electricevolution | ⚡CYBERFORMED IC INBOX⚡

Oh man this kid is so PAINFULLY awkward it suddenly makes even more sense at the reveal of his name. His room WOULD be invaded eventually by some kind of alternate universe version of his brother.

He supposes the blue armor and good boy aura should have clued him in.

"Fine fine, you can do your... mediator thing? with my guitar? It's a weapon though do NOT touch the switch at the top," he sighs in defeat and releases the little weirdo. He's... still not entirely sure what he's doing here, "Also my room is a no battle armor zone. Just FYI."

Hub nods quickly, peeking out from under his helmet, but the person didn't seem mad anymore. He tugged his battle mask back down to give the person a relieved, warm and growing smile. "Thank you," he said as they let go, and he meant it. But not for him. "The programs in the hallway terminal wanted to talk to their penpals, but something about your room makes getting in touch mmm..." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Unpredictable? And some of them were getting worried for their friends. They'll be really relieved to hear back from them."

The weapon part would explain the Mr. Progs being territorial, at least.

He got up and started towards the guitar only to halt misstep that last part. It was such an unexpected and utterly unprecedented thing to say that he just, came up blank. He could almost feel his mind buffering.

He looked at Elec with an utterly baffled, lost expression then down at his bodysuit, then back up at Elec. He furrowed his brows and said uncertainly, "I can dismiss my helmet and gloves and boots if you want, but I've never..." He tipped his head uncertainly. "Netnavis just... we always look the same, unless our operator changes something, and Lan never did."

"My guitar is penpals with the Hallway terminal and a Megaman from another universe is playing messenger between them... of course," he nods vaguely. The R2, it seems, has delivered another bit of weirdness to him to make his life more interesting.

He sinks back into his chair and frowns at the spilled bottle of nail polish.

"It's probably me that makes things unpredictable. My electro magnetic field is kind of strong, and I can manipulate it at will. Kind of part of my deal. Name's Elecman," he leans back as the Navi explains his situation and he frowns. This kid's never been out of armor? That's kinda sad... wait some things are clicking into place, "Hang on you said you exist on the Network as data... and you were inside my guitar... can you hop on my communicator?"

He snatches the thing up and powers it on, "Where's that app everyone was using a couple months ago..."

Hub knelt in front of the guitar and vanished again in a swirling mass of pixels into the guitar. A short time later the shower of pixels poured back out, but this time Hub was beaming, shoulders inching towards his helm as he turned his shining smile at the person whose room this was. "It went a lot better this time!" He said happily, boosting himself up to his feet. "They didn't know what I was last time. They thought I was a virus. It's okay though I don't mind, people get nervous at new programs they weren't told to expect."

He then stopped dead in surprise, taken somewhat aback. "You're Elecman?" Hub blinked his optics, which brightened curiously in a way a human's never could, and leaned this way and that. "You look so different! Are you like Rock, where you don't have an operator? The Elecman I met..."

Hub hesitated then, face falling just a bit at the reminder. He loved net battling for fun and in competitions, but it always felt... wrong, fighting viruses and the netnavis who were used by people with bad intentions. It wasn't their fault. They didn't get a say in what they had to do, and he supposed... in a way, he didn't either. He'd always agreed with Lan's choices, but what if he hadn't?

He shook off that train of thought and nodded at Elecman, once again looking curious. "Yes, as long as it is connected to the network or has an access port Lan's PET device can plug into. A communicator should be easy."

He linked his hands behind his back and peered at the back of the communication device. Even from where he was standing he could feel where the network fed into it, and the soft whispers of programs going about their routines and executing what Elecman wanted the device to do. It was comforting, hearing the murmur of nearby programs humming along. That was home, to him. It was sad that Lan and their friends weren't here, but...

Networks had always been home. They'd been all he'd ever known, after all.

"What sort of app?" He asked, then after a moment of considering what Elec wanted, dismissed his helmet and armored gloves and boots, leaving him down to his bodysuit. His hair of course immediately flopped in front of his eyes, and he puffed a vent out at it, but it just fell back into place. Maybe gravity effected this form more...?

Edited 2025-08-29 02:22 (UTC)

So his guitar calmed down and accepted the message.

Okay!

Yeah this definitely ranks pretty high on the list of weirdest things that has happened since arriving on the R2... and that's saying a lot.

"Operator? No I don't think so. Rock's my brother, so whatever he told you about his deal is probably pretty similar to mine. Gonna hesitate a guess and say Elec in your neck of the woods is no relation," a weird thought. The Lightbots have always felt close. Aside from the one time they were all brainwashed but we try not to think about that. He feels he's grown even closer since being here. Certainly he's filled with more panic every time Rock goes off to be a hero though that may be more due to the villains here possessing more then then one braincell Wily has SO...

"We actually share this room you know. I thought maybe I could lend you some of his things but he's shorter but then I thought... if you're digital, then a 'digital wardrobe' might work for you," he grins and finally finds the app he was looking for that had been shoved away in some misnamed folder on like the third screen.

He flips it over for inspection. The screen reads 'Makeover Madness'.

"He's your-" Hub's optics shot up to Elec's, wide and bright and filled with the shock of unexpected pain. He hadn't expected to hear that. Not at all.

He fell back a step, unable to disguise a flinch at the idea that wherever Rock and Elec were from, they would and could and did openly call each other family. That felt-

He shook his head hard and looked back up, offering something resembling a smile. "No, it- NetNavis usually don't have families. Technically. We just... they're all based upon similar source code, that's all."

He then blinked again, in a much less ache inducing way, and peeked around curiously at what was Rock's space too, then back to Elec and the screen. "Makeover Madness," he read aloud, then looked up at Elec with a tip of his head. "So this program contains clothing assets? The data cache shouldn't be too hard to track down and gain access to, especially if I ask the Mr. Progs nicely. If it's a game that usually uses an avatar, you can probably speed it up some, or have fun with it anyway."

He tried for another smile, and this one felt easier. Warmer. Grateful. His cheeks were warm, but it was hard to say why. Physical bodies were strange. "I... nobody ever thought to get me clothing assets before. It didn't even occur to me as something that would make me feel more..." He struggled for a word to fit that spot in his chest, but ended up just shrugging. "Thank you. It's a sweet thing to do."

Elec is silent for a moment. Somehow it's not very surprising to hear those kinds of things. And a lot of what he's saying echoes sadly for the experience of a Robot Master from his own world. It's something Elec's thought a lot about.

"It's because humanity is kind of selfish. It doesn't usually come from a bad place. Just a... place of ignorance. They're like parents who are too young to figure out how to really raise the kids they brought into this world," he shrugs, turning over to his dresser that has an assortment of accessories and beauty products scattered over it. He picks up a thin yellow headband he usually uses to keep his bangs out of his face when he does his synthetic skincare routine.

"A lot of times they don't really think beyond what our 'purpose is'. That of course we are perfectly happy doing just our job and duties. But... we're more then that. We have desires and wants. We want to explore ourselves, we want connections," He turns to Megaman again and brushes his unruly fringe back out of his face and slides the headband on. He offers him a grin and steps back, "That's why it's important to have a place you can 'turn off' who you are and and do things like dress up in clothes you like, or find a hobby that has nothing to do with your purpose, or just watch movies with your siblings."

Hub stared speechlessly at Elec, mouth working but nothing coming out. He felt like he ought to defend Lan and Lan's father and everyone, but... enough of it lined up with things he'd very guiltily done his best not to think about, that he simply didn't know what to say.

Then he blinked, because Elec was turning around and sliding a yellow headband onto his head. Hub just stood there unmoving for several seconds afterwards. His entire life before this point had not at all prepared him for this moment, and he didn't know what to say or do or think.

He blinked again, then several more times before he lifted a hand to lightly brush his fingers across it. It was new, it was something done just because, it-

A laugh bubbled out of his mouth, though he didn't know if he wanted to smile or cry. When he lowered his gaze back down to Elec, his cheeks felt warm again, though he didn't know what to say now, either. He hiccuped out another laugh. "I-"

He fidgeted with his own hair that had been pushed back, caught off guard and almost overwhelmed at the notion of just...doing things that had nothing to do with Lan or net battling or protecting Lan's family's home. Of people like him choosing to have a space all of their own and just... doing whatever came to mind...?

He'd never even thought of doing that before, not really. Even since he'd arrived here, he'd spent the vast majority of his time continuing to pass messages amongst the programs, because that's what he'd used to do when Lan was sleeping. Having a place to just... exist, with his-

He flinched again, his hand curling away from the headband and towards his chest. "I-" He moved his mouth for a moment. "I promised not to ever tell my- not to ever tell him who I was. I don't really-"

This kid has it rough. HAD it rough. From what he's gathered so far he's a virtual AI, who probably didn't exist in a state outside a virtual world, outside the purpose of being a virtual helper.

Is that better or worse then the fate of a robot master?

He decides the two are not comparable except for the fact that they both, inherently, kind of sucky situations. But his own situation and outlook have improved a lot here. He's not sure how or if those improvements could ever really translate to his situation back home... but that's a bridge for another day. Right now he wants this kid to feel like a kid. He should be able to freely explore this new dimension, both in the whole new world aspect and the literally he's in an actual 3D plane of existence, freely and to his core's content.

"You... wanna talk? We can put off the makover game for a little, why don't you sit down," he gestures to the little living area of the room. There are a few chairs around the little table Elec had been at, a squishy red couch and assortment of bean bag chairs.

Hub nodded wordless relief and smiled a wobbly but very real smile at Elec. He didn't know what he wanted or needed, but... being able to have company soothed a bit of his jangling nerves.

He moved to the furniture and paused, blinking in puzzlement at the bean bag chairs --what exactly were they, decorations?-- before moving past them to sit on the couch. He made a startled little noise when he sank into the cushions. The sensations were-

He twisted his head to look at Elec with wide optics, not even knowing how to verbalize this feeling. That soft things were... they were nice. He looked back at the couch again, lightly dragging his fingers across the fabric with an expression that warred between pained and awed.

He didn't know why his optics itched and burned, and he blinked rapidly before looking up at Elec again. "You said Rock is your brother?" His voice came out tighter and more strained than he wanted it to, and he tried to soften it with an attempt a smile, but...

"What- what is it like, getting to have that? That he knows. You both know." He looked down at his hands, and was distantly surprised again to see them without his gloves hiding his artificial skin. "I always wondered..."

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