Author's Note: This was my entry for the REO Forum's September fanfic challenge, and the first EXE fic I've ever completed. It's set in the year 203X, about thirty years after the games and/or anime, and is based very loosely on the lyrics to Fool on the Planet by The Pillows.
Disclaimer: and all related characters are property of Capcom.
-o-o-o-
If asked, Ijuuin Enzan would have said that IPC's preparations for the 50th anniversary of the PET were going perfectly according to plan. The promotions were all worked out, a special commemorative PET model (available in ten different colors, fully customizable to the user's biometrics) would be in stores by the end of the month, and business was prospering. There was just one problem. IPC was sponsoring and assembling a display in the National Museum, using mostly old IPC models to trace the development of the PET. They'd been able to track down nearly all of the units necessary — even the laptop-sized original model.
However, there was one model which they had not been able to obtain. It was the first PET with wireless plug-in capabilities, the AGS-001, which was only on the market for a few months before a recall. Apparently a few people had problems with their battlechips being ejected with enough force to fly across a room and hit someone else in the head. Enzan himself had owned one of those PETs at one point, and and with all the trouble tracking down these old models had been, he was beginning to seriously regret his practice of discarding his old PETs as soon as he had transferred all the data he needed. This gap in the exhibit was irritating him more than he would have liked to admit. That was why, when he got a call just a week before the exhibit's opening that an AGS-001 had been found, he went to meet up with the finder right away.
Hana, an employee who had been working on the exhibit, met him. "I hope you do not mind, Ijuuin-san, that I took the liberty of purchasing the PET on IPC's account."
"Not a problem, as long as you really have what we're looking for," Enzan replied, taking the blue PET from her. He looked it over. It had a small square black screen, a circular depression where the owner could snap in an insert with his or her Navi symbol, a handle on the right side, and a slot in the top for battlechips. He glanced at the model number on the back just to double check. "This looks perfect. Where did you get it? It looks used."
"I found it at a thrift, store, believe it or not," she said. "It even seems to still be in working condition."
"Really? Well, let's see." Enzan flicked a switch with his thumb. No response. Well, it was nearly thirty years old. Then, the screen flickered once. Twice. A small "ping!" emitted from the PET, and a progress bar blinked onto the screen, telling him it was "now loading."
Hana peered over his shoulder. "That's normal, right?"
"Yes." A Navi symbol, a red circle bordered by yellow and bisected by a black bar, spun on screen. "No," Enzan said, staring in disbelief at the PET.
"So is it normal or isn't it?"
"Shh," Enzan shushed her, watching as data fragments assembled themselves around the symbol into a young boy Navi with black spiky hair sticking out from behind a blue and yellow helmet, dressed in blue. As the last data fragment clicked into pace, the Navi opened bright green eyes. "Netto-kun?"
Enzan blinked, shocked. He turned to Hana. "Where did you say you got this?"
-o-o-o-
"Netto-kun?" Rockman nearly regretted the words as soon as they came out of hs mouth. The man who he could just barely see from his limited view in the PET was almost certainly not Netto. But this certainly was Netto's PET. It had a feeling of "home" that no other place really had.
The man holding Netto's PET seemed to be upset about something. He was arguing with some woman about what sounded like a thrift store. "Um, excuse me," Rockman said, trying to get the man's attention.
". . . never even checked . . ."
"Excuse me? Hello?"
". . . for so long, it's impossible that . . ."
"Hey, mister, down here."
". . . probably illegal, I'll have to check . . ."
"Hey!" Rockman yelled, patience wearing thin. The man and woman suddenly quieted. "What's going on?" the Navi asked.
The man held the PET up so Rockman could see his face clearly. "You really are Rockman, right?"
"Yes," Rockman said cautiously. "Who are you?"
"Who am I? Rockman, don't you recognize me?" Getting no response but a slightly suspicious glare from the Navi, the man continued, "It's me, Enzan."
"Enzan-kun?" Rockman said, not convinced. "But you're old."
Enzan couldn't hold back a smile at this comment. After years of hearing, "I expected someone older," here was Hikari's Navi calling him old.
"Sir, do you know this Navi?" Hana asked.
Enzan nodded. "So, Rockman. What were you doing in a thrift store?"
"I . . . I don't know. The last thing I remember was Netto-kun putting me in his backpack . . ."
Oh, yes, Enzan remembered now. Netto had his backpack stolen during a NetBattle tournament, with his PET and most of his battle chips inside. Enzan had been at that tournament and remembered Netto running up to him in a panic. At the time, he'd just thought that Netto had forgotten where he had set it down — after all, the brown haired Net Battler could be a bit irresponsible. But then there had been other PETs stolen, other Navis gone missing. Some were recovered eventually. Rockman wasn't, and it was assumed that he had been long since deleted.
"How long has it been? How long have I been missing?" Rockman asked. If Enzan looked that old, maybe even older than Papa had been when he last saw him . . .
"It's been almost thirty years, Rockman."
Thirty years? How could that be? "So . . . so Netto-kun's all grown up now, isn't he?"
"Yes, I'd imagine he is," Enzan said drily.
"Where —"
"I haven't talked to your Operator in years, if that's what you're wondering," Enzan cut the Navi off. "He pretty much dropped out of NetBattling after you disappeared. I hear he was really broken up about it." Noticing the worried look on Rockman's face, he pressed ahead. "But I'm sure he's still around somewhere, and it shouldn't be too hard to find him. I know he'll be glad to see you."
Rockman perked up immediately at this news. Still holding onto the PET, Enzan started to head out of the museum.
"Sir? What about the exhibit?"
Enzan turned around. "You know how we were discussing using the AGS-002 instead?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do that."
-o-o-o-
Enzan was very quiet during the car ride back to IPC's downtown headquarters. "So . . . uh . . . how's Blues?" Rockman asked, trying to make conversation.
"I don't have him any more," Enzan said. "Well, I shouldn't say I don't have him — I do have a few backup disks, but nobody has Net Navis any more."
"No Net Navis?"
"They were pretty much banned from the internet after a few incidences with Navis attacking humans."
"Wait, attacking people? How did they —"
"You remember that Pulse Transmission system in Wily's fortress?"
"Yeah, that was great."
"Well, it was discovered how to incorporate a sort of mini-pulse transmission system into PETs. It became really popular — one of the early models was IPC's all-time best seller — but a lot of Navis have busters and swords, and humans didn't have any defense. So they started putting restrictions on where Navis could go, what they could do. Eventually they were basically kicked off the internet. Viruses haven't been an issue for a long while, and regular, simple programs took over most of the little stuff like delivering e-mail."
"But they didn't ban Navis?"
"No, they didn't. You can still own one. The problem is, there's nothing for them to do. They mostly live on just as backup data."
"Oh."
"I can't imagine why Hikari didn't have a backup of you," Enzan said. "Pretty careless, if you ask me."
No Net Navis, Rockman thought. That's awful. How could people do that, getting rid of their friends? How can they just forget about them? Well, even if everyone has forgotten, I won't forget.
-o-o-o-
Three days later
Rockman had to admit that he was beginning to see why nobody had Net Navis any more. Being confined to the PET was boring. Admittedly, it had never been more organized, but there really wasn't much else to do. Enzan had plugged him into his office PC once, but the interface was so different from what he was used to that just trying to walk in a straight line gave Rockman a headache, and he had almost gotten in huge trouble when he had tried to delete what he later found out was someone's pet mettaur.
Mostly he just sat around, thought, and was generally more lonely than he had ever been in his life. Enzan would sometimes talk to him, but he always seemed so busy, and he often seemed to forget completely about the little blue PET on his desk and finding Rockman's Operator. They'd had an argument earlier that morning.
"Why can't you just plug me into the internet and let me see what I can find? I mean, no offense, but I think I know Netto-kun better than you."
"Rockman, we've been over this. I can't plug in a Net Navi. Only real, live people or programs with a designated function are allowed."
"Finding Netto-kun is a designated function."
"No, it's not. Look, I'm going to be late for my meeting." And then he left, leaving Rockman alone again.
He desperately missed Netto. He missed his optimistic smile, his impulsive nature which always seemed to be getting them into all sorts of adventures (and trouble, sometimes), he even missed having to yell at Netto to get up in the morning and having to constantly remind him to finish his homework. Not that Netto would have homework any more. He'd be old now, too, just like Enzan was. Maybe even married (married to Meiru, Rockman hoped — he'd always thought she was a good match for Netto). Maybe he'd even have kids of his own. That would be strange. It was really odd, trying to think of everyone being grown up. Even Chisao would be in his thirties by now, although try as he might, Rockman couldn't picture him at that age.
That seemed to be one of the blessings and one of the curses of being a Navi. After all this time, he still looked exactly the same. All the Navis, him, GutsMan, Blues, Glide, Roll . . . Another wave of loneliness swept over Rockman, leaving him feeling empty, like something had sucked out his cheerfulness, leaving only a big, gaping nothingness.
He heard the door to the office open, and then close. He recognized Enzan's footsteps, slow and steady, approaching the desk. There was a slight creak from the chair as Enzan sat down. He lightly drummed his fingers on his keyboard before seeming to remember that he still had Rockman's PET on his desk. "Sorry if I was a bit cross with you this morning," Enzan said. "The Gabcom contract isn't going well, so I'm a bit stressed right now."
"It's okay."
Enzan drummed his fingers some more on the keyboard before reaching into his shirt pocket and pulling out his own PET, a slim device about the size of a battlechip. He inserted it into a slot on the side of his PC, and got the spaced-out look Rockman was learning to recognize as a sign that a person was plugged in. A few minutes later, Enzan's eyes refocused, he pulled out the PET, and picked up Rockman's PET. "I think I may have found Netto."
-o-o-o-
The car pulled to a stop in front of a blue house on the outskirts of Densan City. Enzan and Rockman peered out. "This is where Netto-kun lives?"
"I certainly hope so." Straightening his tie, Enzan walked up to the door and knocked. A little girl, with dark brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail, answered, silently staring at him with big brown eyes. "Hello," Enzan said. "Are your parents home?"
That question was quickly answered when a red-headed woman poked her head around the doorway. "Yes, can I help you?"
"Meiru-chan?" came a voice from the PET in Enzan's right hand.
"Is that . . . ? Oh, my," the woman said, as she saw what her visitor was carrying. "Where on earth did you — oh, pardon me, where are my manners, come in." She ushered Enzan inside. "It's Enzan, right?"
"Yes. Are you that red-haired girl who used to hang around with Netto? The one with the pink Navi?"
"That's me," Meiru said cheerfully.
"I knew it!" Rockman said triumphantly.
"I saw your ad on TV last night. Very nice. Now how on earth did you manage to get ahold of Rockman?" Enzan told her the story, from when Hana had shown him the PET until he had been able to trace Netto to here. "Well, Netto should be home from work at any moment," she said. "Would you like anything? Something to drink?"
"No thank you. I'm fine." He handed the PET over to her. "In fact, I probably should be going. Give Netto my regards."
"Are you sure you can't stay? I'm sure Netto would like to see you again."
"I'm sure. Good evening."
Just then, the door opened, almost hitting Enzan in the face. "I'm sorry," came a voice.
"Netto-kun?" Rockman called out.
"Rockman?"
-owari-
Yes, that is the ending. I kind of wanted to leave it open. Go ahead and make up your own if you don't like it. You can have them live Happily Ever After, you can have it all fall apart into one big angst-fest, you can even do something crazy like suddenly have Godzilla burst in and eat them all.
Please review! Let me know what you think about anything from characterization to setting to large, gaping plot holes. Constructive criticism is welcome, and I'll do my best to reciprocate reviews, especially if you write for a fandom I'm familiar with.