Chapter 2
The blackness now filled his sight again. He tried to remember who he was, or what had happened, but nothing came. All he knew, was that he had been in this state before. The pitch blackness, and the lone thoughts flying through his head. Suddenly, a loud buss rang through his ears.
"I think that did it" A voice said. This voice seemed familiar, like he had heard it just moments before, but he couldn't place a face to it.
"Are you sure?" another said. This voice was deep and confident. He felt the presence the man who spoke with it.
"It should have" the first voice spoke again. The obviously feminine voice was soon followed by a strange sensation he had never felt before. Pain.
"AGHHHHH!" he screamed as he sat up quickly. There were several people in the room, one of which was the girl Holly from the cavern. The robot on the operating table jumped off and backed away against a wall. He looked from side to side at all of the new people. In the room, several men in black exo-armors and guns stood behind Holly, and another man. He suddenly remembered Holly's face from the cavern. He looked over to another man. He was dressed in a bright white robe, and had long black hair with purple streaks. The man approached him, and touched the robot on the shoulder.
"You must calm yourself" the man said. He was the owner of the deep confident voice that he had herd while in the blackness. He looked up into the man's black eyes. He took several deep breaths, then he noticed that he was breathing.
"What did you do to me!" the young robot yelled. He then moved quickly to the corner. His eyes jumped from face to face.
"We gave you life" The deep voiced man said.
"Huh?!" He sad confused. "What do you mean?"
"We found you" the deep voiced man told him. "When we did, you were badly damaged. Your parts were rusted, your components aged and falling apart. Our only hope was to put your robotic brain into a cyborg body". The group of people watched as He looked at his new self. Gone was his old armor. Now an exo-suit of red and black. His chest was covered by a large shell, where in the center a yellow jewel acted as a power source. His wrists were covered in large red bracers, and on his feet were red and white boots. His upper arms, upper legs, and lower torso were covered in the same synthetic fiber as Holly's suit, but his hands were covered in a red synthetic skin. He looked to the side into the reflective metal of the wall and saw his new face. He no longer had visors, and he also had skin. He touched it, and noticed that he could in fact feel the texture of his skin. His eyes were a dark green, and a mess of brown locks covered the top of his head.
"I…what did…how…?" He began to feel dizzy. The room began to spin, and he felt himself stumble to his feet.
"Get him some water, he is going into shock!" The deep voiced man said.
"Yes Master Jared" one of the guards. The guard ran from the room as quickly as he could. Jared watched as the person on the floor vomited. Jared then pointed to him, and two other guards walked over and lifted him to his feet as the first guard came back with the glass of water. The two guards holding Him put Him on the table again. They held him in a sitting position while Jared poured the water into his mouth. He began to feel his heart slow, and his body relax.
"What is your name?" Jared asked slowly. He looked into Jared's eyes, and it took a moment, but his memory banks began to recall the information. He saw flashes from his past. An older man with a bushy white beard was talking to him.
"Protoman" the older gentleman said. He came back to reality staring at him.
"P…pro…Proto" he said. Proto felt himself falling backwards as the guards put him down on the table.
"Take him to a room. He needs time to take it all in" Jared said. The guards nodded, and they lifted him off the table and carried him out of the room while he was in a daze. Holly then took a step towards Jared.
"Should I check up on him later?" Holly asked.
"That might be a good idea" Jared said.
"Was he what you were looking for?" Holly asked. Jared looked down at her.
"No, far from it".
Proto snapped awake in his bed. His breathing was heavy, and sweat ran down his face. He touched his forehead and was taking by surprise by the sweat. He rubbed it between his thumb and fingers for a minute before grabbing his sheets and using them to wipe his sweat off. He slowly got to his feet and looked around his room. It was small, but very nice. The metal walls were decorated with paintings and tapestries. A TV was built into the wall on the other side of the room, and a large window gave him a view of the outside. He walked over to the window and looked out into the world. The land was nothing but rolling hills, with very few trees. Proto looked down and flinched when he noticed how far up he was. The ground seemed very far away. He estimated he was at least 600 feet up. Proto felt his heart beat a little faster as he felt a strange feeling come over him. He had never felt this before. His stomach knotted up, and in the back of his mind was a strong want to step away from the window where it was safe. He stayed where he was though despite this feeling, and soon it went away. He looked at the bottom of the tower he was in, and he could make out a small village of homes, and several people walking around that looked like ants from this height. Proto looked to the left, and right there was a long yellow banner. It had no designs on it, but it must have measured at seven feet in length at least. He looked at it, his eyes moving to the bottom where the cloth forked. He saw in his mind himself looking into a mirror, a yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. He smiled, and reached towards the banner. He grabbed it, and with a hardy tug, pulled it off the clips holding it to a pole ejecting from the wall of the tower. The cloth was thick, and Proto could feel it was very smooth. Tucked one end of it into the cuff of his chest plate, and then wrapped it loosely around his face several times, and then threw the forked end over his shoulder. His make shift scarf almost touched the ground. Proto turned towards the window again, and this time he bent over the windowsill. When he did, he felt himself slip a little, but he caught himself quickly. He felt his heart beating quickly, and a new feeling entered his body that he liked. He thought for a second, then slowly put his legs over the edge of the window and sat there. His heart began to beat faster and he realized the danger involved in this. He like this, and when he saw a small ledge running two feet under where his feet dangled, he decided to go further. He slid off the windowsill and onto the ledge. As his feet landed, he felt himself begin to lean off the building, but again he caught himself. His heart jumped in speed, and he stood still for several seconds, before he began to walk forward. He soon came to a ladder than went from the bottom of the building, to the top. He looked down, then up, then grabbed the bars and began to climb. At that exact moment, Holly knocked on his door. When no one answered, Holly opened the door and peered in.
"Hello?…anyone here?" Holly stepped in, then heard a quiet "clang" coming from outside the window. She walked over, and looked around, then up and saw Proto climbing the ladder. "Oh My God!" Holly cautiously climbed out of the window and onto the ledge, then inched her way to the ladder and began to climb after Proto. Proto looked down and saw her, and began to climb faster. "COME DOWN! You'll get hurt!" Proto did not reply, he simply kept climbing. Holly's palms began to sweat from being so high. She tried to suck it up, but soon her hand slipped and she fell two bars before grabbing onto the ladder again. She looked up and tried to scream for help, but she was to scared, and only a raspy whisper escaped her mouth.
Proto reached the roof of the building, and looked out over the land. He could see for miles, and as the sun began to set, a strong wind began to blow. Proto's scarf began to flutter as his thoughts became locked on the man responsible for where he was.
"I will find you Wily. I know you, you found a way to survive" Proto said under his breath. He stood there, arms cross for a moment. Suddenly, a scream ripped through the air. Proto jumped to the edge of the building, and saw Holly falling. Without a thought, Proto took two steps back, then dove off the building. He pointed his body straight down to go as fast as he could. The air whipped past his face, and made his eyes burn, but he was catching up to Holly. When he did, he extended one arm and caught her around the waist, and kept flying down. Holly never stopped screaming as Proto turned and put his feet below him. He extended his other hand and cupped the side of the ladder with his palm, and placed his feet on the wall. Sparks shot upwards as Proto skidded down the side of the building, the whole time Holy screaming in his ear. Eventually Proto stopped them, and he just looked at Holly with his dark green eyes. Holly suddenly sensed she was not falling any longer, and opened her eyes as she stopped screaming.
"Are you done?" Proto asked. Holly nodded, and Protoman slipped Holly to in-between him and the ladder. "Hold on to me". Holly wrapped her legs around Proto, then her arms. Proto began to climb the ladder till he reached the floor his room was on, and helped Holly onto the ledge. The two of them proceeded to Proto's room, where Proto helped Holly inside. Once on safe ground, Holly let it out.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!" She screamed. Proto looked at her with his eyebrows narrowed as she continued with her tirade. "You could have been killed! And after all that trouble I went through of preserving you!"
"Hey, I was fine. It was you who fell" Proto said arrogantly. "Why did you even go out there?"
"Because I didn't want you to get hurt" Holly said out of breath. Proto laughed, which he found odd, but let it happen.
"you remind me of my sister. She was always worried about me and my brother getting hurt as well" Proto said. "Is there something you wanted?"
"I…I wanted to see if you were doing any better. I see that you obviously are".
"That it?" Proto asked. "I am going for a walk" Proto then walked right past Holly and out of the room. Holly grunted in annoyance, then stormed out after him.
"Who do you think you are?!" Holly screamed. Several people in the hall looked at her.
"The First!" Proto yelled back as he entered an elevator.