Megaman sat down on the bouncy mattress of Roll's bed. Roll's room was what a 'typical girls bedroom' would look like. Pastel colors, stuffed animals, bracelets and necklaces hanging from various places. Megaman's bedroom hadn't changed since the day Doctor Light had designed it. No matter, the blue robot had come here this evening to think about the times he and Roll had shared. Doctor Light had thought maybe remembering good times they'd shared would be a better way to cope with the pain of the disaster. It worked for humans, evidently, so it was worth a try.

He let his hands feel the softness of Roll's bed covers. "She has a nice bed," Megaman said out loud. He bounced a little on the mattress. "Comfortable." The robot began to let his mind wander. He had to start thinking of Roll...a way to honor her; something like that. He started to wonder if she ever thought about him while sitting on the bed. Dreaming her dreams about what they could do. "Stop it, Rock," he said. "That's not something to think about." He didn't notice the name he'd used for himself, as it had come out inadvertantly.

Somehow he couldn't think happy thoughts like Light had recommended. His mind was fixed on sadness. Megaman realized he'd never hear Roll's chirpy voice again. Her cheery giggles and smiles. He remembered back during his eighth battle with Wily; when she ran the tool producing area of the lab. The endearing way she'd wish him luck when he stopped back home briefly. "Good luck, Megaman!" his memory chip played back. Come to think of it, that was the only time she'd call him 'Megaman'. The blue bomber smiled strangely. Roll was the only person who could realize that "Megaman" was different from "Rock". When he was battling, she would refer to him one way, when he was at home she would call him Rock. Doctor Light didn't distinguish between them, Rush didn't, Auto didn't, Eddie didn't...only Roll.

He quickly shifted his attention to a pile of clothes on the floor. That was another interesting thing about Roll. Doctor Light had built her without clothes...so she actually had the option of different outfits. Her clothes, unlike Megaman's, were real. Her dress was real, her labcoat was real, her overalls were real. Maybe the Doctor thought that the process of changing clothes would make her feel more like a human girl. Oh well, Megaman didn't pretend to understand these things. He remembered how sometimes he'd knock on her door and she'd call out "Don't come in, I'm not decent!" because she was changing. He remembered one time he'd decided to be funny and had barged in after she had said that. The reaction he had gotten was different than he had expected. "Rock," she reprimanded. "Girls need their privacy." Even stranger was the burning sensation in his face and the feeling of..embarrasment? He had quickly looked away from the female robot.

Megaman's smile quickly faded away to another look of sadness as his mind shifted back. The only person in the whole world who had understood him. No wonder she'd been worried when he'd insisted he was all weapon. She actually understood what he was going through. His feelings. She cared for Megaman as a person...Roll had been the only one.

"I'm sorry," Megaman buried his face in one of Roll's pillows. Although incapable of crying, the robot had evidently picked up the idea that burying one's face in a pillow was the human reaction to something like this. Strangely the robot was wracked with sobs, although no tears were produced. He gradually allowed himself to slip into the 'sleep' condition, face down in Roll's pillow.

"Robots cannot feel emotions," Doctor Light typed into his computer log. "Merely repeating program codes which tell them what they should be "thinking" or doing in a given situation. For example, repeating messages of an angry situation would cause the robot to seem as if they were feeling emotions of anger. Happy messages would make them seem happy, and so on." Thomas Light wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Megaman, my first successful humanoid robot, however, has evidently adapted NEW emotion messages to his own system by watching the outside world. Today he displayed emotions of severe sadness and love, among others as reaction to Roll's death." Light was simply amazed.

"I'm not sure how these new emotion messages were actually changed into code for his brain to translate, but somehow it happened. Megaman is truly a work of art and I never expected for him to become this 'human like'. I'm sure that it would be very difficult to tell him apart from a real human in most any situation." The Doctor took a deep breath as he began to type the final passage this night. "I'm unsure what effects these new 'emotions' will have on Megaman or his system. I hope the results will not be negative, as I couldn't imagine what would happen if Megaman became unstable. I'm sure he'll do fine, though, as all the necessary safeguards have been taken. I look forward to the promising development of my most advanced creation." The Doctor saved the log file and turned off his computer.

He sat for a few moments in his chair, staring out the window across the room. The night sky was turning from black to a dark blue. "I've been up quite awhile...I need to get to sleep." Light stood up and walked out of the room. Before flicking off the light switch, he whispered, "Fascinating."

Megaman 'woke up' the next morning on Roll's bed. He was again embarrased, as it seemed strange to wake up in this newly appointed sacred ground. The robot left as soon as he could. Megaman plodded down the hallway towards breakfast. Even sleep was unnable to banish the horrible thoughts of Roll's death. For some reason he was constantly reminding himself that he would never see her again. She was never coming back.

Beat fluttered down the passageway. He squawked in a friendly manner, but Megaman ignored him. The robo-bird frowned sadly and flew off.

The blue robot continued his slow trod down towards the meal. Everything he used to do was forever changed. Roll wouldn't meet him in the hallway, she wouldn't try to cheer him up. She wouldn't insist on sitting next to him at breakfast. Megaman remembered when the female robot had made breakfast a few times. All she was doing was shaping energy capsules, but the energy always seemed extra special when she made it. Maybe it was the smile on her face afterwords. Megaman stared sadly at the floor as he continued down the hall.

Finally reaching the eating area, Megaman plodded to his seat and sat down. There was a waffle shaped energy capsule on the plate in front of him. Doctor Light had thought better of making bacon and egg energy capsules for a while after the disaster. So instead he had made waffles. He usually tried to make pancakes instead, but they always turned out to be hard frisbee-type things. So he usually ended up giving in to waffles.

Breakfast proceeded quietly, nobody saying a word. After the meal, when Megaman hadn't moved from the table, Doctor Light walked up to him. "You need to get your mind off of Roll," he replied. "I'm sure it'll feel a little better once we start preparing for the battle."

"I guess," Megaman said. "We might as well get started." The two walked over to Doctor Lights high tech IBN computer system. Megaman still held a sad gaze in his eyes. "So...you got any enhancements or do I have to go in as is?" he asked. "Maybe another soccer ball?"

"You know that Wily attacked too quickly that time and I didn't have time to prepare," Light protested. "The MegaBall was the best I could come up with."

"Let's see who I'm up against," Megaman chuckled.

"Right," Doctor Light said, straightening. "My computers decoded the information file that Bass sent with videos of the new robot masters attacking--obviously what the distraction of the Knights was for." Megaman nodded and Light continued. "I've found the eight robots and where each of them are hiding."

"This is Fish Man," Doctor Light informed. A picture of a robot master appeared on the monitor. It was a normal sized robot, and had fins lining it's back and the top of it's head. His feet were webbed and his hands looked like fish with sharp teeth when clenched into fists. He was green and red in color. "His weapon is the Water Jet."

"This is Haunt Man," another master appeared. This one looked like a man with a rag draped over him. The sheet was ripped and torn in numerous places, some of them patched. The holes that let vision get through revealed rusted metal 'bones' that were apparently meant to look like rotting flesh. Haunt man had glowing red eyes and a sharp set of teeth. Not really appropriate for a 'ghost' but they were there, all the same. Chains hung from Haunt Man's arms. "He weilds the Screaming Crush."

"Torch Man," Doctor Light began, as another robot took shape. This one had fire for hands, long arms made of silver to reflect the flames, thin legs of black and red, and a head topped with a blazing inferno. "Uses he Flame Dash." Megaman figured that the spindly limbs of the droid were meant to look like the handle of a torch.

"This fellow is Samurai Man." Another robot appeared in ancient Japanese armor. His helmet was garnered with a large cresent moon. He held a wicked looking samurai blade at his side, and his gaze was more than menacing.

"Hasn't there already been a Samurai Man?" the robot asked.

"Yamamoto Man," Light responded. "Anyway...Samurai Man utilizes the Katana Slash." The Doctor pushed another button and the monitor displayed yet another robot. "Next in our line up is Lunar Man." This robot was clad in all black, except for the circle on his chest, meant to be a moon, which was golden. Sharp spikes were placed at his knees and shoulders. His face was also golden and his eyes red. Even as Megaman watched him on the screen, the golden became black and the black became golden. "This bad boy uses the Eclipse Beam."

"Next is Sickle Man," as Megaman had expected, the next robot resembled the grim reaper. It's face was shaped like a skull, devoid of jawbone, and it's eyesockets were empty. Unlike he had thought, instead of a ragged cloak, this reaper's clothing was made out of solid ice shaped to look like a cloak. His internal circuitry was barely visible through the ice. He was clutching a long handled sickle. "His weapon is the Ice Sickle," Doctor Light finished. Megaman shook his head at the pun.

"This is Zeus man," a large 'muscular' robot appeared. His armor had been shaped to look like a human's muscular body. Zeus Man was clad in a toga, and sported a long billowing beard. It was the most un-robot-like robot Megaman had ever seen. An olive circlet topped the robot's head, and he clutched many lightning bolts in his hands. "He has Lightning Fire."

"Last but not least, is Acid Man," Doctor Light announced.

"Sounds like a drug superhero," Megaman quipped.

Ignoring him, the Doctor pressed the button to display the eighth robot master. This robot master was the shortest and squattest of the bunch. A ragged half cape hung from his left side, and his right arm formed a sort of nozzle; no doubt to fire the acid. He had large goggles, shaped like angry, evil eyes. His mouth was covered up, and large horns protruded from his head. His color scheme was mainly greens--both light and dark. His left fist was large, almost as large as the fists of Iron. His feet hovered slightly off the ground, probably so as not to touch his own death fluid. "He fights with the Acid Bomb."

"Hm...so that's Wily's bunch?" Megaman's mind had quickly shifted away from thoughts of Roll. "He's big into death this time around, no? A grim reaper, a freakish ghost, and this acid guy with gigantic horns."

"You'd better get started," Light advised. "Some of them may look silly, but the damage done is already taking it's toll."

"I know," Megaman looked at the computer readout on-screen. "I'll just formulate a logical order." By now, after all these years of battle, Megaman's mind had adapted the ability to choose the most logical order to fight the robot masters. It would allow him to exploit the weaknesses of all of them except for the first; which would be the one weakest to his mega buster. He wasn't sure how it worked, nor was Doctor Light, but lately his "mind's order" had always been right. "Okay, I got it," Megaman announced. He and Doctor Light had figured awhile ago that Wily gave his robot's specific weakness just to prove Megaman a worthy opponent. The evil Doctor always wanted to be the one to dispatch the blue bomber, and as such, made a logical order to easily defeat his minions. Of course, it was never 'easy' but it was still easier since Megaman learned to pick out the right order for the battles.

"Good luck," Doctor Light said.

"Thanks," Megaman nodded. Then he teleported away in a flash of light.

Continue to Chapter 4
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