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I realized I would never be able to fly againI know I can't fly with broken wings
Someone wept, "Dreams change their form"
The love that someone gave up on has disappeared...
~Kimura Kouichi, With Broken Wings
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Saito watched from the sidelines as Netto, Blues and Roll helped Light and Hikari hook both the PET and Rock's body to the computer.
After that, the two scientists got to work on the reprogramming. Most of it was done in silence (not counting the constant clicking of a keyboard), but occaisionally one had to ask the other a question about their version of Rockman.
Saito, Netto, Blues and Rock didn't really hear them; they huddled in a small group across the room, chatting, trying to break the tense atmosphere that hung in the lab.
"I still don't like this," Blues said sourly, glancing over at where Dr. Light had opened a panel in the deactivated Rock's back.
"No more than me," Netto reassured him. "But it has to be done."
Saito had settled himself in the air comfortably close to his twin, keeping his eyes away from Roll on the laptop. The sight of the female Navi talking so cheerfully with Rock and Gutsman made his heart ache. What if this didn't work, and he never saw her again...?
In the Net, Roll was doing her best to be enthusiastic about the situation. "Once we get you back in your body, Rock, we can destroy that machine of Wily's and everything will go back to normal!"
"It isn't 'my' body," Rockman replied tensely.
"I..." She paused, "Sorry, I'm just..."
Rock sighed. "No, never mind, I'm just...well, I'm not really used to being nothing."
"Nor am I." Saito called from reality. "But hey, you and I are going to get though this."
Blues nodded. "And we're going to be right there by your side. Right, Netto?"
The brunette nodded. "Of course!"
Rock would have smiled, had he a body to do so in. He let out a sigh. "Thanks." But after we're through, he added silently, you're just going to leave me alone again, aren't you, Blues?
At the computer console, Hikari programmed a string of codes into the files Emdee had converted. Luckily the computers in this world were much the same as the Hikaris'; although he could not plug Netto's PET directly into Dr. Light's computer, he could easily transfer the data to his laptop when it was complete and move it to Light's PC from there. For now he left the laptop in his son's hands on the other side of the room and worked with both PETs, trying to recall the complex code patterns he had used all those years ago.
They're really very alike, aren't they?" Dr. Light said suddenly, and Yuuichirou turned. "Their personalities...they act the same, they even speak much the same."
"A result of being the same person from parallel universes, maybe?"
Dr. Light tapped his computer console. "Probably. They're both more human than any machine was ever meant to be. My Rock has a heart of gold...he's sweet, and brave."
"Mine too." Yuuichirou glanced with a smile at the empty spot in the air, where he knew his oldest son must be.
"Human..." Dr. Light said softly. "One a living machine, one a reincarnated child inside a program. How different they are, and yet..."
"So alike. Saito was supposed to adapt to Netto's personality, but it seems that he had one of his own from the start," Yuuichirou murmured.
"It'll make this easier on them. There's not so much to change...they just have to feel comfortable in the other's body."
"I'm done," Yuuichirou pronounced, setting the PET down on the console.
"One moment....there." Dr. Light closed the panel on the inert Rock's back. "That should do it."
"So I'll have my brother back?" Netto and Blues said in unison. They blinked and looked at each other.
Rockman - Saito - chuckled. "You two are nothing alike, and yet..." He shook his head.
"All we need to do is enter these programs into Rock's body and the PET." Hikari said. "Are you ready?"
Rock, from inside the PET, nodded - though nobody could see it. "Ready as I'll ever be."
"Me too." Saito agreed.
Netto grinned. "If being pulled back to a Navi and Robot body is anything the same as a human, then you're probably going to feel sick for a second...but it won't last long."
Blues nodded. "When you wake up, let me know which Rockman is which. All right?"
"Right." The two Rockmen smiled.
Dr. Light and Dr. Hikari nodded, and commenced the data transfer.
Blues and Netto watched anxiously with identical frowns on their faces as the programs were applied. Oddly enough Netto held the laptop to watch for the Navi Rock while Blues hovered near his robot brother's body.
Roll held the Navi's body, paralyzed with dread. Would he awaken? Or was he corrupted forever? She half-expected him to dissolve into data bits in her arms. Finally, though, he stirred, groaning as he opened his eyes. "Wha...?"
"You're alive! Oh, Rock!" Tears of relief spilling from her eyes, Roll hugged the helf-conscious boy to her.
"Rockman!" Netto's voice was jubilant. "We did it!"
"Er..." Rock shook his head to clear it. "Ne-Netto-kun! I'm okay...?"
"He's okay, de gutsu!" Gutsman cheered.
"Netto...-kun?" Netto gave the Navi a hard look. "Wait...which one are you?"
"I always call you Netto-kun, don't I?" Rockman replied, his face confused.
"No, he's still.... I'm over here, little brother." Netto looked over his shoulder, where Blues was helping the bioroid sit up. "My head feels funny, but... I'm Rock.EXE."
The Navi Rockman struggled into a sitting position."Yeah, we're still switched...but we're alive."
"He called me Netto-kun...?" Netto murmured, perplexed. "I thought we both agreed that he'd call me 'Netto'..."
"It's probably a side effect of the reprogramming." Yuuichirou suggested. "He might pick up a few of our Rockman's habits, such as calling you 'Netto-kun', but nothing too out of the ordinary..."
"I hope not! Rock!" Netto exclaimed, rushing over. "How different do you feel?!"
"Ahh...gimmie a sec, Netto.."
"-kun!"
"What?"
"You always call me Netto-kun!"
Rockman blinked. "Whoa...don't know what came over me there...must be the reprogramming or something..."
Netto smiled. "Well, at least you're both alive. That's what matters mos-aagh!" Netto gasped and clutched his chest suddenly. "R-Rockman...is that virus kicking in again?"
"Netto..kun?" Rockman paused. It didn't sound natural anymore, but he tried his best. "Netto-kun, stop playing around. That's not funny."
"Stop...playing...what? Rockman, can't-" He leaned against the table and gasped for breath, "-can't you feel this?"
"No!" Rockman cried in distress. He scrambled off the table and to Netto's side, barely catching his twin before the already-weak brunette collapsed. "What's wrong!?"
Inside the laptop, the Navi Rock was having a similiar attack, clutching his chest with pain. "Can't...breathe..."
"What's wrong with them?" Dr. Light asked. "Dr. Hikari--!"
"Still Wily's virus," Blues said gravely.
"We came here...hoping that you would know how to remove it," Rockman gasped, waves of fatigue and dizzyness from the reprogramming washing over him.
Dr. Light watched the laptop screen in horror, watching the scene unfold. "I can't do anything with your computers though...I wouldn't know how to program a Navi."
"It's in me too. And Papa didn't know how to deal with this body's systems." Rockman had managed to drag his twin onto the table he had been occupying a few moments earlier. "But it's not hitting me right now...I don't understand why Netto's in pain! I feel fine!"
"I don't understand it either...unless..." Yuuichirou's face suddenly went pale. "No...it couldn't be..."
"What?!" Rockman cried, "What is it?"
"Perhaps..." Yuuichirou mused, "When we reprogrammed you two to be more like your counterpart, it somehow switched the DNA link between you."
Rockman shook with some emotion - he had yet to figure out if it was sadness, rage, or both - and he shrieked, "So I'm not his brother anymore?!"
"Saito, I didn't-"
"Shut up! I'm not Saito anymore, am I?"
"Rockman-!"
"Am I?!"
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Shi: Kekeke, what fun this fic is to write--! Marisa's not here right now to write a note so you'll have to deal with me. :D Join us next chapter for more...well, we're doing to pretty nasty stuff to these poor kids already, there's lots more angst to come. :P
Shi *Marisa voice*: Ooh, more torture--!