"Twenty dollars from each of us… That's 80 dollars in all that she stole from us," Bass said angrily, as everyone except Roll came downstairs. "You guys have got to realize that she's robbing you blind."
Megaman stopped halfway down the stairs. "She's not robbing us," he said, trying to defend his sister. "Sure, she said we had to give it up because she didn't know who it was and thought none of us would admit it, even though only one of us actually did it. Who was it, even? Not me."
"Me neither," Tempo said.
"I didn't take anything," Protoman affirmed.
"What are you staring at me for?" Bass asked, realizing that Megaman, Protoman, and Tempo were all giving him disapproving looks.
"You took it, didn't you?" Megaman pointed at Bass. "You were the last to leave the room when Roll came home, so that's a pretty damning piece of evidence."
"You know, I didn't expect that kind of language coming from your face," said Bass.
"I didn't mean it as a swear," Megaman explained. "I meant it as a synonym for 'condemning'."
"Whatever, Mr. Clean-Cut McGoodboy," Bass said dismissively, turning his head away.
"We're getting off topic," Megaman said, leading the group down the rest of the stairs. "All I'm saying is that-" Suddenly, he stopped, noticing that the nest egg was sitting right on the kitchen windowsill, right where everyone could see it. "Hang on. Is that…?" He went closer, in order to confirm his suspicions. "No way Roll would leave the nest egg out in the open like this."
"It's probably a trap. We should leave it alone," said Tempo.
"Yeah, you're right."
"A trap? Pffft," huffed Bass. "What kind of 'trap' would your goody-two-shoes sister be able to set?"
"She might have an alarm set up that'll go off if we touch the jar," Megaman said. "Or maybe she's watching us from a hidden camera."
"And how would she have access to those things?" Bass responded. "This isn't the lab, you know."
"Maybe you brought them over," Protoman said with a smirk on his face.
"Shut up," Bass said dismissively.
"Well, either way, we probably shouldn't do anything to it. You know what happened last time we got caught, and she's probably gonna step up the ante," Megaman warned.
"Come on. You're that scared of what your sister's gonna do to us?" Bass said.
"No. I'm just saying that maybe we should do her a favour and let her keep this nest egg in peace, without any interference."
"Then why'd you bring up the part about what she did to us?"
"Because you don't want anything to happen, do you?"
"Well, that only happened because we got caught. And if we manage to get some money without being caught, then nothing's gonna happen."
"You don't know that."
"Oh, yeah? Just watch me." Bass approached the nest egg, determined to do something to it, whether it be to just take a bit of the money out, take all of it, or just outright smash it. Nobody else was completely sure of his intentions.
"Bass…" Megaman cautioned. But sure enough, Bass wouldn't listen. Just as Bass extended his hands to pick up the jar, the "jar" revealed itself to be a Metool in disguise.
"What?!" Bass exclaimed, shocked at the Metool revealing itself behind the jar. "What the hell is a Metool doing here? Moreover, how did she manage to find and reprogram one?"
All of a sudden, the Metool jumped down from the windowsill, onto the counter, and finally down to the floor. Instead of attacking anyone, however, it started running away.
"It's getting away," Tempo noted. "Should we follow it?"
"Sure, why not? I didn't pick up any hostile signatures." Megaman beckoned to the rest of the group. "Let's go!"
The Metool repeatedly headbutted the back door, as if it wanted to be let through. At this point, Megaman was unsure to open the door, or to let Roll come by and see what happened. But after a few more knocks from the Metool, Roll opened the door.
"I should've known," Roll sighed, face-palming. "You guys just can't contain yourselves, can you?"
"Well, I tried to tell Bass that it was a trap, but he wouldn't believe us," said Megaman.
"Furthermore, where have you been getting Metools from?" Bass demanded to know. "They're valuable ground forces, you know."
"I was able to reprogram this guy about 5 years ago," Roll said, picking up the Metool and patting it on its helmeted head.
"So you admit you're both a hoarder and a thief."
"I'm not trying to hoard or steal anything. I just want to keep a nest egg without any interference, and I felt I had to take some extra measures."
"OK, this is clearly getting out of hand," Megaman said, looking Roll straight in the eye. "What harm is there in opening up a credit account? I assure you, if anything happens, a credit account will be suitable. Also, in the odd chance that we do have to use cash, we can pay out of our own pockets." He sighed. "Come on, sis. Just let it go."
"...All right, maybe I was going a little overboard with the Metool," Roll admitted. "But you guys have to realize that I don't want anyone messing with the nest egg. So can you please not go looking for it again?"
"But the first time, Protoman found it by accident," Megaman explained. "This time, we were going to leave it alone until Bass decided to crack into it. The only time when we tried to find it on purpose was when we were trying to put that note on."
"That still doesn't justify why Bass was trying to go into it."
"Well, you know Bass. He's probably going to crack into the entire nest egg the moment he finds it. Which is why we should use credit instead of physical cash." Megaman put a hand on Roll's shoulder. "Come on, Roll! This should've been the moment that proved it to you."
"Well, fortunately, this wasn't the real nest egg," said Roll. "And I trust you haven't found that one yet, right?"
"We haven't. And we're being honest," Megaman affirmed.
"I second that," said Protoman.
"I third it," Tempo added.
"At this point, I don't care anymore," Bass said, with a slight growl in his voice. "Go and hoard your little cash-stash and use it however you want. It's not like you're gonna give back anything you're gonna steal from us."
"Uh, you do realize I haven't stolen anything?" Roll said, annoyed that Bass was accusing her again. "I mean, sure, some people put money in, but other than that, the only contributions to the jar have come from my pocket."
"Whatever!" yelled Bass. "I said I don't care anymore."
"Hm… OK. Do what you want." Roll went back outside, but quickly ran back and stuck her head out the door to make a final point. "Except for searching for the nest egg!" Then she went back outside for good.
Suddenly, Megaman got another comm link. "Hello?" he answered.
"Do pieces of gravel count as natural items?" Elecman said quickly, not even bothering with a "hello" this time.
"What kind of gravel?" Megaman asked.
"The kind you find in industrial areas and stuff like that. I was online with that guy with the guitar, and we had a pretty heated debate over whether or not 200 pieces of gravel would count as 'natural items' - which we still haven't resolved, by the way."
"OK?" Megaman was confused at the direction Elecman was headed in.
"So he was pretty bent on the idea that it does count as natural, because you can find it on the shores of lakes and rivers," Elecman continued. "But then I said that sometimes it can be crushed up from pieces of larger rock by artifical processes."
"So what type of gravel do you plan on using?"
"The kind at the power plant. I figure I can pick up some at work, and then present it to him after I'm done. But I'm not sure whether that gravel is the kind that you find on shorelines, or gets crushed up by machines."
"Too bad you couldn't get a sample straight to us. Maybe Tempo could help you figure it out," Megaman suggested.
"I'll send you a picture of what I mean," Elecman said. "She might be able to tell just from the picture."
"Hey, Tempo, can you come over here for a sec?" Megaman called.
Tempo rushed over to the backyard doorway. "What is it?"
"Look at this picture," Elecman said over the comm link. "Can you tell me if this gravel originally came from a shoreline, or if it came from a rock crusher?"
"It looks like it came from the power plant you work at," Tempo said, not bothering to look closer until she got a better explanation.
"I know, but before it got there, where would it have come from?"
"Why are you so interested in where gravel comes from all of a sudden?" Tempo asked, suddenly curious about Elecman's uncharacteristic interest in gravel.
"There's this guy online that wants to swap a '76 Gibson Explorer for 200 uniform, non-natural, non-monetary items," Elecman explained. "We were debating whether or not the gravel at the power plant would count as 'natural'."
"But why is he swapping it for 200 random things?" Tempo continued. "Why can't you just buy one with real money?"
"Because the prices will likely be jacked to high heaven. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where I can get a good-quality instrument for almost free."
"I think this guy's trying to scam you," Tempo said just before leaving.
"No, he isn't," Elecman insisted. "I met him a few days ago, when I was trying to swap in some paperclips. But he wouldn't accept them because they were linked together, and they had to…" He paused for a brief moment, and directed the conversation back to Megaman. "She's gone, isn't she?"
"I'm afraid so," answered Megaman. "Don't worry. All you can do is either try to use that gravel, or get a different item to trade with."
"I guess that's the only solution," Elecman said. "Oh, well. I'll tell you how it goes, OK?"
"OK. Bye."
"Bye."
