Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman.EXE sadly.

Zero: A Legend Reborn

Thoughts "blah"

Chapter 4

As Jesse stared at Netto he couldn't stop his left from twitching. Hinata concealed her reaction much better than her 'brother' while Blaze just watched with amusement.

Mariko smiled cheerfully at her new students and walked over to them. "Welcome to my class. I hope that you two will get along well with the other students and do well in your assignments."

Zero big back a smirk knowing that his NetOp was not likely to get along too well with others. The red navi couldn't say much though since he was the same way. During the Maverick and Elf wars the only two that he ever really worked well with was X and Axl. It still greatly saddened him that Axl had just disappeared without a trace between the two major wars.

Hinata elbowed Jess in the stomach when he didn't respond to Mariko. "You'll have to forgive him. He's not a people person and neither is his navi," she said.

A huge smile broke out on Dekao's face when he heard that this kid had his own navi. "Maybe he'd loosen up if we NetBattled?" The large teen said, "Hey would you like to NetBattle sometime? Gutsman and I could use some competition."

Jesse replied in a neutral tone, "I don't fight weaklings."

The operator of Gutsman was seeing red new and started to crack his knuckles. "This guy is just like Enzan. Gutsman and I will mop the floor with him."

Netto and Rockman also had a feeling of déjà vu. It was clear that a fight was just moments away from breaking out between the two kids.

Yaito and Glyde ignored Jesse and focused on the other new student. Yai was certain that she would be fun to be around assuming she didn't act like the new guy.

Mariko turned to her old student and said, "Dekao sit down." She then turned to Jesse and said, "Please try to be nice. I've heard from your father that you are anti-social, but that was completely unnecessary."

Jesse didn't even flinch at her scolding. Zero wasn't surprised since he had scolded his NetOp numerous times from not paying attention during their training sessions. Of course when Jesse didn't pay attention he also get whacked around a few times by Zero before the red navi would relent.

Hinata elbowed her sibling in the side again and turned to their new teacher. "I'll work with him on that. He'll behave from now on…Won't you Jesse."

The boy knew that his sister was just daring him to say to no or disagree in some other form. He just smiled and said, "I'll be nice." Zero smirked from inside of his PET knowing that that translated into 'I'll be nice in front of you, but watch out when you turn your back'.

Mariko was pleased and said, "Alright I'd like for you to introduce yourself and then I'll assign you your seats."

Hinata went first being the more sociable of the two. "My name is Hinata Hoshi and my navi's name is Blaze. I like sparring and a good NetBattle. I hate loud mouths (Netto lowered his head) and bullies (Dekao groaned)."

Jesse rolled his eyes when everyone was focused on his sister and finally introduced himself. "My name is Jesse O'Neil and my navi's name is Zero."

"This is going to be one of those days," thought Mariko after hearing Jess's short response. "Ok Hinata I want you to take the empty seat behind Dekao and Jesse you take the empty seat behind Netto." She felt some measure of relief when she saw the boy's eyes widen slightly. "Hopefully Netto can get through to this one."

Both students went to their seats and jacked their navis into the school's computer. Zero and Blaze saw the Cyber World classroom and took the seats that corresponded to their NetOp's in the real world.

Rockman turned around and greeted Zero. "Hi I'm Rockman. Nice to meet you Zero."

Zero gave a grunt in response, but said nothing. His attention was turned to Gutsman and he grinned. He planned to put the large navi in his place just like he did with Copy X, Dr. Weil, and Omega.

After school Zero and Jesse waited at the main entrance. Sure enough Dekao exited the door and started searching the crowd to find his target. When the larger kid found Jess he walked over to him and said, "You and me, right now."

The brunette didn't blink and just pulled out his PET. Netto and his friends walked up just in time to see the PET and were surprised. They'd never seen one like this and were curious as to where it came from.

"Saito have you ever seen a PET like that before?"

The blue navi looked at his sibling and mentally replied, "No I haven't. It could be a custom built PET, but…"

"But what?"

"It seems to be too well built to be a custom job. From the looks of it I'd say that it was factory made, but it couldn't be. I know all of the current models and some of the ones that are being developed right now. It's possible that his father made it or some friend of his." Rockman couldn't be sure, but the PET looked like it had a lot more power than the PET Netto used and his was a custom model developed by Yuuichiro.

Jesse and Dekao stood in front of each other just stared each other down. Finally Dekao flinched and directed his PET towards an outdoors NetBattle console. "Jack In, Gutsman! Power Up!"

Without missing a beat Jesse did the same. "Jack In, Zero! Power Up!"

Zero and Gutsman mimicked their NetOp's behavior and glared at each other. The large navi had a hard time not looking away from Zero's piercing gaze. The former Hunter knew that he could easily take this guy down, but he wasn't interested in Gutsman and neither was Jesse.

"Gutsman teach cheeky little navi a lesson." The large navi readied himself to attack when Rockman, Roll, and Glyde logged into the system.

Rockman quickly ran up to his friend and said, "Don't do it Gutsman. I have bad feeling about this guy."

Dekao's navi looked at the blue bomber and said, "Gutsman not afraid of little runt."

Zero finally smiled seeing that Rockman had taken the bait. He wanted to test himself against a real warrior navi, not some wannabe with a low IQ. "About you time you showed up Rockman. Let's fight."

The blue navi turned to Zero and looked him over. Everything about the red navi screamed that he could delete Gutsman in less than a second and that he probably would.

Dekao and his navi heard Zero and felt outraged that they were viewed as child's play. "Gutsman get him. Show him who the weak one is around here."

"GutsPunch," he shouted charging at Zero.

Roll shouted, "No, don't do it."

Glyde was uncertain what he should do and just watched in curiosity. Rockman chased after Gutsman to stop him, but it was already too late. The larger navi already had a good head start.

Netto thought that it was strange that Zero didn't even glance away from Rockman. "This guy's insane. Gutsman might not be the toughest navi around, but just letting him hit you like that will take a huge chunk of hit points."

Roll and Glyde saw their friend about to reach Zero and Roll buried her head on Glyde's shoulder. "I can't look," she said. Next thing she heard was a loud thunk. Slowly she looked up to see the butler navi's mouth hanging wide open. Wanting to know what caused that reaction she turned around and quickly mimicked Glyde.

Zero had caught Gutsman's punch with just one hand. What was more shocking was that he wasn't putting much effort into holding off the attack. Taking his eyes off of Rockman he locked a glare on his would be attacker. "…Not interested in a warm up." Quicker than anyone could follow Zero jumped up connecting his knee with the giant's mouth sending him flying towards Roll and Glyde.

Everyone except for Zero and his NetOp looked on in shock. Never had anyone seen such a display of power and speed…at least not at a school.

"Rockman I think that you are right about Jesse and his navi. Your feeling was right on the mark."

"I told you that something felt wrong about them. I know that you are going to think that this is insane to ask, but…do you think that we should fight them?"

"We don't really have much of a choice. We have to return the favor of Zero crushing our friend."

Rockman knew that this had become a matter of honor to Netto. The teen wouldn't let anyone trash his friends like this and get away with it. That didn't mean that he would reckless though. "Fine. I'll be your next opponent."

Jesse smiled and thought to himself, "Those two have no idea what they've just got themselves into. Zero isn't like other navis, he's a highly trained soldier. He's survived the Maverick Wars, the Elf Wars, and the War against Neo Arcadia."

Hinata finally walked outside and saw a gathering of students. "I wonder what's going on Blaze," she said to her navi.

The Phoenix navi had a feeling that she knew what it was and said, "Hinata, where is Zero and Jesse?"

The young girl's eyes widened and she started pushing her way through the crowd. Sure enough Jesse had apparently started a fight with Netto. "I'm gonna kill Jesse. Wasn't he the one that said that we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves?"

Blaze nodded and said, "He did, but I don't think that this was something that he planned. My guess would be that Zero wanted this."

The NetOp knew that her navi was right. Zero was well known for seeking out powerful navis and fighting them to see where he stood. "Then again this could be Zero's training starting to affect Jesse. It's not uncommon for a student to pickup character traits from their teacher."

Netto and Rockman readied themselves for an intense battle. Both watched Zero for any indication of where and how he'd attack.

Jesse watched knowing that Zero could be extremely patient in combat. It was obvious that his navi wasn't going to make the first move.

Finally after ten minutes of waiting…Rockman snapped and opened fire with his 'Rockbuster'. What he didn't expect was for Zero to easily dodge every one of them. "There was an afterimage when he dodged. He didn't teleport, that's pure speed." The blue navi said to his little brother, "I need a battlechip Netto."

"Right. I'm on it." Netto pulled out his pouch of battlechips and selected one for the occasion. "Vulcan, Battlechip In! Download!"

Rockman's arm turned into a three barreled gun and his showered the area Zero was standing in.

"Area Steal, Battlechip In! Download!" Jesse watched as the former Reploid vanished from sight and reappeared right above Rockman.

"Z-Saber!" Zero brought his sword down slicing Rockman's gun in half.

The blue navi was thankful that his opponent hadn't cut further up or else Rockman would've lost a hand. "Rockbuster," he shouted releasing a volley of energy shots.

Jesse and his navi grinned knowing what would happen next. Zero deflected the shots using his sword…right back at Rockman.

The blue navi hadn't been expecting this and was struck with three of his own attacks. "Note to self: Don't use energy projectiles against this guy."

Zero could tell that his opponent was still capable of fighting, but what made him angry was that Rockman hadn't gone all out. The former Reploid was well aware of Rockman's Double Soul abilities and Program Advances. Without intending it the blue navi had seriously insulted Zero.

Glyde and Roll had finally manage to wake Gutsman after he almost landed on them. Roll was really starting to worry about her Rockman after Zero's counter attack.

Gutsman looked at the scene and muttered, "He's a strong chibi." Gutsman unfortunately was loud enough that everyone heard him.

Jesse's eyes bugged out and he looked down at Zero on his screen. He could see that his navi had his hand in a tight fist that could have crushed bone into a fine dust. "Oh shit!" He quickly pointed his PET at the terminal and tried to extract Zero, but the navi was too quick.

Zero gracefully dodged the attempt to recall him to the PET and turned the mother of all glares towards Gutsman.

Everyone of the navis present could feel the lethal intent that Zero was projecting in his aura. Even the humans in the real world backed away quickly.

Zero finally growled each word slowly, "Nobody calls me a chibi…and gets away with it." The red navi used his dash ability to go flying at Gutsman with his Z-Saber still drawn.

Gutsman knew that he was about to be deleted and started trying to run away, but Zero quickly made it in front of the large navi. "Gutsman sorry. Gutsman didn't mean it."

Fortunately Jesse had predicted Zero's move in advance and had locked onto that location. He quickly logged Zero out and muted the PET as his navi let loose with a long list of curses in multiple languages. Jesse knew that he'd have to wait until Zero calmed down before talking with him. "I guess that we'll have to finish this later Netto…and next time don't hold back." Afterwards Jesse disappeared before anyone could ask what had just happened.

Hinata and Blaze were still watching the monitor where their friend had just been with their mouths gaping open. Both of them knew that it was suicide to call Zero a chibi and recent events had just proven that. Hinata looked at her PET and said, "We better go give Jesse a hand talking Zero down before he deletes somebody." Blaze just nodded her head furiously knowing that the alternative wouldn't be pretty.

Three hours later Jesse had managed to downgrade Zero's emotional status from 'homicidal navi' to 'grouchy navi'. Hinata had suggested that they turn Zero loose in the Ura Net and it had been very helpful in calming the angry navi.

Jesse finally asked, "Z…do you feel like talking now?"

The red navi nodded and turned to look at his operator. "I am sorry about losing my cool. I know that you didn't want to have a rep of owning an insane, short tempered navi."

The brunette shook his head and replied, "First of all I don't own you. You are an equal, not a possession. Secondly, I've never really cared what other people think of me." He sighed and added, "We are going to have to work on that temper of yours though. At the very least we need to make sure that you don't delete someone for calling you a chibi."

Zero growled and cracked the bones in his hand. "I'm a warrior, not some cute little…CHIBI! I demand more respect than that."

Jesse noted the way Zero had said chibi as though it was the vilest word on the planet. "Don't worry about today. We'll just had to add a segment to our training that focuses on your violent, homicidal reactions to being called chibi."

The former Hunter agreed hating that he almost always lost it when called that 'evil' word. The first time that it had happened was when Popia Cocapetri had called him chibi. Zero had combined his charged Buster Shot with his fire element EX Skill Burning Shot. He roasted that bird and then sliced the remains into tiny pieces.

Deciding to take his mind off of the matter he suggested that they resume work on Jesse's special project. Jesse immediately answered, "Sure. The sooner that it's complete, the happier I'll be."

Outside of the door to Jesse's bedroom Hinata and Blaze were eavesdropping. They were concerned with the two boys and this 'big project' that they had been working on. So far they hadn't even dropped a hint as to what it was or how it could be helpful in the future.

"Ugh…I want to know what they are working on," growled Hinata. She had patience, but even she had her limits.

When Zero and his operator made it to Forte's new base of operations they quickly entered the facility and sought out the dark navi. They headed for the security control room for the abandoned factory. "You know it's amazing how sloppy these people are. You'd think that they wouldn't leave production equipment like this in abandoned facilities."

Zero had to nod in agreement even though he'd seen similar examples of such carelessness with Neo Arcadia. Sitting on his NetOp's shoulder he said, "Most likely they thought that the factory could be restarted at a later date and they didn't want to move all of this equipment. There's also the possibility that ownership is tied up in the legal system right now." He sighed and added, "In any case we should be greatful for these oversights."

"All of this equipment is outdated and that is the reason why you humans don't bother to salvage any of it." said a voice from behind.

Jesse turned around to see that the Shuryou robot had slipped up on him during his wanderings. "It's still incredibly stupid of them."

Forte nodded in agreement, then again he thought that all humans were weak and stupid. "What have you come here for," he asked.

The boy kept walking and said, "I wanted to ask you teach Zero something."

The dark navi was suddenly very intrigued. "And what exactly would like for me to teach him? How to hate humans? Well that's very simple, you just-"

Jesse interrupted saying, "No, not that." He sighed knowing that Forte still had 'daddy issues' "Thanks for your lovely screwup Dr. Cossack," he thought bitterly. "Forte I just want you to teach Zero how to fly like you do without using wings or anything like that."

The black navi looked Zero over studying the red navi closely. "He needs to work on increasing his energy levels, but...it can be done. Now about your end of this arrangement, what have you got for me?"

"Sometime soon a powerful extraterrestrial navi named Duo will be coming to Earth. He views himself as a God and the 'Ultimate Judge of Light'. Dr. Regal's attacks not too long ago caught Duo's attention and now the oversized pest is on his way here. If he views a world as being to plagued by darkness he will destroy it, which includes the Cyber World. He's protected by a powerful navi named Slur. To get to him you'll have to get through her and I can tell you that you are going to lose that battle." Jesse stopped and looked at Forte. He could already see the hatred burning in those robotic eyes of his. "Don't worry about it too much. You'll make a comeback and the next time you'll win."

The dark navi allowed a sinister smile to cross his face. "And how am I going to win?"

Jesse shrugged and said, "After she hands you your ass she's going to banish you to the Ura Net. You'll be there a while, but you'll eventually encounter a giant purple mist and a familiar laugh. Just follow the person in that mist and it'll lead you to a creature called 'Nebula Grey'. After it's beaten by you and Rockman get rid of the blue twerp and absorb it's data. That will give you a huge power boost that will allow you to destroy Slur."

"And what of Duo," inquired the human hating navi.

Jesse stopped and turned around slowly. "I don't think that even Nebula Grey would allow you to fight Duo and win. He's got all that power flowing into him from his comet, I don't think that that's going to be something that we can easily counter." It was a dilemma that he'd been trying to solve ever since he came to this world, but so far everything that he came up with was a failure. "Don't worry, I'm working on that part now. Just give me a little time."

"I have to lose this fight in order to gain power. What a ridiculous way to go." Forte went to work teaching Zero the basics for flight using his power. Zero caught on quickly enough, but he was limited by the energy that his body possessed.

So far they'd be training for four weeks, but unlike Forte Zero's body hadn't adapted to using large amounts of energy for the purpose of flight. It was like trying to develop a muscle that had never been used before. It left the red navi quickly exhausted, but Forte kept pushing Zero to his limits. The red eyed navi never liked that Zero cared so much for his NetOp, but he did respect Zero as one fighter to another.

Out in the human world Jesse continued his project knowing that it would give him an edge against Asteroid navis and in the event that he had to fight against the NetSaviors. Jess was startled out of his musings by the alarms going off. "Forte, Zero we've got an intruder."

Both navis ended their training session for the day and logged out of the Cyber World. Zero returned to his PET while Forte took over the Shuryou robot again. The robot walked over to the main security console and pressed several buttons to locate the intruder. "Found them! Just one person and they are in Area C-1."

Jesse used the security cameras in that area to locate the intruder. "You know if this is the NetSaviors we're screwed."

"Oh ye of little faith. I can handle NetSaviors," replied Forte. He'd simply kill them if he felt like it and usually he did. He had already learned that both Zero and Jesse shied away from killing, be it human or navi unless the situation required it. The two didn't like to dirty their hands without good, justifiable reason.

The main monitor popped up and displayed the intruder. Jesse's eyes widened as did Zero's. The human looked towards his navi and asked, "Is that who I think that is?"

Zero nodded and made some sound that Forte and Jesse assumed was a yes. "How did our little intruder get here I wonder." He smiled and said, "Well lets go greet our guest."