"The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened."

-Saki

Rockman had never liked sirens. He never had and he never would. To him, sirens were always foreshadowing. They always brought some new problem, whether it was a renegade navi or a human heart attack. Once –such a long time ago really, how long? A decade? Two? So long…- he'd managed to convince himself that it really wasn't the sirens that were to blame, that they were like the smoke after a fire, being a necessary part of the disaster, but one that was needed all the same. But then he'd realized that he didn't particularly like smoke either, so the subject had dropped and he'd continued on with whatever it was he'd been doing.

The navi wasn't even going to bother figuring out what that had been.

"Netto, please…" he'd dropped the '–kun' far too long ago for his own tastes; Multiple decades ago, definitely. Had it been before or after Raito? Probably before. Although, he knew that Roll had been teasing him about it the week before Meiru had found out and…

"You shouldn't be doing this. Not for me" Here was the fruit of all that processing power he'd been upgraded with over the years. Saying one thing, and at the same time, thinking something completely off tangent. He hated that as well. So much hate. What had happened to him? How had he fallen so far? Rock glanced up at the white hair, wondering how his netOP had resisted this change of the decades. Was it not supposed to be the other way around? As the computer program, was he not supposed to stand strong to the wear of time? As a human, was his operator not supposed to bend in the winds of change like a fickle leaf?

Then again, Netto never really had been a "leaf" type of person.

"We need to leave. Please Netto! We need to-" in a brief moment of something almost resembling cruelty, the mute button was jammed and the navi abruptly lost the ability to speak. Or at least, he lost the ability to be heard. What he wouldn't do right now to be back in his NT…the amazing piece of plastic that allowed him corporeal form constantly in the real world, also known as a Navi Transer.

Instead, here he was, stuck in his old –ancient more like, how had he ever thought that this simple hologram was enough? How had he ever existed contained in this tiny space? How had he tolerated being unable to just reach out a hand and- link PET. Where Netto had dug it up from even he didn't know. He suspected he didn't want to know either; all of Netto's relics from his childhood seemed to end up in either the sock or underwear drawer.

"I'm getting old; that took forever" he was old, but he was still a master programmer. Or at least, he'd said that earlier. Netto was prone to boasting. One never knew if he was overestimating his abilities or just stating the facts. Many good investors had been tripped up that way. And honestly, now, with a good seventy –or was it eighty? Ninety perhaps? So long, so very long…- years to his name, Rockman couldn't bring himself to dredge up any pity for them. They'd gotten caught in the trap that was Hikari Netto after all.

"Ah, sorry Rock. I just couldn't concentrate. Forgive me?" And just like that, -the push of a button seemed like such a simple way to solve problems, why couldn't it solve them all?- the blue one could be heard again.

"HIKAR-" ah, scratch that, there went the mute feature again. Netto had gotten a lot of use out of it over the years, now was no different he supposed.

"I know we're not doing so well in the stealth department…but I don't suppose you could keep it down, could you?" unable to voice his rather negative opinion on the matter, the blue navi merely settled for glaring up through the screen at his netOP. Alas, it didn't have the same effect as it had long ago, when they'd appeared to be equal. They'd been the same age –appearance wise anyway- for such a long time -he'd gotten his programming tweaked in bursts so that Netto wasn't alone in his puberty- still to fall short. Rockman was old. Gaining on a century –but still a good decade or so to go…nonetheless it was so very long a time…-, but he didn't look it. His time had frozen –because he was just data, and data didn't need to look as old as it felt- But Netto's had not. His face was tired, the corners of his eyes crinkled, his mouth sagged, his breaths came heavier. Hikari Netto was an old man. Rockman knew –had known, would always know- this. Why he was paying so much attention to it now was something that he didn't want to linger on.

"If I turn the volume on…again…promise to be quiet?" Rockman tapped his foot "Please?" a silent sigh issued from the blue navi; Agreement. The advanced program watched as Netto grinned tiredly –because he was oh so very old, and old people like them needed their rest- and released the sound again. This time, Rockman declined a comment. He'd planned on yelling before…but now, he couldn't find those words again, even if only to whisper.

"Please don't be mad. Please?" Netto sounded younger than he looked. He was trying to tap into that, trying to make Rockman think of better days, better times. When the world was sane, when navis weren't blamed for every little thing, when they weren't being deleted by the scores for things they could only think about doing. He'd found it ironic that they'd only thought about these things as they were stood to be put to death.

They had artificial intelligence. Humans hated it when someone –or in the case of the hole that they had dug themselves into, something- was smarter than them.

And so here Rockman stood, trying –but still failing. Failing after all these long years…so many years- to be mad at his operator. He was mad. He was furious. All he wanted was a zeta cannon and an army of virii to wipe out. But still, he wasn't mad at Netto; Could never be mad at Netto. It wasn't done.

"I want to stay with you" so he pleaded as well. The grin only rose at the corners of Netto's mouth; a sad smile, a resigned one, one that only reinforced what Rockman knew. He couldn't stay. Or at least, he couldn't stay and keep his existence…his…life. –Could he label this a life? This mishmash of memories, feelings, friends, battles, glances, touches…was this not a life? He was data, but was that not a life?- He could not stay for long.

"You know you can't" the human's eyes were red now, they'd been getting puffier as each moment ticked by. Hikari Netto was crying, they probably both were. Rockman was sure he could cry. Navis could cry. He'd seem them cry as they'd been deleted in scores for fear of public safety. Netto could cry for sure. Neither would sob, neither would point out the other's tears –obviously; they'd been together too long to observe something as trivial as a few drops of water- they'd just kind of exist. It couldn't be helped.

"I won't loose you" Rock's hands were suddenly against the screen as he felt the PET being lifted. There was a cord in Netto's other hand he knew it. He saw it. That dreaded cord...The dreaded cord which was attached to computer. And on that computer was a program, one that Netto had spent the last six months –what was sleep and food to him now? Why would he need it? He was old, far too old…- to perfect. One that Rockman hadn't known about until tonight. One that somehow involved Rockman being thrown –quite unwillingly, mind you- across the stars so that he could live on in a program humans had designed for some of the more powerful navis. Navis that even Rockman wasn't supposed to be in the league of. Navis that Netto had quite literally just busted Rockman into the vicinity of.

"Stop! Please Netto! I don't care if I die! I don't care if they delete me!" He was banging on the screen. He didn't look old, not old at all. He looked the same as he had at twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty and so on…and just as frantic as all those years combined. It was Netto who had changed. Netto had grown old, and he wanted the child back! Netto was too old now, far too old…too wise…because he knew. He knew that Rock would be killed no matter what. Rockman wanted the younger Netto back. He wanted back his Netto-kun who would believe in anyone and anything; who would have believed in a way to reverse this situation instead of just bowing to its rigid fist. He wanted that boy back. The boy that would have sooner died with his navi than sending him off to survive.

"Come on, don't make me remember you like this. I want to remember you smiling. You used to smile a lot more Rockman. When did you stop?" The sirens were still blaring, but he could hear something else, they were breaking the door down weren't they? Or at least, trying to. It was a very thick door, as one would expect from a military complex such as this. It seemed that they'd given up trying to override Netto's hacking of said door. After all, he had been named programmer of the decade for a reason. But physical strength was not something Netto was known for these days.

And dodging bullets? At his age? –So very, very, very old…-

"I guess we're running out of time" the former brunette sighed, but in his old frame it seemed far more like a wheeze. Far too old, he was so very old…Rockman continued to hold onto the outside world, face pressed against the screen as if nothing could take him away from it. He wanted to sob, he wanted to scream, something, anything…Where was his Netto? Not this self-sacrificing geezer…Not this. Not now. He didn't want him to die alone. Didn't want his friend –friend? What kind of word was that? So fickle, so easily forged, so easily broken, friend was not a description of Netto. Netto deserved more than that, Netto was so much more…- to end his life without Rockman there to see him through.

Enzan had died alone.

"Don't forget me. And…I know it's cruel…but don't forget this war, Rock. Just don't forget. Blues and Roll didn't die so you could forget. I'm not dying so you can forget" he wanted to scream. Wanted to tear through the screen, wanted to slap Netto until he would just shut up!

"I won't!"

And with that, Hikari Netto pushed in the cord. In a burst of pixels, Rockman.EXE no longer inhabited the PET. Instead, as the 'CTPULT' program wormed its way through Rock's systems, he slowly lost his dependence on the item. Stray commands ripped and tore their way through their data streams, his very existence being altered in a through means that Yuuichiro had never intended. His binary burst through the program, driving itself into a new form, into something far different, far faster. Without the PET to limit him, he was flung far –it was a catapult after all…- to where his systems could be supported.

It was on that day that the first radio-wave being was born.

"Never forget the war, Rock. Never forget"

Hoshikawa Subaru didn't know what to make of it. Really he didn't. Warrock was not one to pay attention to class –most especially history, he'd tried throwing the book out the window once, just for fun-, after all, it was just human affairs, something he didn't feel any desire to learn. –Even if he had displayed a disturbing proficiency at it on odd occasion-

Whatever the case, this was really scaring him.

"And I'm telling you that the revolt was after the prison break. Geeze, no respect for my knowledge!"

"But I'm sure the Yuri-sensei said in class that-"

"No, I'm sure. Check your notes if you have to" utterly freaked out, Subaru did just that; and was rather surprised to see that Warrock was right. Just what was going on? "Am I right or what?"

"Fine" the boy sighed, and moved back to his homework in order to erase the fault. This was getting far too scary for his liking. Usually the radio-being would just filter around the denpa world while Subaru completed the all-important task of his homework. But ever since they'd hit the navi revolts of 2100 –or something like that at least…he really wasn't good with dates…- the alien had been a persisting force in his room, correcting every last error and adding in every tiny detail; Most of them irrelevant, even if they did pertain to his personal programming hero, Hikari Netto.

It was ironic that he read the next line of notes.

"Arguably, the climax of the navi conflicts was the death of Hikari Netto. Despite his status as a major programmer, his sympathy to navis put him under house arrest in 2082. After breaking into a government complex in the summer of 2091, he died of heart failure in 2093 while serving his term for illegally aiding condemned navis' escapes from earth…" the reading started as a bored drawl, a mindless task to get his mind off of Warrock's behavior. A pause as the youth digested the facts, facts that he'd known through word of mouth and countless museum exhibits, but words that had never been so boldly –and rather coldly- printed before him. "That's so…so…"

"Unjust" ground out the alien, who had somehow ended up right over Subaru's shoulder.

"Uwah!" said brunette jumped what must have been a good meter into the air with the intrusion of his personal bubble. Warrock looked neither amused nor apologetic. Instead, the green one continued to glare holes –or attempted to in any case; Subaru had yet to see any eye lasers from the denpa being…- through his history notes. Still rather scary behavior; But…at least it was anti-homework oriented. Slightly more calming…but not completely so; once Warrock was back to pestering him to finish up, then he would be happy.

"Ne, Warrock, why do you know so much about this stuff?" it was an offhand question, one just meant to leave Subaru with a slightly less puzzled taste in his mouth. Nonetheless, said green being immediately shut up. A few moments of silence passed, broken only through the rustle of cloth as Subaru turned around in his chair.

"Warrock?"

"I just…know" the brunette raised an inquisitive eyebrow, to which Warrock growled some nonsense and moved to another corner of the room. That…hadn't worked so well, Subaru mused. He'd only ended up with more questions.

"Nevermind. It's nothing then" he stood and stretched, back cracking wetly. "I'm going to find mama, she said we're going out with Amachi-san for dinner. Are you coming?" Unusually quiet, –just what had that question done to him?- Warrock shook his head in rejection. Subaru blinked once, twice…

"I'll catch up, I mean" and thrice. He really didn't get it. The brunette's eyebrow threatened to rise once more, although Warrock had 'hmphed' and turned away long before the denpa could catch the movement. Still, some things were better left alone –for now at least, he was rather hungry anyway-, and it seemed harmless enough.

"…Okay?" with the slight click of the door, Subaru was gone, and Warrock –no offense to the kid, he was pretty cool after all…- couldn't have been happier. It was all that stupid war's fault though. If or when Subaru continued the "investigation", Warrock would be more than happy to blame any and all moodiness on the stupid war.

Time had passed, oh so very much time. Such a very long time, far longer than he'd ever expected…and things weren't the same. He hadn't expected them to be anyway. Subaru didn't sleep too late, didn't need to be nagged about his homework, didn't share the love for curry, didn't even seem to have that same aura that drew people to him –actually such a quiet boy…unless he was mad at you-. They hadn't even done all that much together –In comparison anyway…a few former colleagues down the drain, a large buggish looking Andromeda resealed? Yeah, it was all good- …yet, at least.

But then again, it was still the same. Both still missed their fathers, both got that odd pensive look when they stared off and, most importantly, both seemed far too young for any –and all- of this fighting.

But then again, Warrock mused, for a being oh so very old such as himself…youth was a good thing.

'I didn't forget, Netto-kun. I didn't forget'

O.o so weird…ah, I suppose this deserves an explination, doesn't it?

The basic rundown for those who don't get it: Netto grows up, Navis get more advanced, general fear/hate/distrust/etc begin to appear between navis and humans, humans delete large amounts of navis, Humans decide to send navis they can't delete into space. Netto doesn't want Rock deleted, forces Rock into denpa to get him off of the earth, and Rock becomes Warrock! (And then Subaru gets all weirded out)

It's like the ani-matrix! Except not! XD I love my weird and crazy theories X3 Wait until you see me try to prove the fact that Netto and Subaru are related XD It'll be great

I have a farm where I keep all the Rockman characters, feed me reviews filled with helpful tips and I'll let them go so we can exchange them for their OOC counterparts in my stories, deal?

Partly inspired by my new wallpaper (I'm proud of it :P so sue me, I like making wallpaper XP) found here: img527.imageshack.us/img527/2631/wallpaper1fa5. j pg