Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman.EXE sadly.
Zero: A Legend Reborn
Thoughts "blah"
Chapter 7
"You told him what!" Hinata couldn't believe what her 'brother' had just told her. She glared at him and said, "Wasn't it you that said that we should keep things on the down low? Why did you tell him anything? Why didn't you play dumb or lie?"
"Because he already had the chip and he saw me ditch the chip back at the factory," said Jesse. He winced hoping that Hoishi didn't catch his slip up, but his luck has never been that great.
"Ditch? What do you mean? I thought that you loved Crossfusion?" Hinata knew that he wouldn't ditch his Synchro-chip to save his life unless he had something up his sleeve. She wondered if this had anything to do with his pet project that Ciel wouldn't talk about.
Jesse tried to hide because Ciel and chuckled nervously. "Well ya see I just kinda dropped it. I didn't mean to say ditch, it just popped out." From the look on his sister's face she didn't believe him and he really couldn't blame her. "Why couldn't I have ever learned to lie well?" Sighing he decided that the trust may set him free…or condemn him to a painful death. "I…I developed a few modifications to Yuuichiro's original design for the Synchro-chip. I have the one prototype and it does work, but that's it. I didn't want to tell you more until I had another finished."
Ciel smiled and watched the two bickered as though they were really brother and sister. "They certainly act like it. I wonder if they are aware of that?"
Blaze and Hinata were surprised that Jesse could do something like this and not explode with excitement. "Usually if he does something this big he can't keep his mouth shut for more than a day. This is a new record for him. I suppose that I can go easy on him…this time," thought Hinata. "What makes this chip so special? How is it different than Dr. Hikari's?"
Jesse and Zero shook their heads and muttered, "That's the surprise." The green-eyed boy smiled and added, "You'll see once I've had time to make one for you and you're going to love it. Don't let the NetSaviors see it though otherwise they will find some excuse to seize it so that they can copy it."
"You did excellent on that chip. You should be proud of yourself and your accomplishment," said Ciel. She always encouraged other scientists to continue to make advancements and sharpen their skills. Ciel could see potential in this the boy and she urged him to march forward. It was obvious that he'd learned a lot from Zero and had already put that knowledge to good use.
Jesse shook his head and said, "I can't take all of the credit. You and Zero were a vital part of the project. Without the two of you I never would've made it this far."
Zero accepted his operator's praise and added, "All I really did was teach you what I knew. You are the one that put that knowledge to use." The red navi shot the NetOp a look that told him not to argue on this because he wouldn't win. Zero was by far one of the most stubborn navis to ever exist.
Blaze knew that it was pointless to try to get Zero to spill anything, but that didn't stop her from trying. The phoenix navi fired off questions left and right hoping that Zero might let something slip. Alas he did not fall for her trap.
After school Netto was searching for O'Neil and his sister. "Now where are they," he asked Rockman.
The blue navi wasn't of much help since he couldn't see much going on around him. He was able to see many pairs of legs, but that was about it. "Like I could be of any real help without being about to see," thought Rock. "Try the tree near the field in the back. That's where they usually hang out or atleast that's what Glyde told me."
"Right, I'm on it." Netto cheerfully started walking towards the back of the school and ran into Enzan. "What are you doing here?"
The dual haired teen replied, "Ciel skipped her lessons today and I figured that she'd be meeting with the other two. Logically this is the most likely place to find them since they can't go back to Forte's factory…unless they have another setup somewhere."
"How many could they have," asked the young Hikari.
Ijuin responded, "I don't know. I imagine as many as Ciel or Hinata could find."
"Hinata and Ciel?" Netto wondered why Jesse hadn't been included in there.
Enzan read the question in his teammate's eyes and said, "He just doesn't strike me as the brains behind their operations. The other two seem to be much more likely to be in charge given his reactions to them. That's my guess from our observations thus far."
Finally they made it around back and saw the topic of their discussion leaned against the tree talking. They wanted to sneak up and eavesdrop, but it was too late because Zero had already spotted them.
"So how can I help you guys," asked Zero sarcastically.
Enzan just rolled his eyes earning a growl from the former Reploid. Ijuin ignored Zero and turned his gaze to Ciel. "You do know that you actually have to attend the classes in order to get credit, right?"
The blonde scientist let her rebel streak shine and seemed thoughtful for a second. She then replied, "Oh rats. What was I thinking? I'm so absent minded at times." Ciel bit back a smirk at the annoyed look on her stalker's face. "Ha ha…serves you right." She almost wanted to go back and take a few cosmetic courses just to see if he would participate. That image made her laugh a little while the others wandered what brought it on.
"Very funny. I understand that Netto has extended an invitation for you three to join the NetSaviors. We should be going," said Enzan.
The others could see that it wasn't a request, but an order. They complied because they didn't really have much choice. Saying no would've made the NetSaviors even more suspicious than they already were.
Jesse wanted to kick himself for such a major screwup on his part. Hoishi knew what he was thinking and whispered, "Don't worry…I want to kick you for this too."
"Thanks. I feel so loved," replied the green-eyed boy. He sent his best Zero-like glare at her, but she was unfazed by it.
"Enough chit-chat, let's go." Enzan knew that they were stalling and he wasn't about to let them escape. "I'm going to get the truth out of them if it kills them. All I need to do is get them back to HQ and I know that they'll show their true colors." He was counting on them slipping up and would be watching them very closely.
When the group entered Densan's Space Center Commissioner Kifune and Manabe were meeting with Dr. Hikari and Meijin. The two major topics were a comet housing a being named Duo and the soda can that Dr. Wily had thrown at Netto yesterday. Everyone expected it to be some kind of bomb or something, so they were being extra cautious.
What little information they had gathered from Wily was that this alien life form was a great threat to their world. Wily hadn't gone into detail except to say that Duo was coming to pass judgment on the human race.
"Hey dad! What's going on?" Netto took once glance at the monitors and knew what they were discussing.
The eyes of the two head scientists and Commissioner's quickly fell on the guests that had entered with the young Hikari. Yuuichiro immediately asked, "Who are they? Why are they here?"
Enzan patted Ciel on the back earning a glare from her and a growl from Zero. "These children are the one's that we found in the factory raid. It seems as though they wish to join the NetSaviors. I think that we should give them a chance."
"Chance my ass…all you want to do is expose some massive conspiracy and arrest us," thought Jesse. He'd already come up with a plan of action and he hoped that the other two would follow his example. Jess just wished that he could talk to them without Enzan catching on, but that was impossible given the teen's proximity.
The Commissioner jumped in saying, "That's nice, we can always use fresh recruits. But before you go about giving them missions I'd like to see their skills."
"Jesse's mouth just twitched…into a momentary smirk. Oh…I see, that's what he's going to do to get himself out of this." Hinata caught on quick and smiled at her NetNavi. "Let's show them what we 'can' do."
Ciel didn't really have much to worry about since she didn't have a navi and wouldn't be required to fight. The former Resistance leader felt that she would have to hide her programming and engineering skills.
"Very well…let's see just how good they are," said Kifune as he lead the way to a nearby simulator. It was where navi's were tested to see what they alone were capable of.
Zero fought against several Metool viruses and took quite a beating.
"That was the most pathetic display that I've ever had the misfortune to witness. It's almost as though he…So that's how he's going to play it." Enzan watched as Blaze was given the same test and she lost three minutes quicker than Zero. "They're not fooling me. I know that they are capable of doing a lot better than that."
Kifune looked at the applicants with a mixture of shock, disappointment, and complete horror. Trying to sound sympathetic he said, "I'm…afraid that you children just…are not NetSavior material. It was a valiant effort to be sure. Perhaps you can try again later." "As in years later…"
Meijin left the room and said, "I'm going to go align the satellites so that we can send the navis to the comet." He left the room and snickered at Netto's choice of new recruits.
Netto stood in front of both NetOps and Ciel. He was about to say something when Meijin ran back into the room. "Dr. Hikari Forte is at the main gate. He just broke through and is headed this way now. I think that he intends to confront Duo on his own."
Everyone ran to the main control room for the satellite array. The original plan had been to send Rockman and Blues to the comet, but Forte wasn't going to allow it. Despite knowing that he couldn't win the dark navi intended to try to take Duo's power.
"Some people just have no patience," thought Jesse as he watched the Shuryou break through the reinforced doors. "Guess Dr. Wily make Shuryou strong than I thought. He's still no match for Zero though."
One of the police officers charged at Forte, but the robot just backhanded the man into the wall knocking him out cold.
Meijin immediately ordered the remaining people to keep their distance from the robot and not try to stop it.
The super navi noticed the presence of his temporary allies and assumed that they must've changed sides. "No surprise there. Humans have no sense of loyalty. Dr. Cossack already proved that to me once before." He approached the main console and shoved his hand through the panel. He ripped out a cluster of wires and used them to transfer himself into the system. Once inside Forte quickly directed himself towards Duo's comet.
Back on Earth everyone watched as one of the most powerful navis of their world soared straight to the comet.
"Papa, what are we supposed to do? We can't let Forte gain access to Duo's comet." Netto was really worried what the human hating navi would do with that kind of technology and firepower at his disposal.
Enzan noticed that the two new NetOps and their navis didn't seem the least bit surprised by the intrusion or the knowledge of Duo's existence. "Maybe they told their 'boss' about this and he came or maybe they're working for Duo?"
If either kid had known what was going through the dual haired teen's head they probably would've jumped him together and dealt with the consequences later. Zero and Blaze would've encouraged them to hurt Enzan.
When the dark navi was half way to the comet another signal was detected leaving the comet heading straight for Forte. Meijin quickly called everyone's attention to the new development.
On the main monitor a white navi appeared. She stood before them with dignity and pride oozing from her posture. Slowly she opened her piercing red eyes and surveyed the humans in the room.
Jesse and Hinata tuned her out knowing roughly what was going to be said by both parties.
Enzan kept his eyes on the three kids and saw no surprise on their faces. The more he watched them, the more he thought that they were in on it. "No sign of surprise and I doubt that they could all hide their emotions that well. How could they have known?"
The people in the control room exchanged words with Slur and while they did Zero's party slipped out of the room. Ciel led way to the elevator that they had used to get up to this floor. "Let's get out of here. That Enzan creep is driving me to the point that I want to shoot him."
"It's okay Ciel. I understand your frustration." Zero smiled from his perch on his NetOp's shoulder. He knew how aggravating it was to want to scrap somebody, but couldn't for diplomatic reasons. The red navi turned to his NetOp and asked, "What's going to happen next?"
Jesse thought for a minute and then said, "Well with Duo focused on the NetSaviors we should be able to come up with some way to destroy him. But for our immediate plans…we need to get out of this building. Duo's about to send a massive number of viruses to attack and they don't rely on Dimensional Areas to appear in the real world."
Zero nodded in understanding. The last thing that they needed to do was show their true strength here with the 'Judge' watching all of them.
As soon as the elevator door opened the kids stepped out and headed for the main entrance. The guards were too tied up with securing Forte's entrance to stop them from leaving.
"We're home free," said Hinata as they exited the building.
Viruses started materializing in front of them and the others looked at Hinata. Zero said, "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
Hinata winced knowing that he was right. She always seemed to jinx them when she said something out loud like that. "One of these days I'm going to learn to just think it."
Zero shook his head and muttered, "I doubt it."
Several Spiky viruses spotted them and started chasing the group. Ciel was faster than the other two and left a dust trail in her wake.
Hinata looked at the trail of dust in disbelief and asked, "How does she do that?"
The former Hunter answered, "She hates dogs or anything shaped like them. Ciel was bit by one when she was just a little girl and has been terrified of them ever since. It's not like she meant to abandon us or anything."
Jesse knew what Ciel was feeling seeing as how he was claustrophobic. They heard a scream from up ahead and rushed to catch up to the fleeing scientist. When they got there they found that the blonde had went down a dead end and a Spiky had followed.
"We gotta help her," said Hinata.
Blaze appeared over her shoulder and said, "Obviously, but how? We are a little short on Dimensional Areas right now and the trucks are never going to make it."
"Use 'it' Jesse," said Zero.
Without hesitation Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out his Synchro-chip. Blaze looked at the other two and asked, "What good is that going to do without a DA? Wait, didn't Netto get your Synchro-chip?"
"He got the one Forte gave us. This is the new one that I developed with help from Zero and Ciel. It's only fair that it be used to save her life. Synchro-chip in, Download! Begin Crossfusion!" Jesse welcomed the feel of Zero's armor covering his body as the two Crossfused. When the light died down there stood CF Zero…without a Dimensional Area.
"So that's what he's been up! That sneaky asshole!" Hinata watched with amazement and annoyance as her brother jumped in to save Ciel.
"Buster Shot!" Jesse fired several shots at the virus aiming for it's central body area. The green-eyed youth helped Ciel up and asked, "Are you alright?"
Ciel nodded and said, "Thanks. I really hate dogs."
"Understandable," said Hinata as she walked up next to her 'brother and sister'. She grabbed Jesse's arm and flipped him over onto his back. "That's for not telling me about something 'this' sweet. I hope for your sake that you've got one for me."
Climbing back to his feet the boy answered, "I didn't have time to make a second one. I'll make you one, I promise. I've just got to do it without the NetSaviors finding out."
"Finding out what," asked a voice from behind them. The group turned and saw Enzan and Netto standing at the entrance to the alley.
When Netto noticed that Jesse had Crossfused with Zero he looked up at the sky and saw no Dimensional Area. "How did you do that," he demanded pointing his index finger at CF Zero.
Jess shrugged and replied, "Basically the same way all scientists do…I took another person's idea and built on it."
"That's incredible," said Enzan. He couldn't believe that somebody had developed something so advanced based on Dr. Hikari's original idea.
Before anyone could say more Duo's viruses found them and started attacking. The DA generator trucks finally arrived.
"Finally," thought Netto seeing the familiar dome cover the area. "Synchro-chip in, Download! Begin Crossfusion!"
Enzan and Hinata, not wanting to be left behind they Crossfused with their navis and began hacking away at he viruses.
"Z-Saber!" Jesse sliced several Metool viruses in half before three Quakers came after him. "Oh crap! Not good!"
"Wide sword, battle chip in! Download!" Netto spun around and took down four Gunners that were about to attack Ciel. When the teen boy landed he asked, "Why haven't you Crossfused yet?"
Ciel glared and replied, "I don't have a navi and even if I did I don't have a Synchro-chip."
Netto nodded in understanding and cleared her a way back into the building where she should be safe so long as they destroyed all of the viruses.
Hinata and Blaze handle the air borne viruses. "I don't know what the hell you're called, but I'll delete you anyway," said Hinata as he pulled out her guns and started shooting them down.
Enzan looked up after having one hawk-shaped virus almost land on him. "Those shots…they look familiar…" He knew that he'd seen projectiles like that before, but he couldn't remember where it was that he'd seen them. He then sliced through four Metools and brought his sword down on a Nightmare. "Sonic Boom!" The attack collided with a giant spider-shaped virus causing it to fall, but not delete it.
Netto came to Enzan's aid when a bolt of lightening came from the sky and struck the spider deleting it. "Huh?" They both looked around and watched as the same thing happened to all of the other viruses present.
Hinata landed beside Ciel and said, "It looks like they're about to meet Duo."
The blonde scientist stared at the NetSaviors in confusion until they suddenly disappeared before her very eyes. "Where did they go?"
Jesse walked up and said, "Duo brought them to his comet. He's going to give them a long, snobbish speech and then give them a chance to save the Earth. Duo's interested in Crossfusion and that's probably the only reason he hasn't already taken us all out."
Zero added, "Don't worry. They'll be back in no time." He felt better when Ciel visibly relaxed a little. Now all that they could do was wait and plan their next move. No doubt the NetSaviors would be coming for the new Synchro-chip and knowing Jesse there was no way that he'd part with it while he still drew breath.
Author's note: The explaination for how the chip works will be in the next chapter. Also I'm going to start posting responses for reviews in the updates, so please drop me a line.