Disclaimer: I don't own Rockman.EXE, I never have and I never will. Would be nice though :p The series belongs to Keiji Inafune and Capcom.
(Chapter 1)
"Aqua Tower!" a mermaid Navi by the name of Umi called out. She and her operator had decided to warm up on their virus busting. Their test mission for the Net Saviors was in two weeks. Her attack hit a lot of viruses, deleting them.
"Good, you're getting better at this" Umi's operator, Keshiro Kurisutaru told her. She smiled, so did Umi.
"Thanks Kuri-chan, but the mission is going to be tougher than this" Umi replied, Kurisutaru nodded.
"I know, but deleting viruses can be good practice for Netbattling, how do you think Netto-kun and Rockman got so good?" Kurisutaru said.
"Yeah, and he's a Net Savior for Japan now, right?" Umi asked, Kurisutaru nodded.
"Umi, I know you don't like it, but Dragoman is one of the Navis on our team for the test mission. Though it'll be good if both Ademu-kun and me can pass and we become partners" Kurisutaru told her.
"I read the email. I didn't recognise any of the other Navis' names on the list though. I guess they're other candidates who want to become Net Saviors" Umi replied. She closed her eyes and her fin changed into legs. It was an ability she hadn't had long, and she was glad Kurisutaru now had the knowledge to give her upgrades like it.
"I'm sure whoever is leading the team will have a good strategy for us on the day Umi. Anyway, plug out. I'm tired" Kurisutaru replied with a yawn. Umi nodded.
Umi.EXE: Logging Out
(Elsewhere...)
A black haired, green eyed boy was on his bed, looking at a photograph. This was Ademu. The photo was of him and his little sister Michirure two years ago. Her Navi, Heart, had taken the picture. The red headed girl had jumped on his back, and he was glaring at her. They were close, but there were times when they had argued in the past. She had been killed just over two months ago.
"Ademu" a voice called out. He turned to the door, to see Kurisutaru's father Reo standing in the doorway. "You should be getting some sleep" he told the boy, when he noticed the photograph. "You shouldn't dwell on it Ademu, she wouldn't want you to be sad over this, would she?" he asked. Ademu shook his head.
When Ademu explained his story to Reo when he came to Creamland with Kurisutaru, he had told Reo about Michirure, and what happened. Reo knew Ademu was trying to get over what happened, but it was hard for him.
"You're right, thanks Reo" Ademu replied. Reo walked out as Ademu turned off the lamp beside his bed.
(Over in Japan, the next morning...)
A loud bang is heard as Hikari Netto has just fallen off of his bed, again. Rockman sighed in his PET. His operator had ended up wrapped up in his blanket
"Netto-kun, you have email from Kuri-chan" Rockman told him.
"Wha...? What'd you say Rockman?" Netto asked, still half asleep.
Rockman took a deep breath "WAKE UP NETTO-KUN!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Netto attempted to get up, but lost his balance because of being tangled in his blanket and fell back onto his bed, hitting his head on the wall behind it. This woke him up. "Oww..." he said as he got up and untangled himself from his blanket, and started rubbing his head.
"I said you have email from Kuri-chan" Rockman replied.
"From Kuri-chan? When did she send it?" Netto questioned as it got up off his bed and walked over to his desk, where his PET was rested in it's charger.
"This morning, you would've seen Umi if you'd have got up" Rockman answered.
"Bring it up" Netto told him, Rockman nodded and brought up the email.
'Hey Netto! How's things in Japan? Everyone doing okay since I left? Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't emailed any of you until now, I've been really busy with school and stuff. Mama probably hasn't told you yet, but I'm getting ready to become a Net Savior! I'm taking my test mission in just under two weeks now (You and Enzan never had to take it because I think you two were exceptions to the rule, you two got lucky) so at some point I might get to work with one of you. I'd best get this to you or I'll never finish, even though I've got time, with you being lazy as you are on a morning. Wish me luck' the email said
"Well, it's good to hear from her. Kuri-chan a Net Savior? I never thought she'd even think about it" Netto replied.
"Umi said she's got better at netbattling and programming, and she wants to put her skills to good use. Kuri-chan said she would've netbattled with us if you were up" Rockman told him.
"Did she say when she'd send Umi here next?" Netto questioned.
"She said with her test mission coming up, she needs the practice with nebattling. So she can't really get distracted from it by sending Umi here, but she doesn't mind us going to see her and sparring with her. She gave me a link to her homepage" Rockman answered.
"Cool, we can go see her..." Netto started but his stomach began to growl, he sweatdropped "...right after breakfast!" he finished as he left the room, got a shower, brushed his teeth, got dressed and grabbed his PET before going downstairs.
(Over in Creamland...)
"Lava Fist!" a red armored knight looking Navi called out. He had a dragon's head over his left arm. His right fist grew a bit before he punched Umi. Kurisutaru sent her a Met Guard and she used it to block his attack.
Kurisutaru then got out three chips as Umi leapt back from Dragoman. "Program Advance! Battlechip Bubble Shot! Triple Slot-In!" Kurisutaru said as she sent the chips to her Navi.
A large cannon formed on Umi's arm. She aimed at the knight looking navi "Bubble Spread!" she yelled as she fired the cannon.
"You want to play that way then? Battlechip Area Steal! Slot-In!" Ademu called as he sent the chip, his Navi dodged the attack. "Flame Line 3! Triple Slot-In!" he added as he sent the combo.
"Flame Cross!" the knight shouted as he slammed his fist into the ground, five towers of fire formed from the ground in a cross shape, and hit Umi. She logged out.
"You're getting better Umi, but you're still not quick enough with your attacks to beat me" the knight called to her from the computer.
"You don't have to always fight me at full strength Dragoman" Umi replied, folding her arms over her chest and looking off to the side.
"Dragoman's right Umi-chan, we need to be a bit quicker. C'mon, don't be like that. Dragoman's just trying to help us. He and Ademu have had much more battle experience than we have" Kurisutaru told her Navi. Umi unfolded her arms and turned to face her operator with a smile on her face.
"Okay Kuri-chan, but are we still going to see Neta-chan? I mean, even with all this praticing we're doing" Umi asked.
"Of course we are. But I just want to get some good pratice in before we go see her. Besides, I want to wait for Netto and Rockman to get here" Kurisutaru answered.
"Won't Netto still be in bed?" Ademu asked.
"Well, probably, but I'm sure Rockman has his ways of getting him up" Kurisutaru replied as she plugged Umi back in.
"Yeah, but I just wish they'd work a bit quicker" Rockman chimed in. Dragoman jumped as he saw him. Everyone else laughed.
"Where'd you come from!" Dragoman questioned.
"The link" Rockman answered, pointing a thumb behind him, where the link to Kurisutaru's homepage was.
"Rockman, hello! Netto's up?" Kurisutaru asked him, he nodded.
"Took a while, but yeah, he's up" Rockman replied.
"How's everything in Japan?" Umi asked.
"Great but Netto-kun's been back at school two months and he's already had a few detentions. Besides that, all of us are doing great" Rockman answered.
"Cool, I hope I can get to come see all of you soon" Kurisutaru replied. A screen opened up above Rockman's head.
"We hope you can too Kuri-chan. Have you heard from Saratu?" Netto asked.
"She's emailed me a few times since I last saw all of you. She's doing fine" Kurisutaru answered.
Kurisutaru and Saratu were twins, and did care a lot about each other. While researching into their mother's death, Saratu got involved with Regal and Nebula, along with Ademu. Ademu managed to break away from working for Regal, but Saratu still hadn't. Even though how much Saratu hated him, Regal could have her family kidnapped, and threaten to kill them if she didn't work for him. Saratu didn't want that.
"Any chance for a Netbattle Netto?" Ademu questioned.
Dragoman cracked his knuckles "I could use a challenge" he added with a smirk.
"Later you two. I wanted to wait for Netto so we could go see Mama, I said I'd bring Netto and Rockman next time I went to see her" Kurisutaru replied.
(In the Science Labs' server...)
Yuuichiro was working on a Navi. Her bodysuit had a yellow/orange design, and had an icon like Rockman's. The differences were that the border was orange, the inside was red, and the line crossing through it was drawn in the opposite direction. Her whole body seemed stiff, and she had a wind up key fitted into her back instead of a pack. She had long blonde hair flowing down her back, and she was helmetless. She had bright blue eyes, which looked to be made of glass, a very pale face, and red spots on her cheeks. The wind up key was currently turning.
"Neta, I'm about to put in the last part of this code. Are you ready?" Yuuichiro asked. The navi on the screen nodded. He put in the last part of the code, and executed what he had done.
Neta seemed to relax as the code took effect. She then proceeded to walk around a bit, moving her fingers as she did. She smiled at the screen. "You've done it Yuuichiro! I'm not stiff anymore!" she exclaimed. Yuuichiro smiled at her as she moved around freely. Her body had been stiff for the past few months, and except for her shoulder and thigh joints, her body was completely frozen. Her neck was moveable, but it was hard for her to move it. As she walked around, her body stiffened again and she lost her balance, and she fell straight to the floor, flat on her face. "I hate this damn virus!" Neta yelled.
"We almost had it that time too. This virus must be able to redo any damage that I try to fix" Yuuichiro replied.
"But no other Navi has been infected by touching me since you fixed that problem" Neta replied. At that point, Umi, Rockman and Dragoman logged in. Umi noticed Neta, and she ran over to her, then helped her into a sitting position.
"Thanks Umi. You just get here?" Neta asked, Umi nodded. Neta then noticed Rockman and Dragoman. "Thanks for coming Rockman, Dragoman" she replied.
"What did you want me for Neta? Normally you talk to Kuri-chan and Umi in private" Rockman asked.
"I know, but I just wanted to hang out for a while" Neta answered. She turned to Umi "Can you help me up Umi?" she asked. Umi nodded and grabbed Neta's waiting hand, and pulled her to her feet and made sure she was balanced before letting go of her. Neta sighed "I hate being a doll..." she said, hanging her head.
"Cheer up Neta, you will be cured, someday" Dragoman told her.
"If we had the virus that did this to Neta, we could make a vaccine and destroy the infection, and I could start undoing the damage. But everytime one of our Navis gets a lead, the virus that was spotted gets deleted. It's like someone knows about Neta's infection, and wants to make sure she isn't cured" Yuuichiro said.
"But who'd want me to stay like this? I mean, I don't know that many Navis outside of Nebula's operatives and my friends..." Neta questioned.
"None of the Nebula operatives had a grudge against you and Saratu?" Rockman asked.
"Not that I know of" Neta answered.
"Maybe an old enemy? Someone we don't know could've somehow found out you used to be human" Netto suggested.
"Maybe, but I can't think of any old enemies, but I could've forgotten about them when I became a Navi" Neta replied.
"Maybe Nebula just want you out of the way? They probably didn't take too well the fact that you changed sides when Saratu threw you away" Ademu suggested.
"Then we've got to get one step ahead of them and go looking for that virus" Neta answered. The key in her back then stopped turning. She froze up completely. It was the eftect of the virus she probably hated most. She had to be wound to be able to move or speak at all.
"You're staying put, since you can't fend for yourself in your condition, it won't be safe for you" Yuuichiro told her. Umi began winding Neta up.
"But what can we do? Whoever is deleting the viruses that we need seems to know where to find them" Umi questioned as she finished turning the key and letting it go.
"The most common place for any strong virus is the Ura Net. But it could be dangerous down there, even for you Rockman" Yuuichiro answered.
"Our skills are getting better, and I'm sure Enzan will agree to this. I'm sure we'll be able to convince Meijin to let us go to the Ura Net" Netto replied. (Author note: As far as I'm aware, the Ura Net hasn't been introduced in the anime yet.)
(End of Chapter)