A/N: I actually had a bit of problems with this third chapter, especially in deciding if I should use the Japanese suffixes that Blues and Rockman give to their operators. Having only seen the English version of the anime, all I know is that Blues always call Enzan "Enzan-sama" and Rockman goes for "Netto-kun". Now, "sir Enzan" and a simple "Netto" (unless the situation called for it) sounds really odd to me.

I'm not one of those Japanese obsessed people that loves to insert as many Japanese words in her fic as possible (and then have to put a glossary/translation at the end), but I feel that these can be an exception to the rule, especially if you saw the anime in its original language and you are used to the original names of the characters.

Also, I'm looking for the Japanese names for Forte's abilities. I know a couple, but not them all (I know that in the movie he uses "Darkness Overload" and "Dark Arm Blade")

Also, I'm looking for someone that can draw me Netto Cross Fused with Forte (since I'm extremely bad at drawing humans). If you want to do that, feel free to do it. I'd really like to see how you depict them after reading my initial description on chapter one.

Again, this is not betaed, nor something I put too much effort in reaching perfection. I write this for fun and because I really want to tell this story, after all. So, please, forgive me the errors and grammatical mishaps I do. Btw, I hope the fight scene towards the end is something worth reading. I'm not really good at that kind of stuff…

Az.

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Enzan brought his right hand up to rub at his face and sighed. There was no way he would be able to write the report that his superior had asked him. Netto had been missing for three weeks and no amount of searching seemed to find him. That, he had to admit it, was starting to really worry him. Rockman, however, was the worst of them all.

The blue navi hadn't slept at all since his operator had disappeared and more than once Yuichiro had to force him into rest. Right now he was walking up and down in Enzan's red PET and Blues was having a distracting conversation with him to prevent him from literally breaking down into pieces of data.

The boy sighed, only partially hearing the two navi talking to each other, and closed his laptop – there was no use in keeping it on if he was unable to write something in it – before taking out a postcard from his bag.

It had been two days ago, now, that he had received it. It came from Amerope, in particular a small town known for its seafood and the valley it was nestled into, had an overload of stamps and – Rockman instantly confirmed it – it had been written by Netto.

That alone was the reason why he was now on a plane and headed for the town of Seaville.

Turning the postcard around to read the message on the back, Enzan frowned. The message, scribbled in a haste, was cryptic. Something that the boy knew that Netto was unable to do, or at least never bothered to do. Coupled with the fact that he had been missing for so long and that he had preferred an old fashioned postcard rather than a phone call, well, the boy had become instantly suspicious.

"This cliff is a nice place for watching sunsets, and the rare pink pebble is a nice souvenir to take home."

Enzan's muttering attracted his navi's attention, who finally gave up on stopping Rockman from pacing. "Still thinking about that message, Enzan-sama?"

The white haired boy nodded. "Yes. Obviously Netto want us to go here, or he wouldn't have gone as far as sending us this postcard…" he spoke lowly to not attract the attention of the other passengers around him. He would have taken a plane owned by his company, but he had the feeling that if he did that, someone that wasn't supposed to know would have noticed.

So, after agreeing with Rockman that no one beside them should know about the message from their missing friend, Enzan had gone to the airport and took the first available seat on a plane, directed as close to Seaville as possible. Hopefully that had thrown any possible stalkers off for a while.

"With such a message on it…" he continued. "And in red ink, too. I have the feeling that Netto was in a rush when he wrote this…"

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The sneeze that suddenly shook his body rocked his precarious perch, forcing Netto to cling to the rock wall behind his back with his fingers. "This wouldn't have happened if you told me how to fly!"

And I told you, human, how I fly is something that cannot be taught! You just do it, you useless cretin!

Netto's cape waved gently into the air as the sea breeze blew past him and the boy felt the branch slightly give in under his weight. Below him, a few hundreds feet down, the waves angrily crashed against pointed rocks.

"Peachy…" he muttered. "Just… peachy."

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It was only a day later that Enzan finally walked through the wood to reach the cliff depicted in the postcard. Ever wary of possible stalkers, the boy maintained a quick pace as he navigated past trees and bushes with the aid of a local map Blues had found. He was close now, and he could faintly hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks.

"Enzan-sama," the call coming from his PET halted the boy's progress through the trees, "I'm detecting odd energy emissions coming from the cliff ahead."

Enzan grabbed his PET from his belt and brought it up, activating the hovering touch-screen to watch as his navi displayed a technical diagram that he could barely understand despite his rather large knowledge. Still, from what little he could understand of the numbers, lines and bars, this was something that he had never seen before.

"Keep a record of it, Blues. Maybe Professor Hikari will get something useful out of it."

Once his navi nodded in acknowledgment, the boy replaced the PET back into its holster and resumed walking. "Netto, what kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?" he asked to himself in a whisper.

"Do you think that someone is trying to hurt Netto-kun?"

Rockman's voice was filled with worry and Enzan couldn't help but feel sorry for the blue navi. After getting to know him and his operator, he had understood the importance of friendship and he knew exactly how Netto and Rockman were especially close. Not even deletion by the hands of Pharaohman had kept them separated for long.

"I don't know, Rockman," he replied, frowning as he walked under a low branch and stepped out of the wood. "But if Netto managed to send us a message, then I'm willing to bet he is just fine."

Rockman made a noise of acknowledgment. "I hope we can find him soon… mom and dad are really worried…"

Enzan let his eyes scan his new surroundings. He was roughly on the same place as the one depicted on the postcard, with the town of Seaville being visible to his left and the blue expanse of water in front of him. The sun was high into the sky and angrily heated anything that was under its rays, rendering the day perfect for a trip at the beach.

It was a nice spot overall, but there was no sign of Netto.

Walking further towards the edge of the cliff, and being careful to not slip, the boy peeked down at the sea. The wall was vertical, almost smooth, with only a few ledges here and there to grab onto. There was also a small tree hanging from a fissure that had a broken branch, but no signs of brown haired, loud mouthed kids.

Thinking back at the cryptic message, however, he backtracked from the edge and looked down at the ground. It was a plain rocky surface, with patches of dirt and grass, but rarely a piece of loose rock.

"This is going to take a while…"

And indeed it took him a while to find what he had peen pointed to. Almost four incessant hours of searching up and down the length of the cliff, with Blues and Rockman scanning the area for anything worth mentioning and keeping an eye on that odd energy reading. It was unknown if the radiation was harmful for human's or navi's health, but so far, nothing bad had happened to the trio because of it.

Now crouching onto the ground, Enzan's blue eyes observed the pale pink pebble in his hand. One side was smooth to the touch, but the other face presented a small symbol in red ink. The lines were wobbly and imprecise, with a few smudges here and there, but the design was recognizable.

It was another message from Netto. He was sure of that.

"Blues," he called as he stood up and took his PET out. "See if you can find anything about this symbol."

Without an access to the net and its wide source of information, the two navis were forced to search the smaller databanks of Enzan's PET. "Enzan-sama, we found a match." Blues said after a few minutes of silence. "The company that owned it closed six years ago for bankruptcy. Osamu Michiro, the owner, was found to be guilty of diverting the money needed for medical research, but no one ever found out what it was used for, and he escaped capture. The company used to be a partner with IPC and had close ties with SciLabs."

Enzan nodded in understanding and clenched his fist around the small pebble, suddenly feeling that whatever was going on had become much more complicated. "You better be safe, Netto," he said to the air as he turned around to go back to the city. Now that he had found the clue left by his friend, there was nothing left to do at the cliff.

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Netto sneezed again as he crawled out of the bubbling sea and onto an hopefully deserted beach. "I hope I'm not getting a cold…" he muttered as he squeezed his cape to get rid of excessive water. "I already have enough problem as it is…"

It's your fault if we fell into the sea, Forte commented grumpily. I told you to jump back on top, but no. You had to be reluctant.

Feeling that his cloak had been wrung enough, Netto returned it around his shoulders and let it hide his body once again. "And I thought that I told you that we were being followed," he paused briefly and scanned the beach up and down. "And no. Tearing people apart is not an option, Forte. It's wrong."

Human are useless filth. The only thing that they deserve is being erased from the face of the planet.

The boy trudged through the sand, relaxed but with his senses on full alert. "Too bad you're stuck with me, then. But really, you should get to know us, Forte. Some of us are evil, but there are a lot of good people out there that deserve to at least be left alone to live an happy life."

You disgust me, human, the black navi sneered, angry that he couldn't end the boy's life and go back to the net and his lone existence. Your words, your ideas… everything of you disgust me to no end. You deserve nothing but complete destruction. You don't deserve to live.

Taken aback by the strong hate coming from Forte, Netto stopped walking and looked up at the clear sky, feeling mentally weary. Most of the time their forced coexistence was quiet and there was a mutual agreement to not tear each other's mind apart, but there were times when having to deal with the navi's dark emotions for humanity put an heavy toll on both his consciousness and body. Sometimes the hate and anger was so much that it even physically hurt…

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on the scent and taste of the salty air coming from the sea behind him. There was no way that he was going to lose to Forte's emotions and he would even go as far as to convince him that humans weren't that bad.

"You kind of reminds me of Enzan, you know?" he suddenly spoke. "He used to not care about anything that he didn't deem worthy enough of his attention. But in the end we became friends. Sure, sometimes he still gets on my nerves, but that's part of who he is."

His brown eyes softened – an odd sight since after Cross Fusion they had become shaped like Forte's – and a content smile appeared on his lips. The navi hadn't replied to what he had said yet, so he hoped that he was at least thinking about his words.

I don't need a life lesson from you, human, his companion replied, voice quiet and strangely devoid of malice. Besides, we have something more pressing to take care of at the moment…

Netto returned his gaze back to the beach and observed as several presences crawled through the inland vegetation. Some where as big as Stoneman, but most of them were the size of an adult human.

"What the… navi in the real world without a Dimensional Area?"

Netto was truly baffled as the twelve or so NetNavis walked under the sun in a thick line. They were armed to the teeth with both long and close ranged weapons. "You are to come with us," an average black and purple navi stated emotionlessly, almost like a robot.

The boy frowned in worry. They had finally cornered him and he still didn't had any real grasp on Forte's natural abilities. All that he had at disposition was the superior physical strength and his quick thinking.

"Looks like there is no other way out but to fight…"

For the first time since they had been stuck together, Forte agreed with him wholeheartedly. Destroy. Destroy them all! he said with a wide maniacal grin. I want to feel their data crumble under my fingers!

Netto wasn't really happy to have a power-hungry, psychotic voice telling him what to do with the lives of his enemy, but he had to admit that it was either their death or his capture, and he wasn't planning to be caught. Not now, nor in the distant future.

Taking a step back from the group of navis, the boy quickly scanned for the weakest link in the chain. The small yellow and green one to the far left looked promising, but he wouldn't count on that until he actually fought with them.

"What do you want from me?"

Stall for time, let them get impatient and make the first move – hopefully a wrong one – and maybe get some useful information in the process. Evil guys usually loved to brag about their plan at some point. Even Forte fell into the category a few times in the past and had gone as far as explain to Rockman why he wanted his Ultimate Program the first time he had tried to get it.

Trusting the black navi to warn him of any incoming attack, Netto focused on collecting a small amount of energy in his hands. He was still far from controlling it with a simple thought, but he was slowly getting the hang of it.

"Not you, puny human," Netto, having successfully summoned the energy he needed, had returned his attention back on his attackers. Idly, he wondered why he was stuck with every navi in the world that seemed to love insulting him. "But the navi that is with you."

The boy raised an eyebrow as he took another step backwards. "But since Forte is stuck with me, whatever you want with him, you want with me too, so the question still remains. What do you want from me?"

The navi that was talking with him snarled and raised a hand to point at him. "Seize him!"

Having received the order from their ringleader, the first two navi charged forwards. To say that they were the complete opposite of each other was an understatement. One was large, slow and covered in a bulky armor complete with spikes, the other was small, quick on his feet and had been programmed to look like an harmless child.

The first one to reach him was the kid, whom in his exuberance to please his boss did the error to jump at his target holding his sword high up into the air for a downward strike. He was the first one to meet his end by one of Netto's hidden energy attacks.

Jumping through the mist of data, the boy stretched his hand and hit the second attacking navi right on his emblem, deleting him even before he could realize that his own attack had been sidestepped so easily.

Netto easily landed on the sand and watched the remaining navis from behind the rim of his cloak. Thanks to his surprise counterattack, two of his attackers were out of the fight, but now that the enemy realized that he shouldn't be underestimated, things would get harder to deal with.

Without warning, the boy dashed forwards and directed himself towards the green and yellow navi he had noticed earlier. The sudden charge caught the enemy by surprise and Netto was able to land a punch to his sternum, winding him, before he was forced to jump backwards to avoid a sword attack from a fantasy RPG paladin-like navi.

Somersaulting into the air and landing back onto the beach in a crouch, Netto narrowed his eyes at the sword-wielding opponent. "Forte, that guy is someone that we need to keep a special eye on."

Forte snorted in indignation, but he understood why his host was being wary of that particular opponent despite the huge amount of energy at his disposal. Without being able to easily summon any special attack, the boy would have to be careful of anything remotely decent at fighting. If I was on my own, human, that sorry excuse for a navi wouldn't last a second against me.

Netto chuckled in amusement as he sidestepped another sword attack and briefly glanced at the other navis that were quickly joining the fight. "Too bad you're not in control, then. I would like the help."

I remind you, human, that I do this for my own survival, the black navi retorted as he kept his senses trained onto the paladin. I can't care less of what happens to you.

The boy jumped in the air and landed on the back of a large navi, punching him at the base of the neck so violently that the damaged area exploded in a shower of corrupted data. Having received a fatal wound, the large navi collapsed in a heap on the ground and dissolved into thin area.

Seeing another companion lost to the black fury that Netto was, the remaining enemy navis grouped around their leader and paused in their attack to come up with a more effective plan to capture him. The boy however, seeing their reluctance in blindly attacking him, took the opportunity to summon more energy in his hands and jumped into the air, his cape trailing behind him. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but his instincts were telling him to act in that particular way.

"Darkness…" the energy in his hands increased tenfold and Netto felt a rush of pain shot up his arms as the power became almost uncontrollable. "…Overload!"

And when he slammed onto the ground amongst his enemies hands first, he found himself propelled through the air in a spin as an explosion of black energy deleted all the navis that weren't fast enough to get out of the way. He then landed onto the sand with a loud thud and gasped as his hands felt like they had been submerged into acid.

To your left!

Without thinking and still feeling dizzy from his recent attack, Netto rolled away from yet another sword attack. He quickly stood up on one knee and lifted his head to look at the paladin-like navi with narrowed eyes. Out of all the navis, whom where either deleted or laying unconscious or wounded on the ground, he barely had a scratch on his armor.

"I must admit, kid," he said as he patted crystallized sand off his left shoulder. "I am impressed. You have more control on the navi's abilities than we originally thought."

Netto grunted and stood back onto his feet, wobbling slightly. He felt winded and his hands ached, but he was not going to surrender to the enemy.

"This time you get off easy," the navi continued, replacing the sword with his hand. "But next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."

The boy raised an eyebrow at he odd antics of his enemy and watched as he disappeared into a shower of data along with the others, leaving the beach as deserted as it had been when he had crawled out of the sea.

Not wanting to watch a gift horse in the mouth, Netto pinched the bridge of his nose and trudged through the rest of the beach to disappear into the inland vegetation. "That was too much…" he muttered to himself as he felt an oncoming migraine pervade his brain. "I won't do that anytime soon. At least not until I have a better grasp on all this energy…"

While his host navigated through the trees directed back to the city – and hopefully a painkiller – Forte was left thinking. For the first time since finding himself stuck into the mind of a human boy, he had realized that the kid wasn't as useless as he had originally thought. It had barely been five days since he had started to use his energy and already he was getting around to manipulate it with increasing efficiency.

Go south, human, he said as he brought up a map of the local zone he had obtained during their brief visit to the town of Seaville. There is another city a day of walk from here. We might as well get on a plane and go back to your home country. We have been in this place long enough.

Netto nodded and let his cloak envelop him once again. "I would have waited for Enzan to come to the cliff," he muttered more to himself than his companion. "But I knew this would happen so all I could do was leave that hint for him to pick up… I just hope he can find more about it than I can…"