X, Blues discovered, was a lot like Rock. A lot. But they were different too at the same time. Blues chalked it up to the hell X lived through for so many years. He'd stopped considering the pod's lies to be a fake reality a few days after meeting X. To X, those years were real, and they'd affected him just as much, no probably more, than Blues' time with him did. Thus, Blues did not see any reason to not accept X's time in the pod as a reality.

X was still depressed and struggled to find a reason to keep going. He slept a lot. Far more than what he needed and probably far more than what was healthy for him. He used that term loosely. X wasn't human so logically X shouldn't be affected by the extended downtime. However, Blues was worried that sleeping too much could mess with his settings and the data the so-called "X-factor" was receiving. Rock briefly described the X-factor when they met, and Blues chalked it up to be some sort of sensitive upgrading system. He wasn't sure what exactly triggered it, but he wasn't willing to have it changing something in X that made it harder for the android to adjust.

So when X got into a particularly nasty slump, Blues would show up and whack him over the head with a branch of some sort until the android sheepishly smiled and moved. Blues allowed him to take it slow. If X had been a robot master, Blues would have forced him to get over it weeks ago. But Blues couldn't do that, because X was an android. He wasn't capable of even linking with his siblings, which was another thing Blues hated for. Joining minds with another robot master was a source of comfort for them when under distress. had made it impossible for X to do so and while this protected him from a robot master's ability to control and in general, most nasty things over any sort of connection, wireless or corded, it also prevented Blues from helping the bot in the best way he knew.

He also understood though that such a thing was probably considered to be a huge invasion of privacy in X's mind and didn't bring up the subject.

It frustrated Blues because his favorite subordinate unit (not that Light knew that little tidbit of information) had asked him to fix X and he couldn't. Not in the way he was used to. Blues had no control, no command over X like he did the other robot masters.

And quite frankly he didn't want to force X like that anyways, because doing something like that was alarmingly familiar to something Light would do and might push X away from Blues too.

No, linking was not an option. They'd figure something out but linking was not an option.

On a better note, X seemed to be slowly opening up to Blues. He still wasn't very clear on all the details of the hell he went through in the pod. Rock had stretched the limits of Light's orders to tell him as much as he did, which wasn't much, but it was enough to understand that X had lost far more than Blues and considering Blues was still considered to be mopey (it was part of who he was dammit) by other robot masters, he didn't think X was going to be okay for a long time.

"Blues?" Said robot master turned and looked at the android as he approached, sifting through the leaves of a bush. They were currently hiding out in a forest, Blues was more easily recognized, and he didn't want X to be at risk because he was staying with the robot master. It didn't help that Blues had returned to wearing his armor all the time now and was clearly not human to anyone who saw him.

Blinking, he cleared his head and forced his processors to focus on X, who clearly had something to say judging from the way he was hovering nearby, intently focused on Blues. That was another thing that separated the two. Rock was shyer, he would shuffle his feet sometimes whenever he was asking something trivial of the elder robot master; X asked with more confidence. They did, however, both rub the back of their heads when asking, which was how Blues knew that X's next words weren't of utmost importance.

Blues didn't vocally respond, but he knew that X understood his mannerisms well enough to know that when Blues turned to him, the eldest robot master was listening.

"Do you think that it's okay for me to head into town as long as I don't have my armor on?" X asked, still rubbing the back of his head. Blues blinked. What did X need from town? As far as he knew, the android had fully functional parts and his battery was decently full (the android hadn't settled down to fully charge in the sun in a few days though), courtesy of his solar-powered core. So what on earth could the android be needing? X, sensing his confusing within the silence, continued. "I don't need anything. It's just . . . ." he paused and then sighed. "Wildlife, scenery, and hanging out with you is great, loads better than staying at Light's, so I'm grateful for that, but-."

X didn't need to continue any further as Blues caught on.

"You were designed as a human interface unit. You want to go socialize," Blues surmised. X nodded, internally wincing a bit at Blues' wording. He'd grown used to how the robot master took a very literal approach to how things worked, always seeming to divert to coding in order to explain how and why a robotic unit functioned, but it still made him realize how blatantly different the robots of the real world were in comparison to the ones in the pod. Robot masters were literal, focused, and always acted with purpose. The reploids in his memories? They were disorganized, easily distracted (in comparison to robot masters), sometimes doing things on a whim, and human-like. Robot masters didn't just feel like being lazy one day. It literally wasn't possible for them to do so. Reploids, on the other hand, were going to lay in bed and eat ice cream if they felt like it even if it wasn't productive in any way shape or form.

"You'd think after hundreds of years in the pod with experience like that I'd have my fill but," X paused, unsure how to continue without possibly insulting the robot master. Blues sighed.

"X you were designed to be human-like. Socializing is a vital part of society. It's no surprise that you miss it. I'm sorry I didn't think of it sooner. Yes, it's probably safe, just make sure you keep scanning your surroundings and make sure that you don't bump into anybody . . . mechanical. I'll," he paused, uncertain. If things went downhill, he wasn't sure he could get to X before he was offlined if he was too far away. "Tag along from a short distance, just in case."

X shrugged. He expected no less. He was just happy that Blues was letting him go. If Blues had said no, he probably would have asked for an explanation and if it was reasonable, he would likely listen, but if Blues' defense could be countered, he was going, regardless of what the robot master thought. He could handle himself and wasn't going to spend his entire life hiding from Light. However, discovering his life was a lie had made him significantly less secure than he was near the end of the time in the pod. He found himself reverting to old habits, a shyer, more cautious and while he hated himself for it, weaker version of himself. He hadn't been this way in a long time, years of war had hardened him into somebody who was strong enough to handle pretty much anything. Now though? He wasn't even sure if he was even as strong as when he first woke up in the pod when he was still filled with the promise he made to Light.

A promise that he still found himself wanting to keep. Not because of Light, but because it seemed to be the only thing he knew how to do.

X shook his head and refocused. Socializing, he reminded himself. Drawing farther into himself while with Blues would do him no good. He needed to find people to talk to. God how he wished that he could find somebody that understood. Somebody he could rant to and not be thought crazy. Blues was amazingly accepting of X's condition. In fact, the eldest robot master seemed to almost accept X's life in the pod as reality and treated his condition for what it was. Trauma. Not insanity.

But Blues for all his similarities of being wronged by Light, did not, could not understand entirely what X had gone through. Blues hadn't seen war like X had, hadn't had literally everything taken away from him. By the end of the eighth war, after both Axl and Alia had died and Zero was sealed away indefinitely, X had thought that he'd lost everything. That nothing else could be taken away from him. He was wrong. Oh god was he wrong. Because Light had managed to take away reality itself.

It would be so much easier if he had somebody that understood, that had been through everything along with him. Somebody like . . . Zero. But Zero didn't remember and to top it off, he was evil. X had no doubt that fate would be leading them towards each other again and X would have to . . . he would have to . . . .

He didn't feel like finishing that thought.

Even despite all this, X made a conscious effort to adjust to the current world and to move on. Because it wouldn't get better the longer he let himself be swallowed up by the past.

But it was so hard. Everything was so different. For a brief moment, he was amazed by the fact that Light was able to create a machine that could so perfectly create an alternate universe, filled with computer generate consciousnesses and AIs that always seemed human. Part of this social outing was to determine if his understanding of human mindsets was correct. The rest of it was to determine if he could function as a member of society even if he was terribly jaded. He doubted he'd ever be able to settle down, always instead stuck with a life on the run, but at least this way he could reassure himself that he wasn't completely insane.

Noticing that Blues was still staring at him, X allowed a small smile to crawl up his face. "Thanks," he stated. Blues nodded, scowling a bit but ultimately still as expressionless as always.


Blues watched carefully from above a rooftop as X conversed with the waitress of a riverside restaurant. He'd made sure X caught a glimpse of him earlier, just to keep the android aware that Blues was there. He didn't want to intrude too much, so he only tuned into their conversation every once in a while and kept a processor focused solely on X's condition. Instead, he settled down on the roof and started up a long distance messaging system with Elecman, intending to figure out just what the hell was going on in Light Labs. The last time he checked in was nearly three weeks ago and Light was still throwing a fit about the loss of X.

Conversing with Elecman from so far away forced him to use slightly less secure methods, so he felt insecure about staying in his current location after doing so for long. It didn't matter, because he was going to push for moving after X finished his outing anyways.

Closing his eyes as he laid down on the roof tile, he established a connection with the younger robot master. He couldn't establish a connection like this with Rock as Light knew that they were on good terms and made several precautions to prevent such a link from ever happening. Elecman, however, was seen as being loyal to the doctor and Light didn't have as many firewalls and defenses set up around the lightning robot master.

Part of Blues couldn't wait to see the look on Light's face when he realized that the entire robot master population had been feigning loyalty to him and Wily for years now. The other, more rational, side of him wanted to ensure such a thing never happened, because Light was dangerous and if he discovered such an issue, so many things could go wrong in a single moment. Light could prevent Blues from commanding the robot masters or worse, retire all of them, including Rock.

Refocusing on his task, he sent an inquiry across the link and the connection flared, Elecman's presence flooding over the connection.

/Protoman/ Elecman greeted, sending a polite mix of signals to the eldest robot master.

/What's the situation back at the labs?/ He demanded, cutting straight to the point. Business always came first, that way if something happened and they were cut off, he wouldn't be cut off from something important.

/The usual, or so says Rock./

Blues frowned. He didn't like it when another robot master doubted the younger robot.

/I don't mean it that way, Protoman./ Elecman quickly added, sensing the eldest's displeasure. /Rock's been giving me the same message for the last few months. The first few were odd but overlookable. I started getting suspicious after the third. It's not word for word, but the general message is the same. And there's no . . . side talk in it like there usually is. It's straight to the point, which is unlike Mega./

Blues frowned. That was concerning.

/Any idea why?/ Blues asked. For Rock to be of such few and similar words likely meant that Light had tacked another command onto his list of restrictions and now the younger robot master could not give accurate reports to other robot masters.

/As you'd probably already guessed, I'd say Light's trying to hide something. I'd go in there myself and investigate more but the facility's undergoing renovations and my boss will be pissed if I leave again. He wasn't very happy last time./

/I'll take care of it./ Blues responded. There was no need to override Elec's primary functions for this yet. /Any reason why you didn't contact me with this earlier?/

/I wasn't sure. It wasn't until Rock sent the same general message to Ice and Torch that I realized what was going on. The first couple of months were normal. Light had been working on a couple of new robot masters. Rock assumed they were for the Steiner request. I only check in weekly at best./

Elecman's situation was admittingly understandable, even if it did grate on Blues' systems in the most annoying way. Elec hadn't been told to keep an eye on Rock, that was simply something the lightning-based robot master had taken upon himself. Normally, keeping an eye on Rock fell to Roll's or Auto's shoulders and if the two of them hadn't told him about this, then either they didn't know or they were as restricted as Rock was. But, Blues couldn't establish long distance links with Roll or Auto, again, the security around the house was too strong. Blues could break through it, easily in fact, but the chances of Light noticing something like that was too high for comfort.

Which meant that if he wanted that sort of info, he'd have to get close enough to Light labs to establish a connection over a robot master's private network, likely one that was generated by Blues himself. And with him tasked with keeping an eye on X, getting close to Light labs wasn't something he was comfortable with either.

Nonetheless, he needed to get to the bottom of this and quickly. He couldn't go himself, not when he was trying to protect X, so he needed somebody who was good enough to cloak himself on the network and break into Light Labs to avoid being discovered, at least until after the information had been retrieved and the infiltrator was long gone.

Which pretty much left him with one obvious choice. Wily was going to be pissed he stole one of his robot masters again.

Blues stretched out across the web, finding a faint but still present signal buried within. Blues yanked on it and the signal strengthened as he established another connection with the now apparent robot master he'd just made contact with.

Shadowman responded to Blues' demands cautiously, but recognized that the eldest robot master was not currently in the mood for dawdling and shortened his list of normal protocols in order to respond faster. He only barely acknowledged the partial link with the electric light bot before speaking.

/Breakman. What is the issue?/

/I need you to break into Light labs and figure out what Light is doing. Rock's been acting odd and I need you to figure out why. Also, evaluate the threat level of Light's new robot masters./

Shadow tilted his head from where he stood in one of Wily's fortresses, ignoring the confused looks from his siblings as he stopped and pondered Breakman's words. For Rock to be acting odd, likely meant that Light had ordered him to do something (or not to) that was messing with his normal functions. Such a thing was deeply frowned upon among robot masters. Not even Wily pushed a robot master that far.

And to hear that Light was working on new robot masters? Light had mostly been focusing on corporate requests and mechanoids ever since the first generation. Dealing with Wily's robot masters was enough of a hassle. New robot masters likely spelled trouble.

/I will get on that immediately. Tonight./ Shadow responded. He couldn't do so during the day because that was likely when Light was hounding the lab the most. He'd still have to be careful though, because Light had a bad habit of staying up late to finish projects or sleeping in the lab.

/I will keep in touch with Roll and let you know if Light retires for the night./ Elec offered. Blues hummed, pleased, as the conversation continued and the two robot masters from opposite sides plotted the best way to scope out what was happening. It was growing dark now for Blues and X, but it was midday for Light. It would be early morning by the time Light should tuck in for bed and X hadn't laid down to fully charge in a few days, so Blues would suggest it this morning.

/Is there anything else you desire?/ Shadow asked. Blues thought for a moment.

/Not really but standby. However, my order from two years ago still stands./ Blues ignored the confusion that emanated from Elec's link as Shadow's responded with an affirmative. /I will ping you with my location at three in the morning, Light's time. X tends to sleep when he charges so I will have time to work this out. Try to have the job done by then and keep Elecman updated. Elecman,/

Elec's signal surged for a moment as he responded to Blues' command. /Do you have any current orders that will interfere with this plan?/

/No./ Elec answered.

/Any current orders to find X or report anything about him to Light?/

Another negative from the light bot. /Light canceled that order once I went back on duty. My bosses here complain when I'm not fully focused on my job./

/Good. Be prepared. If things go south, I might pull you aside to keep an eye on X if I have to leave. He recognizes you as being unwillingly hostile so it won't take much to convince him to not blow your head off./

/Of course./

/Fill in Shadowman on the most up to date security measures at the lab that you know./ Blues eased up and listened in silence as the two robot masters began conversing again. Once the deed was finished and he was satisfied with Shadowman's level of understanding of the mission, he stepped in again. /Elecman, you never gave Shadowman or me ANY of the information you just told us if Light or any other robot master asks. That's a direct order. Is that clear?/

/Yes./

/Good. Shadowman, the same stands for you. This never happened. Direct order./

/Yes sir./

/Now act normal until tonight. Elecman, await my orders. Shadowman, move when you think its right. That will be all./ And he pulled away, severing the two links in one fluid motion.

He opened his eyes just as he received a gentle nudge on his right side. Blues quickly scanned X's slightly concerned face above him and relaxed slightly as he determined that nothing had happened to X, the android was just concerned about Blues for some reason.

"Is your battery low?" X asked, because Blues didn't respond when he called his name a few times and only moved when X nudged him. He hadn't seen the robot master charge before and merely assumed that the robot master was solar powered like he was.

Blues sat up and shook his head.

"No, I merely had business to take care of," he responded and then took note of the now darkened sky, pondering it for a moment. His conversation with Elecman and Shadowman had taken more time than he had thought. It had been nearly an hour since he and X had entered the city. "How was your outing?"

X tilted his head at him confused. "I assumed you were listening in."

Blues shook his head. "I had more important matters to deal with and only tuned in every so often." The processor that was designated on X's condition was focused mainly on analyzing threats rather than recording the conversation. His memory of X's conversation with the waitress was sketchy at best, filled with static voids and only half processed information.

X blinked at him for a couple of moments before shrugging and answering his earlier question. "It went well. The waitress was good company. She recognized I wasn't one to talk about my own life and she ended up gushing about her child for much of the conversation. It was enduring, but she didn't speak of the father which makes me believe that he's out of the picture. Single mom living off of a waitress' paycheck? That's a recipe for disaster. I know we're struggling a bit for money and supplies, but I left her a twenty. We can figure out how to get by better than she can."

Blues nodded. He expected no less. "I'd like to switch locations again. I know it's a bit sooner than normal, but between this outing and the . . . lengths I had to go through with my own business, there's a possibility that our location, at least on the internet, has been exposed, and I'd rather not take the chance that Light knows where we are."

X nodded. He'd assumed as much. Blues was paranoid as hell, but still took great lengths to make sure that his paranoia didn't interfere with X's quality of life as much as possible. The robot master held out his arm and X took it without hesitation. A flash of light and surge of electricity later and they were gone.


Pharaohman scanned the room carefully, his red eyes settling on a hunched form over the table. If he had been designed with a mouth it would have been frowning, but as it were, he settled instead for a disapproving stare in the offender's direction. It was dark out and the room itself was as consequence, also similarly lit, but that mattered not to a robot master who was designed to investigate lightless tombs and ancient caverns.

He carefully walked over to the offender, making sure not to step on the scattered, fallen papers as he got close. Gently he placed a hand on the offender's shoulder and pulled until the humanoid form was slumped against the back of the chair it was sitting in. Pharaoh let loose a fond sigh and shook his head. Even in the darkness he could make out the spiky auburn hair and scarred face, the baggy black sweatshirt and similarly fitting pants that the offender likely found for only a few dollars at some thrift store.

"You need to charge more frequently, little brother." Pharaoh chided as he scooped the offender up in his arms and sighed appropriately. The offender stirred briefly as Pharaoh began the short journey to the nearest charging pod.

"Pharaoh?" the offender mumbled tiredly. "Why are you carrying me?"

"You were passed out in a chair."

"Was I?" the offender asked. "Still . . . mmf had five . . ."

"Five percent is not a healthy number to be running off of."

" . . . Gotta find . . . X . . ."

"You'll find him, but you can't run yourself to the ground trying to do so. He wouldn't approve."

" . . . Shoulda told him . . ."

Pharaoh was silent for a moment.

"You did what you should have done. Telling him might have caused him more pain in the end. We didn't know how the pod would have reacted. It could have wiped his mind completely and that . . ." Pharaoh shuddered, jostling his passenger a bit. "That would have been bad. You both would have lost everything."

"I know . . . but he's hurting now." Pharaoh's passenger was surprisingly coherent as he spoke that line, emphasizing such an acute awareness of somebody else's pain.

"You're already doing everything you can."

"Need to find him . . . need to tell him that Zero knows. . . ."

Another pause as Pharaoh settled his passenger into the pod.

"Have you thought about speaking to Zero first?"

" . . . . Ain't he still sealed up?"

"I have not conversed with the Wily bots in some time. It has been many months, and perhaps there has been some change. It does not seem likely that Wily would simply seal such a robot away if he had no intentions of ever awakening the bot again. If Zero was doomed to never awake again, he would have been scrapped for parts. I have no idea how Wily gets all the supplies he has but I imagine it's not easy. Zero would have been destroyed if Wily had no intention of fixing him. Perhaps Wily already has if the fact that he was good in the simulation was anything to go by."

"Mmf . . . too many words, Pharaoh . . . can't . . . process."

"Go to sleep little brother. We'll speak of this when you have awakened fully charged."

"Sure . . . thing."
Pharaoh backed away and the pod hissed closed. He stood there standing vigil over his sleeping brother before turning on his heel and facing a frog themed robot master that approached from behind. A moment's thought later and the two were linked across a generated networking system.

/Did you find anything?/ Pharaoh asked after sending a polite signal greeting to his amphibian brother.

/Sort of. I caught a few of Break's inner circle speaking of some bot that Break's been watching over. Not Mega. I nearly got my butt kicked for eavesdropping, but managed to get away with nothing more than a stern warning. I can't get caught with something again. Not anytime soon. Unless of course, I want to talk to the big guy./ The agricultural robot master shuddered.

/Lay low then. There's no need to make Break upset or suspicious. We are no threat to his command. I'll inquire for a short meeting with Break. Perhaps he will amuse me. I will tell him first about our younger brother. I will not inquire about X to start off with. That will only make Break defensive and suspicious, which will also make him difficult to bargain with./

/You sure we should let Break in on Cossack's little secret? I mean, Break won't be able to command him, considering he's an android and all that. He might just . . . well . . . you know what happened to the copy./

/The copy was an entirely different situation. Break doesn't work well with copies. Axl is not a copy./

/Yeah but his coding . . ./

/I'm not going to tell Break about his coding nor about what our younger brother can do, not yet, just his history and what truly has been going on with the pod./

/You sure that's a good idea? Break's probably going to be pissed enough that we've been keeping a new built from him for so long./

/I think you have a very misguided understanding of Protoman. It will all work out. We just need to step carefully from here on out. Warn our siblings that we're going to be dancing on thin ice with the eldest, but leave the actual talking with Break to me./

/No problem with that. Try to come back in one piece though, brother/

With a slight nod in Pharaoh's direction, the frog themed robot master turned and quite literally hopped away with a clang. Pharaoh looked back towards the pod.

"The things I do for you, little brother," then sighing, he continued. "Let's go kick a hornet's nest."

He paused near the doorway. "A hornet's nest that rips off limbs. Breakman indeed."

Author's Note: Sorry for such the long wait, but my second semester took a lot more out of me than I expected. No, I have no intentions of giving up any of my stories. However, it may be some time before I update anything else. Anything Megaman related will be for sure continued, however, the others have a greater risk due to the fact that I need to watch the show(s) before I continue them and I just don't have the time. I have a summer job and while its only eight hour shifts, I am in the sun all day (I work outside) so by the time I get home I'm exhausted. This is no excuse, I understand, but there are so many projects I have to work on that these stories have been put on the back burner for a while. I've officially started writing the book I've been wanting to write since I was a little kid. On top of that, there are several songs (I sort of write music too) and an online comic that I've been working on recently too.

This chapter was ready to be released New Years. I forgot to do so. I am so sorry. For a while, this may be the only story I update and maybe its better that I focus on just one story at a time anyway. The problem with Legends Don't Die is that I'm writing and planning stuff for future chapters way ahead in the plot, but I'm not writing anything for the next few chapters. This is why I haven't updated it. I've hit a wall, so to speak. Once I get over it, I can spit out chapters like a mad woman. But right now I'm struggling with the plot for the next few chapters. As for Phantom Kwami, I need to rewatch everything. And I'll be honest, Souls of the Thousand Sunny has kind of crashed and burned. Not that people really seemed to be into it anyway. I barely touched on the concept I had in my head but I'll probably just wrap it up in a few more chapters rather than trying to follow the One Piece plot with it.

And yes, I am still looking for beta readers for my Megaman fanfics. I think I've figured this one out, but Legends Don't Die needs help at least for the next couple of chapters, just till I get back up on my feet. I'd love to rewrite the whole thing, but I'm not going to do so till I finish it.