Sorry that it took so long. School's started and with Volleyball and Tennis practice, it's getting hard to find free time to work on the story.
Thanks so much for all the reviews! It has inspired me and I hope to keep getting as many each chapter as I received for the last one.
Once again, I do not own any of the characters. Capcom owns them all.
There might be slight spoilers ahead, so… eh.
The Feminine Program!
Chapter Three:
Emergency!
-
"Well, that could have gone better…" Netto grumbled to himself, shutting the front door of his home behind him tiredly. "At least Rock-chan didn't scream the whole time…"
It was true; Rock had stopped yelling away at everyone after having snapped over Roll's 'comforting' comment, but that didn't mean anyone was safe. She yelled at Roll, Meiru, Dekao, and her Operator before finally quieting completely and having a pleasant conversation with Glyde and Roll about… handbags. Poor Gutsman and Iceman had stayed a distance away from Rock, the fear on their faces evident all through the luncheon.
The Operators, however, had completely different reactions from their Navis. Yaito had giggled every time she glanced over at the screen, while Tohru stayed quiet, eating his lunch with little care for the situation. Meiru had seemed somewhat supportive, just like her Navi, while Dekao had laughed and made snide, even suggestive jokes constantly, making Netto blush and thankful that Rock wasn't listening or paying any attention…
Thank God for small mercies, Netto figured…
Surprisingly, Haruka was not in the kitchen fixing dinner and neither was his father sitting in the living room reading the paper. Netto looked around, finally finding a note on a plastic container on the kitchen counter. "Let me guess…" Netto spoke out-loud to no one in particular, "Mama and Papa went somewhere… leaving me alone 'til who-knows-when…" He picked up the paper, his chocolate-colored eyes scanned back and forth between the elegant writing.
"Dear Netto,
Your father and I went to go shopping for new furniture for the living room. Then, we'll go see a movie and eat dinner. Dinner's in the container; it's curry.
Lock the doors and don't let anyone in! If you need anything thing, there are numbers on the refrigerator and you know your father's number.
Love you,
Mama."
'Yep. They couldn't warn me. And what am I, five? 'There are numbers on the fridge…' She acts like I don't know where 9-1-1 is on the telephone…'
"Netto-kun?" Rock chirped in softly, wondering why she hadn't heard the happy welcome of Haruka and her creator. It took a few moments for her to receive a annoyed 'yes,' but she was content with the reply. "Are your parents out?"
"Yeah… what else is new when Papa comes home after a while from home? I know they want to spend some 'quality-time' with each other, but I'm not a kid anymore!" Netto raged, throwing the paper in the trash before stomping upstairs to his room to hook up Rock's PET to the charger. He never realized how much energy Rock could use in order to yell at everyone…
"You know how much they miss each other… They love each other, after all," Rock comforted gently, a timid awe slipping into her voice. Netto cocked an eyebrow up at her comment, gazing at her curiously. "When did you become so 'philosophical' in the romance department?" he queried, hoping that Rock wasn't becoming a 'romanticist.' "You used to tell me that they missed each other, get over it and do your homework…"
The blue NetNavi shrugged, a bashful blush streaking across her perfect cheeks as she looked down the desk. "I don't know… it seems so… beautiful now. Loving someone that much… it seems almost impossible to care for someone like that, since there's so much hate countering it…" she answered, fidgeting slightly under her Operator's gaze. The teen grunted in retort, leaning back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head. "Too mushy if you ask me…"
"Mushy? How can love be mushy?" she retorted, her reaction to his 'offense' clear as a bell to the usually-dense teen. "Love is something to be cherished and adored! Not thrown away and spat on like some beings do! I hope one day you fall so head-over-heels for someone that you'll trip and bust your skull open!" She paused for a brief second, crossing her arms and huffing before continuing. "Oh, but wait! Your skull's so thick it'll probably break the ground instead! Oh, was I ever that horrible when I was a male!"
"Um, uh… I don't quite-!" Netto tried before being rudely interrupted by his moody Navi. "Of course you don't know! You have so little in the head that you'd probably never even noticed me!" Rock 'hmphed' before turning away, still venomous. The brunet sat dumbfounded for two minutes before everything sunk in and anger warped his face. "I'm not as stupid as some people think I am! And I do have feelings, you know! It's not like I'm a vegetable or something! Jeez!" Pouting, he stared off to the side, muttering softly, "You sound like Enzan…."
As if by habit, he flinched slightly, but when no fuming yells were heard, Netto looked back over at Rock, whose shoulders were tenderly shaking and her head was down. He leaned in closer to listen, hearing muted sobs emitting from the speaker. "Rock-chan…" he began, picking up the PET so that he could hold it close, "are you crying?"
A second later, the sobbing stopped. He was somewhat grateful, since dealing with a sad Rock was something he despised, especially if he was the reason for her melancholy. He wondered briefly if he should query on her condition, but refrained, deciding that patience was the key to ending this particular fight.
"Netto-kun…" came a fragile whisper and Netto perked immediately, urgently waiting for her to say something. But she stayed quiet before finally turning around fully, tears flowing freely down her puffy cheeks as she grabbed the screen in the PET which held Netto's face, flinging it around in her fit. "WAAHHH! NETTO-KUUUN! HOW COULD YOU BE SO MEAN TO ME!" She was near screaming now, falling to her knees and throwing her head into her crossed arms on the digital ground. "HOW DID I EVER END UP WITH SUCH A HEARTLESS OPERATOR! I'M NOT LIKE ENZAN; HE IS! WAHH!"
"R-Rock-chan, hold on, I'm sor-!"
"OH, JUST SHUT UP! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CARE!"
"Rock-chan, would you please calm down?" Netto frantically begged.
"IIE! YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT I'M SHOWING 'EMOTIONS' SINCE ENZAN-SAMA WON'T EVEN CRACK A SMILE! WAH!" She wailed again, never once lifting her head to even leer at her Operator.
Netto sighed, dropping his head heavily on his desk, allowing the NetNavi to cry her little digital heart out. He couldn't remember if he dozed off or not, but eventually, the PET beeped, signaling that he had mail.
The teen lifted his head sluggishly, watching as Rock picked her sob-wracked body, sniffing as she went, opening the mail with a touch of a screen that popped up beside her. "… It's from Kifune… he says that it's urgent and Laika has come back in to town to help, so, in other words 'don't blow a gasket, he's still your comrade.'"
"Wh-What! Laika! Oh, Kifune knows how much I… dislike him!" Netto bellowed, crossing his arms in a huff and slumping in his chair with a horrid pout. Rock stared, annoyed greatly by her Operator's childish actions before turning back to the e-mail and sending a quick reply. "Well, no matter how much you dislike him, you still have to work with. Get over it…" she replied, sarcasm slipping through just enough for the brunet teen to catch on.
"I don't want to work with him! Every time we went on a mission, he belitl… buhlittl… made fun of me!" the boy sputtered out finally after he realized he was unable to say the word he wanted. Much to his displeasure, the blue NetNavi giggled slightly at his show before clearing her throat and glaring at him while smiling deviously.
"Well, despite what you want, there are people in danger," the smile now faded into a pure face of fury, causing Netto to take a step back. "Now, pick the PET up and take us to Kifune's office before I chew your head off!"
Scrambling, Netto gave a sloppy salute, stuttering a quick 'y-yes, ma'am' before picking Rock's PET off the desk and running out of his room and down the stairs.
-
"Well, it's about time, Hikari…"
"Sh-shut up…!"
Netto panted heavily, having run all the way to the station with Rock yelling cruel remarks all the way, knocking his levels of patience more and more with each one. It had almost set him off the edge and he had to catch himself from saying really mean to Rock. But, gratefully, he had endured, taking a shortcut so that Rock would have less time to demean him.
The brunet saw the bi-colored hair teen sitting at a long table where he presumed all the strategies for missions were planned out. The room, he saw, was furnished simply yet elegantly, giving off a professional appeal.
But Netto really didn't care for appeal, since Ijuin Enzan was laughing at him.
"Don't… blame me!" Netto huffed out between labored breaths, stumbling his way into a chair next to Enzan, who smirked all-knowingly. "Why? We wake you up?"
"It's four in the afternoon; I've been awake for a while…"
"Oh, well, pardon me," Enzan jestered mockingly before chuckling at the annoyed look on Netto's face. "You should see your face… it's hilarious."
"Ha-ha, very funny. If all you're gonna do is make fun of me, I can leave, you know," Netto stated, making out as if he were about to get out of his chair before the doors opened, revealing Kifune and Laika.
"Oh, great…" This sarcasm was of course directed to Laika, who paid no heed to Netto's groan and seated himself opposite of Enzan while Kifune sat at the head of the table, placing some papers before him. The three young males stayed silent, waiting to receive orders from the elder. The brunet of group, however, became bored after 1.78 seconds and found pouting over the fact that he could see Laika more meaningful. Of course, the sleeve of his shirt became quite fascinating after a while and he started tugging on the cloth, idly trying to find something to waste time.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I contacted you…" Kifune started abruptly, shifting some of the papers around. Netto nodded while the other two stayed still, patiently waiting for orders. "It seems that… a certain Navi has come back into the spotlight."
That perked Netto up.
"Who?" Netto asked, anxious for a battle. After a few year of missions fit for two-year-olds, he was ready to face a real challenge. "Someone you're quite familiar with, Netto…" the elder man muttered, bringing a hand to his chin. Two moments of silence and… "It's Forte."
"What!" All three shrieked, immediately standing up and causing their chairs to fall back onto the floor. "But I thought…!" Netto started before trailing off, gritting his teeth tightly. "What could he possibly want!" he demanded.
"We're trying to figure that out, but as of right now, we're not too sure. But we do have some information on some sites that he's visited, so I'll need you to plug your PETs into the terminal here," Kifune pointed to a small gray box attached to the table that had five plug-in spots, "and I'll give the information to your NetNavis. Then from their, I'll let you assess the information before reporting back to me with any possibilities."
Netto gulped at the box as Enzan and Laika pulled their PETs out and promptly plugged-in Blues and Searchman. 'Oh, of course they're gonna get to find out! Ugh, I'll never hear the end of it!'
"Hikari, plug Rockman in so I can send him the information. Remember, this is Forte we're talking about. We don't need to waste much time."
The brunet shuddered at all the jeers and jokes he would get because of Rock and he bent his knees to see if he could fall through the floor. Surely Fate had something better to do than to make his life worse off right then than it was… surely…
"Hikari!" … Guess not…
"Um… all right… let me just get… the PET out…" Netto said, reaching down slowly to bide time. "I'm reaching for it… yeah… any second now… Nope… not yet…" The brunet hoped no one would catch on to his 'master plan…'
"Hikari Netto, I swear, if you don't get Rockman out and-!"
"All right, all right, all RIGHT! YOU all ASKED for it! I don't want to HEAR it!"
Quickly pulling the azure PET out and plugging Rock in, Netto, then, to protect himself, scrunched his face up so his vision became dark and he wouldn't have to see the shock on his colleagues faces. He waited for a couple of minutes, hearing nothing but the wall clock's ticking. Netto braved a glance, but immediately shut his eyes again when he saw Laika's slack jaw.
"What in the-!"
"Rockman's a-!"
"Whoa…"
The teen found that he couldn't handle the suspense much longer and opened his eyes to find a small holo-projector showing Searchman, Blues and Rock to the group. Everyone but himself could do nothing but stutter and stare at Rock as she blushed and tapping her boot against the floor.
"Um… hi?" she timidly greeted towards the two male Navis, hoping that they wouldn't make fun of her. But they didn't respond to her at first, finding gawking at her a better reaction. This caused her to became a bit downhearted, her hopes that their serious nature would pull through and they wouldn't react the way her friends had…
"Hello? Is something wrong?" Rock asked, moving so that she could wave a hand in front of Blues' shades. The red Navi jerked a bit before coughing slightly, crossing his arms and attempting to appear serious. "Um… I see you, um…" a red blush was streaking across his own cheeks, making him- in Rock's view, at least- absolutely adorable, "changed your appearance…"
The female NetNavi giggled happily at his embarrassment, causing him to blush harder. "Well, I didn't want this 'change,' but I'm glad you noticed!" she replied sweetly. "Do you like it?" She asked, bright orbs blinking anxiously for his answer. When none came, her joyful gaze fell just a bit, showing her concern. "It… doesn't look that bad…does it…?"
"We-well…" Blues started, glancing over at his still-speechless Operator for help but finding none. "It's not that it's exactly bad… But it is different…" He nodded once to emphasize this, his long, silver hair rustling behind him. Rock blinked at his comment, her complex, female mind taking a while to process a logical reaction which was totally different than what should have happened.
"… You think I'm a freak, don't you…?" Tears welled in her gorgeous emerald eyes as her bottom lip quivered sadly. Her hands fisted and laid themselves right above her chest, making the pitiful scene more… pitiful.
"No, no!" Blues rejected swiftly, perking up and shaking his head. "No, you look fine! Really!"
"N-no I doooooon't!" Rock wailed suddenly, her voice echoing in the terminal. "You think I'm an ugly freeeaaak!" Sobbing loudly, she fell to her knees, mumbling about how 'Netto's father was so mean' and 'he made her this way' and 'how unfair it was.'
"Rock…" Blues muttered before turning to Searchman angrily, as if he had been betrayed. "Searchman, help me out here! I've never had to deal with this before!" Yes, there were women NetNavis at Enzan's company to deal with, but never had he had one literally cry herself to death! "C'mon, Searchman! Do something!"
The green Navi glanced over at the other male before looking back over at the bittersweet sight before him, feeling his digital heart beat faster with each second. Such a cruel thing to do to such a sweet creature, even if this was once his comrade who saved the world several times prior to this event. The Navi always figured that anything that crossed paths with the younger blue Navi that things would be all right, but it seems that maybe this new obstacle might just be the female's match… It seemed so mean putting her through all this… she was so… tiny.
"Um… uh… Rock…" Dear God, was he blushing? "Pl-please stop crying… I hate watching you cry…"
Loud wails and sobs turned into small sniffles and hiccups unexpectedly, signaling that the distraught NetNavi was surely responding to the stuttered plead. Blues watched intently, analyzing the new situation. 'Such mood swings…' Blues thought suddenly, watching as Rock picked herself off the ground to turn her reddened eyes and puffy face towards Searchman. 'Glad I was never programmed as a female… I'd never get anything done…'
All the while Blues was mentally speaking to himself, Rock had stood and moved closer to the tallest of the two males, finding Searchman's blush and concerned gaze to kind to pass up. It would be so nice to have someone hold her and tell her everything would be all right… Besides, it wasn't like Netto could do such a thing. All he could do was talk to her. It wasn't like he could embrace her or wipe her tears away…
So, biting her bottom lip, she threw abruptly threw her lithe form into the verdant Navi's arms, hoping that he would comfort her. Sobbing into his chest-plate (which was somewhat hard to do), she cutely whined about the horrible things she had had to deal with the past two days, hoping that he'd understand. Certainly he would… he was a thinker, after all. He watch things from afar before assessing the correct strategy and then acted in a calm manner, prevailing everytime.
But, Searchman's blush became darker and he was shocked for a moment before, by instinct, he wrapped Rock in an embrace, telling her how sad it made him to see someone so pretty cry…
Blues stared at the 'couple' annoyed, wondering why Searchman, who put duty before just about anything else, would 'degrade' himself trying to console an emotionally-wrecked Rock. 'How pathetic…'
As the NetNavis' Operators stared on at this spectacle, Netto cringed in humiliation, noticing finally the death glare he was receiving from Laika and the snide smirk Enzan was giving him. The brunet could only guess that allowing this 'lesson' go on would be his undoing…
He could only imagine what was going through their heads…
'How dare he bring that-! That-! … Girl in here and make a mockery of Searchman! I didn't even know he was capable of affection in such ways! Curse you, Hikari!' … Yes, that sounded much like Laika… a bit too much Laika, Netto figured.
Now what about Enzan…
"You're pathetic, Hikari. Never knew you were so desperate for a girl's attention, you had to have your father change your Navi's programming… How… sad," Enzan's grin widened with his slander, teeth bared at the younger male. "So truly pathetic…"
"Hey! I didn't want her like this!" Netto retorted loudly, slamming his fists against the table. How come everyone thought that he was the one who turned Rockman into a female? It was preposterous! He wasn't that good at programs… yet.
"But she still is that way, so I can still mock you all that I want, Hikari!"
"No fair! I don't make fun of you when stuff like this happens!"
"Yes, but then again, my NetNavi hasn't been turned into a girl before, so you can't really say that I've ever been in this type of situation before…"
Netto fumed madly, wondering how many ways there were to possibly maul someone. "Rock-chan, help me out here!" he begged his Navi, hoping that she would pull him through.
"If I remember correctly, Netto-kun," Rock began, opening one eye to glare at her Operator from Searchman's embrace, "you told me I was just like Enzan… so, thus, I'm on his side because I act like him."
"Not you, too!" Netto replied dumbfounded and hurt, feeling his confidence Rock being stomped into the ground.
"You brought on yourself," she said, laying her head fully back on the camouflage-colored chest plate. She blushed as she did so, finding this hug completely warm and… fuzzy.
"Well, at least we can annoy the enemy into submission, if needed," Kifune added under his breath as the two youngest of the team continued to fight and the third glared knives at the youngest.
-
End of Chapter Three!
-
R&R!