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Secrets of the Undernet

Chapter 8: T.N.P. Part II

Disclaimer: Kay-fuzz don't own. CAPCOM owns. CAPCOM shall die by Kay-fuzz's hands... or at least the translators. Kay-fuzz own story idea (this story). Kay-fuzz do not own other random cameos, either. Random cameos owned by other companies. Kay-fuzz not a company. Kay-fuzz sad.

Summary: After agreeing to a trade with a mysterious Navi, Roll finds herself stuck in the Undernet. Can she uncover it's secrets before she's trapped forever? LanMayl, MegaRoll (near the end... kinda hard to do a romance when they're not together, ne?)

Warning: Contains insanity. One of the prolouge stories for Warp Fusion. Not quite sure what else it contains right now, but it will have some spoilers for what happens in the games/anime/manga (ish), and the history, which we NEVER find out about in the anime... which is really dispointing, but mreh.

Re-cap (last chap): A little, interesting bathroom scene (which some people called very funny), feautring Lan and Mayl. Didn't really focus on anything else, other than that. I mean didn't focus on anything else other than Lan and Mayl. A bit of Dr. Hikari. And now, we find out AAAALLLLLLLLLLLL about T.N.P.! YEAH! (crickets) thanx for the encouragement, peoples...

Spoilers: A theory about TNP. And something about Inuyasha near the end, but not too much...

Note: For more info on T.N.P., please e-mail Kay-fuzz, and Kay-fuzz will send you a link.

-------------------------------------------------(I)Story(I)------------------------------------------

Eria looked around the group of Undernet Navis that surrounded her, Guinto and Nightman. They were currently being mobbed in what appeared to be the main hall, without much room to do anything.

"Sir! We detected-"

"We found-"

"There's something-"

Eria's eye twitched. If this was the discipline of the Undernet Navis, she would much rather be back where ever she was just 'rescued' from.

"ALRIGHT! Now, I'm sure that what you all have to say is extremely important-" many Navis glared at her, offened at being talking to in such a rude way, "-but really, could you not just simply organize it all into a nice, little report and send it to whoever you're pestering right now?! Oh, right, they would be pestering you, Guinto..." A slitghly evil look crossed Eria's face, and Nightman gulped, not sure what to think of that look.

Eria sighed, and looked around. "Is there any place for a lady to sit down, or must I do everything myself?"

A Navi, lower down in the ranks than basically everyone that was around him, spoke up. "Sorry, Lady, but we don't."

Eria sighed. "Making a lady do all the work? Really, haven't you ever had to talk to a woman?"

Most of the Navis blinked at this, while a few of the females whistled. "You tell 'em, girl!" One shouted out. Eria smirked hearing this, before turning to Guinto.

"It looks like I've found my court. I expect everyone to at least know my name, and find some place for me to sit!"

Eria stalked off then, away from all the others, to find the other females who had called out. Guinto stared after her with a slight frown on his face. I had no idea that she would be so... annoying...

"Sir!"

Guinto turned to the Navi who had called out. It was the same low-ranking one that had yelled out before. "We detected a large energy surge in the system not too long ago- but that wasn't the only thing." He put in before any other navis could cut him off. "It seems that someone who vists the Hall of Records continuously went to the Wastes to find some data not too long ago."

Guinto raised an eye brow- well, if he had one. "And what data were they looking for?"

"We're not sure, but it might have to do with Megaman."

This definately peaked Guinto's interest. Someone who can get to the Wastes... they must know about Base Gate then. And if they're taking an interest in Megaman...

"What was this Navi's name?"

"Tialsia.EXE, sir!"

Guinto nodded. "I want a full surveylance team on both Megaman.EXE and Tialsia.EXE continuously until I say that that project is finished!"

"SIR!"

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Eria sighed and blinked, as she looked back at the large group of male navis trying desperately to impress Guinto. Nightman simply stood off to one side, she noticed- he knew his place, and when to open his mouth. Something I might want to take into consideration when choosing my final court...

"Eria?"

Eria blinked, and turned around to her temporary court. There weren't many female navis in the Undernet, and even less who survived the purge from the Upper Navis. Those that were left, the ten or so, were obviously in awe of her, and already deeply devoted.

"Oh, I'm sorry... but... I only woke up from stasis not too long ago. Could you please inform me of the situation? Guinto did such a horrid job..." She expertly laced sarcasm through her words, as she let her eyes trail over her court and back towards the leader of the Undernet Rebellion as they had begun to call themselves.

Her court smirked, giggled, and sniggered- Eria could tell that these were navis who made it by manipulation and not being the first one to step up, but also not the last, so to speak.

"There's a private 'garden' not too far from here- we recreated some of the real world's plants, and made it too 'foo-foo' as the men would say, so they don't go in there. It's ther perfect place to talk." Said one, a navi who's body suit was black with stripes of purple laced through the darkness.

"Sounds like a plan. Ladies?"

The dozen navis walked down hallways, whispering in excited voices to make it seem like they were just talking about 'boring, female stuff'- the men would never know anything.

Eventually, they made it to a garden-like area, where they all sat down on benches that appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. Eria summoned some virtual pillows to make their seats more comfortable.

"So, ladies... what's been happening in this part of the net?" As Eria looked around, she noticed that they all had nearly the same style of armor- mainly black, with only one other color laced through the blackness, with shoulder pads, helmets, hair, gloves and boots following the same color scheme. Their armor itself looked much like a standard navi's, with small designs here and there setting them appart, their hair styles, the obvious personalities, and the small marks under each other their eyes, which perfectly matched their suit color.

"The upper navis staged a raid on the Undernet, sending in some of their most powerful destroyers to annihlate everything. They stopped after they destroyed most of the Undernet- but many navis were deleted." Said the purple-striped one.

Another navi, who was laced with light blue, took over. "Some Navis came together to form a 'resistance' of sorts- just a small brigade to fight the Upper Navis."

A black-and-pink took over this time. "A lot of other Navis joined, fearing for themselves."

"Soon, it became this. Everyone started working on this palace, and a leader was elected." A black-and-green said.

"He's a pretty good leader, if a little slow- but he's one of the few who would actually listen to our ideas." Black-and-red told Eria, her eyes glinting maliciously.

"However, this place is male-dominated. It's good to see a female take charge." Black-and-orange said simply.

"We would have, but the males seem to think that we're not even worth fighting-"

"-they just come up with a reason to not fight us."

Eria blinked as she noticed that two of her new court were slight yellow colors. One seemed more orange-yellow, while the other more green.

Dark blue, so dark that one almost couldn't see it, spoke up as she calmed the two down, like a mother would. "They're like that- created from the same codes, at the same time, at the same rate. The Navi equizalent of twins."

Eria smirked. That was good to know. "So, they can know what each other is thinking, or at least feeling, no matter how far away they are from each other?"

"In essence." Remarked a black-on-black navi. Eria noticed that she seemed to fade in and out of existance- a good spy.

Black-on-white took over to finish it off. "They never stray too far away from each other, and are never apart for longer than a week."

Eria nodded. "So... were you all created using the same program?"

They all blinked, before shaking their heads. "No... we used Fuiyou's stasis pod to change this- well, not the pod, but a program that worked inside the pod. He just used it on his outside." White told her.

"Right... so what are your names?"

They stood in a line, in the same order in which they had spoken (Purple-Light blue-Pink-Green-Red-Orange-Yellow/Orange-Yellow/Green-Dark or Midnight blue-Black-White for those who forgot). And, since they were in that order, why not say their names like that as well?

"I am Violet."

"Sky!"

"Rouge here!"

"Forest."

"Crimson."

"Sunset."

"Sun rise!"

"And Dapple!"

"My name is Midnight."

"I am Yami."

"And I am Hikari."

Eria noticed that a few of the Navis seems to be almost... paired up with another. Sun rise and Dapple, Yami and Hikari, even Violet and Forest, Srimson and Rouge, Sunset and Sky- they were all paired up in a sence, with either their opposites or someone that they had a complimenting personality to.

Eria grinned. "Well, then, Ladies... it seems you have a nice little group here. I've noticed that you're paired up- except Midnight. Well?"

Midnight stepped forward graciously, and opened her mouth to talk. Before she could say anything, however, Sun rise sprang forward, Dapple barely two steps behind her. "She's like our mother!" Sun rise exclaimed.

"She takes care and heals us!" Dapple joined in the aclimations. After looking at the other Navis, and finding that the two 'twins' spoke the truth, Eria turned to Midnight. "You... can heal? Do the males know about this?"

Midnight looked surprised, but shook her head. "No... they do not feel like we can do anything, so I simply resort, as do we all, to doing whatever we can for each other, and those who accept our help."

"Like Nightman..." Rouge sighed, obviously a very... flirty navi.

Eria simply looked at the display infront of her as Crimson make some gestures and comments about her apparent partner, which got a rise out of the love-struck navi. Both were soon rolling on the floor, fighting each other savangely before springing apart and activating their defealt weapons- both were long swords.

They were about to attack each other again, when Sky and Sunset stepped infront of them. "Come one, you too! Lady Eria looks like she's about to say something!" Sky told them gently. Sunset mimicked her partner.

"Let us hear what the great Lady Eria has to say."

Eria sweatdropped as they all formed a semi-circle around her. "Well... is there a name for this little group?"

Most of the eleven blinked at each other, while Yami didn't seem to care, and Midnight shrugged. "We never really thought about it... what do you think a good name would be, Eria?"

Eria grinned at how comfortable they were with her already- almost accpeting her as one of their own. "How about... the Ladies of Darkness?"

That caused everyone to grin, and Yami to show at least some interest. "We like it, Eria." Midnight spoke for all of them.

Eria nodded. "Well, we all heard what Guinto and those bumbling idiots were saying... but why would we need a surveylance team, if we simply brought them here?"

Forest and Violet's eyes lit up. "You mean... kidnap them?"

Eria shurgged. "Call it what you want, ladies, but if we brought them here, and made a nice, small area which they could not leave even if they wanted to-"

"But they could move around-"

"And feel like they're in the normal net-"

"And not be worried-"

"And we'd be able to visit them?"

Eria nodded to Rouge. "Then, instead of that Tialsia.EXE, whoever she is, can we please take Protoman, too?"

Immediately, Crimson was on Rouge again, and the two resumed their fight as the other ladies, Eria included, ignored them.

"So, Eria..." Violet spoke up. "How would we go about this little opperation? It usually takes a day at the minimum for Guinto to even get these guys organized."

Eria grinned. "With the plan I have, we don't even need a day. Tell me, can any of you shape-shift?"

Both Sky and Sunset grinned. "What do you need of us?"

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Dr. Hikari looked between his son, his son's friend, his son's Net Navi, and his son's Net Navi's friend. "You... really want to know about T.N.P., now?" He asked the last one, Tialsia.

She nodded her head. "Yes, Hikari-sensei. However, it is up to you and Megaman, here... or should I say, Hub?"

Lan's confused face only grew more confused. "Erm... who is Hub?"

Dr. Hikari looked at his son. "You... don't remember Hub?"

Lan shook his head, then nodded, before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, kind of... I remember someone called Hub... I don't remeber what they look like, though."

Megaman sighed. He had hoped that Lan would have remembered something, at least.

"Lan... I am Hub."

Lan blinked. "I still don't get it."

This caused everyone in the room to sigh. "Lan..." Dr. Hikari stated.

"Keep up!" Tialsia yelled out. "Megaman is Hub, Hub is Megaman. Get it?"

Lan blinked gaain. "No... not really..."

Dr. Hikari sighed, again. "What don't you get, Lan?"

"Well... thought that Hub was a human."

Megaman winced, under Lan and Mayl's stares. "Well..."

"DR. HIKARI!"

Everyone turned to the door, where two figures stood, only their silouhets visible, due to the small amount of light in the lab compared to the sudden brightness of the hallway.

"Who...?" Dr. Hikari asked slowly, unsure.

"Can't you recognize me? I'm the famous-"

"Mr. Famous, we know." Lan cut in.

Mr. Famous stepped into the light, his eye brow visibly twitching. "Well, since you know so much, can you tell me what I'm doing here, then?"

"I can answer that."

Everyone turned to the second figure, who also stepped into the light.

"Chaud..." Lan whispered, surprised to find him there.

Chaud walked over, eyes narrowed, and jacked in Protoman. "I'm here, Lan, to talk to Dr. Hikari about something."

Tialsia glared at Protoman. "Before you were just amusing, although a distraction. NOW you're more of an annoyance!"

Protoman eyed her. "Why sould I listen to the words of a fifth-rate Navi?"

Tialsia grinned, then, deciding on being annoying instead of annoyed. "Oh, well, you know... you just llllooovvveee me..."

Mayl giggled, recognizing the same tone of voice that Tialsia had been teaching her to use before.

Protoman stiffened, before preparing to attack her. "I couldn't hate you more if I tried."

Tialsia sniffed. "Now I feel unloved... but you still haven't said WHY you're here, other than to talk to Dr. Hikari. And what reason would be more important than to talk to his own son?"

Chaud simply ignored her. "Dr. Hikari... I need to talk to you in private. Although, Mr. Famous can be there as well..."

Lan bristled. "And why would you get to talk to my dad while I'm talking to him, about something important?"

Chaud simply waved his hand. "What could you possibly say that would be as important as what I have to say to him?"

Mr. Famous glanced between the two, before looking at the seemingly random lines of binary code, still on the screen. "Erm... Dr. Hikari... forgive my intrusion, but what is that?"

Chaud also looked to the data screen, as well as everyone else. Tialsia sweatdropped, before quickly closing it, and handing the data sphere over to Pap. "Now... I know you think this is useless data... BUT DON'T GET RID OF IT THIS TIME!" She prctically yelled at Pap and Dr. Hikari, before a sign saying 'Logout', and a voice proclaimed, "Tialsia, Logging out."

Protoman blinked, Chaud blinked, Mr. Famous blinked, Mayl blinked, Lan blinked, Megaman blinked, and Dr. Hikari and Pap sweatdropped. "Well... I guess we have our orders, right Pap?" Dr. Hikari asked his Navi.

"Yes sir." Came the monotone reply.

Dr. Hikari turned to Chaud and Mr. Famous. "Well? What did you find so important that you needed to talk to me, while I put off all other appointments today to talk to my son?" He asked simply, in a voice that told them he was not pleased.

Chaud rolled his eyes. "I need to talk to you about Megaman's origins."

Dr. Hikari and Pap froze, before Pap began making motions to unlock the data sphere. From Mayl's PET came Tialsia's voice, "DON'T YOU DARE! Mayl, jack me back in!"

Mayl sighed, before doing as she was asked.

Tialsia, righting herself, turned to Pap and glared. "That data sphere is for Scilab use only. No one other than Dr. Hikari, yourself, Lan, Megaman, Mayl, Haruka Hikari, and Roll... whenever we find her, and myself, I guess, are allowed to see that. Understand?"

Pap nodded slowly, before Logging out to put the Data into Dr. Hikari's PET.

Protoman glared at Tialsia. "What did you do that for?"

"Because you're not allowed to see it!"

"And who gives you the right to say who can and cannot see certain data?"

"My Net-op!"

"And who gives her permission?"

"The Four Ladies!"

Everyone blinked again, confussed. Tialsia, realizing what she said, gasped and covered her mouth. "Ooops..."

"The... Four... what? Ladies?" Mr. Famous asked slowly. The look on his face was impossible to place.

"Mr. Famous... you're heard of these 'Four Ladies'?" Chaud asked, careful to not startle the older man.

"I have heard of them, yes. However, they were said to be a rumour..." He replied, eyes locked on Tialsia. She blushed under his stare, and turned away. Megaman watched this all with thoughtful eyes.

"Well... who gives these Four Ladies permission?"

Mr. Famous looked surprised at Protoman, who had asked the question. "You... have not heard of the Four Ladies?"

Dr. Hikari shook his head. "Well, I don't think anyone here has. Care to enlighten us, Mr. Famous?"

"All I'm saying, based on their reputation among certain individuals in the Cyber Matrix and Tialsia's obvious umcomfort, is that they do not need permission. They control nearly everything."

That caused Dr. Hikari to blink. "Erm... Sorry, Mr. Famous for correcting you, but Scilab controls everything."

Mr. Famous glanced at Dr. Hikari before shaking his head. "Yes, you are right... they are simply a rumour, after all..."

Tialsia looked quite angry at this. "THEY ARE NOT RUMOURS!"

"You like yelling lately, don't you?" Megaman asked gently.

Tialsia glanced over at him, before sighing and shaking her head. "Well, you know... can't have people disrespecting them, can I?"

Megaman rolled his eyes, before looking at Lan. "I don't think we'll be able to talk about this right now. Maybe some other time. But, until then... I think I want to start actually searching for Roll, instead of research." When he noticed Tialsia's blantantly obvious annoyance, he quickly continued, "Well, I found some area of interest that I want to personally check out, and my energy levels are fully restored again."

Tialsia glanced him over again, then sighed. "Fine... but, you know, I can't have you being deleted- AGAIN- or it's my head."

Megaman sweatdropped at her choice of words. "R... right... so Lan, Mayl, what are you two going to do?"

Lan blinked at Megaman. "What... you mean that you don't want me around?"

"Erm... well... it's not-" Megaman tried to cover for himself, before stopping at Lan's grin.

"Don't worry, Megaman. I'll keep Lan busy." Mayl told him, before immediately afterwards pinching Lan's ear and dragging him away from everyone else, and out of the room. Megaman, Tialsia, Pap and Dr. Hikari all sweatdropped at this.

Mr. Famous shook his head. "Well, this 'Roll' thing has become quite big on the net- you can hardly go anywhere without hearing about it. I'll help you in your search, Megaman, as much as I can." After finishing his speach, Mr. Famous soon followed Lan and Mayl's tracks out of the lab, leaving Dr. Hikari and Chaud alone in the lab- of course, we can't forget about the net navis, too.

"Dr. Hikari... why are Megaman's origins so... hidden?" Chaud asked, as he jacked out Protoman from the main computer. His only response was Dr. Hikari shaking his head.

"I would prefwer if Lan found out first, Chaud. Then it will be at his discretion, and Megaman's as well, to tell others. I'm not about to go behind my sons' back, that much I can tell you."

Chaud glanced at him, before nodding and leaving the room.

As of then, it was Dr. Hikari, Pap, Megaman and Tialsia left in the room. Dr. Hikari turned to the screen.

"Alright, Tialsia... although I can't tell Lan right now, I might as well answer any questions you have about T.N.P., as you already seem to know nearly everything.

Tialsia shook her head slowly. "No, sir, I don't. I know that Megaman was Hub, and that he 'died' at the age of two due to HBD. I don't know anything past that, though."

Dr. Hikari sighed. "Do you want me to really tell you everything?"

Tialsia shrugged. "Just the basics. I know you don't want to go around Lan's back- but I have permission from your other son, the one involved, Hub-" as she said this, she grabbed Megaman and put him in a head lock "-aka Megaman."

Megaman struggled to get out of the hold, which Tialsia kept almost uncomfortably tight. Dr. Hikari grinned. "Well... you seem to be trustworthy enough. But, I don't have a lot of time- nwo that Lan and Mayl have left, people will be swarming in here."

"So... what's T.N.P.?"

He sighed. "You just had to ask THAT question, didn't you?" However, the smile still remained on his face, as he began explaining it. "T.N.P. standing for, simply, The Navi Project- to outsiders, anyways. It was originally an acronym for 'Temporal Nettoshiteru... well, there were many suggestions between myself and my two collegues who worked on Megaman... or Hub... with me. I forget who suggested what, but some ideas for the 'P' were Pathology, Parturition, Penumbra, Peremptory, Phenomena, Plenary, Plenipotentiarius, Pluperfection, Preternatural, Prophylactics, but the final term was Pseudomorphics, taken from the word Pseudomorphous, which means fake transformation.

"With that in mind, the definition of T.N.P. is pretty simple to understand: Temporal- relating to time, meaning this was a timed and very carefully done opperation, and refers to it's delicateness; Nettoshiteru, the Japanese word for Network, simply refers that this project has to do with the digital plane; and Pseudomorphics, which indicates that a transformation which should not have happened, well... happened. Are you following?"

Tialsia blinked. "Wow... so much thought over a name, which baisically describes everything... but... you DO realize what some of those other words you wanted to chose mean, right?"

Dr. Hikari laughed. "Yes... we made sure to look up the definitions. The Old Languages are quite useful when coming up with names, aren't they?"

Tialsia nodded. "Yes, quite. And English is quite simple- you arrange letters in whatever order, with at least one vowel in them, and viola- you have a name, or a word, or... well, something."

Megaman, who had been in Tialsia's chokehold the entire time, finally broke free and gasped. "If... you two don't... mind... I'll be going to start my search..."

Tialsia nodded, as did Dr. Hikari. Pap just stood in Dr. Hikari's PET, not saying anything. "Sure, Hub- but be careful."

Megaman waved his hand carelessly as he stepped into a link to bring him closer to Scilab Square. "I will, don't worry. Besides- if I need help, I'll e-mail someone, or just yell for Lan."

Tialsia sighed as the blue bomber disapeared. "Well... I'll say this for him... he's energetic."

Dr. Hikari laughed. "Yes, he is. Anything else you would like to know?"

"Well, actually-"

"DR. HIKARI!"

Tialsia sighed. "What is up with people yelling that today, and cutting other peoples off?"

Dr. Hikari grinned, before looking at the door, where a very harrased secretary was standing, her hair no longer all neat, and her clothes seemed to be ripped, or at least a little dirty.

"What happened?" Dr. Hikari asked, stunned by her appearance.

"The... the..."

"The what?" Tialsia asked, annoyed how she was acting.

"People... in the waiting room..."

The doctor and the Navi froze for a moment- before Tialsia burst out laughing. "How can a group of people do that to you? Aren't there guards?"

"DR. HIKARI!"

That was not the secretary, nor was it a lab assisstant. Even Tialsia could feel the floor starting to shake, as a stampeed of impatient people were running down it, trying to be into Dr. Hikari first to speak with him.

The doctor and the navi exchanged glances, before Tialsia grinned. "Sorry to leave them to you, Doc, but... I have some... business. Yeah, that's right, business, to take care of, so... um... bye!"

Tialsia logged out immediately afterwards, leaving Dr. Hikari, the secretary, and Pap to control the wave of people.

"Great... this is going to be another one of those days..." Dr. Hikari muttered, as the people started shoving each other to get into the door.

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"Blah blah blah... oh, soooo bored!"

Tialsia was currently taking a nice, leisurely stroll through a more secluded part of the net, where no viruses or navis usually went, as it was baisically just a giant, flat area, with nothing special about it. "And why am I here, anyways?" Tialsia asked aloud, as though there was someone who could answer her.

Sadly, the author cannot speak to the characters in the story. As such, Tialsia recieved no answer- and instead began to talk to herself, trying to figure out what to do.

"Hmm... what to do now? Maybe I should go back to the Hall... or Fae-chan's HP, or-"

"Or maybe you should stop talking to yourself."

Tialsia, awoken (rather rudely) from her musings, spun around to find Protoman standing there, looking quite relaxed, arms crossed over his chest, with a small viewing screen behind him with Chaud's head being displayed in it.

"What?!"

Chaud smirked. "If you don't stop talking to yourself, people might think that you're mentally unstable. However, that doesn't seem to be too hard to prove."

Tialsia glared at the two. "What... what do you WANT?!"

Chaud blinked, while Protoman simply uncrossed his arms. "Someone's a bity thouchy." Chaud commented. Tialsia responded with a growl.

"I don't hate you, Eugene Chaud- but you and your Navi, Protoman are REALLY starting to get annoying."

Chaud shrugged, while Protoman remained emotionless.

"So, Tilaisa- what were you talking to Dr. Hikari about?"

"As if it's any of your business."

Chaud didn't say anything, while Protoman stood up straight and engaged his default weapons program, his sword appearing on his right arm.

"It is, actually. If we are working together to find Roll, then I think that we should all be sharing information, not hiding it. Don't you?"

Tialsia began to back away as Protoman advanced on her. "Sorry, but what we were talking about has nothing to do with Roll. And now I shall take my leave." She took a large leap backwards, before arching her back and doing a backwards summersault (while still in the air), so that her head was pointing towards the ground. Aiming at a spot with her hands, she concentrated some energy, and sent it blasting into the ground. A large could of smoke quickly enveloped the whole area, causing Protoman and Chaud to loose track of her.

"Where... did she go? Protoman?"

"I don't know, Chaud- I can't see anything."

When the smoke finally did clear, the entire area looked like Tialsia had never been there.

"What the hell is that...?"

Except for a large symbol on the ground, with was glowing blue. It seemed to almost pulse, and radiate energy and power. Strange symbols were scattered throughtout the symbol, but were most concentrated in the swirls and circles which surrounded a large, central circle, where a simple star was engraved.

The star had two long points, and two shorter points, with lines drawn through them to make them look three dimensional. Inbetween each of the points was another, smaller, and shorter piece. In the very middle of the star was another circle, and another circle inside of that, with more of the strange characters ranged around the small area between the two. Inside of the second circle was a simple symbol- almost a full circle, with two area erased on one side, and a small circle in the middle.

Slowly, the glowing, pulsing and raditating tappered off, until all that was left was the design, midnight black in color. Protoman looked at it, as did Chaud.

"Wow... the large central circle alone could easily fit six Gutsmans laying down, head to foot, with about half a foot between them across the diameter." Protoman commented, while examing the symbol.

"Weird... oh well. Come on, Protoman- we need to get back to work."

"Yes, Chaud."

Protoman Logging Out

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"Aw, come on!"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"I-"

"NO."

"Please-"

"I said NO, Lan Hikari, and don't you dare question me!"

Lan winced away from Mayl- or as far away from her as he could.

"Why won't you even let me speak?"

"Because you're going to ask some stupid question."

"You'll never know if I am or not if you don't hear me out!"

A sigh. "Fine." Mayl turned to face him- as much as she could. "What are you going to ask me?"

"Can you PLEASE let go of my ear?!"

Mayl blinked, realizing that she still had her death grip on Lan's ear, even after they got off the train at ACDC. "Er..." she let him go, sweatdropping. "Sorry about that, Lan."

He rubbed his ear, before grinning at her. "Eh, no problem. So... what do you want to do?"

Mayl sighed, before looking around. "Well, while we're here, do you want to go to the park?"

Lan grinned and nodded. "Yeah, why not. Race you!" He called, as she started to skate over to the nearest entrance.

Mayl laughed, getting out her scooter, and giving chase. "You had a head start!"

Both eventually reached the park- and further into it. For, after realizing that Mayl was right- Lan did have a head start- he also realized that she would probably start pinching his ear again- which is not something that he really wanted to happen- the moment that she caught him.

With that thought driving him on, Lan continued his semi-leisurely pace going deeper into the park, where it became more like a forest.

"Lan! Are you going to wait for me, or are you going to make me drag you around again?!" Mayl shouted from barely ten feet behind him.

Lan turned to face her, skating backwards, and grinned. "You'll drag me around for the rest of today, anyways, so why- OOF!"

Mayl stopped, and, sweatdropping, also started to giggle. "Very nice swan dive... I give it a 10."

"Ha ha Mayl. Help me up?"

Mayl sighed before bending down beside Lan, who was now on the ground, having tripped while going backwards. "Why am I helping you again?"

Lan blinked at her as he raised his head. "Well, it's-"

They both stopped, when they realized that they were barely a foot away from each other, and their eyes met. Both were instantly reminded about that morning's incident, and, both blushing, quickly tried to back away from each other.

However, if there's one thing about Lan that we have learned- at least since what is now dubbed the "bathroom incident' from chapter 7, it' that Lan is amazing clumsy at times, especially when flustered. So, therefore, cue some tripping, shouting, and a large CRASH, and then look at how Mayl somehow ended up sprawled on top of Lan.

"God... Lan... how clumsy can you be?"

Lan blinked in response. "But... you're the one laying on me..."

Mayl proceeded to also blink, before blushing and standing up. "Well... do you want help up, or not?"

Lan gulped at the look on Mayl's face, before extending his hand up to her. She took it, and hauled him up, steadying him while he took off his roller blades.

Eventually, they both found a bench to sit down on, and relaxed- or, well, as much as they could, since the latest incident, and the bathroom incident were still fresh in their minds.

"So..."

"Erm..."

((((A/N: I know, kill me now. But first, you must know this! Erm, THIS: I happen to have a 'disease' that my friends have labbeled influential writing. Apparently, I read a well-written story, I write my story well. I read a... not as well written story, and I write REALLY bad. Apparently. If this proves it, I wrote the section above from "With that thought driving him on" till... well, just above this note. Forgive my stupidity... I completely forget what I originally had planned for this scene. Gomen gomen gomen nasai! Anyways, back to the most random part of any story I have ever written!))))

Both sat on the bench, under the shade of a Chinese Maple Tree, the sunlight, after being filtered through the leaves, red on their faces and bodies. Lan, deciding to focus on something else other than his last train of thought, tilted his head to look up through the branches.

"You know, Mayl... I've never been to this part of the park before. It's really nice in here, don't you think?"

Mayl turned her head slightly to look at Lan. "Well, yeah... I guess... but... it's so quiet... it reminds of that trip we took with Sal into the forest. Remember?"

Lan smiled. "Yeah... that was fun... we should do it again sometime."

Mayl grinned, before turning her head to look straight forward. "Lan... do you have any idea what Megaman, Dr. Hikari and Tialsia were talking about?"

Lan sighed. "Kind of... but I really don't understand it..."

Mayl blinked. "What do you 'kind of' know, then?"

"Well... for some reason, I always remember someone named 'Hub'. I guess it was from when I was really young, but I still remember them. And they were around me constantly." When Mayl looked at him, surprised, Lan shruged, his head still looking towards the sky. "I really don't know, but that's just what I remember."

Mayl sighed. "This is confusing." She eyed him again. "Lan... if you had the chance to find out more, would you stop looking for Ro-"

"Of course not!" Lan nearly exploded. Mayl turned to face him fully then, shocked. He saw her reaction, and sighed, bowing his head. "I mean... even if that thought ever crossed my mind, which it hasn't, Megaman probably wouldn't let me stop looking, anyways. He even refuses to Net Battle, prefering to save up his energy for looking for Roll."

Mayl blinked, then grinned. She leaned over slightly, so that her head barely rested on Lan's shoulder. "I... I'm glad. Thank you, Lan."

Lan, having stiffened when Mayl leaned against him, allowed his body to slowly relax, before gently looping his arms around Mayl, pulling her into a gentle hug. "There's no need to thank me. I would end up looking for Roll, even if you two were our greatest enemies, probably."

Mayl grinned, burrying her face into his chest, and breathing in his unnatural scent. "If only for a Netbattle..."

Lan looked down at her, before gently smiling and closing his eyes. "If only..."

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Megaman continued walking down the street, looking this way and that. He easily felt another presence around him- after being in the research area for so long, it felt weird to be out in the open, without his opperator, and no one he knew around him.

A sudden shiver went down his spine- he was being watched, no doubt about it.

"Who's there?"

He glanced around, trying to find who was stalking him. After seeing no one, he continued his walk, albeit a little more cautiously- and quickly.

"Megaman..." he blinked and looked around. He knew that voice... but who...?

"Oh, Megaman..."

He looked up in time to see what appeared to be a blond pony tail with a green bow at the end turn away from the edge of one of the buildings beside him and run away. He was about to turn away as well when he realized something.

Blonde hair... green bow... wait... "ROLL!"

He quickly jumped up to the roof to see the figure bounding away over the roof tops. Making up his decision, he followed her, and was somehow able to gain quite a bit of ground. Megaman, although not paying attention to where he was going, knew that they passed through at least one warp point. However, that wasn't about to stop him.

He had just seen her jump down from the roofs, and he was far closer to her than he had expected.

Maybe she's waiting for me...?

He followed her as well, calling out at intervals "Roll!" to try to get her attention. The chase continued to move from streets to roofs, and back to streets, once in a while going through a building or a densely populated area, and he would almost loose her.

However, when that would happen, he would turn a corner and there would be the tell-tale blonde hair and green ribbon.

Soon, the chase ended in a dark part of the net. Megaman knew that they had gone through one large warp, but wasn't sure entirely where they were. Regardless, she stood with her back to him, looking around at the three walls facing her, as though looking for a way out.

"Roll... is that you?"

She stiffened, unsure of what to say. However, just as she tensed, as though trying to get away, Megaman made a lunge for her, and knocked them both to the floor. It was then he finally got a good look at her face.

Blushing, he back off her- her eyes were a striking orange, not the green that Roll's were. "I'm sorry... I thought you were someone else..."

She shrugged it off. Other than the eye color, her entire body suit was the same as Roll's- but still, if you really looked at it, then you could tell that they were not the same navis.

"It's alright... I was wondering why you were chasing me..."

Megaman grinned, getting to his feet. What is with me and finding lots of female allies... well, aquantinces lately? He extended a hand to her, to help her up.

"So, what's your name?"

She blinked, but then grinned. "My name..."

Suddenly, her entire appearance shifted so that she seemed to be a completely different person. Her armor became mostly black, with orange highlights, gloves, boots, and the color laced through the basic color. Her gentle smile became a smirk, and her grip tightened so that Megaman could not let go of her hand, which he was still holding onto.

"...is Sunset."

He blinked at her, unsure of what to make, when he felt another presence behind him. He wanted to turn around, but her couldn't seem to draw himself away from those piercing, orange eyes.

"Want me to take it from here, Sunset?"

"Why not, Rouge?"

Megaman felt the navi named Rouge stand right behind him, before he felt her arms wrapping gently around his neck.

"Not a bad specimen... we'll just take you to a place where there's no worries, no pain- just pleasureable existance, Megaman. Don't worry- you'll get to see your friends again soon. But in the meantime..."

She had whispered those words into his ear, and his eyes widened as he felt Rouge's body against his own. Sunset let go of his hand, as he felt himself completely unable to move, trapped in a spell or program or something as he felt them both fall backwards into a dark blue vortex.

And, although if he were a simple navi, he would have found this whole experience quite fun, he couldn't help but worry- Now what have I gotten myself into?

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Gustman threw the file he was reading against the wall. "Gutsman not like this- Gutsman want go find Roll!"

Iceman walked over to Gutsman, and patted the huge arm reasurringly. "Come on, Gutsman. We have to figure out where to look for her first, before we can actually look for her."

"Alright..." Gutsman replied, defeated. However, that didn't stop him from glaring at all the files. He was about to declare war against the entire Hall when a very tired-looking Tialsia walked up some floors from far below.

Although at first she just looked how she usually did after doing some hard-core virus busting, there was something else about her that made everyone draw their attention. And it wasn't just that Risuko was supporting her.

"Tialsia? What's wrong?" Iceman asked, worry laced through his voice.

She shook her head. "I just... man, that was not fun..."

Glyde, confused as to her meaning, stepped forward. "I beg your pardon, Tialsia, but if I may inquire as to what you are talking about...?"

She grinned. "Let's just say that if you see Protoman, don't tell him that you've seen me."

A round of random blinking followed this, and Risuko sighed and shook his head. "You wear yourself out too much- you and your Net-op. Let the rest of us hel-"

"No, Risuko. You're offered countless times, but everyone here is busy doing what they usually do. There's no reason to worry unless we know for sure that Roll-chan is deleted, or another one goes missing."

Now, have you ever heard of bad timing? Yes? Its usually when someone barges in on something you don't want them to see, or your history teacher 'forgets' to tell you to take down notes about a movie you're watching becuase you're going to write an Expository essay of WWII afterwards, and she so conviently remembers to tell you AFTER you finish watching the video.

Well, here's a prime example of it:

A sudden beeping noise came from somewhere around Tialsia, and she opened a window, revealing someone who couldn't be older than 13. Her blonde hair was slightly past her shoulders, and curved outwards at the end. Streaks of bright red ran through her hair, and she had two large, thick gold hoops in her ears. A small pendant dangled from both hoops, and on her right ear a serries of what looked like onyx- and opal-covered clips connected by a gold chain of links snaked their way up her ear.

"Tialsia!"

Tialsia groaned, and turned around to the girl. And gasped when she saw the formal and yet strange robes the girl had on. "Fæ-chan?! What are you doing back at-"

"There's no time! Tialsia, the scanners here show that... well... he's not... erm..."

Tialsia frowned. "Who's not what? Fæ-chan, really, spit it out..."

The girl now identified as Fæ-chan, took a deep shuddering breath, and was about to continue when Protoman ran up the stairs. "There you are! Now, you are going to- erm... hello...?"

Suddenly, all the Net-ops appeared on screens by their Navis. "Wha... Glyde? What's going on?"

Glyde turned to Yai. "I have no idea, Ms., but maybe Tialsia could shed some light on it..."

Tialsia glared at everyone, before ending up at Chaud. "You! Geese, are you stalking me or something?!"

Chaud glared at her. "If you must know, yes, until you answer our question!"

"Why you..."

"TIALSIA!"

That brought everyone out of their argument, or watching the argument, to stare at the blonde girl. Tialsia, in fact, looked amazedly startled. "Fæ-chan... what?"

Fæ-chan was now practically in tears, and something was obviously upsetting her. Quersoæn looked surprised at the girl, and her heart went out to her.

"I've been trying to tell you..."

She left off, not wanting to finish what she was saying, and what it could mean for everyone.

"Fæ-chan..." Tialsia whispered, getting as close to the screen as she allowed herself to.

After a moment of silence, another voice was heard from the screen. "Fædellë? What's wrong, child?"

Fæ-chan looked up in surprise, and exclaimed, "Peorth-sama!"

Almost immediately after, an older woman, wearing not very much in the war of clothing, appeared on the screen. Her dark brown hair was cut short around her face, while it grew longer down her back. She held a rose in her hand, and behind was what appeared to be an angel, blonde hair with wings included.

Tialsia and Risuko bowed to the new arrival(s).

Peorth looked at the screen, grinned and waved her hand. "Now now... no need to be so formal... but Fæ-chan... what's wrong?"

The other girl nearly collpased into the elder's arms, fear written on her face.

"P... Peorth-sama... they... he..."

"He who, Fæ?" Tialsia asked gently.

"H...Hub!"

That caused nearly everyone to freeze. Tialsia got over it quickly though- she had to be strong for her Net-op.

"What about Hub, Fæ?"

"He... he just... dissapeared, right off the screens! The scanners! It's like he doesn't even exist, and like he never has!"

Tialsia's eyes widened, as did Peorth's.

"We'll get a scan going on this right away. Alright Fæ?" She asked kindly.

Fæ nodded slowly as she let go of Peorth. Tialsia suddenly never wanted anything more than to be able to be beside her Net-op at that moment. And then she thought of something.

"Fæ... what did it look like when he dissapeared?"

Fæ looked straight at Tialsia, before letting her eyes cast around the crowd that had gathered. She sighed, before turning back to her Navi.

"It... was so weird. He was there, and then there was a weird energy burst- and then he was gone."

"Was the energy burst like-"

"No, Peorth-sama. It was not."

"Alright, Fæ. Would you mind going to see X, Ere and Chrono? We'll want them to get on this right away."

"Yes, Peorth-sama." She wipped the last of her tears of fear out of her eyes, before taking off for whoever X, Ere and Chrono were.

Peorth and Tialsia exchanged looks. "Tialsia?" The older woman asked her, kindly.

"Yes, Peorth-sama?"

"Do you think this is like-"

Tialsia's eyes widened. "Like Roll?" A nod was her only response. Rushing to the stack of files behind her, Tialsia quickly leafed through until she found Megaman's file.

Opening it quickly, she turned to the very back to the file. "'...dissappeared at 10:48:03...' Peorth-sama..."

Quiet reigned over the hall, before Tialsia made up her mind. While Protoman, Gylde, Quersoæn, Iceman, Gutsman and their Net-ops looked on, she flipped to what appeared to be a random page. Placing her hand over it, she pinched at air with her fingers, and lifted away from the file.

A transparent file came out of it, and floated in the air before for a second before becoming solid. Tialsia quickly opened, and looked again through the much thicker file than the public file. "Erm... Peorth-sama... it says... well, it's..."

"What, Tialsia?" Chaud was getting impatient.

"It says... he was taken... to the Undernet..."

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Kay: Mrah ha ha! Who's evil?! I'M EVIL! HA! Ya see, I was going to draw this out longer, and do other stuff along those lines, but I decided to incorporate it in a completely different way. Who would have thought that I would actually read through three different dictionaries- Websters, Roger's, and Scholastic- to find some words that began with 'P' that would fit what I was looking for. That would be why they're basically in alphabetical order...

Shila: Yes yes yes... shouldn't you be working on your Portfolio?

Kay: I have till seven. No rush. I'm almost done, anyways. And desides- this had to be up tonight if I'm to stick to my schedule that I made up. At least one update, every Saturday!

Shila: Right... so, what' up with putting stuff on 'hiatus?'

Kay: Eh? Oh, well, I want to finish Running, Secrets, and Fate asap. Of course, I'm almost done chappie 2 of fate- as soon as I finish 3, I'm done (YEAH!). That story, as fun as it is, is a pain- I only want three chapters (it was originally supposed to be a one-shot), but ya know, that means super-long chapters. Longer than this, and it's... I think this is 7999 words long... mreh.

Shila: So, everything else is on hiatus?

Kay: Yup, and Dark Happenings especially, since I kinda lost all will to write that a while ago. I'll randomly update Tributes or Random Songs if I feel that I've gone too long without updating.

Shila: Right... what's up with that, anyways?

Kay: YAMI IS COOL! Well, Yami's cape and hair is cool. And his eyes. Pretty, pretty eyes...

Shila: Right...

SONG

Well, this song shall be Angelus , aka the last opening theme for Inuyahsa. Gah, I absolutely HATE the last episode! It's not even an ending! It's like... ya know how sometimes people go ridding off into the sunset, like in one of those old westerns? Well, it's Kagome on Inu's back, Sango, Shippo and Miroku on Kirara, and they do the EXTACT SAME THING! And THEN, while in the westerns, the bad guys are defeated, in this, the bad guys are NOT defeated! They're still around, and more powerful than ever! So what are we waiting for?! GET THE 4TH MOVIE OUT, DARN IT! Although, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd movies are good, too...

So, yeah, it's Angelus! And it's kinda funny... like a Japanese tango or something... and it has part of my name in it! Oh, do I feel special! TA-DAH!

QUOTES

"This is your left arm, ya know... do you want it back?" (Tee-hee... Takemaru from the 3rd Inuyasha movie... talking, well fighting, with Sess... tee-hee!)

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