A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews! it makes me so happy knowing that people are actually enjoying this story.

We have finally reached the most anticipated encounter, and writing it was pure hilarity.

So without anymore delays, lets continue!

~Chapter 3~

After floating for what already seemed to be an hour, Lei was getting bored.

There were no other NetNavis around to talk to, and she didn't want to disturb Dean or any other friend she had from the office because it was Monday; the busiest day of the week, and everyone were probably buried with work, or simply in the middle of their deliveries.

So she got lost in her thoughts, again.

'How did Serenade even find me?' She wondered to herself as her eyes shifted up to the strange-colored sky above her, 'Maybe I was just extremely lucky?' She then turned her gaze back to the road, 'Or maybe.. he has special servant-minions who patrol the UnderNet for him and had spotted me!' She was positive she had just found her answer. "Can't fool me, Mhm!" She said to herself, jokingly.

But jokes aside, she still had work to do.

'Well, I guess I better make good use of the time to practice how I should represent myself to Bass.' she suddenly remembered her mission.

It was in that moment Lei had realized that she doesn't even know what Bass looks like. She only heard stories about the 'Black Shadow' of the UnderNet; About him being incredibly scary, dangerous, powerful, yet nobody ever talked about his actual features.

So how was she supposed to even recognize him?

'Hmm, I should have thought about this sooner and asked Serenade to describe him for me or something.' Her brow furrowed as she realized her missed opportunity to collect some information on her recipient, 'Alright, I'll ask the next Navi I see. They'll be sure to know.' She quickly agreed with her solution.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud, sudden scream from somewhere not so far away from where she stood.

Lei's eyes widened as she looked all around her to figure out the direction in which the scream came from.

Another scream, this time followed by a large explosion. Lei quickly noticed the direction of the noise, and began flying in it without a second thought, fast.

"What's happening? Is someone in trouble?" She asked herself, picking up her speed.

As she flew closer she could hear the commotion go gradually louder, until she could figure out an actual conversation coming from behind a large hill of rocks before her.

"How dare you, you smug lil' punk!" One of the voices yelled.

It was followed by no answer, just the same voice screaming, and then something that Lei had never heard before – the sound of a NetNavi being deleted.

She was incredibly curious to know what was going on beyond that hill of rocks, and she decided to take a peek.

As Lei carefully and slowly lifted herself above some of the rocks, she saw multiple NetNavis, all lying on the ground, parts of their arms and legs being dissolved into the air, mumbling something in pain, "What the hell... wasn't... he beaten? How could... he still be so strong..?" She could only figure out this one sentence.

Next to them, stood a rather large Navi, shaking with fear, with his buster aimed at another, shorter Navi in front of him.

Lei turned her eyes to said Navi; He stood completely quiet and still, his body and lower part of his face covered in a strange, tattered-looking light brown cloak, his helmet was gold and dark purple with big fin-like parts coming out of each side of his head, and his red eyes were so focused on his opponent, it was as if he was a predator looking at his prey.

"T-this isn't worth it, Damn it! Just you fucking wait, Bass!" the bigger Navi cried, then plugged out of the place, with his fellow Navis on the ground all doing the same, except for one of them, who was apparently in too much of a bad condition to do anything.

Lei watched the whole thing with wide eyes.

"Well, I guess I found him." She whispered to herself.

"You bastard!" The damaged Navi on the ground shot at the cloaked one, yet he was in no condition to fight.

The latter only stepped closer to him and floated to the air, then raised one of his arms from inside his cloak and aimed it down at his direction.

Lei was shocked that he would still try and harm a Navi not even able to fight anymore. She knew it was absolutely none of her business, but she couldn't just stay there and let it happen right in front of her eyes.

The cloaked Navi gathered purple energy in his hand, and just when it seemed like he was about to release it on his opponent-

"Stop!" He was interrupted by a sudden high voice.

Lei floated out of her hiding place and came into full view. She flew all the way to the side of the Navi lying on the ground, while not breaking eye contact with the cloaked one still in the air, his hand still held at their direction loaded with purple energy.

His expression didn't waver at the sight of her, but he waited.

"Why aren't you running away? Plug out already!" She shot at the damaged Navi laying next to her while still holding the cloaked Navi's menacing gaze.

The Navi on the floor was badly hurt, but thanks to Lei's distraction, he was able to regenerate enough to plug out, "You should run away, girl! This isn't a place for a messenger Navi!" He said, then vanished into a blue beam of light, not even thanking her.

Lei couldn't care less, though, she was just happy to be able to prevent what could have been an experience she didn't ever want to witness, and she let out a loud sigh.

Though, her relief was quickly changed to surprise as the cloaked Navi released his attack at her direction, yet it flew right past her left side and blew up behind her, causing her full attention to once again shift to him.

"Who are you, and why did you interfere?" He demanded, his voice was firm and powerful, yet also very clear sounding.

Lei didn't answer him. She just stared up at him with large blue eyes.

"You better give me a good reason to why not just kill you right here, girl!" He suddenly yelled.

"Well," she started, "Because if you kill me, you will never receive what I'm here to give you." Her voice was calm and her expression serious.

Bass said nothing, just stared down at the girl in below him, as she stared right back up at him, still not breaking his eye contact.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time.

Suddenly, Lei's serious expression softened as her blue eyes began to wander all over the cloaked Navi's figure; from the fins on his helmet to the blue, cross-shaped jewel in the middle of it, to the purple streaks on each side of his face, to his now a bit more open cloak, which revealed a small part of his Navi symbol and his outfit underneath it, to his large, heavy-looking golden boots.

"What are you staring at?" He suddenly asked her, noticing she had been observing almost every part of him, and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

She then opened her mouth to respond;

"Why do they call you the 'Black Shadow' if your main colors are more of a dark purple and light brown than anything?" She asked with a confused expression, shifting her gaze back up to meet his.

Bass stayed silent for a few moments to that bizarre question. He was never asked anything like that before, he was rarely even asked anything to begin with. The various NetNavis who sought him all had the intention of defeating or killing him and they most certainly did not care about the source of his name among the UnderNet.

"I wasn't the one who made that stupid name up." He could only respond with that much, he was confused, but he tried not to show it.

Lei continued to stare up at him for a few more moments in silence as he continued;

"You said you had something for me, what is it?" He demanded.

Lei's blue eyes suddenly widened as she remembered the reason she was there in the first place.

"Oh! Right," she perked up, opened her bag, and quickly pulled the letter out of it, then floated up to the cloaked Navi's eye-level, which caused him to slightly move back instinctively, as she extended her hands forward, holding the letter to him, "I need to deliver this letter to you, it's from MegaMan!"

Bass didn't say a word for a solid minute, and he didn't take the letter out of her hands either. Instead, he simply floated back down until his feet came in contact with some of the messed up ground below him. He literally left Lei hanging in the air.

"Like I'd fall for an easy fucking trap like that." He laughed, "A girl like you, hanging around this place? Delivering letters? I'm not an idiot." His expression turned annoyed, "Who sent you? I won't be surprised if that envelope contains a damn virus or something."

Lei couldn't believe he would think she was lying to him.

Her brow furrowed.

"I'm not working for anyone other than the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service!" She said proudly, "Why would I lie to you? And what do you mean 'A girl like me'?" She was slightly hurt at him doubting her like that.

The cloaked Navi didn't answer her for a few more moments.

"Hmph." His expression suddenly turning dark, "I'm not repeating myself, or giving you any other explanations, girl, so you better get the hell out of my sight before I add you to the number of Navis I killed today." He said with a low voice, raising one hand out of his cloak and clenching it into a fist.

Bass was sure that was enough to scare her away.

He was wrong, and she snapped.

"I'm not leaving here until I give you your letter and you sign the form for receiving it as proof!" She said, raising her voice. She then started floating down to him until she was right in front of, yet slightly above him, "I came all this way from NetCity just to find you, Bass, so you could at least appreciate the effort!" She stared down at him with large blue eyes, filled with determination.

The cloaked Navi was surprised his threats backfired and instead of scaring her away, they only further fueled her determination to give him the stupid letter. 'What is up with this girl?' He thought to himself staring up at her as she continued;

"You're probably not used to receiving letters because nobody actually sends you anything, but this is a very normal procedure, you know?" She explained, lifting her index finger at his face, "Besides, we wouldn't even be in this situation if you had just listed your name in the Communication System so that any Navi who wants to speak to you could just send you the message straight into your own folder. Now take this letter and sign my form already!" With that she was done with her rant.

Neither of them said anything for the longest time, once again. They just stared at each other for a good minute; Lei with a pouting expression, Bass with a slightly annoyed, serious one.

He was the first to talk.

"You open it, I'll be right here." He said.

Lei could see his sly smile beyond his cloak.

She sighed. "Fine, I will!" She said, narrowing her eyes at him, then flipped the letter in her small hands, and pressed the button to open it. The paper dissolved into air, and all that was left out of it was a little blue chip. Bass watched her actions closely as she flipped a little switch to activate it, causing a hologram of MegaMan's face to suddenly appear in front of them-

"Bass, how are you? I realize this is probably a very strange thing for me to do, but I guess I wanted to check up on you to see if everything's alright.. We haven't seen you since you helped us against the Cyber Beasts a few months ago, and I didn't even get the chance to thank you.. I wasn't even sure how to reach you, so ProtoMan suggested a Communication Service. Anyway, I hope you're doing okay out there in the UnderNet, and that we could settle our score soon, I'll be waiting for your response!"

With that, the message ended, and MegaMan's face dissolved back into the chip.

Lei watched Bass carefully. His expression was a completely new one that she had never seen before; he almost looked.. Happy.

She was incredibly surprised with what she was witnessing; to think that a short message like that, simply asking him if he's okay, will affect him in such a way and cause him to have such an honest reaction.. Wasn't he supposed to be the most vicious NetNavi of them all?

"Cute." She didn't even think before the word escaped her mouth, and Bass' expression went back to hostile and irritated as soon as he heard her.

"What did you say?" He asked with malice in his voice, his red eyes glaring at her.

Lei just smiled at him, amused.

"Your expression just now was cute, you shouldn't be so grumpy all the time"

Before he could process what the female Navi had just told him, she continued;

"It looks like you and MegaMan are good friends, that's so surprising." She said, her blue eyes filled with interest.

Bass was still so shocked at her previous remark that he just stared at her, this time his eyes wide and his expression unreadable. He then lowered his face until it was almost completely hidden behind his cloak.

Lei noticed he was literally frozen, which confused her greatly. Only a minute ago he was just fine and full of hate.

"Hey... are you okay?" She lifted her hand to him, causing him to suddenly grab her wrist, surprising her so much that she let out a tiny yelp. Lei desperately tried to find answers from his expression, but unfortunately for her, the cloak covered most of it. Even his eyes were hidden well below his helmet so she couldn't see them either.

He suddenly opened his mouth;

"You... don't you ever call me 'cute' again, you understand me?" His voice was somehow quiet yet extremely serious.

Lei's eyes widened at his sudden words, as she simply stared at him, surprised.

Her eyes then trailed off to his hand on her wrist, he held her firmly, but he didn't hurt her. She was suddenly fascinated by how big his hand was next to hers, and how rough it felt.

"Um.. Okay, I'm sorry?" She almost whispered, and as soon as she finished apologizing, Bass let go of her.

He then lifted his face a bit, and she could finally see it.

It was back to its normal, annoyed state.

They were silent for a few moments, again, just staring at each other.

Eventually, Lei was the one to break the silence this time.

"So, do you finally believe me now?" She asked him, her smile confident.

Bass quickly narrowed his eyes at her.

"Whatever." He spat, "Tell me, how do I reply to the message?" His voice was demanding.

Lei giggled at him, which only annoyed him further.

"First, please sign here that you have actually received the letter." She said, handing him a virtual form which he needed to tap his hand on.

Bass complied and did as asked, which surprised her.

"Now, how do I reply, girl?" He lifted his gaze back to her, waiting for her instructions.

After a good five minutes in which Lei had explained the cloaked Navi how to respond to a message, he quickly recorded a response of his own.

It was a short 'I trust you realize that I'm always fine, MegaMan, so how about you come here so we can decide on our score once and for all?' which she pretty much expected.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments.

"How will he get my response?" He suddenly asked. For a moment, his voice was simply curious and not so demanding and rude.

"Oh, well-" Lei began explaining with excitement, "You can choose to fill your details in the Communication System like I have mentioned earlier - that way all you have to do is to reach your nearest port machine, list it to his PET address, and he will receive it straight away, or, you can choose to continue with our service." She smiled proudly as she held two fingers in the shape of 'V' at him.

Bass stopped to consider his options for a minute.

"This Communication System, if I list my details in it, then any Navi could easily access them, am I right?" He asked.

"Yes, it is like that to improve communication all over the CyberWorld." She answered.

Bass took a few moments to form his decision, as Lei watched him closely.

"Hmph." He suddenly said,"like I'd give anyone the benefit of any information on me-" He smiled viciously, "They'll have to work harder than that to find me!"

Lei couldn't help herself, she just started to laugh, hard.

"What the fuck are you laughing at, you annoying girl?!" He was downright mad at her sudden amusement.

"You.." She said as she wiped away her tears,"You're so funny, I can't believe how wrong the stories about you are." She smiled at him, still wiping away her tears from laughing too much, as her cheeks slightly blushed with a tint of red.

Bass didn't say anything, he just stared at her. She was most definitely, the strangest Navi he had ever encountered, even more than that MegaMan fool.

"So I guess that means you will be staying with our service, then?" she confirmed.

"Unfortunately." he said, giving her an incredibly displeased look.

Lei only smiled at him again, which never failed to annoy him.

"Then, I'll be needing your response to that message." She said as she held out her palm to him, waiting for him to give her the chip he had just recorded his response on.

Bass looked at her reached-out hand. 'To think that I'm trusting my message in those small and useless hands..' He thought to himself as he handed her his chip, and Lei quickly put it in a special part of her bag.

"If you lose my message to that fool, I will come find you, and kill you." He hissed at her.

Lei crossed her arms at him.

"Just so you know, I have never once lost a message in all my time working as a messenger Navi!" She said proudly.

"Hmph." He narrowed his eyes at her, "And will you again be the one to deliver me the answer?" He asked.

Lei's eyes widened at him.

"Why, do you want me to?" She asked, giving him a smug look.

"Stupid girl!" He scoffed, "You're enough, I don't want to run into any more of your kind." He dismissed her theory completely.

"There are no other Navis like me, except me!" She declared and smiled her widest at him.

She then turned away from the cloaked Navi and began her journey back to the city as he simply watched her.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned back around as if she forgot something, her long, brown ponytail trying to catch up with her sudden movement.

Meeting Bass' gaze once again, the female Navi smiled wide and lifted her arm in the air.

"I'm Lei, by the way!" She yelled to him from afar, smiling and waving goodbye, then she turned back on her way.

He said nothing as he watched her fly until she disappeared in the direction that would lead her out of the UnderNet.

'What a waste of time this was.' He thought to himself, annoyed, as he realized they both had been talking for over three hours.

A/N: That was the longest chapter yet.

So Lei and Bass finally meet! That was so much fun to write. Bass is a rude motherfucker, but he's a cute rude motherfucker ^^

MegaMan was not in my initial plan for this fic, but I guess I need to add him now as well.

Please keep the reviews coming, and again, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!~