{Last updated: 3/23/2014}
I have school back, so busy with it once again... Still, sorry for the delay! Not only busy with school stuff— I was sick a few days back... X_x
I intended to make this Chapter 2500+ or 3500+ words... But it turns out to be 4500+ words... Oh, well. xD
Anyways, thank you for your reviews for the previous Chapter, buddies! x3 ..As always, before I continued to the fic, I would like to thank koryandrs, blee7442, Sword Dancer Sapphy, Wolverine the biobot, Snodin, Prometheus16, ethan.muller.35, and plz for the reviews you gave me— it means so much to me and I really appreciate it! Oh, and I would like to thank to any writers who has fav/follow this fanfic, too! x3
Alright! Enough for the chit-chat— on to the story~! :D
Disclaimer : The game company Capcom owns the series "Megaman" and any of its characters in this fic. Piano is owned by Capricorn— the company that create the Japanese fan-game "Rockmen R: Dr. Wily's Counterattack". Blastman is owned by blee7442, and Prometheus is owned by Prometheus16. What I own is the plot of this fanfic~ ^^-
Rock & Roll
Chapter 20 : Retelling the Tragedy
"Dad... Roll is going to be okay, right?"
"Just asking, but... D-Did I damaged her badly...?"
"Don't worry, Megaman, Prometheus. Her systems just received minor damage from the 'waves'. A full scan and fix will bring her back to her healthy state."
Both Megaman and Prometheus gave out a loud, relieved sigh once they heard Dr. Light's answer, glad to know the damage on Roll wasn't big that it wouldn't take long to heal her.
A few minutes before, Megaman and Prometheus finally reached "Dr. Light's Laboratory". With Roll in his arms, Megaman ran for the main lab, with Prometheus following from behind.
They had no intention to surprise Dr. Light, Gutsman, Fireman, Bombman, Auto, and Blast when Megaman and Prometheus burst through the main lab's double door, with the latter yelped when he unconsciously summon a little part of his mysterious light blue energy and make the right door flew off until it reaches the corner far away.
Gutsman, Fireman, and Bombman— who were worried of Megaman and Roll's whereabouts from the start— couldn't help but being quite sensitive, shouting at Prometheus for what he had done. The black-haired male teenager quickly apologized before following Megaman to Dr. Light.
Introducing himself to Dr. Light, Prometheus told the doctor what happened to Roll, and Dr. Light quickly told Megaman to place his little sister to the reparation table for scanning the errors and fix it.
Back to the present, the fixing on Roll was done in a few minutes. Slowly, the blonde girl push herself to a seated position, stretching.
"Ah... It's good to be healthy!" Roll exclaimed, smiling widely as she hopped down from the reparation table. "Thank you for the fix, Dad~!"
"You're welcome, Roll," Dr. Light smiles back, gently caressing his daughter's head.
"Now then," the old kind doctor turned around, looking at the ones present in the room. "Everyone! Gather in a circle!"
Hearing this, everyone nods and sat on the chairs placed around the big, white-colored circle table at the room, with Dr. Light and Roll followed a few seconds later.
Once seated, Megaman closed his eyes, initiating a silent command to revert back to his civilian form. Prometheus yelped in surprise at the sight.
"T-That's your civilian form, Megaman?!" Prometheus exclaimed, eyes wide as saucers.
"Uhm... Y-Yeah. Call me Rock when I'm in this form please," the brunette robot boy said, quite confused at Prometheus' reaction to his current form.
"Y-You look like an innocent boy at that form, you know...?" Prometheus admitted, scratching the back of his head. "A-Almost to the point where I don't think you're the well-known hero Megaman like you told me, fighting this 'Wily' weirdo..."
"No citizen knew my civilian form, actually," Rock said, smiling a little. "It's my personal request too. It'll be a shock for them to know an innocent-looking robot was their hero Megaman."
Prometheus looked at the brunette boy in slight disbelief. "W-... Wow. You hold such a big responsibility there, Rock... And to know no one knew this innocent form of yours except your family was..." he trailed off, having no idea what to say.
Rock only smiles at Prometheus' comment. He actually felt a bit sad that he was only known by the citizens as the blue hero Megaman, and not the ordinary robot boy Rock.
But again, the brunette boy thought, it's my choice to not let them know, so I should deal with this and not protest about it.
Dr. Light cleared his throat, bringing everyone's attention to him.
"Everyone, allow this boy to introduce himself," Dr. Light said to the others, while gesturing Prometheus to let them knew who he is.
"A-Alright, so..." the black-haired male teenager standing up from his seat, "M-My name is Prometheus. I'm a human, and now 14 years old.
"F-First off, I'm sorry to make you all worried of Rock and Roll's well-being," Prometheus continued, looking down, "... and for the damage I did to the latter."
"You better be!" Bombman huffed, crossing his arms.
"Don't forget the door too!" Gutsman followed.
"That's right. The door... Ugh, it cost a lot to repair, you know...?" Auto pointed out, sighing and began to mumble quietly.
"Sheesh, sorry, sorry! I don't mean to summon those blue energy!" Prometheus yelled, only to slap his mouth at the last statement. "Crud..."
"Ah! I almost forgot about that!" Roll quickly got up from her seat, pointing her index finger to the male teenager. "How did you summon those blue energy? Is this connected to what you said as your 'fighting mode'?"
Prometheus slowly looks away. "Uhm... N-No?"
Fireman rolled his eyes at the answer. "... You have to do better than that, boy— you're not good at lying."
"S-Shut up!" Prometheus grumbled, crossing his arms as he huffed. "A-At least now I know other expert scientist besides my father!"
Everyone looked at Prometheus curiously at his last statement. This time, the black-haired male teenager slapped himself on the forehead. "Dang it, dang it, DANG IT!"
Blast— who had been quiet the whole time— finally spoke.
"That's the flaw of being a careless human— you'll spill out the truth before you know it," Blast said bluntly, sipping the E-Tank he currently had in his right grasp. "And you unconsciously summon out your energy Roll mentioned might be because you're... careless."
Prometheus shot a dangerous glare at the blonde robot boy. "W-W-What did you say?! CARELESS?! I-I'm not careless!" he cried loudly, making everyone covering their ears— though Blast somehow able to withstand the male teenager's loud voice. "As for the energy, it's 'the explosion's fault!"
Realizing what he just said, Prometheus slaps his mouth again, while Blast sighs, merely shook his head.
"... See? You're careless, and that's final," the blonde robot boy confirmed, sipping his E-Tank once again.
"... Dang it. You and that deadpan behavior of yours was so... Y-You..." Promethus grumbled, teeth grinding together in annoyance.
"... My name is Blast, not 'You'."
"What the— I'm NOT asking for your name, dang it!" Prometheus exclaimed, his right eye twitched.
"... Stop talking about nonsense and explain yourself, Prometheus."
"Just shut up, will you?!" the male teenager roared, glaring at Blast, who just ignore it as if nothing happened between them.
Everyone could only stare in confusion at Blast. Why would Dr. Cossack— the cheerful man who was the father of Kalinka Cossack— made Blast to be a robot with a deadpan behavior?
Could it be that Dr. Cossack really hiding something...? Rock thought, lowering his head. That time when Dr. Cossack called via video phone... I wonder if he told the truth about why Blast's serial number was 'B'...
Rock was brought out from his thoughts when he heard a loud sigh of defeat escaped Prometheus' mouth.
"Alright, alright. You all got me," the male teenager said, crossing his arms. "I'll tell you everything about myself... You see, I—"
"H-Hold on for a sec, Prometheus," Dr. Light cut off politely, standing up and walked towards the confused teen.
Observing the teen's left upper arm, Dr. Light gasped in surprise, while the others confused and curious what the doctor had found.
"T-This logo..." Dr. Light muttered, looking at the logo with an 'E' alphabet printed at the upper part of Prometheus' left sleeve. "N-No way..."
With widened eyes, Dr. Light looked at Prometheus right in the eye. "A-... Are you or your family a part of a group named 'Exitance Lab' in the past?!"
Prometheus didn't answer Dr. Light's question. Instead, the teen just gave the doctor a small smile, and look away from the shocked doctor.
"'Exitance Lab'...? What is that...?" Roll inquired, looking at Dr. Light in confusion.
"It's a well-known group filled with expert scientists who done research on a very dangerous component— which is anything that has radioactive!" Dr. Light explained, still in shocked state.
Everyone gasped in shock at the doctor's answer. "A-A-Anything that has RADIOACTIVE?!" Rock uttered in disbelief, his bright green eyes grew wide. T-That's totally dangerous and risky!"
"You're right about that, Rock," Dr. Light uttered, shifting his gaze to the brunette robot boy. "But even so, the result of their researches helped many people— starting from the government, other scientists group, or anyone!"
Everyone awed by the revelation. Even Blast shows a hint of amazement in his eyes.
But suddenly, all the amazement on everyone's face quickly changed to shock when Prometheus' low, dark voice was heard.
"Yeah, yeah. Really helping people... So much that it made them overconfident."
Everyone quickly turned their heads to Prometheus, who had a mixture of hatred and sadness on his face.
"W-... What happened?" Rock inquired, wondering why the black-haired male suddenly had such look on his face.
Prometheus sighs, moving his sky blue eyes to the innocent-looking brunette boy.
"... My father is Dr. Giga Exitance— who's also the head of 'Exitance Lab'," Prometheus began, his head lowered. "He's a pacifist— always complaining about my likeness to any stuffs related to samurai, especially after he found out about me buying this sword of mine on local weapon shop when I was 8, by faking my age to be old enough to can buy it— the shopkeeper really paid no attention to his buyer, anyway."
Showing everyone his sword that he kept inside a gold-ornamented black scabbard, Prometheus smiles a little. "But my father... He's also forgiving, telling me to not using the sword when outside to not scare people off.
"If I should comment, he's a weird one," the black-haired male teenager continued. "Despite being a pacifist, he choose to do research on radioactivity. I never knew why a kind, peace-loving man like him choose to face such dangerous thing like radioactivity... But anyways, some expert scientists support his... grotesque researches. Thus, a group called 'Exitance Lab' was made."
"Isn't that, uh... a good thing?" Auto pointed out, looking at the male teenager in confusion.
Upon hearing the green bot's statement, Prometheus gritted his teeth, looking angered. He opened his mouth, and was about to snap to Auto when Blast spoke.
"There was one time where 'Doctor' told me about 'Exitance Lab'," the blonde robot boy began, as all eyes fixed on him. "It was shut down without a word to the public after 4 years being active, and many wondered why ever since."
Blast took another sip of his E-Tank before he continued. "Only expert scientists from around the world and not the part of the group will receive the information of what really happened to 'Exitance Lab'. My creator was one of them, and of course..." he muttered, dark green eyes shifted to Dr. Light "... you're one of the expert scientists, aren't you, Dr. Thomas Light?"
Dr. Light let out a soft gasp at Blast's statement, lowering his head.
"'Doctor' ever told me about Dr. Giga Exitance being a friend of him and you, Dr. Thomas Light," the blonde robot boy said, putting down his E-Tank onto the table. "If it is hard for either the two of you to continue the story, Prometheus, Dr. Thomas Light, I'll take the role to do so— 'Doctor' had told me everything about this."
The room fell silent once the blonde robot boy said so, all eyeing Blast in surprise.
"'Exitance Lab' had proven themselves capable in handling radioactivity. For 4 years, their researches had helped many people, especially scientists..." Blast began, taking his E-Tank back into his right grasp. "However, scientists stopped took interest in radioactivity after one big incident that caused the group to shut down."
"One big incident...?" Auto inquired in wonder. "What is it, Blast?"
"I'm getting to that," Blast replied, taking a sip of his E-Tank before he continued.
"Back then, an unknown strong radioactivity dubbed 'Blue Matter' was detected at the underground of a city called Gold Empire, which located at Taiwan. 'Exitance Lab's crew were asked to check on it by the leader of the city— a man known as 'Mayor'. He never revealed his name, so don't expect me to know it.
"Anyway, back to the story..." the blonde robot boy continued. "After 'Exitance Lab' had done research on it for 2 weeks, they finally found that 'Blue Matter'... were extraterrestrial— meaning they were originating from outside our planet Earth."
A loud, collective gasps filled the room at Blast's last statement.
"This fact made 'Exitance Lab's crew eager to find a way to use this strong, extraterrestrial radioactivity. For weeks, they made a machine that would collect all 'Blue Matter' in the area into a small sphere made of electricity, and had made a special container for that," Blast continued the story when everyone had overcome their shock. "Once the machine were done, they activated it. At first, nothing went wrong. However—"
"B-Blast," Promethues interrupted suddenly, and held out a stopping hand to the blonde robot boy, who at the moment, looked at him in slight confusion, "l-let me continue this part... T-Thank you."
Blast was silent for a moment before he finally nods. "I don't think you'll be ready to tell everyone about 'that'... But if that's what you want, Prometheus, then I allow you to do so."
Prometheus nods back to Blast, taking a deep breath before he let it out, and looked up to everyone— curiosity filled their eyes.
"The machine... i-it... it malfunction," Prometheus began, hearing the others gasped for what he just said, "I-It was the first time I came with my father to see him and his men work... b-but I never thought... it'll end unpleasantly...
"T-The machine... instead of collecting 'Blue Matter' in the area into a small sphere made of electricity, it create a BIG one... SO big that I think it has contained all 'Blue Matter' in the area. H-However..." Prometheus paused, choose to stay silent for a moment before he sighs, and continued his story again.
"... T-The machine's malfunction... caused the big electrified-sphere to... e-... ex-... explode."
"NO!" Rock quickly stood up, fear and shock were written on his face. "P-Prometheus... P-Please, you don't have to—"
"It's my choice, Rock," Prometheus quickly blurted in, then continuing the story.
"Everyone— including my father and I— were caught in the explosion..." the black-haired male teenager continued. "I woke up 20 minutes later, only to find that... t-that I... t-that I'm..."
Prometheus took a deep breath— almost like gasping, his glistened eyes told the obvious fact that he try not to cry, "t-that I'm... t-the... the only survivor."
Prometheus' breath was hardened, and before he knew it, tears had fallen from his glistened sky blue eyes, making him gasp.
Everyone in the room was about to tell Prometheus to stop telling his unexpectedly tragic past when Blast sighs.
"I'll take it from here, Prometheus, whether you like it or not," the blonde robot boy said, expecting to see the black-haired teen suddenly fell to his knees and covering his face— and possibly crying.
"As Prometheus said before," Blast began, placing his E-Tank back on the table, "he's the only survivor from 'Blue Matter's explosion. Due to this story never intended for the public eye, it was never revealed to anyone who is the only survivor, dubbed as 'mysterious survivor' instead."
Blast shifted his gaze to Dr. Light. "... Am I right, Dr. Thomas Light? I believe you were surprised to find Prometheus was the 'mysterious survivor' told at the story for the expert scientists."
Dr. Light sighs, looking down. "Y-... Yes. I-I do."
"Wait. If 'Exitance Lab' shut down 4 years ago," Fireman uttered, his wide eyes focused to Prometheus— who still on his knees, "t-then he's 10 years old when the incident happens!"
"True..." Blast answered with a nod. "I have no idea how he survived. But maybe you have explanation on that, Prometheus?"
Silence was all everyone met with, with Prometheus still covering his face. But a moment later, the black-haired teen let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes with his long sleeve before he looked up to everyone.
"W-Well... I do," Prometheus began, closing his eyes, appeared to struggling with his memories. "When the explosion was coming after me, I saw... a crystalline object. It floats before me... in vertical position. I have no idea what it was... My memory of that object was nothing but a blur... But somehow, I believe the crystalline object was the one that made me survived the explosion, and gave me this 'Blue Matter' infection instead."
"This infection... What did it 'give' to you, Prometheus?" Dr. Light asked the black-haired teen.
"It allow me to manipulate my energy to something impossible for normal humans. For example..." Prometheus raised both his hands, trails of light blue energy flew around his hands before a pair of energy-made throwing stars were made, surprising everyone.
"I can create throwing stars made from energy, executing small laser beam, and..." Prometheus swallowed hard, "I don't think you all would believe it, but this infection also allow me to fly in a certain time."
Auto felt his jaw dropped. "... F-Fly? You mean like, birds...?"
Prometheus rolled his eyes. "Yes, big guy, like those birds. Here, let me show you," he said, and jumped from his spot. Trails of light blue energy were flying around his feet before he began to move around at the room's ceiling, shocking everyone.
"Y-You're REALLY flying!" Gutsman exclaimed, his eyes grew wide. "A-And here I thought you just joking!"
"Of course I'm not! Why would I?" Prometheus said with a smirk, landing back on the floor on his feet. "But still... Even though I looked like I have mastered this, there are times where I couldn't control this infection of mine properly. So that's why I trained by myself at wide spaces like lush forest and such. It helped me a lot, really."
After Prometheus said so, Blast put his hand under his chin, appeared to be thinking.
"Hmm... Training, huh?" Blast looked up to the black-haired male teenager. "Perhaps, you could join and help me with my quest, Prometheus."
Prometheus gave the blonde robot boy a confused look. "... Huh?"
"I've always encountered Dr. Wily's robot enemies when I'm doing my quest to search for his fortress, and they're quite a trouble," Blast explained, standing up from his seat. "You could fight them as a part of your 'training' so your energy-manipulating 'skills' could get better. This will also helped me as there would be less energy drained from me so I could work longer."
Blast closed his eyes, initiating a silent command to transform to his armored form. Prometheus yelped in surprise at the sight.
"Dang it! First was Rock, and now you...?" Prometheus huffed, crossing his arms. "You guys got to stop doing that! At least say something!"
"... My apologies," Blast— now Blastman— said, bringing his left hand to the left side of his helmet. A sound of a 'click' was heard, and lifted down from his helmet is a black visor, which hides his dark green eyes out from the view. "I promise to alert you next time, Prometheus."
Blastman offered his hand forward for a shake. "What do you say, Prometheus? Are you in, or not?"
Prometheus looked at Blastman for a moment before he flashed the male orange robot a smirk.
"Fighting robots built by this 'Wily' weirdo, eh? That sure sounds fun!" the black-haired male teenager exclaimed, took and shake hands wit Blastman. "Well, I'm in! An offer like this wouldn't come twice, eh?"
"I, uh... suppose so," Blastman uttered with a hint of confusion. At this, Prometheus silently hoped the robot wasn't wearing his black visor so he could see the look of wonder at Blastman's face.
"Well, I'm glad for your alliance with us, Prometheus," Auto commented, but suddenly stomping the floor quite hard that everyone yelped in surprise. "But DON'T you ever forget about the door you broke!"
"G-Geez! I've told you I'm sorry for that one, big guy!" Prometheus said with a humph. "I'll try to find a way to repair it later! ... Maybe."
The teen's answer only made Auto mad. "Oh, you little troublemaker!" he said, and dashed towards Prometheus with his arms on the front.
"O-Oh, my... You've got to be kidding me!" Prometheus exclaimed almost frantically, yelping before he made a dash from his spot, with the angry Auto following from behind him. Blastman merely shook his head at the sight, while the others laughed at the unexpected funny scene before their eyes...
~~~~0~~~~
- Meanwhile, in a fortress somewhere far away... -
Dr. Wily arched an eyebrow up when he saw Bass— with Treble at his side— came through the door of his lab. What caught the doctor's attention was the confused look on the black robot's face.
"So, old man..." Bass began, not bothering to call his creator something more polite despite ever being talked about 'manners' from his creator, "what the heck that two-faced robot girl was working on? I saw her... messing with multiple set of your lab equipment... on something. Seriously, she always hides it every time me and Treble came."
The look of wonder at Dr. Wily's face instantly turned to a wicked one at this. "Oh, you mean your little sister Piano, right?" the mad doctor said, expecting to hear a groan of annoyance from his black robot. "Well, Bass, what she was working on doesn't matter for a traitor like you. I can tell you, though, that she was working on something very useful for me later on."
Bass gritted his teeth. "You're not answering my question, old man," he groaned, crossing his arms. "Also, if you had the nerve to call me a 'traitor', then why not deactivated me or something?"
Dr. Wily laughed at the statement, making Bass growled. "You're— like Piano— a special fighting robot that I built, Bass, who— to my annoyance— have no manners over me. So you turn your on back on me for some unexplainable reasons were totally acceptable."
"You're trying to make me angry, aren't you?" Bass said indignantly, glaring at his creator. Treble— sensing his master's anger— growled and shot a piercing glare at Dr. Wily.
Dr. Wily smirked in amusement at the sight, but smart enough to not comment about it to avoid getting attacked. "Not at all, Bass. But I've got to say this, though... Ever since Piano was activated, she had helped me a lot, proving herself to be a successful robot of mine. Heh... Maybe I have a reason to threw you away, after all— she's more advanced than you, anyway."
Bass gritted his teeth in anger, crimson eyes fixed to the laughing mad doctor. "So YOU want me to get angry, after all!" the black robot roared, switching his left hand to a Buster and points it to his creator.
However, before Bass could do more, a new hand grabbed his left Buster arm quite roughly, making the black robot shifted his gaze to his left side.
"Tch, YOU!" Bass gritted his teeth, angry crimson orbs fixed to the bored-looking eyes owned by Coldman— whose right hand still holding the black robot's left Buster arm.
"I'm totally not a fan of you. In fact, I kind of hate you ever since my shameful defeat in your and Megaman's hands back at 'King Incident'," Coldman muttered, watching Bass tried to pry his left arm from his rough grip, but to no avail. "But as a fellow robot made by Dr. Wily— or his robot King, if you prefer it that way— you have to know your manners, SWN-001."
"... Tch!" Bass finally can pry his left arm from Coldman's grip, switching it back to a normal hand. "Just now, you said you hate me. So why bother to stop me from attacking that old man?!"
"I've told you, SWN-001. Manners," the defensive ice-themed Robot Master replied, quite harshly. "And I still want to have a rematch with you, anyway."
Bass humphed, crossing his arms. "... And the blue-dweeb?"
"I'll fight him soon enough," Coldman said, turning his body around and walks away from Bass. "With you, I can wait— whenever it is."
"Oh, yeah? What if you got that Roll girl instead?"
Coldman stopped on his track. "Our 'little sister' was too excited that she wouldn't let me have the girl."
Before the stunned Bass could say out his shock to Coldman, the defensive ice-themed Robot Master back on his way to get out of the room, followed with a grinning Dr. Wily from behind, leaving Bass in pure anger and annoyance as he watched the two left the room...
Poor Prometheus. Auto just couldn't get over the broken door, could he...?xD
.. And Bass seems so furious after knowing SOMETHING! What could it be...? O.o
Stay tuned for the next Chapter~! ^^-
Totally random, but I wanna say that maybe you guys not noticing it, but I'm naming new Chapters' with words beginning with or having suffix "re-"... Glad I still manage to found words having "re-" to name the Chapters... Hmm, I wonder what "re-" words I'll use for the next Chapter... x3
Oh, just in case you wondered how Taiwan made an appearance here, look for "Rockman Gold Empire" on your search engine, and you'll see why. :3
.. Aaaaaand here are the replies for the reviews of Chapter 19~ :
blee7442 : Yup! Another one that would fit the story! ^^ ..Aww, thanks! Your interest mean something to me~! x3 ..Again, thank you for the review! I really appreciate it! :D
Prometheus16 : Thanks for the 10 point! ... And JUMP FOR JOY~! ^^- ..Aww, thanks! You saying it great meant something to me~! x3 ..Again, thank you for the review! I really appreciate it! :D
plz : It's nice to see you back, buddy! Welcome back~! ^_^- ..To answer your question, YES! It's because of the radioactivity that Megaman and Roll's... 'trasporter thingies' to be off. xD ..Again, thank you for the review! I really appreciate it! :D
... End replies~! ;D ..Once again, thank you for the reviews and supports, everyone! That really means a lot to me~ :'D ..I'm glad you enjoyed this story, even though I always make you all down by the late updates... X_x
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You know what they said; "Nobody's Perfect". So I beg your pardon if there's some errors and 'weird' sentences in this Chapter. Thank you to you all who've read, fav, follow, and review this story! :) ..Well, as always, next Chapter is in-progress. So stay tuned for more Chapters, everyone! Cheers~! ^^-
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Have a good day, buddies~! O:)