Ok, to start off, I know need to rework ep 1 and ep 2's 1st half to be more correct on Tonion's accent and flesh out the over all story at a later date. I'm more aware of my errors now, but I wish to keep going forward as far as I can before I go back to fix typo's and other stuff.
Second, I wish to thank an old off-site friend and a new friend for helping me out with this. Khelder for being the grammar nut who kicked me in the rear end for this chapter, and Karanma Maeryl who is letting me keep up in my writing skills while I'm helping her out.
I also wish to let all of you readers know that I will start having things that are a reference to Mega Man X: Warmachine by Renegade Vile. I did got the green light from the author and wish to clarify that my story is not part of Renegade Vile's non-cannon continuity, so view this as a spin-off of sorts. Warmachine is a good read and I highly recommend it.
* = Author's notes (I will have a note about whatever had been marked with this. Hopefully, you won't see this thing alot.)
Episode Two: The Return of a Blue Bomber Part 2
Alpha was running on the net, trying to find anything of use without being found. The voice had been quiet since he returned to Netto, so the white navi had no idea if it did followed. But something was confusing Alpha-1: What was that feeling back when he was given the order?
"You worry... don't want... to lose boy..."
Well, he knew now that it did follow him. But the answer it gave him had confused him even more. He felt worry? How could he when he was a basic, uncustomized, off the shelf navi, who wasn't programed to feel emotions until he was given the upgrade?
Alpha stopped running, knowing that he was tasked with carrying out the next stage of the plan. This emotion issue can wait until he is done with his latest command.
Now what options did he have for his task? Messing with the system was open for him, but if his netop was unable to watch his back with the battle chips he would need then this idea was foolish. He could try finding unguarded data, and see if any of it was useful without fighting the system. Sounds like something he could do right now. Who knows, if he got really lucky, he might be able to find some good access codes to play with.
"Alpha think... of plan?" Alpha snapped to alarm at hearing the voice shortening his name. "Me here... to help... remember?... Me help...Me made friends..."
At that moment, a soft, happy and upbeat melody rung within the cybernet. The white navi felt a pull to listen to this call, but stayed put. The programs in the system on the other hand, started to reveal themselves by the dozens. Swordys, Spikeys, Mettaurs, Fishys, Rattys, and even a Scuttle or two came into sight. Alpha was unsure what to make of this.
"Friends... help save... humans in... tower...but don't... get found... Friend Alpha... has ideas... Follow Alpha's plan?"
The viruses all gave reactions that hinted that they wanted to listen and help their friend in whatever was needed of them. Alpha felt some of the "worry" emotion fade, since it looked like messing with this system in the biggest ways they could think of was now within their power. The white navi just hoped they could do it right.
"We're here, kid. This is the boss's stage, so you better not try anything funny." The calmer of the two reploids stated.
"I'm just a human. Your boss has the upper hand." Netto replied as he walked out to the main rooftop of the tower. It was showtime.
The rooftop was a roughly circular area, with a wall encircling it at about his own height. Tornado Tonion was up here, with a few Skelebats holding onto cameras, which would explain how his mug was showing up from up here. It also wasn't hard for Netto to spot his alternate "twin brother", who was still tied up. Hub looked really scared right now, and the netop couldn't blame him. The onion reploid looked to see who the guest was, with a look of shock that it was a human looking no older than his hostage.
"You be the one to come, hmm?" Tonion asked as he regained his composure.
"Yeah, I'm the one who wanted to come up here. You have a chip I was looking for." Netto answered as calm as he could.
"So, you know chip, yes? What use it to you, hmm?"
Netto sighed. This guy was going to make it hard to slip by without too much knowledge getting out. Well, if so, then twisting the truth might do for this. "It holds a part of a powerful AI program that only works with a unique device. I'll be happy to show you how to use it, of my own free will, if you let that boy go back home unharmed. You can take me as your hostage if you feel the need to keep the hunters out of your way."
The onion maverick looked deep in thought as he mulled the offer over. "That good offer, ja. How do I know this not trick, hmm?"
"I have no where to run to, and no where to hide. I'm just a mere human who has no way to fight you head on. You wanted info, and I came to give it in trade for the boy's safe return home." reasoned the boy.
"Boy has good answer." Tonion said with glee. "Boundings! Release hostage to hunters, unharmed, ja."
"Yes sir!" The two who had brought Netto here before came out to Hub, and undid the rope on his feet so he could walk with them to the hunters. As Hub was lead past Netto, the look Hub gave him was one of worry.
"Now you show me how chip works, yes?"
"Once I see him safe in hunter hands, I'll keep my word. You will wait until then." Netto stated firmly.
The maverick started to laugh. "Gahahahahah! Boy clever, yes. You made good program. Scanner not work on chip, ja."
Netto felt a bit floored right then. The maverick had just opened a door for the boy in a way. ~"He thinks I made that chip? I guess I'll let him go on thinking that."~
As the two Boundings came into sight, hunters had readied their weapons, but none wanted to shoot just yet. The human was with the Boundings.
As Hub was marched along towards the Hunter lines, his mind recalled the look on the other boy's face. The look of mischief in the netop's eyes that had lasted only for a second had told Hub that the other boy had planned on getting him out in the first place. Hub felt in awe at the lack of fear that was shown from a human in the face of mavericks.
X walked up to them, his well known X Buster ready for any sudden movements from the enemy. "What are you doing out here with the human?"
"Orders from the boss to bring this brat out to you hunters unharmed." One of the teal bots answered. "He still has a human hostage so don't try anything funny."
"Still has one? What do you mean by that?"
"The one who stepped forth to talk to the boss is a human. He has just replaced this one as the hostage. Now if you don't mind, we are going back to our post."
As the two mavericks headed back for the tower, Axl looked to Hub as he undid the ropes on the boy's hands. "What happened up there? Tonion's broadcast got cut off without warning."
"Someone about my age came up to make a deal with the Maverick: my safety for his willing cooperation with getting the chip to work." Hub answered with guilt. "That guy said something about the chip being a part to a powerful AI program."
"What?! Helping the Mavericks is going to get that kid into trouble that he won't be able to talk his way out of!" X stated. "Bad enough that he has been running around unregistered, but now this stunt?"
"I don't think that he's up there to help the mavericks." Hub said quickly.
"What makes you think that, kid?" questioned Zero.
"The look in his eyes when I walked pass him. He had a look that made me feel that it's the mavericks that are going to have trouble. I'm not sure how he's going to do it, but he's planning something." Hub replied, with more courage then he felt.
"I hope you're right." X said with worry in his voice again. "If you're wrong, then this kid is going to become a wanted man for this choice."
Netto watched as the Boundings passed Hub over to the Hunters. The boy was moved behind the Hunter's lines to where he would be safer in case of battle. Now that the hostage was safe, he was going to need to keep the onion maverick thinking that he did make the chip. Guess he better put on a good show, and look like he knew what he was doing.
"Boy with Hunters now. You keep word, ja?" Questioned Tornado Tonion.
"Yeah, I'll keep my word. Now you said that your scanner didn't work on the chip? What happened?" Netto asked as he gripped his original PET model tightly.
"While chip was scanned, scanner blew up. Firewall was found, ja?"
"It never did that before. I've scanned that chip many times before myself. I'm going to need to check the chip before I show you how to use it. No telling what damage it has from that."
"What you need for check, hmm?"
"Just this device I have here." Netto held up the old PET to show the device in question. "It's my computer aid. I always use it for scanning chips, just like the one you are holding."
"Very well. You check chip, ja."
As Tonion passed the chip over to Netto's right hand, an odd effect happened. The chip shone brightly, as it disappeared and entered Netto. The mark on the boy's hand went from white and black, to gold and red, with some of the black remaining in place.
"What the heck?!" Cried the boy in alarm.
"Net... Netto-kun?" Echoed a voice the young netop knew all too well within his head.
A crackle of electricity met the netop's ears as he snapped his focus back to the ticked off maverick in front of him. "Boy tricked me? I hate getting tricked!"
"Aw man!" Yelled the boy as he started skating away from the start of Tonion's Tornado Dance. The orange plates that made up the shell of the maverick had opened up like a flower, as he started to spin towards the boy surrounded by a spiral of electricity.
"Around and around!" crackled the onion reploid as he closed in on the boy, who was trying with all of his might to out-skate the deadly spiral of electricity.
"Netto-kun! He's getting too close!" Rockman called out from within.
"Gaea Shield!" called out a young voice the netop swore he'd heard before. The next thing Netto knew was someone landing near him and grabbing him, while a stone shield formed in front of them, blocking the electricity. Looking to see who had saved him, the boy was left speechless. It was the bot who chased him last night!
"You sure know how to get into trouble, don't ya, kid?" Axl asked Netto in a light hearted manner.
"Axl! How you got in, hmm?" Tonion asked bitterly as he stopped spinning. Axl started smirking.
"So you didn't got the memo yet? Your security system got hacked by some outside source calling himself Alpha-1, working for someone under the name 'Network'. They gave me an opening after contacting Hunter HQ with an E-mail."
Netto felt relief flood him at hearing Alpha had got the task done. ~"I owe Alpha-1 big time!"~
"Huh? You booted up that disk again?!" Rockman mentally yelled at his brother.
~"Chill Rockman! I needed a navi's help to reach you! This was nothing like last time, I swear!"~
Rockman sighed before he spoke again. "Netto-kun, we need to get out of here or use Cross Fusion to fight this guy. We're dead weight to this guy otherwise!"
~"Leaving right now isn't going to happen with this onion wanting me dead for my stunt."~
Netto snapped back to the problem at hand. Tornado Tonion was still ticked off at him.
Alpha-1 and the voice had been using one of the cameras to keep an eye on Netto and much to the relief of the white navi, a S class Hunter had reached the boy in time. The chip merging into the netop was confusing but a reading was trying to make itself known from the child
"We need... to let... reading out..."
Alpha nodded as he watched Axl dodge around the circular roof holding on to Netto in a bid to protect the boy until X and Zero can make it up there.
"Me can't... do it... as me am... need to merge... with one... like Alpha... let real...power show..."
Alpha felt confusion set in once more. Should he take up the marge? The memory of the orders still echoed within him...
"Alpha-1, I need you to see if you can find anything you can do from within this system that will either give me the upper-hand or let the Hunters get in without costing us the hostage." The boy commanded in his hushed whisper.
Hunters gaining a path was done with, but Netto needed the upper-hand. If the voice can help like he said, then he needed to try.
Checking on the progress of X and Zero, who were having to fight their way past the grunts, the white navi didn't like the time they were taking. Alpha made up his mind, and hoped that he won't regret it later.
X was blasting swarms of Skelebats down with his X Buster, as Zero was cutting down any Boundings that got in their way. The number of enemies that Tornado Tonion had brought with him was a wonderment, since the Hunters were going to hear it from the higher ups for letting this many get pass their security.
"Zero! This is taking too long!" X yelled over the sounds of battle.
"I know, X! We can only keep pushing and hope Axl can handle things until we get up there ourselves!" Zero shouted back to X as he cut down another bot.
A beeping from both of the S-class com-links sounded off, but X was the only one who could answer. Zero had his hands full.
"X here! How's Axl holding up with the human?" asked the blue hunter as his free hand cupped the side of the his helmet to turn on the com-link.
Alia's worried voice sounded in X's ear as she replied. "Not looking good for them I'm afraid. The child is still unharmed, but it's only a matter of time before Axl's energy runs out. They'll be sitting ducks soon!"
"Shoot! Alia, is there anything any of you ladies can tell me and Zero that can help us get to Axl?"
"Nothing has caught our eyes y... What the?! "
"Alia? What's going on?"
"The unknown energy reading! It's at the top of the tower! But the video feeds only show the boy, Axl and Tornado Tonion."
"Axl, and Tornado Tonion don't give off this reading and the boy is the only common factor from last night's report..."
"Then what the heck is that boy?"
Axl was still dodging Tonion in an attempt to keep the human safe. Every time he tried to let the boy make an escape, Tonion tried to strike the boy. This was bad. What was taking the other hunters so long?
"Gahahahah! No place to go, ja!" taunted the ticked off onion.
"Young sir!" called a new voice from the PET. Netto looked towards the screen, coming face to face with a black cloaked navi. The hood hiding his face left only the glowing gold eyes visible, but his stance told the young netop that he was here on business.
"Why are you here?"
"I apologize sir, but Alpha-1 has been removed from play. My name is Yamir, and I will taking his place at his request." The navi said with a bow.
"Anytime then! This guy is wearing me out!" Axl stated as he summoned another Gaea Shield to block more electricity, with more of Tonion's maddening laughter.
"Very well. This will take a lot out of me, so please be ready young sir. It will be up to you once I start this." informed Yamir.
"Right!" agreed the child as he looked for his cue to act.
Yamir stood in front of the blue broadcast core in the tower's system, moving forward to place his black hands onto the sphere of data. The core started to put out a massive amount of energy as he channeled the power to create what his netop needed.
Axl heard a beep from his com-link, so he answered as he continued to buy time for whatever that "Yamir" had planed. "I'm kinda busy here!"
"Axl, you really need to do something! A cyber field is forming right where you are!" Pallette reported with alarm.
"A cyber field?!" the shapeshifter repeated as he looked around him. The surrounding area was starting to show floating bits of data, at which Netto looked surprised. He wondered what the shadow like navi was planning.
"Is this another trick, boy?" questioned the Maverick.
"Netto-kun! Let's hurry! I don't know how long this will last, but we might be able to do Cross Fusion." urged Rockman.
Netto didn't need any other encouragement as he stood up behind Axl and his shield. Putting all of his focus into the bond he shared with Rockman, he finally felt the power he needed to call on.
"Synchro Chip! Slot in!" The amount of data was beginning to build up around the mark on Netto's right hand as he felt the Synchro program take ahold of him. "Cross Fusion!"
"What the?!" Axl yelled in surprise, as a light engulfed the human behind him. When the light cleared away, a blue bomber stood where the human was a minute ago.
"Hmm? Where is boy. ja?"
"I am him, Tornado Tonion. I told you that I would show you how to use it, but I didn't say in what manner."
"You said you no fight!"
"Correct, I did say 'I'm a mere human who couldn't fight you head on', but that changed as soon as I got my chip back. Hey, Axl. Let's make this onion cry."
Axl allowed a grin show up on his face. "Yeah, before someone smashes their monitor."
"Ooh! This my stage! I won't let you steal my show!" claimed the angered maverick as the armored plates linked up into a whip like line. "I whip your butts!"
The boys moved in opposite directions as they dodged the linked plates that Tonion slammed at the place they had been standing at. Looking back, the netop saw the plates were leading back to the Maverick himself but the torso was now vulnerable. Axl on the other hand, started shooting with his pistols now that there was an opening.
"You whip us? I don't think so!" Axl taunted back as his bullets landed some hits. "You've forgotten that I know how to deal with you?"
"Netto-kun, I just checked our preloaded battle chips." Rockman called mentally. "We never changed the set from our encounter with Shademan. But for some reason Area Steal is missing."
~"Nevermind about the Area Steal. What chips do we have left?"~ Netto asked over their link as he jumped over the sweeping Wiper.
"Barrier, Step Sword, and Anti-Recovery. Nothing for battling a electric type." was Rockman's reply.
~"They will have to do then."~ Netto thought as he tried to come up with a plan. By now, the onion based reploid had replaced the plates back onto his body, hiding the weak torso.
"You think one who brought me back would leave same weakness? You be fool, Axl!" Tonion gloated as he started to spin again.
"You're the fool for using the same moves as last time. You are still predictable." the shapeshifter remarked in return.
"I make wall, ja?" Tonion responded with the so-called question as he used the protective plates to line up in a row and send them at the boys.
Both of them jumped over the moving wall and landed as it exploded behind them, only to see the damage on the onion's stomach healing as the missing plates regenerated. Axl looked pale as it dawned on him why the maverick wasn't changing his tactics.
"Aw crud. What a time to fight a healing enemy when I'm running low on energy myself." Axl stated in a low voice for his team mate. "You got any ideas we can try?"
"Maybe. What does he do when you get close to him?" Netto asked in reply as they avoided another wall.
"An upgrade to the attack we ran from while waiting on backup. The rotten vegetable calls it 'Storm'."
"So basically another electrified tornado but stronger."
"Pretty much." Axl confirmed as they dodged another explosion from the plate walls
"Than how many more of those Gaea Shields you got left?"
"Enough weapon energy for 2 or 3 more. My main energy levels won't last much longer either so I'm not going to be much help soon." informed the young hunter as Tonion prepared to use Wiper once more.
"And I got one shot with each of my extra moves. Lets make this count then."
Axl smirked. "So you do have a plan? Just tell me what to do."
Tonion watched as the boys dodged another sweep of Wiper, but Axl fell to one knee, his low energy levels taking it's toll on the young reploid. The plates returned to it's owner as he started to spin again.
"It's fun to spin, ja!" crackled the maverick as he sent another wall of plates targeting the shapeshifter.
Axl could only brace himself for the impact, but a flash of blue got in front of him as the wall reached them, exploding on contact. Tonion's laughter echoed around the cyber field, happy to see he had won. No human should have survived that, and the former Red Alert youngster was unable to defend. As the onion based reploid walked over to the point of impact, wanting to see the damage up close, the smoke started to clear.
"What's this?" questioned the confused maverick reploid.
"My Barrier. Like it?" replied the blue bomber.
Instead of bodies, a pale blue dome was protecting the boys, both ready for the counterattack. Axl charged first, summoning a new Gaea Shield in front of himself as his boosters sent him forward at a quick pace.
"Here I come, you lousy clown!" Axl yelled as he rushed the startled onion.
Tonion barely had time to start another electrified tornado, with his plates spinning around him as he stood where he was. Axl used the stone shield to block the electricity, his left hand grabbing one of the spinning plates and forcing it to turn vertical, stopping the rest of the rotation. Nothing was protecting the stomach now.
"NOW!" Axl yelled to his team mate.
"StepSword!" Netto called out as a Widesword formed on his right hand, followed by him teleporting to Axl's right side.
"Anti-Recovery!" Purple energy covered the sword as the netop swung the sword with all of his might in a forward swing, cutting the torso in two. The energy started to eat away at Tonion as his body tried to heal itself.
"I failed. I try... so hard..." Tonion muttered as his systems shut down.
Axl grabbed the blue bomber and jumped back, away from the explosion of Tonion's body.
"That worked!" Axl stated as he let go of Netto. "What the heck did you do to him?"
"Anti-Recovery hurts a healing foe by turning the healing into damage. Basically I turned his own ability on him."
The cyber field was disappearing, forcing Cross Fusion to revert back into the blue and silver Advanced PET model Netto had been worried about. The screen revealed that Rockman was in one piece, bringing relief to the human boy. The blue navi on the other hand didn't look so pleased, with his arms crossed in front of him.
"You've got some explaining to do, Net-..." Rockman started before he got cut off by Netto.
"Nevermind that Rockman. I'm worried about Yamir." Netto said as he headed down the stairs. He looked for a new infrared port so he could send his brother into the net to get Yamir out. Spotting a key card pad with the needed port, the boy took aim with the newer PET.
"Plug-in! transmission!"
Rockman opened his eyes to see the network around him was covered with viruses. Some had stopped what they were doing to look at the new comer. Netto turned on his screen to look around as well.
"Woah! Theres so many. How did Alpha-1 and Yamir get past all of them?" wondered the boy.
At the mention of the names, a pack of Rattys came over with the unconscious Yamir on them. The blue bomber got ahold of the black navi and stood up.
"Where's the other navi?" the blue bomber asked as he looked around. One of the Swordys pointed at Yamir as a form of answer. Netto thought about it for a moment before taking a guess.
"He knows where to find Alpha-1?" The viruses start to nod, some acting joyful that the human got the hint.
"I never thought I would say this to viruses, but thank you for watching over him for us." Rockman said before he looked to the screen. "Let's go, Net-"
"What are you doing here kid?" asked a gentle male voice. The boy looked to see that the voice belonged to a blue reploid who reminded him of his twin brother. The red reploid who was with the blue one also made the boy feel deja vu all of a sudden. Axl picked that time to come down the stairs behind the netop, taking his time due to his low energy.
"X! Zero! Did the navigators told you guys yet that me and this guy took out Tornado Tonion?"
"Alia did call us about that, Axl. Are you aware that the cameras were rolling again after the cyber field formed?" Zero countered. "The hacker didn't mind showing everyone what was happening on the rooftop."
"Really? Then what are the hunters going to do about my team mate here?" Axl questioned as he looked at his fellow hunters. "He was trying to get the program away from the Mavericks from what I heard on the roof"
"He is using unknown technology Axl, and has shown that it can be dangerous in the wrong hands. It's also unheard of for a human to give off an energy signature, so we need to take him in for questioning on that subject alone." X answered as he looked to the shapeshifter. "He may have helped, but we can't risk this event repeating itself."
Netto didn't like the sound of that. He needed to figure out what that unknown voice who brought him here wanted him to find so he can go home. Go home and stop the evil navis that are making chaos. The boy looked back to the screen to see Rockman had returned with Yamir to his PET. Time to leave this place.
"Axl is right. I was reclaiming something of mine that had nothing to do with Hunters or Maverick unless I use it on a target. Today, my target was Tornado Tonion, so I was on your side. I wish I could hang out and get to know you guys, but I got a bigger goal I need to reach." Netto smiled before he shut his eyes, hoping his next words would work.
"Blind them!" The boy yelled for the viruses. The little things wasted no time in showing that they heard him as the lights that were in working order, suddenly turned very bright, blinding the reploids.
"What the heck?!" yelled Zero as he tried to shielded his eyes too late.
"Ja ne!*" said the boy as he speeded pass the blinded reploids and headed down for the second floor. As the child raced, the wreckage of the Maverick bots was everywhere in the halls, telling the outcome of X and Zero's fight to reach the roof. It was a relief that he didn't need to fight any of these bots, since he knew a 'cyber field' wasn't going to happen twice today.
Making it to the second floor like he wanted, he spotted an undamaged window and went to check it. It was unlocked, letting the boy open it and look outside. Clear ground and good for his roller-blades. Perfect. He slipped on his skates and jumped.
The landing was easy to nail, after all of the times he used this get away tactic. Skating with everything he had, Netto zipped passed the gate and any hunters in his path as he left the area, unaware of the single red eye watching him.
The eye belonged to a male green armored figure, who had seen the whole thing from a safe viewpoint. "Well, well, a human who can fight and willing to ditch the Maverick Hunters. Looks like things got interesting."
"Oh no, what are you thinking about?" Questioned a young female voice over the unknown watcher's active communication link. "You better not do anything that will hurt that child."
"Nah, I'm going to enjoy this inconvenience the politicians' lap dogs are gonna have to deal with. How everyday is it that a puny human can fight a reploid, win the battle, and leave the best of the hunters in the dust?" the stranger said before he released a dark chuckle at the sight of the kid getting pass the last of the hunter barricade on inline skates. "You were watching from the feed yourself and saw it as much as I did. That hunter brat needed the kid's help in the end."
A sigh was heard on the other end before the operator's voice returned. "He does stand out but I didn't think he would get your attention like this. I guess it was a good thing he got there before you could jump in. You never were good at getting hostages out of tight spots unless you really needed them alive."
The watcher could no longer see the young human in his line of sight. Looks like the show was over for now. "I'm going to head back. Transfer me before the hunters see me."
"Rodger. See you shortly." the operator said as the green reploid was transferred to wherever he was headed for.
For the three hunters in the tower, their eyes had recovered from the blinding lights. Zero looked really displeased with that stunt, while X and Axl was confused. X released a sigh before he looked the young hunter.
"Axl, did you heard anything from the child while you were with him? Anything at all?"
Axl nodded as he recalled what he did hear. "He was talking to others over his handheld devices. Someone who called himself 'Yamir' and the second voice was called Rockman by the kid. Rockman called the kid 'Net' but it sounded like he was cut off from finishing the name."
"And we got someone under the name 'Network' sending hackers. Maybe there's a connection?" X mused as Zero looked even more annoyed.
"Then we've missed a potential danger." Zero said with anger in his voice as he started to head out. "I don't know about you, but I want reach the bottom of this quickly."
Axl felt so torn as X helped him walk out of the tower. 'Net' helped save a hostage, removed a powerful program from Maverick hands, and even aided in the fight. Just what goal would a human or whatever 'Net' was, have that would make them risk being marked as a criminal? The shapeshifter made the decision to find out. One way or another.
Ep 2 end
Author's notes
"Ja ne" - informal version of "See you" in Japanese. (If the site I looked it up on is correct...)
Netto has used this version of "see ya" a lot in the anime, so I wanted to bring it in to keep him in character. I don't plan on going crazy on the Japanese terms since I've gotten lost on fics that had too much of it.
Review and share your thoughts. Critiques are welcomed, but no flamethrowers. I don't like people insulting just cuz they can.