Netto's Young Day's
As you all know, Netto is currently eleven, but what If we went back six years? :)
Btw, this "newer" version has been split up into four chapters, some bits have been added/taken away, but it's still the same story. Enjoy!
Friday Night
Netto Hikari, a five year old child, was currently being looked after by his father who worked at Sci Labs. His boredom had far reached its limits as he sat in a chair in his father's office, appeasing himself by swinging around on the chair in circles.
Netto appeared severely disappointed, his father had promised to spend at least a day with him, Netto knew very well of his busy lifestyle, even at such a young age. But his father had only been with him a couple of minutes, and that was only walking him to his office. He'd reappear every so often and collect something but most of the time it was like he never realized his son was even there.
Bored… Netto thought to himself, eventually he decided to jump off the chair in which had made him a little dizzy, so his landing was a little iffy.
At his current age, Netto was a lot shorter, but standard height for someone his age. His hair was still the same, chocolate brown and his clothing style was particularly similar, black shorts and an orange vest, but instead of a headband, at that age he wore a wristband, sporting his father's logo.
With this being his first time at Sci Labs, he decided to make use of the time and explore, even though his father had told him to stay put, but seriously… he couldn't have been expected to sit there and do nothing while his father performed exciting experiments and tests, which Netto could certainly learn from. He knew his Mother was picking him up soon as well and he still hadn't spent any time with his father. Before he left the office, he checked nobody was around to see him leave and with that looking positive, he left to find his father.
After a few minutes of walking, he came to a long corridor, with the right wall occupied by various windows into different testing areas. He suspected that the corridor was used as a viewing platform in which visitors could view the experiments in safety. At his perfect height, he was able to sneak underneath the windows.
He laughed to himself thinking that all this sneaking around would prove useful one day; he did rather enjoy being a bit of a rebel.
He bobbed up and down, checking each window to see if his father was in any of the rooms he sneaked past. And his luck payed off when he finally tracked him down, typing away on a large keypad of sorts and occasionally looking up to a large, transparent screen in which a small, blue-suited navi stood, smiling back down at him.
The navi was in a plain blue jumpsuit, with a yellow and blue helmet. His boots and gloves were plain and coloured darker than the rest of the blue his suit sported. Best of all, he looked brand new and extremely happy.
Netto focused more on the navi than he did actually on his father. He was very intrigued by the small blue net navi which he had never seen before.
He had obviously heard of net navis in the past and knew that most of his fathers work focused on the creation of them, but his parents wouldn't let him have one at his young age, they stated that he'd be too tempted to start net battling and he stop doing his homework.
With his fascination growing as the net navi begun performing manoeuvres for tests, Netto decided to see if he could get a closer look. So he went over to the door and he tried to open it, but it was locked from the inside. So he settled for watching him from the window. The glow he had in his eyes from watching the navi suddenly faded when the navi disappeared from the screen into an assortment of pixels. Being more alert now that the navi was gone, he noticed his father turn quickly and begun heading towards the door, which was a sure sign for Netto to get running back to his father's office. He luckily managed to sit back on the chair, moments before his father entered the room, smiling happily.
"Netto-kun, I'm sorry I haven't paid much attention to you tonight, but I have a surprise to make it up to you" He continued smiling, kneeling to Netto's level and handing him a large device, which was bright blue with a rather large screen, 'PET' was engraved just below.
"What is it?" Netto asked inquisitively.
"You'll find out one day" He still continued to smile "But for now, I want you to hold onto it, just for a day or two. I'm testing a few things and I'll need you help. Okay?" He stood up properly when Netto agreed. Netto looked over it, trying to find out what it was for himself. But with Netto's impatient attitude, he knew he couldn't wait until he was older to find out what exactly his father had given him to look after.
"Don't you worry papa! I will guard it with my life" He said, appearing very bold and serious, and after he jumped off the chair, he stood up straight and saluted his father just to prove how serious he was actually being.
His father's smiled strengthened into a chuckle, moments later, Netto's mother, Haruka appeared. Netto noticed her at the corner of his eye and excitedly ran over to her to show her what he had been given.
"Mama, mama! Look what papa gave me!" He circled around her, this was the first time in weeks she had seen him so hyped up over something as miniscule as a PET. She was obviously very well aware of what it was and what it contained but she was unsure if Netto knew, yet.
"Netto-kun, calm down! You'll give mum a headache" She said, but she was certainly happy to see him again. She then made her way over to Yuichiro, who was watching Netto become dizzier by the second. "Had fun?" She asked.
"I wish…" He replied, sighing quite sadly and looking rather down. Haruka was quick to comfort him and ask why.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I've barely spent any time with Netto today, I've just been too busy with work to show him around like I promised and introduce him to our new project, but it's been crazy around here and things are going wrong so I've had to sort them problems out too." He explained, Haruka looked back at Netto and knew that he was happy anyway.
"Well look at Netto now…" She paused whilst he did so "I'm sure today has been a nice experience for him, he's never visited you're work before and he's seen just how busy you are when you here, so at least he'll begin to understand why you've not had much time for him. And I'm sure he'll be too preoccupied with that PET you gave him and forget about today, there'll be other days when you'll be able to do what you've promised. I think all Netto wants is for you to be there as he grows up, and as long as you can do that, he'll be happy enough with that" She smiled softly as she gripped hold of his hand to comfort his further. "Don't worry about it" She looked back over at Netto, who had finally fallen to the floor out of dizziness.
"I suppose I better take him home now, I take it you're working again tonight?"
"Yeah, sorry, I should be back on Sunday though to pick up the PET so I'm sure I'll be able to stay for a while and have dinner with you two" He added, she was happy knowing just that and gave her husband a quick kiss on the check and departed from his side, she picked Netto up on the way and carried him outside to the car and placed him in the back seat, she watched for a few moments as she fastened him in as he silently drifted asleep.
After shutting the door, she walked around the car and sat in the driver's seat, checking to make sure that Netto was okay first, smiling after she noticed he had the PET clutched tightly to his chest. With that, she drove home.
Haruka stopped the car in the driveway once they were home, by this time Netto had awoken and was able to walk up to his room and get changed into his pj's. Although, his eyes were still half closed and he couldn't help but yawn.
So he quickly changed and just threw his clothes about his room instead of folding them neatly or putting them in the washing basket. The PET rested safely on the desk whilst he made preparations for sleep, such as tiding his bed from last nights sleep.
When he was done though, he was unsure whether to sleep with the PET next to him in bed or to leave it on the desk, but a number of possible outcomes popped into his head when he thought about leaving it there.
What if… if somebody steals it! What if monsters come from under the bed and take it! Papa will be really angry!
The better option was made clear to him after thinking various bad things about leaving it on his desk. He grabbed the pet, turned off the light and jumped into bed, bringing the covers up and over his head and making sure he was safely snuggled in his bed, all the while the PET remained safely close to his chest.
It was only a few hours later when Netto was sound asleep, and since Netto was a fidget when he slept, the PET was now underneath him as he lay flat on his chest, spread out across his bed.
As he begun to move once again, he pressed various buttons on the actual device and accidentally pressed one to turn it on and since he was in such a deep sleep, he didn't notice the bright light appear on screen. After a moment or two, a small navi appeared on the screen, looking up he saw nothing but blackness outside of the screen and became confused. The navi became intoxicated with the sound of a heartbeat echoing throughout the pet. It was perfect and clear and it was extremely relaxing and soothing to listen to.
Although navi's didn't have a real heartbeat like humans, his own artificial heartbeat was almost perfectly in sync with Netto's. But he soon realized that he couldn't remain awake for the night, it would waste his energy and he was still in testing stages. He was also quite anxious to meet his creators son, Yuichiro had talked about him so much that the navi was almost desperate to meet him.
"Netto-kun?" He said softly and quietly, it didn't take him long to realize that he was going to have to be more assertive and louder if he was going to get his attention. Yuichiro had told him about Netto's sleeping habits, and being a heavy, fidgety, snoring sleeper was just some of his problems.
After some time, he announced Netto's name at his standard voice tone, but still he only noticed some movement, but it certainly wasn't enough to wake him. He knew it was coming to the point where he'd have to scream his name... "NETTO!" He shouted quite loudly and it worked, Netto heard it instantly and he quickly sat up, looking around to find out who had said his name.
"Mama?" He said quietly, wondering if it was her. But he received no reply and he begun to wonder if he had dreamed it, but it didn't seem likely. After a few minutes he thought maybe something was in his room, something in-human in which the thought panicked. Only one word came to his mind when he started hearing strange noises… Monsters…?
He brought the cover up to his face as he remained awake, still not even realizing the bright light behind him that was partially lighting up his room. His rooms continuously moved around, checking each bit of his room and constantly starting at funny looking shadows.
The navi was able to see a little more of the room, and could see a little bit of Netto's back and spiky hair, "Netto-kun?" The navi said once more.
After hearing his name again, he knew this time it wasn't a dream and his eyes became watery, he had never been so scared in his life. What made it worse was the fact that the 'creature' was yet to show itself but it continued to announce 'Netto'. What he didn't get was that the voice didn't even seem that scary.
Netto remained still for quite sometime, and the navi had a feeling that he had scared Netto and felt somewhat guilty, realizing he probably should have waited until morning. But in his testing stages, there was no way the power would've lasted until morning. "Netto, look at the PET" the navi said calmly. Netto perked up a little when he realized he still had the device his father had given him a few hours ago, so with that he turned around and looked down at the PET he had been sleeping on.
His mouth dropped, seeming quite excited and his eyes widened in pure fascination. He picked the PET up and turned back around, lying against his pillow and looking at the screen where the clad-blue navi he had seen at his fathers work was now in the device his father had gave him to look after.
"Hi, Netto-kun" The navi added, smiling, after appearing so cheerful, Netto's eyes lit up with glee and he continued to stare at the device until he felt the undying urge to hug the PET and keep it close to his chest. "What's up Netto-kun?" The navi asked, a little confused at what he was doing.
"I saw you earlier in my father's lab, and you used some of you're abilities and perform some manoeuvres, you looked incredible!" He whispered excitedly, trying not to disturb his Mother.
The navi blushed and turned slightly to the side to hide it, "Thank you" He replied, accepting the compliment.
"How do you know my name anyway? You've never met me before" He questioned.
"You're father talks about you all the time to me, he certainly tells me some interesting things about you're life" He smiled, it was Netto's turn to blush.
"I hope he doesn't say anything too embarrassing…" He added.
"Don't worry; he's never said anything too personal." He paused… "Oh, and while we're on the topic of names, I'm Rockman, you're father told me I'd be spending a few days with you"
"Rockman…" He said, liking the sound of the name…"So, do you know why I'm looking after you?"
"Just for some tests, he said he wanted to see if I could get along with a human operator, which is temporarily you and he also wanted to see if I could perform tasks that were asked of me, there's a few other things but you don't really need to know about them. Just know, this is a test to see if I'll make a good net navi for someone or whether there are still a few changes to be made before I'm sold. But apparently I'm not being sold, I'm supposed to be someone's present, except there a bit too young for me yet"
"Do you know who you're being given to?" Netto questioned.
Rockman shook his head and folded his arms "I've no idea, Hikari-san wouldn't tell me, it is a surprise after all"
Netto couldn't help but smile excitedly again "I can't wait to get a PET when I'm older, Papa just told me to look after the PET, I didn't think there would be a navi in it!" He said.
I'm so happy that I have company now, and I'm even happier that it's someone like Rockman. I knew there was something special about this PET when my father gave it to me before, but now I actually do have something I can protect.
After some momentary silence, Netto yawned and found himself falling asleep again. "Netto-kun?" Rockman asked as he noticed Netto's eyes close and his body move downwards so that his head could rest on the pillow. The PET then rested against his chest again… although Rockman had forgotten to tell him to turn the PET off, he couldn't complain, the sound of a perfect heartbeat was certainly too good to miss out on.