A/N: Okay, I know it's been awhile yet again, but I just needed to get some things straightened out with the plot, and so I think I'm good to go now.
"Is something wrong, Netto?" Rockman asked as he capped another virus.
"Well, I guess you could say this is wrong… Very wrong." Netto shuddered at the thought. "Look Dekao, we'll take care of that 'incident' later, right now, try and find out if something's wrong with the system!"
Rockman noticed that the amount of viruses seemed to be lessening, at least less than he knew he destroyed. "Hey Netto, here's our chance! I think we can get down a few stairs if we move now!"
"Okay, I'll be right there! Dekao, keep checking! And hurry!"
"W-Wait!" Dekao yelled in exasperation, but Netto had already cut him off. Dekao looked at Gutsman and sighed. "Netto said we should keep looking for a problem and fix you later."
Gutsman wasn't listening, instead he found himself entranced with a clutter of wires near one of the mainframes. Dekao looked on in embarrassment at Gutsman, who had entangled himself in them.
"…Ack! How does Netto expect me to ignore this!?! It's scaring the crap outta me!" he sobbed.
Netto and Rockman had managed to get down to the hotel rooms, where they found Yaito and Glyde fending off a crowd of random viruses. Yaito apparently wasn't much of a fighter, instead leaving Glyde to do the fighting while she screamed out orders.
"Yaito, Glyde! You guys okay?" Netto asked, whacking the viruses behind them with a pole he found by the rooftop door. Rockman was taking care of the ones in front of them, as they slowly pushed their way in Yaito's direction.
"Does it look like we're okay?!?" Yaito yelled exasperated.
"We're fine, Netto." Glyde replied for her, slightly shaken from battle wounds. "But I don't think we're going to last much longer with these odds."
"We should keep moving down and reunite with the others, we'll stand a better chance together!" Rockman yelled over his buster shots.
"Well, how're we going to get down to the lobby? I'm pretty sure that's where Enzan and Blues are, and Meiru and Roll should be somewhere near there too."
At this point, Rockman eyed a strange mole-looking virus, which had a drill on his nose. "I have an idea!" he yelled to them. "But Meijin isn't going to be happy!"
After spending many uncomfortable minutes forcing Gutsman away from the wires (Gutsman kept scratching Dekao with his hands and fidgeting like a cat), he put the tied-up Gutsman in a corner and sat down to rest.
"Ugh, I hope this isn't permanent." Dekao moaned.
"I wanna play with the wires-nyu! Lemme play-nyu! Nyu!" Gutsman squealed with his high-pitched voice, fidgeting even more.
Dekao was at a loss of words, instead breaking out in tears.
"Nngh!" Enzan grasped his arm in pain, singed from the flames of one of the viruses.
"Enzan! Please hide and leave this to me!" Blues dashed over, slicing the fire viruses to pieces. He stood defensively between Enzan and the virus army.
"I'm fine. Step aside!" Enzan let go of his arm and grabbed nearby plates, throwing them like shurikens. Viruses went down one after the other, getting fine china in their eyes.
"Uh, I think Meijin's going to be very upset about that." Blues said with a frown.
"Stuff him, we have to worry about our own hides before his budget."
"I agree."
Suddenly, the roof burst open, collapsing on top of the viruses. Enzan and Blues shielded their eyes from the dust and rubble.
"What in the world?" Enzan slowly moved his arms away from his face and saw everyone standing on top of the rubble, Rockman holding onto very distraught mole virus.
"Rockman?" Blues said in surprise. "…What are you doing with that mole?"
Rockman looked down at the panicky mole virus and tossed it off his hands with a nervous smile. "Uh, just making a 'breakthrough' on virus technology!"
"Your puns suck." Blues said blandly.
"Hey, we came to your rescue!" Rockman argued.
"True, but your puns still suck."
Netto butted in before the two of them could begin ripping each other to pieces. "Hey, we still have to find Meiru and Roll, and more viruses will be coming any minute out of this big hole we just made!"
They ran out of the kitchen and into the lobby, where many viruses were trying to knock down a closet door.
"That must be where Meiru and Roll are!" Netto yelled out for them. "Hey! Meiru! Roll! You girls in there?"
"Netto!" Meiru called out. "Help! We can't hold this much longer!"
"No problem!" Netto and the others were just about to attack, when suddenly the viruses turned around and began glowing. "Huh?"
The glowing became even brighter, to the point that they had to look away. When the light died down, they looked back and gasped.
"G-Glyde! What kind of virus it that?" Yaito said in terror.
"I-I don't know! I've never seen it before!" Glyde replied with shaking knees.
"Rockman…" Netto said cautiously. "Is it just me… Or does that look like… a giant pile of homework!"
The viruses had combined and formed a huge textbook, along with miscellaneous test papers orbiting around it.
"Ha! I am Homeworkman! Every kid's worst nightmare!" the giant book bellowed in laughter, causing the room to shake.
"Oh the humanity!" Netto yelled in fear. "Quickly Rockman! Destroy it!"
Rockman shot a few rounds at it, but they didn't even singe him.
"Ha! Those puny attacks cannot defeat me! Take this!" the papers orbiting him began moving faster, before launching off him and shooting straight at them.
"Look out!" Everyone dived for cover, a stream of sharp papers flying above their heads.
"Argh!" Netto grabbed his hand, which was hit by one of the papers.
"Netto, are you okay?" Rockman asked.
"Yeah… Just a paper cut." (Cue drum sound made when there's a joke)
"Let's attack together!" Rockman yelled. "Glyde, Blues, let's do it!"
"Right!" they all got up and charged at the giant walking textbook, blasting and slicing it with all they had, but it still had no effect whatsoever. Homeworkman's book cover swung open, swatting the three Navis away like flies.
"Don't you understand? You can't stop me!" suddenly, equations and number formulas began shooting out of his open pages.
"Math!! Look out!" Netto yelled, taking cover.
The gang had regrouped behind some couches and fallen cupboards, many numbers and pronumerals shooting overhead.
"Our attacks are useless, we can't win like this!" Enzan said.
"Well, what can we do now? We're trapped by a huge homework book here! There's no way in hell I want to be remembered for being killed by a huge homework book!" Yaito yelled in annoyance.
Netto was being uncharacteristically quiet. "Netto, you okay?" Yaito asked.
"I've had an idea on how to beat it, but I'm going to need a distraction. Yaito, you're smart, right?"
"Well, you really have a way with the ladies, don't you?" Yaito said sarcastically. "Of course I'm smart! Check out the forehead! It's the sign of a genius!"
"Okay, I think we can stop those equations if we solve them as they're coming at us. What I need is for you to get Homeworkman's attention by solving his homework, and I'm going to sneak around and get to Meiru and Roll."
"Are you sure about this?" Yaito asked. "What exactly can we do even if you get Meiru and Roll?"
"Just trust me, okay?" Netto shuffled over to the edge. "Alright, Yaito, get ready! Glyde, you help her!"
"Right!" Glyde moved over to the other end with Yaito.
"On three. One, two…"
"THREE!"
Dekao was still searching for the problem in the lab, but still hadn't found it. He slumped down next to Gutsman, who was still tied up.
"Ugh, this is hard. I'll never find it!" Dekao looked over at Gutsman, who looked back at him.
"…Nyu." Gutsman purred. Dekao looked at him, then looked around the room cautiously.
"YOU'RE SO CUUUTE!" Dekao squealed like a little schoolgirl, wrapping his arms around Gutsman.
"N-Nyu?"
"Thiry-five! Fifty-six degrees! Four miles! Quarter pounder!"
"Thirteen squared! Six point two! Chicken salad!"
Glyde and Yaito were solving problems as fast as they could, managing to catch Homeworkman's attention. Netto was creeping his way across the room on the other side.
"You can't solve problems forever! And my problems will only get harder!" he laughed evilly.
"Almost…" Netto was only a few steps away now. "Okay!" he was finally close enough. He grabbed the door and opened it, revealing Meiru and Roll cramped in a very small closet. "Need a hand?" he said, reaching in to help Meiru out.
"Thanks. It was really squishy in there!" Meiru said, breathing in some fresh air.
"Finally out!" Roll sighed happily.
Then they saw the giant walking book shooting numbers. "Um, did we miss something here?"
"That's Homeworkman! Rockman and the others didn't stand a chance against him, but I think you can beat him!"
"Me?? What could I do that they couldn't?"
"You can solve everything he throws at us!"
"…" Meiru looked at him with confusion. "That sounds pretty silly, Netto."
"Come on, Meiru! I know you can do it!"
Meiru looked at him and sighed. "Okay, I'll try. But I still think it sounds silly."
"Ha! I can see you weakening!" Homeworkman said to the near brain-dead Glyde and Yaito.
"Hey you!" Meiru called out, making Homeworkman stop and face her.
"You dare address me so casually!?!" he bellowed in anger.
"Summer holidays is all about having no homework! So get out of here before I finish you!" (Man it's just packed with puns today.)
"Ha! Just try it!"
Hundreds of problems came pouring out of him, but Meiru was solving them at an incredible rate.
"Wow…" Enzan said in surprise.
"That's quite amazing." Blues agreed.
"W-What? No, I'm running out of problems!" Homeworkman panicked. "It can't be!"
Slowly, he stopped throwing out numbers, finally running out of text.
"That wasn't too bad." Meiru shrugged. "I've done plenty worse."
"N-No!" Homeworkman shrieked.
"Now Rockman, Blues, attack!" Netto yelled.
"Let's go!" Blues called to Rockman. Together, they dashed straight at it. Rockman jumped high in the air, firing a charged shot from above, while Blues used a vertical uppercut with his sword, slicing it in half.
"Arggh!!" slowly, the book dissipated into nothing, leaving behind a mark sheet saying 'A'.
Everyone sunk the floor, then slowly they all began giggling in happiness.
"It's always nice when the homework's done!" Netto chuckled.
"Hey Netto." Enzan asked. "How did you know Meiru would be able to do that?"
"If there's one thing I know about Meiru, it's that when I need some homework taken care of, she's the best girl for the job!" he laughed out loud.
They heard shuffling coming from upstairs, getting louder and louder.
"We better get out of here, more are coming!" Enzan got up and headed for the stairs, making sure none were nearby yet. "It's still clear, let's escape!"
"Everyone head for the lab! Dekao and Gutsman are there!" Netto explained.
They all made their exit from the building, running for the lab.
"Uh, everyone, there's something I have to tell you…" Netto said as they descended the steps.
"What?"
"Well, you see… Gutsman became…"
They reached the bottom of the stairs, where they saw in clear view Gutsman in all his neko glory, with Dekao hugging him to death. Everyone's jaws slammed to the floor.
"…Well, I guess words wouldn't explain this anyway." Netto sighed.
END CHAPTER 12
A/N: Saratu and Neta issue will be taken care of next chapter, so please have patience for me!