~Chapter 2~
Like after every other meeting, chaos ensued in the office.
Every NetNavi was getting ready to leave to their delivery duty, and it was noisy, crowded, and had everyone floating all over the place in every direction.
except for two NetNavis who were standing calmly, watching everything from the side.
"Lei, promise me to be careful, okay?" Dean said, his expression still incredibly worried.
The female Navi smiled up at him.
"I already told you, I'm gonna be fine! I'm not worried about this at all, I mean, I finally have an interesting delivery." She answered him.
He sighed deeply.
"I know you're not worried about this, that's why I am." The male Navi explained.
"Worryrat" she said playfully while giving him a big grin.
But he couldn't help but worry.
'This girl I swear...' Dean thought to himself, 'Will she really be alright?'
Dean and Lei have known each other for a few years now, and were good friends. He was mostly the one to snap her back out of her dreamworld whenever she got lost in her thoughts, and she returned the favor by giving him advice on how to deal with problematic customers, because if there's one thing that Lei had, it was a natural gift and patience for dealing with people and NetNavis alike. She was always anxious to complete her duty and deliver her messages, and she was more than happy to make new friends along the way and come back to the office with stories about her day that she told with such excitement, it was hard not to listen.
Her positive attitude was simply infectious.
But was that enough?
He escorted her to the entrance of the office, where they both grabbed their company's trademark square, orange messenger bags with the metal, enveloped-shaped clasp, and filled them each with their delivery for the week.
In Lei's case however, that included only one letter.
'I can't believe I have to drag this whole bag with me for one letter.. Stupid rules' She thought to herself, 'Whatever, at least it's fashionable'
She grabbed the strap and put it over her head and onto her left shoulder, so the bag could safely rest against the right side of her waist, on top of her Navi messenger outfit which consisted of a white mini-dress, a full black tight bodysuit underneath, white thigh-high boots with light blue streaks and white gloves that went all the way up to her upper arms, also with matching light blue streaks. Her helmet was mostly white, and had the same blue streaks in it. Perhaps the most distinctive part of it was the symbol of the Messenger Company – two small white wings that came out of the top two sides of her helmet.
She turned to Dean.
"Well, I'll be off then!" She chirped with excitement.
"Yeah, me too." Dean opened the door out of the building, and they both began floating in different directions.
"Lei!" He suddenly yelled back at her, his voice made her stop and turn around, "I'll check up on you through the Communication Service, so make sure to actually answer!"
She only smiled wide and waved her hand at him, then turned around rapidly, which made her long, thick brown ponytail fly after her.
Dean stayed in his place for a couple more seconds as he watched her figure disappear out of the city, and turned back on his heel to continue with his own delivery. Though he tried not to think about it, he couldn't help but still worry about this task being given to her as a form of punishment.
'What was the boss thinking sending a Navi like Lei of all people into the UnderNet?' He wondered, 'She can't even defend herself.'
Communication Messenger NetNavis were special Navis with no option to engage in a fight, their duty was to simply help deliver messages and e-mails all around the CyberWorld to other Navis out of reach of reception area/Navis not part of the official Communication Network System.
And even if that wasn't enough, Lei was a rather petite NetNavi that didn't even look like a fighter.
"Well, maybe if she's lucky, She'll get to meet.. him." He said to himself, and continued on his way.
'Hmm, so first I need to find the entrance to the UnderNet' Lei thought to herself as she opened her GPS system and floated out of the busy city area.
She trailed off for what felt like an hour with no other NetNavis around, until she reached a large, square arch.
"Oh, according to the GPS this is it." She started moving forward, but suddenly stopped.
Lei looked ahead into the UnderNet and stood there for a minute.
She then stretched out her arms, clapped her hands together and smiled.
"Let's deliver!" She called, now filled with determination, and flew inside.
As she went further and further into the UnderNet, Lei noticed her GPS stopped working. This was due to the UnderNet being notorious for messing up navigation systems, and it didn't surprise her.
'I guess I'm completely on my own now.' She thought to herself as she continued floating down the path. 'I wonder how will I even find him?' But she was easily distracted by everything in front of her – she gasped as she suddenly noticed orbs flying all around her, sky so different from NetCity that she couldn't even name its color, and ground that looked like it was freshly destroyed and turned raw from a recent battle.
She thought it was somewhat beautiful.
Lei then turned and floated backwards again, staring at where she came from.
'How can two places so close to each other be so different?' She pondered, 'NetCity is like an upside down version of this place or something' The female Navi giggled, as she turned herself upside down as well, mid-float, feet in the air, while still continuing to move, her long ponytail falling way below her.
It all just seemed like a very odd sight.
"Having fun, aren't we?" Asked a calm and collected voice.
Lei jumped a bit and started turning around, still upside-down, for the source of it, until she finally locked eyes with the person who was speaking to her.
It was a rather slender, but tall Navi, with dark skin and an amused expression on his face. His outfit mostly consisted of black and gold, with big baggy white pants and a black tight bodysuit shirt, gold helmet with two long, yellow, hair looking parts coming out of it, and orange raiments surrounding his body.
She then quickly flipped herself back into a normal position, but didn't say anything, Lei just stared at the Navi in front of her with large blue eyes for a minute, then opened her mouth to say something.
"You..." She started with a big pause.
"Yes?" The male Navi looked at her, anticipating.
"...Look like a banana."
The strange remark caught him off guard as his eyes widened at the odd girl in front of him.
"Well.. It's not like it's a bad thing." She continued.
"Oh?" He asked, still calm.
The female Navi smiled up at him
"Food-based designs are cute." She floated closer to him to catch more of his outfit.
"Who are you, girl?" He suddenly said, making her lift her eyes from his clothes to his face.
"Oh, sorry, I guess that was rude of me, wasn't it? I'm Lei. What's your name?" She asked, her expression interested.
"And what are you doing here, Lei?" He didn't answer her question, which made her more anxious to know the answer. Lei hated when she couldn't get answers.
"You didn't answer my question." She crossed her arms, not breaking his eye contact.
He paused for a moment, then caved.
"Alright, my name is Serenade." He said while putting one hand on his waist.
Lei took a few seconds to stare at the Navi in front of her. She knew she heard that name somewhere before, then she suddenly remembered.
She lifted her hands to her mouth, her blue eyes going wide.
He was the ruler of the UnderNet.
"Oh." she chirped.
"Uh-oh" Serenade said, and had an amused expression on his face, once again.
Neither of them said anything for the longest time and just stared at each other, then Lei opened her mouth;
"How cool!" She suddenly beamed, her blue eyes filled with excitement and her cheek blushed slightly, "I never thought I'd get to meet a ruler of anything, let alone this beautiful place."
Serenade was downright surprised at the girl in front of him, "You think this place is beautiful?" He looked at her with confusion, "Aren't you afraid to go around here all by yourself?" He asked her.
Her expression turned into a calm smile.
"This place is amazingly different, It's so unique, how could I be afraid?" She said while looking all around her, "You're so lucky to be the ruler of such a special place"
Serenade just stared at the girl, he was dumbfounded. This was the first time he has ever heard anyone say that the UnderNet was unique, let alone beautiful. This girl was an odd one.
He cleared his throat.
"..So back to our subject," He said, grabbing her attention, "What are you doing here, Lei?" He pressed.
Lei pointed to the emblem in the middle of her chest. It had the visual of a gold letter in it.
"I'm a delivery Navi from the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service! I was tasked with delivering a message in the form of a letter to someone of this area." She explained.
"I see," He said, "And may I ask to who?"
"Bass." she answered, not sure as to why this information was needed to him.
Serenade was silent for a few moments, then his expression softened.
"If you want, Lei, I can assist you with your task. How about you give me the letter and I deliver it for you?" He lifted his hand and opened his palm at her, waiting to receive the letter.
Lei only stared up at him with confusion.
"You? Why?" She asked.
"I'm afraid Bass is too dangerous. You have probably heard more than enough stories about him by now, I think it's for the best that a girl like you will have nothing to do with him. Don't worry about your supervisors, I'll just sign for him, they won't know anything." He smiled.
Lei looked at his hand and then lifted her gaze back to him. She did hear the stories about Bass and everything that he's done, but she also believed that once you are handed with a task, you must also be the to finish it, no shortcuts, it's just the way it has to be.
"No, thank you." She said with a confident smile.
Her confident look surprised him.
He opened his mouth to further explain why this was a bad idea, but she interrupted him-
"I know it's dangerous, but it's my duty, it's what I was programmed for, so it's something that I have to do. I know there's a reason for everything that happens, and I feel like there was a reason why I was handled this task as well. But I appreciate your concern Serenade, Thank you." She grabbed his empty hand with both of her small ones, "I'll be okay, I'm not worried." Then, she smiled widely.
Serenade was speechless for a few moments. Then, he could only chuckle at this unusual girl in front of him.
"I understand." He said, while gently jerking out of her grip, "Then I wish you good luck, 'Lei the delivery girl.'" He said teasingly and then vanished into a strong light.
Lei covered her eyes from the sudden, strong beam, then opened them right away.
"Wow, he's gone" she said in amazement, then she floated back into the road and continued in her way to find the most vicious Navi of them all.
A/N: I just love Serenade so much, even if he is just basically a strange banana-man, writing him was so much fun, I hope I got his character right.
I also cant believe the anime didn't even bother including him in the story, what the fuck? that's why the manga is superior.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I had writing it,
Please review and have a nice day! :)