Terry's eyes opened to an old, abandoned laboratory. He blinked, sat up, and looked around. Rock was sprawled out a few meters away from him. Some green cat was on Rock's chest, purring. Another green cat, but more striped-looking, also was there, and mewed at Terry. He guessed she was a robot, and the confirm was correct as a tiny TV-screen flipped up out of her head and words flashed by. Hello.
"Um…hi." Terry pointed to Rock. "Is Rock going to be okay?"
He's lost a lot of energy, but Forte and Zero are looking for energy. They'll find him and give him some.
"What if they don't give it to him?" Terry asked, huddling up. The cat shook her head and mewed. She sat next to Terry, and the TV screen disappeared.
"Hey…Tango," Rock said quietly, then fell back asleep. Tango gave a happy yell, then turned into a spiky ball and bounced around the room. Before he could hit anything, the female cat with the TV screen produced a green force field for Tango to bounce around in.
"How'd we get here?" Terry asked the cat.
"Good question, kid." Terry looked around for the voice. Forte appeared from behind the cover of darkness. "No one seems to know the coordinates of this lab. Judging from his position, he didn't either."
Terry scooted back. Forte looked at him, but did nothing else. He tossed an energy to Rock, who absorbed the energy as soon as it touched him. Rock was still sleeping, but Forte shrugged. A new robot, which Terry supposed was Zero stood behind the doorway.
"He's not snapping to attention, Zero," Forte said sighing. "You'd be good to realize that."
"He's playing possum," Zero argued.
"He's not that smart. He doesn't even know who he is, of all things." Forte sighed and sat down, sighing. To Terry, he asked, "So, kid, read any good books lately?"
"Romeo and Juliet," Terry responded. "Rock brings them to work. He'll read them to us. I really like the part when Juliet kisses a dead man."
"Romeo," Forte responded. "Yeah. That's nice." He shuddered. "Kissing a dead man…. that's new…"
Rock's eyes opened. "Where'd the cat go?" he asked, trying to sit up.
"Hah! Told you so!" Forte yelled. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha and HA!" Zero sulkily entered the room, and sat next to the computer, across from Terry. Terry hugged the cat for comfort. Zero had long blond hair, but at this moment, with anger streaked across his face, looked like the grim reaper. Taken by surprise, the cat let Tango go and Tango bounced back to Rock and purred.
"T…Tango," he said, quietly. "I… remember you…."
"Not much to remember," the cat uttered. Terry was taken by surprise. "You can talk!"
"Don't count on her doing it much, though," Zero responded darkly. "Especially when you're about to get creamed by your older brother." Forte gave a grin. Rock laughed, and tried to sit up.
"Where are we?" Rock asked. "You guys don't belong here."
"You remember why we don't belong here?" Forte asked. Terry picked up the cat that talked and began playing, trying to get her to walk on two legs.
"No. Just that you don't belong here." Rock's eyes were glazed over, as if in deep thought.
"Let's try something else," Forte replied. "Do you belong here?"
Rock began to think. "I think so," he replied slowly.
"Do you live here?" Zero added, staring at Terry. Terry stopped messing with the cat and the cat jumped down and sat in Zero's lap.
"I think so." Rock's eyes lit up. "I do! I do live here! And there's the blond girl, and the old man, and the dog…and Tango! Tango lives with me!"
"Old man?" Forte lipped over to Zero. Zero shrugged, but Rock was thinking more.
"And the bird! And… and… the….the….Auto! Auto lives here, too! And….and…." he stopped speaking.
"They're not here," he said, finally.
"What are their names, Rock?" Terry asked, listening.
"I…I can't remember that." Rock's voice grew cold. "But they belong here. They're gone. What happened, Forte?"
Forte was colder than usual. "Yamagatchi. You'll have to ask your brother about the final battle. He survived, but only because Roll teleported him off. Same thing happened to us."
"You're brothers?" Rock asked, surprised. Forte nodded. Zero huffed in annoyance. Rock looked at Zero. "And Roll…is my…sister…"
"You remember Roll?" Zero asked. "That's pretty good. Most of the time it takes weeks to remember that much."
Terry looked up at the burnt roof. A sickening feeling was in his stomach. "Trinity's up there," he said quietly.
Everyone looked up. The roof was almost see-through, and her silhouette was pretty recognizable. She blasted her way in, angry.
"There goes my surprise attack!" She yelled, and she turned a yellow.
"Run!" Forte commanded suddenly, flinging Terry out of the room. Terry hit a door, crashed through, and found himself in a hallway. He stood up, looking back, but he quickly ran out of the house.
Forte growled and the cats joined him. Rock's eyes grew wide as she pointed one finger at him. Zero fired his buster at her, and the attack was slowed but by some.
Rock's panel opened to show him how much energy he had. Chaos's words rang through his head, and he quickly scrambled out of the way. His buster transformed, and Forte also fired.
Trinity's face was scrunched up in anger. "You fools!" she cried, and glowed a green. Forte knew what this was, and tackled her to the ground before she could finish the technique. Zero and Rock stopped firing, for fear that they might his Forte.
As Trinity recovered, Forte was flung into a wall. The cat cushioned the crash with a soft force field and Tango bounced across the room, hitting Trinity.
Trinity's crystals began to glow in several different colors as Zero, Forte, Tango, and Rock continued hitting her. She unleashed all of her energy, and Rock was flung into a wall. His energy meter dropped several units, and it was glowing a red. It wasn't empty, but he was exhausted.
"Stop…." Rock said, struggling to stand.
Trinity stared at him before firing.
Tango saw the spike. He saw Computo Cat down, taken by surprise, her units burned. He saw Forte just recovering, along with Zero. Only he would be able to stop the blow. Once again, he would be there for Megaman.
Tango jumped into the spike's path. Rock's face showed absolute horror as the spike hit Tango's little body. Blood was spattered all over, and Tango was soon on the ground, mewing pitifully.
Computo woke up. Seeing Tango like that, she put up a force field to try and stop the bleeding- but her energy was low. She was working her heart out. Forte charged up for a super shot, while Zero did the same. Rock fell to the ground, staring at Tango.
Trinity gave a grin. "I will be back," she told him, and teleported off. Forte and Zero stopped charging, and their busters fell to their sides. Computo's energy gave out, and Tango continued to bleed. Computo fell over, exhausted, and Rock scooped up Tango into his arms. He gave a sob as Tango licked his nose, and a wail as Tango's eyes closed. Rock was like that for a long time.
"Lui." Lui looked up to see Charity sitting, waiting for her. "Trinity's gotten out of hand. Yamagatchi's world is in confusion. Terry's come back, saying Rock's a robot. With their energies for Rock, Lui…."
Lui thought it over, then sighed. "Right. Where's Joe?"
"Taken," Charity answered.
"Ok," Lui responded. "Break the news in the morning. The kids need their sleep." Charity nodded and then left. Lui pulled out a picture, taken by her. Her mother stood in the garden, watering.
"Soon, mother. Soon."
"How long has he been like that?" Zero asked, coming home. Computo shrugged, then went back to sleep. He sighed, then looked at Rock, who was rocking back and forth.
Forte came in. "He'll remember soon. I pray his first instinct won't be shoot Forte." He sighed, then sat in an old cushy chair. "Any word from Protoman?"
"Can't find him. He's not in the same place twice. He's not out and about like he used to be, and he knows we're living here." Zero turned to Forte. "Speaking of which, don't you think we should move?"
"Naw. That bitch has heart. I saw it as she watched Megaman cry for Tango. She grinned to act big and crap, but she could have finished him off. She's holding back."
"Holding back?" Zero sighed. "Great. That's just dandy."
"You kill anyone today?" Forte asked.
"Two people. They called me gay again." Zero looked at his hand stained with blood. "Too bad blood doesn't stay red forever."
"Too bad," Forte agreed sarcastically. "When do you think you'll stop?"
"When I've completed my programming to destroy Megaman and X." Zero shrugged. "It's not right to kill Megaman like this, so weak and pathetic. Besides, Wily also told me that if he were to die, to avenge his death first. He knew Yamagatchi was a bastard."
"Nice," Forte said, nodding. "You think you'll ever get free will?"
"One day," Zero responded, shrugging. "Why? Do you have it?"
Forte nodded. "It comes when your original purpose is completed, usually. Like for me, I was to fight Megaman. Did. After that, I continued for the reason that he creamed my ass."
"Gospel?"
"Wolf from the start. Purpose was to be my pet. Other than that… no." Forte looked at Rock once again. "It would be scary if that turned out to be Protoman, know what I'm saying?"
"Yup." Zero sighed, staring at Rock. "Where's X?"
"Light hid him, and trust me, when Light hides something, it's hidden until it's found, probably by some smart-assed teenager in today's world as a geeky, drunken old man in thirty years." Forte sighed, looking at the dead computer. "Life is a bitch. Then you die. You'll do good to learn that, kid."
"Thanks…"
Rock walked into the room they were in. "I'm going to find Protoman," he said monotonely. "And I don't care if you're coming along. I'm going to find this Yamagatchi and……bring him to justice, once and for all."