Netto looked around as he skated back outside. "Where do I go?" he asked, still visibly shaken up by what had just happened.
"Sci-Labs," Blues and Rockman answered at the same time.
"Why there?" Netto asked while he changed direction.
"Because, Sci-Labs has a dimensional converter," Rockman said. "We can use it as a shield to keep out Lividity and any other navi that it controls."
"Are you sure it's empty?" Netto asked.
"Has to be," Blues said. "They clear out Sci-Labs every Monday night at midnight so they can run a virus scan on the whole premises."
Netto sighed, "All right, let's go see." He skated down the main street and looked up. The lights still changed color and the cross and don't walk signs were still in order but there were no cars or bikes or people to use them. "This is so creepy," he said under his breath.
"I know Netto-kun, but maybe we can come up with a plan at Sci-Labs once we know Lividity can't get to us," Rockman said.
"Why are we running from Lividity anyway?" Netto asked.
"Lividity was strong," Blues said. "I'm not sure if Rockman could feel it but that navi had something that gave off a very powerful aura."
"I felt it," Rockman said quietly.
"Okay, so Lividity is really strong," Netto said. "But what good is running gonna do?" he asked as Sci-Labs loomed in the distance.
"We're not running, we're falling back to plan out a strategy," Blues said tightly.
"Right," Netto said as he skated into the empty building. He stopped in the massive reception hall and looked around, "Well?" he asked.
"Go find the Dimensional Converter control panel," Rockman said.
Netto skated to the elevator, "That's easy; it's on the third floor."
They all waited patiently as the elevator took them up. Netto's brain immediately registered that normally there were four or five other people packed in there with him but today there was plenty elbow room. The small bell dinged and Netto skated out into the hall. He looked around and found the room Mejin had pointed out to him as the control room. He went over to it and tried to turn the door knob, it didn't budge.
"Well?" Netto asked.
Rockman noted the electronic lock next to it. "It would appear you need a Sci-Labs ID card to get inside."
"Right, any suggestions?"
"Can you do the same thing you did to get out of the room Lividity locked you in?" Blues asked.
Netto blinked, "Well… I guess," he said hesitantly.
Rockman was also uncomfortable with the idea, "Think we can do it again?" he asked.
"Only one way to find out," Netto said and placed his hand on the pad.
Rockman sighed and shut his eyes. They concentrated for a minute then the access light turned green and the door slid open. "We shouldn't do that anymore," Rockman said nervously.
"Right," Netto agreed.
"Why are you two so worried about it?" Blues asked as Netto went into the room.
"Papa kinda told us not to use the Saito.bat unless we were in danger. He said he didn't know what kinds of consequences it could have. So, we need to be careful," Rockman explained.
Blues nodded and Netto skated over to the control panel. "So uhhh, how does this thing work again?" he asked.
"Netto-san, why don't you plug me in?" Blues asked innocently.
"All right," Netto said and held up his PET to the jack in port. Blues went into the computer and typed in the coordinates of the Sci-Lab building and nodded to Netto. Netto lifted up the cover to the red button and grinned, "I've always wanted to do this," he said and pressed it.
The multi-hued dome covered the building they were in and Blues let out a sigh of relief. "Worried?" Rockman asked.
"Not very," Blues said. "But it's good to know we're protected to some extent."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Lividity watched the dome cover the Sci-Lab building from its monitor. It grinned and then laughed. "Well, isn't that cute?" it asked.
A small child like navi nodded, "Yes it is Lividity-sama. How could they expect to get away from you?"
Lividity patted the child's head. "False hope, Ribbon-chan, that's all. Don't worry, after I'm done toying with them we can crush them like they deserve."
"We get to play, Lividity-sama?" she asked with a small glint of happiness in her luminescent green eyes.
"Yes, my dear. Since the first part of our plan went so smoothly then we might as well have a little fun before we finish it out," Lividity said.
Ribbon spun around happily in her dark blue, long sleeved dress like navi outfit. It hovered just above her knees and underneath were light blue leggings. On her head was a pale grey helmet with a large bow on the top, the trail ends of the bow reached to the floor and as she spun they flew out to the side. She had dark grey, knee high boots and wrist high gloves to finish off her costume. Whenever she was happy she would twirl around to make her dress fan out and her ribbon wave. "Excited are we?" Lividity noted with amusement.
"Oh yes Lividity-sama, I can't wait to play," Ribbon said happily.
"You don't have to wait much longer, my child," Lividity said smirking. "Let them relax a little, then we'll play."
"Yes, Lividity-sama," Ribbon nodded and ran into another room of the net fortress to play with something else until the time came.
Lividity noted the screen with another glance of amusement, "How intriguing," it said and laughed.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Blues and Rockman managed to find the gateway into the real world after searching for about ten minutes. They stepped though it and reappeared in the main hall of the main building. Rockman placed his hands to his mouth and called out, "Netto-kun!" to get his twin's attention.
Netto heard the call and ran down to the first floor. He waved to the two navi's from down the hall, "Hey!" he called back.
Rockman turned around and greeted Netto with a hug. Netto was surprised to say the least, "Hey!" he protested.
Rockman laughed and let Netto go. "I've always wanted to do that, Netto-kun."
Netto gave him a small smile and they walked down the hall together. "Now what?" Netto asked.
"What do you mean 'now what?'" Rockman asked. "Today didn't have enough adventure for you?"
"Hm?" Netto linked his hands behind his head. "No, it's not that. I mean, what do we do now as far as Lividity is concerned. If…" Netto paused trying to think of a suitable gender for the navi but none came to mind, "it is as strong as you think, then surely it knows we're here."
Blues nodded, "Most likely, but that doesn't mean we can't be on guard. We'll just have to wait out here to see what happens. I'm going to try and contact Searchman to see if he knows anything that's going on since he lives on a military base."
"I hope Laika's okay…" Netto said softly.
Rockman smiled for Netto's sake, "I'm sure if Searchman hasn't called us at this point that he's probably fine."
"Really?" Netto asked.
'No,' Rockman thought. "Maybe…" he said hopefully.
Netto got the subtext and sighed. "This sucks," he declared.
"Glad we've cleared that up," Rockman said with a small laugh.
Netto stuck his tongue out at his navi and the two boys laughed.
Blues rolled his eyes at their childish behavior but at least they could still laugh at a time like this. He got the feeling that it would be very important in the time ahead. "I'll be right back," he said.
"All right," Netto replied and they watched Blues take a smaller hallway into an office.
"Netto-kun?" Rockman asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are you scared at all?"
Netto thought about it and sighed, "A little," he admitted. "Are you?"
Rockman nodded, "Yeah, and I'm worried about Roll and Gutsman and Tomahawkman and everyone who lives around here. I mean, I'm worried about Meiru, Dekao and Dingo too, but their navis must be so worried to see them like that," Rockman said softly.
Netto nodded, "I know what you mean, Rockman."
Rockman smiled at Netto, "I have no idea what I would do if you were gone, Netto-kun."
"You'd worry yourself sick, that's what," Netto pointed out.
"Very true," Rockman admitted.
Blues came back from the office. "Well?" Netto asked.
Blues shook his head, "I couldn't reach the base let alone his PET. Whatever this is, it would seem its world wide."
Netto's hands clenched into fists but he didn't say anything. "Netto-kun," Rockman said softly.
"It's okay," Netto said. "I mean, if it was just here then you'd think other people would come to see what's wrong, right?" Netto asked.
Rockman nodded, "Yeah."
They stood still for a minute not quite knowing what to do, but before anyone could say something about it a large red light flashed overhead. "What's that?" Netto asked.
"Something is trying to breech the Dimensional Area," Blues said.
They ran into the control room and looked at the monitor. "It's a navi," Netto said.
Blues looked at the data signature and his eyes widened behind his visor. "What?" Rockman asked.
"It's Searchman," Blues said softly.
"Are you sure?" Netto asked.
Rockman also glanced at the data signature, "It is!" he said. "Turn off the firewall," he told Blues.
Blues nodded and he undid the firewall program just long enough for Searchman to pass. Then they all ran down the hallway into the area where Blues and Rockman had appeared before. There was a small shower of pixels and when the data flurry died away Searchman was lying there looking very beat up.
"Searchman!" Rockman gasped.
"What happened?" Blues asked him.
"The base," Searchman said quietly. "The base was attacked, then…" he paused, his red eyes filled with remorse, "it came."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Oers, what happened! Guess you'll have to wait and see /cackles/ Hope you enjoyed this chapter! \o/