A/N: I missed Bass' POV.

~Chapter 2~

-Two Weeks Earlier-

Opening his red eyes, Bass quickly lifted himself into a sitting position.

Completely silent, He scanned the area all around him, his expression incredibly serious and his right hand clenched into a fist and ready to attack.

'That noise, again..' He thought to himself, rising to his feet.

To himself, he described it as a noise. But the truth was that it was more of a sense, a feeling; something that rattles you up inside and suddenly fills you with undeniable dread. And unfortunately for him, lately he found himself to be too familiar with whatever it was.

Bass checked the time and realized that he had managed to sleep for only 3 hours until that strange thing disturbed him.

'Whatever, that's enough.' He decided to himself, quickly flying away from the random pillar he was standing on, his cloak fluttering in the wind behind him.

Living in the UnderNet, Bass was already used to strange things happening all around him; to odd atmospheres, glitches, viruses.. but this new intense feeling that struck him every now and then was not of the ordinary. Somehow, everything about it was simply screaming with grave danger, and the more it happened, the closer it felt, as if with each time that mysterious thing decided to let itself be known, it only got stronger.

The cloaked Navi picked up his speed as his brow furrowed.

'Is she.. Feeling this as well..?' He couldn't help but wonder to himself, his expression slightly softening at the memory of the female Navi.

But his small, peaceful moment was interrupted by a sudden realization, followed by a heavy feeling quickly spreading in his chest;

Whatever this new possible enemy was, it could eventually spread out to NetCity as well.

He gritted his teeth as anger and frustration suddenly filled him.

"Like I'd just let that thing do whatever the hell it wants without a fight." He muttered to himself, his red eyes emitting a death glare.

"Wake up, old man." A sudden firm voice was heard from behind the counter of his shop, making the old NetNavi open his eyes in panic and rise to his feet all at once.

"What the-!" He called, startled, his slanted eyes opening wide, searching all around him for the imminent danger, only to realize it was just Bass standing quietly in front of his shop, his expression irritated.

Jarro let out a loud, relieved sigh.

"Oh, it's only you, Bass.." He said, scratching his back while sitting down on the single chair in his shop, making the old, small thing creak under his weight and seem as if it was about to finally break at any moment now, "Shit, don't scare me like that with all that's been goin' on lately!"

The cloaked Navi raised an eyebrow at the last part of his sentence.

'Is this old fool talking about the same thing..?' He wondered to himself.

"What's been going on lately?" Bass demanded to know, his expression turning serious and his full attention focused on the source of possible information sitting in front of him.

Jarro shifted in his chair, then checked the time to realize it was incredibly late at night, with every store owner around them probably asleep, making them both the only NetNavi's still awake in the area.

He coughed, then rubbed his face, his expression unreadable.

"You've probably been feelin' it too lately, haven't ya?" The old Navi asked, watching him closely.

Bass blinked.

He kept quiet for a few moments, simply staring at the store owner before him.

"Yes. What is it?" He asked, his stare turning incredibly intense.

Jarro shrugged, leaning forward to rest both of his elbows on his legs, his hands hanging between them, rubbing together in a nervous gesture.

"Nobody knows for sure." He started, a cynical smirk spreading on his face, "I've only heard rumors about it sayin' it's a new kind of virus causin' bad shit everywhere it goes."

The cloaked Navi processed his words for a few moments, shifting his gaze down.

'If it's only a virus, then I'll have no problem deleting it.' He thought to himself, staring at his hand as he raised it up and clenched it into a fist.

"I know what you're thinkin', don't do that." Jarro's words suddenly snapped him back to reality, causing his red eyes to widen, then shift back up to meet the old clerk's dark ones.

"What did you say?" Bass said, his slightly surprised expression quickly turning into a glare.

The old Navi simply shook his head at him.

"Challengin' it all by yourself's a bad idea, Bass." He explained, his voice surprisingly serious, "Whatever that thing is, it's no ordinary virus. I'm sure you've noticed that too."

Bass gritted his teeth.

"I didn't ask for your damn advice, old man!" He called, his expression turning to pure anger, "If you think I'll back down like a coward just because it's a little more dangerous this time, you're dead wrong."

Jarro simply stared at him for a moment, then broke into a loud, raspy laugh.

"Suit yourself," He started, watching him closely, "But I don't think your lil' girlfriend would appreciate ya throwin' away your life like that."

Bass' red eyes widened at his words.

He swallowed hard.

"Promise me you'll stay out of trouble, okay?"

Lei's soft voice suddenly popped into his mind, making him bury the lower part of his face behind his cloak as he remembered his promise to her, suddenly reminding him that fighting to get stronger while potentially dying was not an option anymore. His top priority now was to stay alive, for her sake.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

'So what am I supposed to do? Let that fucking thing eventually destroy everything, including her?' He asked himself, his expression turning to a mixture of frustration and irritation.

He blinked as he suddenly realized the most obvious solution to his problem without Jarro even having to say anything.

"No way." He suddenly said, dismissing it entirely, "If I'm too weak to defeat it alone, how could I ever hope to keep her safe from all of this nonsense in the future without having to pathetically rely on someone else?"

Jarro's eyes widened at his words, and he kept quiet for a few moments.

"How the hell should I know, try to find a way that won't get ya killed, at least." He answered him.

Bass stared at the old clerk in front of him for a while in silence as he pondered his words, suddenly noticing a wide grin beginning to spread on his round face.

"..What?" The cloaked Navi asked, annoyed.

"She must be a real cutie to get your head spinnin' this way." The old Navi answered, rubbing his chin, his expression interested.

Bass' flinched as his expression turned into a mixture of shock and embarrassment at his words.

"Shut the fuck up!" He hissed, quickly turning his back to the shop and flying away from the area in a desperate attempt to hide the new spreading redness in his face.

'Damn that old fool!' He thought to himself, clenching his fists, frustrated by the fact that he let himself be teased.

Noticing it was already morning, Bass stopped right in his tracks. He stayed like that for a few moments, raising his gaze to the sky above him as he watched it gradually get filled with various bright colors. He then shifted his red eyes in the direction that would lead him out of the UnderNet and stared at it for a few moments in silence.

Was NetCity even still safe from these bizarre occurrences?

What if somehow, the situation over there was even worse?

His brow furrowed.

'MegaMan would've already taken care of that, then.' He reassured himself.

But he suddenly found himself not satisfied by that thought alone, and a strong urge to check up on the petite female Navi filled him completely, making his expression turn serious as he changed his course, and picked up his speed in the new direction.

Flying fast through the exit from the UnderNet and high enough to hide himself from view, the cloaked Navi quickly reached the city area and landed on the nearest building to her house, luckily managing to catch her right as she was leaving for her job, floating down the street with a peaceful smile on her face. His expression softened at the sight of her and at the fact that he could finally confirm for himself that NetCity indeed seemed to be safe, for now.

He sat down on the edge of the building and continued his spectating on the female Navi for a few more minutes as she reached her workplace, seeing her suddenly turn around as if she heard something, her surprised expression changing to a soft smile as she waved to another male Navi with a similar outfit to hers, only lined with red streaks instead of blue.

His red eyes narrowed immediately.

Examining the male Navi for a moment, Bass' expression turned to pure anger as he recognized him, remembering that if it was up to him, that pathetic fool would've been long dead.

He blinked as he noticed a few more delivery NetNavis suddenly joining in on their conversation.

Bass couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could somehow feel their carefree atmosphere, their blissful ignorance to the situation and what was really happening beneath the surface without their suspicion.

His brow furrowed as he realized that at that moment, the high contrast between Lei and him was bothering him. It's not that he hadn't thought about it before, but somehow, seeing her in her natural environment like that with his own eyes sparked something in him, seeded a terrible feeling that he couldn't shake off, making him bite his lip and clench his fist.

He quickly rose to his feet and turned on his heel, flying away from the place back to where he belonged.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So when was the last time you've seen him?" MegaMan suddenly asked, grabbing the petite female Navi's attention as they both walked deeper into the UnderNet.

Lei turned her large blue eyes at his direction, then lowered them down to her feet, letting out another soft sigh.

"3 weeks ago." She replied in a small voice.

The blue Navi stared at her for a few moments in silence.

"You're really worried about him, huh?" He asked, smiling kindly.

Lei simply nodded, lifting her hands to wrap them around herself, a sad smile spreading on her face.

"I'm acting selfishly, I know," she started, turning in his direction, "Bass could have his own reasons for not coming to see me, and yet I even dragged you to go look for him with me.."

MegaMan stopped right in his tracks, making her turn around in his direction with a puzzled expression.

"Lei, I'm gonna be honest with you about two things," he said, raising his hand to rest on his waist, his smile confident, "One; I'm here because I want to, you didn't make me do anything against my will."

The female Navi simply stared at him in silence as he continued;

"Two; If Bass disappears on you of all people for 3 weeks without telling you anything, then you have a rightful reason to worry, since something's definitely off." His smile turned into a large grin as he stepped forward in her direction, "I don't think you're even aware of how much you mean to that guy."

Lei's blue eyes widened at his words as she felt her face get red.

"I.. see.." She almost whispered, feeling a considerable amount of her doubts disappearing.

Then, she blinked.

'But, that means..' She thought to herself, her expression suddenly shifting to a worried one as she realized the meaning behind what he said. She watched him closely as she clenched her fists, her brow furrowing at the possibility;

"Do you think.. something happened to him..?" The dreadful question left her mouth to hover heavily in the air.

MegaMan stopped to think of his answer, his troubled expression turning serious. While the last thing he wanted was to make Lei even more worried, all signs pointed to the fact that Bass might actually be-

"What the hell are you two doing here?" A firm voice was suddenly heard from above them, surprising both Navis as they shifted their gaze to the source of it.

Bass was floating above them, in one piece, gritting his teeth and his expression pure anger.

A/N: Rest assured - Bass is okay. (And he's still a big Tsundere.)

So yeah, this story's gonna be more than 3 chapters, I guess I'll just keep writing and we'll see where we end up.

Thanks for your reviews, btw! I'm happy to know people still remember and follow this!