Just Let it Ring

by RandyPandy

Disclaimer: I do not own Mary, Ring, Chaud, ProtoMan, Lan, MegaMan, or Yai. They all belong to Capcom. I do own this plot though, so no stealing!

I'm actually writing a Battle Network fic. 0.o That's a first.

"Just stop it, Ring!" Mary snapped at the female yellow-green Navi in her PET. Ring had been giving her a rather large headache with her 'ideas' for making friends.

"But Mary..." Ring looked slightly hurt. "I want lots and lots of friends!"

"I don't need friends!" Mary said. "I can't play with them –" Memories of her health problem came back to her. "– and I'll have to leave them! If I'm going to be alone in the end, I'd rather just start now!"

Ring looked horrified at her operator's words. For a few seconds, she just stood there, Mary having shocked her into silence. Then, in an angry voice, she said, "Mary! You're the worst! I don't even care what happens to you anymore!" Tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Ring fled into a wireless connection into the Internet.

Mary heard her leave. "...Ring?" She looked down at her PET's screen. "Search for file Ring.EXE," she said to it.

"File search complete. File not found," replied the mechanical voice of the PET. Mary felt terrible for screaming at Ring like that. "...She's gone..." Mary walked out of ACDC park and headed for the Beach Hospital. Despite having shouted at Ring, she realized that she had never truly been alone. Ring had always been there for her, so she had never really felt lonely. But now, even her NetNavi was gone. "...Now I really am alone..."

Ring traveled through ACDC Area, tears burning in her eyes. Never had she expected Mary to scream at her like that. "How could she!" she whispered to herself. "How is it possible that a person could not want friends!"

She flopped down at a NetCafe in SciLab Area and sniffled slightly. What was she going to do if her operator didn't want her? Would she be able to go solo? She'd heard of Navis that had gone solo. "But... they were created to have the ability to go solo. And... I can't do that." She looked up, and blinked as she saw a link heading to a homepage. Despite having gone through what she did, she was curious about the homepage.

"I wonder whose homepage that is?" she wondered. Cautiously, she stepped into the link. She was immediately transported to a transparent homepage with a red border. She looked at the border, and saw a familiar black-and-white Navi symbol on a few squares. "This homepage... belongs to Chaud and ProtoMan?"

"What are you doing here?" a cool voice spoke up. Ring jumped and looked around for the owner of the voice. She saw the red armor, black visor, and long mass of silver hair that identified the owner of the voice as ProtoMan.EXE.

"...Nothing..." Ring muttered, trying not to cry as she remembered her argument with Mary. She sat down on the floor and sniffled.

ProtoMan gazed down at her, feeling slightly awkward. He decided that scolding Ring would do no good, not with the sorrowful state she was in. "...Do you want to talk about it?" Ring shook her head, her pigtail-rings spinning a little. "Are you sure? It might be better if you tell someone about it. I'll listen." I have nothing to do right now, anyways...

"I... I guess," Ring mumbled. She looked straight into ProtoMan's eyes – or what would be ProtoMan's eyes if they hadn't been obscured by the dark visor. "It's just that... Mary. She... doesn't want me around..."

ProtoMan blinked behind his visor. "Why?"

"She... said she didn't want friends..." Ring mumbled out. "And since I'm her friend, she doesn't want me!"

The other Navi stood there silently, watching Ring as she gazed sadly at the floor below her. ProtoMan knew that he wasn't a NetNavi grief counselor, but the least he could do was offer the girl a few words to make her feel better. Why he wanted to help Ring, he didn't know.

"I... believe that Mary was just frustrated and not thinking about what she was saying. She must have been stressed out because of her trip to DenCity. She doesn't know anybody here, and she probably feels too shy to just walk up and make friends," ProtoMan started. Ring didn't look up.

ProtoMan continued, "She does not hate you. It is possible that deep down, inside her heart, she really wants friends, but just pretends she doesn't. You say that Mary is afraid that any friends she makes will turn their backs on her because of her medical problem. That's not true. Didn't Ayanokoji stay her friend? And you remained her friend, didn't you? You're the perfect Navi for her! She's shy, but you're outspoken enough for the both of you." A little too outspoken, thought ProtoMan.

Ring looked up at him. ProtoMan did have a point. She didn't care that Mary had a medical condition, and neither had Yai or her friends. They had been perfectly willing to stay friends. She smiled slightly, startling ProtoMan with her sudden change of mood.

"I... you're right," Ring smiled. "Thank you, ProtoMan!" Then, completely surprising ProtoMan, she leapt up from her seat on the floor, wrapped her arms around him, and planted a kiss on his cheek. She bounced away from ProtoMan, giggling.

"I see your little therapy session worked out."

Ring jumped as Chaud's voice came through the monitor. ProtoMan merely turned his head in the direction Chaud's face was. "How long have you been watching!" Ring shouted. The other two resisted the urge to sweatdrop.

"Long enough to hear what was going on," Chaud replied, showing no emotion in his voice. "Anyways, I think it's time that you went back to your operator. Get into ProtoMan's PET, and I'll take you back."

Chaud, after having looked around for Mary for awhile, finally located her sitting at the beach. She was staring at the sea, looking completely miserable. Chaud walked up to her. "...Hand me your PET."

Mary, looking slightly confused, pulled her PET out. She watched as Chaud linked her PET to his. Then she heard him say, "I told you your Navi needs discipline, but booting her out of the PET!" She flinched at the accusing tone in his voice. "That's a bit harsh, I'd say."

"Chaud..." she started, but didn't get to continue as Chaud looked down at the linked PETs.

"ProtoMan, you're connected. Now get her out," he said to his Navi. ProtoMan gave a "Yes sir" of acknowledgement. "Go on, go home!" Chaud told Ring. "My PET is not a free hotel!"

Ring looked at the link connecting the two PETs together. The female Navi was looking a bit hesitant. She stepped up to the link, but then paused and looked behind her at the other Navi, who was standing there watching her.

"Sorry if I didn't help much..." ProtoMan said to her softly. Ring didn't respond, but she walked through the link and into her own PET. Chaud disconnected the two PETs as Mary and Ring faced each other.

"Ring... I'm sorry I yelled at you..." Mary said in an apologetic voice.

"But Mary..." said Ring, wanting to know for sure. "I thought you liked being alone better?"

Mary flinched at the sad tone in her Navi's voice. Trying very hard not to cry, she said, "N... No! I... hate being alone..."

Ring smiled. "Then let's win the tournament."

Mary blinked. "What?"

"Lan and MegaMan are so close, you know?" Ring explained. "They're the perfect duo. If we beat them, then it'll mean we're even closer than them!"

Chaud chose this moment to speak up again, supporting what Ring was saying. "Lan and MegaMan are formidable opponents."

"If we don't win, then what can I say? I guess we weren't that close after all," Ring finished.

"No!" Mary said, feeling slightly heartbroken. "I won't lose! I really like you, Ring! You're my friend! We can do it!" Mary had never dreamed that her Navi would ever be so serious and calm-spoken. It was almost as if their fight had been for the better.

Ring smiled once again. "Okay!"

Mary grinned back, reaching over and hugging Chaud quickly before letting go. "Thank you, Chaud. You too, ProtoMan."

"Mary..." Chaud said. "...if you want, maybe this friendship thing will work out between us, after all..." He had no idea why he was suggesting it, but after hearing ProtoMan counseling Ring, he had realized just how much Mary was suffering.

"Alright!" Mary said.

Chaud put his hands in his pockets. "So, I'll see you later, I suppose. You have a tournament to be going to, and I do too."

"Right!" replied Mary. "Let's go, Ring!"

Whee, my little one-shot fic! How was it? Were all of them in character? (That's what I'm afraid of...) Read and review!