"Aaah!"
Roll slammed down face first into the wooden floor, leaving a nasty scar in the training floor as she skidded along. Finally coming to a stop, Roll groaned and slowly picked herself up off the ground. A white hand reached with the silent offer to help her up, but Roll scoffed, not even bothering to slap it away.
"I'm only going to fall for that once."
"Good." Bass pulled his hand back, maliciously grinning. "You should never let your guard down."
"You're teaching me to fight like a bad guy!" she snapped.
Bass only laughed at her scorn, pride and mockery filling the air around him. Roll was almost used to it; it was only more of the same that he'd been going on about for the past week. She just scowled at him, dusting herself off once she was back on her feet. The sight of her outfit made her wince. She should have known better than to get too attached to her cute fighter outfit, a sleeveless red number with black pants. Already it was scuffed, and a lot of the delicate lotus blossoms embroidered into it were torn and looking pretty shoddy. The gold thread was starting to come up. She glared at Bass.
"If you know how a bad guy fights then you'll win every time." he retorted. "Don't look at me like that. I'm saving your life. You're actually getting better. There's just one problem."
"And you know what I need?"
"I sure do." Bass folded his arms, gleefully letting his news sink in. "A new opponent. Your problem is you're fighting me. You can't ever hope to beat me, so you're getting discouraged."
"Right..."
"Hey, don't feel too bad. You're already better than Sonata when she started training."
"Really? There's no way."
"No, serious. She actually cried." Bass snorted. "I could barely get her to do anything for two years. You're already getting better than her. You've got great instincts."
Some instincts when I get slammed into the ground every single time. Roll huffed and settled down against the wall of the training room, doing a scan of her internal structural integrity. She impatiently blew some of her stray bangs from her face as the data filtered through her head.
So I'm going to have to fight someone else. she thought. I wonder who it will be...
Roll glanced around the room. There were only a few Hunters in the indoor training gymnasium, and they were over at the target practice area. She didn't know any of them, but there were so many Maverick Hunters travelling through the base there was no way to memorize all of them. Would Bass convince one of them to fight her? Would he get someone who looked stronger or weaker? Roll hoped it was weaker. If Forte was right about anything, it was her discouragement. She didn't feel at all confident to fight. If only Bass wouldn't make her!
Roll pushed aside a few stray bangs and glanced up. Bass wasn't talking to anyone about fighting his student. He leaned against the wall next to Roll, looking out at the other students. Axl was with them, showing a few of them the best way to deal with a Maverick that was holding a hostage. Bass never could hide his emotions, and a proud grin crept its way upwards. Blinking a moment, Bass turned down to his student curiously.
"So what's wrong with you?"
Roll started. The question was so abrupt that she wasn't entirely sure Bass was asking out of sympathy. But she knew she couldn't possibly read him these days. So much about Bass had changed that she wondered what in the world could have happened to him before she was rebuilt.
The girl-bot was slow in answering. "I can't be a Maverick Hunter."
"Of course not." Bass was matter-of-fact, and he folded his arms. "That's too dangerous for you."
"That's sort of not the point." she went on, lightly tracing a toe along the floor. "I mean, I'm no good at fighting, I'm not a technician and there's mechaniloids to do the cleaning. There's more to keeping house than simple cleaning, but this is pretty much a military organization and there's no place for my true talents. There's also no humans around here to work for. I feel like everyone's being nice to me just because I'm X's sister. It's not fair to everyone that they work so hard and here I am being a complete freeloader."
"You organized Signas' office." Bass snorted. "That was funny. And you are a good fighter, just not as good as me."
A little contemptful, Roll glared at the floor. "That's not important, and Signas doesn't need me to organize for him. I'm just useless these days."
"You keep emo-boy X from slitting his wrists. That's got to count for something."
"Are you always this insensitive?" Roll snapped, her innocent eyes glaring in a way they had learned when she had been Proto Bot. "Don't talk about him that way."
"It was just a joke."
"I don't care." Roll humphed. "He works really hard these days and I don't appreciate you mocking him."
Bass rolled his eyes, letting all the times Roll had nagged him in the past run through his head. Ignoring his own annoyance, Bass tried to be encouraging, looking at her with irritated determination. Not even in the face of nagging would he back down from a challenge. "Look, X wants you around. He'll find you a job. He rescues humans sometimes, so maybe I could get you to be some sort of combat nurse or something."
"Thanks, but I don't think X wants me anywhere near where a Maverick could get me."
Roll sighed. As much as she wanted to stay with the Hunters, there was no way that she could do it and still be useful. Signas didn't seem to mind too much that Roll had cleaned out his office, but at the same time it was a breach of security. She didn't have clearance to enter the office without Signas himself being there, and Roll flushed with embarrasment as she remembered Signas' calm but firm lecture. She was only trying to help, but even that got her in trouble. Now X didn't even let her outside Maverick Hunter's walls, not since Sultana Aubade's attack. How was she supposed to make herself useful?
"Don't feel so down about it." Bass said. "You're lucky to be here. Write a book on fashion or interior design or crap like that if you get bored. Or you can write about Dr. Light. Everyone would want to read it."
That's actually a good suggestion. Roll smiled. When she thought about her creator it made her warm inside, thinking about her happiest years. "Okay, but you'll have to help me put it together."
"Sure, I'll - " Stopping, Bass frowned. He lifted a hand to his auxillary auditory port, letting his lip tug his mouth into a gritting scowl. A second later it dropped and Bass grunted with apology. "Eh, that was X. I have to go to some kind of meeting. Get some target practice in before tomorrow and we'll practice more then. I'll have someone ready to fight you at eighteen hundred."
Six o'clock. Roll nodded. It was weird to her to use military time, but everyone at Maverick Hunters did, and it was just something that she couldn't quite get used to. She was surprised that Bass could - he was everything but military. Yet here the independent robot was walking off to see X and more than likely Signas as well so that they could complete an organized mission. The times really had changed. Axl too seemed to have been contacted, and Bass waved him over as he headed for the door. As merrily as he always did, Axl joined up with Bass and chatted on about how training had gone. Roll couldn't recall Bass ever putting up with so much talking all at once.
Roll watched them leave, and the sinking dread that lay dormant in her mind began to make itself known again. Times had changed for Bass, but not for her. She still had all the confusion that had met with her in the days after Dr. Light died.
What can I possibly do now?
She didn't want to be useless, and her talk with Bass had barely helped. She wished with all her heart that someone had a solution for her, but the gym had only a few Hunters, none of whom she knew, and both robots she relied on to stave off the dread were working. Her heard sinking, Roll went to go change out of her fighting clothes. At least the torn embroidery would distract her for a while. She wished she knew when X or Bass would be finished. Maybe Pallette would be off duty. Pallette was no good at sewing, but she would at least be good company for when Roll put all the delicate details of the gold thread back into place. She promised herself that she would make a new fighting shirt, a practical one, for the next day's fighting.
Unseen from his position behind a door, Bass watched Roll leave. It was obvious to anyone, even Bass, that she was unhappy. He winced.
I'm going to have to fix that.
"Hey, c'mon, slowpoke!" Axl said with a wink. "I'm not going to wait for you all day."
"Say that again to my face, kid." Bass retorted with equal jest, sort of. "Quit your whining, I'm coming."
-t-
Roll, her mending in her matching cherry blossom bag, strolled down the halls of the Maverick Hunters and deciding in her mind how she would decorate the place if she could. The skyscraper's many hallways, offices, and laboratories were begging for practical decoration and repainting, and Roll let herself dream of how she'd keep it. But it wasn't her building, and the Hunter's vision of it was like a scientist's for a steel table: keep it clean and bare. No frills, no dust-gatherers, and no complications. Roll sighed.
There's got to be someone I can be a maid for, or something!
Roll passed by a computer lab. Thinking she was going straight on to get some needles and thread, Roll let the door go on by without notice. She changed her mind; maybe she could search the internet for new clothing designs. It would give her something to do. She entered the room, wincing at the messy cords that littered the floor. Had the wireless age simply gone by unnoticed? Roll crinkled her nose and persisted, stepping over the thick cords to find an empty computer.
There weren't a lot of people in the personal research computer lab, and the circular set of computers in the middle of the room were mostly empty. Only a few Hunters were there, contacting non-Hunters they knew outside the organization or doing individiual research. It took Roll a minute to remember why things were so quiet these days: a lot of the Hunters were off doing inspections to see if robot manufacturers were producing illegal copy chips. Roll started feeling sorry for Axl. More than once international law agencies called for an inspection of his copy chip. Fortunately it was normal - inferior to other copy chips, but safe.
Roll looked for anyone she knew. The few Hunters in the room waved (all of them knew who she was), but no one she knew closely. That counted for Zero as well. He was there, but she didn't know him well. He seemed nervous around her, and the more Roll thought about it, she realized that she had never seen him without X being around. For the moment he was calmly looking at the computer screen, as neutral as anyone else would. Roll, always mannerable, didn't look at what he was doing.
"Hi Zero!" Roll cheerfully sat at the computer next to him. "Good morning."
"Good morning." Zero answered. "Where is X?"
"Not here. He's meeting with Signas now. I sort of thought you would be with them."
"We don't do everything together."
Zero turned back to the computer screen. He was researching Sultana Aubade's influence outside of Arcadia to determine how far her influence went. She had connections into businesses, and these too turned back to the cryptic Spectral Saturnine. This was bothering Zero and the rest of the Hunters. Sultana's connections were all too easy to discover, but no one even knew Spectral's gender. Zero was reputed as the best Hunter of the group, and normally his mind was the first to untangle complex problems. What no one knew was that Zero's ability to decifer problems was due to being able to exclude out all distractions. He went over the information again, his eye glinting ever so slightly as he went over each detail. There had to be something he was missing.
He had been over all this before. There was little hope of disovering something new right away. He was working himself too hard again, and he knew it. The red reploid sighed, slumping back in his chair. That was when he noticed Roll turn her head back to her computer screen, clicking away at whatever she was interested in.
That's weird. Was she looking at me?
Ignoring it, Zero went back to his computer, typing in a command. A list of the next companies to be inspected popped up. He and X were going to have to do some travelling in the next months, particularly throughout Ukraine and going into Europe. Just because X had family didn't mean he could skip out on the long term trips. Zero felt bad for Roll. She hadn't been activated too long and now her brother was going to go off, leaving her only in the security of Hunters HQ.
Well, at least she has Bass...ugh, poor Roll...
Zero's glance made its way to Roll, and this time there was no mistaking it. She was staring at him. Once eye contact was made and her action was undeniable, Roll startled and blushed, a new feature of her modern skin.
"Oh, I'm sorry I was just...um, well..." she tried. "There's this thing I've been wanting to ask you for a while, and...well..."
No one alive could have seen Zero from the outside and know how his emotions melted inside of him. He just knew that Roll was going to ask him about his past, a part of him he continually tried to shut the door on, only to find someone's foot in the way every single time. Zero thought that he would finally be able to forget his origins, his creator, and his virus, but the reminders never faded away. It was torture to him that someone as innocent and kind as Roll would be one of them.
"May I please, please brush your hair?"
Zero blinked. "Um, what?"
"It's just so nice and so long!" Roll pleaded. "Oh, please let me! Guy-bots never take care of that sort of thing! Rock used to always have the worst helmet-hair in the world and it drove me nuts but you have so much of it and it's so wonderful and if I can't fix it up properly I think I might explode!"
Zero was stunned. From Roll's tightly clasped hands to her wide, begging eyes, she was the picture of sincerity. Zero was a little insulted that she would imply he couldn't deal with his own hair, but all he ever did was keep it from tangling. Roll would probably want to make it look nice or something, and the reploid wasn't so sure he was willing to let that happen. But who can say no to Roll?
"Alright." Zero answered without realizing it. "I guess."
Roll clapped her hands eagerly, letting nothing else delay her from digging in her bag and pulling out a brush and comb. She relished each item with delight, then promptly abandoned her belongings in her chair and got behind Zero's, waving him off.
"Go on, don't let me bother you!" Roll joyfully directed him back to his computer. "I promise I won't tug on your hair."
Reluctantly, Zero went back to his inpections list. He had to review the specific instructions for each manufacturer and know how to question them and what to look for. He couldn't afford to play the inspections by ear. All the same, it was a little distracting for Roll to brush his hair. He never let anyone mess with it, not even Pallette, who frequently hassled him about it. Zero was surprised that he was letting Roll. But her hands were gentle, and he could barely tell that she was doing anything. His hair was long enough, so when he turned to look he saw that she was running a comb through only the ends.
Roll noticed him, and she grinned pertly, like someone with experience or a clever secret. "You have to start down and work your way up. Otherwise you'll only make the tangles worse. Your hair is so wonderful! I honestly can barely believe that someone like Wily made this. He always was strange at designing things, but this is wonderful! It's like strands of gold! I'm so jealous."
Zero went back to the computer without answering. He didn't know what Roll was jealous of; her hair was just fine, and he couldn't really tell the difference between theirs anyway. Zero lifted his shoulders in a tense sigh.
"Oh, don't be that way." she said, humming a little as she continued. "Being built by Wily is nothing to be ashamed of, whatever Bass says. Hmph, he'd complain about Dr. Wily all day but in the end I think he's happy enough to be built by the second best robot technician there ever was."
"Skill isn't the problem."
Zero tensed as he spoke, but Roll dismissed it immediately, and the concern dissipated in the midst of her calm. "Don't let it bother you. It doesn't mean anything that Wily built you. After all, Wily and Dr. Light were partners, and Wily even helped building me and Rock."
"What?" Zero turned around again, not as far this time as Roll had worked her way mid-through his locks. "That can't be true."
"It is." Roll said as she lifted the comb for another stroke. "Wily was more involved with the other six robot masters - that's Elec Man, Fire Man, and the others - than he was with us, but still, he helped Dr. Light with some of our mental security features. In fact, the only robot there is that hasn't been designed with Wily's influence is Proto Man. Now hold still. You've got a pretty nasty snarl in here."
And I'm based from him. Zero noted. Made from the only robot Wily had no control over. That's got to mean something.
"Bass said I was made from Proto Man's design." Zero said, getting back to work. He was starting to feel a little more comfortable.
"You do sort of look like him, in the armor anyway." Roll said. "And you're quiet like him. Proto Man was always lonely...he never said anything, but there was something troubling him that he couldn't tell us. He was afraid of it making us judge him. And...oh! That's actually pretty similar to..." Roll cut herself off, not wanting to say too much in front of other reploids. They didn't seem to be listening, but that was no reason to take a risk. Zero had to know she was talking about him. "Well, you know. I miss him. I barely got to know him at all, before...I should stop talking about this."
Roll giggled, distracting herself from thinking of dark times. How did she ever get to be so gloomy? It seemed that all she had to talk about were the bad things going on or people she missed. "Don't let me distract you from your work."
"It's alright." Zero answered.
Her brushing his hair was bad enough, so adding talking to that wasn't a big deal. Zero wished she would go on. It was nice to listen to her. She really was very sweet.
"Tell me more about Proto Man."
"Well, Proto Man was always watching out for my brother, even when he was being all secretive. He helped Rock so many times when he was in danger, like when part of Wily's fortress fell on him or when Dark Man attacked him, or when Dr. Wily tried to trick Rock using a Dr. Light robot. After a while, when he was around more often, he would tell me all kinds of stories about the places he visited - Venice, Tumen, Moscow, Ibiza...he did all the coolest things! He even brought me one of those nice Indian dresses from Amritsar. He always knew what I liked!"
Zero had to admit that he didn't care that much about fashion, and for that matter he wasn't particularly keen on travelling, especially to the more touristy cities. All the same, that didn't stop him from enjoying what Roll had to say. It was fluffy conversation, something Zero almost never heard. It was a nice change from all the talk of Mavericks and battles and weapons upgrades. So he let her go on about stories from afar. He was surprised how much work he could get done while she was talking.
A beeping sounded on Zero's computer, and he clicked on a small, round icon on the lower right border. A viewscreen of Bass standing inside Signas' office appeared, and though his expression was gruff at first, at the sight of Zero he cracked a smile.
"Sorry to interrupt your little slumber party, ladies, but we need Zero here for a briefing."
Zero winced, frowning. He was not in the mood for Bass' crap. "She's just brushing my hair, Bass. Feel free to grow up any time now."
"Oh, really?" Bass grinned devilishly. "So you didn't notice that she's almost done braiding your hair?"
"What? Roll!"
Zero swung around, tugging his hair away from her grasp to get a look at it. It was indeed done in a complex French braid that went through four feet of his hair. Exasperated, Zero glared at Roll, silently demanding an explanation.
"Bass! If you hadn't said anything then I could have finished!" Roll protested at the computer screen.
"I'm sorry!" Forte laughed. "I really am! Ahahaha!"
"Zero has his hair braided?"
From Bass' side of the conversation, X came within view for a look, snorting with laughter at once. He tried to stifle it with a hand over his mouth, but it didn't work.
"Why Zero...you look...erm...'nice'..."
"I want to see, I want to see!" Axl shoved his way in for a look, grinning from ear to ear. He too slapped a hand over his mouth once he caught sight of the offending hairstyle. "Mmffffnt! Oh man, that's hilarious! I like your new style, Zero!"
Zero scowled as he reached back and started pulling out the braidwork. "Thanks for your support, guys."
"Don't!" Roll protested. "It will keep your hair from getting in the way when you fight, and you'll have less tangles too! Come on, in ancient China men would wear braids!"
"Do I look Chinese to you?" Zero kept tugging at his locks.
"Does he look like a man to you?"
Bass couldn't resist that crack, and though usually X was on Zero's side, he couldn't help but be overcome by the mirth. Zero scowled and kept going, wondering how in the world she got those tight plaits in his hair so quickly. He turned his evil glare from the computer screen to Roll.
"Stay away from my hair from now on."
Roll was at once horrified. "I'm sorry! I just couldn't help it...it's such wonderful hair! No one else has nice long hair like that, and I just wanted to try out a new braid type! I was going to take it out! Honest! It's just so nice...you have the best hair in the Maverick Hunters!"
Zero finally finished pulling each plait out of his shimmering locks and stared down at Roll. She did look sincere, and sorry at that. Zero nonetheless got the feeling that his hair was simply too much for her to resist doing something weird to it. Her fingers were still restlessly wriggling as if they could braid the air. And it was true that none of the girl-bots' hair reached even near the lengths his did. A new grudge for Dr. Wily appeared - why did he have such ridiculous hair? What madman would think to include something like that on what was supposed to be the "greatest of all his creations"? He really was a mad scientist.
"It didn't look that strange." X tried to comfort him. "And I guess you could try changing it. You've had your hair the same way ever since I've known you. Roll, do you know any...um, masculine hairstyles?"
Axl and Bass burst into fresh laughter and Zero felt like he was never going to stop glaring. "No. My hair is fine the way it is. Thank you, Roll."
Roll bit her lip, stung by the dry sarcasm. Here she was, going too far again, just like when she had cleaned Signas' office. She just wanted to help, and she was making it worse, and she worried that Zero was mad at her.
Annoyed, Zero gave a look around the room. The hairstyle and conversation hadn't been in a box; the few reploids there were quietly chuckling amongst themselves and trying to hide it. Zero shook his head.
At least this comical imagery will keep people from being afraid of me... Outloud, a wry Zero continued. "I'll be right there. As I recall, Bass did say something about a briefing."
Zero shut down the computer and readied his teleporter, only to glance down at Roll. The poor girl looked dejected as she silently gathered her things. She reached over to the computer she had been at, quietly shut if off and readied herself to leave, wherever she had in mind to go.
"Hey, Roll."
She looked up at him, apology still in her eyes.
"It was kind of funny." Zero winked.
That got a smile from the housekeeper-bot, and Zero teleported away. But still Roll sighed. She was now utterly bored. And if there was some sort of mission going on that involved X, Zero, and Axl, then their navigators were going to be just as busy. No hope of company from them. Worst of all Bass was involved too. Roll wondered when she had become so unsocial; it seemed like she hardly knew anyone these days, and it wasn't as if she didn't have plenty of opportunity to get to know some of the Hunters better. All of them wanted to meet X's sister. Roll reluctantly glanced at the other Maverick Hunters, willing herself to want to talk to them. But she found she didn't really want to. It was the dread, still holding her back.
She gave up. There wasn't anything for her to do there. Roll began to wish that she had bought some sort of journal when she had last been out of HQ, but as it was she merely picked up her bag and left the room. She was going to need to decide what to do soon. Not having anywhere specific to go, Roll found herself wandering down towards the research lab. Her feet were used to going that direction, as she spent much of her time there just hanging out as Bass worked on curing the Maverick virus. It felt terrible to go there alone. It really wasn't much better with Bass there, though.
Roll stopped in front of the lab doors. They were large. Not very imposing, maybe, but to Roll they might as well have been the entrance to a grim castle or gloomy hall of vast, dusty tomes. Was any part of this over-industrialized place any different? Dr. Light's lab was more of a home than it was anything else, and that home had a place for Roll. Here? Not so much.
Roll made firm decision right there and then. She was going to speak to Signas. And she was going to find a way out, doing something useful.
She pushed a button on the side and the doors shwooshed open. Roll entered, hoping perhaps to find a quiet corner to sit in. And of course that was when she realized that it would have been better to stay in the personal computer lab. There she would be able to try and find a job. Those logical thoughts took the back burner. For a moment Roll found herself distracted by Pallette and Layer hurrying about the lab.
"Alright, I only need three more data coils." Layer said, managing a better calm of the two. "Is the sensor array upgrade chip ready?"
"Alia said she finished it last night, and it's..." Pallette scanned a table full of circuitry whatnots and discs, joyfully picking up the device before answering. "...Right here! Okay, I'll get the data coil on the south Okinawa Mavericks."
"Uh," Roll said nervously. "Anything I can do to help?"
"No, we got it, Roll! Thanks!" Pallette answered as she pressed the security buttons on the console to produce the correct data coil. "Hey Layer, Zero wanted that back scan of west Acadia, right?"
"Yes, he did." Layer held up two round orange things that looked uncannily like the screw-in part of a light bulb. "If you get that, I think we'll have what we need."
"Good!"
Roll went over to the side. The data ports in the research lab were near the entry way on the right, so Roll quickly scuttled over to the left where the CPU scanner pads and tables were. In her hurry to get out of the way, she didn't at first notice the dark presense sitting at the one of the computer consoles.
"Oh! I didn't see you there, Bass." Roll said. "Aren't you going out on the mission?"
As he slowly turned to face her, his glare was awful. Thankfully his head lowered, and he didn't direct its complete force at her. The cloud of darkness around him thickened as he tried to stare a hole through the research computer he was unenthusiastically attempting to work at. This work added up to about two keytaps and a mouse click about every thirty seconds. Roll backed away slowly. No matter how much he had changed, a mad Bass did not good company make.
"Don't let him bother you." Layer said casually as she placed her data coils into a plastic, foam-lined case. "He's just grumpy because he's not allowed to go on the mission."
"Didn't those last upgrades work?" Roll glanced back at Bass. "I thought he was going to be able to fight more often now."
Bass slumped more as Pallette answered. "No. Poor guy's uncompatible with that kind of plasma generator."
" - Layer, Pallette, where are you? - " Alia's voice came over the comm. " - The guys are leaving in less than a minute. Get down here! - "
" - We're coming, Alia. - " Layer answered calmly, eyeing Bass a bit. " - We'll be there in a second. - "
"I got everything I need!" Pallette chirped. "You?"
"Yes. Let's get going."
"Right!"
The navigators teleported out. To Roll it was always weird to watch reploids teleport: it just looked so different. She guessed that teleportation must have advanced quite a bit since her time. She didn't care. What did it matter? Roll turned away, thinking of leaving. A grumpy Bass was hardly worth being around, and she didn't feel up to it. All the same, she glanced again in his direction.
He wasn't there. The computer was at the log out screen, no longer whatever he had been researching. Looking around, Roll found no sign of him.
I didn't hear the doors open...
Roll checked the teleportation log. It was as she thought. He had teleported out without scrambling his coding, at least not enough that anyone in the Maverick Hunters couldn't easily detect it.
That's weird. He never does that. Or does Signas make him?
The girl-bot, with nothing better to do, quietly went and sat down at the computer. She didn't know why; it wasn't as if she had a password to the research lab's computer. Possible passwords floated through Roll's mind as she aimlessly tried to guess what he would choose.
"Oh, that's right. They get assigned passwords." Roll muttered. "I can't guess what it could be. Nice of him to leave me here by myself. Jerk..."
But he hadn't scrambled the teleport. He had to know that she would be able to find him. Roll slumped. He probably did it so that she would know he was still around. Why did she believe that? It only seemed to make sense with who he had become.
"It's not fair." Roll humphed, folding her arms in a sincere pout. "Even Bass is doing a better job adjusting than I am."
All of this was just speculation, and none of it answered the question of what Roll was going to do next. Still pouting, she looked at the teleportation numbers, tense. Bass was probably still angry, and she didn't recognise the coordinates. Wherever he might have gone wouldn't necessarily be safe for her to go. Staying behind would be worse, she decided. The big lab was cold and empty, and Roll did not want to stay there. Questioning her choice for only a moment, Roll teleported away.
The place where she arrived was not where she expected. The first thing she noticed was a color scheme change - the blacks, silvers, and greys of the lab faded into a shimmering, foggy set of blues. It was evening time, wherever this place was, and the darkness of the rocky soil was not a dead, mechanical black, but a meditative shade of the same. The fog rose from about five feet away, and Roll cautiously stepped forwards, only to cut short her advance almost at once.
She was at the edge of a great cliff, and from the rushing and sweeping sounds of it, the ocean was below. She peered down quickly too see a drop yards and yards below, only to dart back up with a shudder. Roll never was one much for heights. Yet even then the calm of the place seemed to take over. Looking straight forward produced a magnicent view of gloomy clouds - they were indeed gloomy, but it was sort of a happy gloom, one that waved hello before going about its haunted business. They were fluffy things, and the wind was blowing them out into the distance. There was no shortage of clouds, however, and the big, fluffy things would keep passing that way for a while. The fog wasn't eager to let up either, and it created a mystical atmosphere, one of absolute peace. It wasn't a warm peace, but a compromise; it did not deny any sadness, but regarded it with fateful irony - could any weather truly sympathize?
Why would Bass come here? Roll wondered. There's nothing here he would like. It is pretty, though. Is there a building or something nearby?
There was nothing but expanse to the right, but to the immediate left the fog cleared, revealing more rocks and boulders. It was a minature peak at the side of the cliff, as if some giant had stacked a pile of rocks and left them there to syncronize with the environment for a few centuries. It stretched upwards about fifteen feet, and at the top of it all sat Forte, staring directly down at Roll.
"Oh...um, I'm sorry..." she piped up timidly. "I didn't mean to intrude, I just..."
Talking too much seemed weird there, and Roll had no conscious explanation for her appearance that she didn't think was too awkward to say in front of Bass. Roll didn't think that he would understand her loneliness. His look, however, said otherwise. As much as she expected him to yell at her to go away or snarl or do something mean, he did nothing of the sort. He just sort of...blinked. Something about him was settled, calm but sad. He matched with perfection the mood of the foggy cliffside, even if his coloration was nothing like it. Maybe all of the dreariness of the place had all come from the aura of gloom that eminated from Bass, if the opposite wasn't true.
"Nah, it's okay. I don't mind."
Roll leaned her head to the side, a little confused. "Um...can I come up there?"
"Sure."
Now that was the last thing she expected him to say.
Roll climbed up on the boulders, and it took her a minute to get to Bass. He was sitting on the very top of it, and since there was only enough room for one person there, Roll aimed for the rock a little lower than the peak. Bass reached down and hauled her up the last foot, and she settled comfortably as she could at about the level of Bass' knee.
No wonder Bass likes it here...you can see so much. Wait, Bass likes scenic vistas?
Roll looked up at Forte, and it did seem that he enjoyed looking outwards. He was almost meditating on the tragic blueness of the place. He was absorbed into the cliffside environment, and Roll too found herself entranced by the fog. She noticed that the stars were starting to appear in the cracks between the clouds. Soon it would be a starry evening. She wondered where exactly this place was.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier." Bass said, breaking the silence. "I was...angrier than I needed to be."
"It's okay." Roll said. "You weren't that bad."
The quiet and the calm took back over for a minute, but Roll didn't give into it again quite yet. She was pondering, and after a minute, she spoke up again.
"Why didn't they let you go on that mission?"
Bass wrinkled, uncomfortably hanging his head. "They said that I'm too weak, that this mission's more than I can handle and the operatives that have been working as a team longer should be the ones to go."
Each word Forte spoke was bitterer than the last, and it hurt him to say each one. Since when did he talk like that? Roll desperately tried to get him to take confidence again.
"But you can be upgraded." she protested. "You don't have to always stay behind. I mean, once you're better you can learn to work with everybody else. Just because that one plasma thing didn't work doesn't mean something else won't."
"No." Bass was abrupt. "I can't be upgraded. I'm too old and no one knows old machinery. I'm incompatible with modern technology. They make everything for reploids these days. Trust me, I've tried everything I know."
"That can't be...I mean, Zero's been repaired plenty of times. They've upgraded him, haven't they?"
Bass shook his head. "Not a lot. Besides, Wily made him a lot more adaptable, and he's technically a reploid. He's Wily's 'masterpiece', and I'm just a stupid copy of Rock." Bass slouched further, bitterly resting his head in one hand. "Even worse, the methods Crystal Bot used to repair me are custom - her own thing. Even if people knew how to make old robots again, I'm completely different and it just wouldn't work. I'm just obsolete!"
He ended with his eyes tightly closed, lost in melancholy. When he opened them again, he was lost again in the midst of the haunted night, silent with his mouth tightly shut. Roll wanted to cry. It was worse for him than it ever was for her. All Roll wanted was a purpose and her family, and she had at least X. Bass was going to have to change his entire identity just to keep on living. He would have to abandon his true, fighter-bot self for...something.
She looked up at him again, studying his meditation into the clouds. "It's weird. I don't think I've ever seen you alone. You always seemed to have someone. You always seemed attached at the hip to Treble, and even after...that, you had Crystal Bot." Bass didn't answer, and after a moment Roll asked, "You miss her, don't you?"
"Sort of. She was annoying." Bass sighed, allowing himself a slight smile. "Sometimes she was so smart, but other times it felt like Sonata had to have everything explained to her like a kid."
It wasn't long before his smile faded away, leaving behind a quietness something like meditation. Roll stared out at the cliffside, understanding. This place wasn't much for talking, she thought. It was simply too beautiful. Roll found herself wishing she were human. Places like this had an almost magical affect on them, and yet somehow she felt she wasn't missing out on too much.
A long drawn out sigh sounded behind her, and Roll noticed that Bass seemed to like it there better than she did. His lips were ever so slightly upturned, and he cast off a pale, weak, but stubborn contentedness. It plain shocked Roll. Bass wasn't like that; he didn't calm down quickly or enjoy views or sit quietly like the emo kid he was always calling X. It dawned on the girl-bot that she never really knew Bass in the past. He had his business of being a fighter-bot, and she was always at home. Why would their paths cross at all?
"Hey Roll." he said. "Do you believe in God?"
"Where did that come from?" Roll asked.
"I don't know." Bass shrugged. "I'm just curious."
Roll hadn't thought about that kind of thing in a long time. As Proto Bot, she hadn't the capacity to think about it. And now she had to admit that acknowledging the spiritual was something she had been avoiding.
"No." she was slow to tell him, but it was the only honest answer she could give. "I used to, but...no."
"Oh." This answer didn't seem remarkable to Bass one way or another, and he just went on looking out into the distant ocean. "I think I do."
"Why's that? It's not like a robot can go to heaven or anything like that."
Bass shook his head almost lazily, and his response was just as relaxed. "No, I don't care about that. That's not the point. I believe because of the apocalypse. Not the robot one. The real one at the end of everything: humans, earth...all that stuff."
"That's...pretty weird, Bass."
He chortled a bit. "Yeah, I guess so. It's just nice to know that all this crap like the Mavericks, it's going to all go away. No crime, murder, sickness...it'll all be gone for good. There won't be anything left but the truth."
Roll did like the sound of that, as melancholy as it was. All the same, it made her feel a little sick. Inwardly she felt angry. Why wait until the end of time for that kind of thing?
"I wish he would do something about it now, if he's real." Roll looked up at him, confused. "I mean, how can you believe like that? After all that's happened?"
"Eh, if God's real, he's real whether we believe or not." Bass paused for a moment, thinking for a minute before he answered more personally. "I guess if I want to be honest, it's because of Dr. Light. You remember when he was sick and in the hospital that last year he was alive?"
How could he bring up a time like that? Roll shuddered. "I try not to think about it."
"Of course you wouldn't. You were with him for years and you knew him when he was healthier. You can afford to forget." Forte's mood, which had been stable for a length of the conversation, mellowed at this point. "But I can't. That's the time all I had to be around Dr. Light - a few months before he died."
Roll gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. She never thought of it like that before. Memories about how wonderful her creator had been flooded her head, and it was a terror to think of losing them. What right did she have to complain when things were like this for Bass? Roll could only imagine how horrible Dr. Wily had been to him. Dr. Light must have been amazing by comparison. Seeing her horror, Bass warmed a little. He was happy that she cared.
"The thing that impressed me the most about him was that even though he was dying, it never got to him. He just dealt with it the best that he could. No matter what was going on, he was just fine. It helps me...reminds me that no matter how bad things get here...I can't give up. That's why I believe in God. It's just that hope that somebody's in control of all this crap. It was bad enough working for Wily," Bass scowled here. He could never think of his creator without that look. "And now there's so much worse stuff going. Rock...your stupid brother, he actually had me fooled for a while. He would always talk about his stupid fantasy where Wily is defeated forever and then everything will be fine. He was wrong, and I actually fell for it!"
Bass stopped himself, sighing. "I believe in God not because someday things are all magically going to be better, but because I have to live. It's just...easier." Bass' mood rose into one of irony as he grinned down at Roll. "Besides, how the crap was it possible that I found you in the junkyard?"
"Oh please, that's just coincidence." Roll scoffed, wanting to change the topic.
"Yeah right. So some guy just happens to dig in his backyard, and you just happen to be there, and then I'm randomly at the right junkyard at the exact time he's there trying to dump you. Some coincidence."
Roll didn't answer. She did have to admit that that was a lot of variables. She reached down, tugging at her shoe's buckle. It had come loose while she had climbed up the rocks.
"What were you doing at the junkyard anyway?"
Bass froze, and had Roll been looking at his expression, he would have been caught at once. But the moment passed quickly, and Forte regained control of his facial features, soothing them back into a more indifferent expression. His voice was a harder task.
"Nothing. I was just lost."
It worked. Roll was still too innocent to associate junkyards with suicide - a great relief to Bass. Her task of fixing her shoe complete, Roll sat back up and smoothed her shirt, continuing to enjoy the quietness of the place. More of the clouds had blown away, and some of the stars were beginning to show as night began.
"A long time ago," Roll said. "When Crystal Bot told me you wrote that philosophy book, I didn't believe her. It didn't seem like you to write something like that. Or to write at all, really. But now...were you really always this philosophical? It's sort of hard to believe."
"Eh, I'm always thinking about things." Bass shrugged. "It just didn't occur to me for a long time to write it down."
"Well, you don't have to act so...I dunno, macho all the time." she said, smiling at him. "Sona-chan was always saying how nice you are. Good to know that it's true. It won't kill you if people see you being sensitive for once. You put up just as much of a front as Proto Man did."
"Sonata was nuts, I'm not nice. Compare me to Proto Man again and you'll see."
Bass grew slightly sour as he spoke, but there was no bitterness in his tone. The environment absorbed any dark emotion; it couldn't last there. Roll only laughed stretching out her legs lightheartedly. Not too lightheartedly, though. The fog, sky, and cliffs absorbed that emotion too.
"Oh, I don't believe you for a second." she said. "You're always nice to me."
"I have to be nice to you. I promised."
Curious, Roll couldn't stop herself from asking, "I don't annoy you when I'm in the lab all the time?"
She half expected him to say that she did, but he only shook his head. "Nah. You're alright."
For some reason, this answer bothered Roll. It just didn't fit Bass. His voice was weighed down by something she couldn't put her finger on. And why wouldn't she be an annoyance to him? She always had been before. Roll guessed that since she wasn't in control of anything she had no way of nagging him; in the past she only saw Bass if he happened to stop by the lab or was seeing Dr. Light in the hospital. Both the lab and Dr. Light were Roll's responsibility, and she was very protective. Now that she had nothing, there was far less opportunity for them to annoy each other.
Oh no, why did I have to remember?
A sob broke though, and Roll tried to hold it in. All effort was useless in the face of the memory of Dr. Light, pale and sickly in the hospital bed. Thinking about him was just too hard. The sobbing only became worse the longer the girl-bot fought it, and she doubled over in the effort, her shoulders shaking.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Sorry...I'm sorry..." she said, rubbing her eyes. "I just...I was...Dr. Light...he had that computer and everything...but we never saw him again...it's not fair!"
That said everything. Bass was silent, as sympathy only produced awkwardness in him. But he did reach down and touch Roll on the shoulder. Her weeping slowed, and she leaned against the rock Bass was sitting on.
"Try not to think about it too much." Bass tried to sound comforting. "He wouldn't want you worrying about him like this."
Roll focused on clearing her thoughts. She didn't want to cry and here it was forcing itself out. It was difficult, but she managed at least to get it down to sniffling. She did this the only way she could, by remembering what she still had. This helped very much, and she calmed down.
"Thank you." she said, taking a deep breath. "It's good to know that I still have two of my brothers left."
"Two?" Bass asked. "What, was Signas secretly built by Dr. Light or something?"
Roll turned and stared at him, her wide eyes telling him that it should be completely obvious. Bass frowned, completely confused. He knew he should guess right, but he was completely clueless.
"You, you dork!" Roll laughed. That also made her feel better. "You know Dr. Light pretty much adopted you."
Bass' face crumpled in an awkward smile as he drew his eyes shut. It was just as hard for him to remember, but he took it with more pride. Dr. Light had been the reason he had changed his life for good, and without the gracious scientist's influence, Roll had no idea what would have become of him. Roll was glad it made him happy.
"He always used to say how intelligent you were." she said. "And how nice. Now you're a scientist just like Dr. Light."
And the dark robot's smile grew even more awkward. The whole "happy smile" thing, absent of any hint of smirk or malicious glee, was more or less unknown to him, Roll guessed. She liked it anyway. It was the thought that count.
"Pssht," he said, coming right back around to a smirk. "I bet you didn't believe him when he said that."
Roll blushed. Bass scoffed with amusement, shaking his head.
"Well, I believe in you now, definitely!" she encouraged him. "And even then I believed in what Rock and Dr. Light saw in you."
Bass knew that already, and he settled down, becoming more moody as he once again turned his attention to the vast distance. Some new idea must have shown itself, and Roll could only guess at what it could be. Not a good one, by any means. All merriment left Bass, and he solemnly rested his chin in one of his palms, letting himself meditate on whatever occupied him. This made Roll nervous. She didn't want him to think about sad things.
This stupid, dark sky...she inwardly huffed. The clouds are coming back out and covering the stars. How can anyone possibly be happy in a place like this?
Roll let it alone. Bass had to deal with his issues in one way or another, and she surmised that he preferred to do it out of the sight of everyone. It made her feel almost priviliged that she got to stay there with him. While part of her felt that she should be quiet, a question arose, one she had vague curiousity about.
"You really are nice." Her hushed voice appeared from seemingly nowhere. "I'm actually surprised how well you get along with Zero. Why is that?"
As it goes with that sort of question, Roll only realized how risky it was once it was out there in the air. Bass' frown deepened, but it didn't make him angry.
"Eh...he's alright. A lot less crazy than I expected." Bass said. "He's really not much like the robot masters. He's tolerable."
"It must make it easier on you to know that Wily would be mad at him for being a good guy." Roll mentioned. "I mean, I know how much you hated him in the past. I'm sort of surprised you haven't tried to kill him by now."
For a second it looked like Bass might laugh, but it caught in his throat. "Nah, that's not it. Zero knows exactly how much he's messed up the future and he hates it. I talked to him a while back, and I got the idea if he could just somehow blow up and make everything alright again, he would."
"You mean if you killing him would make everything alright again, he'd let you."
Bass grinned ever so slightly, until that grin was lost only a moment later. Fatefulness marked his voice as he said, "Yeah. I'd need a time machine for that."
It took Roll a minute, but even then a horrible realization came to her. With horror the truth grew in her mind, and it poisoned like a sickening doubt. Bass didn't tolerate Zero because of anything they had said, but for one reason above all others: Bass took Zero's guilt as his own. It was all over his face. If he had killed Zero when he'd had the chance to, then none of it would have happened. Forte had specifically taken this responsibility on himself right away after leaving Wily, and even with five years at his disposal, he had failed.
"It's not your fault." Roll spoke up reluctantly. "You didn't know what Wily was planning to do."
"I spent almost twenty years with that man." Bass hissed through firmly clenched teeth. "I should have known."
"Don't say that!" Roll protested, gaining courage. "How could you possibly know? I mean, think about every time Dr. Wily tried to take over the world. Every single one of his schemes was dumber than the last. This last one was brilliant by comparison. Nobody ever knew he was capable of doing something not goofy. Not Rock, not Dr. Light, not anybody! We all underestimated him, and with his track record why wouldn't we? Oh, well, maybe he might have planned for us to underestimate him."
Bass scoffed. "Not likely. That old crackhead thought all of his plans were smart." He blinked as he spoke, his tone softening as he realized that he was proving Roll's point. "Heh, see, you're useful after all."
Roll thought back to their earlier conversation. She did say that she was useless to the Hunters, and she wasn't automatically swayed toward a new opinion by Bass' compliment.
"That's not the same. I still don't have a job."
Roll sighed. She knew she was going to have to say something at one point or another, so she figured she'd go ahead and get it out there before telling X, who would certainly take it harder.
"I want to leave the Maverick Hunters."
"What?" Bass exclaimed. "Who said you could do that?"
"I was going to wait until I got approval from Signas to tell people about it," Roll said. "But I might as well just get it out in the open now. I want to do something that makes an effort to help people, and all of my skills are oriented to human care. There's a nursing home near here, and once X is done clearing out the Mavericks in Arcadia it'll be safe for me there."
"Didn't you do that before?" a both confused and annoyed Bass asked. "I thought you hated that job."
"I want to do something useful, and that's better than sitting here doing nothing. How do you know I didn't like it?"
"Crystal Bot told me. She never knew when to shut up about other people's business." Bass said. "Now don't change the subject! You're not leaving and that's final!"
Roll scowled. "You can't tell me what to do! Honestly, do you just want me staying here and getting in the way? I'm not a soldier or a scientist, and I can't stand just being underfoot while more important things are going on. I need to be doing something that counts or I'm going to go out of my mind."
Having made her point, the girl-bot settled into a good pout, indignantly slumping and with her limp hands in her lap. She refused to believe that he would understand her, stubbornly refusing to think otherwise. It surprised her how annoyed she was about it, though she knew this issue was not new. No one had understood before, so why would they now?
"Roll, listen to me." Bass tried again, calmer. "I don't think you know how important you are here to X. And to me...hell, do you think I want to be stuck here working in that stupid lab all the time? Training you keeps me sane. Working on that stupid virus is going to be the end of me. And I'm not letting you go anywhere until I think you can defend yourself good enough."
Roll sighed. "It's nice of you to care, but that's just not enough. I can't stay here and do nothing. I just...can't."
Bass paused a minute. He let several empty seconds go by before responding. The mellow wind was starting to blow faster, and it filled the air almost like words.
"I don't want you to leave." Bass said, unable to come up with anything better. "It's bad enough you'd be leaving, but it's even worse that you'd be doing something that doesn't make you happy."
"You figure if I'm going to be unhappy it might as well be with the Hunters, right?"
"Er...something like that." Bass stared off out into the sky as he continued. "You're always cheering up X, but you also help me. It's not any easier for me now in this messed up year than it is for you. More than that, I made a promise to Rock to take care of you. I know it's not like me to take something like that seriously, but I'm not going to just forget about it. Watching out for you I feel like is the one last thing I can do to honor Dr. Light's memory. If I can find something for you to do here, promise me you'll stay...alright?"
There was no answer for a moment. Roll's meek voice piped up, confusion in her tone.
"Um...Bass?"
The dark robot looked down, only to find that his hand was enmeshed in her hair, and the poor girl-bot was staring at him with every bit of awkwardness she possessed. He had been scratching her behind her ear.
"Gah!" Bass whipped his hand back in horror. "Sorry! I'm used to Treble!"
Bass facepalmed, embarrassed out of his mind. Roll was still biting her lip, but not from embarrasment. She tried to hold in her laughter, but it didn't work. Giggling escaped, and after that Roll couldn't hold it in. It was just too funny.
"Stop it!"
"But it's funny!"
"I said, stop it!"
Bass' growl put an end to the laughter immediately. Scared, Roll turned toward him to find the old Bass: snarling, prideful, and pissed off. Roll hadn't seen that look in a long time, and it frightened her no less than the first. Even Bass seemed to think it was too much, and his menacing fangs retracted a little. It didn't help much.
"Go away." he said.
"Bass, I'm sorry-"
"Go away!"
With that, Forte folded his arms and looked away, waiting for her to go. Roll felt bad, but she knew there was no point in talking to him when he was being this stubborn. She teleported out, and the dreaded walls of the research lab replaced the blue environment. Roll went over to a chair and slumped over in it, feeling dwarfed in its large seat. It was annoying to be so short all the time.
"This is horrible..." she whispered. "There he was pouring his heart out and I laughed at him."
Part of her still thought it was terribly funny, but this only resonated sour in her heart. Bass for once was being open, and she had to go and ruin it.
"He's used to Treble, huh?"
Roll was a little offended. She didn't see that she had that much in common with a giant purple wolf. She didn't get very far into that thought before the truth hit her in the face. He was used to Treble because that's how they used to be. It was Bass' personality to not be open to others, but he couldn't keep up the charades all the time. In his heart he was as vulnerable as anyone else, unless his pride made him more so. Treble was the one he talked to because Treble was loyal to no one else and could keep his darkest secrets. Roll felt instantly worse.
He must have been trying to do the same with me. She was too afraid to say this out loud. I guess there's nobody around that can understand him as much. I'm such a jerk...
She slumped further in the chair. She'd never reckoned that morale might be her forte amongst the Hunters, but now it was evidently clear. Signas smiled more around her, and X laughed more. Axl always asked for story after story, paying rapt attention to every adventure Roll described to him. Even Zero who obviously was still weirded out by close contact with the past - not his favorite topic - seemed to brighten around her. It was as if he didn't have to take things so seriously.
The idea was weird to her. She didn't feel very cheerful these days, and being around the others only made her forget for a short while. That brought her back to her conversation with Bass, and she saddened.
"He must miss Treble a lot. I wish I could rebuild him..."
It was only a vague hope, but it refused to go away. The more Roll thought about it, the more she liked it. But how would she do something like that?
"Hey wait, didn't someone tell me that Treble's personality AI is just Bass' modified?"
With that, the idea got more plausible and Roll got more gleeful.
Hey, she thought. Maybe Sona-chan hid some files on how to build Treble in Bass' mind! That definitely sounds like something she would do! Well...if she had Bass probably would have built him by now...and that's if the data hasn't been damaged when Bass spent that century underground. Oh, I just don't know! I'll need Alia's help. Maybe something can be done with Bass' memories, or even my memories. Something's got to work!
Even as she went over all the problems and cost in her mind, Roll could feel her excitement rising. Alia would still be navigating for X, but Roll could hardly wait to tell her.
"I have to be ready!" Roll jumped out of the chair. "I'll just borrow a disc from the lab, and then I'll upload what I know onto it. I just know I can rebuild Treble!"
It was a silly hope, and Roll didn't care. Bass had rebuilt her from what little he knew, and Roll was going to find a way to pull it off herself, no matter how bleak her chances looked.
\\\
Author's notes:
- It's actually kinda strange how similar Zero and Proto Man are. It's like Capcom wanted to expound on the Proto Man character without ruining his mystery.
- Bah, sorry this chapter took forever. Things will be speeding up for the next bit, I promise. Feels like forever since a few worded chapter worked out. This story is way different from the others, but I think I got it down pat for now.
- Oldstyle robot skin doesn't show color other than general skin tone, but reploid skin is capable of blushing. Just because Roll can't become a reploid doesn't mean she can't have the skin.
- It was never relevant to the story, but I'd just like to point out now that Layer despises Bass. She doesn't like how he irritates Zero.
- Hey you guys, I'm running out of reviewers to make Mavericks out of! As soon as this story is done I won't be doing it any more, so yeah, review! Ain't I so darn manipulative? :D
Aile-chan
=====Metakitt Carnivore
"I wanna play too!"
Metakitt Carnivore is a cougar Maverick. She's very violent, and very self-concious about her small size. She likes to play with whatever's available around her, including you. Her size makes her harder to hit, and she spits acid that clings to you unless you shake it off. The player that beats her gets Kitt Spit, an acid shot that breaks weak walls and fires long distances in a slight arc.
This one was extremely hard since Aile is already a Mega Man character. I looked up letter (because in the ZX series the biometals are known by letters), and that somehow got "kite". That's a type of bird, but I have too many bird Mavericks so I made it Kitt. Meta comes from metamorph, a reference to Aile's mergings with the biometals, and Carnivore just made sense.
Solaris
=====Fulgor Flamingo
"Don't I just dazzle?"
Fulgor is forever preening his shining feathers. However, underneath his shimmering pink facade, he is one of the most deadly Mavericks around. First of all, his shooting feathers are very quick and hard to dodge, and getting hit by his beak takes major damage. Worst of all, he wields a giant battle axe. If he slams this into the ground, the small level of water on the floor will be electrocuted and you have to get on the wall. Beating him gains you the Fulgor Axe, which shocks the ground around you. If you're under water, you are surrounded with an electrical pulse that damages enemies around you.
"Fulgor" is a new word I found that means splendor or brightness, and it sounds sort of viking to me, hence the Thor references in this Maverick. Flamingo came to mind because it's like "flaming" with an "o". I quite like it.
Proto Chan
=======Amicus Prime
"Hi there, friend! Can I borrow your buster?"
Amicus Prime is a Maverick who lives in a junkyard. She's suprisingly friendly and never actually hates anyone. The trouble is, she isn't complete. She's always looking for weapons or armors that she can add to herself to become a normal Maverick. She has a long stick for a left arm, and her right claw is always taking a weapon from the junkyard around her to attack the player. She alternates between a chainsaw, a flamethrower, and a triple shot buster cannon. If you use a power gained from a Maverick against her, she will try to steal it from you, even if it's her weakness. If the player is X, they get the Amicus Cannon (the triple shot), Zero gets the Chainsaw Prime, and Axl gets the flamethrower.
This one was fairly easy. Chan is the friendship suffix in Japan, and Proto means first or previous. So, Amicus Prime. You can tell I came up with this one before I came up with Aile-chan's