MMBN RP - Rock n' Rumble

@snoruntpyro & @puppy_parade

Rockman was pacing in his PET, a pensive look on his face. Netto noticed long ago, and it was only a matter of time before he finally piped up about what had him so thoughtful. "I'm thinking about them," Rockman said. "The other Lan, and her Navi." "Thought you said you had fun?" Netto rested his chin in his hand. "A lot of fun," Rockman clarified. "But her Navi..." Rock shivered at the thought of her. He really did feel nauseated in her presence. "Violent, but...protective, and- well, not me." "I guess not every me, has a you." Netto said with a sigh. "That's sad for her." "Maybe," Rockman sighed too. "I think theres something wrong with her Navi, and I don't know if the Navi even knows it." "Like...?" Rockman shook his head. "I don't know. I don't want to say until I know. She wants to see a fight ring, and I- I'm going to go with her." Netto grimaced. "Make sure you cover...Aren't they kids?" Rockman gave Netto a pointed, are you kidding me look. "Alright, point taken." [MSG:

️] There's a tournament tonight in my Undernet. I'm going. Do you want to? At least if it was together, he could keep an eye out. (Plus, he knew the ones at this tournament, and they were pushovers.)

Life had slipped back into routine after the concert - they'd gotten home pretty late, and Rock would've had to drag her into bed if she could. But Lan had managed to shamble back to her room and collapse, and - well, that was that. The days went by as normally as they could, though the experience was still clearly lingering on Lan's mind. She had been in a good mood ever since. Of course, that other promise that Megaman had made was rolling around in her thoughts. Getting to see what the "top" of the Undernet meant, and what his competition was, was a tantalizing prospect. And it wasn't often that she really got to go all-out. Then, finally, finally- one night, a message. Lan was busy working on homework at the time, so Rock seized the opportunity to check, and sure enough, it was exactly what she was hoping for. [MSG:

] oh HELL yes. for sure. i've been ready [MSG:

] should i tell the kid? you bringin your operator or are you flying solo?

"She should really not bring her operator." Rock groaned. "Yeah, I guess. Damnit." "What, are you that worried about being alone with a Navi- what, you said she was like a month old?" "No! I just..." If something happened...then Rockman would either have to deal with it himself, or she'd have nowhere to logout to. Could he trust her strength...? [MSG:

️] That's up to you. I'm going alone. I usually do. [MSG:

️] Can you pre-load some recovery data, if you come by yourself?

Well, that was that. She'd definitely be fine on her own, at least - and if Megaman was going without an operator, then why would she have to rely on the kid, anyway? Of course, they were stronger together, but if Megaman was alone, and she wasn't, then she wasn't really proving anything, right? ...It was a little weird that he was flying solo in the first place, but then again, she'd seen him separated from his operator about as often as they were together. And even at the rescue, they hadn't used any chips. Maybe this is just how things were for them? Weird, but... well, she'd see how strong he was tonight, no matter what. She was... somewhat distracted during the rescue. [MSG:

] got it. yeah, i can do that Rock waved to Lan, currently absorbed in some written assignment (didn't really matter to her), to get her attention. "Hey, Lan," she said. "That other Megaman's followin' up on his promise. We're going to a fight ring, but he's going without his operator. Mind if I match?" Lan blinked- this was pretty sudden, but... well, she knew she could trust Megaman to take care of things. And the less she had to think about his operator, the better. "Huh? Um... sure, yeah," she responded. "You sure you'll be okay? I can, uh, watch..." "I'll be fine. Just preload some recovery chips and we'll be set," Rock insisted. "If things go really wrong, I'll let ya know. Chatroom portal thing makes this easy." [MSG:

] ready when you are

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rockman glanced up at Netto- he expected a bit of a pointed look, because hardly anyone approved of his fighting- but instead, Netto looked at him with a soft concern. (Jeez, he's really starting to look like mom.) "I do. It's harm reduction, right? Like you always say. If it's gonna happen anyway, might as well make it as safe as possible." "And...your...um, thing isn't going to interfere?" Rockman grimaced. "I sure as hell hope not." -- "I don't know what the Undernet is like in your world," Rockman said as they made their way across a long platform that was slowly leading to the Undernet. " But here, In recent years, virus populations have dwindled, so it's less dangerous than it used to be. Now you just have to worry about the navis down here, who tend to be involved in- well, mostly illegal activity." Rockman gestured. "It's not like they're all bad, just that they're really...rough around the edges. Which is why illegal tournaments also happen a lot down here. Gotta blow off some steam." Rockman put a hand over his mouth as they entered the Undernet. When it came away, he was wearing a battle mask. "I just wouldn't make eye-contact with just anyone, if you can avoid it."

The path was... definitely a lot smoother than what Rock was used to on the Net. Like there had been some actual upkeep- an especially wild concept for the Undernet outskirts. "Huh. That's wild," she mumbled out loud, listening intently to Megaman's primer. "Well, our Undernet isn't too shabby of a place. Definitely way more to it than the outer Net." That was something she learned pretty quickly after her creation. The outer Net was boring- broken down, filled with empty Navis and with nothing to do. The Undernet was where there was a little more life- Navis who had spunk, spice, and things to actually provide. "Lan and I are semi-frequenters, I guess," Rock continued to explain. "Rough place, but as long as you don't make a fool of yourself you can go in and out without much of an issue." She cracked her knuckles and grinned. "So, if this place's anything like ours, I'll be fine."

"Sounds about right," Rockman laughed a little, amused at her demeanor. Whether or not she would be knocked down a few pegs tonight was yet to be seen- either way, she was making for good company. Even if that ever-present nausea never really went away with her. "The person who runs this tournament ring is a Heel navi named Slicer. He's actually a pretty nice guy. Most of the people you meet here aren't going to have operators- hence, I don't usually show up with one." Rockman had a lot to explain, he found. Inside of this Undernet, they passed under an overpass made of bone-like material, like they were stepping into the jaws of some beast. "...Do you know what an Auto Navi is?" Rockman asks idly. "Did they ever get made in your world?"

Walking through this Undernet was a little weird. There was this ever-present static-y feeling tingling in her body that made it a little hard to move sometimes, and there was some non-fatal error showing up in her internal log. But… there didn’t seem to be any real effects, so it was easy enough to mute the error and shake off the feeling. “Huh, yeah, makes sense,” Rock wondered aloud. “Chaotic place n’ all. Think most of the operators that show up to our Net hide their faces anyway.” Though, most Navis not having operators was pretty out of the ordinary. (-oh, that bone arch was sick-) An Auto Navi? It wasn’t ringing any bells. “…Never heard of that. Sorry,” she answered. “Or do you just mean, like, Solo Navis? Are they the same?”

"Sort of. Solo Navis and Auto Navis is, like...squares and rectangles. Auto Navis are Solo, but Solo Navis aren't necessarily Auto Navis." Rockman weaved around another bone-pillar. "Auto Navis are navis who don't need operators- at all. They can use battlechip data, think and feel on their own...There was only ever one made. It was a bit scary for humans, I guess." That was a soft way of saying it. "Solo navis are usually navis who've been abandoned by their operators, for one reason or another. It's not legal everywhere to just flat out delete navis you don't want anymore...so a lot of times, they get dumped down here." Rockman said it a little bitterly. They were coming up on a large square, with a BBS board and- yup, there were people gathering around. "Some of them feel a bit touchy about it. So it's not something to mention, I guess."

“Hhhuh. So, what you’re sayin’ is, this one Auto Navi, they were solo for the sake of being solo?” Rock asked with genuine curiosity. “I mean, I know some solo Navis. And Navis that can fight without their operators. I mean, we’re both the latter, aren’t we? It just ain’t as efficient.” Kituvest was made up of those abandoned Navis, like Megaman had said. She’d only met them once or twice, but she knew enough to know that she was on the same page as him, here. Abandoned, or runaway, or forcibly cut off from their operator, and having to live on their own. It was kind of a scary thought- something she definitely knew not to bring up. Lord knows Rot wasn’t happy about it when she questioned him. There was their crowd, too. Oddly, the BBS was… a little quainter than the one she’d seen in her Undernet. The UnderSquare in her world was honestly pretty well organized for what it was, and this was a bit more rough and tumble. “So, what, we’re both signing ourselves up here?”

"Yeah, that's right. Solo for the sake of it. His name was Forte," Rockman said, lowering his voice. "He was the first and only. I miss him." Rockman slowly stepped down from the platform they were on, making sure Rock was in tow. "I'll need to talk to Slicer- you've never been here, and there's a regular crowd. Just- I'll handle that part. Don't get into a brawl while I do." As they approached the square, quite a few Navis visibly tensed at the sight of Rockman. They stepped back, almost reverant. Younger looking navis seemed to roll their eyes, but they also took a step back along with the others. He...certainly seemed popular. "Hey," He said, his voice- different? It was almost like he was putting on some sort of persona, suddenly. "I have someone new with me tonight. S'that okay?" The Heel Navi- Slicer, evidently- eyed Rock up and down. He had scars littering his helmet, and he held what looked like a clipboard in his hand. He looked old, somehow. "She seems a bit young, don'tcha think?" "Sure," Rockman shrugged, "but you've had younger here before. She can go through the prelim, if you think that's an issue." Slicer's shoulders shook, like he was laughing. "Whaddya think, S-ranker?" Rockman sighed. "She's..." Shouldn't be here. "...Do you think you can get through a prelim?" He could just wave her through. But maybe this was the right idea. If she couldn't, then she didn't belong in the tournament anyway.

Rock was admittedly a little… well, jealous wasn’t the right word, but she certainly enjoyed the sight of other Navis cowering at the sight of Megaman, and enjoyed even more the idea that she might live in that reality one day. (Though, Megaman looking like he was going to throw up every time they shook hands was close enough, she guessed.) “Huh? A prelim?” Rock questioned. She was a little apprehensive to get closer- it didn’t really feel like her place to be in-your-face yet. “Should be fine. I’ve handled worse.” (“Worse” was maybe a stretched definition, since her personal “worst” probably consisted of some nasty viruses and then a bunch of monitors, but she liked to think her history was more storied than that.)

"Okay," Rockman said, then nodded to Slicer: "She'll do it. Happy?" "As a clam," Slicer said, with an obvious hum in his voice. The crowd around them formed into a wide circle, and Rockman took a step back as well. All that was left was Slicer and Rock, in the middle of the circle. "Ground rules, new girl." Slicer's "clipboard" de-materializes in his hands. "Fights are until one opponent calls it, or until you trigger the other's UnderSht. Anything further and we get full permission to...neutralize you." Rockman gave Rock a look- it was inquisitive, hopeful, but most of all- it looked like he was inviting her for a challenge. Show me what you can do. "Do you agree to these terms- ahh, what's yer name, girl?"

"Right. Name's Rock. No relation to my buddy," Rock introduced, pumping her first to her chest. "Terms sound good to me." Luckily, she had UnderShirt equipped - it would have been pretty embarassing if she'd neglected that. Lan did have a habit of getting stuck in the NaviCust trying to fit all of the parts she wanted together, but they had a pretty good build right now going all-in on weapon attack over rapid - hopefully they wouldn't find some other part that'd upend the whole thing. The pressure was on now that everyone had stepped away- and with Megaman giving her that kind of look, she knew she couldn't fuck this up. (Not that she would, but irrational worries had a way of crawling their way into her stupid head, for whatever reason.) She removed her sawblades and held them in her hands, readying herself for whatever these chumps were about to throw at her.

Rockman folded his arms- a younger Navi flinched as soon as he moved. Let the games begin, he thought a bit bitterly- why, exactly, he wasn't sure. "Well, Rock-" Slicer says, his shoulders shaking like he's laughing all over again. He clasps his hands together like he's praying, and says- "Welcome to the Undernet." In a flash, Slicer rushes forward, hands fanning out from their prayer position into two long blades. Chains hang around his arms, as he rears back for a long swipe at Rock.

Admittedly, Rock had let her guard down- the Navi suddenly lunging at her did catch her by surprise, just a little bit. She managed to keep her cool, however- this was the Undernet, after all, she wasn't completely relaxed - and bent over backwards to dodge Slicer's swipe. It didn't take much for Rock to shift into combat mode, per se, so as she bent straight back she activated her visor and turned said dodge into a backflip. She pushed herself off the ground and twirled around, making a successful- and rather effortless-looking- backflip. With no hesitation, she tossed both her sawblades forward, the two whirling around and to the sides of Slicer. Then - a click noise from her visor, a lock-on, and the sawblades suddenly swerved around 45 degrees to both cut through the Navi at once. This was a trick she loved to pull with her blades- it was similar to the StepCross chips, in that it dealt combined damage from the cross-section of two slashes - the "Double Cross", as she liked to call it.

Slicer looks surprised at the sawblades- he swerves to try and dodge them, but as the lock-on kicks in, it slices through his wrists. He yelps with the pain of them cutting clean through his hands, swords dropping to the floor as he stumbled to the side. "Well, shit, that's pretty damn good, kiddo." Slicer taunts. "But I've got my own tricks up my sleeves." The chains around his arms unraveled, revealing their connection to the blades on the ground. "You made a good effort, but now I gotta play dirty." Slicer swung his arms back, then curled them around in Rock's direction- aiming the blades for her neck. (edited)

The chains were a neat trick, but the movement of them and the blades attached to them was obvious. Rock had more than enough time to react; just as the blades closed in on her, she hopped straight over them and toward Slicer, letting her sawblades boomerang back and slip right back onto her wrists. "Too slow!" she taunted, giving Slicer such a shit-eating smirk. "You gotta spec into aerodynamics!" At the peak of her jump, she summoned her pair of brass knuckles- though, instead of going for a straightforward strike, she arced her jump such that she landed behind Slicer, nailing him in the back with an uppercut from her right arm.

Rockman locked his gaze on Rock's arc, his expression difficult to read behind the mask. She's certainly got the Undernet attitude. Slicer tanked the shot to his back- it made him shudder and cracked around the shot, only forcing him forward a few inches. Since the blades missed their shot, though, they continued to arc around-- until they wrapped around Slicer and Rock, nailing her in her shoulder with one of them. "And you need to spec into awareness, don'tcha?" He bit back, pulling the blade from her shoulder and tossing the other to wrap around her other arm. "Your acrobatics are all fun and games, but you've hardly got any respect for the art of it!" He tugged her in close, attempting to drive a blade through her side.

-Ah. First hit of the night- probably wouldn't be the last. Rock was not a particularly bulky or defensive Navi, so that single blade strike hurt more than it would have. Her flinching from the pain was enough to give Slicer the advantage- the chains were wrapped around her and completely restricted her movement. But- she wasn't totally out of options. She smirked. "Oh- I've got respect for the art," Rock forced out, struggling against the chains. "The art of kickin' peoples' shit in!" Suddenly, Rock pulled against the chains with such force to yank Slicer forward slightly (where the hell did she get this strength from...?) and kick him with the side of her boot - said boot that was adorned with spikes on its side and collar. That force was enough to improvise an impaling.

Rockman's eyebrows shot up at the sight. Slicer groaned- and there was a small blip! that cut their fight short. Slicer's helmet cracked, and he stumbled to the ground from the sheer force of Rock's kick. The chains dissipated, and Slicer laid on the ground for a moment. "Goddamn," he said, his head tipping to look right at Rockman. "You brought the real deal, now didn'tcha?" Rockman felt dizzy for some reason. He looked at Rock, and gave her a covert thumbs up. "A'right! Good work, kid." Slicer forced himself back up and off the ground. "Yer in. Tournament starts in ten minutes, folks! Old Slicer needs to scrape together some reocvery data, yeesh..." The side of his face dripped with a black and purple data ooze. Rock's kick was nasty.

-woah. Even Rock herself was caught off guard by how badly Slicer had taken a beating- though, given how dirty he'd fought, she couldn't be too upset about it. Everyone here knew what they were getting themselves into- and Rock especially loved being called the real deal. "You know it when you see it," she boasted, stepping out of the crowd. She did feel a little bad for the guy, but he got what he wanted. That just left her to wait for her match proper - so she slipped back into the crowd and rendevouzed with Megaman. (...was he nauseous again? Did he have a real, weak-ass stomach or something?) "I like this already," she commented, grinning softly. "What'd you think, huh?"

Rockman was conflicted on what to say. He loaded one of the recovery datas he'd packed, and tossed it in Slicer's direction, who caught it with a brief thanks. "Those sawblades look intense," Rockman murmured, keeping his voice low. The crowd was packed tonight- of course it was. As soon as Rockman was spotted, countless navis around them probably posted about it. It was only growing as time went on. On the other hand...Rockman wanted to say he went easy on you. Because in some respects, it was true. But that kick, and how nimble she was- that was all her. She was adaptable, even capable. To call Rockman surprised was a bit of an understatement. He expected Slicer to, well, kick her ass. "I look forward to seeing what you can do to someone who isn't testing you," he decided on, folding his arms. "How's your shoulder?" It didn't look too bad, but she hardly had anything to cover her.

Oh, yeah. Her shoulder was pretty banged up from that kind of hit- but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. "Huh? Oh, yeah, it's fine," Rock assured, though she winced a little taking a look at it. "Guess I should pop some of the Recov data now." She did so, and the wound quickly disappeared. Hopefully the data she packed would be enough to carry her through the night. Wouldn't be a problem as long as she didn't let her guard down. It was that easy- just don't get hit. Rock's ego was already climbing, in the meantime. She grinned, and twirled one of her sawblades with her finger just for the sake of it. "These? Yeah, they're pretty reliable," she said. "And versatile, too. My old man had some good taste. Knew what Lan and I would vibe with."

"You seem comfortable with it," Rockman said, a little distracted as he watched Slicer put up postings on the BBS. He eyed them from his spot-- and groaned. "Damnit." He shook his head. "I'm the first match. I hate being first match. They always do that when I come here." Spying for Rock's name, he found her further down the cut. "It looks like you're going against-" he squinted for a second- "Chopper. I don't think I'm familiar." The fact that Rock would soon see Rockman fight was encroaching on him. He had half a mind to back out, but he was the star show, now. People were showing up just to see him. (And Slicer was making a killing on cover.) "Listen, when things start- they're not going to go easy because you're new. And some of them don't like to play by the rules. If someone doesn't end the fight quick enough, you gotta run. Okay? Can you promise me you'll do that?" Rockman looked at her with genuine concern. Her safety was more important than anything.

Well, at least she wouldn't have to wait too long to see Megaman in action. She'd only heard whispers of what the other Megaman was capable of - Lan had yet to have a proper NetBattle with her mirror - and who knows what this one could pull off given... whatever he had been up to during the rescue. She was honestly a little excited- the crowd's energy was infectious. Rock trusted his judgement, though, so she had to heed his warning, even if she wasn't fully understanding. "Got it. I'll keep that in mind. Promise," she replied - it was easy enough to guess this kind of place would have scumbags pulling off dirty tricks. "I'm not plannin' on holding back, either. I haven't had too many opportunities like this yet. Hope the same goes for you."

Rockman visibly relaxed at her promise. Thank goodness. When he heard Slicer call his name, his shoulders squared back up- and there was that persona he'd taken when he walked in, again. In the center of the crowd, Rockman and a roughed-up Normal Navi stood across from each other. As Slicer rattled off the rules again, both navis sized each other up. Rockman took a battle stance with his basic buster at the ready. In comparison, the other normal Navi seemed to be bringing out the big guns; its hands crackled with bright yellow electricity, occasionally twitching here and there- the sign of a hack job. The navis hands were also clawed, and it fidgeted around. It didn't seem scared of Rockman- moreso eager to sink those claws into his data. "Make it a good one," Slicer says, and it's clear he's talking to Rockman only. "Amp vs Rockman- FIGHT!" The makeshift bell chimes and the fight begins. The erratic Navi-Amp- springs first, arms outstretching like a cat to swipe at whatever it can from Rockman. Rockman smoothly dodges the swipes and tries to put some distance between them- notably, he doesn't go for a shot. The sound of the crowd bleeds away. Slicer is doing his usual hyping of the crowd, commentating their movements- but Rockman doesn't listen. Rockman tries to forget about the fact he brought someone here, and focus on what he does best- fight. Once there's space between them, Rockman takes a few pot shots at Amp- trying to knock out their legs in particular. It was a fast way to victory for newbies, since without their legs, they tended to fumble the rest. (More experienced fighters knew how to compensate for a blown out calf or foot.) Amp takes a hit or two, but nothing clean- Rockman growls lightly in frustration. Electric navis always have to be so fast, don't they? Can't even be original-

11:09 PM

The thought cuts short when Amp manages to slash his side. He yelps from the shock and freezes in place, which allows Amp to land another hit- dangerously close to his chest. Frustrated, Rockman growls louder, and kicks Amp away from him. He hears Slicer comment about finally playing dirty, but he doesn't pay it mind. Rock follows up his kick with another few shots, keeping their distance as he shouts- "It's not so easy to shock someone when you can't even get close, is it?" The banter makes the crowd erupt. Amp looks annoyed, maybe even embarrassed as it weaves between shots. Once it has an opening, it shouts back- "What if I didn't need to get close?!" Rockman doesn't get the chance to question it. Amp's hand thrusts out, and a sharp arc of electricity pulses from its palm, and hits Rockman right in the face. He falls backwards, head making a sickening crack against the ground. He crumbles to the ground, right in front of where Rock is standing. The fight goes still and silent for a second. Everyone listens for the sound of Rockman's UnderSht triggering. Instead, after a few moments of silence... Rockman's growl from the net floor makes the ground shake. And as his hand reaches out to push him up, it forms into a claw, digging into the data. "Ooh, we got a live one!" Shouts Slicer, "Here it comes- is Amp putting the shock collar on the one, and only-" Rockman looks up at Rock. His eyes bleed red and there is none of that mentorship, none of that kindness, none of that humanity behind them. "BEAST OUT!"

It's easy for Rock to be swept up in the chaos of the crowd. The movements of Megaman and Amp, dancing around each other in a blur of speed before being interrupted by such satisfying stabs and shocks and going right back to a crackling chaos on a dime. It filled Rock with so much adrenaline- it was easy to see why so many people came out for Megaman's battles. Though, Rock... found herself maybe a little too into the fight, given how long it took her to show any concern for Megaman taking such a heavy hit. The electricity smacking him in the face is what woke her up- the sight of him flying back, and the sound of him cracking against the ground and suddenly he lied directly in front of her. There was a palpable rage in his eyes, but it was... sort of empty, in a way, a way that felt ever so slightly resonant to her. Rock froze for a moment, wondering if she should say anything as Megaman's crumpled body lies still and the crowd is holding their breath, and then- he looks at her. His eyes were suddenly crimson, mirrors of her own red eyes, and there was so much hate and such a wild look and a rampaging storm of energy surrounds that Navi, and she isn't quite sure what she's looking at anymore. Megaman's form had completely shifted, a bright green armor covered in spikes and a maw surrounded his face. What- the hell was he? Holy fucking shit.

Rockman drags himself to his feet proper, and the crowd begins to go crazy. It's clear this isn't the first time, nor the last, that Rockman has shown this power in this place. He shudders like he can't control it anymore, and lets out a deep howl. It sets off the crowd more, and makes Amp stumble backwards- the fear on its face is as clear as day. Rockman doesn't care- Rockman latches onto that fear and locks on, rushing forward to swipe at Amp. For a moment it's all cat and mouse- Amp runs while Rockman gives a blinding chase. Suddenly Rockman doesn't seem so concerned with spacing, now he wants to grab for Amp, wants to TEAR INTO ITS FLESH-- Rockman's clawed hand wraps around Amp's arm. Rockman tears Amp back while the navi screams in terror- it hasn't called it yet. It hasn't triggered UnderSht so the game still goes on. Rockman tears into its side just like it had swiped his, claws digging into where metaphorical ribs would be, tearing out data and faux-viscera. Amp tries to get him to stop, panicking as it smacks his hands over and over, tries to kick him- but Rockman doesn't flinch nor let up until Amp grabs the claws and flows electricity through him. Rockman gets stiff, yowling in pain- Amp stumbles from the hold to run, get some distance- With its back turned, Rockman releases a volley of shots at an impossible speed, the buster tracking Amp's movement. When Amp falls, Rockman pounces on him, scratching and tearing and growling and-- PING! Rockman's hand raises in the air. The sound of the UnderSht rings out. Rockman's eyes are wide and bright and angry and-- "Please," Amp whimpers under him. "Please let me go."

1:44 AM

Rockman growls, bristling. Then the words sink in, and Rockman remembers where he is- he leaps from Amp's body, looking up at Slicer. "Rockman wins!" He shouts, and the crowd roars. It gives him enough time to shed the Beast Out with a tired groan, his body heavy now. He tucks into the crowd quickly-- he doesn't want to see Amp hobble out. "There you go," he murmurs to Rock, barely loud enough over the crowd. "Now you're up."

This "Beast Out", as Slicer had called it, was unlike anything Rock had ever seen before- and she was losing her shit over it. Forget about the fact that she didn't even know a Navi was capable of something like this- seeing Megaman become something else, something with that insane power and speed and desire to tear had her hooked. Maybe she shouldn't have taken that much glee in watching the beast dig its way into Amp, shredding pieces of its body with its deep claws, but it was just- cathartic, in a way. It was an utterly fascinating display, a beauty to the efficiency that the beast locked down its opponent, shook off the blows it suffered and pinned them down and had them at its mercy- This guy was hardcore. Rock had no idea what this kind of power was, but if Megaman was capable of something like this, it was no wonder that everyone spoke so highly of him, with how he was able to pull this shit out at the drop of a hat. That was world-saving power, power that'd shred anyone who got close to him. How the hell do you measure up against that? (...For a second, there was a twinge in her heart. How does she-) The fight is over almost too quickly- Rock felt like she could watch that display forever. Christ, and his operator ain't even here, she wondered to herself. What kind of team do they make...? She was a little surprised at how exhausted Megaman seemed when he hobbled back into the crowd and took his place standing right next to her. "Holy shit," she mumbled, still wowed by the display. Her eyes - the same color as the beast's - were glistening from a subtle admiration. "Where'd you pick up a trick like that? That was fucking awesome."

Rockman had a slow, visible pant as he stood beside Rock. Curiosity gets the better of him and he turns to look at Amp, as he's being carried off. The slashes on his sides sting, but he loads up another recovery data- "Hey!" He barks, making Amp jump and look at him. He tosses the data across the ring at him, and Amp catches it very gratefully. Rockman could live with some burns and scrapes for a bit. Gregar's volley and Amp's entire side being gone...? Probably less so. "Trick?" He finally says, turning his attention to Rock. "It's...a really long story. It's called Gregar." There were a lot of tricks he could have pulled. He saw a lot of people cashing in bets as he scanned the crowd. "Awesome...? You think it's...?" Admittedly, that was a first. The crowd went crazy because they loved to see Rockman go crazy. In reality, if they had been in the ring like Amp, it would have been that same fear. Rock was probably the same. Rockman blinks a few times- behind his eyes he can see a vision of tearing into her, pinning her down just like he did Amp, that fear plastered on her face-- "...thanks," he says thinly. "It happens if I get...frustrated." (edited)

Megaman passing off the recovery data - twice, now - was... an interesting gesture. She supposed that was how they did things down here- it only made sense if none of them had operators, after all. They didn't have the built-in recovery of a PET- and, well, right now, neither did they. His exhaustion and wounds were palpable enough that... Rock decided to throw him a bone. She passed on some of her limited recovery data, holding her hand out and waiting for him to accept. "Gregar, huh? Well, I'm no stranger to long stories," Rock responded - that same glisten was still present in her eyes even as Megaman blinked back at her, imagining her destruction entirely unbeknownst to her. "I mean, hey. You don't see cool Navis often where I'm from. So to have an ability like that... well, it's really something." She paused for a moment, thinking on how visceral the fight was and how emptily Megaman was looking back at her, standing completely still. "Hey. You good?" she asked, waving toward him. "Is it embarassing or something? Well, it's okay to let that frustration out sometimes. Least it is in my book."

Rockman shook his head, focusing on the recovery data that Rock held out. He shook his head again and pushed it back to her. "Sorry- yeah, I'm fine. Keep the data for yourself. I can tank the hits. No, it's not embarrassing, just long. I'll tell you after this is over, okay? Promise." As soon as promise left his mouth, he totally regretted it. Now he would have to tell Rock the story of the Cybeasts, another story of his mutations- but she thought it was cool. Not...horrifying, not weird, cool. Maybe that soothed him a little bit. Maybe that's why he promised. "This is the only place I do let it out, anymore," Rockman looked at the next fight winding up. "They all know what they're getting into, so..." His hands drifted to his sides to check the hurt he had there. It wasn't too bad- or he was too distant to feel any sting. "...You find it cool, huh? Why?"

Rock raised an eyebrow, but complied, pocketing the recovery data- at least she wouldn't be feeling a shortage later unless she really got fucked up. By the tone of Megaman's voice, he seemed... hesitant to admit anything, having trepidations about even bringing it up at all- but, then he relaxed ever so slightly. Rock wasn't immediately sure why, but- with how Megaman was talking, it was about her response. "Huh? Wh-why isn't it cool?" Rock stammered, genuinely a little flabbergasted by the insinuation. Was that kind of power not "in" or "hip" or something? "It's just- I dunno. You look cool, you're on top of your game, you've... you're strong, right? How is that not cool?" Rock seriously didn't get it. Was there a part of the story she wasn't understanding? Why wasn't he using that kind of power all the time? Wouldn't that be more efficient, or did it have some kind of crazy side effect? She wasn't even sure if Megaman would answer any of that. She hesitated for a moment, grabbing her arm out of nervousness. "I mean, the way I see it, we need all the power we can get, right? To protect the people we're made to protect," she said, sounding oddly genuine. "So... I dunno, if you could pull something off like that, it's something to be proud of, isn't it...?"

Rockman watched the fight for a little while. He looked a little distant all over again, remembering why this all happened in the first place- downloading the Cybeast for the sake of his family, for the entirety of CyberCity, for all of the Net. How much pain it was, how it was all worth it to protect them. "Sometimes protecting people means doing something that hurts," he says. "Sometimes protecting people makes you do shameful things." He watches a particularly harsh right hook. Follows the gaze of the Navi as it hits the floor. "I can't be proud of being a monster. Even if it was the right call at the time, even if it protected people I loved. It hurt them in other ways." He would never forget Netto staying up all night as he feverishly screamed for him, waking up only to scare him over and over and over; YOU HAVE TO DELETE IT YOU HAVE TO LET IT END, PLEASE, IT HURTS-- He knew he'd get glassy, but nothing like this. He felt embarrassed. "Sorry. I promise I'll tell you the whole story once we're not in a crowd."

The ongoing fight made for good background noise as Rock shut up and listened. The way Megaman spoke almost made her feel bad for bringing it up- but, his words definitely resonated with her. The conversation reminded her of the way he had talked to Lan- in a way that communicated how much he had been through. There was a weight to his words, a weight that was crafted from experience- a weight that Rock had to trust. Two Navis clash in a burst of reddish energy, but she can't pay much attention when she's lost in her thoughts. "Right. That's true," Rock agreed, sort of hollowly. She couldn't match the experience had- she was way too young for that. "I can't say I fully understand. But... I can imagine. No way something like that comes without a cost." Rock took note of Megaman's embarrassment, and for a moment, she regretted saying anything- but then again, he did promise to explain it all later. Maybe he was still jittery from the fight, or something like that. "Well, I hope you'll be comfortable with that," she muttered. "Lan, uh. She thinks of you... well, you, and that other Megaman... pretty highly. So the more I know about you, the better. If that makes sense."

"It always has a cost." And Rockman had long since run out of payment. Rockman looked down at Rock again, offering her a slight smile. Those words made him feel better too- she thought highly of him. "I'm willing to tell you whatever you need to know," he said, and it was true- if it was for that girl, he would do it. (He and the other Rockman were so hopeless; he felt kinship to them, even if he'd never met them. They both had quickly fallen into that mentor-protector role for her.) He could stay in this moment. If for nothing else, than for this navi and her operator. "I think you're up soon-" Rockman focused on the fight, watching a considerably small navi toss a bigger one half-way across the ring. "Do you feel ready?"

Rock had to kick herself back into gear with that question. The time had flown by - the talking and the noise from the fights had provided a good bit of comfort. "Right, right," she rattled on, crackling her knuckles to snap back into attention. "Yeah. We can save that whole story for... y'know, after this. For now, I've gotta get down to business." Admittedly, she didn't have too many more tricks up her sleeve without Lan's Battle Chip assistance, so she'd need to stay on top of her game and read her opponent to really show off. Not like she could just become something else on a dime. -ping. The fight they were watching had closed out, so it wouldn't be long before Rock was called up herself. She glanced at Megaman one more time. "...Thanks, again," she said softly. "You're a cool guy. Both for this and the concert, y'know that?"

Rockman smiled softly at her- behind the mask, all that was seen was the crinkle of his eyes. "Thanks. Now go show me what you're really made of." Inside of the ring, there was another Heel navi- this time, they had huge axes on either arm. It was evident it was a bit of a hack job- where the axes met their arms had some corruption. But they stood with a cocky swagger, and it seemed like at least a few faces in the crowd knew them. "Awh, givin' me th'little new thing? Tha's just cruel," they shouted. "I'll chop her in half!" Slicer seemed to roll his eyes. "A'right, quit yer messing around." Slicer raises a hand, "Fight between Chopper and Rock- GO!"

Rock strutted up to her competition with a smug glee, rubbing her hands together seemingly just for show. Her opponent definitely looked a bit bulkier than her- those axes would surely weigh them down. Easy to outmaneuver, to predict- to pin down. "That just means I'm in my prime," she boasted. "Underestimate me and you'll regret it!" The moment Slicer shouted GO, Rock was already on the move. She began the fight by jumping around the arena, keeping her distance from the Navi to see if it'd swat at her. That corruption admittedly made her a little nervous- it was kind of sickening to look at, but it wasn't enough to distract from her target. Unclasping her sawblades, she stood there, wearing an almost taunting expression, and waited for her opponent to make the first move.

Chopper saw no reason to delay the inevitable- he raised his arm up high, letting out a mighty yowl as he charged after Rock. He clearly wasn't as fast, but the crowd's roar spurred him on- he threw his arm wildly, trying to grab her in the aftershock of the slash. "You're MINE!" He bellowed, "I'm going to slice you to pieces, little thing! You'll WISH this was your prime!"

Rock was energized by the talk-back - and just as she predicted, she could see Chopper's first move coming from a mile away. "I thought slicing was my thing," she commented snidely, taking a step back and tossing one of her sawblades to the ground. The sawblade rolled along like a wheel, but oddly- it sailed straight through Chopper's legs. Chopper hesitated and stumbled back a little- and Rock hid her reaction long enough for the crowd to believe for a moment that she had just missed her mark. But then she dashed forward, revealing her feint- her other sawblade was dismissed as she summoned her brass knuckles and decked Chopper in the stomach, sending him flying. Rock gave chase before he could recover - even with the weight of his axes pulling him toward the ground, she was still faster - and dismissed her knuckles, instead waving an arm to recall the still-rolling sawblade before it careened into the crowd. She then kicked Chopper forward into the path of the recalling blade, cutting his shoulder as it boomeranged back into Rock's hand.

Rockman was...impressed. The fake-out seemed well executed- some part of him thought that Rock would fight on pure instinct, but she seemed like a budding tactician all her own. Chopper took the beating with a growing rage- here was some upstart sending him flying. It was palpable in the fire burning in his eyes- and the growl-yell he let out. "You little fucking prick," He growled, appearing to mimick heavy breathing for a moment. "You're gonna eat that fuckin' sawblade for BREAKFAST!" He lunged as he shouted it, swiping her side- and just grazing her.

Rock wasn’t quite prepared for his next swing, entirely too caught up in the satisfaction of landing that combo and the ensuing crowd reaction. She managed to tank it with grace, however, flipping backwards opposite to the strike’s direction to gain some distance. (-55HP, her visor reported. Annoying.) While she regained her composure, she launched into a keep-away tactic - this time, she threw both of her blades to the ground. Each rolled along and began to circle Chopper, imitating the intimidation tactic of a biker gang. Rock, for a moment, wished she had some Chips on hand- she loved the unpredictable element they gave her, but she’d have to make do with her base weapons. …a really reckless idea struck her. But if she could pull this off, she could end the fight in one fell swoop- and she wouldn’t be giving her opponent any more time to analyze her tricks. In that moment, she dashed around Chopper, still keeping her distance but ensuring she wasn’t a sitting duck for his attacks. She skid and spun around to stop right behind him, and in the moment it took Chopper’s body to follow, she ran straight towards him. -this time, though, she neglected to summon her knuckles, instead going for a jab just to the side of his face to fake him out. Then, a swerving kick to one of his legs- she dodged his immediate retaliation- and then she bent over backward to snag one of the encircling blades as it rolled by her, sliding underneath and in between Chopper’s legs to catch the other one. The spikes on her boots grazed his body as she passed right through, flinching him for a brief moment. “You want ‘em?” Rock taunted out loud, crossing her arms together with blades in hand. “Well, I heard iron’s pretty good for your diet!” Chopper turned around to face her, and Rock cut his helmet at point blank with both sawblades at once- the resulting data scars were a little nauseating to look at. She leaned forward for a follow-up, reveling in that move and that turn-around for a brief moment, grinning devilishly as she-

Rockman sees it coming a mile away. He can feel faux-adrenaline, he can see it- almost like he's feeling exactly as she does, wild and free but so close to losing control, and then- Chopper swiped Rock out of her next move. The data dripping down his face was nothing compared to the gash down Rock's back, and then ensuing toss across the ring. She left a streak of data splattering on the way. "You got fuckin' cocky," growled Chopper, spitting out his own data in her direction. He grows closer to her, dripping data as he does. His blades drag against the ground, and the crowd is hushed. "And now you're gonna learn what it means to be in the Undernet, stupid girl!" Rockman winces at the rise of Chopper's blade, looming over Rock- he pushes himself closer to the action, just so he can spring out in case she needs it- Get up, he thinks. Get up, Rock. Show me you can take this, get up, please. He believes it like prayer- he has to. (edited)

-idiot idiot idiot idiot- Rock had left herself wide-open for a sudden counterattack, and that was exactly what she got. Chopper's swipe into her back hurt like hell, and the pain was ringing in her ears as she was tossed aside like a fucking twig and tumbled to the ground. She skid along, her blades making an awful scratching noise as they grinded against the floor, her body leaving a trail of tiny purple data bits like a streak of blood. RING RING RING RING RING RING It hurts too much to even think, for a brief moment. Was she even built to take a hit like that? The loudest thoughts were the ones that let her know how much she fucked up. That beeping indicating low HP, the visor struggling to feed her any information other than her opponent's approach. God- god damn it- RING RING RING RING RING RING Her body curled, everything was stinging and she didn't even know if she had felt pain like this before, what the fuck, she coughed and she couldn't even open her own damn eyes even though she knew that that Navi was encroaching on her and he'd fucking slice into her and dig into her and splatter her blood all over the arena and- thump- Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The purple blood simmered on the floor, and Rock could hear the cheers and mumbles of the crowd muffled by the pain, and- someone's feeling, she couldn't tell what it was, and there was something clawing around inside of her. She couldn't lose. She had to- get up- and smash this fucking Navi into- the dirt- thump- I can't fucking FAIL THEM- Thump. Thump- thump- thump- -and her body shook. The air thickened- and then, startlingly, accompanied by an awful snapping noise, a black smoke erupted from the wound in her back, billowing from the cut in her jacket, the cut straight through that broken heart. Chopper hesitated for a moment as Rock's body shook again, the smoke finally calming for a brief moment. And then, Rock suddenly pushed herself off the ground, nailing Chopper in the chest with an inhumanly fast kick. Chopper stumbled back, but kept his balance- not that it mattered to Rock, who dashed toward him wildly, recalling her sawblades along the way. She tossed one of them at Chopper as soon as it landed in her hand, and it zipped forward with a trail effect, leaving another gash in his shoulder. Chopper flinched, letting Rock catch up to him- and then she grabbed him by the neck, stopping dead and finally giving the crowd a clearer view of her. It was difficult to read her expression underneath the visor, but the glow where her eyes would go was burning a brighter red than before, flickering and twitching. Rock's entire body was tensed up, her expression one of raw, unfiltered fury, the same purple blood and smoke dripping from her sharpened fingers and the gashes in her body. Rock slammed her other hand into Chopper's chest, trying to tear into him; she neglected to summon her knuckles at all, instead clawing his body and opening two more gashes entirely bare. Rock shook violently, and twitched like she was in pain, and after a brief pause she picked up Chopper by the neck and tossed him to the ground, leaving him to splatter on the floor instead. Her other blade returned to her arm, and she immediately unclasped them both, clutching them and darting towards Chopper to go in for the kill.

The crowd falls completely silent. It wasn't like with Rockman, where the crowd was wild from his transformation. Some looked in fear, most in awe and confusion- and Rockman? Rockman felt his system kick in before he could think of it. He took mental snapshots of billowing smoke and the rage behind that visor, the inhuman speed, the tension and- that's not normal, speaks first, the voice inside of him, and you know it, don't you? There's something wrong with her, and you've drawn it out, haven't you? You're a sickly little omen, aren't you? And one day, she'll look just like you Chopper roars to life, despite the beating he's taken. He raised his arm and knocked into Rock, trying to shove her back. There was no sound of an UnderSht triggering, and Chopper seemed ready to take this to the end. The smallest of windows afforded him a window to drive the side of his blade between him and Rock. Then he swiped the second one into her side, trying to get this rabid thing off of him. Did you want this? Rockman swallows even though he doesn't need to. Did I want this? He swallows down the stop he wants to shout. He has to let her see this through. The crowd remains silent.

Rock barely flinched from Chopper shoving her back, and she glared with a nauseating intensity, her body quivering as Chopper raised his blades and struck at her- -you’re nothing, you’re nothing, I hate you, I HATE YOU, she’ll hate me and I need to- break, break, break- Rock growled, smoke erupting from her helmet as the blade crashed into her and- did nothing. Chopper’s weapon bounced off harmlessly as Rock began to glow a lime green - the standard Navi visualization for invincibility, a rare, expensive effect usually only granted by Fanfare and Red Fruit chips- which she obviously didn’t have. The invincibility wore off right as Rock grabbed Chopper by the shoulders and threw him to the ground once more. Rock snarled and roundhouse kicked Chopper with the side of her boot, flipping him over like a burger and leaving a new wound in his side. -he can’t touch me, he won’t, he won’t touch me and he won’t touch Lan and he’ll beg for mercy and then I’ll fucking KILL- With one last roar, she jumped backward and tossed her sawblades at a downward angle towards Chopper. They scratched against the ground accompanied by an unpleasant shrieking noise, leaving an inexplicable trail of small explosions as they rolled along and converged on Rock’s victim. The blades rolled into and across Chopper’s back, battering him and leaving an X-shaped scar on his back, and finally- PING! Rock barely heard the noise. She freakishly stomped toward Chopper, grinding her teeth and the rage still boiling underneath her visor as she caught her blades- -KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL- -and then a wave of nausea hit her, and she stumbled over as another round of smoke erupted from her back. This sudden dizziness made it difficult to stand, and she keeled over, kneeling on her right leg to prop herself up. -I can’t, but she’ll be sad and if she’s sad I’m sad and- Her thoughts finally quiet, and she sat there, barely hanging on as everything around her was too blurry to comprehend, and her battle is over.

Another mental snapshot stored in Rockman's mind- invincibility? How? She clearly didn't have any chips, but- But it didn't matter. The fight was over. Rockman ran into the ring before he could think about rationality- Rock was hurt, she was hurt something fierce and the worry inside of him made his heart ache. When the sound of the UnderSht went off, the crowd erupted into cheering. The fear and confusion had passed, and they all settled on how cool she had been. Rockman didn't care about the crowd, or about the tournament, or about any of it. He gently took her by the arm, pulling her from the ring and through the crowd. The last bit of his recovery data was pressed into her back, attempting to reconstruct that terrible gash, puffing smoke and viscera. The crowd gave them space. The next fight was on. "Are you okay?" Rockman cups her face, trying to identify exactly what had happened, and coming up short. "Load up another recovery program, I don't have any more." He spied out of the corner of his eye Chopper being hauled off the ring, too. He was incredibly worse for wear. It was amazing he hadn't been deleted in the fight.

Rock's head was still spinning as Megaman dragged her out of the arena, the crowd's cheers more like muffled rings to her until she was pulled to safety. For a moment, everything was way too loud and she shuddered and wanted to grab the Navi next to her and get the noise to stop and then she wanted to hit something, hit the floor over and over until there was a goddamn dent in it and scream- -then she took in the recovery data, and the pain eased ever so slightly. Rock hears a hushed "are you okay," and she remembers why she is here, and struggles to pull the recovery data she stashed, and finally she picks up a Recover 150 and she smashes the data into herself out of pure desperation. "Fuck," she mouthed, finally coming to. Everything was okay, she had won, and she was out of the crowd and a good amount of the damage was healed. She used another Recovery data to top herself off, coughing again, and the wounds finally close and the smoke stops coming. Rock took a deep breath, and looked back at Megaman with a weary expression. She clutched her helmet, a stinging feeling zipping through it for a brief moment. "What the hell," she mumbled. "What was that?" (edited)

"You don't know?" Rockman balks, thankful that he hadn't taken the data from her before. What scratches he got were child's play compared to the beating Rock had taken. (She needed more armor, who made her like this? All offense and nothing to back it up, and--) "I- I don't know. You look like you- I don't know," Rockman couldn't even think to theorize on it. The voice in the back of his mind was silent in the wake of this discovery- she wasn't normal. There was something wrong with her. "You...You won. Despite all of that you, um, won. Good work." He wasn't sure what else to say. He had to be encouraging, right? Did I do this to her? Did I make this happen? Did- did that Navi do this to her? His thoughts raced. All he could do was return a weak look of worry.

"R-right," Rock stammered. The cheers of the crowd were finally settling in for her now, even as they quieted down and watched the next battle. She chuckled weakly, and flashed a weak grin at Megaman. "I looked cool, so I can't be too upset about it," she continued. She wasn't sure how much of a lie that was. That same stupid feeling was still buzzing around in her- it was quieter, now, and she could think clearly enough to look back on the fight, but all she could remember was the raw pressure and tension and rage that overtook her. She had never felt like that before- and unfortunately, it didn't seem like anyone around her had any answers. Should she- tell...? No, it's on me. I just lost my shit. That's all. But that didn't explain where the fuck all that power came from. "I- dunno what happened. Really," she admitted out of pure exhaustion. "I... I thought I heard someone, but everything was hurting, and everything was so damn loud and something snapped. I don't know how to describe it."

"Heard someone..." Rockman sat with her on the netfloor, keeping a hand on her shoulder. He was worried about her hitting the ground again. "What did you hear?" No way, he thought, hopeful. No way it was like him, that she really was like him. That would be really, really weird. "You're alright now, I- hopefully Slicer won't advance the seed. You don't need to go back in there right now."

Rock leaned over a little bit once Megaman sat down, propping herself up against his body. "Uh. I guess it wasn't words, exactly," she recalled, after another long sigh. "It was, like- a feeling. I guess. I don't know." She tried to think back on what she was feeling through all of the pain. It was... some sort of desire that kept her going- it had to be, because she remembered so clearly how she felt like she needed to win and winning meant destroying him and they'd be happy as long as they're safe and all of her emotions were entirely too loud- "Like I felt someone else. I guess," she continued mumbling to herself. "I mean, that wasn't everything. I- was just real pissed off. But before that, I thought..." Rock paused. She really didn't want to admit something like this out loud, but she had no other way of communicating how she felt. So she inhaled sharply, bit her lip, and spit it out. "...there was this desire, to keep going and to get up, and I knew I had to because if I didn't I'd..." Another pause. She hated this. "I'd be a fucking failure. You know?"

"Oh," Rockman hushed, very very softly. His expression switched from abject worry, to a soft kindness. "I...Definitely know what that feels like. Especially when it comes to a fight." He hoped that he hadn't mounted that pressure on her. Rockman would have been happy with her, win or lose. (He expected her to lose, in all honesty- there were nights he bit the dust, nights off of his game.) "It's tough, in the thick of things. But I think you did great. Despite everything, yknow?" Rockman offered her a smile. "We both get a little wild in a fight. Nothing wrong with that, right?" (Well, there was something wrong with them both. But maybe there was no changing that.)

Megaman made it sound so simple. There was a fear building in Rock that there was something wrong with her, that she was broken or unreliable or couldn't control herself and that's why everything was such a blur and she could barely even think through the nastiest fight she'd ever been through- -but she had won, because she was strong, and the crowd cheered for her. And- he was right. He became something else during that fight, a wild monster that had to be calmed by the referee. If anyone knew anything about how she felt, it would probably be him. It was easy to see why Lan thought of him- well, another him, but after the concert, they- well, whatever- she couldn't disagree. She shook off her weariness, and gave Megaman that same shit-eating grin she'd been reveling in all night. "You're right. Nothing wrong with it," she repeated. "I didn't lose, at the end of the day. No use crying over spilt milk." Rock propped herself up and turned to face the arena- another battle was already raging. She wasn't sure how much of watching people beat the shit out of each other she could stomach right this second, though. "I can still fight, I think," she mumbled to Megaman. "I'll just play it real safe. No... stupid ideas. I can't take hits like that again." (edited)

"I really hope Slicer just advances the seed," Rockman grumbled, half to himself. He was sort of exhausted still- but the kind of exhausted he felt was somewhat normal to him. "The crowd has certainly had its fill- and so have I." He looked back at Rock- he could visualize in his mind, the smoke erupting from her back... "You are pretty new, huh? You're still figuring out everything you can do." From anyone else, it maybe would have been condesending. But Rockman spoke with such a gentle softness, a true comradery, it was hard to take it the wrong way. "You're very fast...That can be a defensive tool, you know. You're pretty agressive with it, but outrunning your opponent can be just as important as running at them." The way he talked about fighting, it was almost too casual. "I used to be smaller than I am now, and I used to use that to my advantage. I also took real hard hits like that. But, I learned- its pretty hard to hit someone fast and tiny. Haha..."

Something about Megaman's words felt a little insulting, but Rock chastised her a moment later for thinking that. He was speaking with years of experience and hardship- and he had helped Lan, and he had helped her, so why would he be slinging shit at her? He really did mean it. "Guess so," she responded mutedly. "It's... a little weird being the new kid. There's a lot I have to live up to. I gotta be strong, because I'm supposed to be strong." She paused, thinking back on that fight. "And, well, I am pretty damn strong. But... you know how it is." Rock definitely loved using her speed to her advantage - but she definitely felt like she should take Megaman's advice. Camping her opponents felt instinctively lame, but if she couldn't afford to take those kinds of hits... Then, she raised an eyebrow. "You used to be smaller? Wh- what do you mean?" As far as she knew, Navis didn't really grow like humans did. "What- changed that? Something to do with that beast?"

"Oh- um." Rockman didn't really think it was weird to grow, but he forgot that Rock was so new. "Um, I did. Well, my operator and I did. Um..." He looked at the crowd. No one was paying attention to them, but he still lowered his voice. "It's really weird to watch your twin age without you. I needed to...grow up a little." He gestured to his hair. "I used to have brown hair, and I was quite a bit shorter..." He ended up playing with his hair as a nervous gesture. "Now, I mean- I look older. At least twenty, in my eyes. I look my age." And then, even quieter: "I had to make a change. I couldn't look at myself anymore."

Rock was... definitely a little too young to understand Megaman's story. She wasn't sure if she could fully understand with her lack of perspective. But... she paused for a moment, and thought over it, and she had to respect taking control of his identity like that. "Huh. That's... pretty cool," she contemplated. "I didn't know you could just... change how you looked." She was perfectly satisifed with herself, but with the way Megaman talked, it reminded her of her operator. I had to make a change. I couldn't look at myself anymore, is what echoed in her head. Those moments where Lan felt down about herself, and muttered about how much she hated herself and couldn't bear to think about herself- Rock's heart stung a little. She wished she had the confidence to be proud. -And, the whole twin point. She knew everything about Hub Hikari on both ends of the spectrum, and- well, it made her wonder. "And... yeah. I get that," she muttered out loud. "It hasn't been long enough yet. I dunno how it'll be to watch Lan grow up." She paused. "I wonder how her brother would've felt. About all of this."

Rockman couldn't speak for the long dead; but his heart couldn't help but sing the same sad song it always did when his soul was mentioned. "I don't know," he said softly. "I wonder things like that myself, all the time." He tuned back into the fight, noticing the navis gathering around the posting board again. He got up and gestured for Rock to follow him. Sure enough- Slicer had advanced their seeds. Both of them. Right to the finalist spots. Rockman balked at the postings in disbelief. He turned to Slicer with a glare. "You son of a--" "It makes good zenny!" Slicer raises his hands in mock surrender. "Can't fault a guy for it- you know I'd always cut you in." "I don't need your money." Rockman clenched his fist- this seemed to really tick him off. "You know it's wrong to pair us against each other." "Why?" Slicer challenges- "You think she's gonna kill ya?"

Rock took a moment to realize what had just happened- this was her first time entering a tournament of any kind, so she didn't quite understand what seed advancing meant, but... well. The matchup was sitting there on the board, clear as day, and- she didn't know how to feel. "W-wait, what?" was her initial reaction- she kicked herself for losing her confidence right in front of Slicer right afterward. Was she really going to go up against Megaman-? Well, if she kept winning, then surely it would have come to this regardless, that was just how tournaments worked, unless Megaman lost, but- (She had to fight Megaman? The guy who singlehandedly taught Lan how to battle, and pulled her out of all this shit? And this one could just Beast Out and grab her and tear into her and then that smoke would erupt from her again and everything would hurt and be way too loud-) Her head rolled forward for a moment before she snapped to attention. "Well- right," she said. She couldn't back down- right? She wasn't a fucking pussy. "Hey, I mean, I'm not afraid. I'll- just be careful." ...The lack of confidence in her voice was extremely evident. Her tepid expression betrayed her intentions more than she thought it did.

Rockman looked at Rock with wide eyes- he redirected the shock and anger back at Slicer. "You've always been slimy, but this is a new low." There was that voice again- like he was putting on some kind of persona, voice a low growl. The crowd had gone quiet with his spat with Slicer. (Did his canine lengthen- did he bear his sharp teeth?) "Hey, you know I'm here for the cash and nothin' more. We gotta make a living. Not all of us can have some cushy, rich-boy operator, now can we?" "And you act like you have any integrity," Rockman tightened his fist, like he was going to swing. "No. We're not doing this. I'm forfeiting. She can take the win." "You're really scared of her, huh?" Slicer laughs, until Rockman's hand reaches out with blinding speed and grabs the Navi by the neck. "Let's get one thing straight," he pulls Slicer in close. "I'm not afraid of her. But she should be afraid of me. I'll kill her. So I'm doing your little ring, and her life a favor. Next time you fuck with me like this, you're going to be next." He dropped the Navi, turned heel, and began to stomp off. The tension and anger was palpable in his shoulders. "Let's go."

Rock flinched at Megaman's sudden... forcefulness. She immediately noticed that- his teeth looked sharper, and in that moment it was more obvious than ever - to Megaman, at least - how much she was lying about not being afraid. At least- this guy was on her side. She could take comfort in that. And then he forfeited, and- that was that? She blinked. "Uh- huh?" was all she could really mumble out loud before Slicer drew Megaman's ire further. Her discomfort was palpable - normally, she'd revel in people backing away from her, that was her purpose, to keep people the fuck away from Lan, but- from Megaman, it felt so wrong, and- I'll kill her. Her heart stopped for a moment. That tone spooked her a little bit. Her- life, she- she had to stop thinking about this. Not now, this- how the hell did- She was already being whisked away by Megaman before she could organize her thoughts. Wanting to get out of the situation as soon as possible, she wordlessly followed until they were out of the spotlight- and then, still wordlessly, gave Megaman an uncharacteristically distressed look. An "um," was all she could manage.

Rockman didn't talk for a long time. He chose a direction and walked, though it wasn't as if he was aimless. It was clear he had a destination, and as they navigated weaving and winding Undernet roads, slowly the net became quieter, and the roar inside his mind deafened. In the distance they came upon a statue- it was no bigger than Rockman and Rock. It looked like a Navi encased in stone. Rockman plopped down next to the statue, leaning against it with a somewhat dramatic huff. "I'm sorry," he said first. "Slicer is an asshole when he wants to be." The statue said "FORTE" on it, near the feet- the same Navi Rockman had mentioned before. "The only reason he paired us is because you were impressive. So I guess that's good." He didn't want to touch on his outburst, or his threats, anything. But he wasn't really ready to go home either.

Rock was inordinately uncomfortable with the long silence, but chose to follow because... well, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. There was an irrational fear as they kept walking, and as Megaman was leading her to... wherever he was going, that he would suddenly turn to her, and kill her on the spot. The tension wouldn't leave her head. She briefly considered running away- but she couldn't bring herself to. ...And now, they stood in front of a statue of a Navi. Bass- the Auto Navi he had mentioned at the beginning of the night. She wanted to question what the point of bringing her here was, but- Megaman spoke up before she could say anything. "...Right," she responded quietly. "I guess I can be proud of that." She found it hard not to say anything else. A Navi being a dick wasn't anything surprising to her- it was Megaman's comments that scared her more than anything. "So, you... you thought..." ...Rock paused. Maybe trying to be serious about this wasn't the right move, but she couldn't just stay quiet. "...Nevermind. I guess the guy just thought it'd be funny to pair up... the two freaks who can't control themselves," she said, trying to use a joking tone. "...Well, not that I even... knew that until... uh, nevermind." She stared at the statue. Surely it had to have some significance, but she wasn't really getting it. It was easy to notice she was lost in her thoughts over it.

Rockman mulled over his thoughts for a while. He took a deep digital breath and sighed it out. The exhaustion in his face was palpable. "I didn't say what I said just to scare him. Or because I thought you couldn't handle it." Rockman followed her gaze to the statue. There wasn't a reason he came here, not really. This was just the quietest part of the Undernet...who knew when the statue would spring to life again. "I said what I said because I couldn't handle it. The chance that I hurt you irreversibly is way too high for me to risk anything like that." Especially after watching Rock fight. Where there was smoke, there was fire, ash, char. Rockman was burnt long ago. "...You can make of that whatever you want." He looked at the floor. "If you think I'm too dangerous because of that, then that's that." (But his kindness could outweigh it, right? The kindness he showed at the concert, the kindness to heal Rock's wounds over his own- couldn't that be enough? Couldn't he pay back the sin of his existence?) (edited)

Rock bit her lip. The truth stung a little less than what he had said to Slicer. "...Right. So... you just wanna make sure I'm safe," she wondered out loud. She could respect that, even if there was a nagging feeling that her ego was being bruised. "I mean. I saw what that beast was capable of. As cool as it was." She paused. Too dangerous. Was he too dangerous? No, no way- Lan wouldn't lie to her like that. But- if the two of them would've had to duke it out in a final fight... if Slicer thought they were on an equal level to advance right away, then what did that make her? Was she too dangerous? Was that even a problem, or- if she couldn't control herself, would she hurt- No no no. Dumbass. We're not barking up this tree. I'm fine. "...I don't think you're... too dangerous," she assured. "It's just- you... and, uh, me, too... we got into fights where we had to go all-out. That's not every day. The everyday is more... I dunno, like... how we were talking before." She grit her teeth and clutched the side of her helmet in frustration. "Ugh, this is way too complicated."

Rockman almost made it worse. He wanted to say, no, it is everyday. I feel this angry, this hurt, this fucked-up, every single day. Luckily, he wasn't stupid. He exhaled a weak sigh, and nodded. "It was about keeping you safe. I...couldn't forgive myself if you never went back to Lan." He knew what it was like to not come home when you were meant to. "Sorry to say, but being a navi is about as complicated as it gets." Rockman managed a little smile. "You'll learn to manage it. Hopefully." He stretched out his legs, leaning against the boot of the Forte statue. "I believe I owe you a story, don't I?"

That- was a terrifying thought. She'd barely existed for a month, and already she was having to grapple with... the idea of how Lan would feel, what she would have to do if she was just suddenly gone. It was... incredibly pressuring. Another thought to push away- it wasn't important. It wasn't reality. "...Well, I got that feeling," Rock responded, once she'd cleared her head. "Guess I'm lucky to know someone like you, then. I don't know very many Navis in my world... let alone a guy with experience." She was lucky to know someone she could confide in- since, well, it sounded like she'd be having a hell of a lot more wild experiences as long as she stuck around Lan and whatever crap she got herself into. The rescue was a lot already. Her attention turned back to the statue, and- oh, hell. She had completely forgotten that Megaman had promised that- she was, ever so shockingly, so swept up in her bizarre rampage and subsequent tense conversation that it'd completely slipped her mind. "Oh. Right," she mumbled. "...Yeah, hit me with it. Maybe I could use a story like that right about now."

"Could help," Rockman murmured. Could also make her feel worse. There was no way to really know. "I keep my promises." And he had promised. He seemed casual about it as he stretched again, trying to get the phantom-tightness out of his not-joints. "When Netto and I were still kids, we moved out of ACDC for...a year or two. I think two. This was like, ten years ago." (Jeez, it was ten years ago.) "We lived in a place called CyberCity. Dad had been contracted to work on something for their mayor- oh, lord, I won't get into that." He bitterly laughed. "The mayor was insane, big surprise." "Well, CyberCity had this story- called the Cybeasts. A bunch of bugs formed into this sort of, like, killer program- and then they made a second one. And they were locked in eternal combat, in the depths of their net. Wily had this genius idea to try and resurrect them, like the brilliant ass he always was." There's quite a bit of bitterness in his tone. "Sorry- anyway. He wants to resurrect them. So a Navi called Circusman, he wakes them up- but he can only hold one of the Cybeasts. The other one goes to rampage the city's water system." This part still felt fresh in his memory. "...I heard dad on the phone. He was talking about how I had a program, called ExaMem, that would let me hold huge data. Data like a Cybeast." "I thought that if I didn't do anything, it was going to...threaten Netto's life. My dad, and my mom. I...lied to Netto, to get him to get me on the net. If I had told him my plan, he would have stopped me." This was the part where Rockman looked uncomfortable- lying to Netto about it was so...wrong. It made him feel terrible, even ten years later. "So I logged onto the Net, we found the Cybeast, and...I downloaded it to my body. It hurt. Probably as bad as something can hurt." He lets out a laugh, but it's clearly anxiety fueled. "And then I got the form you saw."

Rock's eyes widened as the story began- it definitely sounded a little more familiar than she expected. Cyber City was that kinda freaky place with the Security Bots - she'd heard about it in passing both from the news and people on the Undernet complaining about how it was run by a bunch of marks. And the Cybeasts, formed from bugs into a killer program- seems like that was a constant in both of their worlds, even if it was a beast instead of... mushrooms. And then-...? "What? Dr. Wily?!" Rock exclaimed, the moment she had a chance to butt in. "How the hell do you know that guy?" Megaman knowing a Navi like Circusman was slightly less surprising- and Rock was kinda creeped out by him, anyway- but she had a lot of questions, now. "Hey, I know Circusman, too. There somethin you ain't tellin' me...?" she wondered out loud. She paused for a moment, noticing how uncomfortable Megaman was about the whole ordeal. But Rock knew that it was the right thing to do- if it was threatening his Lan's life, then of course he'd do something like that - she'd probably do the same. "So... it's just stuck in ya now? For... ten years?"

Rockman looked at her, tilting his head. "Wily...? I know him because he terrorized like, the first- well, like, he terrorized us for a long time. He's- how do you know Wily?" This was definitely more interesting than going further in his story. He'd come back to it, but he had to know. "You know Circusman? Sorry for your loss." Rockman said this sort of bitterly. He had a particular hatred for that stupid clown.

Rock's eyes widened. How much should she even say? She- she knew enough about her creator to know where the WWW name came from, at least. Did her old man just lose his shit in the world this Megaman was from? (Well, apparently, Lan's dad hadn't done the same in their world, from the sounds of things. She supposed it wasn't that unbelievable.) ...Since she'd been directly asked, there wasn't much she could do to avoid the subject, and she was not sure if she could make up a convincing lie on the spot. "He's... uh, Lan met him through one of her friends," she mumbled- okay, not a good start. "He's a government contractor. Has a few employees that help him around the house. That's how I know Circusman." Rock bit her lip- yeah, she definitely was pinned down. She paused awkwardly for a few moments, and then finally relented. "...Okay, and he made me. Don't tell anyone that," she forced out.

"Oh," Rockman blinked a few times. "So...he's not a terrorist maniac where you are, huh?" He couldn't help but think that, suddenly, everything about Rock made way more sense, including the smoke and nausea. Of course someone like Wily, terrorist or not, would make a cross, ass-kicking Navi. "Um...well, Wily is insane, here. I think he's still in prison. He ran a terrorist group called WWW, and I uh...Had to...stop him a few times. And- he's, well, the reason I am the way I am. In quite a few ways. I guess. Does he have a kid? In your world?" Pause. Almost to himself, he mutters, "I guess I see how she's alive now..."

Rock blinked right back, her expression a bizarre mix of worry and confusion. "Well, I'd hope so! Damn," she exclaimed, clutching her wrist. And- the mention of WWW explained everything. It was easy to fill in the blanks from there- that plan that Wily abandoned long ago had come to fruition for this Megaman. "Huh. Yeah, I think my old man's got his own dark backstory," Rock began to recall. "He was pretty close to losin' it. Formin' that exact WWW organization that... I guess you fought for real. But... a lot happened. Netopia government pulled him in, and then... Autuvera happened, and a lot more shit, and... well, he gets a good amount of work now." She tapped her foot - she wasn't exactly a storyteller, but here she was on the back foot, all because of a series of wild coincidences. "...A kid? Well, he's got Baryl and Iris," she recalled. "I think they're both adopted, 'tho." One more pause. "...Who's she...?"

Just Baryl and Iris. Iris. Iris. He considered Iris his child? Rockman felt nauseated for a whole new reason. "Iris. She's Iris." Rockman fidgets, suddenly uncomfortable with the idea he's going to have to admit Iris is dead by Rock's not-dad's hands. "Iris...she was...related to the whole Cybeast thing. Her and Colonel." Rockman still mourned Iris, even ten years later. He felt his phantom heart twist and ache. "She sacrificed herself to stop Wily's plan for the Cybeasts. In essence...her...blood, is on his hands." Rockman looked at the ground. Iris and Colonel lived on in some way, but not as they were. He wasn't even sure if Baryl was around anymore. (Regal would have mentioned it, wouldn't he?) "To answer your previous question," he said finally, "The Cybeasts are long gone. Thanks to Iris and Colonel's gamble. What lives in me is an echo of it. I have a tendency to pick up...stray dogs."

Rock couldn't help but share in Megaman's nausea. No wonder that he thought of the Cybeasts as a threat to his brother- whatever that reflection of her old man had gotten himself into, it was way more serious than what even her own operator had been up against. (She recognized Colonel as Baryl's Navi, too- he was dead, too?) Human blood. It certainly wasn't... surprising. There was no way that even her own creator's hands were bloodless. He had been a military contractor in the past, and- that's just the way things were. He had to make money somehow, and he could at least live comfortably now, but- jesus. His own daughter was dead. The daughter that Lan had become such good friends with and confided in, and he inadvertently killed her with his own insanity. Human blood on his hands. "...I see," was all she could really offer. "That's fucked up. I'm sorry." She paused, averting her eyes. "Iris is a weirdo. But- she's Lan's friend, and she's my friend, too. She didn't deserve to die like that." Then, Rock raised an eyebrow. "The hell do you mean by stray dogs...?"

Iris is Lan's friend. Iris was Netto's friend, too, in some respects- though she was less than a friend, and more like an omen, a warning. Not just of the impending Cybeast threat, but of his future to come- humanity came at a cost. It did for her, and it always would for him. "I..." How to put this? She was only what, a month old, still learning the ropes of what it meant to be a computer program. And who knows if her insides even remotely matched the kind of systems he was on. "I have echos of a bunch of things inside of me? Um, like...You saw the Beast. I don't have the actual program inside of me, it's just a copy. And the souls, of course."

"...Huh. I guess that makes sense, if you've been through all this shit," Rock said, before realizing it didn't actually make much sense at all. Not like she knew a lot about things being grafted onto memory when she was so new. "...The souls? The hell do you mean by... you mean the whole Hub Hikari thing?" She couldn't really fathom how much could have scarred him with how much time he'd been by his own operator's side. It was odd, and a little frustrating, being the young, inexperienced Navi when she was supposed to be strong so that Lan would be safe. And- she knew she was strong, but she couldn't help but wonder if she could measure up to someone who had... so much to his name. "How does that kind of stuff even happen? It just gets stuck on you?" she wondered out loud. She did remember Megaman mentioning something about some programs getting stuck inside of him during his time with Lan. "I haven't... been through enough. To be honest."

Rockman flushed. Embarrassed, he realized that he must sound absolutely insane to Rock. "Um. When I become really good friends with someone, I tend to...um....commune with their souls?" Well that didn't help. "Some of them are...still with me. Oh- remember, um, the sleepover? That's because there's a chunk of Blues's soul inside of me, that's why I can do Delta Ray." He really didn't think this was helping. "Sorry. I have no idea how to explain this, well. It's- related to me, being a human, sort of. I'm- Saito, and I'll always be Saito, but- I am also...Rockman...and...the navi part of me will always be different than the human part of me." "I- um. I hope you never go through the things I did. I don't wish this on anyone. Even if I'm...mostly happy."

Rock, admittedly, wasn't really getting it. She didn't have a good concept of what a "soul" meant for a Navi. She knew that... well, they had artificial souls in some sense, but she couldn't really place a feeling or thought about it. It wasn't like she was human, so she'd never be able to relate to Megaman, anyway. Though, admittedly, grabbing other Navis' abilities through the power of friendship did sound pretty sick. "...Yeah. I'm sorry about everything. Really," was what she tried to offer. "And I appreciate it. I can't really say too much about it, besides... well, I hope Lan doesn't get caught up in any more bullshit. She doesn't deserve it." She paused. Lan was- relatively open with her, presumably because she'd been open with Megaman. And how she explained her feelings, and how she acted, made Rock's heart ache more than anything. Lan was a person that she knew was worth protecting, no matter the cost. "I wish I could relate a little better," she lamented. "This human soul stuff is... well, I don't really get it. So... I dunno if I'll ever really feel the same things you do. I'm just happy if Lan is happy."

Rockman had the sticking feeling that Lan would get caught up in more things. That was just the nature of a Hikari- though, he'd come to find out, that was not something he should voice. "Maybe you'll come to get it. I really resonated with your..." Rockman trailed off, suddenly looking pensive. He thought back to what Rock had said before- I thought I heard someone. Could he have...? It had been so long. Rockman hadn't gained a new soul since Trio. He'd almost thought he couldn't anymore- something else it had taken from him. Rockman held his hand out. "Can I see your hand?"

Rock tilted her head. "Uh? Sure? Why?" she agreed, pausing for a moment. She was admittedly a little apprehensive - mostly brought upon by Megaman's sudden pause. But... an odd feeling was pushing back against that hesitance. There was an odd warmth radiating from Megaman, like by reaching his hand out she was being called to. It was an entirely different emotion than the ones she had felt in the ring - both from herself and from watching the beast, there was anger, frustration, chaos, but this was... a sort of open satisfaction, with a hint of melancholy. It was in that moment that Rock really felt she understood why her operator had been compared with this Navi- tortured souls that knew that they needed to live, because if they didn't then they'd be betraying the people that cared about them. The kind of people that were fighting against emptiness trying to eat away at them, trying to claim them. This was far from an empty feeling. She couldn't find the words to describe it, but- there was an odd comfort in it. She definitely hadn't felt anything like this before- but it wasn't bad. Rock reached her hand toward Megaman, who she could have sworn for a moment was coated in a soft glow.

A brief flash of light- Rockman made a noise of surprise, because tis was really happening and- When the light dissipated, Rockman was decked out in an outfit really similar to Rock's. A visor covered his eyes, and there were spikes all over his outfit. His hair extended behind his head in a split ponytail, and around his knuckles lay small gauntlets. Just like Rock. "W-Woah," Rockman said, though his voice was a little off. "U-m. I can explain...? I- I didn't know this would happen, I- um-" There was a sort of static all over his body, a kind of heaviness he wasn't accustomed to in Double Soul.

Wh- what the hell? Megaman was consumed by this flash of light, and- well, now he looked like a mirror image of her. Not quite perfect, she supposed- but it was close enough to freak her out. “Wh- why the fuck do you look like me?!” Rock balked, backing away slightly, quickly forcing herself to regain her composure. “You’re- you’re tryin’ to rip off my style, huh? You’re jealous?” She supposed this was what he had just mentioned- about becoming friends with someone, and communing with their soul. There was a warm feeling still trying to touch her, almost- pull her in? Towards Megaman? But it was blotted out, like it was a signal that wasn’t quite getting through. (And she wasn’t sure how this guy would be… resonating with her soul so quickly. She was- supposed to be intimidating, right? She’d certainly fit the bill tonight, so- why now? And when- Lan wasn’t here…?)

Rockman turned a bright scarlet red, hopping to his feet. He reached his hands out. "N-No, see, it was an accident- I mean, no, I-" He put his head in his hands and muffled a quiet shout. "I-It's called Double Soul. I took on your qualities, and- now we're like this." "I-It's not that I'm jealous, it's that- I respect you. A lot." He huffed. "You heard my thoughts, didn't you? When you were fighting. I was hoping for you to get back up. To move."

"I- see," Rock stammered. She did remember Megaman mentioning something similar- about a Cross System, that let him use other Navis' powers. So she had to assume that this wasn't permanent, at least- that made this a little less freaky. It was weird to hear him say that he respected her. Obviously he didn't hate her or anything, but- had anyone said something like that to her before? She supposed it came with being new- that was kind of a sad thought. "Uh. Thanks," she said hesitantly. "That... really means a lot. I... think you're a strong guy, you know that?" ...And... now that she thought about it, his voice probably was what she heard. Her heart resonated thinking about it- as if it was a confirmation, a nod from both of their souls. "And... that sounds right. Yeah," she admitted. "That was what I felt. That... there was someone wishing for me. Counting on me. To get up, or else I'd... get my shit kicked in. Heh."

Show me you can do this. He'd been reaching out to her, hadn't he? Well, old habits died hard. Rockman was always sizing his friends up in some way- Rock was no different. (It only just occurred to him, truly, that he hadn't met very many new friends in a long time. That fact made him a little sad- and that sadness clung onto him in a weird way.) "Ahah...Thanks. I suppose I'm a little strong." Rockman reached back, touching the now-long chunk of his hair. Huh. It was all long now, a lot like in Blues Soul... "I- I'm going to have to ping my operator. I haven't done this in years," Rockman remained flushed, laughing nervously. That static persisted- his skin felt electric, and he truly understood that urge to fight that Rock had for a moment- if she constantly felt like this, then it only made sense she wanted to rip and tear. "We should- we should make our way out of here. So we can log out, eventually."

Rock was a little flummoxed by Megaman's response- he was downplaying himself, like Lan tended to do. Upsetting. "Hey. More than a little," she said firmly. "I don't just mean in combat, either. I mean- hey. Lan's strong, and you're... well, you kinda remind me of her. So." ...Between the concert and now this, it was easy to believe. But it gave her pause- there was a feeling in her heart that seemed incomplete, like the Double Soul was trying to reach toward her and she was trying to reach towards him and they weren't quite touching. She wondered if this was what a proper connection felt like- or if she had really done enough to connect to this Navi. Or... was her operator doing the legwork...? "...Right, I should tell her, too," Rock mumbled out loud. "Uh, if that's okay with you, of course." They really ought to get out of this place- they'd been standing in front of this creepy statue for way too long. So Rock gave her... mirror? a nod, and followed - this was his Undernet, not hers, after all.

Rockman gave one last regard to the statue- a little bow, before they got on their way, out of the recesses of the UnderNet. His cheeks were still glowing a soft pink at Rock's praise. It wasn't his intent to downplay, it was some sort of reflex. He still felt like Rock didn't have the whole picture. (If she did, she'd run away.) This felt...different than his other Double Souls, the more he lingered in it. A double soul would present him, usually, with a combined personality- a true merging of their souls, something Rockman could give up process to. But there was nothing there. A veil of smoke left only a mirror for Rockman to reflect infinitely back into. This was, ostensibly, Rock Soul, with abilities Rockman could access that he wouldn't normally. But for some reason, there was no true merging between them. Reaching, maybe. But never able to quite touch. He snapped from his thoughts as soon as Rock prompted- "O-Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, that's fine. She should know. In case I do it again, I guess. Wouldn't want to surprise her, ha." Rockman kept his eyes on bone structures that stretched above their heads. "I remind you of her?"

Megaman was quiet for a bit - and that made the Double Soul feel a lot more eerie, in a way. How did he feel, if she was absorbed by this weird static feeling? It didn't help that this was the first she'd ever seen of some ability like this. It was something special, for sure- she wondered how Lan was going to feel about it when she reported in. Rock tilted her head once Megaman had responded. "Well- yeah?" she said, a little confused. "A little. I mean, I was thinkin' about it when you two were talking after the concert. About feeling trapped n' such." She paused- the last thing she wanted to do was step on a landmine and get an empty look back as she tried to find the words to express how she felt, but she supposed it was unavoidable. A feeling in her chest buzzed- the Double Soul, again? She wasn't sure. "Both of you've been through a lot of shit, and are tryin' to move on now, yeah?" she continued. "And it ain't easy. Sometimes I have no idea how to comfort her, but..." Rock grit her teeth. She hated watching Lan get into these awful moods and drown in some emotion that she couldn't quite place. "...Look, all I'm sayin' is, both of you, you've got your wounds written all over you. But you're fightin', to make sure it's not keepin' you down. So... both of you are strong, in that way."

Wounds written all over you. Rockman felt a hazy objection to this- he couldn't really place it in the sea of static he felt right now. It wasn't written all over him, right? Rock didn't even know the half of it- not the darkness in his soul, not the virus of his mind, not the violence in his hands and- well, she knew at least about the beast and the boy. What could he do there? His secret was bare to pretty much everyone he knew. "That's true," Rockman replied thinly. "I suppose we both have our hearts on our sleeves." Lan had her wounds all over her, clawing from her chest- she seemed ready to explode at any given moment with the lament of her life. She'd clearly held it in for a long, long time. "What's Lan's mother like?" Rockman asked as he ducked under a somewhat-low arch. "She said she's not home often. And I didn't hear anything about her, say, going out with a random stranger to a metal concert halfway across town." (edited)

Rock could tell that Megaman was a little apprehensive to agree with her - so she simply shrugged back. "Just my read on things," she mumbled to herself. Well- she had to be making these reads, she had to be emotionally intelligent because it was her job to be, right? She didn't know Haruka particularly well. Lan had told her that she used to hover around her a lot more, but... work was too busy, after a point. And after Megaman had entered her life, they had to... talk things out, and convince Haruka to let her daughter live her own life. Because of that, they... hadn't interacted too much; an approval, and daily greetings like they were old friends, but not much more. "She's... well, she's pretty busy. Stuffy office job, and all that," Rock recounted. "Nice woman. Very protective of the kid. For better or for worse." Rock paused- maybe it was a little hypocritical to cast judgement over that. "Heh. I don't even think Lan told her about the concert. Kid can usually get away with 'hanging out'," she continued. "I think her mom wants to let her live a little, 'cuz she... didn't really get to, before. So... stuff like the concert is Lan's little personal secret, I suppose."

"I see," Rockman nodded. There were plenty of times they lied to Haruka too- more often now than ever. Haruka and Yuuichiro were fairly shielded from the real echos of their recent past- Netto and Rockman didn't want them to fuss. (Rockman didn't want to get locked in a server again.) "We lied to mom all the time too," Rockman recounted, "She would have took Netto's PET if she knew how much stuff we were getting into. After a while, she sort of accepted it, I guess. Comes with the territory." Rockman flexed his hand, looking at the adorments over his knuckles. He recalled these from Rock's fight. (God, why did he need an operator to break a damn double soul? Couldn't he just exhaust his way out of it like usual?) "...Lan mentioned that her dad tried and failed to bring Hub back," he kept his eyes straight ahead. "Did Haruka know about that? Did she know that he was doing that? That he failed?"

Rock laughed along with Megaman's explanation- at least they weren't special in that way. Lan was definitely still cagey about telling her about her escapades- part of it was wanting to feel independent, but the other part was knowing how upset she'd be if she knew the full truth. It was a miracle that Lan was able to sneak around her well enough to hide the bloodstains from the rescue- Rock really had to look up how to wash off a stain like that, just so they wouldn't get caught over it. (Was Megaman still embarrassed over this-? She felt this sort of tingling and tugging on her heart that, given his expression, suggested it. Well, damn. She thought this was pretty cool, at least.) She paused for a moment. Obviously, Lan knew a lot more than her- but she'd pieced a bunch together, anyway. "Pretty sure she did, yeah. The two of 'em don't get along," she recalled. "I think whatever her dad was tryin' to do was hurting him. Lan's brother, I mean. That's why her mom was so pissed off." Rock's eyes drifted toward the cyberworld's sky, dancing with the same static that she felt in her chest. "Actually, a few days before Lan and I met, she visited him in prison," she continued. "Talked for a while. She seemed better after that, or... well, that's what Lan told me. Dunno what they talked about, 'tho. Lan sure as hell hasn't visited him."

"She probably shouldn't visit him," Rockman said, a bit too quickly for his own comfort. The static all over made him feel hazy. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy this double soul (they all had something to offer, after-all), but this was just so...heavy. He flexed his hands again. "He was trying while he was still alive?" Rockman mused. "Could be why he failed. Only worked after I was dead." It was weird to refer to Saito as himself. It was true, but it still was weird. "I remember it hurting to be woken up for a bit. But it went away eventually. Being born hurts," he shrugged. "I was too little to really remember." That was a lie. The computer parts of Rockman remembered his early days in vivid detail. "Her dad sounds like an ass," he mused again, looking at that static sky as well. "She seems to have good reason to not like him."

It was a little haunting to be talking about this so casually. There was another feeling in her chest, like something was trying to call to her- a feeling that reminded her of Lan, but emptier, like a wisp rather than a flame, but she couldn't place it. It wasn't reaching her, somehow. "Huh. Maybe," she wondered out loud, trying to shake off the chills she just got. "You don't remember? I remember being created. Guess it's 'cuz you're a human. They can't remember everything, for better or for worse." Lan had mentioned one time about how it was hard to remember things from her early childhood, and how much it bothered her. She had to assume that it was normal- not like she had talked to other humans about these things. It only made sense, after all. "I never met the guy," Rock continued, changing the subject to Yuichiro. "But he fits the bill. I dunno how much he really cared about Lan. Just about saving his own skin. Couldn't let go of his big project when it was going to shit."

"Right." Rockman did not remember his own death, or his rebirth, or his grandfather's death, or the mourning, or Scilabs, or Cossack- no, he didn't remember any of that. Truly. "Things...played out differently, here." Rockman felt like he should tell. That he should confess the sin of his necromancer father- but was that rubbing it in? That this one had succeeded where Lan's turboed her life into hell? She wasn't here. It was just her navi. "We didn't have this...Autuvera. We had Alpha, something made by my grandfather, and then I was born...and then I died when I was one, and when dad turned me into a Navi...He didn't tell anyone. Kept it a secret. It's still a secret, actually. To the government and Scilabs, I'm as dead as can be, and the project I was under was a failure." Rockman kicked an errant piece of data. They were nearly out of the Undernet. "He didn't tell Haruka, or Netto. For a while, I didn't either. Not till we were forced to. It was safer to lie." "It...never was about him, for me. He thought it was so wrong that I had died. He just did what he thought he was supposed to do. I think if he'd failed, he would have given up. I guess that's where they're different, in some ways."

Rock listened, keeping her head low as they were leaving the Undernet. The paths were smoother the closer they got to the outer Net- oddly, the complete reverse of what the Net she was used to was like. "Yeah, I've heard of Alpha. Other Megaman, the one Lan first met, mentioned it once," she recalled. He didn't describe it very thoroughly, besides it being a gooey substance similar to Autuvera. ...And, well, there was the difference. "Oh. Yeah, if it's been a secret for all this time, then... no wonder," she mused. "Didn't happen here. Autuvera wrought hell on the SciLab servers, a bunch'a data leaked out, and... well, you know." And then the mad scientist's experiment made national news, became a controversy, stirred new laws, hurt public perception of the Net, and every time that Lan had to think about that her spark of life crumpled into dust. Rock hated it. "It's pretty fucked. You're better off the longer it stays a secret," she continued, twiddling her thumbs. "I think... I mean, he was obviously trying to save him, right? It wasn't purely an ego thing. But... it was at the expense of everyone else. At... the expense of Lan. Y'know?"

"So they tell me," Rockman sighed softly. Rock had not yet learned what it was like to live a secret. Maybe she would. (Though, maybe she already was- there was clearly something someone wasn't telling her. He had half a mind to track down that Wily himself, demand an answer for all of this static, all of this smoke--) They were out of the Undernet. Rockman pinged his PET, and Netto answered quicker than he thought he would. "Heeeyy how did it- woah." Netto adjusted his glasses and squinted. "I'm seein' double. Kinda like...a double soul." Rockman mimicked a somewhat sour 'ba dum tiss' sound- it was evident he was hiding a small smile, though. "Well, it looks like you two hit it off." Netto looked at Rock. "And you must've been impressive, yeah?" (edited)

Rock was caught off guard by how fast the response was- so much so that she sort of scrunched her face in an odd mix of confusion and... worry, when she was blasted with the face she hadn't seen since the rescue. She didn't fully understand why Lan disliked him so much, really- she was sure she had her reasons, she just... hadn't interacted with the guy enough, yet. (Though, part of her wondered if the only reason she hated him is because he was her. ...That made a little more sense.) She couldn't help but snicker at the other Lan's joke, however. "Guess we did, yeah," she responded, pumping her fist to her chest. "I'd call myself impressive any day of the week, so... the answer's yes. Was a little rough, but we both made it through." (She was unsure if telling him everything was a good thing. No way she was mentioning her own freakout. The last thing she'd want is for an Official to see her as a threat.)

"Rough?" Netto looked at Rockman- there was worry in his expression. Rockman waved his hands. "Nothing crazy. You know that Slicer's an ass sometimes. I made it work." Netto visibly relaxed. "Well, I hope you two had fun, anyway. Not like I know what goes on there." He winked, clearly making a show of his turning-a-blind-eye to it all. Undernet fighting rings weren't even his jurisdiction, so he didn't care. (Not like the Officials were doing much for him these days. Or ever.) "And- hey, you should be pretty excited about this," he gestured at Rockman's form. "Been a few years since he found someone worthy enough to get a whole new double soul. And he's a pretty big deal-" Rockman blushed again. "Can you just store this already and stop glazing me?" Netto laughed, reaching for the PET to press a few buttons. In a soft glow, the double soul was severed, and Rockman was normal again. "Huh. There's chip data for this. That's new."

"Really?" Rock exclaimed- she was genuinely surprised, though, paradoxically, she was also trying to play up her own surprise at the same time. "I'm worthy, huh? That really is a big deal, then. All the fun was worth it!" It was a little sad to see the Double Soul go - on one hand, that weird static feeling was finally gone, but damn, it would've been sick to see Megaman in action. Maybe another day, she mused to herself. Rock was still a little confused why he was so embarrassed about this, but she assumed maybe she'd feel the same way if she suddenly looked like Megaman. The chip data. "Oh yeah. So Double Soul's like that, too?" she wondered out loud. "Think that's how this Cross thingy another Megaman I know works. I wouldn't know, I don't get this kind of stuff." (Was she jealous? Maybe a little.) "If you ever need it in a pinch," she suggested leadingly, leaning forward and raising the pitch of her voice.

"It's not, usually. Usually it's, um...well, more nebulous that that, I guess." Netto waved his hand, and pulled out the chip. He showed the chip up to the screen: it had Rock's emblem on it. "This is pretty cool." Netto hummed, clearly interested in whatever the hell this meant. "I like this navi, Rockman, you should have her hang out again!" Rockman laughed softly, and turned to Rock. "I did have fun. Thank you for coming with me. I'd love to do this again, if you're willing." He extended his hand for a handshake.

Well- at least they were on good terms. Rock smiled- seeing that chip with her emblem, Lan's emblem, on it was pretty sick. "Glad you like me, I guess," she chuckled. She wondered how Lan would feel once she told her side of the story - guess she could sanitize some details so she didn't feel ice-cold over this. (...Should she tell her about the smoke...?) (...) (...No, no, she already has too much to worry about. No way. Not after what happened to Triese. Not yet, at least.) (...) She was lost in her thoughts for a moment, long enough that she briefly missed Megaman's handshake. "Oh. Yeah. Right," she said, snapping back to reality and returning the handshake. She was maybe a little too forceful with the shake - she guessed she was just that kind of handshaker. "...And, yeah. I'd totally be down to do somethin' like this again," she confirmed. "You're a cool guy. Thanks- I really mean it." ...It was getting late, by now. She ought to head home, lest Lan worry- she'd definitely be worrying if she had the full story. But she was fine, and everything ended well, at least. She'd be thinking about this whole Double Soul schtick for a while, for sure. Rock waved goodbye to the two, and jacked out, returning to Lan's PET.

Her operator had finished her homework, and was looking pretty sleepy now with her face buried in her laptop screen. "Hey, kid. I'm back," she reported in. Lan snapped to attention. "Oh! Thank god," she mumbled. "I was kinda getting worried..." "Eh, it's all good. Was a fun time," Rock retorted, giving her a thumbs up. "Megaman's pretty hardcore, ain't he? Buncha stuff happened, we talked for a while. Cool guy." Lan paused. "Yeah," she said, sort of wistfully. She was unsure if she'd pick that specific word, but... well, she had a lot of faith in him. He, and the other Megamans she met- they were all so intelligent and kind, practically built to be beacons in the dark. "So... um, what happened...?" (...) (...Was Rock about to lie to her own operator, like this?) (...Her stomach churned.)