A/N: Oh wow... Papers hurt. I have an essay, a memo, and a resume draft all due sometime next week. I'm so happy this chapter was already written before I decided to put it online.

Impossible Reality
Chapter 4

Had I not been crouched behind those few files when I was, that might have been nasty. Fortunately for me, the human, and his Navi, I was not seen. Normally, I would have no problems fighting them, but right now that's something I can't afford. Better to remain undetected and find what I'm looking for than start a brawl here in the middle of things.

Looking around for a second, I see a few programs here and there running various tasks. They take some notice of me, but although I look much different than the Navi they are used to seeing, I receive no resistance from them. My mask is working perfectly, not to my surprise. Against one edge of the platform, I find a short row of links, all various colors. There are two blue ones, and there isalsoa red one and anorange one. I ignore those - they would not lead where I am heading. Yellow, no... Green, not that one... No... no... Not that one either... Ah, here we are. Another white link, and the only other one, might I add.

As I approach it, I find no security cubes. Here also is a system link without a password. How trusting these people are of their peers. Something like a sneer twists my features for a moment before I make my way through easily. As soon as I enter this new system, I know for certain I have hit something big. Without even having to look around for the passages, I can already sense several additional hardware attachments. I find the links without really having to look for them, and what I am met with interests me.

A few of the links are a pale purple. Additional CD drives. Nothing special to me. One panel is brown, another bordering on black, but these I pay no attention to - I've found something I've never seen before in my entire life. As I gaze at the portal, an array of colors drift across its surface. It looks like any other link I've ever come across, shape-wise, but these colors... I have no idea what this leads to, but I want to find out. I simply cannot leave here without knowing what new technology this system holds. Perhaps this is what I have come for.

I step through the link, once again suspiciously without resistance, but I notice an unfamiliar tingling sensation throughout my body. I let it phase through me, well aware of it, though not alarmed. When I reach the other end,I am suddenly more aware of my physical being than I ever was before. The sensation stuns me, and for a moment, I feel... dizzy, faint. I worry a little over this - I have never felt this before.

As far back as Ican remember, the concept of touch was something there in my world, but foreign all the same. The only contact I had with another being was in battle; the pain, the impact from various blows seemed real. They affected me as though they would be, but it was quick and lasted only as long as the damage remained without repair. This was what my definition of touch had become.

My vision goes black for a moment, but as soon asthe darkness and the tingling clear up, my jaw drops at what I see.

This new system seems to have been created with a more human environment in mind. Not only does my body feel different, the whole server looks likea human's office I had once seen. There are programs everywhere that mimic computer hard drives. What appears to be thick cables are bundled neatly together along the legs of a table upon which sit two monitors that illuminate the image of a room's interior. A chair with wheels at the bottom of the legs sits in between these two monitors, and a door, partially opened, rests in the only wall that does not have anything settled against it. At my feet is a link similar to the one I passed through to get here, but gone is the rainbow on its surface, marking it as unique. Now there exists only a blank, pulsing white - the only other light source in the system aside from the monitors.

As much as I hate humans, I cannot help but find this discovery amazing. It is so different, I am almost convinced I am in the human world. Almost immediately as I enter the new area, however, the monitors' lights disappear, as does the light of the portal I still stand on, and for a moment, I tense. That could not have been a good thing. What if I am now trapped in here? For assurance, I look down at the portal, my vision adjusting easily enough, and try to move myself back through to the other system. My eyes widen slightly as the action fails and I try again. Once more, the transfer is denied, and I sigh heavily. I do not want to think I've just locked myself in some strange new device, but a comforting thought occurs to me. The power might have gone out. Surges aren't entirely uncommon nowadays, but it seems the only likely reason. I'm still here, I'm still awake, nothing too terrible has happened. That must be the answer.

With a groan, I step away from the panel and go back to my exploration of my new surroundings to wait for the power to come back on. I pause for a moment as something invisible around me shifts my cloak against my legs - I have never felt that before either. It is almost... as though there is an actual... texture to the material rather than a flat, simple image panel.

Very, very different indeed.

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Rock awoke with a sudden start against his will. He looked around frantically for a moment before noticing the reason for his rude awakening. Before him, flashing in red letters, was a warning message. He quickly read it, his eyes widening as he did.

"Netto-kun!" he yelled at his sleeping Operator across the room. The boy didn't so much as flinch. "Netto-kun, wake up! There's something wrong! Someone's hacked Papa's computer!"

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I was alone for a time within this new place. The more I explored, the more I was amazed by what I landed myself in. Everything had its own different feel about it. There were small creases and bumps that I had never before known. When I came to whatlooked like a keyboard, I spend five full minutes just running my fingers over the keys, so amazed was I at the sensations it gave me.

I had become so interested in my surroundings that I barely noticed the sounds outside the door. I had already opened it somewhat earlier, but now I pushed the strange, solid program aside and step through the portal. That was when I met the Navis.

I stare at them as they approach, my surprise becomming more and more apparent. What are these Navis, that they look so much like humans? One was clearly male, and he appeared to be wearing pajamas of some sort. The other was female; she wore a night robe. Their clothes were more strange to me than their frames - I have never seen a Navi wear clothing before. A cape, perhaps, or a cloak like mine, but never shirts or pants. Perhaps armor resembling such, but never anything like it.I honestly would not have been able to tell the difference between them and their Operators if they had been there at the time.

They seem just as shocked, if not a bit frightened, to see me as I am to see them. I can see from their expressions they will not want to fight me. Just as well, for I myself want no quarrel with them. It's bad enough that I've been found out. Now I wonder if my search has come to a sudden end.

I notice, belatedly, when he lowers his hand, that the male is holding something. When I really look at it, I realize it is a weapon... a gun. This I also find odd. Navis don't normally need such programs. Their arms can be reformed into cannons, a more convenient weapon. What strange programs these are. Can I be so certain they even are Navis, or are they just some sort of experimental security drones? No, certainly not drones. They obviously have emotions whereas drones do not. Then again, even some of the simpler programs can have emotions.

"Forte?!"

The voice hits me like a rock. I might have been surprised that one of them recognized me through the mask I set up earlier had the sound of it not been so familiar. No way it could be...

A small glance over to a movement behind one of the... Navis... confirms my sudden horror. The face of the blue Navi's Operator is unmistakeable. In his hands is a bat held at the ready, and he now steps out beside the taller male. How interesting that he should create a Navi that looks exactly like him. But, if that's so, how did he get in this system without the means to do so? A second glance back into the room I came from shows no signs of the power having returned, and now here I am, facing down my enemy prematurely. I growl and take a step back, not knowing where to go now. Maybe I can stall them.

"Yes," I openly admit, "I was the one to hack your systems. I must say, it was really quite simple. You disappoint me."

From their faces, I can tell my words have had little to no effect. Their looks are slightly disturbing; they seem to know something I do not, something wrong. The taller male Navi speaks again, his voice strangely calm despite the awkwardness of the situation.

"There's more to it than that," he tells me slowly. "What did you do to my hardware?"

I scoff. "I did nothing! I merely explored a bit. Tell me, what is this place you've created? I truly am impressed with your genious, boy."

"That's no boy!" the Operator yells. "That's my dad!"

I blink. His father has a Navi in here too? And the female... Must that be his mother? Outwardly, I act as though I hadn't heard that. The supposed "father" steps closer to me, waving the boy down. Reluctantly, he lowers the bat and lets the other Navi speak.

"Forte... I've heard about you..." He looks me over from where he stands, not daring to approach me any closer. For one brief moment, I catch a glimpse of something behind his glasses, something like sympathy. "How did you get out here?"

I glare at him, wondering what's going through his mind. "What do you mean?" I demand. "I simply followed the link through the system to the device on the other end."

"You set off a security measure once you did that. The hardware should have shut down when it recognized an intruder, but something went wrong. You shouldn't be here."

By this time, I'm considerably agitated and angry. These Navis are getting on my nerves, but more than that, there seems to be some truth in the one's words. Something seemed very wrong with all of this from the beginning, but what he's implying has to be impossible. He has to be lying. He's probably just trying to throw me off. "What are you saying, Navi?! Stop with your nonsense and reactivate the link back into the system or I'll take you out right here and now!"

At the word "Navi," the male's eyes widen and he stands in silence. The boy's eyes widen as well, as do what I can only assume to be the Navi of the mother, and he blinks stupidly as though I had just grown a second head. "You think we're Navis?" he asks, dumbfounded.

I sigh loudly and turn my glare on him. "Of course I know you're Navis. How else are you in this system with me?"

The other male Navi blinks at me, and I get the impression he's just seen a ghost. "We're not Navis, Forte." I feel my demeanor slip ever so slightly. "We're humans. This isn't a computer system either. You're in the real world."

Suddenly, I find myself feeling very... very... ill.