"I am a question to the world
Not an answer to the Earth."
-Johnny Reznik, "I'm Still Here" from Treasure Planet
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About an hour later, Roll was rummaging through Rock's dresser, looking for something for the 'new' Rockman to wear. "So you've never worn street clothes before?" She asked, picking out a pale green t-shirt and blue jeans.
"No." Despite still being uncomfortable about the situation, Rockman found himself a little bit excited about getting to wear new clothes and experience the real world. Like it or not, I'm here...so I might as well try a few new things! he thought to himself.
"Oh! Well, here!" Roll handed him the outfit. "I'll leave and let you change." She smiled, and stepped out of the room.
Rockman inspected the t-shirt carefully and started to peel off his blue jumpsuit, yanking the clean garment over his head. He managed to get the jeans on with no trouble as well, fumbling with a pair of black socks. Finally he stood up and inspected himself in the mirror, amazed at the change.
He looked so... different. His hair was messy and black, one peice falling constantly in his eyes, which were a striking shade of blue. Yet there was some strange resemblance between himself and this other Rockman, but whether it was in the eyes or the face or hair he could not quite decide. Netto-kun wouldn't recognize me like this, he thought. This is all so strange...
"Checking yourself out?" Blues, who seemingly came out of nowhere, asked teasingly.
Rockman turned quickly to face the stranger. "Um...I guess so..."
Blues raised an eyebrow, though it couldn't be seen behind his shades. "You all right?" He asked, "You seem...I don't know, different..."
"Ah, haha! You could say that..." Rockman wondered if he should try to guess, or simply ask the new comer who he was. The other boy wore a red and white jumpsuit and a helmet, with a yellow scarf. Dark glasses covered his eyes. Rockman squinted. If he didn't know that it was impossible, he could swear that the stranger looked almost like.... "Blues...?"
"Observant today, aren't you?" He grinned, "Hey, listen, is there something bothering you?"
"Ask your precious Enzan-sama," Rockman mumbled to himself.
"Sorry, what?"
"Nothing. Nothing bothering me, I'm just a little....out-of-it...today."
Roll knocked on the door. "Rockman? You finished?"
"Yes, Roll-ch--er, -san!"
Roll opened the door. "Oh! Blues! Uh, where did you come from?"
Blues shrugged. "Around."
Roll paused. "Um...Blues, there's...uh...something we need to tell you about Rock..."
"Eh-heh..." Rockman shrugged when Blues aimed a visored glance at him.
Blues frowned. "What? What is it?" He looked over at his 'brother'.
Roll looked at Rock. "Well..um, tell him!"
"Me? Why do I have to tell him!?"
"Because it's your problem!" Roll answered.
"How can I explain when I don't know what it is?" he shot back
"I'm just as clueless as you are, thank you!"
"WILL YOU JUST TELL ME ALREADY?"
"That's not Rock!" Roll exclaimed.
"Well, I am, but not your Rock..."
"EXCUSEZ-MOI?" Blues exclaimed, "What do you mean by that?!"
"Um...well..."
Rockman flushed. "Well, this is kinda hard to explain, but I come from another dimension... or something... and I woke up as your Rockman..."
"So what have you done with our Rock?" Blues snapped.
Roll shook her head. "No, no! It's...it's nothing like that!"
"If I had to guess, I'd say he's where I should be."
Blues nodded, trying to let this sink in. "All right, fine...so...now what?"
Dr. Hikari tapped at his computer keys, running scanners on all of Rockman's systems. "I can't find anything wrong with him. He's functioning perfectly normally."
"He doesn't seem to think he is!" Netto complained.
Rock shook his head. "Dr. Hikari, sir, I'm...perhaps there isn't anything wrong with me, physically..." He paused. "I'm not sure what's going on, but...I..." God, what was he supposed to say?
"It seems like your system is fine, but you have someone else's memories. Can you tell me a bit about the world you're supposed to be in?"
Rock nodded. "Well, my name is Rockman, or Rock for short. I'm not a computer program, I'm an actual robot." he began, pausing to see their reaction.
"A robot..." Dr. Hikari mused. "That's very interesting; please continue."
"Well, I was originally created as a lab assistant for my creator, Dr Light. Speaking of him, I find it an odd coincedence that your name means the same thing..." He trailed off, as the thought of his father swept a wave of sadness over him. He shook it off, and continued, "Then one day, his partner, Dr. Wily-"
"Wily!?" Netto cried. "You have a Wily in your world too?"
"What?" Rock cried out, "There's a Wily in this world, too?"
"Yes, but for the moment, please continue." Dr. Hikari urged.
"All right." Rock nodded. "Anyway, he went crazy and reprogrammed six of the eight original Robot Masters that Dr. Light had created, With Roll and I being the other two, and used them to try to take over the world. I was updated and was then used to fight off Dr. Wily, who's been building robots for world domination ever since." Man, what a mouthful.
"We haven't seen Wily in quite a while," Netto said slowly. "He was presumed dead after Rock and I destroyed his fortress."
"Tch." Rock spat. "That's a laugh. I've destroyed 8 of his fortresses and the old bat's still alive."
Roll couldn't contain a giggle at that.
Dr. Hikari glanced at his son. "Over a year. Since then, Gospel's shown up, and the Net was essentially cleared of any World Three traces."
Rock cocked his head. "World Three?"
"World Three was the criminal organization Wily started," Netto cut in.
Rock nodded. "Ah. I see now."
"Gospel was so much more powerful than World Three, though," Roll said. "Maybe Wily hid because he knew they'd wipe him out."
"Wait, wait a second!" Rock exclaimed, "There's a Gospel in my world too!"
Dr. Hikari looked at him in surprise. "What, you too? There are so many parallels here..."
Rock nodded. "He's Forte's robotic companion. He looks like a purple wolf, right?"
"Forte!?" Netto and Roll chorused.
"Dear god, do NOT tell me there's a Forte here!"
"Oh, there is... there were a bunch of them, actually; clones, but the real Forte destroyed them." Netto grinned.
"You're serious?" Rock shuddered. "I can't stand even one! He was built by Wily a few years after he first turned evil; He was supposed to rival me, but so far, I keep beating him." Rock grinned. "Of course, he's the only robot of Wily's that I haven't been able to destroy..."
"Yeah, he's the only Navi around here that's any challenge to Rock..." Netto laughed.
Roll grinned. "Well, not the only one!"
"Ah, of course... then there's Blues!"
The look on Rockman's face had gone from surprised to stunned to incredulous.
Netto groaned. "Don't tell me--"
"--Blues!?"
Roll made a face. "I hope your Blues isn't as rude--"
"--and personality-less--" Netto cut in.
"--as ours," she finished.
"Well... I've never thought of him that way... he is my brother..."
"Your brother!?" Netto asked in shock.
Dr. Hikari smiled. "Well, that's one thing that's not paralleled....in this world, Netto is Rock's brother."
"Wait, how's that possible?" Rockman questioned. "I thought yours was a computer program."
"That's a long, complicated story..."
"Wait a minute." Rock's eyes widened as he thought of something. "Dr. Hikari!" He exclaimed, "Since I was able to cross into your world, and your Rockman was probably able to cross into mine...what if the two Wilys found each other, too?!"
end chapter 2
Notes from Marisa: Ooh! Scaryness! Hehe! Oh, if you're wondering how we write this, we do it sentence by sentence over AIM. I play the original series characters most of the time, and Shimegami-chan does the EXE characters. ^___^ And I hope you guys like it!
Shi-chan: Don't forget to review! *plug, plug*
Marisa: So it looks like Rock's getting more information than Rockman...oh, maybe we'll clue him in later. What do you think, Shime-chan?
Shi-chan: Er... let's leave him in the dark a little longer...he's cute when he's confused. XD
Stay tuned for more! (Yes, I'm getting around to EXE 28...I swear...-_-;;)