AN: Were you all worried it would take me 2 years to update again?
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters nor the universe.
Chapter 7: Fear of the Unknown!
Subaru could see it within the darkness. The recognizably dim yet pulsing red light, followed by the terrible beastly roar which shook every fiber in his body. He stood face to face with the Crimson Dragon, the very core of Meteor G brought to life. Warrock was by his side, he thought. He could handle it. He had to in order to save his world from peril.
It was not only till the dragon came near enough, poised to attack, that Subaru realized that Warrock wasn't with him. He was just Subaru. Not Rockman, but just Hoshikawa Subaru.
Seeing the deadly claws come down upon him, Subaru made a quick retreat. He started running, turning his back towards the beast. However, it was all a futile effort. No matter how much he ran, he couldn't seem to create any substantial distance between him and the beast. He ran and ran, but soon he became enveloped into the red light of the core. Absorbed into the Crimson Dragon itself, just like his dad.
"Dad..." Subaru thought as he felt himself become weightless. It was as if he was floating in zero gravity. "I wonder... if he's alright. I wonder if everyone back on earth... is alright..." He felt a deep sense of homesickness as he closed his eyes.
When he opened them again however, he realized something amiss. The red light that he had been enveloped in had disappeared. Looking at his hands, he saw the familiar black armor. In his ears, he heard the familiar humming of the wing verniers on his back. To his horror, he saw his vision become crimson once again as he lost himself.
It was then that Subaru bolted up in a cold sweat, awake from the horrible nightmare. He looked at his hands to confirm that it was just a dream. He was Hoshikawa Subaru. Not Black Ace.
"About time you woke up, kid. You don't look too good. Bad dream?" The voice was immediately recognizable. Warrock was at Subaru's bedside. Despite the battle-hardened exterior that Warrock wore, it was obvious that the alien had been concerned the whole time. "You had me worried kid. Our communication just broke off again."
"Warrock... what was I...?" Subaru looked down. He was sitting in an unfamiliar cot. Then taking a look around he realized there was a wall of metal bars that blocked his escape. The room looked literally like a jail cell. "What...?"
"Those two kids took you here. The 'Net Police' station or something." Warrock reared his head over to the jail bars. He crossed his arms and huffed a bit, "Not like these bars could really hold us anyways."
"Where's Enzan and Netto?" Subaru asked as he pushed the covers off. He had so many questions ever since he woke up, but his main concern was filling in the gaps of his memory. "What happened? Are they alright?"
"Worrying about others before yourself again, Rockman?" An all too familiar voice said from the opposite side of the cell. Solo was leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed. He didn't look amused. "How very typical."
"Solo..." Subaru met the other boy's stare. Before he completely blacked out, he remembered Solo was the one that had brought him back to normal. Looking at his hand however, Subaru noticed something peculiar. "Are... you eating?"
True enough, Solo was holding a half unwrapped burger in one hand. From the logo on the wrapper, it was from WacDonald.
"Sh-Shut up." Solo turned away. He was just about to have eaten until Subaru had woken up. When one of the adults had given it to him, he was about to refuse. But after the long travel through space and time, the boy was absolutely starving. And in an unfamiliar world, he had to take what he could.
"GrrzzZZzzzzzZzzzt!" Laplace looked as if it was laughing as it floated at Solo's side.
"Shut up, Laplace." Solo retorted, now hesitant to take a bit out of his meal. But as human as he is, it took all his will power to resist with his stomach growling incessantly.
Subaru couldn't help but laugh a little to himself, despite the glares he was receiving from the serious boy. It sort of reminded of him of the time Solo had accidentally called him about his Burger Quest saved data.
"Solo, how did you get here?" Subaru finally asked. He had a thousand questions to ask. "What happened to Meteor G? Is the Earth...?"
Solo was silent. He wasn't a person of many words, nor was he used to being asked so many questions all at once. "You haven't realized it yourself. Have you?"
"Realized what?" Subaru was puzzled at first, but he had a slight suspicion on what Solo was implying. He had a feeling for the longest of time, ever since he had come to this era. The voice he kept hearing, the fact that Noise was present despite the seeming lack of a source. "Meteor G... it's..."
"You. Rockman." Solo stated flatly. "You've attuned to the very core of Meteor G."
"But that's impossible!" A surprised Warrock burst out. The concept seemed completely impossible to the AMian. "How could we have...?" Pausing once more, Warrock recalled once more what had happened during the final battle.
"You ripped Daigo Hoshikawa from the core of Meteor G. Him being it's sole source of power." Solo then looked straight at Subaru. He knew that the brunette was already following the train of logic. "And what did you do?"
"I... connected to the Meteor Server through 'Finalization'..." Subaru looked thoughtful as he tried to connect the pieces of information. "Finalization... and into 'Black Ace'." He remembered Dread Joker and Acid Ace. Both performed the same synchronization with the Meteor Server.
"Connected? Heh... I'd say you did more then just connect." Solo scoffed. He looked at the burger in his hand again for a moment before finally taking a bite of it. Embarrassing or not, he was hungry.
"You're right..." Subaru finally stood from his bedside. "We didn't just connect to the Meteor Server." It was at this point that Subaru was quite unsure. Everything went black, and before he knew it, he had come to this era. He tried to search for an answer in his memory, but only came up with blanks. "After we destroyed the Crimson Dragon... then—"
"You didn't destroy the core." Solo interrupted. He was already half done with his meal at this point. "You. Rockman. You've absorbed the core itself. You hold the key to controlling Meteor G itself."
"But how could that be possible?" Warrock folded his arms. It seemed crazy for them to not notice that something so massive could be stored within their bodies.
"It's not impossible..." Solo stated simply. "Not with what Sirius gave you. The Mu Metal I came here to get from you."
Both Subaru and Warrock were silent as they took in the information. It would explain why he had heard the voice from the Meteor Server. However, to think something so massive was so close was hard to take in.
"Don't get any ideas. I didn't come here to save you." Solo reaffirmed his cold attitude. Not wanting to be associated with coming here on good intentions. "I'm only here to retrieve what is mine. That's it."
There was a small silence, but nevertheless, Subaru smiled to the other boy. "Thanks... Solo."
Solo immediately looked away with a "hmph", and continued to eat.
Subaru still had so many questions to ask, but for the time being, he thought he'd let the other boy finish. It was then that he'd realize that his own stomach was growling as well. He walked over to the jail bars and felt the cool metal.
"So... Why are we in a jail cell, anyways?"
"It's because they're a menace!" The officer said as he slammed his fist on the table. His cheeks were a rosy red as the blood rushed to his head. He was clearly either mad with rage, or frustrated with the turn of events. "You saw what happened out there. Things could have turned out a heck of a lot worse!"
"But it didn't! We already told you what happened!" Netto argued back to the adult Net Savior. The man's seniority didn't affect Netto's already informal tone. "It wasn't his fault! Forte was the one that attacked!"
"I'm not talking about that, you brat! Look at the surrounding city block from where the Dimensional Area was! Massive virus outbreaks, malfunctioning of every electronic appliance—!"
"That's enough. Officer Koyama. Stand down."
Enzan folded his arms. He hated to admit it, but the officer was right. Nothing but rubble was left from where the old warehouse and factory once stood. Partially due to their battle, but majorly as a result of the meteors conjured from Black Ace. The potential damage that he posed was far greater then anyone had predicted.
"That boy could've done a heck of a lot more damage if he'd continue. Just because we don't know a blasted thing about him, you're letting him off easy?!"
"We don't understand a lot of things about 'Ryuusei' as of now." Dr. Hikari tried to reason with the officer in a logical sense. "He's just a child. The least we can do is hear him out."
Officer Koyama slumped back into his chair, but his expression still hadn't changed. He knew that the other Net Saviors and colleagues carried the similar uneasiness. It was their opinions in how to approach the problem that differed from one another. Many couldn't even decide on what exactly they could do. 'Ryuusei' wasn't a program they could simply delete. He was to their knowledge a human boy.
"I doubt that this event is going to go ignored by the Net Terrorists... nor the darkloids." Enzan looked towards Meijin who had organized the meeting to talk about their future actions. He didn't want to bring it up, but a very suspicious object was found "Ryuusei's" person. From his pocket, he procured the all too familiar Dark Chip. "I found this on Subaru... when he was brought in."
"So he's been in contact with the darkloids?" Netto looked at Enzan with surprise, not knowing that his fellow Net Savior had searched Subaru's belongings.
"We can't say for sure..." Enzan sighed. "But what we can say is that Nebula has their eyes on him. And that their plans are far from being good."
The conversation came to a standstill. They couldn't exactly "delete" Ryuusei. However, they couldn't exactly restrain him either. It fell under a matter of trust. But few of the veteran Net Saviors would place such high trust on a complete stranger. And with all the mystery surrounding Subaru, Enzan too began to question Ryuusei's loyalty. He wondered whether or not Subaru even trusted them to begin with.
"I believe in Subaru." Netto said firmly, breaking the silence. He had stood up, looking at every official in the room to gauge their reaction. Enzan almost gawked at the brunette's bravery, but realized that this was something he should have expected from his hot-blooded comrade. "Enzan, you're with me, right? Ryuusei—No. I mean, Subaru. He isn't a bad guy."
Enzan looked at him thoughtfully. He admired Netto for his willingness to trust. And in all honesty, he believed that it was this willingness that made him strong. But at the same time, it's this same naivety that he thought foolish and immature.
"Subaru isn't a bad guy at all." He finally replied, tightening his grip on the dark chip. "But there are definitely things that he's hiding from us."
"So you do—"
"But." Enzan interrupted. "That doesn't mean we can trust him..."
"Do you fear it?"
"Huh?" Subaru looked over at Solo, surprised by his sudden question. Despite the vagueness, Subaru was already certain on what Solo was referring to.
"You fear the power of Meteor G. And of the so called 'Black Ace'." He stated simply. "It's that very power that brought you here."
"So you're saying that it's the same power that can bring us back." Warrock surmised the conclusion that Solo was trying to draw out. They already had the key to getting back home the whole time. However, the true problem wasn't in where to obtain this "key", but rather in how to use it.
"Meteor G ... everything that Mr. King wanted to control..." Subaru trailed off, lost in his own thoughts and worries. He didn't want to think about it, but what he had in his control was something that could very easily put to ruin human civilization, as he knew it. Mr. King had come very close to doing just that when he hijacked the core of Meteor G. And now Subaru held that very same power. The weight of the responsibility was hard to carry. "I just... don't want to end up hurting anyone. If I lose control... Or if..."
"Since when did you become so weak?" Solo sneered, disgusted by the boy's blubbering. It was not like his rival to lack in conviction, to be so insecure. "What are you afraid of?"
Subaru was silent as he thought hard about this question. He remembered his dream. What was it that he feared? The answer was obvious.
He feared himself. He feared what he was capable of.
And most of all, he feared hurting others around him.
However none of these answers would be satisfactory to Solo. And Subaru knew this well.
"Tch... Don't even bother answering." Solo turned away, frustrated. It was as if, in the silence, he had already read Subaru's mind. "Rot in this era for all I care."
"GrrRZzzZzzzzzZt..."
"I'll retrieve it later." Solo retorted angrily at his Wizard. He glanced at Subaru one last time before turning back to the barred walls. "I'm disappointed in you, Rockman."
"Wait! Solo!" Subaru reached out, but grasped nothing as Solo was enveloped in purple flames. In his place was the Murian warrior Burai.
Without saying another word he phased through the iron bars. Glowing faintly, Burai disappeared from the naked human eye. Subaru moved to put on his Visualizer, but he'd already miss the other boy phase through the cement walls.
Warrock urged for Subaru to escape as well. But Subaru simply shook his head.
"What's wrong, Subaru? We should follow him before it's too late."
"I know, Warrock. But—"
"But what?" A voice asked from the hall's doorway, prompting Subaru to hastily look over. He had hoped that whoever was there eavesdropping didn't hear the majority of what Solo and him discussed. It was Enzan, his arms folded with a cold stare directed at Subaru. "Were you planning on escaping like your friend just did?"
"N-No... I wasn't..." Subaru fumbled an answer. He found it hard to look at the other boy directly. It was as if Enzan could see straight through any lie he may sputter out. "Um... Are Netto and you alright? After what happened last night..."
Enzan let out a sigh. The two brunettes were the same in some respect. "Yeah. Though I think Netto is worrying more about you then himself at this moment."
Unfolding his arms, Enzan walked over to the cell. From his pocket, he took out a ring of keys and proceeded to unlock the door. All the while, there was a stiff silence between the two of them. Only the jingling of keys hung in the air.
It was only after Enzan had opened the cell door that he finally asked, "So... You were Ryuusei all along?"
The Net Saviors already knew. There was no denying it. But Enzan wanted to hear from Subaru directly.
"Yeah..." Subaru seemed to nod his head, but it struck Enzan as more of an apologetic bow.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner? After you helped us with all those darkloid attacks, you always left without another word."
Subaru was unsure what to say. He had been hiding his secret this whole time for what reason? Was he afraid that they wouldn't believe him? If he had told anyone his identity, there were sure to be more questions that followed.
Where did he come from? How could he transform into "Ryuusei"?
Would anyone believe him if he said he came from the future? Or that he transformed with the help of an alien wave being?
He couldn't bring himself to tell these insecurities to Enzan. The silence that once again passed between the two boys only served to frustrate Enzan further.
"If you can't trust us, how could we ever trust you?"
"It's not that I don't trust all of you! It's just—!" Subaru tried to respond back, but yet again became tongue tied on a reason to give.
"If you don't tell us a thing about you, then how could we help you?"
"I... I'm sorry." Subaru finally said. "It's not that I don't want to tell you... it's just..."
"No. It's... alright." Realizing that he was literally interrogating the other boy, Enzan's anger seemed to subside. "I'm... sorry as well." There was no point in forcing the information out of him this way. He knew that Subaru could escape from them anytime he pleased as Ryuusei. Yet the other boy was staying only out of some sense of duty. "I can't say I understand, but I know that everyone has things that they need to hide."
"I'm sorry..." The boy apologized again, his voice coming out as just a whisper. Guilt wracked his heart, only because he knew that Enzan simply wanted to help.
However, he could still say nothing as Enzan walked out the door. Leaving Subaru in his thoughts and to do as he pleased.
"Regal-sama... about Black Ace." Yuriko had finished her report on the happenings of the previous night. With the shadows of the room hindering her vision, she couldn't tell whether Dr. Regal's expression had changed in the slightest. "No. Let me correct myself. About Hoshikawa Subaru, what do you make of him?"
"Ryuusei. Black Ace. Hoshikawa Subaru." Regal listed off all the identities of the mysterious anomaly. "All of them are one and the same. However, something is still missing."
The man leaned in his chair, swerving once more to the computer screens. With his back towards Yuriko, he continued his ponderings. "Hoshikawa Subaru is human. This is an undeniable fact. However, the riddle is how he is able to become Ryuusei, and from Ryuusei to Black Ace."
"What is Ryuusei?" Yuriko asked, wondering whether or not the great scientist had already discerned the answer.
"I came up with a theory." Dr. Regal stated simply. "If I recall... you noticed how the boy's NetNavi was rather... unordinary." He had paused briefly to think of a word to describe the anomaly. "Its composition is not one of code... but of 'waves.'"
"Waves?" Yuriko's eyebrows furrowed, confused on what the genius scientist was alluding to.
"It is purely theory." Dr. Regal waved a hand of dismissal. "In any case, Yuriko, it is about time we move a step forward with our plans, to root out and dispose of all that hinder us." The man's eyes seem to gleam with malevolence as he explained the scheme. "Shademan, the Net Saviors, and even Ryuusei. All of them will be dealt with here and now."
Yuriko simply nodded. She bowed once more before making her exit. Those words were a sign. It was time to set this plan in motion.
"Do you think I was a bit harsh...?" Enzan said aloud as he walked back to the main conference room.
"Enzan-sama?" Blues asked, taken aback by his operator's sudden question.
"Do you think I was a bit harsh on Subaru?" Enzan looked down at his PET. Blues looked back at him, but as usual, it was hard to tell the Navi's expression with his shaded visor. "I could have been more like Netto. More trusting. More..."
"You are you. Enzan-sama." Blues stated simply.
Enzan looked surprised upon hearing his Navi's prompt reply, but smiled soon after. "Yeah. You're right, Blues."
As the Net Savior made his way down the hall, he heard a large commotion coming from the conference room he had left. With a sense of urgency now, Enzan rushed to see what had happened during his brief absence.
Subaru walked the streets aimlessly. After leaving the Net Police station, he was filled with a sense of guilt and loneliness. He felt too much self-loathing to return to the Hikari household.
"Buck up, kid. You look as if the whole world is out to get us." Warrock tried to cheer up the boy. It was only after Subaru put on his Visualizer that he noticed that Warrock had materialized outside of the PET.
"Yeah... Thanks Warrock..." The image that Warrock's words made in Subaru's mind reminded him of Burai for a moment; a lonesome figure who rejected the world around him. "We should probably go and find Solo while we still can. I still have a lot of questions I need to ask him."
Lifting his Visualizer from his eyes, Subaru continued down the street lost. While Netto did show him around the city, the problem lied in not having a destination. Suddenly, without warning, Subaru was jerked backwards as he felt a firm grip on his wrist. Turning around, he saw the same mysterious brunette woman with the dark shades that hid her eyes.
"Hoshikawa Subaru. Right?" The normally calm and collected Yuriko looked at the boy with worry. After grabbing his attention, she loosened her grip on Subaru. "Sorry for treating you roughly. I was just in such a hurry to find you."
"You're...? You're that lady from before." Subaru looked at the mysterious woman questioningly. "Who are you?"
"A friend. Though, I guess I've never introduced myself. My name is Yuriko." She answered before relaying her message. "I hope you don't mind but, do you have a moment to talk?"
"About what?" A voice from behind Subaru spoke out, interrupting what had been a private conversation. Solo walked in front of Subaru, standing between him and Yuriko, all the while staring daggers at the older lady.
"Solo…?" Subaru knew that the other boy was waiting for him outside, but his sudden appearance took him by surprise.
"Ooh? And who might you be?" Yuriko raised an eyebrow. Judging by the boy's strange appearance, she had a slight suspicion the mysterious boy's identity. She heard the same buzzing from the Noise detection device implanted in her earring. Her eyes gleamed upon the realization. "You too, huh? A Noise manipulator… The boy from last night no doubt."
"What of it?" Solo said threateningly. He had an immediate distaste of the woman upon their first meeting the previous night. "You have no business with us.
"You… know about Noise?" Subaru was taken aback. He didn't think that people of this era were even aware of Noise, let alone know that both Solo and himself were related to it.
"I know more then just that." She replied, putting her hands up front to show she had nothing to hide. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here to help."
"Help?" Subaru looked at the woman apprehensively. Yuriko let out a small sigh at the boy's mistrust before kneeling to eye level with the boys. She put a hand on both of their shoulders. Ignoring the other boy momentarily, Yuriko looked Subaru in the eyes to address him specifically.
"I just want to know more about you. Hoshikawa Subaru. Or should I say, 'Ryuusei'?"
"How did you…?"
Solo immediately responded by swatting her hand off. "And how exactly do you intend to 'help'?"
Yuriko smiled, happy to answer the boy's question. "I'll help you control 'Black Ace.' All you have to do is let me."
"Dr. Regal?" Netto looked at his father with confusion written all over his face. "Who's that?"
"He's a renowned scientist in the same field as your dad." Rockman clarified for Netto from his PET. "We're talking about that Dr. Regal. Right?"
Yuuichiro let out a small sigh. "Yes. We've been trying to contact him for a while now regarding this case. We thought that he could give us some new insight. Especially about the Ryuusei and Noise incidents… along with the darkloid problem."
"But?" Enzan was waiting for whatever bad or good news that was to come. "I'm guessing that it was unsuccessful."
"Well, yes. Until today." Yuuichiro, despite the apparent good news, didn't appear to be too happy. "I received an e-mail from him not too long ago. After filling him in on the details, his recommendations were a bit… excessive."
"Excessive?" Netto asked.
Yuuichiro fell silent for a moment, as he tried to think of a good context in which to answer. "I'm not sure if you boys are aware of it… but incidents of malfunctioning electronics have drastically went up. Every one of these occurrences has one thing in common."
"Noise." Enzan answered, prompting a small nod from Yuuichiro.
"But if it's happening in various places, then that must mean Subaru isn't the one who caused them, right?" Netto tried to piece together the information.
"We don't know." Yuuichiro frowned at not being able to give his son the straight answer he was looking for. "There's still a lot we don't know. But we're hoping that when Dr. Regal comes down to visit us here, we can clarify some of our theories."
"So what is this 'excessive' action that Dr. Regal suggested." Enzan reminded the doctor of the topic at hand.
"Well, I haven't told him the identity of Ryuusei or rather of Hoshikawa Subaru." Yuuichiro slightly winced at the thought of the genius scientist's recommendation. "But he had strongly suggested that we… eliminate him. And that would solve our problems regarding Noise."
"There's no way we'd do that!" Netto immediately said in response.
"After all the help against the darkloids, how could we do something like that?" Rockman added in protest.
"Indeed. That isn't an option we can take." Enzan said simply, reaffirming Netto's words. He looked around, breathing a sigh of relief that the other Net Saviors were not present. If the ones that opposed protecting Subaru were here, they'd have been overjoyed to hear a scientist such as Dr. Regal supporting their opinions. "It'll be troublesome if this were to get out to the rest of the Net Saviors…"
"I agree with you two." Yuuichiro finally smiled at their honest answer. "I wish that we could ignore the Ryuusei case until we finish handling the darkloid problem. But after finding a dark chip on him, most of the department is simply combining the two together as one problem."
"We don't even know how Subaru got a hold of a dark chip though!" Netto exclaimed. "I'm sure that if we just ask him…!"
"That's where you come in, Netto." Enzan abruptly said.
"Huh?"
"I'm relying on you to talk with Subaru when you get back home." Enzan looked away slightly. "With your personality, I think you'll do a lot better then me."
"But Enzan, didn't you talk with Subaru earlier?"
"Well…" Enzan trailed off a bit as an awkward silence passed between the three of them waiting for an answer.
The silence was finally broken as Rockman spoke up to give an urgent message. "Um, Netto. Mom was wondering where Subaru-kun is. He hasn't arrived home yet…"
There was barren wasteland as far as the eye can see. Ruins of old civilizations long extinct were half buried in cyber sand. With all the dangerous viruses that lurked in the sand, no "civilized" navi could ever hope to survive here without the help of a NetOp.
This was the Undernet, a realm where the strong gathered.
And it was here that Forte chose to dwell as he recovered from his battles. Slumped against an old stone pillar, he grimaced from his wounds.
"The scars from your recent battle won't heal easily, Forte." A soft yet booming voice echoed in the solo Navi's ear. He glanced upwards to see a figure descending from the sky. The silhouette could almost be mistaken for an angel, but Forte knew very well to whom that voice belonged too. "Slowly but surely, you're healing. You've redefined what is possible for a simple Navi. Most would succumb and fade into deletion."
"What do you want... Serenade?" Forte glared upwards, sarcasm dripping from every word. "Has the great Lord of the Undernet come to laugh at me?"
Forte was in no position to fight. Despite reveling in the thought of battling against the seemingly god like Serenade, he could not even lift a finger with Noise corrupting his body. It was a miracle in itself that Forte escaped deletion from this unknown force. Any other Navi would have vaporized from the corruption of their programming.
Ignoring the black Navi's blood lust, Serenade landed soundlessly onto the desert floor in front of Forte. "Do you not sense it, Forte? A great danger is approaching."
"Tch... It has nothing to do with me." Forte sneered at Serenade's warning. "I could care less with what happens to the human world that you care so much about."
Despite the navi's attitude, Serenade's expression didn't falter. His face was always serene.
"This danger not only threatens the human world, but the cyber world as well. All technology, along with the majority of human life, will be eradicated." Serenade watched Forte's expression carefully. "Neither you nor I will survive its impact."
Some silence passed between the two Navis before Forte finally replied. "What is the 'it' you speak of?"
It was at this point that Serenade knew. He had hooked Forte's interest.
"Something related to that black winged warrior you are so fond of at the moment. A crimson comet made up of what humans call 'Noise'."
AN: Things are beginning to wind up now to a certain climax. This chapter is quite short, but it's stuffed with a lot of info and explanations, so I hope you all don't mind! Also, while Serenade and the Undernet do not exist in the anime, I hope you don't mind me borrowing the two from the manga.
Sorry for the delay and thanks for waiting!
