" Huhh..... I don't see an entrance...," X said as he looked about in the rubble. They were standing amid a collapsed building. It was again night. They had traveled all day, the trip going very slowly due to X's condition. He had to stop several times. But, he refused any help offered to him. As Proto Man searched, he sat down on a huge rock. Rubbing his feet, X grumbled to himself.

" There is one. We went down it when you were unconscious," Chip said. Proto Man searched some more.

" I think it's been sealed... this is exactly where it was..," Proto Man said as he tapped the ground with his foot. " Oh well. Don't worry. There's another way in. Come on," he said. X moaned and stood up. He grudgingly followed Proto Man and the others as they walked through the city. Proto Man looked around cautiously and quickly ducked in to a bakery. The others followed. There was a man at the counter of the bakery. The man looked up and caught his breath when he saw Proto Man. He quickly recovered.

" What'll it be?" he asked, casually.

" Oh, the usual! Some of your special donuts! You know, the ones with something hidden inside them?" Proto Man said. The man nodded and pointed at the door behind him. Proto Man ushered Bo, X, and Zero through the door. The man followed. They entered a storage room. Bo walked up to one of the huge boxes that was in front of a shelf and slowly moved it. Then he grabbed the corner of the shelf and opened it like a door. Behind it was a reinforced, steel, computerized door. Bo typed in some quick codes and opened the door. Behind the door was some stairs spiraling deep in to the ground. Zero, X, Proto Man, and Bo entered and began to descend the stairs. Bo closed the door behind them. The sound of the box being moved back in front of the shelf could be heard as they walked down the stairs.

" How far down do we have to walk?" X asked, tripping on a step.

" Watch your step, little brother. Don't worry, we'll getdown there soon enough," Proto Man said. X grumbled. After a few more minutes, X again tripped. X had to grab on to the wall to prevent himself from falling down the stairs.

" When we get down there, X, you need to get sleep! You're practically passing out!" Zero said. X said nothing. Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, X heard what he wanted to hear.

" I can see the bottom!" Bo cried. X sighed in relief. He hurried down the stair and found himself at the Rebel base. Except that it was deserted.

" Where is everyone?" Proto Man demanded. Bo placed the unconscious Met against the wall and walked around.

" Look! A note!" Bo said as he walked over to a table in the room. He picked up the note. " 'Dear Proto Man, all the rebels have headed over to the construction site of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Construction's going fast but not fast enough. We've gone to help hurry it up.... we all left just an hour after you did. The pets came with us. Hope you were successful in your mission. P.S., We are out of oil,'" Bo read. Proto Man nodded.

" Well, we have the whole base to ourselves...," Proto Man said, not knowing what else to say. X sighed and sat down in a chair near by. He closed his eyes. Proto Man shrugged. " Oh well..... I'm gonna watch some TV.....," he said. He walked off. Bo watched Proto Man walk away. He walked over to Met and picked him up.

" I'm going to put Met in one of the Maverick Containment rooms. He'll be safe there," he said. He headed off. Zero turned to Chip.

" This place is bound to have a training room. Let's go practice, Rookie," Zero said. Chip nodded. Zero walked off, Chip following him. X found himself alone. It was very quiet and X found it almost impossible to stay awake. So, he gave up trying. Within a minute, X was asleep.

" Mega Man?" a woman asked. X opened his eyes. He wasstanding in an open field. It was dark out and the stars twinkled brightly in the sky. There was a slight breeze blowing over the field. He looked around. A gorgeous woman with long brown hair and blue eyes stared at him. She wore a red shirt and blue jeans. A bright red rose was nested behind her ear." Are you Mega Man?" she asked. X stared.

" I... I am Mega Man X!" he says, surprised. The woman looked him over.

" But you are still Mega Man....," she said. " I can tell," she said.

" Do I know you?" X asked.

" You used to....," the woman said, sadly. " Not anymore. Not since what happened," she said.

" What happened?" X asked, curious.

" Nevermind. It's not important," the woman said, though it was obvious that it was hard for her to say it.

" Who are you?" X demanded.

" Just forget you ever saw me..... forget all about this and what I have said.... I think it'd be best thing for both of us if you did...," the woman whispered. Her eyes were full of pain and sorrow. She turned and began to walk away.

" WAIT!!" X cried. The woman disappeared. X stood still and stared. " Who was she?" he mumbled.

" X? Little bro? You awake?" Proto Man said as he shook X. X mumbled and slowly opened his eyes. He jerked when he saw Proto Man.

" I just had the weirdest dream!" X said as he rubbed his eyes.

" X, I want to take you somewhere. Come on...," Proto Man said. He motioned for X to follow. X got to his feet and followed his older brother. Proto Man walked very quickly. X had to jog to catch up. They arrived at a garage. It was a huge hall containing really souped up motorcycles, cars, hovercrafts, and even a helicopter. Proto Man hopped on a motorcycle. He motioned for X to get on. " It'll take us there faster," Proto Man explained. X climbed on to the motorcycle. Proto Man started up the engine and took off. Proto Man sped down the runway and out a door that just opened in the wall. It led straight in to a long tunnel. Proto Man sped down the tunnel. X gazed about him, thoroughly surprised. The hum of the motorcycle echoed through out the tunnel. X looked ahead and jerked. He saw a dead end. The tunnel ended abruptly at a huge wall.

" Proto Man! There's a wall ahead!!" X cried. Proto Man laughed. He sped up. Just as they were about to crash, the wall opened up and the motorcycle zipped out. The wall closed behind them. X looked back. The exit to the tunnel was disguised as part of a wall along the interstate leading out of the city. X wondered if the people who built the wall knew about the 'feature'. X gazed back at the front.

" Where are we going?" he asked.

" It's a surprise!" Proto Man answered. X sighed. Obviously Proto Man had no intention of answering any of X's questions. They sped along and Proto Man demonstrated how considerate a driver he was by cutting off three cars. X, at first, was worried about Proto Man's driving techniques. But, after a while, he gave up. He just sat back and tried to enjoy the view. He watched as the landscape zipped by. He noticed that the city was getting smaller and smaller. Where ever they were going, it must have been far out in the country. A half an hour later, Proto Man drove down a dirt road. Suddenly, X began to realize where they were going.

" Isn't this....," X began.

" Yup," Proto Man said bluntly. He sped up. X raised an eyebrow.

" But... I was found there...," X said.

" Did ya remember anything?" Proto Man asked.

" No...," X said.

" Then you didn't experience the feeling of being home, did you?" Proto Man said. X shook his head.

" No....," he said.

" Then you WILL experience it this time!" Proto Man said. X shut his mouth and watched the road. Some ruins came in to view. X felt a weird sensation in his gut. Proto Man sped up. As they got closer and closer to the ruins, X felt the sensation in his gut multiply. They pulled up in front of the ruins. Proto Man stopped the motorcycle and watched X as he got off. X stared at the building, his eyes wide with recognition.

" Dr. Light's lab!" X whispered. He dashed in to the building. Proto Man followed. The building was a mess. No one had come by since Dr. Cain had left the site after he found X. It was considered a historical site and it was strongly agreed that no one could visit it without permission from the city council due to the danger of things getting damaged. X ran in to the lab part of the building and stared around, shocked. " I know where I am! This is where he built me!" X cried. He whirled and dashed own the hall and opened the door to a room next to it. " This was my bedroom! And... that one there was yours!" X cried. Proto Man nodded.

" But that's not why I brought you here. There's something very special I want to show you," Proto Man said. X nodded and followed him. They walked out of the building. Proto Man pointed at a small hill not too far from the lab. There was a single tree, which looked pretty old. Proto Man and X approached it. When they climbed the hill and stood in front of the tree, X turned to his brother.

" What did you want to show me?" X asked.

" This... is Dr. Light's grave," Proto Man said. X jerked in surprise. " I had planted a tree to mark it... I couldn't think of anything to put on a tombstone..," Proto Man whispered. " I wasn't put in a capsule as long as you were. I was made in to a reploid a few years after you were put in the capsule. I was then put in a capsule for a short period of time. Well... it was short compared to YOUR stay in the capsule... I was there when Dr. Light died..," Proto Man explained. X remained silent. Neither spoke. After a while, Proto Man cleared his throat and looked away. X wasn't sure but he thought he saw a tear on his check. X put his arm around his big brother and hugged him.

" Thank you for showing me this.... thank you...," X whispered. Proto Man nodded.

" I thought you'd want to see it....," Proto Man said. X nodded. Proto Man sat down. X sat down next to him. " Ya know, you were lucky. You were asleep those thirty years. I was asleep for fifteen," Proto Man said. X looked at him. " After Dr. Light died and was buried, I moved Roll and the rest to Dr. Cossack's.... you remember him?" Proto Man began. X nodded. " Well, we went to live there. While we were there, Cossack studied the reploid plans. After three years, he decided to turn us in to reploids as well. We agreed. Dr. Cossack first worked on me. Then Roll followed by the pets. He placed us in the capsules. After fifteen years we awoke to find Dr. Cossack, looking pretty old. He ran tests on us to see if we were operational. Then, he began to create a reploid all his own. Bo," Proto Man said. X remained silent. " He grew sick. We had him stop building Bo and told him to take it easy. He listened to us and rested. After he got well, he wanted to start working again. He was weak and drained but we couldn't deprive him. He always thought about finishing Bo... Finally, when he did and put him in a capsule for five years to be tested, he got sick again. He admitted to us that he knew he wouldn't see Bo after he got out of the capsule so he wanted us to watch over him... a few weeks before Bo was to come out, Cossack died," Proto Man said. " We watched over him as Dr. Cossack wanted. Katalinka had gotten married and moved out. She gave us Cossack's fortress. Well... a few years later, we learned that someone had found Dr. Light's lab and had used some plans to create reploids. I ran to the lab as fast as I could and found that you were gone. I swore I'd do everything I could to find you. And I did...," Proto Man said. X could tell his brother was getting emotional. X nudged him with his elbow.

" Ya actually missed me? Your younger pesky little blueberry head brother?" X asked, teasingly. Proto Man laughed.

" Let's go back to the base, ya twerp! They're probably wondering where we are by now!" Proto Man said as he brotherly smacked X.

" Okay. But this time, I'M driving!" X laughed. They dashed down and hopped on to the motorcycle. X driving this time, they sped down the dirt