Netto walked around the hall with Rockman at his side. "This is so confusing," he muttered. "I'm here but also at my house?"
Rockman shrugged, "I don't get it either, but I guess that's how it happened."
Netto made a fist and punched it into his other hand, "Oh I wish Lividity would show its face here again," he hissed.
"Netto-kun! You can't go up against them. That's dangerous," Rockman told him.
"But its its fault," he said.
"I know," Rockman said comfortingly to his twin. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."
"Rockman?" Blues called.
"Yeah?" Rockman asked.
"The dimensional converters are overheated, we need to shut them down for a few hours so they can cool off," he explained.
Rockman sighed, "But…"
Netto elbowed him in the thigh, "But nothing, you want the damn things to explode?" he asked.
"No…" Rockman said slowly.
"Then don't complain. You can just go into your PET and I'll go to papa's lab," Netto said simply.
"That works," Blues said.
"But…" Rockman tried to protest.
"I don't think Lividity and Ribbon will try to attack for while," Searchman said softly. "It's not in good battle strategy. And Lividity seems to be all about strategy."
Rockman sighed, "All right, shut down the converters."
Blues went into the room and pressed several buttons on the keyboard to start the shut down sequence, then hit the red button to turn it off completely. Rockman disappeared in a brief shower of pixels and found himself in the net, with an extra passenger hanging tightly onto his legs. "Ah…" Netto squeaked.
"Netto-kun!" Rockman exclaimed.
"What happened?" Roll asked.
Netto looked a little dizzy, "No idea…" he said.
Blues looked at Netto thoughtfully, "Well if he is the manifestation of the link then maybe he's just made out of data," he suggested.
"What, I can't stay in the real world any more?" Netto exclaimed.
"Looks that way…" Rockman said slowly.
Netto looked unhappy but didn't say anything else until the Dimensional Converters were activated again and when they were the brunette simply disappeared.
"Hello?" a voice called out.
Netto spun around in the rotating chair he was sitting in to see Roll looking into the room. "Hey," Netto said half heartedly.
Roll smiled at him, "Upset?" she asked.
Netto crossed his arms, "No," he muttered.
Roll walked over to where Netto was sitting and sat in a chair herself. "You risked a lot doing what you did," she said softly.
"I know," Netto muttered.
"Are you upset about what happened?" Roll asked.
Netto sighed and looked at the ceiling, "Kinda, kinda not. I mean, I understand why it happened but it's still annoying."
Roll gave him a small smile, "It's amazing you were willing to die for Rockman," she told him.
Netto glanced at her, then blushed. "I… well… I can't live if he was dead anyways," he pointed out.
"Were you thinking about that when you tried to save Rockman?" Roll asked him.
"No…" Netto admitted slowly.
Roll smiled but didn't say anything.
Netto glanced at her, "How do you know that?"
"It's not in your nature to worry about that kind of thing," Roll said softly. "You're a lot like Rockman that way."
Netto giggled, "And here I am, now pretty much useless. I can't even stay in the real world without a dimensional area," he sighed.
"But you're alive," Roll pointed out. "And I think that really that's all Rockman cares about."
"Rockman cares about everything," Netto made a face.
It was Roll's turn to laugh, "That's true," she admitted. "And so do you."
Netto looked at her indignantly, "I do not!" he protested.
"Yes you do," she said, "you and Rockman are more alike then you think."
Netto raised an eyebrow, "Really? And here I was under the impression that we're almost opposites."
Roll nodded, "That's true, you're very outgoing and rash, where Rockman is a bit more careful and kinda shy, but you two also are very protective and caring about things."
Netto smiled wistfully, "Sometimes I can't even stand being near him and sometimes, I think that if I wasn't with him every second of the day I'd go insane." Netto made a face, "Rockman can drive me crazy, but I hate being alone."
Roll nodded, "I noticed that. Rockman is the same way. Sometimes he comes to me and complains about you, and sometimes if you're sick or angry at him and won't talk he shuts everyone else out."
Netto shrugged, "Well, I mean we are connected mentally, maybe we can't help it."
"Maybe," Roll said. "And maybe it's just plain brotherly love."
Netto laughed, "Oh sure," he smirked and jumped off the chair.
Roll frowned, "I'm serious."
Netto yawned, "I know," he said simply. "I'm going to bed, night," he said and walked out of the room.
"He's more cryptic then Rockman," Roll said disbelievingly.
Netto walked into his father's lab and lay down on the couch. He stared up at the ceiling and sighed. "This sucks," he said to the air.
"What does?" a voice asked from the doorway.
Netto turned an eye to Rockman who was standing in the entryway of the lab. "I don't know... everything," he said.
"Anything in particular?" Rockman asked as he sat next to Netto on the couch.
Netto sat up and looked at his bigger twin. "The fact that I can't maintain form in the real world," he said softly.
"Oh…" Rockman said knowingly. "I thought it upset you. Why?"
Netto sighed, "It's like… I'm not human anymore," he said in a low voice. "I can't exist in the real world while in this form. But the thing is, this has obviously always been apart of me since I was five… if that's so then… what am I?"
Rockman thought hard, "You're Netto-kun, for one thing," he said with a small laugh. "And you're obviously mostly human because we've never had problems with our link before. These are quite the extenuating circumstances, Netto-kun," Rockman pointed out.
Netto brought his knees to his chest, "I know that, but still…"
Rockman picked up Netto and held him close, "Netto-kun, when you disappeared for that small amount of time I thought it was all over. I couldn't even begin to fathom a life without you and I didn't want to try. The fact that you're here, and with me, and that you can talk to me makes all the difference in the world. And know this, weather you're not entirely human, or you are makes no difference to me, all I care is that you're here with me and that I know I'm able to protect you."
Netto was at first surprised that Rockman was holding him and had half a mind to fight it, but then he quieted down and listened. Netto leaned into Rockman's embrace and felt kinda bad that he had complained about his small predicament when Rockman had lived with the same problem all his life. "Rockman…" he said softly. "Saito-nii-san," he said with a small grin.
Rockman laughed, "There's something I don't hear very often."
"I thought you didn't like being called that," Netto said.
Rockman shook his head, "I don't mind. I just don't like it when you use it when you're angry."
"Oh…" Netto said. "Sorry."
Rockman gave him a small squeeze and let him go. "Its okay, Netto-kun, I'm just glad you're safe right now."
Netto smiled, "Thank god for the little things?" he asked.
"That's one way to think about it," Rockman said thoughtfully.
Netto sighed and flopped onto his back. "Well, once this is all over we can figure out how to deal with this," he said with a yawn.
"Tired?" Rockman asked.
Netto nodded, "You have no idea."
"Then go to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow," Rockman said.
"Night," Netto said sleepily and turned on his side.
Rockman sat there for the next half hour and watched Netto drop off to sleep. Then he himself fell asleep not long after, but with his buster summoned, just in case anything happened.