Just a little note before I begin. This is set after the appearances of Misaki and Prisman, so Netto knows of the Dark Synchro Chips.
(Chapter 3)
"Regal-sama, I'm not too sure about this, I never got used to Cross Fusion with Neta..." Saratu said as he showed her the new PET.
"Nonsense Saratu, I believe Neta was holding you back, you need a Navi closer to your own personality, as I've learned" Regal replied as he handed the PET to her, along with a darker looking Synchro Chip.
"Is it just me, or is this chip different to the one I've been using?" Saratu questioned, looking at the chip.
"It is the product of our research into the Synchro Chip's code, and it's already been tested, so all the bugs are out. It's stronger than the chip you've been using" Regal answered.
Saratu started up the black cased PET in her hands, and looked at the new Navi. She had a black humanoid design, but seemed to have no extra additions to her form, besides the red diamonds on her arms and legs and the black visor covering her eyes. "She doesn't look like much, what can she do?" Saratu asked.
"That is a surprise for when you face R-Rockman. I want you to take the next few days to get to know this Navi" Regal told her, Saratu nodded.
"That's okay with me, Ademu and Dragoman shouldn't have much problem and if I have to help him at all, I can always send one of Hikari's friends out" Saratu replied.
(Hikari home, Rockman's POV)
Neta had said very little since Netto had found her PET and brought it back home. It was worrying Mama, but Netto had explained why he had another PET.
When Netto got back through, let's just say Roll-chan wasn't happy, and she gave Neta a piece of her mind. Neta apologized, but also explained what happened wasn't her fault entirely, but it was still partly her fault, and she was going to help us.
It was clear to me that Roll didn't want anything to do with Neta, I hadn't mentioned anything about Heart, and I didn't plan to now, as it would give Roll more reason to hate Neta. Neta hadn't mentioned a thing to Roll about also being human, I think it might help the situation, but it seemed that Neta didn't.
Netto had no idea what to do about Roll. He knew she had reason to hate Neta, but she was going a little overboard, maybe something that virus that got uploaded into her system by World Three did to her programming. All three of us were in Netto's computer, not doing much. I knew Neta was already feeling pretty bad about what had happened already, and Roll wasn't really helping matters.
"Roll-chan, calm down. Neta already said she'd help us get Meiru back, what more do you want?" I asked.
"I want to see her and her operator put in jail for this" Roll replied.
Tears were coming from Neta's eyes, she'd been crying since I saw her in Internet City earlier. "I'm operatorless, Saratu tossed my PET into the trash. She has a new Navi now..." she said.
Roll softened as she noticed this "What happened?" she questioned.
"Regal called Saratu after she'd just sent me to Internet City, and said that he had a new Navi for her, and that she'd be better for Saratu than me. Saratu was all for it, after I'd ticked her off earlier. She threw my PET away and left to get the newer Navi from him" Neta explained.
"Then why dwell on it? She threw you away, and now you're with us, you can get back at her" Roll asked.
"I used to be human, years ago. I became a Navi to help Netto's dad, save Netto's brother Saito. Saratu is my daughter, but she doesn't believe that I'm her mother. As far as she wants to believe, her mother is dead. She's always been sensitive about her mother, and I think that's why Saratu was all for getting rid of me." Neta answered.
"I think all Neta wants at the moment is for some way to get Saratu to see she was telling her the truth, but that might be a problem, seeing as it's kind of hard to believe that your mother's a Navi" Rockman replied, Neta nodded.
"I can see that, but do you have any ideas Neta? I'm sure that Rockman and me don't" Roll asked.
"I have one, and it's a long shot, but it should work. Everyone knows that the date of creation on a Navi's information in their PET can't be changed, and I'm sure Saratu has mine memorised. As a Navi, Saratu is a year older than I am, so all I have to do is Cross Fuse with her again, and show her memories that I shouldn't have, from before I became a Navi. If that doesn't work then I don't know what will. But the problem is getting Saratu to Cross Fuse with me again though" Neta answered.
(Elsewhere)
Saratu had discovered the name of the Navi was Pyra.EXE, but she had refused to tell Saratu what she was able to do in battle. She had to wait to Cross Fuse with her for that.
"I see, so you haven't got around to customizing the other human that Ademu brought back?" Pyra asked, Saratu walked over to her computer.
"I'd best do it now before I forget" Saratu replied as she began to type.
(In the net...)
"Ademu, I've found his operator's homepage, what should I do?" Dragoman questioned.
"Scan the link, we need to know who's in there" Ademu answered, Dragoman nodded as he began to scan the link.
"Rockman, a Navi called Roll, and... Neta?" Dragoman said, surprised.
"Regal-sama told me he gave Saratu a new Navi, and she threw Neta away. Guess she must've got an email to Hikari Netto" Ademu replied.
"Should we still go after him?" Dragoman asked, Ademu shook his head over the PET link.
"Neta has almost the same power as Rockman, we might stand a chance against one Navi like them, but not two" Ademu answered.
"But Neta currently has no operator to supply her with chips..." Dragoman started, but Ademu cut him off.
"Have you forgotten about her Style Change program? Her Aqua Mermaid would make quick work of you" Ademu told him. "Not to mention Rockman's Aqua Soul" he added.
"Hmm, point taken. Plugging Out" Dragoman replied.
Dragoman.EXE: Logging Out
(Meanwhile...)
"Okay then, I'd say he's finished" Saratu said to Pyra as she got to her feet.
"Saratu, didn't you go after someone else before?" Pyra questioned.
"Yes, but I guess Ademu and Dragoman didn't want to go through Yaito's security system to get her out, so they just went after Netto's friend Dekao" Saratu answered.
The new Navi that had just been finished had thick armor covering his body, and a faceguard that covered his face completely. Around both of his forearms looked like the barrels of a vulcan. He also had a large build, much like Gutsman.
(In the net...)
"Dekao-kun!" Heart said to the old cold Navi, Meiru had control while she the in the cage in the Nebula server, and guessed Dekao would be the same. As far as she knew, the memory block only worked while they were outside the cage.
The Navi's eyes shot open, and he noticed Heart "Meiru?" he asked.
Heart nodded "I'm not sure what's going on, but from what I can tell, this has something to do with a grudge that the girl that kidnapped me has against Hikari-hasake" she explained.
"So this is where you've been since you disappeared?" Dekao questioned.
"Most of the time, but sometimes they send us out into the real world, after Netto-kun, and with our memories blocked by some program they put into us, we don't remember him as a friend" Heart replied.
"So how come I remember you now?" Dekao asked.
"The block doesn't work in here, for some reason" Heart answered.
(Meanwhile...)
"Stay here in Kingland? But why Netto?" Yaito asked, Rockman had gone all the way to Kingland's server to explain to Yaito what was going on.
"Dekao-kun and Meiru-chan have gone missing already, and I just think it's best if you stay over there until this is over" Netto replied.
"R-Neta broke in to your computer, and nearly got out into your house and she would've if Searchman and me weren't there to stop her. Now that we know that R-Neta can get into your computer, we don't think you'll be safe here Yaito-chan" Rockman added.
"Well, okay Netto, Rockman. But just how did she get in?" Yaito wondered.
"I'll bet it was when you sent Glyde to do some errands for you back here in Electopia, R-Neta must've stolen the code from Glyde then" Rockman explained.
"Well, Glyde did mention being attacked in Internet City when he was there last, I guess you're right" Yaito replied.
"I'd say we're done here Rockman, ready to plug out?" Netto asked, Rockman nodded.
Rockman.EXE: Logging Out
(Over at the Science Labs...)
"Already you're working on a counter to the means that Neta's operator is using to turn people into Navis?" Meijin asked, Yuuichiro nodded.
"Though as I've just heard from Netto, she abandoned Neta, and she has a new Navi. We need to find a way to reverse this and quickly before there's more people missing than we can handle in the number of new Navis that she, and whoever she's working with could create" Yuuichiro answered.
"Then that could mean we could have some aid from Neta, whenever she's ready to give it to us. I mean, being abandoned will have devastated her" Meijin replied.
"Yes, but it'll be good to be working with Neta again, or should I say, Denierure" Yuuichiro said.
"Keshiro Denierure? She was the one who tested the transfer equipment?" Meijin questioned.
Yuuichiro nodded "She was never meant to be a Navi permanently, but you have probably heard what happened" he answered.
"Virus got in to the server and ruined everything during Denierure's transfer, but if that happened, then how did you sort everything out for Saito's transfer?" Meijin questioned.
"The damage to the equipment itself was only minor, so we could fix it easily. The only problem was that not all of Denierure's mind could be transferred over to Neta. She said to me before the experiment that if anything went wrong, she wanted me to leave her a Navi, she didn't want to have to go through something that could kill her just to attempt to put her back in her body" Yuuichiro replied.
"So Denierure took most of the damage, and that severed the link to her body I presume?" Meijin replied, Yuuichiro nodded.
(Nebula server)
"Took a while to get the memory block into him and to train him, but yes, I think he's ready Saratu" Pyra told her operator.
"Thanks Pyra, I want you to take him to Internet City and cause some havoc there. Without the added power from Cross Fusion, Rockman shouldn't be able to defeat Bulletman" Saratu replied.
"I somehow think he will though, you know how resourceful he and his operator can be" Pyra said.
"Him being deleted by one of his friends isn't what I'm counting on Pyra, but if he is deleted, then that's a bonus" Saratu answered.
(Science Labs...)
"Yes Netto, we're already working on a counter to the transformation, but for Meiru and Dekao, we'll need Roll and Gutsman here to help out" Yuuichiro told him, Netto had sent Rockman to the Science Labs' server.
"You need their Navis? But why...?" Netto wondered out loud, but then it hit him like a brick to the head "Cross Fusion" he simply added.
(End of Chapter)