Prey

Netto briefly remembered how it had come to this, he was trapped… in what seemed like such a simple thing he could escape from… but he wasn't alone, next to him was Enzan and next to him was Laika, so at least they were along side him, the going really got tough this time.

________

A few hours before -

"Well… What's today's death mission then?" Laika asked gaining a very unpleasant look from Manabe, it was the first time she'd really heard Laika speak so… differently in some ways.

"Nothing serious, it shouldn't be anything you boys can't handle" She smiled happily at Laika, Enzan and Netto who were sat around a long table at the other end with Laika positioned closer to Manabe at the start of the object.

"Well… as long as it's not too overworking, I can handle that" Enzan added

"It's just checking out another warehouse for dark chips" Her smile grew wider as the annoying 'Awhs' followed after, all three of them tipped their heads in annoyance, sighing heavily and 'awh-ing'

"Is something the matter Manabe?" Kifune asked walking into the room, immediately so after, the trio straightened themselves out as if they were somewhat pleased about the mission. "No complications or sighing I hope" He finished, looking over at the boys.

"No…" Each one said repeatedly, sweat dropping a little and grinning cheekily… agreeing that today's mission would be a breeze… of boredom.

________

Later on after they had been given a little more detail about the 'mission' they had been walking over to the warehouse that wasn't very far from headquarters.

"I can't believe it, I joined the net savours to get some action and fun… not get easy work and check out dusty factories everyday" Netto complained.

"We'll just have to make do, Im sure that we'll get some interesting mission sooner or later, we just have to get the boring tasks done" Enzan stopped in front of the factory as Netto and Laika both came to a stop as they admired the view.

"Well, at least I was right about the 'boring dusty factory' you can see it too" Netto joked looking over the massive factory that had been run down for nearly decades.

Enzan proceeded first, followed by Laika and Netto following suite.

Once inside, the factory was exactly the same as other factories… dark, cold and dusty perfect for storing secrets.

"Let's split up and check it out, that way we'll cover more ground and it'll be easier, just keep in contact and let each and every one of us know how we are" Enzan began walking forward, the other two nodded and went opposite ways.

"This is really boring…" Netto complained to Rockman in his pet about ten or so minutes onwards.

"You should be happy it's nothing too strenuous Netto-kun… at least try and enjoy it"

"How can I enjoy something that is the complete opposite of the word" He snorted back, poking his head into multiple rooms of a long corridor that he had just began his trek down.

Rockman sighed 'This is going to be a long day' he thought, putting quite some emphasise on the 'long'

They remained in silence while Netto checked everything out, tipping over boxes, checking over computer files and numerous other handy things.

But at least they were actually talking at some point unlike the others.

Netto wandered into the last room at the end of the corridor.

The room felt different from any of the others and it intrigued him more to enter.

At the very same time, Laika and Enzan had come across a room much like the one Netto had discovered and they too were a little intrigued and wanted to discover more.

But it was a trap from the start, just like any old dodgy factory would be. At the same time, the three boys had stopped right in the centre of the room immediately being sealed in a long tube that looked like it was made entirely out of grass.

Each of them tried their best to smash the glass as their fists pounded the glass as hard as they could. "Netto, there's no wireless as well! Even I can't get you out"

"Then how am I going to get out!" He cried angrily, his teeth gritted hard, he was close to almost smashing his forehead into the glass.

"Just keep trying!" Rockman called out over the loud thuds of Netto's fists colliding with the glass.

Elsewhere, Enzan and Laika weren't being as rash as Netto, they at least thought of what there next possible options were.

"No wireless, no ports, nothings it's just glass… it's quite a few inches thick too" Blues interrupted Enzan's 'smashing session'

"What about oxygen? How much of that do we have left" Enzan questioned

"I can't tell… I'd be able to find out if I was linked into the internet"

Enzan looked around the outside of the tube, seeing that there was a port not far from where he was "Do you think you could plug in through this glass Blues?"

"Don't think so… the glass is too thick for infra-red to pass through"

Enzan sighed, he'd just have to wait and see what the outcome would be.

Laika himself had some ideas, but they we're risky "Do you think you could target the glass from the pet?"

"Hmm…" Searchman thought about it for a second… but found a flaw "There's a chance… but id end up hurting you and I don't want to do that Laika-sama"

"We have no choice, I need to find the others and see if they're in this predicament too… just hurry up and try"

Searchman gulped and was very hesitant about his net op's wishes… but sadly agreed and aimed his gun into the air looking through the scope to find the glass tube in the factory warehouse.

It didn't take him more than a few seconds to accurately pin point it. He took a deep breath and fired just one shot that sped through the net and out into the real world.

Laika saw it coming and flinched to protect himself. But it was over in a few seconds, his eyes beamed open… even that mass of an attack had made no scratch or burn mark on the glass. "All that for nothing" Laika cried, smashing his clenched fists into the glass.

"Sorry Laika-sama… I should have put more energy into the shot but I was worried" Searchman ducked his head in shame.

Laika could tell that he was upset and decided to let it go "Don't worry, even with a stronger shot, I doubt it would have done much"

Silence fell between the three boys's as they felt themselves blacking out, they're eyes glazed with darkness and closing slowly as if they were about to fall asleep from exhaustion.

"Netto-kun! Don't go to sleep, you might not wake up!" Rockman begged. 'He must be running out of oxygen' he thought… but what could he do to keep Netto awake longer?

"Netto put the synchro chip in the pet now!"

"W-why…" he said with the last bits of breath he had left, his back slid down the glass as he collapsed on the floor.

"Just do it!" Rockman commanded him. 'Let's hope this works, if my suspicion is correct then we should be able to cross-fuse inside the tube' he briefly thought.

Netto wasn't sure what Rockman's plan was… he could have had more ideas if he wasn't so weak and had literally no energy what so ever. He picked the synchro chip out from his pockets and slid it into the pet.

A bright orb surrounded him as he cross-fused, this time was a little more different, it appeared that Rockman had full control of Netto's body, even though he was only using it as a base, he was steadily supplying Netto with oxygen data that navi's used around the net to help them breath, he wasn't sure if his body would take it but it seemed to be keeping Netto's mind together.

"Rockman?" A voice asked

"Searchman? Is that you?" He thought out to the other navi, the pet was of course the navi now so he was able to communicate with the others just as easily.

"Yes it is"

"Im here too" Blues interrupted

Were they in the same situation too? "What's going on?" Rockman began "I had to cross fuse with Netto because he looked like he was dying from lack of oxygen"

"We had to do the same, Enzan collapsed and wasn't hesitant at all about cross-fusing" Blues replied "He probably knew it would keep him alive if we did so…"

"Laika was the same; he knew that cross-fusing would help a lot"

"So I see we're all trapped in these tube things then…" Rockman sighed sadly

He couldn't see it, but he could tell they had both nodded and sighed just as he had "What should we do now?" Searchman added

"Nothing much we can do… The ops are too weak to move and these glass tubes are impenetrable, we can't escape"

Suddenly each of the tubes fell through a hole beneath the floor being transported somewhere else, the oxygen in the tubes was slowly being supplied back to the boys and each of the navis could feel there net op's once again taking control over their own bodies.

It was almost like a vertical drop rollercoaster, just straight down until in crashed into the floor below in a cavern that was lit in some places with bright white candles.

He was startled when CF Enzan and CF Laika came crashing down to the floor next to him. "Laika! Enzan!" He cried out putting all of his attention on the others than focusing on what was in front of them.

"Dr. Regal…" CF Laika whispered to himself his eyes still in ore at the dark shadowy man stood a few metres away from them.

Present moment –

That is how it all happened… his eyes were more concerned with his friend's safety than that Dr. Regal, until Rockman had told him about Regal that was when his emotions and control immediately turned.

He burst out into a pit of rage, smashing violently against the glass and trying all he could to get out of the tube "Let us out now old man!" He screamed violently, CF Enzan and CF Laika admired the young boy's courage but they knew it wouldn't do any good, it would probably amuse Regal.

"Now, Now Netto… I just called you here to talk" Regal uttered lightly, his voice barley audible above CF Netto's aggressive screaming and whimpering.

"So… you we're the one who reported the weird dark aura around the factory above… strange how nobody thought it was a trap" CF Enzan interrupted

"Heh, nobody is clever enough to see past my traps"

CF Laika rolled his eyes… this was pathetic, what did Regal want?

"Why?" Regal asked simply... after a long pause of silence.

"Why what?" CF Netto retorted back.

"Netto-kun, calm down" Rockman continually tried to keep the boy stable and out of harm

"Friendship… power… intelligence, you all posses these wonderful traits but ~" he stopped

"But what?!" CF Enzan finally broke out of his own calm.

"~ you use them at you're littlest… everyone can tell that you've not yet gone full strength have you not?"

Silence fell between the three. "Is he offering to help us?" Enzan thought "I don't like it one bit, don't buy into it, it's just a sham to get you on his side" Blues interrupted his thoughts; he didn't want his op to loose confidence, not now.

"Not at full strength? But I thought we'd been battling at our top and best strength, is it really that noticeable?" Netto thought, his mind was starting to break apart… he was always so confident but there was actually no way out of this situation… but he kept that little bit of positivity in his mind… "We may not be as strong as you want us to be… but we grow stronger each and every day over coming task's like this" Rockman added cheerfully "We'll get out of this, just you wait and see"

"Friends? I don't remember being 'friends' with these two guys" Laika thought annoyingly, in his mind he could hear Searchman sweat dropping, if anyone could even hear a sweat drop… but he could imagine him doing it.

"You know, we have plenty of free spaces among us, why don't you take this offer and join us… think about it… unlimited power, make many, many friends like yourselves… think about it"

The boys looked at each other, immediately CF Netto was quick to answer "No way! Why would we want to join you! We haven't fought against every enemy to just change sides so easily!" CF Netto panicked… was he going to be forced into it now that he had hesitated?

Regal smirked "Ah, well never mind…" he said sounding as if he'd given up, he backed away more into the shadows.

The boy's looked at each other in confusion. "Will you let us go now?" Enzan added, almost calling out to Regal.

Out of now-where, in an echoic voice "I didn't say id let you go"

Suddenly everywhere went dark outside the tubes, CF Netto couldn't hear it but CF Enzan and CF Laika were calling out to Regal, telling him to come back… but somehow the tubes had been muted from all inside sound, they boy's couldn't see anything outside the tube, they couldn't even see each other or themselves until they're eye's adjusted to the low light.

CF Netto started to pant heavily and was sweating a little, this was the first time he'd actually feared for his life… CF Enzan was giving up too, he found no way out of this situation… and CF Laika was still searching around for a way out.

Each of them was alerted to a strange warmth that filled the tubes, it was refreshing and powerful to them… but to the navi's they immediately could tell it wasn't something good.

"Netto… should you really be taking so much of that 'air' in?" Rockman worriedly asked

"I can't help it… it's so… cosy and warm" Netto smugly replied… this really wasn't a good situation, each of the navi's had been around this strange enchanting aura before.

"Searchman, Blues?" Rockman spoke out through the pet com.

"We know Rockman… it's a dark chip scent" Searchman interrupted.

"What's it doing to Netto… he's going all weird and loopy from it" Rockman voice was so jittery it sounded as if he was crying with worry.

"My guess is that the dark chip was re-designed, so it could affect human's more appropriately, it creates an enchanting smell and feeling that just latches onto the human's brain cells… if they continue to smell more of it, it will start to take worse effect and they may turn out like power-thirsty humans full of rage and anger" Blues explained

"What can we do?" Rockman replied

"If what blues is saying is correct then we must switch places with the net-ops, as long as their safe then it shouldn't do much harm to us"

CF Enzan's eyes were half lidded with pleasure from the adoring smell that filled his nose, CF Laika was the same, even for a much older teen he couldn't help but fall pray to the smell.

"Sorry, Netto-kun"

"Sorry, Enzan-sama"

"Sorry, Laika-sama"

They had apologised to their net ops because they were suddenly torn away from the smell, placed in the same position the navi's would be in, trapped in their bodies.

The navi's were now in full control of everything, the scent was indeed powerful but it didn't affect them the same way it affected the humans, navi's hadn't really smelt things before so they didn't really know what kind of scent they were looking for.

They wafted their hands around trying to clear the purple clouds in the tube. In their heads, they could hear their net ops going even loopier by the second.

"It's not working! They must still be getting a feed from our bodies into their mind because we're connected" Rockman cried out through his mind.

"Rockman, calm down… we just need to figure out what we can do and fast" Searchman said collectively.

"The only thing we can do is close their nostrils up tight… but by doing that we might be endangering them more, they need to breathe" Blues added

"What about oxygen data?" Rockman replied

"We can't exactly let them live off that, we don't even know how long we're going to be here for… it could be dangerous as well, if they've been on our oxygen for so long, they might not be able to live without it and their oxygen could just kill them… our oxygen is after all a lot purer than theirs" Blues explained.

It was another sticky situation… with only two possible outcomes… evil or death.


I really need to stop writing new stories,, I have loads to update. And I really need to start writing stories other than Rockman.

Lemme know what you think, is it good so far? x)