Darkness Rising

Note: You need to read part of the last chapter of "Protoman. Criminal?" in order to understand why Roll is in here. I do not own Megaman or any of its characters.

It was dark in the room. An old abandoned building housed this room. Dr. Cain moved to a cylindrical object and wiped the dust off of it, revealing an X.

"What's this?" he asked.

A small screen behind him sprang to life, revealing an old man.

"My name is Thomas Light. I am the researcher who designed and built Megaman X," he gave a cough. "I granted X special powers that

no other robot possesses. Utilizing his consciousness, he is able to think, worry, and act entirely of his own accord. This means that he

is also imbued with the materials to facilitate the evolution of robots the same manner as life! It is an unfortunate fact that human life is

short and fleeting. I fear that I will not have the time to ensure the safety of the X project. That is why I have decided to seal him

away. Perhaps he will be discovered in the far flung future and will fight valiantly to ensure peace for all people. Yes, I firmly believe this

will come to pass. But I am not without worry. I fear that X will be swept up in the war we call progress. I urge the people of the future

to remember that X is my... No, the world's hope." his face contorted in pain. "I also worry about my other project. Project Roll. I fear

that I will not have enough time to complete her, I have barely begun to insert her circuitry. I have labeled the equipment that's in my

tool drawer to go inside her. Whoever is watching this, you must complete the Roll project."

The screen turned off. Dr. Cain stood, thinking about what Dr. Light had said. He located the panel on X's console and pressed a button

that opened the capsule. Inside, lay X, eyes closed, resting peacefully.

"X. X!" Dr. Cain exclaimed silently.

X woke up and turned to look at the stranger.

"I'm sorry, have we met?" he asked mildly.

Dr. Cain chuckled. "No. I'm afraid you're in a different time. My name is Dr. Cain," he said, giving a slight bow, supporting himself with his

cane.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Cain," X replied.

Dr. Cain gave another chuckle. "X, you're just like a human."

X sat up and came out of his capsule. He looked around and asked, "Do you know why I'm awake?"

"Yes," Dr. Cain said, "I think I am supposed to copy your design and build other robots."

"Okay."

Dr. Cain looked behind him and found another capsule. He wiped off the place where it seemed the head for it should be. He found a

glass window revealing a youthful female face with a red cap on. He opened the capsule and found that, even though the face was

ready, the rest of her body wasn't. The structure was already made, but there were almost no wires except for the ones leading from

her head and her mechanical heart. The blueprint for her was located above her head.

"X?" Dr. Cain looked at X. "Do you know what parts we need to complete this robot?"

X walked over. He looked at her and shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know anything about building."

Dr. Cain shook his head too, then he remembered what Dr. Light had said. He looked for the tool drawer. Upon finding it, he found

different labels on different drawers.

"X!" he cried. "Let's assemble her using these!"

X hurried over with the blueprint in his hand. They then began to complete project Roll. In about two weeks, they both finished her. She

was outfitted with a red cap, a red T-shirt, and red shorts. Each of her red shoes had a diamond embedded into them as did her brown

gloves. Her hair was blond and spikey.

"Last thing," X said, holding the blueprints. "She doesn't need programming. Dr. Light's already done that."

Dr. Cain flipped the switch that was located in her neck and closed the panel. She opened her eyes, revealing big blue eyes.

"Oh!" she exclaimed and turned her head to look at Dr. Cain. Then she saw X.

"Megaman!" she yelled, holding her arms out.

X was startled, but gave a sheepish grin and hugged her anyway.

"Do you two know each other?"

X looked down. "No. I was just trying to be polite."

Roll's countenance fell. "Oh, yeah. Right. He doesn't remember me anymore."

X looked back at her. "Hey," he said gently. "It's not too late to learn about each other, right?" He extended his hand.

Roll looked back up and smiled. She took his hand and he helped her up. X smiled.

"I'm Megaman X. What's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Roll," she said, smiling.

X gave a chuckle.

"What are you laughing about?" Roll asked.

"It's just weird," X said, scratching the back of his helmet with a grin on his face. "Dr. Light would sometimes call me Rockman X. So

when you told me your name, I thought of 'Rockman and Roll' which turned into 'Rock and Roll'."

Roll looked down. "If only you knew that was what our names actually were."

X looked at her with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said sadly.

"Why don't you two live with me?" Dr. Cain asked. "That way I could study X's design and you two could get to know each other a bit

more."

"Sure," X said. "Roll, are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with it." she replied.

The three then headed out.

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