No sense in hiding the fact that this is the final chapter, not including the epilogue, which will come in at… six days from now. If you readers have noticed, I've been updating every six days except from during the beginning. This was fun and interesting to write, but I'll let the story speak for itself. Thank you all!


"Wait!"

Blues, Medi, Roll, and even the Police Navis looked to where the voice had originated from. The former three especially couldn't believe their optical senses as the one who spoke was logging in and integrating back into full form.

"No way…" Blues gasped.

"This has to be a trick," Medi remarked.

"… Rock… man," Roll whispered, receiving the stimulus of having a lump in her throat, unable to speak further.

The reactions in the real world were no different except for two certain individuals. Meijin appeared triumphant while Netto gave a casual look to his PET screen.

"What's up… Rockman?" Netto asked.

"What?! You knew about this, but didn't even telling us?!" Meiru demanded, offended by how relaxed her childhood friend was. "We were worried sick for you, Netto!"

"Well, something, I don't know what though, told me I had to play along," Netto quickly explained as Meiru grabbed the collar of his orange vest with both hands. "Meiru-chan, I'm sorry!"

"Don't you know better than to mess with a girl's feelings like that?! Baka! Baka!"

"Wait! I−!"

While Meiru continued to irately shake down and strangle Netto, Enzan confronted Meijin and Yuuichiro about Rockman's miraculous survival. He had immediately narrowed the factor that saved the Navi through that Mystery Chip the brown-haired boy received only several minutes ago now.

"What I want to know was how your chip accomplished this," Enzan said. "Just what happened before Rockman was 'deleted' before our eyes?"

"I was wondering when someone was going to ask this," Meijin chuckled. "The thing is that the whole concept was all Rockman's idea in the first place."

"It was?" Jasmine, accompanied by Netto and Meiru in a temporary pause of their squabble, asked simultaneously.

"It was, rather from one of his battles against a certain Navi was the inspiration," Meijin explained. "The Mystery Chip shouldn't be a mystery at this point now that it has been used. Netto-kun, if you please?"

Freeing himself from Meiru's grip, Netto ejected the Mystery Chip, which no longer had its titular question mark image, but rather the image of two of the same Navi. A familiar ninja-themed Navi, to be exact.

"It has a picture of Shadowman?" Meiru pointed out aloud.

"More like Shadowman with a kawarimi, a substitution clone it looks like," Netto clarified through closer inspection.

"I like to call this one the 'Living Substitution Chip,' if you kids don't mind," Meijin intervened. "From one of his last battles against Shadowman, Rockman came to me at one point sharing how powerful his abilities were, from creating shadow clones to kawarimis while escaping harm. Sadly, he never got Shadow Soul at their past encounters, so I couldn't really study deep into this, which was why I wanted to make my own variation of Shadowman's abilities for future emergencies and threats."

"So, this chip basically had Roll destroy a Rockman kawarimi?" Netto surmised.

"Eh… in a way," Meijin muttered, embarrassed on how quickly his complex project was easily broken down and summarized.

"I have no doubt creating something like this was difficult," Yuuichiro said.

"But what makes this different from any other substitution?" Meiru inquired.

"The truth was if Roll, while still under the Yan Love Chip, had realized that the Rockman she destroyed was a fake, then the programming wouldn't have registered her target being eliminated and she would have still continued her rampage," Meijin added.

"Which was why you wanted Netto to use the chip right as Roll was about to delete Rockman, because at that moment, she and the Yan Love Chip would believe that they were actually attacking him and thus complete its mad function," Enzan continued. "That's actually ingenious."

"Let's just say that I learned how to play around with space and time in the cyber world because that chip in a nutshell was supposed to warp Rockman into a 'safe pocket dimension' for a temporary amount of time while a realistic, lifelike kawarimi doll took his place," Meijin explained. "However, this was actually the first time the Living Substitution Chip was ever used. A lot was definitely riding on the success of this chip completing its function."

"It could've failed, or worse," Yuuichiro pointed out. "It could've sent Rockman to somewhere else instead of your 'pocket dimension' or even destroyed him."

"Oh, geez, if it's one thing being a test subject for you guys, it's another," Netto sighed.


Cyber World

Rockman's head was held up in a pair of hands, or rather the head of a lifelike doll of the blue Navi. Medi and Blues had gathered around, having listened in to all the explanations and clarifications shared back at the real world where their Operators were.

"So Roll actually severed a kawarimi's head?" Medi asked.

"That's right, Medi-chan," Rockman replied, placing a hand on his doll's head. "This was a side project I worked along with Meijin-san in case we ever faced huge threats like the Cyber Beasts or Cache, though this was supposed to be a last resort thing."

"There's no shame in doing what you have to do to ensure the survival of your friends or for the greater good," Blues said. "It really did look like you were deleted, just so it would bring Roll back to normal."

"I felt it was time to try it out," Rockman shared with a quick shrug. "Of course, to ensure that Roll-chan believed that she actually deleted me, no one else had to know about this."

"Otherwise… there would've been a chance that I would've been tipped off… and I would have still continued on with those awful crimes," Roll admitted, looking away forlornly. "I deserve to be locked away for good…"

"Roll-chan, it wasn't your fault," Rockman reasoned. "That Mad Love Chip made you do all those horrible things."

"You don't understand! I deliberately took it in hopes that I could beat Medi, but I only made things worse not only for you but for me!" Roll cried out, held back by the Police Navi when she attempted to speak out to Rockman.

"I can't really blame you though, speaking from girl Navi to girl Navi," Medi intervened. "I'd probably wind up doing the same thing if I was that obsessed with winning." She surreptitiously looked back at Rockman before resuming a serious glance towards the pink Navi. "But still, that doesn't excuse your recklessness or actions towards us."

"I know," Roll sighed.

"What's done is done now, so the most we can do now is clean up the mess," Rockman surmised.

"Hey, Rockman?" Roll asked, appearing hesitant.

"What's up, Roll-chan?"

"Just so you know, while I've now come to accept that you're with Medi doesn't mean I'm about to give up yet," Roll announced. "Once I'm released from my sentence, I will do this fair and square, as myself with no external help."

"That's pretty sporting of you," Medi commented, holding onto Rockman's arm closely. "I accept your challenge."

"Just one last thing, though. Would you mind at least visiting me once per day until my release? I know Meiru-chan will be by my side for the month, but it'd be really nice if you did see me even for a minute. You already have Medi for the rest of the week, so…"

"I don't mind at all, Roll-chan," Rockman said. "You should be out fairly soon since the Yan Love Chip should be out of your system completely. They're just going to monitor and scan your systems to make sure you're operating as you should be, so don't worry too much about it. Just be on your best behavior. I hope you don't mind, Medi-chan."

"I guess it's the least she deserves, and I know this will make you happy to make sure your friends are doing well, Rock-kun," Medi answered.

With a confirming nod from Roll, the Police Navis escorted her out of the Ministry of Science to await further instruction from Kifune and Manabe. Rockman, Medi, and Blues watched her off before agreeing to return to their respective PETs to recover from this ordeal, plugging out with minimal damage done to the overall cyber environment.

Roll is finally growing up, as far as a Navi would mentally develop anyway, Meiru thought after observing their conversation before turning to Netto. I should take care of some things too.

"Meiru-chan, what's on your mind?" Netto asked upon noticing Meiru's pensive look.

"Let's step out now first," Meiru suggested. "This is between you and me. Jasmine, you can resume your time with Netto after, if that's okay."

"Not a problem," Jasmine chimed.

"I suppose with the current crisis now averted, I'll be on my way," Enzan passed as his final comments before taking his leave as well.

Now outside of the Ministry of Science, Netto and Meiru were at a secluded spot while Jasmine waited beyond earshot distance. Yuuichiro and Meijin had escorted the youth out and returned back into the lab while Enzan went on his way back to the IPC building.

"Now Netto… I'm not sure how to start considering how hectic this day turned out," Meiru began nervously, sporting a mild blush.

"Hey, Roll will be just fine now that she's back to her normal self," Netto reassured.

"Aside from that, well… after seeing the great lengths Roll would go for Rockman, it made me think about some things," Meiru continued, still having trouble maintaining eye contact with her crush. "I want to know first how things are going between you and Jasmine."

"Oh, we're pretty close friends, and it's nice she had time to come here and visit me," Netto replied nonchalantly.

"No! I mean…"

Meiru still struggled to spit out her real intention, but Netto noticed how uncomfortable she was and went to her. Holding her head up with one hand under her chin and a comforting hand on her shoulder, he helped her establish firm eye contact. By then, the redness in Meiru's cheeks were spreading to the rest of her face and she looked like she was about to panic.

"Meiru-chan, I think that you're overthinking this," Netto said warmly. "We're all still young, having fun, and enjoying life. I know that I still want to enjoy the perks of being a kid since I'm practically already employed in a dangerous profession as a Net Savior. Even then, we still have the rest of our lives to live out. I know I'll have to grow up eventually and start trying out new things, probably things you're already interested in since you're more mature than I am, but until then, I'll keep on having fun with all my friends. That includes you, Jasmine, Dekao, Yaito, Tohru, Chisao, Shuuko-san, and even Enzan and everyone I've met around the world."

Meiru merely looked at him in wonderment on that surprisingly profound statement. She laughed to herself, realizing how much she worked herself up over minor misunderstandings and insecurities. Perhaps she did expect too much out of Netto because of her higher maturity level, but she couldn't help it. She was the one with the 'mature' feelings, as he had put it, while Netto opted to be a kid and enjoy the pleasures of youth while he still can. She couldn't blame him, really.

"You're right," Meiru finally spoke with a light smile. "We do have the rest of our lives to think about these things."

"See? Come on now," Netto urged. "Jasmine won't be here any longer. We've got the rest of the day to play and eat."

As he went off to let her know that their plans together for the rest of the day would resume, Meiru simply looked on and smiled in contentment for a moment before walking after him. All that mattered to her at this point was that Netto was being himself and was happy, Rockman was safe, and there were no more threats targeting the Internet or the real world at this time.

Maybe this was really love she felt by letting him go as he pleased to be happy.

If this was the case, perhaps Roll had finally understood what it meant as well.

Nonetheless, Meiru made the decision to stay by Netto's side and support him in his endeavors. With the rest of their lives ahead, she had plenty of time to wait 'to be' with him.


As you all have read, I really couldn't bring myself in killing off Rockman for good, so I had that chip basically pull off a major miracle. Well, this is the end of this story until I conclude with the epilogue.

Thanks for reading! And don't forget to review!