Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Rockman.exe or any of its characters.
Mark of the Beasts
Nettos telepathic communication 'blah'
Saitos telepathic communication "blah"
Chapter 6
The day before the twins would be going to their first day of school, while in the same world, Dr. Hikari said, "I just need to run a few more tests to make sure the program is functioning correctly. After all we don't want you to be revealed as beast navis in the middle of school, now do we?" His boys nodded in approval and quietly climbed up on the examining tables. Yuuichiro began his tests and after two hours of checking followed by rechecking he was finally satisified with the results. "You boys are good to go, but I'd like for the two of you to stay with me until I go home tonight.", he said.
Because of their new instincts Netto and Saito knew he was up to something.
'Papa's up to something Saito.'
"I know. He probably has something else like those battlechips that let us appear human. Let's just wait and see."
'But...I'm too impatient for that. I want to know now.'
"Well tough. Besides I think you should be more concerned with Meiru."
'Why should I be concerned?'
"Did you notice how she didn't seem suprised when we were talking about us being twins last night?"
'Oh CRAP! I didn't even notice that. Do you think she really knows anything? I mean you were flashing her...'
"Not by choice if you recall. And yes I think she's known about us for sometime now. It's the only explanation I can think of as to why she reacted as little as she did."
'I'm a dead man. She's gonna kill me for not telling her sooner.'
"You'll just have to face her tomorrow at school...And I suggest lots of groveling."
With that they ended their mental conversation as Netto began to imagine all the horrible things she would do to him for hiding such a secret from her. The hybrids got off the examining table and began to walk to the cafe since Saito was determined to get something chocolate. During the short walk the older brother felt his best friend had suffered enough, "Netto it'll be ok. Just come clean with her. She's a very understanding person, remember?" His sibling looked uncertain of this so he continued, "She's a smart girl. Of all the people we know she would surely understand why you kept our secret from her. Watch you'll see."
Feeling a little bit better about tomorrow Netto and his brother continued to the food.
From his office Sci-Lab's head programmer watched his kids over the building's security cameras. "Those two are in for a pleasant suprise, right Meijin?"
Shaking his head at the other man's giddy attitude the trench coat wearing scientist replied, "Over course. I'm sure they'll love it. Just don't get too carried away."
Dr. Hikari then told his accomplice, "Please go and check to make sure everything is on schedule. I want everything to be perfect for tonight."
Meijin nodded before leaving the room and heading for his destination to oversee the final arrangements.
When Yuuichiro, Netto, and Saito arrived home later that night the first thing the younger two noticed was their mother acting overly cheerful.
'Is whatever this is contaigous or something!'
"I think so. Atleast we know who his co-conspirator is."
Haruka rushed to her two boys and engulfed them in a bone crushing hug before kissing them both on the cheek. "I so glad your finally with us again...Saito.", she said as her eyes began to water.
Netto backed away from his brother to give the two some room. Saito felt his sibling was also glad to have him back, but then again he'd felt that since they had their human minds restored. "Mama...I'm glad to be back too. Even though I was always here I could never hold or be held by any of you until now. Thanks to a part of my loving brother."
The other hybrid felt a great deal of pride knowing that he had given Saito, even if unintentionally, a wonderful gift that he would always treasure. Sure he would have hard times ahead, but they would face them together as brothers are supposed to. He then sent a strong feeling of love across the link to comfort the bird type hybrid. The youth wasn't suprised when the feelings were returned with equal strength.
Mrs. Hikari grabbed both boys and led them to Netto's room. She knew they were aware by now that something was amiss, but she didn't care. When she got them to the bedroom she waited for Yuuichiro to move next to her.
Mr. Hikari smiled at his boys before he said, "Since the two of you are as close as you are...we've change this room to suit you two." Immediately after he finished he opened the doors to reveal an altered bedroom. Inside one could see two of everything from beds to desks and computers. "We started the remodeling shortly after we got you two to Sci-Labs. The walls were knocked out between Netto's room and the old storage room next to it. I hope you like it." When he didn't get a response he turned around to see his sons were now sporting huge grins. "Guess they do.", he thought from their expressions.
Saito recovered first and said, "Thanks papa...This really means a lot to me. I'm finally home again where I should be."
Once they were done showing the twins their shared room the entire Hikari family sat down and had the family dinner that had been denied them for years. Everyone chatted about all the changes they were going to have to get used to and the journey to get to this place. Haruka knew that a fight would breakout soon as her boys saw the last of the meat spaghetti. Sure enough the two stared each other down in a standoff to see who would get the food, yes they were brother's but this was the best food ever.
The adult Hikari's watched the standoff to see who would move first, but before the twins could go any further something happened. The teens bent over in pain just before a bright yellow light left their bodies and combined right over the source of their quarrel.
"Trill!", they both complained as their victory had been won by a third-party.
The yellow navi was pleased with himself as he devoured the remains in under two minutes. He then looked at Netto and started to run for him when he heard Saito drop his fork. Trill became confused as there seemed to be two Rockmans. He knew that one was Rock since he could sense his data, but the data was scattered in two places. "Rock..." the infant began to cry.
The former blue navi reached for the confused digital child and pulled the yellow navi over him. "It's ok. I'm right here.", he said in a comforting tone. Quickly he began to rub the little navi's back and listened as he stopped crying.
"I guess he's still attached to you, huh?", Netto joked.
Saito nodded before he sat Trill on his knee and told him all about himself. He hesitated when he got to the part about him being human originally, but the younger navi didn't seem digusted when he was told. Quite the opposite in fact, he was thrilled with that revelation and he started shifting his head back and forth between the twins
The Greiga hybrid wondered out loud, "I guess we don't have to deal with the beast instincts anymore, huh?" Testing his theory the NetSavior accessed the diguise program and reverted back to a navi form. "WHAT! I'm still a beast navi!", he shouted in suprise.
Trill began to giggle causing the beast navi to look his way. "I left that power inside you and Rock. I don't know why, but I feel like you'll need it in the near future.", informed the infant sounding far wiser than a young navi such as he appeared should be.
Haruka then reacted and took the troublesome navi from her son. "Yuuichiro, go get one of the boy's old cribs. He can sleep in our room." She sent a questioning gaze at the little one in her arms and was pleased when he didn't object.
Several minutes and two accidents later Dr. Hikari reentered the dinning room. "The crib is setup and he should be comfortable in it.", he said before sitting down. "I've been thinking...perhaps the reason Trill was able to leave the cyberworld was because he traveled inside Netto and Saito to our world. That's not to say it isn't possible that he isn't also a navi-human hybrid now, but without testing I just can't be sure."
Mrs. Hikari continued to rock the infant and said, "I guess we have a new Hikari to welcome to the family." Being a mother she was thrilled with the possibility of another son to raise and since she had two older boys she had all the help she could need...right?
After dinner Trill was deposited in his crib and the twins went to their shared room. "Netto I've wanted this for as long as I can remember.", said Saito.
"I know. We finally have the life we were denied because of that stupid disease HBD. I only wish I could give you back those years that were taken from you", he replied to his brother. He thought about Saito a lot during recent years. He was saddened as he thought back to when he found out Rockman's big secret, "Do you remember when I found out who you really are?"
The older teen tensed up remembering that experience. It was painful and hard on the both of them, "Yeah...I remember. And I deserved everything I got."
-Flashback-
Four months after the evil Grave organization was destroyed Netto was getting ready for the final exams in Ms. Mariko's class on journalism.
"Ok. With the semester drawing to a close I'm sure your all wondering what kind of monsterous test I'm going to slap you all with...", she said as sweetly as she could, "Well guess what?...You won't be taking a test. Instead each of you will look through old articles in the newspaper archives. You must choose one article and you will write your own report on it."
The students were shocked that she had given them such an easy grade.
Meiru knew better than to think it came with no strings attached, "What are the guidelines Ms. Mariko?"
The teacher was pleased that atleast one of her students knew that there was going to be a catch, "Well for starters each report must be atleast two pages long. I do not want to see any papers that are not written in your own words and most importantly you cannot have your navis assist you. You must do this on your own."
Dekao lept out of his desk faster than anyone his size should be capable of moving and shouted, "What! We can't have help from our navis?"
"That's right. No navis will be allowed to assist you in any way, shape, or form. Those that I even suspect of receiving outside help will receive a failing grade for the exam.", stated the teacher.
"I guess your on your own Netto.", Rockman said a little annoyed he couldn't help. He looked at his NetOp and found that he seemed to be frozen in terror. "Netto...Netto! Are you alright?"
The teen didn't respond right away to anything so Dekao started poking him with his finger. Still nothing happened, so Meiru started waving her hand in front of his face when, "AAAAAHHHHH! NO NAVIS! THAT'S CRUEL, THAT'S HEARTLESS,...I DON'T EVEN THINK THAT SHOULD BE LEGAL!"
Not at all suprised by the brunette's loud response Ms. Mariko bent her head down right in front of his and said, "Rockman helps. Your grade average dies completely. Your choice."
"Oh man. This sucks.", grumbled the irritated NetOp. After school let out he walked straight to Dentech Library to begin his work, not so much that he wanted to as Rock wouldn't get off his case about it.
"Sucks or not you've got to do this.", the blue navi informed. Getting his best friend to cooperate sometimes was harder than facing Forte with no battlechips.
Netto started flipping through the papers looking for an article that would catch his interest. The first day he didn't find anything and the second day the most interesting thing he found was about the opening of Sci-Lab's new building. He just couldn't catch a break. "Someone up there must really hate me.", he thought.
On the third day he was flipping through the articles and something caught his eye...it was the obituaries section from about 12 years ago.
Rockman had been watching Netto work and freaked out when he starting reading the obituaries. He had to do something and do it fast or else.
Netto had managed to read the name Hikari, Saito when the document was closed. Confused he tried to open the archive back up again and instead received in big red letters "Archive Not Found". "This doesn't make sense. It was just there." he said to himself. He thought about it for a minute and then looked at his PET, "Rockman. See if you can recover that archive."
"What?...Oh? Well I'll try." replied the navi. "Sorry Netto, but I can't let you see that. I'll have to come back later and make sure it's thoroughly deleted.", Rock thought. He immediately went to work making it appear as though he was trying to recover the document, but secretly he was mapping out all possible methods that could be used to retrieve that dangerous material. "Sorry. I just can't seem to get anything, besides shouldn't you be working on your project. It's due soon.", he said leading the teen away from a major bombshell.
When Netto got home he couldn't stop thinking about the name. He wondered why it seemed so familiar to him and if that Hikari had been related to him. The first thing he did was go to his father and asked, "Papa, do we know anybody named Saito Hikari?"
Yuuichiro went wide-eyed and almost choked on his late-night coffee when his son spoke that name. He quickly recovered and said, "Hmm...I don't believe so. Where did you hear that name from anyway?" He feared that Rock had let something slip and he was certain he'd have to do some major cleanup later.
"I found it in the obituaries while looking through newspaper archives.", replied Netto, "-Sigh- I really hoped you would know who he was. That name is familiar to me for some reason, but I just can't place it."
"No, I'm sorry son. I can't help you there.", Yuuichiro said while being as sincere as possible. "I'm sorry. I just can't tell you yet.", he thought.
The teen decided since Rockman couldn't retrieve the file and his father wasn't helpful he'd look somewhere else as he walked over to the phone. Quickly he picked up the cordless and stepped out the back door leaving Rock inside his home's security network. He then dialed a number he'd memorized for emergencies only and wait for someone to pick up on the other end, "Hello. This is Enzan Ijuin speaking."
Relieved that he managed to avoid Blues Netto quickly answered, "Enzan it's me Netto...I need a favor from you and Blues."
From the other end Enzan snapped, "Didn't I tell you this number is for emergencies only!" Surely his rival must understand such a simple concept.
He waited for the other boy to calm down before he spoke, "Yeah I know. But I needed to be careful about how I did this."
The Vice-President of IPC was now all ears after that statement. "What's going on?", he asked with his voice full of concern. Sure the caller was a pain at times, but he was also a good friend.
"I need to talk to you in person. No navi's just me and you.", informed Netto.
The multi-colored hair teen was really getting a bad feeling about this. "Sure. When and where?"
At Dentech Park the two Netbattlers met. "So tell me, why couldn't we have this conversation over the phone?", asked Enzan.
"Because...because I think Rock and Papa are hiding something from me.", he said saddly.
"What do you mean?" questioned the blue-eyed boy when Netto dropped his head.
He knew Ijuin could be trusted to be discreet and told him of the happenings today and he also pointed out the suspicious behavior of his navi and father. When he finished he said to the rich boy, "Please help me find out what it is they're hiding. If Saito is family I think I have a right to know about it."
He didn't really want to overrule Dr. Hikari's decision on this matter because he didn't fully understand the situation, but at the same time he could understand the younger boy's need to know. "I'll see what I can do and if I find anything I'll have Blues bring it to you."
"Thank you. It really means a lot to me. I only wish 'they' would just tell me, I mean it's obvious that they know something.", Netto ranted. Both boys left and Netto managed to sneak back into the house without being noticed.
True to his word the young Vice-President went to work honoring his promise. It took time especially since he had to be careful that Yuuichiro didn't catch wind of his investigation. He hired a private investigator to assist him in uncovering the Hikari family secret. For a month and a half every lead the two found turned up deleted files or corrupted extensions. In the human world Enzan searched through the hardcopies of the old newspapers searching for the one Netto had described. He was through most of the ones for that year when he found something off. He turned to the librarian, "Miss? Do you know where the newspaper archive is for this date?", he said showing her the next paper.
She searched the computer and found the answer, "It was checked out by a Yuuichiro Hikari just a few days ago."
Shocked by the answer he thanked her and left. "Damn! He has to know I'm searching. But the question is what is it about this Saito that he's so determined to hide?", he pondered as he walkd to the waiting limo. He stepped inside and was greeted with an unexpected guest.
"Hello Enzan...We need to talk." the limo's occupant stated.
"Yeah...I agree Mr. Hikari.", he said as he entered the limo. As the driver took them towards Ijuin's home Dr. Hikari told him in no polite terms to "drop the investigation". When he questioned the doctor as to why he should stop the man put on a stone face and would not answer. It was clear to him that Yuuichiro had covered up whatever was going on well and truth be told, he was starting to be afraid of the scientist.
As they neared Enzan's home the programmer had the driver stop the car and exited the vehicle, "I'm telling you for Netto's sake drop this investigation." With that the doctor shut the door and walked to the Metroline.
Now more than ever the teen wanted answers. Not just for his friend, but for his own state of mind as well. When he got home he called Netto only to be intercepted by Haruka Hikari. "He's not available right now.", she said when asked if he asked for her son. Mrs. Hikari quickly dismissed Enzan's further attempts to speak with her son before she hung up the phone.
Back at the Hikari residence the young Hikari was writing his report on his article. He'd found a nice section on the new PET's and was quickly filling the paper. He thought he'd heard someone enter his room and turned to find his mother and father standing in the door holding Rockman's PET. "Mama, Papa what's wrong?"
Haruka offered a sad smile while her husband picked up his son and sat him on the small bed next to himself, "Netto, I understand that you've had Enzan looking for information on Saito Hikari...He's going to stop the investigation."
The teen was suprised that his father even knew he had set that up let alone who he'd talked to. "Papa why? Why can't I know about Saito? What's the reason behind all the cloak and dagger stuff you've got going on?", he demanded.
Mr. Hikari understood his son's anger at not being allowed to know, but this was for the best...or so he kept telling himself. "I'm sorry son...But this would be too painful for you to deal with. Please drop this quest of yours." he said as he pulled the teen into an embrace and face into the spikie brown locks. "Believe it or not Netto, this is for your own good. This is something that would break your heart and I don't want that. I promise you this though...when your older, if you still want to know, I'll tell you."
The teen pulled away from his father still angry and now consumed with feelings of betrayal. He looked at the three other people in the room and then said while trying to fight back the tears, "Will you all just...get out and leave me alone!"
Haruka wanted to say something, but her husband cut her off, "If that's what you need, then sure. Netto I really I'm sorry about this and I need you to trust my judgement on this matter."
The NetOp wouldn't look at any of them in favor of staring at his report. He reponded to his father's statement with a shrug before settling back down at his desk. It was obvious to the other Hikaris that he didn't want to talk to them or see any of them right now, so they left him alone. The three conspirators were racked with guilt not just for hiding information on Saito, but because they had never lied to and kept information from Netto before.
Once they had left the room the angered teen walked over the door shutting and locking it. Back in his room he used his knownledge of the house to override the security system and then physically disabled the network connection for his computer. "I maybe a bit lazy at times, but I am still an Hikari.", he thought as he finished setting up a loop in the system. After that he grabbed some zenny and bolted out the window with practiced ease.
Netto walked to Dentech park where there was a magnificent water fountain. The fountain was compose of six angels clustered together each spraying small streams of water while in the center of the angels a much bigger stream shot straight into the the air before landing in the pool below. Despite the view most people avoided this area for reasons unknown to him, but that really didn't matter. This was his place to come and think when he wanted to be completely alone. He walked over to the bench overlooking the fountain and sat there.
"Why did they lie to me?", he said aloud, "Heartbreaking...ha...the real heartbreak was caused by my own family and navi keeping secrets from me." True enough the hardest part about all of this wasn't the secret itself so much as it was the fact that his entire family was keeping a secret FROM HIM OF ALL PEOPLE! The feelings of betrayal flared up again the more he thought about it and the angrier he got.
Netto decided he should do something to vent of some steam, so he headed towards Enzan's home where he planned to spar with him. As he thought about it the Metroline would have been much faster, but the walking was helping somewhat with his temper so he took the long way. The teen continued as he entered the currently deserted street. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't hear another person walking up behind him. The next thing he knows his face is being shoved into the wall and he's being instructed to, "Give me all yor money and ya just might not get hurt punk!"
He tried to break the mugger's grip and then screamed out in pain as he was shot point blank with a gun he didn't know the guy had. He was able to see his attacker as he fell to the ground, but was unable to do anything other than watch as that scum searched his clothing for anything valuable. Once he claimed all of Netto's zenny he kicked the boy for good measure and ran off.
The teen knew that the odds of somebody finding him this far from home were dramatically against him and he was losing blood fast. Still he was determined that he wouldn't die here, like this and he tried to lift himself up. The pain from the wound was too much and he fell to the ground where he tried to lift himself again. He failed to get off the ground so he used what little strength he had to drag his injured form into the middle of the street. As he entered the right lane he felt his body grow heavier and cold quickly thus putting an end to his attempt to save himself. After a few minutes he passed out with one last thought, "Please someone save me."
Madoi Iroaya former memeber of World Three had been wandering the streets thinking her own situation over when she'd heard a gun shot followed accompanied by a scream that she knew all to well. "No it couldn't be the little brat.", she thought, "He wouldn't be out this late at night...would he?" Despite the beating she'd taken from 'The Hikari Brat' she atleast had to see what happened.
When the redheaded woman reached the area where the sounds had come from she tucked herself behind a wall and watched to see if anyone else was around...and sure enough she caught somebody running away from a vacant street. "That must be where the kid is...if it's him of course. Meaning that person was probably a mugger or a serial killer, maybe." Cautiously she watched to make sure the gun holding lunatic wasn't coming back before she moved to Netto.
To her suprise she saw the 'brat' managing to crawl out into the street before the blood loss got to him. She maybe evil, but even she couldn't just allow someone to die like that. Madoi pulled out her cell and called for an ambulance, "You sure a glutton for trouble you know." When the ambulance arrived she watched from the corner as they went to work on the boy. He was loaded into the back while the workers did what they could to stabilize his condition.
"That's one ya owe me kid", Madoi said before disappearing into the shadows.
Once the teen was at the hospital one of the nurses recognized him from the N-1 Grand Prix and called his parents. It wasn't hard since the since the Hikari's phone number was listed in the phone book rather than being a private number.
Haruka and Yuuichiro arrived five minutes after receiving the call and immediately asked his condition. The nurse lifted her hand to the father and said, "Please calm down sir. Right now he's with the doctors in surgery."
Haruka interruptded, "But don't you needed us present and insurance before beginning anything like that."
The nurse smilled back at the troubled woman and shook her head, "Not in this case. I know your husband from our days in college, so I told the doctors to go ahead and do everything they could for him. I know Yuuichiro has insurance and I didn't want to wait and risk your son's life."
Dr. Hikari then recognized her as one of his best friends from Dentech college. They had worked together through a two year course as partners, "Thank you Mimori." He glanced down at the standard hospital forms and then said to his old classmate, "I see you've also filled out the forms for me...Can you tell me how Netto's doing?"
Mimori chuckled and said, "Yuuichiro you know I won't know anything until the doctors come out...is that a PET?" She'd caught the blue device sticking out of Mr. Hikari's jacket pocket.
"Yes it is. This is Rockman my son's NetNavi.", he introduced her to the blue navi.
The four people then waited in the lobby with Dr. Hikari trying to leave a worn out groove in the floor where he pacing back and forth. Finally after two hours one of the doctors came out and walked up to them. "Mr. and Mrs. Hikari. Good to see you though I wish it was under better circumstances."
Mrs. Hikari was about to break down as soon as the words left his mouth, "Please tell me Netto's going to be ok!"
The doctor sighed and replied, "Physically he's going to be fine..."
Mr. Hikari didn't like how that sounded and asked in a shaky voice, "What...what do you mean?"
"Well," the doctor began, "Your son was shot. The good news is that it missed any vitals, but the bad news is that the blood loss has caused him to fall into a coma. He may wake up any time now or he may not. The truth is the human brain is still a mysterous organ that we understand very little about. I should caution you however, the longer he stays in the coma the less likely he is to ever awaken." He knew his approach wasn't the best bedside manner, but he couldn't lie to these grieving parents.
Haruka burst into tears and latched on to her husband for some support. Dr. Hikari started to blame himself since none of this would have happened if he had just confessed to Netto who Saito really was. The family didn't notice the doctor walk off presumably to check on the teen.
Inside his PET Rockman felt as though Forte had just ripped out his insides. "I'm so sorry Netto. I should have told you. I swear on my life if I ever get the chance I'll come clean.", the blue navi said aloud.
"Not just Rock. Me as well. Don't forget I'm the one who wouldn't allow you to tell him. I made you promise to keep quiet.", said Netto's father.
Three weeks had gone by and Netto still had made no improvement. "Dr. Hikari. I want to use 'it'." said Rockman.
Yuuichiro was against the idea, but after Rock reminded him of the reason Netto was in the current situation he agreed. "Rock be careful. I've lost one already, don't make me lose another."
The blue navi offered a sad smille before logging into the monitors connected to the comatose teen. "I meant what I said...I will tell you what you wanted and more. I just can't lose you...again.", he said before he search pulled out a program his creator had given him years ago. "Load program Saito.bat now!", he shouted before being consume in a bright blue light. The light traveled along the wires to Netto's body and he too started to glow. Several people saw the light from under the door, but Yuuichiro wouldn't let anyone enter. After several minutes the light faded and Rock awaited the results.
To his dismay there was no response, "No! You can't give up on me like this Netto! You've got to fight!", he yelled at the boy in the bed.
Dr. Hikari entered the room hearing Rock's voice. He looked at his comatose son and then back at the navi, "It didn't work?..."
"No...It didn't. I don't understand. Why didn't I get some kind of reaction!" he cried.
"I'll recheck the program at home and see if everything is correct. Let's go home for tonight. We won't do him any good if burn ourselves out." the doctor moved to pick up the PET when Rock asked him to let him stay here for tonight. "Ok...I don't have to tell you to watch over him.", he said.
When Mr. Hikari left Rock turned back to his NetOp and said, "Please don't leave me...little brother. I need you. Not just as my NetOp, but as my friend and...if you'll accept me...as a brother." For the last part his voice had started to crack and he was painfully aware of it.
The monitors connected to the comatose victim started showing brain activity increase from pratically nothing. Rock felt his breath catch...which was odd considering he didn't actually breathe. The activity continued to increase until it was almost normal when the injured teen's eyes started to move about under the closed eyelids. A short time later soft brown eyes managed to squeeze open and take in his surroundings, "Where am I?"
"Your at Dentech Memorial Hospital. Netto I'm glad your ok." answered a now overjoyed navi.
"That depends on your definition of ok..." the teen responded.
Rock immediately thought back to what had led to all this and felt the guilt return. "I'm sorry Netto. I should have told you when you asked."
The brunette felt strange as he felt guilt that he was certain was not his own. These feelings caused him to try to change subjects, "Not that! I mean I've been shot, my chest feels like Gospel was turned loose in there, I'm cold, and MOST IMPORTANTLY I'M STARVING!"
Rock could now feel that Netto was saying some of this just to let him off the hook, "Well I'll see what I can do about the food later, but first we need to talk." He watched as his brother stared back at him and heard the other boy say, "Finally I'm getting somewhere! Too bad I had get shot to do it." The funny part was that the brunette's lips never moved and the voice seemed to be in his head. He brushed it aside as a possible side effect of the Saito.bat program. He was hesitant to go on, but with some encouragement from Netto he did, "You asked why you seemed to know Saito, but could place where...Saito was your twin brother."
"But I don't have a twin. Mama and Papa couldn't have hid someone like that from me all this time." he said, but he could feel that Rockman was telling the truth and knew much more that he had yet to tell him.
He thought about the best way to say it and after several minutes decided on the direct approach, "Saito died when you two were around a year old."
The NetOp quickly found it difficult to breathe as the revelation of him having a deceased twin set in. He managed to recover after his navi coached him to take deep breathes, "So why hide something like that from me? I could deal with it..." He was able to just barely accept it. It hurt him thinking he would never know his brother, never get to be a complete family.
The navi looked away and knew the boy had caught this action, "It's not just that...You see Dr. Hikari used Saito's DNA to create a new generation navi. The new navi could behave like a human and according to your father housed the very soul of Saito." Rockman watched as understanding dawned on Netto and he continued, "That's right...little brother. I'm Saito reborn as a navi."
At this time the twins felt a powerful bond forming in their minds. The strange connection felt as though they've had it before and both felt each others thoughts, emotions, and pain. "Saito...why didn't you tell me before now?"
"Papa made me promise not to in the beginning", he paused and sighed before continuing, "Later it was because I didn't want lose you. I was terrified of how you might react. I...I couldn't handle being rejected by my own brother."
Netto still able to feel his brothers pain said in comforting voice, "It's alright. I forgive you...brother. Just don't do anything like this again, huh?", he ended joking in good humor.
Saito had heard his twin accept his apology and knew he meant it. The two stayed up to five AM in the morning talking about it and were overjoyed to be together again.
-Flashback Ends-
It was a strange experience for the both of them, but that was history now. What mattered to them was that they had and would always have each other.
"Well let's call it a night, huh?" the Greiga beast said as he changed back into human form. The other hybrid nodded in agreement and they both climbed into their beds.
Outside neither hybrid had caught a shadowy figure had listened to the entire story with a tape recorder in hand. "Jack Pot.", the figure whispered before leaving quietly.
