"Come on! Turn off already!" Jiro snapped irritably as he continued to struggle with his malfunctioning PET. The stubborn device refused to shut down despite his best efforts to turn it off. Annoyed sapphire eyes drilled holes into the transparent blue colored PET as he glared at it.
"Hey, you over there! Get away from that exhibit!" The sudden shout caused Jiro to become startled and nearly drop his PET. Reacting quickly, he tried to prevent the machine from falling by catching it. However, his actions resulted in him juggling the PET a bit. The sight was somewhat comical as the slippery device continued to evade his grasp for a few seconds. In the end, he managed to prevent the machine from taking a hard fall onto the ground. Any relief he may have felt was overridden by his embarrassment and anger. He was really going to give the idiot who nearly made him drop his PET a piece of his mind! With narrowed eyes, Jiro turned his body to face the direction where the shout came from.
Staring right back at the teenager was a pair of casually dressed men. The first was a blue haired man who wore a white t-shirt, khaki pants, and a pair of gray sneakers. The other with his arms folded across his chest was a brown, short-haired man who was both taller and heavier built than his companion. He wore a green plaid shirt which had a white and darker green pattern on it. In addition, the taller man wore a pair of blue jeans and dark-brown hiking boots. As Jiro observed them, he noticed how there didn't seem to be anything out the ordinary with the two.
"I'm not going to tell you again, kid! Move away from the exhibit!" The blue haired man said as he repeated his demand. This caused Jiro to frown in displeasure as he shifted his gaze over towards the speaker.
"You don't get to tell me what to do. In case you hadn't noticed, you're in a museum, and I was here first. So, learn to wait your turn, moron!" Jiro retorted, having become fed up with the shorter man's attitude towards him. His response prompted the two men to exchange glances before the taller one took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. This was followed by him uncrossing his arms and closing his eyes for a brief moment. When he reopened them, he fixed Jiro with a cold stare while he spoke.
"Certainly, we're not in any position to make you do anything. But, I believe it'll be in your best interest to move aside." There was something in his words which caused a chill to travel down Jiro's spine. His gruff sounding voice carried the hints of warning in its tone. It was almost as if he was giving Jiro one final chance to avoid any trouble. The atmosphere inside of the room was strained as the three engaged in a 2-vs-1 staring contest.
He's serious… No, they both are. But, are they really about to start a fight over some piece of junk? Better yet, why am I even still standing here? While questioning the rationality behind his choice to remain in place, the situation was growing worse by the second. He could tell their patience was running out, although it was not as if they had very much of it begin with… However, despite of the risks he was possibly taking, he didn't move from his spot. There was some indescribable urge telling him to not let the two men get near the PET. If he did, then it felt like something terrible would happen… Tch, what's with me? Why the hell am I getting all concerned over some scrap metal?
"We'll take your silence as a refusal. Very well, then. Since you refuse to listen to reason, we have no other choice but to use force." The brown haired man said as he sighed. As he spoke, both he and his companion started reaching for something kept in the pocket of their pants. This alarmed Jiro, as he began to worry the two were armed. Even after the objects were pulled out into view and revealed to be PETs, Jiro felt no sense of relief. After all, PETs could be just as dangerous as any weapon when in the wrong hands. "SwordTroop, Stand By!"
"RocketTroop, Stand By!" The other man followed his companion's lead as they both called for their Navis. The words spoken by the two men caused Jiro to start sweating. He recognized the phrase the duo used and understood that it meant serious trouble. As if things weren't bad enough already! The two really did intend to have him beaten to a pulp…!
""ReaLize!"" The pair shouted and their PETs responded to their words by opening up a panel on the back of the devices. This resulted in a small black screen coming into view as its hiding place was exposed. Seconds later, a beam of light shot forth from the screen and proceeded to scan the area. During the scan, a grid like pattern appeared on the walls, ceiling, floor, and everything else inside of the room; Jiro included. While this was going on, two bursts of light escaped from the men's PETs and turned into masses of data. The globs of data rapidly began to grow and take the shape of humanoid figures. The process was over in a matter of seconds, and after it ended, two Net Navis were left standing before their Net Ops. SwordTroop was a sword wielding Navi who wore a black bodysuit and copper colored motorcycle themed helmet; it covered his entire face. His gloves and boots were the same color. Lastly, his bodysuit had gold accents in the form of zigzags running down his sides. RocketTroop had the same color scheme and appearance as SwordTroop, but was armed with rocket launchers which sat on both of his shoulders.
The appearance of the Navis caused Jiro to take a small involuntary step back. His jaw was clenched and the hand not holding onto his PET was balled into a tight fist. Great… Just great! This day keeps getting better and better! The teen thought sarcastically as he glared at the pair of Navis. Right now, he was at a huge disadvantage. There was simply no way he could even consider taking on two fully materialized Net Navis! However, the Navis presence in the real world was not the only thing which filled him with dread. The color scheme and armor worn by SwordTroop and RocketTroop were familiar to him and not in a good way… I don't believe this! Why are members of FutureHazard here in a museum?!
FutureHazard. A group of extremists that appeared infrequently on the news. There was little known about the group, except that they made up large percentage of the people who believed in the Electopian Disaster. Otherwise, they were a total mystery to most people. But, this new discovery did not make Jiro's situation any better. After all, these were the type of people that he was supposed to avoid!
"Well? What's with the holdup, brat? Aren't you going to bring out your Navi? It can't be that pitifully weak, can it?" The blue-haired man taunted as he took notice of Jiro's reactions. His taller companion on the other hand remained silent, choosing to merely observe the teen.
As much as Jiro wanted to respond to the man, he simply couldn't… Unless he sent out his Navi, any sort of reply he could give would seem weak in comparison. Since he didn't have a Navi, it was impossible to send it out into combat. While the two men didn't know that, they certainly weren't going to keep waiting for him make a move. It was only a matter of time before they ran out of patience and ordered their Navis to attack.
"Tch, how long do you plan to act like some sort of tough guy?! If you're not going to bring your Navi out, then I'll have RocketTroop crush you instead!" Apparently, the blue-haired man was the first to grow tired of Jiro's "act". Despite the situation, Jiro couldn't help but smirk bitterly at his predicament. Here he was, an unarmed and Navi-less human about to get sent to the hospital. All because he wanted to protect some ancient PET. The news reporters would get a kick out of reporting a story like this. Especially considering the fact his opponents were not ordinary people. He really managed to screw things up, didn't he?
"Ummm, what's going on?" A child-like voice cut through the tense atmosphere of the room and caught everyone's attention. Five pairs of eyes searched the surroundings, as their owners tried to locate the speaker. However, there was no one other than them present in the Millennial Sector. Which was odd considering the five of them were certain they definitely heard someone's voice just now.
That sounded like it was awfully close by… But, I guess it was nothing. Jiro thought as he sighed internally. But, before he could continue with his current train of thought, his inner monologue was interrupted. Again.
"Hello? Anyone there?" The voice from before once again made itself heard; the speaker's tone just as confused as it was earlier. This time, Jiro was entirely certain the voice was right by him. But, where was it coming from? As he glanced over to his right, he felt the urge to look in the direction of his PET. During this entire ordeal, he had completely forgotten about the device…! Panic set in once again as he immediately brought the PET up to his face to check on it. But, what he saw on the screen was far from anything he could have ever imagined.
"Huh? Wh-who are you?! What are you doing in my PET!?" Jiro exclaimed in surprise, as his sapphire eyes made contact with a pair of green ones that stared back at him. Their owner was a humanoid type of A.I who wore a dark blue bodysuit which had a cyan stripe on each side. His helmet, gloves, and boots were blue and had yellow shoulder guards. Lastly, there were two red, symmetrical trapezoids which formed his Navi mark. "Shit! You must be a virus! Looks like I'll definitely have to put my PET on clean-up mode."
"H-hold on! I'm not a virus! I'm a Net Navi!" The A.I shouted in protest. Jiro was not convinced, it would be just like a virus to claim it wasn't one. He never encountered nor heard of a talking virus. Perhaps this one was more intelligent and advanced?
"As if I'll believe that!" Jiro countered as he continued to shout at his PET. The A.I winced in the face of Jiro's shouting and the glare being sent its way. Yet, it made no attempt to leave the PET.
"It's the truth! Besides, who are you anyways? Where's Netto-kun?" The last question caught Jiro off guard. The A.I mentioned a name he never heard of before. In his confusion, he gave the other an odd look.
"…Netto? Who's that supposed to be?" Although his words contained curiosity, they had not lost their angry tone completely. He could feel his temper begin to rise again as the digital being was now giving him a disbelieving stare. What right did it have to be looking at him like that?!
"HEY! I don't know what kind of comedy routine you're trying to pull over there, but enough is enough!" Annoyed about being ignored, the blue-haired man's patience finally wore out. His angry words brought Jiro and the A.I's attention over towards him; his companion and their Navis. The reminder of their existence caused Jiro to groan under his breath in exasperation. How could he have forgotten about those four?! With a click of his tongue, the teen turned his attention to t the A.I on his PET.
"Well, if you're going to claim that you're a Net Navi, then prove it!" Jiro demanded as he turned the PET around so the A.I could see the situation for himself. If this thing really was a Net Navi, then maybe he stood a chance after all!
"Huh?!" The Navi seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with Jiro and the things he was saying. First, the teenager accused him of being a virus… Now, he was telling him to fight some complete strangers without giving any sort of explanation?! To top it all off, the dark haired teenager still hasn't answered any of his questions! Still, I better lend him a hand. He seems like he's in some sort of trouble with those guys. "Uh, fine! I'll help you out!"
"Glad to hear it." It was a good thing the Net Navi decided to cooperate with him. Against two armed Navis, Jiro needed all the help he could get. If that meant asking some strange Navi for assistance, then so be it. Although, now that he thought about it… He didn't have the first clue about what he was supposed to be doing. How did the two men send out their Navis again?
"This is no time for you to be spacing out brat! RocketTroop, take him out already!" The blue-haired man ordered, and his Net Navi immediately took action by sprinting towards Jiro. SwordTroop and his Net Op stood on the sidelines as they continued to watch. As RocketTroop raced towards him, the teen realized he was running out of time. If he did not act quickly, then he would be beaten down before he had the chance to do anything.
"R-ReaLize!" In his desperation to defend himself, he wound up blurting out the first thing which came to his mind. Thankfully, his PET was able to understand his hastily spoken command and execute it. In the same manner which brought SwordTroop and RocketTroop into the real world, the strange Navi also began to appear.
"Too late, brat!" RocketTroop said as he rushed up to Jiro with his fist pulled back. At this rate, it really did look like he'd take a direct hit from the punch! Before RocketTroop's attack could connect, something caught hold of his fist and held it firmly in place. This surprised both Jiro and RocketTroop, as the latter's momentum was brought to a complete stop. "What?!"
"Phew, that was a close one!" The blue and dark-blue Navi said with a sigh of a relief. To the surprise of everyone in the room, he managed to bring RocketTroop to a standstill, merely by blocking the punch with his right hand. The attacking Navi tried to pull away but wasn't able to as his opponent maintained his grip. Then, the somewhat shorter Navi strengthened his hold and pulled RocketTroop forward and caused him to stumble due to loss of balance. Before he knew what was happening, he was suddenly blown back as the breath in his body was forcefully expelled.
"Y-you little…twerp!" RocketTroop grunted in pain as he recovered from the blow he was dealt. The reason he was sent flying back moments ago was simple. During the span of the few milliseconds after he lost his balance, the other Navi sent a punch straight into his stomach! To be so easily repelled by such an average looking Navi was an insult to his pride! "You won't be getting in anymore cheap shots like that one! Don't just stand there, SwordTroop! Help me out here!"
"What's the matter, RocketTroop? Have you become so weak that a single punch is enough to make you cry for help?" His partner taunted as he took several steps forward to reach RocketTroop's side.
"Ha! You must be kidding! I could easily take this guy if I wanted to! I just want to hurry and get this over with!" RocketTroop boastfully retorted. In the background, his Net Op could be heard agreeing with him. On the other hand, SwordTroop only chuckled in amusement while his own Net Op remained silent.
"Then, let's not waste any more time. We've already spent too much of it here in this museum as it is." With these words, the two Navis mentally readied themselves to engage their opponent. However, the same could be said for the third Navi as he exchanged words with Jiro.
"Hope you've got some Battle Chips ready! They're about to start making their move!" The green eyed Navi said as he glanced behind him to look at Jiro. At this, a small frown appeared on the teenager's face as he pulled out his meager collection of chips.
"All I've got are Canon and Mini Bombs…" He said in reply. This earned a disbelieving look from the Navi. Feeling embarrassed, Jiro's reply came across as a bit snappish. "Give me a break! It's not like I thought I'd ever get caught up in something like this!"
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out." The Navi replied as he sighed. This certainly was way different from what he was used to. If Netto-kun were here, those other two Navis would have already been dealt with! But, there was no point in continuing to think along those lines. If he didn't have many chips to work with, then he'd simply have to figure out a way around it! Luckily for them both, he knew exactly what needed to be done. Turning his head around so he could face his opponents, he sent them a small smile. The expression sent chills down the spines of the other two, prompting them to heighten their guard. The pair then prepared to go on the offensive, with SwordTroop taking the lead. RocketTroop hung back in order to provide long-ranged support with his rockets. SwordTroop had only taken a few steps towards his opponent, before the motionless Navi made a move of his own. "Area Steal!"
"?!" A wordless exclamation escaped from SwordTroop as his opponent vanished from sight. This caused him to stop his charge as he tried to locate the other Navi. As his luck would have it, SwordTroop never got the chance to find the smaller Navi.
"Urk!" The pained grunt was the last sound he made, his body promptly turning into medium sized cubes. He did not remain in this state for long, as he was forcibly returned to his PET. His Net Op's eyes were opened wide in surprise, and he looked down at his device. Where SwordTroop once stood, only the shorter Navi now remained. His right arm transformed into a long, gleaming, white-gold energy sword.
"SwordTroop, hang in there!" The brown-haired man said as he observed his Navi's injured state. To his relief, the damage inflicted on SwordTroop was not severe enough to endanger his life. Yet, he was still in pretty rough shape and unresponsive to his Net Op's words. Reassured his Navi wasn't in any immediate danger, the man's eyes focused on their blue armored enemy. The Net Navi returned his stare momentarily before transferring it over towards RocketTroop.
In response, RocketTroop braced himself in preparation to take on the mysterious Navi. While he put on a brave front, internally he was feeling extremely nervous. He had every reason to considering his teammate got cut down in the blink of an eye! "Don't get a head of yourself! You're not going to beat me like I'm some sort of chump!" He declared as fired eight rockets in the direction of the other Navi. Let's see how you handle these, punk! Besides, even if you somehow manage to get through, you'll still be out of luck! You'll learn the hard way that I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve!
Confident in his ability to fair better against their opponent, RocketTroop was feeling smug. However, the smirk hidden behind his helmet quickly disappeared. All eight of the rockets he sent towards the other Navi were destroyed in an instant! It took only a few swipes from his opponent's sword to put the rockets out of commission. The flying projectiles exploded upon their destruction, yet that didn't hinder his opponent in any way. Having taken care of the rockets, the other Navi lunged towards RocketTroop with an incredible burst of speed.
He's fast…! Before RocketTroop could attempt to defend himself, the fight was already over. With a single, diagonally placed strike, the mysterious Navi finished him off in the exact same way he had SwordTroop. Feeling his consciousness fade, all RocketTroop could feel was his sense of utter disbelief. I-impossible… How could he be so-! Without having the chance to even finish his thought, RocketTroop was sent to his PET.
Thus, the one-sided battle reached its conclusion, and the blue Navi's arm returned to normal. Meanwhile, the trio of humans were all rendered speechless as they stared at the Net Navi. For the time being, no attention was paid to the destruction around them…
"…It's over? Just like that?" Jiro blinked slowly as his mind tried to process what he just witnessed. This random, average looking Navi took out the other two in less than a minute! His words caught the attention of the Navi who turned around to face him.
"Yep, it's over! Since there's all this stuff around, I figured it would be better to settle things quickly!" The Navi replied cheerfully, clearly in a sort of "Job Well Done!" sort of mood. As if remembering something, the Navi turned back around to look at the pair of men who previously threatened Jiro. "Oh yeah, we can't forget about these two. We should call the authorities and have these guys arrested! Honestly, what kind of adults think it's okay to threaten a child?"
"Tch, like that's going to happen!" The blue-haired man replied and looked like he was about to say more. A hand placed on his shoulder cut off whatever he was going to say and he turned to look at his taller companion. The other man shook his head as he looked down briefly and then glanced over his shoulder.
"We should go. There's no way the explosions from earlier will go unnoticed. People from other parts of the museum are likely calling the police. Also, the order to abandon the mission was just sent." He said as he calmly informed his shorter teammate of the situation. The information caused the blue-haired man to grit his teeth in frustration and yank his shoulder out of the other's grip.
"Then what are we standing around here for?! Let's get going already!" He snapped as he started to walk briskly away from his current position. However, before he fully exited the room, he sent a glare in the direction of Jiro and the Navi. In his eyes, there was a clear message being sent. After staring the two down for a few seconds, he finally went on his way. The taller man silently following suit.
"Ack, they're right! We need to get going, too!" Jiro said as he observed their surroundings. The exhibits, walls, and floor were somewhat damaged and dirtied. This was no doubt the result of the numerous explosions which took place earlier! If he got caught here with a Navi out in the open, he would surely be blamed! To be fair, the room was in this state because the Navi tried to protect him… But still, it would be way too problematic for him to explain himself to the museum guards and police officers!
"What about those guys? We can't just let them escape!" The Navi protested, feeling very reluctant about letting such dangerous people go. In response, Jiro groaned in annoyance.
"It's not our job to catch people like them! Let the police handle it! What's important now is that we don't get any further involved with this mess!" As he spoke, the teen began to fumble around with the controls to his PET. His actions earned him a curious look from the Navi, but Jiro paid it no attention. It took him longer than he'd like, but he managed to find the recall feature he was looking for. Pressing the pop-up related to the command, the Navi was sent back inside. The sudden action caused the blue Navi to cry out in surprise, but again, Jiro ignored it. Instead, the teen tucked the device away in his pocket and began to walk speedily out of the room. Hopefully he didn't wait too long to start making his escape…!