56k Connection
Chapter Four: File Deleted
Just as Timeman plunged the sword into Rockman's chest, Andy finished 'slotting in' the Area Steal battlechip. And something rather strange happened.
Before, the two Navis had been fighting on Alicia's desktop (which looked decidedly weird) but in the battle the humans had forgotten about it. Now, however, all icons and windows disappeared to see the Net World as Rock and Timeman did, with purple ground and pale blue sky…except the ground under Rock was purple no longer. It was now blue.
"What—" began Timeman, utterly confused. For some reason, his sword wasn't slashing Rockman to tiny pixels—instead, it was hovering above his chest!
"Well, that was…unexpected…" said Andy slowly. Apparently Area Steal had literally stolen some ground for Rock, giving him just enough time to recover.
"Oh, give-me-that!" snapped Alicia as everyone seemed to stand there shock-still. "Honestly, you guys seem to forget Rock's fighting for his life here!" She quickly pressed the 'A' button, loading a couple of Cannons onto the battlefield. They instantly aimed and shot at Timeman, blowing him backwards, further away from Rock. "Geez. Boys."
Her interruption seemed to wake everyone up. "Alicia!" gasped Andy as she loaded another Cannon chip into the game. "I thought you couldn't play!"
"I can't," she answered, pursing her lips. "I'm figuring out as I go. I've been watching you long enough. Hey, how come I can't give him that Minibomb battlechip with this Shotgun battlechip? Just because they have different letters…"
"WATCH OUT!" screamed Andy just as Timeman threw another black ball at Rock. This time the blue Navi was able to dodge it, making Andy sigh in relief. "Thank goodness…"
Alicia shrugged and loaded the Minibomb battlechip into Rock. "That one looks to do more damage," she said as a small bomb appeared in Rockman's hand. He instantly chucked it at Timeman, only to have it met head on with another energy ball. The two blew into pieces, sending both Navis flying backward.
"Oh, crap, I didn't mean to do that. Sorry, Rock."
"DIE, DAMMIT!" the clock-shaped Navi screamed, ignoring Alicia. He put his hands together, creating another pulsing black energy ball between them. Alicia uploaded the Shotgun battlechip and another Minibomb, but when Rock used them nothing seemed to happen. It was as though they hadn't hit him at all. Andy stared in horror as he saw the ground beneath Timeman had turned black. He was using his own version of Area Steal!
"Aw, crap! It looks like all we have are health chips!" Alicia cried.
"Throw 'em!" Andy yelled, grabbing the GBA and doing so. Andy just prayed the new chips would show up in time—
"C'mon, c'mon, hurry up! Hurry!"
Timeman's energy ball was now nearly the size of himself. Rockman paled as he looked at it…there was no way to escape that…!
Finally, finally, new chips showed up on the screen. Andy groaned as he saw them—more health chips again, and one Long Sword. That sword wasn't going to come in handy at all—it wouldn't do enough damage!
But Alicia's eyes lit up as a new idea came into her head. She looked at the battlechips at the screen, and grinned wickedly.
"Rock, have you ever played baseball?" she asked nonchalantly as she grabbed the GBA back and uploaded the Long Sword. Rockman's eyes widened as he realized what she was getting at.
Andy just stared at her. She wasn't seriously—
"TIME BOMB!!" screamed Timeman, chucking the massive thing at Rock.
"And a-one…a-two…NOW! SWING, ROCK!"
Rock swung the sword.
The bomb bounced back.
Timeman had two seconds to scream before he was blown up in his own attack.
Alicia pretended to blow smoke off the GBA as she watched the Navi dissipate.
"And that, my friend, is why you don't get the Zelda Master on your ass. I'm good at hitting dark balls of energy back with swords."
Andy stared at her, grinning. "All right!"
Rockman smiled too…just before he fainted. The battle had damaged him more than the kids had realized.
Before their eyes, another strange something had appeared. And considering all that had happened, it had to be pretty damn strange.
Where Timeman had stood—and died—a large, spinning black portal was forming. Rock's unconscious form was being dragged to it, slowly but surely—
"Rock! Rockman, WAKE UP!" Andy screamed. "You're about to be sucked up by who knows what!"
"Get up, you ass!" Alicia growled, this time thumping the monitor. "We did not just go through all that work to let you die on us!"
Rock groaned, finally waking up. When he saw the portal, he instantly drew back.
"It's—it's really strong!" he gasped as he slid forward, even though he was crawling backwards as fast as he could. "I—I don't think I can keep myself out of it!"
"Rockman?" asked a familiar voice from the other side. It sounded like…
"Netto-kun!" Rock gasped, staring into the portal. Andy's eyes widened.
"Hey! Do you think that's a way back to your time?"
"Probably!" Alicia grinned, and waved at the Navi. "Crappy fanfics have quick endings like that." She missed Andy's glare, still focused on the computer screen. "Safe journey, Blue Guy. Hopefully you two Navis didn't destroy my computer."
Rock was nearly at the edge of the portal. "I'm sure we didn't," he said, and stared inside. "Yes, I definitely see Netto-kun!"
"Rockman?" asked the boy's voice. "Hey, where are you?"
"I'm here!" Rock answered automatically. He then turned to the two humans. "Thank you!" he called, waving. Alicia and Andy waved back.
"No prob," said Alicia. "Don't kill yourself back there, or I will come after you."
Rock grinned. "I'll try not to. You're dangerous when you're mad."
"Got that right, shorty." Soft smile. "See ya."
Andy grinned and waved enthusiastically, lifting up the GBA. "See you soon!" he called mischievously. Rockman managed to wave one last time before the portal sucked him in.
######
"Rockman, where were you?" snapped Netto as he got ready. "You didn't wake me up!"
"Er, sorry, Netto-kun," said Rock, sweatdropping. "It's a long story…"
"Long story?"
"Yes…" Rockman thought for a moment about everything that happened. Had it all been a dream…?
"Well, tell me about it!" said Netto, settling down in front of the PET's charger, bandana and socks forgotten. "It's just school anyway. Who cares?"
"Netto-kun!"
Yep. Things were back to normal.
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