"Hey, Lividity-sama?" Ribbon asked quietly.
"Yes, Ribbon-chan?" Lividity purred.
"Can we go play now?"
Lividity looked at the screens showing it Sci-Labs, "Yes, we can go play."
"Yay!" Ribbon jumped up and down in excitement.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Netto-kun…" Netto groaned as he heard Rockman's voice reach his ears.
"Hm?" he asked sleepily.
"Get up," Rockman said gently.
Netto half turned and buried himself deeper into Rockman's arms. "I don't wanna…" he said tiredly.
"Netto-kun," Rockman sighed. "Come on, we need to figure out what happened here."
Netto yawned and sat up. "But I'm tired," he whined.
"Too bad," Rockman teased. "Up."
Netto yawned again and stood up. He stretched his hands over his head and linked them behind his neck. "What do we do today?" he asked.
"Let's start with learning why the humans are acting the way they are," Blues said from the doorway.
Netto turned a little to look at the red navi. He smiled and nodded, "Sounds good!" He walked out of the room and started to walk towards the main control room.
"How can he always be so happy?" Blues wondered out loud.
Rockman shrugged, "Why don't you ask Netto-kun that?" he said to Blues and followed Netto's path down the hall.
Blues stood there for a few seconds, then he followed Rockman without a word.
When Netto got into the main control room, Searchman was already there typing away on the equipment. "Good morning!" Netto said cheerfully.
Searchman nodded and continued to type.
Netto gave a small smile and walked over to another computer. Rockman came into the room and leaned on the chair that Netto was sitting in. "Any idea of what we're looking for?" Netto asked him.
"Hmmm…" Rockman said thoughtfully, "Maybe some kind of signal or… radio wave… something that can brainwash billions of humans without leaving a trace…"
Netto looked at Rockman with an eyebrow raised, "That helps," he said.
Rockman smiled, "Sorry Netto-kun, your guess is as good as mine."
Netto sighed and opened a program on the computer screen. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about someone coming in and telling us we can't use the equipment."
"Yeah, well, we seem to have quite a bit of time on our hands," Rockman said.
Netto made a face, "I'd almost rather be in school."
"Really?" Rockman gasped in fake surprise.
"I said 'almost' Rockman," Netto pointed out.
Rockman laughed, "I know, I know."
Blues and Searchman listened to the easy chatter as they all worked. It's not that they didn't want to join in on the conversation but there was no reason to. Netto and Rockman needed each other's companionship to get through everyday life it seemed and so talking was probably one of the few ways that they could deal with what happened. Blues and Searchman were somewhat the opposite and preferred to work and generally just be alone.
After a few hours and nothing to show for it Netto got up and stretched. "Okay, I can't sit here for much longer," he said.
Rockman nodded, "We'll try again soon."
"Do you two want to take a break?" Netto asked Blues and Searchman.
They both shook their heads and Netto just shrugged, "Fine with me," he said.
Netto and Rockman walked out of the room and disappeared down the hall.
"Working so hard is bad for your health," a voice purred behind them.
Blues and Searchman spun around, "You!" they both yelled.
Lividity smirked, "Me, oh dear, what will you do?"
Blues summoned his default sword, and launched at Lividity without a word. Lividity smirked and flew at Blues in retaliation. "This should be fun," it whispered just before they made contact.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Netto and Rockman continued to walk down the hallway. "Think Blues and Searchman will ever talk?" Netto asked.
"Netto-kun, I think they're upset, maybe they don't want to talk," Rockman said.
"If they're upset then why are they just keeping it in? That doesn't make any sense," Netto said while giving his navi a sidelong glance.
"Netto-kun, I don't know how they think but maybe for now, it's just best to leave them alone."
Netto nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
They continued to walk along the empty hall perfectly content with the fact that they were near one another. Even Netto didn't feel the need to talk, just a long walk and having time to think was what he needed. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.
"Hello!" a cheerful voice said behind them.
Netto and Rockman both spun around to see a small girl with a huge ribbon on her helmet waving at them. "Who are you?" Rockman yelled.
"My name is Ribbon! Pleased to meet you," she said and spun around, finishing off her introduction with a curtsy. "Want to play with me?"
Rockman stared at her, "Why?"
"Because I'm bored, I want to play," she said in a whiny voice. "Please?"
/Netto-kun, something is off about her/ Rockman said to Netto.
/I know that/ Netto replied/But what does she really want./
"Well?" she asked.
Rockman took a defensive stance in front of Netto. "What do you want?" he asked again.
Ribbon smiled and the entails of her ribbon started to flow outwards. "I want to play," she said and her eyes glowed. Her ribbon started to deplete forming little pieces of junk data that floated in mid air. She stopped her ribbon from completely disappearing right when the ends of it reached the bow. Then she held up her hands and the pieces formed a thin sword that was almost as long as she was tall.
"Netto-kun!" Rockman yelled and shoved him out of the way.
Netto landed on the floor and Rockman dived in the other direction just as Ribbon came. She buried her sword hilt deep into wall behind them and smiled. "Oh this is fun."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Blues and Lividity started to parry off one another's blows. Blues was desperately trying to protect the only equipment that could help them find answers and Lividity was trying to destroy it. Blues pushed hard on the sword and sent Lividity flying across the room and out into the hall.
"You're good," Lividity said quietly.
"What did you do to the humans?" Blues asked.
"Nothing, they're perfectly content living this way. A life set out for them, never changing, like following a program," Lividity smiled.
Blues launched another attack that Lividity caught. But this time Searchman was behind them, he took a shot at Lividity's back and it hit it right on target. Lividity smirked, "Was that supposed to hurt?" it asked and threw Blues into the far wall. "You are good, I'll give you that. But you're about twenty years to early to challenge me."
Blues stood up and summoned his sword. "Please, don't even try. I'm not going to continue this fight," Lividity said.
Blues stayed in the offensive position he was in, "What do you want?"
"Well, I'm here for Ribbon really. The poor child was bored and wanted to play," Lividity smirked.
"Ribbon?" Blues and Searchman both asked.
Lividity nodded, "Yes, and it also presents me with an opportunity to test your friends. I'll let you know that Ribbon is just as strong as if not stronger then me. I'm curious to see if your friends can survive."
Blues and Searchman looked at one another and without a word they disappeared.
Lividity smiled and vanished back into the net. "This is interesting," it murmured.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
Ribbon jumped and twirled in the air using her malleable data to keep Netto and Rockman separated. It was apparent to both that she was merely toying with them but much to the frustration of both, neither one could do anything about it.
"You two are funny!" she giggled.
"Rock-buster!" Rockman yelled and fired off a volley of magenta hued shots at the navi. When the smoke cleared both were shocked to see that the data she could change shape at her will had formed a protective shield around her.
"Cute!" she giggled. "Lividity-sama was right, this is fun!"
"You're with Lividity?" Rockman yelled.
"Yeup! Lividity-sama let's me play," she smiled cheekily.
Searchman and Blues both turned the corner to see Ribbon standing on the rubble of what once was a wall and Netto and Rockman on either side of her. "You!" Searchman yelled.
"Awww, you again," Ribbon pouted, "You were no fun."
"She was the one you met at your base?" Blues asked.
Searchman nodded, "Yeah, be careful, she's really strong."
"No, really!" Netto yelled.
Ribbon smirked and sent a blade fashioned from her data at him. He managed to dodge but barely. "You're quite interesting for a human," Ribbon smiled. "I like you!" she giggled.
Netto blinked at the odd navi but Rockman took the temporary cease fire to jump in front of Netto. "Get away," he hissed.
Ribbon stretched as if she had just finished playing a particularly long game of tag. "Well, that was really fun!" she cheered. The data swirling around her reformed the ends of her ribbons until they hovered just above the floor. "I'll come back and play some time, bye!" she waved and disappeared.
Rockman lowered his buster and blinked in confusion. "What?"
"That was messed up," Netto said incredulously.
Rockman nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what made her stop."
"That doesn't matter," Blues said, "Right now we need to find out what happened."
Everyone nodded and made their way back to the main room.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ribbon Every 5 to 10 year old I've ever had to babysit. I kid you not . Anywho, like the new chappie?