Disclaimer: All official MegaMan characters are property of Capcom.

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CHAPTER 9

The Misadventures of Net and Rockboy

Sean at in class on Monday morning listening to his prof go on about the day's lecture. As he listened, his hand seemed to subconsciously move along the edge of his paper. A few cartoon characters lay in the margin. Sean wasn't aware of it, but a few of his profs knew about his doodling habit considering the fact that the teen always sat in the front-most row of each class.

"And since that's all we have for today, I'm going to let you all go early," said the prof. The students quickly packed up and headed out the door, but Sean was asked to hold back for a while.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"Sean, I've noticed some of your doodles on your notes during class," the prof said, "Now, I have a proposition for you. The university newspaper is looking for a new cartoonist to draw one of their strips and I thought that maybe you'd be interested." Sean thought about it for a bit.

"What does it have to be about?"

"Anything you want," the prof replied, "Just make it original. Just go to the paper office with a sample and they'll judge your comic." Sean smiled and performed a salute-like action with his hand.

"I'll do my best." It was only after saying those words that he realized something. He had no idea what to do for his comic.

* * *

"A comic for the Daily Denzer? I never knew you could be that good," said Tory. The friends sat together in the SUB food court having a quick bite while discussing Sean's new position.

"Yeah, but the problem is I don't know what to write," said Sean as he took another sip of his milkshake.

"Make it something people can relate to," Maylu suggested. Sean put down his drink and let his eyes wander. His gaze eventually fell upon Lan, who was going from stand to stand getting food.

"Roast beef sandwich on white, please. Roast beef taco on a white shell, please. Roast beef soup…on white, please."

"Lan, don't eat so much or you'll look like you did in Yumland," MegaMan warned.

"Don't worry about it," said Lan as he tried balancing all three trays at once. Unfortunately, he failed to succeed and his meal (or rather, meals) crashed to the floor.

Like any good beginning artist, Sean took out his sketchbook and began to doodle. He kept his eyes on Lan for a bit and then sketched a few lines. Before he knew it, he had drawn an almost-exact charicature of Lan, but with some minor adjustments. His vest had been replaced by a bomber jacket and his headband by a bandanna.

Sean then moved his pencil to the side and began sketching another figure. Starting off with a sleek bodysuit, he added gloves, boots, and a helmeted head. He sketched a few more details in before Yai decided to take a peek at her boyfriend's work and immediately put two and two together.

"Don't tell me you're going to write a comic based on Lan and MegaMan," she said.

"Not at all, but I needed a base for my character," said Sean. He passed his sketchbook around for everyone to see.

"Not bad," said Dex.

"Real nice," Tory commented.

"One question," said Maylu, "What're you going to call it?" Sean thought for a minute and then snapped his fingers.

"I'll call them Net and Rockboy!" He took back his sketchbook and drew a capital N on the front of the boy's shirt and a capital R as the Navi's icon and thus, Net and Rockboy were born.

* * *

Sean stood outside the campus newspaper office with his sketchbook under his arm.

Okay Obihiro, this is it, he thought to himself, You've only got one chance at this. Just walk in and give them your strip. But what if they don't like it? C'mon, get a hold of yourself, man! It's not like the balance of the universe is at stake here. Or it is? Gah, what the hell am I doing? I'm talking to myself in my head.

"Sean?"

"Yeah, Axl?"

"Just go in." Sean took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Enter," a voice called out. Sean exhaled and ran a hand through his hair before turning the knob and stepping inside. The office was rather spacious. Several desks filled the room. A door leading to a dark room was in the left-most wall. Sean then noticed an older student, most likely a fourth year, with dark blue hair sitting at a desk with the word "EDITOR" on his nameplate.

"Um, excuse me?" Sean approached the desk and the person looked up.

"How can I help you?"

"Uh, I'm here for the cartoonist job," Sean said slowly.

"Well, have a seat and let me take a look." Sean handed over his sketchbook and sat down in a chair while the editor opened to the marked pages. At first, nothing. Then a smile followed by a chuckle. A short moment later, laughter.

"This is good stuff! A guy buying a big lunch makes a total idiot of himself trying to balance three trays!" Sean smiled and waited for the editor to calm down.

"What's your name?"

"Sean. Sean Obihiro."

"Well Sean, I'm Jenrya, but everyone calls me Jen."

"It's nice to meet you," Sean said as he shook hands.

"Well Sean, you've got good material here. So tell me, what's your strip called?

"I call it The Misadventures of Net and Rockboy!"

"Sounds good. Can you make one strip a week?"

"I've got a lot more ideas where that came from."

"Well then, you've got the job."

"Thank you." Sean bid farewell to Jen and stepped out into the hallway.

*Undergrads style pop-up window appears.*

PARTY!! Sean screamed in his head

*Pop-up window closes.*

* * *

On Tuesday morning, the week's newspapers were distributed all over campus. Sean picked up a copy and opened it and there, on the inside of the back cover in the top-left corner slot, was his comic. By midday, everyone holding a newspaper was roaring with laughter at his work. Somewhere along the way between classes, he ran into Jen.

"Hey Sean, your comic's a hit! People love it!"

"Yeah, that was kinda obvious," said Sean as he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the laughing crowds of people behind him.

"Well anyway, good job. Expect your first paycheck this Friday." This last part brightened Sean's spirits even more. Not only was he bringing laughter to the university, he was also getting paid for something he enjoyed doing.

* * *

"Well Sean, your comic was a success," said Axl as he watched Sean from his PET. The teen was seated at his desk. He had already drawn four strips since he got back to his room and Axl had read all of them.

"Thanks, Axl. You've only said it about umpteen times," said Sean.

"Yeah. But humor aside, how do you think Lan will take this?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Sean!"

"Or maybe not," said Axl. Sean turned around and saw Lan standing at the door with a copy of the Daily Denzer in his hand.

"Lan, look. I can explain." Lan said nothing. He walked into the room, dropped his bag onto his bed, and leaned over Sean. The cartoonist gulped.

Suddenly, Lan laughed, causing Sean to fall over on his chair.

"Sean, your comic is great!" he said. Sean sat up looking stupefied. Was Lan really that clueless?

"Out of all the people you know, you chose to base your character off me and MegaMan." Okay, maybe not.

"So, you're not mad or anything?" Sean asked.

"Why would I be mad I you? You're my friend," said Lan as he placed his arm around Sean's shoulder.

"So, we're cool," said Sean.

"Well, the others always told me I kinda screw up every now and then," Lan admitted, "Never believed them until I read your comic. Besides, they don't even look like us." Sean smiled.

"So, what's in store for Net and Rockboy next week?" asked the Official NetBattler as he sat down.

"You'll just have to wait and see," said Sean with a mischievous grin.

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After reading this, I can assume most (if not all) of you want to read The Misadventures of Net and Rockboy. Well the good news is I'm working on it. The bad news is I'm in need of a scanner.

Until then, please continue to enjoy Rockman.EXE: The College Years. And please don't forget to review.