#or even Kalinka

[monsterboyblood]

I finally, FINALLY managed to design a dress I like on her.

Roll Light

Construction Purpose: Roll was built to be Doctor Light's nurse while he was recovering from his injuries. Now that he's healthy and adjusted to his new life, she's taken over Rock's jobs as housekeeper and lab assistant. Despite her job change, she still takes the health of everyone around her very seriously.

Biggest Strength: Roll is very good at reading people, and knows exactly when she needs to intervene and help out.

Biggest Flaw: She has trouble knowing when people actually want her help, and tends to accidentally overstep the boundaries of her friends and family often.

Weaknesses: After the first Wily takeover, Roll was injured and left with a fault in her systems that make her prone to dizzy spells and fainting.

Battle Role: Roll stays far away from actual danger, guiding Rock through stages from the lab, leaving Doctor Light free to work on upgrades for him without having to worry about his son being left alone.

Misc Notes:

Her hobbies include karaoke, sewing and surfing.

Roll was built with knowledge about how to care for humans, but dedicates a significant amount of time to learning how to repair and care for robots as well.

Roll attends high school three days a week. She doesn't need to, but enjoys the socialisation aspect. She even has her own friend group.

When she isn't with her friends, she's usually hanging out with Ice Man.

She collects a specific brand of animal figurines.

She has a two hour long hair routine.

She loves her brother more than anything, but she can't help but feel a little bit mad that she now gets called "Mega Man's sister" more than her own name.

She used to wear red, but it seemed to make Doctor Light uneasy.

Her favourite music genre is metal.

----

Beat Notes:

He's a budgie

He can turn into a hover craft that Roll can use to get around the city quicker.

His serial number stands for Cossack Companion Number.

[missjukebox8bit]

today i learned that ordering anything from Japan to the USA has a whole lot of complicated security measures involved, but it was worth it because look at this cool Rockman fan magazine i found on E-Bay!

this is a special issue focusing on the female cast

there’s a lot of nice fanart in here

[siblingshuffle]

Sibling Shuffle: Sleepover!

LORE: As mentioned previously, Dr. Cossack built Gamma with Dr. Light in this AU. The girls therefore got to interact a lot while their dads were working together.

Unfortunately, Wily caught wind of this project. Thus, Dr. Cossack unwittingly landed himself on Wily’s bad side by association. His first plan was to just steal their hard work (Gamma) as his own, but after that scheme failed and he accidentally faked his death, he decided to go the route of having Cossack and Light destroy each other…

The way I have the timeline mapped out in my head doesn’t allow space for the Super Adventure Rockman storyline, but it doesn’t seem like SAR is even actually canon based on my research on it, so I think I’m safe excluding it? If any hardcore SAR fans want to argue with me about this, I’m willing to hear you out, but I don’t see how I could possibly squeeze it in and make it work.

So. It’s lack of inclusion would mean that Wily wasn’t arrested, and thus was free to keep working from the shadows in the meantime. It also would mean that the universal blackout doesn’t happen, Blues doesn’t get shot, Wily doesn’t get a pardon & in fact needs Rock from the start to break in and steal Gamma, and Wily’s game 2 Robot Masters don’t get revived.

Next Up: ???

[ninjastar107]

'How do you make me say so much without ever uttering a word?'

'....'

'The sun is rising. Guess you better take your leave again.'

[sminny-wew]

Some assorted BN Kalinka doodles (a species swap with Bass, some Rollinka despite it not happening in the AU, and Bass entering Big Brother Mode because he's jealous HE'S not the one kissing Megaman)

[subzeroiceskater]

[pale-opal]

I think this is a very good idea! The way MMX, MMZ and Battle Network have been blended together makes total sense, and the whole thing feels very hopeful, despite how Hub's death affects both Beta and Marino. Or maybe it's because Hub dies that I get that vibe? Something about how the two of them are able to grow past their grief because of their love for each other and Lan really hits. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for well-written family units.

Thank you for answering my question!

Wait, wait, wait - Marino and Beta have children?! What are their names?

You know I was actually thinking about this for a while. In my au of @bruggle ‘s au, since the Mother Elf was created and Weil was killed by Brook I think, correct me if I’m wrong, there’s peace and the only Mavericks out there are now those who genuinely choose to be. I decided that since all of this is happening, I could cross over the Battle Network franchise with the MMX/MMZ one. Although Mega Man Zero itself doesn’t happen here, meaning Weil and stuff since he’s dead, leaving them in a sort of state of “peace”. Not really, since there’s still Mavericks around, but not the virus. It’s safer and stuff, but Marino decides to keep working.

Let me explain.

It goes back to Beta’s powers. They have side effects. Such as exhaustion, pain, soreness, etc. Beta is powered up with Bassnium or Fortenium. It allows his whole body to run and function. Bassnium mixes with plasma, thus creating a chemical reaction great enough to produce Beta’s powers, but since Bassnium was discovered by Dr. Wily all those years ago, it wasn’t really shared to the public. Bassnium in those days is scarce, and Bass and Kalinka, when they were building Beta, knew this. So they installed a regen system for the Bassnium, using the very energy the Bassnium produces so Beta can function, so it can regenerate the Bassnium in his body so he can use his powers adequately. It hurts. A lot. Because it’s his body using the only source of energy it has, which is scarce, to regenerate Beta’s powers basically.

When Beta has his first fallout mission, coming to the med bay unconscious, Lifesaver notices this and issues another energy source to be installed into him. It partly works, providing Beta with a stable energy source to function, except it doesn’t help his powers work. The Bassnium still needs to regenerate for the powers to work, but now it doesn’t hurt as bad and take as much energy. It merely causes soreness in Beta’s hands, arms, or shoulders depending. Okay, so, the Bassnium only needs to regenerate when Beta uses his powers, so when he uses them, he has to spend at least a few hours to a few days letting the Bassnium regenerate adequately. Sure, he can still use his powers every day, but that’ll mean constant regeneration and soreness, which is something he deals with a lot.

Until he gets a regulator system. It allows the Bassnium to flow freely throughout his regeneration process, making it take way less and not hurt at all, helping him achieve S-rank. But he was only able to do that after years in the Hunters and after getting the regulator. Marino made Hunter-Commander around the same time, and commands her own unit. Beta and Marino got married some time after that and would go on missions together. Not constantly, since there’s a policy for married couples working together in HQ, but with the number of Mavericks going down, the number in Maverick Hunters also went down, so Beta and Marino working together was sometimes a necessity. Sure, it strained a few things, but they end up making up in the end because they love each other so much.

One day during a mission, a delusional Maverick, one with multiple programming errors, committed really bad arson on an apartment complex. It was the first case in a while which was actually pretty bad. There, Beta, Marino, Cinnamon, Massimo and Axl help people escape. Those that are alive, anyway. Marino and Beta eventually find Lan and Hub, which are babies. Their parents, Yuichiro and Haruka? Dead. Beta falls in love with the babies instantly. Marino is actually worried about what’s going to happen, so she takes a big step and suggests taking them in.

They talk about it, knowing that since they’re both working, they either have to hire a babysitter, or one of them has to stay home. Beta decides to stay home, knowing that Marino has the upper hand in terms of money due to being in a higher position. He doesn’t mind at all though, he was sort of tired of fighting anyway. And uh, well he’s a wife man. He knows his wife loves her job even if it is a little stressful sometimes. So anyway Beta stays home, taking care of Lan and Hub.

I originally got the idea of Hub being killed in the fire, but decided against it.

Yes, I crossed Battle Network with MMX/MMZ. Since there’s no more Maverick Virus, Net Navis started being produced and turned into Reploids by their order. Some would stay Navis, others would be turned into Reploids by their choice. Navis are basically just ai, so whichever one wanted to be turned into a Reploid, could do so.

Hub ends up dying from that heart disease, HBD, and is revived as a Net Navi, who is later turned into a Reploid.

Beta and Marino, of course, are devastated. The poor baby, whom they loved and cherished and raised as best they could, even if for a little while, died. A dead relative or friend is irreplaceable. It hit them both hard, but especially Marino. She turned her emotions off for a bit, but seeing baby Lan… she realized she still needed to be a mother. She lost one child, but she certainly can’t lose the other (I mean like not having a relationship with the child ykykyk). Beta was constantly crying when Hub passed. It got better, because he knew he needed to be strong. For his child, and his wife.

Hub being a Reploid is an option. Maybe in a better version of this au, he’d just be an amputee and not have HBD, but to explain what I had in mind these few months, let’s say he’s a Navi turned Reploid.

So yeah. I dunno. I liked the idea in my head, but I don’t know what you guys think?

[mzannthropy]

I'm on S6 of my Gilmore Girls rewatch and just seen the episode with Jess (you know, the balalaikas one) and not gonna lie, his "what happened to you, Rory" speech gave me the CHILLS. "We made fun of guys like him." And oh Rory earlier just repeating "you wrote a book. You wrote a book. YOU WROTE A BOOK!" It's not even about shipping. Like you can see these two mean a lot to each other.

Also bonus: Rory and Emily having an argument while the Russian band plays Kalinka in the background. Rory crashing at Lane's, just like Lane crashed at Rory's earlier in the show. And Lorelai crying over Paul Anka being sick and Luke comforting her and it becomes clear she's not talking about the dog.

You know what, I think it might just be my favourite episode!

[whoiwanttoday]

Here is a little break from all the awards stuff, guys. Kalinka Fox did a new Shadowheart Cosplay (trust me, it's different, totally different lingerie) and I am really into Shadowheart cosplay. Part of that is just really liking Baldur's Gate 3. I think like a lot of people I connected to that game and the writing and acting is a big part of it, she was obviously my romance choice even though I will go on record saying there are no actual wrong choices there, everyone is sort of great in their own way, she's just a type of catnip for me. But also as cosplay goes, since these are people without actual cannon costumes so much as vibes, it allows a lot of flexibility. Shadowheart? Sorta gothy and black but delicate and feminine as well. That's all you need along with the hair and the ears. So it tends to work well in that it is the kind of accurate I want in my cosplay and I just think it often looks good. It looked good here. So I am posting her again cause… well, why not. Today I want to fuck Kalinka Fox.

[beevean]

You know what that badass panel of Maria reminds me of?

It reminds me of the part in Mega Man 4 where Kalinka Cossack just fucking runs out between a superpowered android and her father in a big ole murder mecha and tells them to Stop

The fact that she even enters the room before Proto Man does has the vibe that she like, wrenched herself out of his grip to do that, and for how simple it is graphically (because NES) that moment is *incredibly* badass when you actually think about it from an in-universe perspective

Maria Robotnik 🤝 Kalinka Cossack ^ Very brave and strong-headed little girls

that's it that's all

I FUCKIGN LOVE WHEN CUTE KIND GIRLS ARE GIVEN A CHANCE TO BE BRAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

like Maria was already cool in my book because she finds the Artificial Chaos cute (don't get your tastes but you do you boo), and of course we know she had plenty of inner strength because she pulled a page from Lisa's book and used her last words to urge Shadow to make people happy. But this is just the rawest way to prove how much Maria cares for Shadow 💖 and it's mutual! They just love each other 🥺

But you know what, I never stopped to think about Kalinka, but yes had the game been made at the time of full cutscenes the impact of her standing Mega Man and her father would have felt more.

Now it gives me big "Amy standing in front of the OP hedgehogs who made mincemeat out of Sonic with his telekinesis to tell him to knock it off" energy lol. wait i need to

perf 💖

[therollinkaagenda]

(Honestly, Kalinka would give Roll the kissies even if she lost, but Roll wouldn't know that because she doesn't lose)

[deada55]

Kloktober 2024 day 23: as a different genre

Hope y’all like Eastern European Folk Music. I know I sure do.

… it seems like I didn’t think about it but I’m actually obsessed with this AU in particular. I fucking love Eastern European folk. Love it. I was in an ensemble for six years. Ask me about it sometime!

”What fuckin’ weird high school even does that shit?”

“Come on, honey,” sighed his mother. They drove through miles of bright green yards and spring gardens, complete with the occasional capri-clad housewife with a push mower waving at them as they passed. Nathan blew his hair away from his mouth. “Give it a try. It’s supposed to make you more globally conscious. And tolerant, I guess! You know, even for the—“

“You’ll just have to make the best of it!” Oscar spoke over her and slowed down as they turned into the drop-off loop at the new school. “Have a good day, champ. We love you.”

“Ok.”

Nathan got out of the car and followed the crowd into the building. From there, blind luck got him to the front office for his schedule, where he was surrounded by purple and green and the school’s mascot: the Zoot Cats. Huh?

Fortunately, Nathan’s school-assigned cultural exploration elective was at the end of the day this quarter. Unlike the other kids who’ve been there for a while, he didn’t get to pick, and his schedule only had the room number, not the name. Some of the electives were film study groups, book clubs, themed creative writing workshops, even cricket! Still, Nathan passed Spanish in his old school because he… No, he failed Spanish, but cheated off of a guy who spoke Spanish in math.

He showed up at the cultural exploration elective room two minutes behind the bell, and walked into a seminar room with all the furniture pushed up against the cinderblock wall, leaving the other half with five chairs, an instrument that looked like a giant lute with a round back, a guy holding a three-stringed banjo with a triangular body, another guy in a My Little Pony shirt and unwashed fingernails with a ukulele-version of the giant lute, and some wannabe punk at a pile of percussion odds-and-ends, sitting on a drumbox. The gay dude with the triangle guitar was seething and tuning the ukul-luté.

“Oh, hey. You, uh, joining us?” The punk’s wild red hair didn’t even move when he stood up, not from product but from its own thick, coarse texture. He stepped forward to greet Nathan at the door.

“Oh, wow!” A fat kid with a grease-stained shirt wiggled his way out from under a table in the back of the room. “They gave the stupid new kid to the Russian Music Ensemble. Great. Now we’re going to sound fucking awesome.”

“Shut up, he knows Accordions,” said the blonde fruit who was white-knuckled with obsession as he tuned two strings to E with as much perfection as possible for a souvenir instrument from the Soviet Union. He shoved the instrument back in his co-string’s hands and stood up to pull a battered red resin accordion out from behind small percussion mountain. “I arranged your parts. I hopes you don’t needs them written down. It sounds like-“

”It sounds like this!” The MLP guy used his disgusting fingernails to sloppily claw-hammer the triangle-thing through a tangle of chords.

“No-“ Just like that, he was completely distracted and arguing with the MLP guy.

”Uh…” Nathan looked around for an empty chair, then started looking at the door.

The redhead piped up. “Hold on, uh, I’m Pickles, and that’s uh…” The blonde guy was Skwisgaar, playing the prima domra, he was yelling at Toki, prima balalaika, and Murderface was tuning the bigger instrument, the bass domra, with a scowl. “It’sch William, dickweed.”

“And, so… Let’s just show him what we do, guys. You’ll recognize this one. Kalinka.” The band all exchanged nods and sat up straighter (except for William, but whatever.)

Pickles raised a tambourine to count off, then Skwisgaar and Toki furiously strummed a chord in a fast, hard crescendo. The timing was hinkey from that point on, but Pickles lead with his voice, high and strong.

“Кааааааааалинка, калинка, калинка моя—“

They chopped through the song, then attempted to accelerando together and ended up a mess until Pickles burst through with a long hold that modulated down. Then, there was a collective breath,

“Ах, под сосною, под зеленою,”

The strings plodded along lightly, with flourishes from Skwisgaar undermining Pickles. Murderface’s plodding was steady and depressive. Toki’s strumming got more and more sluggish as the verse went on, until it concluded in one more big buzz from Skwisgaar and Toki together.

”Кааааааа—“

”Schmoke break!” Murderface shouted. He let his domra all but hit the floor.

”Really!? Right now? Murderface,”

”Come ons! Wes got to practice!”

”Moidaface! Butts the juuleses is for fools!”

“Uh…” Nathan droned. “I don’t actually know how to play the accordion.”

[siblingshuffle]

Sibling Shuffle: Suspicion

“What? Why on earth would Dr. Wily make a robot that fights robots that HE reprogrammed?”

“I’m not sure. …Maybe I should check on her, just to be safe— huh?”

“What? What is it?”

“The lab door - it’s locked from the inside!”

—————

Sorry again for the delay!

————— LORE:

So. I’m not sure if it’s really established if Bass was really that badly damaged from Shade Man or if he was playing it up, but Piano did sustain heavy damage. That being said, she always was more of a strategist than a battle-hungry fighter, so I can’t imagine that she didn’t see this as an opportunity to accomplish her goals with a minimal amount of conflict.

As for the Lights, Dr. Light was always very optimistic, but he had a strange feeling about his daughter’s new alleged ally. Not enough that he would refuse fixing her (he’s way too nice to do that) but definitely enough that Blues decided to look into who built her. That search wasn’t going very well… Until Dr. Light got a good look at Piano’s systems, and realized just how similar they were to Roll’s.

This was weird to him for several reasons:

Internal systems often look very different from Robot Master to Robot Master.

Roll is a first-generation Lightbot, making it strange for someone would copy her design - there have probably been many advancements in technology since her creation that would be more efficient, but Piano’s systems look almost the same as Roll’s.

Roll is a Helper robot/Child, making it weird that someone would copy her design to make a combat robot. While the public may know her as the heroic Super Fighting Robot, Roll wasn’t built with that in mind, hence her childlike design. Piano also has a childlike design, but she identified herself as a robot built for combat (making design choices like a child’s face and robot hair very strange).

So. Someone very likely copied Roll’s design. And that Someone knew how to do it and knew how to design a core strong enough to support a robot like Piano, and knew how to build weapons similar to Roll’s Mega Buster. And guess who fits that criteria and is a serial plagiarist?

——— This next section is just breaking down Blues’s List of People Who (Probably) Didn’t Build Piano (at least, the candidates he listed aloud.)

Cossack Robotics Laboratory: He looked into them first because Dr. Cossack did build a combat robot in the past (even if it was under duress). I decided to go with one of the few things I know about the Megamix/Gigamix continuity: the whole thing with Skull & Ring Man’s functions. I went with Skull Man being the only CossackBot made for combat, while Ring Man was made to be like a detective (though he hadn’t been activated as a detective - his first time waking up was with Wily’s programming installed). Unlike that version of Skull Man, though, Sibling Shuffle Skull Man was repurposed once Kalinka was safely un-kidnapped - now he’s like her bodyguard (just to be sure she is never re-kidnapped). (Credit for that last idea.)

Geoworks International: His investigation into Geoworks was probably the quickest lol. He kinda just called up Tempo and was basically like “Hey, you get any new sisters since Rhythm? No? Yeah, I didn’t think Dr. LaLinde built her anyway.” (He didn’t want to speak to Dr. LaLinde directly, so called his best friend instead lol)

The Military: The energy consumption of robots with independent thought was a bit high** for the US*** government to want any. They have plenty of Joes, instead. Sniper, Gunner, Hammer, Rider, Apache, Cannon… and those have been getting the job done well so far. If it ain’t broke, you know?

———————

Footnotes:

*The events of the 6th Game. I can’t imagine that with the sponsor of the tournament gone (for all intents and purposes) they would keep it going another year. And with Wily breaking out of jail & causing a ruckus so often, I assume even if making more fighting robots wasn’t illegal, it would be very much frowned upon/side-eyed nervously

**Blues himself serves as an example. Granted, Robot Master technology becomes more and more efficient as the timeline progresses, but even then I think the government would be… hesitant to implement technology that Dr. Wily consistently reprograms.

***This assumption is based on this map from Megaman 8, which implies Light Labs to be somewhere in America.

————

I’ll try to get the next Minicomic out in a good amount of time. (Might answer questions / comments in the meantime? Idk)

[ninjastar107]

"moody-Blues" (as Proto-mini calls him) refused to talk to Namagem for a long time, but Break-mans continued exposure has brought him out of his shell some. It's still awkward though.

[sminny-wew]

Nonsensical yuri? Anyone order some nonsensical yuri? No? Oh okay just checking

[missjukebox8bit]

GET EQUIPPED WITH: New Chapter of The Roboticist's Daughters

I finally did it! I finally made a second chapter of my Rollinka fanfic The Roboticists' Daughters before Pride Month ends! Four hours before AO3 goes down! Great timing!

Because AO3 is going down I will also be posting it under the cut!

The year was 20XX A.D.

Wasn’t it always?

It was two years before Dr. Albert Wily first waged war between man and machine. The world did not yet know the man made horrors and wonders that lifelike robots would bring, but it was not a time without hardship. They still had to worry about the natural horrors. Katyusha Cossack had been fighting a battle against one such powerful enemy for a long time, one that had taken many lives and split apart many families, and though she had many rematches that ended in victory… her game would eventually come to a premature end.

Leaving her family to find a way to continue.

Mikhail Cossack slowly walked into the doorway of his apartment. It wasn’t particularly big or fancy, but it was home. A home he shared with his daughter and… no, just her now. It was going to take a while for him to get used to that. He steadied himself on a counter. Without Katyusha, this place felt empty, hollow even. Everything he saw reminded him of her. The turquoise fur coat she loved so much was still hanging up by the door, and he knew the matching ear-rings were on the nightstand by the bed they used to share. Resting on the couch is the stuffed frog she had won for their daughter in a claw machine… Part of him wished he could just leave this all behind and start over-

Wait… where is his daughter anyway? He didn’t see her come in… His heart started racing and he looked around the room frantically, until he heard a voice. “Papa?” The scientist jumped and his head turned to the source of the sound. A little blonde girl in the middle of the apartment, wearing her papakha and clutching something to her chest.

He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. He walked up to his daughter and affectionately patted her hat. “You have a talent for slipping away when I’m not looking, little Linka. What do you have there?” But when she showed him what it was, his heart sank. It was an old DVD of Don Bluth’s Anastasia . It wasn’t a favorite of his. He hated the historical inaccuracy, the glorification of the Romanov family, and the blatant demonization of communists. But that was far from the main thing on his mind right now. Because to Kalinka, this film was significant because-

“Mama said she would watch this with me when she got all better.”

It was already hard for Mikhail to tell her no when she looked up at him with those adorable puppy-dog eyes of hers, but in his current emotional state there was no way he wasn’t immediately dropping everything to sit down on the couch and watch a princess movie with his daughter as she cuddled her little frog doll. 

The mood in the room was tense at first, but as the film went on, Kalinka was engrossed in its story. Mikhail was familiar with the history of the real Grand Duchess Anastasia, and it was not quite as wholesome and fantastical as this film portrayed, but… he saw how his daughter’s face lit up as she watched the screen, how wide she smiled seeing the beautiful palaces, the music, the dancing… and it was then he realized, he would do anything to see that smile on her face forever. And it made him smile too.

By the time the film was over, Kalinka was getting drowsier and drowsier. Mikhail gently scooped up his daughter and led her to her bed.

As he tucked her daughter into bed, wild fantasies filled her head.

“I want to be a princess, papa. Like Anastasia!”

The doctor felt weary. “Things didn’t end happily ever after for the real Anastasia, sweetheart.”

“But it would be really fun! We could live in a big pretty palace, and we could have a big ballroom, and we could have a lot of robots be our servants and I could be friends with them!”

“You want a robot to be your friend?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll make friends with all the robots!”

The doctor admired his daughter’s optimism. Robot AI at this point was only smart enough to just barely simulate human speech, let alone have real emotions. So a robot that could actually be your friend? Technology like that was surely at least a decade away. But given the circumstances, he thought he might as well indulge her science fiction fantasies. “What kind of robots would live in your palace?”

She thought about it. “One of them could be a vacuuming guy, who vacuums, and he’s called uh… Dust Man!” She said, very proud of herself. “And there could be another guy who like… makes it rain when you want it to rain, and his name is uh…” she held her frog plushie up. “Toad Man!”

“Do all their names end in ‘Man’?” he asked teasingly.

“Yeah!” She thought about this for a second. “But, it would be fun if there was a girl one… We’d be bestest friends.”

Mikhail was amused by Kalinka’s ideas… but he had to admit they didn’t all sound so bad. Maybe a new project would help him get his mind off things.

“Can you sing me that song, papa? The pretty one from the movie.”

Mikhail smiled. “Of course, my princess.” And started singing her what would become her favorite lullaby.

“ On the wind, 'cross the sea, sing this song and remember

Soon you'll be home with me, once upon a December… ”

Kalinka yawned and curled up nice and cozy in her bed.

“I’m gonna turn out the light now, princess. Maybe I can build a robot that can do that for us too.” Mikhail joked.

“You could call him Bright Man, and he’ll have a biiiiiiig lightbulb on his head…” 

Mikhail chuckled at his daughter’s wild imagination.

As the lights and her eyelids fell, Kalinka drifted off to sleep, and the last thing she heard was her father’s voice.

“You are the most precious thing in my life. I promise that I will do anything in my power to make you happy and keep you safe, my princess.”

--------

Kalinka opened her eyes. She was still curled up, but not on the couch, or in her father’s arms, or on her bed. She was on a bed, but somebody else’s. And as she stared across the room at the owner of said bed rummaging through her closet, the reality of her situation came flooding back to her.

The year was 20XX A.D. It had been roughly five years since Mikhail Cossack made his promise, one week since he proved just how far he would go to keep his promise, and half an hour since the situation had been mostly resolved. But there was still the fallout to deal with.

“I know we have a first aid kit in here somewhere…” Kalinka was watching closely as she sat up on the edge of Roll’s bed, helping herself to some leftover soup and rice balls they set out on a tray. She thought it tasted a lot better than what she was given at Wily’s Castle. There was also an E-Tank on the tray. She picked it up hesitantly, she thought these were just for robots, but she took a tentative sip. She instantly perked up. It tasted like sparkling blue raspberry juice…

After the Cossacks were let into Light Labs, Dr. Light had taken Dr. Cossack to the living room to rest (and Proto Man went with them, Dr. Light seemed to have something he wanted to talk to him about), while Kalinka was set up in Roll’s room. She seemed to have dozed off.

“There it is!” The robot girl turned around with a first aid kit in hand and her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re awake! I hope I wasn’t too loud…”

“N- no, not at all! Don’t worry about it.” She felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Roll knelt down to Kalinka’s bedside. “Sorry, I’ve done a lot of repairs on broken robots, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a human patient…” She inspected the Russian girl’s arm. “Your wounds don’t seem that serious, just a couple bruises. Dr. Cossack seemed to absorb most of the damage.” She took an ice pack out of the kit and applied pressure to her arm. “You’re not feeling feverish at all, are you? I could get you some Coldkiller X…”

“N- no, I’m fine! This is really nice of you.”

“It’s no trouble at all! It’s the least I can do after… everything today.”

“Do you really need to do all this for me? Shouldn’t this be enough?” She swished the E-Tank around in her hand.

“Those only heal robots, unfortunately. For humans it’s basically just a tastier version of Monster Hunter Energy. No, we have to do things the old fashioned way.” She bandaged up the girl’s arm.

Kalinka shyly stared at her. “Umm… hi.” Kalinka waved at Roll with her other hand weakly. “I never really got to introduce myself. I’m Kalinka.”

“Oh. Oh! Right, sorry. Where are my manners?” the robot girl shook her head, then held out her hand to Kalinka. “My name is-”

“Roll, right?” The girl smiled as she held Roll’s hand. Roll looked at her, kind of stunned. “DLN. 002,” she continued. “The housekeeping robot. One of the first two of Dr. Light’s Robot Masters to be unveiled to the public.”

“You know about me?” She was… a little surprised. Sure when the Robot Masters were first introduced and she was one of a set of twins, she caught a lot of attention from the media. But after Mega Man put a stop to three different major attacks from Wily, she was increasingly sidelined in favor of her brother. Rock and Roll got stopped in the street a lot by Mega fans, but they rarely paid her any mind.

“Oh yeah, I’ve read a lot about you in Father’s scientific journals!” She blushed. “Sorry if that’s weird, I just… really like studying robots, and I thought you always seemed really cool… it’s nice to meet you.”

Roll smiled. “Nice to meet you too!”

Kalinka’s smile turned gloomier. “I just wish our first meeting could’ve been for some other reason than this… There was supposed to be a Robotics Convention this week, but we had to miss it because of…”

Roll looked at her sympathetically. “Look I’m… I’m really sorry about… all of this. If we had known what Wily was up to, we would’ve made sure you were safe way sooner.”

“No, it’s ok! It’s not your fault! It’s that jerk Wily’s fault.” Kalinka pouted and crossed her arms. “Making Proto Man take me away from school, using me to get Father to pretend to be evil, and make those two new robots to fight Mega Man…”

Roll’s eyes widened. “Woah woah, back up. Proto Man kidnapped you?!”

Kalinka nodded. “Yeah, but he told me he only did it because Wily said he'd explode if he didn’t.”

Roll scowled skeptically. “Yeah, he would say that, wouldn’t he?”

Kalinka waved her arm defensively. “You don’t get it. I wouldn’t even be here if he hadn’t fought off the robot guarding me.”

“Oh yeah, who was that? Quick Man? Snake Man? Don’t tell me it was freaking Bubble Man-“

Kalinka shook her head. “None of them. It was… someone else.” Kalinka thought back to the robot she had seen. She started to pout and curl up into the fetal position on the bed. “I thought I knew every robot that’s been released to the public, but that one… with her dark spiky helmet, the weird coily fingers, a stringy spark plug tail… I’ve never seen or heard of anything like her. She was scary.”

Roll searched all her memory databases for a robot that matched that description, but curiously found nothing. “Did she give you her name? A serial number?”

Kalinka shifted awkwardly in her seat. “She didn’t say. I tried to talk with her, but she didn’t seem to want to say anything about herself at all. I only know she was a she because that’s what Proto Man called her when he was rescuing me.” She brought a finger to her lips in thought. “But he could’ve been wrong, it’s 20XX, it’s not great to assume things like that just from looks...”

Roll was worried. Kalinka was clearly affected by this experience. “What did they do to you?”

She side eyed the robot girl. She was scared, but something made her feel like she could open up to Roll about all this. “She didn’t hurt me, if that’s what you mean. Not yet anyway. But Wily told Father and me that if I tried to escape, or if he let anyone know about his plan, if we didn’t do exactly what he said then… it would be game over for me.” The Russian girl started shaking. “You don’t think she’d follow us here, would she?”

Roll frantically waved her hands back and forth. “N- no, of course not! Mega Man will take care of it, just like he always does! He’ll save the day, and then we’ll get you home. I bet your mother will be excited to see you get home safe-”

“My mother passed away when I was four.” She looked like she was about to tear up.

Roll felt as if some obscure glass part inside her just shattered. Oh great going, Roll, your bedside manner is phenomenal today. “I am so… so sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. I was really little... It’s just been me and Father and my brothers as long as I can remember…”

Roll rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Yeah… same here. I mean it’s not really the same because I never had a mom to begin with but… It’s just always been me, Dr. Light, Mega Man, Cut Man and the others. It’s kind of lonely being the only girl in the family, you know?”

She smiled a little at this. “Yeah, I don’t really know any girls my age at all.”

“Me neither.” It felt nice to talk about this with Kalinka. Roll had never really been able to talk to anyone like this. “... Do you wanna-”

“Do you wanna be friends?!” Kalinka shouted a little too loud before she caught herself and started awkwardly twirling her hair. “I- I mean, if you want to…”

“Yes!” Roll agreed with no hesitation. “I would love to!”

Kalinka smiled widely at her. The two girls had only known each other for a short time, but something about them just seemed to click.

And it was at this moment that they were interrupted by a knock on Roll’s door. “Come in?” Roll said hesitantly. And when the door opened she frowned at the person she saw. Kalinka on the other hand seemed happy to see him. “Proto Man!” Even if Kalinka seemed to be on good terms with him, Roll still couldn’t get a read on this guy. What was his deal? Why did he act like an enemy sometimes and help them other times, but never stay long enough to explain what his problem is? To his credit, Proto Man seemed to sense the hostility. “Your uh… father wants to speak to you.”

“Mine or hers?” Roll asked, venom in her voice.

“Yes.”

--------

The roboticists’ and their daughters gathered in the living room. Proto Man walked in with them, but had since beamed away while nobody was looking. He felt awkward about the whole situation, and probably wanted to avoid confronting Roll about it. Kalinka wished he had at least waited long enough for her to say goodbye. Her injuries were minimal, but Mikhail was a lot worse for wear. His whole back was bandaged up and his arm was in a cast. Nonetheless, he looked a little happier seeing his daughter again. “Kalinka! Are you okay, my dear?”

Kalinka looked worried at her father’s appearance, but forced a smile. “I’m fine, Father. In fact, I should be good to go back to school really soon.”

Mikhail winced. “About that… I’m not letting you go back to that school. The faculty should be ashamed at what they let happen on their watch, I need to enroll you somewhere that I can be sure won’t let that happen ever again.

Kalinka looked surprised, but not necessarily disappointed. “Oh… okay, that’s fine. I didn’t really fit in at that school anyways…”

Mikhail gently rubbed his thumb on his daughter’s face. “Don’t worry, my princess. They didn’t appreciate you there, but I’m sure you’ll do great at Pajitnov Academy.”

Kalinka’s face lit up at this. Today has really been a rollercoaster of emotions for her. “Pajitnov Academy? The school with the best robotics program in all of Russia?!”

“And the lowest kidnapping rate! It’s difficult to get in, but I’m sure I could pull some strings after I explain our… situation.”

“Oh Father, you’re the best!” She went straight to hug her father, causing him to wince more. “Ow, ow, not so tight!” She released him and chuckled nervously. “Hehe, sorry…”

As she thought about this, Kalinka’s face fell for a second. “But if I go to that school, I’m gonna have to spend a lot less time at the Citadel…”

Mikhail sighed. “That’s fine, sweetie. I’ve had time to think about it, and I think it’s time we stopped shutting ourselves away from the world in that fortress. If I hadn’t been so reclusive, perhaps people would’ve figured out something was wrong much sooner… And besides, the Citadel is in a bit of… disarray lately. With Dust Man out of commission, it’s going to take months to clean out everything Wily did to it…”

And with that sentence it was like a switch had flipped in Roll’s head. Mostly because a switch did flip in Roll’s head: the switch that told her it’s time to fulfill her purpose. She raised her hand proudly and shouted out “I could help with that!”

Everyone turned to look at Roll, who had been silent this whole time. Dr. Light was the first to respond. “R- Roll? Are you sure…?”

“Dad, cleaning is literally my thing, I was built for this job! If I can’t keep a house tidy, then you might as well recycle me for scrap metal.”

That thought didn’t exactly make Thomas feel very good. “I- It’s a very big house, dear…”

But Roll was more determined than ever. “So we’ll get some of the mechaniloids to help, it’ll be fine! And…” She turned to the Cossacks, and made eye contact with Kalinka. She was making those puppy dog eyes. “... I want to help make up for all the trouble we caused. This is what friends do, right? Help each other.” Kalinka smiled at the word “friend”.

Dr. Light was still hesitant, but took a deep breath and smiled warmly. He laid a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “You’re right. You have a good heart, Roll. You and your brother are cut from the same cloth, after all. Would that be alright with you, Mikhail?”

Mikhail shared a look with his daughter, who nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, Thomas. Thank you for your kindness, Miss Light.”

Dr. Light laughed heartily. “Perfect! I’ll have some arrangements to make, but I’ll make sure you’re perfectly prepared for your first big mission.”

Roll was giddy with excitement that she was able to help out. “Thank you so much! I won’t let you all down!”

--------

Technically speaking, the official name for Dr. Light’s breed of hyper intelligent robots was “Numbers”, but market research found that “Robot Master” ended up being much more appealing and cooler to the average consumer. The only issue with the title is most people weren’t quite sure what it meant.

Some say it’s because they were masters at their main skill. This certainly applied to Roll, if there was anyone on Earth who could clean a room better than her, she hadn’t met them yet. Some of the Wily bots would tell you that they’re called such because they will be the masters of the new world once humanity dies out. Roll didn’t like that one as much, she didn’t mind humanity and running the new world sounded exhausting. And some would say the name just sounds really freaking cool, which Roll could not deny.

But one other distinct possibility is it refers to their ability to take command of armies of lesser robots. This was not a feature Roll had used much before, it was mostly something Wily’s rogue robots did, but today was different. Today, a few weeks after the fourth Wily incident, there was a job that needed to be done. A job she couldn’t do alone.

Roll stood in front of a crowd of worker robots, putting on a stoic face and stomping around like a drill sergeant, holding her broom as seriously as a 9-year-old girl could.

“Alright, mechaniloids. We’ve got a job to do. Wily’s forces outfitted this citadel with lots of tricks and traps. But we’re not going to rest until this palace is safe and spotless , do you hear me?” She punctuated her last line by getting right in a Metool’s face. It nervously nodded.

“Good. Now you all have your tasks. The Foojeens are going to help me scrub all the floors. Pointans, plug up all the pitfalls. Bunby Catchers are in charge of spike disposal. And the Met Corps will do… whatever it is you do, construction or something?” A Pickelman shrugged at this.

“Now I don’t wanna see any funny business or loafing around, okay? The Cossacks are counting on us to fix up their home, and we are going to do it right! Let’s show them what Light robots can do!” Roll dramatically swung her broom and accidentally exploded a different Met, to which she backed away in shock. “Oh crap, I didn’t mean to… you guys don’t feel pain, right?” The crowd of robots shook their heads, or whatever they had that resembled heads. “Okay, that’s probably fine then. Now… Light bots, ROLL OUT!”

The robots got to work right away renovating this makeshift death trap into the home that it was meant to be. Roll was more focused than ever on making sure every inch of the floors were squeaky clean. To most people, this would be a daunting and boring task. But Roll was not most people. She was made for this, and she took it as seriously as Mega Man took fighting Wily’s forces, and enjoyed it a heck of a lot more. Her broom was her weapon, and the dust and grime in every crevice was her enemy. She was in her element, in the zone even, and nothing felt more exhilarating. And besides… she’s doing this for her friend. And that made her feel even happier.

--------

“Alright, we’re almost here…” Roll led the Cossacks into their home with their eyes closed. Their injuries were healed by now, but Roll insisted they wait to see the results of her efforts. “Aaaaand open!”

They opened their eyes, and they almost couldn’t believe them. The old castle looked cleaner than it had in years. Kalinka looked on in awe, every hallway and corridor was shining like a diamond, the ballroom in particular looked gorgeous. “Wow! It’s beautiful!” Kalinka flapped her hands in excitement. “You did such a great job, Roll! Thank you so much!!!”

Roll wiped some coolant off of her forehead. “Eh, it was nothing.”

Mikhail’s reaction was more subdued, but he was similarly impressed. “Certainly not nothing. The old place looks good as new, you even took care of some of the mold we’ve been trying to scrub out for a long time.” He smirked. “I would expect nothing less from Thomas’s pride and joy.”

“Aw, shucks…” She didn’t feel like she fully deserved such praise. If anyone was her dad’s pride and joy, she knew who it was, and it wasn’t quite her… but she appreciated the compliment. “I’m just happy to help after everything.” She watched happily as Kalinka sprinted around the wide open space, gawking at every sparkling corner of the room. She had such a big smile on her face. Roll was glad she was able to make her smile. In that moment, she felt like she would do anything to see that smile on her face forever.

As she was lost in thought, Roll was taken by surprise when Kalinka ran up to her and grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s go see the roof!” Before her systems were able to process what was going on, Kalinka was pulling her along through the system of lifts and ladders that led to the upper level of their castle.

--------

Eventually, the two girls had finally gotten to the upper level of the castle, and rested just on the edge of a floating platform, overlooking the snowy countryside below. Roll hadn’t paid close attention to it when she was working, but now it was her turn to be in awe. “Wow. It’s a really beautiful view up here. You’re lucky to live in a place like this.”

Kalinka grinned proudly. “I know, right? When I was really little, I told Father I wanted to live in a castle. So he made his robots build this for us. Just to make me feel like a princess.”

“He must really love you a lot.”

“He does! He’s always doing things to make me happy. Even… all of that from before.” She rubbed her arm nervously. “He did that to protect me… He wouldn’t have done all that if he didn’t love me a lot.”

Kalinka made a face, but Roll couldn’t tell what it meant exactly. “So, now that you have your home back, what are you going to do?”

Kalinka pushed some hair out of her eyes. “Well, I’m starting off at a new school really soon. You know how that is.”

“Psh, of course I do!” She did not. Roll had been homeschooled by Dr. Light her entire life, she had no experience whatsoever with real schools. But she had watched Rival School Musical and she was pretty sure that was about the same thing. “Are you nervous?”

“A little bit. But I have a good feeling about this. There will be a lot more kids that are into the same things I am. Robotics is just scratching the surface, I’m also gonna be taking some piano and dance classes, that’s going to be really cool!”

“Well that’s awesome! I hope you have a wonderful time.” Roll was happy for Kalinka, but it felt bittersweet. Kalinka was the first real friend she had ever made, and now it’s going to be a long time until they could see each other again.

Almost as if she read her mind, Kalinka continued on. “But don’t worry, we’ll still be able to talk and stuff! I’ve got a really good cell phone, I can give you my number, and my e-mail, and my dorm address when I figure that out! I’ll make sure you won’t forget about me!” She playfully elbowed the robot girl, which made her smile. “And I have summers off, I can come visit then!”

Roll liked the sound of that. “That sounds great-” Kalinka cut her off by pulling her new friend into a tight hug. “I’ll be back next year, okay?”

Roll was surprised, but hugged back. “Thanks, Kalinka. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Roll stayed for dinner that night, and they had a nice conversation, but before long, it was time for Roll to say goodbye to her new best friend. She felt a weird pain in her chest area, almost the same as whenever Mega Man leaves for a mission, but slightly different in a way she couldn’t place. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before she saw Kalinka again.

20XX will pass. But 20XX will be here before you know it.