Chapter 2 - Haven

Maria snapped her eyes open, only to find herself staring at a ceiling. She frowned, a little confused upon finding that she wasn't in her room, then remembered what had happened before she had blacked out. She sat up instantly, only to become dizzy from the speed of the move. After a moment, though, the dizziness passed, allowing her to have a look around.

She was in some sort of lab, and, although cluttered with tools, was obviously well-cared for. It also had the most up-to-date (and probably beyond) technology that could be obtained.

Tails would have a field day with all of this tech, Maria noted. Then she frowned. But what am I doing here? The last thing I remember is... The thought trailed off as she thought about what had happened to her and MetalMan. She then looked her body over for the wounds that she had received from the attack her enemy had unleashed.

Much to her surprise, there wasn't a single tear or scratch anywhere on her body or her clothes, almost as if the Wilybot's attack hadn't taken place.

This, coupled with the strange disappearance of her Atlantean crystal, worried her.

While she was thinking about this, the closed door of the lab opened up, causing Maria to look up as a figure entered the room. The figure, who was completely dressed in white and had a white beard and blue eyes, seemed surprised at seeing Maria sitting up.

The figure came over to Maria's left side, looking her over as he did so. "How do you feel?" he inquired.

"Pretty good," Maria admitted calmly, "Considering that I had been almost torn to shreds by MetalMan. How long have I been out of it?"

"About two weeks. There was a lot of shrapnel to remove."

Maria nodded. "Yeah; I'm surprised that none of them actually managed to tear up my heart. By the way, I had a blue crystal hanging around my neck when I blacked out. Any idea where it is?"

The man beside her frowned. "It was torn apart by MetalMan's Shrapnel Blast. I'm sorry."

Maria frowned, but didn't say anything concerning the subject. "So, who found me, then? I'm pretty sure that there wasn't anybody around who could have rescued me in time."

"No one lives in that section of the city anymore, I'm afraid. You were lucky that one of my lab assistants found you in time."

Maria frowned, then realized what the man was saying. "You mean that MegaMan found me, right?"

The man nodded. "That's right." He suddenly realized something. "Oh! I forgot to introduce myself!"

Maria smiled. "That's all right. I know who you are...Dr. Light." She held out her right hand for the scientist to shake. "The name's Maria White. It's an honor to finally meet you."

Dr. Light frowned slightly as he shook her hand. "White? An odd choice for a last name."

"I adopted it some time ago as a code name, and it kinda grew on me," Maria explained with a nervous grin.

She was about to say something else when a pair of new figures barreled into the room, both of them stopping at the end of the table with Maria's feet, surprise clear on their faces. One of them, a girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a green bow in her hair as well as a red dress, recovered from her surprise first and moved over to Maria's right side.

"Hello!" she greeted. "I'm Roll."

"Hi, Roll," Maria replied. "I'm Maria. It's nice to meet you." She looked over at the other figure, who was a boy with brown hair, blue eyes, and was wearing an outfit that consisted of a white shirt with short, blue sleeves, jeans, and shoes that went all the way up to his knees. "And you are?"

"I'm Rock," the boy replied. He walked over to stand by Dr. Light. "What did you do to MetalMan?"

Maria frowned. "All I did was hit him with a fire attack. Why?"

The three stared at her in astonishment.

"When I got to him, he was nothing more than a pile of melted metal!" Rock exclaimed.

A look of surprise crossed Maria's face. "Really? I wasn't planning on hitting him that hard. I guess I've been underestimating White Flare...although, I haven't really been able to fully test it, yet..."

"White Flare?" Roll repeated. "I haven't heard of anything like that before."

"It's my strongest Fire move," Maria explained. "I basically attack using multiple tendrils of white fire that do a search-and-destroy technique automatically. Since all of them attacked Metal at once, he was melted. It's my most powerful move, and I can only use it once in a while because it takes a large amount of my energy, so I only use it when I'm in danger."

Rock's eyes widened. "Wow. Fire's gonna be so jealous when he hears about that!" He looked up at Dr. Light. "Do you think we could get the others in here?"

"I don't know if everyone's going to fit in here," the roboticist responded.

Maria glanced around, taking note that the room was crowded when there were three people standing and one person lying on a table.

"I bet I can walk out and meet the others in a larger room," Maria remarked. She swung her legs over the left side of the lab table and slid off. Much to her surprise, her legs buckled under her weight, and she collapsed.

"Are you all right?" Roll asked, coming over in order to help Maria up.

"Yeah," Maria responded. "I guess my leg muscles aren't exactly up to walking yet." She stretched one of her arms out, and her staff materialized, allowing her to get up on her feet properly.

"Where did that come from?" Rock asked, leaning forward a little in order to get a better look at the staff.

"Honestly, I have no specific idea," Maria answered. "I figured out that I could summon it a few years ago, and I've used it ever since." She looked at the staff fondly, only for her eyes to widen in surprise. "That wasn't there before," she remarked, tracing one of the neon green lines that had appeared on her staff. "Now it looks like some sort of circuit board."

Rock and Dr. Light exchanged glances, but the teen didn't notice.

Eventually, the teen shrugged. "Must be because of the world I'm in - something to blend in, maybe." She looked over at Dr. Light, who was giving her a curious look. "So, where do I get introduced to everybody else?"

The roboticist smiled ruefully, the curiosity momentarily leaving his face. "They've been waiting outside of this room for the past hour," he replied. Dr. Light moved over to the door and got ready to open it as Maria came over, leaning heavily on her staff as she did. "Are you ready?"

Maria smirked. "I'm ready," she responded. "This shouldn't be so bad."

Dr. Light nodded, then turned the handle and threw the door wide open, revealing ten figures mulling around in the room beyond. Upon seeing the door open, and Maria step out confidently, they all dashed over and crowded around the newcomer as Rock, Roll, and Dr. Light stepped out of the lab.

"Hi!" a little boy dressed as an Eskimo greeted. "I'm IceMan!"

"Hey," Maria greeted in response. "The name's Maria. Who might the rest of you be?"

"I'm GutsMan!" exclaimed a large, hulking figure in the back of the group.

"Yo! I'm Auto!" a second greeted. He looked like some sort of conglomeration of parts, some of which seemed to have come from a car - like his eyes, which looked like red headlights.

"The name's Elec," a third figure stated. Maria took note of the lightning bolt that surrounded his eyes and mentally added the "Man" that most Robot Masters had in their names.

"Hey," a black figure stated. "I'm OilMan."

"And I am TimeMan," a figure in a purple jumpsuit added.

"Hi! I'm CutMan!" an orange-and-white figure greeted, waving his left hand wildly in a wave.

"The name's BombMan," a figure with a Mohawk stated, a smirk on his face.

"Rowf!" a red, robotic dog added, jumping up so that his front paws were on Maria's chest.

"Down, Rush," Rock said, laughing. The dog instantly complied, retreating to Rock's side, panting happily.

"And I'm FireMan," a figure with a torch on his head introduced. "So, what can you do, kid?"

"I'm a fire user," Maria responded calmly. To prove her point, she created a small Fire Sphere in her left hand. "I've been one for a few years, now."

Fire gave her a look of astonishment, his eyes widening. "Th-that's impossible. No human can exhibit that kind of power."

"Well, I'm not exactly from around here, so I've got a bit more wiggle room than most people do when it comes to abilities," Maria explained with a smirk. She looked around the room, taking note of the couch cushions and video game controllers that were scattered about. "So, what exactly have you guys been doing? The part of the city that I ended up in looked like someone had thrown a nuclear bomb at it."

"I guess you could say that," Rock remarked, a nervous look on his face. He frowned slightly. "You mentioned something about blending in on this world back in the lab. What did you mean by that?"

Maria's eyes widened, but then she chuckled nervously, the surprise leaving her face. "I guess I should've been a little more careful with my words," she noted. "Ah, well."

"So, you are from another place," Rock stated.

"Not just another place, I'm afraid. I'm talking another planet."

The group stared at Maria in astonishment.

"Would you mind explaining what you mean?" Dr. Light inquired.

"I don't mind," Maria responded coolly. "You see, the entire universe is separated into different 'kingdoms', if you will. Each one kingdom is not like the others, and is connected in some way or fashion to my home world, which is pretty much situated in the center of the universe because of this. Some time ago, I had a vision that involved you guys in the Capcom Kingdom running into some trouble, so I came by to see if I could help."

The Masters exchanged glances, while Dr. Light gave Rock and Roll a curious look.

"Why did you come here, and not go to another...kingdom?" Light inquired.

Maria shrugged. "I got the vision from this place, not from anywhere else. I don't really think that the other kingdoms are having too much trouble right now."

"I don't know if-"
"Dr. Light!"

The roboticist was cut off when a boy in a red-and-gray jumpsuit and red-and-white helmet and sunglasses dashed into the room, followed by a figure in a black-and-purple jumpsuit with what looked like a cobra's hood on the back of his head.

Dr. Light turned to look at the two robots. "What is it, Blues? And where are ShadowMan and PharaohMan?"

"Shadow is making sure that we weren't being followed," Blues explained. "We lost Pharaoh to SplashWoman when she exploded."

Maria's eyes widened. "Exploded?"

Blues looked in her direction and nodded. "Wily has been adding self-destruct systems to his Robot Masters, so that they can't be reprogrammed.

Maria's eyes narrowed. "As if he hasn't reprogrammed enough of them himself already?"

"He wants to make sure that I don't get my hands on them," Dr. Light explained. "If they were ever defeated in battle, he sees than as useless to him and no longer needed."

"Our tracks have been covered." A figure dressed in a ninja outfit with a ninja star on his forehead appeared out of nowhere. "Splash and Pharaoh's remains have been buried."

Blues nodded. "Good."

The cobra-headed figure stepped forward to stand in front of Maria, looking her over curiously. "What's your name, kid?"

"Maria," Maria replied.

"She's the one I told you about, Bass," Rock explained. "The kid who melted MetalMan two weeks ago."

The robot's red eyes widened. "Well, well, never thought she looked like this. How'd you do it, kid?"

"An attack called White Flare," Maria explained. "I haven't used it very often, though - it takes a lot of energy."

"How do you release it?"

Maria frowned slightly, bringing up the memories of her using the attack. "I release it out of my body - I think every pore of it is involved in releasing the energy. Then the fire does this whole seek-and-destroy thing - like heat seeking missiles, only they go for my enemies."

Bass grinned. "Now that is a cool attack. You should really show it off sometime."

"Only if I have to. That attack is a last resort, and only if I'm cornered." Maria looked around the room at the group. "So, what's Wily up to?"

"Trying to take over the world - again," Rock replied. "Only this time, he's got a lot more than just eight Robot Masters."

"More than eight?" Maria repeated. "That's pretty much unheard of at home. The bad guy always has a limit of eight in this realm."

"Well, it isn't so simple this time," Blues stated, crossing his arms over his chest. "Somehow, Wily managed to get his hands on all his bots. We managed to get it down to sixteen not too long ago. Counting what happened to MetalMan and Splash Woman, it's fourteen, now."

"Well, that isn't so bad, I guess." Maria rubbed the back of her head with her left hand. "Who's left?"

"HeatMan, WoodMan, AirMan, QuickMan, CrashMan, GeminiMan, Enker, FlashMan, BubbleMan, Punk, Ballade, AstroMan, SwordMan, and SnakeMan," Rock listed. "Compared to our numbers, we're at a bad disadvantage."

"Let me help. I may still be recovering from MetalMan's attack, but I'm not one to simply sit around and do nothing." Maria gave the group a confident grin.

"How do we know that you're not a trap Wily set up?" Bass asked, frowning. "I mean, throwing around an attack like you described...there's no way a human should be able to do that, now that I think about it."

Maria shrugged. "There are humans who are capable of doing crazier things that I am, Bass. Many have been damaged to within an inch of their life and they've come back stronger than before - maybe even with more powerful abilities than what they originally had."

"Still, it's kinda odd."

Line Break. Maria's POV
Bass' statement seemed to set something off at the back of my head, causing me to recall the voices I'd been hearing at the back of my head - M, the strange woman who had been guarding my memories back in the Nintendo Kingdom; the voice that had come out of the woodwork when I had first used my abilities. Why was that a trigger? Why was she the one who got me my memories back?

And why was it that I felt that I was mentally missing something? I had recovered all of my memories after the whole problem with Team Galactic...didn't I?

I was suddenly aware of a hole in my memories that I hadn't noticed before.

"Hey, are you all right?" Roll brought me out of my thoughts. "You kind of spaced out for a minute, there."

"Sorry," I stated with an apologetic smile. "I just remembered something, that's all."

"What?" Rock asked.

"Last time that I was off-world, I lost my memory for a time, but then I managed to get it back...at least, most of it. There's a hole that I haven't been able to fill up yet."

"Why haven't you?" Blues inquired. The movement of his visor was the only thing that hinted at a frown.

"It hasn't really come across as anything I'd really need to now about myself. But, really, now that I think about it, a lot of things about me might be explainable. My fire abilities, for instance - Mom told me that she and Dad hadn't shown any sort of ability like that. She did mention, though, that she and Dad had gone to another world before. Where, Mom hasn't said yet."

I looked over at Dr. Light, who appeared to be lost in thought. "But my past really isn't the point right now. Dr. Wily's gotta be stopped, and I'm willing to help. Will you let me?"

The Robot Masters, Rock, Roll, Bass, Blues, Dr. Light, and Rush all looked at me for a moment, then exchanged glances with each other. I leaned against my staff as I waited for their verdict on the matter, but I didn't particularly care, because when push came to shove, I was going to help them out whether they wanted an assist or not.

While I waited, I noticed that my staff seemed a little bit...off. Maybe it was because of the accident with MetalMan or maybe it was something else, but I knew that something was wrong. Problem was, I couldn't tell what was up.

"This is going to take some time for us to think over," Dr. Light finally stated. "For now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't try anything that could slow your recovery."

I raised an eyebrow, taking note of the slightly nervous look on Dr. Light's face. Something had definitely set him on edge, and whatever it was, he didn't look like he wanted to say.

I let out a sigh. "I can understand your concern. If I still had my Atlantean crystal, my healing abilities might have been increased in power. Since I don't have it anymore, there's no point in trying to push it."
"Atlantean crystal?" Roll repeated, frowning.

"Yeah - a gift I got from my first world. There, it's known for being capable of speeding recovery and warning a person whenever danger or friends are nearby." I absently reached for a spot on my red shirt, but then stopped when I remembered that the crystal was no longer there. "Course, I don't exactly have it anymore..." I let out a yawn. "So, got a place where I can sleep?"