A/N: So here we are again. Rocky has just lost an arm, and after feeling some phantom pain, has now begun to go into shock. How is he going to get out of this one? That is up to you to find out.

Anyway, I just wanted to put some news out there before we begin: I'm going to update the author's notes on my profile, so check there for more details, but I also plan on putting up the first chapter of "Lost Memories" up sometime this week.

That was all. I won't waste any more of your time. On with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman or any of its related properties. That ownership belongs solely to Capcom.

After a few minutes, Rocky's screams stopped. He just sat there, shaking as his mind went into shock and he began very quickly bleeding to death. Through the sound of the dripping of his missing appendage, he could just barely register the sound of the deep monotonous voice once again echoing from the walls:

"DNA VERIFICATION COMPLETE. PLEASE REINSERT ARM FOR INSTALLATION."

Rocky fell over. No thanks, he thought to himself. I think I'd rather just lay here and bleed to death.

"You might want to go ahead and plug yourself in," said another voice, someone new, more feminine and completely unlike the mechanical monotone. It came from above Rocky's head. He looked up and wiped his eyes and nose and found himself staring at a beautiful woman, or rather, the one-foot tall, blue and transparent image of a woman standing on the lighted terminal in the middle of the room. He dragged himself up and pulled himself to stand, clutching his bloody stump.

"What'd you just say to me?"

The Doll-Woman pointed at the hole that ate Rocky's arm, which was now closed and replaced with two suspicious metal spikes. "That plug. You slide it into your open shoulder, and you'll be repaired."

"Repaired? What do I look like, a machine?" Rocky didn't know who this strange woman of light was, but he was already sure he didn't trust her.

"Of course not. This process was designed with organics in mind. Now listen, because you don't have a lot of time. You notice how your bleeding has been accelerated?"

Rocky didn't but he sure realized it now, and he was beginning to panic. He started screaming. "Oh shit, what do I do?"

The woman smiled, and it made the now one-armed amputee angry. What the fuck is she smiling about? I'm missing my fucking ARM, and here she is, grinning like an idiot!

"Don't worry, it just means that the drugs injected to slow the bleeding are beginning to wear off, so you'll need to act fast before the shock wears off too, and the pain sets in. All you need to do is slide the stump over the metal prongs of the plug, and let the console do the rest."

Rocky opened his mouth to give a biting retort, before sighing and shuffling over to the console, realizing that he really didn't have the time to argue. Removing his left hand that he was using in a desperate attempt to hold the blood in, he positioned his stump over the six-inch long metal prongs and shoved, grimacing with pain and discomfort as the cold metal pierced the meat and muscle around the bone and crawled up the stump and into his shoulder. A loud clang was heard as a clamp wrapped around the flesh, and a hissing sound was heard, accompanied by the following announcement, "MORPHINE ADMINISTERED."

Suddenly Rocky felt a sudden wave of euphoria crashing through his body, his pain suddenly gone. His heart rate began to slow, his panicked breathing resuming its normal pace. A slight worry entered the back of his mind as he calmed down. This sudden peace was clearly not natural—the 'morphine' the walls spoke of; did he just get pumped full of some kind of drug?

Meanwhile, the metal inserted into his stump twisted and pulsed, until finally, the clamp opened, and the walls declared with finality, "INSTALLATION COMPLETE."

The Doll-Woman bent over on her cylindrical stage of light, as though to inspect the strange visitor that had come before her to meddle with her home. Likely thinking I got what I deserved, Rocky thought ruefully.

The figure of light smiled and gestured to the boy. "Well? Aren't you going to take out your arm and have a look?"

Rocky scowled, his rage burning hot. "Take…out…my…arm?" he muttered.

In a flash of blue, Rocky pulled out his appendage and waved a navy-colored finger at the immaterial creature that taunted him. "Lady, you've got some nerve! Did you not just see what happened! My fucking ARM just got cut off and you go grinning like an idiot and taunting….me?"

Rocky trailed off as he got a better look at the thing he was waving at the woman, his anger giving way to astonishment. There it was—it shouldn't have been possible, but it was right before him—its cold blue carapace glinting in the dim light shining from the console the woman stood on; it was a new limb, same size and length as his old one. The only difference was that the forearm was slightly larger and crisscrossed with grooves. It was an arm—his arm, and yet also not his, like it belonged to someone else. Both hands attached to his body, one of flesh, the other metal. He made a fist with his left arm. The other made a fist. He clenched and unclenched both hands, only feeling the sensation of pressure in one, eyes wide and unable to believe what they saw.

He turned to the specter that had returned his arm to him. "What the hell did you just do to me?"

She cocked her head. "What do you mean? I'm just the interface. You inserted your arm, didn't you? The graft was completely voluntary."

Rocky cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. "And you didn't think it'd be a good idea to say something? Weren't you there the whole time?"

The illumined specter shook her head, standing up straight and putting her fists on her hips. "I've been at work keeping the systems operational, as per my last orders. I didn't even know you were in here sticking your arm in. Once I saw you doing it, I figured my job was finished; that you were here to get me out. You're telling me you stuck your arm in a machine and you didn't even know what it does?"

A metal hand rubbed the back of Rocky's head, and he paused in surprise before putting his new arm down at his side. "Fine. My fault. So you mind explaining to me why it took my arm, then?"

The specter's eyes went wide. "You mean you don't know?" She leaned forward again. "Who are you? You're not an engineer?"

"Hey! Considering I'm the one who lost an arm coming into this place, maybe you should be telling me who you are! Where am I? What is this place?"

The specter turned a violent shade of red. "All questions are classified until your identity can be obtained! Doing a scan."

An awkward pause filled the room as the specter glared menacingly at Rocky, who glared back. The silence lasted for almost a minute, and soon Rocky lost his annoyance and got restless. He opened his mouth to say something when the specter suddenly sprang up with a gasp, making Rocky jump.

"You're…."

"I'm…what?" Now Rocky was simply confused.

"Impossible. Scans read you as General X?"

The boy's eyes went wide again. "What?" He was in full agreement with the specter now—not only did it sound impossible, but it was completely insane. Wasn't the Fourth Warrior supposed to be a machine man himself? "Excuse me, lady," Rocky said, waving his blue arm, "But do I look like a machine to you?" He went red at the sight of his new prosthetic. "Not counting this, of course," he said sheepishly.

The woman said, "No," and placed forefinger and thumb to her chin in thought. "Could it be…Project EVA worked…?"

Rocky's ears perked up at that. "Project EVE?"

The specter shook her head. "Never mind about that. It's classified. Anyway, scans read that you are entitled to certain security clearances, but you're obviously not General X. So who are you?"

Rocky tilted his head. "I'm Rocky. I'm a kid from Apollo City. Who or what on Demeter are you?"

The specter waved her hand, and several ethereal displays of complicated-looking graphs, mathematics and models of what Rocky could only assume were complex pieces of machinery floated before her. "I am the Self-automated Anti-spacecraft weapon and Radar Array, codenamed, SARA. I am a 'smart' artificial intelligence created for ship-to-ship defense and tasked with managing all internal systems of the E-Class Cruiser, the Prometheus, placed in temporary command of the ship, for as long as all personnel are on leave. General X himself tasked me with the defense of this installation station, saying it was important."

Rocky scratched the back of his head, unable to speak from the shock of what he was hearing. "So…this whole place of steel and plastic tech…this is a spaceship?" He pondered the strangeness of it all—with technological innovation beyond contemporary medical and scientific knowledge being made illegal; there was no way that the law would allow for this place's existence. How long has it been down here?

Then Rocky had another thought about the implications of Sara's statement. "Wait…you mean you knew the Fourth Warrior X personally? That's impossible! You'd have to be at least over twelve hundred fifty years old!"

Sara made the displays disappear with the flick of a finger, and sat down on her projector. "Older than that, kid. General X himself was over two hundred years old when he found this planet—Demeter, you call it?—before touching down to begin terraforming. I've been on this ship since it left Earth. I guess you could say that was where I was born."

Rocky was floored by her mention of Earth. If the Elders of Demeter could've been here to hear this! "You've been alive since before the Exodus?"

Sara shook her head. "Poor wording. I'm an artificial construct; I'm not 'alive,' as you think of it. But yes, I was built before the human exodus off of Earth, though my consciousness wasn't fully programmed until it was time to leave. I never actually got to see the home of mankind, save for the event of its destruction." She spoke almost wistfully, with a slight tinge of regret marking her voice.

"Wow…" Rocky breathed. He suddenly remembered; he should show all this to Ian. He pulled out his radio. "Hey, Ian, where the hell are you? I've found something that you've got to see! I can't explain over the radio, just come down here! Look for closet with buttons near the door, marked with numbers. Ian, do you hear me?"

Static burst over the radio. "Ian? Speak up. Ian!"

Sara looked at the walkie-talkie with interest. "You said you found this place by accident. Did you take the radio with you through the entrance?"

"Yeah. We were searching this old mansion for interesting things, and my friend was on the second floor while I walked through this cave into this—I guess it's a ship? I've tried calling Ian down here twice before, but I never got an answer." Only now did it occur to Rocky that the lack of an answer was strange. His brow furrowed. Did something go wrong? Did Ian fall into a hole or get hurt? Rocky thought in worry, beginning to panic.

Sara saw the look on his face and said calmly, "Don't worry; I'm sure your friend is fine. You just passed through the EMP shield when you walked up to the entrance. All communication with the outside has been shut down to preserve systems power and prevent discovery by the enemy. Once you passed through the threshold, you would've lost communication with your friend. You should be able to call him by heading topside again. But first, you're going to want to grab that blue pack hanging on the wall behind you—it contains equipment for your arm."

Rocky pulled down the pod-shaped blue backpack, pulling it over his right shoulder, and grabbing his other backpack with his left arm. "Okay, thanks. Now I need to go get my friend and get out of here." Between all the excitement, Rocky had lost track of how long they had been down here, and he noted with fear that the last thing he'd want is to be caught rooting around down here.

As he turned to leave, he heard Sara call out, "Wait." He turned toward her questioningly.

Her 'eyes' looked up at him hopefully. "Take me with you. Please."

Rocky cocked his head. "What?"

"I don't want to be here anymore. You came for the installation. My job is finished. Please don't leave me here alone again."

Rocky's eyes softened with pity. This…'person' had been locked down here for the better part of a little over a thousand years all by herself. He couldn't even imagine what that would do to a human, let alone a 'smart' artificial intelligence (whatever that is). "Alright, but let's make it quick," he said quietly. "What do you need me to do?"

The eyes looked thankful. "Thank you," she said softly. "Okay, just follow my instructions. On the console should be a blue button, marked with the word 'Eject'. Push that button and a chip will slide out. On your arm at the shoulder should be a little slot; insert that chip and I'll be able to act as an interface with the systems in your arm and connect with the nanomachines in your new neural hub."

Nanomachines? Neural hub? What the hell was this lady talking about? "Um…what?"

"Just push the button, take the card and stick it in your arm."

"Okay, got it." He pushed the button marked 'eject', and the woman and her stage of light disappeared in a haze of static, allowing silence and darkness to enter the room again. Out of the cylindrical console popped a small blue square, which Rocky grabbed and slid into a slot in his arm, while a little red light he hadn't noticed before began to flash green.

-Okay, I'm in.-

Rocky jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. "What…?"

-I said I'd be interfacing with the neural hub established in your brain. When your arm was installed, you were injected with nanomachines; tiny machines coursing through your bloodstream, regulating some of your body's internal functions. Some of them lodged into the grey matter in your skull to form a network that would allow you to interface with them—think of them as being like a computer lodged in your brain.-

"What's a computer?"

Silence fell for a moment.

-...Never mind.-

"So wait, you're in my head?"

-Yes. From your arm I can interface with your core systems, allowing me to speak to you directly. I can also set up radio frequencies for communication and remotely access nearby tech. I can also access your conscious thoughts as a form of feedback, so I'd suggest you start thinking your responses to me, instead of saying them aloud; as I understand it, most human cultures tend to be wary of those who talk aloud to voices only they can hear.-

Rocky nodded to himself. Fair enough. he thought back. This was just too weird. -Alright, let's just head topside.-

They didn't have a moment to lose; he started sprinting out the room and back the way he came, taking the elevator back up to the floor he entered on, and running back through the cave, stopping to find the haze of light he had passed through unnoticed before, the slight haze now appearing like a bright red curtain to him. How had he missed this the first time through? -I take it this is that EMP field you were talking about? Why is it that I can see it so much better now?- he thought to the woman in his head.

-Your vision is augmented by the nanomachines, among other things. It lets you see better in the dark—you'll also be able to see wavelengths normally invisible to the naked human eye, if you wish. Sara responded. Just go through, I'll explain it to you later.-

Rocky warily passed through the light, breathing a sigh of relief when nothing bad happened. Just then his radio suddenly burst with static, almost making him jump up to the ceiling. "Rocky," said Ian's familiar voice frantically. "Rocky, where are you? C'mon man, I can't help you if you don't answer me."

Rocky grabbed his radio off his belt. "Ian, it's me. Sorry, I think the battery on your radio is low. What's going on?"

"Rocky? Oh, thank the Light! I've been trying to call you for over half an hour now! Where are you?"

"I'm in the basement again. There's a cave that leads underground. I've found some cool stuff that I brought back up with me. Where are you? I'll head up your way."

Rocky passed through the old wooden door and walked across the basement to trot up the steps, without being careful of the rotting wood. His foot fell through midway up, and as Rocky yelped, he flailed out with his free hand for something to grab. His hand grasped a handhold, and he was able to pull himself up, only to realize with astonishment that the fingers of his right hand were lodged in the wall. He removed his hand fairly easily, and continued to carefully climb the stairs (carefully, this time), staring at his new hand all the while.

The door opened and Rocky raced through the mildew stank of the kitchen into the main hall, finding Ian there waiting for him. Ian looked immediately at Rocky's right arm. "Rock…what the hell?"

Rocky rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah…about that." He explained the situation to him. When Rocky finished talking, Ian's face turned the same color as the mansion's yellowing walls.

"You…lost…your ARM!?" Ian just barely managed to choke out between dry lips as he swallowed.

Rocky lifted up his prosthetic as proof. "It's alright though, because I've got a new one." Ian could only squeak out a small wail in response.

"There's something else, too," said the amputee, who asked aloud, "Hey, Sara, you said you could establish radio frequencies, right? Any way you could patch into my walkie-talkie here and introduce yourself?"

Ian gave Rocky an odd look, before static blew up over the latter boy's radio, out of which emerged a woman's voice. "You mean like this?" came the query.

The green-haired boy looked hesitantly at the little voice-box. "Umm, who's that?"

Rocky pointed to the radio in his metal hand. "That's Sara. She's a, uh…inter-whatsis…"

"An interface for the Cruiser Prometheus," Sara finished. Rocky nodded along in rhythm with her words.

"Yeah," the boy commented, "she's like I guess what our grandparents or the city Elders would call an oracle. Apparently, she's been here since the days of X."

Ian's eyes went wide. "The Fourth Warrior?" he exclaimed. Rocky nodded.

"What's all this 'Fourth Warrior' talk?" Sara asked, sounding confused.

Ian looked at the radio like it was about to spontaneously combust. "Er…" he began.

"Religious thing," Rocky waved it off. "I'll explain it to you later."

"Whatever man, look," said Ian, his eyes shifting toward the dirty windows, old smears smothering the image of a darkening sky. "It's getting late, and curfew's coming. We need to get out of here before the late night city patrols start rolling in. We can talk about…that," his eye drifted to Rocky's metal appendage, "in the morning, alright? Here," Ian took off his blue pinstriped hoodie, handing it to his friend.

"You're going to want to cover that arm when you get home—you don't want your parents to freak. Especially with your shirt all covered in blood."

Rocky took the jacket off Ian's arm and pulled it on. "Thanks, man."

Ian held up a hand. "Keep it; looks better on you anyway.

A half hour's bus ride and ten minute's walk later, Rocky found himself treading up the large driveway of his parents' large home. The front façade displayed a shining face of two story's worth of glass, normally lit up with fire against the rising sun now reflected a cool pool of moonlight shimmering like a mirror. When he reached the front door, he pulled out his key ring, unlocked the three separate locks (handle, deadbolt and combination padlock), and admitted himself into his abode.

-Kind of overkill on the security, don't you think?- Sara pondered as Rocky headed to the kitchen to find himself something to eat.

-You would be too if your family owned the greatest controlling interest in the highest-ranking agricultural corporation on Demeter.-

Sara asked, -Your family has connections with the owners?-

Rocky smiled to himself as he pulled open the fridge door to find some leftover lasagna from the previous night's dinner. Putting the plate in the microwave, he thought back to the voice in his head ruefully, -My dad IS the owner. He's the CEO of the Scion Agricultural Foundation.-

-Wow,- said Sara, impressed.

-Yeah, I don't normally try to bring it up in conversation at school, because I prefer my friends to actually get to know me instead of asking me for favors. I figure you don't have much use for human concerns, so it's okay to tell you.-

-Because I'm not your friend?- asked Sara, matter-of-factly, making the sentence seem almost harsh in Rocky's head.

-I don't know. Not sure what to think about you at the moment. You didn't warn me about that Arm-Remover, but you did help me get a new one, so I guess we're even. I don't know enough about you to call you friend, just yet.-

Rocky could almost feel Sara chuckling inside his head. -Fair enough.-

Silence passed for a few minutes while Rocky sat, eating his food. Then Sara asked, -Your friend had a point, you know. How are you going to hide your arm? I can't imagine your parents will be pleased, and you look about a schoolboy's age. What will you do to keep people from finding out?-

-I'll just keep wearing jackets and long-sleeves. I'll be able to pass off the blue hand as a glove; I'll wear a blue glove on my real hand to deflect suspicion. If my parents and instructors give me weird looks, I'll just explain it as part of some weird fashion trend I heard about in a magazine or saw on TV or something.-

Another pause as Rocky finished up his lasagna, the only sound in the room being the clinking of his silverware against the plate. All finished, Rocky picked up his plate, brought it to the sink, and began to rinse it.

-Okay, one last question.- Sara said to (metaphorically) break the silence punctuated by the running faucet.

-Shoot.-

-What was that 'religious thing' you were talking about earlier? It sounded like you were making me out to be some kind of oracle.-

Rocky chuckled to himself, shoving his plate and silverware into the empty dishwasher. -Oh, that. Well, you already know how X had Demeter settled after the Exodus of Earth?-

-Yeah,- said Sara.

-Well, after X formed the land of Demeter to suit the Peoples of Man, he left to continue fighting the Dark Machines. But before he disappeared, he left behind an old record of the war—called the Archives—to be preserved by the first High Elder of Demeter for future generations. Long after the original Archives withered with time, new generations of High Elders have taken care to recreate the documents as best they can, and continue to spread the story in the form of the Demeter Chronicles, which is like a record of the history of Demeter since the first colony was founded.

While the general gist of the X and Mankind's origins on Earth still remain in the two Sagas of Earth at the beginning of the Chronicles, the details of the story have gotten lost through the ages. So goes the story, anyway, finished Rocky. I confess I never really put that much stock in the stories of the Elders before. But since you exist and apparently knew X, I guess they can't be that far-fetched.-

-Yeah, I knew him,- said Sara, -but the General was mostly just a guy. Don't get me wrong, he was a brilliant leader and a hero in the eyes of many, but the people of your planet almost make him out to be a kind of god.-

-Not a god exactly,- said Rocky, -More like a messenger. His title is the Fourth Warrior, not the Fourth God.-

-So, like a Messiah, then?- asked Sara.

-What's a Messiah?-

-A Hebrew word; it refers to a sort of spiritual savior or leader anointed by a god.-

-What's Hebrew?-

-A language from Earth, ancient and long dead by the time of X's activation,- Sara explained.

-Well, considering that it's generally accepted that X was crafted as the Fourth Warrior by the Light, then I suppose you're right. X is seen as a Messiah on Demeter. Well, on the continents of Zeus and Hera, anyway. The people of the lands of Hades believe differently, and nobody knows about the Forbidden Continent.-

-Huh. Well, in that case,- Sara replied as Rocky began climbing the stairs to his room. -I guess your people's view of X isn't that far off, though he'd still probably say that you all are making him look grander than he actually is.-

-We probably are,- retorted Rocky. He yawned, undressing down to his underwear before flopping onto the bed. -Anyway, not that talking with you isn't interesting, I'm tired—I'm going to bed. Do you sleep?-

-I haven't gone through any rest cycles the whole period I was underground. Usually in normal circumstances, my systems would be permitted to undergo temporary sleep cycles to cool down while the ship's automated functions take over, but those failsafes wore off years ago. But now that I'm living in your brain, I can just take cooling cycles while only the external nanomachines in your blood keep running to improve homeostasis for your body's major functions. Basically, I sleep when you do now.-

Rocky pulled the covers over himself. -Okay. Well, goodnight then, Sara.-

-Goodnight, Rocky.-

Rocky reached up to the lamp above his bed, and pulled the cord, filling the room with darkness.

A/N: Anyway, so sorry for the delay. I've just been busy for the past couple of weeks. I should have another chapter ready in about two weeks, but I'm making no promises. As for the remake of Return of Lost Memories, I was probably really hasty in promising a simultaneous release, and for that I apologize. But just as a heads up, I would expect that story to be delayed until further notice as I focus on making some headway with Demeter.

Anyway, that's it. Read, review, and let me know what you think!

-Peace.