Author's Notes: I merged the anime and game together. In the games Bass was created by Cossack, but in the anime Forte originated from pharaohman so I decided to combine them :D
Netto stared intensely at the cloaked navi. He was just sitting there, lost deep in his thoughts. Looking around, the place looked old.
"Forte…" Netto said softly, still grimacing from the pain from his wounds, "where am I?"
"In a warehouse somewhere." Was the reply.
Netto was taken aback at that. He wasn't expecting the Navi to reply to his question. But since he did, Netto decided to try his luck again.
"In the real world?"
"Yes, human. There is no way you can go into the internet."
"So you're in a copybot?"
"Yes, human, it is the only way I can stay in the real world."
Netto became annoyed at his stereotyped answer. "Why did you bring me here? What do you want?"
At that sentence, Forte turned to look at Netto. Uncomfortable with that, Netto looked away and closed his eyes.
"If you're gonna use me to defeat Rockman then just give it up."
"I don't need you to defeat that trash."
Netto jolted up in anger. "He is not trash!" After saying that, Netto's pain came back to him and he clutched his stomach in pain. Forte mused at the scene.
"As much as I do not want to believe that you are Lan, every single thing you do is similar to him." He said finally.
"Lan?" Netto asked quizzically. Then he smiled to himself. "I really haven't used that name in a long long while."
Forte walked to Netto's side and bent down next to him. "Why did you change your name?"
Netto laughed. It was too much. This navi, the famous human-hater, is suddenly being so soft on him. The thought of Forte being 'gentle' was just unbelievable.
"I didn't change my name." Netto chuckled, "Netto was my real name from the start. Lan was just a nickname. Nicknames were really popular around that time."
"So why did you stop using it?"
Netto stared at Forte. "Why would you want to know?"
"Just tell me, human."
Netto sighed.
"Oh well. When I was super young, like about five or so, papa used to always bring me to SciLabs. Once, when I was wandering around I met a navi. He was really nice! I would always drop over to SciLab and tell this navi whatever happened in school, and it was like, he was my best friend. He even promised that when I grow up and is able to handle having a navi, he would be my navi and I would be his operator."
Netto smiled at the thought and continued.
"But good things didn't always last long. There was a bug or some sort so they blamed it on him cause they think he has too much power. They wanted to delete him. That day when I heard that they were going to delete him I rushed there and went to meet him. I was going to help him escape when another scientist came in and grabbed me. I struggled and struggled…but they were adults, and I was only five…"
Netto rubbed his tears away. "He managed to escape the scientists, but this navi just came and shot him straight in his chest. Then he absorbed him." Netto clutched his hands tightly. "Pharoahman… This damn navi first absorbed my best friend, and then deleted my brother…"
Forte stared at Netto silently. Whatever Netto just said felt like missing pieces into his life. For a long time ever since he came out of Pharoahman he was trying to find Lan, but it was as though this boy has never existed. And to think that he was there all the time, opposing his actions.
"Ha… I haven't talked about this for a long time." Netto smiled to himself. "The recent nightmares were killing me, now that I've said it, I feel sort of…relieved."
"Nightmares?"
"Yeah." Netto glanced suspiciously at Forte. He was being too interested in this. "Recently the scene I just told you will replay in my dreams. Only that I don't remember any faces. It was all blurry. After all, I only saw him when I was five. I only remember his name though…"
At this, Forte looked at Netto straight in the eyes. "What was his name?"
Netto stared at Forte, and smiled weakly to himself.
"Bass."
...
Back at the SciLab, Cossack, Enzan, Blues and Rockman gathered together to try and find a solution to save Netto.
" Dr. Cossack, what do you propose we do?" Enzan asked. Cossack seemed to be fumbling with his computer.
"It seems that we have other things to be worried about." He said finally. "Plantman was a decoy to distract us, while the other darkloids enter the network to reach Alpha."
"Alpha?" Rockman exclaimed suddenly, "He's deleted! Netto-kun and I deleted him!"
"What you two deleted, is just a copy of the original Alpha." Cossack said sharply. "The real Alpha has a missing part at its side."
"Missing part?" Blues echoed.
"Yes. I'm sure you know that the 'Best friend' Netto spoke of when he was young was Bass, as known as Forte now. In order to save Bass from Pharoahman, Netto went to the Alpha chamber and took a piece of alpha away. No one noticed this until the time you deleted the copy." Cossack faced Rockman. "And I'm sure you know that Netto has a part of Alpha."
Rockman lowered his head. "They say Alpha will not be at his strongest if he is not complete. By taking that piece, Netto-kun is just preparing for the worse! Sure, he originally planned to use that to save Bass, but after Pharoahman disappeared, Netto-kun gave up on using Alpha. Gradually he forgot about this incident as well. He was only five then."
"So where is Alpha now, Rockman?"
"Within Netto."
"INSIDE OF HIM?" Enzan blurted out.
Rockman smiled. "Don't worry. It's not harmful. It used to be in the PET until once we crossfused Netto-kun said it's safer for it to be placed somewhere that other people can't steal. So we placed it into our crossfused body and when we deactivated it wasn't in my body so it must be in Netto's."
Cossack wasn't shocked by any of this. "So in order for the final piece to be taken out, Netto must be in cross fusion state. Either that, or Netto needs to be partially data."
"Pulsed in…" Blues muttered silently, but everyone was able to hear him.
Cossack slammed down his laptop and looked at Enzan straight in the eyes. "We have to find Netto before anyone else does. I assure you, the Original Alpha is ten times stronger than the copy one, even if it is incomplete."
...
Forte placed his hand on Netto's head. The brunette just stoned there in shock. What was Forte going to do with him? Netto shut his eyes and was shocked when Forte pulled him into an embrace.
"F...Forte?" Netto stammered.
Forte did not speak, but these were too much for him. He was feeling something else other than anger and hatred for once. He felt happy. It was as though he found something that belonged to him once again.
"Forte?" Netto tried again.
Forte released Netto and looked at him, running his hands over Netto's hair.
"What is going on?" Netto asked quietly and Forte's lips formed a thin smile.
"It's nothing."
Netto wanted to ask so much more but he decided that the navi must not be in his right mind hence he left him alone. Again, Forte pulled Netto close to him and cuddled him. His only friend from over ten years ago, finally found.
Curiosity finally got the better of Netto as he pushed Forte away gently and asked. "Forte, what are you doing? What's happening now?"
Before Forte could answer, someone broke through the roof of the warehouse. As the dust cleared, Netto could clearly see who.
"Beastman!"
"Hello kid." Beastman snickered. "Never expected you to be in such a place but it just makes everything easier doesn't it?"
"You're supposed to be deleted!" Netto exclaimed.
"Tch. Didn't you pay any attention to Plantman? Never mind that, you're as good as mine, kid!"
As Beastman lunged at Netto, Forte stood in front of Netto and flung Beastman back.
"Pathetic animal. Do you not realise that I am here?" He scowled. Netto looked at Forte again. This was so different from the Forte he was talking to a few minutes ago.
Beastman got up on his feet. "So YOU are the interference Shademan was telling us about."
Netto looked at the two navis in front of him. "Shademan? Oh gosh. This is getting so complicated…" Then, as if by instinct, he placed his hand on his chest.
"This wouldn't, by chance, have anything to do with…Alpha, does it?" He whispered to himself silently.
