A pop of static, and Rock Light finds himself in his childhood -- no, his only -- home. The good doctor working late into the night, tinkering and fixing spare parts. Rock looked out the window, down to the people below. As silent as ever, even when they werenāt asleep. The neon signs near the apartment complex they lived in buzzed, still dim and dingey. A clock somewhere struck 12:15AM -- instinctively, Rock moved away from the window. He heard the sounds of the coffee machine brewing, wondering if he had made it before he left, before he remembered that this wasnāt how he left his city.
It was a memory, yes -- a compilation of memories, of nights that were so similar they blurred together. But it wasnāt what he specifically remembered before being taken to Hive City. He wasnāt in the apartment, not truly especially judging by the way his vision flickered like a tape in a vcr player, but he ignored that knowledge for now.
āI made coffee,ā Rock said, pulling up a chair from across the doctor, his fatherās work desk.
āI smelled it. It smells like --ā
āOil. Yeah, yeah!ā Rock laughed like a recording. āI didnāt put any in -- I know youāre going to ask me.ā There was a ghost of a smile on the doctorās face, familiar.
āFool me once, kid. Fool me once.ā There was a pause, and the doctor spoke again.
āThis isnāt your memory,ā he said, standing up from his seat. āSomeoneās stuck you in some kind of dream simulation. You see how your vision flickers, like youāre watching TV?ā
āWhether you want to or not, kid, you gotta wake up. Iām not there to fix your systems if it fries. This one is all yours.ā
Megaman⦠didnāt sigh, but hung his head and shook it. It figured, didnāt it? The coffee was still brewing, long after it should be finished. And it figured, too, that he dreamt of a memory -- he wasnāt known for his imagination, he supposed. (Anything he imagined was just something else he remembered.) Regardless, he recalled the doctor saying as such before.
āSo⦠how do I get up, then?ā
āI canāt tell you that. Finish dreaming is probably the only way.ā And with that, he blinked and was out on the apartment buildingās roof, sitting alone. Finish dreaming⦠but he couldnāt dream.
Heād just have to help someone finish theirs, then.