Rock Man EXE 5 Twin Leaders: Alternate History
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: One March morning
09:48 AM (Japan Time), Saturday March the 11th, 2005…
"… t… kun! …tto – kun! Netto – kun!"
"…Hmmm…"
Hikari Netto, aged 11, was mumbling as he leant his head over his arms atop his work-desk: his PC's screen had the Hikari family mark screensaver on and the new-style PET had been left on the rightmost corner of the desk: it was rumbling and shaking while Rock Man EXE called out to his Operator.
"Netto – kun! You shouldn't be napping! You haven't finished your homework yet, right!" He scolded him.
Netto yawned and stretched his arms upwards as if finally waking up: Rock Man sighed while Netto rubbed his eyes.
"Fua~h… 'Morning, Rock Man…"
"It ain't "morning" anymore, Netto – kun! I thought you'd started to do the homework and then you suddenly fall asleep…" Rock Man grumbled in clear annoyance.
"Well! Ain't that fine? It's not like I dozed off during training… And, well… Why don't we go to the Internet to shake off the sleep?" Netto shrugged and seemingly tried to come up with a loophole to the whole thing.
"Hmmm… Just a little while, though! As soon as I Plug-Out… Then you gotta continue the homework!" Rock Man settled.
"Roger, roger! Plug – I...!"
"Netto~! Can't you come over for a sec?" Hikari Haruka called out from the ground floor.
Netto stopped his Plug-In pose just as he was starting and fumed before turning around and looking towards the slightly open bedroom door leading out into the stairs.
"Mama… What's up? Ha~i!"
Netto picked the PET and placed it inside of the holster while he lazily headed downstairs and into the kitchen/living room: Haruka was doing something with the oven and she looked up.
"Hey, Netto. Can I ask a favor out of you? I'm a bit busy, you see." She requested of him.
"Yup! Alright!" Netto tried to look welcoming.
"Really? How helpful! Well then, I'd like of you bring this to a friend's Navi…" Haruka told him.
She handed him a piece of paper with some annotations on it titled "Stew Recipe" so Netto picked it with his right hand.
"Where's Mama's friend's Navi at?"
"They're at a place named "Kitchen Cybernetics", so I'm counting on you. The "Kitchen Cybernetics" can be accessed from the Internet's Akihara Area 2!" She instructed.
"Roger! Well then! Let's go, Rock Man!"
"Yup! Let's Plug-In from your PC, Netto – kun. Send me to the Cyber World!" Rock Man confirmed with a welcoming smile.
"Yeah! Leave it up to me! We're gonna Plug – In right away!"
"Go! But be careful!"
Netto rushed back upstairs and stopped in front of his PC to take out the PET and aim its IR port at his screen's IR port.
"Plug – In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"
He hit the "Plug-In" button and the IR beam jumped off the PET and made contact with the screen thus allowing Rock Man to get inside.
"Ah! Netto – kun! Some Viruses have sneaked inside of the HP!"
In effect: a pack of 3 Mettool Viruses had sneaked inside of the HP and looked hostile.
"Alright, Rock Man! Let's do some "Virus Busting" as warming up!" Netto grinned.
"Yup! Handle the "Operating"! But, Netto – kun… Can you properly "Operate" right after waking up?" Rock Man questioned with a slight hint of skepticism.
"I'm totally woken up by now!" He replied as if defending himself.
"Really? Well then, let's go!"
"Battle Operation, Set!"
"In!"
"Tackle the left guy first! Battle Chip, Cannon! Slot In!"
"Cannon! Counter Hit!"
"Battle Chip, Sword! Slot In!"
"Good! One left!"
"Eh… Battle Chip, Area Steal, Wide Sword! Double Slot In!"
"Take this!"
"METTO~!"
"…We did it! Well done, Netto – kun!" Rock Man sighed in relief once the last one had been deleted.
"Well done, Rock Man! Good! Let's go run Mama's errand! If memory serves… The "Kitchen Cybernetics" is close to Akihara Area 2! Well then… Let's depart!" Netto complimented.
"Roger!"
Rock Man stepped out into the general Internet while humming a tune.
"…Hi, Rock!" Someone called out.
Rock Man spotted Roll EXE, Sakura Meiru's Net Navi, walking over to his spot so he stopped to greet her with a smile.
"Hiya, Roll – chan."
"Ya going somewhere?" She asked him.
"Well, I'm running an errand for Mama…" He admitted.
"Oh! True. Guts Man and Glyde are in Akihara Area 2. If you meet them then you could chat with them?" She suggested to him.
Rock Man nodded in agreement and blinked the right eye to her before they headed separate ways: Rock Man continued into the Akihara Area 2 while glancing at the Navis and Program – kuns going up and down the main avenue: he spotted Guts Man (Ooyama Dekao's Net Navi) and Glyde (Ayanokouji Yaito's Net Navi) standing in a square and doing something so Rock Man headed for Guts Man.
"Guts, guts! If ain't Rock Man, de guts!"
"Hiya, Guts Man!"
"I'm exchanging Chips with Glyde, de guts! Should be expected… Glyde, being Yaito's Navi, has some nice Chips! De guts!" Guts Man admitted with a little chuckle.
"Hiya, Glyde!" Rock Man greeted next.
"… Hiya, Rock Man – san. Good morning, sir! Are you going somewhere, sir?" He politely asked back.
"Well, I'm running an errand for Mama…"
"…That is admirable, sir. It would be nice if Yaito – sama took care of some of the house's tasks, yet… But I talk too much, anyway." He let out a little chuckle.
Rock Man waved good-bye to them before he spotted a "Warp Point" into which he stepped to enter the "Kitchen Cybernetics".
"…Excuse me… Are you Mama's friend's Navi?"
"My! It's Rock Man – chan from Hikari – san's household. I always listen to the tales of Haruka – san, you see." The Navi giggled.
"Mama charged me with this."
He tried to ignore Netto's giggle in the background: he obviously found it funny how the Navi had used the "-chan" suffix on him.
"My. You took the bother of coming to hand it over. Haruka – san's house-made stew is divine. That's why my Operator requested of her to know the recipe! Thank you~! Let's start making this straight away! Tell Haruka – san I am thankful." The Navi sounded pleased.
The Navi plugged out so Rock Man sighed in relief and then cleared his throat as he formed a slightly evil smile and glanced at the holographic screen displaying a close-up of Netto's face.
"Well, Netto – kun… Now that we've ended Mama's errand… You should resume the homework…" He reminded him.
"Whaddya saying? Up until now I was doing Mama's errand! My "Internet Time" starts now!" Netto came up with another loophole.
"Jeez! How sneaky! Netto – kun…!" He complained.
The PET beeped and Rock Man spotted how a patch of the ground's circuitry lighted up: an email icon popped out of the ground and Rock Man reached out to it to open it up and read the contents.
"… Netto – kun, mail! Ah! From Papa… I'll read it… "Netto. Could you gather the group and come to Papa's lab in the Science Labs? There's something I want to show you." … So it says! I wonder what Papa wants to show us..." Rock Man read before wondering aloud.
"… By "the group" he gotta mean Meiru, Dekao and Yaito… Alright! Let's Plug – Out ASAP and go round the guys up! Rock Man! Plug – Out!" Netto muttered before announcing a command.
"Roger!"
Netto retrieved Rock Man and then ran downstairs: he headed over to Haruka who had just finished a phone call.
"Netto, Rock Man, thank you. I got a call from my friend saying "thanks"…"
"Mama! We're going to visit Papa!" Netto announced.
"He told us to come via the email." Rock Man added.
"Eh? You're going to visit Papa? Go. But be careful."
"O. K.! Later!"
"Later!"
Netto picked his orange sneakers plus the rollerblade attachments and rushed out into the street: he turned right and rang the bell of Meiru's house: she soon opened the door.
"Hey! Meiru!" Netto greeted with a smile.
"What's up, Netto?" She asked.
"Papa wants to show us something so he requested of me to bring everyone along to the Science Labs." Netto told her.
"Fine, then! But I'd like to do some preparations."
"… Well then… Let's meet in 30 minutes' time in front of the Metro Station!" He suggested.
"Yeah. Later."
Netto whistled a tune and headed over to Dekao's house: he knocked on the door and found it unlocked so he stepped inside and changed his sneakers for slippers and sneaked into Dekao's room where he was doing something with the PC: he tapped his right shoulder from behind and Dekao turned around with a grin on his face.
"Hey! Dekao!"
"Yo~! Netto! What's up?"
"Well! Papa wants to show us something and wants me to bring everyone over to see it."
"Oho! Ain't that really interesting?"
"… Well then! Let's meet in 30 minutes' time in front of the Metro Station!" Netto instructed.
"Okay!"
"Well then, later!"
Netto ran out and put his sneakers again before heading to the Ayanokouji mansion and making the interphone ring.
"Yo~! Yaito!" He called out.
"My! If it ain't Hikaru – kun. What's up?"
"My Papa wants to show us something so he told me to bring everyone along."
"Hum, hum… I have no problem with that but I can't go out so suddenly. If a lady is going out then she has to take care of some preparations, you know." Yaito calmly replied.
"… Gotcha! So let's meet in 30 minutes' time in front of the Metro Station!" He settled.
"In 30 minutes' time, then. Gotcha." She giggled.
"Well then, let's meet later!"
Netto ran off and headed to the small square in front of the station where Higureya was located at: Higure Yamitarou was humming a tune and cleansing the store.
"My beautiful and shining Rare Chips, de masu~… They dance back and forth along the "Slot-In" slot, de masu~…"
"Heh, heh, heh!" Netto giggled at it.
"Jeez. I don't find it laughable."
10:41 AM (Japan Time)…
"…It's about the time…"
"Netto~! We kept ya waiting!"
Netto stood up from one bench after doing something with his PET because Meiru and Yaito had rushed to meet up with him: Yaito suddenly looked around and frowned.
"Huh? Where's Dekao?"
"Hasn't come yet…" Netto admitted.
"… Making me, Yaito – chan, wait for him… The guy gotta have some guts!" She annoyingly muttered.
"Come on, Yaito – chan. He'll surely come in time. But telling us to come as well… What could the deal be about?" Meiru muttered.
"I don't have any hunches, either. But if Papa purposely told us to come over then… Isn't he gonna show us something cool?" Netto admitted before drawing a big grin across his face.
"Wo~h! Huff, huff! No good! My bad, my bad! I got absorbed with Guts Man's maintenance and it turned out to be past the agreed meeting time!"
Dekao had rushed there and stopped to catch his breath again.
"You should be able to uphold a meeting time at the very least!" Yaito snapped at him with obvious annoyance.
"Come on! We've gathered already. So let's go already!" Meiru rallied as she headed for the station's entrance.
"Yessir! Let's go~! Follow me!" Dekao grinned.
"My Rare Chips sing with energy, de masu~!"
"Heh, heh, heh!"
"Jeez. Don't laugh at Higure – san, Netto – kun!"
11:07 AM (Japan Time)…
"…We've finally reached the Science Labs! Okay! Let's go!"
Dekao came out firstly into the street followed by the other three who began to look around and then checked the map board.
"The Science Labs… Been a while!" Yaito muttered.
"…Is the mister fine? It'd seem he hasn't come home in a while, has he?"
"We've reached the Science Labs! Well then! Let's go inside ASAP!" Netto simply replied with a grin.
"Well… It's true that Papa hasn't come home in a while, so I am worried about if he's not overworking it again…" Rock Man admitted.
"Guts, guts! What are we gonna see, de guts?"
"I do not know."
"Tee, heh, heh! It has to be something cool!"
"Oh! I know! A Battle Chip which swipes the floor with the bad guys standing on it!" Dekao laughed.
"We already have seen plenty of those. It's no big surprise." Netto calmly replied as he stuffed both hands on his pockets.
"Man."
"Hah! Cha can only think of using brute force. Use cha head a bit more from time to time!" Yaito challenged.
They climbed up the two sets of stairs and then headed inside of the lobby just as a suspicious looking somewhat retro car reminiscent of a high-profile brand parked in front of the first set of stairs: the car was colored black and its windows were also tinted black so there was no guessing how many people were inside: none of the other persons walking around the exterior seemed to pay attention to its presence.
"It's about the time. Start strategy." A hushed voice commanded.
11:12 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Alright. Let's go to Papa's lab! It's on the 2nd floor so let's go pick the elevator… Follow me, guys!"
The group of four had come inside in the meanwhile and Netto lead them upstairs through two flights of stairs: they then stepped into the elevator and climbed another floor to step out into Hikari Yuuichirou's office: he was doing something with the computer so Netto rushed over to him with a grin on his face.
"Papa!"
"… I'm glad you came, Netto. Did everyone else come along, too?" He asked with a smile.
"Yup! Guys! Come in!" Netto called out.
The other three walked in and formed a row to stand in front of Yuuichirou.
"Good morning!" Meiru greeted.
"Sorry for disturbing!" Dekao grinned.
"It has been a while, sir!" Yaito admitted.
"Yeah. I'm glad you came, guys. The reason I asked you to come today is because I want to show you something." Yuuichirou revealed to them with a little chuckle.
"Show us something?"
"A program I discovered when organizing some old materials…" He teased with a smile.
He began to work with the computer but quickly stopped as he checked something.
"Huh? The ID card isn't here…"
He sighed and nodded his head in negation as if being frustrated that he'd forgotten such an elementary thing.
"… I'm glad this computer's security is though, but if I don't have the ID card then it won't do anything… How inconvenient. Netto. Sorry. But it'd seem I stuffed it inside of Papa's desk drawer… Couldn't you go fetch Papa's ID card?" He instructed.
"Yeah. Wait a min…"
Netto headed over to the adjacent office space and began to check the drawers of the desk at random: he sighed and looked towards the main room.
"Papa! Which drawer?" He asked.
"The first one in the middle: that big drawer."
"Roger! Hum… Where is it…?"
Netto kept on rummaging while Yuuichirou tried to interact with the computer again.
"Huh? The ID recognition screen isn't popping out… It was working fine enough yesterday…" He muttered.
Alarms suddenly blared out and everyone sprung from the surprise before looking around.
"Emergency status triggered! Emergency status triggered! A Navi gang has appeared within the Internet and taking control of some areas' sectors! W… Who the heck are you guys? Uh… Ugwa~h!" Someone announced before gasping and letting out a yell of agony.
A loud static sound which seemed to be line interference filled the space and everyone kept on looking perplexed.
"The Internet is being taken over? W… What's going on?" Yuuichirou wondered aloud.
A small metallic spheroid about the size of a soccer ball silently rolled across the carpeted floor and stopped right behind the group: Yaito spotted it firstly.
"Huh? What could that be?" She wondered.
"Hmmm?" Dekao frowned.
"Huh?" Meiru looked puzzled too.
Yuuichirou gasped.
"Guys! Stay away from…!"
He didn't get to finish: the ball let out some pinkish gas and everyone soon collapsed into the ground.
"Uh-unh…" Yaito muttered.
"Ugh… S-sleep gas…! J-just… what… is… going on? Ugh…!"
"Netto – kun! Hang in there! Netto – kun!"
"P-Papa… Guys…!" Netto muttered.
The sound of footsteps coming inside as well as muffled breathing rang out and Rock Man gasped: however, given how the PET was still inside of the holster then he couldn't see anything of what was going on the outside world.
"…Hikari Yuuichirou: confirmed. Gas concentration at 0.03%... It is alright by now, sir. Please come in, sir." A muffled voice (as if breathing through a gas mask) reported.
The elevator pinged and someone else came inside yet this person didn't seem to be using a gas filtering mask.
"…Hikari Yuuichirou… Bring him along."
"… Yes, sir!"
That voice…! I know it from somewhere else…!
"…Regal – sama. What should be done with these children, sir?"
Regal…! Dr. Regal…! Nebula's Boss…! But didn't he drop to his death last month after the failed attempt to seize Duo's comet? He's still alive, then…? And he's staged this incident? He took Papa away!
"Rob their PETs. They can't do anything without their PETs."
How cruel! Stealing Guts Man, Roll – chan and Glyde too!
"Yes, sir! PET retrieval complete, sir."
"… I can't see Hikari Netto around, though… It's picking me… Search for him…!"
"Yes, sir!"
Oh crap!
Rock Man heard one of the mask-holding mans walk closer and stop very close by.
"We have found him, sir."
"Bring him along too." Dr. Regal ordered.
Heck! I knew it!
"… Fine: we've achieved today's goal. No use sitting idle for long… Let's go..."
"Yes, sir!"
Rock Man noticed how the PET shook which meant the masked man was carrying the unconscious Netto with him: he heard the elevator's ping twice and the sound of walking down the stairs: the main door opened and they came out on the outside given the sound of the breeze and how the terrain changed.
We're walking down the main stairway…! They must have an escape car ready…! If only I could activate the wireless system and escape to warn everyone…!
"Oh. I was forgetting. Switch off all the PETs before climbing into the car as well." Dr. Regal called out.
Oh heck! Stop!
However, the PET was shut down and Rock Man's program was as well so he entered "off mode" and all of his inputs were slowly shut down before blackness swallowed him and deafened his cry of fear…
