Rakkuman Dashu -- Future's Path!

Chapter 1

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The piercing sound of an alarm clock echoed through the enclosed medium-sized space, its catchy melody doing little to soothe the slumbering figure that took it upon herself to set the darn thing; with a full plate of work in mind. Mere seconds passed and the sound transformed from intolerable to unbearable, forcing her to act against her will and to dig through the thick blanket that right now gave off the perfect temperature for rest... unfortunately, such a moment was a one in a hundred event in her book. Whining helplessly, a hand shot out of the comforter to search for the accursed clock that she placed right beside her sanctuary.

"Five more minutes..." A soft, tired voice made itself known from under the the blanket as her fingers came to feel the hard outer-casing of her useful yet very annoying machine. Not surprisingly, her sleep-muddled conscious was tempted to just push it off the drawer... but the small thought in the back of her head saying that if it was still ringing when it hit the floor, then she would have to force herself out of the bed just to close it, got the better of her.

After promptly searching for the 'kill' button and finally closing the alarm, her hand fell lazily on the drawer, and she let herself have a few more rested breaths before getting up. At least the alarm reminded her that she set it a good ten minutes before she needed to start the day. As thoughts of recent stature and what would happen today registered in her mind, she let out a soft sigh, clutching the stuffed monkey she was holding on to a little tighter. She missed Data.

"You're always there for him... even now." She spoke wistfully, staring at the stuffed toy that had a striking resemblance to her best friend's guardian. She always did feel a tinge of jealousy when it came to those two. No matter how close she tried to be with him; how much she tried to help him, Data was always there no matter what... appearing and meeting her childhood friend in places she had no idea the harmless looking monkey could even survive on. What's worse was that he never even scolds it for being in such a dangerous place! Not to mention that he's scolded 'her' a few times for even trying to be more of a help than she... "Oh boy, there I go again..."

Combing her messy blonde hair with her fingers, she let out another bothered sigh. As the weeks flew endlessly by with almost no sign of progress, she's been finding herself more and more disturbed just by the mere mention of his name. It actually hurt that she hasn't been able to create a rocket powerful enough to reach the depths of space and finally pick him up from that... that prison. Each passing day added another coat of guilt and impatience, and honestly, she didn't think she could handle another month without him. 'Darnit, Megaman... if it's the last thing I do I'm getting you home!'

Though she couldn't help but dread about her very dramatic promise not happening anytime soon...

"Roll?" Came the aging voice that always seemed to brighten her mood from just outside the metal door--and there couldn't have been a better time... she was feeling the humid air of pent-up tension lifting already. "Are you awake dear?"

"Just about..." Roll let in a deep whiff, taking in the relaxing scent of her bed one more time before permanently waking herself up. Still lying on her stomach, she streched her drowsy legs as far as it could go, feeling the relief overwhelm her body as she finally felt ready to give her body orders... it was odd though, she was usually ready before Gramps even had the distant thought of waking up. "is anything wrong?"

"Oh, no, of course not... I'm just here to tell you that we'll be reaching the Sulphur-Bottom in roughly ten minutes," The calm, slightly high-pitched voice replied, and Roll's eyes widened. "I'll just be watching some television if you need me... the reception out here in the middle of nowhere is very convenient; even the Kattelox news network is showing."

"All right Gramps, thanks." A wide smile had crept up her reddish lips at the aforementioned Sulphur-Bottom; she almost forgot about that! Mister Bleucher was supposed to give them some supplies and a few powerful pieces of equipment, going on and on about how it was the least he could do... of course, with or without the really long speech to the press about how he was helping them, they still appreciated what Vener was going to do for them. In fact she didn't mind much of it at all, just as long as it brought him back to her... oh, and to Gramps too, yeah. "Be out in ten."

She thoughtfully listened to the light, dragging footsteps that followed, waiting for the sound to disappear completely before propping herself up with one arm and softly coaxing her other limbs to do the same. Surprisingly, most of her drowsiness had already worn off--probably because there was actually a chance of Megaman and Data being back in Terra before next month. Removing the silk hat that came with her pink pajamas, Roll sat in an upright position and let out a relieved morning yawn before putting on the pair of fuzzy slippers that she had neatly placed on the left side of her bed the night before. It was going to be a good day, she could feel it.

Just then, she heard a small orchestra singing from inside her desk drawer. Before Roll even recognized it as the sound of her new ring-tone, she already knew who was on the other line. 'Maybe I spoke a little too soon...'

o-----

"Hello? Is this Roll?" On what looked to be a rural patch of green and brown that seemed to stretch for miles on all sides, a decent establishment of copper and steel occupied the middle ground, ruining any first impressions because of the large, cylindrical rocket in the middle of the man-made base. From afar it would look as though the land itself moved peacefully with guile, little yellow dots darting to and fro... but up close it was anything 'but' peaceful. Chaotic was probably a better term. "It's Tron--what kind of supplies did you get? What? What do you mean early? Megaman's rotting up there and all you can... huh? On your 'pajamas'? It's eight forty, pull yourself together!"

"Uhm, miss Tron?" A tiny voice interrupted her scolding, pairing the sudden sound with an equally annoying tug on her pink skirt. "Can I uh... tell you something?"

"'Yes' it's almost nine, and you told me that I'd at least have something to make an outlet for by eight! And I'm sure you know how long it takes to--"

"Miss Tron!"

The young girl responded threateningly, leaning down and bringing her head to an equal level with the oblivious looking Servbot. She did it so fast and without warning that the small yellow robot let out a small 'eep' as piercing green eyes narrowed on wide black ones. "What did I tell you about bothering me while I'm on the phone sixteen???"

"B-but miss Tron... it's uhm, important..."

The female pirate looked thoughtful for a moment, before rolling her eyes in defeat and with a feminine grumble, unenthusiastically put the skull phone beside her right ear. "Listen, I'll call you back."

Standing tall once again and dropping the phone back to its original postion on top of the charger, Tron placed both of her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh. She'd never been this lenient with... well, just about anyone untilrecently... but she knew that it was bound to happen, especially when you lived with forty little robots twenty-four seven and they all had their own distinct personalities--the perfect example being number sixteen with his instinctive uh's and uhm's... she guessed it also had something to do with everything else that's been happening lately; Sera, Elysium, Forbidden Island... leading her back to her previous thoughts and questions on how she managed to memorize all forty of her little trouble-makers, sometimes even being able to correctly name them without so much as a clue. And considering the fact that they all looked and sounded the same well... it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was a difficult feat to accomplish. But she couldn't really enjoy the encouraging praises of having mastered such a skill because frankly, there was none... whatever. All this soulful thinking wasn't helping her at all. Life's little mysteries and astonishments were just so... so useless, sometimes. "All right, this better be important."

The Servbot let out a little smile before proceeding, a simple gesture that always did wonders to soften his creator up. "Okay uhm, remember last night, when you told me and twelve; 'I want the bathroom light fixed two hours ago'?"

"Yeah..." Actually, she recalled it a bit more effortlessly than she was expecting to... like she had told them only an hour or so ago. Now she was certain something was wrong. "why?"

Number sixteen's eyes suddenly started to fog up and moisten, to Tron's genuine surprise. "We couldn't do as you asked... two hours ago passed by so quickly and..."

Tron gestured for the Servbot to stop talking before rubbing the tender skin in between her eyes and shaking her head in what looked to be disappointed silence. A huge frown was now making its way up number sixteen's blocky face when all of a sudden, she squatted in front of him and let out an understanding smile that surprised them both. "Sixteen... is that all you're worried about? I was only telling you two to finish it quickly, I didn't actually 'mean' two hours ago--it was just a figure of speech."

"Really? Uh... it was?"

'Leave it to a Servbot to take things literally.' Tron thought to herself, feeling a little guilty that she let them sweat over something as trivial as the bathroom light. There were things so much more important right now... like getting Megaman back. As if on cue to her own thoughts of the heroic blue boy in shining armor, flashes of his so-called 'best friend' ran through her mind as well. She was never really too fond of the sunflower-haired mechanic; Tron had to admit though, they had plenty of things in common... and that was probably what irked her the most. "Yep. It's impossible to do it unless you turned the clock back."

"Oh, yeah... uhm, about that..." Number sixteen let out a sheepish, fearful laugh as the young girl began to question the other Servbot's unique tendency... "number twelve actually 'did' turn the clock two hours."

"What? Then that means it's already ten and Roll hasn't--wait... twelve did it?" Tron interrupted herself, and sixteen nodded a yes. Her mind then played out all of the Servbots' personality problems from one to twelve, and when she finally 'did' recall number twelve's defficiency... 'Uh-oh.'

The Servbot in front of her now fought the urge to be confused as her eyes darted over to the blue-print table, which had three mugs of coffee; all finished to the last drop. And if she wasn't mistaken, twelve was known to be a little lacking when it came to letters and numbers... no, that was probably a lie. Twelve was 'very' lacking--dyslexic, even. There also wasn't much left to do with a clock if you didn't turn it backwards...

"Let me guess... he didn't turn the clock two hours 'backwards', did he?"

"Uhm... no... he didn't."

"I see." Tron tried to remember what time she slept and woke up... she hit the hay at about three in the morning, and she could recall telling sixteen and twelve to fix the lights right before she went to bed. She woke up at six. Ending up with only her pinky positioned straight in a hand full of clenched fingers, the pirate girl felt a wave of stress overcome her tired, slim body at the grim realization that her full night's sleep couldn't even be called a cat nap. "If anyone needs me I'll be counting sheep for the next two hours... oh, and sixteen?"

"Yes, miss Tron?"

Sarcastic indifference transformed into pure, acidic venom in an instant as she once again brought her face down as close and as imposing as it could go, her nose poking the spot where the Servbot's would've been if ever she'd made one. "If I 'ever', catch you or twelve in my room after dark again I am gonna have you both neutered! Got that???"

"Uhm... o-okay..." The Servbot looked on, looking a little more confused and surprised than afraid. "but what does new... nuuu..."

"Oh, nevermind! Just get outta here, scoot!" Number sixteen yelped in surprise before hurriedly running out of the planning room, leaving Tron to brood about her lack of sleep. Now she was going to have to return her clock back to its original time, completely deny having called Roll in case she asked, and put a 'do not disturb... or else' sign in front of her bedroom door... hm. Maybe she should rethink the deny thing. One of the Servbots could have played a prank call on her... yeah. That sounded believable. In any case, she couldn't go back to bed now, not after those three mugs of coffee. How on Terra did she get hooked up on the stuff anyway? She was turning sixteen for goodness' sake... besides, she was 'way' too pretty to be working herself to death--

"Miss Trooon?" Came that same, tiny voice that could've only come from a Servbot's mouth, once again interrupting her much needed thinking time. But the boiling anger was short-lived; it felt as though her sleepless nights have finally taken its toll and decided to cut off some of her girlish energy. The call came from the kitchen downstairs--she was just glad that they weren't anywhere near her at the time. "Do you know where all the potaaatoooes went???"

Dead give-away... without a doubt, the dreaded call came from number twenty. A few days after Megaman's one way trip to Elysium, the once shy, soft-spoken Servbot found himself treading on the kitchen, a little curious on what exactly was in the curry they were eating all the time. Upon inspection of the ingredients, he found a little brown spud and began to gnaw on it... thus, the potato maniac was born. And ever since then they haven't had a decent curry meal, not 'one', because they were always lacking when it came to potatoes; it was obviously no surprise why... though things have otherwise returned to normal when Tron finally thought of a solution, allowing him a maximum of only three raw potatoes a day. But even with the dire consequences of disobeying direct orders, it never stopped the spud hungry Servbot from thoroughly looking for the well-hidden potato sack, and helplessly ruining the Bonne's already meager budget plan for the month. "No twenty, I am 'not' telling you where the potatoes are!"

"But miss Tron... I promise I'll only get as much as you told me... pleaaase???"

"You're a pretty good liar, you know that?" Tron had to raise her voice slightly so the Servbot downstairs could hear every single word she said. It replied with a quick, 'tsk' sound, like he was actually planning otherwise, and it slapped a proud smirk on her face. She could read every one of them like a book. Well, almost everyone... number one's robotic mind has always been hard to measure, and to think he was the first she'd ever made. "No need to whine, you'll be getting one potato for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. All right???"

"Awww... yes miss Tron." The voice was practically covered by a blanket of sulk, and the tired pirate was finally left alone for the time being.

"Ah, peace and quiet... where've you been all my life." Tron sighed in relief, trying to remember the last lines of thought that was going through her head before twenty two interrupted. But the loss of precious energy was starting to get to her, and all she recalled was that she was supposed to turn the clock back two hours. "Hm... counting sheep actually isn't a bad idea..."

But whether she was counting sheep, punishing the Servbots or yelling at Teasel and his partner in crime, number twenty eight, for another stupid get-rich-quick scheme, one thing was certain... Megaman was going home. Even if she had to work on this twenty four seven.

o-----

"Ha... ha-choo!"

Meanwhile, in the silent, bottomless depths of outer-space, a certain blue boy had just about adjusted himself to life in the floating piece of perfection. Everything about the place was at a full constant, continuous bursts of the same... and he was actually relieved. He felt as though nothing could harm him in this vast dome of his past life, yet he'd never been in a more lonelier place. It was like that dig a year and a half ago, when he was stuck inside a huge tower for three days... but he couldn't say that he was truly alone back then. Roll was always right beside him, even if it was only her voice. When she updated him on the time and said that it was nightfall, he would take a rest and they'd talk for hours. He still remembered her worried voice telling him that she would cook up something extra special for him when he got out. And she pleasantly outdid herself; even now, it was still the most delicious three slices of apple pie he had ever eaten. But what he spent three days in couldn't compare to 'this'... three months was already pushing him way over the limit. Oh well... he had some company in the physical form, at least.

"Trigger, are you all right?" A girl with long green hair (he wasn't even sure if it 'was' hair) tied in an unusual manner spoke from beside him, casting a suspicious glance on the armored boy. They were both walking down what looked to be an endlessly long hall-way. "It isn't normal to be sneezing this much."

"I have no idea Sera..." He replied, rubbing his nose yet finding nothing wrong. He'd been sneezing ever since he defeated her in the huge battle that almost destroyed Elysium's vast library--he was also surprised that they actually turned out to be very good friends. At first he had trouble getting used to Sera being in Yuna's body, what with him acquiring part of his old life's memories, but pretty soon he was calling the blonde human body that the latter had taken control of Yuna, without so much as a second thought. It was rather uncanny though, how the grown woman looked so much like Roll. He had never gotten around to asking her what exactly she was doing with the human body in the first place, but he had a feeling that she was indeed his best friend's mother. But the thing that really bothered him was that when Yuna finally did leave the body, would Roll's mother still be there? He was almost afraid to ask. "could be an allergy or something..."

"The living conditions in Elysium is perfect, carbon or ancient alike, so that couldn't be possible..." Sera said indignantly, yet looking a little less convinced than she would allow herself to look a few months before. After their last battle, her entire outlook on the Master System and Elysium had changed, and she was entertaining a thought that her old self would have deemed preposterous. "but there could be a chance, though very slim. How are you feeling?"

"Drained," Megaman said quickly, as if he was expecting Sera to ask the question before the conversation even started... but he was planning to tell her that anyway, whether she asked or not. His old purifier self used to get into a lot of arguments with her--usually resulting in both him and the Master getting scolded at, but whenever he had a problem, he could always count on Sera to have a solution. "It's like everyday I feel more and more tired... does it sound familiar to you?"

"Unfortunately... no." Sera shook her head, unable to find anything even remotely similar to Trigger's explanation in her memory banks. It was times like these when she wished Geetz was still alive... his obsession with Terra and its problems was very useful during her stay in the carbon-filled planet. She didn't hold it against Megaman though. His death was her own ignorance, and she paid for it with her guilt. "The Master System is a completely harm-free environment... no viruses, no sicknesses, no allergies; nor do I have records of anything that involves continuous energy draining... I apologize for not being helpful Trigger, I'm not used to problems of these kinds."

"Oh, that's all right." Trigger lifted up an armored hand and placed it behind his head, smiling sheepishly. But it was that gesture that just seemed to make Sera feel a little worse. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid... I'm sure it's nothing."

Sera let out a deep breath, her face returning to its emotion-less state. After a moment of silence the aura of awareness returned to her eyes, except now it held a look of worry. "No... you are correct. I feel your energy slowly draining. Perhaps we should ask Yuna, it's likely that she acquired a great deal of knowledge about the carbons during her neutrality a long time ago."

"Hmmm... maybe." Actually, he didn't really know. He had most of his memories back when he was a purifier, sure, but most of the events were still very hazy. All he knew was that he fought Sera then too. But right now he was a little too preoccupied on the matter at hand. Was he coming down with something? He hoped that it wasn't anything too serious. He wanted to do so many things when he returned to Terra... and he wanted to spend most of it with Roll. His communicator stopped working nearly two months ago, and it was driving him crazy... he truly wanted--no, 'needed' to get back to Terra. Heck, it's gotten to the point where he was even starting to miss fighting the Bonnes. "I just hope I don't end up in the medical room for the rest of my stay here... that place smells funny."

"Mistress Sera? Trigger?" A tall, green haired young man with long pointy ears called to them from a little ways down the hall they were passing through. His skin had the same brown tone as Sera, and his eyes glew with the same unusual red color that both Sera and Sera's former body had. With his vague memories serving him clues, Trigger guessed that the large red orb on his forehead signified that he was a guardian of the Master System's mother androids, which would be Yuna and Sera. But were they androids really...? He never gave it much thought. His only real theory was that if he didn't know any better, then he'd most likely say that they were one hundred percent human. "Mistress Yuna would like to see you both in the pod area--it's important."

"Pod area?" Trigger returned his gaze to Sera, who had a featherlight smile on her face. He thought he had this whole place covered. He spent the most of his time exploring every nook and cranny Elysium had to offer, and not once did he see or hear the words 'pod area' from Yuna... and what exactly was a pod anyway? "Where's that?"

"She's finished." Sera said simply, crossing her arms in what looked like a poise of relief, odd as that seemed. "You'll see soon enough; just follow Gatz. I still have an urgent chore that needs to be done, so I'll meet up with you two in a while... that is, if you're still here."

Sera winked, something that even his past life wasn't used to; which resulted in Trigger's question about what exactly she meant dying half-way through his throat. Knowing that she caught him off-guard, she celebrated the subtle victory with a grin and continued on her way down the hall as Gatz walked in the opposite direction to meet the surprised boy.

"She has changed..." Gatz muttered, though it was more to himself than anything. Megaman's initial shock had worn out by then, and Gatz's hushed remark was all it took to drag Trigger's mind back into his head. "Come, I'll show you where it is."

"Okay." Megaman nodded, and Gatz led him back to the console area, where he had started his conversation with Sera half an hour ago. It took them a while to walk to the aforementioned location, but he didn't really say anything... nor was he thinking about anything in particular either. In fact, the closest thing that had to do with thinking or being thoughtful were his words after another random sneeze chose to engulf his nose with a vengeance. "Bless me. Dumb, cold wannabe..."

"You should have mistress Yuna run a diagnostics check on you before you go." Gatz said, pressing some buttons on the keyboard that was hanging on the far left wall of the room, from where Trigger was standing. Unlike Sera--or what she used to be, Gatz on the other hand was very open-minded. In a way he was a lot like Sera's servitor unit, Geetz.Whenever there was a problem, he would take everything into consideration... it was one of Yuna's best traits, and he was glad that it rubbed off on him. It was just too bad that Geetz had died ignoring his instincts and following orders... but had Gatz been in the same situation, he would've probably done the same.

For the billionth time today Megaman felt the need to ask him about what he meant, but before he was even able to open his mouth and speak a thin bright light enveloped the tall man, and no later than that did his form begin to fade. Too entranced to ask whatever question he was going to ask, he wordlessly watched Gatz slowly dematerialize until there was absolutely no trace left of him anywhere. Comically, it took him a few seconds of staring idly into space to realize that Gatz was actually 'gone'. 'What in the...'

"Trigger?" Gatz's voice nearly made Megaman jump in fright, and the boy let out a tired frown. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." Megaman grumbled. Gatz could have 'told' him that he was going to do that before he even disappeared. But no... they had to leave him in constant suspense paired with blatant confusion. And just for the record, he still had absolutely no idea what was happening... nor did he know why just a small piece of food that tasted like a biscuit could keep him sustained in Elysium for two whole days. He didn't know a lot of things... but that was only because they never told him anything about it. Darnit, he couldn't even remember if he 'asked'. Quickly shaking his head, Megaman started to massage his temples with his left hand. He was starting to feel dizzy... light-headed. Maybe this little draining problem was a lot more serious than he thought.

"Good. I need you to go to the keyboard I was using earlier, and input the following code..."

Megaman strained to use the last of his brain power and did as he was told, standing right across the eerie looking digital board that held a vast collection of letters and numbers; ninety percent of which he couldn't recognize... or maybe he was just feeling a little too limited to even bother trying to make the keys out. He could have sworn that he had seen these before though... uh-oh, there goes his head again. Must. Stop. Thinking! "Okay, so what's the code?"

"Before we begin Trigger, it's important that you follow my commands and press the corresponding buttons 'exactly'. The slightest mistake can set the coordinates to a piece of the Master System long gone, and it could end up transporting you to a very untimely demise. Am I clear?" Gatz warned, and Megaman nearly tripped over himself as his hands undertook a very abrupt halt before managing to test one of the keys out. True, he didn't have his undivided attention towards the familiar voice that seemed to make itself known out of nothing... but it was loud enough that the words, 'slightest mistake' was able to delay his careless action and 'demise' stopped him completely. He may not have been all that diverse when it came to a full vocabulary, but he knew full well what demise meant.

"Yep. Could have told me that sooner too..." He whispered, feeling slightly annoyed and even a little surreal as the gravity of what he could have done began to sink on his shoulders. He didn't want to go in a mass explosion of flesh and bone--or was that an implosion? And why the heck was he giving it some thought in the first place??? There was 'no' way he was dying like that, no sir. "I'll be careful."

"All right... the code is eight, one, one, eight, three, two, six, one, five."

Megaman finished pressing the last key, deciding to follow Gatz's command as soon as he heard the number being spoken. It's not that he was showing off; he just didn't trust himself to be able to memorize a code that long after hearing it only once. Besides, he didn't think that Gatz would make a mistake reading the code out to him. But it still managed to leave him a little shaken. He never thought it possible to have absolute control in whether he lived or died like that. It may have taken him only a little bit of effort to input the code, but he never wanted to do anything like that again. "There, now what--"

Megaman was cut off by a sudden wave of nausea, and as he caught sight of his armored hands; he was shocked to see both completely transparent. So far, this was the second time in his life he felt like this... he could feel himself tense up as an unexplainable emotion began to flow through his system. He was either really excited, or down-right frightened. Why couldn't there just be a basement elevator, like everywhere else? Teleporters freaked him out. One of the reaverbots that he tested his latest accessory pack on disintegrated exactly like this... it also bothered him that he was thinking so much more rigorously than he used to. Now, for some odd reason he could relate to all of his past experiences like some kind of benchmark program. In a way everything felt different... yet at the same time it felt so natural to him. Perhaps he really was like this, but a painful blow to the head by one of Sera's incredible yet ridiculously horrifying attacks made him forget.

Shrugging off his thoughts for another day, he shut his eyes in anticipation and waited. And waited... and waited. After several seconds of absolutely nothing--for the life of him he didn't even know what he was waiting for, fate chose this very unstable time to poke him on the nose. And fate, as we know it, could be very literal sometimes.

"BUGS!!!" Megaman jumped back, instinctively flailing his hands around his head in a valiant effort to remove whatever eight legged creeper his over-active imagination had placed on his face.

"Eeep!" The supposed bug let out a womanly squeal, and Trigger stopped whatever he was doing, let out a small sigh, and opened his eyes to see Gatz standing right in front of him; a concerned look on his face. From behind the ever-loyal guardian he could see the head of a young woman with blonde hair slowly peek out of Gatz's side, and he immediately recognized who it was. From there he quickly took in a more detailed view of his surroundings--for one thing, it didn't look like the console area anymore... the walls, the cieling and the floor were all made of glass wires transporting what looked to be a glowing green fluid of some sort, stretching vertically and much farther than his squinted eyes were able to reach. Reluctantly crashing back to reality and to the two confused people in front of him, Megaman sighed again.

"Sorry Yuna..."

"Geez, I didn't know your nose was 'that' sensitive," The woman known as Yuna replied, stepping out completely from behind Gatz and placing a hand on her shapely hip. A few seconds before, Trigger had appeared in front of them standing dead still with both eyes shut tight. How was she supposed to know a small touch on the nose would scare the heck out of him? She made a mental note never to do anything like that again in the similar scenarios to come (though she doubted there'd be any more events similar to this one happening anytime soon), because his reaction scared the high heavens out of 'her' as well. And now that she thought about it, being called a bug was ridiculous, not to mention quite mean. "For a second there I thought you were gonna shoot me or something."

"Ah... eheheh..." Megaman let out an uncomfortable laugh, hoping that this very embarrassing moment wouldn't return to haunt him in the future... Roll was terrified of bugs and; to be shamefully honest, he was too. But he would never tell her that, because of a half-hearted promise to his best friend and at the same time a secret vow to himself, that he would protect her from every single one of those nasty little critters a year or so back... there were many, many occurences in which he tried to eject his fear of the insect family--the reasons being Roll's own phobia and that it 'really' didn't feel right. It was mainly because he knew for a fact that he could brave and even handle huge, flying battleships, bi-polar Purifiers, death lasers the size of a chunk of Terra, aging mercenaries with bad backs and an obscenely large frog that smelled like a used public toilet but throw one cockroach at him and...

"Hey Trigger, you still with us?" Yuna snapped her fingers casually in front of his face, and fortunately for the both of them he reacted in a less... wierd, way. Just a startled look. Actually it was kind of cute... and this was usually the time when she would mockingly scold herself because it wasn't proper of a mother android. But living in the body of a home-grown carbon for so long, she could feel her natural instinct adapting with the human's fragile emotions. Then again, she was never truly deprived of the feelings that Terra's inhabitants were infamous for... just restricted. As far as she knew, her genetic make-up was as close to humans as an organic mother unit could possibly get. The only real difference she and Sera had with the humans was that they didn't age... and technically, neither did the boy in front of her. But his immunity to death was short-lived. The Trigger she had known long ago was always curious to see what his body was like in its full potential, boldly removing the system that refused the aging process; though he aged in a turtle's pace. She remembered secretly looking up to him after that, because the aging process was so meticulously complicated and aggresive in nature that it could not be stopped once it had begun--it was the reason she enjoyed her carbon body so much... this was the only way that she could even remotely relate to his feelings.

Observing Megaman's boyish face, Yuna couldn't help but let out a sigh of envy. She never really could muster up the courage to remove the system that stopped growth in her original body, yet what she held now was no exception to the carbons' natural way of life. It was also saddening to see that Trigger was aging just as quickly as a regular human being, and that he wouldn't be with them in the future...but she wasn't so sure if she even wanted to be in the future either. Maybe when she returned to her original body... maybe things would change. It'd kill her to leave poor Sera alone though.

"Yuna? Hellooo..."

'Oh, shoot...' Now it was her turn to flash a sheepish smile of her own, earning a confused expression from Trigger. Wow, that was awkward. He caught her staring at him--no, that was very awkward. Her brain flying out the window like that right after she got his attention... okay, it was very, very awkward. 'Yuna girl, you'd better cut it out now or this'll turn into an endless cycle of awkward... stuff."All right then, follow me; Gatz, stay here and wait for Data."

"Yes Mistress." The servitor unit nodded and stepped aside, allowing Megaman and Yuna passage through the rest of the narrow hall. Thus, the two set out on a tediously long journey inside the very confusing maze that was 'pod' area. Even with all of his experience concerning vast, ingeniously hidden areas Trigger didn't dream of such a location inside Elysium; it was like they were treading in a world-sized reaverbot's brain, the blinding fluid that looked so much like the energy of his mega buster lighting the glass tubes and more importantly, their visual ability every few seconds or so in short continuous bursts. Speaking of their sense of sight, was Yuna was having trouble seeing as well? They had already gone deeper inside and the natural light had already disappeared completely... and making things a little more eerie were the numerous intersections they passed again and again and again... it was uncomfortable to say the least. By all means he was forcing himself to be extra careful--the mere thought of getting lost, in here of all places, made him shudder helplessly.

As if to answer his subconscious fears, a feminine hand slipped on the blue armor of his own, and Megaman quickly looked up to see a pair of understanding green eyes staring back at him. A very natural blush crept up on his cheeks and for a split second he could've sworn he saw Yuna's cheeks spill a shade of red too."Don't worry... Volnutt, was it? I've pretty much memorized the path, so you just hold on to me okay?"

'Volnutt...' It felt good to hear that name again. Truth be told there were only a handful of people that knew; even Roll called him Megaman. It was probably only Gramps in rare occurences and some of those gameshow hosts back in Kattelox that bothered to affiliate him with that name. Not that it offended him or anything; 'Megaman' was albeit a very odd name, but it stuck to him and in time he learned to get used to it. Took him a good month or two though. He remembered his first dig, the first time he donned the blue armor that even when he was very small made him feel different... like he had already worn it before. Gramps made the name up for him when he saved the old digger's life from the tall Reaverbot that guarded his first large refractor. Roll thought it was a little silly, but after spotting for them and experiencing an emotional moment such as that, her heart caught on her throat and she had to agree that the name fit. And as always, Volnutt, having no say in it whatsoever, agreed with a sigh. But it wasn't as bad as it seemed... having Gramps and Roll decide on just about everything worked to his advantage more often than not. "O-okay."

Yuna smiled and tugged him gently, and the two resumed their walk. Two minutes had passed and Yuna didn't look like she was going to strike conversation anytime soon, tempting Megaman to let out what's been on his mind... having completely forgotten about his paranoia concerning the energy sucking problem.

"So... why show this place to me only now?"

"We were only able to acquire the code a few days ago," Yuna stated simply, her concentration focused fully on the confusing number of different paths this relatively new area had to offer. She was able to memorize the way, but even with her photographic memory it could still get a little difficult navigating around here... nothing a dose of time and experience couldn't handle. Though she had to admit, the process was going to be lonely without Trigger around... heck it was lonely enough as it was. Yuna found herself counting the last few minutes of his stay as they neared the end of the tube-like maze. "From then until yesterday I was exploring and I... found something that could help you return to Terra. It can actually bring you home today, if you want..."

"Wha--really? That's great!" Megaman nearly yelled for joy, ecstatic thoughts of reuniting with Roll and the others rejuvenating his tired body. The sooner he got out of this place the better. But his brightened mood darkened just as fast as he came across her frown; immediately the blue boy felt like he did something wrong. Not that he actually thought the whole thing over or anything, it was just that he was 'always' the one at fault when it came to situations like this. "Hey... are you all right? What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing..." The person in question sighed, finally leading them into an exit that, compared to the dull-witted, claustrophobic's nightmare behind them, could at least brag about having some breathing room. As for his observation, she was indeed feeling a little unwell because of the technicalities and side effects using the ancient's beam transporter would unearth on Elysium. Well, that and only Trigger would be able to go to Terra... leaving her all lonely, blah blah blah, and some other womanly complaint like that. But it'd be better for the both of them if she didn't say anything... this was the first time she'd seen the look of pure joy on his face and she didn't want to ruin it. "don't worry about it."

"Oh... okay. If you're sure." He was actually expecting something that would leave him awe struck, like a majestic machine with a built-in light show or something equally unlikely yet interesting at the same time (he was used to seeing things that made him wonder about his intelligence) but in fact, the entire place looked very simple. Just a little pod thing and some--wait... pod? Where'd he get that? Firstly, he had no idea what a pod 'was'--wait. Maybe this was his old life talking. Yeah... some old memories helping him recall. Oh boy, he hoped there were more unlockable vocabulary words in this organic tornado he dared to call a brain... "So how does this work exactly... do I just stand in the middle?"

"Yep, that's the whole thing in a nutshell. And I'm not even going to start with the energy process," Yuna shrugged, having already mentally prepared herself for the problems Elysium would be having after this. Energy surge didn't even graze the tip of the ice berg. "Let's just say I had to plug in a lot of wires to a single outlet to work this thing, meaning this can only be done once... After that Elysium will be completely out of energy for a while, at least until Sera finishes debugging the emergency engine."

Trigger had already positioned himself on the very generic looking teleporter when what Yuna said began to register on his mind. After that it didn't take him much to put two and two together and... "Elysium will be what??? But doesn't this entire place run on a reactor? How in the world are you, Gatz and Sera supposed to survive without any kind of energy?"

"How sweet of you to ask, Trigger! Thankfully, the air pressure here doesn't require any kind of energy to enable the oxygen recycling process, which means my sexy little carbon body is free from harm in case you were wondering about that particular detail." Yuna winked and Megaman looked down, his cheeks threatening to glow once again. Among the three of them he was always the most human... now, he 'was' one. Sure he aged like a rabbit on steroids, but it also opened the door to a whole ton of opportunities... like exploiting some of his more embarrassing, human weaknesses for instance. "Just kidding! Hehee, if your sweet-heart could see your face now... she'd probably be glaring daggers at my direction, hm?"

"Wh-what??? Errr... I don't--uhm... I don't think Roll would do that... maybe she'd be a little angry but..." Trigger was smoking red now, his voice becoming so small it was tiny. Why did he have to get so nervous and embarrassed at the smallest mention of his confusing love life? It was probably because he was never really able to think straight after the last time he read Roll's diary, which was a day or two before he had to go to Elysium. Of course, he felt very bad about secretly violating her inner-most thoughts, but at the same time relief washed over him when he recalled her latest entry at the time.

"Hahaha, I see... by the way, I've set the magnified coordinates to hit one of the Sulphur-Bottom's empty guest rooms, since it's the only ship in Terra that's visible from here." He didn't notice the huge grin creeping up on Yuna's face as she placed her hand on the screen that kick-started the futuristic piece of machinery. So it 'was' Roll. She always knew that young girl had good taste... this was going to be very interesting. "Oh, and Trigger?"

"Y-yeah?"

"I didn't know Roll was your sweet-heart... thanks for the info." Yuna could barely stop herself from laughing out loud as Trigger's eyes grew wide as saucers in an almost stagnant expression. It looked like he was about to deny the whole thing when a bright yellow light enveloped him; forcing the boy to simply sigh in aggravated stress. Yuna had to bite her lips to keep from laughing like a maniac when Trigger suddenly sneezed, right before he was transported out of Elysium. And to think he saved the world for a living... it was almost like a paradox of some sort. "I swear Volnutt... you are so cute. Argh, why do I have this feeling that I forgot something...?"

"Mistress Yuna? Data's here." Came the all-too-familiar baritone voice from behind her as a strong feeling of dread formed in the pit of her stomach. "Where's Trigger?"

'Oh, so that's what I... man, that stinks something awful.' "Uhm... oops?"

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A/Ns : All right, it's finished! What do you guys think? I was already planning to make more as I already have an entire lifetime's worth of ideas for this one, but I still want to know what the readers (that's you :P) want. Feel like flaming it? Praising it? Go ahead, knock yourselves out :). But at least give me some constructive criticism if ever you find something wrong, okay? I also wouldn't want to continue something if you guys never liked in the first place, so just tell me straight up :P.

So all of that aside for now, on to the chapter two teaser :).

Trigger is being beamed back to Terra after three months in Elysium, but what about Data? And with Roll and Gramps planning on acquiring a few supplies from Von Bleucher that very day, this could turn into a very emotional reunion for all of them... but wait, Von Bleucher has some interesting news to share! Tune in next time for the next chapter of Megaman Legends: Future's Path! Buh-bye :).

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