"Okay, just try and speak normally," Pride said gently.

Netto made a face. "It's hard-n…" he paused. "See?"

"You didn't say it there," Pride said.

"B-but, when I don't think about it I say "nya" when I do think about it I do," Netto shut his eyes in frustration. "It's annoying-nya."

"That's why you came to me for help. Now, try not to think about it then," she said patiently.

Netto sighed; it was true that saying "nya" was annoying. Not only annoying, but it could also be dangerous in the wrong situation. Pride in her credit was extremely patient with Netto and trying her best to help him.

"Maybe if we took a little break," she said.

"Okay!" Netto said brightly and ran out of the room.

Pride smiled and noted that he didn't use the "nya" on the end of his sentence.

"So, what will we do for now?" Tiger asked softly.

"Bide our time and keep quiet until we get to dry land," she muttered. "Dhruv heard our little conversation last night. We need to play it safe; we're on extremely thin ice."

Tiger nodded. "I'll spread the word."

"Oh, one more thing," Ocelot said.

"Yes?"

"Tell everyone they can go into the net if they want."

Tiger nodded, even though they both knew no one would.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto and Pride were on the deck drinking tea. Or trying to at least. Netto wasn't exactly happy with the sea around him and Pride noted this after a few minutes. "Do you want to go below?" she asked.

Netto shook his head firmly. "No, it's nice being outside," he said.

"Glad to see the practice is taking effect," Pride smiled.

"What practice-nya," Netto asked.

Pride shook her head and tried not to laugh, "Never mind."

Netto looked at her with a puzzled expression but decided not to pursue it. They finished their green tea in silence and then went below where Netto was noticeably more comfortable.

"How much longer?" Netto asked.

"Hm?"

"How much longer do you think we'll be on the boat-nya?" he said again.

Pride frowned. "Well, let's see, Dhruv said we'd be here for two days and we've been out for one and a half. So my guess is we'll see land tomorrow morning."

"How right you are Princess!" Dhruv cooed.

Netto and Pride spun around to see the prince coming towards them with his arms spread out like vulture wings. Netto's tail unconsciously puffed out and Pride's frown deepened. Dhruv noted both details with great amusement.

"So, tomorrow then?" Pride asked stiffly.

Dhruv nodded. "Yes, we will dock at Denaht within 16 hours. So get your rest, and see you tomorrow." He turned on his heel and strode down the narrow hallway as if it was Buckingham Palace.

"He is so annoying," Netto hissed.

Pride nodded. "Well, we have a few more hours left till sundown, what do you want to do?" she asked.

Netto thought about it and asked, "Do you want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?"

"I don't know-nya," Netto said.

Pride frowned thoughtfully. "Do you know how to play chess?" she asked.

Netto slowly shook his head.

"Then I'll teach you!" she said brightly and led Netto to her room.

Once inside she brought out a very old chess board.

"Wow," Netto said.

Pride nodded and patted it fondly. "This belonged to my great grandpa. It's a family heirloom, I have a lot of those," she chuckled. "But this one has the most sentimental value."

Netto nodded and she opened the small drawers on either side and pulled out the pieces. She set them up on the board and pointed to each one, explaining what it did and how it moved.

"So it's a strategy game-nya?" Netto asked.

"Yeup-nya!" said Rockman, coming into his PET.

Netto jumped, "Where did you come from?" he asked.

"I was just talking to Knightman-nya," Rockman said.

"Knightman?" Pride asked into her PET.

"Yes, Pride-sama-nya?" he asked.

"Did you learn anything?"

"Learn what-nya?" Netto asked.

Pride blinked, "O-oh, nothing really. I just asked Knightman if he knew anything," she laughed nervously.

Netto gave her a suspicious glance and Knightman replied, "Nothing valuable, Pride-sama-nya."

Pride nodded, "I understand."

"So, learning to play chess-nya?" Rockman asked.

"Yeah, do you know how to play?" Netto asked.

"A little," Rockman admitted.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me-nya?"

"I didn't think it would be something you would be interested in-nya," Rockman said simply.

"Che, that's not fair, Rockman."

"You didn't bother learning after we played against Tora-nya," Rockman said.

"That's different-nya!"

Rockman shrugged and grinned silently.

"Well, shall we continue?" Pride asked.

Netto nodded and looked at the board again. Pride pointed to the knight. "This one moves like this," she placed it on one square. "Or here," she placed it on another in the side-ways "L" shape.

"Eh?" Netto said in a confused voice.

Pride laughed, "You'll get the hand of it. You've already played Tora from what I've hear."

Netto blushed, "Well, Meiru-chan really played him," he muttered.

Pride smiled, "Well now it's your turn. You make the first move."

Netto moved his left most pawn forward two places.

Pride nodded and moved her right most pawn one place.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Awwwww, isn't that cute," Ocelot said looking at them through a crack in the door.

"What is?" Cheetah asked.

"They're playing chess," she said.

"Is that all?" Cheetah asked.

Ocelot straightened up and rolled her eyes. "You have no romantic side do you?"

Cheetah flashed her an annoying grin, "I don't know, you tell me. You're the one with the information."

Ocelot growled briefly then laughed. "Come on, we should get some rest before we dock tomorrow."

Ocelot and Cheetah went to their rooms and met up with the other three. It was time to strategize.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dhruv smiled, "You can't say anything I don't know."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ocelot smiled and winked at the others in a knowing way. "And that's our plan. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads and smiled. Everything was going according to plan.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Netto stretched and yawned. Pride noted and said, "I think we should go to bed. It seems tomorrow might be a big day."

Netto nodded and stood up. He stretched again and walked out of Pride's room. "Thanks for teaching me-nya," he said sleepily. "See you in the morning."

"Good night Netto, see you tomorrow."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Pride went into Netto's room to wake him up. She almost didn't want to when she saw him buried under the covers in a tight ball but she figured that setting foot on dry land would make up for it. "Netto," she whispered.

"Hn… five more minutes-nya…" he groaned.

"Netto, we're five minutes from docking," Pride said.

Netto's eyes flew open, "Why didn't you say so!" he said and jumped out of bed. Pride hid a smile behind her hand and followed Netto out of the room.

Netto ran out on deck and saw a giant city looming ahead. "Wow," he said. "That looks like it could be as big as Ameroupe."

"Bigger," Dhruv said snidely behind Netto. Netto jumped and twirled around glaring a Dhruv. Dhruv looked down at Netto with a mocking glance. "Aw, does the kitty not like to be startled?"

Netto growled but was silenced from any retorts by a hand placed on his shoulder. He turned around to see Pride looking straight into the eyes of Dhruv. "Most people don't appreciate being snuck up on, Dhruv," she said in an icy voice.

Dhruv shrugged and smiled. "Ah me, well it's not like I did any harm is it?"

Netto felt Pride's grip on his shoulder tighten. Up at her and saw that her glassy blew eyes were narrowed and glaring at Dhruv's retreating back. "Poipu?" Netto asked.

Pride jumped at the sound of her old nick name. She glanced down and saw that she was gripping Netto's shoulder and she let go quickly. "Netto, I'm so sorry. It's just, that man he…" Pride shut her eyes in frustration. "Ugh," she finished, there was no word in her vocabulary to describe Dhruv.

Netto smiled and attempted to cheer Pride up. "Well, it's been four days already, who knows, maybe it will be fun," he tried to sound optimistic.

Pride sighed, then she gave a bright smile that was obviously fake. "Yes," she said brightly.

Netto smiled to the best of his abilities when he knew Pride was just putting up a farce for his sake. "Don't worry, I'm sure something will happen soon," he said.

Pride dropped her smile and looked out to the rapidly incoming coast line, "Yes, I'm sure it will," she said softly.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Where do we go now?" asked Enzan. He had long since taught himself to drop the 'nya' and glared at anyone who brought it up when he forgot.

"Well, from what I've heard they are headed towards Denaht at this very moment," said Mejin.

Enzan winced. "Something wrong?" Laika asked.

"I hate Denaht," he said.

"Why?" asked Madoi.

"That place loves Dhruv. He poured a lot of money into that city to make it one of the largest port cities in the world. They are all loyal to him and my god if you're not loyal to him too. That place in almost impossible to get a deal signed in," Enzan said tightly.

"Dhruv loyalists?" Hinoken asked in surprise.

"Oh yeah, major loyalists. He promised them the world and they want it," Enzan said. "And they will do anything within their power to take it."

"They have a lot of power too," Laika mused.

"I hate Denaht," Enzan said again.

"I wonder why?" Madoi asked sarcastically.

"Well too bad," Mejin said. "Because we're going there anyway."

Everyone nodded but not one face looked very happy about it.

OOOOOOOOOO

They docked rather quickly and made their way along the bustling streets. Ocelot and the others had long since disappeared making Netto and Pride vaguely wonder where they were.

"This is the port city of Denaht," Dhruv said using his arms to give a sweeping gesture. "This city is my pride and joy."

"Why, did you rob these people of their cash crop too?" Pride hissed.

Dhruv fixed Pride with an icy stare which she gladly returned. "I would hold your tongue in this city if I were you princess," he said evenly.

"As you wish, Dhruv," Pride said back in the same tone.

Netto looked from one to the other and decided to just leave it alone.

"They're very similar personality wise-nya," Rockman observed.

Netto frowned, "What do you mean?" he whispered back.

"Pride-san and Dhruv-san are both very head strong, strong willed people. Pride just uses her talents to improve her country, Dhruv uses his to improve his life-nya," Rockman replied.

Netto frowned, "That's a funny way to think about it."

Meanwhile Dhruv and Pride were having their silent battle.

"Dhruv-sama!" someone shouted. All of a sudden, many faces turned towards them and Netto nervously pulled his hat tighter around his head.

Dhruv flashed a brilliant grin and waved. The crowd murmured with excitement and bustled around Dhruv who gladly shook hands and signed autographs as if he was a celebrity.

"Disgusting," Pride hissed so only Netto could hear.

Netto shrugged his shoulders; there wasn't much they could do to change the mind of an entire city.

Dhruv held up his hands and all activity ceased. "Great citizens of Denaht," he said in a loud voice that somehow carried over the entire crowd. "I am here to show off this beautiful city to the lovely Princess Pride!" he motioned to Pride and all heads briefly turned towards her then looked back up at Dhruv. "Therefore, I kindly ask you to put your best foot forward for the next few days and show the ruler of Creamland what you people are made of!"

His speech was greeted with a loud roar that lasted several minutes and gave Netto and Rockman a headache. Pride crossed her arms; no city would win her over like that.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They finally reached the castle and Pride was ushered away by Dhruv so that they could talk about what she had seen in the city. This was done quite against her will but they couldn't argue in a city where everyone worshipped Dhruv as some kind of demi-god. Pride went along leaving Netto quite alone in a very large castle. The first words out of Rockman's lips were, "No exploring-nya."

Netto crossed his arms, "You take the fun out of everything," he said sulkily.

"No exploring-nya," Rockman said again.

There was a laugh behind them and Netto turned around to see Ocelot walking towards him. "Smart move Rockman," she said grinning.

"Thank you-nya," Rockman said.

"What on earth are you people afraid I'm going to do?" Netto asked hotly.

"We don't know," Ocelot said. "That's why we're worried."

Netto stuck his tongue out at her and she caught him in a head lock. "Ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said as Netto squirmed in her grip.

"Let go…" he said in a muffled voice.

Ocelot let go and Netto sent himself flying onto his butt. "That wasn't very nice," he muttered.

"I see you lost the 'nya'," Ocelot smiled.

Netto blinked and tried to go with the rather sudden subject change. "Yeah, Pride helped me."

"Smart girl," Ocelot murmured.

"Why's that?" asked Netto.

Ocelot shook her head, "Never mind. Hey you want to go play a game?" she asked.

"Sure!" Netto said.

"All right, let's see how much you learned in chess with Pride," Ocelot grinned.

"Ha, I think I got pretty good," Netto scoffed.

"Netto-kun," Rockman said warningly.

"Oh?" Ocelot raised an eyebrow. "Show me," she said.

They went to Ocelot's room where after all of two minutes all of the Cat Navi's were there crouched around the board. Netto made the first move and Ocelot moved almost instantly after him. Netto made a second more hesitant move and Ocelot moved lightning fast and made her move. Netto growled and made a third move which was followed seconds by another move by Ocelot.

"Would you stop that?" Netto asked.

"Stop what?" Ocelot said innocently.

"Pride said this game was slow and about strategy," Netto said.

Ocelot shrugged, "Not everyone plays slow kid. Now your move," she smirked.

Netto growled and moved his next piece which was followed by another annoyingly quick move by Ocelot.

Within twenty minutes Ocelot had defeated Netto in a crushing victory which included her capturing every singe one of Netto's pieces and keeping all of hers safe from Netto.

"I warned you-nya," Rockman said.

"How?" Netto asked while staring at the board.

The other navi's laughed. "Ocelot in one of the best chess players in the world," said Tiger.

"Yeah, even Panther can't beat her," Cheetah said.

Panther glared at Cheetah darkly and picked up a book and pretended to read it. Everyone else noted with amusement that the book was upside down.

Ocelot smiled, "Well, I am one of the best, there is not doubt about that," she smiled.

"Confident much?" Leopard laughed and playfully punched Ocelot.

"I'm allowed to be confident in chess," Ocelot smirked. "Want another go kid?" she asked Netto.

Netto narrowed his eyes, "Always."

Rockman sighed and twenty two minutes later the second game ended the same way as the first.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

:3 Chess always makes a good buffer. Hope you liked this chapter.