Night had fallen. The boys in the cave could now tell when to sleep because of the hole.
"PROTOMAN WAKE UP!"
Blearily, ProtoMan opened his eyes to see Bass recoiling away from him on a rock. He rubbed his eyes. "Bass? What're you doing?"
Bass was looking at ProtoMan like he'd turned into an alien. "More like what you were doing! I woke up and you were hugging my leg and stroking my cloak!"
ProtoMan practically shot across the cave. "GAH!" The red Navi wiped his hands on his legs as if to clean himself off. "Oh GROSS! Now I don't feel clean!"
The black Navi gave a barking laugh. "YOU don't feel clean? You weren't the one who's leg was getting hugged!"
For a while, both Navis were silent before Bass chanced a quick glance over at his silver haired companion. "You like her, don't you?"
Sharply glancing up, ProtoMan looked at Bass. "What do you mean?"
Bass shrugged and slid down from his rock. "I mean Starry. You like her, don't you?" Seeing ProtoMan's poker look, the black Navi sighed. "Never mind. I was just making a guess on a hunch."
Silence reigned again before ProtoMan spoke hesitantly. "Starfire is like…she's like no other Navi I've ever met. I mean, she can just bring down barriers you've had for years that haven't ever been breached!"
Nodding sagely, ProtoMan's cloaked companion smiled. "That's what Star was programmed to do. Did you know that she might not be here if not for me?"
Staring at Bass, Proto was amazed. "Really?"
With another nod, Bass continued. "When she was created, I was going to spend a day with her before she was presented to the other scientists. Well, Star didn't have a name at that time and we were sitting there at night and looking at the stars and she points at one and she says, 'fire!' I knew better than that and explained to her what stars were. So Starry looks at me and points at herself. 'Starfire?' She asked me and I think about it. Then I say 'Yeah. That's your name. Starfire.' And right before we went to bed, Starry took my arm and said 'Tara.' I was confused though. 'Terra, as in the Latin word for earth?' I asked and she said no, Tara spelled t-a-r-a. So that's how she got her middle name!"
ProtoMan couldn't help but smile at the story. "That's nice but how does this factor into you saving her life?"
Winking, Bass continued. "Well, the next day I hadn't told Cossack about Star giving herself a name. Plus, he was supposed to present her to his fellow scientists for approval. The scientists liked her a lot more than me and everything was going great until one bright bulb asked what her name was. When Cossack told them she didn't have one, they got all in a tizzy. See, back then, if a Navi didn't have a registered name, they were deleted. I liked Star and didn't want her to go away so I just blurted it out. 'Starfire' I said and everyone looked at me. 'Her name is Starfire Tara Cossack' I told them and they didn't complain one bit."
The tall Navi smiled. "That's nice. So you saved her life?"
"Yep." After a moment of thought, Bass sighed. "You're lucky to have someone like that by your side."
ProtoMan nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am." Turning onto his side, he looked at Bass seriously. "Don't tell Star this, but I really like her."
Bass' dark cranberry eyes sparkled by the starlight that streamed through the hole. "Man, it's hard for a guy like you NOT to like her! And don't worry, what goes on in the cave, stays in the cave."
Rolling onto his back, ProtoMan put his hands behind his head. "I wonder where she is right now."
"Hey ProtoMan?"
"Yeah Bass?"
"Are you going to sleep?"
"Maybe, why?"
"Just keep your hands to yourself."
Chuckling, ProtoMan shook his head. "I intend to."
Starfire was curled up in a shallow hole she'd dug into the sandy ground of the Undernet. To keep warm, she had spread the dirt from the hole across her like a blanket. Not much, but it was a whole lot better than nothing.
The golden haired Navi dreamed of her companions in the cave and smiled.
Two pairs of eyes watched the orange Navi dream on. Regarding her with assassin's eyes, they made their plans against her.
NOTE FROM AUTHOR: This is NOT a Proto x Bass fan fic. Proto was dreaming and didn't mean to. Yes, I DID get the main theme of the last line in this chapter from a War of the Worlds commercial. Got a problem with it? Tough cookies. Oh, please read my brother's fan fic. His name is SithKing Zero. The story's really good!
