what was the matter. "Last time he was like this, Bass turned out to be one of Wily's 'bots." Mega Man noted, almost accusing the indigo robot.
"I doubt I'll be liked by everyone," Trance responded, "I am new to you and your friends after all." She then looked down at the contented green robotic cat in her arms. Trance silently wondered why the cat had already accepted her.
Trance had been allowed in by the scientist, though the light-bots kept an uncomfortably close watch on her. To Trance's dismay, Tango, the green cat-bot, often followed her around everywhere, as well as purred when given the chance to jump into Trance's arms again or her lap.
"Leave me alone, cat," Trance growled softly. Tango merely stared up with large questioning eyes that sent electrical surges up and down the female robot's spine. "Quit that," Trance hissed, "You won't get anything from me."
Tango simply jumped onto a ledge and curled up to sleep.
"That's better," Trance whispered before walking on. She paused and went wide-eyed with realization just before she turned a corner and entered one of Dr. Light's labs.
"What!" Dr. Wily yelled as Trance discovered and cut the connection. "She'd better have a good explanation for this."
Once the link had been disconnected, Trance walked in. "Hello? Anyone here?" She walked through the lab. There was no answer so she continued to study the room and explore the many little experiments. One of the oddities she noticed was a set of schematics for a robot that would be a head-or more-taller than her. The basic schematic was the same as the one in Dr. Wily's lab, though there were several revision marks.
Trance considered copying the whole thing but decided not to as Dr. Wily probably had already anticipated the changes. She then slid her hand over the engine of some vehicle. She smiled and purred as she scanned its schematics and sent them. She examined the rest of the room. At one corner of the lab was a door that, when Trance tried to turn the handle, was found to be locked.
"No matter," Trance responded, closing her eyes in concentration. The end of her ponytail lit up and lifted until its tip was level the lock. The lock slowly rotated and clicked. Thereupon Trance opened the door and walked in.
She jumped at the sight inside. A completed robot that almost looked like a larger replica of Mega Man. The robot was stored inside a large capsule that appeared to be some sort of escape pod. It was the robot from the schematics. "Well, fancy meeting you here," Trance noted out loud. Trance regarded the rest of the small room before taking an additional note of the buster arms. At that point, Trance spun and ran out of the room as fast as she safely could.
Dr. Wily contacted her as soon as her connection reopened. "What was the meaning of that little escapade Trance!"
"Someone was watching me." Trance scanned the corridor she now walked down. She remained out of sight for the little green cat was still curled on its ledge. She lost sight of Tango as she walked down the corridor away from the cat.
"Don't do that to me again! You hear!"
Trance remained silent.
"You hear!" Dr. Wily repeated himself.
"Yes, sir," She grudgingly acknowledged.
Trance awoke in a strange bedroom. She sprung up in surprise when she remembered how she had ended up there.
She had bumped into Dr. Light as she snooped into other rooms. She had thought he'd be upset to see her in his lab but he wasn't. In fact, he had naively thought she was lost. Ok, so it was partially true ... but she didn't expect him to just show her around either.
Unfortunately for her, they stayed away from the section of the building she had most wanted to explore. So he had obviously learned from Bass' infiltration.
Once he finished the tour, he had then suggested she spend the day with Rock and Roll.
"No, thank you. If it's alright, I'd like to just go outside for a bit," Trance spoke up, trying to make up an excuse to get out of his sight.
"All right then, if you need anything, Trance, just let us know." Dr. Light smiled.
Trance nodded and smiled before running down the hall and out the door. She sighed with relief once the door had closed behind her and she faced the grassy plain behind the lab. She leaned against the door. "Finally alone again."
"Trance, come in," Dr. Wily demanded through her communicator.
Trance straightened herself. "So much for being alone," she thought to herself before answering, "Yes, Doctor Wily?"
"Now that you're away from that goody-two-shoes Dr. Light I need you to get into his labs. Grab what plans you can find."
"In time sir. I have not yet lowered their guard."
Dr. Wily growled. "Very well but I expect a full report every day."
Trance nodded her acknowledgment, though she knew it couldn't be seen. "Yes, sir."
To Trance's relief, her creator closed the connection. Even he knew he couldn't keep in contact at all times if he expected her to be a better spy than her brother.
She then gazed out on the setting day and decided to track a perimeter of the lab to update her brother's pilfered records. She returned well into the night. Hoping to sneak a glimpse at a few records from the main lab, she walked right in. Dr. Light turned when he heard the door slide open.
"Well, hello Trance." He smiled pleasantly. Something that made her metallic skin seem to burn. "How may I help you?"
Trance then noticed the blue robot glaring at her. "Just checking in," she answered quickly before sitting on an examination table in one corner.
The roboticist smiled, "Well, thank you." He subsequently went back to his work.
Trance remained still, except for the occasional glance at Mega Man, who kept one eye on her while he talked with his creator. She didn't pay much attention to it though as he mentioned things she considered trivial. Like the village he visited down in the valley.
She suddenly looked up quickly when she saw movement from the skylight. Nothing, probably was just a shadow of the tree that was just outside the lab. The next thing that caught her attention was Mega Man mentioning a name, Protoman. She went back to watching Mega Man and Dr. Light talk.
"Oh? And what did he tell you?"
"He said he picked up a transmission from Wily. He was talking to someone on the lab compounds."
Trance frowned, she was going to have to keep transmissions closed until she was off the property.
"I'll heighten security then," Dr. Light acknowledged. He placed his tool down, signaling he was done for the night. "We should all head to bed."
"Bed?" Trance was startled. "Don't you mean you should head to bed and we should head to our recharge stations?"
"I'll explain as I show you to your room," Mega Man responded as he walked over. He took her by the arm and guided her to the bedrooms. "Here, Dr. Light treats us like we're human. We even have rooms and beds of our own." He opened a guest room door, then gestured inside. "This will be your room."
Trance cautiously peeked inside. It had few furnishings but was obviously a bedroom. She quickly spun her attention back to Mega Man, unsure if he was joking.
"We'll be down the hall," he pointed behind him, "Don't be afraid to holler if you need anything."
Trance nodded, walked inside and allowed the door to close behind her. She looked back briefly in reaction to the swishing sound of the sliding door. So different than the clinking ones she had known in the fortress.
She had stayed awake for an hour getting used to the changes before she finally settled into her sleep cycle. Now she jumped out of bed and ran for the door.
Roll opened the door before the indigo robot could and stood akimbo as she glared at Trance. "You won't be going anywhere!"
Trance glared back, anticipating an attack. Had they figured out it was her who was talking with Dr. Wily? "Oh really?"
"Not like that," and Roll presented Trance with a set of cloths. "Now change into these and join us in the dining room, will you? Please?" And with that Roll briskly walked away.
Taken by surprise, Trance had accepted the clothing without a sound. Now she lifted an eyebrow and wrinkled her nose. "What's going on here? What is this?" She picked up what was on top, a shirt. "Am I really expected to wear these?"
Trance's ponytail twitched and blinked as she considered the idea. She gazed over at the mirror on the dresser. Her reflection glared back at her annoyedly. "Come on, soldiers are supposed to wear a uniform!"
She again glared down on the pile of folded clothes in her arms. "Hm." She allowed the door to close as she walked over to the dresser and examined the clothing. "Perhaps obliging them will help me win their trust?" She therefore took off her helmet and tried to fit the shirt over her head.
When Trance joined the others she had managed to detach her shoulder pads from her uniform. She still had her other armor but they were mostly concealed by the "bell" style of the shirt-sleeves and pants. Her feet, like Roll and Mega Man's, remained in their original "boot" design. Her hair had been covered by a handkerchief which, when Roll stood to take it off, Trance stepped back and explained she wasn't designed to cry so she made a different use of the square white cloth.
Dr. Light chuckled at the show of resourcefulness, though Mega Man and Roll were noticeably confused. "You've turned it into a bandanna."
Trance gave a half smile in relief as she then sat beside the blue robot, currently referred to as "Rock". At that point, she observed the rest of the room, noting the absence of the red robot. "Where's.."
"Protoman?" Dr. Light anticipated her topic, "He comes and goes as he feels he's needed. Don't worry, he'll show."
"Not worried, just curious," Trance thought before she stood to excuse herself.
Instead of speaking up, however, an alarm went off and the room erupted into chaos as the group ran to find out what was happening. Trance, all too happy to strip the civilian clothing from her, ran to her room to grab her helmet and change.
"Oh no, you don't!" Roll yelled, "You're not trained..!"
"Someone designed her to fight, Roll" Dr. Light responded as he placed a reassuring hand on the blonde robot's shoulder. "If it's not already programmed into her then Mega Man can give some pointers."
Trance flipped down her vizor as she joined the blue robot but her smile still made her eagerness to battle evident.
Trance ran right into the battle waging between Mega Man and two robots he had fought before: Terra and Slash Man. Trance was quick to join the fight, bounding into the air like a cat and curling into a spinning ball. She collided with Terra first, who was caught by surprise by the new enemy. She bounced off just as Slash Man tried to cut her to pieces with his claws. The lion-like Robot Master accidentally sliced his comrade instead.
"Hey, thanks you two!" Mega Man spoke up, teasing Slash Man, as he finished off Terra with a super shot.
Slash Man's eyes flashed with anger as he tried to swipe at the agile little purple robot again. Trance, on the other hand, was just as keen to stay away from those same claws. As Trance jumped back from another slash, a super shot hit Slashman's hand. The Robot Master turned his attention to the robot who attacked him. Trance rammed him simultaneously with a red blur, Protoman, who socked Slashman in the stomach. The Robot Master doubled over, allowing a finishing blow by Mega Man. Protoman and Trance jumped away as the blue bomber used another super shot to destroy the big robot master.
Mega Man shrugged when the trio met up with each other. "Guess Wily's upset we beat him again."
Proto smiled, silently agreeing with his brother, then walked away.
"Hey, Protoman!" Mega Man called. Trance turned to watch, curious, as Mega Man thanked his older brother for helping him. Protoman simply smiled and waved before he disappeared.
Trance was surprised but spoke nothing of it as she turned back to the Blue Bomber. "That was some battle, eh Mega?"
"Mega Man, for now." He responded, "And you didn't do so bad yourself. What was that anyway?"
Trance looked at him curiously, "I just improvised, don't tell me you can't do that?"
"I could but you beat him without learning his moves first." Mega Man defended himself.
Trance shrugged, "Just lucky, I guess."
Mega Man, therefore, considered rephrasing his question as he walked back to the lab, "Do you have a name for the move you just improvised?"
Trance shrugged as she then followed, "Flip and roll? Like I said, I just improvised."
Mega Man sighed.
"Can we go now?" Roll pleaded as she walked beside her brother. They'd only just finished breakfast as Trance had been insistent about finding out where they were going. It was a band concert Roll had wanted to see for weeks. Roll had even gotten the indigo robot back into her borrowed clothes for it.
Mega Man giggled, "Yeah, of course."
Trance's blank expression, and clouded eyes, alerted Dr. Light to her disinterest. "A good break from work does people some good," he responded, smiling and agreeing with his robotic son.
Trance shuddered out of her previous expression to smile at the roboticist, though her eyes remained distant. "Yes, sir."
"You don't have to stick with formalities."
"I'd still like to, Doctor Light, out of respect."
The white-haired scientist chuckled, "Alright; I won't force you, after all."
"Thank you, sir." Trance bowed her head slightly to gesture her gratitude. She was silent the rest of the trip to the concert.
As the group searched for a place to sit, Trance inadvertently noticed the heights of the people closest to her. She kept standing on her heels to try and see past the shoulders of many of the other humans present. Dr. Light, she noted was only an inch shorter than her as he carried a folding chair to a vacant patch of grass. As Rock and his sister ran up to help set up their space Trance realized how much they looked like the human children running around.
Trance tried to stand behind the good doctor and was met with a faceful of synthetic hair. Rock looked up at her. Trance held her head high to keep from laughing. The robot wasn't much higher than her shoulders and his hair could only tickle her chin and nose if she let it. How could he be the nuisance her creator claimed him to be? She quickly realized how when he firmly grasped her wrist and guided her to the front so he could watch her as well as the show.
"So he does suspect," Trance mused as she sat down on the ground in front of Dr. Light. She silently waited as the other guests began to settle and the performance began.
Rock paid more attention to the mysterious robot than the band that his sister had wanted to go to. He jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. Protoman clamped Rock's mouth shut before he could exclaim his surprise. "Keep it down, bro; I'd rather not be noticed," Protoman whispered, then sat down next to his identical brother.
Trance, however, twitched and looked back slightly to hearing the voices suddenly behind her.
"Trance, what's wrong?" Dr. Light asked, alerting the three robots. Protoman froze, trying to look like he was just a stranger sitting close to the group.
Trance's brow furrowed in uncertainty before replying, "Nothing it seems, just hearing some fans conversing with each other."
Dr. Light sat back, relieved, as Trance resumed her motionless view of the stage and the band players. Protoman felt relieved as well; the other robot apparently hadn't realized who he was.
"So, you got Indigo's name, then?" Protoman whispered directly into his brother's ear.
Rock did the same, "Yeah, and she seems friendly ... if a little rough around the edges."
"You expected her to wear a frilly skirt or something?"
The look Rock gave his visored brother was all Protoman needed to know his brother was shocked.
"Heh, thought not." Proto smiled. "She's a fighting 'bot, if a specially classed one. She'd have the personality to match."
"You were the one who fired those shots, weren't you?" Rock deduced.
Protoman gave a sly smirk.
'Yes, sir. I'll update you again next opportunity I get.'
"Good."
'Trance out.'
Trance startled when a hand suddenly rested itself on her shoulder. "Trance? The show's over, everyone's beginning to leave. Are you ok?" Dr. Light's warm obsidian-colored eyes looked down on her with concern.
Trance stood shakily. "Yes, sir. Though I seem to have lost some sense of movement."
"Happens when you remain in one place too long," Roll told the indigo robot indignantly.
Trance ignored the girl as the indigo robot slowly walked a few steps to regain her mobility. Being more occupied with her sensitive feet, she didn't notice Rock's shade-wearing friend disappear into the crowd.
"Perhaps a walk around the park will set your gears right again." Dr. Light suggested as Rock folded the chair his creator had vacated. Roll was holding the picnic basket they had brought along.
"No need, it's readjusting now," Trance spoke up. She smiled helpfully and picked up the blanket they had sat on. As Roll and Dr. Light waited, Trance and Rock folded the blanket and, with the indigo robot now holding it, followed as the other two walked back to the lab.