"It doesn't matter how, Netto-kun! Just get out of the house!"
The boy shook his head. "Not without you!" He stepped out of bed and began to make his way through the flames.
"Netto-kun, no! I'm not important!"
"Yes, you are!" He reached towards his desk and grasped the PET, hugging it to his chest. Rockman could hear the boy's quickened heartbeat. 'He's frightened,' Rockman realized.
"Oh, no!" In Netto's rush to get the PET, his path to the door was blocked by a wall of fire. He glanced around the room. 'There's a fire extinguisher in my closet, but I can't get to that, either!' With another glance, he saw the way out. "The window!"
---
Netto.EXE – Chapter 3By Marisa
---
"There you are, Rock!" Netto exclaimed with a wave as Rockman logged back into his home computer.
Netto's computer.
"Hey, Netto-kun!" Rockman smiled. "Listen, papa wants to run a few tests on you. He…uh…isn't convinced that you're real."
Netto shrugged. "Not a prob-owwch!" He twitched suddenly and clutched his chest. Rockman blinked in surprise.
"Is something wrong, Netto-kun?"
The boy shook his head. "No, nothing." What did you do THAT for, Master?
Soui's voice replied in his head, You can't let Doctor Hikari run tests on you! They'll find out!
That's not a problem, Master. Professor Furukisu already blocked my programming off to everyone but himself.
"Hel-lo? Netto-kun, anyone home?" Rockman waved his hand in front of Netto's face.
"Huh? What?"
Rockman crossed his arms. "I asked you if you wanted to go to Net City afterwards."
Netto smiled. I've never been to Net City before…
Don't waste your time! Soui scolded. You've got a job to do, and do it fast! Net City will only slow you down.
With a sad sigh, Netto replied, "Sorry, I can't… but listen, maybe afterwards… we could have that netbattle?"
Rockman grinned. A netbattle with Netto-kun? That should be interesting… "All right. Although… I don't have anyone to give me chips…"
"That's okay. I'll go easy on you." Netto gave him a thumbs up. "Now, off to the SciLabs to see papa?"
"Yeah! Although… we might have to take a few minutes to get you proper security clearance."
Netto gave a sly grin, but Rockman didn't notice. "That's not a problem at all, Rock."
---
"Papa!" Rockman called.
"Ah, there you are." Yuuichirou smiled warmly. "And you've got Netto with you, I see."
"Papa…" Netto breathed, "I missed you so much..."
Cut the dramatics!You TOLD me to be convincing, Master!
"I missed you too, Netto." Yuu sighed. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to have a glance at your programming."
Netto shook his head. "I don't mind."
Yuuichirou nodded, and proceeded to open Rockman in a word processing program. However…
"Please enter…twenty-digit password?" Yuuichirou choked. "Twenty digits, eh? Someone doesn't want me to know how you work…"
"I'm sorry, papa."
"No, it's all right. Rock, how many different password combinations are there?"
"Hold on a minute." Rockman did the calculations in his head. "Two…don't have the word for it, four hundred thirty-two…um…quadrillion, nine hundred two trillion, eight billion, one hundred seventy-six million, six hundred forty thousand."
Yuuichriou sighed. "All right, then. So much for random guessing." He sighed, resting his chin on his folded hands. "So, Netto – do you like being a navi?"
Netto nodded and smiled. "It's wonderful, papa. Although I…uh…do miss being human…"
"What's with that new symbol on your head and chest, anyway?"
"Oh, this?" Netto pointed to his headband. "I'm a navi, don't forget. This is my operator's symbol. His name's Soui."
"Hm." Yuu smirked, a sly glint in his eye "I wonder if this is anything like the day you met Rockman. Tell me, Netto… who was it you lost a battle with the day before you met Rockman? I was in Borneo at the time."
Netto's eyes went wide for a moment. "That is… um…"
…He's got us now. Soui noted.
"That's all in the past, right?" Netto laughed. "After all, since I got Rockman, everything before that has been kind of fuzzy." The boy wrapped his arm around Rockman's shoulders, and the blue Navi smiled.
"I see." Yuu smiled. "In that case, you two can go. I'm through."
With a few goodbyes, the two Navis logged out.
Yuuichirou began to type an email.
"Hey, how about that Netbattle now?" Netto suggested.
Rockman grinned. "All right! But don't think I'll go easy on you." Rockman winked.
"Heh. I'm not holding back, either." Netto gave a thumbs-up. "How about we go over to Soui's computer? He's got a great program that lets you Netbattle in different environments, and he hasn't gotten to try it out yet."
Rockman widened his eyes in curiosity. "Really? What kind of environments?"
"Well, I can't remember all of them," Netto started, "But the coolest sounding one is the Coliseum. They've got an audience and everything!"
"Wow!" Rockman exclaimed, "It's settled. We're going to Soui's computer!"
--
"Are you ready?" Netto asked, standing at one end of the Coliseum.
"I'm ready." Rock answered, getting into a fighting stance.
"Go!"
The two charged at each other. Rockman knew that Netto had the advantadge—the boy knew Rockman's attacks and strategies, while Rock was clueless as to what Netto could do.
The first thing the boy did after charging to the edge of his area was bring his hands together, then slowly pull them apart. Something black appeared between them, and Netto grasped it.
"Dark Whip!" He called, bringing the whip down and forward. It extended forward across the three units of Rockman's area, hitting the blue clad Navi square in the chest.
Rockman gasped, clutching at the wound. He hadn't expected that.
"Rockbuster!" Rockman exclaimed, his arm forming a cannon and firing at Netto. The boy dodged easily, tossing another attack with his whip, hitting Rockman in the side.
Okay, gotta think about this. Rock thought, He's agile, and he has a long attack. That means if I try to dodge, he can probably still catch me. Rockman fired his Rockbuster again. My best chance is to stay in the middle, and then get to a corner when he raises his whip.
With that, he moved to the center of his area, and fired another Rockbuster. Netto raised his whip, and Rockman dodged as planned. However, Netto quickly flicked his wrist, causing the dark whip to change direction. This time, instead of just hitting Rockman, it actually wrapped around his arms and waist. Netto yanked it forward, jerking Rock along with it.
"Sword!" Netto called, as his arm morphed into a glowing blue sword. He pulled Rockman close and slashed him in the stomach with the blade.
"N-Netto-kun!" Rockman gasped, clutching at the wound, "I-I think t-that's enough for now…"
"What are you talking about, Rock?" Netto sneered, his arm morphing into an M-Cannon. "You haven't even been deleted yet!"
D-Deleted?! Rockman's mind echoed, He's trying to DELETE me?!
"M-CANNON!" Netto fired the cannon. Rockman, too wounded to dodge, was hit by the blast. He fell to the ground, gasping. "N-Netto-kun…wh…why?"
Netto kneeled down next to him. "There there, Rockman. Don't feel bad. Don't think of it as your former operator deleting you…" He leaned down and softly, very softly, whispered to the navi, "After all, I'm not even Netto."
Rock felt like he had suddenly frozen into a block of ice. He's…not…Netto…! Damn, I should have listened to papa…should have known… He stared up at Netto's eyes. I wanted to believe it so badly, though…
"There he is."
"Well I'll be… it is Hikari, isn't it?"
"And Rockman…"
"Wait a minute… Hikari looks like he's… about to delete Rockman?"
"I'll stop them."
"Elec Sword!" Netto called, his arm forming the sparking blade. "Time to die, Rockman." With that, he brought the sword down upon the Navi…
…but the blade never reached its target, as a pink sword smashed the Elec Sword in two.
"Who's there?!" Netto called, whirling to see his new opponent.
"Greetings, Hikari." Blues stated. "Dare I ask why you're trying to delete Rockman?"
"Ah, Blues. I wondered if I'd see you." Netto smirked. "So sorry we won't know each other for long. AQUA SWORD!"
Blues took no time slashing Netto in the arm as the boy was getting a new weapon.
"Gah! Don't let your guard down, you idiot!" A new voice called.
Blues stepped back and looked around. "Who are you?"
"Ah, you haven't met me yet, have you?" The smirk could be heard in his voice. "My name is Soui. I've heard quite a lot about you and your operator, Blues-san. Such an honor to meet you… and to delete you."
Blues got into a fighting stance.
"DARKMAN! DELETE THEM BOTH!"
Netto nodded, as his features faded away to nothing but a charred black. "Yes, Master Soui."
