Post by Aiyumi on Feb 1, 2015 16:31:46 GMT -5
Welcome to the Interdimensional Library. This place aims to record the interdimensional adventures of MMLS Legends fan fiction characters. Fic crossovers, cowritten stories joining the various fic universes, fan fictions of fan fictions, and possibly more.
Edit: since the number of stories is growing considerably, I figured I'd create an index to better organize things. Here's the list of stories, by order of posting:
Story 001
Written by: Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue (PSTC) alternate universe, crossover with Trigger of Change (ToC)
Summary: ToC Trigger crosses dimensions to meet Teisel and Trigger from PSTC. (story posted to the PSTC thread)
Story 002 (this very post)
Written by: Dashe and Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue alternate universe, crossover with Trigger of Change
Summary: PSTC Teisel takes ToC Trigger to eat pesto paninis at Johnny's café. Takes place after the previous story.
Story 003
Written by: Dashe and Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue alternate universe
Summary: An AU story where Trigger opts to live with the Carbons instead of taking Teisel to space. He struggles to adapt to Carbon culture while he tries to help Roll and her family with their daily chores on the Flutter.
Story 004
Written by: Dashe
Universe: Trigger of Change - crossover with Press Start to Continue
Summary: Sera is reflecting upon the recent happenings when she gets a totally unexpected visit. (story posted to the ToC thread)
End of edit, back to the original post.
To inaugurate this place, I would like to start by posting this little story that Dashe and I have been cooking up during the last week. It takes place after this short crossover oneshot, and has my fan fic's Rockman Trigger and Teisel from Dashe's Press Start to Continue going to eat paninis at Johnny's café. We hope you'll have as much fun reading it as we had while writing it!
Even as they were sitting in their booths, Teisel couldn't believe that this random stranger had talked him into going back to Johnny's. He'd been hoping that after the dust had settled and Roll left with her family, Aero, and the crazy robot he and Data had awakened underground, that Rocky guy, or whatever his name was, would just go back to whatever island it was that he'd really come from.
Although it seemed like all of Klickelan recognized him now, he never would have guessed that the Strudelmacher article from the newspaper would have given him a fan who'd followed him all the way not only to Klickelan Island, but into the ruins and right up to the Klicke Lafonica as well, under the pretense that he was from a parallel universe. He had to have been a pretty amazing Digger just to get there, and the fact that he knew Trigger well enough to claim to be another version of him creeped Teisel out a little. He might have seen a lot of crazy things in his lifetime, but he was pretty sure parallel universes weren't real. What was real was the fact that not only had the weird kid stayed on Klickelan once everyone else had disbanded, he was also still quite set on taking Teisel out to Johnny's for lunch. The thought that this guy didn’t seem to pick up on Teisel’s lukewarm response to the offer was really disturbing.
At that particular moment, Teisel was mostly concerned with trying to keep what happened the last time he was there from happening again. Mentally speaking, he was much better off than he'd been at that time last year, but he wasn't anywhere near as together as he'd been even after he was riding out the aftermath of his parents' deaths all those years ago. Losing his younger siblings like that had really taken a toll on his psychological health. So far, aside from the jitters that his dining companion had barely seemed to notice, there wasn't really anything going on that seemed like it was going to set him off. The cafe's paint job had been changed up again, to a dark, almost industrial blue that complimented the stainless steel counter and the pillars anchoring the computer consoles in place, and the booths and tables had a metallic finish to them. He didn't recognize the song playing on the radio, which was also a relief. It must have been new. He could only hope that the waiter on duty didn't recognize him from the previous year. That would have been embarrassing. He wished he could have remembered who had been working the floor on the day that Max had taken him here. He wished he could have taken more measures to make sure this lunch would go as smoothly as possible, without any awkward sobbing or flashbacks or any of that.
He hadn't gone in completely unprepared. He made sure to lead the kid off to a booth on the opposite side of the restaurant this time and took the seat facing the back of the venue. He'd also grabbed one of the paper menus off the front counter to try and find something new to order, something he knew he'd never eaten at this restaurant before. He sat in the booth and pored over the list of sandwiches and entrees. He couldn't remember whether Max had told him that everything on the menu was good and the panini was just the best, or whether the pesto panini was the only thing on the menu worth getting. He tried not to think about it too hard. He was stressed enough already.
"Hey. Rocky?" Teisel spoke up after staring at the text for a good three minutes. The longer he scanned the list for something new, the more the letters seemed to jumble themselves up and render themselves illegible. He'd never really had much of a problem with reading before. It must have been his nerves. He was pretty sure they had cheeseburgers. A cheeseburger seemed safe enough. "D-do you know what you want to get?"
Since it would have been rude, he didn't add that he wished the guy would hurry up and order so they could get out of the place as quickly as possible, but it might have been a good idea all things considered. This unusually cheerful character certainly didn't catch on to the subtle hints Teisel had dropped over the past few days that he didn't actually want to eat here in the first place. He probably wasn't the subtle type.
"A pesto panini, of course." Rocky answered. "And coffee! I've been wanting to try Terra's coffee for ages! I heard that it's great!"
"I think I'll try their cheeseburger," Teisel admitted as he folded up the menu. He prepared to stick it in his back pocket, but then he remembered that it would be in his best interest to keep his mind occupied. He unfolded it and checked to see if he could read the letters, but his brain just wasn't parsing them into any sequence that made sense to him. He really hoped they sold cheeseburgers here.
When the waiter came, Teisel ordered a pesto panini, a cheeseburger and two cups of coffee.
"And for the coffee, we'd like the largest cups you can get, please!" Rocky added enthusiastically. The waiter wrote the order on a computer tablet and walked away.
While they waited, Rocky noticed Teisel taking deep breaths and looking at nothing in particular, probably lost in the mazes of his mind. Knowing what he knew, he figured that it wasn't a good idea to leave Teisel in that state for too long. That man was like a time bomb that could go off at any moment. He decided to start a conversation and try to take the man's mind off of whatever it was that seemed to be bothering him. "Too bad that the other Trigger isn't here. And Roll and the Bright Bats too! It would be more fun if we all could eat together!"
A disturbingly vivid image of all four of the Bright Bats, the entire staff at Johnny's, and this new guy staring at Teisel curled up in a booth rocking back and forth flashed into the former pirate's mind. "I really... I don't think that's a great idea, Rocky,"
"By the way, nice nickname you gave me. I have a friend that calls me Rock, but Rocky is a first."
Teisel's train of thought promptly derailed. "Nickname?" He uttered. "Crap. What did you say your full name was again?"
"Hahahaha!" The kid just laughed it off and didn't seem offended in the slightest. "It's Rockman. Just think Super Adventure Rockman... You know. You've watched that cartoon, right? Just think about it and you'll never forget this name again! Well, unless you decide to call me Trigger instead, that is."
"I think I'll pass." Teisel cringed. "The less I have to think about that guy, the better. Getting into that ruin almost killed me, and his vocabulary is suspiciously advanced for someone who doesn't seem to have much going on in the common sense department."
"You had quite an adventure, didn't you?" Rockman cheerfully mused. If Teisel didn't know any better, the kid looked almost jealous. "So, T-Bonne, what are you going to do now that most everyone went their separate ways? Will you continue working as a Digger? If so, we could go on a few Digs together and I could share some tips with you." He lowered his voice a bit. "Oh, but I'll have to get the Class S license from here first. It looks like the one from my universe isn't compatible."
"YOU DON'T HAVE A LICENSE?!" Teisel snapped to attention. He started to sweat a little as his fists clenched and he felt the menu crumple in his hand completely by accident. At least it was the sort of menu customers were expected to take home! "How the HECK did you get into the..."
"Hey, not so loud! Basically, yeah. I'll have to sort out the whole documentation part if I decide to stay here for a bit longer. What about you?"
"I-I'm not sure I want to keep digging, to be brutally honest," Teisel admitted. "I never liked it much. I know Roll's counting on me to catch up with her later and take care of that Elder System, but... I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the job. If I had the option, I'd rather find a place where I'd be able to compete in Motorhorse races legally, but with the state of the planet as it is, it's probably better if I wrapped things up here in Teomo and headed out as quickly as possible."
Before Rockman had a chance to respond, the waiter returned with an embarrassed expression on his face. "Um... I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but there's been a slight... accident with the burger patties over in the kitchen." He uttered. "Is there anything else on the menu you'd like to order as a substitution? We'll offer you a discount for the inconvenience if the price is higher." He glanced towards the back room, pursed his lips in frustration and added, "This doesn't usually happen around here."
Teisel froze. He wasn't expecting that. He frantically flattened out the menu to try and figure out something else that he could eat without having to worry about his past trying to interrupt his meal, but it was no use. Now the letters were warped from the stress and from being crumpled up. "Ugh, I can't even read this anymore." He mumbled under his breath as he held the menu up close and raked his other hand through his hair.
"Hey, T-Bonne." Rockman whispered in his ear. "You've been staring at that menu for too long. If nothing else on the list caught your interest until now, there isn't really much of a choice to make, is there? I mean, come on. You came all the way here... You can't simply go and ignore this place's 'main attraction,' right?" He turned to the waiter and effectively eliminated Teisel's options. "Then another pesto panini will do!"
The waiter seemed too concerned with whatever was going on in the kitchen to notice that Teisel looked like a deer caught in someone's headlights. He walked away to relay the order to the kitchen staff and left the big guy sitting there and staring across the table at Rockman. Teisel didn't notice that he'd almost ripped a hole in the edge of the menu where he'd been gripping it, or how much his hand was shaking. So much for having this under control!
"What's the problem?" For the first time, Rockman showed signs of concern towards his dining partner. "Were you looking forward to that cheeseburger that much?" However, his expression of concern quickly faded away and the cheerfulness returned to his face. "T-Bonne, lighten up! I wouldn't let this ruin my day if I were you. If the panini is as great as they say, then hopefully you won't regret it!"
"No, it's fine," Teisel exhaled. "It's okay. It's a really good panini. I used to eat them all the time, back when this place was still called Diamond's. I should be okay, really. Probably."
"Good. Let's hope you can get the cheeseburger next time!"
"...Next time? Just how many times do you expect me to come BACK to this godforsaken slice of prime real estate?!"
Rockman jumped in his seat a little. "Uh... T-Bonne? Wh-what's gotten into you? You're acting strange..."
Teisel, upon realizing that he'd just shouted again, clenched his mouth shut so tightly to keep his head on straight that he bit the side of his tongue along the way. "Geez," he winced. "Okay. I... Maybe I should... You should probably know that 'strange' is more like my normal." He finally uttered after a few false starts. "What with all of the private information you seemed to know about me down in the ruins, I'm surprised you never figured that a guy who's been through the sort of stuff I've been through would end up having a hard time dealing with something like this. Like... Like lunch, I guess."
Rockman had recovered from his scared state surprisingly quickly. He made an unusually serious face. "Teisel. Do you really want an answer to that question? The one about coming back here?" After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head. "...Never mind."
"Woah, hold on a minute!" Teisel desperately exclaimed. "If you've got some kind of crazy scheme cooking in that ridiculously overgrown head of yours and it involves me, I've got EVERY right to know what it is, ESPECIALLY if it involves traipsing across town multiple times to eat at this restaurant!"
"Hahahahaha!" Rockman laughed and his serious mask broke completely. "Alright. But later, okay?"
Before Teisel had a chance to protest, the waiter returned to the table with the coffee and paninis. Each sandwich came with the customary side of fries, just like it had every other time Teisel ordered a panini at Johnny's. Any thought of interrogating Rockman had vanished like the steam rising from their coffee cups.
"Thanks!" Rockman said for both of them before the waiter left. "Finally!" His eyes sparkled as he started eating his lunch. He took a sip of his coffee and gave a wide grin. "This coffee is awesome! It's the best coffee I've had in my life!" He noticed that his partner still hadn't touched his lunch. "T-Bonne, aren't you going to eat?"
Teisel sneaked a glance over his shoulder out of morbid curiosity. So far nothing looked out of place, but he hadn't eaten anything, either. It would probably be better to just get it over with. He took a fairly large bite of his panini and chewed it for a while. It was hard to tell if he really wanted to avoid a flashback or induce one at that point.
Rockman noticed the distant look on Teisel's face and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Good memories?"
Teisel gulped his food down and shrugged. "It's certainly different," he admitted. "I was a little nervous earlier, but I wasn't expecting it to be this quiet."
"Hmm?" Rockman stopped chewing his sandwich and stared curiously.
"In my head, I mean." Teisel tried to explain. He took a tentative sip of his coffee and added about six packets of sugar. "Last time I was here I, uh, I had some really vivid hallucinations and I was worried it would happen again and scare you off. Maybe it's just because last time I didn't realize I was in this restaurant until I'd already started eating."
Rockman had to cover his mouth to prevent fragments of chewed food from escaping. He made a face as he swallowed his food, then he spoke. "You... You were worried about scaring me off? Ahahahahaha!" He simply laughed it off. "Don't worry, T-Bonne. You'd have to try very hard to really scare me off!" He grinned and took a big sip of his coffee, which had no sugar in it whatsoever.
"Really?" Teisel responded. He emphatically raised his eyebrows in skepticism and set the coffee cup down. Now he was really curious about whether or not this weird stalker of his could live up to his own assertions. "You'd be able to handle me completely zoning out and turning into a big, soggy, crying mess because my mind has managed to convince the rest of me that my dead family's come back to eat lunch with me? I can hardly even handle MYSELF when that happens!"
Rockman shot Teisel a confident grin. "Wanna test that?"
"Test?" Teisel thought hard about it for a while. The proposition sounded downright absurd, like the kind of stupid stunt he might have pulled if he'd been a lot more reckless back when he was still a kid. He didn't even think Max would want to risk toying around with his mental health, and Max was the guy who once licked hot sauce off the floor because it was the expensive brand and Pic had dared him to do it. On the other hand, there was always that off-chance that finding out where his own boundaries were and trying to isolate specific triggers in advance could prove to help him in the long run, even if Rockman didn't realize it. "I don't know about this, Rocky. If any of the guys found out I'd let you try to hurt me, they'd... I don't know... Grill couldn't find out about it. He'd get really upset. Any of them would. I wouldn't blame them, either. Are you sure you'd be okay with that?"
Rockman chuckled, with amusement showing on his face. "I was kidding. About testing it, at least." His expression settled back into a more neutral one. "But seriously, if anything like that happens while I'm around, you can be assured that I'll do my best to support you. I promise." He bowed slightly and gave Teisel a genuine smile, an approach that powerfully contrasted his usually carefree personality.
Teisel felt his face start to turn a little red. He wasn't even half the mess that he'd been when Max and Grill found him, but he couldn’t help letting Rockman's words remind him of those early days. Meeting new people and having them immediately offer unconditional support was a phenomenon he still wasn't accustomed to. "I appreciate that," he replied. "Still, I'm not entirely sure why you went to all the trouble of coming out here for me. That newspaper article hanging on my bulletin board might have been nice, but certainly not the kind of thing that would prompt someone to relocate. Did the reporter from your island exaggerate what ended up on your news feed or something? Where are you really from?"
"No one exaggerated anything. And I already told you where I'm from." He replied. His solemnity didn't waver a bit.
"You expect me to buy into this parallel universe nonsense hook line and sinker?" Teisel asked. "I may read a lot of graphic novels, but I'm far from stupid."
"You didn't believe anything I said..." Rockman seemed a little sad. "I know it's confusing, but it's true! How else do you think I know all of the things I know?"
When Teisel didn’t respond right away, Rockman decided to explain. "Okay, I guess I'll give you the 'full version' now. I’m from an alternate universe where a blind Servbot is trying to become a Mother Unit's assistant. She built some Carbon monitoring screens like the ones from Elysium. One day, we were fiddling with those screens and we accidentally discovered a rift in space. It turned out that it was a door to another world, similar to our own yet different. Then we discovered that more rifts existed, and that they were all connected to different versions of the same world. Some led to the same world at different points on one timeline, others led to the same worlds at the same places on completely different timelines… The possibilities are pretty close to infinite. That's where we found you. In a world where things didn't go as well as they could have. But despite all of the things that went wrong, you didn't give up. You moved on because of the bonds you made with your new friends. Each day you got stronger, all the while pulling off some crazy stunts along the way. Even after everything that happened, you found the strength to move a step forward. And for that, I admire you. You're really an interesting person, Teisel Bonne."
"YOU really expect ME to believe THAT?!" Teisel roared as he hopped up out of his seat and began to pace around next to the booth. "A Mother Unit and a blind Servbot?! Those creepy Mega Men have a MOTHER?! Do you even REALIZE how absurd you sound when you..."
He stopped himself mid-sentence. Yelling at Rockman in a public place probably wasn’t a great idea. He'd never get any straight answers to his questions if he lashed out at the guy, especially since it seemed like Rockman genuinely admired his tenacity. "Look, I'm sorry. This is a lot to have to take in, you know. Climbing the tower, reviving Trigger, and meeting you completely out of nowhere. Your story also sounds pretty outlandish. I know you pretty much just said you'd be there for me no matter what I did, but I'd rather not risk getting too impatient with you." Teisel suggested. "I don't think very well when I'm in that frame of mind, and if you really do mean well then I’d probably end up doing something I’d regret if I let myself go right now. If you can tell me something about me that you would have no other way of knowing unless you really have been watching me over the last year on some alien monitor, I might be willing to consider that you are capable of dimension-hopping and I wound up living in a really lousy timeline, but up until now I've never heard of anything that might suggest such a thing is even possible."
"Hmm, let me see..." Rockman thought for a bit. "How about this? Aero gave you an 8415 Rover the Reaver calendar because you had thought you were one year ahead of where you really were." He hesitantly added, "Or did that one happen too recently for you?"
Teisel frowned. The kid was good. He'd never told anyone outside of the gang about how he'd forgotten the year, not even Roll, and she'd been the one who'd caused it to happen! He sat back down and took a swig of coffee. "I guess I might as well take your word for it. I feel pretty bad about getting mad earlier if you knew all of that embarrassing stuff about me in advance and you really did just want to come here because you looked up to me. I guess I really didn't have anything to worry about. But now you've got me wondering... If you've really been watching everything that happened to me, then you've known exactly what happened the last time I was here this whole time. Why would you bring me here knowing that? Did you actually want to catch me in the middle of a meltdown?"
Rockman relaxed a little. "You've come a long way since then. It wasn’t that bad this time, was it?"
"You're right," Teisel admitted with a bashful smile once Rockman's words had a chance to truly sink in. If his brain was going to trick him into thinking that Tron or Bon or anybody else who didn't belong there had followed him into the restaurant, it probably would have done so already. "It hasn't been bad at all."
"That's great to hear!" A grin came back to Rockman's face. "Before that last time, you actually used to like this restaurant, didn't you? Then it doesn't feel right to me to let you keep running away from this place. That brings us back to that point from earlier, about coming back here. I think you should do it. You should come here again and again, until you can set foot in here with no worries, enjoy your time, and allow the nice memories about this place to have a chance to outshine the bad ones. And I still think you should bring the Bright Bats, so you can shape your new good memories together! Having nice things to remember has always been very important to me." He absently squeezed the crystal pendant hanging from his chain necklace. "Sometimes we need to look back in order to find the strength to move forward. I know it isn't that simple. The opposite can happen, too. You might become unable to move if you lose control and get trapped in those memories. But I believe you're mostly over this part at this point." He nodded reassuringly. "Yeah, you'll be fine."
"I'll have to admit, though, a part of me is definitely going to miss being able to see them so clearly," Teisel confessed. He popped a french fry into his mouth and chewed it for a bit as he recalled that time he almost passed out in Roll's kitchen. He didn't want to think about what he might have seen if Roll and the professor had left their warehouse up, and he’d managed to bring himself to check the place out. Even though that had happened less than a week earlier, it still felt like a lifetime ago after the mad rush of evacuating Aero from Teomo City. "It's certainly hard. It's like I don't want to remember how upset I had to be for it to happen in a place like this, where the Tron and Bon I get to see don’t end up in danger or worse. I've never exactly had stellar control over my emotions to begin with, as I'm sure you know, but I try, and I'll keep trying."
Rockman nodded solemnly. "Yeah, keep trying. That's the spirit."
"So... When you said that things in this world didn't go as well as they could have, you were talking about what you said underground. About the worlds where my family lived, right? Are there a lot of those out there?" Teisel asked. "I suppose you come from one of those if there's still a working Servbot in it, unless your mother's capable of maintaining them the way Tron was. What’s the other me like in there? Do you even know each other?"
Rockman spoke after pausing to chew his sandwich. "There are plenty of worlds where your family lived, but there are other unlucky worlds too. For example, there's this one where Volnutt's been stuck in space for over 14 years and no one’s managed to build a functional rocket yet. As for my world and the Servbot, it's a bit complicated. I'm from a time when Servbots still weren't supposed to exist. It turns out that she's actually from the same world as I am, but in the future! And in this future, Tron's alive." He took another sip of his coffee. "And no, I haven’t met your counterpart from my universe. He's also from my future. Coming here was my first experience with crossing universes. But from the little I know, besides anime, you’re--er, your counterpart--he's into classical music, and he likes songs by a composer named J.S. Bach."
"Good old Johann Sebastian. Classical music is pretty good, but Bach wrote his music during the baroque period," Teisel corrected. "Then again, maybe he was a classical composer in your timeline. Still, I can’t help but wonder… Is the other me happy? I suppose if you've never met him, it's hard to say. I hope he is. If I can still find things even in this world that make me smile, I hope he can find some in his, too. If you ever do meet him, make sure to tell him that, alright?"
Rockman smiled. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Thank you," Teisel gave Rockman a nod and glanced back down at his food. There was a lot of food left over even now, after he'd tried to eat all of it. He couldn't help but grin as he pictured Grill's reaction later when he'd find a half-eaten Johnny's panini in a styrofoam container with Teisel's name on it during his nightly fridge raid. When the waiter came back out of the kitchen muttering to himself about new hires and hamburger shortages, Teisel cleared his throat and asked him to bring the check.
"Will that be separate checks for the two of you?" The waiter asked.
"No." Rockman answered before Teisel had the chance to say otherwise.
"Come on, Rocky, you just got here! I can't just let you pay. If anything I should be the one paying for this since I was underground blowing up Reaverbots for nearly a day before I ran into you. I've certainly got plenty of money on me and I've never felt right about taking handouts."
"I'm the one who made you come here, even though you weren't that... Enthusiastic about it." Rockman insisted.
"B-But... But..."
"Come on, T-Bonne." Rockman whispered in his ear. "Let me do it, please! It's my first cross-universe financial transaction experience!"
"Are you even sure that your money's going to work here?!"
"Yeah, I'm sure." He nodded confidently. "I did my research before going into those ruins. The Refractors and their shards are compatible. Only the licenses aren't."
"Hmph." Teisel sighed. "Fine then. Just make sure you get me a box for this and I get to pay next time, alright?"
They stood up and followed the waiter over to the counter. As soon as the waiter finished printing the check, Rockman had already dumped the required amount of zenny out of his zenny pouch and onto the counter. The transaction went through normally, and no one made any comment about his Refractor shards’ authenticity.
Rockman spoke up again once the two of them had left the restaurant and headed off into the Teomo marketplace. "Speaking of compatibilities, or rather, incompatibilities..." He extended a card for Teisel to see. "Here. This is my Class S license. Once, I went to the Terra from my world and decided to take the test to see what it was like."
The card had a photo of Rockman from his chest up, in his navy blue armor, during one of the rare times he had chosen to wear a helmet. An identification code was printed alongside the photo, as well as an unfamiliar Digger's Guild logo. At the top was an inscription reading, "Class S Digger" in golden lettering along with his full name, which was displayed as "Rockman Trigger."
"I think the biggest reason it's incompatible is because it's from the 'past' and must be considered obsolete." Rockman pointed at the old Digger's Guild logo. "But even if the license were the same as the ones from here, there's also the fact that this Guild doesn't have me in their database, so yeah, if I’m going to make an effort to appear 'official,' I'll have to get another one. In the Refractors' case, it's a bit different. They're considered 'normal,' probably because they're already ancient artifacts to begin with." He nudged the card closer to Teisel.
"Huh, the layout's completely different from mine. No wonder it doesn't work." Teisel remarked as he took the card from Trigger and checked it out. "It must be from pretty far back in the past. We don't get our pictures on them anymore. I can't imagine why, but I really lucked out with that one. I was so tired when I took the test that I would have looked like a street bum!"
"Hahaha!" Rockman laughed. "Anyway, back on the subject of digging and riding motorhorses. I've never driven a motorhorse before... Think you could teach me? I'm not very good with airships, but I think I can fare better on land. I promise I'll be careful not to let the motorhorse explode like yours did that first time you raced against Seedy Leigh... I’m also not sure that I'd be able to survive it, and I'm not too keen on trying to find out... Hahaha." He laughed at his own joke. "After I get the Class S license, I can help you with some digs, and you can teach me how to drive a motorhorse. What do you say?"
"I can definitely help you with your motorhorse riding," Teisel replied. "I don't know how much digging I plan on doing while I'm still here, though. I could probably earn the money for the new ship through other means. I guess if you really want, I could go down there a few times, but digging for me is... It's kind of like going to Johnny's. I don't know if I can let you stay here if all you're going to do is put me in situations where I run the risk of getting that upset. I know the guys definitely wouldn't let it slide."
"Ah." He slowly nodded, but he seemed a little disappointed. "Okay, I understand. I'm sorry. I don't mean to upset you. I just thought I could help you so you could buy your new ship faster... Well, everything will fall into place at the right time, I guess." He set his disappointment aside and before Teisel could reassure him that everything was alright, he was back to his cheerful self. "Anyway, thanks for agreeing to help me learn to ride a motorhorse. I'm sure it'll be an interesting experience for me! Still, I'm going to take the Class S test and compare it to the one from my world. That way, if you decide to take me up on that digging offer when you’re ready, I’ll be prepared.” He paused to let that sink in. "Now, I think I should be going. That Servbot must be looking for me like crazy. If she finds out that I came here again and tells our superiors, I might get in trouble! They might cut my coffee quota, and that's not very good... Elysium's coffee is crappy, but it's better than nothing!" He flashed a grin and gave a slight bow. "T-Bonne, thanks for today! It was great to hang out with you!"
"I definitely wasn't expecting it to be as enjoyable as it was," Teisel admitted. "Thank you, Rocky. And don't forget to take your old license with you! You might need it when you go back to your own world."
Rockman shook his head. "You can keep that." Before Teisel could protest, he added. "I don't need it. I only took the test because I wanted to know what it was like. If I go to some other timeline, it'll probably be incompatible anyway. At least it makes for a nice little photo... Consider it a gift that came all the way from another universe."
Teisel's eyebrows shot up. He glanced down at the card in his hand and then back to Rockman, who seemed pretty sure of himself. "Alright then," he responded. He pocketed the card so he'd have at least one hand free while he carried his leftovers along with him. "Thanks. Good luck on your test!" He added as he turned toward the direction of the Bright Bats' headquarters.
"Thanks!" Rockman Trigger cheerfully replied. "See you again!" He turned in the opposite direction and went on his way with a bounce in his step, satisfied with how that day had turned out. The Units on Elysium were cold and uncaring, and sometimes he missed having people other than the Master to spend an enjoyable time with. When he discovered that alternate reality with that interesting version of Teisel Bonne, he’d wished he could go there and meet him. So the moment he found a way into that alternate world, he didn't waste his opportunity, and even though he knew that what he did was against the System’s rules, he definitely didn't regret it.
Edit: since the number of stories is growing considerably, I figured I'd create an index to better organize things. Here's the list of stories, by order of posting:
Story 001
Written by: Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue (PSTC) alternate universe, crossover with Trigger of Change (ToC)
Summary: ToC Trigger crosses dimensions to meet Teisel and Trigger from PSTC. (story posted to the PSTC thread)
Story 002 (this very post)
Written by: Dashe and Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue alternate universe, crossover with Trigger of Change
Summary: PSTC Teisel takes ToC Trigger to eat pesto paninis at Johnny's café. Takes place after the previous story.
Story 003
Written by: Dashe and Aiyumi
Universe: Press Start to Continue alternate universe
Summary: An AU story where Trigger opts to live with the Carbons instead of taking Teisel to space. He struggles to adapt to Carbon culture while he tries to help Roll and her family with their daily chores on the Flutter.
Story 004
Written by: Dashe
Universe: Trigger of Change - crossover with Press Start to Continue
Summary: Sera is reflecting upon the recent happenings when she gets a totally unexpected visit. (story posted to the ToC thread)
End of edit, back to the original post.
To inaugurate this place, I would like to start by posting this little story that Dashe and I have been cooking up during the last week. It takes place after this short crossover oneshot, and has my fan fic's Rockman Trigger and Teisel from Dashe's Press Start to Continue going to eat paninis at Johnny's café. We hope you'll have as much fun reading it as we had while writing it!
Even as they were sitting in their booths, Teisel couldn't believe that this random stranger had talked him into going back to Johnny's. He'd been hoping that after the dust had settled and Roll left with her family, Aero, and the crazy robot he and Data had awakened underground, that Rocky guy, or whatever his name was, would just go back to whatever island it was that he'd really come from.
Although it seemed like all of Klickelan recognized him now, he never would have guessed that the Strudelmacher article from the newspaper would have given him a fan who'd followed him all the way not only to Klickelan Island, but into the ruins and right up to the Klicke Lafonica as well, under the pretense that he was from a parallel universe. He had to have been a pretty amazing Digger just to get there, and the fact that he knew Trigger well enough to claim to be another version of him creeped Teisel out a little. He might have seen a lot of crazy things in his lifetime, but he was pretty sure parallel universes weren't real. What was real was the fact that not only had the weird kid stayed on Klickelan once everyone else had disbanded, he was also still quite set on taking Teisel out to Johnny's for lunch. The thought that this guy didn’t seem to pick up on Teisel’s lukewarm response to the offer was really disturbing.
At that particular moment, Teisel was mostly concerned with trying to keep what happened the last time he was there from happening again. Mentally speaking, he was much better off than he'd been at that time last year, but he wasn't anywhere near as together as he'd been even after he was riding out the aftermath of his parents' deaths all those years ago. Losing his younger siblings like that had really taken a toll on his psychological health. So far, aside from the jitters that his dining companion had barely seemed to notice, there wasn't really anything going on that seemed like it was going to set him off. The cafe's paint job had been changed up again, to a dark, almost industrial blue that complimented the stainless steel counter and the pillars anchoring the computer consoles in place, and the booths and tables had a metallic finish to them. He didn't recognize the song playing on the radio, which was also a relief. It must have been new. He could only hope that the waiter on duty didn't recognize him from the previous year. That would have been embarrassing. He wished he could have remembered who had been working the floor on the day that Max had taken him here. He wished he could have taken more measures to make sure this lunch would go as smoothly as possible, without any awkward sobbing or flashbacks or any of that.
He hadn't gone in completely unprepared. He made sure to lead the kid off to a booth on the opposite side of the restaurant this time and took the seat facing the back of the venue. He'd also grabbed one of the paper menus off the front counter to try and find something new to order, something he knew he'd never eaten at this restaurant before. He sat in the booth and pored over the list of sandwiches and entrees. He couldn't remember whether Max had told him that everything on the menu was good and the panini was just the best, or whether the pesto panini was the only thing on the menu worth getting. He tried not to think about it too hard. He was stressed enough already.
"Hey. Rocky?" Teisel spoke up after staring at the text for a good three minutes. The longer he scanned the list for something new, the more the letters seemed to jumble themselves up and render themselves illegible. He'd never really had much of a problem with reading before. It must have been his nerves. He was pretty sure they had cheeseburgers. A cheeseburger seemed safe enough. "D-do you know what you want to get?"
Since it would have been rude, he didn't add that he wished the guy would hurry up and order so they could get out of the place as quickly as possible, but it might have been a good idea all things considered. This unusually cheerful character certainly didn't catch on to the subtle hints Teisel had dropped over the past few days that he didn't actually want to eat here in the first place. He probably wasn't the subtle type.
"A pesto panini, of course." Rocky answered. "And coffee! I've been wanting to try Terra's coffee for ages! I heard that it's great!"
"I think I'll try their cheeseburger," Teisel admitted as he folded up the menu. He prepared to stick it in his back pocket, but then he remembered that it would be in his best interest to keep his mind occupied. He unfolded it and checked to see if he could read the letters, but his brain just wasn't parsing them into any sequence that made sense to him. He really hoped they sold cheeseburgers here.
When the waiter came, Teisel ordered a pesto panini, a cheeseburger and two cups of coffee.
"And for the coffee, we'd like the largest cups you can get, please!" Rocky added enthusiastically. The waiter wrote the order on a computer tablet and walked away.
While they waited, Rocky noticed Teisel taking deep breaths and looking at nothing in particular, probably lost in the mazes of his mind. Knowing what he knew, he figured that it wasn't a good idea to leave Teisel in that state for too long. That man was like a time bomb that could go off at any moment. He decided to start a conversation and try to take the man's mind off of whatever it was that seemed to be bothering him. "Too bad that the other Trigger isn't here. And Roll and the Bright Bats too! It would be more fun if we all could eat together!"
A disturbingly vivid image of all four of the Bright Bats, the entire staff at Johnny's, and this new guy staring at Teisel curled up in a booth rocking back and forth flashed into the former pirate's mind. "I really... I don't think that's a great idea, Rocky,"
"By the way, nice nickname you gave me. I have a friend that calls me Rock, but Rocky is a first."
Teisel's train of thought promptly derailed. "Nickname?" He uttered. "Crap. What did you say your full name was again?"
"Hahahaha!" The kid just laughed it off and didn't seem offended in the slightest. "It's Rockman. Just think Super Adventure Rockman... You know. You've watched that cartoon, right? Just think about it and you'll never forget this name again! Well, unless you decide to call me Trigger instead, that is."
"I think I'll pass." Teisel cringed. "The less I have to think about that guy, the better. Getting into that ruin almost killed me, and his vocabulary is suspiciously advanced for someone who doesn't seem to have much going on in the common sense department."
"You had quite an adventure, didn't you?" Rockman cheerfully mused. If Teisel didn't know any better, the kid looked almost jealous. "So, T-Bonne, what are you going to do now that most everyone went their separate ways? Will you continue working as a Digger? If so, we could go on a few Digs together and I could share some tips with you." He lowered his voice a bit. "Oh, but I'll have to get the Class S license from here first. It looks like the one from my universe isn't compatible."
"YOU DON'T HAVE A LICENSE?!" Teisel snapped to attention. He started to sweat a little as his fists clenched and he felt the menu crumple in his hand completely by accident. At least it was the sort of menu customers were expected to take home! "How the HECK did you get into the..."
"Hey, not so loud! Basically, yeah. I'll have to sort out the whole documentation part if I decide to stay here for a bit longer. What about you?"
"I-I'm not sure I want to keep digging, to be brutally honest," Teisel admitted. "I never liked it much. I know Roll's counting on me to catch up with her later and take care of that Elder System, but... I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to the job. If I had the option, I'd rather find a place where I'd be able to compete in Motorhorse races legally, but with the state of the planet as it is, it's probably better if I wrapped things up here in Teomo and headed out as quickly as possible."
Before Rockman had a chance to respond, the waiter returned with an embarrassed expression on his face. "Um... I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but there's been a slight... accident with the burger patties over in the kitchen." He uttered. "Is there anything else on the menu you'd like to order as a substitution? We'll offer you a discount for the inconvenience if the price is higher." He glanced towards the back room, pursed his lips in frustration and added, "This doesn't usually happen around here."
Teisel froze. He wasn't expecting that. He frantically flattened out the menu to try and figure out something else that he could eat without having to worry about his past trying to interrupt his meal, but it was no use. Now the letters were warped from the stress and from being crumpled up. "Ugh, I can't even read this anymore." He mumbled under his breath as he held the menu up close and raked his other hand through his hair.
"Hey, T-Bonne." Rockman whispered in his ear. "You've been staring at that menu for too long. If nothing else on the list caught your interest until now, there isn't really much of a choice to make, is there? I mean, come on. You came all the way here... You can't simply go and ignore this place's 'main attraction,' right?" He turned to the waiter and effectively eliminated Teisel's options. "Then another pesto panini will do!"
The waiter seemed too concerned with whatever was going on in the kitchen to notice that Teisel looked like a deer caught in someone's headlights. He walked away to relay the order to the kitchen staff and left the big guy sitting there and staring across the table at Rockman. Teisel didn't notice that he'd almost ripped a hole in the edge of the menu where he'd been gripping it, or how much his hand was shaking. So much for having this under control!
"What's the problem?" For the first time, Rockman showed signs of concern towards his dining partner. "Were you looking forward to that cheeseburger that much?" However, his expression of concern quickly faded away and the cheerfulness returned to his face. "T-Bonne, lighten up! I wouldn't let this ruin my day if I were you. If the panini is as great as they say, then hopefully you won't regret it!"
"No, it's fine," Teisel exhaled. "It's okay. It's a really good panini. I used to eat them all the time, back when this place was still called Diamond's. I should be okay, really. Probably."
"Good. Let's hope you can get the cheeseburger next time!"
"...Next time? Just how many times do you expect me to come BACK to this godforsaken slice of prime real estate?!"
Rockman jumped in his seat a little. "Uh... T-Bonne? Wh-what's gotten into you? You're acting strange..."
Teisel, upon realizing that he'd just shouted again, clenched his mouth shut so tightly to keep his head on straight that he bit the side of his tongue along the way. "Geez," he winced. "Okay. I... Maybe I should... You should probably know that 'strange' is more like my normal." He finally uttered after a few false starts. "What with all of the private information you seemed to know about me down in the ruins, I'm surprised you never figured that a guy who's been through the sort of stuff I've been through would end up having a hard time dealing with something like this. Like... Like lunch, I guess."
Rockman had recovered from his scared state surprisingly quickly. He made an unusually serious face. "Teisel. Do you really want an answer to that question? The one about coming back here?" After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head. "...Never mind."
"Woah, hold on a minute!" Teisel desperately exclaimed. "If you've got some kind of crazy scheme cooking in that ridiculously overgrown head of yours and it involves me, I've got EVERY right to know what it is, ESPECIALLY if it involves traipsing across town multiple times to eat at this restaurant!"
"Hahahahaha!" Rockman laughed and his serious mask broke completely. "Alright. But later, okay?"
Before Teisel had a chance to protest, the waiter returned to the table with the coffee and paninis. Each sandwich came with the customary side of fries, just like it had every other time Teisel ordered a panini at Johnny's. Any thought of interrogating Rockman had vanished like the steam rising from their coffee cups.
"Thanks!" Rockman said for both of them before the waiter left. "Finally!" His eyes sparkled as he started eating his lunch. He took a sip of his coffee and gave a wide grin. "This coffee is awesome! It's the best coffee I've had in my life!" He noticed that his partner still hadn't touched his lunch. "T-Bonne, aren't you going to eat?"
Teisel sneaked a glance over his shoulder out of morbid curiosity. So far nothing looked out of place, but he hadn't eaten anything, either. It would probably be better to just get it over with. He took a fairly large bite of his panini and chewed it for a while. It was hard to tell if he really wanted to avoid a flashback or induce one at that point.
Rockman noticed the distant look on Teisel's face and raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Good memories?"
Teisel gulped his food down and shrugged. "It's certainly different," he admitted. "I was a little nervous earlier, but I wasn't expecting it to be this quiet."
"Hmm?" Rockman stopped chewing his sandwich and stared curiously.
"In my head, I mean." Teisel tried to explain. He took a tentative sip of his coffee and added about six packets of sugar. "Last time I was here I, uh, I had some really vivid hallucinations and I was worried it would happen again and scare you off. Maybe it's just because last time I didn't realize I was in this restaurant until I'd already started eating."
Rockman had to cover his mouth to prevent fragments of chewed food from escaping. He made a face as he swallowed his food, then he spoke. "You... You were worried about scaring me off? Ahahahahaha!" He simply laughed it off. "Don't worry, T-Bonne. You'd have to try very hard to really scare me off!" He grinned and took a big sip of his coffee, which had no sugar in it whatsoever.
"Really?" Teisel responded. He emphatically raised his eyebrows in skepticism and set the coffee cup down. Now he was really curious about whether or not this weird stalker of his could live up to his own assertions. "You'd be able to handle me completely zoning out and turning into a big, soggy, crying mess because my mind has managed to convince the rest of me that my dead family's come back to eat lunch with me? I can hardly even handle MYSELF when that happens!"
Rockman shot Teisel a confident grin. "Wanna test that?"
"Test?" Teisel thought hard about it for a while. The proposition sounded downright absurd, like the kind of stupid stunt he might have pulled if he'd been a lot more reckless back when he was still a kid. He didn't even think Max would want to risk toying around with his mental health, and Max was the guy who once licked hot sauce off the floor because it was the expensive brand and Pic had dared him to do it. On the other hand, there was always that off-chance that finding out where his own boundaries were and trying to isolate specific triggers in advance could prove to help him in the long run, even if Rockman didn't realize it. "I don't know about this, Rocky. If any of the guys found out I'd let you try to hurt me, they'd... I don't know... Grill couldn't find out about it. He'd get really upset. Any of them would. I wouldn't blame them, either. Are you sure you'd be okay with that?"
Rockman chuckled, with amusement showing on his face. "I was kidding. About testing it, at least." His expression settled back into a more neutral one. "But seriously, if anything like that happens while I'm around, you can be assured that I'll do my best to support you. I promise." He bowed slightly and gave Teisel a genuine smile, an approach that powerfully contrasted his usually carefree personality.
Teisel felt his face start to turn a little red. He wasn't even half the mess that he'd been when Max and Grill found him, but he couldn’t help letting Rockman's words remind him of those early days. Meeting new people and having them immediately offer unconditional support was a phenomenon he still wasn't accustomed to. "I appreciate that," he replied. "Still, I'm not entirely sure why you went to all the trouble of coming out here for me. That newspaper article hanging on my bulletin board might have been nice, but certainly not the kind of thing that would prompt someone to relocate. Did the reporter from your island exaggerate what ended up on your news feed or something? Where are you really from?"
"No one exaggerated anything. And I already told you where I'm from." He replied. His solemnity didn't waver a bit.
"You expect me to buy into this parallel universe nonsense hook line and sinker?" Teisel asked. "I may read a lot of graphic novels, but I'm far from stupid."
"You didn't believe anything I said..." Rockman seemed a little sad. "I know it's confusing, but it's true! How else do you think I know all of the things I know?"
When Teisel didn’t respond right away, Rockman decided to explain. "Okay, I guess I'll give you the 'full version' now. I’m from an alternate universe where a blind Servbot is trying to become a Mother Unit's assistant. She built some Carbon monitoring screens like the ones from Elysium. One day, we were fiddling with those screens and we accidentally discovered a rift in space. It turned out that it was a door to another world, similar to our own yet different. Then we discovered that more rifts existed, and that they were all connected to different versions of the same world. Some led to the same world at different points on one timeline, others led to the same worlds at the same places on completely different timelines… The possibilities are pretty close to infinite. That's where we found you. In a world where things didn't go as well as they could have. But despite all of the things that went wrong, you didn't give up. You moved on because of the bonds you made with your new friends. Each day you got stronger, all the while pulling off some crazy stunts along the way. Even after everything that happened, you found the strength to move a step forward. And for that, I admire you. You're really an interesting person, Teisel Bonne."
"YOU really expect ME to believe THAT?!" Teisel roared as he hopped up out of his seat and began to pace around next to the booth. "A Mother Unit and a blind Servbot?! Those creepy Mega Men have a MOTHER?! Do you even REALIZE how absurd you sound when you..."
He stopped himself mid-sentence. Yelling at Rockman in a public place probably wasn’t a great idea. He'd never get any straight answers to his questions if he lashed out at the guy, especially since it seemed like Rockman genuinely admired his tenacity. "Look, I'm sorry. This is a lot to have to take in, you know. Climbing the tower, reviving Trigger, and meeting you completely out of nowhere. Your story also sounds pretty outlandish. I know you pretty much just said you'd be there for me no matter what I did, but I'd rather not risk getting too impatient with you." Teisel suggested. "I don't think very well when I'm in that frame of mind, and if you really do mean well then I’d probably end up doing something I’d regret if I let myself go right now. If you can tell me something about me that you would have no other way of knowing unless you really have been watching me over the last year on some alien monitor, I might be willing to consider that you are capable of dimension-hopping and I wound up living in a really lousy timeline, but up until now I've never heard of anything that might suggest such a thing is even possible."
"Hmm, let me see..." Rockman thought for a bit. "How about this? Aero gave you an 8415 Rover the Reaver calendar because you had thought you were one year ahead of where you really were." He hesitantly added, "Or did that one happen too recently for you?"
Teisel frowned. The kid was good. He'd never told anyone outside of the gang about how he'd forgotten the year, not even Roll, and she'd been the one who'd caused it to happen! He sat back down and took a swig of coffee. "I guess I might as well take your word for it. I feel pretty bad about getting mad earlier if you knew all of that embarrassing stuff about me in advance and you really did just want to come here because you looked up to me. I guess I really didn't have anything to worry about. But now you've got me wondering... If you've really been watching everything that happened to me, then you've known exactly what happened the last time I was here this whole time. Why would you bring me here knowing that? Did you actually want to catch me in the middle of a meltdown?"
Rockman relaxed a little. "You've come a long way since then. It wasn’t that bad this time, was it?"
"You're right," Teisel admitted with a bashful smile once Rockman's words had a chance to truly sink in. If his brain was going to trick him into thinking that Tron or Bon or anybody else who didn't belong there had followed him into the restaurant, it probably would have done so already. "It hasn't been bad at all."
"That's great to hear!" A grin came back to Rockman's face. "Before that last time, you actually used to like this restaurant, didn't you? Then it doesn't feel right to me to let you keep running away from this place. That brings us back to that point from earlier, about coming back here. I think you should do it. You should come here again and again, until you can set foot in here with no worries, enjoy your time, and allow the nice memories about this place to have a chance to outshine the bad ones. And I still think you should bring the Bright Bats, so you can shape your new good memories together! Having nice things to remember has always been very important to me." He absently squeezed the crystal pendant hanging from his chain necklace. "Sometimes we need to look back in order to find the strength to move forward. I know it isn't that simple. The opposite can happen, too. You might become unable to move if you lose control and get trapped in those memories. But I believe you're mostly over this part at this point." He nodded reassuringly. "Yeah, you'll be fine."
"I'll have to admit, though, a part of me is definitely going to miss being able to see them so clearly," Teisel confessed. He popped a french fry into his mouth and chewed it for a bit as he recalled that time he almost passed out in Roll's kitchen. He didn't want to think about what he might have seen if Roll and the professor had left their warehouse up, and he’d managed to bring himself to check the place out. Even though that had happened less than a week earlier, it still felt like a lifetime ago after the mad rush of evacuating Aero from Teomo City. "It's certainly hard. It's like I don't want to remember how upset I had to be for it to happen in a place like this, where the Tron and Bon I get to see don’t end up in danger or worse. I've never exactly had stellar control over my emotions to begin with, as I'm sure you know, but I try, and I'll keep trying."
Rockman nodded solemnly. "Yeah, keep trying. That's the spirit."
"So... When you said that things in this world didn't go as well as they could have, you were talking about what you said underground. About the worlds where my family lived, right? Are there a lot of those out there?" Teisel asked. "I suppose you come from one of those if there's still a working Servbot in it, unless your mother's capable of maintaining them the way Tron was. What’s the other me like in there? Do you even know each other?"
Rockman spoke after pausing to chew his sandwich. "There are plenty of worlds where your family lived, but there are other unlucky worlds too. For example, there's this one where Volnutt's been stuck in space for over 14 years and no one’s managed to build a functional rocket yet. As for my world and the Servbot, it's a bit complicated. I'm from a time when Servbots still weren't supposed to exist. It turns out that she's actually from the same world as I am, but in the future! And in this future, Tron's alive." He took another sip of his coffee. "And no, I haven’t met your counterpart from my universe. He's also from my future. Coming here was my first experience with crossing universes. But from the little I know, besides anime, you’re--er, your counterpart--he's into classical music, and he likes songs by a composer named J.S. Bach."
"Good old Johann Sebastian. Classical music is pretty good, but Bach wrote his music during the baroque period," Teisel corrected. "Then again, maybe he was a classical composer in your timeline. Still, I can’t help but wonder… Is the other me happy? I suppose if you've never met him, it's hard to say. I hope he is. If I can still find things even in this world that make me smile, I hope he can find some in his, too. If you ever do meet him, make sure to tell him that, alright?"
Rockman smiled. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Thank you," Teisel gave Rockman a nod and glanced back down at his food. There was a lot of food left over even now, after he'd tried to eat all of it. He couldn't help but grin as he pictured Grill's reaction later when he'd find a half-eaten Johnny's panini in a styrofoam container with Teisel's name on it during his nightly fridge raid. When the waiter came back out of the kitchen muttering to himself about new hires and hamburger shortages, Teisel cleared his throat and asked him to bring the check.
"Will that be separate checks for the two of you?" The waiter asked.
"No." Rockman answered before Teisel had the chance to say otherwise.
"Come on, Rocky, you just got here! I can't just let you pay. If anything I should be the one paying for this since I was underground blowing up Reaverbots for nearly a day before I ran into you. I've certainly got plenty of money on me and I've never felt right about taking handouts."
"I'm the one who made you come here, even though you weren't that... Enthusiastic about it." Rockman insisted.
"B-But... But..."
"Come on, T-Bonne." Rockman whispered in his ear. "Let me do it, please! It's my first cross-universe financial transaction experience!"
"Are you even sure that your money's going to work here?!"
"Yeah, I'm sure." He nodded confidently. "I did my research before going into those ruins. The Refractors and their shards are compatible. Only the licenses aren't."
"Hmph." Teisel sighed. "Fine then. Just make sure you get me a box for this and I get to pay next time, alright?"
They stood up and followed the waiter over to the counter. As soon as the waiter finished printing the check, Rockman had already dumped the required amount of zenny out of his zenny pouch and onto the counter. The transaction went through normally, and no one made any comment about his Refractor shards’ authenticity.
Rockman spoke up again once the two of them had left the restaurant and headed off into the Teomo marketplace. "Speaking of compatibilities, or rather, incompatibilities..." He extended a card for Teisel to see. "Here. This is my Class S license. Once, I went to the Terra from my world and decided to take the test to see what it was like."
The card had a photo of Rockman from his chest up, in his navy blue armor, during one of the rare times he had chosen to wear a helmet. An identification code was printed alongside the photo, as well as an unfamiliar Digger's Guild logo. At the top was an inscription reading, "Class S Digger" in golden lettering along with his full name, which was displayed as "Rockman Trigger."
"I think the biggest reason it's incompatible is because it's from the 'past' and must be considered obsolete." Rockman pointed at the old Digger's Guild logo. "But even if the license were the same as the ones from here, there's also the fact that this Guild doesn't have me in their database, so yeah, if I’m going to make an effort to appear 'official,' I'll have to get another one. In the Refractors' case, it's a bit different. They're considered 'normal,' probably because they're already ancient artifacts to begin with." He nudged the card closer to Teisel.
"Huh, the layout's completely different from mine. No wonder it doesn't work." Teisel remarked as he took the card from Trigger and checked it out. "It must be from pretty far back in the past. We don't get our pictures on them anymore. I can't imagine why, but I really lucked out with that one. I was so tired when I took the test that I would have looked like a street bum!"
"Hahaha!" Rockman laughed. "Anyway, back on the subject of digging and riding motorhorses. I've never driven a motorhorse before... Think you could teach me? I'm not very good with airships, but I think I can fare better on land. I promise I'll be careful not to let the motorhorse explode like yours did that first time you raced against Seedy Leigh... I’m also not sure that I'd be able to survive it, and I'm not too keen on trying to find out... Hahaha." He laughed at his own joke. "After I get the Class S license, I can help you with some digs, and you can teach me how to drive a motorhorse. What do you say?"
"I can definitely help you with your motorhorse riding," Teisel replied. "I don't know how much digging I plan on doing while I'm still here, though. I could probably earn the money for the new ship through other means. I guess if you really want, I could go down there a few times, but digging for me is... It's kind of like going to Johnny's. I don't know if I can let you stay here if all you're going to do is put me in situations where I run the risk of getting that upset. I know the guys definitely wouldn't let it slide."
"Ah." He slowly nodded, but he seemed a little disappointed. "Okay, I understand. I'm sorry. I don't mean to upset you. I just thought I could help you so you could buy your new ship faster... Well, everything will fall into place at the right time, I guess." He set his disappointment aside and before Teisel could reassure him that everything was alright, he was back to his cheerful self. "Anyway, thanks for agreeing to help me learn to ride a motorhorse. I'm sure it'll be an interesting experience for me! Still, I'm going to take the Class S test and compare it to the one from my world. That way, if you decide to take me up on that digging offer when you’re ready, I’ll be prepared.” He paused to let that sink in. "Now, I think I should be going. That Servbot must be looking for me like crazy. If she finds out that I came here again and tells our superiors, I might get in trouble! They might cut my coffee quota, and that's not very good... Elysium's coffee is crappy, but it's better than nothing!" He flashed a grin and gave a slight bow. "T-Bonne, thanks for today! It was great to hang out with you!"
"I definitely wasn't expecting it to be as enjoyable as it was," Teisel admitted. "Thank you, Rocky. And don't forget to take your old license with you! You might need it when you go back to your own world."
Rockman shook his head. "You can keep that." Before Teisel could protest, he added. "I don't need it. I only took the test because I wanted to know what it was like. If I go to some other timeline, it'll probably be incompatible anyway. At least it makes for a nice little photo... Consider it a gift that came all the way from another universe."
Teisel's eyebrows shot up. He glanced down at the card in his hand and then back to Rockman, who seemed pretty sure of himself. "Alright then," he responded. He pocketed the card so he'd have at least one hand free while he carried his leftovers along with him. "Thanks. Good luck on your test!" He added as he turned toward the direction of the Bright Bats' headquarters.
"Thanks!" Rockman Trigger cheerfully replied. "See you again!" He turned in the opposite direction and went on his way with a bounce in his step, satisfied with how that day had turned out. The Units on Elysium were cold and uncaring, and sometimes he missed having people other than the Master to spend an enjoyable time with. When he discovered that alternate reality with that interesting version of Teisel Bonne, he’d wished he could go there and meet him. So the moment he found a way into that alternate world, he didn't waste his opportunity, and even though he knew that what he did was against the System’s rules, he definitely didn't regret it.