Three Days

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You remember the first time we went on a dig Megaman? I wasn't used to being a spotter, and you ended up getting lost underground for three days... Remember? We were lucky Gramps came to help. I don't know what we would have done if he hadn't been there.

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"You kids take care while I'm away," said the old man to the two youngsters. "Don't leave the ship, keep out of trouble, and I should be back by tonight." With that, Gramps, as the children called him, stepped out the door. To the majority of the world he was known as Professor Barrel Casket, a once famous digger with which old age was catching up. The two children watched and waved out the window as he walked away down the island's dock and boarded another air ship. They then turned toward each other with innocently evil grins.

"Gramps is off to see Mr. Bleucher!" said the young girl dressed in red, approximately 8 years of age.

"That means we can do whatever we want, and he won't be back until night time!" replied the boy in blue, roughly the same age as she.

Roll and Megaman were their names. Together they had grown up under Barrel's guidance, and they loved him dearly. However, the opportunity for fun was greater than the sadness of his absense in this case. Barrel was a digger, Roll's missing parents were also a digger and spotter couple, and likewise, Megaman and Roll were growing up to follow in the Casket family footsteps. On this day, knowing that Gramps would be leaving, the two of them had planned to venture out on their first dig ever.

Sneaky though it was, their intentions were not entirely mischievous. Barrel's full, white beard symbolized how much time had passed since his glory days. He had slowed down considerably, and in ruins filled with deadly reaverbots, being too slow could cost one's life. Still, being the only capable digger in the family, Barrel had no choice but to continue earning their livlihood in the same manner he had always done. To aid in the situation, it was decided by Megaman and Roll that the two of them would prove themselves capable despite their age, by bringing home a refractor.

"Okay Megaman, Gramps' ship is out of sight, let's get going!" she exclaimed with obvious excitement in her voice. Roll stepped up on a crate and took the wheel while Megaman fired up the ship. Already at 8, she was a skilled pilot. Gramps often called upon her to take command of their flying home, the Flutter. It was a relatively small ship, but plenty big for just the four of them. The jolt of the ship's sudden movement caused the fourth member of the crew to appear.

"Hey, Megaman, what's going on? Why are we moving?" the mechanical little monkey asked in its high voice.

"Me and Roll are gonna go on a dig," Megaman explained, acting as if it were no big deal.

"Eeeek!" the monkey shreaked, "You shouldn't be doing that, especially without Barrel here to help!"

"Don't worry Data, we're gonna get a refractor and be back before Gramps knows we were gone."

The 8-year-olds' logic told them that the best choice of ruins would be the closest, to save on travel time. Mishini Island sat a mere 20 minutes away. Unknown to them at the time, the island was home to one of the most expansive and hard to navigate ruins that diggers had ever explored. To make matters worse, the ruins on Mishini were some of the world's most picked over. Nearly every digger, amatuer and professional, had tried their luck there at some point. As a result, the ruins contained hardly any remaining reaverbots, and even less treasure. Nevertheless, this was the island chosen by the two brave youngsters, into which they would explore for their first time working together as a digger and spotter combo.

DAY 1 >>>

Megaman stepped cautiously into the entranceway of the ruins. Safe aboard the Flutter, Roll sat tinkering with the equipment which she would use to aid Megaman above ground.

"Megaman, are you ready?"

"Yep, let's go."

Things went well for the first half hour or so. With some difficulty, Roll kept track of Megaman's position and informed him on the rare occasion when a reaverbot was near.

"On your right Megaman, do you see a door?" Roll asked, receiving no response.

"Megaman? Megaman, can you hear me?"

"Oh, sorry Roll. Yes I can hear you," he said disinterestedly.

"What happened Megaman? It looks like you're moving away from the door."

"I saw something shiny down the hall. I think it's some treasure hidden in a hole in the wall."

"Be careful Megaman," Roll finished up with concern.

Megaman approached the hole cautiously. As he neared it, a glowing red orb suddenly lit up within the dark space. "Reaverbot!" he shouted, quite surprised. He fell back on his butt and had to laugh when he saw a little Mirumijee come worming its way from the hole. Megaman quickly stood up and fired his shrimpy buster at the tiny snake-like reaverbot. The Mirumijee blew up after a few shots, and Megaman playingly blew smoke from the tip of his buster. Then he realized that his first defeated reaverbot had left him with a prize of sixty zenny!

Two hours later, Roll screamed desperately for Data's help. When the monkey hopped into the room, Roll's eyes were about to overflow with tears. Somehow her equipment had gone dead, and she had lost contact with Megaman, as well as the ability to track him. Meanwhile down below, Megaman was beginning to feel the pinch of the ruins. Without Roll's voice for company, he felt alone and helpless. All at once he understood the terror of the underground.

A metal clanking sound suddenly began to echo down the corridor in which Megaman stood. Without a second thought, he took off running in the opposite direction. He ran and ran, until he reached a large cavernous area filled with Foo-roo. Even with his lack of knowledge, Megaman knew that Foo-roo could be taken down with a single shot. Yet there were too many, and he panicked. Ducking, rolling, and sliding his way through, Megaman barely avoided the floating reaverbots. He felt the heat against his back as one after another they exploded behind him. Finally one of the Foo-roo made direct contact with him, exploding itself and sending the young boy flying a short distance through the air. Upon landing, the ground under Megaman shifted and gave way. With a childish yelp he fell through the floor and landed on the next level down with a terrible thud.

Moments later, Roll's voice returned, and brought with it a bit of peace to the shaken lad.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said as she breathed a sigh of relief,"I'm really sorry about that."

"No problem Roll," he replied with a smile, "What went wrong?"

"Oh, well..." she explained hesitantly, "...my knee bumped into the off switch on the side of the console. Megaman could not help but laugh. Roll shrugged off her blunder and joined in.

After a couple more hours of wandering, Megaman felt quite worn out.

"Roll, are you sure this is the way out?" he inquired, "We're running out of time."

"Well I, uh, think so," she began, "I'm not used to this but I think... Oh wait Megaman, there's a call coming in."

Megaman dropped to the ground and leaned his back against the cold stone of the ruin wall. Several minutes passed as he waited for Roll to return.

"Oh Megaman, I've got good news and bad news," she informed him playfully.

"Give me some good news," he told her with a tired voice.

"Well, Gramps says he's been delayed. Mr. Bleucher is building a big ship and wants to have Gramps there to help for another day. That means we have more time, and might be able to get a refractor and get you out before he gets home!"

"What's the bad news?"

"The bad news?" She hesitated. "Well, I think you're officially lost..."

DAY 2 >>>

All concept of day and night was lost to Megaman while in the dark underground realm. He only knew that he had been tired and had to find an out of the way dead end in which he could rest without fear of reaverbots discovering him as he slept. Curled up in a corner, Megaman slept with the assurance from Roll that she would stay awake the whole time and watch her monitor. In truth, Roll snoozed in her chair, in a far deeper sleep than Megaman. Meanwhile Data kept a vigilant eye on the equipment.

Upon waking, Megaman felt as refreshed as if he had just glugged down a can of soda. Both he and Roll were ready to continue the journey through this twisted maze. The day seemed to take forever as Roll guided Megaman in paths that seemed to lead in circles. Reaverbots were battled, zenny collected, and rests taken. Megaman was quite grateful to bump into a sparkling pool of clean, fresh water. He drank up with delight, and restored his energy a great deal.

The young digging duo happened upon their first really lucky break around noon of the second say, roughly 24 hours since Barrel had left them.

"Megaman, you should be seeing a very large door in front of you," Roll's voice told him over his communicator.

"Yep, I see it Roll, do I go through it?"

"I'm seeing a large blip in the room beyond it, but it's too big to be a reaverbot, I think..." she said, rather uncertain as to how they should proceed.

"Maybe it's a refractor!" Megaman shouted, rather excited at the thought that had suddenly popped into his mind.

Megaman entered the room, only to be greeted by two Hanmuru Dolls, towing over him as if he were a bug between two shoes. The door slammed shut behind him and the color drained from his face as one of the Hanmuru Dolls raised a mighty arm and prepared to swing. A split second later and Megaman would have been no more, but amazingly he leaped forward and dived right between the two gigantic metal monsters just in the nick of time. The massive arm swung around with such tremendous force that it collided with the second Hanmuru Doll and knocked its head clean off. The huge, headless bulk instantly shut down and slumped over as sparks flew from its open neck area.

Megaman pumped his fist in the air and almost began laughing, but the still active reaverbot had already turned and tracked onto his presence. Megaman fired a few shots, but the small amount of energy his buster contained seemed to have absolutely no effect on the Hanmuru whatsoever. He turned to run but tripped on a bone. Apparently if Megaman were to die here, he could not claim to be the first. The skeleton was pretty well smashed from having sat in a room in which two Hanmurus lived.

Later on, Megaman would realize how fortunate it was that he fell, for it was at that point that he noticed the hole on the wall. Just beside the skeletion was a place where one of the blocks that make up the standard ruin construction was missing. This hole in the wall was certainly too small for an adult to take advantage of, but for Megaman is was the perfect size to save his life. He climbed in and curled up as far into the back as possible. The Hanmuru lashed out with both arms swinging furiously at the hole. Shards of stone shattered from the edges of the brick blocks, but Megaman sat safe. Even when the Hanmuru Doll tried to stab its spike fist into the hole, Megaman could not be reached, and so he took out his buster and fired repeatedly at the huge reaverbot from within his little sanctuary. It took some time, but finally the robot was destroyed, and Megaman stepped out to look around at the two felled giants.

"Megaman, you did it!" Roll exclaimed, "Now you should see another door, and I think there's a refractor in there." Sure enough, Megaman stepped into the next room and was met by a pleasant orange glow, radiating from a medium-sized refractor spinning on a pedestal. After all his hard work and misery down here, the trip was finally about to pay off.

"Hold it right there!" a mysterious, whiny voice called out just as Megaman went to reach for the refractor, "This is mine!" Megaman turned to find a young, short, and fat man standing in the doorway. He was dressed in brown, cheap looking digger's armor. The young boy was unsure about what he should do now. He'd heard about air pirtates on several occasions, but was this guy a pirate or just a digger? Megaman thought it over for a minute as they stared at each other. He had been the one to defeat the Hanmuru Dolls, and he had entered the room first.

"...First come, first serve!" Megaman shouted as he grabbed the refractor from its place and held it tightly against his chest. Now if the fatso wanted it, he'd have to actually take it, and that would mean he is a pirate. The little fat man gave a sneer and a chuckle. Megaman realized that he intended just to stand there and block the doorway.

Suddenly the ground began to tremble and dust fell from the ceiling. A huge reaverbot dropped down out of nowhere, making such a bang that Megaman failed to even hear Roll telling him to look out. To prevent escape, the door slid down as was so often the case, but this time there was something in the way. The door came down on the fat man's helmet instantly knocking him out. His body fell to the ground, making the door unable to close all the way as it pressed down on the chest section of his armor.

For Megaman, misfortune had turned to fortune. The fat man's bulky body provided enough of a gap for Megaman to slip through and back into the Hanmuru room, pushing the refractor through ahead of him. He executed another fist pump, which would in time become one of his signature moves. Being the kind-hearted soul that he is, Megaman grabbed hold of the bloated digger and pulled with all his might until he was free. The door instantly slammed shut the rest of the way.

Now they had completed step one of their objective. A refractor had been attained, and all that was left was to lead Megaman to the exit. Roll removed her hat and scratched her head.

"Okay Megaman, head back the way you came until you come to a three-way split..." she guided. Thus began the next session of getting lost in the tangled ruins. Roll had watched other spotters at work, and for the most part she understood how things worked and what to watch for on her radar, but this was a particularly strange set of ruins, and she was not familiar with the navigational difficulties involved in finding paths through a multi-level ruin.

As the sun was about to set, Roll received the dreaded call.

"Hi Gramps," she said nervously.

"Roll, where in the world are you? I've returned, but the Flutter isn't here!" the old man said with more worry than anger in his voice.

"Yeah, um, well you see..."

Megaman had to sit and wait as Roll explained the situation to Barrel...

DAY 3 >>>

After a quick crash course in spotting, Barrel had left the Flutter and entered the ruins to search for Megaman. Now she was busy guiding two people at the same time, trying to get them to somehow reach each other. The process took several hours more, but at last with Barrel's helpful tips she was able to pull it off.

Upon meeting, Megaman and Barrel held each other in a tight embrace. Megaman was so thrilled to see him again, despite all the difficulty, and the punishment which Megaman was sure would ensue once they returned to the Flutter.

Megaman picked up a lot of useful digging knowledge on the return trip. Barrel was a master, even if he was slowing down. Likewise, Barrel learned a great deal watching Megaman...

Once the two of them were in the clear and riding the elevator back to the surface, Roll dropped her work and went running out to greet them.

"Megaman!" she shouted joyfully, throwing her arms around him,"I'm so glad you're okay! I'm so sorry, if I was a better spotter, everything would've been so much easier."

"It's okay Roll, you got us through in the end," Megaman kindly insisted.

"Someday you'll look back and laugh about it, but right now I've got some things to say to you back in the Flutter," Barrel said sternly, ruining the tender moment.

"I should be furious," Barrel started, towering over the two children, "but I'm just so happy to see you after being away, and so glad you're safe. I don't know how I can possibly stay mad at you two."

Megaman and Roll lifted their hanging heads in surprise. Barrel's warm smile told them that it was all right, and he hugged them both, each under one arm.

"I never realized how much you've both grown up. You can't imagine my shock when I found out that you had not only flown to Mishini by yourselves, but gone on a digout, survived so long underground, and even managed to get a refractor!" Barrel commented, "That officially makes you two a digger and a spotter. From now on, you'll accompany me on digs Megaman. I'll teach you everything you need to know, and Roll will spot for us!"

A celebration feast followed up the trying ordeal, and all three of them slept peacefully that night, each exhausted in their own way. As the Flutter set sail for new horizons the next morning, Megaman looked out the window just as they were leaving Mishini Island. The short, fat man had just gotten out of the ruins. Apparently he spotted Megaman's face in the Flutter window, for he shook his fist in the air in protest. Megaman laughed and went to join Roll who was piloting. They exchanged smiles, and Roll reached for the lever to activate the boosters. Data hopped onto Megaman's shoulder.

"Here we go!"

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