(Chapter 10)
"Yuuichiro-kun please, go home and get some sleep, I'm not going anywhere" Neta told him. Yuuichiro had been working for hours on trying to find a way to cure Neta, without having access to the virus to make a vaccine from. It was proving very difficult.
"The infection gave me a few leads on what to do, and I want you back to normal as soon as possible Denierure-chan" Yuuichiro replied. Neta sighed at this, knowing what her friend could be like when it came to his work.
"How's Saito been since you sent me to Creamland to be Saratu's Navi?" Neta asked.
"Fine, he always knew that you had to leave, but he did regret not remebering to get your IP address before you did though" Yuuichiro answered. Some data then appeared on a nearby table on the computer "Okay Rush, help Neta consume this data. She needs to keep her strength up" he told him.
Rush nodded and picked up the data, then walked over to Neta to help her consume it.
"How long has it been since you've eaten Denierure?" Yuuichiro asked as Rush broke off some data and put it in Neta's mouth. It disappeared as she swallowed it.
"Not as long as you'd think, I've always thought ahead so I hid an emergency stash of data in my PET in case Saratu forgot to send me on the net to eat. She used to do it a lot, unfortuneatly. But I've been using it up lately because I haven't wanted Kuri-chan to have to pay for my data. Saratu transfered everything except anything related to me to her computer before she tossed my PET away so she could put it into her new one" Neta replied. She then froze up. Rush began to turn the key to wind her up again.
"You always have been one to think ahead. Do you have any real regrets to becoming a Navi?" Yuuichiro asked as he continued typing.
Neta thought about it as Rush wound her up. Once she felt like she could speak again, she did so "I guess the only real regret I have is not being there to raise my daughters, Saratu especially" she answered. "I mean, I've grown to like being a Navi, but it'd be perfect if I could someway be with Saratu and Kurisutaru" she added.
"First we need to cure you of this virus, then I can try help you with that Denierure" Yuuichiro told her. Neta smiled slightly at this.
"It was you who programmed the hair color change for whenever I take off my helmet, I'm sure you'll be able to think of something Yuuichiro-kun" Neta replied.
(Elsewhere...)
Heart had returned to the Nebula server, and had already taken Umi to the Navi holding area. She was just relaxing in hers and her brother's shared homepage.
'Did you get Saratu's sister here like I asked your brother to Heart?' Regal asked over a transmission, Heart nodded.
"Yes, she's in the holding area right now. I took her there as soon as I got back" Heart answered.
'Good, I may consider returning you to your body for this Heart' Regal replied then closed the transmission. Then Heart logged out.
(Another part of the Nebula base...)
"So, you're Keshiro Kurisutaru, I've been waiting to meet you" Regal told the Navi on the screen in front of him.
"What do you want me for?" Umi asked from the floor of the server, she still wasn't used to her new fin.
"Just insurance to make sure your sister continues to work for me" Regal answered.
(At the Science Labs...)
"No sign of her at all? Damnit, I knew I should've ignored Saratu and gone with her" Netto said as he slammed his fist into the desk in front of him.
"Without Kurisutaru, Neta has no Cross Fusion partner, she can appear in the real world without the need of a body in a dimensional area, but her powers need the increase that Cross Fusion gives" Enzan replied.
"Even if Kuri-chan was here, she wouldn't be much help, Neta got infected with a virus that has her pretty much paralyzed" Rockman spoke up.
"That is a problem, but one I'm sure that your father can fix Netto. Hikari-hasake, how long do you need to cure Neta?" Enzan asked.
"I'm not sure, whoever designed this virus was very skilled. It'll be best to go ahead without Neta" Yuuichiro answered.
Enzan nodded, Netto looked confused "Go ahead? You mean you have a plan?" he asked.
"Yes, with the information Ademu has been giving us, we know where the Nebula server is. We're going to free the captured people, I think the Net Agents will already be in place to help escort them to the Science Labs' server" Enzan explained.
"Heart will free them, and then Dragoman will escort them out of the server, where the NetAgents will then lead them to the Science Labs" Laika added.
"Once that's done, Kendoman will help Heart return to her body, along with Dragoman's help, then she'll be on her own with getting out of the Nebula base, with Ademu injured" Yuuichiro said.
"Hasake!" a voice called from Yuuichiro's computer, Meijin's face was on it "The limitors on Heart's frame are coming off well, I should be done with them in about an hour, be getting everyone to their positions" he explained, then signed off.
"Wait, if everyone else is doing all of this, what are Enzan, Laika and me doing?" Netto questioned.
"Thanks to information from Ademu, we've got some idea what Regal is planning to do. He's planning to form a Dimensional Area over the entire planet. We have to stop him. The three of you will be the ones to stop him" Yuuichiro answered.
"Fill us in and we'll get to it" Enzan replied.
(Elsewhere...)
R-Pyra was worn out, as she had been running all over the net looking for Heart and her sister. She so far had no luck in find any sort of trace of them.
'Could she have taken her to the Nebula server, Saratu?' Pyra asked her other while she caught her breath.
"It is a possibility. I think we've found she hasn't taken her anywhere else" Saratu answered.
'If he cared about her like he said he did, wouldn't he have sent Rockman on the net to help us look for her?' Pyra questioned.
"He won't want to get in my way, and he knows that. At least he isn't a complete fool" Saratu replied as she got back to her feet to continue her search.
'Saratu, you haven't recovered your full strength, even in that time, maybe we should plug-out. I don't think your sister would want you to exhaust yourself' Pyra advised.
"You're right. Act like nothing's up with either of us when we get back to the server. If Heart did take her there, I know where Kuri-chan is" Saratu answered.
Pyra nodded their head "Yes Saratu" she replied.
(Science Labs server, an hour later...)
"Good, are you ready for this Heart?" Meijin asked as he had now removed Heart's limitors, and she was now able to use all of her abilities.
Heart nodded as she looked at the other Navis around her. Rockman, Blues, Searchman, Kendoman and Dragoman. "Now that Ademu and me have broken away from Nebula, we don't want all of those people to remain in the Nebula server" she answered.
"Just don't overdo it Heart, Nebula's navis could be guarding, or we might run into Saratu" Ademu told her, she nodded.
"The Net Angets' Navis are standing by, we should get started" Yuuichiro said, everyone present nodded.
(On the net, later...)
(Author's note: This would be were the anime takes over for Netto, Rockman, Enzan, Blues, Laika and Searchman. I'll be following the others)
They had reached the link to the Nebula server. "Okay, be on standby, we'll have the first Navis coming through soon" Dragoman said, Sharkman, Skullman and Woodman nodded.
Dragoman and Heart entered the link. Once inside, they went straight to the Navi holding area. "I'll start freeing them, you take them to the link when I've got a good number of them out" Dragoman told her, she nodded. He brought up a window in front of him and began setting the navis loose.
Heart sat herself down as Dragoman worked, and the Navis began to appear out of the link.
"How many did we get? I can't remember" Heart questioned after a while.
"I lost count too, and this is the entire collection between me and you, Saratu, and all the Nebula operatives that were working on this. We're going to be here a good while" Ademu replied on a screen that popped up.
"True, but I hope that none of them will be mad at us for what we did..." Heart said sadly.
"I hope not too, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were, seeing as we just kidnapped them out of the blue" Dragoman replied as he worked.
Minutes later, Dragoman turned to Heart "Okay, I've got a good number of them out, get them out of here while I continue working" he told her, she nodded. She jumped to her feet and ran to the front of the crowd of Navis.
"I know all of you are confused right now, but follow me and we'll have all of you back to normal soon!" Heart called out, getting the attention of all the released Navis. Heart began to head in the direction of the link, and the Navis followed.
"Any sign of Kurisutaru, Dragoman? I know Heart would've brought her here" Ademu asked his Navi.
"No sign yet Ademu, but I'll keep on looking while I release more Navis" Dragoman replied as he continued to work. "How're you feeling? You took quite a hit from R-Pyra's blade" he questioned.
"It still hurts, but I think it hurts a bit more now because my body is trying to heal up the wound. Anyway, did I do a good job on your data? You were fused with me when I took that blow" Ademu asked.
"You did the best you could Ademu, and I haven't had any problems yet" Dragoman replied.
(Back at the Science Labs...)
"He's busy overseeing the mission? I thought Meijin would've done that, seeing as one of his Navis is on the mission" Neta said.
'Yeah, but Meijin wants to make sure his end of the mission goes well, so Yuuichiro has to oversee the other end' Rush answered.
Neta pouted "If it wasn't for this virus I could be helping, if I ever get the chance I'll kill whoever designed it" she said.
'Don't worry Neta, we'll get you cured' Rush told her. She smiled as she petted Rush on the head the best she could with her stiff arms. He smiled at this.
"I know, but I just hate sitting here doing nothing, because a dumb virus turned me into a wind up doll..." Neta said, with a sad look on her face. At that point, as anyone would guess, the key stopped moving and she went emotionless and silent.
Rush ran over to her back to grab onto the key, when he heard Neta 'Leave it for now Rush, I want to go into sleep mode. I'll call you when I wake up, okay?' Neta asked. Rush nodded and opened a hole, then returned to Neta's PET.
'Why didn't I listen to Reo-kun? Why'd I have to be so willing to help Yuuichiro out? If I hadn't become a Navi then none of this would've happened. Saratu would've never ended up doing jobs for Regal, and Kurisutaru wouldn't have been in that accident' Neta thought.
(Back in the Nebula server, later...)
"Okay, that's all of them. But still, no sign of Kurisutaru. Heart, did you bring her here?" Ademu asked.
"I made sure she was secure. She couldn't have got out, unless..." Heart trailed off, both Ademu and Dragoman knew what she was thinking.
"Regal must have transferred her to somewhere else. What could he want with her?" Dragoman questioned.
"Make sure that Saratu stays loyal to him? She knows that we went after Kurisutaru, and he might think she'll never work for him again" Ademu wondered.
"He'll resort to anything to make sure he gets what he wants. Anyway, shouldn't we get on with the next part of the mission?" Heart asked.
Ademu nodded "Yeah, I'll call Meijin to tell him we're done getting the people out" he replied as he entered a few commands into his PET.
(Elsewhere...)
"You wanted to see me?" Saratu asked, Regal nodded as he turned to look at her.
"It looks like Hikari and his friends are now aware of my plans. Ademu leaked the information to them. Dragoman and Heart just freed the hostages" Regal replied.
"Do you want me to do anything about it? I can get to them in an instant if they're still in the server" Saratu questioned.
"Knowing Heart, she'll want her body before she leaves the server, I want you to guard the link while I take care of the Science Labs" Regal told her.
'Heart has a body? What does he mean? Her frame? She has another one?' Saratu asked herself, confused. 'Wait... Ademu hardly knew Heart before, then they were acting like they were Operator and Navi after Michirure disappeared... Did Regal do something to Heart? He told Ademu and me that something had happened and Michirure was on life-support, I think she still is. Heart starting acting too much like Michirure after that... Could Regal have downloaded her mind onto the net and fused her into Heart's frame? Yuuichiro must've done the same for my Mom, but as far as Neta was telling me, Mom wanted it. Damnit, Neta was telling the truth...' she figured out. "What's so bad about Heart getting her body back? It's hers afterall. If she wants it back, then I'm not going to stand in her way" she replied.
Regal sighed as he shook his head "I was hoping I wouldn't have to reveal this to you so soon Saratu. Laserman" he replied, Laserman nodded on the screen behind them and linked something into the computer. Saratu gasped as she saw the fused Navi, Umi.
Saratu hung her head as a few tears formed in her eyes. She had to get Kurisutaru involved, didn't she? "You ordered Ademu to kidnap Kuri-chan..." she breathed out.
Regal nodded "It seems that both Ademu and Heart have changed sides, you'll fight them on my behalf while I take care of the Science Labs, unless you want your sister hurt, or deleted" he told her.
Saratu nodded. She couldn't put her sister at risk. "I'll head onto the server now" she replied as she took out her PET and put her Data Sync Chip into it before taking out her Synchro Chip. "Synchro Chip! Slot-In!" Saratu called as she put the chip into her PET, Her PET started to glow as the transformation began "Cross Fusion!" both she and Pyra called as they fused. She then turned herself into data and headed into the server.
(End of Chapter)