~Chapter 6~
It was Wednesday morning at the office, third day of the delivery week, and the whole floor was completely empty.
Except for Lei, who sat on a chair, spinning herself around with her legs in the air.
"I can't believe the Boss took a day off yesterday." She muttered to herself as she stopped for a moment.
This was already the second time Lei had come to the office in order to talk with her boss after he chose to be absent on the first day of her original plan, and even now – he was held up in a meeting since before she even came.
Lei simply hated to wait, and each minute that passed made her feel more and more anxious.
"What's taking him so loooooooooong..." She exhaled, but as soon as she finished her sentence, she heard the large glass doors of his office down the hall open up, followed by various voices.
Lei peeked, and saw all the guests finally leaving.
"Yes!" She whispered to herself, as she stood up, took whatever she needed with her, and started floating down the hall to his office.
She stopped right at his door and waited for a bit, then stretched out her arms and clapped her hands together.
"Sir?" She knocked three quiet knocks, and opened the big glass door a bit.
She looked around the large room, until she met his gaze.
"Lei!" He said with surprise, his eyes wide. "What are you doing here? You got the whole week off after successfully delivering MegaMan's message, And you did a great job as well! Can't believe you got Bass to give a reply." He chuckled.
"Actually, Sir, I especially came here today to talk to you" She said with a serious look.
"Is that so? What about?" He asked with an interested expression.
"I came to ask for a permission to continue with this delivery myself, Sir." Lei answered with a confident voice.
The boss was silent for a few moments.
"Continue? That's unusual," He said as he scratched the side of his face, "If this is about your punishment, you have already completed the mission and did well, there is no need for you to take anymore part of this."
"That's not it, Sir" She said, "I just want to continue this specific delivery, if I may."
He was silent, once again.
"Oh? And why is that?" He asked, and seemed determined to know her motives.
Lei stopped to think for a bit.
"Well, I thought about it, Sir, and I'd just rather complete it all the way from start to finish, to all its recipients." She explained, her expression filled with determination.
The boss stared at her for a few moments.
Lei was getting anxious, and she hated that feeling, but she didn't break eye contact.
Suddenly, he opened his mouth-
"Very well." He said, Lei almost missed his answer.
Her eyes widened.
"I can see this is important to you for some reason, and I'm not so sure any other messenger would even want to do it anyway, so why not." He said as he smiled at her.
Lei was so happy she could just hug him, but even she knew that would probably be too much.
"Thank you, Sir!" She said, as she tried her best to stay formal.
Her boss nodded.
"Just make sure to deliver MegaMan's message first thing next week! Don't you dare forget!" He commanded, as he pointed at her with his index finger.
Lei decided to surprise him, as she put one hand on her waist.
"How about I start his delivery today?" She asked as she smiled and watched his reaction carefully.
He was shocked.
"You want to do this on your week off, Lei? He asked with a confused expression.
"Yeah, why not. Next week will be a whole bunch of new deliveries anyway, I don't want them piled up." She admitted.
The boss' eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.
"HA HA! That's a true messenger Navi's thinking right there, Lei!" He said as he clapped his hands twice, "Then, off you go! Don't waste any time!"
Lei smiled wide.
"Yes, sir!"
"Hey! Will you be careful with that!" A small, blue Navi yelled.
"How about you quit moving then?! Its hard enough as it is, you know!" Said another, much older looking, irritated.
"What are you guys doing, Guts?" A third, large, metal Navi suddenly appeared with a confused expression on his face, looking at the two Navis in front of him - one sitting without his helmet, and the other one behind him, standing with his sword pulled out and held right next to said Navi's head.
"Oh, hey there GutsMan! ProtoMan here is supposed to be giving me a haircut but he's too busy sucking at it" The small Navi said, annoyed.
"What did you say? Then how about you do it alone then!" The standing Navi raised his voice, as his hand transformed back, and started walking away, while both Navis watched him.
"Wow, talk about a drama queen, you crybaby!" The sitting Navi stuck his tongue at him.
The older Navi stopped right at his heels, then suddenly turned back around so quickly, he startled both of them, his fists clenched, "That's it!" He snapped, "You wanna go?! Let's go right now you little punk!" He yelled, as his hand shifted into a sword, once again.
"Damn it, I need you to cut my hair first!" The smaller Navi yelled back, as his hand changed into a buster.
They both started running to each other, yelling, when suddenly-
"What the hell is up with you guys today?! Guts!" The large Navi jumped right in between them, his expression was pure confusion.
Both of them stopped what they were doing, and just stared at the metal Navi in front of them, then begun laughing.
"Well, Roll said my hair is too long, so I asked ProtoMan to cut it for me, since he looks like he'd be good at everything, but apparently he's not up to be a hairdresser" The blue Navi explained and sighed.
"Well!" the taller Navi crossed his arms, "Why don't YOU try cutting hair with a sword! I was trying not to slice your head off, and you know what? Maybe I should have." He shot back at him, and smiled viciously.
Both of them were too busy fighting to notice something approaching closer and closer to them in the distance. "Hey.. Who's that? Guts." The metal Navi suddenly said and pointed to the direction of the Navi in the air.
The two turned their full attention to the source of interest.
It was a female NetNavi wearing a mostly white and black outfit with a few light blue streaks, an orange messenger bag, and a long, brown, high ponytail coming out of her winged helmet.
She quickly reached where they were and landed a few feet from the bunch.
"Good morning! I have a delivery for MegaMan!" She happily said with a smile.
Neither of them spoke a word, and just stared at the girl in front of them.
"H-hey Mega.. You didn't tell us you had such a cute personal delivery girl! Does Roll know? Guts." GutsMan whispered to him.
His eyes widened at his friend.
"What?! I don't even know her, this is the first time I've seen this girl!" The short Navi panicked.
"Don't be stupid," the older Navi finally spoke, "Check out her uniform, she's an official messenger Navi. You of all people should have been able to recognize her kind from the start with all the fan mail you get, MegaMan" he said as he looked at the blue Navi.
"Well, most of it just goes straight into my PET E-mail folder." he answered him, and shifted his eyes to Lei as he stepped forward, "That's me." he said.
"Show-off. Guts" The metal Navi muttered.
She was happy that at least one of them had recognized her company.
"Hi, My name is Lei and I'm from the Official Message & E-mail Delivery Service." She fully introduced herself to all three of them.
She then took a step closer to MegaMan, and she suddenly noticed he looked different than what she had heard, also much shorter than she had thought, he was nearly at her eye level, maybe slightly taller than her, which was weird for her, so she just stared at him.
"U-uh.. Is there something on my face?" He asked, as his cheeks turned red.
Lei stepped closer to him, then she opened her mouth-
"You're so small!" She suddenly said and giggled at him.
GutsMan and ProtoMan broke into a loud laughter, while MegaMan was left frozen in shock.
"Oh, I meant that in a good way, don't worry!" Lei explained, "it's surprising because you'd expect this really big, strong-looking hero, yet instead it's a totally short, regular-looking Navi. Honestly, I think it's far more interesting this way!" Her eyes were filled with excitement.
"I'm not sure if that qualifies as a compliment, but thanks, I guess" MegaMan said with a confused expression, while scratching his head.
"She's right, MegaMan, even thought you grow a bit while in Hub Style, we still prefer you as a shorty" ProtoMan teased.
"I'm gonna hit you-" MegaMan started to say, as he noticed Lei had an amused expression on her face.
He blushed again.
"What's so funny, you started this whole thing" he muttered at her.
"I guess I did, sorry! Haha." she smiled widely.
Suddenly a voice was heard from somewhere above.
"ProtoMan! Are you there?" The face of a human young man with white hair and blue eyes appeared on a screen.
"Yes, I'm here, Enzan" The Navi answered him.
"Good, if you're not too busy I'd like you to help me with something, can you plug out to the PET for a moment?" The young man asked.
"Of course." The tall Navi confirmed, "Then I'll see you guys later, nice meeting you, delivery girl." He said, as he plugged out.
"Well I'm not gonna stay and be the third wheel, Enjoy yourselves! Guts" said the other one.
"Oh, very funny-" the small Navi tried to protest, but before he could finish his sentence, the metal Navi had already plugged out.
It was just the two of them now.
"Sorry about him, he thinks he's just so hilarious.." MegaMan apologized and sighed.
Lei just smiled kindly as she took out the envelope containing the chip from her bag.
"Your message is actually a reply, you know" She said, watching his reaction carefully.
"A reply?" He was confused at first, but then his eyes widened as he suddenly remembered, "You mean.." He was shocked.
"Yes" Lei nodded, and smiled, as she handed him the envelope.
MegaMan took the letter from her hands and quickly pressed the button to dissolve the paper, then switched the recording on.
Bass' face appeared before him, then his short message played for both of the Navis to hear, and was over in seconds.
"Well, that's just like him" MegaMan said as he smiled, "I'm glad he's alright, though."
Lei noticed MegaMan's reaction was slightly different than Bass', but still cute, nonetheless.
"Probably shocking for you to know this, huh?" He asked her, and chuckled.
"Not anymore, actually," Lei answered him, "I was also the one to deliver him your message, after all" She smiled.
MegaMan was utterly speechless for a good minute.
"Y-you? You delivered Bass my message? All the way to the UnderNet?" He stared at her, eyes wide.
"Mhm" She confirmed, amused by his reaction.
He was in utter shock for a few more moments.
"Wow, I can't believe this! I hope he didn't scare you too much, Bass definitely doesn't know how to treat women." He said.
Lei just giggled.
"Oh, he wasn't scary, just a bit rude, but he did cooperate eventually." She said.
MegaMan took a few seconds to process her words.
'Not scary? Bass?' He stared at the odd girl in front of him, 'She doesn't look like a fighter, how could she have not been terrified by him like every other normal Navi?' He asked himself, but his thoughts were interrupted-
"So how come you guys are friends? That's really interesting" She asked him, her big eyes curious.
Megaman blinked at her.
"Uh, well, that's kind of a long story, if you have the time for it-" The blue Navi explained.
Lei was absolutely, completely free.
"I'd love to hear!" She said with excitement, her blue eyes filled with interest.
MegaMan wasn't sure who this strange messenger Navi was, but she seemed really interested and he had nothing better to do, so why not?
They sat down on a nearby rock, as he started telling her all about his battles against Bass - how they started as pure enemies and slowly came to respect one another, how Bass actually saved him a few times despite saying how much he loathes him and his bond with his NetOP, and how he eventually agreed to combine both of their powers to fight a strong mutual evil enemy, which they won against, saving everyone.
Lei sat quietly and listened to every word, she was amazed at how much they had been through, and what a long way Bass has come, but one thing about that story bothered her.
Her brow furrowed as she looked at the blue Navi in front of her.
"Why did he hate the bond you have with your human?" She asked him.
MegaMan's expression turned somewhat sad at her question, and he remained silent for a while.
Lei just waited.
"Bass..." He begun saying, "Had a tragic past, something about his creator betraying him, I'm not too sure myself, but I know that's mainly the reason he hates humans and Navis who trust their NetOPs now.
Hearing this caught Lei off guard.
'Bass was betrayed...? by his... creator?' A million thoughts ran through her mind.
MegaMan watched the girl in front of him for a few moments.
"You okay, Lei?" He asked her.
She was snapped back into reality.
"Yeah, I'm fine," She reassured him, smiling. "I just didn't expect to learn that about him, that sure surprised me." She admitted.
"I know what you mean, that shocked me too when he first told me, but he didn't go as far as to share the details with me, I guess I'm just not cool enough or something" MegaMan joked, and smiled at her.
Lei laughed.
"I think your friendship with him is really amazing" she smiled her widest smile at him, "Thank you for telling me about it, MegaMan."
He blushed as red as a tomato at her thanking him so honestly.
"N-no problem! Haha" He said, and laughed nervously.
Shortly after, MegaMan had recorded his reply to Bass, handed Lei back the chip, and signed her form for confirmation.
He thanked her and waved her goodbye, as he watched her take off on her way to the UnderNet, once again.
A/N: MegaMan is such a cutie.
The message exchange between Bass and him is pretty funny to think about, and it's all because Bass insists on being such a grandma. Or is there another reason? Hmm.
Also, Thank you so much for all of the positive feedback, I appreciate it very much!