A/N: Yeaahhh... *sweatdrops*

Disclaimer: I do not own Megaman NT Warrior or any of its affiliated series.

Edited: 11/1/2016 Fixed spelling mistakes

(Netto=Lan, Rockman=Megaman, Dekao=Dex, Yaito=Yai, Tooru=Tory)

Previously

Netto opened his mouth, his throat dry at the prospect of the solution to his father's question. "Y-You don't mean…"

Yuichirou nodded, his fingers pressed to his forehead as an act to get rid of an incoming headache, "In order to get rid of Desertman, Meiru-chan would be expected to send him where he couldn't be summoned anymore." He paused before letting out his final thoughts, "In other words, a one way trip to deletion."

"No!" The Hikaris turned to Rockman, his figure shaking at another one of their hopes being shot down. "It can't be true! Netto-kun, we're not giving up easily, right?"

But reality doesn't always go what you want it to. And that was what Rockman wanted to say as he and Netto stood before Hikari-hakase, their faith in saving their friends going down the drain. They were grasping at straws now.

Weakly, Netto asked, struggling not to have his voice break, "But couldn't they change the destination. It's possible, isn't it?"

Yuichirou closed his eyes to think. "Theoretically, it could be possible. However, given the circumstances, it's highly unlikely they managed to. I'm sorry, Netto. Meiru-chan and Roll-"

Netto shoved his father aside not wanting to hear the rest, skating down the hallway ignoring the yells Yuichirou was asking him to stop. He had to get out of there. He just had to. Even with his mind in chaos at the revelation, Netto managed to skate himself out of SciLabs. He needed a place to gather his thoughts.

Rockman was also quiet. The once invincible, energy induced duo looked detached from the world. Netto skated aimlessly through the city, letting his body muscles do all the work. Or maybe a part of his mind had some control as he found himself right in front of the playground where Meiru had defended Netto when they were little. Gasping at the flow of memory and the insight of his best friend not being here anymore, Netto couldn't stop the tears from coming out. He collapsed to the grass, trying not to make a scene. It wasn't easy. Not feeling the small trail of tears stopping, Netto laid back on the grass, one arm across his eyes, the other lying upon the grass. He felt pathetic. Where was the Net Saviour he held pride in becoming. He was gone. Netto laughed miserably.

"Ne, Rockman?" Netto asked his voice slightly strangled.

"…Hai, Netto-kun?" Rockman's reply was distant. Even the Navi had trouble coping.

"It's… It's never going to be the same is it?"

"No. I guess not."

Operator and Navi laid there not caring how the world ran. Both felt frustrated at how reality had suddenly thrown them a curve ball out of nowhere. Netto continued thinking about the incident, gritting his teeth as the memory played in his mind. Repeatedly, it played. And more details were added due to realization of his childhood friend not coming back. It was either seeing Meiru falling to her death, or another of her being deleted or the fact she screamed his name as she disappeared into the cybernetic portal. Netto stayed still hoping no one would bother him. Sadly, he got a more chipper response.

"Are? Netto? It is! It is-chu!"

Suddenly, a small figure walked up to the duo prompting Netto to remove his arm. Imagine his surprise to see Chisao, Dekao's little brother. Chisao in the meantime noticed his tears.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying-chu?" Chisao asked. Netto immediately wiped them off.

"It's nothing. What are you doing here Chisao?"

"Oh! It's Meiru-chan and Rush-chu! We were supposed to meet up today!" The little boy proudly stated. Then added, "But I can't find them anywhere. Do you know where they are-chu?"

Reminded again, Netto's tears came though they stayed not dropping.

Chisao panicked. "What's wrong-chu? Did I do something wrong? I'll go find Meiru-chan!"

Frustrated and without meaning to, Netto lash out. "Meiru-chan's not here anymore!"

Chisao stepped back. "What d'you mean?"

"It's all my fault! I let her down!"

"Netto-kun…" Rockman spoke up, distraught in his voice.

"It wasn't supposed to happen!" Netto dashed out, leaving Chisao bewildered at the entire event. What just happened? Confused and concerned, Chisao went to the one person he thought could help him, his big brother.

Day 4

Dekao stared at the homey, blue roofed house. He wasn't exactly sure why he was here. Chisao had barged into Maha Curry declaring 'there's something weird about Netto-chu!' Perplexed, Dekao calmed his brother and asked him to start from the beginning. He got some bit and pieces of Netto lying on the grass, crying according to Chisao and then declaring to his little brother of Meiru-chan not here anymore. What the hell did Netto mean?

Dekao pressed the doorbell waiting for Netto's mother to open. She did open though her face was more of exhaustion and worried.

"Ah, Dekao-kun, are you here to visit Netto?"

Dekao nodded his head, concern smoothing into his face. "Are you all right, Obasan?"

"Me? Oh I'm fine. It's Netto I'm worried about. He hasn't come out of his room since he got home. And usually it's Rockman that gets him going. But both of them aren't responding. Do you know what happened? I asked Yuichirou-san if he knew anything but he looked almost like Netto. I didn't bother asking him then."

"…I'm not sure. That's why I'm here to find out."

"Please do. Other than Rockman, the only one who could get him going is Meiru-chan and I haven't seen her in a while. Don't mind me. You go upstairs and I'll fix you something to eat."

Dekao made his choice to quickly go. It was unusual, Dekao thought as he climbed up the stairs. Netto wasn't the type to ignore his mother. And when he did go off into this state, it was usually from losing a Navi battle. Though, it also wasn't long till he came bouncing back up and became stronger. And determined to help his friend when he failed to cross fuse for him, Dekao knocked the door.

"Oi, Netto, open up. It's Dekao."

A shuffling noise could be heard inside.

"Your mother is really worried about you. And Rockman, don't you normally take care of him?"

A muffled response came. Dekao strained his ears. The words suspiciously sounded like 'Go away'.

"I mean it Netto. Chisao came to me yesterday about he met you by the park and your state. He's worried about you."

The only response was, "Just go."

Ticked off at the lackluster response, Dekao angrily said, "What do you even do in there anyway?! Lying on your bed staring at nothing?! I bet your Netbattling skills have gone down! Rockman's wasting his time with you! If Meiru-chan was here right now, I bet even she-"

The door opened suddenly and a hard faced Netto stared at Dekao. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Rockman. And you don't even know what Meiru-chan would say!"

Astonished at actually managing Netto to get out when he thought he would fail, Dekao continued to taunt, "Why? Because you're her childhood friend? News flash Netto, you're not her only friend. Wait till Meiru-chan hears this. She and Roll would knock you both-"

"SHUT UP!"

Unfazed, Dekao continued, "No. And I think I should send Gutsman to get Meiru-chan here now." Turning his attention away, Dekao asked his Navi, "Gutsman, pass the message to Roll, could y-?"

"Meiru-chan's not here!"

Dekao made a face. "Duh. She lives next door to you. It won't even take her-"

Frustrated, Netto bit back a scream of irritation and hissed at his friend, "She's gone, you idiot!"

His attention diverted, Dekao asked, "What do you mean?"

His energy spent on restraining not to clobber his friend, Netto spilled all that had happened. How the both of them had cross fused to stop Asteroid Navis, each of them taking one of the opponent, the battle turning over to their side and Meiru's inevitable fall. Dekao listened to his friend ramble.

"I asked Papa to find out if Meiru-chan survived. He say she most probably didn't," Netto glumly finished. Netto fully expected his friend to punch him. He smiled bitterly. Dekao had a major crush on his childhood friend. It was an expected reaction. He waited for the incoming pain and shouts. Dekao did the opposite. He grabbed Netto by the scruff of his neck, made sure his(Netto's) PET was on him and dragged him down the stairs.

"Obasan, Netto and I are leaving for a bit!" Dekao shouted as he and the boy exited through the front door. Netto meanwhile tried to get away from Dekao's hold.

"What are you doing?! Let go!"

Dekao ignored his friend's protests and kept on making his way. By the time Netto noticed his surrounding, Dekao had managed to grab his friend to the school where he and Rockman had beaten Gutsman for the first time since he became Netto's official Navi.

Dekao dragged the boy to their familiar station and released his hold. He transmitted Gutsman inside.

"Did you just drag me all this way for a Net battle? Are you serious?! I'm not even in the mood!"

"Netto! We're not going to have a Net battle. First, plug in Rockman." Seeing Netto's skeptical look, he yelled, "Just do it!"

"Alright! Alright!" Once done, Dekao signaled to Gutsman.

"Gutsman, you can handle him right?" Dekao glanced at the two Navis.

"Hai! Just leave it to me-guts!" Waving off his operator, Gutsman dragged-more like grabbed- Rockman away.

"Hey! Where's he taking, Rockman. What are you up to?" Netto questioned.

"Let me ask you this first, do you think Meiru-chan's dead?"

At the prompt of mentioning his best friend, Netto's mood turned somber. "What do you care?"

Dekao had almost enough with his brown headed friend. "Netto, I'm asking you personally, do you think she's gone?"

"No." His answer was clear and straight forward. Dekao almost smiled. He then punched the boy, hard. "I-Ite!"

"Then, what the hell are you doing here dilly dallying?!"

"You just punched me!"

"FOCUS! Why are you giving up easily? You don't! Just because Hikari-hakase say she wouldn't make it doesn't mean it's over yet!"

"But-"

"Have you ever been the type to listen to people Netto? Meiru-chan cross fused. There's a chance she's alive!"

"Don't you think I know that?! I try to convince myself but all I can see is her disappearing!"

"Then stop thinking about that! Look at the options! What if she managed to survive? What if she's waiting for you?"

Netto stared at his friend. What he said was true. He didn't think his childhood friend was dead. They haven't found proof yet. And what his father says wasn't always right. But, there was always a but. He bit his lip in frustration. Why couldn't he just do what he wanted?

"Netto-kun…" Netto look up seeing Rockman had come back and strangely, with a smile on his face ever since the problem started. "Let's do it."

"Rockman…How?"

"Gutsman helped me. He… managed to open up my mind," Rockman spoke no further than that which made his NetOp curious. Wasting no time, Rockman got straight to the point. "Netto-kun, I know it's hard for you. It's hard for me too. I don't want us to regret. If there's a chance that Meiru-chan and Roll-chan's still alive, we have to take that chance. We always have a way in the end. Don't we Netto-kun?"

"…"

"I'm not going to give up on them. Are you?"

"…"

It was a challenge. Rockman always knew what to say to him. The question seemed to spark the dying embers of Netto's resolve. Rockman was right. If Meiru-chan was gone, he had to live with that. It wouldn't be easy to live with the pain of your friend dead but if there was still the tiny glimmer of hope( or more accurately his instinct) that told him she wasn't, he would grab it and never let go. Not again.

Netto let out a laugh, one that sounded like him and stated, "I can't say anything if all of you gang up on me."

Dekao let out a grin. Things were getting back to normal. "Where should we start?"

Netto began thinking. A glimmer of his friend's disappearance and her frightened face flashed before his eyes. He mentally shook it away and replied, "Papa would just think we're desperate now. I can't say it's not true. The question is where do we start looking?"

"Netto-kun, why don't we try searching the Net?" Rockman gave his opinion.

"The Net, why?" Dekao probed.

"It's the only place I can think of. If Meiru-chan managed to survive, she might have Roll going around the Net. Maybe she can't contact us at the moment," Rockman replied.

"Hmm, it's a good place to start." Netto nodded his agreement. "But how are we going to search for them? We can't use the scanners at SciLab."

"Oi, oi, Netto, have you forgotten about us?" Dekao fake hurt at being forgotten easily. "Gutsman and I can help you search."

"But the Net is huge! Two Navis alone won't cover it. It'll take us weeks." Netto voiced out the hole in that plan.

"Then, how about this, Netto-kun? We start searching places we've been to. It's better to search the areas we know rather than ones we don't."

"But that'll still take too long." Netto argued.

"Netto, aren't you forgetting something?" Dekao interrupted.

"What?"

"The others would want to hear this. Especially, Yaito-chan and Tohru-kun. I'm sure they'll help." Netto looked reluctant. Thankfully for him, a NetNavi was already grasping at the solution.

"Let's do it, Netto-kun!" Rockman voiced out his eagerness.

"Do it-guts!" Gutsman settled.

Glad that he was no longer dealing with the problem alone, Netto yelled out, "Yosh! We're definitely getting Meiru-chan back!" Thankfully, the school was empty so no teacher had come rushing for the entire ruckus they were making. "Oh and Dekao," Netto halted prompting Dekao to look at him, backing slightly from the evil look on Netto's face, "I haven't forgotten your punch. Let me return it!"

"W-wait, Netto. That was only for-" Dekao dodged. He yelped seeing the incoming hand and darted around the table.

"Stop dodging! I need to pay you back!"

"You deserved it anyway! Letting my poor Meiru-cha-whoa! - Gutsman, help me!"

Gutsman could only stare back as he watched the two operators running around the room: Dekao moving away from a slightly active Netto who was aiming a punch to the boy. Rockman shook his head and silently sighed at his NetOp's behavior.

"Netto-kun…"

A/N: The excuse for the long update would be cause of school and life and my gaming tendencies. This chapter focuses on Netto rebounding back. I know I didn't capture him fully and sorry if he's OOC. The other part of a might be rushed thing was him rebounding quickly. But with the time skip of 2/3 days I think that's long enough before someone notices. Don't get me wrong but even with Netto believing that Meiru might still be alive, he's going to have some issues later. I just think he's not the type to brood a long time and the other reason would be I've read some stories where the protagonist broods for a few chapters then get started. I don't mind it but when it stretched too long, it's kind of dull unless they're done exceptionally good. Dekao/Dex just managed to get him started. Sorry for the ranting.

And yes, the other characters from Rockman. EXE and Rockman. EXE Axess are coming back. I felt they weren't given enough justice since they were pushed aside in Stream. And the explanation of why Dekao/Dex was the one to get Netto on his feet is simple. Enzan/Chaud was one of the most obvious choices to push Netto forward but he was in Ameroupe/Netopia for 3/4 of the season. So, out. -.-

And I'm pushing the A/N but just saying thanks to blee7442 for favourite-ing/following this and the review. Hope this was better.