The Difference of a Bandana: One Shot PG With Illistrations!

[Neko]

Roll Soul and I collaboed on this one. I wrote the fic and she drew purdy piccies for it X3 So, wherever you see a URL (violet) word, click and they'll be an illistration. Enjoy~
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The beginnings of the day slowly reached Netto’s ears. He groaned and pulled his pillow over his head to ward off the incoming sounds but Rockman wasn’t about to let that happen. He took full advantage of Netto’s half conscious state to wake him up with a loud morning greeting. “Morning, Netto-kun!”

Netto’s eyes flew open and he groaned even more loudly into his mattress. “No, not good. More sleep,” he mumbled sleepily.

Rockman shook his head and gave his twin a defiant grin, “It’s 10. Get up.”

Netto tried to bury himself even deeper into the sheets but it was no use. The birds, cars, chatter and other day time paraphernalia of noise came floating through his window and to his ears. With an exhausted growl he threw back his covers and sat up in his bed, trying to cling to the sleepy warmth that had occupied his brain only moments ago. “I’m tired,” he whined.

Rockman shrugged, “You need to get up anyways. There’s a perfectly good day ahead of you. You don’t want to waste it in bed, do you?” he asked.

Netto put a hand over his mouth to cover a large yawn that could be heard by Rockman and anyone ten meters away. “Yes,” he said grumpily.

Rockman crossed his arms and fixed his twin with a semi-irritated glare, “Too bad. Get up."


Netto got out of bed and shivered as his feet touched the cold floor. “I’m up, I’m up,” he sighed while waving his hand at his navi dismissively. “Lemme get dressed and we’ll go out and do something, kay?”

Rockman nodded happily. “All right, Netto-kun. Sounds like a plan.”

Netto wandered into the bathroom and brushed his teeth like he did everyday. Feeling more awake after splashing some cold water onto his face he walked back to his room while finger combing his hair. In less then three minutes he was dressed and ready to go have a day with his navi except… “Rockman?”

Rockman looked up from the monitor, something in his operator’s voice made him think that something wasn’t quite right. “Yes?”

Netto looked around his messy room. “Where’s my bandana?” he asked while running his fingers through his flyaway brown hair.

Rockman scanned the room and shrugged. “No idea,” he said. “Why not just leave it? I mean you don’t have to have your bandana do you?”

Netto shook his head and looked around his room some more. “No…” he admitted slowly. “But I like it. I mean, it keeps my hair out of my eyes.” He sunk to his knees and peered underneath his bed for the third time, smelling stale chips and seeing last week’s math homework but no sign of the missing scrap of fabric.

“Ask mama when she gets back,” Rockman said simply. “You can live without your bandana for a day.”

“I guess,” Netto said with a frown as he stood up, giving his room one last quick look before he picked up his PET. “All right, let’s go,” he said with a grin. “I heard that there’s an awesome new arcade on 13th street.”

Rockman gave his operator a large grin. “Sounds great,” he said happily as Netto dashed out of his room.

Netto took the stairs two at a time while he looked around the house for his missing piece of headwear. When he didn’t find it he merely shrugged and pulled on his shoes at the front door. “Ready?” he asked his navi.

“Yeup!” Rockman said happily.

The PET decided that it would be a good time to ring right about then. Netto groaned inwardly and when he pulled it out and saw Manabe’s face appear he groaned outwardly as well. The pretty Net Savior gave him a sympathetic grin and shrugged, “I’m not ruining any weekend fun am I?” she asked.

Netto shut the now slightly ajar door he was about to dash out of. “No, we’re just hanging out at home,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“Sorry Netto-kun,” he told him gently. “There’s an attack on the outer limits of the Undernet. I think this concerns you.”

Netto blinked while Rockman got it right away. “Forte?” he asked, the word ending in a slight hiss.

Manabe nodded, “He wants a re-match. He’s calling for you, you know.”

Netto gulped. Any time they met with Forte it always meant a lot of pain and unhappy days spent being cooed over by his mother. “I thought we just dealt with him.”

“Forte waits for no man,” Rockman muttered distastefully.

“You’ll have back up. I’m sending Enzan-kun and Laika-kun to help you,” she told him. “Just be careful, okay kids?”

Netto and Rockman gave her grave nods as the screen went blank. Netto let out a slow breath he didn’t even know he had been holding. “There’s goes out week,” he muttered.

“Better to have that week then no week at all,” Rockman pointed out.

Netto nodded and put his PET back into his holster. “That’s right,” he agreed as he pulled his roller blades off the wall. “Let’s go!” he said with a cheer as he ran outside and pulled them onto his shoes.

Ten minutes later he arrives at the jack in port for the specified location on the map Manabe had given them. “Here we are,” Netto said softly while looking around. The area he was in was dark and clammy even though it was at least 70 degrees out. He suppressed a shiver as Laika and Enzan came running up to him.

“We got the message,” Laika said quickly. Then his eyebrows shot up as he looked at Netto. “Where’s your bandana?” he asked slowly.

Netto shrugged, “Couldn’t find it this morning. Is it that noticeable?”

“After seeing you wear the thing faithfully every day I’ve seen you, yes,” Laika told him.

Enzan blinked as well but offered no further comment to the tiny conversation. Blues cleared his throat from inside his PET to get the attention of the humans. “May we be plugged in?” he asked.

Netto nodded and pointed his PET at the plug in port in front of him. “Go Rockman!” he cheered. “Plug in.”

Enzan and Laika followed suit and soon they were all surfing in the cool blue of the net. Slowly their surroundings became darker and more ominous as they plunged into the Undernet. Without a word between them the three boys quickly sunk into the refuge of Full Syncro before they made it all the way to the area that Forte was attacking in.

Rockman came out first, just in time to stop a finishing attack on a navi. The navi picked himself up and logged out as Rockman glared at Forte defiantly. “What do you want?”

Forte launched himself at the blue navi with glowing hands. “A rematch!” he yelled.

Netto’s face appeared on a screen as he glared at the navi. “Why do you want to fight anyways?” he yelled at the navi, ready to give his whole ‘Rockman and I are friends and humans aren’t evil’ speech but it turned out that it wasn’t needed.

Forte stopped cold as his red eyes darted over to Netto’s face then back to Rockman’s. “Why is your hair down?” he asked confusedly.

It took all of Netto’s will power not to fall face down in the dirt in a comical way. “I lost my bandana. Why in the hell would you care?” he snapped.

Forte blinked, looking very un-Forte like “You always have your hair up.” His eyes narrowed on Netto and he finally realized why he had stopped cold when he saw Netto’s face. He looked from Netto to Rockman then back to Netto and slowly it dawned on him.

Without anything to keep Netto’s hair up, the hair at the base of his neck looked a lot like Rockman’s hair style.

Another look and he slowly realized that they looked very similar, beyond the hair. Finally he remembered the name of the style that Rockman used whenever he was in a pinch. “Saito…” he murmured. “Netto… and Saito…” he blinked again. “Net Site.”

Netto face palmed with the device still in his hands and groaned. “This is why I wear the damn bandana,” he hissed.

Rockman looked back up at Forte who looked back down at him. Slowly, Forte sunk to the ground of the net and stood directly in front of Rockman, still staring at him. Searchman and Blues were at a loss of what to so they merely looked on as spectators, ready to intervene in necessary.

Without a word, Forte pulled Rockman’s helmet off his head and let his messy blue hair fall into his eyes. The bangs were different and the back of it was smooshed from the helmet but the resemblance was uncanny. With a grunt of indignation Forte handed Rockman’s helmet back to him.

Rockman took it and looked down at it, at a loss of what to say. ‘Yeah, it’s damn obvious now but Netto-kun and I are twins’ really didn’t seem like it would cut it.

“You’re lucky I only want to battle you at this point,” Forte said slowly as if he was choosing his words minutes before saying them. “Or this could be used against you.”

“Is it that freaking obvious!?” Netto yelped.

“Yes,” Forte said bluntly. “It’s that freaking obvious. Excuse me,” he muttered and vanished.

Netto blinked slowly while Enzan and Laika looked at him. “Forte just said ‘freaking’” Netto said softly.

Enzan and Laika let the full syncro fall away from their bodies with a groan. “You are lucky,” Enzan muttered.

Rockman hastily pulled back on his helmet. “Well he would have found out eventually. I mean he was a sci lab navi at about the same time I was being developed. Although… when Netto-kun doesn’t have his bandana on, is it that obvious?”

Searchman and Blues both nodded at their friend.

“Yes,” Laika told them. “It is.”

Netto sighed and let his own Full Syncro die away. “Weird,” he muttered.

As he walked back into his house, still somewhat confused as to what had just happened his mother greeted him at the door with a smile and a hug that Netto protested loudly. “Have a fun day?” she asked.

“Sure,” Netto lied.

She held out his bandana, “I washed it. Here you go.”

Netto blinked and took the fabric and without a word he tied it into his hair and walked upstairs.

“Huh,” Haruka murmured.

Netto looked at his reflection in the mirror and slid the bandana out of his hair. “It’s not the same,” he muttered.

Rockman shrugged, “Why does it bother you so much?”

“It’s a bandana!” Netto screeched. “It shouldn’t make that much of a difference.”

“You do wear it every day,” Rockman pointed out with a tiny shrug. “Maybe if people were more used to seeing you without it.”

Netto looked at it and shrugged, “Whatever,” he muttered. “Want to play a game?”

Rockman grinned, “Sure. Which one?”

“A racing game?” Netto asked while flopping down in front of his video game council to load the game.

“Sure, if you want to loose,” Rockman teased his twin.

“Not on your life,” Netto shot back and picked up his controller. “Ready when you are!”

Rockman watched as the lights changed on the screen. “3, 2, 1, GO!”

And they were off.
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Midnight]

Heh...that was really cute. I think this is exactly the third fic I've read here sine I joined that actually had adjoining illustrations associated with it. Anyway...again, your idea of the manga universe is quite nice, and seeing the association by appearance is quite relevant and useful.

I do suggest actually coloring the link words--I have missed the pics a few times even though I looked carefully. Other than that, great work. The both of you. :D
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Neko]

Edit: Nevermind, I found out how /o/
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Roll Soul]

I know I said this already Neko, but this fic is so cute! /o/ I remember giggling several times xD ^^ And I had an absolute blast doing the pics for it, especially since it gave me the chance to draw Laika for the first time. We've gotta do this again ^^
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[Neko]

Yesssss. We do /o/ This was totally fun XD I love seeing my ideas drawn out plus it totally adds to the fic its self.
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Mugen.exe]

Great art, great fic! It really does change a lot of things seeing Netto without the bandanna. Great work! to both of you.
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False Swipe is a great finishing move!
Witty robots, spunky orphans, and invincible pilots, this link's for you! A Gundam RP

[Unknown Neo]

Cute and funny. Plus they do look alike that way. Great job you two.

[Ginrei]

Heh. wow, I'm suprised! The drawings work very well with this one.
I never thought Netto and Rockman looked much alike, even though you see them side-by-side in the manga all the time. Then at the end of Stream when everyone is talking to Duo, and Rockman holds back Netto from chasing after Barrel... Just... them moving, animated, with the same expression on their faces, the same height... I totally saw the similarity. It's creepy!
Very cute 'fic Neko! ^_^ I'd feel sorry for Netto, but I think it's just so adorable that they look alike. Seriously, Netto needs to lose his headband more often.

[Wackoman.EXE]

The drawings go so well with the story and the story is awesome! Forte was hilarious, and the equation Rockman+Netto-Netto's headband=identical twins. A nice little ficlet Neko, keep up the good work.
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Transcendent Super Spiral Dreadnought Gunmen

[YaminoMiko]

[Midnight]

Actually...now that I look more carefully at the drawings, I do happen to have a small gripe with the fifth one--where Rockman is handed his helmet. Given the angle in the drawing, it appears that the helmet has no back, since it is not all that tilted.

And I wholeheartedly agree--you guys should do this again in the near future.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Roll Soul]

[Kitty-Chan]

I liked it, as well. The imagery was just too priceless. We need more utterly confuzzled Forte moments.
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Kitty-Chan]

Umm, I have another narration here for everyone; sorry for the DP. & if anyone is interested in hosting these it would be much obliged; I have a feeling the current site I'm using is not going to be useful for this much longer. -_-; http://www.savefile.com/files/1915198
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Midnight]

Interesting--I didn't think anyone would actually narrate these stories...you do a good job. If I had to say something that you needed to work on, it would have to be the distinctions of the voices for the different characters in each story and perhaps pronunciation of some of the terms in the work--I noted that you seemed to be off on some of the words. Other than that, this is reminisicent of old radio shows...without the sound effects. Good job.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3