Chapter 2: A New Day
When Proto Man awoke the next morning, he felt extremely odd. First off, his armor felt heavy. Really heavy, as if it had all been filled with blocks of lead overnight. He also noticed his movements weren't as robotic either…even with the weight of the armor, he could move his arm around in more ways than before.
To check to see if he was still working right, he lifted his arm and thought of his buster. Nothing happened. Instead, he was just standing there with his fist out. He noticed passerby staring at him.
"What are you staring at?" he snapped. He wanted to get out of the area, but when he tried to teleport, he found he couldn't do that either. Frustrated, he decided to walk away himself. For a few moments, he though of going to Dr. Light's lab for his assistance, but he decided he didn't need or want his help.
His thoughts were interrupted by a bizarre rumbling sound coming from his middle. He decided that that was most definitely not a good sign, and he decided he had no choice. He began the long walk towards Dr. Light's house.
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When Mega Man woke up, he wasn't in his stasis tank. Instead, he was in Dr. Light's lab…Dr. Light was sitting in front of a table with a glowing yellow orb and a bunch of different-colored chemicals in tubes. He also had what looked like a robotic replica of a frog. Mega Man watched Dr. Light with curiosity as he did something to the robotic frog.
There was a bright flash, and a real frog slipped from Dr. Light's grip and hopped away. Dr. Light looked at it in surprise.
Almost immediately, he noticed Mega Man sitting upright. He looked surprised for a second, but he smiled.
"Mega Man, I have some news. Whether this is good news or not is up to you to decide."
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The first thing Bass noticed when he awoke was what the first thing he had thought of was NOT. Usually, upon "waking", he'd be immediately thinking that he was far superior to Mega Man and would eventually destroy him once-and-for-all.
This time, when he woke up, his thoughts were about food…this was even more odd, since robots don't eat. They get their energy by recharging.
What was even odder was the fact his helmet continued to…fall off. Over and over. He eventually got so frustrated with the helmet that he tried to form his buster and destroy it. Nothing happened. He screamed in rage and tried to kick it away, but still nothing happened. And now, his foot hurt.
Slowly, his brain was triggering something. He had just felt emotions. Real emotions. He was hungry and thinking of food. His damn helmet was falling off. Slowly but surely, as he became less and less sleepy (which was stranger, as he had recently recharged…), he began to feel more emotions. Minor ones, in the back of his mind.
Eventually, he shrugged all this confusion off and went to get breakfast. He stopped when he realized what he was doing. Robots didn't need to eat. He started to turn back towards his room, but stopped when he saw Wily appear out of nowhere. Wily looked strangely calm, and yet anxious, as if he had just discovered the secret to destroying the Light family forever.
"Bass, I have just discovered something very interesting. And, since I'm feeling nice today, I'll explain it to you slowly so your tiny brain can comprehend it. Now, come into my lab and sit down."
Bass laughed dryly and followed Wily into his lab.
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"I don't know how it happened." Wily and Light explained at the exact same time, in their corresponding labs, to two entirely different people.
"But suddenly, overnight, something I still haven't been able to figure out happened. There is no logical or scientific explanation…"
"Get to the point, you crazy old man." Bass snapped impatiently.
"Go on…" Mega Man said to Dr. Light at the same time, anxious. In their corresponding labs, both scientists released a deep sigh at the exact same time.
"…But you are no longer a robot. You are a living, breathing human being."
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Dr. Light waited a few minutes. Mega Man looked stunned beyond all possible reason. He laughed weakly.
"Good one…is it April already?" Mega Man joked, hoping that this was all some kind of crazy joke.
"It's the beginning of June, Mega Man." Dr. Light responded seriously.
"Oh…you can't be…this can't be…right…serious…it's impossible…this is some kind of dream, isn't it? You're just in my head! All of it is!" Mega Man assured himself, his voice going from quaking to angry extremely quickly, his mind filled with too many thoughts. He was too confused, and he clutched the side of his head and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. As he did, he tripped. A chunk of his armor snapped, cutting through his skin. His skin. Blood leaked from the small wound, but to Mega Man, it was as significant as a gash.
It was the horrible, horrible proof. His armor was now just that. He had skin. He could bleed. He was human.
Confused and upset from the unexpected pain and this new realization, Mega Man ran to his room, and another new thing flowed down his cheeks.
Tears. For the first time in his life, he was crying.
Watching Mega Man run off, Roll walked into the hallway. Her first possible reaction was automatic. Clean up the mess.
But another reaction overrode that thought, and she walked over to her brother's room.
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Bass's first reaction was quite different. He immediately jumped to his feet and grabbed Wily by his collar. With strength that rivaled the kind he had when he was a robot, he lifted the old scientist over a foot off the ground.
"LIAR!" he hollered. "I REFUSE TO PLAY THESE STUPID GAMES WITH YOU!"
"STOP!" Wily yelled back, squirming in a fruitless attempt to escape from Bass's powerful grip. "We could take advantage of it! All you need to do is head to the Light residence…"
At the word "Light", Bass tightened his grip. Wily had to speak louder, and struggle to get a word out between breaths.
"Disguise…yourself…as an average person…they shouldn't…recognize you…find out…what Light…is doing…steal…his plans…don't draw attention to yourself…and we may be able to do this every chance…we get…until we…gain…the old man's….trust…"
Bass dropped Wily, who rubbed his neck and took deep breaths. His voice hoarse, Wily began to speak again.
"I have…some professional clothing…in my room…from when I was younger. Disguise yourself…"
Bass, interested, listened intently as Wily laid out his plan.
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Proto Man walked through the crowded city, his middle rumbling more and more with every step he took. Some passerby stared at him…others whispered and nodded…small children pointed and laughed.
Proto Man ignored this. With his teleportation technology malfunctioning, he was going to have to live with it until he got to Dr. Light.
Until he saw something. There seemed to be a small crowd gathering around something…instinct seemed to be telling him to investigate. When he reached the crowd, he noticed they were all looking up at something, so he looked up as well.
A strange man, barely viewable from so high up, was dangling what looked like a toddler off the roof of a thirty-story building. Proto Man gasped. This he could not ignore.
"Aren't any of you going to help at all?" he asked the crowd angrily.
"What the hell are you talking about, you stupid kid? I'm not getting myself killed." retorted a man nearby. Some of the other people in the crowd nodded in agreement.
"And the phone lines are dead, and we ain't gonna walk all the way to no damn police station. That ain't MY baby danglin' up there, I ain't gonna save it. That kid's parents should be the ones saving it, not some complete strangers. That be called responsibility." said another in an incredibly broken form of English.
"No, responsibility is saving someone. Let me show you." Proto Man retorted confidently, as he ran towards the fire escape on the side of the building and began to climb it. The man on the roof didn't notice him, and the higher Proto Man climbed, the clearer the voice became. The voice was unleashing a stream of swears, saying something about how his apartment had bad service and he was going to drop the kid if he didn't get his money back in the next few minutes…
Total nutcase. Wondering why the security hadn't already captured this psycho, Proto Man climbed onto the top of the building and began to walk towards the man.
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Mega Man sat in his room, on his bed, and turned on a television. Since he could no longer control it with himself, he had to flip the channels manually. He stopped at a somewhat interesting news story…the video was showing a zoomed-in picture of a small kid on the roof of a building, hugging a small child. The headline on the screen rang "BOY SAVES TODDLER FROM UNKNOWN KIDNAPPER". A woman walked in front of the camera and began to speak.
"We now interrupt All My Circuits for this breaking Fox news story. A strange kid in a red costume has apparently saved a one-year old girl from a strange kidnapper, who was demanding his money back from the hotel in exchange for the girl's life. The kidnapped has seemingly escaped, and the boy is currently being taken to the police station for questioning. If you know anything about this man, then please…"
A knock on the door distracted Mega Man, and he asked who it was without even looking.
"It's me, Roll." said a female voice on the other side of the door. "May I?"
"Sure…why not…"
With a creak, the door opened and Roll entered. Roll was about the same age as him, for she was built at almost the exact same time. She almost always wore a green bow in her long yellow hair, and could usually be seen in a red dress.
She was still a robot. She would live until she could no longer be repaired. She would never have to worry about love, or death, happiness or sadness…at least not really. It'd all be programmed. Part of her. It wouldn't be like a human, and she could never make her own choices.
He felt a slight twang of both pity and jealously. Everything had already sank in. He knew everything that would happen to a human during their lives, but he never would have guessed, never would have dreamed he'd have the same hopes. The same fears. The same emotions.
"Are you feeling alright, Rock?" she asked sweetly. Mega Man smiled at the name. That was his real name, after all. Before he had volunteered to be changed from a lab assistant robot to a full-scale robotic warrior. Either way, he had always been a robot, but that name was familiar to him. A human name.
It was his name.