Rockman sat in his PET hugging his knees against his chest. Everything was too much, Netto, Dark Rockman, cross fusion… why?
Rockman let the unwilling tears stream down his face for the first time that day. They were nothing like human tears. They weren't salty or hot but they were still there. Who had given navis the ability to cry anyway?
He heard applause behind him. Rockman stood up and spun around to face his double. "You!" he hissed.
"Awww, do you miss your precious Netto-kun?" Dark Rockman jeered.
Rockman tacked Dark Rockman and slammed him into the floor of his PET. "What the hell did you do to Netto-kun!" he yelled.
"Nothing," Dark Rockman said playfully.
Rockman glared at him with hatred in his eyes. "Give me back Netto-kun," he hissed.
Dark Rockman smirked, "Or you'll what? Good eyes by the way. That's exactly how I want you to feel."
Rockman's gaze softened and Dark Rockman grabbed a hold of Rockman's arm. He flung the blue navi across the PET and stood up, brushing imaginary dust off his clothes. "Why?" Rockman asked while picking himself slowly up off the floor. "Why did you do that to Netto-kun? Why are you doing this?"
In a split second Rockman found himself pinned against the wall by Dark Rockman. He held Rockman by his throat and pushed him into the wall with as little mercy as ever. "Because I want to see you suffer," he said, his red eyes glowing. "I want to see you in pain. I want to see you so you're so completely useless" he tightened his grip making Rockman cry out, "that you will come to me, begging for me to delete you." He loosened his grip on Rockman's neck, allowing him some air. "And I will sit there, and I will laugh. I will laugh at your pain and anguish and I will mock you and make you feel even more pain." Dark Rockman let Rockman fall to the floor gasping. He looked down at the small navi, his eyes full of mocking pity, "And then, I will joyfully grant your request."
"You're insane," Rockman gasped.
"Well, that's nice to know," Dark Rockman smirked. "Too bad I still have Netto-kun," he jeered and disappeared from the PET.
"Wait!" Rockman yelled and ran over to where he was once standing. "Netto-kun…" Rockman whispered.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Dark Rockman appeared in the small room once again. Netto was fast asleep on a couch hugging a pillow and muttering in his sleep. Dark Rockman gave Netto a genuine smile and walked over to where the brunette was asleep. "Your navi is very broken up about you," he said softly. "Just as I knew he would be."
Netto groaned and turned over.
"Dark Rockman-sama?" Cloudman asked from the doorway.
Dark Rockman glanced at Cloudman, "Yes?" he asked.
"The preparations are almost complete, we should be done by tomorrow afternoon," he said.
Dark Rockman nodded happily, "All right, I can wait that long."
Cloudman nodded and left the room.
Dark Rockman smiled and affectionately ruffled Netto's hair. "Well, it's been a long day, and tomorrow we have a lot to do. Good night, Netto-kun."
Netto winced but didn't open his eyes. "Night Rockman," he said sleepily and fell back into dreamland in a matter of minutes.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Pride, Jasmine and Meiru walked down the street. "So, what did they take yesterday anyway?" Jasmine asked Meiru.
"That's just it, they didn't take anything. They destroyed some computers that have a lot of important data on them, but they're all backed up. The worst case scenario is that it will take about a month to get all that data back together and in working order, aside from that…" Meiru trailed off.
"Then why did they attack?" Pride asked.
"Who knows?" Jasmine sighed. "I'm more worried about Netto then anything," she admitted.
The other two nodded. "Who knows what might happen," Meiru said. "Or what will happen."
Pride looked around to see if there was anywhere they could go to take their minds of their current predicament. She saw only places that Netto had showed her on her grand tour of Japan. She sighed and looked at the sidewalk. Knightman knew the reason for the sigh, "Pride-sama?" he inquired.
"I'm all right, Knightman," Pride said. "We've gone through worse then this, right?"
Jasmine and Meiru nodded. "Right," they agreed.
It was a small gesture, but it was appreciated among the three at that time.
Pride looked up from the sidewalk and chanced a glance in the distance. She saw a familiar orange vest and blue bandana. "Netto?" she asked herself.
"Where?" Meiru asked.
Pride pointed in the distance to the unmistakable form on Netto.
"Pride-sama, you might not want to go over to him," Knightman warned her.
Pride adopted a resolute look in her eyes. "No, he doesn't have his PET with him. Maybe…"
Jasmine and Meiru nodded and they made their way over to Netto who was reading a manga in an open air market. There were a lot of people around but you could barely hear anything. "Netto!" Pride called out.
Netto looked up from his manga and fixed Pride with his empty glare. "Do I know you?" he asked saucily.
Pride's eyes widened but she kept her resolve. "Of course you do, I'm Pride remember?"
Meiru and Jasmine showed up next to her and Netto smirked. "Oh yeah, hello Princess," he gave a mocking bow and Pride stepped back. "And Meiru-chan and Jasmine-chan, nice to see you," he said.
"Netto, get a grip," Meiru hissed. "Rockman needs you!"
"Too bad," Netto smirked.
Meiru held back as much as she could but hearing Netto talk in that voice, to her just made her blood boil. That wasn't Netto, it couldn't have been. She shut her eyes and raised her hand to slap Netto across the cheek but Netto caught her wrist before she could. "Aren't we touchy today?" he asked.
Meiru tried to pull out of Netto's grip but she couldn't get free until he let her go. Meiru held her wrist and took a step back from Netto. "Scared?" he asked with a grin.
"Pride-sama, you need to get out of here," Knightman said quietly.
"He's right you know, you should leave," Netto said mockingly.
"Meiru-chan…" Roll said softly.
"Jasmine…" Medi said as well.
The three girls just glared at Netto. He crossed his arms and the manga he was reading fell to the ground. "Ah," he looked disappointed. "Now I lost my place," he said picking up the book. "Ah well," he straightened up and gave the girls a cheerful grin. "See ya, Meiru-chan, Jasmine-chan, Princess Pride," he said with a small bow. "Bye!" he waved and quickly disappeared into the crowd.
"Meiru-chan, Netto is dangerous right now," Roll said softly.
Jasmine shivered, "What happened?" she asked.
"I-I don't know," Medi replied in shock.
"Pride-sama?" Knightman asked his operator.
Pride clenched her fist and tried very hard not to cry. "He never called me 'Princess' before. He always treated me just like everyone else… right from the very beginning…"
"Pride-san," Jasmine said with pity in her voice.
Pride let one solitary tear fall, then she looked up, resolute. "That wasn't Netto," she hissed. "And we're going to get Netto back."
Meiru and Jasmine nodded happily, "Yeah," they cheered.
They walked away from the square, more determined then ever, but Netto's cold voice still echoed in Pride's head. "Princess Pride."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"They're planning something," Dingo said at Maha Ichiban. "They're planning something and we can't do anything about it," he hissed.
"Dingo…" Tomahawkman sighed, "you can beat yourself up over this. If they have a plan, then we need a plan."
Mahajorama set a plate of curry in front of Dingo, "Your navi is right, if you are to outsmart the enemy then you need your own plan."
Dingo looked at the curry on the plate; it had never looked so unappetizing. He picked up a spoonful and looked at it, then he sighed and set it down. "Outsmart the enemy? All right, new question. Who's the enemy, Dark Rockman or Netto?"
Madoi's mouth twisted. "Dingo, you need to get a grip on your own reality first. Netto may be doing these things but he's still under control of Dark Rockman. If you want to beat him you need to find out why he's using the kid."
Dingo looked at the curry then blinked. "Thanks Madoi-san!" he yelled and ran out of the curry store.
"Did he get an idea?" she asked.
"I think, just inspiration," Hinoken answered.
Madoi sighed, the sound hissing through her teeth. "I wish we could do something," she shut her eyes and rubbed her head, "Anything!"
"Maybe we can," Mahajorama said.
Madoi looked at him and smiled. "Maybe…" she said.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Well?" Manabe asked.
"We've almost got a lock on the location of Dark Rockman," one of the computer annalists said.
Manabe nodded, "Good, tell me when you're ready."
"Yes ma'am," he said and continued his work.
Manabe sighed and walked down the hall. The past few days were taking their tool. No one liked fighting the happy go lucky Netto but what choice did they have? Not to mention how Rockman must feel. Everything was done to spite him and surely the kind hearted navi was blaming himself. What a human reaction to have, she mused.
Manabe went down the hall and got a cup of coffee from one of the vending machines. She drank the nasty tasting liquid and made a face. Vending machine coffee was the worst.
"Manabe-san!" she heard some one yell. She looked up to see someone running down the hall to her.
"Yes?" she asked as the man skidded to a stop and gasped for breath.
"We have a fix on the location of Dark Rockman," he said.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Are you sure this is it?" Enzan asked for the millionth time.
"Yes, Enzan, I'm sure," Manabe replied evenly.
Enzan sighed and leaned into the back seat of the car. "What a nightmare," he whispered.
Laika nodded, "Hopefully it will be over soon."
Manabe gave them a sad grin, "I know this has been tough on you boys. But you still need to keep your head clear. This may sound cruel but," Manabe sighed, "try and forget that it's Netto. Otherwise, I can promise you'll loose again."
Enzan touched where Netto had cut through his arm. "I know," he said softly.
Manabe glanced at them in the review mirror. "You will have help," she said. "Everyone is sending in their navis. I'm not letting anyone else go into the building but hopefully that will keep the guard programs busy."
Laika and Enzan nodded.
Manabe sighed, "Promise me you two will be careful, and try to keep Rockman out of trouble."
Enzan and Laika nodded again. "Don't worry Manabe-san," Blues said, "We won't let anything happen to Rockman," he paused, "Or Netto-san."
Enzan nodded, "Yeah."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Did you send out the signal?" Dark Rockman asked.
"Just as you told me too," Cosmoman replied.
"Excellent, they should be here any minute now," Dark Rockman smiled. "Everything is going according to plan."
"What is the plan?" Netto asked, barely glancing up from the manga he was reading.
"To lure Rockman here, and destroy him," Dark Rockman laughed.
"And half of the Net Savior police force while you're at it," Netto pointed out.
"Don't worry; we can take care of that. We just need to make sure that the net navi's go through the dimensional gate so they come into the real world. Or it wouldn't be very much fun revenge now would it?"
Netto shrugged and returned to reading his manga.
"Are the traps ready?" Dark Rockman asked.
"Yes, Dark Rockman-sama," Swallowman answered.
"Good, good," Dark Rockman said. "Well, I think it's time to go greet our guests, don't you?"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"There's a dimensional area surrounding the building!" Manabe yelled. "I want the special task team to…" her voice trailed off as the Dimensional Area disappeared.
"He's inviting us in," Enzan noted.
Manabe's eyes narrowed, "It's a trap."
"Manabe-san, we have to go," Laika said.
Manabe looked at the foreboding building then at Enzan and Laika. "Boys, I can't send you into a trap! You've seen what they can do. This isn't every other mission you've been on."
"Please," Enzan and Laika asked together.
Manabe looked at them and realized just how much they wanted to rescue Netto. She looked around at all of the others standing there. There were kids, adults, teens; all people Netto and Rockman had helped. Everyone nodded at her PETs at the ready. This time it was Netto and Rockman who needed help, and they were ready and willing to do everything they could. Manabe's gaze softened, years of police school training yelling at her to not do what she was about to do, "All right, go," she said.
Laika and Enzan both gave her grateful smiles. They lasted for about two seconds but Manabe had never before seen them smile like that. "Thanks, Manabe-san," Rockman said from his PET.
"All right, well, lets not sit here like waiting ducks, go!" she said.
Enzan and Laika disappeared inside the building. Everyone else sent their navis into the jack in port that was set up outside the building. "Good luck," Manabe said to Rockman as she sent him into the net.
"Wait!" someone yelled behind them. Everyone looked up to see WWW and Dekao running towards them.
"You…" Manabe said.
"Let us help," Madoi said.
"I can't, you…"
"Please," Dekao asked. "Netto's one of my best friends, I couldn't call myself his friend if I didn't try and help him."
Manabe looked at them and nodded, another set of police codes down the drain.
They all took out their PETs and their navi's joined everyone else's.
Manabe sighed and looked at Rockman's PET again, "Good luck," she said again with a small smile.
"Thanks," he said and disappeared in a shower of pixels.
Manabe and the other operators watched as the dimensional area reappeared around the building.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
Next chappie. Two more left :3