Rockman Classic: Grape Juice

Blinking once again, Rock stared down at the little note that he had found stuck to the window of his room.

Meet me at hilltop between Dr. Light's lab and Symphony City at 6:00 this evening. I want to talk to you. I'll be leaving S behind.

~Q

Well, it couldn't hurt, could it? Rock felt pretty sure that he knew who this person was. He knew two people with the first initial Q, and one considered him a rival, and the other one was probably even more worried about Rock dying than Rock himself. And besides, who was Rock to pass up the chance of talking to this particular person?

Even if Roll did call it "fraternizing with the enemy," and Blues called it "information gathering."

---

So that was how, at 6:00 pm, Rock Light, also known as Rockman the Blue Bomber, found himself walking through the woods outside Symphony City to where the hilltop was located. In his hand was a juice-box -- he had figured he might get a little thirsty, and had brought a second one just in case.

However, just as he took one juice-box out and poked the straw through it, his foot suddenly went through some leaves on the ground and he plummeted down two meters before landing on his back. He groaned slightly and opened his eyes, only now realizing that he had fallen (literally and figuratively) for a pitfall trap.

"Well, I guess that confirms my suspicions of who this is..." he grumbled slightly as he glanced at his now-squashed juice-box on the ground. Oh well, he still had another one. But he knew of only one person that liked digging pitfall traps.

The sound of mischievous laughter rang above him. "Ha ha! Thanks for testing that out for me, Rock!"

Grumbling, the Blue Bomber leaped out the hole and turned around so that he came face to face with... himself. "Quint!"

Though both of them were wearing their respective battle uniforms, neither wore their helmets, and with Quint and Rock being who they are, they were identical in every way, down to the bright blue eyes and the messy black hair.

The green robot giggled slightly. "Sorry, couldn't help it. The Robot Masters have gotten too smart for me and Wily would probably kill me if I did that to him. He's not very happy with me."

Rock sighed. Looks like some things never changed. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to dig a trap," Quint told him innocently. However, when Rock gave him an expression of exasperation, he quickly added, "Of course, I also wanted to vent about a few things, and well, I can't really vent about this stuff to Wily, now can I?"

Genuinely curious, Rock asked, "About what?"

"My situation." Quint sighed deeply, before continuing, "My entire purpose is to kill you. Of course, I can't exactly do that, because, well, it would cause a time paradox. The future version killing the past version causing the future version to never exist therefore allowing survival of the past version which causes the future version to exist, etcetera, etcetera... I think you can see what I mean."

"Yeah." Him killing Rock would have created a time paradox of epic proportions. According to the database on the Robot Masters Dr. Light had compiled, Quint had a severe hatred of time paradoxes. In fact, Quint's phobia of time paradoxes was so great that if there was even a hint that Rock had been killed, he would literally freeze up in shock and not move for several hours, not even when Wily commanded him to move again.

"Well, aside from complaining," he grinned. Rock stared; how on earth did he switch moods so quickly? "I want to complete some unfinished business."

"Unfinished business?" inquired Rock, eyes wide with curiosity, as he took out his second juice-box and poked the straw through it.

Quint eyed the juice-box for a moment, before continuing. "Mm-hmm. I was kidnapped, remember? There's a lot of stuff that I had unfinished."

"Such as?"

"Well, I was kidnapped, you know. There's a lot of stuff that I didn't get the chance to do. I really wanted to be a scientist, you know, and I still have to do that."

Rock grinned. That was, indeed, his own goal. But that happy thought was dashed when he realized that, obviously, he wouldn't be completing that goal for some time.

"So I'm working as a fortune teller in Symphony City whenever Wily doesn't need me, and I'm making some money for that to go to school. Since I'm a robot, I can get in despite my appearance. I mean, it's not like I'm attacking anyone, and they don't know I'm supposed to be a Wily bot."

"But don't you look like me? Everyone knows what I look like," Rock asked, taking some sips from his juice. Hmm. Grape.

Quint smiled. "A hat and a pair of glasses work wonders."

Rock sweatdropped. He'd seen it a thousand times in anime and cartoons that he watched; someone would wear a simple hat, coat, or something else, and despite it being completely obvious, no one ever figured out who they really were. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that Blues had pulled the trick before, too. Apparently, it worked in real life, too. "Right..."

Quint's smiled grew wider. "Not even Wily can recognize me in that getup. It's pretty nice."

Finally, Rock voiced a question that he had been wondering for awhile. "Why don't you run away from Wily? I'm sure Dr. Light wouldn't mind you living with us!"

"Can't," replied the green robot, shaking his head. "Wily messed with my programming so that I'm bound to him, remember?"

Rock made a face.

"So I've been working towards that... I'm getting pretty close, too. Once I graduate, I kinda hope to build a time machine, too, so I can get back home and have my time's Dr. Light reprogram me the way I was. I still have Wily's data on the Time Skimmer, but I think the device itself was destroyed." He stretched slightly, staring at the hand Rock held his juice before looking back up. "But that's not all I need to do. There's still something else."

"What?"

"Yoink!" Quicker than anyone could see, Quint leaped up from the ground, snatched the half-empty juice-box from Rock's hand, and bolted away.

"Hey!" screamed Rock. However, as the Blue Bomber looked around, Quint had completely disappeared. He sighed. "Argh, I can't believe that he's me, sometimes! He's just like Blues!"

---

Not too far away from where Rock was ranting, a green robot sat in the treetops, swinging his legs and holding the purloined juice-box in his hand. Quint examined the straw for a second before putting it to his lips and drinking the grape juice. "I never did get to finish this."