The Pogo Stick

<sub>It always got me curious, I never noticed it until now...

Megaman kept this little, red pogo stick next to his bed. It looked like an old, worn-out toy, but he never really took it outside and played with it. But that's not the weird part. Some days, I would come in our room and see him holding it, and... talking to it. He called it by a really strange name, and seemed to comfort it like a baby. Or... like it was alive. I didn't understand why. So I decided to walk up and ask.

"H-Hey, Megaman..." I was sort of hesitant to bring it up. He looked so absorbed with that thing, but I tried to get his attention again. I sat down beside him and leaned forward, "So, who's your friend?"

He finally heard me, and jumped from his spot. Clutching that pogo stick tightly, he turned to look at me.
"You scared me, Pit."

"Sorry, buddy," I giggled to lighten up the mood. I paused a moment to give him a chance to calm down, "...You never told me about this old pogo stick of your's. I don't think I ever see you taking it along when we go out, is it--"

"He's broken..." Megaman cut me off before I could finish.

"Oh..." I sighed, regretting what I just did. He said it so monotonously, my heart sank. I think I hurt his feelings by butting in like this. Some friend I was... But... I was still curious... "He"? That pogo stick's a "he"...? At first, I thought speaking to inanimate objects was probably a robot thing, but then again, I don't recall ever seeing Megaman chatting with the furniture... I must've given my curiosity away since Megaman spoke as though he read my mind.

"Yeah, he's alive... Sorta," he kicked his legs that dangled over the bedside as he pet the pogo stick on its... head?
I dunno. There was something weird about how Megaman was acting. He seemed so mellow about the subject, but then... He also seemed bothered or worried about something. But he continued, "Sakugarne was damaged in a fight between me...." He stopped, his words trailed off.

I tilted my head slightly, "You and...?" I spoke gently, trying not to sound so eager and nosy.

Megaman picked up Sakugarne from his lap and held him to his chest, bunching up his shoulders to keep him close. If it wasn't an old pogo stick he was holding, you would've thought Megaman looked like a scared child holding his favorite stuffed animal. He spoke through his wound arms, so I could barely catch his mumbled words.
"He came from the future, and we fought. He said he hated me, and he wanted to kill me. But I didn't wanna fight him..."

Something seemed wrong. To me, it sounded like Megaman was speaking nonsense, or maybe he was leaving something out.
He stopped staring at the wall in front of us and looked at his huddled feet, "We couldn't fight, so he ran away... and left Sakugarne for me to look after him."

We were back to where we started.

"Sakugarne is mine," he said in a whisper. I didn't think he could hold that pogo stick any tighter.
"He's mine and I hurt him, so I have to take care of him."

Then it happened again, he was speaking to Sakugarne.
"I'm sorry, Sakugarne... Was I... a bad friend?" he sounded like he was trying to get a response.

I didn't know what to do. I made my friend open up to something he probably didn't want to, and I felt guilty for pushing him. His face, which I could hardly see from behind Sakugarne, looked confused as well, but in a more devastated sense. I felt my arm wrap itself around Megaman's shoulder.

"Don't say that, you're a good friend," I was able to get eye contact, "I see you with Sakugarne all the time, checking to see if he's okay. I don't know if he can talk to you, but if he could, I can bet that he's saying 'Thank you, Megaman, for always being there'. Even if his old owner left him, at least he's got you... right?"

Megaman's smile returned, "Yeah... Yeah, I guess you're right." He cheerfully relaxed his shoulders so Sakugarne would slip down onto his lap, "Did you hear that, Sakugarne? I won't leave you like I did before!"

I still found it strange that Megaman would talk like that to a pogo stick, but at least I was able to help him lift a burden left by... Wait... Did he say... "like he did before"?

I never noticed until now....</sub>
--
And really-warpy short-story, end!! That took too long, more than I expected.
You know, I didn't intend on writing a short on this pichur, but then I didn't wanna take it all out once I typed half of it.

So this may be kinda confusing for everybuddy, no surprise, I got half-lost as I typed it up myself.
But I wanted to draw a quick picture that kind of involved Megaman's brainwashed future-self, Quint.
See here, if you wanna~ [link]

Now, Quint owns this little weapon-companion named Sakugarne, which you saw up in the funky-short. At this moment, I set it so Sakugarne's all worn out from both Megas' fight, and also after Megaman had to use him through one of his journeys. With that, Sakugarne also doesn't appear to be active, but Megaman continues to talk to him like he was.

I looked up a teense about those two, and the fact that Quint leaves Sakugarne behind spun some strange thing for me when Megaman took the guy in. Besides being a helpful tool, I felt that Megaman would've had some small connection towards the jackhammer/pogo-stick being that he and Quint are the same. I was kinda caught between a mix of Sakugarne being a reminder of his other-self whom he is worried about (I am assuming he didn't die, but just ran off somewhere), or the fact that Sakugarne got left behind by Quint makes Megaman feel like he left him behind.

Either way, Mega feels responsible for Sakugarne and grows some attachment towards him, and acts like his new Quint.

Sorry, there are so many things weird with the picture too. I meant to make the image more sentimental or even melancholic-- meaning I kinda wanted him to sit down and hold the pogo-stick differently-- but I ended up with the above pichur with some bizarre-almost-eery feeling.
Also, It kinda looks more like he's holding onto the broken Sakugarne until Quint comes back. Once again, that was another idea I had in mind, but I was unable to convey it right in my short. ( ' ~');

Nevertheless, I put double the shading and whatnot in this pichur (lineart-shading, plus colored-shading). It does make me feel good to see a full-shaded lineart, I haven't done that in a while anywho so~ I think it still turned out nice.
The pichur, I mean. I'm not sure how the story goes for you guys. ( . _.);

Oh wowzers, first upload of the year! That's a keeper~!!
(Fufu~ Silly-lame-me...!)


Do not steal or use without my permission, please!

Mega Man (c) CAPCOM
Art (c) MewKwota