Thank You Protoman

Chaud picked up his office phone which had been ringing incessantly, "Hel-," He started before being cut off by a sharp voice. His eyes widened in shock at the familiar tones and words.
"Come to the dark chip warehouse and I might spare all you hold dear." It growled.
"You!" Chaud replied before a loud laugh began echoing through the room. He dropped the phone and allowed it to clatter to the ground. He slammed his hand down on his desk and held his head with his other, covering one eye.
The phone spun across the floor and a thin crack appeared in the screen. It slowly emitted a black stream of smoke that condensed and formed a flaming ball of dark aura, the very same that had surrounded and possessed Protoman on that fateful day. Suddenly, two red coals emerged from the darkness.
Chaud reared back in horror from the cackling mouth of evil and as he turned to run, only one thought crowded his mind, "I can't let it touch me, let it cloud my mind as it did to others."  In his panic he stumbled, catching himself before crashing to the ground. He ran from his office and through the first hall of Blaze Quest. He ran past countless, faceless, nameless people, all unwilling to help him. Not that he'd accept their aid.
Halfway down the twisting passages he had a had a childhood trauma, he didn't know which hallway to take to get out.  He called out to Father, to Protoman, but neither came. He had to keep running, to get to the warehouse; no one else could get hurt because of his mistake. He chose a random door and ran through, not looking back.
The room was large and gray, the door shut behind him with a slam. This was were the call had told him to go. The room was empty, but digital data from a dimensional area slowly was filtering into the room like a wave.
"Protoman?" He called. "Are you there?" An eerie cackle began to fill his ears, seemingly from nowhere. It was the same grating laugh from the phone call. Blue, 3D cubes began condensing in midair in front of him, slowly forming the darkened form of Protoman, no, not Protoman, Dark Protoman.
He smirked at Chaud and said tauntingly, "You mean nothing to me." Chaud flinched at his words, no matter how many times he heard them the pain was still fresh and real. He remained still, knowing in this state Protoman wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
"Protoman," He whispered, "I know you're in there, fight back."
Protoman smiled smugly, "You still don't get it. I enjoy the dark, I'm stronger than I ever was with you. I enjoy the power!" With that Protoman roared and placed his hand to his head in agony.
"Master Chaud, get back I-," Protoman's normal, kind voice broke through for an instant only to be stifled by the cruel laughter. "No!" Protoman yelled again. "Get... Away! Master, Chaud... I tried..." The laughter grew louder and Protoman's body shook.
"Protoman!" Chaud yelled as he ran to his best friend, but Protoman used his free hand to shove Chaud halfway across the room. He was forced to lay there, helpless to do anything but watch as Protoman succumbed to the darkness once again. It became clear that every part of Protoman's body was changing, Being rewritten into something else- his dark soul taking complete control. His hair fanned out and his white decals darkened, becoming purple. Now the laughing was coming from him, sending chills down Chaud's spine.
"Master Laserman has granted me new power!" Dark Protoman appeared just in front of Chaud, lifting him up by his hair and roughly turning him around. "See?" He hissed in Chaud's ear, "I kept my promise. Everything you hold dear." Chaud had been forced to turn and see three large square pits of downwardly swirling data. He was staring down into the first one, in the center of which held the form of his deceased mother. A tear ran down his cheek as the image of her slowly faded away.
Dark Protoman yanked his head back, straining his neck back as he pulled him over to the next pit. In it was Protoman's netsaving partner Role. Her eyes were closed and her head was back, lying in the twisting data.
"Role! " Chaud screamed before Dark Protoman covered his mouth.
"Now, now we wouldn't want to wake her, would we?" Chaud began struggling in panic from Dark Protoman's grasp, thrashing his arms and legs, as Dark Protoman lead him to the final pit.
Chaud had an awful sense of De ja vu as he realized who was inside. Dark Protoman shoved him to the edge of the pit, allowing him to gaze upon the real Protoman's limp body.
Protoman raised his head slowly and moaned weakly, "Mas... Master... Chaud." He was waist deep in the blue and lavender data. "Please, don't come... don't come any closer. You won't be able to escape. I tried... so hard to... to keep him away... away from you. I'm so sorry Master Chaud. I failed."
Chaud reached out his hand to his Netnavi, then heard Role's piercing screech, "Chaud! Help me! I'm sinking!" Chaud raced to the edge of Role's pit and saw her struggling to keep her head above the data. She reached her hand out to him as her head slipped under the data.
"Role!" He yelled as he slide down the side of the pit in an attempt to save her. Just as he reached the bottom her hand slipped under the data, brushing his finger tips, she was gone.
"NO!" He yowled, "Protoman! I need you! I'm not strong enough on my own! Protoman!"
"Chaud, Master Chaud!" Protoman called as Chaud opened his eyes. "You were having another nightmare, are you alright?" He sat up and rubbed his sore jaw and fingers.
"Yeah," He said shakenly, "I'm fine." He felt cold and weak, but it had just been a dream. His head felt like it would burst.
Protoman smiled, "You're going to have to get ready to go to Scilab pretty soon. Famous has asked you to come and observe the newest PET model."
Chaud remained silent for a moment with his arms crossed in front of him, resting on his knees. "I'll go if I can." He staired into space in silence and thought, "Thank you Protoman, for everything."