Talking

Thinking

I updated twice in four days... world must be ending, but on a more serious topic I really could use a beta, so message me if you're interested. Also thanks to Az the Dragon once again as well as crazygal17 for reviewing. My top hat (if I owned one) is tipped to you.

Chapter III: A Strange New Acquaintance

Chip and his NetNavi arrived at the spot to find that Myles was nowhere to be found.

"I suppose he moved on or something." Chip looked up into the pipe.

"I've done a life scan as far out as I can. Either he made it out, or he's dead." X was shuffling around some windows on the M.E.T..

"That's somewhat comforting I suppose." Chip straightened up and looked down at his NetNavi.

"Want to head for the exit?" X could sense his operator's anxiety, "There isn't much of a point to hang out in these dank sewers anyway."

"How do you know they're dank?" Chip asked curiously.

"The M.E.T. is capable of measuring all sorts of environmental attributes," X stated matter-of-factly.

"Interesting. I guess we'll do what you said and head for the exit then." Chip started walking again, following the hologram map X was providing him through the M.E.T. Eventually they reached a ladder that X said led to the surface.

Chip quickly scaled the ladder and peeked out from under the manhole cover, "Anybody around where we're coming out?"

"All clear on the vital signs scanner," X reported back to him after a moment's calculation.

That was Chip's signal to clamber out of the hole and back into the blissful "fresh" air of his hometown.

"Well, place looks as shitty as it did yesterday." Chip gazed at the rising sun, trying to ignore all the rundown houses and abandoned apartments, "I can't believe I've been up all night long."

A shrill scream pierced the quiet of the sunrise

"And it looks like I'll be up a little longer..." Chip sighed deeply and headed in the direction of the scream, but not before climbing to the rooftops. It wasn't long until he found the source of the scream.

Chip peered down from the rooftops to see a girl around 5'5'' with braided blonde hair holding a small pistol being surrounded by three Chasers.

"I wonder what she did." Chip got to his feet and looked down at his NetNavi. "Can we cross fuse? I can't stand by while someone gets hurt."

"We should be able to. The M.E.T fixes the synchronization problem, but I can't guarantee we'll be all that strong yet, as our synchronization level is going to be really low and that weakens our combined abilities," seeing Chip's confident look lessen, X quickly added, "but these guys ought to be no trouble anyway. I'm with you on this one. Needless violence against others doesn't solve anything. Just bring up the interface and touch the button in the right hand corner."

"Got it." Chip swiped his hand over the M.E.T., pulling up the interface. He then touched the small icon in the bottom right. "Let's go X! Cross Fusion activate!"

It all happened in an instant. All of Chips clothes vanished, and a shining white light covered his entire body except his face. X's main armor pieces materialized on his body, before the rest of the body suit just sort of expanded out from it. Finally, a mask extended over Chips mouth to complete the fusion.

"Alright so what can I do?" Chip's voice sounded muffled to him, but it came in loud and clear to X.

"Your arm can turn into an X-Buster, but without any battle chips that's about it. My buster should be more than powerful enough though."

"Battle chips...? Whatever, I'll ask later." Chip stepped to the edge of the roof and prepared to jump off, "Ready or not..."

"Let's go!" Chip and X yelled in unison, creating a strange garbling if their voices, before jumping off the building.

The rogue cross fuser landed feet first on the Chaser that was approaching the girl, smashing it face first into the ground.

"Who...?" Chip heard a rather pretty voice come from the girl.

Chip lifted his head up and gave a cheerful wave, before spinning around and kicking another chaser in the mid section, crushing it. Chip quickly thanked X for the warning and turned back to the girl.

"What the hell are you doing! Run!" adrenaline was pumping through Chip's body leading to him screaming a bit louder than he might have normally.

"Why? I've got a gun. I was about to take care of them before you showed up!"

"What do you think you're gonna do with that peashooter!" Chip was too busy shouting at the girl to hear X's warnings blaring in his head about the attacker approaching from behind.

The girl calmly raised the gun into a firing position and shot a precise shot right past Chip's head directly at the Chaser's head behind him. The bullet seemed to slow for a moment, before burrowing through the Chaser's shield straight into its skull.

Chip opened his mouth to admonish her, but a quick explanation from his NetNavi made him mutter, "Thanks. I should have been paying less attention to arguing with you and more on remembering that there was one left."

Chip walked over to the Chaser and bent down to check out where she had shot it.

"No blood..." Chip mused, "and here I thought they were human all this time."

"There appears to be a mix of human parts in there though." X replyed, "I'm commencing a scan right now."

A light blue light projected from the red piece of the cross fuser's helmet and swept up and down the felled Chaser. As the light was scanning the body, the girl knelt down next to him.

"So what's your story...?" Chip turned to look at her once the scan had finished, "Why were those Chasers after you?"

"Nothing really," the girl brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, trying to avoid the question.

"Bullshit." the girl flinched a little bit at the harshness of Chip's tone. "Chasers don't go after some random girl. That and the gun you're carrying make me think they were after you for a fairly significant reason. I think you owe the person who save your life an explanation."

"Technically I did the same."

Chip mentally sighed, "Fine. Keep your secrets, but I want to know one thing. Do you have any idea why this thing you shot through the head isn't human?"

"It isn't?" the girl face was filled with genuine surprise, "We always thought cross fusers didn't bleed."

"We?" Chip and X both laughed at the blush that turned the girl's cheeks a rosy red.

"...Alright."

"Alright what?" Chip looked at the girl quizzically.

"If you separate from your NetNavi I'll consider telling you a little bit about why I was chased. I just don't feel comfortable with you like... that"

This raised immediate alarm bells in both Chip's head and X's circuits.

"Scan her for any other weapons besides that pistol that she might have on her X."

"Got it." Chip's helmet began to buzz.

The girl rolled away from him and pointed her pistol at him, "What the hell are you doing!"

"I'm just scanning you for any weapons that you might be hiding. By the way, throw away all your weapons. I'll undo the cross fusion as soon as you do that." Chip stood back up and stretched.

The girl tossed the gun away, "Happy?"

"And the knife in your boot."

She sighed and threw the knife to side as well. Satisfied, Chip told X to cancel the cross fusion. The same glowing light covered Chip again. Then the pieces of armor just seemed to melt off his body, and he found himself back in his ripped up clothes.

"I really need to change..." thought Chip as the wind from the after effects of the transformation ruffled his scraggly chestnut brown hair, "And get a hair cut."

"Well you're not what I expected," She giggled a bit, "You look like a hobo."

"Well sorry I'm not some dashing hero you were imagining," Chip grumbled to himself, "but more importantly weren't you supposed to tell me something?"

"Ah right," the girl got out of here crouch and walked over to him, "I'm part of the resistance."

"Resistance?" Chip echoed her in confusion, "Any data on that X?"

"Nothing in my database, must have been established a good deal after the takeover."

Chip looked up to see her walking away pistol in hand, "Hey! Is that all I get?"

The girl turned back to look at him and stuck her tongue out, "Yup. Unless you come to the warehouse downtown next to the rundown courthouse. The names Laurana Abiona by the way."

"Chip Hikari," Chip responded, but the girl kept on walking without acknowledging she had even heard him.

"Laurana Abiona huh..." Chip mused, "Well I might as well pay a visit to that warehouse. What do you think X?"

"Sounds like a start if you really want to take the government down." X nodded on the screen of the M.E.T.

"First I want to pay a visit to my old pad though. I'm hoping Myles went there after he got out of the sewers, but mostly I want a goddamn nap."

I kind of feel like I'm not giving X enough screen time, so I'd kinda like to know what you guys think. You can either send it via a pm, or in the case of a review, put something else in there besides that like a positive comment or something I can improve on. The usual review stuff. Also for the record, italics while Chip and X are cross fused can also refer to them speaking to each other via a mind link.

-Forscythe out