"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." –Charles R. Swindoll

April 15th

Light was a genius! I've been going over his design notes and they are a quantum leap beyond anything the world has ever seen. Using them as a guide, I may be able to replicate his design and integrate them into a new generation of robots. I'll begin transporting X and the rest of Dr. Light's things back to my lab tomorrow.

November 22nd

With X's help I have completed my first "Reploid." Although I don't completely understand how all of Dr. Light's systems works, I was able to make some minor modifications and the reploid seems to be functioning perfectly. His strength and intelligence seem limitless and he is fully able to make his own decisions. In fact, we got into our first argument. How intriguing!

In the eight months that X had been activated, he had learned much of the world he was brought into. The pod had taught him many things: human cultures, traditions, how to act, how to behave. Much of this he already knew, as it was a part of his core programming, but the pod was merely ensuring that no matter what religion X encountered, he would know how to behave around them. Also a part from X's core programming, he also knew how to speak over a thousand different languages to ensure that he would have a high chance of being able to interact with the world he was brought into.

Granted, while building X, Light knew that there was a very slight chance that things might change in the thirty year minimum gap between X's sealing and his awakening. The world might very well switch to speaking one of the few less spoken languages if given enough time. If something like this happened and X was a robot master, X would not know how to speak that language until he was given a program update specifically designed for his systems that would allow him to speak and understand the language.

However, X was unlike any robot every built before and was not a robot master. In fact, X lacked many of the characteristics a robot master had that enabled them to be able to control and command a less sentient robot such as the ability to control the network and manage many things at once. Multitasking was a gift that only robots with multiple processors had. In order to make X even more human, he only had one processor and while it was incredibly efficient and still far more advanced than any other processor before it, it still paled in comparison to the processing power of two to three of the robot master's processors.

In other words, X reacted to things slower than a robot master did. He couldn't do anything very quickly while on the network and he was merely a guest to the network, not an administrator like a robot master was. Having one processor made him slower in doing nearly anything compared to a robot master.

However, X had many things that robot masters lacked. He could learn. He had feelings. Robot masters, while sentient, were known for their lack of emotions. There were a few robot masters that came close to expressing genuine emotions to a human's extent, but none of them expressed emotions to the extent that X did.

None of them would have grown frustrated at the inability to cook a hamburger right without burning it because the grill was too hot. They wouldn't have cared, for all but one of them were not programmed to do such a thing and because it was not a part of their programming, it would not be a part of the things they "cared" about. The one that was programmed to cook wouldn't have burnt the hamburger in the first place.

None of them would have picked up the bird from where it had been discarded at the side of the road after being hit by a semi. None of them would have taken the time to bury it in the state park, right next to a berry bush. A few might have stared at the bird sadly, but none would have stepped out of their way to do such a thing.

None of them would have visited an orphanage just to entertain and play with the kids there. It wasn't a part of their core programming to take care of children. Why should they bother?

Most importantly, most of them wouldn't have cared about seeming human. There was one that did, but he was an anomaly, an anomaly that Doctor Light used to begin creating the basis of X's core programming, X's predecessor, Rock Light, or more commonly known as Megaman.

However, no matter how hard Rock tried, or how much he wanted it to be, Rock was not in the least bit human. He was a robot master, through and through. He didn't quite understand extreme emotions and he would have preferred building advanced technologies in his room rather than go outside and play with the ten year olds he was designed and programmed after. Sure, Rock was playful and childish just like he should be, he even got Protoman to go sledding once. But, his core function was to help Doctor Light in the labs, not play with a few kids. And going against core programming was something a robot master just couldn't do. It was who they were. Defying their core programing was denying their existence and it caused many errors to occur. If the denial continued, said robot would be shut down and their memory might be compromised as their systems might identify their memories as the cause to their resistance and a threat.

An incident like that only happened once. And it happened to the first of the robot masters, Doctor Light number (DLN) 000, aka Protoman. Around the house he was known as Blues. (Doctor Light had the habit of naming his 'children' after styles of music. Hence the Rock and Roll Light. Roll was Rock's twin and was programmed as Doctor Light's housekeeper.) At the time of Blues' completion, Wily was still close friends and partners with Doctor Light. Blues had gotten frustrated with the way Wily was treating him and refused to tighten the bolts on the new metal lab table like Wily said. Obeying human orders was one of the many things in Blues' core programming. However, such a crime was not enough for Blues' programming to kick in and take over Blues' body as for some odd reason he was not affected as harshly by the three laws of robotics: Number one; a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Two, a robot must obey the orders given by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

It wasn't Blues' refusal to obey that caused his core programming to wipe his memory. No, it was what happened as a result. Wily assumed that Blues had completed the task assigned because of the three laws, so when he placed the mining mechanaloid's massive engine on the table, he wasn't expecting it to collapse. Three of Wily's toes were crushed in the event and Blues' core programming shut him down and completely wiped his memory as Blues had violated two of the three laws. Doctor Light had to manually restart him in order for him to come online again, but Blues did not remember who he was.

From the very beginning, Blues had displayed a lot more emotion than expected, but that all changed when it was discovered that Blues' core, or in other words his heart, was faulty. At the time, replacing Blues' core would wipe his memory and personality again and Blues did not want that. (He had heard of his previous actions from Wily later) So he left and did not return.

His core malfunctioned and stopped working five years later.

It wasn't just because of their inhuman personalities that gave robot masters a bad reputation. Mostly it was because Wily went crazy. Really crazy. Wily had partaken in an experiment with instant teleportation that Doctor Light warned him not to physically partake in. Teleportation was new and it was unsafe for any living beings to be teleported just yet. Wily didn't listen.

The machine was nowhere near perfect. Once Wily rematerialized, he instantly ejected his recent lunch. He felt dizzy and his heart was beating far too fast. Wily was sick for weeks, but once he recovered, it was revealed that something else had happened to Wily other effect his physical state. The teleportation had messed with his mental state as well.

Wily hid it well. Doctor Light did not realize the changes in Wily until the secretly insane scientist had reprogrammed all of Doctor Light's robot masters other than Blues, who was off on his own, and Rock and Roll, who were seen as useless. Wily used the robot masters to terrorize entire cities and attempt to take over the world.

He would have succeeded if Rock hadn't have proved himself to be far more useful than Wily had originally thought.

At Rock's persistent begging, Doctor Light completely remodeled Rock and turned the seemingly harmless lab helper into a war machine, giving the robot master armor, a weapon, and a new name. Rock then proceeded to defeat all of the reprogrammed robot masters and sent them back to Doctor Light to be fixed. Wily was then placed in prison as his actions had killed quite a few people.

After Wily escaped and similar events repeated over and over again, robot masters became hated and soon the world turned on the very robot master that had saved their lives.

On December 5 20XX, the U.S. government destroyed Rock Light in front of two million people and over a billion more through television.

Which was exactly why Doctor Light sealed X away. The world was not ready for another type of robot, especially one that was not bound by the three laws.

Rock's destruction was also the key reason why X and the reploid that Doctor Cain had managed to build were remaining hidden from the world.

Or, well, they attempted to stay hidden. One of the workers that went with Doctor Cain to find the fossils on Mesozoic plant life had apparently rattled off to his wife about the discovery of X. The news spread like wild fire, but the consequences for it weren't nearly as violent or negative as Doctor Cain and X had feared. In fact, mankind almost seemed willing to accept the new brand of robot. The government, however, was harder to convince.

Which was why Fredrick (the reploid Doctor Cain and X had built) and X still remained inside Cain labs, safe from the wrath and curiosity of the outside world.


X happily glanced around the green house he worked in, buried deep inside the maze that was Cain labs. The plants somehow made him happy and he enjoyed caring for the more difficult to grow specimens. The slow work calmed him and kept his mind off of the struggles he and Doctor Cain were facing in the outside world. For the most part, people left him alone, and he was free to study the plants in peace. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

As it turned out, X was a natural when it came to plants. After discovering X's natural affinity for botany soon after the android's activation, Doctor Cain introduced him to the agricultural section of his science division as something to help keep the android's mind off of what the outside world thought of him. X was hooked immediately.

His curiosity was spiked. Instantly, he began raiding the nearest library during his free time to learn more about the new world he had been introduced to. Granted, he still had the mind of a teenager in a way and sometimes he would grow bored and try to engage in more entertaining things such as video games or exploring.

During X's studying, Doctor Cain discovered a few things about the android that amazed him. Just like humans, X appeared to be good at some things like plants, but completely fail at others like ping pong. (Even though X was a robot and his systems could predict the movement of the plastic ball, he failed to wrap his mind around the point of swatting a ball from one end of the table to the other and had mentally labeled it as a last resort boredom cure and time killer. That was what he told Doctor Cain at least. In truth, X, for some odd reason, could not for the life of him get the ball to bounce the way he wanted it to.) Just like humans, X made mistakes and sometimes forgot even though his mind recorded everything he experienced. X had flaws. And that was what made him so human, so perfect.

Doctor Cain had been amazed by X from the very beginning. Even though the few reploids build so far were supposed to be based off of X, they lacked many humanlike characteristics that X had. One of them was a "sixth sense".

X somehow could predict things a bit before it happened and he got weird vibes from people sometimes. Some of which made him nervous or uneasy, others made him relaxed and comfortable. This was the only reason X trusted Doctor Cain so easily. No other reploid built so far had developed a feeling like this.

X also had a strong will. Something that reploids were also lacking in. Sure they might have had a little bit of will, but they had not unlocked it to the potential that X had. X could be stubborn at times. Especially when it came to another's safety.

And then came X's ability to evolve. His systems had the unique ability to adapt to any situation as discovered when Doctor Cain and X went on a trip to the South Pole to fix a device that was preventing and even reversing some of the effects from global warming. X went out in the middle of the night to investigate an energy flux in the device and was frozen solid. It took Doctor Cain four hours with a blow torch to unfreeze him the next day. Soon after that, X's systems upgraded itself and X was able to function perfectly fine in negative twenty degrees Celsius.

A similar event happened when X refused to recharge after working nonstop underground for three days, investigating a rare fungus that could be the answer to an antidote for a particularly deadly citrus plant disease. He realized his battery was in critical condition soon after managing to find, collect, and preserve the fungus and had sent a distress signal out to Doctor Cain when he realized that he wasn't going to make it out of the cave in time.

Needless to say, Doctor Cain was upset and had scolded X for his ignorance and X's battery had nearly doubled its efficiency levels with the upgrade following.

X had shrugged off the scolding saying that the risk was worth it. The fungus had proved to be useful and he had soon developed a cure for the disease. However, the fungus was too rare and soon X was halving his time between finding another solution and finding a way to successfully cultivate the fungus.

Between helping Doctor Cain develop his inventions and studying plants, X was a typical teenager. He enjoyed playing video games once in a while, and spent much of his free time hanging out with humans his age. Granted, much of this he did under his code name, Xavier Light. Nearly everyone knew who X was and how he was working with Doctor Cain to develop a new line of robots. They knew that he was an android who wore blue armor with a red gem on his helmet. They didn't know, however, that beneath all that armor, X was a rather short, green eyed, brown haired teen with a liking for plants. Doctor Cain and X had made sure that nobody figured out that Xavier Light and X were one and the same.

While he did hang out with others his age, he never made any close friends for the first few months, mainly because he feared they would treat him differently if they knew who and what he was. One of them had even informed him that she thought that X was probably an arrogant, know it all, hero wannabe, not knowing that the X she was referring to was the X she was talking to.

X's human friends were a curious bunch. There was Mark, a brute of a human. His large stature gave him the upper hand in nearly any sport and he was the star player of his school's football team. However, despite his fame and power, Mark had a gentle soul. He was quiet, but couldn't be counted as shy. He loved younger kids and hated violence, but he wasn't afraid to stand up for a friend. Mark was just about six foot three with short blonde hair and green eyes. He loved to wear his comic book shirts and was what Sam liked to call "a fangirl at heart."

Then there was Sam, a near exact opposite of Mark. Sam was loud and obnoxious. While Mark was gentle, Sam wasn't afraid to give her enemy a good punch in the nose if she felt even only slightly threatened. She was small, only coming in at just over five foot two, but her loud mouth and her fearless personality made her seem like a ferocious lion. Sam had blonde hair and hazel eyes that couldn't make up their mind on what color to be.

Tony was the prankster. He and Sam often pulled pranks on the principle and got in trouble all the time. X was often left wondering how he was still in school the next day after pulling such pranks, namely the one where Tony had triggered the door to dump a bucket or hair dye on the teacher. Surprisingly, nobody told on Tony and he continued to get away with acts of treason. Like Sam, Tony didn't seem to be afraid of anything. He had auburn hair that stuck up in the back and green eyes. Tony was also what Sam called "a fangirl at heart." However, Tony was also a "nerd" as Sam put it. He took pride in knowing a lot about things even though he never used any of his skills in school.

Lastly, there was Nicole. She was a lot like Mark in the way that she was quiet, but unlike Mark, she was clearly shy. She only really opened up around her friends. Other than that, she was a quiet kid that tended to stay in the corners. She loved to watch anime and read manga. She also wrote incredible stories and was a well-known author online going by the pen name "Dragonheart". She had brown hair and startling light blue eyes. She and Sam were best friends.

X had quite literally bumped into the group one day. He was exiting the movie theatre just after watching the latest version of "Godzilla". Needless to say he found it quite interesting. Doctor Cain had insisted that X should take the day off and having nothing better to do, X went to the movie theaters in the middle of Arcadia, the hometown of Cain labs. He wore a blue sweat shirt and tee shirt underneath with blue jeans and sneakers in order to form a more human appearance. While leaving the darkened room and thinking over how scientifically impossible it was for a lizard, prehistoric or not, to grow that big, he bumped into someone who was also leaving the large theater room, but had stopped to argue with someone ahead of him.

Unfortunately for him, it was Sam.

"Sorry," X apologized, snapping out of his thoughts. The blonde haired girl he had bumped into whirled around to stare at him. "I was lost in my thoughts."

"Thinking about what?" the girl challenged him standing on her toes so that she could make up the half inch difference between her and X.

"How scientifically possible it would be for that movie to actually happen," X said calmly. The girl instantly retreated from him with a grin and turned to an auburn haired boy near her, the one she had been arguing with earlier.

"See?" she stated as she gestured over to X. "Even he knows it's impossible."

"I never said that," X muttered. He glanced around them. People were giving them glares as they had stopped in the middle of the walkway while others were still trying to exit the theater room. X felt slightly guilty for blocking their way, but there really was no positive outcome for him. If he got out of the way and left, the blonde might get upset with him for leaving when she had dragged him into the conversation.

"But if Godzilla were to eat a lot," the auburn haired boy said. X looked at him with an 'are you serious?' look.

"Um genetics? Every genetic structure in its entire body would have to be changed first, and then it would have to eat a lot," X stated. "Do you realize how unlikely it is for every cell to be changed exactly the same way. It's just about impossible! He'd have to be genetically modified from before birth, as a stem cell."

"But radiation-," the auburn haired boy started.

"Doesn't mutate every cell in the body the same way," X finished. Sam grinned at him. "Well, sort of. There's a slight possibility. But, it's a one in a billionth to the negative billionth that Godzilla would happen. But it was a good movie no matter how scientifically possible it is, so I guess if people want to make a movie about near impossible odds, then that's fine with me."

The auburn haired boy grinned at him. "See, Sam. He accepts that it's possible. If only slightly."

The blonde, Sam frowned. "I thought you were on my side."

"I was supposed to pick sides?" X asked, confused. He thought he was only dragged into the conversation to state his opinion, not support one particular side in a debate.

The auburn haired boy and the blonde laughed.

"Hey guys? Could we debate this someplace other than in the middle of the walkway?" a large teen asked, making his presence known. It was then that X noticed another girl standing next to the large teen, clutching a small notebook as if her life depended on it. The group nodded and began moving once more towards the exit of the building, though at that point, most of the people stuck in the theater room had found their way out and there really was no point to moving for the soul purpose of getting out of somebody's way.

X listened to the group's conversation as they exited the building, but once they got outside, X paused and looked up to the sky as the small group continued.

It was still only just about ten thirty in the morning. X sighed. It looked like he was going to end up touring the city today. He turned in the opposite direction the others had and began walking.

Sam stopped and turned to look at the brown haired teen's retreating back.

"Uh Sam? What's wrong?" the auburn haired boy asked.

"Am I the only one that gets this weird vibe off of him?" Sam asked. The others shrugged.

"I guess, why?" the auburn haired boy asked.

"You know how I told you that when I first met you guys, I kind of got this weird feeling that you guys were cool and we became best buds?"

The group nodded. Sam continued.

"Well, I'm getting that vibe again."

"Him?" the tallest one of the group asked, a large hand pointing to X's back. Sam nodded.

"Well, you're the captain. We'll follow you to the ends of the earth, milady," the auburn haired boy joked. Sam rolled her eyes and turned to the girl who was clutching the notebook. "Hey Nicole, what do you think?"

The girl, Nicole, shrugged. "I mean, he kind of gives off this gentle, but powerful kind of feeling," Nicole shyly stated. Sam nodded.

"Well that settles it." She turned around and sucked in a deep breath. "HEY BRUNETTE WITH THE LIKING FOR BLUE!"

X stopped. He had brown hair. And then he glanced down at his clothes. And he was wearing all blue. She was probably talking to him. He turned around as Sam ran up to him.

"So what are you doing after this?" Sam asked.

"I honestly don't know. My . . . guardian kicked me out of the house for the day," X said.

"Guardian? What happened to your parents?" Sam asked. X shrugged.

"Never knew my mom and I only knew my dad for a few moments before he disappeared," X partially lied. He didn't want to tell her the truth that he was an android from a hundred years in the past.

"Well come with us then. We've got all day to kill too before we have to be home and you don't sound like you're going anywhere." X shrugged and followed her back to the other three.

"So I'm Tony. The big guy there is Mark and the quiet one next to him is Nicole. They're both quiet actually. And twins. Well they're not real twins, but they act like it sometimes. And the loud mouth over there is Samantha," the auburn haired boy, Tony, introduced. Mark waved at him and Nicole sent him a small smile.

"It's Sam," Sam hissed. Then she turned to X. "Call me Samantha and I will rip out your heart and feed it to my cat."

X blinked. So far he had not witnessed so much violence from a human. It was kind terrifying. But the good thing was that they didn't seem to realize just yet that X was actually an android and his "heart" was made out of rare metals.

"So what school are you from?" Tony asked just after Sam finished speaking, not realizing that X hadn't introduced himself. Granted, Tony didn't give him much time to do so.

" I'm . . . homeschooled," X answered. That was the best way to describe being stuck in a pod and being taught by an A.I. system for a hundred years.

"That's cool," Tony commented.

"And you guys?" X asked.

"We all go to Arcadia High. So what do you do for fun?" Sam answered. X internally winced. He had only just recently been activated. How was he to know? Sure he liked plants, but he knew for a fact that such a thing would come off as strange.

"A little bit of everything, I suppose," X responded. Sam nodded.

"Ever watched anime?" Tony asked.

"Ani-what now?"

"Did you live under a rock or something for a hundred years?" Tony asked. Yes, actually, X responded in his head. And in a pod too.

"What Tony means to say is anime is a type of animated tv show that usually originates from Japan," Sam said.

"And it is amazing," Tony said.

"Well some of them," Sam said. "A lot of them can be horrifying. Only watch the ones we tell you you can watch."

X nodded as the group stopped in front of a store with Japanese letterings on it. X instantly translated the information in his head. The Anime Shop: Anime! Manga! Fun for all ages!

"And this is an anime store," Sam said gesturing to the small building.

"What is manga?" X asked, curious. He didn't realize that he probably wasn't supposed to be able to read Japanese.

"Where'd you hear that?" Tony asked.

"Um." X internally panicked and pointed to the letterings. It was too late now to try and cover up his mistake.

"Dude, how can you read Japanese and not know what Manga is?! Okay, okay. Manga is the comic book version of anime. Got it?"

X nodded and the group went inside. Instantly, Nicole who had been quiet the entire trip there, happily ran around the small store a couple times, spreading her arms out wide like an airplane.

"She's an anime nerd," Tony explained at X's obvious surprise and confusion. "She's even worse than me, but you can never tell until you bring her to a store or a convention."

X stared around the store. It was very small compared to most stores he had been in. Parts of the shelves were packed full with what appeared to be thick black and white comic books. He guessed that those were the manga books Tony described. The rest of the shelves were stocked full of posters of animated characters and other odd trinkets, such as T-shirts and key chains. In one corner of the store, there was a shelf full of DVDs with a TV next to it. A three person tan couch was placed in front of it, resting on a matching carpeted floor. Mark went over to the DVD full shelf and after a few moments of thought, he plucked one from the selection and took the disk out. He then placed the disk in the DVD player and turned the small device and the TV on, sitting on the couch soon after doing so. X, Tony, and Sam walked over to the corner.

"Friend . . . I have no idea who you are. Who are you?" Mark asked, turning to look up at X from his place on the couch. He's gone this long without noticing that I haven't told him my name?, X thought. He hid an amused smile and responded to the question.

"Uh . . Xavier. Xavier Light," X partially lied again, using his code name.

"Uh Xavier?" Sam questioned. X winced internally. He had been staying away from people for a while now and hadn't yet gotten used to his fake name. "Do you not know your own name?"

"Sam, be nice," Mark scolded.

"Whatever. Come on, we need to introduce you to the world of anime," Sam proclaimed as she dragged him over to the three person couch. X was squeezed between Mark and Sam. Tony sat on the last section of the couch, successfully placing four people on a three person couch, one of them being a giant.

"A bit tight isn't it?" X asked. Sam shook her head.

"We do this all the time with Nicole. If you're going to be our friend, you going to have to put up with movie and anime Saturday," Sam responded.

"Friend? We only just met," X stated, confused. Did humans really make friends this fast? What happened to caution? Then again, why did he care? They didn't know he was an android, right? He wasn't in any danger. Besides, Doctor Cain was always pestering him about making friends anyways.

"So? I like you. There's something about you that's different, weird. And we're a group of weirdos who don't let other weirdos be alone," Sam explained with a proud grin.

"Whether they want it or not," Tony added. Mark hummed an agreement and the disk menu popped up.

"Sword Art online, Season one?" Tony asked.

"Ain't that a really old show? Like over a century old?" Sam asked.

"We haven't seen it," Mark reasoned. Nicole zoomed in from seemingly out of nowhere and lay down on the floor, before the TV, not having a care in the world that X was sitting in her spot.

Mark clicked on the first episode and it began playing. From out of nowhere, Sam handed a box of something called pocky. X blinked and accepted the gift. X recognized the box as being from a stand near the cash register in the anime store. When Sam purchased the box was a mystery to him.

The mystery of where Sam had gotten the boxes from was solved when she pulled a few more from a bag on the floor and handed it to her friends.

Just about eighteen minutes had past and the episode had finished. The group just turned to look at each other in partial shock. X had a pocky stick in his mouth that had been there since the beginning of the show, not really knowing what to do with it. He had guessed it was food and had meant to casually check while the others were watching the show, but he had become transfixed by the slightly terrifying plot and had forgotten. As a result, the pocky stick hung at the edge of his mouth for the entirety of the episode.

"That had horrible animation," Tony stated bluntly. Technology in the ways of animation had advanced greatly over the past century and it was clear the show was of an older origin.

"But the plot," Sam started.

"Oh, the plot," Tony added.

Nicole turned around to stare at them with pleading eyes.

"I've come to a conclusion. . . .MARK! BEGIN THE NEXT EPISODE!" Tony exclaimed, standing and pointing his finger to the sky. Sam punched him in the shoulder.

"Heyyyyyy, Saaaam!"Tony whinced. Sam glared at him.

"That's my line and you know it," Sam informed him. Tony gave a light hearted chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. He then turned to X and gave him an exasperated look. "And Xavier, you eat the pocky. It's not a cigarette. I swear you were raised under a rock. How does that even taste right?"

And thus began the SAO marathon. Which was followed by a FMA marathon.

About two hours in, Mark, Sam, and Tony had to call their parents saying that they were going to be home late, really late. They were going to try and finish both seasons one and two. Apparently Nicole's parents didn't care what time she came home at which concerned X, so she did not call any of hers.

Sixteen hours later at around four in the morning, the group finished and the store manager was staring at them with tired eyes. The front of his shirt was partially wet as he had fallen asleep waiting for the teenagers' marathon to finish and had drooled all over the front end of it.

"You done with your marathon?" the store manager asked. The group tiredly nodded. Well, X's exhaustion was faked as he was an android. He only needed to recharge in his pod for a few hours every four to five days and it had only been one and a half since he had recharged last. His battery was at seventy five percent; nowhere near the range where he began to slow down and get tired. "Then I'm closing the store."

The group left the store muttering something about not having rides due to it being so late . . .or early.

"That got weird," Tony tiredly commented as they walked to the nearest bus station. Sam and Mark hummed an affirmative.

"But it was still good," Mark added.

"The ending of SAO two was sad," Nicole said, speaking for the first time around X.

"Guys? How about we come here next week? Nine o'clock in the morning," Nicole said quietly. "I like anime Saturdays."

"Sure thing Nicky," Sam said. X nodded. He wouldn't mind returning. In fact, he rather liked this place.

X realized something as his new friends got on a bus and waved goodbye; he may have just developed a bond over anime and chocolate covered crackers. X smiled to himself and hummed Crossing Field to himself happily as he began the long walk back to the lab.

Author's Note: I am very new to this website and I am still trying to work things out. For some weird reason, the website is not showing words when I copy and paste it. It also is not accepting my word documents. For now though, this will have to do. I will look into it. The website really doesn't like Light's name as a "dr." in the second paragraph so it keeps on getting rid of it. I add his name in and when I save it, it immediately gets rid of it. It's getting rid of all of the names that start with "Dr" including Cain's. Does anybody know what's going on? I have replaced all of them by spelling out the "doctor" but I don't think that flows as well. If there is anything else that appears to be missing or confusing, let me know and I will look into it.