Enzan and Laika walked up the stairs cautiously. It wasn't worth it to take the elevator in case it was rigged and you couldn't be too careful with Dark Rockman. They looked out on each level but everything was dark. In the net the navis were fighting with the security programs to make sure nothing happened to Enzan and Laika before they found where Netto and Dark Rockman were.

It wasn't until they got to the very top of the building when they entered a ball room where Netto was leaning against the far wall in anticipation. "Hello," he greeted then cheerfully as they entered the room.

"Hi," Enzan said. Laika didn't reply at all.

"You're cold today," Netto smirked.

Laika and Enzan glared at him but didn't say anything.

Netto shrugged, "Ah well, how about we start this then, hm?" he asked pulling out his Syncro Chip.

Enzan and Laika pulled out theirs in a split second and all three transformed at the same time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The other navi's were still in the net bringing down security program after security program and getting nowhere. All of a sudden, everything stopped. The programs were deactivated and everything was still.

"Watch out," Tomahawkman said.

A huge black ball of energy came towards them and Cosmoman stood above them smirking. "Well, hello," he said.

Rockman ran at him yelling and bringing up his buster. "You!" he yelled.

Cosmoman smirked and disappeared. Rockman ran to where he was and then he disappeared too.

"What?" Elecman gasped.

All the other navi's walked over to where Rockman and Cosmoman once were and saw a shallow disorient in the space in front of them. "The gateway into the real world," Roll said softly.

"Well?" Tomahawkman asked getting ready to jump in. "Are you coming or not?"

Everyone made a silent agreement and then went into the gateway.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Just as the fight was about to begin, Cosmoman appeared in a pixel shower. Followed seconds after by Rockman. From another area of the room, Swallowman and Cloudman also appeared, then from the same area and Rockman and Cosmoman all the other navi's appeared. Netto raised an eyebrow, "Well, isn't this fun?" he asked.

"Netto-kun," Rockman said softly.

Cosmoman went after Laika and Swallowman went after Enzan. Cloudman appeared in front of the group of well wishing navis and smirked. "Ready?" he asked.

"You, against all of us?" Tomahawkman asked, "Do you really think that's going to work?"

Cloudman raised his arms and scores of electric and rain viruses appeared around them. "You, against all of us?" Cloudman mocked.

Tomahawkman growled and threw his axe at the first virus. No one said it would be easy.

Rockman stared in the face of Netto. Just seeing Netto like that made him shiver, and he knew what was going to happen next. "Well, now it's just you and me," Netto grinned. "Isn't that nice?"

"Netto-kun, please, I'm begging you, don't do this," Rockman pleaded.

Netto summoned a sword and swung it at Rockman who blocked it with his buster. "Sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you," Netto said while grinning.

"Don't make me hurt you, please," Rockman said with tears in his eyes. "I don't want to fight."

"I know," Netto said. "That's why this is fun," he giggled.

Rockman's eyes widened and Netto summoned his own buster and fired it at Rockman. Rockman shot his own buster and the small blasts of light that issued from their weapons crashed into one another creating large explosions.

"Aqua tower!" Roll yelled and released the jet of water that killed ten viruses at once. Netto took a note of it and looked disappointed in the way that it was as if he had been told he couldn't go to the park because it was raining.

"Battle chips?" he said. "That's no fair." He summoned a black ball on energy to his hand and slammed it on the ground. The lights flickered three times then went out. Outside of the Dimensional Area all of the EPT screens gave static. "There we go," Netto grinned.

"No!" Manabe yelled. The situation had just gone from very bad to much worse.

"Don't worry," Nenji said. "I trust them, Nanjiroh will come through."

"I hope so," Charlie said looking at the top floor where various flashes of color appeared.

Pride clutched her PET and sent a silent plea up to anyone who would listen. "Please, bring them all back safe," she whispered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rockman shot at Netto again and he parried the shots with his own. The shots met in mid air and exploded. Netto came through the curtain of smoke with his buster charged; he fired off a shot that Rockman barely managed to dodge.

"Netto-kun, I can't fight you!" Rockman said.

Netto grinned, "I know, why do you think I'm doing this," Netto smirked. He summoned another sword and grinned at Rockman. "I said I'd make you suffer," he whispered. "I said you'd plead with me and I said I'd laugh. What more anguish can you feel then if I deleted you by your best friend's hand?" Rockman's green eyes widened in fear as Netto advanced. "For your sake, I really hope this hurts," Netto said maliciously and thrust his sword forward, right through Rockman's chest.

"ROCKMAN!" Roll screamed.

Rockman felt the blade slice through his chest and if he was human it would have gone right through his heart. But he wasn't human and he was going to get Netto back if it cost him everything.

Everything was still in the room and everyone watched and Rockman slowly lifted up his arms and pulled Netto into a tight embrace. "Netto-kun, I would never hurt you," Rockman whispered.

Netto's eyes widened, "Rockman?" he whispered.

"Yes?" Rockman replied.

"You…" Netto's lips trembled and he couldn't say the next word. Netto fell out of cross fusion and held Rockman in his own embrace. Everyone heard the purple PET clatter to the floor in the now still room. "What the hell are you doing, Rockman?" Netto whispered to him on the verge of tears.

Rockman hugged Netto tightly, "I'm getting my Netto-kun back," Rockman said.

Netto looked at the wound that he had inflicted on Rockman. It was straight through his shoulder, about two centimeters from Rockman's navi icon. "Oh god," he said letting his fingers brush the wound. "Where's my PET?" he asked.

"Manabe has it," Rockman said. "She's outside."

Netto shut his eyes tightly to ward off incoming tears, "No way…" he said softly.

Dark Rockman appeared in a shower of pixels in the middle of the room. "Well, you win some you loose some I guess," Dark Rockman shrugged. "Ah well, I'll finish this off myself," he said happily.

Netto took a defensive stance in front of Rockman. "Leave him alone!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the room. The yell seemed to bring everyone back to their senses and the battles resumed.

Dark Rockman smirked at Netto. "I had hopes for you, Netto-kun. You were a very strong operator. Oh well, maybe when I delete your navi…" he let the rest of the sentence hang in the air.

Netto growled and brought his fist around into Rockman's face. The purple navi staggered slightly but quickly regained control. "Now that was uncalled for," he said and grabbed Netto's wrist as he tried to punch him again. He threw Netto into the floor a few feet away where he lay still.

Rockman yelled and brought up his charged buster and shot Dark Rockman point blank. He was sent flying back, across the room into the far wall. Rockman picked himself up painfully and Dark Rockman did the same. "Oh, how clever," Dark Rockman jeered.

Rockman collapsed onto one knee gasping for breath.

"Looks like that wound will be the end of you after all," Dark Rockman said. "Oh the irony, in the end your fate was still decided by your operator." Dark Rockman charged his buster; purple light shined around it and started to seep into the weapon. It glowed a brilliant purple and Dark Rockman leveled it with Rockman's navi icon. "And now, I will finish you off, just like I promised."

Netto pushed himself up off the floor painfully, "No," he said. He would not live with Rockman's death on his conscience. He got up and ran towards Rockman as Dark Rockman fired off the shot.

Rockman watched the light come towards him and he shut his eyes and braced himself for the impact. "Sorry Netto-kun," he muttered. Then he felt someone's arms around him, hugging him tightly. Rockman opened his eyes just in time to see Netto wink at him, right before the attack hit.

Both boys were sent reeling back into the wall closest to them. Rockman sat there stunned and clutching Netto's body. "Why, Netto-kun?" he whispered.

Netto had his arms still wrapped around Rockman's body, his back shielding Rockman from the attack. His face was now buried in Rockman's shoulder and he doubted he could move at all. Still, he found enough strength to chuckle at his poor navi's expense. "Why not?" he asked weakly.

Dark Rockman's eyes widened in shock. "Netto-kun…" he said softly. Then his ruby gaze turned angry, "Why the hell did you do that?" he yelled.

Netto wanted for all the world to have the strength to turn around, stick his tongue out at Dark Rockman and say, "Why not?" but he doubted it would help matters much.

Rockman hugged Netto tightly and Netto hugged back. "Glad you're safe," Netto said weakly.

Rockman looked at his friend and felt a hated like he had never felt before. He wanted Dark Rockman to pay, but he could barely move himself.

To the left there was a loud explosion and a yell as Cloudman was deleted by Elecman and Gyroman's combined attacks. All of the viruses they were fighting disappeared. "Medi, Roll, go help Rockman," Knightman said. "We'll hold off Dark Rockman as long as we can."

Medi and Roll nodded and ran over to where Rockman and Netto were laying.

Knightman lifted up his wrecking ball and fired it at Rockman. Rockman caught it with one hand and smirked. "Pathetic," he said and threw it back at Knightman.

Roll and Medi crouched down by Rockman. "Are you all right?" Medi asked.

"No," Rockman said darkly.

Roll cradled Netto's body and lay him down on the floor. "Well, don't worry, everything will be fine," she said softly.

"I wonder," Rockman said.

Roll and Medi exchanged nervous glances and pulled their healing powers together. Medi used her healing pulse on the back side of the wound and Roll used hers on the front. Together the two managed to heal the wound completely, and then some.

Rockman stood up and looked at Netto. He was barely conscious but still awake, he grinned at Rockman, "Why are you worried about me? I'll be fine," he said.

Rockman looked at where the wound used to be. "You were aiming for my navi icon, you could have deleted me. What made you change your mind?" Rockman asked.

"I need someone to nag at me about doing my homework and attempting to wake me up on time. If I got rid of you I don't think there is a navi in this world who could put up with me the way you do," Netto said giving Rockman a broad grin.

"Netto-kun…" Rockman said softly.

There was a loud explosion behind them. Elecman dived at Dark Rockman but the navi jumped away at the last possible second and Elecman's electrical attack went into the floor of the building instead. The lights flickered for a second, and then everything came online as strongly as before.

"Watch Netto-kun for me," Rockman told Roll and Medi then ran over to where the fight was going on.

Enzan and Laika were still battling the Darkloid navis. They were very strong and they had only been able to catch bits and glances of what was going on in the battle. They landed side by side and looked at one another and nodded. Cosmoman and Swallowman came at them with full force but Laika and Enzan jumped out of the way, letting the navis crash into one another.

"You sure?" Laika asked.

"Of course, you better be good with that thing," Enzan said looking at Laika's gun.

"I am, don't worry," Laika said.

Enzan smiled and summoned two swords then used the whirlwind chip to create a deadly tornado. He managed to blind Cosmoman and Swallowman just long enough for Laika to take aim.

"Target lock," he breathed. "Fire one," he said and pulled the trigger. The first shot went clean through Cloudman and he screamed at he was deleted. Swallowman heard his comrade's scream and looked around in the whirlwind dazedly.

"Don't take your eyes off the opponent!" Enzan yelled and used his swords to slash through Swallowman. The navi didn't even have time to cry out before he was deleted.

"Good job," Laika said.

"Thanks," Enzan replied. "You too."

They looked around at what was going on and they both spotted Netto at the same time. "Netto," they yelled out and ran over to where he was.

"Hey," Netto said.

Enzan and Laika both noted that his eyes, albeit clouded with pain weren't blank like they were before. "What the hell did you do?" Enzan asked.

"He jumped in front of Dark Rockman's finishing attack at the last second to save Rockman," Roll said in a kind of awe.

Enzan sighed and crouched by Netto. "Only you," he said shaking his head disbelievingly.

Netto winked, "Of course," he said.

Laika was silent as he looked at Netto. Netto looked at Laika with his eyebrow raised, "Do you want to yell at me too?" he asked.

Laika shook his head, "No," he gave Netto a small smile. "You did well."

Netto smiled back then turned to the battle that was about to begin. "Well, here it is," Netto breathed.

Manabe glanced at the blue PET as it came back online. "Rockman, are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Manabe-san. I'm about to fight Dark Rockman," he said.

"Netto-kun?" she asked.

Rockman shook his head. "He's…fine," Rockman's voice broke.

"Something happened, didn't it?" she asked.

"Just send me battle chips, please. This needs to be ended quickly," Rockman said.

Manabe nodded. "All right, be careful Rockman."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ready?" Dark Rockman asked.

Manabe slotted in a spread gun chip. Rockman didn't even reply, but instead let loose the attack. It rained down blue light on Dark Rockman and he was engulfed in dust and debris as the attack made everything explode around him. Rockman came through the dust cloud and attacked with a Flame Tower. Dark Rockman managed to dodge but Rockman anticipated where he would go and appeared before him.

"You're angry," Dark Rockman taunted.

Rockman slammed his fist into Dark Rockman's face. "Of course I'm angry," he hissed. "You hurt Netto-kun!"

Dark Rockman reeled sideways and smiled. "You are so easy to manipulate, Rockman."

"Calm down," Manabe said.

Rockman took a deep breath and Dark Rockman brought up his buster. A shield formed around Rockman and Rockman jumped out of the way. "All right, let's go," he said.

"Aqua tower!" Rockman used the chips that were provided to him and quickly thought up a strategy.

Dark Rockman snorted and blew the column of water apart with his buster, "Cute," he murmured. When the attack disappeared he didn't see Rockman anywhere. "What the…" he said as Rockman came down on top of him with a charged buster shot. It hit Dark Rockman and sent him into the ground where he quickly got up and jumped out of the way. "You were on top of the aqua tower," he murmured, then he grinned. "Nice," he said.

Rockman breathed heavily. Keeping his own on top of an attack chip was harder then he thought it would be. "Elec sword!" he yelled and went after Dark Rockman.

Dark Rockman jumped out of the way as the first and second slashes went past his face. His red eye glinted maniacally. He brought his fist into Rockman's stomach, making him collapse. "Try again," Dark Rockman laughed.

Rockman looked at the ground and noted that Dark Rockman was standing in a puddle of water left from the aqua tower attack. He touched the Elec Sword to the puddle and Dark Rockman felt an electric shock rip though his body. Rockman took the opening and tackled Dark Rockman into the wall.

Dark Rockman brought up his own Elec Sword and parried Rockman's next blow. "Well, wasn't that ingenious," Dark Rockman sneered.

Rockman didn't reply but concentrated on the battle at hand. He took a deep breath and jumped out of the way letting Dark Rockman loose his balance. Then he turned his Elec Sword into his buster and shot Dark Rockman in the back.

Dark Rockman picked himself up and laughed. "Is that all you've got? I honestly expected more from you."

Rockman kept on ignoring the taunts sent to him by his enemy. If he wanted to win, he needed to keep a cool head. 'I also need to end this quickly,' he told himself and jumped at Dark Rockman again.

"I think I'm quite done with you," Dark Rockman sneered and punched Rockman out of mid air. He slammed the blue navi into the ground and jumped back. He focused a huge amount of dark energy in his hand and looked down on Rockman with hatred in his eyes. "This time I won't miss," he said quietly.

"Manabe-san, send me a shield, sword and area steal battle chips now," Rockman said quickly.

"But…" Manabe said.

"NOW!" Rockman yelled.

Manabe slotted in the battle chips that Rockman had requested and watched the battle on the small screen.

"DIE!" Dark Rockman yelled and released the huge energy blast straight at Rockman.

"Rockman!" Netto yelled.

Rockman watched the attack come straight at him, then at the last second he used the shield. "Do you really think that will save you?" Dark Rockman jeered. Rockman ignored him and used area steal.

As the giant attack withered away, there was no trace left of Rockman at all. "No…" Netto whispered.

"I said he was weak," Dark Rockman laughed.

"Who's weak?" Rockman whispered in Dark Rockman's ear.

"How did you…" Dark Rockman asked.

"This is for Netto-kun," Rockman said and summoned the sword and thrust it through Dark Rockman's chest.

An unearthly cry escaped Dark Rockman's lips as dark energy poured from his wound. "NO!" Dark Rockman yelled. "I can't die, I won't die!"

Everyone watched as the navi disintegrated.

"Is he… gone?" Roll ventured.

Rockman released his sword and nodded. Then the dimensional area disappeared. He quickly turned around before he was forced to log out, "Netto-kun?"

Netto was being supported by Enzan and Laika who had returned to their human forms. Netto gave Rockman a thumbs up as he logged out.

"You're a mess," Laika muttered.

"Sorry," Netto replied.

"No you're not," Enzan said.

Netto smiled at him, "You're right, I'm not. I don't regret what I did."

"I'm amazed you haven't passed out yet," Enzan said to Netto.

"Like hell I'm letting you carry me out of here," Netto replied. "I still have my pride you know."

"I know," Enzan and Laika said together.

They helped Netto walk over to the elevator. "Think it's safe?" Laika asked.

"Once way to find out," Netto said cheerfully.

Enzan pushed the button down button and they waited for the elevator to come. "Netto?" Enzan asked.

"Yeah?"

"Welcome back."

Netto smiled, "Thanks."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And a short epilogue will be thrown your way in due time :3