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Chapter 35: Rockman's New Companion

Haruka looked up surprised from the television when she heard someone come in the door of her empty home.

"Yuuichiro-san?" she said, startled to see that her husband had actually come home early. It had always been a rare thing for him to even come home on time when things were normal, and when their precious son died, he had never accomplished even that feat. Many nights he did not even come home at all. Many speculated that the scientist was trying to forget the pain of death by drowning himself in work.

"Haruka," scientist said, almost out of breathe. "Where's Rockman?"

"He's upstairs, I think. In the PET," Haruka said, wondering why her husband was acting so bizarelly.

"Let's get him and then head over to Sci-lab," Yuuichiro said quickly as he grabbed a light jacket for his wife. "I have something for you two."

"What's the rush?" Haruka asked as she accepted the jacket.

"You'll see," Yuuichiro said as he dashed up the stairs to grab Rockman's PET.

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"There you are," Meijin greeted as Yuuichiro hurried his wife into his lab. "He's almost done finalizing."

"Okay," Yuuichiro acknowledged. He then turned to the PET in his hand. "I'm going to plug you in, Rockman."

"Okay, Papa. But what is going on?" Rockman asked. He, like Haruka, was disturbed by Yuuichiro's sudden excited mood.

Yuuichiro just smiled. "I told you, you'll see. Now, plug-in, Rockman." He pointed the small grey and blue PET toward the main console and a red light shot from the end of the handheld device to a small black square on the computer. "Meijin, turn on the monitor please."

Meijin nodded and did as he was told. Yuiichiro went over to his wife and embraced her.

The main screen flickered to life and the three humans in the room could see the cyber world. They could also see Rockman standing there, his back turned to them as he stared at the thing in front of him.

"Papa…what is this?" Rockman asked, slightly confused as to why he was looking straight into a sleeping face exactly like his own. Yuuichiro just smiled. "Papa?" Rockman asked as he looked back at his parents. He was surprised to see his mother smiling. It was hard to see that smile behind the hand she held up in front of her mouth and the tears that were welling up in her eyes, but she was certainly smiling. Yuuichiro held her gently and gently kissed her on her head.

Rockman turned back to the sleeping figure before him. He looked exactly like him except that he was a lighter blue in general, though his stripes were darker.

"He's done," Meijin finally said. The rings cycling the sleeping navi suddenly stopped and then disappeared. The navi floated to the ground and stood still, Rockman looking at him in puzzlement. Then the navi began to open his eyes—the same green as Rockman's. He blinked once, twice…

"ROCKMAN!" the navi cheered as he jumped on the startled Rockman, grasping him in a tight embrace. After a moment in which Rockman was to suprised to struggle against the sudden embrace, the navi whispered in his ear, "I told you I'd never leave you."

A feeling of recognition welled up inside Rockman. He pushed the other navi from the embrace and looked at him. The eyes were the same green as his, but they had they same light and energy he knew all too well.

"Ne…Netto-kun?" Rockman sputtered.

"In the flesh…er, data," Netto said. Rockman just looked at his twin in disbelief. It seemed like it was impossible, but yet, here he was, right before him. Sure he looked different overall, but the light in his eyes was the same, the brightness in his smile characteristically Netto's. There were things that could never be duplicated because they were distinctly his brother's, and there was no doubt that they were here, right before him.

Tears welled up in Rockman's eyes as the realization finally hit him. The link was coming back too. The empty hole that had consumed him for over a month was now full of the special bond that only he and Netto-kun had shared.

"NETTO-KUN!" This time it was Rockman's turn to jump on his brother and hold him in a tight embrace. "I thought I lost you…" Rockman sobbed.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily," Netto joked. He then broke the hug and looked at his parents. "Mama! Papa!"

Haruka tried to wipe away the tears that she had been shedding, but to no avail.

"Welcome back, Netto," Yuuichiro said.

"Thanks for bringing me back," Netto said.

Netto looked back at his brother. "This is so cool and so weird all at the same time," he said.

"Huh, how?" Rockman asked.

"Being in the internet like this. Seeing you like this. Mama and Papa too," he said. Netto cast a longing look at his parents from the side.

"It's hard not being able to go and hug him, isn't it?" Rockman said understandingly.

Netto turned back his attention to his brother and nodded. However, he quickly gave a wide grin. "However, now I can hug you!" Once more, Rockman found himself being pulled into a hug. The two twins laughed and cried together.

The humans watching smiled, happy to see the two reunited. Even though Yuuichiro and Haruka longed to also embrace their sons, they also felt a great sense of satisfaction that their sons could have the privilege to embrace each other. They both knew that it had something their sons had always wanted.

Netto broke the embrace once more and bounded away. "Man, I feel so light! No wonder you can move the way you do!"

"Uh, yeah," Rockman said, smiling as he watched his brother excitedly move around the cyber room and look himself over.

"It's like a kid at Christmas," Meijin remarked.

"Hey, Rockman, come get me!" Netto called as he took off.

Rockman shook his head. "He has so much energy," he mumbled to himself. But then again, that was part of what made Netto Netto.

"You're not gonna get me just standing there!" Netto called.

"Okay!" Rockman said as he took off in a mad dash to catch his brother. Netto was quick and pretty good at dodging, but Rockman was more experienced and after a while was able to catch his brother by tackling him to the ground.

Netto breathed heavily. "That was fun."

"You're too much," Rockman said, smiling broadly as he looked down at his brother.

"Ya know," Lightman began, "you're going to have to teach me a lot. About being a navi."

"It's not that hard," Rockman said. "It should come pretty naturally. Especially since you've cross-fused before."

"Maybe, but it's different," Netto said. "There is so much more I can do as a navi that I couldn't do even in cross-fusion."

"I guess that's true," Rockman said. The twins smiled each other, not at all minding that Rockman was still pinning Netto down on his back.

"Oh, there's one more thing," Netto said. "I have a different name now that I'm navi, just like you have a different name."

"Okay, what is it?" Rockman asked. Netto just smiled mischievously. "Don't make me guess it!" Rockman playfully yelled, unconsciously pressing down harder on Netto's wrists.

"Ow!" Netto cried.

Rockman realized he was still holding Netto down and quickly got off. "Sorry, Netto-kun."

"It's okay," Nettto said, sitting up and rubbing his wrists. "You're not a powerful battler for no reason."

"So, are you going to tell me your name?" Rockman said.

Netto finished rubbing his wrists and smiled. "Yep," he said. "Call me Lightman."