Still standing in the middle of the street, Megaman rolled his shoulders as the ache from sliding on the cement began to settle in; he was grateful his armor could protect him, but he couldn't help but feel that he should invest in a helmet. He looked over and waved at Tron and the Servbots, who waved back awkwardly, and then started to walk towards the bank that Suede had attacked.

Standing outside of the bank were two men that looked like security guards, while a crowd of people had formed inside near the exit. Everybody was being careful not to stand directly under the parts of the wall that threatened to cave in further. Addressing the guards, Megaman asked, "Hey, is everyone okay? The way that guy hit this place was pretty scary."

The first guard, a portly guy, answered, "Hey back, nobody got hurt, thank goodness. But kid, are you okay after fighting that guy?"

"I'm fine, I've taken worse hits." Megaman flexed his buster arm, but that action made him flinch as pain shot up his arm. Shoot, he was really gonna have to rest after this. "Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"What was the pirate after? I think I heard him say something about jewels?"

"Oh, you hadn't heard about it?" The second guard chimed in quite happily. "There's a set of crowns, king and queen, that have been in a museum here for years. We thought they were local history for our island, so they just sat around for a while, but it was recently discovered that they're linked to some multi-island kingdom!"

It was at that time that several police cars, the ones Megaman had been hearing come closer, pulled in front of the bank and came to a screeching halt. The portly guard did a waving motion that seemed to say 'stop' before using one hand to gesture for them to come closer, so the sirens of the cars were silenced as the police force stepped out of their vehicles. Some of the officers immediately began to barricade the street off, but two of them instead walked towards Megaman and the two guards. The first officer was in a simple brown suit, while the second wore the blue uniform but had a few badges pinned to his chest.

Megaman took a couple steps back as the suited man began to speak to the guards, his tone firm and full of authority. "What happened? Leave nothing out."

The fatter guard began to describe the entire incident in a calm voice. Megaman wanted to listen in, but he felt something hit him lightly in the back of the head. He turned around to see Tron point at both of her eyes and then at his feet before walking away without a word. His eyes fell to the ground, where he noticed a ball of paper that he swiftly picked up. Opening it up, it said: Go talk to the police, we'll meet up later.

Later? Later when? It's not like her family lived in that warehouse, right? So where would he-

"Young man."

Megaman snapped to attention when he was addressed by the suit-wearing officer, who had approached without him realizing. "Yes sir?"

"I'm Police Chief Richard Hyde, and this is my second-in-command Lieutenant Raymond Hitch." The decorated officer behind him nodded, but didn't speak. "Do you mind me asking you some questions about this incident?"

"Not at all, go ahead, sir." He definitely wasn't about to refuse to answer questions, even if Tron hadn't said anything.

"First off, what made you get involved? Pirates, especially in heavy machines, are not the type of situation children should be getting involved in."

"I just wanted to stop people from getting hurt, Mister Hyde." Megaman held his arm out and demonstrated his buster arm. "I fight reaverbots as a Digger, so I knew I could at least buy time for the police to arrive."

"Hm." Whatever the police chief thought of that, it didn't show on his face. "Second, according to the guards, it seemed as if you knew the pirate."

Megaman pondered how to explain that part in a simple way. "I answered a newspaper ad this week to move and load containers onto a truck. Suede, the pirate I fought, was the one who put me to work in the warehouse. There was also a driver, but between his hat and his sunglasses I don't know what he looks like."

"Would you be willing to show us this warehouse you worked in, as well as come down to the station to work with our sketch artist? We want to identify both of the people you saw as soon as we can so we can be on the lookout for them."

"Sure, no problem." Megaman paused as he realized something. "Is there a chance I can let my family know what's going on so they don't worry too much?"

Richard gave a wry smile. "That won't be an issue. We'll drive you to your home first, and then ask that you show us the warehouse."

Unfortunately, when Megaman returned to the Flutter with a police escort only Data was home to greet him, so he quickly wrote a brief note and left it for the others to find. The trip to the warehouse he worked at for Suede was equally brief, as it only amounted to Megaman walking in after the lock was broken to confirm "Yep, it was this one." Apparently the police would sweep the place for fingerprints and anything else Suede might have left behind.

His visit to the police station, on the other hand, took at least a couple of hours between describing both men for the sketch artist and answering more questions from another officer, just to 'make sure his story stayed consistent.' Yes officer, he was sure the mystery driver was a man. No officer, he didn't know where they took the loaded boxes to. No sir, Suede's nose wasn't that fat, in fact it was pretty thin. It wouldn't have felt so bad to deal with if the policeman questioning him hadn't initially had the wrong idea that he was an accomplice to the attack, only "attacking the mech to move suspicion away from him." That line of thought was only put to rest for good when Lieutenant Raymond poked his head into the room and simply said "Stop it" to the officer before leaving again.

Once he was finally released from the interrogation and left the police station, he walked back to the Flutter with only questions in his mind. Nobody at the station would describe the jewels Suede mentioned, but the security guard had been about to, so it couldn't be that difficult to find out about. Was it his job to handle, though? Shouldn't he leave it to the police?

"Maybe…"

Maybe the reason he felt so invested in this was because he had been duped by the pirate. He'd been willing to just forget about that, but seeing both the bank and Tron attacked had him on edge. It wasn't as if he could just spend his days protecting the bank, though; he still needed to work, and Suede could try something else, anyways. All he could do for now was hope the police caught him without any problems.

It was with heavy steps that Megaman climbed the ladder that led to the Flutter's main entrance. Once he was on solid footing, he opened the door and announced, "I'm home."

"Megaman!" Roll immediately responded from the living room, walking around the corner to get a good look at him. "I saw the note, are you sure you're okay after fighting a pirate?!"

"I'm a little sore, but otherwise I'm good." He made sure to smile to get her to settle down. "I just wish the pirate hadn't gotten away."

"I'm more worried about you than the pirate," she grumbled; still, her expression softened. "I'm glad you're okay."

The door to Gramps' room opened, and the Elder Caskett walked out with Data on his shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay, too. We saw the damage from the attack from the news, but they didn't say much about what specifically happened."

"Well-"

Knock-knock-knock

Everyone paused, but Megaman spoke first. "Were we expecting anyone?"

Roll shook her head, so he turned back to the entrance and called out, "Who is it?"

"It's Tron!"

"Oh!" He quickly opened the door to see Tron standing there, giving a casual wave to him. "Hi! How did you know where to find me?"

"One of the Servbots saw you being driven by the police." Tron smirked a little. "Our little jailbird Megaman, huh?"

He narrowed his eyes a little to give her a deadpan look, but he couldn't quite stop his smile at her joke. "I sure hope not. So what's going on?"

"I wanted to talk about earlier with you, but first, do you mind if my Brother and I both come in?"

"Teisel's here, too?" Tron shifted her body to the side so that he could look down the ladder, and sure enough Teisel was at ground level holding what appeared to be two boxes of pizza. "Aw, you guys didn't have to bring food. Sure, come on in."

Tron waved Teisel in before entering herself. With the entryway already crowded, the group silently agreed to move towards the living room. As everybody got seated, Megaman began the introductions. "Tron, Teisel, this is my family: Roll and Barrell Caskett, and the monkey is Data."

"Ee-eek!"

"Everyone, these are Teisel and Tron Bonne, who I've been tutoring for."

Teisel gave Gramps a firm handshake while Tron simply nodded at Roll, who smiled back and said, "It's nice to meet you. Megaman's been telling us about your Servbots and how hard they work."

The younger Bonne puffed her chest out with pride. "My children are pretty good kids, as long as they focus."

Everyone shared a chuckle at that, then Teisel said, "To get straight to the point, Megaman, I wanted to say thanks for keeping Tron safe. I know it's not much, but we figured the pizza would feed you pretty well after having to spend all afternoon with the police."

"I'm just glad she's safe," he replied honestly. He glanced at her when he said it, and couldn't help but notice her cheeks had gotten a little pinker. "If you don't mind me asking about it, Teisel, that Suede guy seemed to know who you are. It was why he attacked her."

"Yeah, we have a brief history." Teisel sighed a bit heavily. "It was seven, maybe eight years ago? He was just a two-bit thief, and I happened to overhear him planning to steal from a certain business; so, I slipped the police a tip about him. But Young Me had a big head, and I wound up going in person to where he'd be."

Megaman tilted his head in confusion. "Why? To… brag?"

"More or less. I got in his way before he broke in and rubbed it in his face that the cops were on their way." Teisel rubbed the back of his head with a complicated expression. "The folly of youth, I say, especially now that it's come back to bite me."

Barrell nodded sagely. "So Megaman fought off the pirate when he went after Tron. But what was he after before he saw her?"

"The crown set," answered Tron simply. "Short version, a very valuable pair that was shown off in the news. It was announced that they've been sold already, and the island is just waiting for some heavy-duty escort to come take them. I could see a pirate or two wanting to get their hands on them."

Roll crossed her arms in thought. "I'm glad Megaman could stop him, but the news article said that he wasn't arrested, right?"

"Mhm." Megaman's mind traveled back to earlier that day. "We were fighting, then somebody I couldn't hear told him something that made him leave. The cops came not long after he was gone."

The room fell silent for a moment, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Tron and Teisel share a look; when Tron raised one eyebrow ever so slightly, Teisel minutely shook his head. Following this unknown cue, Tron openly shrugged and changed the topic with, "Well, for right now there's nothing we can do. So, I've gotta say that this ship is pretty cute. What's her name?"

"The Flutter," answered Roll with a smile. "She's our home, sweet home."

"Ee-eek?"

"No, Data," Megaman responded to the monkey. "I don't wanna bother them with that."

Tron and Teisel both looked confused, but the former said, "You understand his monkey sounds?"

"Uh, yeah, when he talks I always hear full sentences. Only me, though, everyone else just hears 'ee-eek.'"

"Huh." Teisel seemed not to know how to respond to that. "Well, what did he want to say to us?"

Megaman gave a little sigh. "Well, the Flutter needs some repairs. Data wanted me to ask you if you might have spare parts we can use in the engine room."

"Oh?" There was a twinkle in Tron's eyes that Megaman was at a loss to describe. "As it just so happens, we might be able to help. Roll, mind taking me to see what needs fixing?"

"Okay, but we don't want you to feel like you have to help." Roll continued talking while they walked towards the internal ladder together. "I'd hate for you to feel like we're mooching off of you."

"Nah, don't worry about it. We have our own ship fixes to do, so we happened to-"

The conversation became hard to hear, and Teisel let out a little laugh. "At least the girls are getting along. While we wait for them to come back, why don't the two of you tell me about your recent digs? I bet there's been some serious action since you can fight, Megaman."

"I don't mind, but there isn't much to talk about, honestly." Megaman and Barrell proceeded to share the details of the last few expeditions, and how unlucky they'd been for finding treasure of any sort. While they talked they began to eat the pizza that was brought over, though Data was quick to remind him to save some for the girls.

It was about thirty minutes later when Tron and Roll returned, and the former launched straight into a statement with a complicated expression. "So, good news/bad news time. The good news is that we can spare a few parts for the engine room, so the Servbots will be bringing those over sometime soon; the bad news, though, is that your refractor is almost completely drained."

Megaman let out an understanding 'hm'. "Which means we're still going to need money to replace it."

"Yeah," Roll answered sadly. "The way Tron sees it, we would be able to leave the island with it, but there's no guarantee it'd last until the next city. The last thing we need is to crash in the middle of the ocean."

"Oh well." Barrell offered both of the Bonnes a smile. "We appreciate you offering us your spare parts. Thank you."

"Oh, what's a few nuts and bolts between friends?" Teisel stood up and nodded to himself. "I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of each other. Look out for your neighbor and all that fun stuff."

""Hahaha."" The group shared a laugh at him, and he wasn't at all offended by it. He flashed a thumbs up to Tron, who grinned back before diving into her own portion of the pizza.

Megaman felt his earlier tension easing a bit. So what if this Suede guy was still around? He still had his family, and now a new family to be friends with in the Bonnes. Life was pretty good, all things considered.

-X-

Tron and Teisel left once the pizza was all gone, waving goodbye to the Flutter and everyone on it. Teisel waited to speak until they were out of sight of the small airship. "So? What's the verdict?"

"No pirate equipment at all," answered Tron with a grin. "They're exactly who they say they are. Are you willing to bet on my idea now?"

"Use Megaman as an anti-Suede weapon, huh?" The older Bonne scratched his chin in thought. "If he's as good at fighting as you say he is, then I'm all for it. But how were you thinking of getting him to work with us? It's not like we can tell them what we really do."

"Just leave that to me. I'll make it sound like we're doing the whole island a favor. And anyways, I want to-" She paused there.

"You want to do what, Tron?"

See more of him. But there was no way she could say that out loud. "And anyways, he already showed that he has my back. He didn't need to jump in and protect me today, but he did it anyway. We'll make this work."

"Alright, then we'll do it. We're about to be that whole family's best friends until we know what's going to happen with the jewels next! Hehehe!" Teisel was obviously excited, but he at least managed to restrain himself from doing a full laugh in the middle of the street. "Let's make sure the Servbots are monitoring the police conversations again, we need to stay on top of everything!"

"Right!" She pumped her fist with determination. They were gonna get those crowns, and that Suede guy was gonna get what's coming to him, no matter what!