Author Notes: Onward with the rewrite! For those wondering, Rose's history will be explained eventually, but it isn't important nor is it overly interesting. She doesn't have a glorious backstory with cherubs blowing trumpets in the Heavens, an angsty telling of her birth in this world surrounded by dead puppies and crying clowns, or anything of the sort; it's perfectly normal and perfectly bland. It's not really so much where she was as where she (and everyone else) is going.

Also, I've stepped away from Mandi Paugh (though I am thankful for her help in the original) and ventured out in to my own theories and opinions of the Megaman (Rockman) world. As such, I no longer go by the "living machines" theory and instead focus on my own opinions on the matter. Likewise, you will not see any of her characters in this rewrite.

And yes, the sequel will be rewritten as well. And people are trying to get me to rewrite ENSHS too. ;.;

We will be using the character's Japanese names; this is more for personal preference than anything else.

Rockman (Rock) - Megaman (Rock)

Blues - Protoman/Breakman

Forte - Bass

Gospel - Treble

Neither Yuki nor myself claim to own Megaman, the genre or the characters involved. Our interpretations of these characters are entirely our own and do not represent Capcom's views on said characters. Rose is my own personal brainchild while Rhythm belongs to Yuki.

-

Poison Of Love

By Neon Tiger and Yuki Ryu

Chapter 3

"Well, it's the moment of truth," Forte observed, solemnly. "Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and it won't explode, taking half the fortress with it!"

Wily fixed Forte with a level glare, and then grunted. "You're just mad that this robot's going to replace you."

"Feh," Forte sneered at the very thought.

"Activate her! Activate her!" Rose squealed happily, barely able to contain her excitement as she squirmed in the doorway. "I want to meet her!"

Wily's cheek twitched as he glanced at Rose, then at the robot she 'helped' him design. He obviously was still not too keen about the idea of a female fighting robot. Something about that just seemed wrong to him.

The robot in question was lying on the lab table hooked up to the main computer and awaiting activation. She was female, obviously, and had long dark blue hair that ended at her calves. Her armor was similar to Forte's design in that there was a breastplate, shoulder guards, and other such details similar to his, but her armor was more "fashionable" as Rose had put it. The dominant color was light blue with plating of slightly darker blue and deep blue with gold and white trimming it in various places. The helmet was of a radically different design, being segmented in a way that not only allowed for more protection to the face and the back of the head, but allowed her hair to flow free. Rose didn't like the normal helmet designs so she took it upon herself to make a better one that matched her new sister's armor.

Another change Rose made was in not having any sort of cod piece; instead leaving that area covered by the basic body suit to allow more maneuverability. Lastly, decorating the middle of the breastplate was a light blue jewel in the center designed to mimic the beauty of the Star of Ishtar, as the actual gemstone was deep within the robot, though the fake was much lighter in color. A couple of smaller identical gemstones were also placed on both sides of the helmet.

"ACTIVATE her!" Rose repeated, as if she thought Wily hadn't heard her the first time.

"... Fine," Wily sighed. Despite how he personally did not care for the design, if he gave in to Rose just this once, it would hopefully get the idea out of his 'daughter's system for good. "Here we go..." The doctor leaned forward to tinker with the wires, grinning with satisfaction at the ensuing spark before the robot's core hummed to life.

For a few moments all was silent as nothing further happened.

"Huh! No explosions!" Forte observed. Wily bopped him upside the head.

Unfortunately, while nothing terrible occurred, nothing else was happening as well. The robot remained prone on the table as if Wily had done nothing at all.

"... Damn it," Wily muttered. "What happened?"

Forte held his tongue, keeping his comments to himself.

Wily muttered irritably as he ran a system scan of the new robot. He frowned sharply as there were no errors and by all rights and respects she should have been functioning and activated by now.

"Didja kick it?" Forte offered. "That's how we fix most of the junk around here."

"You're not kicking her," Rose stated.

"Nothing I create is junk!" Wily snapped.

"Even Junkman?" Forte asked, 'innocently'.

Rose giggled.

Wily's eye twitched.

Without warning the robot suddenly opened her eyes, revealing them to be a bright brown, almost gold color, and then sat up.

"Ah...!" Forte's eyes widened.

"She's awake!" Rose gasped.

"YES!" Wily cackled. "I've still got it!"

The robot blinked, almost sleepily, at the three before she stretched her arms and yawned, as if waking up from sleep rather than having just been activated.

"So what's 'er name?" Forte asked, glowering.

"Rhythm," Wily announced proudly, quite giddy at his success. He then proceeded to crow about his achievement, even though his 'children' ignored him.

"... Cute," Forte stuck his tongue out.

The newly dubbed Rhythm blinked again and looked at each person in turn, tilting her head curiously.

"HI!" Rose squealed as she lunged at Rhythm, hugging her tightly. "I'm your sister!"

Rhythm started and blinked at Rose repeatedly. "Sister?" she wondered before returning the hug, figuring that was supposed to.

"Yes!" Rose nodded, smiling happily. "We're family!"

"Family..." Rhythm repeated before smiling, obviously liking the sound of that.

"Uh huh," Rose smiled even wider, oblivious to Wily's ranting behind her.

"Finally I'll be able to defeat that little blue meddler once and for all!" Wily crowed as he did an impromptu dance around the lab.

"C'mon!" Rose helped Rhythm up off of the table. "Let's go!"

Forte blinked at Rose but said nothing.

"Go where?" Rhythm blinked as she slipped off the table.

Wily continued to rant about how he would rule the world, oblivious to what Rose was doing with his new 'ultimate robot'.

"To the mall!" Rose grinned, unplugging Rhythm completely. "We're going shopping! You need new clothes!"

Forte sweatdropped but still said nothing.

"Okay!" Rhythm smiled cheerfully as Rose's enthusiasm rubbed off on her.

Wily paused in his boasting for a moment to cackle manically.

"Oh, I'm so glad to meet you, Rhythm! It's been so hard, being surrounded by nothing but guys. With all the Robot Masters, Forte, and Papa himself... there's enough testosterone in this fortress, artificial and not, to smother a girl!"

Forte watched as Rose darted out of the room with Rhythm, uncertain if he should try to stop them. Half of him said to stop him while the other half said to let them go. In the end, both Rhythm and Rose were gone before he could make up his mind.

Meanwhile Wily had finally finished his private celebration. "Now, Rhythm, it's time for you to-!" he stopped in mid-sentence, his jaw dropping as he noticed his new creation was gone, along with Rose.

"... I didn't do it!" Forte instinctively held up his hands.

Wily looked at Forte for a moment before he stared at the place where his two female creations once were.

"... I knew I shouldn't have made another girl."

-

"That was fun!"

"Of course," Rose nodded in agreement, swinging the bags in her hands happily.

Rhythm smiled as she carried twice as many bags as Rose, due to the fact that she was built stronger. Instead of her armor she wore a new, more 'stylish' outfit consisting of a pink sleeveless shirt, aqua pants, blue sneakers, and a pair of blue scrunchies on her wrists.

Following behind the two girls were a few of the Robot Masters carrying all of the 'heavy things', and generally staggering, as the bags mostly blocked their view.

"Thank you for helping us, by the way," Rose glanced back, smiling sweetly. "They were just so heavy."

"Yes, thank you!" Rhythm smiled cheerfully at the Robot Masters.

"N-no problem..." Pharaohman grunted as he and the others struggled with their loads.

"Don't worry about it, darlings!" Starman purred as he swung his hips, holding a bag of perfume and a few handbags. "You have such wonderful taste in clothing! How could I resist?"

"Thank you!" Rhythm smiled cheerfully at the compliment.

"Hehehe," Rose blushed delicately. "Thank you!"

"Shiny, shiny!" Woodman squealed.

"Uh... what were we doing again?" Gutsman blinked.

"So that's where you went," Forte leaned against the wall, watching the 'procession' as they entered. "Wily had a fit."

"Eh?" Rhythm blinked as she tilted her head slightly. "You mean he already knows about the clerk that sliced up his credit card?"

"... He will soon enough," Forte said, slowly. "But I meant about Rose running off with his 'prized robot'."

"Tee hee," Rose giggled.

"Prized robot? Do you mean me?" Rhythm asked innocently as she pointed at herself.

"Well, duh," Forte glowered.

Rose leaned over. "Ignore him. Big Brother Forte's just jealous 'cuz he didn't get to go."

"Oh, okay," Rhythm blinked, speaking lowly. "Maybe we should give him some of the things we bought for him?"

"... You bought me something?" Forte immediately perked up.

"Yep!" Rose grinned.

"Lemme see!" Forte darted over. "What'd you get me?"

"Lots of stuff!" Rhythm smiled cheerfully and set down her bags before rooting through one of them.

"Here!" Rose reached in to a bag Pharaohman carried and gave Forte a big black t-shirt with the words "Deliciously Evil" on the front in bright red and matching black pants. Forte blinked, then chuckled.

"And these too!" Rhythm smiled brightly as she pulled out a pair of custom-made plush dolls. One was a cutely super deformed version of Forte, while the other was in the image of Gospel. "There was a place in the mall that they could make dolls from pictures and Rose had some so we had them made for you!"

Forte blinked repeatedly, then chuckled again. "Cute."

"Isn't it!" Rose squealed.

Rhythm giggled, obviously pleased, as she handed the dolls over to Forte. She then turned around and rooted through one of the bags Gutsman carried and pulled out a black baseball cap that had "If you can read this you're already dead" written across the front. "We got you this too!" she chirped as she held out the hat to Forte. "Try it on!"

Forte blinked, then tugged off his helmet to reveal his dark onyx hair with a pair of purple streaks through the bangs and quickly put on the hat. He blinked and admired himself, smirking. "Heh."

"You look great, Big Brother!" Rhythm squealed happily.

"I always do," Forte beamed.

"Heh," Rose rolled her eyes, smirking.

Rhythm just giggled, obviously quite pleased.

"You look good enough to EAT," Starman purred.

Forte looked a bit freaked.

"Dinner time?" Gutsman blinked.

"I am not on the menu," Forte scowled.

"You should be!" Starman purred.

"Why would you want to eat Forte?" Rhythm blinked at Starman, obviously not catching the innuendo.

Rose leaned close and whispered. "He's being pervy."

"Oh," Rhythm blinked.

"Not pervy, my dear! Lustful!" Starman replied.

Rose rolled her eyes.

Forte paused to look at Rhythm, unable to believe that such a girl could possibly be the ultimate robot. There was nothing ultimate about her! She acted like just another non-combat robot, and a girl at that.

Forte watched as Rose and Rhythm began to talk back and forth, engaging in 'girl chitchat'. It further enforced his opinion that Rhythm could not possibly be a combat robot.

And he was going to prove it.

Forte grinned, then suddenly lunged forward and mock-punched at Rhythm. "THINK FAST!"

Instantly Rhythm tensed, eyes snapping open wide. Within the blink of an eye she caught Forte's wrist, almost out of reflex, and threw him over her shoulder into the bag-carrying Robot Masters.

"Eeep!" Rose gasped, covering her mouth as Forte yelped and slammed in to Woodman. Forte bounced off the mighty robot, who just stared at him stupidly, and came to a stop on the ground.

"A-ack..." Forte flinched and slowly sat up.

Rhythm blinked slowly as if not fully aware of what she had just done. She then gasped, horrified. "Oh no, look what you made me do!" she exclaimed.

Forte twitched visibly and glared at Rhythm.

"I hope you didn't break anything..." Rhythm muttered worriedly, either not noticing the glare or her concern causing her to ignore it.

"Oh, he didn't damage any of the merchandise," Starman grinned. "It's more resilient than that."

Forte glowered even more darkly.

"That's good," Rhythm sighed in relief before brightening again, shrugging off the incident.

Forte flushed darkly with humiliation and anger.

"... I'm glad you're all right, Forte..." Rose said softly, immediately sensing that something was upsetting him.

Forte nodded sharply.

"Me too," Rhythm nodded in agreement, smiling brightly.

Forte said nothing.

"Besides, sweet cheeks, that bra matches your eyes!" Starman added.

Forte paused, then flushed as he realized he had a bra on his head, and immediately threw it away as if it burned him. Rose picked up the bra and chuckled weakly.

A sudden sharp clapping caught the robots' attention.

"Splendid!" Wily crowed from where he stood in the doorway. "You've eliminated any doubts I had with that display of skill, Rhythm."

Forte flushed even brighter with humiliation.

"Oh, well, thank you, Papa," Rhythm blushed slightly. "But I didn't really mean for that to happen. I just... reacted without thinking."

Rose glanced sympathetically at Forte.

"Exactly," Wily grinned as he walked over to his newest creation, apparently oblivious to Forte's humiliation. "You were completely unawares and yet you still not only fended off Forte's attack, you turned it back at him as well!"

"Lucky shot," Forte muttered.

"Ah..." Rhythm blushed even more from the praise.

"Now, it's time we got started!" Wily cackled as he took Rhythm's arm and started dragging her off towards the lab.

"Started?" Rhythm blinked as she quickly started walking to keep up with her creator. "On what?"

Rose blinked.

"You, my dear, are going to defeat Rockman!" Wily cackled.

Rhythm blinked as she was quickly whisked away by Wily.

Forte fumbled to his feet.

Rose glanced after Wily, then turned to Forte and inched close to hug him softly. "It's all right."

Forte scowled.

"You're still number one with me," Rose told him.

Forte flushed slightly. "... Thanks."

"I love you too, puddin'!" Starman lunged. Forte yelped and jumped out of the way, then glowered.

"No."

"But I dooo!"

"Just don't."

"Poo."

-

Rose stared at the ground as she thought about what she was going to say, heading towards the lab to speak with Wily. She knew Forte was hurting inside due to what was happening with Rhythm. She may have been 'just a Robot' but she was highly developed, just like Forte. They felt pain, emotional and physical. So, she decided to talk to Wily and ask him to give Forte another chance; to help Forte feel better and fix his damaged pride. However, at the sound of Wily's voice, she paused to listen.

"So, do you understand what to do?"

"I think so..." Rhythm began. "I'm supposed to flirt with Rockman, lure him to the trap in the junk yard, and then fight him, right?"

Rose's eyes widened before she glowered, stomped her foot, and stormed into the room. "I THINK NOT!"

"What?" Wily whirled to face Rose. Rhythm blinked at her sister.

"Is that your plan!" Rose thundered, her face red as she pointed accusingly at her father. "She is not a sex object!"

"It's the perfect plan!" Wily argued. "Rockman won't suspect anything until it's too late!"

"It's chauvinistic!" Rose waved her pointed finger at Wily. "It's totally PIGGY!"

"It's good strategy!" Wily returned. "Cute girls turn boys' heads, and since Rockman has no idea who Rhythm is, it'll be easy for her to make him fall for her and then into my trap!"

Rhythm rubbed her head, wondering exactly was going on, but knew better than to get in the middle of a fight between her 'father' and sister.

"You can't play with someone's emotions like that!" Rose barked. She couldn't help but see the irony in the situation; Wily denied that robots could have emotions but had designed a plan to take advantage of the very thing he insisted robots didn't have. "It's wrong! And using a girl like that... It's just as wrong! It's double wrong!"

"All's fair in love and war, and using love in war is even better!" Wily snapped.

"That's a bunch of baloney and you know it!" Rose snapped.

"It doesn't matter so long as that blue busybody is gone!" Wily growled.

"IT DOES MATTER!" Rose pointed at Wily. "It's wrong to use emotions like that!"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! IT'S A PERFECT PLAN!" Wily stomped his foot angrily.

"IT - IS - NOT!" Rose retorted, stomping her foot to punctuate her words.

"What would YOU do instead then?" Wily demanded.

"Lure him in to a trap as you always do!" Rose retorted. "He always comes and he always tries to talk Forte out of fighting... and he tries to become friends!"

"That's exactly my plan! Rhythm will lure him into a trap with her feminine charms!" Wily returned.

"NO FEMININE CHARMS!" Rose barked.

"IT'S PERFECT TO HAVE ROCKMAN LOWER HIS GUARD!"

"It's still WRONG!" Rose roared. "Why can't you just use Forte to lure Rockman out... and have Rhythm sneak attack him!"

"ROCKMAN WILL STILL BE ON HIS GUARD!" Wily shouted.

"NOT IF HE'S FOCUSING ENTIRELY ON FORTE AND NOT ON A SNEAK ATTACK!" Rose screamed. "YOU'VE NEVER DONE A SNEAK ATTACK WITHIN A SNEAK ATTACK!"

Rhythm flinched at all the yelling and silently wished that they'd stop and calm down.

Wily paused. "A sneak attack within a sneak attack..."

Rose panted slightly as she glowered.

"... All right, I'll consider using your plan, Rose," Wily decided after a moment, since Rose's idea was a good one.

Surprised by Wily relenting, Rose blinked, and then nodded.

"That doesn't mean that I'll use it," Wily hastened to add, a scowl on his face. "I'll merely consider it verses my original plan."

Rose fixed Wily a gaze that told him that he'd better do more than consider it.

Wily returned the gaze steadily and stubbornly.

Rose glowered.

Wily scowled.

"Wow, you know you two look a lot alike when you do that," Rhythm commented, speaking up for the first time since the argument began.

Rose arched an eyebrow.

Wily started to arch his eyebrow at the exact same time, but stopped as he noticed Rose and scowled all the more.

Rhythm smiled innocently at the two.

Rose paused, and then suddenly her eyes moistened as her lower lip trembled.

Wily froze at the sight of Rose's pout. "... Don't you dare cry, Rose!" he ordered, but the attempt was futile.

Rose's eyes widened as they shimmered, twin pools forming in the corners of her eyes as her lip trembling increased.

"Rose? What's wrong?" Rhythm asked, concerned.

Rose sniffled.

"Now... Rose... don't cry," Wily repeated in a more soothing tone, vainly attempting to stop what he knew was coming next.

Rose sniffled again as 'tears' trickled down her cheeks slowly.

"Not again..." Wily sighed. He was able to handle fighting Rockman, dealing with the police, and even escaping from numerous maximum-security prisons, but he was no match for his 'daughter' whenever she cried. "Rose... just calm down and stop crying... please?"

"... Y-you don't like my idea..." Rose sniffed.

"I didn't say that," Wily said defensively. "I merely said I'd consider it verses my original plan... I wasn't saying that it isn't a good plan."

"Y-you d-d-don't like it!" Rose whimpered. "Y-you think it's stupid... You think I'm stupid!"

Rhythm started to sniffle as well because of how sad her sister was.

"I didn't say that," Wily tried to soothe. "It's a wonderful plan Rose, really!"

"T-t-then why won't you u-u-use it?" Rose wanted to know.

"Because I've already got a plan, and you know how stubborn we old men can be," Wily said in an almost fatherly manner. Despite how he might have been a maniacal madman hell-bent on ruling the world, he still had his moments of kindness, particularly towards his creations.

"... Y-yeah," Rose giggled slightly, snuffling.

"Papa... can't we use Big Sister Rose's plan?" Rhythm sniffled, her eyes shimmering with moisture.

Wily sighed, knowing that he was no match for the two girl robots. "Fine."

"YAY!" Rose squealed, jumping up and down happily before lunging to hug Wily. "Thank you!"

"YAY!" Rhythm cheered, happy because Rose was happy again and lunged to join in on the hug.

"You're welcome, Rose," Wily sighed again as he returned the hugs.

The doctor sighed a third time as he looked between his two female creations' smiling faces. If any of his other robots, including Forte, had tried to argue with him on anything, he would have never backed down, yet whenever Rose started to cry he caved in like a house of cards in a strong breeze. There was something about girls, robot or no, that somehow would always win in a battle of the wills.

He sighed once again. "I'm doomed," he thought.