"Hey! Netto-kun! Get your butt out of bed and answer the door!" The blue navi screamed, waking the sleeping boy next to him.
"Why can't you get it?" Netto asked, still more asleep then awake.
"Because it's not my job! Besides, I got the last one," he grumbled, yawning.
"Wonderful," Net muttered under his breath as he dragged himself out of bed and down the stairs.
There was a few seconds of silence before Netto started yelling up the stairs after his navi twin.
"Saito!" Net screamed, "Get your pixilated butt down here this minute!"
"Alright, alright. I'm coming," he grumbled, sitting up and looking around, "Yipe!" he cried before running down the stairs and right into his human twin.
"Saito?!? What's the deal?" Netto demanded of his cyber look-alike.
"How the hell...?!?" he started to asked being clocked over the head by Netto.
"Will you chill? This is the third morning in a row that we've had to go through this, Papa's fixing your PET and you're staying out here for now. If I have to remind you again, I'll hit you with something harder than my fist," Netto grumbled.
"Sorry," Saito murmured, rubbing where he'd been smacked, "I'm as bad as you in the mornings now that I'm out here."
"You two," their guest giggled, gaining the boys' attention, "Are far to much sometimes," Yaito chuckled, looking between the two of them.
"Indeed they are, young miss," Glide chuckled from inside his PET, "So tell me Satio, is it true what they say about human-like navis becoming human outside the cyberwold?"
Netto punched Saito hard in the arm.
"Sounds human to me!" Netto chuckled before getting hit back, "Hey, that hurt!"
"How do you like it!?" Saito demanded, starting to pick himself up before being tackled to the ground and attacked by a pillow, "Hey!?! What gives?" he demanded, grabbing a pillow and hitting back.
"What do you think?" Netto hissed, swatting again.
"Well, are you two reenacting last night's wrestling match by any chance? Or are you just trying to impress a girl today?" their mom asked, walking in the door carrying an arm full of groceries.
"Hi, mom..." the two grumbled, picking themselves up and heading upstairs for clothing.
"So, tell me Yaito, what brings you here?" Mrs. Hikari asked, heading for the kitchen with the young girl following close behind her.
"I came to tell Netto-kun and Saito-kun something I heard over the net this morning. Just thought I'd stop by and deliver the news, or it'll be a few weeks before they hear what's what," Yaito said with a shrug, leaning against the counter, "So where's the professor off to now?"
"Somewhere in Europe, he's not even sure where he's going to end up this time," the twin's mother said with a sigh, "Sometimes I wonder if he even remembers what his children look like," she added with another sigh.
"He'll be back soon, I'm sure of it," Yaito said, trying to be comforting.
"So what's the deal, Yai-chan?" Netto asked, tying his bandana into place.
"Yea, what?" Saito asked, leaning against the counter.
"Private conversation time," Yaito stated, heading for the stairs with the twins in tow.
"Alright, Yai-chan, what is it you dragged us up here for?" Netto asked, flopping down on his bed.
"Do you ever check your e-mail, Netto?" Yaito asked, her voice carrying notes of sarcasm.
"No PET, no e-mail," Netto said calmly.
"So what's stopping you from checking it the old-fashioned way? Turn on the stupid computer and type in your password, dummy!" Yaito snarled at him, throwing one of Saito's pillows down onto Netto.
"Fine, fine, fine," Net growled, dragging himself over the computer.
He flipped on the switch and sat down.
"So what's so important that you couldn't tell us downstairs?" he demanded, waiting for the computer screen to boot up.
"It has to do with the sender of the e-mail," Yaito said softly, pulling her legs to her chest.
"Aright, alright," he growled as the list that had built up in his box displayed itself, "Dang! Which one is it?" he asked before noticing one near the top, "Hey, is that from who I think it is?"
"Yep," Yaito said softly.
"Unreal," Netto whispered.
"What's going on? Who's it from? It's not I can still scan that stuff in my head as it is!" Saito called from the ladder, looking a little more then annoyed at his twin.
"Come over here and see for yourself," Netto little more then whispered, moving so his brother could have a look.
"Holy!" Saito yelled, squeezing at Netto's shoulder, "This is from him?" he gasped.
"Yea, I know," Netto whispered, prying his brother's hand off his shoulder, "Wonder what he wants," he whispered, opening the file.
They watched the image of and elderly man in a hospital room flooded the screen. Nearby him were enough pieces of medical equipment to indicate his failing health as well as an out of place looking skull topped cane.
"Greetings, young ones. I imagine that you are wondering just what I have decided to contact about. Rest assured it has nothing to do with an attempt I am making to take over the cyber realm. I have something of a favor to ask of the lot of you. Sometime ago, I managed to hack into SciLab's data mainframe and found a very unique set of programs. Programs that could be used to create a navi from human DNA. As we all are aware of, this has already been proven to be possible,"
"He's talking about you there, Saito," Netto whispered, not tearing his eyes away from the screen.
"I know," Saito whispered back.
"I had been in the process of creating such a navi for the use of World Three's own goals. Unfortunately, it would seem that there are others after such a set of programs. A sect calling themselves Neo Arcadia had hacked into my own computer system and stolen the navi that I had been working on. She was, unfortunately not yet complete. What they could be planning to with her, I really have no idea, but I doubt that it will be anything enjoyable on her part,
"Normally I would not be asking such a favor from those who have gotten in the way of my plans so many times, but this is a desperate time for me and these Neo Arcadia characters have proven more then what my own forces can handle. And seeings as how the lot of you seem to like sticking your noses the business of others, this temporary partnership could prove beneficial on both our parts," the old man finished, wheezing more then just a little.
"Is this guy serious?" Netto asked, looking back at Yaito.
"Hard to tell," she said plainly, "We'd have to go to the hospital that he's in and find out in person," she added, hopping down from the top bunk and walking over to the twins.
"Beachfront?" Saito asked, looking over at the small blonde.
"I think so," she answered, "but we're going to have to go there and ask if we want to be sure. I couldn't trace the source of the e-mail. He sent it though at least ten different servers before it arrived in our mail-boxes," she reported, studying the room on the screen for any clues.
"Did everyone else get this message?" Netto asked, finally looking up from the computer screen.
"Yep, even you-know-who," Yaito grumbled, shuffling her feet.
"Well, this is going to be loads of fun," Saito chuckled, heading for the door.
"Where are you going now?" Netto asked, still not having moved from the computer.
"Breakfast," he said simply, walking the rest of the way out the door.
Inside the seaside hospital,
"You're sure that this such a good idea, Mr. Wily?" Madoi asked, toying with her make-up.
"Can't you pry yourself away from that thing for five minutes?" Hino Ken asked, still slumped over in one of the chairs scattered about the room.
"Just shut-up!" she snapped, throwing one of her slippers at the red-head, "This happens to be how I relax myself," she snarled.
"Well, it's certainly not how you make yourself look good," he snorted back at her.
"Why you little...!" she shrieked, diving at him full-force and tackling him to the ground.
"Not again," Count Elec grumbled, not even looking up at the warring pair.
"Will you two knock it off?!" Mr. Wily yelled before breaking into a hacking fit.
"Sir, you must remain calm now, your heart won't take a great deal more stress before it can no longer repair itself. And I recall you stating something about being there when this navi was activated for the first time, though that plan is most likely no longer useful," Yahoot said in a manner even more grin then normal for him.
"If you are even thinking about suggesting that I just give up on seeing her again," Wily snarled, "I would suggest to you that you curl yourself into a ball and roll out one of those windows before you decide to say anything more," the old man growled, shutting the monk and the other ops present up for several minutes.
"Her?" Madoi asked, an edge to her voice that said she knew something was up, "You've never referred to a navi by anything other then what it looked like. So what makes this one so special?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"That really isn't any of your business, Madoi," he growled, tracing the curves on his cane with a finger, "I have my reasons for my actions."
"And the patient needs his rest!" A woman said from the room's doorway.
The World Three members turned their attention to the woman who had spoken up. They saw there a woman with purple hair wearing a nurse's uniform standing there. Behind her was a bright green-haired candy-striper, holding what looked to be a fresh pillow for their patient. The green haired girl's vermilion eyes seemed to regard Madoi with contempt as the pink-haired young woman walked with her three male companions out of the room as the purple-haired nurse walked over to Mr. Wily's side.
"Terra!" the nurse snapped, "close the door and lock it!"
"Of coarse, Rin," the girl said softly, doing as she was told before joining the nurse at the madman's bedside.
"You wished to see us, Sir?" Rin asked, no longer sounding like a dutiful nurse but more like a solder.
"Have you found anything out yet?" Mr. Wily asked, looking over at Rin for some answers.
"No definite leads yet, Sir," she reported, closing her eyes.
"We're still following up potential leads," Terra added, her gaze not faltering.
"What would help would be these Neo Arcadia people deciding to make an attack on something, anything," cried an unseen voice called out, sounding more then a little annoyed.
"I'm inclined to agree with her under these circumstances," added another voice.
Both the World Three operatives reached into the pockets of their uniforms and pulled out their PETs (what? You think they'd be able to work for World Three if they didn't have the little guys?) and looked at their respective Navi's.
"I hope that you have something behind this little thought, Dante," Rin said, looking down at her black-clad navi.
"We do actually," called the other navi, a smaller maroon and white clad one, "If we can catch them when they're attacking, it'd be a simple matter of capturing one of them and interrogating them 'till they talk!"
"A nice plan, do you really think it will work?" Terra asked, tilting her head in thought.
"It should," the first navi piped up, twisting her white ponytail around in her hands, "We've already run simulations of every situation we could think of with every navi in our data-base."
"Very well then," Mr. Wily wheezed, looking between the two ops, "perhaps it would be best if you went and tested out this plan of yours, at the very least we'll be keeping our wits sharp," he added, sounding almost dishearted with the situation, "Terra, Rin!" he began again, once again holding authority in his voice.
"Sir!" they answered, saluting their boss.
"Dante, Shade!" he added, addressing the navis.
"Sir!" they answered, also saluting.
"You understand your orders?" he demanded more then asked of the set.
"Seek out and report back any information we can find on the subject; Rose.EXE!" they stated as one, their bodies otherwise unmoving as they did this, "And if possible, bring her back unharmed!"
"Very good, the four of you are dismissed!" he barked before falling into another coughing fit.
"You should get some rest, Sir," Rin said, turning slightly in the doorway before leaving.
exhausted sigh This is proving to be interesting.
I'll say all of this right now, yes, I did pull Neo Arcadia from the RMZ games. Why? Because I feel I can make it work. And sorry people, there will be no Omega X.EXE. You can look forward to seeing the four guardians in action soon enough. And whoever can guess the reference behind Terra's name gets a cookie.
Also, if anyone can help me. I need to know the Japanese names for the other World Three miscreants, that would be greatly appreciated right now because I honestly have no clue. Thanks! Read and review! Ja for nyo!