The plane ride was uneventful as Netto was preoccupied with the oh-so difficult task of talking with Princess Pride. The two laughed and chatted the three hours away, Elec Hakushaku and Madoi did the same. Laika and the guards sat like ancient stone temple guardians threatening anyone to catch their watch. As the chatter and laughter flowed through the air; the warm atmosphere did not reach outside, where the small castle sat, cold and uninviting.

The large castle was built entirely of a wet black stone that glistened in the light cast from the surrounding snow. It was on a small island that seemed to be made of ice, yet be very firmly anchored in place. Even modern technology short of an Atomic Bomb would have a hard time bringing the place down. The many turrets and towers all had cold, dark windows and seemed to be crying out to the night for warmth. Never had a place looked so uninviting to the travel group.

Netto was the first one to talk as they looked out the window at the foreboding castle. "Well, I hope its heated-nya." He said in a weak attempt at a joke.

As bad as the witticism was, the small gesture seemed to calm everyone down enough to remember that they were there on a mission and not to stay; although the castle gave off a very dungeon like aura.

"I hope that we will settle this quickly." Said Princess Pride.

Everyone on the plane gave a grim nod.

As they boarded off the plane a steady sleet came pushing its self on the group of would-be heroes. They had to walk to the castle as it was on an uninhabited island, save for the solitary black building. The cold made Netto's ears ache even worse then usual, and he shivered violently. Rockman was more then a little concerned about his operator's health by the time they got to the castle.

"Netto-kun, are you alright-nya?" he whispered so no one else would hear.

"Yes Rockman, I'm perfectly fine-nya." Netto said through clenched teeth. The cold and wet combined with the fact that he could feel his tail cramping made for one very miserable Neko-boy.

Rockman remained unconvinced but was unable to say anything else as they walked into the castle.

The castle was a stark contrast to the outside. The hall was dripping with ornaments, gold and silver lined the halls and decorated anything possible; doorknobs, floor siding, tables, pictures, walls even windows. Precious jewels were inlaid in the metals and everywhere glistened with wealth. A red carpet poured like wine from the doorway spilling out into the massive hall.

Standing in front of the doors leading into the rest of the castle was a very handsome young man, dressed as finely as his room. A black and silver tunic rested on his agile body and his black pants hung down to elegant silver soft cloth shoes. He flashed a grin to the newcomers, revealing very white teeth. His shoulder length black hair framed his bright green eyes, though his eyes, with all their intelligence and spark were as hard as diamonds.

"Ah! So you have come at last, my dear Princess!" he said spreading his arms out wide as a bird of prey would do before catching its lunch, and the prince looked very hungry.

Pride glared at him and gave a polite curtsey, as was customary of her people. The prince gave a cold smirk and bowed in return, then walked the vast distance of the hall; his boots clicking with a deafening roar every step of the way. When he reached the other side, he pulled Princess Pride into an embrace, making the guards gasp with horror and making Netto feel very small.

Pride pushed out of the hug, with her eyes blazing. She opened her mouth but the prince stopped her. "Ah ah ah! You don't want to say anything that might cause a war, do you?" She closed her mouth and glared at him, not trusting herself to speak. "Didn't think so." He said, giving a thin lipped smile.

Netto moved closer to her and attempted to comfort her without words, hoping that she would be okay when they got out of this. It was then when the Prince took notice of Netto. "Ah! I'm sorry kid, I didn't see you there." He said, putting his hand on Netto's hat and rubbing his head. Netto winced at the fire growing in his ears, but tried his best to cope with it. "So, you must be one of the net prodigies that graced Japan recently." He said

Netto blinked. "Ah…"

"So, I'm gonna take a wild guess here, you're Netto-kun, huh?"

Netto looked at the prince and nodded, unsure of what to say.

Finally the prince took notice of everyone else. "Well, how rude am I? Leaving you all here to sit by the cold doorway. Please, please, come in!" he said bowing and waving one of his graceful hands to the end of the hall.

Everyone walked down the wine river carpet and into the next room, where the decorations were even more splendid, if not a bit tacky. The prince took the lead of the group and led them to another hallway branching from the room. "I trust you'll enjoy your stay here. We don't get guests very often because of the weather. As you could guess, it makes tourism an almost impossible economy here; unlike your dear Japan. So, I apologize for the weather, can't say that I can do much about it." He walked up to a set of doors that they presumed were guest rooms. "So, while you're here I ask you not to go outside and play nice. We wouldn't want any accidents." He let the veiled threat hand in the air a moment before adding, "Any questions?"

Madoi nodded. "Yeah, what's your name, kid?"

"Dhruv, not kid. I am Prince Dhruv the first, soon to be king."

Netto lay down on the feather soft mattress of the bed that had been given to him. He was very uneasy around Dhruv, and he didn't know why.

"Ne, Rockman; why does he feel so…… bad-nya?" Netto said, searching for the right word.

"I don't know. Maybe it's your Neko-feeling nya?" said Rockman; he too had felt something come from the Prince.

"I wonder. Do you think the Neko Virus could be that integrated into my system-nya?" asked Netto

"It would have to be to give you those-nya." Said Rockman; pointing at Netto's ears and tail.

"Ugh, I hate this. He's planning something and the evidence I have is that I feel it because I'm infected with a computer virus. Oh yeah, a jury would take that any day-nya."

"Don't worry Netto-kun. We'll find something; it's our job-nya."

Netto flipped over onto his back and giggled looking at Rockman upside down. "Yeup-nya."

Dhruv looked at his new guests through micro cams installed in their rooms. He was sitting in a little stone room devoid of any decoration or wealth. Just a wall of monitors. Who said it didn't pay to be paranoid? He saw Netto come into his and take off his hat and sweatshirt. He grinned, of course, just as he planned it.

"….he just feels……bad-nya."

Oh, here was something unexpected. The Net Savior had latched onto his new found abilities pretty quickly, but no matter, he wasn't a threat. So long as he played his cards right. He knew the weaknesses of the Neko Virus and he'd be dammed if he didn't know Netto and Rockman's.

"The brown haired one is quick." Came a voice from the darkness of the little room.

"Ah, hello Ocelot. How are you on this fine evening?" He turned around to see a tawny golden navi. She wore gold hip and chest armor the rest of her being covered by a bodysuit with black and orange spots. Her yellow eyes flashed dangerously as did the silver earring in her left ear.

Ocelot snorted. "Fine? It's -5 out there! Do you have any idea how hard it was to get here?"

"Easier then any human could, I assure you my dear navi. Now, what about the Net brat?"

"Well? He seems to have caught on to his senses quickly, no doubt because of the damned close bond between those two. I'm sure their syncro level is something to be reckoned with."

"Syncro level?"

"Yeah, how in sync the kid and his navi are with one another in and out of cross fusion. I heard from a reliable source that he achieved Full Syncro once."

"So, he's not just some techie brat then?"

Ocelot snorted. "You wish; the Netto Hikari/Rockman net team is almost unbeatable. Same goes for Enzan/Blues, but you don't have to deal with them, yet."

"Almost?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

Ocelot smiled. "Well, I am a cat type navi; I could beat those two in my sleep."

"And you team?"

"At your disposal."

"Well, looks like we can finally move on with my wonderful plans." His voice dripped with malice. "Make sure Pride and the kid are separated from the rest of the group before striking, I want no breath of this until the right time, understand?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Oh and Ocelot?"

"Yes?"

"Please, try not to fight. I made it so the dimensional area can't come here, it will be blamed on weather conditions. You have one chance to capture everyone. Don't fail me."

Ocelot bowed and silently glided out the door.

Ocelot stood in all her golden glory glaring at her team. "Okay, we've got two hours to pull this off. We'll be stretched tight but you can handle it! I have all my faith in you, now we'll do this and get enough money to start our own enterprises without humans. We want to achieve our goal, so let's get going, time's a-wastin."

The four members of her group nodded solemnly. She looked at each on in turn and smiled, giving a silent good luck. "Now, I'll give the orders. Panther, I want you to go after Pride, you're the quietist and I came to understand she's a light sleeper."

The slender female navi nodded. She was dressed in black armor, with only her eyes, ears and tail showing. Her tail was guarded with a flexible armor and if you ever got close enough to aim for her ears then you were probably dead. She took a silent bow and left.

"Tiger, you're gonna take care of the guards! I want no blood spilled and no noise, can you handle that?"

Tiger grinned. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

Ocelot sighed. "Just go."

Tiger, decked out in a full tiger striped body suit with only her icon as decoration nodded and took off running down the hall.

"Leopard, can I trust you to take the blue haired one? He's strong, and I know you don't underestimate your foes."

Leopard nodded, grim faced. "He is a very good fighter though, I can't promise a silent fight."

"Try your hardest."

Leopard turned, her body suit was black and her hip, shoulder, gloves and boots all had spots on them. Her tail swished and she was gone.

"Cheetah, the two former WWW members are your mission, ready to take them on."

Cheetah bounced from one foot to the other. Her entire body was covered in spots, be it armor or body suit. "Awww, I was hoping you'd give me something that made me run."

"Don't worry, the pink haired one, Madoi? She was a track star in high school, test against that."

"Psh, a human?"

"I heard she was really good."

Cheetah thought this over, Ocelot's information was never wrong. "Okay, see you in a bit!" she said cheerfully and dashed silently down the hall.

"And I get Netto and Rockman, ooohhh, this will be fun." Ocelot licked her lips in the thrill of the hunt.

Panther stood over the figure of the princess. Her shape was outlined by the covers of her bed and her head was under the pillow. Panther smirked; light sleeper indeed. She prepared to capture the girl, placing a paw on the covers, ready to react to any hostilities. She tensed and pulled the sheets off in a fluid motion, only to find pillows stuffed under the bed.

"What?" she hissed out loud.

Behind her in the shadows lurked Pride, ready and waiting to strike.

Tiger smiled and walked out of the guards' room dusting off her paws. Every guard unable to move and not one drop of blood spilled; a new record for her. She wondered if anyone else was having any trouble. Maybe she should just go back to the HQ to get ready to leave. What were her orders anyway?

Leopard was having problems. Laika was up and ready to battle the second she stepped in. He launched himself at her feet knocking her to the floor with ease and gaining the upper hand when she walked in.

Leopard flipped over when Laika pulled out a stunner. She arched her back and used her legs to propel herself upwards as she got a low level weapon ready. She chose her standard weapon, an electric arrow, it was a long distance weapon, but it was the only thing she had that would only stun the boy.

Laika could sense the incoming attack so he immediately rushed in for hand to hand combat. Leopard growled, Ocelot was right, the kid was good. Laika threw a punch to her head that she blocked with her wrist. Then Laika gave another shot to her stomach with his knee. Leopard took the blow and then used Laika's momentary off balance to knock him to the ground. She prepared to jump back but Laika twisted so she would trip over his feet. As she crashed to the ground Laika flipped up and pulled out his tazer.

The tazer made a soft buzzing as it flew by her ear; she barely managed to dodge it. Then she hit the nerve end of Laika's elbow making him drop the tazer in momentary numbness. Laika jumped back to re-examine his foe, she was not one to be taken lightly.

Leopard jumped back herself, smiling. That was exactly what she had wanted the human to do. Laika notice his mistake too late and Leopard brought up her arrow. "Good night human."

Laika fell to the ground unconscious, and Searchman looked out of his PET in shock. "Laika-san!" he said.

Leopard turned off the pet before Searchman could begin to yell at her. She already had a headache from hitting the ground.

Cheetah slipped into Elec Hakushaku's room. First she made sure that the navi was turned off, then she made sure that Elec was really asleep, when she found that he was, all she did was slip out of his room and lock the door. He would never get out until someone unlocked it.

As she prepared to go into Madoi's room she turned around to see Madoi herself standing behind her. "And who are you?" she asked

Cheetah smiled. "Run."

"Excuse me?"

"Run, if you can get away from me, maybe I'll tell you."

"That makes no sense at all!" said Madoi

Cheetah didn't answer but instead took a running leap making Madoi back peddle and start running off in the other direction, her nightgown fanning out behind her. Cheetah ran and ran but the human always seemed to be one step ahead, it was amazing how fast she was.

"How, did, you, know, I, ran?" huffed Madoi as they ran through halls.

"Ocelot told me, Ocelot is never wrong on her information."

"Ocelot……huh?" said Madoi, twisting and turning, looking for an escape route.

"Yeup, and I must say, you're not quite what she said you were."

"Oh? Am I faster or slower then you expected?"

Cheetah ran up right beside Madoi. "Slower."

Madoi turned to see the crazy cat navi on her left side, but before she could do anything Cheetah shoved her into an open doorway. Madoi tumbled into a cleaning supplies closet and lay there, stunned. Cheetah closed the door and locked it tightly. Madoi started to pound on the door. "Hey! Let me out of here!" she yelled.

"No one will hear you! We're on the other side of the castle, better luck next time, human."

Madoi pounded on the door and screamed obscenities at the navi, but no one was there to listen to them.

Ocelot slipped into Netto's room as quiet as a summer breeze. Not allowing herself even a breath until she could properly asses the situation. Netto was on his bed, sprawled on his back, half covered and snoring loudly. Rockman was in his PET, also fast asleep, and curled up into a tight ball. Ocelot grinned and relaxed a bit, maybe she could just get them while they were asleep.

Ocelot tiptoed over to Netto and glanced down at him, he was sprawled out and shivering due to the cold. Apparently he didn't know that cat's ears were what regulated their temperatures. She reached over for the PET first, knowing that he would be the biggest threat if not handled properly. Rockman grimaced as the PET moved, but before he came to full wakefulness she had successfully turned the PET off.

Netto however…

Princess Pride body slammed into Panther causing the black navi to topple over and land on the bed. Then she ran out the door ready to alert her guards. "Anita! Janet! Sara! Tanya! Get up, we're being ambushed!" she yelled.

Tiger appeared before the princess. "How right you are, girlie." She said, flashing her very sharp teeth in a grin.

Princess Pride gasped and turned around to fun but was grabbed from behind and pinned to Tiger in a ruthless chokehold. Pride tried to pull at the arm that was wrapped around her neck but she was no match for navi strength.

"Well, look what I caught." Breathed Tiger into her ear.

Netto tackled Ocelot head on, making her drop the PET.

Ocelot pushed the boy off her and stood up holding her hands. "Wait, kid. Don't attack me, how do you know I'm not a friend?"

Netto growled. "How do I know you aren't." He shot back.

"Touché! Be proud kid, you're the first one to lay a hand on me in years. I must be getting too confident in my old age, ah well."

Netto regarded the strange navi. First she was attacking Rockman, and then she sounded like Mejin. Just what the hell was going on?

"Confused?" Ocelot asked.

Netto just glared, she wasn't to be trusted; he was sure of that. He got into a fighting stance, ready to retrieve his PET but before he could, Ocelot was behind him with a handful of dried leaves. Netto turned around as fast as he could but he was not quick enough. Ocelot blew the leaves into his face making Netto go into a sneezing fit.

"Well, you almost caught me. However, Neko-shounen, I know every one of your weaknesses, so don't try anything."

Netto finally stopped sneezing and he wiped his streaming eyes. "What the hell was that for?" he asked hoarsely.

"Mmm? You'll see." She sing songed.

Then Netto couldn't feel his body, not his legs, arms not even his head would respond. Ocelot caught Netto and cradled his body in her arms; then she picked up his PET.

"Stun spore may not work on humans, but it works perfectly fine on cats!" she said cheerfully.

Netto was too out of it to respond, but he still knew he and his friends were in very big trouble.

The Prince sipped a delicate white wine out of a clear crystal glass. Even though he was much too young for spirits it didn't bother him, he was the ruler of this country, who said he couldn't drink? He looked into the monitors to see the little group of would be heroes brought down one-by-one. Even though he had to admit they put up some excellent fights; quite entertaining, really.

Pride's struggle was the best; she was so lithe and graceful. Obvious signs of combat training, she knew exactly what she was going and how to escape, she even anticipated the capture attempt, but that was Creamland's ruler for you. So beautiful, yet she must have been one of the most paranoid people on Earth. No parents, no siblings, no one to share the power with. So she just shouldered it and made for the best, but someone like her was much too delicate. Give a little shove, and her entire foundation would break. Or so he thought.

The one that was infected was quite strong too, although Ocelot gave him no chance to fight. Pity, he looked like he would have put up a good struggle, but no less was expected from the leader of the navi mercenaries he had hired. They had no name, and you found them by giving their initials. If you were lucky they would see you, if you weren't then they made your life a living hell. At least until the next buyer they deemed worthy of their services came along.

He knew his kingdom was hung by thin threads; no longer could he just conquer. He needed a plan to enforce strict rule and still be able to take over other countries. He had so much land now, it was just too difficult to keep them all maintained. There were revolts left and right, slowly his patchwork country was unraveling, and in the center was Creamland.

If he could just get Pride to marry him, the perfect Queen with the perfect land. He could set up the most perfect country ever, take over all kinds of trade routes, technology companies, even take over other countries. But not until this was done, he needed a plan; and he knew exactly what he was going to do.

Pride was brought struggling to the entrance of the hall, still in her flannel night gown, and looking worse for the wear. Her hair was in tangles from waking up and fighting and her eyes were filled with tears, she was on the verge of crying. Almost unable to take the whole thing, she just wanted to break down right there, but she would give no such pleasure to her captor.

"Upset, girlie?" Tiger asked. "Is your pretty little plan crashing around you ears?"

Pride didn't say anything but her lips trembled.

"Heh, I know that feeling. It hurts, huh? Not able to protect the ones you love, not able to help anyone. Being the helpless little Princess you always knew you were."

"Shut up…" Pride breathed.

"Though, I guess royalty is no better for anything but giving orders all day. What a pitiful life."

"Shut up." Said Pride; more firmly.

"Too bad, I guess you'll have to wait for your prince charming to come and rescue you."

"I said, SHUT UP!" Pride yelled loudly. Her yell reverberated on the vast walls of the main hallway, stunning Tiger into silence.

"Oh, so you do have some back bone." She said after a minute.

"You have no idea, what it is to rule a country." Said Pride. "No idea, no one does…"

"Ah, but there you are wrong!" said a smooth as silk voice from the end of the hall. Prince Dhruv walked over in hard heeled boots, letting the sound echo ominously in the hall. He reached Pride and put ice fingers under her chin, making Pride wince. "I know everything about ruling a country, and soon my dear, you will worry no longer."

Ocelot came into the main hall still carrying Netto's body and PET. She sent a signal to the others to collect all PET's so the people who were captured couldn't hack their way out. Humans were at their most dangerous when they had technology in their hands. A person with a gun could only do so much, but a person with a PET and experience could cut off all air to an entire office building, possibly killing hundreds, and that was just one example.

The Prince was talking to Pride when she came in. Pride looked like if given the chance she would have punched the Prince long before they got there. She walked over and cleared her throat to get the attention of the people in the room. Pride looked at her with horror and Dhruv gave her a smile. Tiger was the first one to speak.

"You just love dramatic entrances don't you?" she said shooting her boss an annoyed look.

Ocelot gave a very feline grin. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You two can growl at each other later, Ocelot where is your team? We were supposed to leave five minutes ago."

"Chill out your Highness, I'm just taking some precautions."

Dhruv nodded. "Okay then. I want you all on the plane in ten minutes." Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"Yes, your highness."

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Shock! Hope you enjoyed! I'm kinda just uploading all the things I forgot before sorry this took so long ;