AN: I'm very sorry for the huge delay on this chapter, people. I began a very important school work training in a hotel's reception a few weeks ago, and it will last until the second of July, so bear with me, please. I intend to show the Leader soon, I just need to find the proper timing, place, and such. Hang on, you'll find out who he is soon enough, so keep reading, okay?

Translation notes: 'Gomen nasai' = 'I'm sorry'.

-FLM-

Chapter 11 – Regrets and Apologies

"I'm so sorry, Rockman!" Netto continuously bowed his head to his net Navi, who was recovering in a Scan Sphere. "Gomen nasai, gomen nasai, gomen nasai!" he repeated.

The bandana boy felt awful when he realized that he had fallen asleep while reading a comic book when his Navi, best friend and brother, was getting his butt kicked by a new horde of evil Navis. When he saw Meiru and Enzan at his house firstly, he got confused, but as the two teenagers explained the situation to him, his eyes got more and more shocked. Now, he stood in Sci Labs bowing to his wounded Navi.

"If you hadn't fallen asleep and assisted your Navi when he needed, none of this would be happening right now." Enzan scowled. "And maybe we would have been able to catch the Rogue Navis and brought them in for proper questioning."

"I said I was sorry, okay?" Netto repeated, as if pouting.

"Sometimes, you're really the worst, Netto." Meiru said, feeling somewhat disappointed herself.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" the bandana boy repeated, with his gaze now lowered to the ground.

"So, what do we have? Any names or anything?" Yuuichiro asked.

"No. They, no, he. He was the only one who spoke. He said that someone I had deleted before was back with a grudge on me. He also said that the Navi was going to take from me what I hold the most precious soon." Rockman explained, wondering what those words meant.

"I see. Anything else?" Netto's father questioned, making his thinking pose.

"He also said that at my level, I wouldn't be able to fight well and to get rid of all emotion to fight correctly." The blue Navi added with a solemn tone.

"I see. It seems that we have a new enemy to deal with." Yuuichiro commented, turning to his monitors. "Rockman, I will give you an anesthesia to put you asleep. You should be able to restore your energies more quickly this way." The doctor added.

"Alright, Papa." Rockman closed his eyes and waited.

"And maybe that power failure had something to do with it as well." Enzan commented.

"What? There was a power failure?" Netto suddenly asked, looking at the two other teens.

"Was Roll-chan injured?" Rockman asked, opening his eyes, only to close them again and falling in a deep sleep, due to the anesthesia.

"I believe that all these things that have been happening lately might be connected." Yuuichiro commented, as he watched his monitors.

"But what could it mean?" Enzan asked.

"Maybe they are just testing us, to see our strength, like they did to Rockman, and to see how easy they can hack us, like they did to Sci Labs." The hakase explained.

"Is it possible?" Meiru quizzed.

"In theory, yes." The adult scratched the back of his head. "Since there is no proof of anything, we cannot start making assumptions. Plus, in our current situation, we cannot go around and fight everything we see." He added, turning to the three teenagers.

"I wonder when all of this will end…" Meiru commented, looking at Roll.

Indeed, it had been a rather stressful day for everyone, especially for the young redhead. She hadn't been able to have a peaceful day of the week, or afternoon for that matter, ever since Roll woke up again after her repairs.

"Don't worry, Meiru!" Netto said, giving her a thumbs-up sign, clearly not understanding the redhead's words. "I'm sure we'll get around the situation and that everything is going to be alright! Just like always!"

He smiled brightly towards her, but the girl turned her head away from him, and the bandana boy said nothing to her action. He probably assumed she was tired. After a moment, most of the people in the room turned their attentions towards something else; some at Roll, Netto clearly at Rockman. Enzan took that moment to step closer to Meiru, and he placed his left hand over her right shoulder discreetly. As the girl looked over at him, he only gave her his softened expression, something she was not expecting at all.

"Don't worry." He said calmly. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine." He smiled.

"… Thank you, Enzan." Meiru understood right away that he was talking about Roll, and not everything else around them, which made her feel a little happy about it.

Of course, Rockman being attacked was bad, and Sci Labs being hacked out of nowhere was quite serious as well, Meiru was well aware of that, but for her, her own Navi was more important. And seeing that she still hadn't wakened up, she was getting a whole new set of worries all over again. As she noticed that Enzan wasn't holding her shoulder anymore, Meiru's reflex was to look towards him, always discreetly as he had been before. She noticed that the dual haired boy had already hid his hands over his pockets again, and a small thought brushed by her mind. Why did he always keep his hands on his pockets like that? It wasn't that cold, but still, it could be something he himself was not aware of, like something you do with your face all the time, but you never realize it. Meiru wondered about it for a moment, but ended up deciding that this was something with no further interest to think about and looked back towards Roll. As she did so, the redhead sighed loudly enough for the other boy listen, yet, she was not aware of it. As she looked at her pink Navi, she did not notice another gaze coming towards her. Enzan merely peered at her from the corner of his eyes. He was somewhat worried about the girl's deep sadness, since being secretly worried about the others was something natural for him. But since they didn't know each other, he wasn't going to talk with her about her personal problems. From Enzan's point of view, he did wonder how Meiru could hang on to Netto all the time. She seemed like an intelligent person to him, but she still hung around the loud bandana boy, which was something he could not understand well. Why would someone intelligent walk besides a loud, idiot, not so smart, person? As he mused over these issues, he heard someone else speaking.

"Well, I have to get going now." Meiru spoke calmly, turning to leave. "I'll be coming later to pick up Roll, Mr. Hikari."

"Alright. I'll make sure she's ready to go when you arrive." Yuuichiro waved at her with his smile.

"Thank you." Meiru bowed her head and began walking.

Enzan was calmly gazing at the saddened girl leave, when the other came up to her saying that he'd go with her and even drink tea with her. He noticed Meiru griping her hands behind her back, out of Netto's eye sight. He then realized that she wanted to be left alone, but she had the other one after her constantly. He then noticed Meiru looking backwards, towards him. It took him a second to process that she had whispered something to him, but he was not able to listen to her.

"… What did she say?" he asked himself with his hands till on his pockets as the other two left the room.

-FLM-

"So… you're telling me he's gone soft?" the dark figure sat in his throne holding his chin with his left hand. "Is he that weak now?" he added with a rather bored tone of voice.

"Yes, Dark-sama." Terraman kneeled next to Kald. "I used the lowest ranked earth techniques I possess, but he was already fatigued after the virus swarm." The calm Navi explained.

"Hm…" Dark mused over the events for a moment.

"… Where's the fun in making him suffer if he's so weak?" Kald suddenly asked. "I could just delete him with my claws." He commented, looking at his held weapons.

"Know your place, Kald." Terraman said. "That is not our place, neither is our mission." He added, still bowing his head.

"Rockman is weak because his mind is being distracted by something. And I know exactly what it is." Dark spoke, with a smirk. "When I take from him what he cherishes the most, he'll wake up for sure. Then, he will be able to battle properly. You'll see."

"When shall we begin with the operation, then?" a deep voice asked from behind them.

"Ah, Sol. Good, you're back." Dark seemed pleased. "Did you get what I asked for?" he suddenly frowned slightly, but still smirked.

"Of course, Dark-sama." Sol kneeled next to Terraman and showed his open palm. There was a blank chip. It seemed like a regular everyday chip, but since it was in the hands of evil Navis, it wasn't an innocent chip. "If I may say, it was rather easy to find." He commented. "I just had to hack into Sci Labs and get the files. Hacking was the easy part. I only needed to leave low ranked viruses eating the outside programs, and then the path was clear for me. I cut off the power and headed straight to the target." He explained.

"Perfect." Dark seemed pleased again.

The dark figure got itself up and placed his right hand over his Navi Symbol. No sooner than that, a small flash of light covered his hand lines. When he pulled it back horizontally, something was floating above his palm. It was a small Data Cube. It was purple with even smaller red dots. The dark figure brought it upwards, as if to look at it better. The next visible thing was his big red right eye and an edge of a purple helmet. His smirk was not visible, but it was certain that he was smirking with malice. Sol threw the stolen item at Dark, who immediately caught and connected it with the Blank chip. Usually you'd be able to buy these types of Chips on regular stores, but this one was a very special one. It was a leftover prototype that can change a Navi's data entirely. Dark was aware that the Sci Labs' scientist had left it to rot, because it had been a failure on their researches, but that's what they thought. It didn't work well with regular Navis, but with Custom Navis… It sure was a different story. He was aware that they didn't bother to test it on superior Navis in fear of the consequences, but Dark knew exactly what was going to happen in the next events.

"You know what to do next, Sol." Dark said, sitting back on his throne and putting the Blank Chip away.

"Yes, Dark-sama." The other Navi bowed his head and logged-out.

"What should we do now?" Terraman asked when everything was calm again.

"Well..." Dark began, still holding the same smirk on his lips.

-FLM-

"That Netto really is the worst…" Enzan thought for himself as he sat on his rather large desk.

The dual haired boy was back at his company and had begun working on his own vice-president tasks, which were mostly paper signing and checking. He felt bored most of the time, because he finally began to realize that it was not fun at all. Due to his harsh childhood, he was forced to grow up, not really having any type of fun. Even his 'rules' were so monotonous and tedious. No hanging out with friends, because he had to stay home and watch over the company while his father was out in one of his many, many business trips. No girlfriends allowed, because there are only leeches in the world that could only be after his money. Always be the best at Net-Battling, because it will make other people respect you. Never show any emotion, because it will make you seem weak to your enemy. That was what his father told him over the years, and Enzan never dared to question those teachings. But then, he met the group. Netto, always bashful and cheery, same for his Navi with a great sense of justice and loyalty, just like his own Navi, Blues. That short forehead girl, which happened to also be his company's rival, Yaito, who seemed to have some obsessive compulsive tendency with strawberry juice. He never spoke too much with Dekao, or Tohru, but they seemed like good people as well. Before, he'd not even think about hanging out with them, but now, the idea didn't seem too bad at all. Wait, someone's missing. Ah, yes, the red haired girl with the constant heart head pin that's beloved by everyone. He honestly thought that her skirt was a little too short for a girl her age, but he wasn't going to complain out loud about the girl's choice of clothes. One thing he learned was that people are free to do and wear whatever they want. While he was checking several left out papers of his company left to him by his secretary, Enzan accidentally overheard his Navi's conversation.

"Guess what~?" Medi's figure could be seen from the other side of the video-conference call.

"Hm? What is it, Medi-chan?" Blues asked with his weak smile. He sounded genuinely content to be able to listen to her voice.

"I'm coming over soon with Jasmine~!" the medic Navi squealed with a giggle.

"Really?" the crimson Navi questioned again with a smile. "How soon?" he added.

"Actually, we're already there~." Medi squealed again, leaving Blues in a bemused state.

End of chapter 11

AN: This chapter has been revised and edited for minor grammar errors.