"Netto-kun, wake up!"
"Eh. . . Rockman, what's going on?"
"Netto-kun! Please! Get up now, or you'll die!"
"Rockman. . .wha. . .?"
"Your house is on fire, Netto-kun!"
". . .HOLY CRAP!"
------
Netto.EXE – Chapter 2
By Marisa
-----
"Master Soui, I'm back." Netto stated, appearing into his PET.
"It's about time." Soui said with a smirk, and added, "Netto-kun."
Netto scowled, but said nothing.
"So, Netto-kun, are you and Rockman becoming good friends? I hear you plan to have a friendly netbattle with him, Netto-kun." Soui laughed. "Hmm, is he going to show you around Net City, Netto-kun? Now that I think of it, Netto-kun-"
"STOP IT!" Netto exclaimed. "Stop calling me that!" He regretted the action immediately, and knew what would come next.
Soui scowled. "You've forgotten your place, Netto-kun."
"I'm sorry, Master-"
"Ah, but you've been sorry before, and these situations still arise." Soui smirked. "If a Navi is disobedient, he must be punished."
"Soui-kun, what do you think you're doing?"
Soui whirled. "Furukizu-san!"
A tall, violet-haired man by the name of Furukizu stood behind Soui. "Abusing your Navi again?" He said, with a shake of his head. "You don't understand, Soui – I programmed him with intelligence, feelings and emotions-"
"And therefore," Soui continued, "He has the ability to understand why I punish him, and fix the problem!"
Furukizu didn't hesitate to slap Soui across his scarred face. "Soui-kun, you don't appreciate a thing I do for you, and you haven't listen to a thing I've taught you." He growled. "Bend a stick too far and it will break. Navis are the same!"
"You don't understand!"
"You're the one who doesn't understand, Soui." Furukizu snapped. "When I found you, you were just a scared little boy – you couldn't even remember your own name!" He reached forward and touched Soui's face—scarred to a gruesome pink, black and white combination by some unknown torture in his forgotten past. "Do you know why I named you Soui?"
"Because of my scarred face." Soui murmured, flinching as Furukizu ran his thumb over one particularly sensitive spot under his eye.
"Many people would have just let you die—it's human nature not to like something they don't find attractive." Furukizu stated. "But I took you in, those years ago… and you haven't shown me an ounce of gratitude."
Soui stood silent.
"You're an exceptional netbattler, Soui. And that why I gave you this job to do. But it doesn't involve beating your NetNavi to death!" Furukizu exclaimed, "Break into Hikari's computers and bring back the information. That's all I ask."
"Yes sir." Soui mumbled as Furukizu left the room.
---
"Netto's alive?"
"Yes! He's alive! I saw him yesterday!" Rockman exclaimed, bubbling with happiness. "He said that a scientist brought him back to life as a Navi – but he couldn't say his name, so I didn't ask—"
"Why not?" Yuuichirou asked impatiently. "For all we know, that's not Netto at all."
"Yeah, well… it has to be!" Rockman exclaimed desperately, "It just has to!"
Yuuichirou sighed. He wanted to believe it as much as Rockman did, but it just seemed impossible. Netto had been dead for four years – and if he had been alive for three of them, why did he stay in hiding until now?
The scientist tapped the spacebar, as he normally did when he was thinking. The cursor moved across the screen and eventually whapped Rockman in the head.
"Ow, careful with that thing." Rockman laughed nervously, rubbing the sore.
"Sorry." Yuu mumbled absent-mindedly. Netto…have you really come back from the dead? "Rockman…If Netto comes back…" Yuuichirou murmured, "bring him here, okay? I want to run a few tests."
Rockman slowly nodded. "All right."
"Thanks. Anyway, you'd better get back home." Yuuichirou smiled. "Check the house over for viruses, you know…wouldn't want another fire like last time…"
Rockman froze, a look of horror on his face.
The scientist noticed the sudden change in Rockman. "Is something wrong?"
The navi stood staring at the ground, not seeming to hear him.
"Rockman?"
"Netto-kun…" he mumbled absent mindedly.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned the fire…"
Rockman shook his head. "No, no, I'm sorry. It's nothing…" The navi was ready to break into sobs. He didn't mind it when somebody mentioned the fire that had killed Netto—more of how it was started.
It was late. Netto-kun and Rockman had stayed up late playing games online. They were both very tired.
Rockman decided not to check over the house for viruses that night. After all, he had said, there's never anything serious…
And that night, a virus in a hallway light fixture caused the bulb to explode. The hallway was in flames.
Not long after, so was the rest of the house.
Netto hadn't survived.
Rockman never forgave himself. I killed Netto-kun…
"Are you all right, Rockman?" Yuuichirou asked worriedly.
"I'm sorry, papa." Rockman choked, "I-I'm going to go home now."
With that, he logged out.
Yuuichirou frowned, wondering what had upset him so much.
