Darkloids, again.
Raika frowned from where he knelt behind a small pillar in a large observation room in Sci-lab. He held Searchman's large, but efficient rifle in his hands in the queer combination of him and Searchman, which most people would think was just him wearing a version of his navi's armor.
How could it be darkloids again, so soon?
He huffed as he watched through Searchman's visor that allowed him to target an enemy much more precisely than he could with his own eyes. Searchman could- and did, quite a lot of the time, in fact- locate the enemy or target himself while they were cross fused, generally when they fired a shot that was meant to go through walls. Unlike his two fellow net savers that could also cross fuse, his navi had an ability that simply could not be performed by a mere, limited human mind.
Certainly, his reflexes were now sharper, as well as his general strength and speed. But to actually search through and comprehend information at the extremely fast rate that his navi could . . .
Well, even cross fusion could not change a human enough to be able to handle that.
This time, though, he could focus enough to locate the enemy on his own. The violet armored being was definitely not being inconspicuous as it very noisily battled the red armored cross version form of one of his companions, the combination of Chaud and Protoman, including some random retorts and obvious swings that seemed slower than they could be.
Was the darkloid actually playing? Did he not think they were a threat?
Raika scoffed at the sheer strangeness of the scene. (He had certainly seen darkloids and other enemies act that way before, though.) How could a being be so egotistically boisterous while being the invader? Surely being more focused and less . . . dramatic, would be much more efficient.
Then again, he should not be rooting for the enemy, in a way. The darkloid's "strategy" would only aid in net savers' success, in the sense that he would be easier to defeat.
Not that he was easy to defeat in the first place. The net savers, whether in Sharo or here in Netopia, never knew if the darkloids would choose to use their own dimensional area or just appear somehow (they never were really sure how, though). This time, of course, they had appeared without one.
At least Sci-lab could generate its own dimensional areas now, the fields that could allow navis to appear in the human world. Unfortunately, apparently the navis included those that could handle a portal to the human world, which only seemed to allow for any sort of darkloid. It was a good thing that those who could perform cross fusion could also utilize the dimensional area. Only net navi and net op pairs with a high enough synchro rate, which was required to be much higher than the level needed to perform a "basic" three chip program advance, could achieve it.
Raika adjusted his aim a bit to the left and shot again. The enemy navi twisted out of the way of the shot and laughed while ducking under the cross fused Megaman's aqua sword. He shifted his aim a few centimeters to the right before firing again. This time it hit, though the darkloid barely even flinched. At least the darkloid was generally staying in once place, so that he did not have to quickly find different cover to shoot from.
The scanner in Searchman's visor locked on to the being from more than halfway across the large room once more. Raika fired, the purple beam bursting from his long rifle with a sound much less than a regular human one. The beam hit straight on again like most of his shots, as he had known it would.
He wasted no time gloating over the enemy's sudden surprised face- again- so twisted in anger that it was almost comical, as one might see in a theatre production. That expression had occurred some of the times that he had shot, but not every time.
Resisting a sudden urge to scowl, Raika just focused on the target, again aiming straight for the spot that had been slashed by Protoman's default cyber sword just a few minutes earlier. If he could weaken that spot even further, then the darkloid's data might become deteriorated enough for him to be unstable and not have enough function to put up a proper fight.
Raika aimed again, and again. Chaud and Lan were keeping the darkloid pinned so that it was mostly staying in one place; good, at least for now, if it stayed that way.
Then, suddenly, the darkloid gave a large grin, and with a chuckle that seemed quite unnerving despite the lack of support of other current darkloids he vanished in a shower of pixels that seemed to melt right under Protoman's now variable sword. The other darkloids had been chased away to the cyber world again by receiving enough damage, so what had happened to this one?
Chaud was easily able to stable himself in a matter of seconds. Lan, however, caught in an attempt to swing his wide blade from behind the enemy, was not so lucky as he tumbled head first onto the hard tiled flooring.
He saw Lan sit up, holding his armored head and state what was probably a complaining remark to what seemed to thin air, but would be to his listening net navi, Megaman.
Raika warily stood from his kneeling position, not really quite sure if the battle was truly over for now, or not. The darkloid had seemed way too conceited at the end for that.
Apparently the two other net savers were also concerned about the sudden disappearance of their last foe. Raika also noticed that the dimensional area, which were generally let down after enemy's battles, was still up, as he and his companions were still cross fused.
He saw Lan stand and dash over to his father, Dr. Hikari, who was walking toward them, alongside Famous, a talented engineer and scientist that worked at the lab. Raika warily followed suit.
"So what's going on, Dad?" Lan asked urgently. "I mean, if the bad guys are gone, shouldn't the dimensional area be gone, too?"
Raika had seen the worried look on the scientist's face and knew that there was something wrong even before it was said aloud.
"Our workers have spotted several darkloids in the Sci-Lab's framework, but they seem to be waiting for something," Dr. Hikari reported, his face worried. "However, we can't rule out that none of them would come back into Sci-Lab again."
Chaud spoke up. "So it's just a precaution?"
The scientist nodded. "Yes. I need the three of you to jack your navi's into the network to battle them. They're in sector three right now. We need the darkloids out of the system before they decide to cause any damage."
Raika nodded, defused with Searchman and ran with the two younger net savers to the room with the sector's network. It was a small work room, currently unoccupied, which would make it even easier to be able to quickly jack in his navi without any problem.
He was about to do just that with the other two net savers, when the door behind them was quickly opened. Raika looked to see Famous, looking rather harried.
"I need one of you to come quickly to the area where you were just battling, now!" he stated firmly. "One of the darkloids has escaped and is attacking the systems there, and has blocked the area from anyone coming into it."
Raika frowned, sensing a trap from the enemy. Surely, though, the Sci-lab officials knew of Searchman's ability to shoot through relatively small, self-generated portals, and it would be unneeded for someone to go to the system itself.
However, Famous then answered his internal question. "And this is a navi that is excellent at deflecting any sort of warp attack."
Raika scowled. Of course, the one darkloid that could resist Searchman's power . . . And of course, it had been another net saver (Chaud, that time), who had had to rescue him and Searchman then. At least it had been in his homeland of Sharo instead of here in Netopia.
Before Lan could claim the task (as he often would first), Raika spoke up. "I can do it," he stated.
He and Searchman could. Unlike some other areas, he knew that this particular one had several helpful towers for hiding behind, and it was very long and wide, good for Searchman's long range abilities.
Lan and Chaud looked a bit surprised, as they as well might. Raika pretended to not notice them before he headed back out to the area.
He quickly jacked Searchman into the system, hoping that there would be time enough for Searchman to hide before the darkloid found him. Luckily, there was plenty, as Searchman crouched behind a tall pillar and within a minute, had located the enemy a hundred meters away.
Raika watched on the larger computer screen as his navi shot several times, presumably on the enemy. He slightly wished that he could see the enemy like Searchman could, but like many times before, he would have to rely on his navi's reports of what happened. He would always trust Searchman's reports.
Several minutes later, Searchman was still shooting, with no apparent effect. He wondered what the enemy darkloid was doing as to not search for his attacker, but at least there was more time for long range attacks, which Searchman excelled at. Raika watched his navi prepare a stronger shot and fire that. A few more shots later, the darkloid was still apparently not defeated.
Searchman then answered his unspoken question after peering through his scanner. "The enemy does not appear to have any damage on him at all," he reported.
Raika frowned. "But all of the darkloids were damaged earlier," he stated. Most darkloids did not have the capability to regenerate energy that quickly.
"This is one that either is connected to a net op, or has that ability," Searchman swiftly responded. "What are your orders for further attacks?"
Raika paused, thinking. Some darkloids really did briefly team up with human outlaws, but both generally were caught, either by mistake of the navi or the person. Some lone navis just liked to avoid attacks until they got what they wanted- if it was not just destruction- including biding time by replenishing energy or other tactics, such as distraction.
He still did not know the enemy's goal this time. Surely they were after something, though, with the amount of perseverance they had shown, and the queer tactics. There was nothing in this particular sector that he knew of that would be valuable- unless someone had left something there in an earlier invasion.
"Scan the underground of this sector for anything out of place," Raika ordered.
Searchman did not even nod, but lowered his rifle and activated another scan in his eyepiece. Less than minute later, he had the answer.
"There is an unidentified object in the left corner, three meters below the ground. I am unable to detect what is inside it," he reported. "The darkloid is five meters from the area."
Raika frowned. He wondered how his navi was not able to find what was in the item, if there was anything, but perhaps that could be solved later after defeating the darkloid.
As he did not know what it was, though- for all he knew, it had something explosive hidden within it- he did not want Searchman to outright destroy the mysterious object. It would not do to randomly throw around program advances, either. Strategy was better than sheer power most of the time.
If only he knew more about the opponent's full range of abilities . . .
He could not just waste time debating what to do, though. Either the darkloid would be after the object- while waiting for something- or some other darkloid wanting to activate it from elsewhere (a PET?), or they just wanted to idly stand in the sector, which was not likely.
"Freeze the area around the darkloid," Raika stated. At least the darkloid would be in one spot, if the freeze shot worked against him. He held a vine chip just in case it did not.
Searchman fired again, the usual pinkish hue unchanged from his general type of beamed shot, which was to keep the enemy surprised if they were suddenly frozen. Searchman's face then widened in surprise ever so slightly. Without hesitating, Raika slid in the vine chip. He could see the vines on his PET screen snaking toward their target. Anywhere else, though, including the computer screen in front of him and the vision of any navi that was not Searchman, the long tendrils would be invisible and completely soundless.
However, Raika then saw the powerful vines just vanish as if the attack had been cancelled.
"No effect," his navi then reported, even though Raika did not need to hear about the failure. Several more futile battle chips and even a long range program advance later, they were no closer to defeating the darkloid, who apparently was just standing in the same spot he had been in for a while.
Raika sure hoped that the other two net battles were going much more smoothly than his current standoff. Apparently they were not finished, though, if neither net op had come to aid him and Searchman yet. He briefly wondered how the darkloid had been able to be damaged earlier, if he was this capable of avoiding injury currently, but that was not quite as worrying at the moment as the current predicament.
He scowled. "We may need to get into closer range," he reluctantly admitted.
Searchman nodded, and ran toward the odd navi while Raika quickly armed him with a vulcan. He almost wished that he was battling the loud, egotistic navi from earlier instead of this one with its strange high resistance.
The darkloid came into sight, with its easily identifiable blue and dark purple armor, and almost baseball-like helmet. The darkloid turned around, finally interested in something else.
Searchman fired the gun, and several powerful energy bursts were hurled toward the enemy. Raika watched, scowling again, as the navi merely slashed at the small beams with a sword.
The enemy then narrowed his eyes, and spoke in a low, almost growling tone. "Your net op is related to a Sharian chief, is he not?"
Of course, Searchman was not goaded into answering, but attacked again, electrified water bursting from the ground that would- usually- then trap the enemy within an electric screen.
The darkloid merely scoffed and aimed its sword at the ground- which Raika had been counting on. Quickly, he energized Searchman's rifle with a few bombs, and then another timed attack that would seem to quickly have the navi lose its energy, but was really a hallucination of sorts. Truly, they were just standing there. The timing of the attack had to be just right in combination with the chip's entrance into the PET, though, as well as the bombs before it, as they were the activator.
Raika frowned. He had not always pulled this combination off, and hoped that it would work this time.
However, the bombs did not even go off, as the navi suddenly stopped lowering its sword and then, as if using a speed chip, became a blur and slashed the bombs in mid-air before they could land.
Raika scowled as he stared at the scene. He was not truly happy with discovering another harbored ability of this particular darkloid. Sometimes he wondered why the mutation of loose data had to result in insane lone navis with powerful attacks and abilities, but this was not the time to ponder that.
He entered a shield chip, which fortunately worked not only to stop the darkloid's attack, but doubled with an electric chip slot it afterword, caused the enemy to lose balance slightly. Searchman wasted no time in whopping the darkloid's legs with his rifle so that he fell to the tiled flooring, and aimed, again with his rifle, at the enemy's helmet. Surely somewhere there was a weak spot, as Searchman would have of course aimed at the obtrusive emblem on the navi's chest earlier.
Suddenly, another translucent shield was raised- this time, around the enemy darkloid. Raika huffed. So the darkloid was working with a temporary net op after all, then. Perhaps that was at least part of the reason why the navi was so resistance to many attacks. Hopefully the net op would not be one that harbored illegal chips, though, such as the one that actually transferred energy from one navi to another.
The darkloid suddenly raised its head again, staring hard at Searchman. "I see you realize that I have a net op," he stated. "However, I am not, and never was, a lone navi."
Raika barely had time to register that fact as the darkloid- no, net navi- suddenly surged into a flurry of offensive attacks that he had to keep busy with both offense and defense. He could see his navi tiring slightly- but so was the other navi, it seemed, as it did not immediately retaliate after another shot from Searchman.
Just then, though, he heard something exploding from behind him, accompanied by the very annoying voice of the last darkloid he had been fighting while cross fused.
Raika sure hoped that the other two net savers- or net saver- would keep the darkloid well away from him standing very vulnerably at the system, in open view. Hopefully he would not leave the rogue net navi alone in the sector in order to fight the materialized darkloid.
That was, if Searchman could defeat him in the first place. The battle in the sector still continued, but the net navi still did not even have a single scratch on his armor. An elongated period with a lack of damage did not necessarily mean that the enemy would automatically be victorious, though. He and Searchman had defeated several enemies in Sharo before in standoffs longer than the current one.
Raika then saw, horrified, a powerful attack come from the enemy's crossed swords that had to be a quadruple program advance. From the corner of his vision, though, he quickly realized that the darkloid had finally managed to see that it might be worthwhile to attack the defenseless human- or it was a random stray shot from the overly egotistic being.
Either way, both attacks would come at the same time.
Raika instantly forgot everything else, including the purpose of the mission. From the looks of the powerful cyber world attack- which he had actually seen twice before- Searchman would be instantly deleted. If he jacked Searchman out, causing the navi to be safely harbored in his PET, then the attack from the darkloid would hit him before he could dodge somehow.
There was no time for both.
Instantly, Raika knew what he would do. He, as a mere human net op, could easily be replaced. (Plus, Searchman could work with a much more experienced human, including someone from a much higher rank than him.) Raika could never work as well with another net navi, anyway, nor would he want to. He did not want- definitely did not want- to be the cause for the deletion of his navi, and attempt to just battle with another one as if Searchman never mattered.
Searchman must not be deleted, or else he knew that he would never be good enough to hold another PET ever again.
Raika quickly jacked Searchman out, as he knew that the navi probably thought that he might do. His navi did not know about the darkloid's attack, though, and he hoped that Searchman would forgive him, but-
Something immensely powerful then slammed into him, and before he knew how to react to the blaring agony, his senses suddenly vanished.
Raika opened his eyes to see a white tiled ceiling. Underneath him, there was something soft, such as a mattress of sorts. For a few seconds, he was quite confused. Searchman had been attacking the not-darkloid, but-
He then sat up in horror, some thin covers falling from him. If he was fine- and . . . alive?- then Searchman . . .
"Oh, hello, Raika," a masculine voice said cheerily from nearby. If he could tell anything from the voice, it sounded rather relieved, as well. "How are you feeling?"
Raika turned to see his left to see a doctor from Sci-lab smiling at him. "Searchman," he responded instead, not caring how panicked he sounded. "Where-"
Perhaps he had not actually jacked out his navi in time, though. Maybe him rescuing his navi had actually been a dream of some sort. Perhaps he had actually failed his navi, his best friend, after all-
The doctor, instead of looking saddened, still smiled. He then reached over to a small table right by Raika's bed, and picked up a familiar green PET.
He handed the small device to Raika. "Here you go," he said. "Searchman was checked earlier, and is just fine."
Raika was instantly confused- to say the least. The attack from the materialized darkloid had hit him . . . right?
He opened the top of the PET to see his navi safely inside. Searchman smiled some, his features also much relieved, much like the doctor.
"Raika, are you all right?" Searchman asked.
Raika slowly nodded. His navi was actually fine, then.
"What happened?" he asked. There was definitely something that he was missing, for both him and Searchman to be unscathed.
The doctor answered instead, and Raika turned toward him, still holding his open PET. "Well, it was rather strange, to say the least, from what I heard," he began. "You had been attacked by one of the darkloids that was materialized in Sci-lab. The attack should have been lethal."
Raika nodded, remembering the sheer pain that had been real after all.
The doctor continued. "However . . . I heard a strange account, where apparently your navi activated the restoration program in your PET at the same time that someone else- a cross fused net saver, if I remember correctly- entered your synchro chip into it."
Raika was even more baffled, and looked at his navi again. "Searchman . . .?" he asked, not sure how to continue.
His navi nodded. "I did activate the program, Raika," he confirmed. His features then saddened immensely as he then continued. "You were fatally wounded . . . and I could think of nothing else to do. I tried my best to not only hold the fusion together, but to force it to heal, at the same time."
Raika blinked. "It should not have worked," he stated softly, then instantly sternly reprimanded himself. Who was he to criticize his navi's immensive efforts, when he had not only had worked so hard for the results?
Not to mention, it had obviously been successful, or at least it seemed to be that way.
He then immediately inwardly blanched some. "Searchman, are you sure you're all right?" he quickly asked. Truly, if his navi had done something that odd during cross fusion, where they were both combined, perhaps something had changed with his navi.
His navi nodded, with a hint of a smile, seeming to know already, somehow, that his net op was sorry for the outburst.
"Yes, I am truly all right, Raika, that I know of," he responded.
Raika flinched outwardly this time. "That you know of?" he repeated.
The doctor answered again, this time with his features a bit more uncertain. "Well, of course Dr. Hikari wanted Searchman looked at after the strange . . . healing- which took the entire hour of the automatic time in the restoration program, by the way- but he also wanted to scan you also after the results from Searchman's scan. They were . . . interesting, to say the least."
"Is Searchman really all right?" Raika demanded, not caring how rude he was at the moment.
"Yes, but-"
The door then opened, and Raika saw none other than Dr. Hikari himself come inside the room. He smiled as he saw Raika sitting up on the bed.
He then turned to the doctor. "Is there anything that we should be worried about?" he inquired.
"Nothing that I can tell right now," the doctor replied.
Dr. Hikari then spoke to Raika. "All right, Raika, you should definitely know of Searchman's results from the scan I had done earlier," he started.
"Which was what?" Raika stated impatiently.
The doctor frowned before continuing, and hopefully not from his irritable tone. "Well, Searchman's test turned out fine," he stated. "He was not damaged at all- in his data, anyway."
Raika was again confused, but let the scientist continue. "And from what I could tell, there seemed to be human DNA completely interlaced with his data, completely half and half. Most likely, it is your DNA inside Searchman. And now, I want to scan you, to see if there is any data there."
The statement seemed so illogical . . . but this was coming from the man that had invented cross fusion. He, of all people, might know something of what to do about the impossible situation.
Raika nodded. If Searchman was all right . . . well, for now, he just hoped that his navi would be all right, both in the near future and the further one.
Hopefully his navi's hard work to save his net op in such an almost ludicrous manner would not be the cause of his deletion.
The scan was soon over, but Raika, even after he was again dressed in his proper clothes, saw Dr. Hikari still frowning at the screen. Most of the data was far too advanced for him to be able to understand the meaning.
Perhaps the scientist had heard him, for he turned around. "Well, it seems that there is data in you, after all, Raika," he stated, but not looking quite as grim as he thought he would be. "From what I can tell, it seems to be exactly halfway for both DNA and data."
"The same as Searchman?" Raika asked quietly.
Dr. Hikari nodded. "Exactly. And I'm sorry, but I can't really say much as to what to do about it, other than I know that for both of you, the DNA and data are too intertwined to be pulled apart. Not that I want to, anyway, with why it happened in the first place."
Raika then looked downward in guilt. It had occurred since he, who should definitely know better, had stupidly followed the egotistic darkloid's example and had voluntarily blundered into something that Searchman was not strong enough for. Part of him argued that he had not known that the enemy net navi would be so powerful- not to mention, be an actual navi with a net op in the first place- but of course, he would be the one to blame.
Once again, he had failed, and hopefully- definitely hopefully- Searchman would not pay for the cost that had been required for him to live.
Raika sat in front of his small laptop, not actually focusing on his homework for once. He looked down at his lap, then the window again.
The window, of course, provided no answers to his many circling internal questions. Even if it was his homeland of Sharo outside, it would be the same.
He briefly looked down at himself, but just as before, could see nothing of the data that Dr. Hikari had firmly stated was inside of him. Nothing of the human DNA- which was confirmed to be Raika's, and vice-versa for his navi- could be seen in Searchman, either.
He pulled out his PET and opened the top. "Searchman, I'm sorry for causing you to think you had to do something so drastic."
Truly, for his net navi to do something that might endanger himself, such as ending up with their current strange combination, which was definitely queerer than the idea of cross fusion, should have not been necessary. For one thing, the change was not initiated by a battle chip and a dimensional area, and was not undone like cross fusion when the area dissipated.
Raika wished that he knew more about the merge. It made Searchman's future less certain. For himself, also, he supposed, but it was his navi that had saved him, the bumbling net op, in the first place.
"Raika, I would do anything to ensure your survival," Searchman responded firmly, "and not simply because of the instructions that I was downloaded with soon after my creation,"
"You are not just a creation," Raika immediately argued. He immediately recalled of when he had first received his navi, attempting to convince himself of the opposite, and he quickly attempted to force the memory away.
"Neither are you just my net op," his navi replied just as strongly.
Raika was quiet for a few minutes. "You still should not have done anything," he stated, looking at the window- something that was not the small green PET in his hand.
"And I say the same, Raika. You should not have attempted to sacrifice yourself for a mere navi."
Raika finally let his gaze wander back to his navi again, shown by the small screen of his PET, his eyes firm and resolute- perhaps just as much as when his superior for a mission one time had stated that most of the navis of all members of the group would not survive the incoming barrage of attacks. It had been Searchman then, who had initiated the plan, along with two other navis, to save not only the digital members of the temporary team, but had ended up saving the human ones also.
Raika huffed, slightly, almost feeling a laugh. "Well, next time there is a mission where you have a choice, choose yourself next time."
His faithful navi did not hesitate, though. "I could never do such a thing."
"And I could never choose to sacrifice you, either," Raika responded.
He then smiled, almost sadly, for he knew that for either of them to continue with the small argument would be futile. Both of them would save the other, without hesitation.
His navi was his best friend, though, and he never wanted to lose him. Ever.
"Let's hope that neither choice needs to be made, then," Raika said.
Truly, surely what Searchman had done would not be able to be relied on for a second time- if it even held up in the first place.
He looked at the window again. Dr. Hikari had stated to tell him about any odd quirks that he noticed with either himself or his navi- though even the scientist was not sure what they might be.
And the strange net navi . . . Well, Raika hoped that he would be more prepared if he saw him again.
At least for now, though, they were both- especially Searchman- all right.
Thanks to Starsoarer to helping to edit this story.
