Before this story starts off I would like to just say, hey, I did not copy this title from the old Zero Network that was on Fan years ago. In fact, I was the author of that story. I am here to present to everyone the new and improved Zero Network. I would also like to say that yes, the main character narrating the story was basically copied from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Anime. I wanted to try something new in this story, so I used that. So when you see bold text in the middle of the story, then you can safely assume that the main character is narrating. If you don't like it then just don't read the story... it makes it just that simple... All in all I hope you enjoy the story.
Zero Network
Chapter 1: A New Blade
Scene 1: Broken Chains
In the year 2068 the world is in the technological era. Most of the world depends on the internet and the uses of a computer. In this day and time people go about their lives without any concern about viruses or malfunctions in the devices that they use. Due to the technological advancements of the world, any time a virus appears the internet protection software instantly deletes the harmful programs. Technology has also advanced the world as well as the internet, allowing for cleaner and much safer means of transportation. Everything in the world is powered by electricity and solar powered machines. Even though the world seems to be a much safer place, net crimes continue to appear and disappear, as if they know how to create their own loop holes throughout the system. Every now and then a new organization of crime rises, then falls the week after. Unknown to the world, a new organization of crime is quickly rising to power…
In a laboratory somewhere in the outskirts of the city limits, a man walks through one of the hallways, stroking his chin while in deep thought. The man stops at a nearby window to gaze outside at the dark night sky. The moon was unusually dark for the nights time, but that did not worry the scientist. The man looks into the reflection of the window for a moment before closing his eyes. The man is completely bald with no facial hair at all to his double chin. He has sharp blue eyes, showing that this man has surely seen better days. He wears the normal white lab coat, something that is a fashion for scientists. Under the coat this man is wearing a brown suit with black dress shoes. The man continues on his walk, still stroking his chin as he seems to be in deep thought. While closing his eyes again, a man walks around the corner in the distance. His glasses shine at times as the moon shines through the windows while he walks towards the bald man. He also looks like a scientist as he wears the same white lab coat. He has short black hair with green eyes, his suit is red with black shoes.
"Professor Victor." the man in the red suit suddenly speaks as the bald man seems to jump a bit.
"Oh! You startled me Ivan… I was not expecting you until the morning came around." said Victor while extending his hand to greet the man.
"I like to make my visits a surprise… I'm here for my weekly inspection Victor." replies Ivan while shaking Victor's hand.
"I hope that my laboratory is up to your standards." Victor attempts to flatter him as he puts his hand back into his pocket.
"I hope so too Victor, I really like the work that you do here." Ivan replies as he walks ahead of Victor.
As the two of them walk through the dark hallways, Victor shows him all of the work that he and his men have been working on for that week. Ivan looks over the data cores closely while looking even closer at the programs running the cores. They walk into a lit room that is full of scientists at the moment, all hard at work on robotics. As soon as they notice Ivan and Victor walking into the room, they instantly stop what they are doing and face Ivan. The man in the red suit walks through the room as he closely looks over the legs and arms hanging from the ceiling. Some of the robots already functioning on the table across from him move around as he walks over to watch them. Ivan then turns to Victor before walking out of the room.
"I must say Victor, you and your team have made good time." he compliments as Victor almost seems upset to hear these words.
"Thank you Ivan, we work very hard here." replies Victor.
"You and your men can continue for another week. I will be back to inspect around them, good night to you sir." Ivan says his farewell while walking towards the exit of the building.
"How long must I endure his pathetic donations?" Victor mutters to himself as he turns to walk away.
As he walks along the dark hallways a beeper suddenly goes off. Victor reaches into his right pocket to get out a small device that he quickly places over his right ear. He presses a small red blinking button on the device before it extends a small rod that forms a see through screen over his right eye.
"I am reporting to tell you that we are ready to begin activation." a voice comes through the ear piece.
"That is good to hear, I will be right in." replies Victor as he takes the small device out of his ear.
He walks through many hallways before coming to a janitors closet at the end of the building. At the back of the closet he pushes down on a small bucket before rotating it clockwise. This causes a door to slide out of place, revealing a flight of stairs that lead downwards. As soon as he walks down the stairs the door slides shut behind him. The flight of stairs soon turn towards the opposite direction, still leading downwards. Very soon Victor reaches the bottom of the stairs where a heavy looking door lies in front of him. The hallway leading to the door is very narrow, but lined with small cameras along the way. He walks down the hallway before stopping at the heavy door, placing his hand on a small pad that is to the left of it.
"ID confirmed, Victor Sigma acknowledged." the female computer voice speaks as the door pops open a little.
Victor grabs the doors side and opens it enough for him to walk through. He shuts the door behind him before turning around to see a large monitor in the back of the room. Large energy generators run along the walls with computers next to them. Three on each side of the room, all complete with the most advanced security programs in the world. In the middle of the room is a large sphere that has metal all around it. This sphere is also directly hooked into the six computers in the room. On the monitor is a Net Navi, chained to a firewall in the spheres program. In front of the Net Navi is what looks like a data portal. The Net Navi is red, with a blue gem in the middle of his forehead. His helmet splits off to the sides and to the back of his helmet. This Net Navi also has very long blonde hair, almost savage looking. His red armor is cracked all the way down to his boots. His sharp green eyes are barely lit, even blinking at times. His white faceplate is broken off, revealing the raw data behind it. The shoulder pads stick out a bit to the sides with a spike extending that length.
"Begin the activation sequence." Victor tells one of the men as he nods his head.
"Yes sir." the man replies as he flips a few switches before typing a few words down on his computer. The sphere in the room begins to light up as the red Net Navi on the monitor begins to glow a bit. Raw data begins to flow out of the Navi's head as it begins to feel pain.
"Show me what the levels look like." says Victor while turning to another man on his left.
"Bringing them up now." the man replies as Victor walks over to him.
"Good. Alert me if they get out of control." Victor tells the man while returning his attention to the monitor.
The sphere begins to glow even brighter, even producing a small amount of heat. Victor walks a bit closer to the monitor as he takes notices to a red light forming over the data portal. As the Net Navi yells out in pain Victor seems to enjoy it, only waiting for the next scream. The red light forming over the data portal turns into a glowing sphere of its own, slowly taking in data from the red Net Navi. Suddenly the data flow stops, while Victor looks towards the computer with the power levels.
"It's no good sir, he's putting up a fight now." the man at the computer tells Victor.
"Who…" the Net Navi speaks as Victor turns to the monitor. "Who has done this to me…?" the Net Navi asks as Victor can only manage a smile.
"My name is Victor Sigma, I am in control of your pathetic life at the moment." says Victor as the Net Navi tilts his head a bit.
"Sigma… what do you want from me?" asks the Net Navi.
"I want your power, Zero." replies Sigma as the sphere behind him begins to blink.
"You do not realize… what you speak of is madness…" Zero argues as his data begins to leak again.
"You are on the verge of deletion, you have no right to speak anymore. Finish the project men." Victor commands his men as they all return to their work.
"Sigma… I will… give you what you ask…" Zero tells Victor as the bald man almost seems shocked.
"Your cooperation makes this process easy, thank…" "I was not finished…" Zero interrupts as Victor looks at the sphere.
"What are you doing!?" Victor shouts to Zero as the sphere begins to shake.
"I will give you what you ask for… but it will not be as you hope it to be…" Zero tells him as his body begins to glow. Suddenly a red flash blinds Victor as the monitor suddenly goes black before exploding. The sphere short circuits before steam rises from the top of the sphere.
"What just happened…? Get me the results right now!" Victor demands as one of his men stands to his feet.
"Sir! Come look at this!" one man speaks up as Victor rushes over to the man.
"What is it?" asks Victor while trying keep his temper in check.
"Look at this…" the man replies as the screen shows Zero, still chained to the firewall. There is no data leaking from him and his eyes are no longer lit.
"His body was not deleted… this must be because of the Zero Virus somehow… but where did our project go?" Victor asks himself as he looks around. All of his men are waiting for his orders at the moment.
"Sir? What now?" one of them finally speaks up as he snaps his head to the man.
"Call it quits for the night. Go upstairs to see if this caused any problems for our systems. I have to get some sleep, I have school in the morning." Victor tells his men as most of them acknowledge his command.
Hi there, my name is Blake Maverick.
A boy with short brown hair that barely reaches his ears walks through the school hallways, filled with new and old students. Blake wears a short sleeve shirt with a white strip going sideways on his chest and all the way around his back. He wears the typical blue jean pants with black shoes. He looks around the school with his emerald green eyes. He takes a firmer grip to his backpack, hoping to avoid the bullies in the area.
I am a freshman student at the Hikari High School. To start things off, I'm not your elite net battler. I basically lose every battle that I fight in. The town I live in is called ACDC, almost sounding like one of those rock bands you see on the news or music channels. I am starting my first day at High School today, but I'm not really looking forward to it.
"Hi Blake!" a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes runs past the boy as he stops for a moment. She is wearing a blue shirt with black jean pants. She runs through a crowd as Blake barely has enough time to see that she is wearing white shoes with flowers on them.
That was Emily Heeler, a friend of mine from Junior High. We graduated together at the same time of meeting each other. She's friendly but you shouldn't screw with her, she'll knock your teeth in. My life was somewhat perfect before I started this day, completely oblivious to everything around me, not caring about virus attacks. Everything was just fine until I met my science teacher…
"Attention students, I am your science teacher Victor Sigma. From this moment on I will be teaching you the thrills that is science. You are either in here because you figured it was an easy class, or you actually want to learn." Victor says in a loud voice as he looks around his new room full of fresh meat. He spots one boy sleeping on his desk next to Blake, who at the moment is at the point of breaking out in sweat. Victor walks over to the boy before looking at Blake.
Is this guy serious? Doesn't he know that suddenly waking someone up while in deep sleep can potentially harm them or worse?
"WAKE UP!" Victor's voice thunders through the classroom, even causing the boy to fall out of his seat.
I guess not… is this guy suppose to be in science or in allegiance with the grim reaper?
"Huh…? Where am I?" asks the boy as Victor bends down and gets in his face.
"You're in school… and I am your worst nightmare…" Victor tells the boy as he begins to tremble in fear.
I guess this guy really is serious…
"Now if nap time is over, I'd like to start our first class together by going over names. I expect you to speak up if I call your name." Victor tells them as the students all share a laugh at the sleeping boy.
To be perfectly honest, what kid actually enjoys going to school? I mean, it's not like we're going to die if we miss school, or the world will fall into chaos because the world is full of idiots! Well… maybe that last one would happen, but I can dream.
"Blake Maverick!" Victor shouts as he slams down his hands on Blake's desk.
"Y-Yes sir!" stutters Blake as he looks into Victor's eyes.
"Blake Maverick? Are you trying to be funny? Is that really your name?" asks Victor while a few kids begin to chuckle amongst themselves.
"Well, seeing as how my name is on your fancy paper of names, yeah. My last name is Maverick." Blake somewhat smarts off as Victor becomes irritated.
"So you think you're a funny guy?" asks Victors.
Crap.
"Not really… it would be kind of hard for me to fake my last name on an official school paper like that. That is all I am saying…" Blake replies in the most possible pleasant way.
"You're right." says Victor while turning around.
I can't believe I just got away with smarting off to the teacher! Maybe High School won't be as bad as I thought it would be!
"By the way, just for smarting off to me you get the first detention notice of the year." Victor tells Blake while looking back at him.
I hate my life.
"Now let's begin our class shall we?" Victor asks everyone as he returns to the front of the classroom.
The rest of the day was just as boring and interesting as it could be. From science I went on to history, where my teacher seemed to be a bit frantic about teaching so many kids. Her name is Julia West. Now when you think of the name Julia you somewhat get the idea that she is a strong and stern lady. I was keeping that thought until she screamed at the sight of me walking into the classroom and ran out while crying. When I asked the other students what the heck just happened, they informed me that she was a nervous breakdown waiting to happen. From history I went on to lunch, where I ate by myself until Emily came along to sit next to me. At this point you're probably thinking that this girl must be the love interest of the story? You couldn't be more wrong…
"Blake, give me your tray!" Emily says before ripping his tray out from under his face.
"H-Hey!" Blake shouts to her as she suddenly slings it across the room.
"FOOD FIGHT!" screams Emily as Blake starts to panic.
"Yeah!!" a boy shouts from across the room.
"You fool! You're walking right into her trap!" Blake shouts at the boy as the food begins to rain down from the air.
The food fight went on for about five minutes before the Principle walks through the doors. The Principle just so happened to be another woman, but unlike my history teacher, this woman looked like she was about to shoot all of us in the head, one by one. It just so happened that she looked down to see a paper bag that had my name written on it. My mother made me that lunch and put my name on it just in case. It turned out to be the reason I was given extra detention. Emily is a cruel and sadistic girl…
"Is this how you want to start your first day of school!?" the Principle basically screams at Blake. She is wearing the typical small bottle shaped glasses with black hair that is put up in a bun at the moment. She is wearing a fancy looking red suit with a blue dress shirt under it. Blake looks at her name which is on the small little board on her desk. Lyra Helpers.
Helpers? And Mr. Sigma thought my name was fake?
"No ma'am…" Blake replies as he looks around the room, which is full of trophies and ribbons.
"Since this is your first day here at Hikari High, I will not call your mother, but you will get extra detention for this. Do not let this happen again! Do I make myself clear!?" she shouts at him as Blake nods his head.
"It will not happen again Ms. Helpers!" Blake replies.
"Actually it is Mrs. Helpers." she comments while turning her large red seat around.
Mrs.? You mean to tell me that someone actually married you!? I guess there is love in even the cruelest of people…
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Helpers." Blake corrects himself as he walks out of the room.
Now I know what you are thinking, I could have easily pointed out that Emily started the food fight and been home free. Even though she did throw the first bit of food, and even though I am not interested in her, I can't refuse a cute face like that. I figured she would just owe me one sooner or later… I hope. Detention was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was in a small room with a big snoring guy and another guy who looked like he was just itching to attack something. The big guy was wearing the typical bully outfit, even complete with his own bulldog collar around his neck. He stunk of animals at the same time, as I noticed hair all over his black clothes. Even his bald head had some hair on it because of it being animal hair. The other guy had long brown hair that reached his shoulders. He wears thick glasses and his face does not look so well trimmed. His clothes looked dirty so I assumed that he attacked his own bathtub in a heroic attempt to get to school. While the company was as if I was staying at Four Seasons Hotel, I cannot believe they made my history teacher the detention teacher. What in the world possessed them to appoint her the teacher of detention? I suppose she can get some quiet time while in this room, so she might have begged them to put here in this room. There is only one window and the rest of the room is basically clean. Yeah, she must have begged them.
"Hey bud, what are you in for?" asks the guy who was snoring a moment ago.
Yeah, this guy has a bright future.
"My friend started a food fight and I was blamed for it." Blake replies while trying to keep his voice down.
"So why didn't you bust'em?" asks the guy as he scratches his armpit.
"Well I didn't want to get her in trouble…" Blake replies as he tries to hold back his vomit.
"A girl? Why didn't you just say that!? You're always suppose to let the pretty girl get away with the deed!" the guy laughs as he hits Blake in the back.
That really didn't help me feel any better about the situation. It only made me think that I was starting to think like a thug.
"All right students, detention is over and you may use your Personal Terminal's now. Please have a safe trip home." Mrs. Helpers voice comes through the speakers at the back corner of the room.
Now before you ask, a Personal Terminal is a device that contains something called a Net Navi. This is a life like program that interacts with its Net Operator, or the one using the Terminal. The short term for Personal Terminal is PET.
"You want to net battle?" asks the guy with the animal hair falling from his shirt. He takes out a dark brown PET from his backpack that seemed to be hidden under his desk. He places the PET on his wrist before strapping the velcro around it.
The PET is round near the hand area, but looks like a small box above the wrist. In the middle of the PET is a green screen that is kind of like a window to look at your Net Navi whenever you want. The two buttons on the right side of the PET help when people call or text you. All in all a PET really looks like a larger version of a cell phone, but strapped to the wrist with a powerful program installed.
"Not really… I'm not into the whole net battle thing. I kind of suck at it…" Blake admits to him while strapping on his own PET.
"That PET is just the standard grey color! You mean to tell me that you haven't even made your own personal Net Navi!?" asks the thug with shock.
"I really don't have a need for a super Net Navi if I never use it to battle. All I need it for is an alarm clock and a map at times." replies Blake as the guy shrugs his shoulders.
"Whatever man, I'll see you around." he tells him while saluting him. The guy with the long hair just walks out of the room without even glancing at Blake.
It was true, I did not like Net Navi's. After school I walked all the way home since the bus driver did not feel like waiting for me. Honestly, the worst day of school I have ever had. On the way home I noticed a few power breakers that apparently blew a fuse. I've never seen so many men attempting to fix a single breaker box at the same time. I was about to break out the bad jokes when I realized they could easily kick my butt. On top of that my mom screamed at me for an hour straight because she somehow found out that I was in detention. I later find out that Emily was the one that let the cat out of the bag. The sadistic girl that she is… After relaxing in front of the television for a few hours I headed up to my room to get some sleep. Unknown to me my computer was on the entire day, which kind of ticked me off. I have a younger brother and an older sister, one of them would pay. For now, I just wanted to get some sleep. I took off my PET before placing it on the charger for the night. As soon as I put it in the charger I receive the shock of my life. As I fly back and hit my bed, hard, I notice a red light glowing from my PET.
"What's going on here?" asks Blake while watching so many programs go by the screen at the same time.
Little did I know, that this day would be the last normal day of my life.
Chapter 1
End of Scene 1