Darkness... endless darkness. Stretching as far as his eyes could see--but was his eyes even open in the first place? He wouldn't know... his mind alone has been the only functional conscious in his body for as long as he remembered. At least, that's what he thought. He was thinking, wasn't he? That was proof enough for him. Not that anyone cared; or even could care, given the situation. In fact his whole existence in general was obscene and twisted. But he had to admit, this was a first for him... an unexpected first in a very, very long time. Once again focusing on the stagnant situation at hand, his thoughts let out only very few options, and--wait. Was he... was he finally dying? Was this what it felt like? Could it be that his sadistically innocent wish was finally being granted?
'What's happening to me?' The words echoed relentlessly inside his head. But before his mind could linger on the thought any further, the suspended darkness abruptly gave way to light. In an instant, the scorching sting beheld itself upon his instinctively shut eyes, though it did little to nothing at all in terms of comfort. The blinding light was still there, and his whole body quickly felt the same burning sensation his sight was suffering. Had he been a regular human being; an ordinary carbon, then his mind would have given way to panic--but the only reaction that emanated was a doubtful, hopeful thought as his body continued to hurt all over. And the reason was one word... feel. All his life he was never given the gift of physical touch, taste or smell... everything that was anything could only be sensed by his brain. It was hard to put into words; an awkward stimulation of some sort, and at the same time it was the only process of difference in his world of isolation. He didn't even know if what he was feeling now really was his body's senses... his natural instincts seemed to agree. Yet he dared not assume it to be so, since based on personal experience, where there was hope, there was pain. And hope was unfortunately a profoundly fragile thing.
His mind and soul; whether he had them or not didn't matter anymore, was screaming in agony when the light chose this time to literally 'break' into a thousand pieces--producing a display of calming grandoise and taunting beauty that obviously did not go unnoticed. Everything was fading away to darkness again, and inevitably, he was once more beginning to feel a tad bit anxious... though the relief far out-classed his doubt, for he could feel the unnerving pain slowly losing its edge. True, the sensation was more of an undesirable stranger to him than anything else, but it was useful in a way that it gave him the simple pleasure of knowing that he was alive. And to think all of this was so foreign to him, he honestly had no idea where all of this new-found knowledge was coming from... it definitely wasn't from what he'd read in Elysium's books, that was for sure.
Seconds passed and he was greeted by a dead silence... a full minute, still nothing. The pain had all but dulled now, and his heart raced in apprehension. This just couldn't be... what was all that for if there was no reason to why it--what, wait... the darkness, it was... fading.
Hope...
Despair...
Charity...
Greed...
Power...
Love.
This is ROCKMAN DASH, FUTURE'S PATH!
Chapter one; 'Reunion' -- "Affection shines in the oddest of moments."
The Sulphur Bottom... undeniably the only gargantuan ship in existence to have been created for the sole purpose of entering the famed Forbidden Island. Fused with opposing qualities, Von Bleucher had this masterpiece constructed for a noble, yet incredibly vain cause. And although it was unable to finish its mission, landing a few seconds short of handling the dangerous weather conditions that surrounded the mystery island--not to mention the woman that had a hand in stopping the ship--it was a valiant effort that heralded a successful expedition undertaken later on by Megaman nonetheless. In fact after everything that's happened, the Forbidden Island wasn't even that interesting anymore. Just went to show how quickly things could change if given a push on the right direction.
In any case, the entire ordeal was a stressful, costly chain of events, leaving everyone involved mentally exhausted, at the very least.
"All hands on deck! If I don't see another set of coordinates leading to a decent unexlpored ruin in thirty minutes there will be heck to pay!"
Well... almost everyone.
"And ready the supplies for Barrell while you're at it!" Von Bleucher ordered the scrambling audience of staff and volunteers as he sighed in exasparated boredom. Good help was so hard to find these days... there was no doubt about it, things were definitely better when Megaman was searching for the gate keys. At least then he was able to satisfy the restless explorer inside by tracking the talented boy's every move whenever opportunity arose, as well as get some well deserved rest; killing two birds with one stone. Not to mention all the trouble the boy got into with those two girls. Stifling a small chuckle, Von Bleucher let out another sigh... oh how he wished he was young again, then maybe he would have been able to... no. Now wasn't the time to day-dream. The powerful beeping of the built-in intercomm on his desk prophecized a full, busy day ahead... he hoped. "What is it Captain?"
"Uhm, sir, I don't know if you're seeing this, but..." The voice on the communicator hesitated for a moment.
"Well? Speak up man, I have things to prepare for today." Von Bleucher replied, obviously getting impatient, though the conversation had managed to stir up some of his curiosity...
"Sir... there are two large heat signatures in the Sulphur Bottom's radar, and one's heading straight for us."
"What?" The ship's commander-in-chief immediately set his eyes on the decently sized screen a few feet away from his desk, and his eyes widened. There, on the radar, were two unusually large, blinking lights... and one of them 'was' heading straight for them. Almost instantly his mind went on a sort of calculative trance, putting into account all of the information he had absorbed that day and the days passed... why was there something so wrong with this picture? Well, aside from the huge blinking lights, things were... yes, that was it. There was positively no way those heat signatures could be considered harmless by the Sulphur Bottom's main auto defense systems. Ironically, this solved the boredom part... a very exciting near-death experience. "Yes, I see it... but Captain?"
"Ah, y-yes, Mister Von Bleucher?" The Captain was taken aback by the unfazed calm in his voice. He expected the aged digger to be a little more well... concerned.
"WHY DO I NOT HEAR MY MILLION ZENNY ALARM SYSTEM'S SEDUCTIVE VOICE TELLING ME THIS?"
Judging by the noises that came out of the intercomm after the unusual exchange, the Captain assumedly had jumped so high in fright he hit his head. If things weren't so painfully sarcastic already, Von Bleucher would have cracked a smile. "S-sir you, you ordered that the main frame be debugged, so it was disconnected by Professor Janice an hour ago..."
"Ah... ahem... yes, I remember. I did." Well, that certainly clamped his mouth shut. But either way, he didn't know Janice had to disconnect the mainframe in order to debug it... Von Bleucher jotted down a mental note to install another defense system in the defense system; if they managed to live through this. Probably the next thing the Captain was going to say was that the engines were currently being upgraded, and--wait, he 'did' order that. "Is there any chance we can evade it?"
"I'm... I'm afraid not sir. You ordered the engines to be upgraded this morning and--"
"Yes, yes I know... it can only stay afloat." Von Bleucher grumbled thoughtfully, shaking his head. He decided to take another look at his options and found only one solution left; to shoot whatever it was down. But having designed the radar system himself, he knew very well that wasn't going to happen. The vertical angle upon which the heat was descending upon them proved to be impossible to shoot down. And from what the radar was telling him, it was only heat! How on Terra do you shoot down heat, anyway? An evasive maneuver was probably the only choice that would've given them even the slightest chance to miss it... argh, damn him and his perfectionist ways! Silently, he prayed that this very odd event wouldn't yield any casualties--specifically his, and if it indeed didn't, he prayed that the damage to the Sulphur Bottom would only be minimal. "Well then, please calmly infrom everyone in the loud speakers Captain and... do brace yourself."
o-----
"Oh my gosh, Gramps, look!" A frantic Roll let an equally frantic hand off the steering wheel and pointed towards the cockpit's front view window; showing what looked to be Von Bleucher's ship on a collision course with a large golden beam that was falling from the sky... "On top of the Sulphur Bottom!"
The eyebrows above the robotic eyes of the aged digger furrowed slightly, and his red cybernetic pupils widened in surprise. What was Von Bleucher doing??? If he spent so much money on the thing, why hadn't he tried to move the ship out of the way? That... that cylindrical beam of light, whatever it was, was certainly slow enough. His hands shook in anxious concern as he tried helplessly to dig through his pockets in search of his personal communicator. Annoying or no, he was Barrell's best friend--he wouldn't wish any harm upon Von Bleucher if his life depended on it. "Roll, try to get Von Bleucher on your phone--It's possible that old crock hasn't seen it!"
"Y-yes Gramps!" But they both knew it was already too late. Before Roll even had a chance to snatch her cell phone from behind the wheel, the shooting star crashed onto the Sulphur Bottom in an artistic splash of incredibly bright light, forcing the two to cover their eyes from the sight stinging collision. For what seemed like an eternity, Roll and Barrell remained dead still, eyes closed, either of them expecting the worst. Roll saw her chances of getting Megaman back home slipping farther and farther from her reach... whilst her grandfather had assumed his life-long friend was eradicated from the face of Terra. For the longest time, neither wanted to open their eyes.
"...Roll?"
"...Yes, Gramps?"
"I'm... scared to death here. Would you mind, checking..."
"Gramps?"
"Yes...?"
"Could I do that later? I think I... I think I might need to change uhm... first since... can I just not explain that?"
"Why would you need--oh. Oh dear."
o-----
"Well, that was... different." A pale, wide-eyed Von Bleucher whispered, the hair on the back of his head standing as high as it could go. The only thing he could remember was a staggering vibration and a piercing light attacking his poor, defense-less eyes... surprisingly yet, after all that, everything still looked to be in order; at least where he was standing. The only real thing he was sure of now was that whatever fate had decided to pull, he was still alive. "C-Captain. Status report."
"Sir," The voice responded immediately; though it also held an extent of shock bewilderment. Bleucher could tell that he was just as confused as he was. "The data screen says that e-everything is... functioning at optimal proficiency. Also, the Sulphur Bottom's debugging is almost finished, but the engines still need some time to be upgraded."
"Errr. Good." The eccentric man couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It looked like his prayer was answered two-fold. In fact it was almost as if nothing had happened. Now that he thought about it, it 'was' possible that nothing happened. Maybe he was just imagining things? Better safe than sorry, in any case. "Captain... everyone saw that, right?"
"I, believe so sir." Was the intercomm's reply. "I'm willing to bet that if anything else happened besides the bright light sir, then people would be panicking."
"Hm. All right then. Just be sure to tell me when the debugging is fin--"
ALERT, ALERT, ALERT! UNIDENTIFIED HEAT SIGNATURES APPROACHING AT UNCOMFORTABLE SPEEDS, PLEASE REFER TO MAIN DATA FRAME FOR DEFENSIVE OPTIONS. ALERT, ALERT, ALERT!!!
"...Uh, it's finished sir--"
"I KNOW Captain... I know." Von Bleucher absent-mindedly brought a gloved hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. Oh boy, what a day. Perhaps he was getting a little too old for this after all. But just as he began his silent, self-opposing rant concerning young guns always trying to take down the veterans, his personal communicator began ringing; a classical musical score that also ironically reminded him of how old he was. Yet frankly, he didn't really care much for age when it came to music. Classic was priceless, and that was a term every digger should hold dear. "Yes, this is Von Bleucher... ah, speak of ye ol' devil."
The loud unintelligible noises that very soon made itself known from the phone would have probably been heard a mile away.
"Ahem... yes, yes Barrell, I assure you I'm fine, as well as everyone else for that matter..." He had to hold the communicator a little farther away from his ear because of the loud frantic scolding his old friend was right now throwing at him. Once again Vener weighed down his options... by the end of it he didn't know whether to bask in the nostalgia Barrell's scoldings and lectures brought about, or to get irritated. To be honest with himself, all his life he'd chosen the latter. Perhaps now he could actually enjoy the old Professor's ramblings... or tolerate it, at least. It was a good start, darn it. "Yes, I see you. I've already prepared the supplies your grand-daughter needs. Well, everything seems to be working fine from where I'm standing. It's too early to determine that Barrell, I haven't even ordered an investigation yet... listen, we'll talk more about the matter when you land, all right? See you."
With a sigh that finalized his work for the moment, Von Bleucher closed his communicator, placed it casually on his desk, and let the day's events go through his mind once more. The Captain said there were two heat signatures... what of the other one? Seemed like he had his work cut out for him.
Meanwhile...
"Gah!" A disoriented Trigger opened his eyes in absolute shock, fortunately regaining enough composure to stop himself from tripping and falling head-first into one of Vener's prickly plants... wait, Vener's plants?! Taking a quick, ecstatic glance upon his new surroundings, the boy's mouth spawned a grin so wide that his jaw could have fallen off. He couldn't believe it--after three, long months... it had finally happened! If Trigger wasn't so paralyzed with happiness he would've tried to pinch himself. He was back... he was back! He was back! He was... naked??? "W-what... wha... uh-oh."
Fifteen minutes later...
"Roll? Are you all right?"
"H-huh?" The girl in question snapped out of her day-dream, returning to reality seconds later to find that she had been staring at her tea for the past three minutes or so. Something was wrong... she remembered being very excited to be here; what with the supplies and all, but after that beam, something felt... wierd. She couldn't quite place what she was feeling exactly, but it felt incredibly familiar. And to make matters a little more confusing--after having brought what was left of her attention back once again to Von Bleucher and her grand-father who had cut the conversation short to attend to her silence, Roll suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "Oh, yes, I'm fine... I just... can I walk around for a little while?"
"Why, of course you can." Von Bleucher smiled sympathetically. It was true that Roll was pushing herself past her limits to help bring Megaman home. "I'll have the supplies loaded onto the Flutter as soon as possible."
"Thank you very much, mister Von Bleucher." Roll allowed herself a tired smile, having ignored the concerned look her grandfather was giving her. But if Barrell had felt the need to say anything at all to her, he didn't do so. Instead he simply watched her make her way to the visitor's area of the Sulphur Bottom, the fatherly look never leaving his face.
Vener shifted to a more comfortable position on his chair, and gave his old friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Ah, don't worry Barrell. I'm sure she's just tired."
Barrell's frown deepened. "All the more reason to be worried, Vener..."
o-----
A stumped, irritated Volnutt had spent the last ten minutes glaring at the room's built-in camera, having already covered himself from the sheets of the bed, the likes of which he was also sitting on as he thought his predicament over. The first thing he'd have to do was look for the rest of his armor--he found his helmet under the bed--and then, find a way to get a hold of the room's stupid record tape. It would've been much easier if the sheets could actually be removed from the cushion, that way maybe he wouldn't have to use his helmet to cover... well... that. And no, he hadn't lost enough of his dignity to actually try and walk around this human infested ship with only a piece of metal to protect his fragile ego. Oh yeah, and he hated that camera. Hated it.
In fact he was too busy wishing infinite death to the thing that he hadn't noticed the soft, trudging steps of a young girl getting closer and closer...
"...What's wrong with me?" Roll asked herself as she willed her body to walk on, feeling very much like she was dragging an anchor around with her. Maybe... maybe she just plain missed Megaman too much. It was like everywhere she looked, there was a flashback of her old friend doing something funny, or silly... at first, it felt nice to remember. But now it just hurt. 'Come on... get a grip.' "Darn it, I need to fix something."
And, as if her wish was answered then and there, a small beeping sound made itself known from the door beside her.
"Hm?" Roll let her troubles hang in suspended animation for a second, reading the room's console beside the door. It looked like there was a small error concerning the bed sheets... whatever, she might as well have a look. Maybe there was something for her to patch up in there. Of course being the polite girl that she was, Roll knocked twice on the metal door first. There was no reply, though she could've sworn she heard some sort of odd, rustling sounds from inside. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
"Argh, what now..." Trigger whispered in fearful annoyance, a little too pre-occupied in placing himself under the thick blanket of the guest bed to recognize who the voice actually belonged to. In an effort to rouse as little suspicion as possible, Trigger tried his best to lay on the flat of his back, arms on his sides, and the helmet well... it was easy enough to hide elsewhere. 'I wonder who that could be...'
The metal door hissed open, and Roll stepped inside, immediately beginning her search for the door's main console so she could find out the exact cause of the problem. She eventually did, and indeed, it was the bed sheets causing the error. But when she looked, there wasn't really anything wrong, aside from a slight bulge... it was possibly just a computer malfunction. Happily deciding to get a more detailed look with the screwdriver conveniently placed in her side pocket, Roll opened the small circuit box beneath the keypad of the console and began tinkering on it as the bed quietly snuck in a quick breath or two. "Okay... all those parts belong there and... hmmm... then what's wrong?"
Once again, Trigger was too busy trying to hold his breath to recognize the voice.
Roll looked back at the bed, a thoughtful expression on her face. Perhaps sitting on it would show the problem...? Besides, that bulge was a little unusual.
'What's she doing?' Megaman thought to himself as the orange haired mechanic began walking towards his hiding place... and just then his dense mind actually began letting in some useful information--suddenly things couldn't be clearer. Not that it was a good thing, mind you. 'Please don't lie down on me pleaaase...'
Without a second thought, Roll stopped beside the bed, placed both her hands on her thighs, and with little effort, sat and placed all of her weight on a particularly sensitive spot...
'Huh--OH DEAR SWEET APPLE ON A STICK!'
Realistically enough it took the human bed less than half a second to begin squirming, and it took about the same amount of time for Roll to jump a few feet away in a yelp of complete surprise. Trigger had also managed to clumsily reveal his upper body in the process, sitting up and almost ripping the bed sheets apart as the frightened girl gawked in wonder.
And for the first time in three months, wide green eyes happened upon rattled lime ones.
o-----
"What's wrong, Barrell?" Von Bleucher asked plainly, wondering why his old friend decided to cut off yet another conversation with that distracted look of his. Off-handedly, he wondered if anyone else would be able to tell if Barrell was distracted or focused with that beard covering his face like a mask. He never really gave it much thought, but it was like his own special technique. "You're spacing out again."
"Oh. You can tell?" That one made them both chuckle. It seemed as though he was more than aware of his 'lack of visible emotion'. "Sorry... I just don't feel like myself these days."
"Apparently, neither does your grand-daughter." Vener sighed for the billionth time today, now a little more concerned than he usually let himself become in these types of situations. "Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"
The older Caskett couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at the question. Nothing wrong? Of course there was something wrong; his grandson was stuck up there in the middle of space, has been for the past three months, and it pained him to live with the thought that he and Roll 'still' couldn't bring him home. "I assure you Vener, I'll live."
o-----
A full minute had already passed, yet neither Roll nor Megaman moved a muscle. Each held their own surprised look, staring at each other; lost in the other's eyes. Either of them knew they would see each other again, yet they were both far from ready... it was an ironic relationship. Painfully similar to the enigmatic term, love. Both had conflicting emotions, their thoughts unable to gather enough data to hold a single, strand of courage. And, that being said, what happened next was inevitable.
Somewhere, drifting in that instant--that realization--the reflection in Roll's eyes flashed what her heart had been screaming, the burning tears unable to keep to itself any longer... her tight expression softening... "...Megaman...?"
Knowing his best friend all too well, Megaman blinked in surprise as he realized what exactly was happening in front of him... but having been sucked in a whirlpool of emotion himself, he had absolutely no clue on how to react. In fact now that he thought about it, he felt his own eyes beginning to tear up as well. "...Roll..."
The young girl had all but lost her composure now, helplessly giving way to a gentle sob--right before tackling the young boy she had missed so very much straight to the opposite edge of the bed. Fortunately, Trigger had succeeded in both catching her, 'and' keeping his make-shift clothes from exposing too much of him for comfort.
For the first time since she could remember, Roll held nothing back, crying as hard as she could into Trigger's fleshy collar-bone as the boy wrapped his arms around her for dear life; no longer able to bear the thought of having been away from her for so long. For what seemed like an eternity, Roll shivered, and sobbed, and cried... with Trigger doing whatever he could short of breaking down himself to comfort the distraught girl. "It's all right... shhh... i-it's okay... I'm here..."
I'm here... I'm here... I'm here... His innocent voice echoed feverishly in her mind, providing Roll with some much needed relief but at the same time forcing her to cry harder. No, this wasn't a dream... it certainly wasn't a hallucination either. He was really here; Terra's saviour, her hero, he was really there... "I... knew you'd... come
b-back, somehow... I knew..."
Hearing her voice again after such a long time, Megaman couldn't help but let a few tears drop, holding his most precious friend tight. "Roll I... I've missed you."
Consequently, what the oblivious Trigger had said just made the young girl cry harder.
o-----
"So, about that other heat signature you were talking about... you mean to say there were two beams?" Barrell took a large gulp from his mug of tea, the warm cleansing liquid doing well to help the sore muscles all of the recent stress had forced upon his battered body. Two beams? It certainly wasn't impossible--he was probably too distracted to notice the other one, since the beam that had hit the Sulphur Bottom was quite an eyeful already. "More importantly, what exactly did those things do?"
"To tell you the truth, the answers should've come to me by now." Vener replied, resting his chin on his hand as he used one the arms of the chair to keep it steady. It was very, very odd indeed. No matter how hard he tried to think of any hostile encounters he'd experienced in the past that could relate to their present state, there was still absolutely no motive for an attack from space, if it was even an attack at all. And to make matters a little more confusing, the beam had done nothing to the ship as far as he knew. "Perhaps the Sulphur Bottom was only in the way?"
"Hrm... it's plausible." Barrell nodded, looking over at the portable communicator that was almost glued on his left hand ever since the Sulphur Bottom was hit. If anyone knew about that 'Elysium' place aside from the woman that looked like Matilda and Megaman himself, it would be his grand-daughter. But seeing the state she was in, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. "I'd best call Roll then; she still doesn't know that the beams came all the way from that floating space station..."
He agreed, but said nothing as Barrell began to jot down a combination of numbers on the cube-like piece of technology. Just then, the Sulphur Bottom's Captain appeared on the screen of Von Bleucher's desk intercomm. "Sir, we've managed to track down the second heat signature."
"Excellent Captain. Where did it land?" Vener asked eagerly, leaning a little more towards the source of the voice. It wasn't for anything, but for the record his hearing really wasn't what it used to be.
"Well sir, we managed to chase the signal all the way to Manda Island; right before it disappeared on the long range sensors. Roughly two miles east of a small inhabited village."
"Manda? Hm... just when you thought you've seen everything." Vener replied, genuinely fascinated at how far (not to mention how fast) the other beam was able to go. It would take them a day or two at the very least to reach Manda Island from this location... more importantly, was that the beam's intended target? It certainly didn't seem so. There was absolutely no reason to shoot a blinding cylinder of light from space with the coordinates set on a small patch of land right before the mountains; it just wasn't rational... but then it hit him. "What if Elysium is testing a weapon?"
"Ah... that's possible, unfortunately." Barrell shook his head, the thoughtful wrinkles now evident on his forehead. "And I think that's why Roll acted the way she did... I do hope nothing's happened to Megaman..."
o-----
"So uh, what do we do Roll?"
The girl in question smiled the biggest, most beautiful smile Trigger had ever seen a girl make, and it certainly didn't go unnoticed. How he missed that smile. And oh, how she missed that voice. Roll's smile grew wider as it reminded her of all the times she had spotted for him; those innocent, clueless questions Megaman never seemed to run out of was one of the things she liked so much about him. "First, we've gotta do something about your lack of... decency."
It was obvious from the way she looked that Roll had just cried her eyes out, but the soft giggle that followed after gave Trigger a little relief. "Mhm, I'd appreciate it, yeah... and that camera..."
Roll looked towards the direction Megaman was boring holes at with his imaginary laser vision and found a small camera, slowly scanning the room from side to side. Surprisingly, she smiled a sly little smile as thoughts of owning the record flashed in her head--before her sanity pulled it away at the last second. Trigger on the other hand still couldn't stop blushing. "I'll take care of that... for now though, your armor. Was the bright beam that hit the Sulphur Bottom you by the way?"
"Well uhm, I guess, it must've been. It definitely felt like I was being hurled throught the atmosphere like a comet..." Trigger shrugged sheepishly, clearly not wanting to be beamed down from any place to anywhere, ever again. "As for the armor, I found my helmet, and I was pretty sure I was beamed down here wearing everything I had."
"Hmmm... all right, then your armor must just be scattered around this ship." Roll stood up from the bed, having thought up of the proper way to deal with the current situation. It took her a lot longer than usual though, since she couldn't stop thinking about him, and how happy she was that her best friend was finally home... words couldn't describe it; it simply couldn't. What did she know anyway? Roll was an emotional mess at the moment, as far as she could tell. "Okay... first, I'm going to try and find the missing pieces of your armor in the other rooms. And then, I'm going to get my hands on that camera's record. I'll let Gramps know too--but I've gotta at least find something decent for you to wear first."
o-----
"Oh, come on Four! Look'ere!"
"Ugh." The quiet little Servbot known as Four let out an even smaller grunt, hesitantly letting go of one of the wooden 'toys' he carved to pass the time to stare sleepily at his hyperactive brother who was none other than number Forty. He hadn't been doing much lately, just spending most of his days listening to number Thirty-nine's poems and Thirty-eight's sermons... Miss Tron never really let him do anything special. Besides, it was high time he did that anyway--the youngest Servbot had been pestering him for at least ten minutes now. "...Yes?"
"Play with me?" Forty asked in his usual innocent manner, which at first Tron thought was just adorable; now though, it was more of a nuisance. Apparently, the young Servbot's brothers thought the same. "Please?"
Four shook his yellow head in helpless defeat. Try as he might, he just didn't have as much resistance his other brothers did whenever Forty began his pouting. And just who could resist that face anyway? Oh, and the fact that the face Forty was showcasing looked exactly like his other brothers was also a bit of a sad afterthought as well. "Sure, what do you wanna play?"
"Hmmm. How about some dress-up!" The look on Four's robotic face seemed to scream rejection. "No? Thirty-five always played that with me... how about potato chas--"
"Anything but that!" The older Servbot said quickly. The last time Forty made him play that game, they had to steal a potato and show it to number Twenty... Four only realized now how scary his potato loving brother could be when you tried to run away with the aforementioned spud in hand. "How about some nice, quiet drawing?"
"I don't know how to draw..." Forty whined, jump-starting his fabled 'thinking mode', with the ultimate goal of coming up with a game they could both play. After a few minutes of nothing, Four picked up a small bread knife he left lying beside him and once again began working on his toys. Just when things were starting to get a little peaceful again, an imaginary light bulb appeared above number Forty's head. "OH I KNOW!"
Four had to stop himself from jumping in complete surprise. It was a good thing he dropped the knife when he did too--he could've scratched his shiny blue coating. "Ugh... okay, what game?"
"Eye spy!" Was the youngest Servbot's proud answer.
"Oh... well, sure. Let's play." Number Four shrugged, picking himself up and placing all of his attention on his brother. There were enough things to spy out here in the deck, and the wind was picking up, so it wasn't so bad... pretty refreshing even. "You start it, okay?"
"Okay!" Forty replied happily. But that happiness would soon be replaced by something he really couldn't quite place. "I spy with my little eye--... s-something..."
"Huh? What's wrong?" The Servbot was about to look at whatever his little brother was looking at, but before he could, Forty continued.
"Orange..."
"Oh, orange? I don't even need to look at that one--it's the sun, right?"
"Uhm... yes, you're... right, I think..."
If number Four had any eyebrows, now would've been the time to arch one of them. "You think? I don't get it. Is it the sun?"
"I don't know... is... is the sun supposed to be moving towards us?" Forty asked, genuinely confused.
"Huh? Now what would make you... think... uh." Four himself was stumped at the intimidating sight behind him. It 'did' look like the sun. Only it was travelling towards them and from what he could see, in a few seconds it would probably burn them both to a crisp... but he couldn't move. He was too paralyzed to do anything. It didn't look like Forty was going anywhere either.
The beam was surprisingly fast--hitting them both in almost no time at all, but since the older Servbot took the brunt of it, it only managed to topple Forty over. It didn't make a direct hit in the Bonne base, instead shooting horizontally over the deck towards the neighboring plains and onwards.
Before it managed to get away though, a frantic number Four yelled out an order that his younger brother heard loud and clear.
"Forty tell miss Troooooon!!!"
o-----
'Breathe...'
"W-what?" The trapped figure asked himself stupidly, much like a child questioned his own thoughts. Without a doubt, the voice had echoed from the recesses of his mind, a subconscious that was very faint, yet annoyingly familiar. It ordered him to breathe again, and the frightening blue color that had remained pasted in front of his sight for what seemed to be hours now had began to very slowly, form into something else, as his new found senses told him; much to his surprise, that his eyelids were opening somehow. His heart began to pound viciously as his excitement grew, the blurry light giving way to... the sky.
'Breathe...'
All his perversely strange life, he had questioned why his mind had accumulated all sorts of knowledge concerning what happened in an everyday basis. Why he knew about emotions, about thoughts, about what was real and what wasn't... the human anatomy, and that he was a carbon, a living being. He couldn't answer how he whole-heartedly believed the things that he thought to be very real, yet he had never recalled experiencing them. His mind had formed a prison for as long as he could remember, and he didn't understand how he had come to know everything he had never even seen, or felt before. His entire existence was a huge question mark. But now, when everything he was actually familiar with started to shatter, and a new world was beginning to take shape, he was speechless. His subconscious called on him again.
'Ray... breathe...'
"Breathe..." He repeated what his mind had been echoing for the past minute, and suddenly he could physically 'feel' his body convulse and his mouth gasp for air, also something he had never truly come in real contact with. His mind was completely blank as his senses continued to bombard him--his hearing came to, the numbness was beginning to disappear on his arms and legs... in an instant he could feel his entire body react to Terra's gravity pull. Once again, that information was unknowingly absorbed and he most certainly had no idea where these theories were coming from. It was during the emotional episode when his eyelids opened for the first time in his life.
"Megaman? Megaman, It's Four... wake up Megaman!"
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A/N: xx... I have no idea how that took so long. Damn you College! Damn yooouuu!!!
Chapter three teaser has been held off, since what we have here is the almighty cliffhanger :). Oh, I really hope I can gather enough time to write this... .