Moonlit Destiny

Author's Note: Wrote this eighteen years ago. It's full of cringe and OOC moments, but I'm preserving it for posterity. Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.

Pairings: Established Netto x Tohru. Referenced one-sided Meiru x Netto.

Summary:

Dark Chip Syndicate Nebula begins production on a reality-altering weapon. Amidst the chaos, Hikari Netto and his friends must battle countless Darkloids and creatures of another world to save their own.


Chapter 3: Movie Mayhem

It was Saturday night and Netto was getting ready for his date with Tohru. He combed his hair and dressed properly for the occasion. Rockman was getting suspicious because the Netto he knew would never take so much time for anything. In fact, Rockman hadn't even been told what was going on!

"Netto-kun, what are you dressing up for?"

"Not telling!" Netto observed himself in the mirror.

"Does this have something to do with Meiru-chan?" Rockman laughed.

"No!" Netto brought his PET up to his face so Rockman could see he wasn't kidding around.

"Someone else then?"

"Yeah, it's Tohru-kun!" Netto dashed the mystery.

"Oh, I get it…" Rockman mm-hmm'd.

Netto ran through the streets of town, past people, buildings, and trees until he saw the theatre up ahead. Too fast, he ended up running straight into a wall!

"Need some help?"

Netto looked up and saw Tohru's visage looming above him.

"Yes, that'd be great!"

Tohru pulled Netto onto his feet in the middle of the line in front of the box office. It took about five minutes of waiting for them to purchase their tickets.

Netto went and bought a large bag of popcorn. Unfortunately, the beverage machine had run dry and he could only buy one soda. He met up with Tohru three rows above the theatre screen and handed him the bag of popcorn.

The movie was already starting and the popcorn was already half gone. The two watched as the stunning action scenes were projected onto the screen.

Halfway through the movie, they ran out of popcorn and were getting extremely thirsty. With only one soda, they had to share. Tohru didn't seem to mind. Netto, on the other hand, was blushing furiously, impossible to tell because it was so dark in the theatre.

A little too dark.

The screen began to shake and the images disappeared. The crowd was dumfounded until a new image was shown. Right before the crowd's eyes, the Darkloid Videoman appeared.

"Lights! Camera! ACTION!" Videoman laughed maniacally as the crowd scattered for the exits.

The theatre emptied, leaving only Netto and Tohru to confront Videoman.

"Plug us in to the theatre network!" Rockman and Iceman both yelled from their operators' PETs.

It was too late. Videoman activated Dimensional Converters, rendering their plan useless. The environment around the two boys distorted and changed colour.

"Dammit!" Netto cursed.

Videoman vanished from the screen, reappearing in front of Netto. "It's payback time! You won't be so lucky this time!

"Synchro Chi –!" Netto didn't have the chance to finish his sentence. In mere seconds, he was on the ground since Videoman let his Rare Metal tape fly towards him.

"Netto-kun!" Tohru ran to his friend's side.

"I'll be okay…" Netto held onto Tohru for support, but only briefly before he passed out.

"Die!" Videoman wound his Wind Cutter attack.

Tohru grabbed Netto and leapt out of the way, managing to escape through one of the exits.

"Hehehe! That's right! Run!"

Tohru dragged Netto to temporary safety behind the concession stand. "Iceman, you have to find the main Dimensional Converter and destroy it before Videoman catches us!"

"I'm on it, desu!" Iceman entered the theatre's system. He looked around until he could see the device. In the physical world, it was between two load-bearing columns.

"Blizzard!" Iceman released a cold breath, hoping it would freeze the Converter.

It had no effect. Not even a scratch.

"Tohru-kun, my Blizzard isn't working!"

"We'll have to try Battle Chips!" Tohru reached into his pocket and picked out a chip. "Iceman, we're going to use our most powerful chip! You up for it?"

"Yeah, let's take down that tape-for-brains, desu!"

"Battle Chip, Blue Moon Ray! Slot-in!" Tohru downloaded the chip into Iceman.

A bright blue sphere appeared above Iceman, a transparent lens at its center.

"BLUE MOON RAY!" The sphere emitted a thick blue beam toward the Dimensional Converter.

"Ah hah! I've found you!" Videoman smashed through the glass with his tape barrier.

Tohru wrapped himself tightly over Netto, shielding him from the shards.

"Wind Cutter!"

Videoman's attack stopped short of Tohru's back, as he was forcibly pulled back into the net.

"NOOOOO!"

In the theatre system, Iceman grinned in triumph.

Netto woke up. What he saw next scared the hell out of him.

"Tohru-kun! You're bleeding!"